by Jamie Zakian
“They weren’t for supervillains. They were for super fanatical protestors who hate us for suppressing you and your kind.”
“Oh.”
“What are you doing here?” asked the other Sinclair sister. Max couldn’t remember her name, since he referred to her as Ice Queen in his mind.
“Sorry to bother you, Ms. Sinclair—”
“Evie.”
“Right, Evie. Like evil.” Max chuckled, and both Shay and Evie crossed their arms. Two sets of annoyed eyes had pinned on him, and it stole the smirk from his lips.
“I wanted to escort you two to Ling Enterprises, make sure you got in safe.”
“An escort is unnecessary.” Evie kicked the man on the floor aside so she could close her condo door. She straightened her stiff suit jacket and marched down the hallway. “We have a car waiting in the parking garage. And we’re not going to Ling Enterprises.”
“Where are we going?” Max asked Shay.
“I had an underground facility built,” Evie called out, without looking back or breaking her stride toward the elevator. “The address should’ve been in your instruction packet.”
Shay hurried to catch Evie, jumping over the felled man, and Max followed.
“Yeah. I didn’t read that packet, too many long words. Was it important?”
Evie let loose a sarcastic chuckle. “No. Not important at all. It’s only every detail about the next month of your life.”
The elevator dinged. Its door slid open, and a guy in heels stepped into the hallway. “Hey, Shay. I—”
Words were replaced by high-pitched squeals. The guy waved his arms, sagging against the wall.
“Oh my gosh. Oh my. It’s you.”
“Ollie,” Shay said. “This is Max. Max, this is my friend—”
“Oliver,” he said, bumping Shay aside.
Max held out his hand and the guy latched on, shaking hard.
“Firestorm! I’m your biggest fan.” Ollie leaned close to Max, batting his highly decorated eyes. “Biggest.”
“Thanks.” Max pried his hand from the slightly invasive grip and jumped into the elevator. Ice Queen seemed a better alternative than fanboy, until her glare bounced off the shiny wall and hit his eye.
“Shay,” Evie said in a bark, which broke up the chatter-fest in the hallway.
“Sorry.” Shay hurried into the elevator and pressed the bottom button. “Ollie wanted to wish us luck.”
Once the door closed, Evie turned to face Max. “What do you want with my little sister?”
“Evie,” Shay said in a high-pitched squawk, stepping between them.
“Watch out, Shay.” Evie pulled Shay to her side, keeping her frosty stare on Max. “I think this guy is some kind of pervert.”
“Pervert,” Max shouted, startled by the anger in his own voice.
“No.” Shay shook her head, slowly. “That is so wrong, Evie.”
“What am I supposed to think? First, I catch you two making out in a stairwell—”
“No,” Shay yelled. The red in her cheeks complimented her outfit perfectly. She now had every color of the rainbow.
“Then,” Evie went on, pointing her bony finger at Max. “He finds a way to worm you into his life.”
That was about all Max could take of the Ice Queen’s unfounded accusations. Even though his brain begged to shut up, his mouth opened wide.
“You brought me into your lives. If you hadn’t sued us, I would’ve never went to your office, met Shay in the stairwell, felt that …”
Evie crept close to Max, butting up against his chest. Her eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched as she peered up at him. “Felt what?”
The elevator door opened with a ping, but nobody moved.
“Leave him alone, Evie.” Shay grabbed onto Evie’s arm, tugging.
Evie backed away from Max. She lifted her palm to his face, as if to dismiss him, and then pranced from the elevator.
Shay squirmed in the backseat of a large black sedan. For the last five blocks, she’d managed to keep her stare off both Evie, who drummed the seat beside her, and Max, who grumbled beneath his breath in the front passenger seat. She couldn’t wait to get out of the car. This ride was just as awkward as the one in the elevator, more so since no one spoke.
“Big day, huh?” Shay tossed out, but got no biters. “I got lots of cool ideas.”
