Reformed Read online

  “We all make mistakes.” Tanvi shrugged. “I personally don’t mind a debriefing as long as there’s food.”

  Fade sank into the first seat, feeling tired all over. Why hadn’t he kept his mouth shut?

  “Honestly, considering we’ve only been training together for, what, ninety days? I think Fade’s adapted quite well to the group dynamic.” Prism settled into the seat across from him, her chin in the air. “His power set makes entries much easier, and it’s good to have the extra hands. However, a new team member is a big change, especially since the rest of us have had three years working together compared to his less than four months. It makes sense that we’ll need to make adjustments.”

  Aiden leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. “I’m not making any adjustments to take up the slack for Bono’s mistakes. If he gets shot, he gets shot.”

  “Great attitude, Aiden.” Prism scowled.

  “It won’t happen again,” Fade added quickly.

  “Quiet, you guys!” Tanvi stuck her phone to her ear. “I’m ordering a sub sandwich tray. Prism, our expense account will cover, right?”

  “Yeah, we have budgetary allowance for a few meeting-meals a month.” Prism nodded, still glaring at Aiden.

  “Awesome! I’m adding in cookies, then.”

  The bus started rolling, heading back towards the parking lot where they’d left their personal vehicles—a car each for Aiden and Prism and Tanvi’s motorcycle. Keeper had ridden with Aiden and Fade with Prism. Fade rubbed at his ankle with his opposite foot. Prism had been allowing him to go without his anklet for longer periods lately. He knew she was reporting back to DOSA about him. Not that he resented it. It was part of the job, and they were both invested in this working. However, the constant supervision and evaluation wore on him. He missed a time he couldn’t remember, when he’d been allowed to do his job and live his life with the powers-that-be trusting him to do both without hurting anyone.

  Trust has to be earned, and I’m well in the red.

  Just as he was starting to settle in for a quiet ride, everyone’s phones went off. The series of slightly staggered mechanical tones jerked the team out of their post-exercise haze. Tanvi, who still had hers up to her ear, waiting for the deli to pick up, dropped it onto her lap with a curse.

  Prism’s eyes flicked over her screen, and her brow furrowed.

  Aiden’s posture went from slouching, sulky teen to tiger ready to pounce in a way that would’ve made a speedster sable take note. “We rolling out?”

  “Looks like it. Hostage situation in a corporate lab and office a hop from here. Possible sable involvement.” She shouted up at the driver. “Change of plans. Take us to the airfield. We’re catching a bird to location.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the driver said.

  Every muscle in Fade’s body tensed. His powers crackled beneath his skin like static electricity. He pushed it down and braced himself for another disappointment.

  Prism continued to thumb through her phone. “DOSA has a surveillance drone on site. You guys should have a link to a live feed and some screenshots. I don’t recognize this sable which worries me. This facility is a large target for a newbie just into their powers to take on.”

  “Not unusual for a registered supervillain to throw on a new mask to prevent their crimes from being linked,” Aiden pointed out.

  “Yes, but this one is being flashy. The sneaky types are usually more subtle—like when Fade was active, he never wore things that called attention to himself on a job, kept a low profile for as long as possible.”

  Aiden grunted. “Not everything is about Fade.”

  Fade sat up a little straighter in his seat. “Can I see?”

  Prism started to pass him the phone.

  “Hey, Luce!” Aiden said sharply. “He’s not cleared for that. In fact, why haven’t we snapped his anklet back on him and dropped him on the side of the road yet?”

  Prism’s face hardened. “Because he’s part of the team, and I think it’s time we made that official.”

  Fade paused with his hand on the phone, blinking at her. His blood rushed to his head. “You’re taking me off the bench?”

  “You’ve proven you can work with the team, and this setup is perfect for your skill set.” She smiled warmly at him. “How about it, Fade? Ready to do some hero work?”

  Chapter Nine

  Prism squinted at her phone screen as they huddled in a parking structure near the lab with the villain problem. She traced her finger back along the drone footage’s progress bar.

