I woke in Sam's arms, warm, and still felt a bit sleepy. The sun was shining slightly through the curtains, so I knew it would be time to get up soon. Sam rubbed his eyes, then opened them, and smiled when he looked at me.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning.” I wanted to talk to Sam about Albert, but didn't want him listening in. “I need to talk to you, completely alone, with no one else listening.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Leon and Albert aren't listening now?” I asked.

“No, they're not. I've permanently blocked Leon, anyway.”

“Okay, so you probably already know that I liked Albert. But, does he like me? Romantically, I mean.”

“He does.” Sam nodded.

“So, I should ask him out, then?” It seemed like Albert wouldn't be confident enough to ask me out, so I'd have to do it myself.

“I'm sure he'd love that. I think he's just very shy, and oblivious to your feelings for him. Albert has never dated or had a girlfriend before, so he doesn't have any experience. He probably would ask you out eventually, but at the moment, I think he'd be too nervous to make the first move.”

“Thanks, that's good to know. I've never asked someone out before, though.” I cracked my fingers.

“I'm sure you'll be fine. Albert really likes you, so you already don't have to worry about him rejecting you,” Sam said.

“That's true.” I nodded. “And he's fine with me dating multiple people?” It wasn't very common to date more than one person at a time, and most people didn't like it.

“I think so. The whole thing will be new for him anyway.”

“Yep, it will.” I'd have to gather my courage, and ask Albert on a date the next time I saw him.

*****

Sam flew us to work, then we walked in together, holding hands. We went to the staff room where everyone was sitting.

“How was your night with Sam?” Sofia asked.

“It was great.” I smiled.

“Of course it was.” Sam nodded.

We sat down, I was beside Sofia, and Alex was on the other side of Sam.

“What did you two do?” Alex asked.

“We just talked, watched a movie, then went to bed,” I replied.

“Yep, it was fun. I'd take you home with me every day if I could.”

“Aww, thank you.”

“Well, that's not going to happen, you're coming home with me tonight,” Alex said.

“It's only fair that way. We all love spending time with you,” Pablo said.

“Same, I love being with all of you,” I replied.

“Excluding me.” Ignacio chuckled.

“Well, I'm enjoying getting to know you more.”

“Thanks.”

My heart jumped out of my chest when I heard the alarm going off — it was always so loud and disruptive. We were told that a villain was trying to destroy the Tower Bridge, and there were still some people on it. All of us rushed outside, then Sam flew us quickly to the bridge. The villain was Stealer, I recognised him instantly; he'd been obsessed with me, and almost kidnapped me. He'd wanted to kill his brother, so I had no idea why he was trying to destroy this bridge.

“Sam, you'd be the best at stopping him, we don't want him getting near us in case he steals our powers,” Pablo said.

“I'll shield all of us so that he can't take them,” Sam replied.

We all walked closer to Stealer. “At last, you've arrived.” He smiled.

“Why are you even doing this?” I frowned.

“To see you, of course.” Stealer winked at me.

It didn't make any sense, why did he do this to see me again? He was so weird and messed up.

“I don't want anything to do with you.” I shook my head.

“But, I love you! I want to show you how powerful I am!” Stealer exclaimed.

“What a great way to show someone you love them.” Alex rolled her eyes.

Blades came out of Stealer's hands, and he cut one of the metal beams that was holding up the bridge. The road tilted to one side, it didn't look like it would last long if he kept slicing parts of the bridge. It was already making creaky noises. Ignacio ran to the beam that had been cut in half, then climbed up it; Sam pulled the other part down slightly, then Ignacio used his fire powers to meld the two pieces of metal together. It looked like a temporary fix, but it meant that the bridge was back to its normal position again.

The others ran at Stealer, and Sam threw him down on the ground. Maybe we'd actually catch him this time. Stealer recovered quickly, then made the blades even longer — he cut nearly all the beams that were holding the bridge up. My stomach dropped along with the bridge. I screamed, along with the civilians on the bridge. It only dropped for a few seconds, then we were floating in the air, Sam must've been keeping us up.

“Until next time!” Stealer opened a portal, then went through it, escaping once more.

Sam brought the bridge back into place, then Ignacio melded the beams back together. Most people were already off the bridge, but there were the odd few still standing around.

“Everyone off the bridge!” Pablo exclaimed.

They rushed off in either direction away from the bridge. It was only us left, along with some cars and buses. The bridge was creaking, it didn't sound like it would hold for much longer.

“Let's go!” Sam shouted.

We all rushed off the bridge, Sam levitating the vehicles, bringing them off with us. Hopefully, the Tower Bridge wouldn't collapse, it needed to be fixed.

“Good job keeping the bridge up.” Pablo looked at Ignacio.

“Thanks, I hope it'll hold.”

“It doesn't look like it'll hold for very long.” Alex shook her head.

“Yeah, but maybe it'll be okay now that the cars are off. At least until people come to fix it,” Sofia said.

“Well, we've done all we can, it's blocked off now, and people are on their way to fix it,” Sam said.

“Do you think it'll hold until they arrive?” Ignacio asked.

“It should do, there's no weight on it now, and you did a good job,” Sam replied.

“Yeah, I think we should just leave it to the professionals now,” Pablo said.

