At my old job, I had always been stuck in that crappy little supermarket doing whatever my crappy little boss told me to do.

At Fractal Inc., though, not only was I often going on more exciting expeditions, I even had my own chauffeur when going on a business trip!

Well, okay, it was Rob who volunteered to drive me, but still.

We were on our way to the neighboring city to take care of some business for Fractal. Apparently, he had all sorts of connections, not limited to just Kitran City. In hindsight… that was pretty obvious he would, wasn’t it?

“We’re here,” Rob said as we stopped in a parking lot.

We got out of the car and I took a good look at my surroundings.

Lupsville. According to some rumors, Iron Pack had been sighted here. Normally, I wouldn’t even react to dubious hearsay, but at this point, I was grasping at straws, trying to find her in any way I could. It had been so long since that night…

And then, of course, Fern. She still hadn’t replied in any way. Troy kept telling me his dumb hypothesis of multiple fish in the sea or whatever, but I refused to listen to him.

After all, I remembered someone at the LGBT meet-up had said Fern had moved to another city. So maybe, if my luck decided to come back from its vacation, I would reunite with her in this city as well.

“Let’s go,” Rob said after locking the completely normal-looking car, which was secretly decked out with technology from Fractal.

I nodded and we set off into the unknown land.

Different city meant different hero and villain scene. As far as I remembered, this was Shadeskip’s hometown… although I hoped I wouldn’t meet him again. I hadn’t made the best of impressions, after all. And since my weird luck was currently on a vacation, I wouldn’t dare to fight him now.

Other than him, though, this city actually featured the superhero school Fissure told me about. That was the third reason why I was in this city. I wanted to peek my head into there and see what it was about. And… who knew? Maybe Iron Pack actually had decided to retire as a villain and become a hero instead?

Maybe not… but it wouldn’t hurt to check.

First though, we had to take care of the official business. While I flailed around, lost in a new world, Rob quickly found the hotel we had our reserved room in and we settled inside.

Our mission was a simple trade with another villain. Neutra was her name, I recalled. Something about imbuing objects with various effects? Anyway, Fractal had already closed a deal with her through the magic of the Internet, and we were only here to exchange the goods.

That would be for tomorrow, though. For now, we still had an entire afternoon to settle in and do some sightseeing.

Unlike Kitran City, this place had way more heroes than villains, so it felt much safer to wander around. Which was absolutely terrible! Saying safe didn’t help anyone! I wanted to meet Iron Pack again, not be safe! Ugh!

Somehow, while pondering over the importance of safety, I found myself at the local shopping center. It reminded me of the… uh, date, we had with Fern. I wanted to repeat it… I wanted to meet Fern again and apologize for whatever I’d done to make her just leave.

But alas, what I want, and what reality decides to serve me, are two different things.

With nobody to help me distract me, wandering around the shopping center only helped to deepen my worries. Not even the local superheroes walking around and signing autographs lifted my spirits. Not even the sudden explosion and people screaming and running around me could get me to stop thinking about it all. Not even someone riding atop an iron wolf could--

Wait, wait, wait! What?!

“Get out of our city, villain!” shouted one of the heroes at…

At Iron Pack. That was Iron Pack! It was her! She really was here!

I stared at the scene while hiding behind a clothes rack, processing everything.

“How about no?” she said confidently.

Aaah! Her voice! Damn! Hearing her voice and seeing her again in person… I must have felt like a gambling addict who finally won something.

The heroes charged forward, but every single one of them was met with an iron animal conjured by Iron Pack. Not even a hometown of a superhero school could beat her! Yeah! You go! Woooo! I’d missed this so badly!

…

Wait, what the heck was I doing? I finally had the chance to speak with her and explain myself! Beating up the heroes is nice and all, but she was gonna leave afterward! I needed to…

Do what? Jump into the fray and help her? Call out to her?

…

As much as I would love to reunite with her sooner, committing suicide didn’t sound like the way to go. No, I would wait for her to emerge victorious -- which was obviously gonna happen -- and then have my heartwarming reunion!

Nodding to myself, I dashed into the back room of the store and found the back entrance. I had no idea which way she would go once she showed the heroes who was the boss, but I had an odd feeling drawing me in a certain direction.

This time, I followed it, no questions asked.

As the sounds behind me quieted down, I found myself in a place devoid of people. Following the sounds of metal hitting concrete, I rounded the corner and…

I saw her.

No, not her, but… her…

Fern was standing there right next to one of Iron Pack’s wolves, holding Iron Pack’s mask, wearing Iron Pack’s clothing, and sporting Iron Pack’s hairstyle.

Also, staring at me in shock.

“Oh…” I let out, my eyes buzzing around the figure in front of me. “Oh, shi--”

Before I could finish the exclamation, iron snakes burst out of the ground and mummified me.

BottledChaos

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