Chapter Sixty-Eight - Keeping it Up

Giving her sisters pizza only a couple of hours after feeding them ice cream was... probably not the brightest idea, but Emily felt that they all deserved a reward of sorts, and really, she wanted a slice of something greasy and unhealthy for herself too.

They brought the pizza boxes, still warm to the touch and smelling divine, down into the metro network and over to their little base where Emily laid down the boxes on the big planning table in the centre car.

Paper plates were handed out, arguments were had about who would get how much, and then soon enough, the table was surrounded by munching and moaning sounds as everyone dug in.

“So,” Emily said as she lowered her slice, then dabbed at her lips with a balled-up napkin. “Are you feeling okay?”

The question was directed to Alea Iacta, who sat in his usual seat. He shrugged. “I’m alright, I think.”

“Yeah, because you wouldn’t stop talking to Sparkles,” Athena said.

“Ew,” Trinity chorused.

“Why is it ew? What’s going on?” Maple asked.

Teddy sniffed. “Alea wants to do nature documentary stuff with that hero the Boss conned into working for us,” she explained.

“And that’s ew?” Maple’s pizza toppings were starting to slip off the crust as she paused to ask.

“Yeah, it’s disgusting. At least do that kind of thing with another villain, come on,” Teddy said. Then she glared across the table. ”But not with the Boss. She’s too good for you.”

Alea shook his head while Emily fought not to tell Teddy off. To be fair, she figured her chances with the opposite sex were slim, and that was before she inherited a gaggle of sisters and the role of sudden-single-mom.

“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling alright,” Emily said. “We’ll have to figure out a way to prevent what happened today from happening again.”

“Maybe he could man up and be less wimpy, then no one would try to kidnap him,” Teddy said. She stared at Alea, eyes narrowed. “Have you ever tried communism? It’ll grow out your muscles.”

“How would communism make me more muscular?” Alea asked.

“Because carrying the proletariat is hard work. There’s a reason that their symbol’s a bear, you know, and it’s not just because bears are the best,” Teddy said.

“Is there a place that has an owl to represent them?” Athena asked.

“I don’t think so,” Sam said. “I know owls are used as symbolism in a lot of places, either for wisdom or evil, but I don’t think there’s any political group that uses an owl.”

Athena sniffed. “Well, that’s okay. Evil and wisdom works for me.”

Sam laughed. “Maple has it easy, the country we’re in uses beavers as symbols often enough.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Maple muttered.

“What about racoons? What’s those mean?” Trinity asked.

“Uh,” Sam said. She looked to Emily for help.

“No one’s been brave enough to use a racoon as their symbol yet,” Emily said. “I’m sure it’ll happen one day, don’t worry.”

“Okay,” Trinity said. Then she reached over for another slice and got into an argument with her sisters over who had eaten the most.

Emily turned to Sam. “How about you? Were you in your car when it was hit?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, but it wasn’t bad. Had an ambulance guy check me out. No signs of whiplash or anything. I wasn’t really moving and the van didn’t have much time to accelerate, so it was more of a bump than anything.”

“And your car?” Emily asked.

“A real mess,” Sam said. She sighed. “Going to have to shop for something else. But, the big pro is that I splurged for super-insurance last month, just in case. Cost a heap, but it should cover everything. Got some papers from the HRT and police and everything. Even got a pat on the back for kind-of helping.”

“That’s good,” Emily said.

Sam nodded. “Gonna get myself something a bit bigger. Maybe a minivan?”

That would be nice, Emily thought. A car with enough room for all of her sisters to sit in would be a huge boon.

Emily nodded, then she considered what to say next. She was at the head of the table, and that came with a certain level of expectation. She settled on praising her sisters.They’d done surprisingly good work, and they could use the reinforcement. The last thing she wanted was for them to turn into actual villains just because she didn’t give them the attention they deserved.

“So,” Emily said. “I wanted to congratulate you all. Alea, well done making it back, Sam, thanks for the sacrifice you made. That was some quick thinking, and it certainly helped a ton.”

