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Having their monthly meeting early the next afternoon felt odd. Joan shifted in her usual seat at the warehouse table, antsy and restless.

They used to meet here to review villainous exploits, then to go over things for Hot and Cold. Today was supposed to be about the food truck, but all she could think about was what had transpired the night before.

The Supers really sucked at working together. No wonder it’d been easy to fool them for so many years. It was about individual success to them. Things had ended last night with them going around in circles with what to do.

The only thing they did agree on was that Perry needed to convince Amazing Woman to help out. Or at least agree to a video call from wherever she was hiding. Per seemed intent on protecting her. There was a whole lot more to his We’re just friends story.

Sadie winked from across the table. She too was fascinated by Perry’s secret.

Speaking of secrets… Mark had been furiously texting since he’d arrived.

“Hot date?” Joan asked him.

“Hardly.”

“It’s Zee,” Sadie said.

Mark’s fingers stilled for a perceptible second.

“I see,” Joan drawled.

“They keep bugging me about annoying crap,” Mark muttered.

Sadie met Joan’s eyes and mouthed, “ Meeting up. ”

“I saw that, Sades. It’s about talking about a plan.”

“Is that what it’s about?” Sadie teased.

Joan checked her phone. “I haven’t gotten anything about a meeting.”

“Y’know what’s strange? Mark never gets defensive when we talk about his other romantic escapades.”

“Because it’s not a romantic escapade,” he said.

“That is strange,” Joan said.

Glancing up with a sneer, Mark said, “Go back to making googly eyes at each other.”

Sadie blew Joan an exaggerated kiss that she caught like an outfielder at Vulture Stadium.

They still hadn’t had sex because of sleeping late and needing to get to this meeting.

And she’d been a little off last night from Greta needing to leave in a hurry for some obscure Greta-y reason.

Both their phones were getting turned off the second they got home.

Maybe they should stick a chair under the front doorknob for insurance.

Not that anyone Joan knew wouldn’t just find some other way in.

The garage door opened to Perry’s shimmering gray luxury import. “He’s never late,” Sadie said. “Do you think he was on the phone with Amazing Woman?”

“Hopefully,” Joan said.

She and Sadie had looked up photos of the Superhero. It was wild how slowly she’d aged in her decades of service. She’d started so young—a teenager. The perky blonde in a miniskirt and go-go boots had a bone-weary air about her in her later years. And a full bodysuit to go with her simple eye mask.

They’d done the math to figure out she’d been in her late sixties when she’d met a twentysomething Perry. Something about her skeptical blue eyes said she’d be the perfect companion for Per, no matter how many years were between them.

He stepped out in an impeccable navy-blue suit and striped shirt.

“You look nice today,” Sadie said.

“Any special occasion?” Mark said, sending a text.

“Sorry I’m late,” Perry said. “Let’s get to the agenda. I have last month’s sales numbers.”

He placed his briefcase on the table. The other three looked at each other like Not so fast.

“Should we talk about the Superhero-sized elephant in the room?” Mark said, setting his phone down.

“Did you reach out to her?” Joan asked.

“I told you Gus is done with all of that.” Perry took out several stapled groupings of paper.

“But I guess Quake was her archnemesis. Wouldn’t she want to?—”

“This isn’t our fight,” he said, and handed Joan a sales report. “The Supers want us to do their job for them. You said it yourself, Joanie. They’re no better than Melvin.”

“You’re not wrong,” Mark said. “But this situation is serious enough for them to turn to us.”

“They should get more than one Superhero from another city to help them.” Perry set a report in front of Mark, then another in front of Sadie.

Joan held hers up. “What’s the point of this when there’s a literal disaster waiting to happen?”

“Because you wanted to be normal. This is what it’s like to be normal.”

She opened her mouth, but the rebuttal died. If they weren’t going to be the bad guys or fight the bad guys, they had to be the regular clueless guys.

Perry flipped through his pages. “As you can see in the comparison between December and January, we did a better job anticipating costs this month.”

“Regardless of what you do,” Joan said, “can we meet Gus? She’s an important person in your life we just found out about.”

“I want to meet her,” Mark said.

Perry sent Sadie an exasperated look. “You see why I never told those two.”

“Oh, one hundred percent. They’re relentless.” She glanced at Joan mischievously. “But I want to meet her, too. I mean, Amazing Woman? She’s a legend. The stories she must have…”

Sadie’s phone jingled. She made the cringey face that said it was her mother.

“Shoot, I forgot to call my mom back. Give me two minutes.” She walked to the hidden side entrance, answering as she went outdoors.

Mark checked an incoming text on his phone. “I can’t get over how Per kept this huge secret from us for, like, ever.”

“If there’s one person who could, it’s Per.” Joan raised her eyebrows at Perry. “I can’t get over how his secret best friend is a former Superhero.”

“She’s far removed from that life,” Perry said.

“But you’re not. She really just looked the other way?”

