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I’m not out of breath when I reach the last turn and slow to a creep walk. If anything, I have too much oxygen in my lungs, too much adrenaline coursing through my body. I take a slow, deep breath. Above, the speakers keep repeating the same warning about being in lockdown. My fingers slide against the wall as I crouch to below eye level and peek around the corner.

A public KAPOW pod waits outside of the studio, its open door swinging in the nonexistent wind. A thin woman stands at the threshold of Pepper’s studio with her back to me. She’s flanked on both sides by two men of imposing statures who are dressed head to toe in black. She wears high-heel leather boots and a black mini dress that fits tightly around her shapeless body. Silver hair sways around her lower back as she speaks.

“I demand loyalty.” Her words are shards of glass, spilling out of her mouth and slicing through everything in its path.

A whimper pulls my gaze away from her and to the crumpled, bloody pile at her feet.

Oh God.

Oh dear God.

Pepper’s body convulses as he sobs. “I cannot tell you,” he says. “I—I—I don’t know. I’m sorry, Aurora.”

“LIAR.” The heartless bitch stomps on Pepper’s outstretched hand.

Rage thunders inside my chest as my body aches to leap into action, to rip her head off and shove it down her throat. With a monumental amount of willpower, I hold back. I stand perfectly still. I don’t act upon my emotions. Because that always gets me into trouble. Think, Maci.

Jake is nowhere near, the slow bastard. My MOD won’t work since we’re in lockdown and the only thing I have is a paper bag with my Hero suit in it.

Hidden in the tunnel adjacent to Pepper’s studio, I strip and step into my new Hero suit, not allowing myself even a moment to savor the feeling of the fabric on my skin. Instead, I figure out my plan of attack.

I’ll hook the two cronies. Easy. Then I’ll take out the woman. She’s decades older than me but she’s no thicker than a skeleton so I’ll be faster and stronger. But not too fast—she needs to suffer for what she’s done to the man who is my only ally.

From around the corner, Aurora demands that he tell her something and Pepper adamantly refuses. I take a few deep breaths as the seconds feel like hours. Willpower clenches to my muscles, forcing me to stay put until the best time to reveal myself.

A hand touches my shoulder. Instinct swings my body around, grabbing my unexpected attacker by the neck, and shoving him into the wall.

“Jesus,” Jake breaths with a gasped breath. I let go.

“Sorry.”

He rubs his neck. From around the corner, Aurora’s voice is sickly sweet. “Pepper, sweetheart. I do not want to hurt you. You are my sweet apprentice.”

“I am no longer an apprentice,” Pepper interjects. A smack echoes off the tunnels. Jake’s eyebrows draw together in concern. “What the hell is going on?” he mouths. Or at least, that’s what it looks like. I press my finger to my lips to silence him.

A cold female l

augh makes me cringe as Jake and I eavesdrop. “You will tell me where she is this instant or you will die.”

Jake sucks in a breath. Time is running out. I press my hand to Jake’s chest and stand on tip toe until I’m eye level and one inch away from him. In a voice only a Super can hear, I whisper, “There’s three of them. I’ll hook, you retrieve. But don’t come out until I call you. We may need the element of surprise.”

Jake’s eyes widen. “This is a Hero’s job, Maci. We can’t do this.”

“I’m doing it with or without you,” I hiss.

From around the corner, “You have ten seconds, apprentice!”

Jake grabs my shoulders, his whisper a faint cry, “We’re in lockdown. Heroes will be here any minute. Please, Maci.”

“Five Seconds!”

I shrug him off—fixing a glare on him that could move mountains. “How dare you be such a coward?”

“Three seconds!”

Jake’s shoulders fall. He steps backward, admitting defeat. I turn and peek around the corner, preparing to make my move. Whatever Aurora wants to know, Pepper isn’t telling and that means it’s a secret worth keeping.

I take one step forward, arms tight and locked in a hook-throwing position. Now is the time in the human superhero movies where the hero says something badass, clever, and quotable for years to come, right before taking out the villain and saving the hot girl.