Free So Not a Hero by S.J. Delos Page B

between you and Karen, it was years ago and needs to be dropped.” He turned his head to look at me. “And would you please stop baiting him? You think I don’t see that you’re actually trying to pick a fight just to reinforce your argument that you don’t belong?”
    I looked down at the floor. Not because I was embarrassed that he’d called me out in front of the other two, but because he was right. Part of me did want to sabotage this opportunity. “Okay,” I mumbled.
    “Fine.” Rocket grumbled and turned around to stalk out of the room.
    “Lexi, do you have a shirt Karen can borrow? I think she’d be more comfortable meeting the others if she was wearing more than a bra.”
    The teen looked at me, the friendly expression long since vanished. But at least it hadn’t been replaced with outright hostility, which was a plus. “Yeah, I can do that.” She nodded her head towards the same doorway Rocket had left through. “Come on.”
    She headed out of the room and down a wide hallway with me right behind her. She glanced over her shoulder at me as we turned a corner and the walls ahead were punctuated with a series of doors on either side. The teen stopped at one marked with a large, brass number 6 and pressed her palm on the clear panel next to the frame.
    The door slid open silently and revealed a rather spacious bedroom on the other side. Phantasm stood to the side and bid me to enter with a sweep of her arm. “Home sweet home,” she said, giving me the slightest hint of a smile.
    Perhaps I wouldn’t be fighting with all of my new teammates after all.
    I stepped through the doorway and paused, blinking at the sheer opulence of the quarters. Inside the room (which had to be at least twice the area of my former apartment) was a work area, complete with a desk and state-of-the-art computer, a four-poster bed, and flat-screen television that dominated the far wall. Across from the bed was another door that apparently led to a bathroom. I took in the accommodations and looked at the teen. “This is your room?”
    She nodded and crossed over to the dresser next to the bed. Instead of bothering to open the drawer, she just phased her hand through the wood to come out gripping a bright pink baby-doll tee with a scooped neck. “Here,” she said as she handed the re-solidified shirt to me. “Sorry if it’s a little … tight.” Her head nodded at my significantly larger bust.
    “Thanks.” I yanked the ruined shirt off my body and struggled into the garment. Thankfully, I’d managed to stay in shape during my incarceration and the only place the shirt seemed to strain was across the chest. I tugged the hem down over the top of my jeans.
    “Did you really work for Doctor Maniac?” She asked, leaning against the doorway.
    I looked up and into the girl’s eyes, giving her a shrug. “I guess so. I mean, I was a part of his organization. Just never thought of it as ‘working’ for him.” No, the relationship between Martin and I was a bit more than employer/employee in nature.
    “Why?” The girl held up her hand. “I mean, you seem like a pretty nice person.”
    “I honestly don’t have an answer to that. It just sort of … happened.”
    We left Phantasm’s room and journeyed further down the hallway into the complex. We passed by door number 8 and the teen pointed at it without stopping. “That used to be Denise’s room,” she said. There was a note of sadness in her words, probably due to the absence of her teammate.
    Gigantica’s death had been huge news in the Max. Even some of her former enemies had grieved the passing of their foe. Would anyone care if I died saving the city? Probably only Martin. I could understand Rocket’s anger.
    His teammate had given her life to stop one of Martin’s schemes.
    At the end of the corridor, Alexis pushed a button beside a closed set of double doors that whooshed open in opposite directions like something out of Star Trek. Inside was a huge room with