Nathan clicked and unclicked his pen against the table. The rest of the team was off doing various PR activities: Scope was off at a medical conference as a civilian; Grapple was doing some sort of publicity stunt, a weightlifting competition for super strength; Rainbright and the twins, Iris and Hermes, were at the local schools. That just left him and Angelica, as usual, and Angelica was doing paperwork.

Technically, he wasn’t supposed to be back on duty yet. The rules stated that after any major encounter with a villain, he had to be taken off duty for a month. Being knocked unconscious, kidnapped, and then having his face seen by a different villain counted as a major encounter. Honestly, though, he was grateful for the time off. He felt weaker than he had before the whole incident. The Corps therapist suggested that he could feel that way because he hadn’t saved himself. Telling himself that didn’t help, though, so he was working out and practicing with his suit. Either way, it couldn’t hurt. With a team as small as theirs in a city as large as the Cove, they really couldn’t afford to have one member out of commission for too long. So he was currently serving as backup in case of a major emergency. What counted as a major emergency was up for debate, but generally if someone was in danger, it was acceptable to save them.

Angelica walked into the rec room, shuffling some paperwork. Nathan lifted his head off his arms. “Hey, Angie,” Nathan said. “Isn’t it ironic that the safety guidelines won’t let me do any of the safe activities but will let me handle life-threatening emergencies?”

“I’m not sure I would call it safe, handling schoolkids,” Angelica said dryly, walking over to his table. “Seems like every time we do, a robot attacks.”

“Still better than this,” Nathan said.

“Bored?” she asked, putting the papers into one stack and tapping them on the table to straighten them.

“Yeah. Guess that’s a good thing, though.” He put his head back down and clicked the pen.

“Well, you could help me with paperwork,” Angelica said, putting a form down in front of him and heading off to the minifridge.

“Hmm.” He picked it up. It was the mission report from just before his capture, with the Alter Ego shifter. He read through it and nodded. “Looks right. Sign and initial?”

“As always.” Angelica came back, sipping from a soda.

Nathan signed and handed it back. “Glad I can do something right.” That came out more bitter than he’d expected.

Angelica paused, her hand hovering over the stack. “You certainly handled this case well,” she said, holding up the mission report. “Calming her down, making sure there were no casualties.”

“And then immediately afterwards, I got captured and had that livestreamed, and then I had to get rescued by a couple of supervillains!” Nathan sat back in his chair. “I’m an awful hero.”