“Okay, okay. Sorry.” He pulled her into a quick hug and she stiffened, surprised at how much she longed to melt against him. This wasn’t her; she was stronger than this. She didn’t need to snuggle up to him and for even a moment feel like he was going to make everything okay. This was her day. Her job. Her villain.

After a few seconds he released her and nodded toward the dark street in front of them. “Couple blocks down, you’ll see the store. Lights will be on inside, briefcase is to the right. Pick it up before you let him see you.” Justice gave her one last smile and then jogged down the way they’d come, turning into an alley half a block away.

And she stood alone.

“You can do this,” she whispered to herself, and then grimaced. Talking to herself now? Nice.

With a quick glance over her shoulder at the alley Justice had disappeared down, she shifted her focus to the task at hand. One step after another, she forced herself forward.

Lights pierced the darkness around a building that was, as Justice said, only two blocks from where he’d left her. The store sold antiques according to the sign in the window. Clear glass, uncovered by the gates that had been pulled down over neighboring buildings’ windows, was all that stood between her and the villain. How long had they been in there? Had the Howler kidnapped the mayor before the store closed for the day?

The briefcase sat near the front entrance, only feet away and drenched in shadows. Brenda grabbed it, almost dropping the metallic case as she pulled it from the ground, startled by the weight. Money didn’t fill it—she’d gathered that much from Justice—but something did. Yet another trick, an added bonus to make the briefcase a better decoy.

Here goes nothing, she thought to herself, and then stepped forward to face the Howler.

Chapter Four

A bell dinged as she pushed the door open, announcing her presence as clearly as it had signaled customers entering over the years. Startled by the sound, she paused and glanced around. No one was there, not in this room anyway. A door leading to a back room—an office maybe, or storage—sat clearly visible from the entryway. How did the superheroes expect to sneak up on anyone in here? If they came through the back, Howler would have them even more quickly than he’d pick her off in the front.

The door slipped from her grip and shut firmly behind her.

The super villain didn’t spring from the shadows, didn’t appear so fast her eyes couldn’t follow him, didn’t teleport from parts unknown. He opened the backdoor and walked into view. Though his entrance struck her as anticlimactic, her breath came faster and her heart threatened to beat itself from her chest.

Howler stood around five feet seven inches tall, and had gone old school with his outfit. Tan and brown spandex covered his body from head to toe, and for a moment images of Violet flashed in her mind. The cut of his uniform was similar, spandex from neck to calf in a light tan color, with darker brown boots, briefs, and gloves. A mask hid his head and the top of his round face. An image of what appeared to be a wolf head was emblazoned in the middle of his chest, mouth open and looking almost straight up. It was howling. Funny.

His body was as ill-suited to wearing spandex as Violet’s, but for a different reason. Where hers was a touch too round, Howler was more than a touch too scrawny. No one would mistake him for a villain with super strength. Oh there were a few of those who didn’t appear strong, but she’d never heard of one who looked weak. And that was exactly how Howler looked: weak.

“Let me guess? Shadow Woman? Dark Mistress?” he said, lip curling up in obvious disdain.

She glanced down at her outfit. Dark Mistress indeed. “I have your money.”

“Do you now? Well, let’s see it.”

She froze. See it? What if they’d put newspaper in the briefcase? One thing was guaranteed; the briefcase didn’t contain cash. The lump refused to move from her throat as she swallowed hard. Distract him, Justice had said, keep him busy.

“Not so fast.” Her voice came out steadier than she’d thought it would be, smooth and normal, as if she wasn’t facing down a super villain. “You need to show me the mayor first, so I can make sure he’s okay.”

“Oh, I think I’d like to see the money first, honey.”

Her reaction came just half a second too slow. She watched him fill his lungs with air, taking it in until his chest expanded to fill his ill-fitting suit. Her mind processed the scene in slow motion, and as realization hit that something was wrong, he screamed.

Too late, she touched the part of her mind that switched on her power with her consciousness. The sonic wave hit, and she fell to the floor.

Everything went black for what must have only been a few seconds, because when her eyes fluttered open she saw him moving toward her—what she could see of him from her vantage point on the floor anyway. Tan legs and dark boots moved to her, and she could hear them scuff the floor as he moved. She grasped at her power with her mind, but it slipped away, out of her reach. The boots paused when they got only a couple of feet away.

