“Congratulations on your first official villain arrest,” Pinpoint said as she gave her a pat on the shoulder. “I’ll never understand why these idiots keep playing a stupid role.”
“So what happens next?” Erika watched with a self-satisfied smirk as the police hauled the cowboy wannabe into a waiting police transport. Still more police swarmed the area taking pictures of the shell casings she left behind and getting witness statements from Kimo and Auntie Lucy.
“Next, the police will investigate him, you, and the incident to make sure no lines were crossed, but this is a pretty open and shut case. He threatened two baselines with a gun, you intervened. Straightforward.”
“Don’t I get paid for capturing him like I did that purse snatcher? He had a gun and you said he was a meta, he’s gotta be worth more than $500 right?”
“Should be. Meta human criminals, it depends on what their effective class tier is and if they’re a first time offender or wanted anywhere else. The police will do their investigation and we should hear back in a few hours, maybe a couple days at the latest. Anyways, let’s get back to lunch.”
***
“So, there’s an event coming up for new heroes,” Pinpoint said between bites of food. Her mask was pulled down enough to reveal her mouth and nose, just enough for her to eat.
Erika chewed slowly as she processed Pinpoint’s statement, her own mask shoved into her pocket. Once she swallowed, she set her plastic fork down. “An event? What kind of event?”
“A formal dinner and mixer.”
“A mixer? Isn’t that like a dance or some shit?”
“In this case… yes.”
“Do I have to go?”
Pinpoint grimaced. “It’s… ‘recommended’ by the powers that be,” she said, making air quotes with her fingers. “It’s your opportunity to be formally introduced to the superhero community.”
“...what? I’m already a superhero though. Wasn’t that the point of registering and all this shit we’ve been doing for weeks?!”
“Yes, but you haven’t been introduced to the community yet.”
“What? I met White Knight and you and Triage and Sanctum and Thatcher.”
“That’s just meeting a few heroes out on patrol or during incidents. This is different. Maybe half the active heroes plus every one that’s joined up this year, will be there.”
“I’m still not seeing the point. It sounds dumb.”
“Dumb? Of course it’s dumb. It’s a fucking homecoming dance for superheroes like we’re all still in high school!” The experienced hero exploded as she angrily stabbed a piece of chicken on her plate hard enough that the table shook as the metal fork she was eating with bent in half.
Pinpoint took a loud breath and exhaled through her nose before she produced a case from her belt. From within she pulled out a plastic wrapped metal fork to replace the one she’d just destroyed.
Erika stared at the woman with wide eyes and her muscles tensed for violence at the sudden display of anger.
Pinpoint looked at her for a second before her shoulders sagged. “Sorry, didn’t mean to get so heated.”
“It’s… fine. So this dance, I have to go?”
“You don’t have to, but certain influential people will notice if you don’t.”
Panic shot through Erika’s chest but she ruthlessly crushed it. Panicking will only raise suspicions. It’s just a dance, she thought to herself. “What? Why? Even if I’m a hero, I’m a nobody.”
“You’re not nobody, you’re just new. The Hawaii hero community is small, less than a thousand active heroes across the state. When a new person joins, people notice.”
“Are you going to go?”
“I… normally don’t. Like I said, it’s a stupid event, but this year I’m sponsoring you, so I’ll be expected to show up with you in tow.”
“Why?”
“How many heroes do you think I’ve sponsored?”
“I’m don’t know, like three? Four?” Erika guessed.
Pinpoint shook her head.
“More? Ten? Twenty?”
“None,” Pinpoint answered, shaking her head. “You’re the first. Even more so, sponsorship is rare.”
“Why’s it rare? Isn’t Sanctum sponsoring Game Phreak?”
“Game Phreak is Sanctum’s sidekick. It’s different. Sponsorship means that I’m certifying you as a hero. It makes me legally responsible for your actions. At the same time, any bounties you earn are yours to keep unless I actually help, in which case they’re split evenly. Being sponsored is like being my partner and trainee. A sidekick is more like a slave. Sidekicks get paid a salary and benefits like an employee would, but any bounties they earn, all of it goes to the hero overseeing them. Worse, sidekicks only have as much control over their own lives as their hero allows them to have. Few heroes sponsor anyone anymore. It’s better for them to take people on as sidekicks.”
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
“That’s fucked up. How is that legal?”
“Corporations. Corporate metas are legally sidekicks. If you ever get an offer from a corp to leave the hero business, have a meta-power attorney look over the contract first. More than likely, it’ll be a form of sidekick agreement attaching you to one of their executive heroes. Even if they pay well on the face of things, corporate metas surrender their freedom near completely in exchange.”
“I think I’d be a villain before I became a corpo meta.”
“You wouldn’t be the first. Probably half the active supervillains are ex-corpo sidekicks. Professor Panic for example worked for a defense contractor’s R&D group before he turned villain and killed his hero and half the board of directors.”
Erika recalled the voice of the man taunting her by recording. He seemed like a psycho killer. She just hadn’t expected him to also be ex corpo. “Huh…”
“Yeah. Anyways, we’re getting far from the topic. Do you want to go to the dance with me?” Pinpoint asked her with a smirk.
