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The Hispanic woman and her half-breed son lie dead in a pool of their own blood, just outside the lobby of the complex. Nova slumps against the brick wall, slapping her hand to her forehead. She doesn’t notice what I notice—the dark figure that darts around a dumpster just seconds after we arrive.
I slide a retriever hook from its sheath in my sleeve and take off for where the shadow had vanished. Nova curses under her breath, sounding more annoyed with me than distraught over the deaths of two humans. Well, one human and her hybrid offspring.
I find him a few yards past the dumpster, one hand pressed against the brick wall in front of him, the other hand swiping the screen of a smartphone as he mutters under his breath. Supers don’t use human technology, but the power pulsing from him tells me he’s no human. I flick my wrist and send the hook straight into his back.
His body goes rigid before collapsing like a fallen tree on a pile of garbage. Jagged wheezing breaths escape his mouth, lips frozen in an open-mouthed state of shock. I call for Nova, despite feeling her power and knowing she’s already approaching. I kick at the guy with my foot, rolling him onto his back. This shoves the hooks further into his spine, ensuring that he won’t be moving anytime soon. He groans as a mixture of silvery red blood oozes from one corner of his mouth.
“Who the hell are you and what the hell was that for?” I spit out, so completely full of blind rage that I forget to state my name and Hero rank first. I haven’t forgotten that I’m not allowed to interact with villains, but I don’t care about that. “I’m Hero Maci Might,” I say through clenched teeth. “And you’re done.”
He scowls despite being mostly paralyzed. Nova’s black Chucks appear next to my Hero boots and her hand grabs my shoulder. “I know him,” she says. “He’s Aurora’s.” Her hazel eyes dart to mine and she shrugs. “Well, he was.”
“I have to call another Hero,” I say as I power up my BEEPR, preparing to call for my brother Max. “This murderer needs to be depowered immediately.”
At this, the villain spits out a mouthful of blood, revealing yellow-stained teeth. “Screw…you…” he breathes through pained gasps. Nova pushes my arm, making me abandon the BEEPR attached to my wrist. “There’s no need for that.”
She drops to a knee next to him, tilting her head to the right as she watches his teeth clench in pain. It takes him a minute to gather the strength to speak again, but when he does, his words are ice. “Traitor.”
“I’m no more a traitor than you,” Nova whispers, pressing her hands to his chest, pushing the hook even further into his back. With a quick jerk of his elbow, he grabs her wrist and squeezes. I can feel the pain through her power—it hurts but she’s not showing it.
He sucks in a deep breath. “You better choose your loyalties while you still can.”
Nova slaps him. “There are no more loyalties, jackass. Aurora is dead.”
I think he shakes his head but he could just be shaking from the pain. Blood and power drip out of the corner of his mouth and form a puddle on the asphalt. He takes in another labored breath. “You’re second in line,” he says. “You could rule everything.”
My heart runs cold when I hear his words. What the hell does that mean? What if she chooses to go with him? I look to my BEEPR again, finger poised over the screen that would call Max. I should do it. I should do it now before Nova switches loyalties and things get really bad.
I barely hear the crack a second later. Nova dusts off her hands. Stands up and shrugs. “Sorry about that. He’s dead now.”
“You can’t do that anymore, okay? You can’t just kill people.”
“He wasn’t a person, he was a giant prick.”
“I’m sure he was, but we don’t kill. You can’t kill.”
Her gaze floats across the horizon in what I think is a subtle eye roll. “We kill. I’m quite good at it.” She turns and looks me straight in the eyes. It’s hard not to flinch at what is essentially my own reflection glaring at me. “I know it is wrong. That is why I must die.”
I don’t even know what to say to that. I’m still not even sure why I set out on this journey to find someone who didn’t want to be found. Dad will know what to do. Everything will be okay once I get us back to him.
After a few miles of walking through filthy alleyways, we enter into the newer part of King City. It’s somewhere around one in the morning and I have no clue what day it is but it must not be a weekend because we haven’t run into anyone so far. I glance sideways at Nova. As long as we don’t run into any Supers in the human part of town late at night, our identities should remain a secret for now. The humans won’t know about the villain attack in Central a few days ago. King City’s elders keep that kind of thing a secret to avoid hysteria. I’m in my Hero suit, only I look like some kind of imposter since my right sleeve is pulled up halfway, revealing a bandaged arm. My sister’s ratty hair, dirty skin and tattered clothing draw attention away from her facial features that are identical to mine. If I’m recognized as a Hero then she will look like the human I’ve just rescued.
Well, I guess that’s not far from the truth.
My senses are on high alert but there’s not so much as a hungry rat scurrying around the streets. Max and I had assumed that the search team looking for Nova would have gone hundreds of miles away, thinking she’d disappear as far away from Central as possible. That doesn’t comfort me much; if I’m caught harboring a wanted villain then I’ll be just as screwed as she is. Only she wants to die and I definitely don’t.
An entrance to one of the more popular KAPOW tunnels is up ahead, marked by the dozen tourist kiosks set up next to the thick metal doorway that is only accessible by Supers. We pass a stand of brochures that advertise the best times to see the popular Heroes at this gate. Nova’s sharp voice pierces through the quiet. “Are all your Hero buddies waiting on the other side for me?” she asks. “At least I’ll die quickly.” She stops short of taking another step. “It will be quick, right?”
I check over my BEEPR and it’s just as blank as it was a few minutes ago. No one is looking for me. No one expects me. I shove her forward to the wall screen in the center of the KAPOW entrance. “Just...shut up,” I say, lifting my hand to touch the screen. A wad of old bandages press against the glass. The exhilaration of finding Nova made me completely forget about my shredded and now useless right hand. But now it’s right in front of me and my stomach clenches with painful memories of a few days ago when my arm got caught in the depowering machine.
Nova had pulled me out, even when Max and Evan combined weren’t strong enough to do it. She saved me and now I’m going to save her.
I’m going to try, at least.
“Keep an eye out,” I tell her, squatting down to examine my bandages. Making her the lookout is just my pathetic way of making her do something besides stand there looking creepy as hell. My guard is never down. Especially not now.
“What am I looking for?” she asks.
“Anything. I have to get these bandages off my fingertips so the door will open. No one can see us or we’re both screwed. Once we get inside I’ll summon our KAPOW pod and call Max.
