Chapter Thirty-Eight - No Worries

Athena looked up from her cards and scoured her gaze across the table.

Her sisters were quick to divert their eyes down, not meeting her gaze.

"Tsk," she said before returning her attention to the cards before her. Without eye contact, the game was a lot harder to play, but her sisters had wisened up after the first dozen or so attempts she made to cheat.

Cheating was, of course, totally allowed. Unless they were obvious about it. She glanced to Trinity, who had two bodies jammed together on one chair. She wasn't good at card games, because focusing was hard, but she was the best when it came to sneaking a few good cards into her hands, and when she did focus, her maths skills were the best in the bunch. Trinity wasn't allowed to shuffle or else she'd just give herself the best hand.

Athena turned her attention towards Maple. Maple wasn't as good at cheating, but she had a memory like a steel trap when it came to knowing who had which card in hand and which one had passed by already.

Then there was Teddy. Teddy wasn't that good at the game, and she wasn't that good at counting, but she'd turn into a bear and tackle anyone she caught cheating.

"Do you have a four?" she asked.

Teddy grinned. "Go fish," she said.

"Tsk," Athena said again as she picked a card from the pack in the middle.

The others went through their turns while Athena strategized. There was a familiar sound from deeper in the home, and they all glanced at each other. "It's too early to be the Boss," Teddy said.

"Enemies?" Maple asked. She was wearing one of Big Sister's hoodies, which was way, way too big for her. Her hand snuck into the pouch-pocket at the front and came out with a gun.

"Could be heroes, yeah," Teddy said. She raised her head and gave the air a sniff. "Doesn't smell like self-righteousness."

Trinity perked up. "It's Sam," she said.

Athena and the others relaxed. It was just the Boss's head minion. It was always safer to be cautious though, just in case. They were villains in a hero's world, after all. They were always one do-gooder away from potential trouble.

Also, Emily might show up, and they all wanted to be the first one to get welcome-back hugs.

"Hey brats!" Sam called out. "Oh, hey Trinity, how are you?" The two Trinity's across the table from Athena wagged her heads left and right as if an invisible hand was patting her head.

"Should we pause the game for now?" Athena asked.

"You're just saying that 'cause you're losing," Teddy said.

Athena stuck her tongue out at Teddy (who was maybe a little bit right) and then she placed her hand down and leapt out of her seat. "I'm gonna go say hi to Sam!" she said.

She left the kitchen, her sisters trailing after her, and found Sam in the main room of the bunker. She was grinning while rubbing her hand from side to side atop Trinity's head so hard that her racoon ears flipped and flopped up and down. "Hi Sam," Athena said.

"Oh, hey, the whole brat squad is here," Sam said as she let Trinity go. "What are you up to?"

"We were playing go fish. Did you want to join us?" Athena asked. Sam didn't know not to look into her eyes, and she might unbalance the game a little.

Sam laughed. "No, I think I'm okay. I just came to drop a few things off." She raised her off-hand, which had a few big grocery bags in it.

"I can help," Athena said. "Where does it all go?" She noticed a few other bags on the floor next to Sam, probably put there when Sam started petting Trinity.

"In the fridge. And no, it's nothing you can just eat like that. It's all stuff that needs prepping. Sorry girls," Sam said.

Athena picked up a pair of bags, then smiled as Trinity grabbed the last one. They followed Sam into the kitchen where she hefted the bags onto the counter and started emptying them. Trinity opened and closed the fridge while Athena and Sam sorted through the food.

"Did you just come for the food stuff?" Athena asked.

"Nah, I've got some news for your big sis too," Sam said. "Do you know when she'll be back in?"

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"Ah, in about an hour, I think," Athena said. She glanced at the wall clock. "Maybe less than an hour?"

"Oh, that's alright. I can wait that long," Sam said.

"Did you have news for her?" Athena asked.

Sam clearly weighed whether or not to tell Athena for a moment, then she shrugged. "Yeah. I think I know where Rattles will be next."

Athena perked up at that. "You do?"

"For the past couple of days he's been showing up at a few bars. He just pops in and talks to the guys there. It looks like he's recruiting some minions of his own. Not sure how well it's working out though. He got into a fight at one place and showed up at another. But eventually someone's gonna join up. He's got the money for it."

Athena scowled. Rattles wasn't supposed to have minions. He was the Boss's enemy. They had minions, not him. "We should tell anyone that joins him that they're in for a lot of trouble. Or we can tell the heroes about them, get them all caught. Then we might learn where Rattles' base is."

"Wow, you'd do minions dirty like that?" Sam asked.

"Just Rattles' minions," Athena said. She patted Sam on the side comfortingly. "Don't worry. You're our minion, so we wouldn't let the heroes take you."

"Wow, thanks kid, you sure do know how to be comforting," Sam said.

Athena puffed her chest out. Yeah, she was the best at this sort of stuff. Maybe Emily would let her become the group's head of minion relations? "What kind of place is he recruiting at? Just random bars?"

"Nah, random bars have random people. Most of them are near the college. Actually, it would probably make sense to recruit there. College guys are notoriously easy to string along."

Athena shrugged and filed that information away for later. "Where, then?"

"Biker bars, mostly," Sam said.

Athena stood up straighter. Biker bars? Like the one that she went to once? She glared at nothing in particular for a moment. How dare he try to get minions from the place she'd been to! That was her untapped source of minion fodder, not his. Even if she hadn't really done anything with the bikers in a while.

Maybe she should change that.

Athena finished helping Sam put stuff away, then Sam was distracted by the others. She ended up sitting at the table, half of her attention on her phone and the rest on Athena's sisters who were all trying to impress the head minion in their own way.

Athena quietly slipped out of the kitchen and back to her room. She caught a Trinity by the sleeve on the way. "Hey, I'm gonna be heading out for a bit."

"You are?" Trinity asked. "Are you allowed?"

"I'm not not allowed," Athena said.

That was good enough for Trinity. "Do you want me to come with you?"

She shook her head, then reconsidered. "Actually, maybe? That way if something happens you can tell the others."

"Yeah, I don't mind," Trinity said. "We're just playing cards and I can do that without thinking very hard."

Her win rate certainly suggested as much, but Athena didn't mention it. She was the only one in their family that cared enough to keep track of who won and lost the most. "Let me get dressed, and I'll be with you," she said.

"Do we need our costumes?" Trinity asked.

"Hmm, probably not. But maybe bring a mask or something, just in case."

"Okay!" Trinity said. She darted into her own room to change out of her daytime PJs. Athena did the same. Her room wasn't all that big, none of theirs were, but it had a nice closet thing with some clothes in it. A lot of stuff had been donated to them by Steffie's mom, and from some of the new minions who happened to have old clothes. Oh, and the Grand-Bosses sometimes gave them clothes too. Mostly new socks and undies and stuff, but it was nice to have new stuff.

She dressed up in a hoodie and loose cargo pants, then threw on her leather jacket. She'd need it where she was going.

She met Trinity by the door. "Are we going to get into trouble?" Trinity asked. By the wag of her tail, she didn't seem to think that was such a bad thing.

"Don't worry. This is my thing, and I never get into trouble," Athena said. "Besides, if we do, then it'll be on me. Don't worry."

***