Just to make sure Jargon couldn’t try anything once he was free of whatever contract he had with Maskz, Ashton bound his hands behind his back. The man before him, now blinded and bound, seemed especially pathetic. If he hadn’t personally witnessed the chaos from before he might have pitied him or second guessed his choice.

  Controlled by Maskz or not, contracts that were truly binding was a horrifying prospect. Even without Ned’s threats, Ashton knew better than to let a power like this fall into anyone else’s hands. He could only imagine what his future would be like if the government gained control of a power like this. It was better for everyone’s sake that it was gone for good.

  The serum Ashton had brought with him was in the form of injection, but Jargon didn’t even flinch. It felt different from when he had administered the serum to John Doe. Nothing felt different. Logically speaking, that made sense. Ashton hadn’t been affected by Jargon’s power, so he would have no way of knowing if it were to suddenly stop working.

  “Ashton, give me an update,” Jared’s voice came through the earpiece.

  Right, he wasn’t alone. His team was right outside, and Summer was trapped on the roof. “I found Jargon and administered the serum,” Ashton reported, “I will escort him down. Prepare to apprehend him.”

  “I can meet you halfway,” Kai offered, “Jared said the dangerous feeling he had about me is gone now, and you need to get to Summer.”

  “Thank you,” Ashton told him, relieved that he wouldn’t have to spend the time to get Jargon all the way out of the building. Every second he spent doing this, he was filled with worry about what Maskz was doing to Summer on the roof. He couldn’t afford to leave Jargon alone, either. “We’re going downstairs.”

  Jargon obediently listened and allowed Ashton to guide him. The pair awkwardly made it all the way to the third floor when Ashton suddenly began to hear the pitter pat of small footsteps. A child? Was Summer there too? Ashton stopped and turned, waiting for the owner of those footsteps to approach.

  Both Levi and Kai made it from downstairs before the small steps from above came into view. Ashton passed off Jargon to Levi and waited anxiously. He didn’t hear any other steps with the child. Why wasn’t anyone with them?

  “What are you waiting for?” Kai whispered.

  “I think that might be Mason,” Ashton whispered back.

  “I’m Mason,” a young voice replied as he finally came into view. He had heard their whispers echo up the stairwell, “Are you heroes?”

  “We are!” Kai confirmed before Ashton had a chance to answer.

  The child raced down the remaining steps and clung to Kai’s leg. “Can you take me home, hero?”

  “Of course,” Kai promised, gesturing for Ashton to go upstairs, “Let’s go outside and meet my brother. He looks just like me.”

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  Ashton charged up the steps once it was clear Kai had things handled. Now that everything else was taken care of, he could focus on Summer’s situation without worrying. All of his training as Shadow Phoenix, and as the leader of the special team had definitely paid off. He felt a bit winded, but considering how many flights he sprinted up it wasn’t bad. He still had plenty enough energy to take on whatever was beyond this door.

  The door knob rattled uselessly when Ashton yanked on it. Locked? Maskz, the person who had been obsessed with him this whole time, wanted to stop him from interfering? The worst possible scenarios flashed through Ashton’s mind. Was Summer dead beyond this door? Gravely injured? Had he brought Checkmate along and turned her into a puppet? Was he planning to take her hostage and force him to do something truly dangerous?

  Panic overtook rational thought as Ashton hurried to break down the door. Since it was an outer door it didn’t look like brute force was going to cut it. Attacking the lock probably wouldn’t help much. That meant the weakest part of the door would be the hinges. Ashton gathered electricity and formed something like a mini bomb, carefully splitting it into three. If he messed this up, he would suffer more from the blast than the door would.

  The moment the tiny electric bombs touched the hinges, Ashton was pushed back by the resulting shockwave. A loud boom made his ears ring, but he had no time to waste. Ashton shoved the door out of its frame and braced himself for what he would see on the rooftop.

  The space was wide and empty aside from a few benches set up near the middle. Standing near one of those benches was Summer, and across from her at the edge of the railing was a casual yet confident looking young man. He met Ashton’s eyes and smiled before leaning backwards on the railing. A moment later he started to fall.

  What just happened? Both Ashton and Summer were frozen in shock for several long moments. Reluctantly, Ashton approached the railing to see what had become of the man who was most likely their bitter enemy. To his relief he did not see a gory mess on the concrete below. In fact, he didn’t see anything at all.

  “Where did he go?” Ashton wondered aloud.

  He scanned the area over the edge of the rail one more time before he spotted it. At first he couldn’t believe his eyes. Was that a grappling hook? This wasn’t some crazy spy movie. There was no way Maskz could have escaped so quickly with just this grappling hook wedged into bars of the rail. Had he used a parachute then? No, he hadn’t been wearing a backpack. That left one obvious conclusion. Someone had come to rescue him before he hit the ground.

  “Ashton?” Summer asked hesitantly, “Is he dead?”

  “No,” he answered, finally turning his focus onto the person he had come there for in the first place, “It’s like he vanished into thin air.” He gave the grappling hook a tug to try to free it from the railing but it was wedged tight.

  “He vanished? Does that mean his ability is teleportation?” Summer suggested.

  “I doubt it. Someone must have helped him,” Ashton guessed, “Was that man MysteriousMaskz?”

  Summer gulped, joining him at the rail to look over herself. “It was,” she confirmed, “He looked exactly as I remember him. I thought he called me up here to lure you out, but he fell off the building before you even got here.”

  “That isn’t quite true,” Ashton corrected, “We locked eyes before he fell. I don’t know why he would want to show me his face. There is no way he doesn’t already know mine.”

  “I don’t know either, but let’s get out of here,” Summer encouraged. Ashton realized she was trembling slightly. “Now that he is clear, the building might collapse for real, or worse.”

  Ashton took in a deep breath to try to calm himself. She was right. He gently put an arm around her shoulders to hopefully offer her some small amount of comfort. “Let’s get going, then. Everyone else is already waiting outside. Mason is safe with Kai.”