The Gentlemen had messed up and now the villain had them hanging over container of molten metal. As far as suspension traps went, it was a pretty good one. The cable was thick and not easy to break, everything but their suits had been taken (including the wrist watch with the laser), and the lowering mechanism for the cable had been maintained so when pressed, it would drop them quickly with no slow-down. One thing was for sure, despite her B-list status, Lady Bird was a professional villain. She leaned against the railing on the catwalk across (all OSHA compliant from the looks of it) from where they were hanging.

“Well Gentlemen, it was nice meeting you, but I’m on a tight schedule.” She stated as she stood up straight and sauntered over to the control panel, her thick heeled shoes clacking against the floor. “These weapons aren’t going to make themselves, after all. We’ll have to throw out this batch, but we have plenty of other molten metal. Ta-ta then.”

She put her hand on the button and as she was about to press it, one of her minions came running up to her with a cell in his hand. He skidded to a stop, nearly stumbling when his thick soled boots caught against the floor of the walk way. He righted himself and thrust the phone out to her.

“Lady Bird, emergency!” He declared, waving it around.

Lady Bird sighed and rolled her eyes, moving her hand away from the button. It was at times like this she wished she had invested in communicators for everyone, but the money had been tight last quarter. It might've been a good idea to invest in more than one cell phone for the business, but the prices for business plans were downright villainous. But since they were bringing it to her, it was probably more than a sales call.

“What is it?” She questioned the minion as she indicated the Gentlemen. They struggled in the chains, which made them swing a little bit. But there was no hint that they were getting loose from their chains from any time soon. “I’m a bit busy disposing of some trespassers right now.”

“Someone from the government is on the line! I think you should talk to them!”

“Are we talking federal or state?” She snatched the phone from him, making sure to cover the mic. Whoever was on the other end didn’t need to be privy to everything that was going on. “Because we did our taxes and the IRS doesn’t make phone calls. Are you sure this isn’t another scam like the jury duty one that was going on a while ago?”

“No, it’s from the state. Something about the Department of Family and Protective Services?”

Lady Bird looked at the Gentlemen. As far as she could tell, they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. The heat from the metal sapped their energy and they had already stopped struggling. So maybe telling the person that they had the completely wrong number wouldn’t take up too much time. She put the phone up to her ear.

“Listen, I think you got the wrong number. This is the Lady Bird’s Nest, there are no kids to protect here. I don’t even kidnap kids… all that often, and none under the age of like...ten. Any younger than that and they’re either crying all the time or really needy.”

“Ah, so you would be Mrs. Lady Bird!” The woman on the other hand was certainly cheery. That was never a good sign when it came to a government employee. That usually meant that she wasn’t going to like what they were about to say. “Let me be the first to congratulate you on your successful adoption!”

Lady Bird eyed the Gentlemen once again, just to make sure one of them wasn’t trying to pull a gadget out that they missed when they searched them in order to escape. The duo just hung there with their faces turning red from hanging upside down for so long. They weren’t even saying anything, despite her being on the phone. Maybe they were making peace with their maker. This conversation was going to take a bit longer than she thought, so hopefully they wouldn’t be conscious when she dunked them. While she didn’t mind disposing her enemies, she didn’t need to hear their screams of agony to be satisfied.

“Adoption? What adoption?”

“Why, you submitted an application for adoption several months ago and it just got approved today! I tried to contact your husband, but he was too busy at work to pick up the phone and the secretary told me to call you.”

There must’ve been a serious mistake in the paperwork. She and Wayne had never submitted an application. Oh, they had talked about it a bit, but they tabled the conversation for another day. Maybe they had the wrong Bird or the wrong number.

“What’s the kid’s name?”

“Let’s see here, it’s one Terri Shaw, female, age sixteen. I think it's wonderful that you and your husband are willing to open your hearts to a teenager. Most people aren’t interested in adopting older kids so…”

She didn’t hear the rest of the lady’s spiel as she lowered the phone from her ear. Terri Shaw, she knew that name. That was the name of the ward of a certain Melissa Newton, aka Beretta, aka her arch-nemesis. They had been arch-nemesis ever since Lady Bird started in the evil villian business, back when she was doing minion work for Count Reeser and Beretta was another hero’s sidekick.

Several months ago, she had seen that their usual song and dance of Beretta bursting in and ruining her plans and them having a hand to hand fight wasn’t producing anything. It always ended in a draw and frankly was getting old. So, she had tried psychological warfare in an attempt to get her off her game and slip up so that Lady Bird could take advantage. The adoption papers had been forged. All it did was make Beretta skip the hand to hand and go straight to throwing heavy objects at her. There was no way they should’ve even made it to the state to get approved. Unless one of the minions, not thinking, had sent it in anyways.

