Calamitous (Kaylor)

5

The morning of Catastrophe's first full day back was a little odd. She went through her normal morning routine - breakfast, yoga, shower - and made her way to the training area to see how her crew was doing. This was all normal for her.

What wasn't normal were the strange looks she kept getting from various members of the gang. She could tell that they had probably been talking about her before she entered the room, because it was strangely silent as she walked through, and a group of the girls were trying to inconspicuously put some distance between themselves.

Cat made her way over to the boxing area, where Arsyn was currently working a punching bag. "Have you noticed anything...weird going on with the girls?" she asked bluntly. The shorter girl stopped punching and turned to face her, brushing her sweaty hair back from her eyes.

"No? Why, did someone say something?" she asked, looking a little worried. Cat shook her head impatiently.

"Not to my face. But they were talking about me; I'm certain of it. And I keep getting weird side glances." Feeling eyes on her neck, Cat whipped around and met the gaze of Mother Chucker, who looked away quickly. "Alright, what the hell is going on?!"

"Relax, Cat," Arsyn grabbed her arm to prevent her from going over to the other girls. "They're all worried about you, I'm sure. You haven't been on a job in months, and they're probably a little concerned that you might not be able to handle it so soon."

"Is that what they told you?" Catastrophe hissed, eyes glimmering with anger. "Because if that's the case, a little demonstration might be in order." She yanked her arm away from her deputy and stalked over to the others, who were sitting and stretching, pretending not to be eavesdropping. Arsyn trailed worriedly after her.

"I understand that there might be some doubts about my abilities?" she asked, a warning in her voice. The girls glanced at each other uneasily.

"No one meant any disrespect, Catastrophe," Homeslice said softly. "We were just worried about your health, is all."

"That's very sweet of you." Cat's voice dripped with sarcasm. "How nice to have people who care so much about me that they whisper to each other behind my back instead of just asking about my health." There was a beat of silence before Mother Chucker stood up, looking a little angry.

"Uh, yeah, I have something to say," she began.

"Spit it out, then. While we're all listening."

"Fine!" Chucker snapped. "I just wanted to know when things would get back to normal? We've got big jobs to do, and we could all use the money, but you've just been sitting on them and having us go out and do the boring work while you lie around here all day!"

"It's not like I could be doing anything else!" Cat snapped back. "And forgive me for not having you do any big jobs without me there, but based on how the last small one went, I'd say it was a good decision!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Homeslice asked, looking hurt.

"What it's supposed to mean is that you should have noticed the tripwire. And Arsyn should have warned you about it to begin with. And you all should have been out of there before the police even arrived! And Cut Throat, you should not have let them know that I was injured," Catastrophe ranted. "You've all gotten sloppy. I'm sorry, but that's the honest truth. We'll start doing big jobs again when I think you can handle it!"

Cat spun around and left the room before anyone else could respond, leaving the girls to look at each other in shock. "Is she right?" Slay-Z, one of the younger members, asked. "Have we been messing up that badly?"