This mission wasn’t going to be like any of the others they had faced so far. One had come with a surprise bomb and a suspicious contract. The other was an emergency involving hostages. It was crazy to think that their third mission they had ever been on would be targeting an infamous and dangerous villain like Checkmate.

  “I read the files on your earlier missions,” Derrick spoke up suddenly, “MysteriousMaskz has dropped references to popular movies, and shown tendencies towards common tropes. If he really is behind it and as obsessed with you as he seems, maybe we could use our own movie tropes to get ahead.”

  Before any of them could say another word about this topic, Ashton intervened. “Turn your phones off,” he ordered, “Just in case, we should take them out of this room. If we intend to follow through with this kind of plan, we can’t let him listen in ahead of time.”

  No one bothered asking who Ashton was referring to as the all obediently pulled out their phones and powered them off. Ashton gathered them in a basket before taking off the watch on his wrist and adding it to the pile. Did that watch have something to do with the bug MysteriousMaskz had planted on Ashton? Summer couldn’t remember for certain if Ashton had always worn it.

  Once all of the devices were properly stashed they met in the room farthest from all of the tech and resumed their discussion.

  “You are right about his tendencies, but our current objective is Checkmate, not Maskz,” Levi pointed out, “What kind of cliches could we possibly use to help track him down? There aren’t many that would be beneficial that we could manufacture.”

  “We’ve already had one,” Summer admitted, “I don’t think he will be there anymore, but Checkmate was at the Golden Club at the same time that Kayla and I visited. It was a sudden situation, but I don’t think it was a coincidence.”

  “You were at the Golden Club?” Derrick asked, “Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

  “It was,” Summer admitted, “Actually, it might be my fault that Claudia Jones disappeared. She was following me relentlessly that day so I made a big mistake. I accused Maskz of sending her after me and things went downhill from there.”

  Other than Ashton and Kayla who already knew, the reactions of the team members were full of shock, concern, and utter disbelief. It wasn’t like Summer could blame them. Even now, she was beating herself up over it.

  “Not entirely downhill,” Kayla corrected, “Apparently he doesn’t view us as his enemies, especially when we are off work. He helped both of us improve our abilities. He promised to help shake Claudia off our tail without harming her, too. I have a feeling that this was her own fault. She might have been able to walk out of there unharmed had she not written that article.”

  “He definitely knew she wouldn’t be able to resist,” Summer argued back, “Someone who could ignore a scoop for their own safety wouldn’t have followed us in the first place.”

  Derrick looked between them. “I think I get what role MysteriousMaskz thinks he is playing now,” he stated, “He is not the villain, but the antihero. Someone who is helpful to the cause but does not follow laws, morals, or even the desires of the people he thinks he is helping. His cause might even be different from ours, but he believes it is what is best for us in the end.”

  That did sound like what they had experienced so far, but it was odd to hear him speak of it as if it was a role that Ned was playing, made it seem like the real Ned might be different. It made Summer realize that they couldn’t take his obsession with Ashton for granted. One day he might get frustrated and switch targets, making even contacting him an impossible task.

  “So we need to play along with this role?” Summer guessed.

  “Most likely,” Ashton agreed, “I think the only option is to fully embrace the role of bait. It happens all the time where the hero does something reckless and nearly gets themselves killed only to be saved at the last minute by the antihero or rival they were previously wary of.”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “You can’t be talking about going in there yourself,” Derrick denied, “If you disappear this team won’t even exist anymore.”

  “If the whole team acts as bait, there is no guarantee Maskz will rescue any of you,” Ashton pointed out, “The only person he would be likely to rescue is me, and we can’t even count on that.”

  “What about me?” Summer asked, “Ned told me himself that he owes me a favor. Even if he does decide Ashton isn’t worth it anymore, he might rescue me just to pay it off.”

  “Which would waste the favor and our one chance of catching him,” Kai argued, “Let’s try and think of another plan. The bait idea should be our last resort.”

  Now that she was trying to think of them, Summer couldn’t think of a single cliche from any movie, show, or even book. To begin with, what genre did Maskz even like? What if they accidentally chose the wrong kind of cliche? It was Kayla who finally proposed an idea after the bait idea was cast aside.

  “What if one of us plays the role of traitor or spy?” she suggested, “We would have to be really careful about it not to make it too obvious. It would not only help us learn more about the motives of MysteriousMaskz, but he might even try to send Checkmate to deal with it. Checkmate might rebel if he thinks he is being used as a pawn since he likes being in control.”

  “Trying to drive a wedge between our enemies by pretending there is one between us?” Ashton checked, “It might work, but who would be able to play that role?”

  “Not me, I can’t act and I think the moment I seem like I might turn on you he will kill me,” Summer spoke up immediately. She had barely gotten him to say he didn’t hate her anymore. She didn’t have enough lives to play such dangerous games.

  “I can do it,” Derrick agreed easily, “I have no reason to have any loyalty towards you, and I have made my ambitious nature no secret. Everyone probably figures I would take anyone’s hand if I think they will help me take my revenge against MysteriousMaskz.”

  “How do you intend to betray us?” Ashton asked warily.

  Derrick paused to think about it for a few moments. “If I were to betray you, I would probably steal Untouchable and give it to Checkmate. Since he seems similar to me I would believe that he would not hesitate to use it on MysteriousMaskz, but I would not go into it without a plan. Since I would be putting myself at risk by revealing myself, I would need something I can hold over him as a shield. I also would not act alone.”

  “More than one traitor?” Ashton asked.

  “Not full traitors. Unwitting helpers,” Derrick clarified, “I’ve made no secret that I have been getting close to the twins during my time here. I would spin some lies about some supposed plan you never gave me to get their help. By the time they find out the truth it would be too late to stop me.”

  The plan was so far thought out for a topic they had just brought up. “Are you sure you came up with this just now?” Summer asked warily.

  “I won’t lie,” Derrick said with a shrug, “When I first arrived I considered risking it all to enact my revenge, even if it meant betraying you. After looking through all of the records of MysteriousMaskz you have singlehandedly collected I realized acting on my own would be impossible. Being able to place a bug on the guy helped calm me down as well. Thinking about something and doing it are very different, and I am not that stupid.”

  “It isn’t a bad plan,” Ashton considered, “You would be the obvious choice, but I think it might be a bit too obvious. I think I should be the traitor, both to this team and to whatever designs Maskz has for me. I will steal Untouchable, use it on myself, and use you as a scapegoat. We can cook up a story, but we can’t let it be too predictable or our ever watchful friend will get bored.”

  “Won’t that just end the same with me being labelled the traitor?” Derrick asked, confused.

  “By most people, yes, but not by Maskz,” Ashton said, “He is constantly watching and listening to everything I do. I will make it very clear I am sick and tired of his games and I just want out.”

  “Still, using Untouchable on yourself is going too far,” Derrick argued, “I wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that to you here where you are clearly favored by the CEO herself.”

  “That’s true,” Ashton confirmed, “Both Maskz and Amber Gale will know this.”

  Derrick sighed after Ashton stared him down for a few moments. “Fine. I get it. We will go with this plan for now. Don’t blame me if the rest of your team are terrible actors.”

  Summer looked between the two. Something had clearly happened while she was gone. There was something else neither of them were saying. It was like they weren’t even talking about MysteriousMaskz anymore, but something else. What was Ashton hiding?