Chapter Fifty-Nine - Catching the Mouse

Emily walked at a decent clip, her sisters... summons, keeping pace by walking fast with the occasional bit of jogging thrown in. Some part of her knew that she had to slow down, that it wasn’t kind of her to be heading off so quickly.

Some other part of her didn’t care.

Ever since Power Day had come and passed, Emily had been tossed around, with new revelations, and near... perhaps not death, but certainly near-something-awful experiences. Not to mention suddenly finding herself in the position of what was essentially a single mom.

She took a deep breath and let it all out in one long exhale.

“Boss, you okay?” Teddy asked.

Emily nodded. “I’m fine Teddy,” she lied. “It’s just. All of this has been a lot, you know?”

“That’s okay,” Teddy said. “You’ve got me to help. And Athena too, I guess.”

“There’s nothing to worry about, sis,” Athena added. “If anything bugs you, I’ll handle it. And maybe Teddy can like... stand by and try to look smart while I do that.”

Teddy’s head snapped around and she glared at Athena who stared right back, smug as an owl that caught a mouse.

“Thanks, girls,” Emily said.

She really did have to refocus. If Alea Iacta was in trouble, what would happen?

Her parents had brought her to a few psychiatrists over the years, mostly to help her through her anxiety. She never stuck with any one of them for very long. The meetings always made her too nervous. It was only later that she could appreciate the irony in that.

Still, some had given her a few tricks which she still used.

One was to break things down into their worst possible scenarios. What would happen if Alea Iacta, if Jacob, was captured?

He’d probably squeal and tell the heroes that she was a villain. That was bad.

If he died then... that would also be bad. She’d be safe, but down an ally. Also, he’d be dead, which wasn’t optimal. She didn’t like him all that much, but she didn’t want him dead.

What else? She couldn’t imagine a scenario worse than the heroes, and the Cabal, learning about her and her sisters.

So that was what she had to prevent.

If she arrived and an entire team of heroes was there, what could she do? Other than maybe stalling them, Emily couldn’t think of anything. Even that was asking for a lot.

If everything was in the worst possible situation, then there was nothing Emily could do. That was... not actually comforting at all. Maybe ditching that shrink had been a good idea.

She swallowed and kept moving. The closer they got to campus, the more people were out on the streets, and the more people stopped to look their way. Some seemed to want to gravitate towards them, but she suspected Athena was doing something if the way they looked spooked meant anything.

Emily bit her lip. She couldn’t do anything to stop the heroes.

Maybe she didn’t need to stop them outright.

If there was one thing she could say with certainty about Alea Iacta, it’s that he was slippery. Slippery and lucky.

“I have a plan,” she said.

The girls looked up to her, eyes filled with naive curiosity.

“When we arrive, we need to slow the heroes down. They think we’re one of them. So, we ask questions, and we try to lead them the wrong way, and we do our best to stall them. Give Alea Iacta time to run away and escape.”

“We could beat them up? That’ll give him plenty of time to run,” Teddy said.

Emily shook her head. “No. Not... not unless we don’t have any other choice. In fact, don’t beat anyone up unless I specifically tell you to, okay?”

Teddy nodded. “Sure thing, Boss.”

“I think I could use my power to confuse them a bit,” Athena said. “I can be really subtle when I want to.”

“That’s probably okay,” Emily said.

Her phone rang. She had to hop as she moved to fish out her phone from the tight pockets of her costume’s pants.

The moment she pressed the phone to her ear she heard Jacob panting. “Where the hell are you?” he hissed.

“I’m near campus. Where are you?” Emily asked.

“You know the Sleep Late station? With the gas and that little corner store? Cute redhead at the counter? I’m behind there. Hurry! I’m nearly out of juice and this girl just won’t stop.”

Emily picked up the pace a little. She knew where he meant, more or less. “Who is it?”

“I don’t know!” Jacob said. “Oh, crap. I have to go. Look, there are a bunch of old factory buildings like two blocks down. I’ll be there. It’s quiet. Less people. Hurry!”

Emily stuffed her phone in a jacket pocket and reached her hands down. Both of her summons grabbed on without having to be told. The people ahead of them were dodging out of their way. She supposed that was normal. Seeing superheroes running by meant that there was trouble out ahead.

They arrived at the gas station Alea Iacta had mentioned, and Emily jogged to a stop on the edge of the parking lot and looked around while letting go of her sisters to place her hands on her knees. There wasn’t any sign of any heroes, or Alea for that matter.

That didn’t mean much.

“I think it’s that way,” Emily said as she pointed.

They moved around the side of the gas station, and through the alley at its back. There was trash tossed around, and a few bags of it looked like they’d been slashed open where they were stacked next to some dumpsters.

All across the ground were faint, glimmering little sparks, most fizzling out with little wisps of smoke, others still burning bright.

“Pretty,” Teddy said.

“That’s someone’s power,” Emily said. It had to be. That, or someone was setting off fireworks in the alley just before they arrived.

“Makes it easy for us,” Teddy said. She pointed to the end of the alley where the sparks veered off to the left.

Emily had to admit she was right. “Let’s go,” she said.

They darted out the back, and across a narrow road set next to an old red-brick building. A factory of some sort, one that looked to be about as old as the city itself.

There were a few more sparks near to one side of the building, so they rushed over to that. Around that corner was another old, narrow road, one set between two rows of the old buildings. Some were still in use, though the factories were closed for the day. Still, newer cars were parked here and there, and past some frosted fences were forklifts and semi-trailers parked next to stacks of wood and shipping containers.

“There!” Teddy said while pointing off to the side.

A glance that way showed one building, in worse repair than the others. Its heavy wooden door was chained shut, but there were windows next to it, broken and surrounded by sharpened glass.

Lights sparked and flickered within, like sparklers going off, but without any of the noise that should have come with that.

“Good eye,” Emily said as she ran over. One of the windows had a milk crate set under it, and it looked as if a lot more of the glass had been broken out to make it easier to jump in. “Teddy, want to go in first?” Emily asked.

“Give me a boost!” Teddy said.

Emily got on the crate, then with a grunt, lifted Teddy over the lip of the window, careful not to let her touch the glass.

Then it was Athena’s turn, with Teddy helping and hindering as best she could.

Emily jumped in last, landing on the dusty hardwood floor and looking around. The factory had a low ceiling, with wooden beams running across it, and it smelled like mold and mothballs. A few heavy brackets mounted on the walls and floor hinted at where equipment had been before, but the place was otherwise empty save for some abandoned boxes.

“Come back here, you bastard!” someone screamed. Female, high-pitched, angry.

Emily looked to her sisters.

“I guess we go that way,” Teddy said.

“I guess so,” Emily agreed.

They didn’t quite run. Not on flooring that was so uneven, and in a place where the lighting was so bad. Still, they made good time crossing the main floor and arriving at a loading dock where the floors above were visible. There was a mechanism in place for a sort of elevator, though it was missing, leaving just the hole and a way to see the two floors above them.

Sparks flashed from above, racing ahead in complete silence.

“Stairs,” Athena said. She grabbed Emily and Teddy and pulled them forwards. “I’ve got the eyes for this, no worries.”

When they reached the top floor, it was to find a familiar pair running circles around each other. Alea Iacta was diving behind pillars and using boxes as cover, always moving just as the one attacking him looked the other way and avoiding the flying sparks by a hair.

In the centre of the room was Glamazon, the woman in her spandex armour, anger writ large on what was visible of her face, and around her, a storm of sparks and flaring lights.

“Okay,” Emily whispered.

Now she just had to get Alea out of the factory, and subdue an angered superhero.

Easy.

***