“Had an underground facility built,” Max said, turning in his seat to stare at Evie in the back. “That’s quite a feat to pull off in less than twenty-four hours.”
“Obviously I had some time to prepare.”
“That’s strange. To prepare for something you had no idea you could do until yesterday. And costly.”
“My board of investors and I were confident the legal system would do what’s right for the citizens of our city.”
“And who are these investors?”
Evie glanced out her window. “All that information is in your packet.”
“Right. Guess I’ll just have to ditch the first day of superhero school so I can go home and get my information packet.”
“It’s not that easy, cowboy.” Evie pointed out the front windshield, at a ratty steel building. “Once we drive into that warehouse, you can’t go anywhere without a designated SPU agent. And all departures that are non-mission related must be scheduled at least twenty-four hours in advance. It’s all in your—”
“Yeah. My information packet. Got it.”
Shay leaned into the front, despite Evie’s glower. “Don’t worry. I can print you out another packet.”
A low huff took Max into a slump. “I don’t even have my suit with me.”
“You guys will probably get new, dull suits. Apparently, all SPU agents wear black.”
“You don’t.” Max eyed Shay from her purple headband to her pink shoes. “You look … colorful.”
“Thanks. I think.”
Evie grabbed onto Shay’s waistband and pulled her back into the seat. A dark shadow fell over the car as they neared the warehouse. The woman driving pressed a button on the dashboard, and a wide bay door slid open.
Shay fidgeted, tapping her foot against the floor mat. She could barely wait to see the high-tech facility her sister spent the last few months secretly constructing.
Brakes squealed, echoing off rusted metal walls, as the car parked inside a completely empty building. The place didn’t look very awesome, and she saw no lab equipment of any sort.
The thick bay door slammed shut, blocking out all shreds of sunlight, and Shay hopped from the car.
“Not very impressive,” she said, looking around the bare room.
“This is just a front.” Evie walked toward a row of shelves against the back wall, her heels clanking against the concrete floor. “Just push on the last shelf and …”
The metal rack swung open to reveal a shiny steel door with a single button beside it.
“Great,” Shay said, with what she considered a trace amount of sass. “Another elevator ride.”
“This one will be quicker, but probably just as unpleasant since Max is still here.” Evie pressed her thumb against the round button. Its white background lit green, and the door zipped open. “It’s fingerprint activated. Only essential personnel are programmed in.”
Shay followed Evie and Max inside the elevator. The door slid to a close and her stomach dropped. It could’ve been the glaring overhead lights, or the tension in this tiny box that flipped her gut in circles. Most likely the speed of the drop was the culprit. At least, that’s what she told herself.
The elevator door opened and everyone walked out, but Shay couldn’t move. This might be the defining moment of her life. What she did once stepping off the elevator would brand her a winner or a loser. One day, this could be in a history book. Her name would mean something, and she was terrified to find out what.
A loud beep rang out, a red light flashed, and still Shay’s stare wouldn’t
part from the elevator’s silver wall. When a foot tapped, she had no choice. People were probably watching, watching her act like a baby.
Shay took a deep breath and turned toward the elevator door. The irritation in Evie’s eyes helped level out her nerves, but then Max winked at her and the nerve-meter blew off the chart.
“Come on, Shay,” Evie said, holding her hand out to a white room. “Simon and Alexie will be here any minute. They’ll need access to the elevator.”
“Who?” Shay walked past Evie, stepping onto the steel-grated floor of a round room. The harsh fluorescent lights gleamed off the curved concrete walls. A few desks were situated in the sunken floor that centered the room and a lone, dark hallway sat directly across from the elevator.
“Simon and Alexie,” Evie said, staring at Shay as if she were dense. “You know, Mr. Amazing and—”
“Right. My bad.” Shay trotted down the small steps and ran her fingers along a shiny desk.
“That’s a workstation for the SPU agents,” Evie said, strolling around the room’s raised walkway. “Touchscreen computers, satellite uplink, and all these walls are remote displays. So our people can track the action from here.”
