Chapter 276 Star.

Chapter 276: 276 Star.

"Good," I said, then glanced at Psyren. "Shall we?"

"Bye-bye!" Psyren sang, wiggling her fingers sweetly at Lionel. She pressed herself tightly against my side, resting her head adoringly on my shoulder as we walked out of the conference room.

I didn’t even break stride as I let a magnetic pulse reach out behind us, pulling the heavy glass door shut with a definitive, locking click.

"That was super fun, huh?" Psyren giggled as we rode the elevator down and stepped out into the bustling, sunlit streets of Metropolis.

"It sure was," I agreed. I gave her hip a firm, scolding squeeze. "But don’t think for a second I didn’t feel you spinning up your powers in there. Remember the cardinal rule. No brainwashing the civilians unless we are actively on the clock, or it’s an absolute last resort."

"Aw, come on, boss," Psyren pouted, flashing me a brilliant, impish grin. "It was only a teeny-tiny bit of pressure! I just wanted to make absolutely sure he gave us the best possible terms. You can’t blame a girl for wanting to guarantee her manager gets the biggest cut possible, hm?"

"And the absolute best way to ensure that is to make sure multinational corporations don’t realize you’re actively lobotomizing their executives during contract negotiations," I reminded her mildly.

Psyren dramatically pushed out her lower lip, which was undeniably cute, but I wasn’t falling for it. "Oh, fine, boss. I get it. I’m sorry I was a little bit naughty in there." Her pouting lips curved upward into a wicked smirk. "Are you gonna punish me for it?"

"And how, exactly, do you think I’d do that?" I asked.

Psyren giggled, stepping directly into my path and walking backward. "Oh, I dunno. Maybe give me a really good spanking? Tell me what a bad, bad girl I’ve been while you force me down between your legs so I can suck you off on the drive back to the chalet. Sooo many creative possibilities to put me right back in my place."

I rolled my eyes. "If I did any of that, it would only encourage you. Maybe I should just permanently revoke your bedroom privileges instead. Hm?"

Psyren gasped, clutching her hands to her chest in genuine horror. "Boss! You wouldn’t! Oh, please, don’t. I promise I’ll be good... ish."

A smile twitched at the corner of my mouth. With Psyren, good-ish was absolutely the highest standard I was ever going to get.

Hell, it probably took a herculean effort on her end just to not psychically torment every single pedestrian we walked past. She was an absolute brat.

But that was a huge part of why I loved her. So I gave her hip another affectionate pat, wrapped my arm around her waist, leaned over, and gave her a long, lingering kiss right there on the sidewalk.

Psyren melted instantly. She moaned softly into my mouth, turning her body to press flush against my chest, her hands tangling in my lapels as her lips worked eagerly against mine. Damn, she was frisky today.

Then again, Psyren was basically always frisky. I had half a mind to pull the Cruiser into a secluded alleyway and have some fun right now.

Sadly, that would have to wait, because something nearby was about to violently explode.

I heard the familiar, high-pitched scream of something heavy and flaming hot tearing through the atmosphere. I quickly broke the kiss.

I looked up, my magnetic senses already pinging wildly off the dense metallic alloys descending rapidly from the clouds. It was streaking over the skyscrapers like a low-flying meteor.

There was no telling exactly what kind of hazard we were dealing with, but in Metropolis, the odds were incredibly high that it was cape-related.

It only took me a second to calculate the trajectory of the fireball. I relaxed a fraction, tracking it with my eyes as it screamed directly past us and violently smashed into a reinforced blue postal box down the block.

The heavy, concussive explosion kicked up a massive cloud of pulverized concrete and dust that sent Psyren’s pleated skirt and pink hair fluttering wildly.

Her eyes instantly flared a bright, neon pink as she spun toward the threat, her psychic powers fully armed. I quickly squeezed her hand, anchoring her so she wouldn’t immediately lobotomize whatever climbed out of the crater.

Screams erupted from the nearby civilians as they frantically scattered. Most of the runners were definitely tourists.

True Metropolis natives were completely desensitized to superhuman collateral damage; the locals just aggressively power-walked in the opposite direction without even dropping their coffees.

Heavy rubble crunched. A figure stumbled blindly out of the smoke cloud, shaking his head.

He was wearing an incredibly bulky, armored suit that looked like a retrofitted NASA spacesuit, completely covered in what looked like glowing, spray-painted occult sigils.

The helmet dome was tinted pitch black, and suspended dead center inside the glass was a glowing, floating neon skull.

"Son of a bitch," the guy growled, slapping the concrete dust off his heavy gauntlets. "Goddamn it..."

He finally seemed to notice us standing on the sidewalk. He turned sharply in our direction, drawing himself up to his full, bulky height.

I immediately tensed. Psyren cocked a pink eyebrow as the villain suddenly marched toward us, only to skid to a halt a few yards away, hesitating awkwardly.

"Hi...?" I began slowly.

"Excuse me!" he blurted out, pointing a thick glove at me. "Are you... would you happen to be, uh, the Iron Polaris?"

I blinked rapidly. Uh oh. Was this a random street challenge? I really didn’t want to ruin my meeting suit.

"I am," I said.

The heavy iron bracelets and anklets concealed beneath my suit immediately began to quiver, radiating a low magnetic hum as I prepared to deploy my heavy armor plating right over my tailored clothes.

"Oh... Oh, wow!" the guy cried out. He suddenly thrust out his heavy, armored hand. "It is so incredibly good to meet you!"

...What?

"It... is?" I said, cautiously reaching out and shaking his gauntlet.

"Absolutely!" the villain gushed, pumping my arm up and down enthusiastically. "This is... wow. Just wow! How lucky am I? It’s so amazing to finally make your acquaintance! Really! I cannot say that enough. Oh! But I completely forgot to introduce myself, haha! Sorry. So sorry. I am Black Star! Villain extraordinaire! See, one night, while I was casually stargazing, a rogue meteor violently slammed into my local observatory, permanently fusing my cellular structure with solid dark matter! Now, I have the awesome power to summon localized, miniature black holes, and I am officially known in the registry as Black Star!"

"Uh. Cool," I said.

"Yeah! Actually, I was originally going to go for ’Black Hole’, but there was already another guy operating with that exact stage name who did certain, er, independent films. He, uh... well, it was definitely for the best that I wasn’t legally mixed up with his brand, if you know what I mean. Oh! Hold on, I got my business card. Just a second. It’s in here somewhere... uh... um..."

I shared a completely bewildered glance with Psyren. She just grinned in absolute, open amusement as Black Star frantically patted down the heavy, bulky pockets of his spacesuit before finally locating a velcro wallet.

"Aha! Here. Right here," he said, proudly forking over a thin, slightly bent piece of cardstock. "Really, an absolute honor to meet you, sir. I’m such a massive fan of your work!"