Chapter Eight - Sisterly Love

Athena was riding a pretty great high. Sure, she was squeezed in between two of Trinity’s bodies in the backseat of a car that smelled like Im Orton’s coffee and wet socks, but none of that mattered. The happy in her heart warmed her enough that no amount of stinkiness could subdue her good mood.

Emily had picked Athena over the others, and everything had worked out for the best.

That, on top of a whole morning entirely dedicated to doing villainy? It was gearing up to be the best day ever.

The new minion parked the car along a quiet road, and then they all piled out. Athena shot Trinity a glare as she tried to scramble over Athena (who had decided to use the seatbelt because safety was important). She got out soon enough, and as usual they all took their places around the Boss.

This was something they had discussed between themselves. The more sisters Emily had, the less time she’d have to spend with all of them, which was awful and no good. No self-respecting villain would allow someone else to just take what was theirs, but at the same time, sisters were important. They were the friends you didn’t get to choose.

So, the sisters (mostly Athena) had devised a cunning system where they’d all have their own positions and important jobs to do. That way, when the boss inevitably grew much stronger and had a whole army of sisters to rule the world with, they would all have important places right next to her.

Teddy was the muscle, Trinity the disposable fodder, and Athena was the one that looked around and made sure that no one was pulling a fast one on the Boss. It was the most important position of them all, not that she’d told as much to her sisters.

She carefully turned her head around, scanning the neighbourhood for problems.

It wasn’t the nicest neighbourhood. The cars weren’t as new-looking as some she’d seen, the houses were older and some obviously needed a bit of cleaning up. There was a corner store at the end of the street that had a peeling sign that said it sold cigars and alcohol and other boring adult stuff, and about halfway between that and where they parked was a barber shop.

Athena paid particular attention to that since that’s where the Boss said they’d be going.

“Are we going to hide in an alley again?” Trinity asked.

“Uh, I don’t think so, no,” Emily said. “Not here at least, there aren’t any alleys to hide in.”

“Aww, that sucks,” Trinity said.

“Why do you want to hide in an alleyway so much?” The Boss asked.

Trinity grinned three times over. “There was a neat dumpster in the last one that smelled funny. I found a dead rat! And then we got fries.”

“The... the first had nothing to do with you hiding in an alley. And did you wash your hands? Did you touch the rat?”

“Yeah, it was real hard.”

The Boss reached up and rubbed at her face while the new minion reached into her purse and fished out a bottle of something that she insisted they all rub on their hands.

Athena didn’t complain, the stuff was cold and smelled like a sting to the brain. Trinity fussed and tried to only wash one set of hands, but the new minion insisted and the Boss didn’t tell her off for it.

“Alright,” the Boss said. “I think this one will just be me and Sam. Can you girls, uh, act non-suspiciously out here for a little bit?”

“No problem, Big Sister,” Athena said. She gave the Boss a good, non-suspicious wink to assure her of her seriousness.

The Boss looked at her strangely for a bit before shaking her head and moving towards that barber’s shop.

On arriving near the front of it, Emily gestured towards a bench sitting under a streetlamp. “Just sit around there and try not to make too much trouble, please.”

“Yeah, I’ll watch over them,” Teddy said, as if she was the boss of them.

Athena stepped on Teddy’s foot. “We’ll be fine, Boss,” she replied with a confident smile.

The Boss and Sam stepped up and into the barber’s shop, only pausing to let some old guy pass as he left. Athena didn’t think he was a customer, not with the big shiny spot on his head where hair should have been. Or maybe the barber was really bad at his job?

“What was that for?” Teddy asked as she rounded on Athena.

“What was what for?” Athena asked.

Teddy gestured to her boot. “You stepped on me.”

Athena sniffed and crossed her arms. “Only because you were being brutish.”

“That’s not even a word,” Teddy said.

“Yeah, it is, and you’d know it if you weren’t so brutish.”

