Nick carefully slid the peanut butter/strawberry jam noodles onto toast.

Beautiful.

He plated the toast, picked everything up, and backed into the dining room. Inez and Shawn were already there, with Victor visible on the stairs.

“Breakfast is served,” he said with a bow, sliding everyone their plates. 

Shawn muttered something, nursing his coffee. 

Inez blinked at the food, still half asleep. “What is it?”

“Today I created frozen noodles made out of peanut butter and strawberry jam,” he said, taking his seat as Victor sat next to Inez.

Victor took a bite, chewed once, and winced. “I think I’ve got a cavity or something. It’s good, but the cold is making my tooth hurt.”

Emmy came down the stairs as Inez asked Victor about making a dentist appointment. She collapsed into her chair, picking up the toast. 

She sniffed it and made a face. “Strawberry? Didn’t you have any blackberry, I hate strawberry.”

“I do have blackberry,” Nick said, smiling. “But the strawberry jam was nearing its expiration date because no one eats it.” 

“It’s jam, doesn’t it last like forever?” Emmy complained.

“Technically yes, but it’s still best to eat things by their ‘best by’ dates.”

Emmy shrugged, taking a bite. Despite her proclaimed hatred of strawberry jam she managed to eat all three pieces.

Victor and Inez were still talking about a potential dentist visit. Victor’s teeth were very important. His smile alone had gotten them several budget increases. Copper, the other team in the city, didn’t have anyone with a smile that could make girls swoon. As a result, they got less publicity. Nick regularly rolled his eyes at Victor’s flirting with cameras, but he couldn’t deny it had an effect. 

As everyone else finished their breakfast, Shawn poured himself more coffee. He hadn’t spoken or touched his food, which was odd. 

“Hey, Shawn,” Nick called. “You ok?”

Shawn started tapping his coffee cup. “Yeah,” he eventually said.

“You don’t look ok,” Inez said softly.

Shawn looked at Emmy, then back at his coffee. “It’s fine,” he muttered. “It’ll be fine.”

This was not fine at all. It was, in Nick’s opinion, very bad.

Shawn got up. “Excuse me,” he muttered, and walked back up the stairs.

Very, very, very bad.

Emmy finished her pilates for the morning and jogged to the kitchen for a snack. 

Inez and Victor were listening at the door. Victor spotted her first and looked embarrassed, scooting away from the door. Inez pressed a finger to her lips and motioned for Emmy to join them.

Extremely curious, Emmy snuck over and pressed her ear to the door.

“It looked like laser burns,” Shawn was saying. “I don’t- I don’t know.”

“Was it contained to one room, or was the whole building like that?” Nick asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t make it out of the corridor.”

“Ok.” A pause. “Were there other cuts on her, or just…”

Emmy knew they were talking about her. Somehow, she had died. The look Shawn had given her at breakfast couldn’t mean anything else.

“Arms? Maybe?” Shawn sighed. “I don’t know if the blood on her arms was from the main cut or… I don’t know.” There was a thump, and the wall shook. “I hate not knowing.”

“Hey, it’s ok, you don’t have to know everything.”

“Yes I do! It’s my job to keep everyone safe, and Emmy- Emmy…”

“She’s fine. She’ll be fine.” Nick moved from one side of the kitchen to the other. “Honestly, she’s at a bit of a disadvantage. Another speedster was registered this weekend, making a solid quarter of supers speedsters. Their strengths and weaknesses are very well-documented. Whoever killed her might not have had anything against the kid, just… done basic research about the team.”

Shawn scoffed. “Basic research.”

“It’s all on the internet, dude.” Nick’s shrug was audible.

“I wish it wasn’t.” A pause. “You have access to the register?”

“Yep. Want me to look up who has laser powers?”

“Please.”

“Anything else? Like people who can sneak into basements carrying bombs?”

“That’d be an oddly specific superpower.”

“I wonder…” Nick paused. “After the battle today, we should go bowling.”

“Bowling?” Shawn echoed.

“Bowling or skating. Or out to dinner somewhere,” Nick said. “I’m curious to know if we’ll return to a blackened crater, or if the building will politely wait to explode until we’re inside.”

“You want to know if the building is being watched,” Shawn clarified.

“I do, yes. It would narrow some things down. Like the area to search tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Shawn repeated.

