Emily eyed the back of the woman’s head. She’d seen Jezebelle lapping up attention before, and be rather . . . rude as a sidekick. Part of her really doubted that Glamazon thought the way she said she did.

They crossed a few intersections, the floor tilting down as they went. Emily had the impression that they were heading deeper and deeper underground, not helped by the way everyone in the group stayed quiet for a while.

Finally, they reached a small chamber with a pair of guards standing at attention. They looked like people who had been checking their phones moments before.

Glamazon tucked the box with the phones under her arm, then started handing them out. “One each,” she said.

“Thank you,” Emily said as she took hers. It was a sleek little flip phone, of all things. Old-school, but it looked new. Maybe it was tougher than a standard smartphone? Or more disposable?

“Does it have games?” Teddy asked as she poked at hers.

“I don’t think so,” Glamazon said. “It’s a work phone, so the folks in charge can keep track of you and so you can call for help. Just press the red buttons on the side for anything.”

“Wait, this thing is some sort of tracker?” Teddy asked. “That sounds like some sort of capitalist trick to get people to keep working for lower wages.”

Emily patted Teddy on the back and pulled her aside before she could really get started.

Once everyone had a phone and Glamazon looked appropriately smug about keeping things more or less organized, she led them to a door by the back. “All right, let’s go!”

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Economic Theory According to Teddy

Patrols were so boring.

If it weren’t for the Boss holding her hand the entire time, Teddy would have flopped to the sidewalk for a quick bearnap already. All they were doing was walking.

Walking!

She could do walking at home.

Teddy knew she wasn’t being fair. The walking at home wouldn’t be the same as the walking here. They weren’t walking to get anywhere, they were walking to be able to walk next to a bunch of boring Heroes so the Boss could look less suspicious and stuff.

It was all real clever, but Teddy was a girl of action. If she wasn’t sleeping, eating, or doing her business, then she ought to be helping the Boss or helping her comrades in the proletariat.

That gave her an idea.

Teddy looked at all the Heroes around her.

There was the big Slaymaker guy in his kinda-cool armor. He seemed like a levelheaded kind of person. When the others stopped for autographs, he was right there with the Boss and that woman in the cheetah costume telling people he wasn’t interested.