Masked (Superheros Undercover Book 1)

by J. D. Wright

  Gypsy blushed. “I don’t think it’s that kind of tying up. And it wasn’t Velocious. I think I would have recognized him. Maybe. Besides, I’m worried it has something to do with the murders that have been happening. My grandfather doesn’t know it, but I’ve been sneaking onto his computer and checking the S.U.C. Insiders’ bulletin. Rumor has it that a super is the one killing those people.”

  Majestic nodded. “My mother just confirmed the same thing to me. They think it’s probably a doctor or something. Someone with strong knowledge of supers and science. Whoever it is has been experimenting on the supers before killing them. Do you think that’s what’s going to happen to Eden?”

  “This is crazy,” Vortex said. “The girl that disappeared from the college, my brother knew her. He used to date her roommate, and he said she wasn’t a super. At least, he was pretty sure she wasn’t. So why was she killed?”

  “I don’t know. But my mother said the dead were supers, so they had to have had power. They had the supergene. My mom thinks that’s why they were targeted, because they were supers.”

  “That actually makes sense,” Gypsy said, nodding. “About it being a doctor or something. I saw a little bit of the room that Eden was in. There was chemistry stuff in it, you know like beakers and things? And there was a lot of this yellow liquid everywhere. It was in jars and vials and—”

  “Vials?” Orion’s face drained and he ran his hand through his hair. “Vials of yellow liquid?” All eyes turned to him. He started to get dizzy and leaned against his bike.

  “You all right, man?” Vortex asked, swooping over to grab his arm and steady him. “What’s wrong?”

  “I, uh…” Orion was quiet for a moment as he listened to his agent talking in his ear. Then he nodded and looked up at the others. “I’m fine. But my agent and I have been doing a little investigating too. We think the vials of yellow liquid are actually what’s to blame. We think that drug, whatever it is, is giving normals superpowers.”

  Vortex laughed, then stopped when he saw the look on Majestic’s face. “What?”

  “I think he’s right.” Majestic thought about Henley and the vial that she’d found in her friend’s hand at Nick’s party. “I have reason to believe that there is a drug giving people superpowers too.”

  “How is that possible? How can someone just get superpowers?”

  “I can’t explain it, but I think it’s true. Nevertheless, if the person who is turning normals into supers is the same person that is killing them, then a lot of this makes sense.”

  “That a person is making supers, experimenting on them, then getting rid of them?” Vortex rubbed the back of his neck and frowned. “That’s…a whole other level of cruel.”

  “And now he’s got Eden.” Majestic looked at the ground and felt her heart begin to race. If this murdering villain turned Henley into Eden and then captured her, then Eden was definitely going to be the next victim. “We have to save her.”

  “Wait.” Orion held up his hand. “Are you telling me that Eden, a villain, has been or will be taken by another and probably worse villain who might dispose of her? Why don’t we just let him? She’s an enemy, right? Isn’t this just some sort of…bad guy karma?”

  Majestic snapped her head up. “You want to let her die?”

  “That’s one less person we have to fight against. Maybe we should cut our losses and try to save someone who deserves it.”

  “Absolutely not!”

  Majestic couldn’t believe he was suggesting that they not even bother to try to save Eden. Sure, he didn’t know that Eden had only recently become a super, let alone a villain. And he definitely didn’t know how much it meant to Majestic that she rescue her friend from whatever disaster she’d somehow found herself in. But even if it weren’t Henley in trouble, Majestic just couldn’t see how she could stand by and pretend she didn’t know this was going to happen. Isn’t it the job of a hero to try to save everyone? Not just the innocent people?

  “Why do you care about a villain, who by the way, just tried to kill you? And whose boyfriend just tried to kill me?”

  Majestic stepped closer to Orion until they were toe-to-toe. “I won’t just stand by and let some crazy person kill my—that woman! No one deserves to be experimented on like some lab rat. And if you suggest one more time that we let her die without even trying to save her, Starboy, I will add you to my list of mortal enemies.”

  Orion smirked. “Thought I was already on that list.”

  “I’ll move you to the top.”

  He held her gaze for a moment, then sighed. “Fine, we’ll save your nemesis. No matter how insane that sounds. If we can. How much time do we have, Gypsy?”

  “Not long. She’ll be taken soon if she hasn’t been already.”

  “How do we find this…this laboratory or whatever?” Vortex asked.

  “I took notes after the vision.” Gypsy lifted her arm and tapped on her gold watch, scrolling through until she found what she was looking for, then began to read off her list. “Eden, tied up, chemical stuff, yellow liquid, brick walls, bookstore sign—”

  “Bookstore?” Majestic asked. “Did you say bookstore sign? Is that where the lab is?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. It’s related somehow. Or at least, I think.”

  “How many bookstores are in Cyper City?” Orion asked, then listened to his earpiece. “Never mind. Apparently, there are five. Having an agent is really convenient sometimes. I mean all of the time. Geez…” He cringed, and the others could tell that his agent was scolding him.

  “I’m sending you the coordinates,” Whiskey chimed into Majestic’s ear. “Check your wrist-cuff for the map.”

