Overpowered (Powered Trilogy #2) (15 page)

Jake’s lips slip under his teeth. He sighs. “Do you want the legal answer or the real one?”

“Both.”

“I don’t know how to say this...but we’ve been instructed not to personally deal with you unless another Hero is on the scene.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

He frowns and looks at the floor. “I don’t know. I think the elders don’t trust you. They said it was just a temporary measure, but no Retrievers are allowed to communicate with you.” He takes a deep breath, looking guilty as hell. “We’re also not allowed to tell you that we’re not allowed to talk to you.”

“Wow. So much for transparency.”

His hand slips out of his pocket and touches my elbow. “I’m sorry.”

I shake my head. “I’m being shunned by my own people. For something I have no control over.”

“I’d help you with the
depowering machine if I could, but only members of the Retriever Squad know its location.”

Just when I think things can’t get worse, I’m thrown in front of another brick wall. “Guess I need another plan. Thanks anyway, Jake.”

He nods. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” I say. He starts walking in the opposite direction but I stop him. “
Hey Jake? Any girl who judges you by your hair color isn’t a girl worth dating.”

He waves an apathetic hand in my direction and turns back around. “I know, I know. Thanks,
Mom
.”

Fifty miles into my run to South Africa, I know I’ve made the right choice to forgo the quick KAPOW ride. My legs ache with enthusiasm for running. I haven’t had a hard training session at SLAM in weeks and my body can feel it. My frequent human fighting missions help a little, but for the most part I’ve been sedentary while trying to find this machine. I flex my fingers as I run, taking deep breaths and slowly letting them out. I won’t make this mistake again. My body thrives on exercise. It clears my head, strengthens my muscles and heals over all the confusion and emotional turmoil in my heart. Maybe I’ll run everywhere from now on.

The sun shines brightly over the white sand at Research. I want to tug off my boots, roll up the legs of my suit and drop to the sand to bask in it. I could make sand angels for hours and then wash off all the sand in the clear blue ocean water. This happens to me every time I arrive on the private island of Research where Evan works and lives. Every. Single. Time.

One of these days the temptation to run away from my life and live out my days on this beautiful oceanfront with Evan might be more than I can overcome. I don’t know how many of the elders’ secrets and lies and hidden information can be kept from me before I break. My jaw hurts from how tightly I’ve been clenching it.

Evan calls out from his third floor balcony. “Hey, beautiful! Come on up.”

I think about telling him to leave the computer and come down here to me. To kick off his shoes and lie with me in the sand, watching the clouds drift by like parade floats on New
Year’s Day.

But that isn’t how a Hero would act. So I jog through the sand, leaving my daydreams behind with my footprints.

“So where’d they’d hide it?” I ask the moment I step out of the glass elevator. Evan pops out of his computer chair and it swivels around in a circle. He’s wearing his nerdy glasses and I can’t help but smile. He kisses me quickly on the lips and asks if I want anything to drink.

“No babe, I don’t want a drink.” I poke him in the stomach before he has time to flex his abs. “But I would like the location of that machine, pretty please.”

He makes a face. “I haven’t been able to hack into the system yet.”

“Wow, Letta. You should brush up on your hacking skills. I asked you like ten minutes ago. That’s plenty of time for a world class Super hacker to work his magic.”

“Unfortunately it’s not magic. And don’t call me Letta.” He pokes me right back in the stomach and then slides his hand around my back. “I preferred the babe you said earlier.”

His lips head toward mine and I lift up on my toes to kiss him, but only for a second. Then I playfully push him away and give him my serious look. “Hack now, kiss later. Chop
chop!”

Evan’s frustration can be felt throughout the entire room. I hold back my sighs, eye rolls, groans and impatient foot-tapping because I know it isn’t his fault he can’t hack into the system. He’s doing everything he can to help me and I’m grateful for it. When his stomach starts growling in defiance, I put my hand on his shoulder. “We can stop now. I’m hungry, too.”

He types one more thing into his computer, shoulders tensing until the screen refreshes. He sighs. “Sorry, Mace. I’ve tried everything I know. They changed the entire mainframe in the last few weeks.”

“I’ll just have to hope that Dad pulls through and finds it for me.”

“So they’re really letting him be president again, huh?” Evan asks, stepping into the glass elevator with me. He smiles. “I was going to vote for him if they had another election. My mom and cousins were, too. We all think he can lead the Supers without powers.”

“Thanks. He’d appreciate that.” The doors close and we ascend to the top floor. I lean back, letting my shoulders press against his chest as we lift through the floors of Research. Evan’s chin rests on top of my head. In moments like these, where I really love my current situation--whether I’m curled up with Evan on the couch or enjoying a massive ice cream sundae with Crimson--I can never fully enjoy them like I could before I became a Hero. Now all of my perfect moments that I wish could last forever are tainted with the anxiety that I could be called out on a mission at any second.