  “There!”

  The unknown villain walked in front of the large windows of the CEO’s corner office, revealing his ... her? ... themselves to the camera. The image didn’t give away much. A hooded face, a bulky, flowing coat with what looked to be heavy body armor beneath. The suspect could be any gender, any race, and any power set.

  Aiden squinted over her shoulder. “Are they floating?”

  Prism considered the image. “It’s hard to tell. Could it be a trick of the camera angle and the glass windows?”

  The villain turned and glided out of sight again, further into the office building.

  “No, look at how they move. That’s at least levitation if not full on flying.” Aiden gave a low whistle. “That’s not good.”

  Prism tapped her fingers against the wall. “Yes, but it means there’s only so many sables we could be dealing with here. Flying types are rare, and the chances of one escaping DOSA’s notice to avoid the registry? Well, it’s just too flashy a power to fly under the radar.”

  Crouched nearby, Fade guffawed. “Please, tell me that pun was on purpose.”

  She winked at him before saying in an exaggerated French accent. “Everything I do is carefully planned.”

  His brow furrowed.

  “Peter Sellers? The Pink Panther? Never mind.” She hated it when a good joke fell flat.

  “Tanvi, how many flying type sables are currently registered with DOSA?” Aiden asked.

  “Maybe a dozen.” Tanvi took out her phone and clicked on an app. “Most are working with DOSA, though. I only know of two active flying villains—Starcrush and Conn-dora. I think Conn-dora got arrested for having the worst villain name on record, so she’s out of the running. Starcrush is at large, though.”

  Keeper frowned. “I’ve encountered Starcrush before. The guy is a Grade A tosser. Loves the attention and letting people know what he’s gotten away with. Why would he change his costume and hide his face? It goes against his natural arse factor.” In his arms, Yui meowed in agreement.

  “Yeah, it doesn’t fit.” Prism played back the quick clip again.

  A new flying type sable and flying is rarely a solitary ability. If they have enough energy to work against gravity, they’re probably channeling it in other ways too.

  The most common “extras” for flying types were super strength and energy blasts. Neither of which were particularly fun to deal with, but she had a good team.

  Centering herself on the things she could control, she focused on her brother. “Aiden, did they send you the floor plans for the building?”

  He nodded, concentrating on his own phone.

  Fade stood and stretched. “Any hostage demands? Do we know what they want?”

  “No, not yet.” She motioned for Fade to follow her and walked to the side of the parking structure that had a clear view of the blocky, corporate building. “You see there? On the fifth floor?”

  He shaded his eyes. “Is that a hole in the wall?”

  “Yep, that’s apparently how this all started. Villain literally flew right through the wall, landed in the middle of the office, and took control of the entire floor.”

  “So not worried about attention.” He clicked his tongue. “Whoever they are, they had to know you and your team would respond, don’t you think?”

  “It’s not like we’re working undercover.” Prism tapped her fingers on the stone of the parking lot’s chest-high wall. “You think the
y meant to draw us out? To what end?”

  “I don’t know, but I think we should be careful. Maybe go in assuming it’s a trap.”

  “Hey, Kesha, I already thought of that!” Aiden beckoned them back. “Okay, so this is the floor they are on. From what I can tell from the security feeds of the floors above and below, whoever this is is working alone and hasn’t bothered to secure anything outside of the fifth floor, but we have no feed of that floor, so they must’ve disabled the cameras. If I can get a little closer, I can start scanning for their thought waves, get a handle on their plan, and maybe even identify them.”

  “Sounds good.” Prism thought for a moment. “If you and Fade are right, though, they must be expecting us. What’s the best way to get you close enough without exposing you?”

  Aiden closed his eyes. “I’m not sure. Let me think.”

  “Hey, what about this?” Tanvi broke in. She pointed to a sign next to the elevator. “Says, Tunnel to offices.”

