Super Zero

by Rhonda Stapleton

  I shrugged, trying to fight back the tears at his sweet concern. Hey, I was doing something good. I was going to help keep citizens from having their privacy invaded by these cameras, and put a bad guy behind bars, to boot. That’s what superheroes did, right? Even at the expense of self.

  It sucked doing the right thing sometimes.

  A knock pounded on the front door. Groaning, I pulled my hand out of Vigilante’s, then stood and opened the door. Britney stood in front of me, mascara running down her cheeks. Her hair was matted against her head, and her t-shirt and jeans were soaked.

  “C-can I come in?” she said, her teeth chattering. Her red-rimmed eyes were cast downward.

  Oh, geez. Even without her saying a word about what happened, I could practically predict how it went. I knew it was going to go bad when she told Mason about the baby, but since she probably didn’t want to hear that right now, I held my tongue.

  I tugged her in and got a towel from the closet for her to dry off.

  “Thanks,” she said, sniffling. She wiped her nose with one side of the towel, handing it back to me.

  “Um, you hold on to it,” I said, not wanting to touch her snot. “I’ll get you something to drink.” I sat her down on the couch and nuked a cup of hot tea.

  She held the steaming mug in her hands. “Thanks.”

  Vigilante stared at her. “Are you okay?”

  Britney turned her blood-shot eyes toward him. “Not really,” she replied, her voice coming out as a squeak. “The man I love is a cold-hearted pig, I’m pregnant with his child, and I don’t know what I’m going to do!” She hiccupped a sob, then closed her eyes and breathed in a couple of slow breaths through her nose. Once calmer, she drank a sip of her tea.

  Vigilante, uncomfortable, stood, shooting me a concerned glance. “I think it’s better if I go. You two need some time alone. To talk. And stuff.”

  I walked him to the door. “Sorry,” I whispered to him. “I didn’t plan on this.”

  He threw a pitying glance at her. “Neither did she, I’m sure.”

  Suddenly I didn’t want him to leave. I wanted to talk to him more, to feel his presence in my home, but Britney needed to talk to me without him around.

  “Well, I’ll call the council tonight to have them meet tomorrow so we can finish this,” I said. My heart beat a weird thud against my chest, and not just because of nerves over spilling the beans about Mason. I didn’t want to stop seeing Vigilante when this was over. I needed to tell him how I felt, or he wouldn’t know. If I confessed, maybe he and I could continue seeing each other on a more romantic level.

  A renewed hope welled in me at the prospect, and I gave him a big smile.

  He smiled back, a tender grin that nearly did me in. I couldn’t let this man go. Not now. Not after all we’d been through, after how I’d grown so close to him. Gotten to know him so well, and him me.

  No, it wasn’t going to happen. After all this mess was done tomorrow, I was going to tell Vigilante I loved him.

  “I’ll call you in the morning,” he said then walked down the hall, his trenchcoat fluttering lightly at the ends.

  I closed the door behind him, then turned my attention back to Britney, who was still sipping tea on the couch. “Why don’t you crash here tonight?” I said. “You can wear a pair of my jammies, and we’ll figure out what to do. We’ll get through this.”

  She put the tea down on the table, then ran over and hugged me tightly. “You were right,” she whispered into my shoulder. “I’m so stupid. I should have listened to you about him.”

  I felt hot tears seep through my shirt onto my skin. “It’s okay. Just try to calm down.”

  “He even had the nerve to say it probably wasn’t his,” she continued. “I threw the bracelet at his feet and told him to go to hell.”

  I stroked her hair, guiding her to the couch. “Just because I was right about him doesn’t mean I had the right to butt in your business. I’m sorry it turned out that way, but good for you for standing up to his crap. You have more strength than you know.”

  “Jenna, I’m scared,” she said, her eyes wide, tears brimming in the lower lids. “It hurts so badly to be so deceived about someone you love.”

  Her pain broke my heart. More anger at Mason piled on top of the mound I was already feeling. If he didn’t want to be in the baby’s life, fine. But to cruelly cast her aside?

