Chapter Fifty-Five – Nothing Ever Happens

The next two days were unbelievably stressful, and yet… nothing happened.

Emily was starting to think that the stress was all in her head, which was pretty much what the few therapists she’d been brave enough to visit had always said. She fabricated much of the stress she felt.

Obviously, that had been before she had an entire gaggle of mini-super villains to tend to. If someone told her that her stress was all self-fabricated now she would… well, she wouldn’t laugh in their face, being that rude would give her conniptions, but she’d certainly fabricate some fantasy where she did laugh in their face in her mind.

The day had started no differently than the last couple. They awoke sometime before noon, had a lunch mostly composed of canned food and whatever they could scrounge up from a corner store just down the block, and then there were classes.

It wasn’t real class, of course, but Emily was trying her best to educate her sisters a little.

It struck her that while they all knew how to read… well, they’d been playing a lot of board games lately, and she saw first-hand how… talented her sisters were with reading and writing. Trivia games were also an eye-opener. Sure, her sisters seemed to know a lot about random things, like lock brands and how to sneak around, but they weren’t able to name any presidents or pop stars or anything that normal people picked up by osmosis.

That was… fine. No one needed to know those things, but she was worried that if they ever tried to fit in, they’d have a hard time. Plus, their math and geography and history and science were all kinda abysmal.

So, classes.

She set up a few chairs and a whiteboard and used some of the educational games from downstairs and decided to run through a rather piecemeal lesson plan. It wasn’t much, and she wasn’t sure how much her sisters were getting out of it, but as soon as she framed things in the right way, they actually listened and engaged.

That mostly meant that math was now about counting stolen money, geography was about finding places to invade and hide in, history became about researching ‘villains’ throughout history and science was about turning household items into weapons.

It wasn’t something that she liked all that much, but it was the best she could do.

Then it was lunch, even if it was closer to mid-afternoon.

“Big Sis!” Trinity said as she ran over. Emily was in the little kitchen, boiling some water while cutting some potatoes up into wedges. Potatoes were one of the few things that weren’t from a can that she trusted. Sure, they had gone a little green, but that was fine.

Athena was helping off to one side, stirring a heap of noodles in a large pot. Maple had made a few burners that could heat things to a boil, and so far they had worked well enough.

“Yes?” Emily asked.

“There’s people outside.”

Emily took a fraction of a second to register what that meant, then her heart leapt in her chest. “What? How many, where?”

“A bunch, and over there,” Trinity said while pointing vaguely towards the front of the building.

“Good… Athena finish cutting these wedges. But be careful with the knife,” Emily said before she moved into the living room. “Girls! Quiet. We might have people nearby. Trinity, where did you see them from?”

Trinity pointed, and Emily moved over to the window at the front and very, very slowly moved one of the curtains aside. There was a second over the window itself, but it was a sheer material that she could see through. Hopefully anyone looking precisely at this window would only see a vague shadow on the other side.

The street was calm, as it ought to be in an abandoned city, but a ways down was an HRF van rolling along at a slow pace. Next to it was a squad of troopers, armed and moving at a brisk walk.

“They’re searching,” Emily said.

Aurora came over and peeked over her head for a moment. “They’re not moving like they know we’re here,” she said.

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“No, it’s more like they’re just looking,” Aurora said. “That’s probably what they’re doing? Maybe they’re checking on every street?”

“Yeah,” Emily said. She continued to watch, then pulled her head back. “Can you make sure that everyone is quiet? The heroes hearing us would be a disaster.”

“Okay,” Aurora said.

Emily looked at the group again, then left, she had lunch to prepare, and prepare it she did. It wasn’t too long before food was served and they had a quieter lunch than usual, with one sister on watch the entire time.

The situation didn’t improve. The patrol passed, sure, but soon there was a second, then they noticed drones overhead.

She wasn’t sure if it was just anxiety and paranoia talking, but she had a strong suspicion that the HRF was aware that they were here. Maybe not in this building in particular, but at least this part of the city.

Fortunately, they had prepared for this.

“I think it’s time for us to move out of the area,” she said.

Her sisters looked at her, but it was Teddy that responded first. “So, where’re we going, Boss?”

Trinity had been the only one to really explore the wider city. Her ability to communicate from afar in a way that couldn’t be blocked, and her overall sneakiness, made her a good scout. She had located a few other spots that they had decided were okay alternatives to staying here. The toy store was a nice place. She’d miss it, in a way, but if the HRF were sniffing around, then leaving now might be the right move.

They continued to monitor the area while packing up, but the amount of patrols didn’t lessen. If anything, she was pretty sure they had a way to know that she and her sisters were around.

Then it struck her. Of course they did! The Endgame gave her clues when the other villains had the Orbject. Why wouldn’t they do the same now.

Staying in one place, then, would be a mistake.

By the time they were ready to go, the street was quiet.

Maybe it was late enough, with the sun about to set, that the HRF had pulled back for the moment? She didn’t notice any drones overhead either, which was a good thing. Still, Maple released a few attention-diverting anti-drone devices from one of the upstairs windows, the little inventions carried up and into the sky by some helium-filled balloons.

Hopefully that would divert any attention from above.

With that done, they headed out. They were carrying more now than they had when they first arrived. The girls had maybe loaded up on toys while here, but she’d rather they have that than get on her nerves with nothing better to do.

Emily took point, one hand curled around the Orbject in her coat pocket. Trinity would occasionally run ahead, but she preferred having all of her sisters close, in case. “Stay close,” she whispered. “I want to be able to grab you if I need to.” Her sisters came closer.

They turned down a narrower street, one lined with squat brick buildings and alleys that looked too thin to fit a person.

“Which way?” Aurora asked.

Emily hesitated at the intersection ahead. Trinity had marked out a couple of safer spots for them, but she hated moving blind. Every direction felt equally bad.

Then Maple, who had been dragging a bag that clinked suspiciously, froze.

“Sis!,” she squeaked.

Emily stopped so fast the girls behind her nearly bumped into each other.

“What?”

Maple lifted a finger.

A man stood in the middle of the road at the far end of the block

He hadn’t been there a second ago.

He was tall and narrow in a long dark coat that hung almost straight down from his shoulders. A polished mask covered the upper half of his face, but even from this distance it caught the weak light and tossed it back in thin silver flashes. In one gloved hand he held a cane.

Emily’s stomach clenched.

“Ah, so there you are,” the man said. He gestured to the side, and she caught a glimpse of people standing around the corner. Troopers? So, a hero, then, only… why were the troopers leaving? “My name is Mirror Man. This won’t be a fair fight.”

***

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