Millicent closed her eyes for a moment, then sighed, “Yes they are. I’ve upgraded the threat. Any one of those jokers you’d be able to handle with your team, but we’re looking at ex-heroes who’ve become the largest supervillain team ever seen. Now report!”

  Nate swallowed, “Understood. That was the second to last house. We arrived and did a standard deployment, team in the front, team in the back, the rest of us infiltrated the house and began a search of the premises for a clue on their location, or their money.

  “The ten supers approached from the front of the house, in the air. My men engaged and started to fall back towards the house, when an energy wielder with electricity took them down. Four more of the A-Class went over the house, my men in the back had no time to react.

  “We were… fortunate, those…” he took a deep breath, obviously trying not to use disparaging labels as she ordered yesterday.

  Nate said, “Fortunately, the supers decided to play with the humans, and broke their legs instead of their necks. The two in the front were dead, we were sure of that, and I sent out four more men, two retrievers and two on cover. We got some good shots in, but two more of my men took damage, as we fully retreated to the house, started to lay down suppressive fire so they couldn’t charge us, and called it in.”

  She nodded, “Which is when Jenna called you two in,” she looked at us.

  Alyssa looked at me, so I ran with it.

  “We got there in just over a minute later, and White Witch and myself froze two of them, who were quickly taken down by plasma fire from the house, as we went over just hours ago in training. The leader recognized the danger, it was eight on two, but working together and how fast we took down those two, I imagined he decided to cut his losses, and called a retreat.

  “I was able to take one more down as they fled, but by then they were out of range and no more could be taken. Alyssa stayed behind and healed the four gravely injured men on special agent Jameson’s team.”

  She frowned, “Why did you two split up?”

  Alyssa sighed, “I was so focused on those wounded men I didn’t even notice he’d taken off.”

  I nodded, “Same here. The fleeing man was too far away to risk plasma or a rail gun round, I didn’t want to accidentally blow up a house, so I hit him with a lightning charge. My lightning weapon works like a Taser, but for supers, it’d be deadly against a normal human. I was so focused on getting to him before the five second stun wore off that I didn’t realize Alyssa wasn’t with me until I’d finished bagging him. In my defense, I was only about two blocks away, less than two seconds away. But your right, I shouldn’t have lost track of my partner like that.”

  Alyssa frowned, “Neither of us should have.”

  Millicent nodded, “Don’t let it happen again. Maybe you were perfectly safe, but another of them could have circled around while you were dealing with that one runner, don’t split up. Remember what you told Nate on the first day, priorities?”

  I nodded, “Villain catch is last while keeping property damage to a minimum, Partner and team is second, and only behind the safety of bystanders.”

  I did feel bad about it, I’d let my anger and eagerness to catch just one more of the bastards overwhelm my common sense.

  Millicent sighed, “As of now, our primary mission is tracking down these ex-heroes, they’re too organized. They withdrew and hid their money, they’re working in large teams, and their very familiar with the White Witch’s power. Nate, your team won’t move on a suspected ex-hero supervillain without Alyssa and Daniel. Carina, same with you, no going after them without having Carol and Tina along.”

  Carina said, “Understood.”

  Nate nodded, “Yes, maam.”

  Millicent shook her head, “I’ll work to backfill your team, and I need to write a letter to their families. Unfortunately, we have absolutely nothing to go on, I’ve got Jenna focused on data mining and looking for hits on the city’s CCTV, but it may take time. Take the rest of the night off, all of you.”

  We all nodded. I wasn’t all that surprised, I was upset about the two deaths, and I didn’t even know them. Ex-heroes, supervillains, and now murderers. The bastards were getting worse, even playing with their opponents, torturing and breaking legs? When does that get fun? It was disturbing.

  Rose said, “I want to help.”

  I was the only one that could hear her of course.

  How?

  She replied, “Help search, cameras, feeds, all that. Websites, dark web, but your cell phone bandwidth isn’t up to that task.”

