Nemesis
Chapter 16: Bank Robbery Interrupted
[ Taylor ]
I stared at my father, breathing deeply. Uncertain about what to do or what to say. I checked the perimeter, just in case, but we were alone. No one else was around. Dad had found out about
something – but I didn't know what, not yet. Best not to give anything away. I gently lowered myself into the other kitchen chair. "You... don't want me dating Jess?" I asked, more as an icebreaker than anything else.
As I hoped, that made him smile, just a little. "No. Taylor, I'm happy for you. About that, and... in a lot of ways. You've been doing so well the past few months. Ever since you got to high school, I really didn't know what to do – but it seemed like you got out of it all your own. You've been so happy, you've been getting good grades, you have your first girlfriend... I don't
want to believe that something is wrong."
"So what's worrying you?"
"I got an eMail, unsigned, telling me that you were paying for your new school out of gang money."
That... wasn't good. But that
couldn't be all he had. "It's from Emma."
"Probably," he admitted. "Or some other bully. I figured it was nonsense... but I do know that a lot of kids your age end up in gangs. So I checked with the school about your finances."
Oh, fuck. I never bothered to cover my tracks. I didn't think he would look.
"They told me that you don't have a scholarship, and that your tuition fees were paid in full, from an account in your name at a bank I don't recognize." He paused, fixing me with an almost pleading stare. "Is that true?"
He wasn't actually going to take my word over the registrar's. He just wanted to know if I'd lie to him again. "It is."
"Five figures of money don't come out of nowhere. I didn't pay it. Your coffee shop job isn't even close. And because you didn't tell me the truth about it, and I don't know where it came from, I can only assume you're getting it from somewhere illegal." There was something scared in his gaze, and he was looking right at me. "Are you?"
"You're not recording this, right?" I asked nervously. I thought I knew what I wanted to tell him, but I didn't want to get outed, and I had to be sure... "You haven't told anyone?"
Dad scoffed. "Of course not. I'm not stupid. Now, tell me:
are you getting the money from somewhere illegal?"
"Yes," I said. "Technically. Not the way you're thinking." This was going to be a little tricky. "Do you know anything about capes?"
His face goes even paler, his gaze drifting toward my shoes. "Oh, god. Are you— at
least tell me you're not in the Empire."
I sighed, and smiled. Always thinking of the worst case. But of course he was – Dad cared about me. I had maybe never been more glad than in that moment, that I hadn't become a real villain. If I had become the terrifying swarm that I knew I could be, had actually considered being, then I'd break his heart.
That was why I built up to it this way – so I could give him a pleasant surprise instead.
"Dad... Look at me." He did. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath – and then transformed into a version of myself with the wig and the costume on. I looked him right in the eyes, and grinned. "I'm Bumblebee."
For a second, he stared, and then he just burst out laughing, the tension of the moment released in such an unexpected way that I supposed he just couldn't help it. As I watched, I smiled too. I knew, just looking at him, that things would be all right. "You're joking," he breathed, a wheezing sound still on the words.
"I do joke a lot, but not this time," I said. It almost took effort, to use my normal voice as Bumblebee. Completing the image, some giant bees bumbled their way down the stairs. I hugged one, while the others piled up on the table between us. One settled on Dad's lap, and he started to pet it almost mechanically. "This is me. Even if you probably didn't recognize me in the news." I grinned. "So? What do you think?"
"I'm glad," he said, still a little breathless. "I... guess I really was overdoing it, wasn't I?"
"Little bit." I winked.
"I never even thought...
Bumblebee, really..." He shook his head, apparently trying to regain his composure. "You know I'm a fan – I don't know who isn't. I just... Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it's illegal," I said. "Even the singing and dancing, technically. I am a supervillain, after all."
"But you're never gonna get in
trouble for it, are you?" Dad asked.
"No, I'm not. The PRT absolutely loves good press, and I'm the most popular cape in town. Even if they ever do manage to arrest me, I'll just end up in the Wards." He nodded. "But
you don't have that kind of protection. You're just a guy. That's... why I never told you."
"Because you don't want me involved in a crime, when I might not be able to get out of it."
"Exactly." I was in full costume, so my eyes were covered – I turned my head away bashfully, instead of just breaking eye contact. "You're safest not knowing anything. Even if it is just bee crime."
