Today was the day the Alchemist got what was coming to him. Lady Bird braced herself on the railing of the catwalk, observing her Minions. Each was armed with a weapon made in the Nest, a weapon where one could adjust the force of it, from low to high. The low setting was for stunning and the high for more deadlier intentions. Number One stood beside her.

"Waiting on your orders, Boss." He had in his tactical gear, which was more defensive than his usual get up. She did too, though it was the armor that Resser had given to her. The Minions weren't so fortunate, though she did have plans for them to get some the next quarter.

Lady Bird nodded and stood up straight to address the Minions.

"I believe you know that the Alchemist is an A-lister, so that means he outnumbers us, outclasses us technologically speaking, and has more money to spend. But that also means that he's haughty and he will let his guard down, thinking he's untouchable. This mission is not to take him out, but down. Destroy as much of his property as you can and then retreat when the word is given. We'll go through the secret tunnel that's marked on the maps each of you have. Any questions?"

Grey raised his hand. "Why are we taking him down? I don't think I ever heard the reason for this…"

Annoyance pricked Lady Bird until she remembered he had been out during that time for a family emergency.

"He let me do all the hard work and swooped in and took what was rightfully mine. As a villain, he has the right to do that, but I also have the right to take it back. Anymore questions?" The sea of Minions was silent. "Then let us proceed and…"

"Front gate to Lady Bird, front gate to Lady Bird.."

While she was glad that one of the minions found discount two way radios in bulk, she didn't like the static that came with them. Still, it was better than nothing. She picked it off her belt and pressed the button .

"I'm in the middle of a speech, what is it?"

"There's a woman here demanding entrance. Said she's here to twitter Carrie."

Something told Lady Bird that the Minion had misheard the question. But it was very unusual for anyone to drive up to the nest and demand enertance. Usually, they were lost and wanted directions.

"Wait, this woman, does she have an accent?"

"Yes and…Hey, let go of…"

The radio went silent before it came back. "Lady Byurd, if you don't the child to learn, i will leave."

"Sorry Ms. Melinguaco, the minions didn't know you were coming today." Not to mention that she had completely forgotten about her too, so caught up in the operation. "They'll let you in now. If you just give me a minute, I'll introduce you to the kid."

“No, finish your speech. I can let myself in.”

There was a loud shriek followed by a metallic crash. Lady Bird winced and put the radio back. Hopefully, the gate had just fallen and it wasn’t in too bad condition. She wasn’t sure if their insurance company covered damage done by non-heroes. She had heard that Melinguaco was tough and no-nonsense and it appeared that the rumors were true.

“As I was saying, let’s proceed and show that A-lister what us B-listers are made of!”

After a yell, Lady Bird rushed down the catwalk and met Ms Melinguaco as the tutor entered the room. She certainly looked like a teacher, even more than the social worker had. She held a bag full of books and a laptop bag.

“Sorry about your gate, but it should be an easy fix. Now, where’s the child I will be teaching? Hopefully not asleep still.”

Lady Bird wasn’t sure if the kid was awake or not. She hadn’t seen her anywhere, but they may have just missed each other with as busy as she had been prepping for the operation. As far as she knew, she wasn’t someone who slept in that late.

“Sure. I’ll take you to her room.”

Melinguaco nodded. “I was wondering, Mrs. Lady Byurd, if you had a room where we could do it undisturbed that wasn’t her bedroom. It is not good for kids to associate their bedroom with something stressful or anxiety inducing like school. Though from what I can tell from the records you sent me, school work was not what seemed to stress her out.”

“We have a break room which probably won’t be in use during the time you would be over here since everybody is working during that time. Will that do?”

“It should, seeing that I will only be over here a couple of hours a day. Maybe not even that long, depending on how quickly she grasps the subjects.”

They arrived to the shipping crate and Lady Bird knocked on the door. The tutor’s eyes narrowed a bit when she saw the fact that she led her to a crate. She probably thought they locked her in there during the night.

“Hey kid, your tutor’s here.”

There was no reply. Lady Bird knocked once more. When there was more silence, Lady Bird pulled on the handle. Since it opened, that meant she had left it unlocked, which was a good indication that she was awake. Once she got the door fully opened, they saw Terri sitting at her desk with headphones in and on her laptop. But she must’ve seen the light from the door because she glanced over and her eyes grew wide for a brief moment.

“Sorry Jason, I’ve got to go. I lost track of time and the tutor’s here. I’ll catch you tomorrow or later today.” She pulled her headphones out and shut her laptop. Terri turned in her chair. “I didn’t hear you knock while I was talking to Jason. I just happened to see that he was online and decided to update him on my living situation. Sorry about that.”

