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“You’re the best,” I say with a smile. “Now I can go.”
His lips press into a thin line but he doesn’t say anything. If only he could bottle that kind of self-restraint as one of his inventions. I’d buy a boatload of it. “Well?” I wag my suit at him. “Are you just going to stand there? Turn around.”
He turns toward the wall with an annoyed sigh and I exchange his borrowed clothes for my Hero suit. The second time wearing it feels just as amazing as the first. I only hope the outcome is different. I tug the hair tie out of my ponytail and let my hair flow around my shoulders, trying not to react too much to the black waves falling on my shoulders. My hair is a part of me, whether it’s the right color or not.
While I was getting dressed, Evan kept busy with something in the corner of the room. When he returns, he’s wearing a grin the size of Texas. My eyes narrow.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” I ask cautiously.
He shrugs and glances at his fingernails. “Oh come on,” I say, stepping closer to him. “You’re not fooling me with that stupid nonchalant look. What are you hiding?”
“You look hot,” he says, “That’s all.”
My heart flutters. “Somehow I don’t think that’s all.”
Evan holds his palm out, pressing his hand against my chest. “It’s not.” He holds up his other hand, twisting an empty syringe in the air. Oh shit, he knows I’m about to fight Aurora and yet he’s about to Juice me?
A cracking sound reverberates off my chest as the smallest vibration prickles at my skin underneath the breastplate. I stand firm, completely unaffected by the jolt of Evan’s juice, aimed point blank at my power source.
Pepper was right. I’m invincible.
“How far away will these rings work?” I ask, pu
lling my glove over the ring on my finger. We’re on the first floor of Research, standing awkwardly in the lobby next to the door.
“They’ll work anywhere.” Evan turns around, hands shoved in his pockets, glasses needing a slight shove back up his nose. “Be careful, Maci.”
“Will you wear yours?” I ask.
“Way ahead of you.” He holds up his hand, the silver ring shining on his ring finger. “So what’s the plan?”
“Well,” I pull on my other glove. “I’m going to find my impersonator and de-mask him. In public. That will clear my name. Then I’ll beat him up for good measure.” I bend my left foot backwards, grabbing it behind me with my hand to stretch out my hamstrings. “Then I’m going to find my dad and pull all that magnetic shit out of him.”
Evan’s arms fold across his chest as he watches me with a weird sort of fascination. I stand tall and rub my hands over my body, checking to ensure that I’m fully suited and ready for battle. “And then,” I say the words with deliberate slowness, “I’m going to find Aurora.”
He lifts an eyebrow.
I lift both of mine. “And I’m going to kill her.”
“Heroes don’t kill,” Evan says.
I shrug. “Well, you know—I’ll make her wish she was dead.
Evan doesn’t follow me off the island. The steady tap of my boots on the concrete floor of the KAPOW tunnel lulls me into such a rhythm that I kind of quit caring about Evan. Or at least I try to quit caring. But although the emotion on his face was only there for a microsecond before he regained his composure, I still saw it. So it still counts.
Fear.
Not the fear I feel in running, quite literally, into my enemy’s arms but the fear of me. It’s the look I’ve seen countless times on the faces of my peers, and their parents and random Super kids who see me for the first time.
That’s President Might’s daughter. I hear she’s the evil twin. Quick! Run away before she sees us!
I expect it from strangers. I didn’t expect it from Evan.
Guess I should have.
There are no intersecting tunnels for hours. Central is a spider web of tunnels, with the majority of all Supers living within the web in the Grand Canyon and underground. Supers have remote locations in England, Australia, and a retirement community in Hawaii. But Research is by far the most obscure location in our Super network. My leg muscles know that better than anyone.
I’m naked without my MOD. I don’t know how long I’ve been running or how many miles I’ve crossed. Also, there’s the small fact that I’ve only traveled to Evan’s once and I wasn’t in my right state of mind, so yeah—I have no idea where I’m going. I probably should have thought this out more. Asked Evan for a map.