“No problem, Boss,” Sam said.

Emily turned to Teddy, who blinked back. “Teddy, you did really well tonight.”

Teddy’s cheeks warmed up. “Ah, well, just doing my job?”

“I know, but you were very brave, and I’m proud of you,” Emily said. She injected as much sincerity as she could into the words. It helped that they were true. “I know that protecting your smaller sisters is your ‘job’ but that doesn’t mean I’m any less proud of you for doing it so well.”

“Yeah!” Trinity cheered. “Even when your butt’s too big.”

“Even despite small issues, yes,” Emily said.

Teddy puffed her chest out. “Yeah, I’m pretty awesome,” she said. It didn’t hide the redness to her cheeks though.

Emily smiled, then turned to Athena. “You too. You’ve been invaluable whenever we head out and do something. Not just because of your powers, but because you’re a quick thinker.”

Athena grinned back. “Thanks. I’ll continue being the smart one, no worries, Big Sister!”

“Uh-huh,” Emily said. “Trinity, you did extra good today too. You might have taken a few... unnecessary risks, but everything worked out in the end, and I’m happy to see that you’re safe and sound.”

“I’ll always be fine,” Trinity said.

“It wouldn’t hurt to be a little more careful,” Emily said. Mostly, the thing it wouldn’t hurt was her own anxiety levels. “Just think about it, okay?”

“Okay!” Trinity agreed.

Emily figured she’d spend a tenth of a second longer considering whether or not to look down both sides of the street before choosing not to next time, but it was a (tiny) step in the right direction.

“And Maple, without your tracker, and without the tools you made, we wouldn’t have been able to save Alea at all. I know you’re the newest little sister here, but your help has been invaluable already!”

Maple didn’t reply, except to blush up to her roots and stare at the table while waiting for the attention to leave her.

Emily was more than willing to help her favourite introvert out in that regard. “So... I’m thinking... group hug as a reward?”

“Heck yeah!” Teddy said.

“Cuddles!” Trinity cheered.

Emily coughed as she was charged into by her sisters. Even the rather shy Maple joined in, though only on the edge.

“Okay, okay,” Emily said. She patted heads and rubbed backs until the hug was over.

She wouldn’t admit it, because it was rather embarrassing, but she was growing rather fond of that kind of simple physical affection. If felt nice in a way she had a hard time articulating.

“You did good too,” Athena said once she was free. She half turned and slapped Trinity’s hand away from her paper plate without looking. “Breaking into a villain’s lair, beating up their mooks, stealing a kidnapped ally? That’s some top-grade villain work!”

“Yeah!” Teddy added. “Plus you convinced Sparkles to work for you. That’ll set up a really cool reveal later.”

“Oh, we need to find a huge pit to do the reveal next to,” Athena said. “Or a lava moat.”

“Trash heap,” Trinity suggested. “Like, the hugest one ever. And we do the reveal in a helicopter above it.”

“I could build a floating platform,” Maple muttered.

“Okay girls,” Emily said. Their enthusiasm was nice sometimes, but less so at other times. “I don’t think we need to, ah, worry about that kind of stuff, okay?”

Athena nodded. “Yeah, we know you’re like, ten steps ahead of all of us in terms of villainy. That's what makes you the best Big Sister.”

Sam was grinning way too hard at that pronouncement.

“Right, yeah,” Emily said. “Anyway, we still have a lot of work to do, including cleaning up for today. So make sure there aren’t any leftovers, okay?”

That produced another cheer, and she desperately hoped that the energy her sisters had right now was a last gasp of manic energy before they all crashed because she couldn’t deal with them being this hyper once they got back to the dorms.

“What’s the plan from here on out?” Sam asked.

Emily considered it for a moment. “I think... well, we’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing. Earn more money, gain more influence, try not to get into too much trouble, and maybe I’ll have enough time between all of that to do my homework and get decent grades.”

***