Super Heroes (The New Super Humans #4)

by T. M. Franklin

  Gina crossed her arms over her chest and approached Chloe until they were almost nose to nose. Chloe could sense Beck at her back, ready to intervene, but she held out a hand to stop him. She could feel Gina's breath, stale with a hint of alcohol. She forced her chin up and met Gina's penetrating gaze.

  “If you try to screw me,” Gina said in a low voice.

  “I won't. We won't.” When Gina continued to stare, dark eyes assessing . . . challenging. Chloe added, “It's a big building. It'd take forever to search it and chances are, we'd get caught. We need you to find Ethan.”

  Gina's eyes narrowed a fraction, and she nodded slowly. “That's right. You do.”

  Chloe said nothing, but held her ground.

  “All right,” Gina said, finally stepping back. “But don't try anything stupid. Make no mistake. I'll be watching.” And with that, she turned on her heel and strode away, ducking into an alley and away under the cover of night.

  “Well, that was ominous,” Dylan said.

  “Okay, so out with it.” Miranda faced Chloe, hands on her hips. “What aren't you saying?”

  “And how are your visions going to help us?” Wren asked.

  “Not to mention, how are we going to get into that building without getting arrested?” Beck added.

  “Oh, that won't be a problem,” Chloe said with a smile.

  “Why not?” Miranda asked.

  “Because starting Monday, I'll be going into that building every day,” she replied, pointing across the street. “That’s the headquarters for Warden Security.”

  Chloe barely slept Sunday night. That wasn’t anything new, of course, but instead of being awakened by nightmares, she found she was just too excited to fall asleep. The idea that she was finally going to be doing something to find Ethan, that they had an actual lead, no matter how tenuous, was enough to have her counting down the hours until she started work at Warden Security.

  Not that everyone else was as excited. To a person, the members of the Order thought it was dangerous—stupid even—for Chloe to go into Warden on her own.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Beck had asked when they got back to the Victorian Friday night. “If Ethan's in there, then we know for sure Gavin is involved in some shady stuff.”

  “That's putting it mildly,” Miranda agreed, waving her hands to emphasize her point. “We saw Ethan vanish before our eyes, Chlo. And now he's somehow right here in Gatesburg? I mean, that's high level, X-Files, rogue government agency, super villain—”

  “I get the idea,” Chloe said wryly.

  “She has a point,” Dylan plopped down on the sofa and planted his feet on the coffee table. Miranda nudged him and he dropped his feet to the carpet, leaning forward with his arms on his knees. “If Ethan's in there—”

  “Still a big if,” Chloe pointed out.

  “—If he’s in there,” Dylan continued. “Then we have to ask how and why?”

  Maia paced the room, tapping her finger on her lips. “The how is interesting. If he was somehow transported from the clearing to Warden, that would mean either they have some amazing, superior technology . . . or powers of some kind.”

  “Makes sense,” Wren said. “Someone like Maia or me could have gotten him out of there.”

  “I hadn't even thought of that,” Beck said from his spot on the floor.

  “Big surprise,” Tru muttered beside him.

  He smacked her in the arm without looking at her. “We knew that the Chaos was giving people power, and that power disappeared when It did. But I guess there's nothing that says there might not be more people out there like us. Others with gifts of some kind.”

  They sat in silence for a while, contemplating that rather unpleasant thought.

  “So how about the why?” Tru asked. When they all looked at her blankly, she rolled her eyes. “Why would they keep Ethan at Warden?”

  Wren sat down cross-legged next to Beck. “Well, it has to be one of two things,” she said. “Either they're trying to keep him under lock and key, to make sure the Chaos stays contained.”

  “Or . . .” Dylan held up a finger. “They're trying to figure out how to get It out of him.”

  “Like Gina,” Beck said. “They want to use it.”

  “We don't know that.” Chloe shifted in the chair to sit sideways, her legs thrown over the arm. “If they have Ethan, we have no idea of their motivations.”

