Prologue
6 Years Ago
Anastasia Lillian Bell was going to die because of a frozen turkey. She had come to that conclusion several hours before, but for some reason, the words were still repeating themselves in her mind like a broken record. Stacy liked being alive, she truly did, and the fact that something as stupid as frozen poultry was going to kill her filled her with an emotion somewhere between humor and horror. It was such a stupid reason to die. Especially since she didn’t even like turkey. She pulled at the bindings again, trying to free her hands. Stacy didn’t like being bound. At all. The plastic restraints bit into her wrists, and she was losing feeling in her fingers. She was not someone who enjoyed feeling helpless. She should be used to the sensation by now, as she had spent most of her existence feeling helpless, but it was never a feeling she liked. Beside her in the back of the van sat her older brothers Wichita and Killian, who were similarly bound. Kill had even been gagged; the guards having apparently gotten sick of listening to his complaints and curses at them. Truth be told, that was probably the one thing her captors had done so far which she agreed with. Stacy was only 12, but sometimes it seemed like her whole life had been spent in places like this. She couldn’t actually remember having a house, or family dinners, or any of the normal things which other little girls got to have. Stacy’s life so far had consisted of getting chased and captured. Being hunted and running. Stealing and hiding. She’d been a prisoner more of her life than she’d been free. Rationally, she knew that it couldn’t possibly have always been that way though. She vaguely recalled memories of her parents and a nice home somewhere in Charleston, but they could have just been images which her imagination had created to fill the void. They were probably just dreams. Her parents had died when she was two, and she wasn’t quite sure what was a real memory and what wasn’t anymore. They existed in a sort of fuzzy haze, like a picture taken with a camera which was out of focus. They could have been her parents and her home, or they could have been simply a movie she had seen somewhere along the line, and her brain preferred that idealized setting to reality. In any event, she knew for certain that her parents had been electrical engineers, and had been working on some kind of government project. Whatever they had been working on, it did something to her mother, and Stacy and her brothers had all been born with special powers. Naturally, the government had been quite interested in this course of events, and when Wichita’s powers first appeared, the government reasonably guessed that his younger siblings would be similarly gifted. Thus, the researchers did the only thing which made sense to them: they took the kids into custody and cut Stacy’s mother open to see why and how she was producing offspring with superpowers. Despite super-people running around the world at a fairly common rate, the science behind the phenomena was still unknown. If it could be understood, the hope was that it could be controlled. Having your own super-powered army would be quite a trick, and thus every attempt was made to figure out the mystery. All of her mother’s organs were carefully labeled and measured and examined. It was all very scientific and professional. Naturally, Stacy’s father had objected violently to the procedure though, and he ended up being similarly “studied” before he could save his wife. Stacy liked to hope that her mother had died before they had thought of forcing the woman into being some kind of super-person breeding machine. She didn’t want to think about her mother being raped before they cut her into pieces. In either case, that left Stacy and her brothers as wards of the state, and open to any sorts of tests or programs which the scientists could think of. She wasn’t entirely sure if it was a government operation, or merely government backed, but she didn’t particularly care. In either case, the lab had more money and facilities at their disposal than she could even comprehend, and they were trying to experiment on her. As such, they weren’t exactly her favorite people, no matter who was writing them their paychecks. She was a prisoner. After five years of captivity, Wichita had become powerful enough to short out the security systems at the facility, and they’d all been on the run ever since. Sometimes they could go a year or two without getting recaptured, and Stacy liked those times the best. It felt like a real family. Granted, they had to live in abandoned buildings and alleyways, but she didn’t have a lot of other options. Serving as a living battery for a secret installation totally sucked. Still ...it would probably still be better than the fate which had awaited her mother though. Stacy didn’t want to think about what the researchers would do to her now that she was approaching her teenage years. She had been safe from that plan as a child, but now that she was coming closer to womanhood– and thus the ability to bear possibly super-powered