"Okay." He took a deep breath. The things he and Mom had been involved in over the years, this probably wasn't the first time he'd ever heard that. "That doesn't actually explain how you paid for your school. I didn't think Bumblebee made all that much money."
"I don't, not publicly," I agreed. "I won't explain... but I promise, I'm not hurting anybody, I'm not stealing from anyone, and I'm probably never going to get in trouble for that either."
"And you're sure you're not going to get hurt, doing this?"
"Very sure," I said, trying not to sound
too smug. "My power's a lot better than I let on. I basically
can't get hurt."
"What... can you do, then?"
"I fully control every bug within a few blocks' radius of me –
every bug, not just bees. I can change them into other bugs, change their size, mix and match body parts, or even make copies of myself." I stacked a few of the giant bees on top of each other, and turned them back into the version of me in my Homecoming dress, perched atop the table.
"Like this," my other body added, before turning back into bees again.
"And if you get arrested?" he asked.
"You saw what happened when Crystalia tried, right?"
"Yeah." Dad sat back, thinking. "You must have made another copy of yourself. But wouldn't your real body still have been stuck in jail?"
"That's the thing. I don't have a 'real body.' I can put my consciousness wherever I want." His mouth formed into an O, and I grinned. "That's why I'm so sure I can't get hurt. Unless you kill every bug within half a mile of me, I'll be fine. So maybe I shouldn't jump on a
nuke, but..."
"Don't." He said it flatly – but he was also smiling. "Why did you decide to be a humor
villain? Why not join the Wards?"
"I can't – I really,
really can't. Not yet." I took a deep breath. I couldn't explain the Cauldron contract, obviously. I had a few different ideas about this, but probably the best place to start was... "You've seen the news, so you know Crystalia
hates me. It's... not just a rivalry."
"You mean she really wants to hurt you?"
"Yes. And I can't explain. There are things capes don't talk about. But just..." I wasn't allowed to tell my father that she was Emma. But my dad had known her from the cradle. And her costume really wasn't all that concealing. "Watch her videos. And think about it, really think about it."
"I will." He said it thoughtfully, so I figured he really would.
I took a deep breath, swallowed, then looked him right in the eyes. "Promise me you won't make me stop?
Please?" I begged. "You won't tell the PRT, or call the police, or... anything? I... I really love this. I've been having so much
fun, you know how happy I am, and I'm not hurting anybody, and I'm never gonna
get hurt, so..."
"Okay," Dad said, and I started to smile. "I can imagine you love being Bumblebee – I know everyone else loves watching you. And after what you've already done, I'm sure you know what you're doing. I won't stop you, I won't pry, and I won't tell the authorities. Just...
you promise
me, really promise me, that you'll be careful? Even for you, this must be dangerous."
"I promise," I said, springing up from my chair to hug him. "Thank you
so much, Dad."
We spent a little longer together – watched some TV, chatted about some harmless cape stuff. When we went to bed, I was sure he was happy. And that was a
huge relief. Dad knew. That shoe has dropped. It couldn't happen again and it couldn't get any worse. He even
liked me!
Nice try, Emma.
~~
[ Taylor ]
"Hey!
I wanted to rob this bank!"
The bank robber didn't seem to know what to do about that – hood drawn over his face, a bandana mask under it, pillowcase full of ill-gotten gains slung over his shoulder. He was just about to get away with it, and then – well. Here I was. Bumblebee, minidress and all, absolutely surrounded by bees, striding through the bank's front doors and trapping him inside. The bank robber, probably more out of bafflement than anything, started to raise his gun. It was already disabled – bugs in the mechanism – but I still couldn't have
that. So a larger-than-average bee barreled into him, knocking him over and sitting on him as its wings returned to normal. Smaller bees, too small for anyone to notice that their wings weren't quite bee-like, got the gun away from him.
"Ha! Gotcha!" I said, taunting him with a waggling finger. I looked around the bank. If anyone didn't have their phones out before, they all sure did now. The bank wasn't terribly full – no surprise, it was midday on a work day – but there were a few people there, most of them very happy to see me.
I'd been waiting for
weeks for this – there were four banks in range of Immaculata High, and knowing how crime goes in Brockton Bay, I figured sooner or later I'd have my chance for a good, fun notoriety event. Bank robberies were fairly standard for humor villains, a perfectly old-timey crime... but I figured they couldn't get more harmless than interrupting someone
else's bank robbery.
