Chapter Eleven – Laying it Out

“Alright Boss, lay it out, what’s the plan?” Teddy asked.

She was sitting in a dark, unlit room. Nothing between her and the Boss but a long table. Sitting along the edges were her co-conspirators, all of them paying rapt attention to the woman at the end of the table.

Then the Boss got up and turned on the kitchen light. “So dark,” she muttered before sitting back down. “And… ah, there is no plan?”

“What’s that mean?” Teddy asked. “I thought you wanted us here to discuss the next stage of our operations?”

Emily, the Boss, shifted in her seat a little. “Something like that. Today I was approached by the HRF. They want me, us, to participate in the End Game.”

Trinity perked all three of her heads up. “Are you going?” she asked.

“No. I mean… maybe. But I want to talk about it first. Mostly about what you know about End Games, and if we do go, I want to be the one to decide if we’re going with the HRF or if we’re going alone.”

Teddy knew which option was best. A subtle look to her other sisters confirmed that they knew the same too. Athena nodded to her, and Teddy found herself in one of those rare moments where she felt like she could agree with the dumb bird-brain. “Alright,” Teddy said. “What’cha wanna know, Boss?”

Emily leaned back into her seat, not quite looking at any of them for a moment, then she looked up and met Teddy’s eyes. “What’s an End Game, exactly?”

“Pft, easy one. It’s an End Game,” Teddy said. That didn’t seem to be enough, so she continued before Athena could say something smug. “End Games are… like, a fun game, at the end, as like a test? But it’s not a test because those are kind of lame. So it’s more like a game with a reward? I guess the end bit’s not too important.”

This one wasn’t the herald of the end, so it was a bit of a poorly-named thing.

“Anyway! They’re big games. You play ’em, and if you win, bam! New power,” Teddy said. She smacked her fist into an open hand for emphasis.

“I heard about the power thing,” Emily said. “They say, online, that it’s usually something pretty weak?”

“I mean, sure,” Teddy said. “It’s not custom-made. I mean, it fits the overall game, of course, but not, like, the people playing? So it makes sense that it’s kind of a whatever power. But hey, it grows and improves based on what you do, so it can get better.”

“Wait, what was that?” Emily asked.

Teddy blinked. “What’s what, Boss?”

“The growth part.”

Athena piped up before Teddy could, so she deserved the quick kick Teddy sent her way under the table. “It’s–ow! It’s because every power gets stronger based on who you are and stuff. Like… you got more sisters with yours, because you’re awesomer with more of us around.”

Teddy reluctantly nodded. She agreed, but it was her rival saying it. Still, Athena was sometimes right. They’d recently agreed that they had to put their rivalry aside for some things, like teaming up to smack down another sister, or if Maple wanted to play and didn’t want to join in on the roughhousing too much. “Like, imagine if you had another really good power instead of what you have,” Teddy said. “For example, something strong, like… turning into a bear.”

She ignored the snorts from around the table. It was jealousy, she knew.

“Anyway, since you’re the Boss, you’d probably get secondary powers that are way different than what I got.”

The Boss hummed. “I didn’t know that. So the power we get from an End Game…”

“Changes to suit the user over time,” Maple said. It was more of a mutter than anything. Teddy didn’t feel bad about her jumping in since she rarely talked at these things to begin with.

“More powers!” Trinity cheered.

“Wait,” the Boss said, one hand raising to calm them down. “Would I be the only one to get a power?”

“I mean, if you’re the only one to win, maybe,” Teddy said.

“That’d be lame!” Trinity said. “I wanna win too.”

“So, you’d all get a power if we complete an End Game. And that power would adapt in wildly different ways to all of you?” she asked.

Teddy made a so-so gesture. “Kinda? They’d adapt, but I don’t think all of them would be wildly different. I mean, I’m already stronger than anyone else, so I wouldn’t need the power to make me stronger, so maybe I’d get something else as a secondary ability?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The Boss rudded at her forehead. “That’s a massive force multiplier.”

“Yeah, which is why we should go! It’s probably started already,” Teddy said. “So, what’s the plan, Boss?”

The Boss sighed. “So… I was planning on us taking a few days to go out camping. There’s a nice spot not too far from here, and I’ve got a tent and such I can borrow at my parent’s place. It would have been fun.”

Teddy nodded. Yeah, that did sound like fun!

“But if we’re going to the End Game, then we’ll have to put that off. I think that we can use camping as cover though, to get a bit closer? The area will be blocked, I think. The roads will be watched. The HRF won’t want civilians running into the End Game. They’re probably still evacuating it, really.”

“Media might be let in,” Athena said.

“That’s a good point, but I don’t think we can pass off as journalists,” the Boss said. “So, if we joined the HRF–” She paused to let them boo the idea. “–Then they’d just drive us over and tell us where to go and what to do. If we’re sneaking in, then that’s a whole other thing.”

“We’re going to have to move fast,” Teddy said. “Someone might be winning as we speak!”

“Maybe. I have the impression that the game’s harder than they expected it to be,” the Boss said. “The record to close an End Game is four days. The longest ran for a month and a half. It’s been five days already since this one started. So it’s possible that they’ve won already, but I doubt it.”

“What should we pack?” Aurora asked. She crossed her arms and gestured vaguely. “Like, camping gear? Food?”

“Both of those, yeah. Anything that Maple thinks she might need,” the Boss added, which made Maple perk up and sit up straighter. “And we might want maps of the area. Paper ones. I don’t think bringing a cell phone is a good idea. Or any other electronics if we can avoid it. The HRF uses those to find people stuck in the zone of an End Game. They’ll be able to track me.”

Teddy wouldn’t have ever thought of that. The Boss was a genius.

“Field trip!” Trinity shouted.

“I suppose you can think of it that way,” Emily said. “I’m going to call my dad and see… see if I can’t convince him to drive us most of the way there. In the meantime… Aurora, can you help everyone pack? Two changes of clothes, costumes, and Athena, draw up a list of food we need to last a few days. Maple, you’re in charge of the water.”

“What about me, Boss?” Teddy asked.

“You and Trinity, ah, get everything piled up by the door? We want to travel light. We won’t be able to just bring things from home.”

“Why not?” Trinity asked.

The Boss stared at her. “Wait… Can you? With your pocket skill?”

Trinity shrugged. “Sure? There’s no range to it.”

“Oh… wow, that might change things. Trinity, you’re promoted to Logistics Raccoon.”

“Yay!”

“What about me?” Teddy asked.

“You’re, uh, the Prime Bear,” the Boss said.

Teddy’s chest puffed up with pride. Stupid Athena wasn’t the prime anything, was she?

The Boss stood up suddenly. “How about you join me on the call, Teddy? Your job is to butter up my dad. I think you might be his favourite.”

Teddy felt as if her head might explode and she felt like turning into a bear for a moment. The Grandpa Boss thought she was the best and coolest of all of her sisters?

“You’re reading too much into it,” Athena said.

“Shut up, second-favourite-at-best,” Teddy snapped back.

Athena recoiled. “H-hey!”

Oh yeah, that had been a good insult. This day basically couldn’t get any better, could it? They were preparing to go on a big adventure, they were gonna kick the heroes’ butts at their own game, and she was confirmed as the best once again.

“C’mon! Let me place the call, I’ll have him eating out of my paws in no time!”

“That’s probably unsanitary,” Athena said.

“Stop making up words just to make yourself feel smarter,” Teddy replied.

Judging by Athena’s sputtering, she was two-for-two today on the insults!

***

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