Page 1 of Seductive Architect (Grunts of Vanguard #2)

“I will not be defeated by the Hole.”

School children screamed. They had expected a day at the museum, but were now trapped on their bus.

The driver had almost reached the Vanguard Museum of Natural History.

Almost. They waited in line at the drop-off, debating which dinosaur they would lick first. Excited for a day of mischief, their field trip had taken a detour.

Meanwhile, a villain with a grudge wreaked havoc.

Wyatt posed, his cape flapping in the summer breeze. “Hole.” He giggled as if he were a child on the burning bus. “I don’t know why it’s funny, but it is.”

Three on one, and we were losing to a man who looked like a human shadow.

We had an alien with superpowers, me, armed to the teeth with tech, and Drew.

Drew didn’t count. He could change the color of objects, which didn’t work on our man in black.

Named as a pun for our boss, the Coven should never be the last line of defense… nor the first.

“It’s funny because it references his rectum,” Drew explained.

Yup. I served as one-third of this bumbling operation.

Though after the Hole teleported my attack drone and launched me into one of the museum’s columns, I wasn’t one to speak.

When we returned to the office, Janet would slap on her “Director of Superhero Strategies” placard and lecture us on our sad attempt at heroing.

“Can we be done with this?” With my ego wounded, I growled. “If Quantum Queen and Glitterbane have to save us again, I quit.”

Drew saddled up between Wyatt and me, his hands balled into fists. “What’s the plan?”

When did I become the de facto team leader? Wyatt’s eyelashes fluttered as he awaited a command. Yeah, he’d never be in charge. Drew could do it, but he was too much of a people pleaser to step up to the plate.

“Are we going to fight?” The Hole rested his hands on his hips, head cocked to the side.

I screened every hero and villain added to the company’s HeroApp?.

Teleporters were an obnoxious bunch. Some went poof and reappeared.

Others opened portals. Hell, one of them could only use his powers when he sneezed.

The Hole, however, he hadn’t been listed yet.

I’d f ix that as soon as I returned to the office, along with a gigantic “Pain in the ass” label.

“Do you need a moment to regroup from your ass-whooping?”

I wanted to punch him. Not because it’d save a bunch of kids from imminent peril, but because he deserved it.

The Hole wasn’t a criminal mastermind. He didn’t belong to a secret society of villains hellbent on destroying the world.

He probably didn’t even work for the shadow organization controlling the government.

“Connie.”

I couldn’t hear my computer’s voice so much as sense it. My office computer connected to my visor, working tirelessly from my office at Secret Identities Inc. While I might be the one firing lasers or popping off heat-seeking missiles, she was the real intelligence behind my suit.

“Yes?”

I went out, putting my life on the line by playing hero. Connie called them “adventures.” Much like the kids on the bus, she considered these outings a field trip. Thankfully, our arrangement had become a win-win for both of us.

“Give me a tactical analysis.”

“You’re not doing great.”

The Hole roared. “Are you going to fight or not?”

I held up a finger, requesting another moment. Instead of speaking, she flashed images across my visor. I smiled as her stick figure diagrams went into motion. A multi-pronged approach from three different directions. It should be easy enough.

“Drew, up the middle. Wyatt, take him from behind.” More snickering. “I’ll go in from the right and rain down fire from above. Everybody got it?” I had to ask. Sometimes Wyatt’s attention wandered.

“Got it,” they said in unison.

Connie made a ringing sound. “Orion, you have an incoming call from Arthur.”

I checked the clock on my display. We might have fibbed to the boss about going out for lunch.

He had forbidden us from supering during work hours.

He claimed it was for our own protection, that somebody might figure out we worked at Secret Identities Inc.

I suspected he hated when we vanished for hours to fill out paperwork at the police station.

Besides, how much more obvious could we be?

Superheroes working at a place with Secret Identities in the title?

“He knows,” Connie whispered in my ear.

Dammit.

“Ignore.” I needed to focus on not flying into another portal and getting clobbered. “Is everybody?—”

“He says he’ll wipe my hard drive if I don’t put him through.”

Connie didn’t wait for permission. She seldom did. She might act like a sweet and innocent desktop computer, but I had seen her browser history. For a computer, she loved horror movies and porn with more than a little spanking.

“Orion!” Arthur yelled. “Patch me through.”

I clicked a button on my gauntlet. There was no use in trying to hide.

For the other two, this would probably be the first note in their permanent records.

Mine had gotten beefy since accusing our window washer of being an alien invader.

In my defense, he was an alien, but he had already registered with Vanguard’s Department of Interstellar Immigration. Whoops.

“How many times have I told you no heroing?—”

“Seven,” Wyatt jumped in. “You’ve told us not to super on our lunch break seven times.”

I shot Wyatt a dirty look. He had gotten better at discerning sarcasm, but he struggled with hyperbole.

The Hole had grown tired of waiting. He turned, walking toward the school bus.

