Angel swung one leg over his bike, and I caught a glimpse of his face. His smooth, unlined face. With a start, I realized that he was around my age. Usually, this wouldn’t be of any importance, as most superheroes and ubervillains fell in the twenty-to-forty age range, with a few exceptions like my father, who was creeping up on fifty-five, or the 94

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Tween Terrors, who hadn’t hit puberty yet. But the last time I’d seen Johnny Angel, he’d been limping down an alley, struggling to keep up with the thug he’d been chasing. Lines and sweat had painted his strained red face. Gray had glistened in his brownish hair. He’d moved slowly, as though every step hurt.

He’d been an older man, just like my father. Not this guy. He moved with a loose, easy confidence. Blond hair. Tan face. Light eyes. Black and silver wingshaped mask. That was all I saw before Angel tossed his jacket aside and turned to face Siren. I frowned. Johnny Angel might not be an ubervillain, but he should know better than to turn his back on me. I was Fiera, for crying out loud. I could melt his ass like a candle, if I wanted to.

“There’s a new Angel in town,” he snarled in a low throaty voice. “And you’re going to pay for what you did to my predecessor.”

Siren put her hands on her hips and laughed. The dulcet tones rang like church bells, all sweetness and light. “Now why would you want to hurt little ole me?” Siren lowered the zipper on her suit, exposing more of her buoyant chest. She focused her eyes on Angel like a snake trying to hypnotize a helpless bunny. “I’m just a simple girl who’s trying to make a name for herself in the big, bad city.”

Yeah right. And I was the freaking Tooth Fairy. Angel stilled, struggling against the pull of Siren’s voice. Since the ubervillain’s attention was focused on Angel, her tone didn’t bother me as much as usual. I circled to one side, easing to the left of them.

“Are you guys hearing this?” I muttered.

“Every word,” Mr. Sage whispered in my ear. “We’re almost there to back you up. Let them keep talking.”

Siren and Angel stared at each other, ignoring me. I took the chance to study the man. He was taller than his prede-H o t M a m a 95