Why did the way Summer answered his question fill Ashton with so much unease? It was like she was stalling, and her tone definitely sounded guilty. There was only one place that Ashton could think of for her to sound so off. Sending her on vacation had been a mistake. Now MysteriousMaskz had free access to her.

  “Is it Maskz again? Did you go to that club of his?” Ashton demanded, his voice filled with tension.

  “No, no,” Summer quickly denied, “Actually, I am at Heroix Headquarters right now.”

  “What?’ Ashton asked, definitely shocked, “What in the world possessed you to go there?”

  His head had been so filled with one threat that he had completely forgotten about the others. Based on what Derrick had said, Heroix might be even more dangerous for Summer right now than a face to face meeting with Maskz.

  “It is a long story, but I am in public right now,” Summer told him, “Call me a bit later? Or I can call you once I am alone.”

  Ashton let out a long sigh. “You had better have a good explanation for this,” he warned.

  “I will,” Summer promised.

  The call ended and Ashton slowly lowered his phone. Summer was hiding something. Not necessarily from him. Like she said, she was in public which would prevent her from speaking openly. Unfortunately that meant that things had happened on her end that she couldn’t speak publicly about. In Ashton’s experience, those things were never good. It seemed like no matter what he did, Summer would always manage to find herself in danger.

  Even if that was true, it was too late to take back his decision. Harper had already stressed that once his choice was put into action it could not be taken back until the conditions were met. For Summer to recover from the mental shock she would need time to rest, which meant not being bothered by reporters or strange fans. Was there even anything he could do to prevent that?

  With nothing coming to mind, Ashton switched his line of thinking to roles. Before Summer returned he should have that sorted out, at least. With six people, a buddy system seemed the most apt. The twins would be a team, Summer and Kayla would be a team, and that left Ashton to team up with Derrick. So far that made sense. Then what? What was the purpose of each team?

  The twins followed orders well, and with their unique ability to communicate with each other without words their power would lend well to reconnaissance and even infiltration. When moving as a team with everyone they would be good lookouts. Their role was easy enough to decide, but the others were harder. Ashton felt that his role as the leader was the hardest to understand.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Summer and Kayla were both support, but Summer had a habit of charging forward recklessly. In the future it would be best if both of them could work together to support himself and Derrick. Derrick also seemed more tuned to support at first glance, but he was clever and could easily turn situations to his favor. Ashton had always been in awe when he had watched the recordings of RepliKtion’s villainy.

  In the first place, their team was never meant for combat. Ashton was the only one who had an ability truly suited to it, and he didn’t think he could bear to go any further than a common taser would manage. The facility had drilled it into his brain to never use his power to harm others, and there was no way Gale hadn’t known this.

  Perhaps he was thinking about this all wrong. The powers they had been chosen to face were mental abilities that no power would be able to do much against without incapacitating the person behind it. Ashton, who had always wanted to be recognized for his own skills and hard work, felt ashamed for organizing others by their powers even if just in his head.

  Without taking powers into consideration, what kinds of roles were there to assign? What kind of team was he meant to create? Ashton was back at square one and couldn’t help but feel frustrated. Should he really be the one in charge of this team? He felt vastly unprepared to take on a challenge like this.

  Things had been different when he was first extended the offer. Now he was weighed down by impossible expectations. MysteriousMaskz had been spreading word that he would be the one to change the world, to bring about a new future. Ashton had tried to brush it off as the ravings of a madman, but this new pressure he felt from Amber Gale was different.

  He felt it strongly during their last meeting. She had some kind of expectations for him as well. Perhaps not on the level that Maskz had, but it already felt heavy. Unlike Maskz, Amber had stepped up and helped him. She had created the very serum he had dreamed of for most of his life. The problem was he had no idea what it was she expected of him. Maybe if he knew that, the answers to the rest of these issues would come naturally.

  Ashton took a deep breath and again forced himself onto another train of thoughts. He needed to focus on things he could currently do something about. With that in mind, Ashton threw himself into preparations for Derrick’s arrival while he waited for Summer’s call. When the call finally came, it was a bit different than Ashton had been expecting.

  “I can’t explain everything on the phone,” Summer told him, “Just in case, you know. Can we meet in person?”

  “When?” Ashton asked. He was ready to drop everything in a moment to meet her, especially since the more he found out about this explanation of hers the more serious it seemed like it would be.

  “Tonight might be difficult,” Summer admitted, “Just in case, do you know any private places without listening ears? Not Maskz. He probably knows everything already.”

  There were people Summer was concerned about listening in besides MysteriousMaskz? Ashton thought about it for a few moments. “Yes, actually,” he replied, “I doubt anyone else would be using it after SI fell apart.”

  “Really? That sounds kind of cool. Just tell me whatever time works for you tomorrow and I can work around it.”

  Summer had sounded both intrigued and relieved when he brought up a potential meeting place. They quickly arranged a time to meet, and Ashton offered to pick her up. For whatever reason, it seemed like Kayla would not be joining them on this little meeting. Just what kind of bomb was Summer going to drop on him when they met?