children– she had a feeling that the facility’s “tests” were going to be changing. Changing in the most horrible ways imaginable. Stacy fully intended to kill them or herself before that happened. On this particular occasion, she and her brothers had been free for almost two years, which had been some of the best of her short life. In the end though, they had been taken back into custody trying to steal a frozen turkey from a grocery store. Such a stupid reason to lose one’s freedom and probably life. All she had wanted was to have one nice Thanksgiving. But it would no doubt end up getting her raped repeatedly and then dissected like a frog in a high school biology class. It totally sucked. Wich wasn’t taking it well. He always blamed himself when they got caught. Stacy didn’t know why; if it hadn’t been for him, they never would have even gotten free the first time, let alone all the times since. He was only 23, but he seemed so much older than that somehow. Like he had become an old man merely by carrying her and Kill all these years. For his part, Killian was watching his surroundings, obviously waiting for an opening to fry the guards. It would be pointless of course, but Killian wasn’t typically the kind of person who cared about such things. He would kill the guard, even if Killian had just received a presidential pardon, been released from custody, and was on his way out of the lab at the time. The entire staff could be lined up with gifts and cake to apologize to him and say their tearful goodbyes in front of the press cameras, and Killian would have still cut the man down right then and there. That’s just who he was. He had a near suicidal level of stubbornness, which often got him into trouble. He didn’t forgive and he never forgot. She pulled helplessly at the plastic cuffs again, trying to free her hands. She knew they’d be back at the lab within the hour, and there was no way that they were going to be housed anywhere near each other this time. They’d be separated, and chances were, she’d never see her brothers again. Stacy wasn’t a “big picture” kind of person though. Typically, she remained focused on the here and now, and that meant that her whole world at the moment was this van and trying to figure out a way to escape it. Sadly, the vehicle’s electrical systems had been shielded this time, so she couldn’t just fry the engine like she had previously done. No… no, her captors were getting smarter. Each time they encountered Stacy and her brothers’ electrical powers, the lab was figuring out more and more about the limits of their abilities and how to counteract them. Their little dance would be ending soon, and Stacy didn’t like the odds that she’d be coming out on top. She and her brothers were going to die exactly like their parents: cut open like guinea pigs. And that was the best case scenario. Stacy didn’t even like turkey. She never should have suggested getting one. Now they were all going to die. She pulled on the restraints again. The band of plastic held fast, doing nothing but cutting further into her wrist. The guard across from her rolled his eyes. “You can try that as much as you want. You’re not getting through those this time.” He leaned forward. “They’re rated to two tons.” He chuckled. “So, unless you…” Suddenly, the sound of an explosion filled the interior and the van swerved violently to the side. The driver yelled something, as the vehicle flipped end over end, and then skidded on its side along the surface of the road. Since Stacy and her brothers were securely strapped in with restraints, they were fine. The same could not be said for the guards in the back of the van with them however, and the man across from her hit the roof with a sickening snap. Stacy genuinely hoped that it was the sound of his neck breaking. The van skidded along for a moment longer, and then finally came to a rest. The interior was now utterly silent and a light fog of smoke started to fill the space. Stacy’s heart began to beat faster. The idea of being strapped into a fiery vehicle and watching her brothers slowly burn to death wasn’t on the top of her list of fun ways to spend the day. Probably second only to reaching their destination and all of them being raped and cut into tiny pieces, in fact. She wrenched at the restraints again, trying desperately to get out before the flames reached them… Typically, she wasn’t someone to back down from a challenge. The problem needed solving, and the quickest solution was to simply break her hand and pull it free of the cuffs. Thus, a grim determination filled her, and she prepared herself for the pain which would accompany the one hard pull which would be needed. She made a fist with her other hand, biting down on her lip to stifle a scream of pain… Before she could succeed in breaking her hand to escape though, the back door of the van was yanked free by some unknown force, as if it was made of tissue paper. She squinted against the bright morning light streaming in through the doors, and the silhouette of the tall dark-haired man standing there. He waved a casual hand, trying to clear away the smoke filling the space in front of him, then saw her. Their eyes met for a long moment. The man swore and turned around, evidently to address someone else. “You ignorant fool! You ASSURED me that this would be a gold delivery.” He waved at the van offhandedly. “But instead, what do I find? CHILDREN!” He pointed at them as the van continued to burn. “Children who quite obviously AREN’T made of gold.