Masked (Superheros Undercover Book 1)

by J. D. Wright

  Think of the devil and she may appear, Vada mused.

  Scarlet flaunted over to Nick in a tight red dress that gave Henley’s own a run for her money on the inappropriate-for-school scale. Vada wondered which of them would get called to the principal’s office first. She was just about to make a snarky comment about Scarlet constantly wearing her namesake color when suddenly the girl looked their way. And the moment Scarlet caught sight of Henley and Vada’s glares, she flung her arms around her boyfriend and pulled his head down into a kiss that was much too heated for a high school parking lot.

  The first bell rang at that moment, reminding them as to why they were there in the first place, and it wasn’t to watch a couple making out between cars.

  “I swear to you,” Henley growled, “I will save Nick from that witch’s clutches.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I will. Mark my words. I will steal him away from her before graduation.”

  Vada was doubtful that anything, or anyone, could come between the royal couple of Guillotine High School. Yes, the school was unfortunately named after the ancient execution device. But at least they no longer had a dark-hooded executioner as their mascot anymore. It had been changed to the much tamer, yet boring, Wildcats.

  Instead of starting a discussion they didn’t have time for, Vada just shrugged and headed off toward her first class.

  By the time second period came around, Vada was ready for lunch. Math was, by far, her least favorite class. She knew the basics and scraped by on the rest, but didn’t see the point in doing all of the extra work that a calculator could do for her.

  Besides, she didn’t expect to need this particular skill in her future day job. Catching criminals wouldn’t require stopping to figure out what “x” means. Now, teaching her how to read a police report? That could come in handy. Alas, it wasn’t part of the curriculum. She forced herself to pay attention as Mr. Matthews droned on and on about something she had already forgotten about.

  When the clock struck 10:30 a.m., Vada rose from her seat and politely asked to go to the restroom. Mr. Matthews barely acknowledged her, gesturing to the hall pass on the wall. She grabbed it and practically flew out of the room.

  She passed by the bathrooms and instead slipped into the janitor’s closet.

  “There you are.”

  Vada gently closed the door and turned to see Jameson. He was wearing his usual jeans and tee with a video game or cartoon on it. James’ dark brown skin made him almost disappear into the darkness of the closet until he switched on the light from his phone. That’s when Vada saw that today’s shirt was black with an Assassin’s Creed logo in the center. It was a new shirt too, which didn’t surprise her.

  He was a gamer in every sense of the word. He even had several of his games signed by their designers and had been a beta gamer for most of them. All of his t-shirts were either gifted to him by gaming companies or won online in some sort of player’s tournament. Vada sometimes had serious envy of the free swag that he received.

  “Sorry,” she replied. “I had to wait for Ms. Bell to walk down the hallway so she didn’t see me. So what’s our status?”

  “Let’s see.”

  James lifted his arm and flicked his watch into action. He was a supertech, able to do amazing things with nearly every piece of technology he touched. His superpower, like Vada’s, was hidden when in his normal identity or around others who weren’t supers. Sure, people knew he was a wiz at computers. But what they didn’t know was that he could actually create his own tech gadgets from scratch and infuse them with super abilities.

  Because of his skills and longtime friendship with Vada, he had become her personal tech agent. Of course, this was entirely off the books, since neither of them actually worked for the S.U.C. James couldn’t even officially register as her agent.

  Until today…

  James jerked his head up. “Oh, yeah. Happy Name Day!”

  “Thanks.” She smiled. Her other friends had wished her a happy birthday, but James understood the significance of this day since he too, was a super. His own birthday and subsequent name day happened over a month ago. But since James was to be an agent, he didn’t need to choose a super name. He worked behind the scenes.

  “Okay,” he said, focusing again on his watch.

  Instantly, a blue 4D image appeared above his arm, projected from the tiny screen. Only, this was unlike any other because James began to actually tap on the projection with his opposite hand, touching nothing other than air and light. When he did, the image changed to a different screen with scrolling numbers and letters that Vada didn’t even bother to try to understand anymore.

  “Well, damn…”

  “What?” Vada leaned closer and let out a small gasp when the screen showed the headshot of a man that she recognized. “Is that—”

  “Yep. That’s our guy. Looks like the S.U.C. already picked him up. They caught him…” He paused to read the screen. “About two hours ago. Sorry, Vay.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” she barked in a harsh whisper. “We’ve been tracking that asshole for days. We were going to nab him tonight before he hit the next bank.”

  “I know.” James hit a button and his watch returned to normal, casting the closet into near darkness once more with only the light from his phone left. “But the good news is, there are always more where he came from. Crime never sleeps.”

  “You sound like my mother.”

  James laughed and picked up his phone. “I sound like the famous Comet? Can’t argue with that.”

  Vada forced a smile when all she wanted to do was scream. The man who had been caught that morning was supposed to be her first collar as a super. She was going to walk into the S.U.C. with a wanted bank robber in tow and make her debut as Majestic. Now, she had to start all over with a new target. So much for making a grand entrance to the super world.

  The door made a small creak when Vada stuck her head out. The coast was clear, so she stepped into the hallway just as someone flew out of the boy’s bathroom and ran right into her. She staggered, but James caught her before she could fall.