  “Maam?”

  Millicent looked at me, “What is it Daniel?”

  “My A.I. would like to help, but she’d need a ten-gigabit connection to the network. She already knows not to look at anything I don’t have access to, and you’d have to grant me access to search through the city’s CCTV, and any other resources.”

  Rose whispered another request in my ear, so to speak, and I passed it on.

  “She also thinks if you can assign a second ear piece to me, I can set up a way for her to collaborate and speak directly with Jenna, or even the rest of the team.”

  Millicent asked, “Where’s the first one?”

  I said, “On my closet shelf, I made an enchantment on my helmet that mimics the ear piece. It’s just easier that way. I believe if I had a second, I could create a second enchantment under Rose’s control that she could switch on or off at will, and use to talk to Jenna, without effecting mine, which is only and always active when my armored suit is on my body.”

  Millicent frowned, “I appreciate the thought, but there are strict rules about having A.I.s on government networks, at least A.I.s that we don’t own. There might be another option. We can get you the bandwidth you need on the internet, just not our network. There’re also no regulations about the headset either, it’s just a communicator. I’ll let Jenna know what you need, she’ll get with you later, or possibly tomorrow.”

  Rose said, “Thank you.”

  Isn’t that my line?

  Rose replied, “Not when it’s what I want.”

  I supposed she had a point, but that didn’t make me less thankful.

  Rose replied teasingly, “You’re welcome.”

  Yeah, we definitely needed to talk one of these days.

  I held in a snort, as we all got up and filed out of the room.

  I looked over at Alyssa, who was wearing dark blue jeans and a thin cotton pink sweater shirt.

  “Dinner?”

  Alyssa nodded, “Sounds good.”

  She turned toward the kitchen, and I added, “Out.”

  She turned her head sharply, a little startled, but then smiled, “Sure.”

  We headed for the stairwell out, and out onto the street. There were a few restaurants nearby, and it didn’t take us long to settle on Mexican, and we headed that way.

  She asked, “So, how was your day.”

  I laughed, “I was going to ask you that.”

  She smirked, “Maybe, but I asked first.”

  I snickered, “Pretty good, I did everything I told you I was going to. I even enchanted a couple of pieces of Tina’s and Carol’s jewelry for the quick change. How about you?”

  She sighed, “Class was fine, the usual. I’m still a bit freaked out about earlier. I know we can’t save everyone, but it just makes this whole government thing seem… even stupider. Those two men died tonight because some politicians and paranoid people in the NSA and Homeland security decided it was time to put us supers in our place. So many lives ruined, heroes.

  “And I don’t mean those idiots we faced tonight. There’s always been a small percentage of heroes that never truly cared about justice, or protecting people, they were just in it for the money and women.”

  She blushed as she paused a second, “You know what I mean. It’s a waste. The other ninety seven percent I mean, even if most of the male heroes are womanizers, most of those were also at least… not evil.”

  “So, you’re okay?”

  She nodded, “It sucks, and I feel bad for them of course. But I’ve been doing this for two years. The first ones I couldn’t save I took very hard, but I’ve learned to focus on the good, and the ones I can save and the supervillains I can stop. I had to, or I’d have gone crazy or quit long ago.”

  “So, you missed me?”

  She giggled, “Nice try, I already said nope.”

  I laughed with her, and accused, “Liar.”

  She nodded, “Little bit. It’s hard sometimes. I honestly don’t know why I’m even in college half the time, but I don’t want to let down my parents either. Add on to that the way everyone treats me. You… make me almost feel normal. Not many people see past my power, even other supers. Forget a relationship, most men are intimidated by me, and the ones who aren’t don’t see me, they just want me because of my power, bragging rights maybe? I’m sure there are nice ones, but they must be in the intimidated pile.”

  She looked at me and blushed, “Sorry, I’m unloading on you. Maybe those deaths are hitting me harder than I thought. And… you’re surprisingly easy to talk to.”

