Fluff

Chapter Sixty-Six - Costume Shopping

Emily had a bit of money. Not a ton, not even enough to make anyone suspicious, but enough to get by for a little week or two. Maybe.

Having… a significant number more mouths to feed made that bit of cash pretty meaningless.

Still, she felt that her sisters deserved a bit of a break, and they were going out to have a bit of fun. Costume shopping was a nice, calming way to spend the day.

They paused by a corner store, and Emily splurged a little on six slushies. She regretted it as soon as the last one was out of her hands and being slurped up by a Trinity who was already starting to shake with the start of a sugar high.

A problem for later. Maybe if she walked around enough, her three (ish) sisters would be able to bleed off some of that energy by the afternoon. “Right! On to the costume shop!” Emily said.

She couldn’t help but hold back a smile as her squadron of little sisters formed up around her. Teddy, of course, took the lead, stomping ahead and walking as if she was about three feet taller and owned the entire sidewalk.

Athena kept to Emily’s side, one hand hanging onto Emily’s while she tried hard not to look like she was observing everything around them. Emily hoped that no one noticed the way her head would turn a little bit too much when she was looking at something behind them.

And Trinity walked next to Emily, and ahead of her, and behind her too. The raccoon-girl wasn’t wandering around too much, not while occupied by her slushie. It was a little weird to hear three straws being slurped at exactly the same time, but Emily figured anyone passing by that heard that would dismiss it as coincidence.

The costume shop wasn’t exactly in Eauclaire’s nicest street, but it wasn’t far from it. It was a relatively large building, with some Halloween stuff in one window and mannequins in uniforms in the other. Emily supposed that with October coming around soon-ish, it made sense that a place like this would start switching out their merchandise already.

The store, in addition to costumes, also sold work uniforms and equipment. Nurses smocks, retail uniforms, and a few odds and ends. There was a drycleaning service too, at the back.

Emily gave it fifty-fifty odds of it being some money laundering front, because even with its two niches, there was no way enough customers passed to buy costumes to justify the size of the place.

“Okay,” she said as she walked in with her gaggle of sisters. The girl behind the counter stared at the kids with the sort of horror reserved for retail workers on minimum wage that were about to have a story-worthy day. “We’re going to behave,” Emily said.

“Yeah, yeah, no worries,” Teddy said.

“No. Big worries,” Emily retorted. She pointed to Teddy, finger all ready to waggle. “No threatening anyone, no running around, no complaining about capitalism or pushing the communist… whatever onto anyone. Be civil. You’re the oldest of my sisters, you should act mature. I trust you.”

Teddy pouted at first, but by the end, her chest was puffed with pride.

Her finger turned to Athena. “No scaring people. You’re a clever and observant girl, I’m sure you know what kind of behaviour I’d frown on.”

Athena nodded. “I can do that. Or… not do that. Yeah, no problem.”

“Good. And Trinity. I want… one of you with each sister, and one with me, okay? Also, no stealing.”

“Alright!” Trinity agreed. She only spoke from one of her, which was great because talking from three bodies simultaneously was just a little too creepy.

Emily nodded as she lowered her finger and straightened her back. She was getting really good at getting her sisters to listen. Not that they’d do what she said.

Holding onto Trinity’s hand, Emily moved off towards the rows of cheap costumes, eyeing the sweaters and dresses and, most importantly, the price-tags. “So, what sort of costume are you thinking of?” Emily asked.

“I know just what I want,” Trinity said.

“Really?”

The racoon-girl nodded. “I want to be a burglar.”

“A… a burglar?” Emily repeated.

“Yeah. They’re the best. They get to take things, and keep them; they stay up late, which is cool; and they play tag with the police all the time.”

“I’m pretty sure you have at least one wrong idea there,” Emily said. “But… alright. I can see a burglar outfit working.”

They crossed over a row, past cheap police uniforms, skimpy nurses outfits, and copies of the costumes worn by some of the more popular Heroes. Finally, Trinity gasped and pointed to a costume wrapped in a clear plastic box. Emily smiled as she tugged it off its hook. It was a simple costume, barely a costume at all, really. A shirt, with black and white lines across it, and a bandana. It also came with a large bag with a dollar sign sewn into the side.

“Is this it?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Trinity said. “But it doesn’t come with pants.”

“And no mask,” Emily said. “We can grab a mask, I think I saw some plain ones a row over.”

There were dozens of domino masks, in all sorts of colours. Trinity ended up selecting a dozen of them, because at fifty cents each, Emily couldn’t argue on having more. The fact that no two were the same colour didn’t matter much.

If anything, it would help tell Trinity’s bodies apart while they were out in costume. Maybe they could get some scarves too?

There weren’t any changing rooms, but Emily looked at Trinity, noted how tiny she was, then picked the smallest size they had available. “We’ll have to try them on at home,” she said.

“Yeah! Can’t wait!” Trinity cheered.

Emily rubbed at her head, then froze when she felt her phone buzz within her purse. She fished around for it, then frowned at the unknown number on the display. “One sec, Trinity,” she said. “Can you make sure your sisters aren’t up to anything?”

“Athena is chasing Teddy around with a mask of Enry Ord on,” Trinity said.

“The car guy?” Emily asked.

The girl shrugged.

Emily accepted the call, then pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hello, Boss,” came a smooth voice. It interrupted itself a moment later, a wracking cough that sounded just shy of painful. “You are in no danger, not from me.”

Emily felt herself going tense, and she squeezed Trinity’s hand. The girl looked up to her with guileless eyes, then frowned around them. “Who is this?” Emily asked. “I’m not anyone’s manager.” She wasn't the best liar, but she figured that was an easy enough one to make.

“This, my dear, is the one you know as Cement. Don’t panic, we don’t need you being afraid.”

Emily felt her heart attempting to thump its way out of her chest. “What do you want?”

“I’m done for,” he said painly. “Do you have a good memory for numbers? I might not have forever.”

“What?”

The Villain rattled off a few numbers, then an address. “Can you remember that?” he asked.

“What is it?” she asked. It sounded like something within Eauclaire, but she didn’t know the city well enough to know where exactly it was.

“That, my dear, is one of my safehouses. The first number is for the safe in the bedroom, behind the portrait of the Fighting Emeraire. You can’t miss it.”

“Mister, uh…”

“Mister C works.”

“Mister C,” Emily said. “Why are you telling me all this?”

“I don’t know how much time I have left, but I’ll tell you what I can whilst I’m still able. The Cabal is moving into this city. My city. Not that my rein was ever as strong as I would have liked. They are, in a word, bad news, even to people not on our side of the morality line. They’ve gotten to me. I only made it out because I had a shaft hidden under the floor. It doesn’t matter. Soon, this city will be yours to rule.”

“Rule?” Emily asked.

“Is that not what you are? A ruler, a boss? You are as all Villains are, aren’t you? Soon the board will be cleared, and a new opponent will be sitting opposite you. It’s early, yes, but for the good of everyone, Eauclaire needs a proper Villain in place. I wanted that to be me, but as I said, my time’s up.”

He coughed again, and it sounded worse, far worse.

“Black Shield, Thunder Clot and Spin to Win. They’re stationed here, and they’re Cabal.”

“I don’t understand,” Emily said. It didn’t make sense for him to be telling her all of that, not out of the blue. “I’m not a, you know.”

“Oh, you are. You have potential too, more than I ever did. I might be able to win you a little bit of time, maybe. Use it well.”

The line went dead.

Emily had a bad feeling about the call, a really bad one.

***