Chapter Fourteen - Mapley Mood

Maple watched her sisters cheering and bouncing around happily. Trinity was very happy because she'd helped a bunch, and so was Teddy, even if Big Sister needed to teleport her out of trouble and give her a bunch of pats for her boo-boos.

She... wasn't feeling so nice about things.

A squeeze of her hand had Maple looking up to meet Athena's eyes, and her slightly-bigger sister smiled at her. "It's okay," she said.

Maple tried to smile back too, but it was hard. There was a big pit in her tummy that felt like it went on forever, and Maple was afraid that it might swallow her up.

She had ideas, of course, the moment she started thinking about it, her brain came up with all sorts of ideas on how to fill up a hole, even one that went on forever. She'd need crayons, some paper, at least six cans of soda (dark) and some sort of small explosive, and then... Maple shook her head and shooed the ideas away. It wasn't time for those.

Glancing over to Big Sister, Maple saw that her bad feelings were mirrored on her face too. Big Sister was glaring at the turned-over truck and the alley where the bad villain had gone. Then she looked over to the three vans rushing down the street and unloading HRF troopers. They were the annoying people in full-body armour with big scary guns and face-covering masks. They were quick to spread out and cover the scene.

Maple felt like she should be a little worried about them. They were heroes after all, her natural enemy. But then Big Sister was right there, and there really wasn't anything to worry about when she was around.

The heroes would never get away with hurting one of her Big Sister's little sisters, and Maple was one of those.

Even if she was the least useful of them.

A hero jumped out of one of the vans, and Maple recognized him. An older guy with a sprinkle of grey in his hair wearing a very tight costume of blue and whites that clung to him and made him look like he had a lot of muscles.

"Girls," Big Sister said. "Alright, everyone come here. We're going to have to talk to the heroes. Which means that you need to let me do all the talking, okay?"

Maple agreed to that one easily. She didn't like talking to people to begin with. She always fumbled her words and felt her face get warm and her eyes watery, and then she'd worry about what people would say and think of her. Worse, she often got ideas while talking, and then she'd be distracted with those for a little bit.

Her sisters knew about that, and they didn't mind if Maple zoned out for a little bit, but strangers? Those were scary.

Of course, her Big Sister didn't have any problems facing a scary hero because she was so much cooler and calmer and better than Maple at talking stuff.

Maple clung to Athena, using her sister as a shield from the curious eyes of the hero. Fortunately, Trinity and Teddy were both more than loud enough to distract him.

"Hello, sir," Emily said with a nod to the hero.

"Boss," he said. "And your bunch. It's good to see you here. Doing good once more?" The hero placed his hands on his hips and straightened his posture.

Was he posing? Maple looked around, and there were some people with cameras. She hoped they didn't capture her blushing. But... maybe she could do something about that. She'd need something reflective... maybe some holographic stickers, and a phone of her own to program the virus, and then... Maple blinked, Emily was still talking to the hero, but she'd missed a line or two.

"Yeah, we came here as soon as we heard that Rattles was here. But we arrived too late. He was already on the way out. Bandit and Ursa Minor--" She gestured to Trinity and Teddy. Teddy was still in her bear form, since she didn't have a costume with her, but that was okay too. People would look at the big grizzly bear for a while before looking at Maple. "--tried to fight him, but he was retreating already. We, uh, managed to snag one bag away from him, but that's all."

The hero rubbed at his chin. "Too bad he wasn't captured. But I can't blame you for not doing so. He's been a real thorn in our side."

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"I heard what happened to Glamazon," Emily said with a nod. "Is she better?"

"She's receiving great care at the moment. I can't comment on when she'll be back on the streets helping the fine people of Eauclaire, but I'm sure she's working as hard as she can to be back out here," he said.

A lot of that felt kind of... bland. It was like his words were oatmeal without syrup.

"Right," Emily said. "Do you have anything you can share about, uh, Rattles? We didn't set out to fight him at all. But he looks... strong."

"There's little I can share with someone unaffiliated," he said, sounding sad while shaking his head. "Unless you and your friends here would be willing to join the good guys? An endorsement from Silver Fox would get you a long way!"

"Ah, no thanks," Emily said.

Silver Fox smiled and looked at the others, but Maple and her sisters all shook their heads with varying levels of enthusiasm.

Join the heroes? Maple felt yucky just at the thought.

"Right, we're gonna just... head on out," Emily said.

"We might have some additional questions," Silver Fox said.

Emily's brow drew together, and Maple felt a little shiver running down her spine. Big Sister was going into scary mode. "Glamazon has my contact information. As does Melaton and any other hero that I've found to be helpful. Have a good day, Silver Fox."

She turned on her heel and stalked off, and Maple hurried to keep up while still clinging to Athena's hand. Silver Fox was clearly caught a bit flat-footed, but that was his own fault for annoying the Boss.

Once they were a little ways away from the HRT who were setting up a cordon around the street, Maple saw the tension in her sister's shoulder dropping away. "Oh my god, what did I say?" Emily squeaked as she covered her face.

"You were awesome, Boss!" Teddy said while untransforming herself. She wobbled a bit as she went from four legs to two, but that didn't slow her down. "You put the fear of bears in him."

"That's not a saying," Athena said.

"I said it, didn't I?" Teddy said. "But you know what no one's said before? 'I'll put the fear of owls in 'em.'"

Maple smiled a little while staring down at her feet and the sidewalk passing below. Now that all the excitement was over, it was nice to just listen to her sisters having fun and threatening to hurt each other like normal.

"Girls," Emily said, the warning in her tone obvious. "Not now, please."

"We'll continue this at home," Athena said.

There was a deep sigh from Emily, but she didn't dispute it.

"We need to break down how that fight went. See what we could do better next time. Maybe prepare for Rattles specifically," Emily murmured. "He had some sort of... impact power? Vibrations or something? It's not how I imagined it from how Sam and Glamazon described it."

"He was annoyed by us, but not afraid," Athena said. "Not even of Teddy."

"What? You're wrong," Teddy said.

"Nuh-uh, I saw his eyes, so I know," Athena said.

"I bet he was so scared that it wrapped all the way around to him not being afraid anymore," Teddy said.

"Was he thinking anything else?" Emily asked.

"Not much. He didn't even want the money, I think. Well, he wanted it, but like, not want-want. Like how Trinity wants whatever she finds on the floor, but she'd not be upset if she doesn't get it."

"I'm mature that way," Trinity agreed.

Emily nodded along. Sam and the other, new, minions were out at the end of the street. Emily sighed, and Maple sympathised with her. She was happy that her Big Sister was the one who dealt with people for them. "Right, we'll go over things in more detail once we're finally back home. Maple."

Maple jumped, eyes going wide as she looked to her Big Sister. "Yes?"

"We're going to be relying on you a lot from here on out, okay?" Emily asked.

Maple bobbed her head up and down. Her insides were squirming though, half of her super happy that she'd get to do something to help, the other half squished and squashed itself with worry. What if she couldn't help good enough?

Emily smiled and patted Maple on the head, and she decided that either way, she'd do her best.

***