“The contact couldn’t have led with that?” Enmachina grumbled. Echo and Couronne. Just what he needed in front of the newbie. At least Echo had stopped with the song and dance routine. Hopefully they didn’t decide to revive it for the occasion. “Are they threatening the workers or other golfers? Setting the place on fire?”

“No. They’re just golfing.”

“Huh. Well, might as well check it out. Send us the coordinates and we’ll be on our way.” That was weird for them. Ordinarily, a villain doing something very conspicuous would be distracting the team from another crime, but Echo and Couronne didn’t work with other villains. In fact, they were usually the first ones to go after other villains. Besides, the whole skyscraper-lightning thing was more than enough of a distraction. He sent a report back to HQ anyway, just in case. Not like he didn’t have time enough for it: the mini-golf center was on the other side of the city.

“So… mini-golf?” Rainbright asked.

“Yeah, that’s kinda weird, even for those two.” Enmachina shook his head. “Quick question: do you have a catchphrase?”

“No. I mean, I have a few ideas, but nothing solid.”

“Good. If you get a catchphrase, never say it in front of them. Trust me on this. You will never, ever live it down. Your legacy will be forever tarnished.”

“Uh… Okay?”

Rainbright obviously wanted to ask more, but they arrived. Enmachina gently touched down, while Rainbright nearly stumbled into the wall. After a quick check to make sure she was all right, he walked inside. The clerk inside looked bored, but raised her eyebrows when she saw Rainbright. “We heard you had a pest problem,” Enmachina said.

“Yeah. Sort of.”

“What are they doing, exactly?” Enmachina asked.

The clerk shrugged. “They’re playing golf. That’s it. They even paid for it.”

“Card?” Enmachina asked hopefully.

“Cash.”

“I see.” No trace to their civilian identities. Sure, that would have been a really stupid move, but the two were currently playing mini-golf in costume, so he wasn’t sure how to rate their intelligence at the moment. “We’ll take care of it. Come on,” he said, waving Rainbright along toward the back. “Now, what’s our first priority?”

“Arresting the villains?” Rainbright asked eagerly.

“...No. First priority, we need to get them out of the building. If we start a fight inside, we’ll probably destroy it and hurt bystanders.”

“Oh,” Rainbright said, hunching her shoulders. “Okay. So how do we do that?”

“Doesn’t hurt to ask politely,” Enmachina said. He turned a corner and spotted the two immediately. Aside from the fact that there was nobody else in there, Couronne was very distinctive due to being on so much fire that it obscured their body entirely. Couronne was lining up their golf swing while Echo leaned on their club. “Really, you two?” he called out to them.

They both turned to look at him. “Really,” Echo called back, mimicking his voice modulator except somehow making it sound smug.

Couronne waved a hand in the air. Flaming words appeared, saying Who’s the pride flag?

“Introduction time, I guess. Rainbright, this is Echo and Couronne. Couronne is the one on fire, who shockingly has fire-based powers.” Couronne gave a wave. “Echo has sonic amplification and repeats what people say.”

“Echo!” Echo echoed.

“They’re also a Flying Brick, and Couronne flies. Echo, Couronne, this is Rainbright.”

Echo stepped forward and offered a hand. Rainbright automatically shook it. Enmachina cringed, but that safety lecture could wait. “So,” he said, “How about we go outside and avoid destroying the place?”

“Destroy,” Echo repeated gleefully.

Couronne just shrugged. Why should we leave? We’re not breaking any laws.

“There are multiple warrants out for your arrest,” Enmachina said. “We can arrest you at any time, regardless of what you’re doing.” He was pretty sure they knew that already. They kept from crossing so many lines that they had to know where those lines were. “And really, why did you two decide to go out golfing? I thought you hated golf.”

Nah, just rich people, Couronne wrote in the air. Want to join us?

“No, I would not like to join you,” Enmachina said. “Look. You’re out in the open, in your costumes. Obviously you want attention. We’ll get plenty of it if we’re fighting, won’t we? So let’s go off and fight.”

Do we get a refund? Couronne wrote. We haven’t played all our balls.

“I’ll be sure to tell the court to take it off whatever fines you get,” Enmachina said.

The two looked at each other, and then Echo shrugged. They dropped their clubs and walked toward the exit. Enmachina followed. “Echo looks really familiar,” Rainbright said.

“Probably. They’ve gone viral a few times.”

“Right, right. So is this the part where we arrest them?” Rainbright asked.

Enmachina sighed. “I hate to say it, but it would be really hard for us to arrest them,” he said. “Couronne is on fire. It’s pretty hard to arrest someone who’s on fire unless they surrender. Like, how do you even get the inhibitor cuffs on without burning yourself?”

“What about Echo?”

“Invulnerable, so Couronne can also set them on fire.”

“So… what exactly are we doing, then?”