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Her face crumbles in confusion. She runs a shaky hand across her hair. “Maci?”
“Yes. What’s going on?” My voice cracks with the mixture of pain and relief and about a thousand other emotions I’ve never bothered to feel before.
Crimson’s eyes fill with tears as well. “I can’t see you. Prove that it’s you.”
I glance at Evan. And shrug. Now isn’t the time to worry about preserving Crimson’s modesty. “You didn’t lose your virginity to Toby. You said you did though.”
Her cheeks redden. The barest hint of a smile touches her lips. “I thought you were dead.” She blinks and two tears roll down her cheeks. Guess I’m not the only trained Hero who accidentally cries.
“I’m fine,” I assure her.
“Where are you?” she asks, not even bothering to wipe off tears as they continue to pour from her eyes.
“I’m at—” Evan’s hand flies over my mouth, stopping me. He shakes his head and mouths the word no. “I can’t tell you,” I say with a sigh. “But I’m okay. I’m safe. Why are you home?” I touch the sides of the monitor, wishing I was touching my best friend instead. “What’s going on there?”
She throws her hands up. “My BEEPR is off. I’m not allowed to do anything. I feel like a fucking peasant instead of the world’s fourth fucking most powerful fucking Hero.”
“Have there been any announcements? Are Dad and Max okay?”
She shakes her head. “I haven’t heard a word. Mom is practically in hysterics. Dad has checked out emotionally. Blue won’t stop building houses out of a deck of cards. I’ve been sitting on the floor in front of this MOD screen for twenty hours waiting for my assignment.” Having given up on trying to see me, she focuses her attention on her chipped nail polish.
The fact that her nails are chipped at all says a lot about this situation.
Someone calls Crimson’s name in the background. Her eyes go wide. “I have to go,” she whispers. “They’ll freak if they know I’m talking to someone and don’t give them any new information.” Her face distorts as if to apologize. “Love you, Mace.”
Her hand reaches to the screen and shuts it off.
“I love you too,” I whisper.
Evan tugs at his eyebrow. “I still think this is a good thing. If Central was in huge danger then the entire Hero Brigade would be called into action. It’s not that bad if they don’t need her.”
“Crimson is always needed!” I throw my arms in the air. “Some serious shit is going on if they aren’t using Crimson.”
Evan sits straighter on his stool. “Or, maybe the shit isn’t serious at all and that’s why she’s not needed.”
I slam my hands on the table, making his glass monitor go tipsy-turvy on its base. “Pepper was murdered. Pepper.” I say his name again with distinct slowness. “A Super. Murdered. In Central.”
“Yeah, I know.” He pulls at the hair tie on his wrist. “You’re right.”
“This has never happened. Every Super who has gone rogue did it outside of Central.” I resume pacing the small space behind Evan’s desk. “You just don’t break in and murder people. It doesn’t happen. Central is too secured.”
“Do you know how she got in?” he asks as he types more stuff on the screen.
“She had a KAPOW pod so that tells us that she used the tracks.” I shake my head. “Our own tracks and our own pod used against us.”
“But her pod was old. She must have stolen it decades ago. Plus it was hijacked, and that’s …”
He looks toward the ceiling as if contemplating more than he can put into words. “That’s nearly impossible. I’m not even sure I could crack the KAPOW’s mainframe.” His fingers fly across the metallic keys and I stare at them so long, they morph into a flesh-colored blur.
“The KAPOW’s mainframe gets a full reconfiguration and update every thirty days. The pods are re-calibrated with every coordinate location on earth, any Super address changes, and stuff like that. Looks like the last update was twenty-nine days ago.” He spins to face me. “So whoever it was had a month to hack into the system and take their pod off the grid, while somehow allowing it to still navigate the rails without colliding into any other pods. Who the hell could she get to do that?”
I bite the top of my index finger. “She had two guys with her. But they weren’t the brightest crayons in the box.”
Evan gnaws on his lower lip. “Technically, all this hacking is IT stuff and not Research, so I didn’t learn about it in Research Training. I wish Felix was here. He taught me everything I know about hacking into encrypted systems. If anyone could hack the KAPOW, it’d be him.”
A cold chill courses through my veins. My eyes meet Evan’s. “Felix didn’t tell you where he was going when he left?”
“Nah,” he says, running a hand through his hair. “He didn’t tell me much of anything though—dude is weird.”
