It didn’t take them long to go through all the files Ruth, Jack and Nikita had found. They easily located the townhouse in Memphis belonging to Nikita’s father and the employees’ home addresses.
Nikita refused to make any more plans until they came up with a means to disguise themselves the next time they set out to track Mama down.
About a week later, Nikita entered the apartment laden with bags and a large box. For any normal teen her size the litter would’ve been too heavy to cope with and proved a challenge for Jack when he offered to lend a hand. She locked herself away in her room for days, only appearing for meal times or to use the bathroom.
Ruth, Jack and Megan, meanwhile, took turns to care for the hostage who refused to cough up her name or alias yet. The only time she really spoke was to ask about the strange noise issuing from Nikita’s room.
“I think it’s a sewing machine.” Megan said, after the fourth night since Nikita retreated into the guest room.
“You might be right there.” Said Jack.
“You know, I’ve been thinking…”
“That’s a bit rare.” Mocked Ruth.
“Oh, very funny. I was thinking, if you’re going to take Jack out with you again then you might want to think up an alias for him too.”
“That bitch is a real pain in the ass. I can’t wait till we’re rid of her.” Jack said, marching back down stairs with broken pieces of a bowl in his hands and chicken noodle soup all over his hair.
“What the hell did she do?” Megan asked.
“She kicked the bowl from my hands.”
“I’ll go take care of her…” Megan began as Ruth hushed her.
“What do you hear?” Ruth asked.
“Nothing.”
“Exactly, no sewing machine. She’s stopped.”
All three of them sped upstairs to find Nikita standing in her own doorway.
“Oh, I was just about to shout.” She said surprised.
“We heard the machine go off.”
“Ok, will come and see what I made.”
Upon three coat hangers, hung from the wardrobe doors, were three outfits. The first one was shorter than the others to fit perfectly to Ruth’s curvy contours. The fabric, at first glance, kind of shimmered in the lamp light but up close it looked more matt. It almost looked like a tiger print but the stripes were far too jagged and the colours were black and blue.
There was a firmness beneath the torso that told them was some sort of bullet proof vest beneath. A zip with a large hoop started from the curve of the breast all the way down to the navel. There were flat, black, knee high boots with a sort of ‘V’s shape cut into the front of the boot by the shin. Above the costume was a kind of mask. This was all blue with only one eye hole and a black star on the other side. On closer inspection it was actually clear, clear enough so that the wearer could still see through it.
The costume in the middle was taller and, slightly, curvier. It was all black except for one long electric blue lighting bolt on the torso. There were rubber knee and elbow pads and a blue rubber collar around the neck. The knee high boots were made from rubber and bright blue like the lightning bolt where as the heels were about five inches tall. The mask was blue with large silver lightning bolts either side of the eye holes.
The last costume, which was clearly made for Nikita herself, was almost all black except for the arms, legs, hood and one vertical blue line starting from the neck and down between the legs. There was one zip at the back of the outfit running all the way down to the backside. Black and blue leather gloves matched the flat ankle boots. Nikita was already the tallest; she didn’t feel the need to add to her length. A black mask made from velvet was dotted all over with silver stars.
YOU ARE READING
Close To Embers (formerly known as Modern Love)
Science FictionSP: Double crossed, cheated, victimised and torn - yet the girls are still standing strong. LP: Not even a week had passed since the girls had parted ways to do Mama Goody's bidding. They were successful, if not unorthodox, in their roles. Flame...
