“Then go with your hot self,” Lulu replied. I rolled my eyes and kept moving. I rounded the edge of one of the assembly lines and stopped. I’d finally gotten to the belly of the beast, as it were. Halogen bulbs illuminated the scene. Computers, power cables, and more clustered together. Bits and pieces of metal littered the floor and a couple of steel tables. Soldering irons, wire cutters, and other tools crouched on wooden stools and plastic milk crates. Blueprints and schematics and weird diagrams hung on a cork board. It was your usual ubervillain–mad scientist lab. Intelligal was hard at work on something. Some sort of giant, radio-karaoke-like thing stood in the middle of the makeshift workshop. I spotted a cordless microphone, a bunch of wires, and what looked like a flatscreen plasma monitor. I squinted. Were those diamonds lining the thin screen?

“Are you getting this, Lulu?” I whispered.

“Every last pixel,” the computer hacker muttered. “Although I don’t have a clue as to what that thing is or does.”

I didn’t really care what it did. When it doubt, smash. That was my philosophy. I raised my fist and focused, ready to punch through that metal like it was a piece of paper. Suddenly, I realized the hairs on the back of my neck were standing straight out. Not good.

I hit the ground rolling. A blue lightning bolt zigzagged over my head and rattled off into the darkness. Now, I don’t have my father’s psychic abilities or even Carmen’s inner voice, but after some fifteen years as a superhero, I know when an ubervillain’s trying to get the drop on me. Siren 92

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

had been quiet as death, but the electrical charge in the air from her powers had given her away.

I popped up on my feet and turned around, a fireball in my hand. “Hello, Siren. So nice to see you again.”

The ubervillain stood behind me, looking as voluptuous as ever in her electric blue suit. For once, the zipper was at a reasonable level, showing just a hint of cleavage. Evidently, Siren knew her charms would be utterly wasted on me. That or she was just cold.

“I wish I could say the same, Fiera. You and yours just keep showing up wherever Intelligal and I go,” Siren purred.

“Wouldn’t you much rather put those nasty fireballs away and have a nice talk with me? I’m sure we have a lot in common, being such strong, powerful women.”