My Girlfriend, the Super Villain: The Day After, Part 4
#4 of My Girlfriend, The Super Villain
Katie outlines her plan
The next part of MGtS. Enjoy!
-Katie, I love and trust you, but are you INSANE?! You want ME to confront the guy with the gun?!
After Clara informed Katie of our suspicious character, Katie began to text me directly. She advised me to stick near Clara for now, and keep to public spaces with a lot of people. She also walked me through using the MyHack application, which made it disturbingly easy to download the footage from the security camera that hung above the windshield and faced out into the aisle. She didn't recognize the rat following us after I sent her the footage, but as she pointed out, it's not like there's a registry of super villains and their minions available for easy reference.
That was all simple enough, but her ultimate solution to my predicament is what had me worried. Katie's straight job was as a professional business consultant, and it was with her help that my store went from getting ready to close permanently to one of the hottest comic and game stores in the city. Business had been pretty steady for a while now, but she was always looking for new ideas and ways to advertise the store to keep things fresh. That I was on board with, but not how she planned to advertise and deal with the guy following us at the same time.
-Relax, Puppy; my girls have done this a hundred times. I always have one of my girls stationed at the mall anyway, and Clara's one of my best pickpockets. The two of them will work together to unload the gun and put it back before he realizes what happens.
I was about halfway toward texting a response of, "Why not just call the police?" when I shook my head and started deleting it. Trying to explain to the cops how I knew there was a guy with a gun following me would lead to way too many more awkward questions that I wouldn't be able to answer properly without causing trouble for Katie and her girls. I briefly considered suggesting that maybe one of them could just knock him out cold, but that'd just look like an assault and again lead to unwanted police attention. I didn't like Katie's suggestion, but I had little choice but to go along with it as I reviewed the plan in my response text.
-So, you're gonna let the guy walk into my store with an empty weapon, after Clara, "reminds", me that I need to take all the money out of the store safe and bring it to the bank to deposit as soon as I walk in. You figure he'll get greedy and try to confront me before I have a chance to leave with the money. At that point, you want me to disarm him.
In theory, it made sense. If Clara and her partner unloaded the gun without the rat realizing it, there'd be little real danger. If he didn't have any other weapons, he'd probably be caught off guard if he pulled the trigger and nothing happened. If I remembered my rusty martial arts classes from almost a decade ago, I could then probably overpower him pretty easily. There were just a lot of, "if's" in that scenario that made me a little nervous as I read Katie's response.
-Exactly. We take care of the guy with the gun, and we get some free press for the store. "Tonight's top story: You don't need to be super to be a hero, as a clerk at Secret Lair Comics and Games showed earlier today...".
-And don't worry; even if the girls somehow mess up, I'll still be there to give you a hand. You've got your wireless earpiece for your old phone, right? Just synch it up with this phone before you go in.
"I'll see you later, honey!" Clara, who'd be hanging off my other arm this whole time like a loving girlfriend, smiled and leaned up as if to give me a kiss. She got close enough that I could feel her lips on the fur of my face, but never made direct contact as she whispered to me.
"Don't look back. Just keep walking to work, Master. Mewstress and us will make sure nothing bad happens to you." It was kind of amazing how quickly she flipped from playful and silly to serious and business-like in an instant.
"Oh! Your boss wanted to take all that money to the bank as soon as you got in. Don't forget, honey!" And here comes the playful tone again. If Clara was any indication of the rest of Katie's minions, maybe they should start moving into acting with how easily they switch roles. She also made sure to say it just a little too loudly, so anybody, including the rat, would definitely overhear it.
I smiled weakly and nodded, waving as she started walking away. I kept my gaze locked forward, ignoring the startled cry of a man, followed by the apologies of an unfamiliar woman for running into him in what I could only guess was Katie's plan setting into motion. Hopefully her and Clara would be able to execute their part of the plan. If they didn't, then I might be getting personally executed very shortly.