Chapter Thirty-Four - Confrontational Meetings

Things were going... pretty well, actually.

Emily picked up her things from her desk, heaviest binders on the bottom, laptop stuffed into her bookbag with the rest of her school things. The teacher’s assistant called out over the din of students packing up. “Don’t forget! That assignment is due next Friday! No extensions unless someone dies or a villain shows up and asks nicely.”

There were a few laughs across the classroom auditorium.

Emily didn’t feel like laughing, but she smiled all the same. She was in a good mood.

Her sisters were taking to lessons... well enough. Lots of pouting still, but they seemed to actually like learning things, and once Miss Headerson figured them out, they were somewhat well-behaved. It helped that all three were actually pretty clever, in their own way. The teacher just had to leverage that to her advantage.

Most of the questions and assignments the girls had involved things like beating heroes and counting stolen money. It kept their attention fixed on the lesson. Emily couldn’t imagine getting that kind of tailored attention in any public school.

She slung her bag over her shoulder. Time to head back home. She had come upon the ingenious idea of just teleporting her sisters back home one at a time every evening. There was a long cooldown between each teleport though.

Emily considered putting every upgrade point she had into Sisterportation. It would make the skill a little more responsive, and she could get her sisters back to the dorm faster that way.

Stepping out of the class, she looked around herself. Plenty of students tended to linger around once their class was over. Mostly in little groups or cliques. There was laughter and some jockeying around, a few were crowded around a phone sharing something.

Emily squeezed past those groups. Before, when she wasn’t a villain trying to be a hero, she had often wondered what it would be like to be more sociable, to have more friends. Now she... well, she didn’t exactly have friends, but minions and siblings were a close second, she imagined.

It wasn’t that bad.

As she headed to the exit, a group of girls came to stand between her and the exit. She started to walk around them, but they shifted.

It wasn’t exactly subtle.

Emily felt herself tensing a little. Maybe it was a coincidence? She glanced over her shoulder. There was only one person heading her way. Just one person, but a person that could mean plenty of trouble for her.

Short, brown hair, bright big eyes, made a bit bigger with an expert application of makeup. The girl was grinning as she came up to Emily. “Hey, we should talk,” she said casually.

Emily swallowed. Jezebelle Winthrop. At least, when she was out of costume. “What?” Emily asked.

Jezebelle touched her elbow. “Come on, somewhere a little more quiet, yeah?”

Emily didn’t resist, not for the first couple of steps. Then she stopped, rooted to the spot, and Jezebelle stopped with her. “Where?” Emily asked. It was the best she could manage without her nerves turning her voice to a warble.

Jezebelle smiled. Emily wondered if she practised that look for the cameras. With her costume covering her upper face, all people could see of her in-costume was her mouth. “Nothing to worry about. Just don’t want to make a scene, you know?”

Emily checked over her shoulder. The exit was still being covered by a gaggle of young women.

“Don’t worry about them. Just some friends. They won’t snoop. Besides, I haven't told them why we need to talk. I can spin some yarn about how I helped you with something the other day and just wanted to check up on you.”

Emily held back a frown. That was a rather condescending story. And one that wasn’t worth much. But she didn’t know what else to do. Summon Teddy to deck Jezebelle? That was... very tempting, actually.

Probably not a great idea though, she was still trying to pass herself off as a hero, and knocking out a very public heroine in a very public place wasn’t a great image for that.

She hesitated for too long. Jezebelle gave her a winning grin, then tugged Emily after her.

They went around a corner, and for a moment Emily imagined she’d come face-to-face with the likes of Quantum Mothman and a few of their other iconic (and powerful) heroes that she’d been hearing about for years, but the corridor was mostly empty.

Then Jezebelle moved over to a bathroom whose entrance was blocked off by a strip of tape and a sign that read “out of order” and shifted the sign aside so they could pass. “Come on, it’s not like we’ll actually need the washroom,” she said.

Emily checked the bathroom, but it was empty. Two of the stalls had tape across them, and some plumbing tools sat on one of the counters as if someone had been working there just minutes ago.

“The school has its own plumber,” Jezebelle explained. “But he leaves at four. Union reqs, you know? So we won’t be bothered. I just wanted to chat.”