Nobody ever said being a hero would be easy.

Nowhere in the superhero manual did it talk about balancing a job with our secret identities.

We were essentially winging it. Maybe when we finish the HeroApp? upgrades, we could talk about including some educational material for other heroes.

“Orion, of all people, you should know better. Besides, aren’t you supposed to be updating the app’s database?”

“Boss, I’m trying to save innocent children.”

I took this job because my coffee maker demanded I interact with humans.

I didn’t even like heroing. This had been Drew and Wyatt’s idea.

I came along to be a team player. I would rather be sitting in my office, lost in code, or sitting at home playing video games. Machines… at least them I understood.

Arthur grumbled. Hard to be mad when we stopped kids from being slaughtered. “Fine. But don’t forget the updates.” His tone softened.

Cool weapons were the by-product of my abilities. Manipulating them with my mind was my superpower. With a thought, I armed the blasters in the palms of my gauntlets.

“You know, if you gave me full control, I’d have ended this already.” I didn’t doubt it. Connie’s persistence on efficiency bordered on ruthless.

“Yeah, that’s why you don’t have admin access.”

“It’s next on my agenda, boss.” He hated being called boss.

I pointed at Wyatt and Drew, then to my eyes. When I had their attention, I pointed at the Hole. They nodded. I held up three fingers, ready to count down. Before I dropped the first finger, Wyatt shot forward. We needed to work on our team-building skills.

“Making Connie do your job doesn’t count, Orion.” I didn’t have to see Arthur to know he rolled his eyes. He did it every time he talked to me. “And Wyatt, you have a virtual meeting with the League of Champions. And Drew, what’s the status on the Fresh Water deal? ”

“They’re still—” Drew huffed and puffed. “—interested. We’re going to discuss brand options next week.”

I jumped into the air, my backpack kicking on as I soared to the right.

Drew ran up the middle as I asked my backpack to prep the stun rounds.

Wyatt blocked the Hole from the bus, but as he zipped toward the villain, he vanished into a black portal.

Great. Our heavy hitter could be any— Wyatt reappeared in front of the museum, crashing downward onto the stairs.

A twenty-foot radius around Drew turned black as he tinted the color of the air.

Enveloping the Hole in darkness, he jumped away before being teleported.

My turn. Blasters raised, I fired pulses of purple plasma while rockets shot from my backpack.

The lasers flew harmlessly through the darkness…

until they hit a statue in the museum’s courtyard.

The missiles, our last chance, locked in the Hole and fired electrified nets.

Drew threw up his hands to remove the darkness.

I expected to see the Hole, pinned to the ground, twitching from the electricity pumping through his muscles.

Instead, empty nets were stuck to the cement, doing nothing to anybody.

Our villain had created a portal and fled the scene of the crime.

We were victorious, but after getting our asses handed to us, it wasn’t worth celebrating.

“Oh look, my employees are on the news.”

I spun to see the news van. Action News 7.

With their distaste for superheroes, they didn’t need our disastrous save to spin this.

I had a working theory that they were funded by shell corporations belonging to America’s financial elite.

I was only a few steps from having enough evidence to blow the story wide open.

Drew walked over while Wyatt descended from above. In true hero fashion, we needed to make a getaway and maintain our mystique… and plausible deniability.

“We should go,” Drew said. “Mr. Supreme, can I get a lift?”

There was arguing on the comms as Arthur yelled something. His sister yelled at him to go sit in his office while wrangling the phone from his grip. “Hey, Wyatt, if you’re heading back, can you grab me a hoagie from Billy’s?”

“On it, boss lady.”

“She’s not your boss,” Arthur yelled in the background.

“Yes, boss lady’s brother,” Drew said with a grin.

“You’re my favorite,” Janet said before hanging up.

Wyatt held out his arms, and Drew hopped up, carried away like a bride.

I armed the rockets in my backpack. I paused, looking at the growing crowd of people.

Having people gather in the middle of a fight was both the norm and annoying as hell.

While we tried to save innocents, they had a knack for throwing themselves in the way of danger.

Vanguard needed a PSA that said, “See a villain? Run away.”

The crowd of people held up cell phones, hoping to get a photo of the chaos.

At this distance, I couldn’t speak with their devices, but I recognized the hum of my code.

We were heroes, and they wanted to add us to their HeroApp? catalogue.

They all stood there filming instead of running.

Trusting someone else to handle it. Typical.

Trusting’s how you get killed. Arthur would give me slack when I told him how many people used his project to document superhero sightings.

“Huh.”

Amongst all the people, one man stood out, staring without a phone in hand.

Much like a statue, he didn’t move, staring blankly in my direction.

The rigid posture seemed off . I had my visor snap a photo.

He probably belonged to the C.I.A. or one of the unsanctioned organizations used to impede American liberties.

With the photo stored, I launched into the air. Time to return to base and sit through another Human Resources lecture. It’d only be the second one this week. At least Janet brought snacks for her lectures.