Erika’s heart fluttered at the way her sponsor asked, and it brought up a tide of complex feelings. He asked me to prom the same way, she thought to herself. The memory of a smirking face she wished she could forget floated through her mind. She desperately wanted to punch it. Shoving his face and those memories back into the corner of her mind took effort, but the other thought she had helped.
Her imagination conjured up an image of her and Pinpoint twirling around a dance floor in fancy dresses. The image warmed her ears and forced a realization to the forefront. She was attracted to Pinpoint. She’d always considered herself straight and had only dated men before. Well, one man, her brain helpfully supplied as it conjured up the face she wanted to punch most again. Rage bubbled up in her chest at the thought and she started to rapidly shake her head, as if she were denying the past.
“No? Brutal,” Pinpoint said flippantly, though it seemed like there was a hint of something more being hidden in her tone.
Was that… disappointment?
“No, sorry I was thinking about something else. You said I’d be expected to go to this thing?”
“Yep, unfortunately.”
“Guess I’ll go… when is it? What’s the dress code?”
“It’s next month. Formal wear, with masks.”
“Masks?”
“Well we are superheroes after all.”
***
Erika thought she could just wear one of the dresses she already had, or at worst just buy something from one of the department stores, but that was too normal. No, she needed to go dress shopping, not as a woman, but as a superhero. Dress shopping at normal times was hell. Dress shopping for as a superhero was worse. Normal dresses were an exercise in overpriced tubes of fabric that you crammed yourself into, but apparently, normal dresses wouldn't do for a superhero dance.
“I still don’t get why can’t I just wear one of the dresses I already have,” Erika pouted in the backseat of Pinpoint’s SUV.
“We already discussed this. You’re going to need something that can stand up to your powers, and ideally, take a bullet without getting damaged,” Pinpoint said with a frown.
“Take a bullet?! It’s a dance, not a shootout!” Mary shouted at her sponsor.
“It’s a bunch of superheroes crammed into a hotel ballroom together with alcohol. Bad decisions and showing off will happen.”
“Next you’re telling me you’re both going armed!”
“Most heroes that use weapons do. There’s a decent chance at least one supervillain will attack.”
“Who in their right mind attacks a superhero dance?!”
“Supervillains aren’t known for their sanity.”
“We’re here,” Keoni interrupted the three women as the SUV came to a stop outside a warehouse.
“What’s with superheroes and warehouses,” Erika muttered under her breath as she got out of the vehicle.
Pinpoint led the way to a small security door and hit a button before turning to look at Erika. “Warehouses are cheap to build, have a lot of space, and are usually far from residential areas. Both heroes and villains use them a lot.”
“I hate that that makes sense.”
As the three talked about hero and villain culture and what made sense, the door they were waiting in front of opened up to reveal a glossy white robot in the shape of a person.
“How may this one be of assistance?” the robot asked in an androgynous voice as it looked at them with a too-human looking smile.
The robot’s glossy white, too-perfect human face and its uncanny expression sent chills down Erika’s spine. From the way Mary flinched away from the thing, she guessed she wasn’t the only one freaked out by its appearance, though Pinpoint was made of sterner stuff.
“Pinpoint, Firefly, and guest,” Pinpoint said, gesturing at herself, Erika, and finally Mary. “We have an appointment with the Tailor.”
The robot cocked its head at an angle in an unsettling approximation of a thinking pose. “Appointment confirmed. Welcome Miss Pinpoint, Miss Firefly, and Miss Guest. Please, follow me.” In a single motion, the robot turned its back on them and started to walk into the warehouse.
Pinpoint wasted no time following after the automaton, and after a moment’s hesitation Erika grabbed Mary’s hand and trailed after her. As she passed through the door, she almost wished she’d stayed outside.
Another of the unsettling bots stood behind the open door and closed it as soon as they were clear. It was only one of dozens. All around the warehouse, dozens of the disturbing creatures operated sewing machines and other instruments of fashion as they cut and sewed clothing with unnatural speed and precision.
Erika especially hated how each robot seemed to turn and glance at them as they passed within a certain distance.
“No! No! The neckline should be graceful and classy, swooping just low enough to tantalize without being scandalous! We are making fashion, not pornography you stupid thing!” A woman screeched. The sound of something ceramic shattering against a way came from up ahead. Moments later, another of the too-human robots rushed past them carrying a gorgeous sleeveless red dress with a plunging neckline.
“Madam, your next appointment has arrived,” the robot leading them announced as it led them into a new area of the warehouse. A dozen more of the robots each stood on a small, well lit stage, surrounded by mirrors. Each wore a different outfit and every few seconds shifted to a new pose. To the side, a middle-aged woman impatiently directed another of the bots as it cleaned up shards of broken pottery. As they watched, yet another of the things rushed in and placed a teacup and saucer in the woman’s expectant hand.
The woman took a long sip from her cup before she turned around and looked at the three women. Her eyes were sharp, assessing, predatory as she looked at the three of them.
Erika felt like the woman was undressing her with her eyes, and she hated it.
“Pinpoint, it’s been too long darling,” the woman finally said with a smile. “I see you brought me new models. How exciting.”
fashion.
