Overpowered

A flash of inhuman power fills his eyes.

A soft jolt of another Hero’s power lets me know backup has finally arrived on the KAPOW. They should be here any second. If I duck out of the way then this psycho will crash into the onlookers and I can’t risk harm to any humans. So I brace myself for impact.

His fist slams into my jaw, breaking the bone. It heals a few seconds later, but holy crap that hurt. I shove my pointy elbow right into his jugular, bearing down with all my weight as I hover on top of him. With each second that passes, his resistance lightens up until, a minute later when I feel the presence of two incoming backup Heroes, he’s not resisting at all. It’s as if he’s gone back to being a regular human. Tears pour of out his eyes and he writhes in convulsions. His hand reaches up, not in another attempt to swing at me, but as an offering in the fo

rm of his thumb.

I press it to my BEEPR and climb off of him. He’s so weakened now, I know he won’t get back up.

Heroes Ernesto and Katia approach, surveying the scene as the humans huddle together on the opposite side of the street. They’re much older than I am so I’ve never worked with them before. Ernesto’s BEEPR shines a laser beam across the entire crowd, taking high definition images of the witnesses. I should have remembered to do that. Ugh.

“I am Hero Ernesto. Everyone is to remain right where you are until I give you further notice.”

Katia approaches me with her arm outstretched. I shake her hand. “Maci, good to see you. This is one hell of a scene. I can’t wait for you to explain it.”

“The shirtless guys had some kind of a fight club going on in the middle of the street. I intervened, these two were belligerent, and I had to take them down.”

“Did you hook a human?” Ernesto cries. He drops to his knees next to the tattooed guy, feels for a pulse, and calls for human emergency medical services.

“Trust me, he deserved it. I don’t know what’s going on with them, but they attacked me with inhuman strength.” I expect to get a disbelieving look from the senior Heroes, maybe even an accusing comment about my infamous anger problem. What happens is the exact opposite.

“¡Dios mío,” Ernesto mutters. “Not again.”

My dreams are an assortment of nightmares that segway into more nightmares. At some point I become aware that I’m dreaming and force myself to wake up. The momentary comfort of opening my eyes to view the starry night outside is quickly replaced with fear.

Someone is watching me.

With lightning speed, I leap out of bed and turn to face my attacker head on.

Evan almost jumps out of his skin. “Jesus, Maci. Turn off your crazy eyes. It’s just me.”

I collapse into frenzied giggles and sit back on my bed, knees first. “What are you doing here? You can’t just crawl into a Hero’s bed without permission. I almost hurt you.”

He clasps his fingers together behind his head and sinks into my pillow. “The other version of you passed out on the couch and Max snores like crazy in his room so I had no other choice.”

“Ah, so it had nothing to do with you wanting to be next to me?” I poke him in the ribs.

“Of course not.”

“My dad would kill you if he knew you were here.”

He wiggles his eyebrows. “Good thing he doesn’t.”

I lie back down on my bed, snuggling my face against Evan’s chest. A girl could totally get used to this. “So what happened at Central?” I ask as we gaze out the glass wall at the moonlit canyon around us.

He sighs. I think he’s trying to figure out his answer before he speaks. “They questioned me a lot. Asked me every possible thing they could think of about my work and Research and Felix. It was so freaking exhausting.”

“Were they jerks about it?”

“Not really. I wasn’t locked in a dungeon or anything. Interim President Havoc even stopped by to talk to me.”

“What did he want?” I ask, suddenly missing my dad. Hugo Havoc is Dad’s best friend. I can only hope he’s doing a decent job as his temporary replacement.

Evan’s fingers trace my hair from my head down to the tips. It makes me feel like a fat house cat being scratched behind the ears. “He wanted to know everything about my DNA research.”

I stiffen. “No need to worry,” he says. “I didn’t say a word about you.”

“How romantic,” I tease. “You committed perjury for me.”