The Hood – she’s lucky.

“Hood,” Emily said breathlessly.

That was… better than the alternatives, she supposed. Still didn’t make being at work much more of an enticing offer.

There was a muffled ‘dammit’ from outside her office. Emily flushed.

“Can someone get me a change of clothes?” Emily said.

“You want us to dress someone the Red-faced Hood stripped, are you mad?!” Ron said. “You’re on your own.”

If she was actually alone, this wouldn’t be so bad! Emily peered out over her desk again.

“Please?” she said.

“They have a point,” Jackie said. “No one’s going to judge, it’s pretty common for women to end up naked this time of year. Probably won’t be your first time.”

“Don’t say that,” Emily whimpered.

She waited a while more, mind racing with options. It wasn’t like there were many choices available for her though; she couldn’t stay under her desk forever, no one was going to help her for so long as the nudity supervillain season was ongoing, and it sounded as though Charm City that had more superheroines than superheroes had fewer people willing to go up against said supervillains.

So she’d have to get home herself. Emily took a deep breath, then shuffled forwards, dragging herself a little way across the carpet. Then she made herself stand, tried to hold her head high, and sprinted at full pelt through the office.

So long as she convinced herself her coworkers just saw a vaguely flesh-colored blur as opposed to detailed contours and dips and curves, she’d be able to look them in the eye when she got back.

Emily sped past several desks, reached the elevator, and squirmed for a second as she decided whether it was worth waiting. Looking over her bare shoulder though, and taking in the dozens of employees all looking at her, she quickly decided it wasn’t and ran sideways, moving her arm from covering her breasts to open the door and nearly ran into someone as she tried to get through.

Cheeks burning, she half-ran and half-fell down the stairs.

At least the stairwell was quiet. Unfortunately that gave her flustered mind time to think ahead, and realize that getting out of the building was the better part of the journey. She’d get downstairs, cross the street to where she parked, and then her problems started.

On one hand there was the small issue of her car being crushed a couple of days ago by a stray bit of rubble, meaning she’d biked to work. On the other, she had several blocks to go before she was home, and, oh yeah, crossing the road.

Emily reached the ground floor of the stairwell and hesitated by the door. She hopped on the spot a little, peering through the little window to try and see if the hall was clear.

Then she heard footsteps somewhere higher up the stairwell, panicked, and pushed the door open anyway.

She stopped almost instantly. The stairwell opened out onto the building’s car park immediately, albeit the one she didn’t have permission to use, meaning she was suddenly running on asphalt. She yelped and started hopping on the spot, bare feet not expecting the sudden roughness.

Taking a moment to adjust her arms, still trying to cover what little she could, Emily moved at a markedly slower pace to the exit to the car park, squealing as a car honked at the sight of her.

And then she was on the street. She focused all her attention on the spot across the road, speeding up a little once she reached the smoother pavement, trying very hard to ignore the stares of all the other pedestrians.

Another shrieking naked woman sped past her, bare shoulder brushing hers. Apparently it really was the season for it.

Emily looked both ways, then scrambled to get across the road.

She felt the air against her skin, making her aware of every bit of herself that her hands didn’t quite cover. A chill along the curve below her breasts, her cleavage, and her legs, a shaking hand narrowly keeping her sex from being bared, though even that was uncertain; propriety kept her from just keeping her hand in contact with her core, which meant her trembling and her shaking from running saw her hand dip to the sides constantly.

Emily vaulted over the fence and landed face-first. She pushed herself desperately back up, tried to forget how many people had just seen her do that and on top of that, seen her do it naked, and hurried to try and find where she’d left her bike.

At least there wasn’t any chain to worry about. The kind of criminals they had, chains wouldn’t stop. She grabbed it, and then faltered.

Okay, the bike was certainly her fastest way home, and it wasn’t like there was any non-embarrassing way to do this, but it still took a moment for her to psyche herself up.

A moment rather successfully hastened when she spotted a group of friends lifting up their phones to snap a picture of her. Squealing, she hurriedly struggled to get onto her bike and get away.