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I should have known better than to ever allow incompetents the GLORY of my assistance. ONCE AGAIN it is proven that I am the only one who can…” There was a strange tingling sound, and he stopped speaking to listen to it, then rolled his eyes. “…Well, of COURSE I can see that the van is on fire! Do you HONESTLY think that ANYTHING escapes my all-seeing notice!?! My vision is comprehensive; my reach…” “Kids?” A second man popped his head through the doorway, cutting the first one off mid thought. Strangely, he was dressed as a big game hunter. Stacy vaguely recalled seeing him before. He was that super-villain known as ‘The Poacher.’ The man was a frequent fixture of evening news programs across the country, and she had seen reports on his activities during the infrequent times when she had access to a working TV. He peered inside and then frowned when he saw them. “…Oh hey… Yep, those are kids.” He cleared his throat. “Sorry about this little girl.” He chuckled. “We thought you were gold or something.” He laughed again, like all of this was an innocent misunderstanding which she should find equally amusing. The first man rolled his eyes. “No ‘WE’ didn’t. This is all on YOU!” He pressed a hand to his chest imperiously. “I am Kasos Octavio Victavious IV, and I do not MAKE mistakes!” He pointed at the other man. “YOU have bungled this caper, just like all the others.” Poacher gave him an obscene hand gesture. “Oh, blow me, New Guy, okay? The Commodore says that I gotta show you the ropes on how we do things…” “I shall tie those very ropes around your neck and strangle you with them. I have SEEN the way you do things: BADLY!” Poacher started to walk away. “Yeah, yeah. I’m so totally sorry to waste your precious time. I mean hell, you could be back home playing Battleship with your lightning bug right now.” The first man, whose name was evidently ‘Kasos’ strode after him. “How I choose to spend my time is NONE of your concern. My mind works on a level above yours, and you have no hope of EVER…” “Wait!” She called after them hoarsely. “Please! You can’t just leave us here!” The man named Kasos rolled his eyes. “Child, you are neither gold nor me, and therefore, you are of no consequence.” He went back to walking away. “I’m sure that someone will be along to retrieve your school bus shortly and…” More tingling, and the man paused to listen. He looked down at a canister on his hip which glowed with a strange blue light. “…And how do you know she isn’t fireproof?” He crossed his arms over his chest again. “She very well could be. You have no way of knowing and are merely jumping to conclusions again.” More tingling. “Well, if the children are in restraints, there is probably a reason. People do not simply incarcerate innocent…” The tingling got louder and he made an exasperated sound. “Oh, please! You are NOT an innocent; you are a demon, sprung from whatever underworld your primitive people believe in.” More tingling. He threw his arms up in frustration, then pointed at the second man. “You there! Fool?” The big game hunter’s eyebrows rose. “I got a name you know, New Guy. You can call me ‘Syd’ or ‘Poacher’ but I ain’t…” “I will call you whatever I choose. If you do not cease your inane comments, I will simply be referring to you as ‘latest victim’ or ‘that red stain on my boot’.” He pointed at the van. “Free the children so that they can continue on their way to their school. They require an education, so that they do not end up like you.” The big game hunter named ‘Syd’ snorted. “YOU’RE the new guy, New Guy. You should be the one doing the shitty jobs.” He trudged back to the van and loomed over her. He reached behind his back and pulled out a machete which he then used to hack apart the cuffs and restraints. Personally, Stacy would have been happier if he had taken a little more time with the process, but since he somehow managed to swing the weapon far more accurately than she would have expected, they were all free in seconds. Wich crawled from the wreckage out onto the street ahead of her. “You gotta help us! We’ve been kidnapped and…” Poacher rolled his eyes. “I ain’t kidnapping you, because you ain’t gold. This has just all been one big misunderstanding, and I expect you to tell the jury that at trial.” She stood next to her older brother. “No, he means that we’ve been kidnapped by some evil people who are trying to…” Poacher cut her off again. “I already told ya, I ain’t kidnapping anyone.” He paused. “…unless their parents have got money.” His eyebrows rose. “Your parents have money, girly?” She opened her mouth to inform the man that her parents were dead, but Wich cut her off. “Yes.” Her brother lied. “Our parents are very wealthy and will pay you a great deal for our return. Just get us out of here now, or the cops will come and stop you from abducting us.” Poacher seemed to consider that. Stacy turned to look at the man who called himself ‘Kasos.’ She met his gaze. “They’re going to kill us. They’re monsters.” She swallowed, trying to think of something she could say to convince the man to help her. “…I… I don’t want to be turned into some kind of weapon, mister. I’m just a kid. I want to be left alone. Please help us so that…” Suddenly Poacher straightened and went for his gun. A short distance away, a new figure walked through the smoke, and Stacy recognized him immediately. Captain Dauntless. He was the best known hero in the world! HE’D help them! She let out a relieved breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She took several excited steps towards him, and began to frantically explain her captivity, but Dauntless ignored her. His eyes stayed locked on the other men. “Are you two resorting to kidnapping children now?” Poacher rolled his eyes. “I’ll kidnap anything I want to kidnap, asshole.” Stacy ignored their stare down and kept walking towards the hero, still trying desperately to explain the situation with the lab. Wich’s hand came down on her shoulder before she could get far though, and she turned back to look at him in confusion. He simply shook his head. Dauntless’ cape blew in the breeze behind him, still half-hidden in smoke from the burning van. “The children are government property. If you think I’m just going to let you walk away with them, you’re wrong.” Poacher scoffed. “And if you think I’m going to let you walk away at all, you’re wrong. That would be…” He whirled around and blew a large hole in the side of the van with his elephant gun. A figure on the other side of the vehicle dove out of the way to avoid the blast, and rolled into the clearing. Stacy recognized this man as well: The Honey Badger. Another hero with the Freedom Squad. Poacher didn’t look impressed. “Next time, try sneaking up on a man who doesn’t have senses sharp enough to hear your hair growing.” He calmly loaded more shells into his gun. “Listen, I was after gold. If you guys want to take these kids back to their parents or whatever, I just don’t give a shit. Hell, I prolly got kids of my own that I don’t want to be around, let alone kidnapping someone else’s. So, you want‘em, take’em.” Dauntless held out a hand, gesturing for Stacy and her brothers to come to him. “It’ll be okay, children. I’ll make sure you get back to the lab, safe and sound. I’m sure they’re very worried about you and…” She took a frantic step back from him, bumping into the man named Kasos’ legs, who suddenly loomed behind her. She shook her head. Killian scoffed and edged back from Dauntless as well. “Yeah… I’m going to have to pass on the vivisection plan there, chief. You like the lab so much, why don’t you go back and let them cut you open to see how you tick?” Wich squared his shoulders. “We’re not going anywhere with you. You’ll have to kill us right here.” Two new figures appeared behind Dauntless, an older man and a young girl. Stacy recognized the man as “Mind Sweeper,” but the girl in the matching costume was a mystery. She was about the same age as Stacy, but was a few inches taller and a few pounds lighter. The girl’s chest was also better endowed than her own, already straining against the large “B” on her outfit, despite her age. Stacy hated the girl on sight. She wasn’t sure why, but there was just something about her which rubbed her the wrong way. Perhaps it was the smug look in her eye, or the fact that this girl obviously had a better life than she did, but Stacy suddenly burned with loathing. For whatever reason, it was like Stacy had just discovered that everything which was wrong with the world was this girl’s doing. The girl in question appeared to be experiencing the same set of emotions. She pointed at Stacy. “I don’t like her, Daddy.” She said in a nasally voice which made Stacy’s skin crawl. “I think she’s a bad person.” The older man looked down at her. “Quiet, Bekki. Let the men get these subjects back to the lab, and then we can go out for ice cream.” Now Stacy recognized the girl. That was Bekki Bartlett, AKA “Beckoner.” Stacy had had to put up with looking at that little bitch’s face on every gossip show and teen fashion magazine for the last three years. The girl was just America’s sweetheart. So much talent, and simply gushing with positivity. Her triumphs over entirely imagined adversities were truly an inspiration to the morons of the world. Nope. Stacy hated her even more now. The perfect poster girl for the person that Stacy wasn’t and never would be. She was prettier, richer, happier, more popular, taller, shapelier and had more people who loved her than Stacy ever would. Stacy set her jaw and started marching towards the other girl, suddenly determined to beat her into the ground. Right now. Badger advanced on Stacy’s brothers, but they held their ground. Poacher brought his rifle to bear, pointing it