Adam scrambled out of bed so quickly he nearly went head-first onto the floor. No time to change out of his pajamas.

  Void Vault Compromised.

  An explosion that would rock the building should have detonated by now. Adam’s mind raced in a panic. Sabotage? Some power of the Invader? He couldn’t decide what was the worst scenario: someone having broke in to steal it, or the Invader itself waking up.

  No, he thought as he raced out of his bedroom, going down the hall for the den. Invader overlord waking up is definitely the worst case scenario. Vivian the Ollyrian would be the only one in Pacific City, in the entire state, potentially strong enough to destroy it. The rest of the Rosewell students would be slaughtered. The city would fall. The mere fact that the foundation building wasn’t collapsing around him in a sphere of destructive energy was a good sign.

  Adam opened a secret compartment in the kitchen counter; one his family had made him memorize the location of when he was a child. A number pad appeared from a hidden panel in the wood. 6857. Thank God he remembered the code.

  He was already sweating in a panic. The was an emergency. A real emergency. And all he had to contribute with was the contents of the secret stash that flipped around. A concussion energy pistol rested on a silver tray, propped up with hooks. One of Uncle Alfred's more finished designs. He grabbed it. The shiny pistol felt too large and heavy in his grip. His hand was slick. No ammunition, just point and shoot. What good was he going to do with it? Probably nothing. But he had to try.

  Adam went back to the hall to the elevator. It opened for him. The building was in lockdown. He scanned his biometrics to override. He could now access the basement, where the void vault was. The doors slid closed.

  As the elevator lowered, Adam took an attempt at a calming breath. This was it. The moment to test his mettle as an Atlas. He would not fail his family.

  “This is Adam Atlas,” Adam spoke into his communicator. A message to be sent to Rosewell administration. “The Atlas Foundation is under attack. This is a code red emergency. Requesting all back up. Send everyone now. Access the basement if possible. Use my geolocation. Project WATERSHED cannot be lost. In the event I’m incapacitated, protect it at all costs and reach my family.”

  20 floors to go. Adam didn’t let himself think about how he was probably going to throw himself into chaos and get killed. He checked Abigail’s messages. She had been somewhere down there.

  Adam somethings wrong

  Intruders

  Call support ill hold them off

  Adam’s breath shuddered. Him ignoring her messages wasted precious seconds. Either she had hit the alarm or someone else did. She might be dead right now because he put his phone down. At least she had her suit and other gadgets down there. It had to be enough. He could only hope.

  The elevator opened to the basement hall. Red emergency lights flashed, making the scene chaotic and dizzying. As he left the elevator, Adam turned and spent a dozen seconds shutting down his administrator override at the elevator panel. 24 hour lock. He was trapping himself in the basement. Even if the intruders tortured him or cut off his hand, they wouldn’t be using him to escape. The more time he bought, the more Rosewell students, BASTION agents, and police would swarm this place. People like Agent Weeks had their own overrides when they arrived.

  Adam ran through halls towards the void vault. The situation was not looking good. Night shift guards were slumped or lying prone, their guns scattered. Adam considered picking up a real pistol or even a submachine gun, which some of the guards had taken from the armory. But he had no training with them. His recoilless, unjammable concussion pistol would work better given he actually knew how to fire it. There was no way intruders should have made it all the way to the basement without tripping security. The void vault room being breached should have killed everyone in the room. There was major sabotage happening, on a level he couldn’t spend time comprehending now. No one person should have had access to disable all these different systems and redundancies.

  Scorch marks marred the walls as he approached the last few turns to the vault room. Signs of actual resistance. Possibly blasts from Abigail’s combat armor. One of the bodies Adam passed wasn’t a guard. It was a teenager in a costume. They wore a gray double-breasted jacket and combat pants. Dirty white hair spilled over a shiny metal mask covering their face. Blood smeared the wall they slumped against. Whoever it was, they had hit the surface hard.

  Then he was faced with the reinforced titanium-alloy doors leading to the vault room. They were crumpled, smashed open in the center until an opening large enough to walk through had been pried open. No time to wait for backup if they were already inside. Adam breathed again. It came out shaking from his shuddering chin. He wanted this. He wanted to be a hero. He wanted to save the day. This is what heroes did.

  Adam approached pistol first, finger on the trigger.