  He was a total bastard, and suddenly I couldn’t wait to take his smug ass down tomorrow.

  Chapter 18

  With a shaking hand, I clutched the receipt, the printout of the article and the photo of the video camera I’d scanned and printed. Tenuous evidence indeed, but I hoped it would be enough to convince them that Mason was a bad guy.

  Breathe, Jenna. I forced myself to relax. I had a tough job ahead, and if I didn’t remain calm, I was going to blow it. Channel your inner bitch.

  I cleared my throat, standing in front of the sober-faced council, whose rows of piercing eyes bored into me. “I know you’re wondering why we called you here,” I said. “Well, Vigilante and I have done some investigatory work over the last week to get to the bottom of what’s been going on.”

  “You were supposed to keep yourself isolated until the changing crystal was turned over,” Storm Wave said, a disapproving frown on his face. He crossed his arms.

  “I tried to keep to myself like we’d planned, but some unexpected events happened.” I paused, planning out my next words carefully. “Carrie Mifflington, an employee of MetalCo, was hired by Dementrix as a spy to watch The Machine. I inadvertently stumbled upon this the other day. And since I feared for our security, Vigilante snuck into SummerTech to uncover evidence.”

  “What?” Mason said in a scornful voice, an incredulous look on his face. “No, you’re wrong.”

  I stared at him in silence, arms crossed.

  “Carrie is just my secretary,” he said to the council, rolling his eyes at me. “She couldn’t be involved. She’s too big to do anything other than eat.”

  I glared at him, not just for calling me a liar but for the “fat” potshot. Not cool.

  “No, I’m not wrong,” I replied. “I traced a call made to Carrie’s cell phone back to SummerTech, which we all know Dementrix has assumed control over.” I tilted my head at Mason. “Now, why in the world would a villain want control of the company?” I pause. “Because she wants to use the technology it offers for nefarious purposes. Technology that you helped create.”

  He sat back down, his jaw clenched tight as he shot daggers of anger from his eyes at me.

  I handed the photo of the video camera around. The entire room was silent—you could have heard a pin drop.

  Raven Gale scrutinized the photo closely before passing it around. When it got to Mason, he froze, his eyes wide as he realized he was busted.

  Vigilante stepped to my side. “The Machine made a deal with SummerTech to help their face recognition technology,” he said. “He’d provide the metal, and they’d pay him handsomely for the favor. Which would be fine, if it the deal had been over the table.”

  Taking his cue, I handed the receipts of his personal bank deposit and the inflated expenses around, and then the article on SummerTech’s video camera innovation.

  The other superheroes exchanged nervous glances between each other as they studied the papers I handed around.

  Rowena looked at Mason, her eyes wide in disbelief. “Is this true?”

  “Of course not.” Mason sneered at me. “You have no proof of anything, other than a bunch of coincidental papers. This is slander.”

  “You’re right. If you consider each item individually it doesn’t seem like much. But when added up they make sense.” I looked Mason square in the face. “It’s time to ‘fess up and make things right. Unlike something else you totally screwed up yesterday.” I raised a knowing eyebrow. “Or do we need to go into that here?”

  Mason heard the veiled threat in my voice and knew I wasn’t messing around. I
f it came down to it I’d blow the whistle on Britney’s pregnancy, which would be just one more damning nail in his coffin. Not to mention, Rowena would probably kill him on the spot. But I’d protect Britney as long as it was needed to bring justice.

  He suddenly slumped forward in his seat, leaning over to cover his face with his hands. “I didn’t mean for things to go this way. I was experimenting with an alloy of steel and the metal in my body and stumbled across a unique formula. Bradley Summers made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I didn’t realize what the cameras would be used for until it was too late.”

  Mason looked up and swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bouncing, then reached a hand out to touch Rowena’s forearm. His light blue eyes were soft and pleading. She glared at him and yanked her arm from under his hand.