“About what?” Emily asked.

“Look, I know who you are, and you know who I am,” Jezebelle said.

“What do you mean?” Emily asked too quickly.

The woman rolled her eyes. “While I’m going around being glamorous, you’re bossing people around. Mostly that little bear-girl.” She crossed her arms. “Really curious to know if she’s related to you or not, but I’m not here to pry into your life, just chat.”

Emily took a deep breath. This was probably bad. But if Glamazon, Jezebelle, didn’t want to get into a fight, then maybe it wasn’t so bad? She wasn’t sure, and really she wouldn’t know for a bit. She could still run for it, but maybe Jezebelle had friends waiting just outside the bathroom. “What do you want?” Emily asked, defeated.

“Nothing much,” Jezebelle said. “You’re making a name for yourself. That’s fine. I’m trying to do the same thing, and... we’re butting heads, aren’t we? Competing for the same thing?”

“What?” Emily asked.

Jezebelle rubbed her lips, then turned towards the mirror and reached into her purse. She came back with a tube of lipstick and started to touch up her makeup. “We’re both heroes, yeah? I’m thinking that maybe you’re a bit more on the... rouge side of things, maybe. But heroes are heroes. Problem is, there aren’t many of us in Eauclaire.”

“Okay?” Emily said.

“You know how many heroes appeared here last powerday? One. Just one! And they moved to a bigger city. One the year before, none the year before that. Two the year before that. This is a pretty big city, but it’s basically a ghost-town when it comes to heroics.”

“Is it?” Emily asked.

“It is,” Jezebelle said. “We have Quantum Mothman who hangs around because of the university. Silver Fox, who’s just here because it’s quiet. And Melaton, who’s pretty much here because the HRT doesn’t want her anywhere near trouble. She’s called out to problem places all the time. Otherwise there’s like, three others who sometimes stick around. We have three guest heroes over, but they won’t be here for long.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Emily asked.

“Because this town’s basically one of the most backwater places in Anada when it comes to heroics, until this year. We have a huge surge this last power day.”

“Is that normal?” Emily asked. She was a little curious. It sounded strange.

Jezebelle shrugged. “No. But it’s not unheard of. Random places will get a big uptick in new masks. Usually they’ll be on both sides of the fence. Eauclaire just got lucky. Or unlucky. Maybe the next Endgame will be here. There’s usually more people chosen to have powers before that too.”

Emily suppressed the shiver that wanted to run down her spine. An Endgame? Here? No, she decided not to think on it. “So it’s busy.”

“Busy-ish,” Jezebelle said. She turned, lips freshly painted, and stared right at Emily. “What’s your goal?”

“Pardon?”

“Your goal. Do you want to be a big-shot hero? A big name? A celebrity?”

“No, no I don’t want any of that,” Emily said.

“Then you’re looking for villains and the like because... what, you believe in love and justice and all that?”

Emily shook her head. “I’m not looking for trouble.”

“You’re certainly finding it,” Jezebelle shot back. “Look, I have goals. Dreams. Things that are bigger than this little barely-a-city. I want to get my start here though, start building a rep so that when I move on, it’s going to be with a name that the right people know. Eauclaire might be good for that. If you’re looking for something else, then... maybe don’t stand in my way again.”

“I won’t,” Emily said.

“I’m not the only one, you know? Hindsight, Slaymaker. We want bigger things. Tonight we’ll be taking out the last of this city’s villains, and that’ll be that. Unless we can find that lucky bastard, but... well, he’s lucky, so I doubt it.” She walked past Emily, then paused next to her. “I don’t want you to get in my way anymore, okay? If you want to be friends, then we’ll help each other. I’m not so competitive that I’d refuse help. But I want allies, not rivals. Okay?”

“Alright,” Emily said.

Jezebelle flicked her hair like someone in a poorly scripted movie from the turn of the century, then slipped out of the bathroom.

Emily stared at her wide-eyed reflection for a moment. She looked... like someone who was very lost and confused.

Then Jezebelle’s words came to her lips as a whisper. “Tonight we’ll be taking out the last of this city’s villains.... Oh no.”

***