Chapter Twelve - All Chained Up

“Uh, now what?” Sam asked. “Because that? The chains flying all over, the screaming, the weird crazy look in his eyes before she rammed into him.” Sam pointed to Teddy. “Not to mention her turning into a bear. That was wonderful. Pretty sure I can write an entire paper just on my experience here.”

“That’s nice,” Emily said absently. She was looking at the man laying flat on his back in a dusty corner of the depot. His chains had loosened and fallen onto the ground here and there, and it was pretty clear from the welt on his forehead that he wasn’t about to get up.

“Boss?”

Emily looked up. Teddy was staring at her with her big bear eyes. “Huh?”

“Boss, what do we do?” Teddy grumbled.

Emily blinked. “Right, do. Uh... Trinity, clear out the chains, just take them all and toss them... into that crate over there. Put the cover on it when you’re done. Athena, I need you over here. Tell me if he’s about to wake up. Teddy, you stay close too. If he wakes up, tell him not to move. Trinity, tell us if the chains move.”

Trinity lifted one chain off the ground with a clink of metal on metal. During the fight, as short as it had been, the entire room was filled with a constant rattle. It was almost deafening. “It’s moving,” Trinity said as she wiggled it.

“No, I meant moving on its own. As if he’s controlling them,” Emily said.

“Oh, right, that makes sense!” Trinity said. “Good thinking Boss!”

She held back a sigh. Her sisters were at least quick to move where she told them too. “Sam, can you search his pockets?”

“Hey, minions get loot last,” Athena said.

“I need his phone,” Emily said. “We can talk about loot... later. Way later.”

Sam leaned down next to Iron Chains and patted his sides. She found a wallet held in place by a pocket chain--a bit late 90s but Emily figured it was a thematic thing--a pocket knife and finally, a smart phone with a beaten up case.

“Here you go, Boss,” Sam said as she tossed the phone up.

Emily fumbled it out of the air but eventually caught it and spun it around. “Thanks,” she said.

“Who’re you going to call?” Sam asked.

“I’m thinking about it,” Emily said. “But... maybe the Heroic Response Force? This is their kind of business, and I want to help us appear more, uh, you know, like good guys.”

Athena’s face twisted in distaste. “I get why you wanna do that, Boss, but it’s still icky.”

“Yeah, real nasty. I didn’t take this guy down just to be called a hero for it,” Teddy said.

“What?” Athena asked. She spun around to face Teddy. “I took him out!”

“No you didn’t,” Teddy said. “I did all the work.”

Athena opened and closed her mouth, then she grinned. It was a very disturbing sort of smile. “So you’re saying that because you did more of the work than others, you should be compensated more?”

“Uh,” Teddy said.

“Despite being part of our community, you want to take the rewards for yourself?” Athena asked.

Emily sighed. “Athena, don’t attack your sisters psychologically.”

“Teddy started it!”

“No I didn’t!” Teddy defended herself instantly. “I don’t even know what a psychologically is!”

Emily turned to Sam. “You watch over them, I’m going to make a call. I’ll be right back.” Sam didn’t look ready to babysit a bunch of super-powered brats having a sibling argument, but then, neither was Emily and things had turned out more or less fine so far.

The number for the HRF was listed as an emergency number, which meant that she didn’t need to figure out Iron Chain’s password to get to it. That was probably for the best, his phone was a crusty mess and she wanted to touch it as little as possible. She dialled the three-digit number, then held the phone close to her ear without touching it.

“Heroic Response Force, what’s your emergency?” a smooth woman’s voice asked over the line.

Emily cleared her throat. She would have preferred to use her own phone, but last time she’d used her home computer to look things up, a clever person had tracked her down. She didn’t trust the heroes not to bug her phone somehow if it was in their best interest. It was paranoia, she knew, but she figured that knowing it was paranoia counteracted some of the insanity that came with it. “This is the Boss, uh, I’m a hero, from Eauclaire?”

“Do you wish for me to patch you into the recruitment department? You can find a councilor there who will assist you with joining the good guys!”

“What?” Emily asked.

“I’ll patch you in.”

“No! Wait, that’s not what I’m calling for,” she said in a hurry. She paused, made sure she was still on the line, then continued. “I captured a, uh, villain. I was calling to get a pick up, some police? I don’t know what your, um, procedure is?”

“Oh, that’s impressive work. Can you give me your location? We’ll dispatch a team to assist you right away. Are you injured? Are there any injured civilians in the vicinity?”

“I’m fine,” Emily said. “And no, no hurt civilians. We’re at.. Uh...” she walked over to the front door, still ajar ever since Iron Chains made his entrance, and stuck her head out. She had to squint to make out the nearest road sign which she read to the person on the phone. “Is that enough?”

“Certainly. A team is on its way, ETA seven minutes. How is the villain restrained?”

Emily glanced over to Iron Chains. It looked like he was coming to, which was both good and not. “He has a bear on him.”

“Pardon?”

“A grizzly,” Emily elaborated.

“I... see,” the dispatcher said. “Are you the independent hero Boss who works with another independent called Teddy?”

“That’s me, yes,” Emily said. “You, you’ve heard of me?” Her stomach twisted at the thought.

“We have files with some details about local heroes. Such information can be invaluable. Is the villain in need of medical assistance? Are they breathing correctly, bleeding from any wounds? Are they coherent?”

“Yes? I mean, no, I mean... they’re alive.” Teddy growled in the back. “For now.” Emily lowered the phone a hand over the front of it as she turned to see what was going on.

It looked like Sam was talking to Iron Chain, her bat clinking onto the floor next to his head while Teddy leaned in over him. He looked properly cowed by it all.

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Emily said.

“Is he restrained?” the dispatcher asked, still in that calm tone.

“Not exactly,” Emily said. “Teddy is watching over him, with... another independent hero and one of my min-- one of my, uh, a friend.”

“...Alright. Please consider tying the villain up. Ropes or chains if you lack proper restraints. Remember, villains don’t have the same sense of morality that normal people have, they won’t baulk at stabbing you in the back even after you’ve defeated them.”

Emily tilted her head back from the phone. That was just rude! “Alright, I don’t think using chains would be a good idea. His name is Iron Chains.”

“I see. While we wait for assistance to arrive, could you give us the highlights on his power? I can relay that information to the team on-route.”

“He controls chains,” Emily said. “They can float and move around. I think he could use them as whips too. And he can wrap people in them. It looks like they could tighten a lot.” It took a lot of strength to stop Teddy from moving when she was a bear, and holding her jaw shut wasn’t easy either.

“Noted. Thank you, Boss.”

“You’re welcome,” Emily said on reflex. “What’s the, um, ETA again?”

“Four minutes now. Don’t worry, the team is coming with an experienced hero and some well-equipped troopers. They’ll have everything secured within moments of arriving. But, just to confirm. The people on-location are yourself, female, approximately eighteen years of age. Costume that resembles a suit. Teddy, a bear or a child of approximately twelve. Costume appears to be a sundress and a bear mask. And one civilian assistant?”

“Why do you need to know?” Emily asked, her suspicions high.

“To avoid friendly fire. Troopers arriving on scene don’t appreciate more unknowns appearing from nowhere.”

“Oh,” Emily said. “In that case, add four more. One looks like a biker girl, she’s the same age as Teddy. Leather jacket. And the others look like burglars. They have tails.”

“Um,” the dispatcher said. She sounded flat-footed for the first time since she called. “There are four more heroes on location?”

“Yes,” Emily said.

She pretended not to see Trinity putting loot into one of her bags, or Athena grinning as she looked at Iron Chains who was sweating beneath her. “That’s right, four more heroes.”

***