"Miss Terror, Miss Fialux."

I winced at hearing those names. Well, not the Miss Terror bit, but the Miss Fialux bit.

Selena still had a secret identity to consider after all. Though as I turned to look at her, she was smiling like it wasn't a big deal that the guy at the reception stand had called her by her actual name.

"Why does he know who we are?" I asked.

Selena turned and looked at me. The look she hit me with was a look like I was a complete and total idiot.

"Come on, Natalie," she said. "You fly around the city without a mask on. Anybody would be able to recognize you if they took the time to figure it out."

"Not necessarily," I said.

"Really? Not necessarily?" she said.

"I could put on a pair of glasses to try and throw them off the trail," I said.

"That is the single most stupid trope I've ever seen in any of those stupid comic books they make based on our lives," she muttered, shaking her head.

"I agree," I said, grinning right back at her and leaning in for a kiss. "But I couldn't help poking fun just a little."

"Yeah, poking fun just a little," she said.

"But seriously," I said, turning back to the maître d' at the Starlight Club.

"This is one of the most exclusive reservations in the city, honey" she said, reaching out to take my hand.

Which sent a delighted shiver running through my body. I liked her calling me honey. I liked her reaching out and casually taking my hand. I liked how all of it felt.

"Your point?" I said. "I could just hack into their systems and put us at the top of the list."

"Or I could call and say, 'Fialux and Night Terror want to go out for a little night on the town,' and the maître d' at the Starlight Club is the height of discretion. Right, Roger?" she said, turning to look at him.

"Of course, madam," he said. "We have many of Starlight City's best and brightest coming to enjoy an evening at the Starlight Club. And they all know that they can rely on our utmost discretion when they come to visit us."

"Do you hear that?" Selena said. "We can rely on their utmost discretion."

"I don't like relying on anybody's utmost discretion," I muttered. "I like relying on..."

"Cheap mind control tricks?"

"Well..."

"Threatening people's lives?"

"I don't do that very..."

"Paying people off so they're willing to look the other way when you pull your shenanigans?"

"Listen, I've put a lot of cops' kids through college and..."

"Just generally tooling around the city like you own the place?"

"Because I do own the place," I finally said, letting out a frustrated sigh. "If only the rightful authorities would recognize that."

"Life must be so difficult for you," she said, shaking her head and turning her attention back to the maître d'.

"You were saying, Roger?" she asked.

"I was saying you can rely on us to keep our mouths shut. Everything in the Starlight Club is set up to cater to the rich and powerful in our city, including heroes and villains and the unique demands that you have in your lives."

"Yeah, I'm sure it's catered to," I muttered, my eyes narrowing in suspicion. "What kind of stuff are we talking about?"

"There is no recording in the Starlight Club, for "one he said.

"Do you hear that?" Selena said. "No recording."

"I don't get it," I said. "It sounds almost like this is an exclusive club for super-powered people and villains."

"It is," she said with a shrug.

"I thought it was just a fancy place for the rich and wealthy to come and schmooze."

"It's that as well," Roger said. "But we have policies and technology in place. Like jamming fields to prevent people from being able to record anything that happens in here."

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"So is there, like, a bunch of depraved sex stuff going on in here or something?" I asked, looking to Selena again with a sudden suspicion mounting. "Because I'm not interested in doing any depraved superhero or super villain sex stuff. I'm happy with just you, thank you very much."

Selena blinked, her eyes going wide in surprise. Roger looked equally scandalized.

"Excuse me, Miss Terror," he said.

"What makes you think something like that is going on here?" Selena asked.

"What?" I asked. "Anytime you talk about a super secret and super exclusive place for the ultra-wealthy and powerful, it boils down to a bunch of weird sex stuff. I swear to fuck if this is a front for a place where a bunch of rich people get off kiddie diddling, I'm going to burn it to the ground,"

"Miss Terror," Roger said, looking even more scandalized now than before. "Nothing like that is going on here."

Selena was right there in between me and Roger in an instant.

"She just doesn't understand what's going on here," she said, her eyes turning to mine. "Jesus Christ, Natalie, what are you on about?"

"Power corrupts," I said with a shrug. "I'm more aware of that than most. I have to go up against the rich and powerful on the regular. Part of the reason why I've been labeled a villain over the years is because those hypocritical fucks don't like all the stuff I'm doing to try and bring power to the people."

"Yes, that's exactly what you're doing," Fialux said, a thin smile on her face.

I decided not to engage. She'd heard me ranting time and time again about the issues I'd had with the mayor and the city council in Starlight City. Assholes who were more interested in lining their pockets than actually trying to make life better for anybody in the city. And that didn't even get into some of the squabbles I'd had with the federal government and the military because they disagreed with some of the ways I tried to make the world a better place under my benevolent carbon fiber fist.

