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Flight pulled Ward aside. “You can’t forget about the dairy. It destroys my stomach. That’s not something we want to happen while I’m in the air.”

“Yes, sir,” Ward said, typing on his tablet.

Sadie headed back to work. The whole situation sat badly in her gut, apparently like how dairy sat with Flight. The Supers were acting like gratitude was expected. That they should get free food and drinks as thanks for damaging the store. Lost product, lost business and repair costs, yet they had no problem asking for handouts.

Joan always paid for everything. It was the right thing to do. Why could a Villain see that but not the Supers?

Had she really been wearing blinders so tightly that she couldn’t see what others saw? Maybe Joan’s viewpoint had some merit.

Shoot.The most honorable person she’d been interested in was a benevolent Supervillain.

* * *

The past few days felt like one long, fuzzy workday. Sadie had stayed late Sunday, gone in early Monday, and was now walking to VCC on her day off to cover for Nyah for a few hours while she took her aunt to the doctor.

She squinted at the early afternoon sunlight cresting over the buildings. It was shaping up to be a hot day and she hadn’t been sleeping, so the grump level was high. Maybe when she got home, she could chill at the rooftop pool. She highly doubted Joan would… But then again…

Ugh, why had she chased someone who lived so close? She didn’t even want to get her mail anymore.

The start of a Vultures baseball game played on TV inside a sports bar. Joan was a loyal fan even though the team hadn’t had a decent season in years.

Ugghhhh.Joan was everywhere.

By habit, she checked her phone for any SuperWatch notifications. Dreaded seeing anything involving Spark. Or Ice or Breeze, for that matter. There had been a lot of talk about them doing art heists. Was that what Joan had been up to? What Greta had needed to talk about?

Was all of Joan’s very nice home décor stolen? If she ever did talk to Joan again, she’d ask if the artists had been properly compensated. Not paying creatives for their work was the real crime.

An incoming call from Mom popped up.Not todaaaayyyyyy.

“Hey Mom, I’m just about to work. Can I?—”

“Why are you working?” Mom said. “It’s your day off.”

“Just filling in for a little bit.”

“What’s wrong? You usually throw yourself into your job when you have a breakup.”

Leave it to her mother to remember that little factoid. “I’m just helping Nyah out,” Sadie said.

“I wish you’d spendlesstime at that deathtrap.”

She chose to let that go and pay attention to crossing the street.

“Well, anyway, your dad wanted me to call and tell you he heard they’re hiring at Allegria Insurance.”

“Mom,” Sadie snickered. “Allegria Tower is still under construction because it got damaged by Super activity. I’d be trading one deathtrap for another.”

Mom chose to letthatgo.

The skyscraper had been smashed into by Breeze, who was actually some guy named Perry who liked to have meetings. How was Sadie supposed to deal with knowing the people behind the masks?

“I know you don’t want a boring office job,” Mom said. “But I’m sure they have a marketing or advertising department. You could still be creative and have decent benefits.”

Sadie started to say she had benefits at VCC, but she was tired of deflecting and rationalizing every tiny thing. “I’ve been thinking about opening a café,” she said instead. “The one I’ve talked about for years. I think I’m actually going to do it.”

“You can have fun making your coffee drinks?—”

“Not be a barista, though I do love doing that. I want to run my own coffee shop. One of my neighbors encouraged me to go for it.”