Before Evie could finish her sentence, Shay was typing on the computer’s keyboard. She logged into her MyPage account and turned on her favorite Hermitude video, broadcasting it onto every wall in the circular room.
“And a bitchin sound system,” Shay said, swaying to the beat.
Max laughed, and Evie tried so hard not to smile her face turned into a squishy pumpkin scowl.
“Lower it,” Evie yelled.
“But I can keep it on?”
“Yeah,” Evie said, strumming her fingers against her side.
Shay bopped up the steps, following Evie toward the only passageway that broke the round wall of streaming video. Lights blinked on as they walked. They weren’t neon or mood changing, but it was still cool.
At the end of the hall, they cut to the right and Shay stopped short. Large steel machines filled a wide-open room. She couldn’t speak. Stainless steel wrapped in wires and the gleam of control panels stole her words, until she spotted a woman tightening gold coils around a prism.
“Is that a … neutrino particle accelerator?” Shay asked, in more of a long breath than a phrase.
“Yep.”
“Are we working on space travel?” Max asked, gawking at the collection of million-dollar equipment.
“No.” Shay waved Max off. “I can use this in practical applications.” She walked forward, into a real-deal lab. She had to clasp her fingers together tightly to keep from embracing the particle accelerator.
Evie ushered Shay beyond the glass barrier that shielded the tech she yearned to touch.
“This is an ionic nanobot ignition chamber.”
“Shut. Up.” Shay dropped to her knees in front of a gold-plated chamber and opened its little door. A green glow shined on the magnetic plates within, drawing her closer. She stuck her head inside the round chamber to inspect every coil, every thin plate. “I can make nanobots?”
“Only in an emergency.” Evie shooed Shay away from the machine and closed its door, the bang echoing off the solid ceiling. “Oh, and the long tuby thing in the back—”
Shay jumped to her feet and followed Evie’s pointed finger to the back of the room. “Is that a magnetic field generator?”
“It can’t be,” Max said, circling the machine. “It has three tubes.”
“Right,” Evie said, patting the machine’s control panel. “That’s because it’s a magnetic, sonic, and X-ray generator.”
“Where did you get all this?” Max asked in a near growl. His tone verged scary and burst Shay’s new tech bubble.
“Most of it was donated. Colleges and private labs.”
“I think I’ll wait for my crew by the elevator.”
Shay lowered her stare as Max stomped from the lab. Her happiest day was his most miserable. She shouldn’t feel guilty; she hardly knew Max, but she did and it sucked.
“What’s in the room across the hall?” Shay asked, attempting to cut the tension in the air.
“Sleeping quarters. A training area with simulators, brick slabs on wheels. Stuff like that.”
“Evie. This is incredible.” Shay’s hand swept the room of shining equipment, all of which she planned on kissing later.
“I hope you can make magic with it, because I have no idea what I’m doing.”
The doubt in Evie’s eyes chipped at the confidence Shay spent all morning building up. She wanted to hug her sister, mostly to comfort herself. Since this was technically work, and Evie was uber-professional, Shay delivered a nice arm pat. “You’re gonna make the city safer, maybe the world.”
A buzz shook Evie’s blazer. She pulled out her cell phone, glanced at its screen, then grinned. “I have to take this. Hetal, your lab assistant, can show you the rest of the equipment.”
“I have a lab assistant?”
“Hetal,” said a soft voice behind Shay.
Shay turned to find a young woman with a giddy smile and white lab coat draped over her arm.
“It’s an honor to work for you, Dr. Sinclair. I heard all about you on the news.”
“Hey, Evie,” Shay yelled. “This chick just called me Dr. Sinclair.”
Evie nodded. She held her thumb up as she continued to gab into her cell phone.
“Here’s your lab coat,” Hetal said.
Shay only spared a second to stare at the thick blue thread on the crisp, pressed fabric that read Dr. Sinclair. She had to get this sucker on her body before someone realized they made a mistake and took it away.