Evan’s fridge has four kinds of leftover pizza, which he heats up on a frying pan on the stove because he claims it makes the crust perfectly crunchy and the cheese
melty and not sticky like when pizza is reheated in a microwave. I offer to help, I swear I do, but Evan shoos me away, claiming he doesn’t mind cooking for us at all. So instead of being useful, I sit on a barstool and swirl my fingers around the countertop of the kitchen island, which is one big digital screen depicting an aquarium. The digital fish scatter in different directions when my finger gets close to them. “You did a great job of cleaning this place up after they demolished it,” I say. Then, in an epic change of subject, I find myself saying, “I really hate how Nova keeps outshining me.”

Chills prickle over my arms. For a moment, I’m not even sure I said those words out loud. But then Evan says, “What makes you think she’s outshining you?” All the blood pools to my cheeks in embarrassment. I cup my head in my hands, elbows on the counter and pretend to be really interested in the fake aquarium.

A plate of crunchy-crusted pizza slides under my face. Evan sits opposite of me with his own plate of food. “You can talk to me,” he says. His voice is kind and caring and not mocking or mean. “I hope you know that.”

“You can’t tell anyone.” I
give him a warning glance. He shrugs with a mouthful of food. “Who would I tell?”

I shake my head. “I’ve never been so conflicted in my life. I don’t regret bringing her back. Part of me loves her because she is my sister. She’s my blood. I can feel her emotions. We’re connected. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.” I swallow, hoping the next words I say won’t change Evan’s opinion of me. With a deep breath, I say, “Sometimes I wish she didn’t exist.”

“Why is that?”

I look at him and he’s all sincerity and kindness. He has a Hero’s demeanor without being a Hero. He is good and I am evil. Inherently. It’s not like
I want to be. It’s not like I enjoy feeling anger and rage and a desire to prove everyone wrong. His blue eyes peer at me over his glasses and I sigh. “Because she’s better than me. She’s nicer and kinder. And people like her more.”

“That isn’t true,” Evan says but I talk over him. “She has
these brilliant freaking ideas, like
all
the time.” I throw my arms in the air. “Every single time there’s a problem and us Heroes are trying to figure it out, because we’re the
Heroes
and we’re supposed to figure things out, she’ll just walk in with her sweet little voice and say
‘oh blah blah, here’s your answer. Here’s the exact perfect idea you needed but couldn’t think of.’
It’s so annoying, Evan. I can’t stand it.”

“Would you be this upset if someone else had the ideas? If it wasn’t Nova?”

I chew on a slice of pizza and think about it a while. “Probably not. Maybe. I don’t know.”

“I think you’re being too hard on her,” Evan says after a while.

“We’re all risking getting depowered because of her. She could at least stay away from us and stop putting in her two cents every time we have a problem.”

Evan laughs. “But I thought her two cents helped you guys solve
the problems?”

“Sometimes it does. She had the idea of finding a Retriever to show us where they moved the
depowering machine, which was a great idea, but it didn’t work out.” My hands fidget, unable to hold onto the pizza. I drop a slice of double pepperoni and look up at Evan. “I have to figure this out. I have to find the machine and find whoever is responsible for stealing the power from it. If I solve this and turn in the villains then Central will see how valuable I am to the Hero Brigade. They’ll take off my probationary status and I’ll be a full Hero.”

“How does that affect Nova?” Evan asks.

“I’ll have more power as a full Hero. I would have gained their trust and I’d be able to convince them to let Nova live.”

“Do you think she could become a Hero
, too?”

I laugh, but an uneasy feeling settles into my stomach. Would Nova ever be accepted into the Super society and allowed to study and test for Hero Status? Would I be able to live with myself if she did?

The beeping of an urgent news message interrupts our conversation. Urgent news messages are broadcasted onto every MOD screen worldwide but you can usually choose to ignore them or watch them later. It isn’t nearly as ominous as the lockdown alarm, but it’s still a rare event. Evan’s high definition MOD screen-television combo that hangs descended from the ceiling turns itself on and we rush over to it.

The royal purple crown of King City’s logo flashes on the screen. In the background is the briefing room in Central, a small stage with a podium and the King City flag hanging behind it. Though it’s not pictured, I know there’s a small seating area for about fifty people in front of the stage. I used to sit there while Dad gave his presidential speeches. The screen scrolls a message along the bottom, informing us that the urgent news message will begin soon. I see my father standing amongst many of the elders off to the side of the stage. They talk quietly with each other, their lips barely moving so I can’t decipher any of the words.

Hugo Havoc steps onto the stage, taking a position behind the podium. He clears his throat and makes a stern smile toward the camera. My dad and the other elders go silent and focus on Hugo.