at the man’s head. Kasos grabbed her shoulder to keep her from thumping Bekki’s disgustingly elfin features in. She whirled around to pin him with a vicious glare, and he removed his hand at once, appearing almost surprised at seeing her rage. Dauntless still looked confused as to why anyone wouldn’t love the idea of being experimented on, and stepped towards them. Stacy’s view was suddenly blocked by Kasos. The man’s voice was utterly cold. “I don’t think the girl wants to go with you, fool.” “She’s too young to know what she wants.” Dauntless crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s why there are heroes in the first place: to tell people what’s best for them.” Bekki looked up at her father. “Make Uncle Dauntless hit the blonde girl, Daddy. I don’t like her.” Stacy looked up at Kasos. “I’m not going back...” She could feel her panic and anger rising; her breath coming in gasps. “I am not going back!” Her electrical powers broke free and coursed through her, melting the remains of the plastic restraints on her wrists and causing her lab-issued uniform to sizzle and darken. Her fingernails tore into her palms as she made tight fists. “EVER!” Bekki eyed her coldly. “I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but you’ve managed to make your outfit even more ugly, you little lab rat. I hope when they’re cutting you open, they start by removing your face.” “On behalf of the world,” Stacy tried to push her way past Kasos and confront the girl, “we’d like to thank you for having enough sense to cover half of your face with that stupid mask. It’s just a shame the other half is still visible!” She pointed an angry finger at the girl. “You come at me, one of us is going to die right here, because I’M NOT GOING BACK!” “You heard the girl…” Poacher leveled the rifle at the other men, his voice firm. “Walk away.” Dauntless rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why you always insist on threatening me with your little pop gun. I’m bulletproof.” He scoffed. “That’s not even going to give me a headache.” Poacher pursed his lips in thought. “Good point.” He redirected the rifle so that it was aimed at Badger, and then turned his head to address Kasos. “I got the Ewok, you take Captain Asshole and Super Dad.” Dauntless moved forward again, but Kasos held fast. “I have killed you in more dimensions than your feeble mind can even conceive, you absurd little man.” Kasos pulled free a vicious looking staff weapon from a clip on his back. “I have killed ‘you’ in every form, shape and variation which a living organism can have, in every way which would be fatal to it.” He nodded slowly. “As such, although I had no plans on killing you in this dimension... yet… I have no quarrel now with taking matters to the only possible conclusion which they can ever have.” He pointed at the ground, his voice ice cold. “Your broken body, lying at my feet.” Dauntless hovered in the air in front of them. “I think I’m going to risk it.” Stacy looked up at Kasos. “Forget about him.” She pointed at Bekki. “That little skank is the real threat here. She’s evil. Kill her first.” She thought about it for a minute. “In fact, just give me that blade thing, and I’ll go do it.” Kasos ignored her. “I’d like to see you try!” Bekki shot back. “Well, at least I’d have ONE viewer watching me kill you, which is still more than your stupid talk show had!” Bekki gasped. “That was the network’s fault! They put me on in the wrong timeslot!” “It was the network’s fault for PUTTING YOU ON AT ALL!” Dauntless continued to advance on them, and pointed at Kasos and Poacher. “First, I’ll deal with you two idiots, and then I’ll take the kids back to where they belong.” Badger gave a creepy smile and leered at her. “Let’s not be too hasty here, Dauntless. I mean, I think we could hang onto them for a few hours, at least. I bet I could find dozens of interesting things we could do together.” Stacy took another step away from him. “Yeah… you could do that.” Poacher nodded. “…but then again, I think you’re going to be a little too busy in a minute.” He pressed an illuminated red button on his belt, and the railroad tracks a hundred yards away exploded. Pieces of track and the bridge blew into the sky as the sound of a train whistle blared in the distance. The heroes didn’t even turn their heads. Poacher apparently realized that Dauntless wasn’t going to be so easily deterred, and unexpectedly switched targets again and fired the rifle at him. The heavy round caught him right between the eyes, knocking him from the skies and propelling him across the ground, as Badger dove forward towards them. Kasos swung a hand out and blasted him in the chest with green energy, knocking the man back into the fiery interior of the van. Badger hit the back wall with enough force to snap the doors shut, trapping him inside. Stacy hoped the man burned. Poacher fired off the rifle at Mind Sweeper, and the man and his daughter dove for cover behind one of the cars. Poacher loaded more shells into his gun and looked back at her. “Go!” Stacy started to run towards the car where Bekki was