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<span class="mu-s">“Me too. I’ll have what they’re both having.”</span> Joy put in.
<span class="mu-r">“Make that a triple.”</span> you chimed.
<span class="mu-r">“No problem.”</span> she confirmed.
—------
It took a little while to fry up all the meat that the Heroes for Hire requested, but by the time they were done, Luke, Danny and Misty were snatching them up and returning to the Tennis Courts. No doubt intending to watch the Morlocks play.
<span class="mu-r">“Come on. I think I saw Matty in the crowd somewhere.”</span> Misty had said as she passed you.
Joy and Abe had finally gotten theirs by the time the others had left, and you were about to put in an order for yourself.
<span class="mu-r">“Actually, can I get about five more of those?”</span> you requested. <span class="mu-r">“I’m gonna be making another stop after this.”</span>
<span class="mu-b">“Oh yeah? Where to?”</span> Abe asked, already sinking his teeth into the piping hot torta.
<span class="mu-r">“I wanted to get some for Cindy, Pei and Nature Girl.”</span>
<span class="mu-b">“Who’s Pei?”</span>
Abe didn’t seem the least bit surprised to learn that Cindy was here. Maybe he’d sensed her on the way over. You weren’t sure how his powers worked.
<span class="mu-r">“Iron Fist’s little protege. She’s teaching Cindy how to manipulate her Chi.”</span> you explained.
<span class="mu-b">“Neat. I can’t wait to see how she applies that knowledge to her ‘part-time job’.”</span>
<span class="mu-r">“You’ve been partnering up with her, right? She tells me you swung to her rescue a few times while I was away.”</span>
Abe shrugged.
<span class="mu-b">“I was in the area, yeah.”</span>
<span class="mu-r">“Uh-huh. Well, thanks for being ‘in the area’ while I was out of town. I really appreciate it.”</span>
<span class="mu-b">“You’re not the only one who gets to be a ‘cool uncle’, you know.”</span> he said.
<span class="mu-r">“I guess that’s fair.”</span> you said with a laugh.
<span class="mu-s">“Hey, what’s ‘Chi’?”</span> Joy asked through a full mouth.
You were about to tell her to finish chewing her food before asking questions, but someone else saw fit to answer her question. Someone who’s voice you didn’t recognize.
<span class="mu-g">“Chi is a sort of bio-electric energy that surrounds all living beings. Through mysticism and meditation, some people are even capable of using it to improve their minds and bodies.”</span>
You all turned to stare at a woman with green skin and antennae, wearing a green and yellow dress that appeared to be made from plant fiber. If your eyes weren’t deceiving you, this was one of the substitute Avengers, otherwise known as Mantis.
And currently, she was running her slender fingers along the walls of Chef Ameyama’s food truck. After a moment of awkward silence, she snorted a laugh and turned to address you.
<span class="mu-g">“Or something like that. This one’s never been able to harness its power during meditation. It’s more of a Terran thing, we think.”</span> she said, sounding a lot less intense than she had before. You’d even go so far as to say that she sounded downright whimsical.
Her coal black eyes glistened as she stared at each of you in turn.
(Cont.)