"Now
I can rob the bank!" I declared.
Only then did I look over my shoulder, to see the bees mostly droopy and listless. "What?" I said. "I made you masks, and money bags, and everything! Why aren't you—" I cut off, listening to the buzzes. "Sure we can still rob the bank! Why would that guy ruin anything?" I tossed my head, turning away from the bees and sauntering up to the counter. I pointed at them, my voice rising with excitement. "Put your hands in the air and give me all your money!"
"Uh... we don't have anything left, ma'am," said a short woman in a maroon pantsuit. She did put her hands in the air, slowly, tentatively – though none of the other employees did. In fact, they looked like they were trying not to laugh.
"Oh..." I frowned, as the bees started to buzz with laughter. "Well, where is it?"
She points at the guy on the floor, pillowcase now held in his outstretched hand on the floor in front of him.
"Okay!" I bounced up and pried the bag out of his hand. Surprisingly, he didn't struggle, or really say much of anything – I guess he was a smart enough bank robber not to want to be embarrassed on the next Bumblebee video. I took it, looked inside, and smiled – then looked up, at the still-demoralized, sadly buzzing bees, one of them trying to shove the front doors open. "I know, I know, you wanted to rob a bank, not some scruffy guy... No, don't go, we can fix this! Watch!"
I walked back to the counter, offering the pillowcase to the woman in the pantsuit. After a few moments, she took it. "Thank you?" she said weakly, tilting her head.
"Think nothing of it, citizen!" I said brightly, turning away from the counter and taking three steps toward the door. Then I spun around and pointed my finger at her. "Put your hands in the air and give me all your money!"
There had been chuckles before. But
that made the whole bank bust up laughing, and I smiled.. Even the woman in the pantsuit was laughing, though she did still hand me back the pillowcase. I took it, turned away, and did a double fist-pump, the money-bag swinging wildly.
"See? We robbed the bank after all!" Some of the bees were getting into it. "Now, who wants loot?!" Most of the bees warmed up at that, but only one flew right up to me, bag held open and ready. "Hey there, Butch Cassibee," I said, scratching him under his fluffy little chin.
I grabbed some stacks of bills out of the pillowcase, and shoved them into his bag. That was enough to persuade the rest. Soon a whole crowd of bees surrounded me, all begging for a cut of the loot, which I was only too happy to dole out.
"Okay, you get this, and you get this... oh, here's the dye pack, you can have that back" – I tossed it underhand to the first bank robber, and it bounced off his hoodie – "you get— oh!" My head popped up as the bank's doors swung open again.
Walking through the doors was Armsmaster, halberd slung over his shoulder, and my civilian body winced in class. I was lucky the bees didn't react. I prepared for this... but it's still not what I was hoping.
This
was a risk – even humor villains couldn't get through a bank robbery with
no response. It wasn't going to be the Wards in the middle of a school day. And because I showed up at the end of someone else's robbery, the heroes were probably already on their way when I appeared. But there were no Crystalias among the Protectorate – they all seemed fine with being nice to humor villains, Armsmaster maybe most of all. That didn't mean it wasn't scary, looking up at the leader of Brockton Bay's heroes, resplendent in his shining metal armor. I quietly made sure that my core was just as far away from him as I could get without knocking either Bumblebee or Taylor Hebert out.
"Armsmaster!" I said, hopping up and down in joy. "Oh my god, I finally get to meet you! I've been a fan since I was just a little bee drinking mommy's honey! And I heard you have a new toy coming out, a super motorbike with fifteen different secret weapons, a wind-up engine,
and a real working stereo!" I shot a glance at the bees, now mostly cowering behind the counter. Just Butch Cassibee was still at my side, though a few of them were poking up over the counter in the pile they were in. The gaze lingered for a few moments, as if I was trying to total up loot in my head. "I hope I stole enough to buy it..."
"Now, now, don't do that," Armsmaster says, raising a finger. His voice is surprisingly friendly. Maybe this would work out after all. "You shouldn't buy my merchandise with the proceeds of crime. Only an honest day's work will get you the 2011 Super Steed collectible."
