Most criminals in Morriston were predictable. That's what I was learning as I climbed up the fire escape onto the roof of an apartment building across the street from Lesner's jewelry store downtown. I zipped my winter coat up to my throat before heaving the backpack off my shoulders, opening Rylan's laptop, and logging in under the username and password written in code on my left palm. While I waited for the computer to boot up, I yanked a thick history textbook out of my bag and flipped to chapter twelve, highlighting a few important-sounding paragraphs.

Homework was such a drag when you were trying to save the world.

"Are you up?" Rylan's gruff voice, the voice he only used when he was Iron Phantom, asked through my earpiece. I shoved the cap back on my highlighter using my teeth and returned my attention to the computer.

"Roger." The laptop finished loading, the screen now filled with the same security camera footage that Rylan had rigged to broadcast regularly into the laboratory in his basement. Nothing notable was happening... yet. My job was to monitor the feeds and the street in front of the jewelry store, but something would be going down soon, if our timing was right.

And Rylan rarely made miscalculations, so I knew I had to be ready.

"Did you really just say roger?" Rylan asked.

"Would you rather I say 'Aye, aye, Captain'?" I tried out my best pirate voice, throwing in an arrr for good measure. Rylan snickered.

"I'd like to request a pirate drinking song next time, but for now just watch the cameras, please."

"Roger, Captain."

My earpiece fell silent. The street was quiet, but it wouldn't be for long. The same thieves had been hitting up every jewelry shop in Morriston for a month, and judging by the pattern they were making, this one was next on the list. Iron Phantom never managed to catch them before they sped out of the city, but Rylan and I knew what to look for now. They always came and went in a different vehicle, but the elaborate outfits they wore never changed. They liked to strike first thing in the morning too, when they could rely on the store's drowsy employees operating solely on caffeine and a prayer.

Predictable. Unskilled. I mean, Rylan and I were largely unskilled too, but I liked to think we at least had the element of surprise on our side.

The clock on Rylan's laptop struck nine, and a clerk flipped the sign in the store's front window from closed to open. I pressed a few buttons on the keyboard, forcing the CCTV camera mounted across the street to zoom in on the employee's face. The woman yawned, covering her mouth, then retreated into the depths of the shop.

Not two minutes later, a dull gray station wagon pulled up at the curb.

"You're up," I said to Rylan.

"Hang on, I need to make sure." He was hiding somewhere in an alley at street level, watching the store as well. He didn't want to jump on anyone until he was certain we had the right people. And honestly, messing with them a little before handing them over to the police was going to be way more fun anyhow.

Two women and a man dressed in impeccable nineteenth century fashions entered the store. The man sported a monocle and a top hat, while the women were decked out in full skirts and corsets that made my chest ache just by looking at them. The crew looked different than the last time they committed a robbery, wearing dark wigs and prosthetic makeup to disguise the shape of their faces, but I knew these were our guys.

"Hey, can you buy me a monocle for my birthday?" Rylan asked.

"Sure thing. I'm already putting in an order online."

"Much appreciated."

Frenzied shouts and a blaring alarm system rang out from inside the jewelry store. I scrolled through Rylan's laptop, finding the security camera perched inside that showed Iron Phantom punching Monocle Man in the face. Blood spurted from his broken nose. One of the women smashed a display case and made a break for the door, armed with handfuls of gemstones. Impressive. She was really showing some hustle, even with the corset on.

She stuffed the loot into her bulging purse as she burst out onto the sidewalk. The second woman, I noticed, had been detained using a few strings of copper wire and a strand of pearls.

"Your turn," Rylan ordered.

The woman didn't rush for her comrades' car. We knew she wouldn't. It was most likely stolen anyway. She ran to the end of the block instead, hailing a dark green SUV that rounded the corner. It barely came to a stop before she hopped in the passenger seat and the vehicle took off.

And now it was time to have some fun.

Keeping a close eye on the security feeds, I pulled up a program that Rylan had created to tap into the downtown traffic signals. I yanked a notebook from my bag, following the instructions he'd written to turn the light at the end of the block from red to green. I watched on the cameras as the SUV flew through the intersection leading out of Merchant Square and sped toward the financial sector.

Right where we wanted it.

"They're coming at you," I radioed to Hunter. He giggled in response.

"I love this. They think they're getting away. This is so devious."

I couldn't help laughing too. Let the thieves try all they wanted. We were one step ahead.

A few clicks of the mouse and I changed three more traffic lights, two in the financial sector and one leading toward the cultural district. Green. Green. Green. I wondered if they were getting suspicious. Traffic in Morriston during the workweek was known for its gridlocks, and they were avoiding all of it.

The thieves sped around another block, cutting a corner near City Park and heading down a side street. With the way I was sending them, they were almost to the Morriston Bridge. And then they would be out of the city, home free just like before.

Or they would have been—had Hunter not been waiting for them with a bulldozer.

I could hear the rumble of the engine halfway across the city as he started up the machinery. The honks of car horns, the screech of tires sure to leave skid marks on the road. I flipped through the CCTV cameras, catching some of the action. I was so engrossed in monitoring the laptop that I jumped when Rylan appeared beside me on the roof.

He straightened Iron Phantom's mask. "The cops are picking up the other two. Let's go watch this in person."

Nodding, I packed up the equipment and Rylan hoisted the backpack over his shoulders. With a squeeze of his hand, we were on the opposite side of town, on a roof of a two-story restaurant overlooking all the destruction that Hunter and the thieves had caused.

I pulled my hood over my eyes, shielding them as Rylan and I crept around an AC unit on the roof and peered down to the street below.

Hunter had borrowed a bulldozer from a construction crew renovating the ramp onto the bridge and used it to tear down a clump of trees alongside a ritzy hotel near the riverbank. Apparently, the trees were going to get removed and replanted elsewhere in the city anyway, so he was really just speeding the process along. Or at least that's what Fish Boy told us when we okayed this part of the plan. Roots had been ripped from the ground, twisted with clumps of hard-packed dirt and broken branches, blocking the intersection completely. A familiar green SUV was caught in the wreckage, smoke spiraling from its hood.

"I hope they aren't hurt," I said. Because we really never intended to kill them, just rough them up a bit. It was what they deserved.

"They'll have plenty of time to recover in prison," Rylan replied.

Down on the street, the woman and her male driver stumbled from the vehicle. They didn't make it half a step before five police cars barreled around the block, covering them from all sides, sirens screeching.

Right on schedule.

As the thieves were forced to their knees and handcuffed, Hunter exited the bulldozer and located us on the roof. He waved enthusiastically, his iridescent blue scales shining in the morning light.

"Great job, team! Four criminals down!"

"About a million more to go," Rylan finished. He dug through his backpack, removing my textbook and flipping through it with a frown. "By the way, Abigail? Do you think I can copy your history notes?"

*******

Well... what did you think?

Here's a friendly reminder that hardcover, paperback, and ebook copies of the first book in this series, The Supervillain and Me, are available for purchase through the links on my profile. If you're not financially able to buy the book (totally understandable!) remember that you can always request a copy for free at your local library. Additionally, copies of my BRAND NEW BOOK, The Good for Nothings, are also available for purchase and library requests. The Good for Nothings is full of space heists, snark (basically Guardians of the Galaxy meets Pirates of the Caribbean), grumpy aliens, and baking robots, and I hope you love it as much as I do. Visit the links in my profile to learn more!