either.
Gargoyle squeezed my hand. “Hey,” he whispered.
I turned to look at him, our eyes meeting inches apart. I hadn’t realized he had moved closer to me.
“It’s going to be okay. This is not Transistor’s first rodeo. Stop worrying about him and worry about the monsters. Okay?”
He was right. Transistor could take care of himself.
I smiled and kissed his cheek. “You’re right. Thank you.”
“Here are your assignments,” the Director said.
My jaw clenched when I saw that Gargoyle and I weren’t together and Vortex and Hurricane were separated as well. Weren’t they always paired together? Why were they separating them?
The only positive was that I was with Vortex and Crystal Woman. Alura and Gargoyle were together as well, so hopefully they would be fine.
“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of each other. As soon as we can, we will all meet up. Don’t fret,” Alura whispered and patted my hand.
I smiled. “You focus on staying safe. You hear me? I don’t want to have to fly across the city to destroy some monster who hurt my best friend.”
She gave me her best glare, which was ineffective because she was so cute. “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
“Head to your designated helipads now,” the Director yelled. “Do not delay.”
We stood in our seats, and as organized as little worker ants, made our way to the doors that led to the vehicles, jets, and helicopters that would take us to our designated monsters.
“Hey,” Vortex whispered and took my hand.
I smiled up at him. “You ready for this?”
“Just try not to shock me too much, okay?” he said with a smirk.
“You like being shocked—don’t lie.”
He chuckled and leaned close; our momentum paused as we waited to climb into the helicopter. “I’ll let you shock me anytime you want, gorgeous.”
My face heated, and I kissed his cheek. “Please stay safe, okay? I don’t want any of you getting hurt.”
He kissed my lips. “I promise to try my best.”
That was as good as any hero could promise. Especially with the odds stacked before us.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The ride in the helicopter wasn’t as bad as the last time. I still shocked Vortex at least three times, but he didn’t say anything.
He grunted once, but just kissed my cheek and rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.
Once we were on the ground, I let out a breath of relief, which Crystal Woman laughed at me for.
“Flying is not fun,” I told her.
She smirked and put a hand on her hip. “I saw the way you were flying with Galactic Gargoyle that one time and you did not look scared.”
I stuck my tongue out at her. “That’s different.”
She laughed and shook her head. “I bet.”
“Let’s go,” Cobalt ordered.
To my dismay, we were once again on the same team. I didn’t know why they kept putting him on my team, but I was going to have a talk with the new Director and tell her not to let it happen again.
There were some things I could overlook, but having to be teamed up with this douche canoe was not one of them.
We walked together, flanked out and ready to attack anything that came our way.
They’d sent me with the team to go after the largest group of creatures instead of the level five monster.
I wanted to be bothered by that, but it was not my call to make and there were plenty of other heroes better equipped to deal with that monster.
“Try not to destroy public property on purpose this time,” Cobalt sneered at me over his shoulder.
The woman and two men on his sides laughed and sneered at me.
Great, he had his groupies with him today.
“No problem, this time I’ll let them eat you first,” I said and smiled sweetly at him.
Crystal Woman laughed and bumped my arm with her elbow.
“Spread out,” Cobalt snapped. “Teams of three.”
Without waiting for him to tell us who was on our team, Crystal Woman, Vortex, and I veered off to the left.
“He is so bitter,” Crystal Woman commented, her head swiveling to look for danger as we walked.
“Probably because I dumped him,” I said and shrugged. “And now that I have powers and am here, he can’t just ignore me and act like I never existed.”
“As if anyone could forget you,” Vortex said and shook his head.
“You two make a cute couple,” Crystal Woman said. “But I’d love to see Galactic Gargoyle and you have kids.” She eyed me up and down. “They would be unstoppable if they had his stone