  “Well, well, well…”

  Vada cringed. She looked up to see Victor standing there, hovering a little too close for comfort. He was wearing a menacing smile on his face, which was thin like the rest of him. He had always given Vada a strange vibe when she crossed paths with him. She couldn’t be sure why, but the fact that he often skulked around the school in his dark baggy clothing while meeting with other equally nefarious beings didn’t help to soften her opinion of him. Victor just oozed trouble.

  “Go away, Victor,” James spat. He closed the closet door beside him and began to lead Vada away.

  “Oh, don’t mind me,” Victor smirked and eyed Vada as she passed. “I would love to find myself in a closet with that hot body too. I hope you fucked her hard enough to last her all weekend.”

  Vada ignored the crude remarks but she could still feel Victor’s eyes on her.

  “Asshole,” James muttered. Just to be safe, he waited for her to go back into her classroom before he turned and went to his.

  Chapter Two

  The lunch line was shorter today when Henley entered the cafeteria. Vada hadn’t come in yet, so she went ahead without her. It wouldn’t be the first time her friend was late to lunch. But when Henley noticed who happened to be in front of her in line, she felt goosebumps spread all over her. She moved a little closer to listen to the two boys as they spoke, paying her no attention.

  “Yeah, man,” Nick said, smiling. “The party is at my house this time. My father’s got some big case going on and probably won’t be coming home all weekend.”

  “That’s cool.” Mitchell took a bottle of water from the refrigerated case. “I’ll be there. And I’ll text the rest of the team if you want.”

  “Thanks.”

  “So should I bring my pong stuff? Or will you be stuck next to Malibu Barbie all night?”

 
Henley muffled a laugh at Mitchell’s name for Scarlet. Then she focused on hearing Nick's reply.

  “Nah,” Nick said, shaking his head. “Scarlet’s going out of town right after school today. Visiting a college or something. I’ll be on my own tonight.”

  “In that case, fifty bucks says I can kick your ass,” Mitchell challenged.

  “Ha! You’re on.”

  Henley exited the food line with only an apple and bottle of water, having forgotten to grab anything else. But it wasn’t hunger that had her stomach flipping. She spotted James and Vada sitting at their usual table and she hurried over, plopping down on the bench across from the both of them.

  “You’re never going to believe our luck!”

  James raised his brow but didn’t bother asking, knowing that Henley was about to spill the beans either way.

  “Nick is having a party tonight,” she blurted. “At his house. And guess what the best part is. Go on. Guess!”

  Vada opened her mouth but didn’t have time to speak before Henley answered for her.

  “Scarlet won’t be there!”

  James chuckled to himself and pulled his computer from his bag. “Yes. Lucky, indeed.”

  “Shut up, James.” Henley turned back to Vada with a giant smile on her face. “Vay, we are totally going to that party.”

  “I don’t know, Henley. I have a family dinner this evening. Josh is coming. You know how my parents get when he comes to visit for the weekend. They buy this big meal and—”

  “Oh, come on. Josh is away at college, just on the other side of the city. He doesn’t live on Mars. You see him all the time!”

  That wasn’t entirely true, but Vada didn’t see any good pointing that out. Josh’s college was on the northern side of Cyper City but he really only came home to visit once every other month. His studies were too heavy for him to leave any more than that. Besides, Vada was looking forward to talking to him.

  “I can’t just bail on my own birthday dinner, Hen.”

  “Fine. What if we go after? I mean, the party probably won’t pick up until later anyway, right? We’ll be fashionably late.”

  “And you won’t even have to change your clothes.” James eyed Henley’s dress. “You already look ready for a party.” He lowered his head and muttered, “Or a street corner.”

  “I heard that, Jameson.” Henley twisted the cap off her water. “But I’m too pumped to give a shit.”

  Vada looked around the room and her eyes landed on the table where the party host in question was sitting, flanked by girls on one side and his rowdy friends on the other. It wasn’t a terrible idea. She and Henley had gone to a few parties since junior year. Almost every one had ended with Henley puking her brains out and swearing she’d never drink again.

  But with only a few months left until graduation, Vada wondered if this might be their last party before studying for class finals became their main focus. Hers, of course, would be split between school and super work now that she was of age. She would have to work harder than most of the other students in order to keep up with her schoolwork and secretive extracurricular activities.

  Henley, however, didn’t know about Vada’s powers. Or James’ abilities. Keeping your super identity a secret from normals was pretty much standard in the world today. It was safer that way. If a villain didn’t know who you were in your everyday life, he couldn’t use that information against you.

  This also meant that villains walked unsuspectingly among the normals too. But even that was better than having everyone discover the seemingly nice family next door was actually a villainous gang of brutes. Block parties would be entirely too awkward from that point forward.

  “So?” Henley asked, taking a bite of her apple. “You in?”

  “Yeah, I’m in.”

  “Good.” She turned to James. “And you?”

  “Nope, sorry.” James shrugged. “I have to work tonight.”

  “I thought you decided not to get a part-time job this close to graduation.”