But at least the kid was fully dressed and seemed ready to go, so she had that much going for her. Lady Bird stepped aside to let Ms. Melinguaco in. The woman’s expression seemed to soften once she saw the set up they had in there.

“Good. For a moment, I was questioning what kind of social worker the state sent out here that would allow someone to stuff a child in a shipping crate for long periods of time.” She turned to Terri and held out her hand. “You must be Terri. I am Ms. Melinguaco, your new tutor. I called a few of your teachers last week and they said good things about you. The same thing with some of the people that were part of the homeschool group you used to be in.”

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Melinguaco.” Terri shook her hand. “I know I could probably do online schooling, but I like having human faces along with my lessons.”

“We’ll be mostly online, but I’ll be here a couple of hours each day to get you started. I was thinking we could spend most of our time today planning out a schedule, what you were wanting to do on certain days.”

Lady Bird felt like she was intruding on something. While chances were she would get a copy of the schedule to stay in the loop, she didn’t feel like she needed to know every detail. And if she didn’t remember, Number One would. But at least that would get the kid out of her room a few hours a day and some socializing with someone other than the Minions.

“I’ll take you to the break room now, then I have to go. Since most of us will be gone, you two should have plenty of quiet.”

She started to lead them to the room. Terri decided to speak up.

“Dan said that you have a good chance of winning despite the Alchemist being an A-lister.” Lady Bird wasn’t surprised that others knew about this operation.Though hopefully, the Alchemist was the one person who didn’t know anything about it or just chalked it up to rumor. They needed the element of surprise to stand a chance. “He says that the Alchemist is only an A-lister because he meets all the numerical requirements, but nothing else. But this is just a sabotage mission, correct?”

“Yes. So we hit them hard and then pull out if all goes well. If all doesn’t, we’ll just pull out sooner than planned.”

They arrived at the break room and Terri entered. Ms. Melinguaco lingered back for a moment and lowered her voice to a whisper.

“Are you sure it’s all right to do a revenge mission when you have a child to take care of? Granted she’s older, but the Alchemist isn’t going to take this lying down. You attack him, he’ll strike back.”

Yes, Lady Bird had thought of that, but mostly with Wayne. One of the more competent Minions would be guarding him for a while. Several left him alone since he helped them with their taxes, but others wouldn’t have such reservations.

“I’ll send her to Beretta if I think things are getting dicey. Hopefully, we can do enough damage that it takes him a while to strike back. She’s only going to be here for six months, after all.” She wasn’t under any impression that the kid would choose to stay with them. From what she gathered, she wasn’t really looking to be adopted by anyone. “You tutor other villians’ kids. Do any of them know about her?”

“A few, but mostly the ones that Beretta tangles with on a consistent basis. Fortunately, they find it amusing that your plan backfired spectacularly.”

Ms. Melinguaco looked inside. Terri was busy setting up her laptop and getting out a pencil and notebook. The kid seemed very at home at the moment, more than Lady Bird had seen her before. A familiar routine probably kept her mind off things.

“The money should be in your account today.” Lady Bird assured her. “And if you need anything, we’re leaving a few people behind. They’ll get things for you.”

“Honestly, I think we have all the materials we need right here.” Ms. Melinguaco patted her bag. “As long as the internet holds out, I don’t think we’ll have a problem. And if it’s any consolation, I think you’re doing good so far. You certainly could be doing worse with Terri. I was skeptical about the crate, but since it’s outfitted, I won’t complain too much even if I think it looks a bit gaudy.”

Lady Bird supposed that was true, but it had only been a week after all, hardly long enough to come up with solid judgement. The kid would probably be alive by the end of all this, but she wasn’t sure she would be happy. While her happiness wasn’t her aim, she also didn’t want her to be completely miserable. The kid didn’t deserve that.

“I think it’s too early to be offering any congratulations, Ms. Melinguaco, but thank you for the kind words. I don’t know if we’ll be back by the time you leave, but we shouldn’t be gone all day.”

“All right, I’ll let Terri know. And Lady Bird, be careful. I don’t think your husband wants to end up as a widower with a foster kid at his age.” But her expression turned from somber to amused. “Besides, I have quite a bit of money riding on your success. I would hate to lose it because you got careless or something.”

Lady Bird had seen the odds online. It wasn’t as much of a longshot as she had first thought, but it was still clear that the odds were in the Alchemist’s favor. She nodded and saw Terri wave to her before she left. But she pushed the warm feeling she got from that out of the way. They had sabotage to commit.