Page 16 of Fanning the Flames (Vector City Supers #2)

Joan studied the Supers on the opposite side of the oval conference table, feigning surprise at their revealing Big Quake was back. She’d arrived first and hadn’t gotten the chance to warn Mark and Perry beyond a few quick texts.

“What the actual fuck?” Mark said.

Otis gripped the back of the office chair in front of him. He looked exhausted. They all did. “We received a video message from him and the other Villains claiming responsibility for yesterday’s building collapse. They said it was a gift for us before their plan is put in action.”

“How do you know it was Big Quake?” Mark said. “I thought that dude was mortally wounded decades ago.”

“He’s just going by Quake now,” Kade said.

Otis shared an uncomfortable look with his other cohorts. “He survived that last battle in Vector City.”

Mark scrunched his face. “Okay, but he’s gotta be, like, sixty? Seventy? Are you sure that was him in the video?”

“Yes,” said Otis. “It’s him.”

“Did you know he survived?” Joan asked.

“They’ve always known,” Perry stated.

“Then where’s he been all these years?” Mark said.

Crossing her arms, Darlene said, “He’s been involved with various illicit operations throughout the world. Mining for rare metals for high profits. Nothing that would raise suspicion that it was being done with superpowers.”

Zee cut Joan off from asking the obvious question of why they didn’t go after him. “There were a lot of rumors and unsubstantiated claims. And it was out of our jurisdiction.”

“You wanted to pretend like you defeated him,” Perry fumed. “Better to let him go than admit you failed.”

“That’s not what happened,” Otis said.

“Bullshit.”

“So is he their ringleader?” Mark said. “The one who’s calling the shots?”

“It appears they have a common goal,” said Darlene. “Destruction and chaos.”

Kade frowned, a sad palomino. “He said he’s gonna finish what he started. I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Nobody does, buddy,” Mark said.

“We called you here to get your input as former Villains,” Otis said. “Do you have any ideas on what we can do to get rid of them?”

Whoa, they were getting desperate. Joan leaned her forearms on the table. “How did you defeat Big Quake last time?”

“He was injured,” Otis said. “Badly. We figured he bled out when he got into a helicopter and out-maneuvered us in bad weather.”

“Bad weather,” Joan murmured to herself. A cover. That could explain him wanting to work with Ether.

“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 the People liked Ice because he was generous angle, 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 doing your mom jokes?”

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?”

“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 be bad .”

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.

Otis reached for a button on the center console. “We’ve been trying to consult with Aura.”

A middle-aged Black woman with shoulder-length locs appeared onscreen. Aura, the Destine Super who could influence your mood.

“Thank you for returning my call,” Otis said.

“At least one of us knows how to return a phone call,” Aura drawled.

Laughing uneasily, Otis peered down the length of the conference table. “Let’s keep this professional, Sherrelle.”

“Oh, I’ll keep it professional. Lord knows all you want to do is keep things professional. Unless it’s at a hotel twenty miles outside of Destine. Then it can be all kinds of nasty.”

Mark nearly did a spit-take with his coffee.

“ Sherrelle .” Otis gave another painfully fake laugh. “We’re dealing with one of your Villains. Let’s talk about Squawk.”

Aura grumbled to herself, then noticed the newcomers. “Is that Breeze there with Spark and Ice?”

“Yes. They’re?—”

“Well, bang my ass sideways. You really did form an alliance with your former Villains.”

“Not exactly,” Otis said as Darlene vehemently stated, “No.”

Aura waved a hand tipped with pale pink nails. “It wouldn’t be the first time. There’s that dude up in Canada who went from Villain to Hero. What’s his name? Bleep?”

“Blip,” Kade supplied.

“Yeah. The one who runs through walls and shit.”

“It’s a means to an end,” Otis said. “What can you tell us about Squawk?”