It was no surprise that the room was filled with a silent shock after Ashton’s declaration. Then came the expected interrogations. Summer, the one who knew more about what was going than anyone else, was the first to demand answers.

  "Do you know where she is?" Summer asked.

  "I know where she might be," Ashton corrected, "We have to consider the possibility of this being another elaborate trap."

  "That address was too convenient," Summer agreed, "But if we ask for backup we will have to confess what we did."

  "We were going to have to do that at some point regardless," Ashton pointed out.

  "Hold on," Derrick broke in, "We seem to be missing some key info. What address?"

  It was about time to explain what was going on, so Ashton did. He was careful to leave out the parts about using Untouchable on himself. He skipped straight to his plan to smuggle it out and Ned’s interference. If Ned even was Maskz. With that in mind, he explained about his conversation with Claudia after he sent the serum. Unfortunately he was quickly interrupted.

  “And you just sent Untouchable there?” Derrick asked in disbelief.

  “If you were going to waste it, you should have given it to us instead,” Kai muttered bitterly.

  “It wasn’t wasted,” Ashton denied, “Claudia claims to have given it to the real MysteriousMaskz.”

  “The real one?” Levi asked, catching onto the strange wording right away, “Does that mean there is a fake?”

  “According to her, yes,” Ashton confirmed, “She claims that the MysteriousMaskz we have met is likely a fake.”

  “Fake?” Summer asked in shock. It made sense for her to react so strongly, given how much she had interacted with Ned. “Does that mean Ned is just a stand in?”

  “I don’t know,” Ashton admitted. Was he a stand in? Was he something more complex than just that? Could he be some kind of advanced technology that could only function due to Maskz’s power?

  “We need to tell them,” Kayla said, “This isn’t something we can hide.”

  She was right. There would be no more avoiding this. Not only this, but Ashton had to face the truth about Untouchable. Before he chased down a potentially real and fake MysteriousMaskz, he needed to make sure that he was not surrounded by enemies here at Gale Research.

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  “I needed to talk to Ms. Gale anyway,” Ashton told them finally, “Now I just have another topic.”

  “What do we do in the meantime?” Summer asked.

  “We need to give another look into the investigation records of MysteriousMaskz,” Ashton said, pulling out the printed records he had prepared, “Look for anything we might have dismissed because it didn’t match, Ned who Summer met.”

  With his task introduction, Ashton pulled out and presented all of the investigation records he had been saving just in case. He didn’t like to discard things like this just in case they missed something the first time, and with the current situation he was glad he had saved them.

  “Are you going right away?” Summer asked.

  “Yes. I need to get this conversation over with as soon as possible,” Ashton confirmed.

  They locked eyes for a moment without saying anything. What could he even say? Even though Summer knew more than the others, there were plenty of things he hadn’t even told her yet. Things he needed to confirm before he dared to tell anyone.

  “Take your time and get the answers you need,” she encouraged, “We have things handled here.”

  Ashton was glad she seemed to understand his dilemma, though he could feel the worry in her tone. It was comforting to know that no matter what happened, Summer would be waiting for him to return and confide in her about what happened. This time he would have to avoid signing any more confidentiality contracts. If it was a secret he would have to keep from everyone else, it was a secret he did not need to know in the first place.

  With this determination, Ashton prepared to meet Amber Gale face to face. Once again, she was a suspiciously easy woman to meet. Suspicious, but Ashton could not deny that it was also incredibly convenient. After all, what he had to say today could not be discussed with anyone else. Was it really a good idea to pry into your boss's secrets like this? No, but he couldn't avoid it. He needed to know what she was hiding from him before he faced off with MysteriousMaskz.

  "It seems the topic of today's discussion is more serious than the last," Ms. Gale noted, carefully checking to make sure the door was sealed and no devices were recording them in any fashion. Did she already know what he was going to ask about?

  “There is something I must know before I face MysteriousMaskz,” Ashton told her, “We have been narrowing down the suspects due to a helpful tip.”

  “A tip? You will have to explain about that later,” she warned.

  That was expected. “I will,” Ashton promised, “Maskz has been trying to convince me to ask him for your secrets since I joined Gale Research. I don’t care about most of them since they likely won’t affect me. There are only two things I need to know. Are you Untouchable, and do you know why it doesn’t work on me?”

  “Yes,” Amber replied after staring him down for a moment, “What you are imagining is likely correct. The serum is created from my power, and I used that power on you when you were a baby after the incident. However, after you managed to reawaken you became immune to both my power and the serums I make with it.”

  It was exactly as Ashton had feared. “Has anyone else ever reawakened after their powers were permanently erased?” he asked.

  “No. From beginning to end, yours has always been a very special case,” Ms. Gale replied, “I am afraid that is all I can tell you. Now it is your turn to explain.”