  “Which only proves the point that you going in there alone is insane,” Miranda pointed out. “We have no idea if they're good guys or bad guys!”

  “I have to agree,” Maia said. “If they are the bad guys, and they're as unstable as Gina—” She glanced at Beck and Tru. “—no offense.”

  “None taken,” they said in unison.

  “Then we don't know what they could do to you if you're caught snooping around.” Maia finally stopped pacing and leaned against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. “You should let one of us go with you.”

  “And do what?” Chloe flipped her legs around and dropped her feet to the floor in exasperation. “Hang around invisible all day?”

  Maia shrugged.

  “Look, I'm not going to do anything crazy,” Chloe said. “You all know I have better than average intuition. Even if I don't get a vision, I'll know when something's not right. And I can take care of myself, you know. I'm not helpless.”

  “No one's saying you're helpless.” Miranda pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them. “We're just worried about you.”

  “I know that,” Chloe said quietly. “But this is all a little premature, don't you think? We don't know anything yet. We don't even know for sure that Gina is telling the truth. It's not like her track record is all that great in that regard. No offense,” she said to Beck and Tru.

  “None taken.”

  “It's just a summer job,” Chloe continued. “I'll go in, do my job, and poke around a little, get the lay of the land. See if anything sparks my—” She swirled her hands around her head to indicate her visions. “—you know.”

  “I don't know,” Miranda said. “I still don't like it.”

  “None of us do,” Dylan agreed.

  “I swear I won't do anything dangerous,” Chloe pressed. “I'm just going to look around. If I find anything, I promise I'll let you guys know and we'll figure out what to do together.” She glanced at Miranda, who still looked skeptical. “You all have your own jobs and nobody has time to hang out at Warden all day keeping an eye on me.

  “I know . . . I know I haven't been the most stable person since—well, since everything.” Her throat closed up and she took a moment to swallow thickly. “But I'm okay. I'm not going to do anything crazy. You can trust me.”

  In the end, they'd given in. Well, to a certain extent, at least. They'd worked out a schedule, with someone on standby every hour Chloe was to be at Warden. She had them all on speed dial and had to swear she'd call if anything—the teeniest tiniest thing, according to Miranda—seemed out of the ordinary.

  But Chloe, for some reason, wasn't worried. For the first time in weeks . . . months . . . she finally felt like she was on the right track.

  The sun was shining Monday morning, and Chloe only spared a few seconds to look up at the Warden Security building, trying to commit each window and corner to memory, before climbing the steps. The security guard buzzed her in, handed her a temporary badge, and directed her to Human Resources. Chloe already knew where it was, thanks to Gavin's tour, and made her way to the office, only to be met by Gavin himself when she stepped out of the elevator.

  “Morning,” he said, passing by her to enter the elevator. “I'm on my way to a meeting, but you know where HR is, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “I'll see you after,” he said, the doors sliding closed. “Talk to Anne if you need anything.”

  “Okay, but—” Gavin disappeared behind the shiny silver doors before she could remind him that she had yet to meet his assistant. Chloe shrugged at her reflection
, turned and headed down the hall to HR.

  The morning passed in the expected blur of paperwork, workplace safety videos, and getting a picture taken for Chloe's official security badge. She slipped the lanyard over her head, and handed over her temporary badge before leaving to go find Gavin.

  The cubicles were almost all empty—Chloe figured it was lunchtime—and she was met by a petite woman leaving Gavin's office.

  “Oh, you must be Chloe,” she said, holding out a perfectly manicured hand with pale pink fingernails. “I'm Anne, Gavin's assistant.”

  Chloe shook her hand, feeling a little embarrassed at her own jagged nails and rough skin. Anne was . . . elegant was probably the best word. She reminded Chloe of a ballerina, slender and petite with a long neck and upswept black hair, dewy brown skin and dark eyes accented with winged liner Chloe could never hope to imitate. She wore a trim gray suit with a blouse the same color as her nails, and pointy-toed heels that clicked as she led Chloe across the room.

