With so many powers on hand, and secret research underway, lunch was held inside the Gale Research center. The cafeteria there was pretty good, even if it did bring up old memories Ashton had of getting cornered there before. Maskz had been working hard to make his life interesting before Ashton even knew he existed.

  As soon as they sat down to eat, RepliKtion's gaze became all the more obvious. It looked like Ashton wasn't going to be able to avoid this confrontation for much longer. How much had he already figured out? Did he recognize him after all? He continued to eat to try and push off the coming accusation as long as he possibly could. To his relief, RepliKtion made no move to start a conversation over lunch. That small amount of consideration did not stop him from staring holes through Ashton the entire time they were eating, though.

  After everyone finished their meal, Ms. Gale began discussing a new plan based on the earlier testing. She had three theories about why Insomnia's power had worked when Ashton's had not. First, Ashton's ability had the potential to cause them harm, whereas sleep was harmless. Second, Ashton's ability had a physical presence, whereas sleep fell into the unseen type of abilities. Third, Insomnia was just too strong and overpowered the nullification.

  If it was the first one, there was a chance that the serum did more than just wiping an ability. It may have replaced it with some form of power nullification. Anyone would subconsciously tense up after hearing they would be shocked, and it was no different with powers. The second one would be easily tested with the original plan. As for the third, it would be easily tested if Ashton used his full power. The problem was, if his power worked, the volunteer could die. That idea was put on hold until Amber could find someone with a similar but less dangerous ability.

  “Why don’t we bring in a new face and lie to them about what is going to happen?” RepliKtion suggested, “Tell them they will be testing some kind of dangerous power that they don’t actually have.”

  “That would certainly help us determine whether the block is subconscious or a natural reaction,” Ms. Gale agreed, “but I will leave any further testing on that line until after the original test concludes. For all we know, Insomnia might be the exception, not Ashton.”

  The one who seemed the most devastated for things to continue as planned was Phobia, who was curled up even tighter than before, with two fingers poking out of the baggy sleeve to tug their hood down ever lower over their face. They didn’t say anything, but they flinched every time testing was mentioned. Ashton felt sorry for them. Not only did it seem they were naturally shy and antisocial, they were surrounded by strangers who weren’t even part of the same agency.

  After the short discussion, they were given some free time to wander the research center to let Insomnia get a bit more sleep. Phobia took off immediately. They were quick for someone so small. Ashton was about to follow when RepliKtion caught his arm. Based on the serious expression on his face, he wasn’t going to let this go.

  “Did you need help finding something?” Ashton asked, still stubbornly trying to deny recognizing him.

  “Yeah. I think I saw an old colleague but he seems to be avoiding me,” RepliKtion replied, “I can understand not wanting to get dragged into my mess after everything that happened once my identity was compromised, but he could at least try to make it less obvious.”

  “Perhaps you are mistaken, or your old colleague doesn’t remember you,” Ashton suggested.

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  “No, he definitely does,” RepliKtion pressed, “I was going to just ignore it, but something about the way he keeps brushing me off when I haven’t even done anything is getting on my nerves. Why don’t you help me meet up with him during our little break here?”

  “Why don’t you stop threatening our team captain,” Kai broke in, pushing off the hand RepliKtion had grabbed Ashton with, “I don’t know how things work at Heroix, but we respect privacy and safety here at Gale Research.”

  “Which is exactly why I waited to say anything,” RepliKtion pointed out, “Look, I am not trying to start anything. I just want to talk. If it turns out I am wrong I will leave.”

  “And if you decide you are right? Are you going to be a problem then?” Levi demanded, backing up his twin without hesitation.

  The loyalty and support was something Ashton had not expected, but it was kind of nice. That being said, there was no need to start a fight here. “How about we go to the meeting room?” Ashton suggested, “Maybe your old colleague will have something to say to you there.”

  “Fine with me,” RepliKtion agreed.

  The meeting room was empty. Not a surprise considering everyone was either sleeping or on break. He didn’t stop either of the twins from following him which seemed to surprise his very demanding old colleague. What point was there in trying to keep them out when they already knew exactly who he was?

  “So,” Ashton began when Kai closed the door behind them, “What is it you wanted to ask me? Feel free to speak freely in front of my team. We are all aware of each other’s pasts.”

  “What an incredible team bond,” RepliKtion muttered, before shaking it off and getting down to business, “I know you are Shadow Phoenix. I don’t care about that. What I want to know is if you knew what would happen to SI when you quit.”

  “Did I know that SI would collapse entirely like it did?” Ashton asked in return, “No. I knew that someone was targetting SI and trying to convince me to defect, but i had handed that issue over to the people in power and thought everything was under control. Besides, I didn’t jump ship entirely. The only one who quit was Shadow Phoenix. I worked for SI until SI stopped working.”

  “So you only dropped your screen time,” RepliKtion realized, “That means SI fell due to a targeted attack, and whoever it was is still after you. I thought I had it rough. Would you be angry with me if I say I am still jealous?”

  Ashton recalled the file he had read about RepliKtion’s current situation. “No, I understand completely,” he told him, “For me dressing up and playing villain was awful. I can’t imagine dealing with your current situation. I’m surprised you didn’t quit.”

  “If you really are Shadow Phoenix, I have something to say about that,” RepliKtion stated, “It wasn’t that I didn’t try. I couldn’t. Not until just recently. Suddenly, after that mass messaging scare was handled, I was free to take my own actions. Isn’t that odd?”

  That meant Heroix really had been using Jargon, and now that Jargon didn’t have any powers their heroes were free to break loose from their constraints. “Very odd,” Ashton replied, “If you are so free now, why are you here representing the place you wanted to quit so much?”

  “The power suppression formula,” RepliKtion admitted, “It was a rash decision. I’m no longer interested in it now that I know there are other ways to make them regret what they did to me. Hey, does your team happen to be hiring right now?”

  “That isn’t something I can decide, but I will tell those who need to know what you told me,” Ashton promised.

  “Don’t take too long,” RepliKtion pressed, “Since the name of the villain everyone was the most curious about was missing from the list of leaked identities, the people who have been using all means to find him have only increased. I’m not saying I will out you on purpose, but there is this one with some kind of truth power who cornered me before. The only reason I didn’t spill your identity before is because I didn’t know it.”

  Another important piece of information. Of course enemies of all kinds would try to find the remaining heroes and villains through their coworkers whose identities had been linked. That meant that Summer was at just as much risk as he was.