The Library of Powers

Interlude 2

North Shore. The northernmost neighborhood in Vera City, with the best beaches the cold, northern Oregon Pacific coast could offer. Also, the most expensive Real Estate northern Oregon could offer. Chase and Sam, as Glamour and Trick, were not snooping around one of the McMansions dotting the hillside, but loitering in a small park, casually glancing at the bridge in front of them.

The bridge was quite the contraption. A narrow walkway spanned the top of the structure but beneath held a tramcar, which both of them had seen traveling the undercarriage of the bridge. The bridge and tram spanned a long gap of water, before ending abruptly at an island just off the shore of Vera City. Market Island.

Why their new handler for The League of Retired Supervillains had asked to meet them there eluded the two. Samantha had a few guesses, but none of them were good. They could head onto the island but everything would be closed. And besides, what would the Market Island Protector think of fully costumed villains on his island? Sam glanced across the water, looking for his telltale amber light, and shuddered.

They had gone through a bit of a rebrand after the unsuccessful art heist. Chase was still sore from it, and besides, spandex was going out of style. Better to be ahead of the curve. Sam had traded her earlier outfit for more padded shirt and pants, both black. Her backpack was also upgraded, so large now that she felt like an astronaut. She had decided to roll with it, picking up a pair of welding goggles, switching the black lenses out for neon yellow ones. She was happy with her costume, not so much with Chase's. He was now wearing leather chaps, a cowboy duster, and not much else. She secretly loved it, of course, but watching him be essentially shirtless while they were supposed to be working caused some... Productivity issues. But, as he had put it, "More surface area of skin means more surface area for my power!" She wasn't totally convinced but didn't have it in her to argue.

He had also opted for two handguns, completing the outlaw character. She was especially concerned about this, considering they were not rinky-dink antiques, but full-blown-should-have-needed-to-have-a-license handguns. They were loaded with tranquilizer shots, but still. It wasn't a great look.

"Hey, Sam, help me out with this?" Chase asked, releasing her from her own thoughts.

She looked over at him, fiddling with his utility belt. "What's up?"

"I can't get this to fit right. Am I clasping it wrong?"

She came closer to get a good look at the belt. It was another acquisition from Marc's Mart, so it couldn't be too much of a piece of shit. She knelt down to get a closer look. It closed and opened with a shiny metal buckle, with a small loop for attaching something to.

"Oh, it's a climber's model," she said, "For supers who have to scale buildings and the like. These have a safety lock to prevent accidentally unclasping the belt and falling from 40 feet up."

Chase smiled. "Thank god I have you, Sam, you're an encyclopedia of gadgets."

"Yeah yeah, you'd be nowhere without me, I know. Let me get this for you." She untwisted the safety lock, which apparently Chase was not ready for, as he made no effort to grab the belt as it loosened. And as such, as the belt fell, so did his pants.

Thank god he was wearing underwear. She turned away quickly so he couldn't see her blush or grin like a madman. He couldn't know that his power affected her, he couldn't know that she was lying to him every day. But god was he hot.

"This would be awkward if it wasn't you," Chase said through gritted teeth, quickly pulling his pants back on.

"Well, it isn't, so yeah. It's pretty awkward," came a deep, guttural voice. They looked up to see Flotsam looming over them. "Teenagers." he sighed.