“A few reasons,” Otis said. “Mainly because it disrupts our powers, too.”
“Yeah, but you all can fight. Darlene can really throw a punch.”
Darlene’s eyes went wide. Wait, was that an unintentional compliment?
“But I throw them better,” Joan added.
“No you don’t,” Darlene shot back.
“The tech doesn’t fully solve the problem,” Otis said. “Ward, where’s my peach iced tea?”
“Coming right up, Mr. Flight.” Ward tucked Perry’s mineral water under one arm and grabbed three different types of bottled tea.
Surveying the visitors across the table, Darlene said, “Do you have any other intelligence to provide us?”
“Perry, did you ever work with him?” Zee asked.
Perry shot him a murder face. “I wasn’t in the life back then.”
“You seem to know a lot about?—”
“Not about Big Quake.”
“It’s just Quake now,” Kade said, irritation wrinkling his broad forehead.
Ward held out Otis’s tea. “Here you are, sir. Ms. Catch, your no sugar mint tea. Mx. Race, your green tea.”
They took the bottles without acknowledging their sidekick. Joan made a mental note to thank him next time. Ward got the norm treatment big time from his bosses.
“My only advice is to not let them separate,” she said. “It’s harder for you to track us—er, them—when they scatter.”
“Yeah, we know,” Kade said, rolling his eyes.
“Setting a trap to get them in the same place is the best course of action. But it has to be something they won’t expect. Like what we did with Trick.”
Her heart squeezed. These Villains would be beyond pissed at such a betrayal. The consequences of any failed attempts would be disastrous.
“It needs to be a really good plan,” Mark said, reading her mind. Or possibly her hand death-gripping her iced coffee. “If they see you coming, their retaliation will bebad.”
Zee gave a thin smile. “Good thing we have three worldclass masterminds at deception to help formulate that plan.”
“Who, us?” Mark grinned. “I’m flattered. I think I’ll get ‘worldclass mastermind’ printed on my business cards.”
“You’re going to help us come up with a plan,” Darlene stated.
“It’ll be fun,” Kade said. “Teaming up again.”
No one reacted in any way that telegraphed fun. Ward scuttled over to him with a jumbo energy drink and bag of gourmet pretzels.
This really was the Melvin situation all over again. He’d wanted Joan and Mark to come up with his grand plan of world domination. When they didn’t, he kidnapped Sadie. What would the Supers do if…
Prison. Losing my powers forever.
Fuck.
An incoming video call popped up on one of the large TVs.
“Finally,” Darlene huffed.