“Ma’am, there’s been some sort of mistake!” She insisted, now facing away from her current captives and lowering her voice to a whisper. “Those adoption papers, they…”

“They’re just the first step.” The woman interrupted. “We still have to see if you and Terri are actually compatible as a family unit, so there will be a six month trial period. If you and Mr. Bird and her don’t complement each other, then she’ll go back to her current foster.”

“Six months!?” The Gentlemen flinched when they heard her yell.

The minion suddenly appeared in her view and waved his arms. “Boss, boss…!”

She kicked him out of the way, making sure not to do it too hard. The last thing she needed was to accidentally break another minion’s leg. That had been quite the paperwork disaster. The kick would probably leave a bruise. Lady Bird usually held back from striking her minions (they stuck around longer and were more loyal if there weren’t being abused), but once and awhile, one annoyed her enough to earn her ire. This was one of those times.

“I know it sounds like a long time, but I promise it will pass by quickly for all of you.” The woman assured her. “The social worker is bringing her tomorrow morning. I trust that you’ll have a room ready for her. So once again Mrs. Bird, congratulations! Terri has always been a good kid, so I’m sure you and Mr. Bird will enjoy having her! Bye!”

The phone clicked off as the woman hung up. Lady Bird stood there for a moment, absorbing everything. Once it hit her what she had just been told, she threw the phone on the ground (somehow it didn't break) and turned to the minion, who rubbed the spot where she had kicked him. His look said “What’d I do to deserve that?”

“Now what did you want?” She questioned, unusually harsh. Lady Bird didn’t usually use that tone with them either, but the news left her irate. The minion straightened himself up and delivered the news in the most professional way he could.

“I was trying to tell you that the outside patrol spotted…”

A loud crash occurred as a fancy car came flying through the wall. The minion dived on her, protecting her from any rubble that happened to make its way over there. Her front complained as it hit the metal of the walk way.

“One of their cars. Apparently, they’ve upgraded them to come find them if they don’t return in a certain amount of time.”

“I can see that!” She exclaimed as she pushed the minion off her. She understood why he had protected her, but he had been one of the heavier ones. Her front hurt enough, she didn’t need a sore back on top of it.

Lady Bird looked at the car that somehow didn’t have a scratch on it despite crashing through a wall. The roof retracted on the red car. Someone sat in the seat, a young man in a tie but no suit jacket. He looked nervous and fumbled with something.

“Who is that?” She demanded to know. “I’ve never seen him before!

“Oh, that’s their intern. We just learned about him too. They must’ve just hired him.

The intern stood up in the car, stumbling a little bit as the car hovered over the molten lava. Once he had his balance, he pointed his wrist at the section of chain that was right above the Gentlemen’s heads. A laser came from his watch and cut through the chain. The Gentlemen fell and landed in the leather seating of the car. The intern sat back down and zoomed off, smashing through a section of wall that was not too far from the first hole. All of this happened very quickly.

Lady Bird managed to get the minion off her right as they busted out. She ran over to the railing and leaned over it, looking at not just one holes, but two! She shook her fist at the long gone people and yelled.

“The least you could’ve done is pass through the hole you already made!” She huffed a bit and turned to the minion. “Have them halt production for now. We’ll need to see if someone comes here after them or if they were just gathering the information to sell later. And see if you can get ahold of Wayne. He and I need to talk.”

“Right away Boss. Just let me get the phone…”

It took him a bit to find the phone, or what was left of it after he lifted a piece of rubble off it. Lady Bird rubbed her temples. Of course the only phone they had for the lair had been smashed into pieces. Maybe now was a good time to look at those business cell phone plans again. The minion swept the pieces into his hand. He brought them over to her.

“Go get Number One and tell him to get in touch with Wayne and bring him here, even if he has to drag him from work.” She shifted through the phone pieces and found the sim card. Somehow, it was undamaged. “And tell him we need a new phone too. A prepaid one will do for now.”

The minion threw up a salute before rushing off. Lady Bird looked over the sim card in her hand. So, she would have to make sure that they had an empty room, just in case she couldn’t convince the social worker that this was all one huge mistake.

“What was it you always said, Count Reeser? Be careful that your bluff will help you with your goal because the hero might not call your bluff?”

She did wonder what her first boss would say about the situation. He was probably laughing at it, wherever he was. Or quietly chuckling. He had never been into the whole evil villain laugh.

Lady Bird pocketed the card and went through the door to leave the factory part of the Nest. Now where were they going to find room for the kid and could they get it together in time for the social worker’s visit the next morning?