  “So why didn’t you back out when Dementrix took over?” Vigilante asked, stepping over to Mason. He shook his head in disgust, a snarl on his upper lip. “You’re pathetic. A total disgrace to the league.”

  Storm Wave’s face was a mix of pity and disdain. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to turn The Machine over to the police for further investigation.” He and Seer grabbed Mason’s forearms, and Morphero quickly wrapped him in a bind.

  Mason struggled a bit as the binds tightened around him, but didn’t fight too hard. I think he knew the gig was up, and with a room full of angry superheroes he wouldn’t get too far in an escape without being recaptured—and getting a good ass-whooping in the process.

  As they led him away I said to his back, “By the way, the changing crystal is still being protected by me. You failed in that too.”

  He whipped around, anxiety written in the deep lines on his face. “What? No, I didn’t have anything to do with that. I swear.” His eyes seemed earnest as they bored into mine, begging me to believe him.

  My heart fluttered beneath my rib cage. Was he lying? He had to be. Nothing else made sense. Probably just another deception by Mr. Scumbag himself.

  Storm Wave and Seer turned him back around. As they dragged my former employer down the hall, the sounds of his protests echoed in the room and in my ears.

  The rest of the council stared blankly at me, and I stared blankly back.

  “Now what happens?” I asked.

  “Well, since the head of our council has been…removed from the League of Heroes, the next in line is moved up.” Raven Gale looked at Rowena. “Rapida, do you accept responsibilities as the head of the Midwest division of the League of Heroes? I understand this is a difficult time for you, so if you choose to pass we’ll have someone else take the leadership.”

  She wiped a small tear out of the corner, clutching her hands in front of her waist. “This is a trying time for us all. Yes, I was married to The Machine, but we all put our trust in him. Our faith in him that he wouldn’t let us down.” She sniffled delicately. “It would be my honor to assume the duties as the head of the council. I promise you, I am nothing like him.”

  The group burst into loud applause, including Vigilante, who wore a small smile on his face.

  I stood there, knowing I should feel better about it than I did. After all, justice had been served, and one of the bad guys was put away. Definitely a cause for celebration in my book.

  Rowena was no Mason, that was for sure, but who knew what was going to happen now?

  * * *

  “Amy, I need you to do something for me,” I said into my cell as I drove my rented Dodge Neon back toward the office. I was still a bit shaken up by what happened in the council meeting, but fought to keep that out of my voice. “Can you meet me at work in twenty minutes? And by the way, can you also do a little digging into Carrie Mifflington? Ask your connections to dig up anything they can, ASAP.”

  “Sure thing,” she said. I heard her keyboard clacking. “What’s going on?”

  “I'll explain when you get here. I need your help investigating where she is. She’s a bad mamajama.”

  Amy chuckled. “Sounds fun. I’m in.”

  We hung up. I headed to work, running straight for my office once I reached my department. I paced across the floor, trying to figure out why I still felt uneasy. I patted the pocket that held the crystal, just to ensure it was still safe.

  One, Carrie was out there somewhere, knowing my true identity. Which meant Dementrix would soon know if she didn’t already. I needed to find her. Maybe I could use whatever tips Amy picked up to research where Carrie was hiding.

  Two, Mason had heavily protested that he didn’t rat me out at the barn to be ambushed. And a small part of me believed him. After all, he’d ‘fessed up about the metal…why bother to lie about the crystal at this point?

  Something wasn’t adding up right.

  Amy burst like a cyclone through my office door, her eyes wide, her mouth shaped like an O. “My God,” she said, breathless, “I just heard about Mason being arrested for illegal business practices. What is going on here?”

  I grabbed her arm and tugged her into the chair across from me, sitting in my chair. “This is a mess,” I said. “And you’re one of the only people I can trust. I need to find Carrie, because she knows—” I stopped myself.

  Should I tell Amy about my superpower? Would she totally freak out?

  She slitted her eyes at me. “What else are you not telling me? What does Carrie know, Jenna? Spill it. If I’m going to help you, you need to be honest with me.”

