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but we’re checking anything and everything that could be Howler. I’ll get another team going on this, and we’ll get back to work on ours.”
    Justice didn’t wait for her reply; instead he stalked off to meet a group of heroes who gathered at a slightly safer distance away from the scene. She recognized them; The Jumper, StrongArm, and Char. Moving back, Brenda gave her friend a small smile and wave. She grinned back openly but didn’t move to meet her. Instead, she nodded at something Justice told the group, and then followed StrongArm as he and Jumper jogged down the street away from the bank.
    Justice met her with serious eyes as she approached.
    “So, what now?”
    “Now we stick together,” he said. “I think it’s best we arrive on scene together, just in case. Until then,” his gaze moved up and down her body, eyes seeming to slow down over her chest and legs, “let’s go get you a real uniform.”
    “I have real uniforms, thank you very much,” she replied, more irritated with herself for forgetting her uniform after wearing one he deemed so inappropriate the night before than she was with him. She was a professional, damn it. Even if she wasn’t usually required to be a professional superhero, she was a professional and that extended to every part of her life. Forgetting something so important riled her.
    “Hey—” she began, but the ringing from her cell phone stopped her explanation, and she was grateful for the interruption because she hadn’t been entirely certain what she was going to say.
    “This is Brenda,” she said, raising a finger at Justice. His lip drew back in a grimace, but her attention stayed focused on Maria.
    “I’m sorry, Brenda, I know you’ve got some family stuff going on this week, but I can’t get hold of Rachel and Ben’s school just called. He’s sick, and I need to pick him up.” Maria’s tone was pleading.
    Brenda glanced at her watch. Only two hours until closing time. What was the likelihood Howler would strike again in the next couple of hours? And if he did, well, the pharmacy would just have to close early.
    “I’m on my way,” Brenda said, and then clicked her phone shut.
    “You’re on your way? Where do you think you’re going?” Justice growled.
    “I have a job. A real job. One that needs me to be there for a couple of hours.” She took a deep breath and met his gaze. “I wouldn’t go if it wasn’t important.”
    His eyes didn’t leave hers for a few moments, and he stared at her as if searching for some hidden meaning in her words. Finally, he nodded. “Fine. But I’m going with you.” He raised a hand at her before she could argue. “As a member of The Council, I already know your secret identity.”
    Of course he did. But that didn’t mean she wanted him traipsing around her work. But he was probably right—they should stick together. No matter how much the man irked her. “Okay then, let’s go.”
     
    ***
     
    He kept his face carefully blank as he pulled his Porsche into a parking spot next to Silencer’s red Lexus IS350 at Pranier Medical. One of the nicest hospitals in the city, it wasn’t one he frequented. His jobs—both human and superhero—took him to county hospitals and city morgues, rarely to private facilities like Pranier.
    Silencer met him at his Porsche and raised an eyebrow at his expression. She reached up to her face and with a quick flick of her wrist, removed her mask. Her simple action forced his breath from his lungs.
    Taking off a mask, especially a small one like she’d been wearing, shouldn’t have made such a difference in her face. But as his gaze traced the fine line of her jaw, the soft sweep of the blonde hair across her brow, the contrast between her pale skin and dark eyes, for a moment he imagined superhero masks were magic. A relic that could so change a person’s facade that when one’s true face was revealed, the effect was shocking.
    She was breathtaking.
    “You got that?” she