Chapter Forty-Nine - No Rest for the Not-So-Wicked

Emily hadn’t disliked the patrol. Sure, it really put her social abilities to the test, and it was hard and not something she’d want to do often, but it wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. It was like going to the dentist. The anxiety of going was often worse than the experience itself.

She couldn’t say the same about the post-battle scene.

Once they’d secured Small Package with a pair of cuffs, and once a van from the HRF arrived to help secure him, she and the other heroes were left on a street crawling with police and ambulances.

There weren’t any injured, and there wasn’t any fire, but they still had EMTs and firefighters looking around. Police cordoned off the street, and none of the heroes were allowed to leave until they’d been asked a few dozen questions by a bored detective.

She was afraid that the police officer might discover something, but the questions had been perfunctory and simple. Apparently, there had been plenty of footage of the entire event from a dozen angles, and the detective let slip that it was a pretty clear-cut case. The only person hurt was the criminal, and even that seemed negligible.

And so the young heroes were then faced with a far scarier prospect than talking to the police. The media.

For every ambulance and police car, there was a news van, and it seemed that there were more reporters on the scene than government agents.

Emily tugged Teddy after her and tried to find a spot to hide away from the cameras. In the end, her saviour came from the phone she’d been given. It buzzed, and displayed a message saying that extraction was available if she wanted it.

Extraction, as it turned out, was a free ride in the back of a cramped van with Slaymaker and Cheatah.

“Just the four of us, huh?” Slaymaker said as Emily jumped in and then helped Teddy climb up. Teddy’s legs were a bit too short to make it up into the back without her first sitting on the edge.

“Um, I guess,” Emily said.

The armoured man shrugged huge shoulders. “Figures. Hindsight and Glamazon both seem to enjoy the limelight a bit more than I’d think is healthy.”

“They’re faces,” Cheatah said.

Emily settled down in a seat opposite Slaymaker and three seats down from the cat-themed heroine. “Faces?” she asked as she helped Teddy buckle in.

“Heroes that work in the public eye a lot. Big, flashy. They sell a lot of merch and spend a lot of time doing image things,” Cheatah said. “The other heroes, at least, the others that are active, they tend to be the ones carrying the brunt of the duty.”

“Oh,” Emily said.

“At least they don’t need to costume up as much,” she said. “And some are famous anyway. Like Melaton.”

“Melaton isn’t a face?” Emily asked.

“Have you seen any interviews with her? She swears like a sailor half the time, and seems like she’s one rude comment away from punching out a reporter.”

That... sounded about right.

The rest of the trip was done in relative quiet. Slaymaker pulled out a phone from somewhere in his armour, and Cheatah nestled into her seat and closed her eyes.

Even Teddy was pretty quiet, leaning all the way over so that she could rest her head against Emily’s side while she moved Emily’s arm over her shoulder like a blanket.

The van stopped eventually, and Slaymaker squeezed his way out the back.

On exiting, Emily found herself in a rather familiar parking garage. Melaton was nearby, leaning against the back of her car with a cigarette pinched between two fingers. Emily glanced around, but there wasn’t anyone telling her where to go or what to do, so she helped Teddy out of the van and wandered over to Melaton. “Um, hi,” she said.

Melaton blew out a plume of smoke from... not a cigarette, but a thin cigar. “You can’t stay out of trouble, huh?” she asked.

“It wasn’t our fault,” Emily said.

The woman shook her head. “Want a ride back to the park?” she asked.

“That would be nice,” Emily admitted. She knew it was only early evening, but she felt like... well, like she’d been out doing social things all day.

Melaton slid her cigar back between her lips, shoved off the back of her car, then she casually climbed onto the trunk, stepped onto the top of the driver’s seat, then fell down behind the wheel. “Come on.”

Emily scrambled to get into the passenger seat, using the door because the idea of stepping on the car so casually felt super offensive. Teddy got into the back seat and buckled up with no protesting. She seemed rather tired, which was completely fair. She’d worked hard.

“Same place?” Melaton asked.

“The park? Yes please.”

“Hrm.” Melaton backed them out, then took off with a squeal of burning rubber. In no time at all they were violating traffic laws and heading over to the park. “We had something of a live feed going on,” she said.

“Oh?” Emily asked.

“Negative points for following along with Hindsight’s shit plan, but otherwise, good work.”

Emily sank into her seat. “Was that normal?”

“Nah. We get maybe two, three villain attacks a month, at most. It’s worse this time of year, of course. Calms down, and by mid-summer--” Melaton cut herself off as she changed over two lanes without so much as glancing back. “By mid-summer it’s quiet as hell for us. Endgames are generally rougher by then though.”

“Oh,” Emily said. “Okay. And, ah, do you know what a cabal is?”

They almost rear-ended a truck as Melaton’s head whipped around. “Where’d you hear that?”

“The villain, Small Package? He muttered something about that.”

“Damn,” Melaton said. “Just pretend you didn’t hear anything about that. It’s for the best. And get rid of those phones.”

“Okay?” Emily said. She took out the phone she’d been given, and lacking a place to put it, placed it in a cup holder. A glance behind showed Teddy snoring through Melaton’s driving, so she’d need to grab her phone later.

They made good, if quiet, time to the park. Melaton didn’t bother parking properly, not when there were so few cars around. “You two stay safe, alright,” Melaton said. “You did good today. You’ve got loads of potential. If you wanna do anything with it, then... yeah, I could show you around some more.”

Emily felt her cheeks warming, so she acted, stepping out of the car, and shaking Teddy awake before taking the girl’s phone and leaving it on the backseat. “I, I’ll think about it,” Emily said. “Um, thanks for today?”

“No problem. I’ll be sure to swing a bit of cash your way. The way you’re caring for the kid, I figure you’ll need it.”

“Thanks,” Emily said again. Talking money was just as uncomfortable as ever. “Bye.”

She watched Melaton drive off while Teddy leaned into her side, and then it was off to the public washrooms to get changed. As soon as they were out and heading back, Emily noticed how Teddy was flagging and she couldn’t ignore the gnawing guilt in her stomach any more.

“Teddy, want a piggyback ride?”

“A wha?”

Emily knelt down, put her backpack on Teddy, then got the girl to hop onto her back.

At first, Teddy giggled and cheered Emily on, but soon her burst of energy ran out and she nestled into the crook of Emily’s neck and went right back to sleep.

Emily had an odd moment of quiet where she could contemplate her day. It was... strange, but satisfying too. She could get used to the idea that she was someone that did things.

They arrived at the dorm with only some trouble, mostly from Emily’s back straining at the weight. Teddy was definitely on the heavier side.

Getting her phone out to open the door was tricky, but she managed, and soon enough they rode up the elevator and walked over to their room.

Emily set Teddy down, the werebear yawning hugely as she stood next to Emily.

Emily opened the door and stepped in, then she froze.

Two things jumped to her at once.

First. Where and when had Athena gotten herself a leather biker’s jacket?

And second, and more disturbing. Why was Alea Iacta laying on the floor in the fetal position?

***