Fluff

Chapter Sixty-One - Confidence

Emily pulled her phone out and tapped the power button to light the path ahead of her a little better. She had the impression that Jacob was somewhere around where she was, but she couldn’t be entirely sure.

If he was smart, he was sneaking his way out.

That would be the optimal solution, to find that he was clever enough to run away while she was talking to Glamazon. She didn’t think she’d be that lucky.

She moved past a pillar. It... felt weird to not be afraid. She should have been worried about Glamazon, but she wasn’t. The girl’s sparkles were a nuisance, but not that much of a threat. And while she was walking into a darkened factory, with cobwebs hanging off the corners and shifting shadows everywhere that her cell phone’s light didn’t reach, the only thing she expected to meet in the dark was Jacob’s terrified face.

It was... refreshing, to not be afraid.

A lot of her life had been ruled by that, the constant fear that something, someone, would pressure her, make her act on the spur of the moment. Now that it was happening all the time, she was... definitely not getting used to it.

On the other hand, she had a lot more power now, a lot more control over things. It was refreshing.

Maybe the confidence wasn’t earned. Maybe she needed to sit down and wait for the adrenaline to wash away.

Or maybe it wouldn’t be entirely bad to be confident, at least when she had the mask on.

Her light slid past something pale, then she brought it back and watched as Jacob blinked dumbly at her. “So, there you are,” she whispered.

“Emily?” he asked. “Oh... hey? Did you get rid of that crazy one? With the fireworks?”

“No, she’s still looking for you,” Emily whispered. “Don’t talk so loudly.”

Jacob nodded and shifted so that he was standing properly. Emily raised her phone and looked past him. There was only a dead end beyond, a sort of chamber stuck to the side of the main factory floor. “You know, I thought I was screwed there for a bit.”

“You might have been,” Emily said. “We’re going to distract Glamazon, you need to get down. Do you have any luck left?”

“Fresh out. I was running on fumes already, and I spent what I had left getting this far.” He stood and leaned forwards to see past Emily, but she pushed him back. He was in jeans and a dark grey hoodie, enough to serve as sorta-camouflage in the factory, and it was probably one of the things that had stopped Glamazon from spotting him so soon, but it wouldn’t do for him to just step out.

“Fine,” Emily said. “I’ll move over that way.” she gestured off to her left. There was another room that way. “And then call for Glamazon to come over. You run for it. If Athena follows you or whatever, you do as she says, alright?”

“And then what?” he asked. “Where am I supposed to go now?”

“I don’t know,” Emily said. “Hide somewhere and call me later.”

“This isn’t even my phone,” he said.

Emily blinked. “You stole it?”

“It was just laying there... on the passenger seat of some guy’s car. He has a cute girlfriend, her pics on the background.”

“I-I don’t care. Just... get back there and wait.” She stomped off, making sure to flash her light around as if searching in case Glamazon looked her way.

Somehow, it was so much easier to work with her little sisters than with someone like Alea Iacta. She couldn't decide if it was because they listened to her, or if he was just an idiot.

She found another chamber, like the one Alea Iacta had been hiding in. There were boxes and enough corners that a dozen people could have been hiding there. Emily bounced on the spot a few times and unlimbered herself before taking a deep breath.

“Glamazon!” she called back.

“What?” came the echoing reply.

“Over here!”

The heroine ran over, sparks forming and sputtering in the air around her. Emily pointed into the chamber. “I think he’s in here.”

“What? You see any footsteps?”

Emily blinked and looked down. Her feet traced a path back to where she’d been, the dusty floor leaving little to the imagination. “No?” she said. There weren’t any leading into the chamber.

“Hmm, he’s a sneaky bastard. I think he’s been jumping onto things to hide the traces, and it’s not dusty everywhere, you know?”

“Uh, yeah,” Emily said.

“You saw him in there?”

Emily nodded, then hesitated. She didn’t want to be caught out in a lie. “I think so? Was he, uh.” She flashed her light deeper into the chamber and made out a few rough piles of dust-grey cloth. “Was he wearing a grey shirt?

“Yeah. Grey hoodie.”

