CHAPTER FIFTY ONE

Though Tegwen had lived on the streets for two years and she was used to being counted among the dregs of society, she still couldn't hide her disdain for the dilapidated old bar.

"This is the Old Haunt?" She asked slowly, disgust clear on her face.

"What's wrong with it?" Bushroot asked with a pout. "We hang out here all the time."

"Yeah, ew."

Megavolt smiled at his disenchanted associate. "Sure, it's not the Goldeneye."

"But," Mr. Bananabrain piped up, "it's got a pool table, Mable!"

Tegwen rolled her eyes at Quackerjack's puppet. She hadn't known Quackerjack long and already she already wanted to turn his puppet into a cloth banana split. She also wanted to complain about this so-called plan. If the intent was to cheer her up, they hadn't thought things through thoroughly. For her, happiness felt a lifetime away. Certainly, she didn't think it resided in a crumbling bar teeming with seedy men.

Inside the Old Haunt, the air was smoke-filled and the lighting was dim at best; save for a few old hanging lamps above the bar's pool tables. Undesirables clustered around the bartender, paying no heed to the three supervillains or their little curly-haired spitfire.

"Usual table?" Megavolt suggested.

Bushroot and Quackerjack looked at each other, then glanced at Tegwen. She shrugged helplessly.

"Sure," Bushroot agreed.

Quackerjack set up the pool balls on the red-felt table, snagging himself a cue stick after Megavolt and Bushroot.

Tegwen took the remaining cue stick, carrying it awkwardly back to the table. Bushroot was first to realize the flaw in their plan that Tegwen had obviously never before played pool. A flaw he promptly attempted to take advantage of.

"You don't know how to play, do you?" Bushroot asked Tegwen.

"Um. . ." She looked at the cue stick, tried spinning it in her hand and dropped it especially clumsily on the ground. A few of the lowlifes at the bar turned to see what the clatter had been. Tegwen managed a meek smile. "Notsomuch."

Megavolt rushed to Tegwen's side, handing her his cue stick. Before Bushroot had the opportunity to ask, himself, Megavolt grinned and told her, "I'll teach you how to play!"

That cue stick immediately found its way to the ground, prompting chuckles from the three members of the Fearsome Five. Tegwen's cheeks flushed considerably. "Oh. . . Okay, fine. Help me!"

Quackerjack smirked. "Luckily you guys have a few hours before that play, Trey!" Mr. Bananabrain quipped.

"Yer gonna need it," Bushroot added.

Tegwen thought to tell them to shut up but given her situation, she couldn't help but agree with the general consensus.



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