Chapter Twenty – Perk Up

Teddy perked up when the Boss returned with Trinity. It was nice to see that she’d made it back in one piece, not that Teddy doubted the Boss, but she didn’t have the world’s best bear (which was saying something as bears were the best) with her to keep her safe from heroes, so… yeah, she was a little bit worried.

Then, the Boss opened her mouth and said something that made Teddy perk up in delight. “We need to plan a heist.”

“Heist!” Teddy shouted.

“Heist, heist, heist!” Trinity joined on, and then the others did too.

Everyone–minus the Boss–was soon chanting and dancing and cheering.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” the Boss said, hands waving downwards to tell them all to chill out. “I didn’t expect everyone to be this excited. We’re still close to where the HRF patrols, so let’s not make too much noise, okay?”

“Alright, Boss. I’ll smack anyone that makes a peep,” Teddy said. She punched a fist into her open hand as a threat.

“You… you were the first one to start. Urgh, nevermind. Okay, look, while Trinity and I were out, I had some time to poke at the Robber system. It seems pretty alright. Nothing too strong, but it looks usable. I don’t know what the Endgame actually expects from us, but I think that while we work to find out, the best thing we can do is try to gain as many Robber Points as we can. They’re all very minor power ups, but they’re still power ups.”

Teddy nodded. She liked this plan already. Getting stronger was never a bad idea.

“I don’t actually know how to increase our Robber Points effectively,” the Boss continued, then Athena interrupted her like a little owly brat.

“That’s easy. We just need to rob stuff,” she said.

It was so obvious that Teddy rolled her eyes. “You don’t just need to rob stuff. There’s other things you can do.”

“Yeah! Like steal, or mug, or thieving or borrow for a very long time without asking for permission first,” Trinity added.

“You’re forgetting larceny, embezzlement, and pilfering,” Athena added while crossing her arms. “But yeah, Big Sister Boss, anything like that should count, but generally, robbery will do best.”

“And what’s the difference?” the Boss asked.

“Robbery means taking by force, or with threats. Stealing is sometimes sneaky,” Athena said.

“Yeah, robbery is the more fun way of taking people’s stuff,” Teddy said. “‘Cause you take it from right in front of them, and there’s nothing they can do about it.”

The Boss frowned, crossing her arms and rubbing at her chin. “So, if we want to gain as many points as possible, the best way would be to rob someone. I… don’t think I want to do that just yet.”

“You don’t?” Teddy asked.

“It’s too unsubtle. The people we rob would report it, and then we’d have heroes looking for us, and HRF patrols would increase. We got three points yesterday just for, ah, breaking into that corner store. Do you think doing the same thing twice would give as many points?”

“Probably not as many,” Athena said. “Next time it might just be two, and then one after that.”

“That would still be three more total,” the Boss said. “That’s one more ability. What else can we do to gain more?”

“If you steal bigger stuff,” Trinity said.

“And things that are guarded,” Teddy added.

The Boss frowned, and it was clear she was really thinking about it, as the Boss did. “Alright. I think I can work with that. We don’t have a target for any sort of robbery, though, so that’s kind of out of the question for now. How are our food supplies looking?”

They mostly turned to Aurora and Maple, the two ‘supply’ sisters. “Not too bad,” Aurora said. “Snack levels were a bit depleted last night, but we still have enough for a day, maybe two if we stretch it.”

“Ah, I could use a few things,” Maple said. “Um, especially if we’re going to be heisting later.”

“Good point,” the Boss said. “Alright… I think I saw a hardware store in town, down the road past that gas station. It was one of those smaller ones, but it might have a lot of the kind of things you’d like to use, Maple. Would… taking things from there counts for Robbery Points?”

“Yeah, a bit,” Athena said. “Especially if you plan on using that stuff for a heist.”

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The Boss frowned. “Intent matters?”

“Yeah, of course,” Teddy said.

“That’s… kind of disturbing, actually. But okay. Let’s all have breakfast, we’ll leave for the Endgame in… call it twenty minutes? Don’t forget to use the washroom. And Maple, do you think I could lean on you later to fix up some sort of bath, with warm water? And maybe something to clean clothes with?”

Maple nodded quickly. “I’ll look at what we have here, then I’ll know what to grab. What kind of stuff will we need for a heist?”

“I don’t know, whatever you think you need,” the Boss said before turning towards the kitchen. She missed the way Maple’s pupils dilated and her face morphed into a big smile. “Okay! Get dressed up and ready everyone. We’re having, uh, dried cereal for breakfast.”

Teddy ran around with her sister, getting dressed up in a hurry, then she got geared up. There wasn’t much gear, just that hammer that Maple had made for her that did big bonks and a backpack that she could stuff full of the stuff they were gonna steal.

Twenty minutes later, they were slipping out of the back of the house they were borrowing and the Boss was leading them towards Saint Arie.

“We’re going to need to be pretty fast,” the Boss was saying. “We want to grab what we need and get out without getting caught.”

“Should we use the points we have?” Athena asked.

“Ah, not just yet,” the Boss said. “Once we’re back, maybe. I was thinking, since there’s a number of us, we could each get one of the more useful-sounding powers, and that’ll let us test a wide range of them. If one of them proves to be really good, then we’ll try to make sure that everyone has it.”

Teddy nodded. That was real smart. She’d seen the list and had to admit that she wasn’t all that impressed by the choices they had. A few seemed alright, but none of them were powers that would help her kick butt. They were all sneaky things.

Trinity would like them, she bet, but they weren’t the kind of powers that a bear needed.

Still, if the Boss wanted more power, welll she wasn’t the one who was gonna stop her!

The Boss had them all pack small lunches, and they all promised that they wouldn’t just snack on them before it was time for it, then with everything stuffed away, they took off.

First, they walked over to the Endgame. The Boss had Trinity move a rock next to another rock by some ditch. Teddy didn’t really pay attention when the Boss explained why, something about measuring the size of the Endgame? Why would that matter? They’d win it long before it got too big.

Then it was further into the space while the Boss told them not to spend any of their Robber Points just yet.

Arriving near the gas station, they discovered that someone placed a few cones around it, and the Boss winced.

“So, the HRF passed by. Nobody else would bother with cones,” she said.

“They might just be here for the fuel,” Aurora said.

“Yeah, that’d make sense,” Athena added. She couldn’t just let someone else say something smart without sticking her beak in. “Taking gas from here is just good for their logicalistics.”

“Logistics,” the Boss corrected.

“Right, those,” Athena said.

“Let me know if you hear anything,” the Boss said. “Or see anything. We don’t want to run into any HRF patrols.”

Teddy nodded, then reached up to touch her Robber mask. It was weird how it just showed up on her face, but she figured it was just part of the Endgame, and left it be.

Teddy stayed near the front of the group, just behind the Boss, hammer in hand and eyes peeled. It wasn’t like she was looking for trouble, but if it showed up, well, she wanted to be the one to flatten it.

The hardware store came into view a few hundred steps later. It was squat, concrete, and surrounded by cracked pavement, with gardening stuff on one side, and stacks of dirt on the other. The Boss raised a hand, gesturing for them to stop. “Alright,” she said. “A quick in and out. We grab what we need, silence any alarms, and make it back safely. Maple, you’re in the lead for this one. Grab whatever you want… as long as it’s not too heavy.”

“Okay!” Maple said.

And then they were off.

***

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