Chapter 19: Suit Up!!

"Charlie! Charlie! Wake up!"

Charlie woke up with a yelp and flopped right out of her bed and a lot the plush carpet. She groaned as she pulled herself up, and tried to rub the sleepiness from her eyes.

That voice sounds familiar... she thought.

"Harleigh? Is that you?" Charlie asked, standing upright.

"Yes." The voice was coming from her home speaker system. "Listen, I know you're mad at me, but—"

"What time is it?" Charlie glanced over at the computerized clock on the wall. "Two in the morning! Harleigh, I'm so tired. What the Hell is it?"

"Just listen to me for a moment!" Harleigh said. "There's been a break in at Delacqua Tech."

Charlie suddenly felt much more awake.

"What? When?" Charlie asked.

"Just a few minutes ago. The whole security system is down. Even the back ups that are supposed to alert the authorities. I'm the only one that knows so far."

"Holy shit!"

Charlie immediately started to get dressed.

Beatrice was right. She thought. Nobody was doing enough. They didn't take her seriously.

If everyone's just going to sit back and let this happen, I guess I'll have to do something.

"Listen, Harleigh." She said. "I've got a communicator attached to my right ear. Do you think you could talk to me through that?"

"Uh, Yeah. Give me a minute."

Her home speaker system shut off and Charlie made her way out of her apartment.

She walked quietly into the elevator, and traveled down to the first floor. She stepped quietly out and glanced up at the front desk.

A smile crept up on her face as she realized the security guard was fast asleep. She tiptoed by, and slipped out of the door. As soon as she was out on the street, Harleigh reappeared in her ear.

"Alright I'm in."

"Cool." Charlie said as she headed two blocks west. "I'm headed to Delacqua Tech."

"Wha—Charlie, Why?" She asked.

"I'm breaking Beatrice out of

prison. I need to get some supplies." She said. "Is there anyone still in there?"

"Charlie—uhhg." She could hear Harleigh bang her fist on her desk. "You know what? Fine. Give me a second."

Charlie smiled as she continued to hustle down the street. Even though it was late into the night, there were still a good number of people out. Charlie did her best to make herself as nondescript as possible.

Charlie stopped when she got in front of the building and waited for Harleigh.

"It doesn't look like there's anyone there now, but I can't promise anything." She said. "I have no idea what kind of cloaking Night Thief is capable of."

A wave of nausea hit Charlie as she looked up at the towering building.

Harleigh couldn't assure her that night Thief wasn't still in there, and night Thief was an extremely dangerous and violent criminal. What she was doing was incredible, unexplainable stupid.

Fuck, what am I doing...

Charlie mentally slapped herself.

Shut up you coward! Do it for Beatrice! Be brave for once!

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Okay." She said. "Open the door for me."

There was a vague sound of reluctance from Harleigh, but the door slid open. Charlie ducked inside and the door quickly shut behind her.

"What exactly are you planning to do to help Shadow Witch?" Harleigh asked. "Why did you come here?"

Charlie pushed open the door to the stairwell and started to jog up.

"There's something I need to grab." Charlie said between breaths. "From there I'll need your help to break into the prison. Are you in?"

"Sure. I guess we're criminals now." Harleigh with sarcastic resignation.

"Great!" Charlie responded.

She stopped at what she was pretty sure was the right floor and approached the door.

"Can you see what floor I'm on?" Charlie asked.

"Yes. You want me to open that door?"

"Yes please!"

Before Charlie even had the words all the way out, the door slid open, and Charlie rushed inside.

"I'm going to make a wild guess and say you're headed towards the equipment vault?" Harleigh asked.

"Yep!" Charlie said.

The second set of double doors opened before Charlie even had to ask and she made her way inside.

It seemed different at night, especially with all of the security systems down. It was pitch black dark, and she couldn't see a thing. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone and turned the flashlight on.

"Is the coast still clear?" Charlie asked.

"I don't see anyone." Harleigh replied. "But like I said, that doesn't mean anything."