“Then I think so.”

Glamazon fired a few lights into the chamber, bigger ones, that served as decent flares. “It’s a dead end,” she said before raising her voice. “We’ve got you now, you dumb bastard!”

Emily moved up with the heroine until she paused.

“You’re more of a close-range type, right?”

“Huh? N-no, not really?”

Glamazon’s mouth set into a firm line. “Me neither. I know some martial arts, and my sparks can sting like mad when they’re fresh, but that’s about it. Stay close then, I guess.”

“Right,” Emily said. She had to stay close one way or another.

She... probably shouldn’t have placed herself in the middle of any sort of action. Her power was more of a minion-ish one, even if her minions weren’t very expendable-looking.

She didn’t like thinking that way at all, it felt wrong.

Something rustled way off behind her, and for a moment she started to turn before remembering that Jacob was meant to be running.

Glamazon’s head rose and she started to look behind.

Thinking fast, Emily pointed ahead. “What’s that?”

Glamazon blinked. “It’s a box?”

It was, in fact, a box. “He could be... in it?”

Glamazon looked at Emily, even with half her face covered, the doubt was easy to read. The box was far too small to hold anyone.

“Uh, nevermind?”

Something scuffed the ground behind them, and this time they both turned to see Jacob, in the middle of the factory, arms pinwheeling while some piece of wood skittered underfoot. She imagined that he’d tripped. Which meant that his luck really had run out.

“Got you!” Glamazon shouted even as her sparks raced out across the factory and smacked Jacob in the back.

He yelled, his flailing turning wild for a moment before he crashed to the ground.

Glamazon tugged something out from the back of her costume, and for a moment Emily thought she had a gun until she saw the yellow cap on the end. “Media’s going to eat this up,” Glamazon said. “Worth every penny.”

Emily’s eyes closed. “Sisterportation: Teddy,” she muttered.

A moment later, a grizzly appeared before her. “Boss?” she asked.

Glamazon started to turn.

Teddy was a lot faster.

A paw the size of Glamazon’s head came around with a heavy swipe. Emily flinched back as the paw smacked Glamazon with a dull thump. She only just caught the heroine’s feet flying out from under her.

It ended as soon as it started, Glamazon landed with a cough.

At the other end, Jacob scrambled to his feet, looked back for just a moment, then took off running.

Athena slipped out from behind her hiding spot and rushed over, only pausing to pick up Glamazon’s taser on the way.

Glamazon coughed, then rolled over. “What the hell is wrong with--” she began.

Then Athena fired the taser right into the heroine’s chest. She convulsed, twisting this way and that.

“S-stop!” Emily said. “Stop Athena.”

“Ah, but this is kinda fun,” Athena said.

Glamazon coughed and raised a hand. Sparks started to appear around her.

Athena pulled the trigger again.

“Um,” Emily said. She swallowed, took in the confident, almost smug look Athena was giving her, then she moved up to stand above Glamazon. “I’m sorry about that,” she said. She was surprised that the quiver was gone from her voice. “That was my bad.”

“Did, did you just double cross me? What the fu--” Glamazon twitched again. “Stop that!”

“Swearing is rude,” Athena said.

Emily doubted Athena cared all that much. “I’m really sorry. I think my... sisters mistook you for a villain.”

“What?” Glamazon said. She rolled over, trembling arms going under her so that she could get to her feet. “What’s that supposed to mean?” She glared as she stood. “You’re just trying to get the villain for yourself, aren’t you? And who the hell is that?”

Athena glared right back. Teddy growled, filling the factory with the low rumble of her anger. “Look, you sparkly, no good heroine,” Athena said. “We’re the only ones that know you’re here. Big sis said that it was all a mistake. So you shut up and accept her apology, alright?”

“Or what, you brat?”

“Does anyone know you’re here?” Athena asked. “‘Cause the way I see it, it would be really sad if people learned that some villain got rid of you while you were off on your own.”

Glamazon swallowed.

Emily placed a hand on Athena’s shoulder. She tried on a smile for Glamazon, to reassure her. “It wouldn’t come to that, right?”

***