  Majestic held out her left arm and pushed a round button on her wrist. A blue light zoomed out and a holographic map of Cyper City appeared. She used her fingers to make the map larger. The bookstores were marked in red, making it easy to tell where they were.

  “Looks like there’s three on the north side of the city and two on the south side.”

  “We should split up,” Vortex said. “Gypsy and I will take the north side. You two search the others and we’ll check in after each one.”

  “Maybe Gypsy and I should go together,” Majestic protested. “We can protect ourselves just fine.”

  “It’s not about protection. It’s about transportation. I can fly and easily take someone with me. You and Orion can go on his bike.”

  “No way.”

  Orion laughed and nodded toward her scooter. “Would you rather ride that?”

  Majestic glanced at the scooter and her mouth twisted. She really didn’t want to take the scooter. It was slow and nowhere near as much fun to ride as a sports bike. But going with Orion meant being stuck with the man. Then again, it also meant she could ride his bike, which she really wanted to do. It was just too bad she couldn’t ride without him. She weighed the options and finally gave a shrug.

  “Fine, whatever.”

  “Tell the others to join you on frequency 91,” Whiskey said. “I’ve opened a secure line for communication just for the team.”

  Majestic relayed the information while Orion and Vortex passed it on to their agents and Gypsy programmed her own via her watch. Having a secure communication was good since they were about to split up. Team? Is that what they were? Majestic had to admit that it felt nice to be working with other supers, especially on such a dangerous case. And having someone to call on in the future would be a definite perk if this worked out.

  Gypsy gave a small giggle when Vortex scooped her up in his arms. Then he gave the others a nod before pushing off of the ground and jetting up into the sky. Soon, the pair were out of sight, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

  “Well,” Orion said, stretching his arms over his head. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  Majestic looked down at her map and pointed to the closest bookstore. “There’s one about four blocks from here. Herschel’s Bookstore. I’ve been there before.”


  “Is the building brick?”

  “No, but—”

  “What about the other one?”

  “This one is closer.”

  “Yes, but if it’s a dead end, maybe the other one is a better pick.”

  “Backtracking will take longer.”

  Orion’s mouth tightened. “Do you argue with me on principle or because it brings you pleasure? Because I can think of many other ways to give you pleasure that wouldn’t give me a headache.”

  “You are such a pig!” she spat, hiding the small smile that wanted to play at her lips. “Maybe if you read my mind you’d know better than to say the things you do. I give you plenty of warning in my head, you know.”

  “I would if I could,” he said, heaving a sigh.

  “Would what?”

  “Read your mind. I’ve tried, believe me. But I can’t. You should probably thank your agent for being so thorough.”

  “That’s…fortunate.”

  “Not really. Especially earlier, when you were looking at me like a slice of cake you’d like to devour.” He gave her a wink and laughed when she scowled back. “I saw your mouth drop open. Did you just like my bike or me on it?”

  Majestic squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “The bike.”

  “If you say so, babe.”

  “Stop calling me that! I’m not one of those girls who will fawn over your stupid blue eyes and big muscles.”

  “But you have noticed them, I gather…”

  “Ugh! You’re impossible. And we’re wasting time!”

  “Just answer one question for me and we’ll go,” he said, turning to pick up his helmet. “Do you hate me because you want to or did I do something to piss you off?”

  “I hate you because…I don’t trust you.”

  “Why not?”

  “The list is growing, but the fact that you keep showing up where I am is suspicious at best.”

  “I’m not stalking you, if that’s what you think.”

  “I don’t know what to think. I just keep turning around and finding you there. It’s unnerving and annoying and—”

  “Coincidence?”

  “I highly doubt it.”

  Orion tossed her a helmet and she unfastened the buckle. Then she walked over and watched as he opened a side compartment on his bike and pulled out another helmet for himself. She started to climb onto the bike, but before she could, he took her arm and turned to face her.

  “What if I share something with you? If I trust you enough to tell you something I haven’t told anyone else, will you at least be open to the idea of returning the trust in the future?”

  Majestic narrowed her eyes and smirked. “If you’re about to tell me that you have a birthmark on your ass or something, I’m sure at least fifty women already know—”

  “I took the drug, Majestic.”

  “What?” she squeaked. “What are you saying?”

  “The yellow drug in the vials that Gypsy saw in her vision? The one you seem to think is responsible for turning normals into supers? You’re right, it does. I know because I drank it, thinking it was…something else. And when I woke the next morning, I had my power.”

  Majestic wasn’t sure if it was shock she felt as much as annoyance. “Why didn’t you say anything? You let us stand here, hypothesizing, when you could have confirmed it all along.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t understand. This makes me a target. If anyone knows that I took that drug, that I’m one of the new supers, I could be taken next. I don’t know where the drug came from, and I don’t think it was intended for me, but…that’s probably what’s kept me safe this long. Maybe whoever is killing the others doesn’t know I took the drug.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” she asked softly. “Shouldn’t you protect this information? Like you said, your safety may depend on the fact that the mad doctor doesn’t know about you.”

  Orion lifted his eyes and met hers. She felt an intense need to hold his gaze, and didn’t look away even when those blue eyes turned deathly serious.