“Well. Tomorrow for you.”

“Right. I’ll go deal with the bomb,” Shawn said, moving towards the door. 

The eavesdroppers scattered. Emmy ran for the stairs, getting to the top before Shawn opened the door. She walked casually back down, seeing Victor on the ceiling and Inez sitting at the table with her phone out as Shawn left the kitchen. He went to the supply closet, not noticing anything odd. 

Nick was on his laptop when she entered the kitchen. He smiled at her, lowering the screen. 

“Hungry?” he guessed. 

“Always,” she said, smiling back.

He stepped to the fridge and pulled out a bowl of something greenish-brown. “I couldn’t choose between guacamole or hummus today, so I decided to mix them. I give you: guacamus!”

Emmy looked at it doubtfully for a few seconds before glancing at Nick. “Not hummole?”

Nick set the bowl down. “That… Yeah, that’s a way better name,” he admitted. 

“So do I eat it with pita bread or tortilla chips?” Emmy laughed, sliding onto the chair Nick had vacated. 

“I also wondered that,” he said, grinning. “Turns out, pita chips are a thing!” He opened a cupboard and pulled out a bag. “Best of both worlds.”

“Cool.”

Nick tossed her the bag, explaining the similarities of guacamole and hummus recipes. Emmy pretended to pay attention, opening the bag as she rolled her chair closer to the hummole. 

“Hey Nick?”

“Yeah?” he asked, cutting off a lecture of different garlic types. 

“How hard would it be to kill me with lasers?”

He focused his eyes on the bowl. “Speed isn’t helpful if you have nowhere to run,” he said softly. 

Emmy took a bite, barely noticing the flavor as she chewed. “I heard someone on the East Coast made a laser-proof costume.”

“You’d be ok with a full-body suit?” Nick asked, pulling a chip out of the bag. 

She shrugged. “It’s no miniskirt, but if it saves my life…”

Nick gave a half-hearted laugh. “If lasers start being a problem, I’ll look into it. Until then, stick with the miniskirt, kid.”

“Ok. The fabric is probably not breathable at all, anyways.”

“You’d die of heatstroke before the lasers even had a chance,” he agreed. 

“Plus, the forum users dedicated to discovering what color underwear I’m wearing every day would have to find a new hobby.”

Nick inhaled his chip, collapsed, and spent several seconds hacking it out of his lung. He climbed to his feet, ran to the sink, and gulped down a glass of water before turning towards her. 

Emmy smiled innocently at him. 

“You know that exists?” Nick rasped out. 

“Inez and I are in the top ten users,” she said casually, popping another chip into her mouth. 

Nick slid to the ground, put his head in his hands, and nearly died laughing. 

A woman walked calmly through Vine’s base. She was pleased they’d found the dummy bomb. It proved she hadn’t been stupid to insist they plant it there yesterday. 

She glanced at the security camera on her way out. Motion-activated security cameras had a simple flaw: they couldn’t detect slow, smooth movement. Few people knew that, and fewer still could use the knowledge. This woman, having taken ballet classes for thirteen years, found moving in a way that didn’t trigger the camera laughably easy. 

Once out of the building, she went down the gravel driveway and across the street to a bagel shop. She ordered a bagel and coffee, and sat down at one of their tables facing the window. 

Her bagel was half gone when she got a text message saying Mr. Shark was being taken into custody. Vines was on the move. 

She finished her bagel leisurely, watching for the gate to open and a car to turn up the driveway. The gate remained closed. No car stopped. 

A quick hashtag search found pictures of the team playing minigolf at the mall. It looked like Inez was winning, despite sabotage attempts from Nick. How cute, the team goofing off and having fun with something as inane as minigolf. 

The woman drained her coffee, heading back to Vine’s base. She left her cup on top of their driveway’s gate, stuck on one of the spikes. Just, as a little message. A memo about how she viewed their security systems. 

She entered the building as easily as before and went to the “kitchen”. She found a paintbrush and a bottle of teriyaki sauce, and went to the main room. Wondering why a paintbrush was in that mad scientist’s kitchen, she climbed onto the back of the couch and quickly painted a word. 

That done, she dropped brush and bottle into a trash can and moved to the hallway. Before leaving she turned to admire the last thing Team Vines would ever see. 

She smiled at the word on the wall. 

CLEVER