Natalie led the way down the hallway with me on her heels. Our footsteps echoed off the cold, hard walls of the penitentiary. My cape fluttered behind, making me feel like a badass supervillain. You know, because if you look good, you feel good. And who doesn't love a good cape?

"Hold on," I whispered, stopping to pull a map out of my utility pouch. I traced the route with my finger, looking up at the maze of corridors. One wrong turn and we'd hit the guards. Sure, Natalie could take out one or two of them, but not a full wall of muscle. "We need to go that way if we ever want to listen to Madison giggle again. It's the cell block where they're holding Elijah."

"As tempting as it is to never hear that sound, I don't really want to get caught and have a roommate with skull tattoos on her chest... unless, of course, that roommate is male." Natalie winked at me and followed the way I pointed.

As we penetrated deeper and deeper into the prison, a nearly crippling mixture of excitement and fear coursed through my veins. This was it, the moment I had both dreaded and secretly waited for. My palms sweated beneath my leather gloves and my heart raced. Life had not been easy since Elijah went to jail, but I managed by not thinking about my feelings. When those so-called superheroes killed my sister Ellie, it became easy to ignore my heart.

But now, as we tiptoed through the prison, those suppressed feelings came rushing back. I hadn't mourned separating from my husband. Ellie died right after Elijah went to prison, and I never had a chance to sort out my feelings for him. I simply put our marriage on hold. Yes, I filed for a divorce. It was what was expected after learning of the awful things your villain husband had done, but I hadn’t dated anyone since our separation.

"There she is." Natalie whispered, pointing to Jasmine at the end of the hallway.

Jasmine fixated on her watch, then looked up to give us a nod. We were exactly on time. She pulled a small device out from between her mountainous breasts (can you say jealous?) and attached it to the security panel by the door.

With a few quick taps of her fingers, the panel sparked to life, and the door swung open with a loud clang. Jasmine grinned, pleased with her device. We had gained access to the inner workings of the prison.

Only behind the door stood three armed guards. What the hell? Were they standing there gossiping? Did men do that?

"Well, this is just peachy," I rolled my eyes and smoothed out my waterlogged hair. "I was really hoping to avoid any kind of confrontation tonight. I mean, I did just get my hair done, and I'd hate for it to get all mussed up by a bunch of trigger-happy guards." I glanced at Natalie. "Do you think you could take them out before they ruin the drowned rat look I was going for?"

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“Hands up!” One guard yelled.

Natalie chuckled, forcing herself to relax as they raised their weapons. "I'll do my best, but no promises. These guys don't look like they're here to gossip about their feelings."

All three men suddenly fumbled with their weapons. One-by-one, they dropped them onto the floor. I glanced over at Jasmine and she was in a trance, sweat glistening on her temples. That took a lot out of her.

"I hope you handle your other equipment better than your weapons." I naughtily glanced down below their belts, then back at their eyes with a smug smile.

"Okay, okay." Natalie raised her hands and took a step forward. "I give up. We're no match for such big, strong men."

The poor guards didn't know what hit them. As soon as one gathered Natalie's hands behind her back for the handcuffs, and the other one assisted, their eyes grew heavy and they slumped down to the floor, fast asleep.

That left me to take out the third one, who was clearly confused at the situation but smart enough to squat down to pick up his weapon. I pulled my taser from my pouch and lunged forward, aiming at the guard.

But he was too quick. A powerful hand gripped my wrist and wrenched the taser out. I growled and threw a punch, but he easily blocked my attempt. Using my smaller size, I hunched to the ground and rammed my shoulder into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him as he stumbled backward. I scooped my taser and took aim...

Only when I looked up, he had me at gunpoint.

"Well, dang." I said, tilting my taser holding hand to get a better vantage point. "I like roulette. I'm actually pretty lucky." Did he see my shaking knees? Obviously, the gun was more deadly than a souped-up jolt of electricity, but I will bet he didn't want to harm me. He probably had a woman to go home to and maybe children. He was probably a nice guy.

A nice guy who could use something shocking in his life.

Just as I was about to take my chance and pull the trigger, his eyelids grew heavy like the other two guards, and he fell down onto the floor with a thud.

Behind his enormous body stood Natalie.

"I had it covered." I sucked in a huge breath, not realizing I had stopped breathing, and flashed Natalie a playful smile.

"I know. I was just showing off a bit." She winked. "Someone has to have your back."

But damn. She had sweat on her temples, too.

My partners were fading fast, and we hadn't even gotten to Elijah's cell yet.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be," I playfully brushed off my hands. "Now let's go bust Elijah out of this joint and get out of here before any more guards come to ruin our fun."

"Beep, beep, beep." Came from overhead and a red light flashed above the door.

"Something triggered the alarm." Jasmine breathed. "We're on lockdown."

"Great," I groaned. "We took down three guards without a scratch and now, some annoying alarm thinks it can scare us?" I huffed and placed a hand on my hip. "No problem. It's not like we're low on energy or anything."

"Sure," Natalie said, wiping sweat from her temple. "We got this."

"There's no fun in doing things the easy way, anyway." Jasmine added with a tired smile. "What did my mom always say? If you don't come back dirty, you didn't have any fun."

And as noises from the guards echoed down the hallway, I knew we'd soon be having lots of fun.