  With a heavy heart I unloaded the whole sordid story on Amy, from the crystal giving me the power to manipulate electricity, to my falling in love with Vigilante, to Britney’s unexpected pregnancy by Mason. Everything.

  In a way, it felt good to finally be unburdened with all the secrets I’d been carrying around inside.

  “And you can see,” I said, wrapping everything up, “this is much deeper than Mason. We need to take Carrie and Dementrix down too. And I think we’ll need to destroy their lab, so they can’t reproduce these cameras.” I lost my breath for a second, thinking of the facial recognition technology. “Just think of the ramifications of this in the wrong hands. This is huge. We have to do something to stop it!”

  She sat in silence for a full minute, not saying anything, just studying my face.

  I squirmed in my seat, uncomfortable with her scrutiny. “What?” I finally blurted out.

  A slow smile cracked on her face. “You’re in looooooooooooove,” she drawled, the light in her eyes dancing. She laughed, slapping a hand on her thigh. “Wow, I never thought I’d see the day. You know Mom will die and go to heaven when she hears.”

  I flushed deeply at her teasing, but laughed. “Yeah, yeah,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Enough about that part. You can’t tell Mom, got it?”

  “Whatever,” she said. I knew she’d keep her mouth shut, though. We had too much dirt on each other that we didn’t want Mom to know, even as old as we were. “Hey, where is Vigilante, by the way?”

  “He took off after the confrontation. He had some other business to handle right now. So, what are we gonna do about the rest of it?” I asked, playing with a pencil on my desk.

  “Well, first, you’re gonna demonstrate for me how your power works.” Amy pushed the desk lamp closer to me and switched it on. “Go to town.”

  With a big swallow, I touched the switch of the lamp, willing it to turn off. It did, sending a small current through my finger.

  Amy sat back in her chair, scrutinizing me closely. “Interesting. So, do you just shut stuff off, or can you transfer power from one object to another?”

  “Both,” I said, scratching an itch on the back of my head.

  She rubbed her chin, deep in thought. “That might come in handy.” Her cell rang. “Hold on. That’s probably my contact right now.” She answered the call. “Hello?”

  I watched as she grabbed the pencil off my desk, then a pad of paper, scrawling down an address. “Okay, got it,” she said. She paused, listening on the other end. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “No way. Really?”


  I was dying to hear what was on the other side of the conversation, but tried to keep cool.

  She finally hung up, then looked at me, her face sober. “I found out Carrie’s hangout. Let’s roll.”

  Chapter 19

  Amy and I, decked out in full uniform, hustled in her supercar through the back streets of Cleveland, heading straight into the warehouse district. While her car wasn’t as decked out as Mason’s, it was a little, hot red Mitsubishi Spyder with some oomph to it.

  It had been a while since I rode with her in her car, and had never been with her on one of her crime-hunting sprees. I had to admit, it was rather exciting to be working side by side with her. I hoped against hope I wouldn’t let her down by doing something stupid.

  She wove the car down a side street then pulled into a dilapidated garage. We got out, making sure it was empty before settling in to the building, and closed the door.

  “Their location is across the street,” she said, nodding her head in the direction of the back of the building. She looked my uniform over. “By the way, I love that fabric. You look fabulous in it.”

  “You think so?” I glanced down at the uniform. “I can’t believe how well this stuff breathes. And it’s so flexible and stretchy.” Who would have thought it? I’d finally become a fan of spandex. Then again, not all spandex was the same. There was spandex and then there was “spandex”. And superhero spandex was, well, super.

  “You’ll have to show me where you got it,” she said. “I’d like to update my uniform, too.”

  A small thrill of pride ran through me. Amy, wanting superhero fashion tips from me! This was an interesting development.

  We turned our attention to the open wood slots of the back wall, crouching down so as not to be seen by anyone passing by.

  “My connection said Carrie, otherwise known as Vera Verde in the villain circles, has been spotted here a couple of times,” Amy said. “This is our best lead so far. So, we hunker down here and watch to see what happens.” She turned her head to the side to glance down the road.