Chapter Thirty-Five - Hasty Plans

“It could all be a bluff,” Sam offered.

Teddy turned her head towards the Boss, to see her reaction.

The Boss stomped by, brows drawn up and face set in a scary look, like when she caught Trinity rifling through the trash right after telling her not to. “Do we really want to take that risk? Did he say anything?” she asked.

Sam shook her head and wiggled her phone around, as if to show that she really hadn’t gotten any replies. “Nothing. Sorry,” she said.

Teddy looked back to the Boss.

The Boss had been pretty testy all day, ever since that meeting with the Glamazon girl. Teddy wasn’t sure what they could do about it. If Glamazon were here, in their dorm, then all of the sisters would gladly join in and kick her butt. But she wasn’t, so Teddy was kind of out of ideas.

“Do you think he’d talk?” the Boss asked.

They were talking about that guy with the little sword and the strange airs about him. Fabien the Fabulous. His villain name needed... a lot of work. Who would be scared of someone called Fabien the Fabulous?

Teddy got the measure of him, and she didn’t think he was all that strong. He didn’t even join the Boss as a minion. “Why’re we worried about this guy anyway?” Teddy asked. “He’s barely even a villain at all.”

The Boss sighed. “Because he knows about us, and about our base under the city. If they capture him and he talks, we might be in a terrible situation.”

“Oh,” Teddy said. So he’d betray the Boss? Or maybe the heroes would have some sort of goody two-shoes way of convincing him to spill everything he knows. Then the Boss’s plans would all be ruined.

The Boss had been working hard to take over the city since... forever, basically. Teddy understood why she’d be annoyed at losing all that progress. It was like being in bed and just about to take a nice nap, then someone came around and shoved you out of bed and forced you to wake up.

“Boss, we’ve got to do something about this,” Teddy said.

“Yeah!” Trinity agreed.

“I suppose so,” Athena said too.

Teddy nodded, glad that her sisters were on her side with this. “We should stop the heroes from taking out that villain guy by beating all of the heroes up before they can do anything.”

“Yeah!” Trinity agreed, again.

“I’m not sure if that’ll work out,” Athena said. “But I’m willing to try.”

The Boss shook her head while minion Sam chuckled. “I don’t... wait... actually, that’s not... well, it is a terrible idea, but I think it might be workable.”

“Wait, seriously?” Sam asked.

“Attacking the heroes would be stupid,” the Boss said. “Sorry Teddy, but I don’t think we’re that strong, and we don’t want to look like villains, remember?”

She gave Teddy some conciliatory headpats, so Teddy didn’t feel too bad about having her idea dismissed.

“But we can interfere. What if we try to steal the spotlight?” the Boss asked.

“Oh!” Sam said. She grinned. “I see. You want us to head on over to wherever Fabien is, then take him out ourselves?”

“Or we can fail to take him out,” the Boss said. “Let him get away. If we’re subtle about it, no one will know that we purposefully let him win. Though I’d rather just call Fabien and tell him to cancel his plans for tonight.”

Sam checked her phone again. “He still hasn’t answered.”

The Boss took a deep breath. “Okay. Do you have any idea what he’s going to be doing tonight?”

“None,” Sam said. “I don't know how much he made hitting that bank, but I imagine it was a few thousand, at least. They don’t exactly keep huge piles of cash around anymore, you know? Could try to hit another bank, or another jewellery place.”

“And those are all over the city,” the Boss muttered. She reached her desk and pulled her phone off its charger. “I’m calling Alea Iacta. He spent more time with Fabien. He might know. In the meantime... girls, pack your costumes.”

Teddy grinned and bounced to her feet. That was an order she was more than happy to obey. Packing up their costumes meant that there was going to be some villainy to do that night.

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She found her sundress tucked under the bed where it would be safe, then she handed her teddy-bear mask to Trinity. Another Trinity was dumping all of her school-stuff out of a bag and onto the floor, pencils rolled around and books flopped open. Then she started shoving all of her own costumes into the bag.

Teddy was already wearing her shorts, so she changed into a t-shirt that she could wear under her sundress.

Athena’s costume was a bit hard to fit into the bag, the leather jacket didn’t fold so easily, so she ended up putting it into its own bag.

While they worked, the Boss prowled across the room, talking in low tones to someone on her phone. Eventually, she lowered the phone and ended the call. “I think I might know where he’s going,” she said.

“Oh?” Sam asked as she looked up from her own phone. “I’ve been checking one of the Capewatch sites. No sightings of him yet.”

The Boss nodded. “The last place he hit was just before closing. He might do the same thing tonight. At least, I hope so. That’ll give us more time to try and call him.”

“So, where is he going?” Sam asked.

“Alea Iacta said that he and Fabien spent a lot of time talking about games. He said that Fabien might try to rob an electronic’s store. I don’t know which one, though.”

“There’s only one worth robbing,” Sam said. “The Aim Stop. Just downtown. There’s a few older places, but they’re old. You wouldn’t get much from robbing them. I bet the registers are filled with cobwebs.”

“If he’s not robbing the place, can we rob it instead?” Teddy asked.

The Boss shook her head. “No. Let me grab my costume. Actually... you guys go wait outside. I’m going to change into it now and toss a coat on top.” Everyone was ushered out into the corridor and the Boss closed the door up behind them.

Sam rubbed at her chin, then looked down at where Teddy and her sisters were looking up to her. “So, uh, you guys have everything?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Teddy said.

“You sure? Because once we’re gone, we won’t be able to get back, and it’d suck if you had to sit things out because you forgot your mask or something,” Sam said. “Uh... what about the washroom?”

“What about it?” Teddy asked.

“Do you need to use it?” Sam asked.

Teddy scoffed. “No.”

Her sisters shook their heads too.

“Are you sure?” Sam asked. “Like, one-hundred-percent certain? Because the moment one of you complains about needing the bathroom while out in costume, I’m going to convince the Boss to leave you at home next time.”

“We’re not five,” Teddy said. She crossed her arms and looked away. “But I guess... maybe I could use the washroom, a bit.”

Sam rolled her eyes and unlocked the door to her room before using some appropriately villainous threats on them if they touched any of her things. Teddy got to go first in line because she was the fastest and the best.

By the time they were all done, the Boss was waiting for them out in the corridor. She had a coat on, with something that Teddy suspected was her costume’s hat stuffed into a pocket. “Is everyone ready?” she asked.

“Yup,” Sam said.

“Alright then, let’s head out.”

“Any plan past showing up?” Sam asked.

“Get there before Glamazon. Be obvious enough that Fabien backs off and does something smart, like reply to his texts,” the Boss said. They filed into the elevator and Sam tapped the button to get to the ground floor. “If that doesn’t work out and we arrive in the middle of a fight, then... then we get involved. Trinity, Athena, you’ll be important if that’s the case. I need the heroes confused.”

“I can do that,” Trinity said. “Sometimes I even confuse me.”

Athena nodded. “No worries Boss.”

“What about me?” Teddy asked.

“You’ll be fighting Fabien directly, I think. I’ll need you to be extra careful to not actually hurt him. Do you think you can do that?”

“Yeah!” Teddy said. “Don’t worry. I’m great at being sneaky.”

The elevator dinged and they stepped out as one big group, ready to head out and kick hero butt.

Teddy couldn’t wait.

***