shouted Nova, whose gravitational powers were useless if she couldn't anchor herself. She hopped on one foot through the common area, her fiery red ponytail whipping behind her.

sighed Lynx, whose claws were currently retracted as she painted her nails—a surprisingly delicate operation for hands that could shred titanium. “Unplug it. Breathe. You’re not a toaster.”

Not the red one—that was for earthquakes, kaiju, or alien invasions. This was the purple alarm. The tricky one. The one that meant: someone’s messing with reality again.

asked Drift.

came a calm voice from the observation deck. “But this time, try thinking .”

That was Silver Lining. She was the oldest, the wisest, and the only one without a flashy power. She just had a gut feeling for trouble—and an unnerving habit of being right.

Within ninety seconds, they were assembled on the rooftop launchpad. Mirage flickered in and out of visibility, still recovering from her failed simulation. Volt’s suit now glowed a steady, confident blue. Lynx finished her last nail with a quick-dry spray. And Silver Lining stood at the front, no armor, no weapon—just a knowing look.

But at Superheroine Central, that was just another Tuesday. And they wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Down in the garage, a new recruit named Volt was trying to recharge her suit from a wall socket. She’d plugged it in upside down. The suit began to hum a sad, electronic waltz.

she said. “Tempo’s power is rhythm-based. If you fight to his beat, you lose. So today, you dance to yours.”

On the 47th floor, the simulation room sparked and hissed. Inside, a teenager named Mirage—who could create solid-light duplicates of herself—was failing spectacularly. Her three clones had just walked into a holographic wall, one after another, like lemmings.

said Drift, a woman made of living mist, without looking up from her tablet. “You put it there after the sentient ice cream incident.”

Silver Lining’s voice echoed through every speaker in the tower.

Nova paused. “That was last week.”

Nova grabbed her frozen boot, slammed it onto her foot, and winced.