Chapter 12

Cole and his three new friends stood around a high-top table, drinking the bar's cheapest beer. The bar was called "The Place," and the town was called "Veltio," which didn't surprise him. As they walked from the base to town, he noticed several people flying overhead in civilian clothes.

He tapped the table. "You're telling me this entire town is for supes only?"

Powell nodded. "The only road that comes here goes over a damned drawbridge. And that bridge is almost always up. Veltio is the only place in the country training superheroes. It's also a retirement home for people who are sick of the paparazzi."

Cole sipped his beer, looked at it, and grimaced. "Is this where you grew up?"

Jones nodded. "There's a boarding school that we moved into after our twelfth birthday. Before then, some of us lived in town, but most lived with their mothers on the outside."

"Pfft, like they spent any time with their children," Roberts grumbled.

Powell pointed at Roberts. "They had an excuse. You don't think they were a little busy?"

Roberts frowned. "They were getting busy trying to get knocked up again."

Cole narrowed his eyes. These men were inside the club he now belonged to, and he wanted to know everything he could. "Relationships must be tough as a supe."

Jones laughed. "You can say that again. But you have to try. There are only so many supe ladies in the world. Supes aren't allowed to fraternize with the civilian population."

Cole watched a girl in a slinky black dress walk in, with three men trailing behind her. She smiled as her dates ran to the bar for drinks, all waving cash in the bartender's face.

"Men compete for the women that hard?" Cole asked.

Powell said, "For every superheroine, there are four superheroes. It's brutal. On top of that, male supes have a fraction of a woman's power, so it's hard to impress them."

Cole watched as the men fawned over the lady. "So what do superwomen want in a man?"

"Good genes," Powell said. "The Project always wants to ensure another generation. The more powers you have, the better your chances are of getting with a top-ranked lady. And being handsome helps, but most supes are fairly good-looking anyway."

Cole couldn't believe his eyes, watching as four men competed for the woman's attention. She had long black hair and alluring ruby-red eyes. "I don't think I could ever compete for a girl's love. If they've got tons of guys chasing them, why bother? It would only lead to fights, right?"

Jones finished peeling the label off his beer. "The women love men to fight over them. Some things never change. They say it helps them find out who's the best candidate."

Cole shook his head. "Fuck that. Sounds like all these girls are crazy."

Powell gathered the empty bottles and headed to the bar. "Just don't let them hear you say that. They've got very good hearing, you know."

Jones poked Cole in the shoulder. "Don't give up so easily. Men who don't land a girl end up in the worst possible jobs. To come out on top, you need to score high on the evaluations and then bag a top heroine. Then the world is your oyster."

Cole frowned as the brunette walked onto the dance floor and started dancing with a small group of women while her suitors looked on. "So what about heroines like Aphelia? What would be my chances with her?"

Jones and Roberts looked at each other, then burst into laughter.

Pointing at Cole, Roberts said, "You? With a Lady of Liberty? Ha!"

Jones patted him on the back and said, "I wouldn't give up hope. If you get on the news long enough, you may climb the social hierarchy. If you're really lucky, she may even look at you."

Roberts looked up at the ceiling and clasped his hands. "Poor scrubs like us aren't worthy enough to even lick Aphelia's boots. We must watch and admire from afar."

Powell came back to the table with a pitcher of shitty beer and a stack of cups. "Check out who just walked in. It's fucking Titania."

The golden beauty walked in wearing a red turtleneck sweater and tight jeans. Everyone in the bar did their best not to stare. After getting a martini, she walked near the dance floor and sat on a long bench up against the wall.

Jones poured himself a cup. "What the hell is she doing here? Shouldn't she be deflecting an earthbound asteroid or destroying an alien armada?"

Roberts shrugged and took Jones's cup. "Everyone needs to relax sometimes. Otherwise, you snap and turn baddie."

"Why isn't anyone chatting her up like the other girls?" Cole asked.

Jones glared at Roberts, pulled another cup, and began pouring. "If Aphelia is out of your league, then Titania isn't even in the same galaxy. Don't tell me you're not intimidated."

"Sure she's a little tall, but she's nice, and pretty too," Cole said.

Jones handed Cole the beer. "I heard the last person she dated ended up in the ground."

Roberts waved his hand. "That's a rumor, and you know it. There's a simple reason why she doesn't have a boyfriend. No one has the guts to talk to her."

Cole continued to watch her. She sipped her drink and watched as the men and women danced. When men walked by, she looked up and smiled, only to find them avoiding her gaze. After a while, she set her drink down, and her smile faded.

Cole downed his drink, got up, patted Jones on the back, and said, "Let's see if she puts me in the ground."

He walked past the tables and, as he approached, saw Titania finishing her drink and putting her purse over her shoulder. Her eyes widened when she saw him. "Oh, hello, Cole. I thought you'd be in the barracks catching up on sleep."

He pointed over at Roberts, Jones, and Powell. "Those three dragged me here to celebrate my first evaluation mission." Cole offered his hand and said, "So are you going to sit on that bench and go home, or are you going to dance?"

Titania smirked, put down the bag, and took his hand. Nearly all the hairs on his body stood on end as he led her onto the dance floor as the next song came on. Cole felt the entire room's eyes on him as he put his hand around her back and held her right hand with his left. The music was a romantic 1980s ballad, which was fine for Cole since all he had to do was step left and right.

"Thank you for saving me," Titania said. "I don't know what I was thinking coming down here. I love to see people dance."

"You wanted to have some fun," Cole said. "There's no harm in that. Isn't your boyfriend going to get mad that you're here alone, though?"

She squeezed his hand. "I don't have a boyfriend, Cole."

He looked up and raised an eyebrow. "I don't believe you. There's no way a woman like you could be single. Oh, I get it, you keep him locked up in your secret hideout. You don't want supervillains to get leverage on you."

"No," she said. "I don't have a boyfriend. The boys always seemed scared of me, and when I got older, I never really put myself out there. There was one boy I dated in boarding school." She looked at the ground.

"Oh? Did he break your heart?"

Titania shook her head. "I broke his hands. He was stepping up to kiss me, and I got flustered. He had to go to the hospital, and when he came back, he had pins in all his fingers."

"Was he a supe?"

Titania nodded. "He was at the head of the class for the boys that year. After that, he never spoke to me again."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," he said.

They danced without speaking for a while. Cole felt her body relax and pull him a little closer. "So what about you? Are you a ladies' man?"

"I do okay," he said. "I hit a bit of a dry spot when I was starting my business."

She tilted her head. "I'm sure that dry spot is long gone. Going home with a girl and then having Aphelia get all jealous. No, you're a real Casanova."

Cole winced. He hadn't thought about Aphelia or Tephra since he landed in Veltio. "I'd rather go back out on evaluation missions until I puke than have Aphelia get mad at me again."

Titania tilted her head and smiled. "What if I told you we had to order her to patrol California rather than New England? She kept looking for you. When you were unconscious, we blocked her number on your phone; it kept ringing so much."

Cole smiled ruefully. "Fuck, why can't she just leave me alone?"

Titania dropped his hand, then draped her forearms over his shoulders and folded her fingers behind his head. As they continued to dance, she put her mouth against his ear and whispered, "You don't have to worry about a thing. I'm a superheroine; it's my job to protect you."

Cole smelled her sweet coconut fragrance as she straightened. Her reassuring words warmed his chest, and he held her close, his head resting on her bosom. A moment later, he realized what he had done and tried to pull away, but Titania held him with a grip that felt like velvet-covered steel.

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