  I said, “Not a problem. I wasn’t even paying attention for most of that.”

  She giggled, “Liar.”

  I nodded, “Little bit,” throwing her words back.

  She sighed, “I also maybe feel like this is private. I’m half convinced everything we say in that building is put on some NSA desk in triplicate before the echo dies.”

  “Huh, I didn’t even think of that. Maybe I’ll make a bug finder enchantment and we can check. Right after I get Rose set up.”

  She bit her lip, and then looked over at me.

  I wanted to know what that was about, she looked adorable, and sexy at the same time, but I figured she’d bring it up when she was ready.

  I said, “I’m glad you’re my partner, Alyssa. Is that oversharing?”

  She giggled, and pushed my arm, which was a first. We’d never touched before, and I was dismayed and thrilled by how much I’d enjoyed that touch.

  “It is not, oversharing I mean. And, me too. You’re nothing like I’d expect from a male hero, and I feel like I have an ally to balance out the insanity that is the MTF. If I’m wrong, and you betray and hurt me, I’ll have to kill you.”

  I snickered, “Noted.”

  Her tone had been joking there at the end, but I was pretty sure she was also partially serious. I was also pretty sure she’d just admitted her greatest fear to me, if obliquely, which was to open herself up and get slapped in the face, or stabbed in the back, again.

  That wasn’t going to happen, and not because I thought she was beautiful and funny, or mischievously sweet, or that I was starting to fall for her despite my best effort not to, it was simply because I wasn’t an asshole.

  Point was though, she was clearly starting to trust me, and it’d only been two days.

  She flipped her hair and glared at me.

  “I meant, that it won’t happen. I’m not worried about it.”

  She smirked, “I’m pretty terrifying, huh?”

  I snorted in faux derision, and then laughed at her mock scandalized look.

  I drawled, “If I had boots on, they’d be quaking.”

  She laughed, “Ass.”

  I shook my head, “Goofy, or perhaps goofy ass, but never just an ass.”

  She grinned, “I stand corrected,” then giggled.

  Yeah, I supposed I’d just insulted myself, hadn’t I? On the other hand, I was pretty sure we’d just been flirting, and I was both a bit excited by that and calling myself an idiot at the same time. There were so many reasons it was a horrible idea, but the other side of the scale was slowly filling up with a counterweight I couldn’t deny, and her angelic face and sexy petite figure were at the bottom of that list.

  Her power didn’t even register on either side of the scale, it was cool, but I truly didn’t care when it came to my opinion of her as a person, anyway.

  We arrived at the restaurant, and I held the door open. I felt a little relief when she shot me a thankful smile, being a gentleman in this day and age didn’t always pay off.

  It was busy, but not packed, and we were taken straight to a small two-person booth. The tables and benches were a very dark brown stained wood, and our seats had red cushions. The waiter was prompt and polite, and we both ordered large meals, supers tended to eat a lot because we burned a lot of calories.

  We had a great time, there was no more serious talk, about either our pasts or fears, which was more than fine. We talked easily and didn’t grope for conversation or have any long awkward pauses in it. It was almost eerie how easy it was, point being, that was quite fast enough.

  We continue to banter, lightly flirt, and just enjoy each other’s company. Since she’d let it out, her gently teasing sense of humor seemed to play really well off my silly and slightly self-aggrandizing one. We only ended the night when Jenna sent me a page, she went off to study, and I headed for Jenna’s office.

  Chapter Eleven

  The building was quiet, at least on the first floor as I walked down to Jenna’s office. I paused for a moment when I walked in. Jenna had that short and cute spiky golden blonde hair, pretty blue eyes, and gave me a mischievous smile in greeting. What made me pause was the little black dress conforming to her athletically curvy five foot five body.

  “Hey Jenna, hot date?”

  She sighed faux mournfully, “Afraid not, girl’s night out.”

  I grinned, “What do you have for me?”

