While Summer and Kayla were busy training with their newfound knowledge, Ashton was feeling antsy, waiting eagerly for more correspondence from the mystery recipient of Untouchable. There had been no response since he had asked for an update on how things went.

  They probably thought it was a trap, but Ashton was desperate to know. If Untouchable didn't work for them either, that could mean it didn't work at all anymore. After all, the likelihood of the original serum he had received at SI and the serum he was given as team leader being from the same batch was slim.

  Ashton received a report on what Summer and Kayla had been up to without any word from the mystery recipient. It looked like they had been up to a lot. The list of every power they had managed to manifest and test was incredibly long, and they were even able to adjust on the fly to clean up a mess. It was as if spending their suspension together had made them into a true team. The report mentioned that they had maintained a good attitude during the training even when things went wrong. It almost made him feel jealous.

  Even though he was dating Summer, Ashton felt like he had seen Summer miserable far more than he had seen her happy. A lot of it could be blamed on MysteriousMaskz, but could he really be certain that everything would be better once he was dealt with? A new message shook Ashton out of his spiraling thoughts. It was the mystery recipient.

  "Who are you?"

  "It is best for both of us if you don't know that. I just need to know one thing," Ashton replied, "Did it work?"

  “The subject claimed to have lost their powers,” the reply came, “but it wasn’t someone whose words I can trust.”

  That message gave Ashton the distinct sense that whoever it was did not trust him either. What could he say to put them more at ease? Should he put them more at ease? This was someone that MysteriousMaskz had put him in contact with. For all he knew this was some sort of elaborate trap.

  “If you are talking about MysteriousMaskz, he is my enemy,” Ashton tried. This might give him a clue as to the identity of the mystery recipient, if just whether or not they were on his side.

  There was a long pause as if his message had raised more guard than it had cleared. Just as he was about to give up, a new message finally came.

  “If what you are saying is the truth, I used your gift on the real MysteriousMaskz today. I will warn you of one thing. Whoever or whatever you may have met in the past was probably a fake.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  A fake? What did that mean? “Are you sure you should have told me this?”

  “The fact that you were able to contact me in the first place means he wants you to know what I know,” came the reply, “I have my suspicions that he knew I spiked his food from the start.”

  Ashton didn’t understand. A fake, a real one, and Maskz willingly taking Untouchable. Since he had practically set this up, it was no wonder he knew about it. That did not explain why he would allow this person to use Untouchable on him. Perhaps knowing their identity would help clear some things up.

  “Who are you?” Ashton asked, repeating the question he had earlier refused to answer back at them, “If you tell me, I will tell you who I am.” Even if he couldn’t tell them everything, there should at least be something he could tell them.

  Another long pause. That was probably pushing things too far. He should have found out more information before asking for something so sensitive. To his surprise, the message that finally came was a positive answer. Not only that, it was one he never would have suspected.

  “Claudia Jones, a reporter. I recently worked my way into the inner circle of Checkmate on the condition that I cut off all contact with the outside world. If this message reaches you that either means MysteriousMaskz no longer has any power to stop it or he wants you to know the truth.”

  The person he had been in contact with was the missing reporter? In that case, there was only one answer Ashton could give. MysteriousMaskz often referred to Ashton by his old villain name, and in the situation where he appeared to be special to him it would be the most believable response.

  “I am Shadow Phoenix. I seek to capture both MysteriousMaskz and Checkmate.”

  There were no more messages after that. Whatever else Claudia Jones had to say must not have been approved. That, or she never received his own message. The answer didn’t matter. Ashton had done his part as promised. Now he just needed to figure out what to do with this information. Once again everything was going a little too perfectly, as if he was playing right into Ned’s hands.

  Not only that, everything was far too close to their original plan. Ashton had to consider the possibility that Maskz had somehow listened in regardless of their precautions. The question was, what should his next move be? What could MysteriousMaskz be plotting that would drive him to get rid of his own ability? Most importantly, had Untouchable even worked in the first place? The last thing he needed was to be lulled by a false sense of security.

  After weighing his options, Ashton decided it was time he met with Ms. Gale again. If she really was who he thought she was, she would be able to tell for certain. That did mean confessing to their whole plot, but it was a risk he needed to take to move forward. First things first, he needed to fill his team in on what he had learned.

  That night he assembled another team meeting in their base of operations, once again leaving all devices out of range.

  “I made contact with Claudia Jones,” he revealed.