Even better, if it could turn back into a little girl, it would still be pinned under the truck.

“See you later,” he said as he swaggered off. Then he saw a canister filled with oil.

He still had an Ippo lighter in his back pocket.

New Quest!

Removing the Competition

Take out the competition—permanently.

Reward: +3 Skill Upgrade points and +1 Skill Slot per powered enemy killed. Blackguard +3 per success!

Accept? Refuse?

The bear had been trying to kill him.

“Accept,” Homie muttered before tipping the canister over. His power found a few gas cans at the back and helpfully flipped those over too.

Soon the entire garage was smelling like gas fumes.

There was still one person left in the garage, hiding away in the office, but he could tell them to run off at any moment.

“Bye-bye, bear girl,” he said as he flicked on his lighter and let it fall.

The fire was . . . rather anemic. Just a small puddle on the floor that was far from impressive. He flung a few rags onto it and nodded satisfactorily when they lit up and the fire spread around.

The bear rumbled and shook under the truck. Homie almost felt bad for it.

Grinning to himself, he jogged to the spot where he’d ditched the laptop, then he pulled into the garage’s lobby and office space to tell the last idiot lagging behind to get the hell out of Dodge.

And then he ran into another Mask.

It was the tall blond girl in the gangster uniform he’d seen earlier.

“Where’s Teddy?” she asked. Her voice was a quivering mess, and her hands trembled.

“She’s a bit busy,” Homie said. “Just like you’ll be in a moment.”

He found that he still had some anger to work out.

She looked past him, then her attention snapped to the flames. “There’s a fire,” she said.

“Your bear friend’s in the middle of it,” he said. He rather enjoyed the way her eyes widened in horror. “Maybe you’d like to join her?”

He moved toward the desks at the front lobby. His power had tickled against a bat under the counter he could put to good use.

“You-you bastard,” she said.

“Terrifying,” he replied as he reached over the counter.

“Sisterportation,” the girl said.

Homie looked over his shoulder, wondering what in the world she meant.

“Sisterportation . . . Teddy.”

And then the bear was in the room with him, its fur matted down by hydraulic fluid and burned at the edges, but it didn’t seem to mind that at all, not judging by the anger in its eyes.

“Oh shi—”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Victory

Emily stared at the very insensate form of Homie. The man was sprawled on the floor, arms and legs spread out every which way, his mouth wide open.