"But this is my first bank robbery!" I whined. I hadn't exactly
planned for my approach to Armsmaster to be a little girl complaining about dad's rules, but I guess that was what I got. It did go very well with Armsmaster's disapproving-but-caring straight man approach. And now he was probably going to be my actual dad in all the cape fic once the videos went up. Great. "What's the point if I can't buy something cool with it?"
"There is no point. You shouldn't rob banks, Bumblebee." He looked down at the original bank robber, now trying to scrabble his way out from under the bee that's trapping him. Tough luck, I'd been adding mass to my arrest bee this whole time. He wasn't going anywhere. "Can you let this man go?"
"Uh... I'm not sure I should let my bee off him, he seems kind of mean..." Armsmaster jabbed him with the butt of his halberd, and he fell limp. "Um," I said, as my very large bee dissolved into smaller ones. "Is he all right?"
"He'll be fine once he's in jail," Armsmaster said. "Now, you know I can't let you rob this bank without a fight. Wouldn't it be easier to just give the money back now?" He showed his halberd, and I leaned in as if looking to spot the details. "I
might have a secret weapon for this situation."
"Awww..." I shrunk back a little, then perked up again. "Can I rob a scruffy guy instead?"
"Still no," Armsmaster says affably.
"But if I make the bees give the money back, they'll never want to rob a bank again!" I complained.
"
Bumblebee," he said indulgently – but then he cut off, as a siren started to wail in the background. Not more cop cars – the
Endbringer sirens.
Armsmaster's phone went off – of course its ringtone was his theme tune – and so did mine, a bee dropping it into my hand. Anyone could sign up for Endbringer alerts, and in fact most cape geeks did. I flipped the phone open.
Behemoth sighted @ Denver, the text said.
ETA half an hour. Standard downtown rally point @ Pilgrim Park, teleportation in 20 minutes.
"Um." I looked back up to Armsmaster, then motioned to the bees. They started flying out from behind the counter and dropping all their money bags on the ground in a messy heap. I
had planned to return my loot... but not like this. "You can have all this money back now, I'm
not robbing a bank when the Endbringer sirens are on." Armsmaster nodded – he didn't smile, the situation was too grave for that, but I'm sure he would have otherwise. "I guess I'll see you at the rally point?"
"I suppose I will," he echoed. "If you'll show up for the fight, you're free to go."
He and I walked out of the bank together, and I turned into smaller bees and soared away into the sky.
At Immaculata, the announcement rang out over the PA – school was canceled. Everything shuts down for Endbringer fights, because no one wants to be responsible for keeping a cape trapped away from the fight. Which was good for me, because I was a cape, and I did want to attend. The only trick was not getting caught up with the others. Lucky for me, none of my friends were in this class, so no one was watching me – I darted through the door and into an empty bathroom.
I locked the door of the last stall behind me. Opened the bathroom window – a small thing high on the wall, more like a transom than anything, but it didn't have a screen on it and it was big enough for me. I texted Jess –
Dad's picking me up, don't wait for me. Then, after a moment and a deep breath, I sent another to Dad.
Don't worry about me. I promise, I'll be fine.
Was I sure I wanted to do this? No. Of course not. It was
Behemoth, and he was
terrifying. I didn't even want to fight
regular villains, let alone
this. But... I knew I could help. I knew how powerful I could be, how safe I would be against even Behemoth. I'd even practiced a little, against a mantis the size of Godzilla.
I had the power to help. So I had the responsibility, too. I would help, no matter how much it scared me.
The body of Taylor Hebert turned into a pillar of bugs that flew through the window, off to Pilgrim Park, and Behemoth.
~~~~~~
This chapter was beta read by the excellent LithosMaitreya and Fwee, who receive money bags.
So that's a bit of a cliffhanger, isn't it? I know you might be a little worried here – an Endbringer fight is going to be hard to pull off without losing the tone, especially considering the next chapter won't be up for another year... which is why I'm not doing it that way.
Chapter 17 is already written and revised, and it will be going up
tomorrow! Look forward to it.
Of course, this isn't the only thing I've been writing lately! I updated my first real fic,
Heredity, just last week. And then there's the one thing I would really like to shill...
Are you interested in futurism? Revolution? The fall of a theocracy? Then you may want to check out
Take the Future, a fic for
The Talos Principle 2, a wonderful puzzle game. It's already fully first-drafted and will be updating weekly until it's done, no suspicious years-long gaps or anything.
Your time machine needs just a little more calibration.