Teddy growled. “I’ll brutish you all across the sidewalk,” she said, one fist rising.

Athena grinned. Teddy was being annoying because Teddy was jealous that Athena was proving to be a better sister. It was the best kind of jealous, because it came from Athena being better than someone.

“The Boss told us not to,” Athena countered.

Teddy’s eyes narrowed, then she lowered her fist, though her scowl stayed in place. “Yeah, well whatever. I’d kick your butt anyway. You don’t even have any cool secondary powers.”

“I will, eventually,” Athena said. “I’m just waiting for the optimal time to do some villainy.”

“Bet you’re too afraid,” Teddy taunted.

Athena glared back. “Am not,” she retorted.

“If you’re so not afraid, why don’t you, uh...” Teddy glanced around, then grinned and pointed to a group of guys walking just a couple of dozen metres away. “Mug those guys.”

Athena rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to mug strangers just like that. The Boss told us not to make trouble. Besides, they’re just normal people, they probably don’t have anything worth mugging.”

One of the guys snickered and smacked his buddy against the side. “You hear that? We’re not worth mugging,” he said.

The guy in the lead laughed. He was a big, muscular sort of guy, with a leather jacket--not as cool as Athena’s--over a tanktop. Strangely enough, he had a bunch of chains wrapped around his middle, and he jangled a bit as he walked.

Weirdo.

“So, you girls don’t think we’re scary, huh?” he asked.

“I’m not afraid of anything,” Teddy lied like the lying liar she was. Athena knew that Teddy was afraid of all sorts of things. “But Athena’s probably peeing herself right now.”

“I am not!” Athena gasped. “I’ve never peed myself before! And I’m not going to because of some ugly boys.”

“Ouch,” one of the boys said. He looked at his two friends and shook his head. “I’ve been ditched and rejected before, but somehow this hurts more.”

“Hey, girl, how about you apologise, huh?” the guy with the chains asked. “Insulting people’s not nice, now is it?”

His friends chuckled, as if that was somehow funny.

“I’m not a nice person,” Athena said.

Teddy sighed. “If you guys aren’t going to help me insult Athena then just keep going, yeah?”

Athena stiffened. “So you’d rather spend time with these ugly guys than us as long as they’ll say what you want them to say?”

“I’m not a capitalist, I don’t care to make people say what I want them to say,” Teddy shot back.

“That didn’t even make sense,” Athena said.

“It totally did, you’re just too much of a good girl to understand,” Teddy said.

Athena and all three of Trinity gasped.

It was obvious that Teddy caught on to what her mouth said a moment later. Her eyes widened and she looked at Athena. “Ah, shit, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t call you good.”

“I should tell the Boss,” Athena said.

“What? No!” Teddy said. “Nah, don’t do that. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Oh yeah, how?”’

“Uh,” Teddy said. “Wait, we’re here to beat up some gang, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Athena said. She was a little curious to know where Teddy was going with that.

The bear girl nodded. “Then I’ll let you beat up the leader.”

“Wait, what’re you girls talking about?” the guy with the chains asked.

“Shut up, comrade,” Teddy said.

“Fine then,” Athena said. She extended a hand to Teddy. If they were gonna do this, they’d do it properly. “When we meet that Iron Chain guy, I get to kick his butt for the Boss.”

“Wait,” the guy with the chains said. “What was that?”

Teddy shook. “Deal.”

“No really, what did you just say?” the guy added.

“We’re busy, old guys.” Athena said. “And we’re not supposed to talk to strangers. Go do boring old people stuff elsewhere. Sheesh.”

The guy looked at his friends. One looked worried, the other shrugged. “Yeah, alright,” he said. Athena watched them walking off for a bit before turning towards the barber shop. The boss was exiting, and she looked... pretty fine. Things had probably gone well then.

“Hey girls,” Emily said. “So, I think we know where to find that Iron Chains guy.”

“Cool,” Athena said. “I can’t wait to put the fear of spankings into him.”

***