Page 47 of Fanning the Flames

True. Even Sadie had said some unkind things to her about Spark before knowing her real secret identity.

“I think I remember that woman at the ATM,” Mark said. “It wasn’t all thievery and mischief. We did do some good. I liked being able to help people out.”

“Because Ice was the generous one,” Joan teased. “But yeah, it felt like the right thing to do. God knows we understood not having enough money for essentials.”

“That’s the thing that separates us from the Supers. They didn’t have the struggles we did. They can’t connect with the little guy.”

“Yeah,” Joan said again. She got that lost-in-a-memory look on her face. She never shied away from talking about her past when prompted, but there were a whole lot of buried emotions she didn’t verbalize. She’d seen a lot in her thirty-five years.

Sadie rested her fingertips on Joan’s arm. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” She blinked and smiled. “I can’t get over how the norms keep adjusting to Super activity. Our world was about holding grudges and bitter revenge.”

“That’s not very healthy,” Sadie said.

“Not much we did was healthy. Except our random acts of altruism.”

Mark diced his pepper strips. “Are we almost ready to open?”

“Just about,” Joan said. She tapped the countertop. “This is our focus.”

That wasn’t the first time she’d said that recently. Reinforcing how the past was not going to encroach on their future.

“It’s okay to acknowledge you did good things,” Sadie said.

“We’re doing better things now.” Joan settled her Vultures ballcap on backwards.

“It’s still okay to hear people appreciated what kindness you did as Spark and Ice.”

“Most people don’t know we did them.”

“We didn’t do it for the accolades the way the Supers do,” Mark said.

“We did anonymous donations. Like the one I gave to Vector City Coffee that caused a lot of confusion between us.”

“Maybe you should have taken the credit,” Sadie said.

Joan snorted a wry laugh. “‘Here’s some money for your shattered windows. Warm regards from the Villains who broke them.’ That doesn’t make it better.”

“At least it’s an acknowledgment. The Supers just send you to a form on an app that probably never gets looked at.”

Mark’s bright blue eyes widened. “Did you just dis the Supers? I’m so proud of you.”

“Well, no one can deny there are very few payouts to individuals or anything that’s not a big corporation.”

“Funny how Allegria Tower, the home of Allegria Insurance, got patched up in no time.”

Sadie snagged her spoon to give the hot chocolate a stir. “Maybe we should get the word out about your past good deeds.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Joan said. “We’re not in that life anymore, so who cares what people think about some former Villains who disappeared?” She took a step toward the front of the truck, then rocked back and kissed Sadie’s cheek. “But thank you for caring.”

“It’s more than caring,” Sadie said. “It’s not right that people are going around thinking the worst about you when there were glimmers of good.”

Joan gave her a slight shrug and went to the side entry.

“It comes with the territory, Sades,” Mark said. “Our misdeeds outweigh the rest. Which is fair.”

“I just wish people knew about the rest.”

---