“We have an unspoken rule not to talk about it.” He hesitated for a moment. “Obviously I didn’t tell you while we were active in the life. Now you might understand, being on the other side.”

“Not really,” Joan said.

“She wants a normal life, too.”

Joan and Mark shook their heads at each other. “Still so weird,” Mark said.

Another text popped up on his phone—a cartoon GIF of thin noodles dangling from chopsticks. Hmm. Mark’s favorite comfort food was beef lo mein.

“Is Zee offering to buy you dinner?” Joan asked.

He shoved his phone out of her sightline. “It’s nothing.”

To Perry, she said, “I guess we can’t give you guff, considering Mark’s flirting with an actual?—”

“Shut up, you’re the worst.”

“—currently active Super.”

“What if it’s Kade?” Mark said.

“It’s not Kade.”

“It could be. He texts me about food. He loves to eat.”

Perry planted a hand on his hip. “Texting with two Supers? That’s double my record.”

Joan cackled at his rare participation in teasing. She rubbed at the itchy scab under her eye. Then her phone dinged with a SuperWatch emergency alert.

A live video notification. Another one. Several more. They flooded her lock screen.

QUAKE!

Holy @*$&% Big Quake

Big quake and villains!!!

“Shit.” She clicked on one, waving Mark and Perry over.

The live feed showed the trio of new Villains behind a person completely covered in an updated version of Big Quake’s brown-and-black getup. His head was obscured by a full mask.

“…came back to Vector City to finish what I started,” he was saying. “But then I realized there’s a lot more I can do.”

He turned and flexed his hands toward the grass at the foot of a hill. The earth rumbled and shook and broke apart in large pieces. Whoever was videoing raised their phone to show the tall cell tower at the top.

People screamed and ran in the opposite direction. The hill gyrated, making the tall metal structure sway precariously.

Quake peered over one shoulder to say, “Let’s see how you do without your precious internet.”

He swung his arms and tensed his hands. A terrible groaning metallic sound melded with the crumbling of the concrete base. Mark and Perry swore, and?—

“Sadie!” Joan shoved her phone at her brother and ran to the side entrance.

She slammed the door open and frantically searched the gangway between warehouses. Her heart leaped spying Sadie huddled against the cement wall, mouth open as she stared at her phone.

Joan raced over and grabbed her arm. “Get inside!”

Sadie stumbled but found her footing. “That looks like somewhere north of here.”

“Sadie!” her mom shouted through the phone. “Are you still there?”

“I’m here. I’m okay.” She followed Joan into the warehouse.

“What is going on in that awful city?”

Sadie mumbled something to her mother. Possibly said it loudly, but Joan couldn’t hear anything over the roar of fire and fear in her ears. She wrapped Sadie in her arms and held tight.

Sadie slipped her phone from between them so they could watch the cell tower keel over onto a series of power lines. Booming crashes and pops sounded in the distance.

The live feed went dead.

So did Sadie’s phone call.

“Damn it.” She pushed away from Joan and tried to call her mother back. “She’s gonna have a coronary.”

Joan held her by the shoulders, inspecting for any hint of harm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Ow, you’re burning up.”

She quickly removed her hands. Her fire was at the surface, ready to go.

Mark held his phone high, trying to get reception. “Looks like the destruction and chaos has begun.”

“The Supers wasted too much time.” Perry set his mouth in a grim line.

Joan checked Sadie one more time—she was fine, but fuck, not being with her during an attack had been terrifying. “The other Villains didn’t help him,” Joan noted. “It doesn’t look like he needs their help to destroy shit.”

“He might need it for larger-scale things,” Mark said.

She sucked in an unsteady breath, willing the fire to subside. She shook out her hands and wandered back and forth. The monthly reports sat on the table. How were they supposed to focus on the price of potatoes when the city was in serious trouble?

What were her food truck friends thinking right now? They had to be scared for their families, for their businesses… Or was this just another adjustment they had to get used to? It must be so weird being a norm. She had one foot in that world and hated all the uncertainty.

Mark wiggled his phone. “I’m getting an extremely weak signal.”

Sadie attempted to get back on SuperWatch, gave up, then called her mom back. “I’m okay,” she said. “Don’t worry. I’m with Joanie. She doesn’t let anything bad happen to me.”

Joan took Sadie’s free hand and kissed it. Sadie smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She drew her hand back and whispered, “Still too hot” away from the phone.

“Sorry,” Joan whispered back.

She left Sadie to fruitlessly assure her mother of her safety and went to pester Perry. He leaned his ass against the table, hands braced on either side.

She glanced at his agenda. The last item on the list was—ugh. Consult with Sadie about Knollwood Village property .

They had to get this under control so they could go back to food trucks and cafés and all the good things they were building for themselves.

“We need to do something,” Joan said. “You have to call her, Per.”

He sighed, his wind energy ruffling his suit jacket. “I know.”