Chapter 28 Most.

Chapter 28: 28 Most.

"Oh yeah," Psyren giggled, fluttering her lashes and nibbling on the ends of the fork. "I can be a very bad girl you know..."

"O-oh, how ah... how interesting," Simon said, picking up a napkin and dabbing at his suddenly sweaty brow. "W-well, we’d certainly be interested in engaging your services as well, should the occasion arise and the ah... the opportunity came up with our business dealings. Wouldn’t we?" Simon said, elbowing Death pointedly.

The hooded man jolted. "Wha? O-oh! I mean, yes. Absolutely. We would!"

Well, that was no surprise, but I wasn’t sure if I was on board. Even if they were mainly saying it because Psyren was tweaking their minds with her powers.

Most male heroes had few, if any, female villains.

The crowd hated seeing a guy beating on a woman most of the time, and the audience who liked it no one really wanted.

Most supervillainesses and heroines tended to end up in designated ’cat fights,’ which always sold well, but heroines were in hot demand, and there weren’t really that many villainesses for hire.

Those who tried freelance tended to get driven out pretty quick by certain heroes who took the whole business as an excuse to cop a feel in the midst of battle.

Which was why I wasn’t surprised that Glacia was working inhouse with Razer for her villainy. Having an HR department to go to bat for you would be handy.

"Aw, that’s wonderful, boys!" Psyren cooed, leaning against me, nuzzling my neck like an affectionate cat. "But I’m still sooooo far away from taking on any work. And of course, I wouldn’t dream of doing anything that my boss said no to. He calls all the shots with me.

So if he didn’t think we’d be a good match, I’d probably never see you two again. And wouldn’t that just be tragic," she said, her eyes pulsing with light, her words throbbing with psionic emphasis.

"Yeah..." Simon said.

"Tragic," Death said, his voice slurring a little.

"And I think we’ve heard enough for today," I said pointedly to Simon. "I’ll have my people call your people if I feel right to move forward with an encounter."

"Guess this is goodbye for now," Psyren said, smiling devilishly as the hearts in her eyes gave another pulse. "Bye bye."

"Bye..." Simon said, rising, swaying a little. Red Death followed suit, steadier on his feet, but his beaked attention no less fixated on Psyren.

The psychic smirked, made a little twirling motion with her fingers, and both men turned like puppets and walked rigidly away.

I watched the pair as they left the restaurant, leaning against one another like two drunks as they shambled outside.

Then I looked down at Psyren. "They going to be alright?"

"Oh yeah. They’ll have a bitch of a headache tomorrow, but I behaved, boss. Of course," she giggled, and her eyes flashed a pink so deep it was nearly red, "if he’d actually started a fight with you, he wouldn’t be leaving here in anything other than a straight jacket."

"Right. Well, thanks for that self-control," I said warily. "On a related topic, have you been stalking me?"

Psyren smiled slyly. "Mmm?" she hummed, pulling an abandoned glass of untouched water towards her and breaking a straw out of its package. "What gave you that idea?"

"Coincidences happen," I said. "But I doubt this is one of them."

"You got that right," Psyren said, stirring the straw in her water. "I was following you."

"Okay. So, the obvious question is why?" I said. "You have my phone number. You could call me anytime."

"And take the fun out of it? No way, bossman," she said. "It was waaaay too interesting."

"How is it interesting?"

With a grin, she reached up and tapped her headphones. "See these?"

"Kind of hard not to," I noted. The things were huge, practically the size of earmuffs and gave off a faint buzzing hiss like white noise.

"Yeah. They’re kinda big, aren’t they?" she said, stroking the metal and plastic fondly. "You know? If I take these puppies off, I’d be able to hear the thoughts of everybody in the room."

Seriously? I tried to figure out if she was playing me, which would hardly be surprising.

I suspected I could trust maybe half of what came out of Psyren’s mouth, and the other half with enough grains of salt to preserve an entire side of beef.

But I didn’t think she was lying this time. Call it a hunch, but I felt like she’d spin a yarn for anyone, but probably shoot straight with me if I pressed her.

And if it was the truth, that would be damn impressive. Psychics weren’t actually all that uncommon.

A lot of flamers were actually pyrotechnics. I’d even been mistaken for a telekinetic at times when people saw me toss things around the room.

But those kinds of powers were pretty low on the totem pole. But mind reading such a large group? That was an entirely different story.

"I see," I said. "So how does that make stalking me interesting?"

"Simple, bossman," Psyren said, and I sat up straighter as I felt her leg rubbing against mine.

She fluttered her lashes flirtatiously, leaning in close, her shoulder against my arm. "I can know what everyone’s thinking soooo easily. Take the headphones off, and their minds are wide open.

All their naughty little secrets. All their most hidden thoughts. Their shameful little private things. Their most sickening impulses. I could know all of them just... like... that..."

She snapped her fingers, and I felt a chill work through me from head to toe.

What she was describing was why everyone was terrified of psychics, and Psyren was the absolute poster child for using those powers immorally.

Although I’d rarely heard about any psychic with her level of ability, outside of maybe Mindwave or perhaps The Hive Queen. But those were villains way out of your average league.

"Still not really seeing what you get out of following me around," I said.

"That’s just it," Psyren said, grinning wickedly, resting her chin in a cradle of her palm, her pupils throbbing hearts. "I don’t know at all what you’re gonna do."

"You don’t?"

"Nope! Anybody else, I could just peel their minds like an orange. But not you. I don’t know anything about you. I can’t crack you. Do you have any idea how bored I am?"