It wasn't ideal that Stealer got away, but at least, no one got hurt. Since there was nothing more we could do here, Sam brought us back to work.

“I think we should have a group dinner to welcome Ignacio to the team,” I said. They'd all brought me out to a pub to welcome me, which I'd loved, so I thought it would be good to do the same for Ignacio.

“That's a great idea.” Pablo smiled.

“Thanks, I'd love that,” Ignacio said.

“Sure, sounds good.” Alex nodded.

“I'm in,” Sofia said.

****

After work, we all went to an expensive restaurant; we booked the whole place out so that no one would bother us. We'd be too easily recognised, since all of us were out together. When the waiter came over, we all ordered what we wanted — I was going to have mushroom soup for a starter, then steak and mash for my main.

“I wasn't sure at first about having you on the team, but I'm glad you are. You really helped with that fire, and the bridge today.” Alex looked at Ignacio.

“Thank you, I really want to show everyone that I've changed. I don't want to be a villain anymore.” He shook his head.

“I think you've been a great hero so far,” Sofia said.

“I agree,” I replied.

“Thank you.” Ignacio smiled.

“You don't miss EVIL at all?” Pablo asked.

“Not really.” He shook his head. “I feel like this team is a better suit for me, and I didn't get along with the leader of EVIL most of the time… I never even wanted to be a villain, I only did it to get my cousin out of debt.”

“That's understandable, you'd do anything for family,” Pablo said.

“Definitely.” I nodded.

“I mean, I get it, but you could've got the money by being a hero,” Sofia said.

“Yeah, that's what I should've done. I guess I didn't really think it through very well,” he replied.

Maybe that was one of the reasons why Leon thought Ignacio was stupid, maybe he was impulsive.

“If you'd been a hero, you could've worked with Pablo at his old job.” I giggled.

“How?” Pablo frowned.

“Because Ignacio is from Mexico too.”

“Yeah, it's interesting to think about what could've happened if I'd made different decisions,” Ignacio said.

“I think I would've liked that, but I'm sure you would've come with me to England,” Pablo said.

“Why?” Ignacio frowned.

“Unfortunately, when the boss left, I didn't get on with the new one. People at work started making up lies about me, saying I wasn't doing things right, or that I was failing to save people.”

“That sucks,” Ignacio replied.

“Yeah, no one could work with people like that.” Sam shook his head.

“Even hearing about it gives me anxiety,” Sofia said.

“Same, it sounds awful.” I agreed.

“In a way I'm glad it happened, if it hadn't, I wouldn't be the leader of this great team, and I never would've met you.” Pablo looked at me.

“It would be so sad if we'd never met,” I said.

“We wouldn't be the same without you,” Alex said.

“Thank you, I'm grateful to have all of you.” Pablo smiled.

“As are we,” Sam replied.

All the food arrived, so I had some mushroom soup and it was delicious. I cut a bit of the juicy steak and ate it, it was just as perfect as the soup. It was tiring to cut the steak, since it was thick, and felt like I was sawing it in half for ten minutes.

“I'll cut that for you,” Ignacio said, so I gave him my knife and fork.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

He cut my steak into pieces for me, then gave back my knife and fork. I continued eating, and was glad that I didn't have to worry about cutting my steak.

“So, you're with us for a year, what will you do once your community service is over?” I asked.

“I'm not sure.” Ignacio shrugged. “I might stay with this team if I'm allowed. Or open up a restaurant.”

“If things keep going this well, you can certainly stay,” Pablo replied.

“Thanks.”

“I like having you with us, but it would be cool to have a friend who owns a restaurant,” I said.

“What kind of restaurant would you own?” Alex asked.

“It will have everything, Mexican, British, Asian, Italian, and more. I love cooking, and trying meals from other countries.” He smiled.

“Uh, although I love your ambition, I don't think that's a good idea.” Sofia shook her head.

“Why?” Ignacio frowned.

“I just think it'll be difficult to run a restaurant that serves so many different dishes. You'd have to get so many ingredients, and it would be hard to train chefs to cook so many meals. Not to mention the expense of it all,” she replied.

“I guess you're right.” He sighed.

“Hey, don't give up. Personally, I'd love to go to a restaurant that serves loads of food from all over the world,” I said.

“Same, it sounds perfect.” Alex smiled.

“I mean, I agree with Sofia, it sounds difficult to manage, but you should follow your dreams. It sounds like an interesting restaurant,” Sam said.

“I'm sure it'll be tough, but if you put your mind to it, I think you could pull it off,” Pablo said.

“I want to at least try. If it doesn't work out, I can always change it, or be a hero again.”

“Well, I hope it does work out,” I replied.

“Thank you.” He smiled.

“If you open it, we'll all be there for the grand opening,” Sofia said.

“Oh, thank you, that would be amazing.”

“We could promote your restaurant, then everyone would go.” I smiled.

“That's a great idea,” Ignacio replied.

It was great to be out like this as a team — wonderful company and food. We all shared our food, I loved trying a bit of everything. We got delicious desserts as well.

After dinner, I went home with Alex, and immediately got ready for bed, since we had work tomorrow. I got into bed beside Alex and snuggled into her.

“Goodnight, sweet dreams.” She kissed me.

“You too, goodnight.” I smiled.

It was so comfortable being in Alex's strong, warm arms.