“I read the files on your earlier missions,” Derrick began, cutting through the silence, “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.”

  Not a bad idea, but it wouldn’t work if Maskz could listen in. No movie buff enjoyed their show being spoiled, and Ashton had an extra reason to be certain their nosy friend would be listening in. He touched his brand new watch as he considered. He still couldn’t find this power switch that Ned had supposedly installed.

  “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.”

  He found a small bin for everyone to leave their phones, added his own phone and watch to the pile, and left it next to the computer. With all of the technology together they moved to the room farthest from it to continue 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.”

  Summer and Kayla explained the basics of what had happened, things Ashton already knew. He hadn’t considered that Summer might have been at the Golden Club at the same time as Checkmate, though. The idea that they might have crossed paths gave him chills. He also agreed with Kayla’s opinion that Claudia had gotten herself into this mess by publishing the article and Summer was not at fault.

  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.”

  A role. That was right. Masks had made it clear that he was trying to bring his ideal plots into reality. Villains, heroes, and the tension brought by real threats and danger. If he was assigning roles to everyone else, it only made sense that he would have one picked out for himself. Ned wasn’t the type to just sit back and play the scriptmaster. No, that was more of Checkmate’s style. Derrick was probably right with most, if not all, of his ideas.

  “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.”

  Naturally, everyone argued against him the moment Ashton brought this idea up. They wouldn’t let him act on his own, and going as a team was out of the question. If push came to shove, Maskz would likely only rescue Ashton. Summer tried to offer herself, bringing up the fact that MysteriousMaskz owed her a favor. Since when had he owed her a favor? Summer had failed to mention that when they met previously. Either way, this argument was going nowhere.

  “What if one of us plays the role of traitor or spy?” Kayla suggested, breaking through the current standoff, “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. Ashton agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment.

  “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.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “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 questioned.

  “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 well thought out that Summer called Derrick out on it, claiming it was suspicious. Ashton only half paid attention to Derrick’s resulting explanation as he thought through the idea of a traitor. Something like that was a good start, but feeling betrayed wasn’t something you could entirely fake. This wasn’t a role Derrick could safely take either.

  No, Ashton was just making excuses.The moment betrayal had been mentioned he had felt like this was the perfect opportunity. He fully intended to betray someone. Not his team, but MysteriousMaskz and Gale Research. This timing would make it easy to chalk it up to some well thought out plan, and he might not even suffer any severe consequences for it.

  “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.”

  It didn’t matter. Actually, Ashton was counting on their terrible acting to back him up. There would be a real betrayal hiding behind the fake one. Once Ashton was powerless, Shadow Phoenix would cease to exist. He would finally be free from Ned’s influence, and all of the other nonsense that came with it.

  Discussion over, they fell into their plan right away. Derrick continued to spend a suspicious amount of time with the twins, Summer and Kayla went to catch up on all of the training they had missed, and Ashton was left alone to plot his fake, but very real betrayal. The first thing he did was make sure the watch was on so MysteriousMaskz would hear everything he was going to do and say.

  “Why would Derrick willingly take the fall?” Ashton muttered to himself, “Has all his time at Heroix convinced him he is a real hero?”

  That should be enough acting for now. He had to be careful not to overdo it or Maskz would be suspicious. It was already suspicious enough for him to say something like that not long after putting the watch he knew was a bug back on his wrist. Now that dropping hints about the plan was out of the way, Ashton turned his focus to his real plan.

  A certain case that Ashton had held onto since before SI fell had been moved to their base of operations. Exactly one permanent dose of Untouchable was contained inside. Now Ashton knew he could get Untouchable whenever he needed it from Gale Research, but something about this dose felt different. If he was going to use it on himself, it needed to be that one. Beside it in the case was a dose of the paired antidote. This is what he would plant in Derrick’s apartment to frame him.

  Breaking into someone’s apartment was easy when you owned the master set of keys. Ashton slipped inside, taking the case with him. He made sure to fry any security cameras on his way over. He had to at least pretend he was trying to avoid detection. Once inside, he decided to stash the case in Derrick’s bathroom cupboard. Before he did, he opened it on the bathroom sink and removed the dose of Untouchable.

  “I never thought I would use it like this,” he muttered. This time he wasn’t even acting. It just slipped right out.

  The phone that he had turned back on began to buzz with notifications, no doubt from Maskz, but he didn’t check it. Ashton felt half mesmerised as he carefully administered Untouchable to himself. This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for. The powers that had haunted him for as long as he could remember would be gone for good. He took a deep breath after administration was complete.

  Odd. He didn’t feel different. “No way, did it fail?” Ashton asked, his internal panic seeping into his voice.

  Just as he feared, when he reached out his hand and tried to run electricity through his fingers he saw the little sparks dancing as they usually did. Why hadn’t Untouchable worked? Just in case, he double checked what was in the case. The remaining dose was definitely the antidote, but just in case Ashton used that too.

  Still nothing. It was like the hopes and dreams he had for his future came crashing down all at once. Untouchable didn’t work. He still had his cursed power, and he couldn’t even pull off a proper betrayal. Desperate to at least finish something, he replaced the empty doses into the case and stuffed them into Derrick’s bathroom cupboard. He managed to return to his own apartment just in time for someone to knock on the door.