  “Gavin's tied up on a conference call,” she said over her shoulder. “Come on with me and I'll get you set up.”

  “Where is everyone?” Chloe asked.

  “Hmm?” Anne glanced back at her. “Oh, you'll rarely see many people on this floor,” she replied. “They'll stop in to check their email sometimes, but most employees spend the majority of their time in the field.” She stopped next to Chloe's cubicle.

  “You can put your things here,” she said.

  Chloe slipped off her coat, hung it on the back of the chair, and set her bag on the desk.

  Anne jiggled the mouse next to the computer screen. “Click this icon to access the company email,” she said, demonstrating. “We've already set you up with the username CBlake and password 1-2-3-4. You'll want to change that once you log in.”

  Chloe signed in and Anne nodded, smiling. “Great. You'll get a daily email from either myself or Gavin, outlining what you're doing for the day. If you run out of work, come see me, there's always a ton of filing that needs to be done.”

  She took the mouse and opened Chloe's welcome email. “Looks like today, you'll be helping inventory some of our equipment. Sounds like fun.” Anne shot her a sideways glance and smirked.

  Chloe unbuttoned her sleeves and rolled them up. “Just tell me where to go.”

  Two hours later, she sat in the midst of coils of cable and crates of camera boxes, checking items off a list Anne had given her. She lifted the last of the crates and placed it on a low shelf, wincing as her stomach growled. With everything going on, she'd completely forgotten to eat lunch.

  She brushed off her jeans and double checked her clipboard before leaving the storage closet and heading over to Anne's desk.

  “How did it go?” Anne asked, tapping a stack of papers on her desk to straighten them, then placing them in a folder.

  “Fine, I think,” Chloe responded, handing over the clipboard. “If it's okay, could I have a few minutes to go eat my lunch?”

  Anne blinked at her. “What? Oh, yes . . . of course,” she said, setting the clipboard aside. “I'm sorry, I didn't even realize you hadn't eaten. You get an hour a day for lunch. Take it whenever you like. You know where the break room is?”

  Chloe nodded. “Yes, Gavin showed me.”

  “Okay then,” she replied with a smile. “There's also a drawer in there with takeout menus if you need them. And there's a good sandwich place at the end of the block.”

  “I'm fine,” Chloe said, jerking a thumb toward her cubicle. “I brown bagged it.”

  Anne picked up another stack of papers and pen. “All right then. See you in an hour.”

  “Thanks.”

  Chloe's heartbeat picked up in anticipation of what she was going to do. She stopped at her cubicle to pick up her lunch bag, then on reflex, glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching.

  Her hands trembled a little. She hadn't even done anything yet, and she was a nervous wreck.

  She really was hungry, though, so she stopped in the break room and wolfed down half her sandwich. She'd leave the rest in the bag as her alibi. If anyone saw her, she'd say she'd gotten lost looking for the break room and play the poor, ignorant, first-day-employee card.

  She could do that.

  Heart pounding in her chest, Chloe peeked out into the empty hallway. She started to tiptoe out, then realized that made her look even more suspicious, so she forced herself into a more casual gait. She passed the copy room and Human Resources, since she'd already seen them. There were small windows in the doors to the Purchasing and Accounting departments, but she couldn't really make out anything unusual in either office—desks, chairs, more cubicles. She only spotted one woman working, who didn't seem to notice Chloe snooping, so that was good.

  Now for the hard part.

  Chloe headed toward the elevators, knowing it would be more difficult to explain her presence on another floor. She had to try, though. It made sense that if Ethan was somewhere in the building, it wouldn't be in a public area. So she ruled out the third floor and the lobby and hesitated, her fingers poised over the buttons in the elevator.

  “Might as well start at the top,” she muttered to herself, pressing four.

  The doors opened to reveal a darkly paneled reception area with plush gold carpet, the Warden logo embedded in the center of the floor. A woman wearing a headset sat behind a raised reception desk, and she looked up as the elevator doors opened.