"Cool, cool. Everything's chill." Charlie said, mostly to reassure herself.

She crept into the vault room, scanning the silvery walls with her flashlight.

"Which vault was the compound in?" Charlie asked.

"Let me check." Harleigh said. The sound of her rapidly typing was audible on the communicator.

As Charlie continued to walk, she came across a vault were the metal had been peeled back like flower petals, and the case inside completely removed.

"Never mind. I think I found it." Charlie said. "It's basically obliterated."

"Fuck." Harleigh said very softly. "Charlie, I should call the police—"

"Can you hold off for one more moment?" Charlie asked. "There's one more thing I want to do."

"Fine. Make it quick!"

"Rodger Dodger!" Charlie said, sprinting off towards the product testing room.

When she actually got there, Charlie realized her plan would be a little bit more difficult than she thought.

Damn. I should have listened to Dad and paid better attention when they were talking about the new products.

"Charlie, are you doing what I think you're doing?" Harleigh asked.

Charlie ignored her and made her way over to the suit rack. She at first flipped through them as if she were out shopping, but as she checked the sizes, she soon realized there was only one in her size.

"How do you think I look in red?" Charlie asked. "Because it looks like it's my only option."

"You look better in navy." Harleigh said flatly.

"Well. It's too bad I guess." Charlie said. "Don't look, by the way. I'm about to change."

"Hm." Harleigh said, still unamused.

As Charlie undressed, she stared at the suit in befuddlement.

"Am I supposed to wear underwear under this or...not...?" She asked.

"Beats me." Harleigh said.

Charlie decided on taking off her bra, but leaving on her bottoms. However, getting into the thing was much harder than she remembered it being for Beatrice.

It was sticky, and it almost felt like covering yourself in cling wrap.

"Hey Charlie." Harleigh said as she struggled.

"Yeah?" Charlie said as she rolled the sticky material up her thighs.

"I'm sorry for calling the cops on you." Harleigh said. "I mean, I'm not really sorry for doing it. I was just trying to do what I thought was right.

I'm sorry for lying to you and tricking you into feeling safe. I should have at least told you what I was going to do so you could get a head start. I took advantage of your trust."

Charlie smiled a bit.

"It's cool." She said. "I probably would have thought you were crazy too if you told me you didn't want me to save you from being kidnapped."

Charlie's pulled the matching mask off the shelf. It was one of the soft kind that clung to your skin and connected to the suit.

"This thing smells like an inflatable pool toy." Charlie said, her voice muffled. She pulled the matching goggles down over her eyes. "But the goggles have night vision!"

"Can I call the cops now?" Harleigh asked.

"Just a second—"

Charlie grabbed the first utility belt she saw and buckled it around her waist. She also grabbed a hoverboard from the new release stack. It was actually made for two people, and it folded up into a backpack.

"Okay, I'm heading out. You can call them when I'm a couple of blocks away." Charlie said.

When Charlie was out of the building, and a couple of blocks away, Harleigh replied.

"Authorities notified."

"Cool." Charlie said. She ducked in an allyway and pulled the hoverboard off of her back. "I'm going to need you to tell me the way to the prison. I forgot to get something with a GPS and I have a terrible sense of direction."

Harleigh groaned.

As the board unfolded, and instruction Manual fell out, and Charlie picked it up. She winced at the sheer size of it. It was probably well over five hundred pages.

Well, I didn't do any homework in college, and I don't plan to start now!

She tossed it to the side and powered the board up.

"I've got the address." Harleigh said. "You should be able to type it into the board and it'll take you on the fastest route."

Harleigh sent her the address and she typed it in. As she stepped on, the cuffs sprang out and grabbed her feet.

"Are you sure about this?" Harleigh asked one more time.

"Yes!" Charlie said. "As she as my name's—uh—" she paused as she tried to think up a hero name for herself. "As sure as my name's Catchphrase!"

"...Catchphrase?" Harleigh groaned.

"Yes!" Charlie said. "Yesterday I was a marketing director. Today I'm a superhero! Now let's go save my girlfriend!"