"Anyway," Selena said, still staring at me with a glare that said I needed to shut the fuck up right now if I didn't want to mess up a good thing. "This is just a normal place where you can have dinner and maybe a little bit of dancing. I thought it would be a nice place to come. Rex was always going on about it and complaining about how they wouldn't let him in."

I paused. I looked to Roger.

"You wouldn't let Rex Roth in?" I asked.

"We wouldn't," he said with a sniff.

"Any particular reason why?" I asked.

If it turned out they knew he was using mind control on Fialux and didn't do anything about it then I might still be vaporizing someone, damn it. Though the fact that his mind control didn't work was also interesting.

"The man was an asshole, to put it plainly," Roger said.

I grinned. "I like this place more already! But he didn't try to use his mind control mojo on you?"

"He tried," Roger said, refusing to elaborate further.

More and more interesting. This guy could sniff out that Rex was an asshole, and Rex's powers didn't work here. I almost wanted to go in just for the opportunity to learn more about what was going on here.

"And you're sure it's not a trap?" I asked.

Fialux stared at me again. A flat stare, like she was so over this shit.

"I mean, I'm pretty sure it's not a trap."

"Fine," I said, shaking my head.

"Seriously, you need to put work away sometimes," Selena said. "Sometimes going out for dinner and dancing is just going out for dinner and dancing."

I let out a sigh. I turned to Roger, and I forced myself to smile. More for Selena than for this guy. But I figured if she wanted me to play nice because she was taking me on a nice date, then I would play nice because she was taking me on a nice date.

Even if there was still a part of me that worried going to this place when she didn't have her powers was a bad idea. When she was an indestructible goddess of course she wasn't going to worry about walking into a potential trap, but she was still having trouble thinking like a mere mortal.

"Very well, if you'll follow me."

Roger turned and walked down a long hallway made up of the sort of ornate wood that brought to mind the kind of place a bunch of assholes with big mustaches who were running the British Empire once upon a time might've sat in while they enjoyed brandy or whatever it was they drank and talked about all the wealth they were extracting from other parts of the world.

Basically the kind of place that a bunch of assholes who I absolutely couldn't stand would be enjoying themselves. I ran my hands up and down my bare arms as I thought about how uncomfortable it made me being in this place.

"Is something wrong?" Selena asked, putting an arm around me.

I turned and tried to smile for her. She was doing this nice thing for me after all. I wanted to make sure I acted like I enjoyed it, even if I felt a little awkward about this place.

I didn't like feeling awkward. I'd done my best to extract myself from any place that made me feel awkward.

"I'm fine," I lied.

"You're full of shit is what you are," Selena said, shaking her head. "What's wrong?"

"I just don't know that this kind of place is my thing," I said. "Like, there's a reason why I've gone so many years of being the top villain in this city without knowing this is actually a secret hideout for heroes and villains."

"Not a secret hideout for heroes and villains," she said. "Just a place where the movers and shakers in Starlight City go to enjoy themselves."

"That's the thing," I said, as we passed a bust of Spectacular Man, who'd been a big hero in the city back in the '50s. Back when the dawn of the atomic age had led to people with latent superpowers starting to express those powers more.

There were some who said it was harnessing the atom that led to more heroes showing up. There were others who said superheroes had always been with us, and there were people who did superhuman feats all the time but they just kept it to themselves because they didn't want too much attention. And there were ancient stories of gods and demigods and things like that which would seem to point to heroes existing in the historical record.

But as for coming into the mainstream and being covered by the news reels, or whatever the heck it was they used to disseminate news back then? He'd been one of the first.

There were other busts lining the place. Some were just rich people who'd thrown a bunch of money around Starlight City once upon a time. Others were villains or heroes. It seemed like they were equal opportunity around here, which was a surprise.

"I'm just afraid this kind of thing isn't my scene," I finally said.

"Well, give it a try," she said with a shrug. "Honestly, I've never been here myself, so I'm not sure what to expect. I just heard the food was really good and you could dance here, so I thought we might try it out to make up for the last dancing date."

"And why couldn't we go to the Skyhigh?" I asked, turning to look at her.

"Don't you remember? A giant robot tried to destroy it when they kidnapped me and pulled a King Kong, and then the whole dance floor was blown up in the subsequent battle."

"Was it?" I asked.

"You fired your wrist blaster at it and then it caught some strays in the battle. You were too busy trying to save me to see it blowing up, probably."

"Oh," I said. "Well, I suppose that's as good a reason as any to avoid the place for now."

Then we stepped into the main room of the Starlight Club and my mouth fell open.

"Oh."

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