“Yes, yes,” Otis said, circling his hand. “Get on with it.”
“Yes, sir. So they come from the right, and Spark and Ice will flank the left side of the building. You will all approach whichever Supervillains have arrived.”
Sherrelle nodded. “I get the gist. Fight, contain, save the day.”
Ward glanced up. “But there are five more phases, plus the three contingency phases.”
“I’ll get her up to speed while she changes,” Gus said.
Reaching for her suitcase handle, Sherrelle said, “In the meantime, clear up the bad energy in here. Particularly you two.” She pointed at Otis, then Perry.
“I don’t have bad energy,” Perry grumbled, arms crossed like the very image of bad energy.
“Yeah you do, Windy. Otis, you want to share with the class?”
Otis mirrored Perry’s pose. “No.”
Sherrelle leveled him with a glare. “Do I have to make you get truth-y again?”
Joan risked getting a read. “Former Villains, Superheroes. You said yourself you weren’t thrilled to work with us.”
“Oh no, Sparky. This goes deeper than that.”
“Sparky?” Joan muttered.
Mark gestured toward both men. “Like perhaps how Otis exposed Perry, turning him into Breeze, who has made it his personal mission to be a thorn in the Supers’ ass ever since?”
“Like that,” Sherrelle said.
“And also how Otis was one of the Supers who let Gus be thrown under the bus—like, literally? And Gus betrayed Perry after they had a little artistical tryst?”
“Yeah—wait, what?”
Gus headed for the door. “Lots to get you up to speed on.”
She was at the threshold when Otis spoke. “I regret the way you were treated, Gus. I wanted to speak up, but I was young, and fighting for acceptance from the old guard.”
“You were,” Gus acknowledged. “It was a real boys club. They wanted to keep it that way.”
“I would have done more if I could.”
“Eh, that’s all well and good. I’m too old to care any which way.” She pointed at Joan and Mark. “You should be apologizing to these two young people youdidlet down.”
Memories Joan preferred to keep buried rose to the surface. Being sixteen with seven dollars between her and Mark, trying to get a little assistance from Flight only to be dismissed as he turned his back to pose for pictures. Brushing off two scrappy teenagers angry at the world.
Then Perry coming across them a few nights later in a dark alley, recognizing they were at the mercy of their powers, offering to buy them dinner and a place to stay for the night. Then letting them invade his condo for the next few years and be the annoying children he never asked for. Being the parent they desperately needed.
“I want an apology for Perry,” she stated.
“Yeah,” Mark said. “That’s who you really fucked over.”
“I didn’t—” Otis began, then wisely changed course. “We should have handled that situation differently. There was heightened vigilance with Big Quake around. Mistakes were made.”
Perry didn’t react.
“I don’t blame you for hating us. I would if the tables had been turned.”
A muscle twitched in Perry’s jaw, but that was it.
