“God,” Mark groaned. “Those were terrible. I looked like I was in a boy band from outer space.”
“I was terrified. You had to hold my hand to get me through it.”
“I remember.” He smiled. “But we got through it. We’ll get through this.”
Joan dragged her gloved fingers through her mask’s flowing black wig. “Why can’t we just go out and fight crime? Why the big press conference?”
“We need to start off on the right foot,” Mark said, then sipped his champagne.
“People are okay, though, right? We’ve seen the comments on SuperWatch. Some people thanking us.”
“The LARP community loves us.”
“Yeah, they do. And everyone likes a redemption story.”
“We’ve still gotta do the pressing flesh and kissing babies.” He made a face. “I hope we don’t have to kiss any babies.”
Sadie had been relatively reassuring, showing Joan positive posts on social media from people relaying stories about Spark and Ice that weren’t altogether bad. She’d posted on SuperWatch about Spark giving money to Vector City Coffee to repair Super damage. And Cajun Soul and Powered by Plants praised Spark and Ice’s quick thinking that saved their trucks.
Sadie.The best person in the whole wide world. Joan stopped pacing and faced the door. “I need a Sadie hug. Can she come in?”
“We agreed to keep her and Per on the sidelines so nobody connects them to us,” Mark patiently soothed. “She’s here. They’re both outside.”
But I want a damn Sadie hug and her saying how proud she is of me like she did this morning.
Joan tapped her boot heel on the scuffed wood floor. “We’re gonna be Superheroes, Mark.”
“Yeah. Weird. Do you think…”
“What?”
“Nah, just…” Mark shuffled his feet. “Do you think Mom and Dad would be proud of us?”
“I don’t care,” Joan said.
“I mean, if things had been different, and we never became Villains…”
“We became Villains because of what they did to us.”
Her brother stared at the floor. “I think they’d be glad we turned out okay.”
Joan huffed and rolled her eyes. Mark still had that soft spot, but she couldn’t give their parents the satisfaction of being proud of kids they’d kicked out. They’d probably be more proud of them running a food truck than anything having to do with their destructive powers.
“I really am sorry about Hot and Cold,” she said.
“Me, too. I really liked it.” He looked up with a grin that was maybe a touch too wide. “But like,Superheroes.”
“Right? Good thing we never got tattoos.”
“Yeah. You would’ve done something awful like get Sadie’s name on your ass anyway.”
“Why on my ass?”
Mark just shrugged.
The door opened to Kade’s deep laugh and louder noise from the gathering crowd. Fuck, there werepeopleoutside waiting to scrutinize the former Villains trying to change sides.
Ward hustled in, dapper in a dark suit and deep-purple tie. Padma followed in a sleek red wrap dress. Their liaison to the mayor’s office was full of energy (and buckets of caffeine) and loved using buzzwords that made Joan cringe. She was hot, though—Joan had always been a sucker for long, thick hair.