cowering, intending to rid the world of her evil presence. Kasos’ hand shot out and lifted her off her feet by the back of her prisoner uniform, preventing her from making it far, redirecting her in the other direction. Her brothers took off towards the large drainage pipe sticking out of a nearby hill. Poacher closed the breach of his rifle and motioned for them to run, as Dauntless started to get to his feet, completely uninjured and obviously unhappy about being taken by surprise. The hunter said a series of words that Stacy hadn’t heard before. She pointed at him. “Do something! He’s going to get us!” “He’s invulnerable, girly.” Poacher shot back. “You wanna go toe to toe with him, be my guest.” “Fine.” Her eyes narrowed, as she prepared to electrocute Dauntless. Before she could, Kasos reached down and grabbed her around the waist, effortlessly lifting her off her feet and escorting her away again. “You shouldn’t be here, girl. Battle is no place for children.” He moved much faster than she would have expected given his size and unconcerned demeanor, and reached the pipe in moments. A man in a cape stood in front of it, next to a slightly smaller man. She recognized the taller of the two as the hero known as “Fabricator” and the other was his brother, “Continuum.” She had seen the men on innumerable numbers of cereal boxes and magazines over the years as well. Usually, they annoyed her less than seeing Beckoner did, but in the instant case, she pretty much hated them both too. Poacher leveled the gun at the taller of the two, and Kasos prowled forward, still carrying her. Her brothers dashed through the grate of the pipe. Kasos placed her down and pointed at Fabricator. “Stand aside, Ferral.” He gestured away from the pipe. “Before I cut you down.” “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m not going to do that.” Fabricator shook his head. “I can’t just let you and Poacher run off with kids, Tyrant. That’s not how this works. Let them go.” Continuum stepped forward, blocking Poacher’s line of fire and getting in between Fabricator and Kasos. “Yeah… how’s about we all just call it a day, huh? After all, Wy and I have a train to catch.” He pointed at the smoking wreckage of the train tracks a short distance away, and smiled good-naturedly. “Besides, I know Kass wants to get home so that Rayn will shut up about missing her beloved soap operas…” His smile widened at the canister on Kasos’ belt. “Today’s a great episode, by the way. Turns out, Victor has been in control of Jabot again this whole time. Not even I saw that one coming.” Kasos’ grip on his weapon tightened, evidently not liking Continuum talking to whatever that thing in the canister was. Continuum pretended not to notice. “Anyway, I think we can let them take the kid out of here, Wy.” He met his brother’s gaze. “She belongs with them now.” The taller man didn’t appear to like that pronouncement, but after a moment, took a step back to allow them entry into the pipe. Kasos eyed him coldly. “Next time your brother won’t be here to save you from doing something foolish, boy.” Continuum smiled, like the man had said something funny. “Very true.” Poacher glanced back over his shoulder, and saw that the flying man was stalking towards them. He pushed her through the grate, then grabbed Kasos’ armor and tugged him through as well. The other man did not appear to be happy at leaving before he had killed anyone, but begrudgingly complied. They dashed down a straight section of pipe until they reached an intersection where it joined up with what appeared to be the city’s sewer system. Poacher whipped around and fired off another shot from the rifle, the sound of which was deafening in the small interior. The round hit the gas line and the pipe they had just run through exploded as Dauntless tried to follow them, and the whole section collapsed on top of him. The passage they were standing in was pitch black and choked with dust. A second later, the area was filled with an eerie green glow from Kasos’ palm. Coooooooool. He stared down at them for a moment, then muttered something under his breath. Poacher pressed a device in his ear. “Yeah, it’s me.” He paused to listen to the person on the other end. “…Not exactly. We handled it though.” He took a deep breath. “Listen… umm… I’m not really alone. No, besides the New Guy. …No, we lost the Capes. …There were kids in the van. No, not ‘kids made of gold,’ actual kids made of flesh and shit. Yeah, kids. …Well of course I took them! You told me to rob the van and take whatever was inside and… Well, you didn’t SAY that, how was I supposed to know!?! …It’s too late now! What do you want me to do, shove’em back into the burning wreckage of the van? …Well, too bad, because I can’t. …Hold on, I don’t know, I’ll ask them.” He glanced down at her. “What do kids eat?” Killian rolled his eyes and leaned closer to her. “Don’t worry. Wich and me’ll figure a way out of this. I don’t plan on spending the day with super-villains.” Stacy looked down at her bruised wrists, and then up at the men who had rescued her. “They’re not villains. They’re heroes.”
