I stepped towards the hero and grabbed her elbow.

“Don’t try anything funny, or you might break your arm. Ms. Blue, if you could decontaminate her, please.” The room we were in blocked all signals from leaving, but once we left, if she had anything on her, the Union would know our location. Losing two HQ’s in the span of a few days was not a record I wanted to make.

I did my best to keep up to date on all members of the Union, and I was certain I knew who this heroine was. Her powers had to do with animals, and since there were none here I wasn’t too worried about her abilities, and with my skills I wasn’t worried about her besting me.

“I’m on it,” Ms. Blue removed all potential tracking devices off of the heroine, and then I held her arm again to keep her from trying anything. Meanwhile, Ms. Blue went into a closet and took out a fresh set of clothes. We made the hero change out of her costume in case there was anything woven or hidden in the cloth. Ms. Blue a scanner and used that as a final check.

“She’s all clear,” Ms. Blue said.

“I’ll drop her off at containment. You guys can go celebrate,” I said.

“You’re not going to join us?” Miss Malaise asked.

“I’ll try to catch up with you guys later. I have some things to check on.” I said, and she nodded.

The villains left the room, and then I was alone with the hero.

“Well,” I smiled at her, “you’ve got yourself in quite a pickle. Cindy, right?”

“Are you going to let me go?” she asked. Her gaze was hard, but her arm trembled in my grip.

I laughed, “No.”

Cindy’s eyes filled with some emotion, “You know, at the academy, they told us stories about you. How you saved so many people. How you were kind. That this happened to you...I don’t know what to think.”

My tone was dry, “I suggest you think about it some more. I didn’t leave for no reason.”

I tugged her arm, “Let’s go. I have things to do.”

I dropped Cindy off at containment. It seemed to fully hit her by then that I really wasn’t acting, and she glared at me as I closed the door on her cell.

I left her and headed towards my office.

Merlina sat on the couch outside my door, hair and makeup so impeccable it was hard to believe she’d just broken into a prison.

“Miss Bell,” she said in her musical voice, and rose to her feet.

“Come on in,” I opened the door to my office.

While Merlina sat down, I picked up the silver card that was in front of my chair. Usually Shelley handled my mail, so this was unusual. In neat script the note read, ‘I like your way better than what I had planned. Beautifully done - Snow’ I smiled, and pocketed the card, and then gave Merlina my attention.

“Your office is lovely,” Merlina said.

“Thank you,” I ran a finger over a blossom that curled up to my desk, “Shelley did it all.”

In a succinct manner, she went over the details of her mission. Her mesmerism made the cops unlock the cells the villains were in, and from there the rest of the mission had been a joke. Before Merlina left she’d had one cop lock the rest in the cells and then he handcuffed himself to a metal bar. If that detail made it into the news, it would be quite an embarrassment.

No one caught on to what had happened until Merlina was long gone, villains in tow.

I commended Merlina on a job well done.

“I’m going to go celebrate with the others. Would you like to join us?”

“I would enjoy that,” Merlina said. I put on a coat over my costume, pocketed my mask, and then texted Ms. Blue. She responded that they hadn’t left the Corp. yet, since everyone had changed into civilian clothes, so Merlina and I headed to the parking lot. Everyone who’d been on the mission, as well as three of the villains we’d rescued, which included Leonine, Metality and a villain called Dagger, were there.

“Hop on in!” Mr. Blue opened the doors. I took the front passenger seat, and Mr. Blue drove.

There was a spirit of excitement in the van.

“Ms. Bell, I was thinking we could pick up at one of the local restaurants.” Mr. Blue said.

“What do you recommend?”

“There’s a Chinese place with great reviews and an Italian restaurant too.”

I twisted in my seat to look at everybody sitting in the back.

“Raise your hand if you want Chinese,” I paused as they voted, “and for Italian?”

Italian won. Everyone looked at the menu online and then Ms. Blue called in our order.

It would take forty five minutes for the food to be ready, so in the meantime we went to a grocery store to pick up sweets.

Mr. Blue turned on the radio to a pop music station, and Leonine sang along, with surprising skill.

We got to the grocery and Ms. Blue, Leonine, and Metality followed me in while the others stayed in the car.

I pushed the cart while the others threw in assorted snacks. Ice cream, cookies, chips, dips. It was excessive, and wonderful.

We paid and got a few weird looks, as a group of adults who seemed like they shouldn’t have anything to do with each other.

We picked up the Italian food and then Mr. Blue drove us to the nearest telestation. We took one to Vantage View Point, all of us carrying bags of food and treats.

Vantage View Point was the spot that Villains Corp went to to celebrate and get rowdy (apart from our annual retreat, where we went to different locations) without getting in trouble with the Union or civilians. Villains Corp. had owned the spot since its formation.

Vantage View was a mountain with a huge crater inside, and legend told it was from an epic fight between Dark and one of the early heroes, though I’d never thought that likely. It was probably a dead volcano, if I were to make a guess.

There was a huge lake, and we set up just yards from the shore at the picnic tables that had been there before my time. The moon shone, its reflection winking on the surface of the water.

I helped unpack the food and snacks while Leonine used his powers and lit up the area.

“Let’s eat!” Ms. Blue called out.

“Yum,” Leonine sighed, and then looked from Miss Malaise to me, “t-thank you for getting us out of there. And I’m sorry.”

“Of course,” Miss Malaise said.

I gave Leonine a quick look and shook my head. If everyone knew he was directly responsible for what had happened, he might get bullied. Better he learn from his mistakes and let this one stay quiet. Leoning caught my drift.

After we’d all cleared away platefuls of pasta, pizza, and focaccia we pulled out the snacks and desserts. Leonine stood up.

“Light show, anyone?” His smile was awkward and hopeful. A covert apology.

Merlina smiled at him, and Leonine blushed at her attention, “That sounds beautiful,” she said.

Leonine headed to the waterfront and stood still. Darkness reigned for a moment as the flames Leonine made around the table were extinguished.

Then, the light returned.

Flames manifested around Leonine, and then sorted themselves into spheres that circled his body. I took a bite of my ice cream, the crushed cookies that were sprinkled on top adding an extra-delicious dimension. What a perfect evening.

The flames moved out, and hung over the water before they began a dizzying motion of colliding with one another, merging or exploding into showers of sparks. No firework show could ever compare.

After a few minutes, the flames winked out one by one, until again we were plunged into darkness.

I clapped, and the others joined in.

Leonine made some new flames to give us light, and bowed.

“Miss Bell,” Metality said, “would you care for a bout?”

I grinned.

“It would be my pleasure.” The last time I’d fought Metality, I’d been a freshfaced, idealistic hero. I wondered how things would pan out this time.