Hermit was already in the driver’s seat in one of the vans. The side door was open, and the engine idled. I started to get into the van when I realized Lulu was strapped inside. In my seat.

“She’s coming?”

“Of course,” Hermit said, turning around. “She helped me track down Siren and Intelligal. Since Karma Girl and Striker are on hiatus, I asked her to come along and man the van and comm links, while I help you guys in the field.”

“Oh, goody.”

I slid into Karma Girl’s usual spot in the very back and crossed my arms over my chest. Lulu ignored my hot stare, pulled out her laptop, and started banging away. My father turned around in his seat and gave me a look, clearly wanting H o t M a m a

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me to play nice. That was something else I’d never quite learned to do. At least, not very well. Being an only child, I was used to getting my way. All the time. And I liked it. I rolled my eyes. But parental guilt could still make me do funny things sometimes, like be polite to a criminal mastermind. “So where are our two ubervillains at?” I asked, attempting to be marginally friendly.

“Right now, they’re holed up in an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town, a couple of miles away from the old Snowdom Ice Cream Factory. Or what’s left of it.”

In other words, the ubervillains were squatting next to a big pile of rubble. The Fearless Five had spent some time at the factory last year during our run-in with the Terrible Triad. The factory had paid the price for being the site of a superhero-ubervillain battle. Not to mention the fact that Carmen had stuffed enough explodium bombs in the building to decimate the whole city.

“How did you find them?” I asked. “I thought they were untraceable or some such nonsense.”

Hermit glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “I created a new computer program to track the exhaust fumes from Intelligal’s chair. It’s powered with a combination of electricity, gas, and some sort of radioactive isotope I haven’t identified yet. The point is that it lets off a particular combination of fumes and radiation.”

“Clever as always, Hermit,” Mr. Sage said.

“I couldn’t have done it without Lulu’s help,” Hermit said.

Lulu smiled at her honey’s praise, a goofy grin spreading across her heart-shaped face. She stared at his back, her eyes soft and dreamy. Her obvious affection for him almost made her part of the team. Almost.

“So what do you think they’re doing at that factory?

Braiding each other’s hair?”

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J e n n i f e r E s t e p

I snickered. More than likely, the two ubervillains were trying to pull it out. For partners in crime, they didn’t seem to get along too well.

“I have no idea. Their crime wave doesn’t make any sense,” Hermit said. “One day, they’re stealing electronic equipment. The next, they’re loading up on computer chips. The day after that, they’re taking jewels from Bigtime’s finest. I can’t figure out what they’re up to.”