  “You may not trust me,” he said. “But I trust you. I don’t know why I do, considering how much you annoy me. I just…do.”

  She opened her mouth to argue with his comment that she annoyed him, but she couldn’t find the words to do so. This wasn’t the type of secret that one shared with a stranger. He really was entrusting her with a powerful piece of information. She knew better than to treat it lightly.

  “Thank you for sharing that with me,” she said, pushing the helmet over her head. “I will keep your secret, but that doesn’t mean I like you.”

  Orion’s lips curled up into a wicked grin and showed the white of his perfect teeth. Just another thing that Majestic found irritating about him.

  “It’s just a matter of time, babe. You’ll fall for my charm, eventually. It’s inevitable.”

  “It’s impossible.”

  “It’s probable.”

  “It’s disgusting.”

  “It’s irresistible. Just like me.”

  “Oh, geez.” She rolled her eyes and climbed onto the bike. “Get on now or I’m leaving without your smug ass.”

  The bike shifted as Orion swung his leg over and kicked the stand up. Then he reached behind him and pulled Majestic’s arms around his waist.

  “You’d better hold on,” he called out over the rumble of the engine. “If you let go of me, you’ll regret it.”

  Majestic had a feeling that Orion meant that in more ways than one.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Eden walked down darkened Main Street. She found herself highly amused by the riffraff that was out and about this time of night. She’d already persuaded a group of drunken college boys to strip and dance in the streets. That was after they’d taken turns drinking shots out of her navel and showering her with all sorts of well-deserved praise for her sexy suit.

  She’d been forced to find her own entertainment this evening because Victor was off running some errand for his father. Luckily for her, the stream of things to do and places to go was never-ending. Cyper City could keep her busy for years to come. But if she was right about Victor’s mood as of late, he seemed to want to leave the city. His hints of getting away from his controlling father had become more and more noticeable.

  As she strode toward Garden Park, the large park that lay directly across from City Hall, Eden imagined all of the amazing places they could go if they did leave. There was Arcada, which had bridges over their bridges. It was a nightmare for motorists, but the city had grown so large in recent years that they began to build streets over streets and houses on top of houses. Eden could imagine causing some trouble and easily fleeing from the police through the winding streets and multiple city levels. She thought Velocious would have a great time speeding his bike along the tall, curved bridges too.

  And then there was Zephra, also called the mountain of lights. It was built into the side of a mountain range and at nighttime, from a distance, you could see entire mountains lit up along the skyline. She could already envision herself at the top of one of those mountains in a multimillion-dollar rock home with an indoor pool and dozens of servants. Living that close to the clouds and in luxury would make her feel like a goddess. She’d rule the mountain with Velocious by her side, keeping her satisfied with that wicked tongue of his.

  Her future was an open book now that she had the power of persuasion. Even if she came across a superhero who couldn’t be controlled by her power, she or Velocious would just take them out another way. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t do, that she wouldn’t have, or she wouldn’t rule. The world was hers for the taking.

  Delighted with her daydreams of grandeur, she barely heard her phone chime. When she lifted it up, she saw a message from Victor.

  V: Meet me at my father’s laboratory. If you get there first, wait inside.

  Eden read the message twice, because the first time she didn’t believe it. Why would he want her to go there? He�
��d made it very clear that they couldn’t go anywhere near his father’s lab after the first time he’d shown it to her. He wanted her to avoid the man even though he never gave a good reason as to why. But Victor had been adamant that she never ever enter the lab without him, if at all. Now, he wanted her to?

  “Hmm…”

  She tapped her chin and thought about it for a moment. Maybe he was finally ready to introduce her to his father. Perhaps that was why he was inviting her to go there. Whatever the reason, she wouldn’t disobey him. He was gentle with her most of the time, but if she ignored his message, she would surely pay for it later when they were alone. Victor favored spanking, and she’d ended many nights with rosy red ass cheeks. She wouldn’t give him a reason to use the spankings as a punishment.

  The full moon was large in the sky when she hailed a cab with a shady-looking driver and rattled off the address to the laboratory. When the cab stopped, the driver turned in his seat and flashed her a smile with his disgusting yellowed teeth on full display. He reached his grubby hand into the back and held it up for payment.

  Eden considered sending this man over the side of a bridge just for being unhygienic. But her nerves were already shaken by Victor’s strange request. So instead, she simply paid the man his due and jumped out of the cab as fast as her boots could carry her. The driver gave her a wink then sped off.

  “Definitely not taking that cab home,” she mumbled. Maybe I should go home and wait for him there…

  By home, she meant the hotel room she’d been sharing with Victor since she’d fled her real home and left her bitching mother behind. If she never had to hear that woman moan over her father’s multiple infidelities again, it would be too soon. She’d chosen to marry the bastard, after all. Whatever she reaped was what she sowed.

  Approaching the red brick building, Eden lifted her chin and put on a brave face. It wasn’t that she cared so much of what Victor’s father thought of her. She doubted her lover would leave her based on his father’s rejection. Would he? Then she’d have lost yet another man in her life.