Chapter Fifty-Three – Toy Shop

She should have asked for more details.

Actually, no, she should have asked any amount of details, because as it was, Emily had just trusted that the place Trinity had found wasn’t bad.

It was a toy shop.

Not exactly the newest one around. This looked more like a family-owned and operated sort of shop. It was two stories tall, made of old, well-weathered brick, with a glass front on the bottom floor. The big windows there opened up onto displays that had toys and children’s things hanging from hangers placed in an artful way on a sloth bed. There weren’t just toys, of course. There were baby things as well.

The place probably covered a range of ages because she saw a lot of baby toys and strollers and such at one end, and on the far end were more teenaged-oriented toys. Mini science kits, EGO brick building sets and there were even some ads for video games.

“It’s perfect,” Trinity said.

“Is it?” Emily asked. She could tell that Trinity at least was pleased with the location, and she could very well imagine why. It was only three blocks over from the site where the other villains had set up, so at least the walk wasn’t long, and it was far enough that if that area was investigated, they might not be so close that the HRF would come knocking.

‘I like it,” Teddy said with a nod.

“Does it at least have everything I asked for?” Emily asked before her sisters could decide that this was definitely it.

“It does!” Trinity said. “I checked. There’s a whole house on the second floor, with a secret entrance at the back. There’s two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen.”

Emily worked her jaw as she considered it. It was kind of a dead giveaway to have a base situated in a literal toy store, but if it had everything they needed, then she couldn’t complain too much. Plus, the second floor didn’t seem to have very many windows, so light wouldn’t get out so easily.

Besides, it was getting to be a little later in the afternoon. If they walked back to their base outside of the Endgame, they’d make it just in time to arrive before the sun fully set, but not before it started to get pretty cold out.

“Fine,” she said.

Her sister cheered until Athena hissed at them to be quiet.

They crossed the road again, only instead of heading for the front, they walked around back where there was a small parking lot that seemed to serve a few of the businesses on the street and which now housed two dusty, unused cars that were going to need some attention once the Endgame was done.

The backdoor had been locked before Trinity got to it, now it opened up into a small room at the back of the shop with some shelving to one side and a heap of boxes on the other. A second door within opened onto the main floor, and Emily had to reached out quickly to snatch the collar of the first sister about to zoom into the room. “Later,” she said.

There were shelves of toys, most in boxes still, but a few were out for display. The entire place smelled like cheap plastic and even in the dim light coming through to the back, it was garishly bright, especially the ‘girl’ section off to one side which had a terrifying amount of pink in it.

“Trinity, you said there was a way up?”

“Yup!” Trinity said. She guided them to the side where a smaller shelf behind a check-out counter had been pulled away from the wall, revealing a tiny room with a narrow staircase leading up in it.

Emily poked her head in. There was a tack for shoes and a carpet, but that was all. The top of the stairs had a normal door which had been left ajar.

“Okay,” she said. “Guide the way. We can look at the toys and things… later. If you’re all good.” At least having something so easy to bribe her sisters with might come in handy, she figured.

The area above the store was split into two. To one side were a pair of rooms with more storage and what looked like an employee breakroom as well as a small corner office with a computer that was old when she was still in elementary school. The other half of the floor was a home. There was a small, modest living room, with thick carpets on the floor and a plush couch facing an old TV, then a kitchen with barely enough room for two to stand in.

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She poked around while her sisters spread out and discovered a pair of bedrooms, a single washroom, and a sort of playroom where someone who clearly cared a lot about vintage toys still in their original boxes had them all in glass displays.

She closed and locked that last door and told her sisters to leave it alone. She didn’t want to ruin the home of the people that lived here. Not any more than they would already just by occupying their house for a bit.

The pictures on the walls painted the picture of a family business that had been through at least two generations. It was humble, but not in a bad way.

The people left were an older couple who seemed rather cute, all things considered. “Okay, so… that bedroom will be mine,” she said, pointing to the smaller one. “And we can have you split the couch and other, bigger bed.”

Aurora looked at her. “Big Sis… you know that’s not how it’s going to be, right?”

Emily sighed. “I know. But I can at least pretend. And if we are going to stay the night here, we’re going to need to set up a watch rotation. I think… the living room has windows that look in two directions down the street. We’re going to want to cover all the rest.”

That was something to do.

“Okay! Girls, I need tape and thin blankets. We’re going to do a bit like what the villains had. I want cloth draped over all of the windows, maybe some cardboard too, and then I want more hanging from the ceiling so that if we do use lights inside, they won’t splash out to anyone moving by.”

“I saw tape downstairs, and art stuff,” Trinity said.

“Fine. You and… Athena, go get supplies. But no goofing around. Teddy, and your second half Trinity, look for thin blankets or covers or something. Maple, Aurora, you’re going to help me set everything up.”

The system wasn’t too complicated. She soon had big squares of black construction paper and cardboard taped over the windows, with just a slit to see through, and with a flap taped over that they could pull up whenever they wanted to see outside.

The space took on a bit of a strange look when they hung up a few bedspreads, but that was fine. She’d have felt bad if they damaged anything, so she was trying to avoid that, which mostly meant looking over her sisters.

Sisters who were starting to feel a little tired, she noticed.

The house had running water, still. It wasn’t hot, but it did come out of the taps. She filled the bathtub and then Maple once again came in clutch to make a small water-heating device using some candles and an at-home science kit from the floor below. It wasn’t fast, by any means, but Emily was just happy that she could lock her sisters in the bathroom one at a time until they came out smelling less like sweat.

She wasn’t going to do the laundry, so their clothes were still dusty and a little torn up, but it was better than nothing.

By the time evening rolled around, it was entirely dark out, and disturbingly quiet.

So far, they had stayed outside of the city proper at night, except for the one venture within to steal from the HRF. It hadn’t hit her then how bizarrely quiet it was.

Even the place they were staying at in the countryside was noisier. There was at least birdsong and insects and the rustling of wind in leaves. Here, there was just nothing. A city was meant to be a loud, lively place, not this quiet.

She was worried that with nothing to do and with her sisters still having some energy, they might get into trouble, but a quick trip downstairs and she had an entire library of boardgames to pick from.

They settled on something simple, with cards and individual turns. Villains and ladders kept her sisters busy, at least until she noticed a few of them starting to nod off.

Then it was bed.

She set a watch rotating and took the middle one, because someone had to.

Tomorrow… well, she didn’t know, but at least, they were a few steps ahead.

***

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