“Cheeeese!” I grinned at my phone as the flash captured my amazing self.

I pulled the phone to me and immediately looked at it, nodding to myself in satisfaction.

“You know,” Troy started. “Isn’t this kind of pointless at this stage?”

“What do you mean pointless?! I lost the bet, so of course, I had to finish up with what you gave me as the punishment!”

“I mean…” He looked at the statue behind me, eyeing the base which had been fixed since a certain lion rammed a hero into it. “I thought you forgot about it by now. I sure did. It’s been a bit and a lot of stuff has happened since then.”

“Hah! Forget? Me? Never! I am a --” I felt a grin grow on my face as I was about to say the next word “-- woman of my word!”

“Heh…” My friend grinned. “You haven’t changed at all, you know?”

“Well, I think she changed a lot, Troy!” Miranda disagreed. “And in my opinion, this is the perfect way to say goodbye to the city with so many memories.”

“I agree,” Kelly said. “It’s so nostalgic. In a way, this is where it all began, isn’t it?”

“Ah yes, this is where our innocent maiden became a woman,” Miranda finished.

“Don’t make it sound so dirty!” I shouted, fighting a blush.

“Well, that aside.” She turned to me. “Any other places we should visit, boss?” She grinned.

I took a second to calm myself, masking it as eyeing the scenery in thought.

“Well, my loyal minion, I think this was the last thing I needed to do before bidding this city goodbye.” I grinned back.

“I thought only villains had minions,” Kelly said with a smile.

“But assistants sounds so lame! It’s as if I’m some kind of office lady with a lot of paperwork!”

“Don’t you still have a ton of paperwork?” Miranda raised her eyebrow. “That we do assist with?”

“Well, yeah… but… ” I shifted my gaze. “Anyway! Our ride is waiting. We shouldn’t keep him waiting!”

“Ah yes, the signature move of Princess Fox, changing the subject,” Miranda quipped.

“Shut up!” I shouted back as I walked off. The trio of minions followed me.

Thinking back, I expected cleaning up the entire city of the villain family’s influence to be way harder and a lot more time than it did. Just under a month of a few raids on their bases and apparently, they were driven out already? The infamous Brimscythe family?

Well, must have been because of my awesome power.

I rounded the corner and found our ride. A very unassuming old car parked near the square. Two familiar figures leaning on the said car and discussing something.

“Heeey! Fern! Michael!” I waved at them.

I still couldn’t believe just how mundane Fractal looked out of his armor. It really was the perfect disguise.

“Aster!” My girlfriend ran to me and gave me a hug. “Finally done with your business here?”

“Yup! Ready to kick those villains from another city!” I said while pumping my fist.

Michael nodded and opened the car’s door, revealing an interior much bigger than what it seemed from the outside.

“There’s something we have to discuss on the way. Let’s get in,” he said before getting into the car and claiming a spot on the couch.

The rest of us trickled inside the living room-sized space inside the tiny car and got comfortable. Once inside Michael nodded at Rob who was in the driver’s seat, and we set off.

“So,” the former villain began. “As you might have all noticed, cleaning this city of Brimscythe influence has been… very easy.”

All thanks to my amazing self!

“Tess says that was intentional. They never had a proper foothold here, and by making it feel easy, they wanted to catch us off guard the next time.”

Wait, what? That’s lame!

“I don’t need to say to be especially careful from now on, but just as a reminder, Lupsville is a much bigger city than Kitran. With a much more active super scene.” He laid out a paper on the table in the middle of the room and pointed at it.

“Other than the Brimscythes, there are a few players in the city. First, the city is home to the nomadic Shadeskip, who,” He glanced at Fern. “Unfortunately we haven’t been able to contact in any way.”

Oh… that ninja guy. Hadn’t he and Fern teamed up some time ago? Had that been temporary? I’d never asked.

“Next up, there’s the inventor Neutra and her organization.” He pointed at a stylized N. “She’s… a bit unpredictable, but we think we know how to handle her in case we run into issues with her.”

Oh, her! I remembered doing some nefarious villain goods trading with her on Fractal’s behalf once upon a time. Hadn’t she given me a letter addressed to Fractal back then…?

“Then we have several independents ranging from petty thieves to small-time mercenaries.” He pointed at each of the names scribbled on the paper.

“Uhm,” Miranda seemed to have noticed the one name he had not addressed yet. “Who is this ‘Mama’?”

Michael frowned as he looked at the word. “Recently, a dangerous new gang had formed in Lupsville. Although gang might be the wrong word. Cult sounds more accurate.”

A… cult? Crap, those were never good.

“Honestly, it’s still just rumors, and not even Tess could figure much about it. Word is that the members are all young girls with superpowers, all working for the sake of this ‘Mama’. Whether this Mama is even real or not, we still don’t know.” He grimaced. “What we do know, is that the girls’ behavior ranges from erratic to downright strange. Seemingly missing common sense and doing whatever they please.” He looked up to eye each one of us. “If you ever meet one of them, proceed with caution.”

That… honestly sounded terrifying.

“Are you sure they aren’t just a happy family with overeager kids?” I tried.

“Hundred percent sure.”

I swallowed despite knowing my power would keep me safe.

BottledChaos

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