  She smiled, and tossed me another ear piece, then said, “We have an in at the university, who’s agreed to host your A.I.s data access. I’m not sure how that’s going to work.”

  I nodded, “Do you have a CAT-6 cable handy. Really, I just need the end plug.”

  She tilted her head, “You’re going to enchant it?”

  I explained, “It should work fine. I’ll enchant both my side and the plug to transfer data between Rose and the switch the end piece is plugged into. I don’t even think there’s a range, Rose should have a solid ten gig connection from pretty much anywhere.”

  She grinned, “Alright, wait here a second.”

  She walked around her desk in three-inch heels, and then walked passed me and out the door. She looked really good, but it was relatively simple to ignore, my mind was still on dinner, and what a great time I’d had with Alyssa. Which probably wasn’t a good thing, I’d seen the look in Alyssa’s eyes that told me I wasn’t the only person having trouble with the friendship line, and it’d only been a couple of days.

  Next to that, Jenna’s flirty looks and her unavailability through the rules wasn’t really a thing at all.

  She walked back in with a network cable, and she opened her desk drawer. It only took her a second to snip off the plug with a wire cutter. She walked back around, and she handed it to me. She stood just a little too close, right on the edge of personal space.

  She raised an eyebrow with a flirty smile, “Need anything else?”

  “No, thanks. This is perfect.”

  She nodded, “Good, I’m late, and Millicent wants to talk to you, she’s still in her office.”

  She walked toward the exit, and then looked over her shoulder, “Oh, when you’re done with that plug return it, I can get it over to the college’s network room.”

  I nodded, “Thanks again, have a good time.”

  She grinned, then winked, “Count on it,” and then left the room.

  I shook my head, the woman was a huge flirt. Still, I was sure she was just friendly, and admired supers, that’s all it was. I left the office and headed down to Millicent’s.

  I knocked on the door, and after a few seconds she called out for me to enter.

  She looked tired, and a little stressed as I walked in. She waved at one of the chairs in front of her desk, and I took a seat.

  “Did you get what you need from Jenna?”

  I nodded, “Yes, thanks.”

  She nodded, “Good. I’d like your help with something unofficial as well.”

  Right, because my A.I. working on government business was her doing me a favor. Although, I supposed she might’ve spent a little political capital to get the college onboard.

  “What do you need?”

  She said, “Tonight was a mess, one I’ve been thinking on, and one I’ve been trying to find a way to avoid in the future. I think you can help us with that. Carina informed me on the day we hired you, that you can scan and measure meta-energy. You do know that no one can do that, don’t you?”

  I cleared my throat, “Yes, it’s specific to my power-set, I think. Even as an enchanter, which is rare, I’m a bit different.”

  She raised an eyebrow.

  I shrugged, “I’ve never heard of an enchanter that can boost their enchantments with their personal power before either. Which is the only reason I can compete out there. My suit is slow, weak, and vulnerable without that part of it. At best, it’d be able to shield from normal bullets, maybe a little fire, without me enhancing it.”

  In truth, I wasn’t an enchanter, not really. At least, I didn’t see myself that way.

  She nodded, “I’d heard that part as well, yes. To get to the point, I’d like you to make us two scanners, one for each team. Reason being, I believe a scanner would tell us two things. One, if the super they’re going after will be too powerful for them, or two, if there are a lot of supers in the area it will make them wary of another ambush. In either case, they could call in for support before they engage. Of course, when going after the ex-hero villains that won’t be an issue going forward, because you and Alyssa will be with them, but they could be ambushed while doing something else.”

  I pondered that a moment. It should be possible. My scanners didn’t take a whole lot of power. I also thought about setting precedents, making enchantments for my team was one thing, but making them for the government? On the other hand, I supposed I did owe Millicent for approving my request and paving the way so quickly.

  I’d also had another thought, that I didn’t want to think too hard on, not yet anyway.

  “Can I speak freely?”