Intelligal drifted their way, and Johnny’s eyes narrowed to slits. He shifted his stance, and his jacket opened up, exposing his white shirt. I remembered the solid feel of his chest next to mine. His lips on mine. His hands on my body. I could still smell his spicy scent. My temperature roared up a few hundred degrees. The man was sexy, there was no doubt about that. None whatsoever. Even now, I was thinking about how we could pick up where we’d left off earlier. But I pushed that thought aside. My duty as a superhero came first—pummeling ubervillains whenever possible. Intelligal stopped in front of the Bullucis. Johnny stepped forward to shield his family from the ubervillain. His hands clenched and unclenched into fists, and Johnny looked like 34

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he wanted to leap onto Intelligal’s chair and punch her over and over again. The old man put a wrinkled, restraining hand on Johnny’s arm and shook his head. Johnny shot his grandfather an annoyed look, but he relaxed just a bit. To my surprise, Bella’s lips tightened into a thin line, and her hazel eyes glittered with rage. Bella? Angry? The mild-mannered designer never got angry, not even when she lost out on the Bigtime Fashion Designer of the Year Award to me. Despite his age, Bobby was just as worked up as his grandchildren. Even he shot the ubervillain a look of disgust and loathing. Johnny handed over a thick watch and his engraved cuff links. Bella took off her silver chain and charm and threw them into the bag, while Bobby passed over a diamond pinky ring. Intelligal moved on to her next victims, but all three of the Bullucis kept their eyes on her, wishing that looks could kill.

After about twenty minutes, Intelligal finished her mission. The mechanical arm clamped down on the bag, securing it and the goodies inside. She floated back to the dance floor, where Siren waited.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s been a real pleasure. But I’m afraid it’s time for us to leave.”

“Siren, don’t go!”

“Please stay!”

“We’ll do anything you want!”

Men and a few women called out to the ubervillain, pleading with her to stay.

Siren smiled. “I know you will, darlings, but I really must go before the Fearless Five show up. Now, why don’t you all do me a favor and talk quietly among yourselves for, say, ten minutes? That would make me so happy. And you want to make me happy, don’t you?”

Just about everyone in the crowd immediately turned to each other and began chatting about the weather, the H o t M a m a

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wedding, and how fabulous Siren looked. Siren tossed the microphone back to the befuddled band leader and hopped onto the arm of Intelligal’s chair. The two of them zoomed up off the dance floor.

Ah, my cue at last.

I grabbed the fire pulsing through me, and my body exploded into flames.