The Christmas season continued to roll along. Alicia did her best to help out in whatever ways she could. Most of her time was spent setting up Ulla’s deliveries.

It was busy and chaotic but Alicia relished the challenge, and she liked the idea of helping people. It was nice to know that Ruby City’s underbelly could do good things for normal people.

The day before Christmas Eve, Alicia returned to the van rental office. She was excited to see the results of her Mom’s actions first hand, but she was a little worried that it would go wrong.

She knocked softly on the door. Instantly it swung open, revealing the woman she had talked to before. “I’m so sorry,” sighed the woman. “I’m just closing for Christmas. If you want, we can schedule an appointment for when I get back.”

“Well funny you mention it!” Alicia smiled as she mentally prepared herself, “I’m from the protection service.”

“Protection service,” sighed the woman as her eyes glazed over and her body slumped forward. “Relaxing Christmas,” she mumbled as she held out her keys. “Everything is off, here are my keys.”

“Thank you!” grinned Alicia as she put the keys into her pocket. “Now, you go have a fun Christmas!”

“Fun Christmas,” nodded the woman as she slowly started to walk away. With each step, the woman’s posture returned to normal, almost as if she was waking up from a nap.

Alicia watched to make sure the woman was gone before ducking inside the office and checking the vans, making sure they were all charged.

When she arrived back at her house, she found that every inch of the place was covered in boxes and wrapping paper. It was so full that Alicia couldn’t get into the living room.

“Um, hello?” she shouted.

“Hello!” shouted Ulla, Mara, Sharon, and Kitty in unison.

“Do I need to send a spelunker?”

“No, we’re fine!” replied Sharon, “Just getting everything wrapped up, you can come help if you want.”

“I can’t!” shouted Alicia. “I literally can’t get into the living room.”

“Wait,” mumbled Ulla as she stuck her head up above a pile of dolls. “Oh, crap.”

“Crap?” shouted Mara. “What is crap.”

“We’ve boxed ourselves in!” shouted Ulla.

“We did?” Sharon shouted back as her head popped up over a box. “We did!”

“Well done!” chuckled Alicia. “I’ll start moving stuff to make you a route out.”

Alicia felt a breeze rush past her as a blur moved from the living room to the hall. Before Alicia could say anything else, Kitty appeared next to her, a wide smile on her face. “I’ll help!” Grinned Kitty as she started to move boxes.

It took several hours of focused work before Sharon, Mara, and Ulla could extricate themselves from their self-built prison of Christmas cheer.

“This is a lot of gifts!” Alicia smiled as she looked over the pile of things.

“Yes! It is more than I’ve ever delivered!” grinned Ulla.

“More people leads to more joy!” smiled Kitty.

“Well, tomorrow is going to be a long day, so I suggest a movie, take-out, and then an early night!” Sharon interjected.

“I can cook if you want,” replied Mara, only for Sharon to point towards the kitchen. Just like the living room, the kitchen was jammed full of boxes. “Oh right,” mumbled Mara.

The night went quickly, mostly because every movement required planning, lest you become trapped in the labyrinth of boxes that had taken over the house.

Once the movie ended, Sharon stretched and let out a fake yawn. “Okay, bedtime for you girls.”

“Oh my!” Alicia chuckled.

“What?” replied Sharon as Ulla and Mara blushed.

“You’re meant to be subtle! It isn’t flirting if you beat them over the head with it.”

“Oh, maybe! I’ll be more subtle in the future!” Sharon smiled as she winked at Ulla.

“Good plan,” squeaked Ulla.

“Kitty, are you going to share my room? The couch is surrounded by boxes!”

“Sure!” grinned Kitty as she jumped up from the couch.

“Night, lovebirds!” Alicia giggled as she walked up to her room and climbed into her bed.

The day of Christmas Eve was even more hectic than usual. The girls spent all day plotting out routes and loading the vans with the gifts.

After many hours of debate, it had been decided that the best option was to load all of the vans in the day and then switch between them throughout the night. They didn’t want to be trying to load vans in the middle of the night as it was difficult and suspicious.