  The vault room was expansive, almost as large as the hidden sub-basement. Bare concrete walls. In the center, a black cube with a silver vault door. The first thing Adam saw were the three figures around the vault. They faced away from him. One was a gray-skinned giant, naked except for a pair of black stretchy shorts. His massive hands worked to pry open the vault door, elephantlike feet slipping for traction against the floor. Two girls around him. One in silvery armor with a pink underlayer. Pink wings like burning slashes of light emanated from her back, constantly shedding sparks. Her hair was a pink bob. The other girl was off to the side. Black haired and in a dark outfit, she chanted while moving her hands. A wobbling effect like a heat shimmer slowly spread to make a circle around the vault.

  Lilith. The warlock Adam had heard of but had yet to meet. The others were New Lords, and they were here to steal the Invader. Why?

  “Get it open already, Hardhide!” the pink and silver girl demanded.

  “I’m… trying…” the giant grunted as he continued his labor. His voice was like a gravel pit being stirred to make noise.

  The girl tsked. “She said it was all supposed to be open and ready for us… This is taking way too long…”

  “Just get it open,” Lilith demanded. “The gate won’t work unless I can see it.”

  They had yet to turn around and notice Adam. He raised his pistol and aimed. His hands shook. He could shoot at Lilith or the other girl. One decent shot should knock them flat. He guessed the giant would take a bit more. He couldn’t decide who to aim for. Even if he hit one, the others would kill him. Stopping one would put them a step back though. Maybe he could hit the others before they reached him. Was he insane for trying this? Every part of him shook. He wanted to be back at Rosewell, surrounded by his powered classmates that would now make him feel safe instead of inadequate. He wasn’t made for this. He was going to die.

  “Adam…”

  The quiet voice interrupted his spiraling train of thought. He turned and looked over his shoulder. Abigail was behind the crumpled door, blocking her from sight when he had come in. She was on her side, dressed for combat in her completed tech suit. Her brass-colored armor was dented and scorched. The mask that covered and sealed in her head had a gash torn in it that exposed the left half of her face. Blood ran from her nose. She looked up at Adam with a bruised eye.

  “I tried to stop them…”

  Adam rushed to her side, kneeling and putting a hand on her shoulder.

  “It’s okay Abigail, stay with me,” he said. He spared a look back. With a heave and a groan from Hardhide, the seal of the vault door broke. He began pulling it open inch by inch.

  The winged girl glanced around and spotted Adam.

  “Oh-ho-ho!” she said. She spread her burning wings and zipped towards them.

  Adam acted on instinct. He stood and fired off his pistol. Blue bolts raced to hit the villain. She zipped around each shot like they moved in slow motion. She came to a stop fifteen feet away, a manic look in her eyes. Her hands became coated in unstable pink energy.

  “I was wondering if you were going to come down from your tower and try to stop us,” the girl said.

  “Adam…” Abigail tried to call.

  Adam raised his pistol again and tried a last desperate shot. The girl’s hand came up and the energy around it absorbed the concussive round. Without missing a beat, she struck a pose and a stream of pink energy blasted forward. It hit Adam before his brain could even process its movement.

  The pain wasn’t pain at first. It was cold. Like a block of ice barreled into Adam’s chest. He hit the wall and fell beside Abigail. Then his nerves caught up, and it seeped in. Burning. Tightening. He looked down. A hole had been burned through his shirt. His chest wafted smoke. His pistol was forgotten. The only movement he could make with his hands was to curl them against himself. The world felt distant. He was in shock, Adam realized clinically. His body cut off the worst of the trauma. This is what happened to normal people who tried to rush in to save the day. Especially without a plan.

  Neon pink became the center of everything. It was like a burning sun the wrong color above his head. In a moment, a flare would melt through his skull and brain. Execution by pink. What a way to die.

  Boom.

  The pink faded in intensity as his executioner looked upwards.

  Boom.

  From above. Muffled sounds like explosions on the surface. Getting closer. Adam gave a weird chuckle. He had a funny thought in his short-circuited brain.

  How many hits does it take for an Ollyrian to break through thirty feet of reinforced concrete?

  For Vivian at least, the answer was three.

  The ceiling of the vault room exploded, massive chunks raining down to smash against the floor. Then came a snow of blasted concrete dust. A figure lowered into the room with perfect control of her inertia. Galaxy Girl, in full costume.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “Oh fuck,” pink-laser girl moaned.

