Nick grumbled to himself, trying to get a clear shot from under a car. If the technomancer saw his dart gun he’d be useless. If the door closed he’d be useless. If the villains were wearing armor under their clothes he’d be useless. If he missed even one shot…

He paused, allowing himself a moment to acknowledge how completely useless he was. The moment passed, and he forced his focus back to the job at hand.

Teleporters were one of the more dangerous villains. Their power allowed them to kill instantly and without warning, simply by teleporting into someone’s space. Usually humans are reluctant to kill other humans, so teleporters did their best to… not. But for villains, already doomed to jail, sometimes a murder or two was worth the risk.

Victor was distracting the teleporter kid (she looked about thirteen to Nick), while Emmy prepared a lasso.

Inez was focusing on the technomancer, fighting at close range with the… human. They were wearing a baggy hoodie with the hood up, loose jeans and a bright blue mask. Inez couldn’t set anything on fire, and the fabric covering most of their head blocked a good percent of her light. Nick didn’t know how many layers were under the hoodie, so his best bet was to shoot them in the thigh. That reduced his target area from a whole human to about a square foot. Oh yeah, and if he missed, he risked hitting Inez.

If he shot her, he would never hear the end of it.

Nick took a deep breath, watching as Inez landed a solid hit to the technomancer’s stomach. They stumbled back, off-balance, and Nick took the shot.

It hit.

He pushed himself up, watching for a reaction. The technomancer turned, saw him, and… Nick presumed there was a grin behind the mask.

“Hell,” he hissed, hiding his gun behind a tire.

The technomancer lifted a hand, and the car’s engine rumbled to life.

Inez punched them in the face, pulled their arm around their back, and put them in a headlock.

On the other side of the bank, Emmy was just finishing tying the teleporter to a door. The kid was loudly complaining about the rope being hot pink. Oddly enough, Emmy got that complaint a lot.

Victor flew over to Inez and pulled the technomancer’s hoodie strings tight, covering their eyes. The threat temporarily neutralized, Nick retrieved his dart gun and shot them. They slumped, the drugs finally taking effect.

As the teleporter cursed, Victor walked to the counter. He told the hiding bank workers everything was under control.

“See, we didn’t need Shawn,” Emmy said, suddenly leaning against the car. “That was easy.”

“Totally,” Nick agreed, climbing to his feet. “And we still have like an hour until lunchtime.”

Inez rolled the technopath over and put her foot on their back, pinning them to the ground. “I need a nap.”

“I need water,” Emmy said, looking at Nick.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Victor walked up. “How long until the van gets here?” he asked.

“You have the phone,” Nick said, heading inside. “You have to call Palo.”

“Oh, right.” He reached into his pocket, paused, and patted all his pockets.

Nick smirked. “Aaand you lost the phone.”

“No, I-” He looked around, scanning the ground.

“I’m going to the car for water,” Emmy announced. She vanished.

“Did you drop it on your way over here?” Inez asked.

Nick gently kicked the technomancer. “Was it stolen?”

Victor knelt down, checking their pockets. Nothing. Inez walked to the teleporter, scanning the ground. Nick wandered to the counter, smiling blandly.

“Sorry about this, but could someone call the police for us and let the chief know we’re done?” he asked the tellers.

The bank manager said yes, going to a landline. Nick thanked her, wandering back to Victor. There were police outside, but they had to wait until the chief gave them permission to enter.

“We need Shawn,” Inez grumbled, coming over. “If we hadn’t been at the-” She stopped, cursing. “The phone is in my purse. It’s in the car.”

“That’s right! I didn’t lose it, I gave it to you,” Victor said happily.

Nick leaned against the wall, watching the police outside. “So we proved that, while we can work without Shawn, having him around makes things easier. Good to know.”

Inez smiled, rolling her eyes. “Good to know.”

image [https://assets.zyrosite.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=crop/Aq2BZoKQ8JcNgKvj/chap_brk-removebg-preview-blue-Yyv73QX5bRF3vv61.png]

Emmy yawned, stretching to touch her toes. Nick said she had to focus on muscle tone over mass, so her exercise routine mostly consisted of stretches.

She picked up the giant rubber band thing, laying back on her yoga mat. After a brief inner debate, she closed her eyes for a nap. With the fight at two in the morning, she’d only slept three hours last night. She deserved a nap.

Before she could fall asleep, Inez and Victor came into the room. They were talking about something that probably wasn’t important. Or at least not important to Emmy. She didn’t pay any attention to them until Inez nudged her arm with a foot.

“Hey. Emmy.”

“What?” she grumbled.

Inez waited until she opened her eyes to answer. “There’s been another attack. Spade was just called out.”

“That’s their problem, then,” Emmy said, rolling onto her side, facing away from Inez.

“You aren’t worried?” Inez asked.

Emmy curled up, closing her eyes. “I’m tired.”

“Let her sleep,” Victor told Inez. “If I’m right, she’ll need it.”

“Ok.”

That caught Emmy’s attention. “Right about what?”

“I think they’re connected,” Victor shrugged. “There have been four attacks today, all spaced out regularly. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

“If they’re connected, they might keep going,” Inez added. “Depending on how many people the group has, the attacks could go on for days.”

Emmy sat up, looking at them. “What does Shawn say?”

Victor glanced at Inez before answering. “We aren’t telling him.”

“He’s sick,” Inez said. “I don’t want to drag him out of bed for this. Let him rest. We can handle it.”

“Are you sure? I mean, a single fight is one thing, but this sounds serious,” Emmy said. “I’m not saying we can’t handle it, just that he should know.”

“He is team manager,” Victor said softly. “Whatever we do, he’s responsible for.”

Inez frowned briefly, glancing away. When she looked back the frown was gone. “We should ask Nick.”

Emmy knew without asking that Nick would agree with Inez. Still, when Victor offered to help her up so they could go to the kitchen she accepted.

It was important to discuss things as a team.