Fluff

Chapter Fifty-Two - Lessons Sorta Learned

"So, ah, what did we learn?" Emily asked.

She almost didn't want to look across the room to where the three villains were laying up against the kitchen island. Trinity had found a long length of rope and had wrapped it around the three of them, and their middles to keep them in place. Their hands were taped together, and one of them still had tape over her eyes, the woman that liked to poke holes in people.

They had emptied out the entire supply of band-aids already. When they got back to their 'home' she was going to have to spend a while cleaning out tiny pinpricks.

In the meantime, she had instructed Trinity and Maple to 'clean up' the place. She didn't intend to stay here for long, and she didn't want to leave any traces of their passing if she could avoid it.

The HRF would definitely be coming around here eventually, mostly because she had made up her mind.

They'd be leaving the villains here. She planned on telling her sisters to sabotage the place before they left. It would probably make them happy and ruin any chances of the villains using it as a base for a while. More than anything, she wanted to avoid having them regroup, rebuild, and resteal the Orbject... once they found it.

Athena looked up to her and grinned. She was obviously quite proud of herself, and that alone made Emily feel more than a little nervous. "I found out a bunch," she said.

"Okay. Let's go over, uh, the pertinent parts, I guess. How did they find out that we were going to steal the Orbject?"

"Their gadgeteer, that guy, he had these little cameras and little microphones all around the HRF base. He didn't remember how they were placed there, but they allowed him to listen in on us when we were scouting it out, and then he planned an ambush. They almost missed us too."

"Wait, back up," Emily said. "He doesn't remember how they placed their microphones?"

Athena shook her head. "I think his memory either sucks real back, or there's something else going on. He kinda remembers there being a fourth member, but when I asked him to describe her, it was all vague?"

Emily felt a shiver run down her spine. "Okay. Noted. We're going to be heading out faster than I expected, then."

"Aww, Boss," Teddy said. She was stationed nearby to watch the villains. "But I just ate. I need a while to digest."

"If you digest as quickly as you think, we'll be here all week," Athena said.

Emily stifled the urge to laugh. "Athena, be nice," she said instead. She couldn't laugh, which made it all the harder not to. "Ah, and... right, what else did you learn?"

Athena blinked, then perked up. "The Orbject is in the gadgeteer's room. And they only needed to keep it for a few more days for them to win the Endgame."

"I see," Emily said. "So arriving now was probably for the best. Anything else?"

Athena nodded quickly. "Yup! The one that can poke holes is the most villain-y one here. The fire lady is kind of a softy. I think she tried to call their ally, but I don't think it's something fast. She was trying really hard not to think about it."

Emily worked her jaw for a moment. "In that case, we should get going soon. Do you think they'll betray us if we leave?"

"You mean tell the HRF about us?" Athena asked. "Maybe. But I don't think so? There has to be some honour between villains, you know."

"I suppose," Emily said. She wasn't sure how far she'd trust that kind of honour, but the alternatives were too much for her. "Teddy, keep an eye on them. Athena, Aurora, both of you, go check out the Gadgeteer's room. Maple, you might want to help as well. Trinity, continue cleaning up."

She clapped her hands, grabbing everyone's attention.

"We're leaving in ten minutes, or as soon as we find the Orbject. Let's not waste time, girls."

She didn't know if it was just a post-lunch thing, but at the moment she felt unusually tired. Maybe it was all the stress getting to her? She imagined that might be a factor.

Her sisters ran around for a while, do more or less as she asked. She knew they'd discovered the Orbject a moment later when there was a loud 'whoop!' from one of the side rooms and a prompt popped into being before her.

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A Robber has Robbed the Robbers! The Orbjective is now in the possession of the Villains!

If the fourth member of their team didn't know that her team was in danger, she did now. Athena ran over, carrying the small crystalline ball in one hand. "Found it!"

"I see that," Emily said. "Good job." She patted Athena on the head while taking the Orbject with her other hand. It was cool, and weighed more than she expected it to.

A Robber has Robbed the Robbers! The Objective is now in the possession of the Villains!

Frowning at the Orbject, Emily swiped her free hand through the air. "Orbject Information Screen," she muttered.

Orbject Information Screen

You are in possession of the Orbjective.

Hold the Orbjective for Five more days to Win!

Each day, your opponents will receive a new clue as to its location.

Current clue: The Orbject is in the hands of a previous holder.

That clue was... actually, not all that bad. If she passed the Orbject to one of her sisters, it would flash up that same prompt. So anyone paying attention might assume that it was just being passed between two members of the same team that held it until just now.

Having the main objective of the entire Endgame was a great step forward, but it also introduced an entire heap of problems. Notably, she wasn't sure if they could leave the Endgame's area at all.

Well, there was one way to find out.

"Alright, everyone. We're heading out!"

That incited a small stampede. Her sisters rushed around, gathering their things, and all of the loot they had decided to steal from the villains. That included several bags full of stuff that she was going to have to sort.

Emily cast a last look on the villains. All three were still tied up, and two of them looked insensate at the moment, but they were slowly coming around. Hopefully by the time they were fully awake and trying to free themselves, Emily and her sisters would be long gone.

That, and she didn't think the villains would try to fight her again, not after the trashing they received.

Herding her sisters up the stairs, then out into the alley next to the building, Emily had a few moments to think of where to go next. A few moments wasn't quite enough, however.

"We're going back across the street," she said. "Then we're going to sort the... loot. We have far too much."

The noise from the bags was going to alert everyone within a block, and she was quite certain that Trinity had two bags full of trash.

She checked both sides of the street, then scrambled across it, holding onto two random hands as she did. Then they snuck around and back into the same office as before.

"Alright," she said. "Trinity, I have a job for you."

"Yeah?" Trinity asked.

"I need you to be sneaky and find us a place to stay in the city. Somewhere that isn't on this road or the next ones over. Uh, preferably somewhere with a working washroom and maybe something that we can safely live in for a while? We'll look for something better later, but I need a temporary place for now."

Trinity saluted. "I can do that, Boss! No one will see me!"

"Good girl," Emily said. "Now, let's sort through this, uh, loot."

The loot wasn't great.

Some of the girls had plucked out a bunch of food, basically emptying the villain's pantry, but it was... well, mostly junk. Chips and toaster tarts and candies. She had to wonder how come the villains had such a big stockpile of childish foods.

Maple had collected a bunch of random bits and bobs, including a few tools, and Emily figured she deserved to keep those. The rest was anything that caught her sister's eyes. Clothes that wouldn't fit them for years, wallets (which Emily emptied for later) and more stuff that she really didn't want to sort through.

It took an hour, but eventually Trinity perked up. "Big Sister Boss! I think I found the perfect place! You're going to love it!"

***