  Vivian took stock of the situation. Her pacifism was the reason why she hadn’t already started knocking out the intruders and piling them up. Adam knew this wasn’t reason enough to break her conditioning, but he really wished it was.

  Vivian was beside them before her movement could be registered. She received a blast of pink energy to the face from the girl stumbling back in a panic. It didn’t even make Vivian flinch. She scooped up Adam and grabbed Abigail by the back of her armor. They flew upwards, Adam’s stomach lurching. Vivian’s makeshift tunnel passed in a blur. Then they were outside on the surface, Adam taking in fresh air. Vivian gently set them both down on the grass. The night sky above was clear and faintly starry.

  “Adam,” Vivian said quickly, hand keeping him upright. “What do I do? What’s most important?”

  “Take…” Adam wheezed. He needed a second to breathe. The burn on his chest set his lungs on fire. He coughed into his hand. “The container in the vault. Take it to campus. Do not let them get away with it. Go.”

  Vivian hesitated. “I can’t carry it and you two…”

  Adam pushed her away.

  “Get down there and go! We’ll live.”

  He hoped that was true. Without WATERSHED, the New Lords should have no reason to stay. Either they'd be captured in the lockdown, or they'd make their escape. Apparently they had methods to disappear, especially when Lilith was around.

  Vivian nodded and disappeared back down the hole. It wasn’t going to fit the container through it. Adam should have mentioned not to use the container as a battering ram. If it was compromised, who knew how the Invader inside would react. She’d have to smash open the cargo entrance they had used to get the container inside, and follow it out from there.

  Flashing red and blue lights gathered outside the gate around the block. Security swarmed Adam and Abigail. More fliers appeared in the sky. Adam recognized the trailing red, white and blue of Grace.

  He leaned backwards until the back of his head hit grass. He looked over to Abigail lying beside him. Her one eye he could see was closed.

  “Sir, are you alright? Can you speak?” a security guard asked Adam from somewhere above his head.

  He sighed. As long as WATERSHED was secured, disaster was averted.

  . . .

  Adam missed his meeting with Cyrus. Monday morning, he was still confined to a hospital bed at school. Bandages were wrapped tight around his chest underneath his open medical gown. Nothing under the skin was broken. Still, every twist and movement of his torso hurt. Antibiotics and healing salve had been applied. Troy also helped with easing the pain and supercharging the healing. Adam was pretty sure if he was any other student, besides Reagan, he would have been discharged the day after the fight with a pat on the back. But he was a normal, so he was treated like a weak baby. Not that he minded too much. Forced rest was kind of nice. His classmates brought him treats. A few came with chest-to-face hugs from the girls. He wondered if girls did that on purpose.

  Thalia visited briefly on Saturday. Where she would have once hugged Adam, she now squeezed his shoulder and expressed she was glad he made it home. The energy between them couldn’t have been worse. Adam saw the sadness in her eyes. He felt she would have said more, maybe broken the emotional dam between them, if Annabelle wasn’t in the room. Adam thanked her, and she left.

  Since Friday night, WATERSHED had been resting on the campus lawn in view of every building, surrounded by the school’s security and 40 young superheroes. That helped ease Adam’s worries. Their heist foiled, Lilith and her cronies used their magic gate or whatever it was to slip away before being captured. Edward guessed that his cousin had some sort of teleportation lock on a specific place, likely the illusive headquarters of the villainous school. The only one caught was the metal-masked girl left in the hall. Having a New Lord in custody could change things. He was sure BASTION was working over whoever it was as he lay there in bed. The foundation was on high-alert as damage and security were assessed. A night of damage would take months and millions to repair. Not that Adam was ungrateful for Vivian's rescue and swift getaway. It was just the cost of things.

  Annabelle had hardly left his side since he was brought back. Every second of visiting hours she was there, eating meals with Adam and just watching over him. She felt horribly guilty about not being there to protect him. Adam grew sick of her apologizing and assuring her it wasn’t her fault. He got her to ease up eventually, until she just sat in her chair watching him rest.

  Agent Dodds was the first to visit on Monday.

  “Knock knock,” she said, opening the curtain. Adam invited her in. The stoic, dark-suited agent came in, heels clicking, and sat in a chair at Adam’s beside. She upturned her mouth as a professional greeting.

