Once Summer pulled Ashton into a hug, he hugged her back just as tight. They stood like that for a while as both of them took the chance to calm down. Once Ashton finally began to relax and return to his normal self he released her and got straight to business. Summer looked over his shoulder as he opened his phone to reveal his own string of messages from MysteriousMaskz, along with an alarming number of missed phone calls.

  It really put into perspective the difference in the level of attention he gave them. Summer couldn’t help but glance at her own phone again with a complete lack of any phone calls. Rather than feeling any sort of envy, it was more like pity. She would never be able to handle that level of obsession, especially from the enemy. It was no wonder Ashton wanted to get rid of his power if it caused things like this.

  Ashton stared at his phone for a few minutes, seeming deep in thought. Summer wasn’t sure if she should interrupt him or not. She definitely couldn’t leave him alone with how unstable he was.

  “We need to test if the Untouchable I was given works,” Ashton finally spoke, quickly clarifying when he caught Summer’s worried expression, “Not on me. We will sneak one outside and let someone unrelated use it. If they acquired it illegally, they can’t complain to Gale Research when it doesn’t work.”

  That sounded like a great plan, if they could pull it off. The problem was how would they do it without getting caught up in the mess themselves? They couldn’t actually get caught committing any crimes since they didn’t have any sort of safety net in place to protect them if things went wrong.

  “If we sell it online we will be caught right away,” Summer muttered, “Maybe if we donate it to an auction or sell it at a flea market?”

  “The auction would report the stolen item right away, so that one is out,” Ashton considered, “I don’t know if any flea markets are going on right now. No one would buy this kind of thing at a yard sale either.”

  Right on cue, Summer’s phone chimed. Ashton’s buzzed as well and they both checked together. MysteriousMaskz had sent them the same message. An address.

  “I don’t like this,” Summer spoke up immediately.

  Ashton frowned. “It is too dangerous for either of us to go,” he agreed, “but we can’t just ignore it either.”

  Summer looked at the address again before clicking on the link to see where it led. To her surprise, it was a small house at the edge of the business district. The satellite view from the maps looked like a fairly ordinary house, if a bit worn from age. Why would MysteriousMaskz want to send them there?

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  “It’s a house,” she reported, showing Ashton the image.

  “We might not have to go there,” Ashton considered, “I have an idea, but you will have to distract Harper so I can smuggle out some Untouchable.”

  “What are you going to do?” Summer asked.

  Ashton tapped his watch and shook his head. “Trust me. I won’t go there in person.”

  “Alright,” Summer gave in. She still felt nervous, but distracting Harper was more important. Her brain churned as she tried to think of a way out of the situation. First, she deleted the address from her message history. There was no way Harper wouldn’t ask about why she left in such a hurry and showing the previous messages was the best way to explain it. The main problem was choosing the story about what Ned had been so panicked about.

  A thought suddenly came to her. The watch. If that really was the bug it was the perfect excuse. She decided to put her trust in Ashton’s plan and focus on her part in it. Harper and Kayla were both still in the office when she returned, and both of them jumped up when she entered.

  “What happened?!” Harper demanded, “Was it an emergency?”

  “I thought it was,” Summer huffed in annoyance, “I fell for his stupid dramatics and rushed all the way back for nothing.”

  “MysteriousMaskz?” Kayla checked, looking grim, “What did he do this time?”

  Summer pulled out her phone as she had planned and showed them his panicked messages. “When I saw these I really thought Ashton was in danger. He was so confused when I barged in. That is when he told me what really happened.”

  “Which is?” Harper pressed.

  “Ashton found the bug Maskz planted on him,” Summer explained, “I don’t know how long he expected to hide it. A watch is such an obvious place to hide a bug.”

  “I had wondered how he always managed to keep up with Ashton’s position even on the road,” Harper mused, “What has he decided to do with it?”

  “I’m not sure,” Summer admitted, “I think he has some kind of plan but he can’t talk about it since we know for sure MysteriousMaskz is listening.”

  Harper frowned. “Very well. I will leave him to his plan. We should get back to what we should have been doing before you got distracted. You should know this incident has done your reputation no favors.”

  Summer winced. That was a fair point, and she couldn’t even argue. “I understand,” she said, “but I have found that ignoring him is just as dangerous so I can’t do that.”

  “When it is your life on the line, I won’t stop you,” Harper told her, “I just need you to take a moment to consider the consequences for those around you.”

  “I will,” Summer promised.

  “In that case, you should start training with the others. Have you met your new teammate?” Harper asked.

  “You mean RepliKtion?” Summer asked without thinking it through. “Sorry, Derrick.”

  “That’s right. He should be at the training ground now. Go join him for training so he can get used to your powers as well,” Harper ordered.