Oleander {Being Rewritten, Please Have Patience}

Part 3 - OLD

I looked away from my brother's piercing stare. "Yeah. You're right." I said, turning off my light.

We walked upstairs in silence. No doubt he was wondering why I responded like that. Oh well. I can probably pass it off as me being a normal, moody, 15-year old teenager. Hopefully.

Anyways, dinner was pizza from my family's favorite place: Pizza Cubby. I took a seat at the table and snatched a piece of pizza. As I munched, I listened to my family's conversation.

"Oleander, that new villain, is extremely smart. I'm amazed at how he keeps evading us at every turn!" said Mom.

He? Did they think I was male? REALLY? I was clearly female, even in my vigilante suit!

"Yeah, and he's so slender, it's weird. Almost like he's a girl." commented Daniel, gesturing with his pizza.

I snorted at that. Everyone looked at me. "What's so funny, Brooke?" asked Dad.

"Nothing." I said cheerfully.

The family returned to their conversation. No need to suspect powerless Brooke of anything. "If Oleander manages to discover any hero bases, chaos would reign." interjected Emil.

I smirked as I snatched a second piece of pizza. Thanks for the idea, Em. I thought to myself.

-Midnight-

I had been listening for a while to make sure everyone was asleep. I wanted to make sure that no one would come and find me 'missing.' In reality, I was going down to my hidden room.

I walked to my closet, and went down the hidden staircase. I had stashed the enhancer blueprints in a cubby hole carved into the stone walls, but I took it out after tapping my glowing vines (they give me my light) and unrolled it on my worktable. Nightshade might've been a joke in the villain world, but the enhancer would have changed that, for sure. I marked the blueprints ('Powerful - Warning'), and put them in a box under my worktable marked, 'Blueprints.'

Then I retrieved and spread out a map of the city and surrounding areas. I grabbed a pen, and circled my family's 'secret' hero base, which was underneath Pizza Cubby. I circled some other heroes' bases as well. Then I wrote a plant name by each. English Ivy for my family, voodoo lilies for another base, bamboo for the third, and stinging nettles for the fourth. My targets had been set. I collected the seeds of said plants and set them aside. 

I rolled the map up and inserted it into a leather bag. I took the seeds and separated them in to plastic bags. I put the freshly-bagged seeds into the leather bag as well. I took the bag and hung it up on a hook, before turning my attention to my vigilante suit. It... needed cleaning. Very badly.

With a sigh, I laid it out on my worktable, and retrieved a bucket filled with water from collection next to the wall, where I kept buckets upon buckets of water, for plants and other uses.

 I took a sponge out of a plant cubby and began scrubbing. A few minutes later, the water was a murky brown that looked very uninviting. I went over to the drain in the corner and poured out the water. I then grabbed snake-lily soap. I made it specially, because my family couldn't track me while it was applied to my suit. I rubbed it over the slick fabric. (I suppose I should describe my vigilante suit.)

My vigilante suit is a black suit that molds to my body like a second skin. Pockets are everywhere, as well as a utility belt. (Pockets are a must have. I have been deprived of them for my entire life, as women's clothing is pocket-free.) Cheesy and stereotypical name, I know. But instead of normal pockets or containers, I have leather drawstring pouches and stiff leather boxes for my skeletons. My gas mask attaches to my hip, and goes over my normal cloth mask that I wear to help disguise my identity, as well as my tinted goggles. I usually wear a too-big hoodie over it, effectively hiding my stash of fun plants and skeletons, and, apparently, my gender.

Anyways, I finished with the soap, and hung up my suit on a few other hooks I have strewn across the wall of my base, which is basically made up of cubby holes on the far side and the wall one enters by, for plants and papers respectively. The middle of the room is taken up by my large worktable. There are shelves and hooks on the remaining walls, as well as a collection of water buckets.

I sighed and tapped the vines that glowed above me, dimming them, before heading to bed.

Tomorrow should be fun.