  “May I help you?” she asked.

  Chloe froze, then held up her lunch sack. “Sorry, uh, I was looking for the break room?”

  She was so not cut out for espionage.

  The woman smiled. “Third floor,” she said.

  Chloe nodded, the elevator doors closing in front of her. She leaned against the wall and let out a shaky breath.

  “Get ahold of yourself,” she said under her breath as she pushed the button for the second floor.

  She braced herself as the doors opened again. But this time, there was no reception area, but a long hallway broken up with nondescript office doors. She turned left and realized the hall ran around the outside of the building, bordering whatever was behind the doors—what was it Gavin had told her? Cyber security. Labs and offices.

  There were no windows looking into these offices, and though Chloe quietly tried a couple of the doors, they all seemed to be locked.

  Disappointed, she made her way back onto the elevator and paused as she considered pushing the button for the first floor. She remembered the security door she'd spotted her first day while she waited for the elevator, the one with the keypad next to it at the end of the hall. Chloe figured there must be something important behind that door, but also knew there was no way she could get through it without the code.

  She checked the time on her phone. She only had about ten minutes left of her lunch break.

  Her finger hovered over the B button. The basement. If there were something untoward going on at Warden Security, wouldn't the basement be the place for it? Gavin had told her it housed the Research and Development department, and if that wasn't synonymous with top secret and shady, she didn't know what was. Her intuition pinged, and without any further thought, she pushed the button.

  Nothing happened.

  “Crap,” she muttered, eyeing the keycard reader with the blinking red light. Holding her breath, she pressed her badge to the reader, willing the light to turn green.

  It didn't.

  She tried again, pushing the B button at the same time, but that didn't work either. Chloe let out an exasperated groan and was just about to head back to the third floor when the doors suddenly closed and the elevator descended. Holding her breath, she watched as the first floor light came on, then darkened again, and the elevator kept going.

  The light on the keycard was still red, but apparently, Chloe was heading for the basement anyway.

  The elevator dinged and Chloe stepped to the side at the last minute, to try and get out of the main line of sight. Th
e doors slid open and she pressed back against the wall, palms clammy and her stomach somersaulting wildly. She swallowed, worried she might throw up right then and there as a man stepped onto the elevator.

  “Chloe?”

  It was Gavin.

  “Are you okay?”

  Chloe realized she looked like a lunatic, plastered against the elevator wall and she stepped away, finally getting enough presence of mind to look out past Gavin at the basement level. She only got an impression of darkness, blue light, glass walls, computers, and lots of people in lab coats before the doors closed again.

  And suddenly, she was encompassed by darkness, slammed with a vision so quickly and without warning that it took her a moment to recognize it. Panic raced through her, fed by the void around her . . . within her.

  Then, just as quickly, the vision vanished, and she was back on the elevator.

  “Chloe?” Gavin was looking at her with more than a little confusion. “What are you doing down here?”

  She tried to catch her breath, but instead inhaled in a sharp, choking gulp, her head swimming with a rush of dizziness.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, grabbing her elbow when she swayed on her feet.

  Chloe held up a hand and forced herself to breathe normally. She couldn't believe Gavin was seeing her like this. Nobody outside of the Order ever saw her like this.

  “Chloe?”

  “I'm fine,” she said quickly, willing her lips into what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Lost my balance a little, that's all. The elevator, you know?”

  He looked confused. “Okay . . .”

  She was about to hold up her bag again, then realized quickly that the excuse wouldn't work with Gavin. He'd been the one to show her the break room in the first place, after all.

  “I stepped out for lunch but when I got back on the elevator, it took me down instead of up,” she said, with what she hoped was a confident smile as she pressed the button for the third floor. “The basement looks . . . interesting,” she said carefully. “Did you say it was Research and Development?”

  “That's right.” Gavin leaned against the opposite wall as the elevator climbed. “I'd offer to show it to you, but security is pretty tight down there. Lots of proprietary technology, that kind of thing.”