Where was Justice? Where were the other superheroes? She hoped they were getting the mayor and the shopkeepers out.

“Still awake?” Surprise coated the villain’s voice, and he knelt down and peered at her face.

She stared back at him, and tried to keep her expression neutral.

A great laugh boomed from Howler’s chest, seeming too loud to have come from such a slight person. “Oh, it’s like that, is it? Don’t worry, I know how you superheroes feel about me.” He reached out and poked her shoulder, and she lost the battle to keep her face blank.

Whatever crossed her face, it made Howler’s grin widen. “Barely awake though, huh? Guess my shot wasn’t as direct as I thought. Unless….” A full smile broke out on his face, revealing slightly stained, but straight, teeth. “You must be her. Silencer.”

His voice took on the booming quality of an announcer. “The one with the power to defeat the Howler.” He laughed again and grabbed the briefcase, which had fallen next to her, and then pushed himself up from the ground awkwardly.

“Sorry, hon, guess you weren’t a match for me after all.” Using his foot, he pushed her over onto her back. Her body wouldn’t obey her, and moved as easily as if she’d been unconscious. “Nice rack, though. You can call me anytime.” With one last snicker at his own joke, Howler strode toward the back room.

She couldn’t move for minutes after, and the ruckus happening just out of her eyesight made her want to move more than anything. Shouts from several people could be heard through the wall that separated her from the action. She shoved herself up from the floor, halfway into sitting position. Glass shattered somewhere out of sight, and she collapsed back onto the floor. Then, just before silence fell, Howler screamed.

***

“I’ll walk you up,” Justice said, and then before she could argue, he was out of the car.

Damn man anyway, he moved like he had super speed. The weight of what had happened suffocated her. She’d failed. There had been one thing she was supposed to do—use her useless power—and she hadn’t. Not fast enough anyway.

She followed Justice woodenly toward her building door. When he held it open for her, she glanced at him but didn’t comment. Her head hurt and her ears still felt stuffed with cotton. She imagined Justice felt even worse, but he didn’t show it if he did.

They reached her apartment and she opened her mouth to thank him and tell him good-bye, but he pushed past her into the apartment.

“Please, come in,” she said sarcastically.

“Don’t mind if I do.” His voice was too loud, but short of a yell that would bother the neighbors. She’d be spared that humiliation, at least.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Her inner hostess kicked in, and despite her intention to get him out of the apartment as quickly as possible, she ended up sitting across from him at her small kitchen table. A turkey sandwich sat in front of both of them, along with a glass of orange juice by her plate and a soda next to his.

“You did good tonight.” His voice had come down a decibel or two, and she was relieved as the cotton slowly faded from her ears, but her head still beat like a drum on her shoulders.

“I didn’t do what I was supposed to. I wasn’t fast enough to get my power up in time to stop him from taking me out.”

“You distracted him, Brenda. That was your job. You kept him busy while we got the mayor and the shop owners out. No one was killed. No one was seriously hurt. That’s a win.” He took a big bite out of his sandwich and studied her.

She glanced away, suddenly uncomfortable. She didn’t do much of anything, not really. Certainly nothing worthy of getting congratulations from the real superhero sitting across the table from her. But all’s well that ends well, right? Everyone was okay.

For the moment.

“We didn’t get Howler.”

Justice swallowed his mouthful of sandwich and took a drink from his soda before answering her. “Not yet. But we will.”

“But I’m not a secret weapon anymore.” A thought popped in her head, and she spoke without thinking. “If I ever was.”

“What do you mean?” Justice took another bite and, to her amazement, Brenda realized that more than half of his sandwich had disappeared. The man ate as quickly as her brother had in high school.

“He asked if I was ‘her,’ if I was Silencer.” She scooted her chair back from the table and walked to the counter. “He knew who I was, Justice. He was expecting me. How is that possible? It’s not like our members and their abilities are public knowledge, and I’ve never made the news.” She grabbed a knife from the wooden stand on the counter and walked back to the table. The knife easily cut through her sandwich and she offered Justice half.

He took the food with a grateful smile, but his frown returned quickly. “I don’t know how he could have found out about you. Unless…” He shook his head. “I don’t want to start making guesses yet, not until I’ve looked into it.” Two bites later, the sandwich half she’d given him was gone.