  Aiden flushed. “Uh, yeah, if the parking garage is connected to the offices by a tunnel, that’ll work.” He stood. “I don’t think we should all go in that way, though. I didn’t see any indication on the video that the villain entered the tunnel at any point, but if they know it is there, it’s the perfect place for an ambush.”

  “What if I cause some sort of diversion for ya?” Keeper volunteered. “I can easily oversee it from here, and if I see movement from whoever that is over there, I can let you know over the line.”

  “Sounds good.” Aiden pulled his hood over his head. “Is there a way to get Tanvi around the back? I’d like someone there in case we need to converge from multiple angles. Prism, you coming with me?”

  “We should bring Fade.” She said it quickly, knowing Aiden wouldn’t be pleased. His face immediately puckered.

  Fade cleared his throat. “Not to brag, but this sort of operation is exactly what my skill set is best suited for, infiltration and extraction.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” Aiden shook his head. “I don’t believe I’m saying this, but come on, Meatloaf. We’ve got superheroing to do.”

  Prism grinned, resisting the urge to do a little dance.

  “Only because you said so, and you’re the team leader.” Aiden sighed. “I am being the bigger man here, but don’t think I like it.”

  She forced her expression solemn but couldn’t help it if her step was a little springier as they started down the stairs towards the basement level of the parking structure.

  Corporate elevator music—some sort of smooth jazz nonsense—wafted out of the tunnel that led beneath the streets from the garage to the office building. A mural that a bronze plaque labeled, “An artist’s interpretation of Unitech’s corporate mission statement” covered the walls of the tunnel, exhibiting happy workers carrying coffee and grinning at laptops in a way that no one ever would, growing wheatfields, and what looked to be a line of hospital beds with recovering patients in them.

  “What exactly does this company do?” Fade frowned.

  “The rest of us read the brief.” Aiden snorted.

  “The rest of you have phones.” Fade scowled.

  “Research and development,” Prism explained. “A little bit of genetics. A little bit of medicine. Probably some app development. You know, general corporate science stuff.”

  A ramp eased the tunnel up into the building’s lobby. A security checkpoint blocked the entrance to the employee area beyond, but the guard booth was empty, the police and DOSA having already ordered an evacuation for the lower floors.

  Aiden paused and closed his eyes.

  “Are we close enough yet?” Fade asked.

  “No, I don’t think so.” Prism touched her brother’s shoulder. “Aiden, you all right?”

  “Yeah, just checking the lower floors for anyone who missed the evacuation.” Wrinkles deepened around his eyes. “From what I can tell they made a clean sweep. No one conscious, anyway, within my range. We need to get at least another floor up before I can start reaching people on the fifth floor, though.”

  Fade approached the door blocking the emergency staircase, which had a numeric lock, and faded through it. He opened it from the other side and held it for the siblings as they hurried through.

  “We had the code.” Aiden frowned.

  “When a gentleman holds a door for a lady, she usually says thank you,” Fade retorted.

  “Thank you,” Prism added, hoping to defuse the situation before either of them made it worse.

  Aiden pushed past Fade, up the stairs.

  “Aiden!” Prism said sharply. “Let Fade go first.”

  Aiden wrinkled his nose. “I need to keep scanning. If the villain has accomplices, they could be lying in wait. I can sense them before they see us.”

  “Yes, but if there are trip wires, Fade can go right through them without setting them off,” she pointed out.

  “Whatever.” Aiden hung back as Fade passed them before following.

  Every few steps, Aiden stopped to close his eyes and focus. Halfway up from the second landing, he stopped and leaned against the wall. “I’ve got someone. One of the hostages I think.” He shuddered. “Man, they are terrified.”

  Fade paused and turned to watch Aiden work.

  “What’s the layout?” Prism asked, her fingers clenching into fists.

  “Seems like the villain has herded them all into a single room—I count maybe twenty prisoners.”

  “And the villain?” Prism pushed.

