Screams haunted Vivainne as she moved through her day, and the wall, escaping out onto the street. They’d echoed through her head ever since her mother had taken the tech super and taken a copy of his core. She had no idea how Vora did it, using a combination of power and tech to take a digital copy of it, she only knew it was painful.

  She didn’t know what had happened to the super after.

  Which was why she was taking the risk of going to Recompense. She needed to talk to him, to find out what she should do. Did she have enough evidence of her mother’s wrongdoings? This had to be enough, didn’t it?

  With her mother out for the afternoon, possibly back at the lab, Vivainne took the opportunity to slip out. With her power, she was able to disappear until well out of view of the house, making her way to the bus stop. Before the bus could arrive, a small blue electric car pulled up to the curve.

  Vivainne tensed, ready to disappear into the shadows behind the bench, when the window began to roll down. The familiar, stupid face of Jordan smiled from the inside, absurdly proud of his blueberry shaped car. “Get in, loser.”

  “Is this supposed to be a car?” Vivianne asked, walking over and opening the door, throwing herself inside.

  “One of Charles’ creations,” Jordan said, pushing the car back into drive. “It looks stupid as fuck though, doesn’t it?”

  “Kinda does,” Vivainne said. She shifted in the seat, hard leather against her back. “Uncomfortable too.”

  “Tell me about it,” Jordan said. “This is what I have to drive around, in the rare case I have to drive!”

  “That’s unfortunate,” Vivainne deadpanned.

  “Shut up.”

  “How’d you know to pick me up?”

  “Did you forget that you are your own constant surveillance?” Jordan asked. “We knew the moment you left your house.”

  “You got here fast,” Vivainne said.

  “Oh, yeah,” Jordan said, looking at her out of the corner of her eye. The corners of his lips turned upward. “I did, didn’t I?”

  The world warped around them, reality stretching and pulling thin before solidifying once more into something entirely different. The car appeared in a parking spot outside the Tower of Unity, a pair of sunglasses now on Jordan’s face as he gave her a smug grin.

  She blinked, gripping the car seat like it would vanish again. She’d done research on The Path, but somehow she’d forgotten that Jordan could do that.

  “You think you’re so impressive.”

  “I’m The Path, baby.”

  Vivainne opened the door, stepping out of the adult sized toy car. Were all these heroes crazy? Darcy, Stardust, was insane. Jordan was stupid, or acted like it, half the time. Charles was at least interesting, but he wasn’t exactly normal.

  “Oh, come on,” Jordan said, following her out of the car. “That was a little bit impressive.”

  “Won’t someone notice a car just vanished from the middle of the street?”

  “It’ll be fine,” Jordan said with a wave of his hand. “The human mind cannot comprehend the stretch of my power.”

  She raised an eyebrow. Did he really believe that?

  “Okay, fine, I’ve learned a minor perception skill,” Jordan admitted, pinching his fingers together. “It’s pretty helpful when I need to use my power in public, especially out of uniform.”

  “Okay, good,” Vivainne said. Would it be possible for her to learn a skill like that? She wasn’t certain how the bridging between powers worked, the learning of skills that weren’t a piece of your core. She knew supers often managed it, expanding what their original power was, or adding onto it. But how did it work? She’d never had a chance to try, but getting a skill to manipulate perception would help when she needed to transform into shadow. As it was, she always tried to get out of sight first before transforming.

  Jordan led the way inside the Tower, the lobby full of far more people than it was the first night she visited the place. Visitors milled about, walking between the different plaques, listening to guides give out the history of the Tower of Unity and the Unity of Heroes. For a brief moment, Vivainne froze, terrified someone would look her way and recognize her, but no one glanced their direction. In his mundane clothes, Jordan was able to make his way directly through the lobby, lowering his sunglasses to wink at a woman sitting at the desk before walking past it to the lift.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  They stepped into the elevator side by side, Jordan pressing a button higher than the floor Vivainne had been brought to before.

  “You think you’re so cool,” Vivainne said as the doors shut.

  “I am cool,” Jordan said, wagging his head. He took off his glasses as the elevator came to a halt, door opening to a busy floor of the tower. This time, Vivainne got her first glance at just how busy the tower could be. Dozens of people milled around, many in costume but just as many in dark suits. Were those government liaisons? Techs fixing pieces of technology and other tools. Operators in front of computers, a stream of information in front of them as they spoke into tiny microphones. Even what looked to be a lawyer, speaking with a hero Vivainne didn’t recognize off the bat.

  Jordan walked through all of it without pausing, forcing Vivainne to trail along behind him. He led them to a secluded room in the back of the tower, keying it open with a fingerprint before motioning Vivainne inside.

  “Hold tight,” he said, and shut the door behind him. Left alone, Vivainne let out a sigh and walked the length of the room. Dark walks, smooth and without seams. Much like her mother’s lab, it showed the signs of being super-created. Briefly, Vivainne thought about trying to phase through the walls and go look around, but decided against it. The heroes had welcomed her into this space. She wasn’t going to betray them by searching for their secrets. Not yet, at least.

