Fluff

Chapter Fifty - Sickly Sorts

Teddy squinted and tried harder to see out of her mask.

Her Big Sister had replaced the thin plastic strap holding the mask in place with the strap from a pair of goggles, hot-glueing the thicker strap to the inside of the mask so that it stayed on her face better. It made the mask much comfier. Then they'd poked a few dozen little holes into the mouth area of the mask too, and put one of those disposable facemasks on the inside with more glue.

It made her plastic bear mask feel a lot nicer and better, but it still didn't help with her vision. The little eye holes made it hard to see from the sides, and Teddy was worried that a hero might sneak up on her.

She had to turn her head all the way around to look up to the Boss. "Do we gotta?" Teddy asked. "I don't want to be all chummy with... you know, that sort of person."

Teddy was being careful with her words because at the moment, she and all of her sisters were riding on one of the city buses. They took up three whole seats by the front, and Teddy got lucky enough to have one of the aisle seats, the one right next to her big sister's. She was the first one to see anyone walking into the bus, so if they were a hero, or a rival villain, they'd have to deal with Teddy before they could do anything funny.

"Ted--Ursa," Emily said. "What we're doing today is a good thing. It's meant to help people. I expect all of you to be on your best behaviour, alright?"

Teddy pouted, not that anyone could see it. Working with heroes sounded so boring. Working in a hospital sounded even worse. What did Teddy want to do with sick kids?

She crossed her arms and harrumphed. If the Boss said it was important, then Teddy figured she could at least try.

The bus rode on for a while, and Teddy tried to have some fun with her sisters. Trinity was squished in next to her and was hogging the window, so Teddy half-turned and played rock-paper-scissors-claws with Athena. It was fun, at least for Teddy, since she was the only one that could use claws according to the rules she made up, and claws beat everything.

Actually, they only played three rounds, the rest of the time was spent with Athena complaining while Teddy laughed at her for losing three games in a row.

Finally though, the bus rumbled to a stop, and Teddy turned to look out the windows. They were in front of a great big building, all grey and white, with a big parking lot to one side and a spot with a bunch of ambulances parked in a row next to each other.

A big sign by the front read Eauclaire General Hospital, so Teddy knew they were in the right area.

Unfortunately, next to all the normal cars and ambulances were a trio of ugly black vans with the HRF logo plastered on the side. The heroes were here already. She groaned, but there was nothing for it.

They got off the bus, and the Boss made sure that everyone was accounted for. One of Trinity was still inside, so she had to go fetch her, but then they were all together, baking in their costumes on the sidewalk.

"Alright," the Boss said. "I want everyone to be on their best behaviour. What did I say about hospitals?"

"Even a villain wouldn't rob them," Teddy droned without emotion in an echo of what her sisters said.

"Good! I'm very proud of all of you. And I'll be even prouder if we get through today without some sort of disaster." Emily nodded firmly, then reached down for a hand to grab. Teddy was fastest and closest, so she got to be the one to grab on first, then she had to hold onto Maple with her other hand, who held onto one Trinity, and so on until they were all linked up.

There was a big show of looking both ways before they crossed the street and headed right for the HRF vans.

Halfway there, as they were met by a clipboard person coming from one of the vans. "Boss? And... various little heroes?" the guy said. He looked tall and reedy, not at all the mental image that Teddy had for HRF troopers, but pretty much exactly the image she had for bureaucrats, and those could be way worse than troopers.

"That's us," the Boss said with a wan smile. "Are we late?"

"Just in time," the clipboard said. "We were wondering if it was okay to separate the girls? We have a few spots that we're having visitors at."

"I... suppose. Could I rotate between the groups?" the Boss asked. "What are the groups, anyway?"

"We have three," the clipboard said. "One in the children's wing, another in the lobby by the entrance where we have an HRF kiosk for donations, and a third visiting patients across the hospital. Each group has one hero assigned to it already. Glamazon is taking care of the entrance, Melaton is in the children's wing, and we have Silver Fox doing room-by-room visits. Soothe-Sayer is arriving soon, they'll be rotating through the groups too. If you want, you can work with them?"

"Alright," the Boss said. She looked over her sisters, and Teddy tried to stand taller and more intimidating. Maybe she'd get the best job out of it that way. "Um... Well, Bandit, you can have one of yourself at each, that much is easy. Maple, can you do the room visits with Silver Fox? Is Silver Fox... good with children? Shy ones?"

The clipboard nodded. "He's very charismatic, and has been doing this for a while. We also have a PR expert with each team." the clipboard smiled. "Not every hero is great at conversation, or handling awkward situations. It's fantastic to have you here already, so we can hardly ask that any of you be perfect at that kind of thing."

"Okay, good, good," the Boss said. "Owlwatch, you'll be at the entrance. Ursa Minor, you can handle the children's wing, right?"

"No problem, Boss!" Teddy said.

It didn't take long that they were all split apart at the entrance of the hospital. Teddy and a Trinity were told to follow another clipboard, which Teddy immediately decided she didn't like. The woman looked down at Teddy with a vacant smile and talked to her as if she was a twelve year old instead of a ravenous, hungry grizzly villain in the body of someone about twelve years old.

It was annoying, but Teddy kept reminding herself that her big sister would be disappointed if she ate one of the HRF's clipboard people, so she just held on to Trinity's hand and continued after the woman across the entire hospital.

Eventually they arrived in a big room with a bunch of toys to one side. There were saccharine, boring paintings on the walls, and a number of chairs laid out here and there. Teddy felt herself growing a little more tense as she noticed a hero in the middle of the room sitting on a chair and facing a bunch of kids who were sitting in a semi-circle before her.

Teddy recognized the woman: Melaton, one of the very first heroes Teddy had ever met. Not that she thought that Melaton was a very good 'Hero'. She was a very violent, mean-spirited woman. Practically a step away from being a Rogue, which kinda made her alright in Teddy's books.

"Oh, hey, the bra-- the kids are here too?" Melaton asked. "If you guys want, you can sit with the others. We're reading something." Melaton raised her hands, revealing some colourful superhero propaganda book.

Teddy scoffed. "We're just here to make sick kids feel better by being close to us," she said. "We don't want stories read to us. We're too cool for that."

"Yeah!" Trinity said, crossing her arms.

There was a flash of humour in Melaton's eyes, and Teddy felt herself puffing out in pride as all the kids gawked at her.

"That's nice, kid. But you'll miss out on snacks and such in a moment."

"Yeah!" Trinity cried again, this time with more enthusiasm and hands in the air. She skipped ahead and plopped herself down on the floor with the other kids. "Hi! I'm Bandit, and I'm definitely a hero. When's snacks?"

Teddy crossed her arms. They could bring her to places where she could be all lame and heroic, but they couldn't force the heroism out of her.

She noticed that not all of the kids were in front of Melaton though, a small group of them were off to the side, hanging out by the couches. With a nod, Teddy went over to join them. They were all a little older, and looked a lot more jaded.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," one of the teens said. "Are you here to sell us some bull about heroes being the best, because if you're gonna, then save yourself the time and don't bother."

Teddy scoffed. "No. Heroes are lame and stupid. Everyone knows that."

The teens looked at her with renewed interest, and Teddy grinned. This could be an opportunity.

"So, y'all are sick right? But are you sick of capitalism and its terrible influence?"

***