By lunchtime, the vans were stuffed to the brim. The girls all flopped down onto the couch and let out a long sigh. “That was a workout,” mumbled Sharon.

“Yeah,” nodded Alicia. However, as she did, she spotted a wrapped gift beside the couch. “Missed one,” she sighed.

Alicia got up to grab the gift. However, before she could get there, Mara jumped up and snatched it. “Oh, not for the pile!” she said quickly. “For a friend! I just used some of the wrapping paper!”

“Seemed easier than getting it out again.” nodded Sharon.

“Oh,” Alicia blinked. “Right, I should have thought of that.”

“You can do your wrapping when we get home,” Sharon smiled as she patted the couch. “We just need to do some final planning.”

“Okay!” Alicia giggled as she sat back down.

“So,” Ulla smiled as she took a deep breath. “I’ve worked out our plan of attack. We’re going to start on the outskirts of the city and then spiral inwards. This means we hit the city center during the quietest part of the night.”

“Neat!” Smiled Mara, obviously trying to encourage Ulla.

“I’ve gotten us a few fake documents and licenses. Just in case we get pulled over.”

“Import company,” nodded Sharon. “If anyone asks let me and Mara talk.”

“Why me?” Mara blinked with confusion.

“Miss Elsa,” smirked Sharon.

“Look, I have deliveries to make!” replied Mara, a Southern twang in her voice. “If y’all need me I’ll be in the van.”

“Mara back,” Sharon smirked.

Mara’s cheeks instantly turned a deep shade of crimson. “That was different,” she said as she looked at her feet.

“Can’t lie if you don’t know you’re lying,” smiled Sharon. “Just a backup plan in case someone gets suspicious of us. We’re just a good old fashioned import company.”

“Not suspicious at all,” giggled Alicia. “We’re from down south where they know the value of a good convoy!”

“Exactly, little lady,” smiled Sharon as she made an attempt at emulating Alicia’s fake accent.

“We’ll be carrying our suits,” added Ulla.

“To deliver presents?” replied Alicia with confusion.

“More stuff is always better,” interjected Mara. “Powers will make it easier to get into buildings. They also make us harder to track.”

“Obviously wear something over yours,” nodded Ulla. “But who knows what we’ll need. And we’re not all Mesmera.”

“What about me?” Chuckled Sharon.

“We can’t all make people think we’re delivering pizzas,” laughed Ulla. “I can’t believe you got away with that line for so long.”

“Everyone loves pizza,” winked Sharon. “And if they don’t, well, I can convince them.”

“How did I end up in this situation,” laughed Alicia.

“I told you to stay in school!” grinned Sharon. “But tonight is going to be fun, I’m excited! Not often I get to break into places legally!”

“When you put it that way it sounds a lot less Christmassy,” replied Mara as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“I don’t know, I quite like it!” Sharon giggled as she jumped up from the couch. “I need tea before we head off. But continue to explain, I’ll listen from the kitchen.”

As Sharon made the tea, Ulla continued to explain the plan. She had obviously spent hours plotting out every single detail of this mission. She somehow knew how to sneak into every major building in the city.

As the sun started to set, the girls made their final preparations. Alicia had put a thick Christmas sweater over her Syner-Bee costume. The thickness and ugliness of the sweater made it hard to tell that she was concealing anything.

Ulla was in her brown coat, the same one she had been wearing when Alicia first saw her. Mara and Sharon were in winter coats and hats, obviously doing their best to look like delivery drivers.

Kitty had brought a massive sweater that was hemmed with tinsel and small baubles, it wasn’t subtle, but at the same time, it didn’t make her look like a superhero in disguise.

The heavy snow had turned the whole city white. This, mixed with Christmas lights, made the whole city look magical. Heading into the city, they saw lots of people out on the streets coming and going to various Christmas events.

As Mara drove the van, Ulla fiddled with a small device. It let out a low crackle as voices started to pour out of it. “Police radio,” explained Ulla, “Lets us avoid any overly suspicious police officers.”

“Cool!” Alicia exclaimed with a big smile on her face from the back row of seats.