  “I’m sorry to bother you while you’re still recuperating Adam,” she began.

  Adam dismissed it with a wave. “I’m fine, really. Too much fuss. What’s the situation?”

  The school liaison tucked some of her red hair behind a pale ear.

  “Right. I wanted to discuss with you your plans with this WATERSHED.”

  “I’m sorry for dumping it here,” Adam apologized, grimacing as he shifted. “I’m sure you’ve been told what it is. I know it’s a massive security risk. I couldn’t think of any better place—”

  “It being here is no trouble, Adam. It was a smart move to bring it,” Dodds said. “I’ve been in conversation with Agent Weeks, and we only wanted to know what plan you had for it, if any. I could arrange for BASTION to take custody in one of our deep-storage sites, for the time being.”

  Adam had been considering during his rest what was to be done with WATERSHED. BASTION taking it was near the top of his list. But he had another idea. Something that had been forming at the back of his thoughts for a while.

  “I’d like to transport WATERSHED to Beacon City,” Adam said.

  Dodds’ thin eyebrow rose. “To your family?”

  “Yes,” Adam confirmed. “I haven’t been in contact with them at all since I took charge of the foundation. It’s been too long. All I know is that they were taking on some project involving complications after Invasion Day. I have to imagine WATERSHED is somehow related. I want to bring it to them, and get answers. Unless you have any way of getting me in contact with them first.”

  Dodds shrugged. “Your family is known to be independent and hard to reach at times. I could certainly try, but I’m not sure why they’d answer me over you. BASTION does not have regular access to your family compound. You could open the gates, so to speak. You think WATERSHED would be safest there?”

  Another thing Adam had been thinking hard about. Five people besides himself knew what WATERSHED was and where it was being stored: Dr. Madison, Agent Weeks, Kieran, Annabelle, and Abigail. The only ones along for the entire process. Someone had quietly dismantled enough security measures to get the New Lords strike team directly into the basement before alarms were tripped and had deactivated the void vault. Dr. Madison would have had to be a plant for over twenty years, or recently converted. There was no way Annabelle had any of the know-how and access needed. Abigail had fought the New Lords and even got one of them captured. That left Agent Weeks and Kieran.

  But something kept bothering Adam. What pink-laser girl had said.

  She said it was all supposed to be open and ready for us.

  She.

  Who was She?

  “I do,” Adam said. “Has the captured New Lord said anything?”

  “She thinks she’s quiet,” Dodds said. There was a genuine gleam in her eye, the first Adam had ever seen from her. “They all think that at first. We know how to be persuasive, given time.”

  “I’m sure,” Adam said. “I’ll schedule the details soon and get WATERSHED off your lawn.”

  Dodds stood, the folds of her suit straightening. “No rush. We’ll coordinate and provide an escort. We have a high stake in keeping the package secure, security threat and all.”

  Dodds bid them farewell. When she was gone, Annabelle gave Adam a smile from the corner. Adam smiled back. Internally, he wondered shamefully just how much he could trust his girlfriend. It was his duty as director to suspect everyone. Annabelle had hardly ever been left alone at the foundation. She wouldn’t know how to set anything up. Right? Adam reflected on how she was so terse about her family and past. You’d think a spy would put more work into being less suspicious. Though she was disarming with her simple look and sad story. Did she want Abigail gone for reasons other than jealousy?

  As if attracted by his thoughts, Abigail visited next.

  “Adam?” She poked her head in. A bruise colored her left eye, and her nose was a bit swollen. Other than that, she was the same sleek-haired, hawkish young woman as always. She was in a normal outfit, meaning she had been released by now.

  Annabelle stood immediately when she entered.

  “You should not be here,” Annabelle said forcefully.

  Adam rose, pushing down a groan.

  “Annabelle, please, let her in.”

  “She shouldn’t be at this school at all!” Annabelle insisted, heat rising in her voice. She looked back at Adam. “A technopath living in your basement for weeks, and she’s not related to security being compromised during a heist? Does anyone really believe that?”

  Abigail came fully into the room. Her eyes narrowed.

  “I was the last line of defense against the New Lords. I took one of them out of the fight. They could have killed me.”

  “How convenient they didn’t,” Annabelle snarked, her arms crossed.

