“Atomic Man blasted him really good.” Kade grinned. “He told me more than once he’d taken Big Quake out of commission.”
Perry snorted in disgust. “Fucking liar.”
Ooh, two curses in under a minute. He was pissed.
Otis pushed his chair in and stood tall. “No, actually, that is the truth. And Amazing Woman is the reason he got away.”
“Don’t you…” Perry hefted out a breath like he was trying not to lunge across the table and strangle Otis. “Don’t you pin that on her.”
“She failed to stop him from getting into that helicopter.”
He stared at Otis like his thoughts could incinerate. The weird feeling in the air meant they’d turned on that power-blocking device again. Maybe that was a good thing. Why was Per so riled up about Amazing Woman?
Darlene cleared her throat. “Regardless of what happened before, this is different. There are Villains aligning with him. This is a much more dangerous situation.”
“We’re looking for anything that can take them down,” Zee said. “Any weakness to exploit. Anything you can give us. Lives are at stake. We don’t want people to get hurt.”
They were right—and more importantly, Zee was sincere. This wasn’t about glory or photo ops. Big Quake, regular Quake, whatever he was calling himself, was no joke. Neither were Prowl, Ether or Squawk.
The knot festering in Joan’s gut churned and pulsed. She couldn’t shake the guilt from Morris and Tenia having their food truck dream pushed back. Or how Wren couldn’t buy a home. Mark had focused on thePeople liked Ice because he was generousangle, but that was such a tiny amount compared to all the bad.
She’d been looking forward to burying the pain tonight with hot sex and Sadie snuggles, but that went to shit. Everything was going to shit. That’s what she got for being a shit as Spark.
Maybe Sadie was right about seeing more of the good stuff Spark had done. And could still do.
“I heard that destruction and chaos is exactly what they want,” Joan said. “The rest of the criminal element will thrive because you’ll be too busy to stop all of it.”
“Who told you that?” Darlene said, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Someone looking out for my best interests.”
Ward pushed through the conference room door carrying a tray loaded with bottles of iced coffee and tea, mineral water, and energy drinks. He dropped it on the side table beside a basket of fancy prepackaged snacks.
Darlene planted her hands on the table and stood. “I want the name of your criminal contact.”
“Your mom,” Mark said.
Zee gave him their usual smirk. “Are you still doingyour momjokes?”
Joan wasn’t about to put Greta on their radar, so she said, “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. It’s just the rumor floating around.”
Ward approached with two bottles of iced coffee. “I took the liberty of getting things I thought you might like. It’ll probably be a late night.”
“You read my mind,” Mark said, accepting one of them.
Joan took the other, though she didn’t need the caffeine just yet. Darlene was over there muttering to Otis about wanting the name of “Spark’s secret informant.” Ugh, what she wouldn’t give to have her fire active.
She flicked her fingers, just in case. Nothing.
Ward turned to Perry. “Mr. Breeze, may I offer you a drink?”
“No.”
“Come on, Per.” Mark gestured with his bottle. “Take their free shit.”
Perry glanced at the beverage options. “Water.” He flexed his fingers like he was also trying to wake up his superpowers.
“I might regret asking this,” Joan said, “but why haven’t you used this power-blocking tech to take out Villains?”