“I’m twenty-four, originally from Pakistan.” Hetal stood in her matching lab coat, hands clasped, head high, as though on display in a pageant. “I have a PhD from GCIT in quantum physics with special focus on electromagnetism, and a master’s in mechanical engineering.”
“Is that an electron microscope?” Shay wandered toward the tall metal machine, covered with twisty wires and stuffed into a corner of the lab.
“Yeah, with holographic interface.”
A gasp flew from Shay’s lips. She looked beyond the room of treasures at her sister, pacing as she talked into her phone.
“This is the lab of my dreams,” Hetal said in a hushed giggle.
“Mine too.” It really was. Right down to the coiled beakers, it was everything Shay ever wanted. All those nights she rambled on at dinner about the latest tech, Evie was actually listening.
“Shay,” Evie called out, tucking her cell phone into her pocket. “They’re here.”
“Oh wow,” Hetal said, in more of a squeal. She rocked in place, clutching onto her chest. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Shay smoothed out the ends of her perfectly fine coat and walked from the lab.
“Wait.” Hetal reached for Shay, but didn’t move from her spot in the center of the lab. “What do you want me to do?”
“Start taking apart the sonic field generator,” Shay said on her way into the hall. “I want to weaponize it.”
Max stood beside the elevator. The music had died out, leaving him alone with the white curved walls. He should just go home. Evie and her SPU goon squad couldn’t stop him.
As Max reached for the elevator’s button, its door slid open and his buddies stepped from the lift. He’d never been happier to see Simon’s scowl or Alexie’s leer.
“You forgot your suit,” Alexie said, tossing a backpack into Max’s hands.
“This looks …” Simon walked down the steps, into the work area that centered the room, and tapped a touchscreen. “… expensive. I thought the idea was to save the city money.”
Max trotted down the small steps and stood beside Simon. “Evil Sinclair said it was donated by private investors.”
“Evil.” Alexie chuckled as she dropped into a rolling chair. “That’s funny.”
“Di
d you guys read that information packet?”
“I did,” Alexie said, swaying from side to side in her chair. “And it didn’t say anything about private investors.”
“Don’t worry.” Simon crossed his arms, which only made his already bulging muscles look bigger. “I’m going to put a stop to this bull—”
“Oh good, you’re all here,” Evie said. She strolled around the walkway of the round room with Shay in tow.
Annoyance clung to Max’s mind, but the sight of Shay in a gleaming lab coat brought a smile to his lips. If her hair were darker and eyes brighter, it could be Jenna standing up there.
“There’s a lot I want to go over today.”
“No, Ms. Sinclair,” Simon said.
The Ice Queen cocked her head back. “Evie.”
“Your rules aren’t working for us.” Simon propped his fists on his hips. If the man had been wearing his suit, and there were a bit of wind to billow his cape, he’d look just like his official action figure.
Evie stood up straight, and Simon lifted his chin.
“The standoff begins,” Max muttered. He joined Simon in the Evie stare down as Alexie rose from her chair to take her place at Simon’s other side.
“I’m the CEO of my family’s business, Ms. Sinclair. Ling Enterprises, maybe you’ve heard of it. The largest global communications conglomerate in the world. Do you like using your cell phone? ‘Cause if the network crashes, I’ll have to put in twenty-four hours’ notice before I can push a few buttons on my computer.”
Evie took a deep breath, then forced a smile. “I’m well aware you inherited your father’s company last spring. It was in every newspaper. We can have your network uplinked to our operations center.”
“Ha!” Simon’s grin melted to a hard glower. “You think I’d give you access to my servers? Good one.”
“Okay,” Shay said, rubbing her forehead. “Ling Enterprises is big, maybe we can move all this stuff over there.”
“No way,” Evie practically shouted. “Ling Enterprises is far from secret.”
“The secret’s out,” Alexie said. “Reporters followed us here in helicopters. This location will be all over the internet tonight, if it isn’t already.”