  “Please!” Adam shouted. It startled both the girls. They gave him their attention.

  “Annabelle, I am choosing to trust Abigail right now. You’re right, she can control technology. If she was helping them, their plan probably would have gone off without a hitch. I highly doubt they meant to only almost get away with the prize and get one of their own captured.”

  Annabelle opened her mouth to argue again. Adam interrupted.

  “Technically, you’re also someone who could have gave out that information,” Adam pointed out.

  A wounded look struck Annabelle’s face. Her waxy lips trembled in a frown. She was temporarily speechless.

  “You… you don’t seriously think I had anything to do with that?”

  Adam sighed and rubbed his face. “No. I’m just pointing out you both had access to the same information, and Abigail helped fight them off. I don’t think it was either of you. So can we be a team?”

  Annabelle’s frown retracted, but the sadness didn’t fade from her eyes.

  “Okay.”

  Abigail curtly offered her hand to Annabelle. Annabelle reluctantly shook it.

  “Thank you,” Adam said. “Truce for now.”

  Until I know who just tried to steal from me.

  Adam was released that afternoon. He’d have to come back for a few more checkups and bandage replacements, but he was fine to sleep in his own bed. At the dorms, he leaned on the upper railings. His shirt was unbuttoned, giving room to the gauze around his chest.

  He stared at the WATERSHED container sitting in the center of the lawn. Fat rain drops plopped against it. Students and staff glanced at it as they passed. Adam’s mess was now out in the open for everyone to see. WATERSHED was the key to someone’s lock. He hated to admit it, but he had a sneaking suspicion whose.

  Adam pulled out his phone. Cyrus Null’s secretary answered in one ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, this is Adam Atlas.”

  “Mr. Atlas!” Ms. Kind said. “We heard about the troubles at the foundation this past weekend. I’m glad to hear from you. How are you doing?”

  “I’ll live,” Adam said genially. “In fact, I was hoping we could reschedule my meeting with Mr. Null sometime soon. I feel things are urgent.”

  “Of course,” Ms. Kind said sympathetically. “If you’re feeling up for it, we could see you on Wednesday. Mr. Null will be out of the office, but he could certainly fit in an on-site visit. Would noon work?”

  “Perfect.”

  “Wonderful! I’ll send you the address. We’re looking forward to seeing you.”

  Adam replaced his phone in his pocket. Cyrus was the one to put him on WATERSHED. Cyrus suggested BASTION had nefarious intentions with it. Were they doing something shady in his foundation? Almost surely. That’s the shadow government for you. But they didn’t claim it when Adam had dug up WATERSHED. No, Abigail dug up WATERSHED. He never would have found it without her. And then an attempt was made on it? Maybe Annabelle was right. Maybe it was too convenient Abigail was a defender who couldn’t thwart things herself. Maybe the captured New Lord was just some patsy. Maybe the sealed vault door was some glitch, and they were supposed to get away with it with Abigail having looked like she did her best. But why tell him about it at all? WATERSHED wasn't any harder to get out of the hidden basement than it was locked in the vault. It didn’t feel right for Abigail to be connected.

  Where did the conspiracy end?

  I have a network that keeps me up to speed on things, Cyrus had said.

  Cyrus knew about Rosewell before anything was announced. So did the New Lords. Was there a chance Cyrus’ concern was genuine, and the New Lords’ leader was someone else wanting WATERSHED? Easily. But it was feeling all too coincidental. So, Adam would have to find out himself. Which meant another meeting. It disheartened him to think the billionaire tycoon could be an evil man. But Adam wasn’t stupid. Most didn’t get their billions like the Atlas family did, through generations of daring adventure, invention, and smart business. There was usually a dark side. Was Null’s dark side the head of a school for young villains?

  Adam had his own mission now. He had to get WATERSHED to safety. And he had to find out who was with him and who was against him. He thought of something that might prove loyalty in multiple ways.

  Adam went to dorm 6. What he was doing would piss Annabelle off if she found out. Why was it he couldn’t keep any girl happy that he wanted around? There would be time to sort things out later. He had to keep telling himself that.

  He knocked. Abigail answered. She seemed surprised, but certainly not unhappy.

  “Adam. Wanting to see me again so soon?” Abigail opened the door invitingly. “What brings you here?”

  “I need you to build me something,” Adam said.