  “I did.” He glanced over and met Vada’s knowing eyes for a brief moment before returning to his computer. “I have other work to do.”

  Both he and Vada knew he was talking about supertech work, hunting down a new target for them to apprehend since their previous one was now off the table.

  Henley snorted. “Playing video games with some ten-year-old on the other side of the country hardly counts as work, but whatever. We’ll have plenty of fun without you.”

  With that, the table fell into a comfortable silence. Henley continued to eat her apple and daydream about her evening. James typed away on his laptop and took the occasional sip of soda. Vada polished off a bag of chips while pondering how long it would take for her supersuit to be delivered if she ordered it today.

  Vada declined Henley’s offer to drive her home and opted to take a walk in solitude instead. The seven blocks it took to reach her home gave her just enough time to clear her head. This was the outskirts of Cyper City, so the noise level was lower than downtown or the industrial district. Birds could even be heard chirping in the trees as she passed by the dozens of two-story family homes with adequate sized front yards, many fenced in and littered with toys.

  There was definitely a sense of normalcy and security in this part of the city. That was exactly why her parents had chosen this area to live, instead of a downtown flat, like many other superfamilies opted for. Minivans graced every other driveway and children played laser tag in the streets. It was ordinary and peaceful.

  Streets like Brown Oak Avenue could be found in every city in the country and provided a good cover for two of Cyper City’s busiest superheroes. Siege and Comet often worked together and sometimes alone but they continuously fought crime from the moment they left the comfort of their house. No one would suspect they called the suburbs their humble home.

  And this would soon be Vada’s future. She’d trained for this her entire life. Mastering martial arts, spending hours upon hours with a tumbling instructor, and weapons training with her father were only a few of the things that had occupied her time since birth. Sure, there had been plenty of normal family moments too. Bowling, the arcade, and regular camping trips where someone always ended up with poison ivy were all documented inside the Lawson family albums. She was used to living a double life, already.

  Vada spotted a familiar face the moment she turned off the sidewalk. Her brother was sitting on the top porch step wearing basketball shorts, t-shirt, and a ballcap on his head. He looked every bit of the college student that he was.

  “Josh!”

  “Hey, Vayday,” Josh said, standing. “Or should I say, Majes—”

  Vada quickly covered his mouth with her hand, though she had to stand on her toes to do it because of his height. The first born inherited all of the best family genes, apparently.

  “Don’t say that out here!”

  Josh laughed. “No one knows who that is. Not yet, at least.” He tugged her in for a quick embrace before pulling away. “Did you walk home? I could have picked you up.”

  “I didn’t know you were already here. It’s fine, though. I needed the walk.”

  “Sure, I get it.” Josh nodded. “You’re an adult now so you don’t want to be seen with your annoying older brother. Can’t say I’m not hurt.” He faked a pang to his heart but he couldn’t hide his smile.

  Vada rolled her eyes and followed Josh inside. They entered the kitchen and he immediately put a bag of popcorn into the microwave while she grabbed two cans of Dr. Pepper from the fridge. They drank their soda in silence while the air filled with popping corn and the smell of butter. The moment the microwave beeped, Josh took the bag out and ripped it down the middle, foregoing a bowl.

  “I miss this,” Vada said. “You are so much better to have around than Garret. I caught him going through my room last week, looking for my diary.”

  Josh laughed. “I didn’t know you had a diary.”

  “I don’t.”

&nbs
p; “Ha! Well, I can’t say that I blame you for missing me. I am pretty awesome.”

  Vada threw a piece of popcorn at him but he caught it in his mouth. He was stealthy like that.

  Josh’s superpower was flying, like their mother, but he was quicker and lighter on his feet. Their parents had always said he would make a fantastic superhero. Unfortunately for them, Josh had different aspirations. He wanted to be an engineer. It took a year or so of convincing on his part but eventually, his parents admitted defeat and instead of planning Josh’s career as a super, they sent him to school.

  “So how is college going?”

  “Good. How is high school?”

  “Good.”

  Silence fell like a heavy boulder until finally, Josh caved. “All right, it sucks. There, I said it.”

  “Really?” Vada sent her empty can hovering to the recycling bin. “You seemed to love it when you were here at Christmas.”

  “That was before my grades for the semester were posted.” He collapsed onto the stool beside him. “I don’t know if I’m cut out for this.”

  “Bullshit. You just need to study more. Stop all of that partying.”

  “That’s just it.” He shook his head. “I did stop. Before Thanksgiving, I hit the books every night up until finals and I still barely scraped by. I don’t know if I can handle another three and a half years of this.”

  Vada chewed another piece of popcorn and studied her brother. He didn’t look like he was sleeping very well. That was obvious from the dark circles under his eyes. His usually short brown hair was longer than she’d seen it in years. He really didn’t appear as put together as he used to.

  “Maybe you just need to give it more time,” she offered with a small smile.

  “Oh, I’m not quitting.”

  “You’re not?”

  “And let our parents think they were right? Hell no.”

  Vada laughed. “There’s the Josh we know and love.”

  “What about you? Did you give any thought to school or are you joining the family business?”