Fluff

Chapter Twenty-One - How the Heroes Do It

"You've got the next shift?"

Jezebelle looked up from her tablet and at the man addressing her. He was in a full costume, mask that covered most of his face except for his mouth and nose, skin-tight bodysuit over legs and arms, and a sort of almost militaristic top. He had a small patch on his lapel that read Wrap-Up.

She knew that he'd once worn a different name. Iron Chains. That much was hard to hide when his costume featured dozens of chains, some around his torso, others around his arms and wrists.

"Yeah, yeah I'll be out in a minute," she said.

"Sure. But don't be late! Every minute counts!" Wrap-Up turned and walked off, leaving the flap to the tent she was in to flutter close.

She'd been in the camp for four days already, and she was extremely tired of it.

The HRF had some practice setting up this kind of miniature tent city, of course. This Endgame wasn't their first rodeo, but it still felt like sometimes they weren't as organized as they maybe ought to have been.

Some supplies were only arriving now that should have been here a couple of days ago, and it was really straining things at the camp.

Fortunately, they were in the 'hero' camp, not the larger evacuation camp just a kilometre or so back. She'd done a patrol of that camp, showing the flag, as it were, and it had amazed her how desperate and despondent people could look while just doing nothing.

At least that camp had supplies and such. She could understand them being the first priority.

With a sigh, Jezebelle stood up and set her tablet down and plugged it in. If she had patrol, she'd want every percentage of battery power she could get, because wow was it ever boring.

When she signed up to the HRF, she had a pretty realistic view of what to expect. Sure, there'd be glamorous hero work, saving lives and such, but she knew that it would mostly consist of visiting places and smiling for the cameras.

She knew that she'd be asked to participate if an Endgame happened. It was right there in her contract. She even had the contractual right to refuse unless the Endgame reached a certain danger threshold, the kind of danger threshold that had only been seen a couple of times in the last decade.

Jezebelle was happy to help. This would look great on her record. If they happened to win, which there were decent odds of, then she'd be coming out of it with a second power. She might even be tapped for power research, which would be a... boring but well-paid job.

But this was boring beyond her wildest imaginings.

Jezebelle got into her costume fully. As one of the few masks here who didn't care about her civilian ID, she had the advantage of not having to wear a partial costume all over, but she still kept her gear close.

After a few minutes, she was dressed up as Glamazon once more. A skin-tight suit that had padding over important places and... supports over other locations, coupled with a loose jacket filled with small armoured plates and hardy boots and gloves that could handle a long walk.

There might be a lot of long walks in the near future.

She didn't need any weapons with her power, but she carried a collapsible baton, just in case she needed to smack a fool.

So far, the only fools she'd seen that needed smacking were her coworkers.

She slipped the stick in a pouch at the small of her back before picking up her tablet and placing it in a bag. She was ready.

Stepping out, she was greeted by a warm, rather humid afternoon, with the sun hidden by a thick layer of clouds.

The hero camp was laid out so that the main roads through it formed a large H of sorts, with tents along the edges and some temporary buildings on the inside. That included the command centre, which was a mobile home with a second floor and a communication array sticking out the top, and a small warehouse-like building that was serving as barracks and an armoury for the HRF troopers.

The camp had walls all around. These unfoldable barricade walls that the troopers had set up on the first day here. They'd dug trenches around the outside as well, to keep the space a little more safe.

From what, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was just past experience with other Endgames talking, so far...

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"Glamazon!" someone called out, and she glanced down one of the corridors and found a small utility truck in HRF colours waiting. Wrap-Up was in the back, and a trooper was at the wheel. Plopped down in the passenger seat was Obscure.

The older woman was a little-known heroine that, before this, Jezebelle had never heard of.

She supposed that fit.The woman was dressed in all grey and black body armour, with a rare full-faced mask. Her power was one that allowed her to manipulate shadows, turning them into physical objects to fight with.

And she had some sort of memory alteration ability as well, which was kind of terrifying. Or it would be if she wasn't an experienced hero.

"Hello, Obscure," Jezebelle said. "I'm in the back?"

"Unless you expect me to sit back there?" Obscure asked. "My knees aren't what they used to be."

"You can't be more than thirty," Jezebelle said.

"Forty-Six. I'll have you know. I could be your mom. Now hop in the back."

"Yes ma'am," Jezebelle said. She grabbed onto the cold steel handgrips on the back of the truck and pulled herself up and into the box at the rear. A few benches were welded to the side, and there was a space in the centre for them to toss gear into.

Wrap-Up was across from her, arms crossed, one leg up on the centre bit. "You're almost late," he said.

"Almost isn't," she replied. "Just the three of us?"

"For now, yes," Obscure said. "There's another joining us. Cheatah, from Eauclaire."

"I know her," Jezebelle said.

So far, there were some thirty-odd heroes involved in the Endgame. That didn't mean that all thirty of them were deployed at the same time.

In fact, it was very much the opposite.

The truck took off, and she watched the camp and the vehicle parking around it disappear behind them as they got onto a highway, then gunned it towards Saint Aire.

She clung on, a little afraid, but also a little thrilled at the sudden burst of speed. She had been more excited the first time. Now she knew what waited for her.

The checkpoint before entering the Endgame had moved back. She knew because they had poles marking out where it had been previously, and the last one was a whole metre past the edge of the current checkpoint.

They were let in after checking their credentials. It wasn't a big affair. The three heroes just had to flash their names over their heads and that was proof enough of who they were.

Not like anyone was sneaking into the Endgame anyway.

Entering Endgame.

And then they rode into Saint Arie and towards The Objective.

It was a large building in the centre of town. A bank, once. Three stories tall, with modern-looking architecture, right next to a police station that the HRF had taken over.

"You're here!" someone shouted as they arrived. Some hero in a green suit that she didn't really get to know yet. He had a bow folded up in a sling on his back and was waving at them as they showed up. "Good to see ya!"

"We're here, yeah," Wrap-Up said as he jumped out. He didn't even give her a hand to help her down, not that she was sure she wanted to touch him much.

"Anything happen?" she asked.

"No more than the last shift," the hero said. "Boring as shit. Maybe you'll get lucky? I just need two more shifts to get enough Copper Points to unlock one of those neat little powers!"

"That's not bad," Jezebelle said.

So far, they hadn't exactly been swimming in those points. A shift on guard duty around the Objective would gain her a single point.

Copper Power Shop
Total Copper Points: 3

That was three days worth of effort on her part. And the list of available powerups was... kind of lame, actually. Stuff that would let her tag things and remember where they were, or keep awake for longer without needing to sleep. One of them created a flashlight.

She had a flashlight. Her power was flashlights. It was... not a cool set of powers.

She just hoped that they'd get something better after winning this Endgame.

"Well, we'll leave you to it," the hero said. He looked like he was in a hurry to get anywhere else. Anywhere less boring, that was. "Have a nice shift!"

***