  The door opened again, Recompense walking through. “Sorry about the wait,” he said. Like usual, he carried a cup of coffee in his hands, though this time he’d added a bag of fast food in the other. “Took a bit longer than I expected to get through the drive through.”

  She wanted to get right to business, but she couldn’t help it. Her eyebrows raised. “You sent Jordan to go pick me up, and decided it was the perfect time to go through the drive through?”

  “Well, you didn’t eat this morning, so I thought you’d be hungry,” Charles said, placing the bag in front of her. A jolt went through her, realizing he knew exactly what she’d been doing all day. “I got you a burger, in case you actually do eat meat, and a salad because I’m half certain you’re vegetarian.”

  A protest died in her lips as she looked up at the man, replaced with gratitude. “Thank you,” she murmured, taking her seat. Recompense’s thoughtfulness made her actually pick up the food, choosing the salad over the burger. “I’m not a vegetarian,” she said after a moment. “I’m just not a fan of greasy food.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” He pulled the brown paper bag back across the table, retrieving the burger for himself. “Don’t mind if I do.”

  Vivainne let out a small laugh and a shake of her head as she stabbed her fork into the salad. Recompense had this way of walking through the world so lightly, as if he hadn’t seen some of the worst parts of it. It took some of the weight off Vivainne’s shoulders, just being around him. The screams in the back of her mind quieted, fading as she sat in the room, able to let down her guard for at least a few minutes.

  Charles finished his burger, setting the wrapped off to the side as he set his eyes upon her. She ignored them as she finished her salad, not yet ready to get into everything she’d seen, and done, alongside her mother. Let her have this moment before needing to remember it all over again.

  “How are you doing?” he asked, the softness of the question too much.

  She let out a bitter laugh. “How do you think?”

  “I think you’re handling it remarkably well, all things considering. But I asked how you think you’re doing.”

  She shook her head, unable to look at him. “I don’t know. I feel like… I’m completely lost.”

  Charles nodded, his eyes solemn. “That’s fair. Do you want to pull out?”

  Unlike the first time she’d been asked, she had to think about it. She’d probably gotten enough information they could put a stop to her mother, but… there was still more she wanted to learn. Her mother wanted to change the face of the world and how powers worked. Vivainne wanted to know how she planned on doing that, and how to stop her. Vora had allies; how were they involved? Would locking Vora up put an end to the plan, or would it keep going?

  “No,” Vivainne said, making her decision. “But… I want to get out soon. And I want to get my sister out too.”

  Recompense’s face went dark at the mention of her sister, the concern there twisting into rage. “Yes,” he said, the voice of a hero coming through. “We will get her out.”

  “What will happen to her?” Vivianne asked. She wrung her hands together, unable to do anything despite the screaming needed to act.

  Charles let out a deep sigh, and a bloom of dread began in Vivainne’s stomach. “It all depends. The state will get involved. They’ll want to place her in a home.”

  “What? No.” She shook her head, unable to stop moving. “I’m eighteen. She could go with me.”

  “You’re eighteen,” Charles said softly. “You have no job, and you’re about to be in the dorms for the next several months, if you still want to go into the program.”

  “What about you?” she begged, reaching a hand across the table. “You could take her? They-they said you take in strays.”

  First a sigh, then a smile, the corners of his eyes twinkling. “I can try. I suppose I do have a tendency to take in strays.” He patted Vivainne on the hand, calloused fingertips brushing against her skin. “It’ll be okay.”

  “I don’t want her to just… disappear,” Vivainne said. It was irrational, maybe. Viv herself was a stranger to the little girl, so how much worse would it be for Vanya to be placed with a different stranger? But she was also her sister, and she didn’t want Vanya to be alone.

  “She won’t,” Recompense said. “Now, why don’t we speak on the other matter at hand. Your mother’s experiments.”

  Vivainne cringed. “I didn’t know what to do. I-I couldn’t stop her, not without turning her against me.”

  “No, I know,” Recompense said. “But we can’t let her torture people like that.”

  “You’re going to raid her lab?”

  Charles nodded. “We are. I’m uncertain how many supers she has down there, but we need to get them to safety.”

  Vivainne agreed, but she couldn’t help but hesitate. “I know you have to get them out. But don’t we need to know what she’s doing first?”

  “We have all the evidence we need.”

  “But…” How could she say she didn’t have the answers she wanted without sounding selfish? “Can I come with you?”

  “Come with me?”

  “When you raid the lab,” Vivainne said. She needed to get back into that lab and get the answers she needed. Answers not just about Vora’s plan, but about what she’d done to Vivainne, and Vanya.

  Charles’ stare was scrutinizing, searching for something in Vivainne’s face before giving a short nod. “Okay.”

  “Thank you.” She would get the answers she needed. She would discover what her mother had done to her, and her sister, and maybe even figure out who was backing the operation. That way, they wouldn’t be in danger again.