Fluff Chapter Sixty-One - Reeling

Chapter Sixty-One - Reeling

Jezebelle was reeling, but more than that, she felt... stupid. How many clues had she missed? Why was she only connecting the dots together now?

She took a step back, then reached up to touch the side of her head. She didn't feel anything. Not physically. Emotionally, she felt... well, violated. Lied-to, betrayed. She had trusted Obscure because Obscure was a heroine. Or she had thought that the woman was.

Now she was trying to piece together how that couldn't be.

Obscure had been all around the forward operating base. Jezebelle had seen her wandering around past the security barricades, inside of their headquarters, and more. She had been on... wait, had she been written into the rosters? Or had she just shown up and acted as if she always belonged, with another hero or HRF mber by her side giving her the tacit approval of their presence.

"Oh, god, did you ss with my mind?" Jezebelle asked.

She took another step back as Obscure turned towards her and scoffed. "Only enough to get you to work with ," she said before turning back towards Emily, towards the Boss. "I'm sorry about this. If you weren't so cordial then I needed to have so amount of insurance on my side, and the hero could be helpful in that way."

"I... understand," Emily said.

Jezebelle swallowed. "H-hey, no," she said as she pointed towards Emily. "You... crap."

"Hey, chill out," Duty Bound said with a small wave of his hand. "It's not that big of a deal, is it? No one has to know."

"What do you an?" she asked. "You think the HRF won't find out?"

"I an, not unless you tell them," he replied. "They're the good guys, sure, but we're not doing anything that bad here, yeah?"

"He may well be right," Obscure said. "Do you have any idea how expensive this all is?" She gestured to the area around them. "An entire city shut down? If the Boss here agrees with , then we end the entire ga. With the Endga over, the HRF can pull out, and things go back to normal. Otherwise, the 'good guys' will continue to drain taxpayers, and for what? The slight possibility that a few heroes might have a second power? Is that worth it?"

"It's... it's not about that," Jezebelle said. "She's a Villain. You're a villain. Both of you are."

"Hey, I'm a rogue, at worst," Duty Bound said. No, she had to reevaluate that. He was Iron Chains. His joining the heroes was nothing more than a farce. She felt like the entire street had just tilted a little beneath her feet.

That wasn't normal. She had never been one to give in to stress, or anxiety, or anything like that. She felt her power burning under her skin, wanting to be unleashed, but could she do that?

She had fought besides the Boss before. The girl herself was... well, Emily was a wilting violet most of the ti, only right now, diritied up and standing tall and confident, she wasn't so sure about that. Had it been an act the entire ti? She could maybe take her on, but the rest? The entire gaggle of children?

Iron Chains she could beat to a pulp. When there was training she always showed up, and he was usually lazy and slow about it. His power was tough, but beatable. Obscure... she wasn't so sure there either.

ntal powers often ant weaker physiques, so maybe she could just punch the woman out, assuming she wasn't secretly ard and that her power really was what Jezebelle suspected.

She almost felt it as Emily's attention shifted away from her and refocused on Obscure. "How would this work?" she asked.

"Easy. You accept into your 'team' and the Endga will acknowledge it. It's not so hard. Then we spend the next two or three hours chatting amicably, catching up, and once the Endga is done, we part ways. I don't know how you intend to leave, but I have this van here. Iron Chains and I are going to intercept the prison transport with my other... companions."

"Ah," Emily said. "Them. I suppose I'm sorry about that."

"It is what it is," Obscure replied with a very casual shrug. "They failed all on their own, really. But I arranged things to make it easy to find them again."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to for the genuine story.

Jezebelle's eyes twitched between the two of them.

They were just talking, like two acquaintances that bumped into each other at the groceries.

Obscure had admitted to manipulating her mind, Iron Chains had admitted to betraying the HRF, and the Boss was... well, she had always been a Villain willing to pretend to be a hero. They were just negotiating now, as though this were normal. As though Jezebelle wasn't standing right there with her heart hamring hard enough that she could feel it in her fingers.

"You're seriously considering this?" Jezebelle asked.

Emily glanced her way. She shrugged slightly. "I... would rather not fight. Not this close to the end. I'm pretty sure we could beat Obscure. No offense."

"None taken."

"And Iron Chains... well, we've only grown stronger since we last fought," Emily continued.

"Yeah," he replied. He did seem a little annoyed by her pointing it out.

"So yes, I guess... I guess I am considering this," Emily said. She didn't look relaxed, but her shoulders lowered a little. Around her, the kids seed... bored. One of them even yawned, but they were behaving for the mont, letting the adults do the speaking, for a certain definition of 'adult.' Jezebelle didn't feel very ready at the mont.

"I suppose all that's left is a handshake?" Obscure asked. "I'll take care of poor Glamazon here after. That's on ."

What did she an by that?

"No. You won't be touching ," Emily replied, and there was a good deal of finality there. "Sorry. I gave orders to attack you at the first sign of your power being used."

Damn, that was cold. The way all of the girls snapped to attention, and more importantly, the way they all looked eager, made a shiver run down Jezebelle's spine.

"Fair enough," Obscure said, both hands half-raised in surrender. She grinned. "Still, we have a deal?"

"We... do," Emily said.

Jezebelle's power burned in her gut.

She had thought there would be more friction. So argunt from Emily, maybe so resistance from the ga, so last line that would not be crossed. Not this easy acceptance, all because Emily didn't see a point in starting a fight that she'd probably win anyway.

"So, what do we do about our little heroine," Obscure muttered. "Chains, can you grab her?"

"Yeah, sure," Iron Chains said. There was a rattle as the tallic links around his arms and torso started to co loose all on their own.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Glamazon. I don't like the idea of betraying you like this," Emily said.

Jezebelle took a step back, putting space between herself and the others. Her stomach tightened, and she pressed her power for more. "I guess that's just how it is," she said.

"I'll just have her forget it," Obscure said. "I'm sorry about this, again. It's on . But other than a few days lost, there won't be any harm. The HRF gets testy when a hero is hurt too much."

Jezebelle didn't wait for Iron Chains to reach her.

The first ball of light ford in her palm with a hot, buzzing pressure that crawled up her arm and into her teeth. It looked almost harmless for the half-second it existed, at least to her. Her power made it impossible for her to be blinded by bright lights. To anyone else, it was a white-gold sphere no larger than a tennis ball that created as much light as a foglight.

Iron Chains' chain snapped forward, and Jezebelle flung the light at the ground between them.

It exploded, not so much with heat, but with a blighting radiance that she knew did more than just provide a burst of light. There was a not-so-subtle ntal component in her attacks that dragged people's attention towards them... and away from her.

She spun on a heel and started running, putting all of that exercise and cardio to work. Behind her, Iron Chains yelled, and the kids hollered, but she just flung a few attacks over her shoulder and kept moving for all she was worth even as her eyes stung and her heart hamred.

How was she going to explain this to anyone? Would they even make it back in ti to stop them?

She didn't think so, not with the HRF in disarray as it was.

Emily had... won. That was all.

***