Chapter Fifty - Discreet as Usual

Emily’s head was spinning when she left Handshake’s hidden bar. The man had a lot of questions. Even choosing to skip quite a number of them (people didn’t need to know a lot of the things he’d asked about. Why had there been so many questions about her love life?) but she still had to scramble for answers for the less... embarrassing questions.

She imagined that to the right gossip, the answers might be worth a lot. In fact, she knew as much because Handshake had asked her if she would be willing to be interviewed by a national gossip rag.

The kind of terrible magazine she’d seen next to the chocolate and candy racks at more stores than she could count. She had never imagined herself featuring in one of those. She didn’t want to feature in one of those, but Handshake had offhandedly pointed out a few reasons why it might not be a bad idea.

As it was, an interview with a mask of any calibre was a pretty hot item for that kind of magazine, especially if that mask was currently on the evening news, which she unfortunately was--if only as a b-story.

For her, that would mean a favourable story because the magazine wouldn’t want to burn any bridges. It would also mean more money. Not a ton, but Emily could really use a few hundred dollars just for food and other expenses.

That, and it played into her protection racket plans.

Not that she was going to call them that aloud.

That evening, she returned to the dorm with her gaggle of sisters and put her problems out of her mind while she tackled some good old homework. It was nice and easy and mind numbing, which is exactly what she needed.

The next day would be more complicated, at least in the afternoon.

In the morning, Emily had Ethics. She appreciated the irony of the class as she found a seat in the back and listened to a poorly delivered lecture on the meaning of morality and the history of various traditions and beliefs.

They even touched on heroics and villainy. Emily squirmed in her seat, feeling a strange new sort of anxiety. Usually she was just afraid of being picked to talk, now she was afraid the room would turn to her, point, and accuse her of being a hero. Or a villain. Either was bad.

As soon as the class was over she rushed back to the dorms. She had a busy day ahead of her.

“Hey Ems,” Sam said as she caught up with Emily on the path to their dorm. “Oh... no, Ems doesn’t work at all. You don’t look like an Ems. Sorry, Emily.”

“Um, it’s fine,” Emily said. She tried not to wilt under Sam’s enthusiastic babbling. “Are you ready for today?” she asked.

“Oh yeah. It’s going to be great, don’t worry. What’s our time-frame here?”

“We have our meeting at four thirty,” Emily said. “It’ll just be me and the interviewer.”

“Don’t want to bring any of the brats?” Sam asked.

Emily gave her a look. “No. I don’t think I will. Can you think of any sister that would be useful in that kind of meeting? Athena might, maybe. She can be discreet sometimes. But she might also decide to make the interviewer paranoid or bark out something she read in their mind.”

“Yeah, she is a bit creepy, that one. Like, I shouldn’t judge a kid for their looks, because that’s the kind of judgemental stuff you should only reserve for adults, but Athena’s got weird eyes, especially when she’s just staring at you without blinking.”

Emily felt a little insulted on Athena’s behalf. Sam wasn’t wrong, but still, on principle she felt indignant. Not enough to comment though.

“The others would be... well, Teddy would use any platform to talk about communism.”

“Which the gossip rags would love, if in the wrong way.”

“And Trinity would definitely say something and then steal from the interviewer.” Emily considered her newest sister for a moment. “Maple would be okay, I think. She’s shy unless you get her babbling about one of her inventions, but that’s mostly just cute, honestly.”

Sam nodded along. “Your sisters are all cute. It’s a big advantage.”

“Did you just say that Athena was creepy?”

“Creepy can be cute if you try hard enough,” Sam said. “Anything can be cute if you’re willing to put some elbow grease into it.”

Emily eyed her... maybe-friend. “I’ll take your word for it,” she said.

“So, we have a few hours, and I have a few targets. The first one’s our best bet, I think. You’ve heard of the Yeast Feast, yeah?”

“I’m sorry, the what?” Emily asked.

Sam snorted. “Proving you're not a local there. It’s this old bakery that’s like, right next to the campus. You’ve walked by it, guaranteed. Anyway, the place was run by this nice old guy and his dog. Well, the dog didn’t run the place, he just slept out by the door and gave people puppy-eyes for food. Anyway, that was a while ago. The old man passed on a few years ago.”

“What happened to the dog?” Emily asked.

“You know, I have no idea. It was an old dog though. Big fat bread-filled mutt. Anyway, the place closed down for a year or so then this nice gay couple bought it. Now they sell pastries and bread and cakes and stuff. It’s pretty popular, at least with the richer students. They’ve been robbed a few times though.”

“A few times?” Emily asked. “Where is this, exactly?”

“Right next to the campus. Next to this hardware place and some apartments. It’s kind of weird the people rob the place, but I guess they deal with a lot of cash. So yeah, a good place to continue our protection racket, I think. And if you want to do advertising stuff, it’s probably a good place for it.”

Emily nodded. Somewhere open would be somewhat safe, probably. Or it should have been in any case.

“Have you spoken to the owners?” she asked.

Sam nodded. “I did. Set up a meeting and everything. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. Just get Teddy to sit out front and they charge by the hour.”

“Teddy?”

“In her bear form, yeah. Maybe they can make her a plus-plus sized apron or a chef’s hat.”

“I thought it was a bakery?” Emily asked.

Sam snorted. “Same difference. Come on, let’s grab the brats, boss!”

Emily followed Sam into the dorms, then rode the elevator up with her. When she arrived in her room and finished hugging everyone and ensuring that nothing had been set on fire, they packed up their costumes into their go-bags and headed out. She was glad to see that Maple hadn’t turned her computer into a laser rifle or Mister toaster into another railgun. Still, she made note to grab some random junk for Maple to play with.

Everything she read about gadgeteers said that they had a strong compulsion to make stuff. In fact, few powered individuals could sit on their laurels. Emily wasn’t sure if that was some mental part of having a power, or if it was just plain temptation at work.

If you could fly around or turn into a bear or build neat things from junk... why wouldn’t you?

“Alright girls,” Emily said. “We’ll be doing some... some villain stuff today.”

She paused while the girls cheered.

“But I still want all of you on your best behaviour, okay? We might be extorting people for their money but... but we need to be polite and look heroic while doing it.” Sometimes Emily couldn’t believe the things she was saying.

“No problem, Boss,” Teddy said with a thumb’s up. “By the way, what’re we gonna do about Maple?”

Maple shifted to the side where she’d be partially hidden from everyone’s attention by Athena.

“Oh, right,” Emily said. “We need a costume for you, don’t we?”

Maple gulped. “Do I need one?”

“I... guess. Unless you’d rather just not be seen?”

Maple’s head bobbed up and down at that.

“Well then, maybe we can arrange something like that for you,” Emily said. “We’ll have to make a quick stop to drop you off at the metro tunnels. Maybe a Trinity can stay with you?”

“It’s a good idea. She’s not a front-liner anyway. She can tinker away in the tunnels, maybe make some cool gizmos for the others,” Sam said.

Maple was still clearly a bit nervous about the attention, but Emily had the impression she was enjoying the idea.

“Well, why not,” Emily said. She couldn’t see the worst that could happen there.

***