  A line formed between Aiden’s eyes. “It’s ... odd. The hostages are reacting to their captor. They’re watching him ... or her. Shuddering when he looks in their direction. Whoever or whatever we’re dealing with is definitely in the room with them, but ... I can’t find them.” He tapped his fingers against the wall like an anxious man fiddling with the buttons on a remote. “This doesn’t make sense. If they’re right there, I should be able to get into their head.”

  “You can’t get into mine,” Fade pointed out. “Could it be some sort of power?”

  “That would be an odd power combination, flying and mind-blocks.” Aiden opened his eyes. “But it’s the only explanation I can think of.”

  “Maybe they’re wearing a tinfoil hat.” Fade snickered.

  “That doesn’t even sort of work.” Aiden scoffed. “Fedoras occasionally foil me but only because the hipsters who wear them have such insufferable thought patterns.”

  Worry rippled through Prism. The number of sables she’d met who could block Aiden could be counted on one hand. Add that to flying, and they could be dealing with a unique and powerful foe.

  “Can you track their movements through the hostages?”

  “Yes. They seem to be doing something on one of the computers. It looks like they’ve taken the boss aside. Let me see if I can zero in on her thought waves.” Aiden’s pupils twitched behind his eyelid as if he were looking around a room with his eyes closed. “Got her. Yeah, the villain’s having the CEO download a bunch of files onto a thumb drive. Too many things for me to get a handle on.”

  “This is an awful flashy way to commit corporate espionage.” Fade clicked his tongue. “Most people in that racket want to keep it undisclosed, not attract this kind of attention.”

  “We’ve already determined this villain is showboating.” Prism nodded towards the stairs. “Let’s get to the floor below. We can plot our entry from there.”

  They hurried up two more flights of steps. However, when they reached the fourth floor landing, Aiden went reeling against the wall.

  “What’s wrong?” Prism grabbed his arm.

  He blanched. “Ouch. Mass panic. The villain just flipped out. Grabbed a man out of the crowd and is waving some sort of weapon at the remaining hostages.” His eyes snapped open. “Uh-oh. Bomb! There’s a bomb.”

  “What do we need to do?” Prism tightened her hold on her brother.

  He exhaled, his eyes wide and sweat beading on his forehead. While Aiden was hard to phase, wh
en he was reading the emotions of others, they’d sometimes work their way into him. The terror of twenty different minds was a lot for one man to bear.

  “The device is strapped onto the door of the conference room. Looks like the villain intends to leave it there and let it blow while they use their remaining hostage as a human shield to make their escape. I can defuse it, but I’ll need cover, and someone needs to go after the other hostage.”

  “Fade, get the hostage,” Prism ordered. “I can cover Aiden.”

  Fade took off running.

  Prism focused on her brother and projected both of their images a few steps up. With this illusion in place, they followed Fade up the last flight of stairs. Fade disappeared into a wall as Prism and Aiden rushed down the hall towards the conference room. Their projections forged ahead of them, but no one rushed out to attack.

  A murmur of frantic voices and muffled sobbing rose from the conference room door. A device with a countdown timer that already read forty-five seconds was taped over the door handle. Aiden knelt beside it. Prism stood back, still holding their projections slightly away from them as Aiden pulled a pocket knife from his hip pocket and unscrewed the panel on the front of the device. Prism’s heart pounded. Was there a way to evacuate the employees before the device blew?

  “Aiden—”

  “I got this,” Aiden snapped. He sliced through a wire and the countdown clock stopped. He jerked his head towards the hall. “The villain and the last hostage are headed towards the roof.”

  Prism sprinted in the direction he’d indicated, keeping her projection in front of her.

  Where is Fade?

  She spun around the corner and skidded to a halt. A forty-ish man in a sweat drenched polo shirt knelt in the middle of the hallway in front of her, his hands zip tied behind his back, a strip of tape over his mouth.

  Prism tensed. She held her fingers over her wristlet’s buttons, ready to trigger her lasers at the slightest hint of danger. She wanted to speak, to reassure the hostage that she was there now and he’d be okay, but if the villain was lurking, her voice would give away her true location. The hostage’s wide eyes tracked the movement of her projection.