“Good evening,” Hugo says. “Thank you for joining us for this announcement. First, I would like to welcome President Might back from what has been a thorough and successful recovery.” He gestures toward my father and the few people in the room clap. Dad nods toward the camera, his lips pressed into a thin line. A politician smile. It’s clear by the look on his face that this meeting isn’t about him, but about something else. Something that bothers him. That’s why his feet shift slightly as he stands, hands clasped together in front of him. He’s nervous. It takes a lot to make my dad nervous.

“Your dad looks really good,” Evan says, making me jump. I’d almost forgotten he was here. He bumps my shoulder with his. “Is your arm okay?”

I nod. Ever since the camera showed my dad, I’ve been touching my own depowered hand. I’ve learned to ignore the constant sensation that flows through my arm, the feel
ing of numbness and death and a lack of sensitivity. It isn’t easy to accept what’s become of my arm. I often wake up from nightmares about that day my arm got caught in the depowering machine. I can still feel the pain when I think about it. Watching my dad now, standing straight and handsome on the screen for everyone to see, I don’t know how he does it. How he survives now that he is powerless.

“
Uh oh,” Evan mutters. My attention snaps to him and then to the television.

“Oh god.” A picture of Nova is on the screen now, all grainy and out of focus. It was taken the night she and Aurora’s group stormed into the Atrium, kidnapped and depowered my father and tried to kill me.  Hugo’s words blur into background noise as I stare at the photo and recall memories of that night. Nova was an excellent fighter. My fight skills have never been challenged so much as when we were going at it hand to hand. She doesn’t even seem like that girl now. She’s sweet and small and fragile. When that photo was taken, she was a monster.

“The elders have decided to capture and detain this villain for intel. She is no longer to be killed on sight. She will be apprehended, depowered and questioned. We believe she has information on the villain Aurora and other villains who associated with her. I repeat: This villain is to be apprehended and depowered. This villain is number one on our most wanted list. All Heroes and sub-Heroes share in the same mission to find her as of this moment. All civilian Supers with clues to this villain’s whereabouts are asked to call Information and report it.”

Nowhere in Hugo’s speech does he mentioned that Nova is my sister or Dad’s daughter. He treats her as if she is just another nameless villain who must account for their actions. I know this is done on purpose but it hurts to see my sister blasted on live
television. Hugo keeps talking but I grab the remote and flip off the screen.

“This is good news,” Evan says, smiling like he really believes what he says.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I say, sitting on the couch behind me. Supers don’t get sick, but I don’t exactly feel well right now. “Dad obviously had a hand in convincing them to let her live.”

“That’s a good thing,” Evan says, squeezing my hand.

“Is it? She’s going to be depowered.”

“Depowered is better than dead. I’m sure your dad would agree.”

A shudder ripples through my body. The irony of what I’m saying doesn’t escape me. Earlier I hated the idea of her becoming a Hero, of her being able to continue being better than me. Now, there’s no way in hell I want her to be depowered. Even though taking away her powers would mean that I’ve won. That I’m better. That she’s the villain and I’m the Hero.

My BEEPR lights up with a new mission
and that picture of Nova. The same mission that every other Hero on Earth just received.

VILLAIN WANTED ALIVE. IF CAPTURED, BRING VILLAIN TO RETRIEVER
SQUAD FOR IMMEDIATE DEPOWERING.

In the long silence that follows, Evan says exactly what I’m thinking. “Can you trust Crimson and Nyx not to say anything? I mean, now that it’s their official mission?”

I look him in the eyes. He is sincere. He will not rat me out. He won’t turn on Nova. But Evan isn’t a Hero. I shrug. “Nyx won’t say anything. I’m confident of that. But Crimson…” My cheeks flush red as I become completely mortified at the idea of doubting her for even a second. I shake my head. “No. They won’t tell. Especially since my dad is helping us hide Nova. No one would betray my father.”

The surge in Evan’s power alerts me that something is going on in his head before he says anything. He sits up straight on the couch, his eyes far away while he formulates what he’s about to say.

“What!” I snap, grabbing his shoulder and shaking. “What are you thinking?”

His eyes narrow into mischievous slits. “What if you dyed your hair
blonde? And talked Crimson or Max into pretending that you’re Nova and turning yourself in. Then they’ll take you to be depowered and you can tell them that you’re actually you, and not her. They won’t depower you because it’ll be a big misunderstanding, and you’ll know where the machine is.”

He smiles, all proud of himself.

I smile too, but only because he’s just given me a much better idea. “Hey, have you formulated the juice for my blood type yet?” I ask. During the lockdown, Evan had shown me his invention that we call the juice. It’s an injectable boost of energy that allows you to kinetically move other people, other villains, wherever you want them to go. The only downside is that each batch of juice needs to be formulated to match the DNA of the Super who will be using it.

“Yeah, it’s done. There are a few vials on the fourth floor. Why? I don’t think it’d be smart to use it on the Retriever
Squad.”