Overpowered (Powered Trilogy #2)

by Cheyanne Young

  “This is better than a drug,” the guy says, positing the tube in the center of his hand, closing his fist around it so that only the pointy end sticks out. “This is a solution. This...this is invincibility.” The pointed part slams into his forearm. The man’s head falls back in pure ecstasy as the drug infiltrates into his cardiovascular system. As he soaks up the rush of his high, I high-kick him square in the jaw, catching the empty tube as it flies out of his hand. I slip it into the pocket on my sleeve that holds retriever hooks.

  A vein just off-center of his forehead bulges. He swings and I duck, knowing from experience that someone juiced up on this mystery drug can pack a punch I don’t want to absorb. This time, although he fights like a beast on steroids, I don’t have as much difficulty taking him down, hooking him in the throat and handing him over to the human authorities.

  That’s because this time I didn’t fear that my fighting back would harm the weak human.

  This time I didn’t hold back.

  My BEEPR lights up with three new messages. Before I can read them, the sender calls me. His impatience is kind of cute. “Hey you.” I talk toward my wrist. Evan didn’t make a holograph call so I answer the BEEPR normally. I hear his voice in my ear. “Did you get my messages?”

  “I haven’t read them.”

  “What? It’s been like ten minutes.”

  “Sorry, I was fighting an old guy on steroids.”

  “Huh?” He doesn’t even sound surprised.

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  “You need to come to Research. Don’t go home.”

  I stop at the entrance to the KAPOW. “Why?”

  “Because I’m here!” The voice in my ear doesn’t belong to Evan. “Nova? I don’t understand.” I practically punch open the door of the nearest public pod. “Destination Evan Letta,” I say, settling back for the trip to South Africa.

  Evan comes back on the line. “Apparently President Might had a meeting with the elders today but they wanted to meet at your house because they didn’t think he was well enough to be traveling or accidentally running into other citizens in his...condition. So he sent Nova to me to hide out for the time being.”

  The thought of Nova being in such close proximity to my boyfriend while they chat on his MOD sends a stabbing jealousy through my bones. How long has she been there? Having fun without me. Reading comic books and playing Xbox while I fight an old man. The sudden realization that other people live their lives when I’m not around seems unsettling and a tiny bit horrifying. As much as I may want to, I can’t control everything.

  But I can trust Evan. I know I can.

  “Did you find out if the humans are using drugs?” Nova asks.

  “Maybe,” I say. “Be there in a minute.” My stomach may be twisting into knots but at least my voice is confident.

  Spark hops into my lap on Evan’s black leather couch, eager for a scratch behind the ears. I wonder if he knows how lucky he is to be the dog that was randomly assigned to me. He could have easily been assigned to Nyx, had fate worked out a little differently. My stomach tightens and I drop my hand. Spark licks it.

  Evan brings me a Gatorade. “Really?” he says a few seconds later when I don’t complain about the flavor. He shakes his head and then gives another bottle to Nova. She thanks him with her stupid little sweet smile and I almost make a gagging sound but all the repressed emotions I have over Nyx’s poor police dog keep me from spilling my pent up sarcasm.

  “Details!” Nova says, leaning toward the very edge of the armchair. Evan plops next to me on the couch. “I would also like details. Nova told me that you guys are suspecting some kind of drug use that’s making humans stronger than usual?”

  “She suspects it,” I say. “It was her idea.” I don’t know why I give her the credit because it just makes me feel like crap to admit my weaknesses in front of Evan. I reach into my sleeve pocket and slide the metal tube out. Only it isn’t metal at all. It’s glass.

  I recount the mission to them, making sure to include every detail I can remember. Anything that might be important. “He jabbed this into his arm and then he fought me.” I twirl it between my fingers. “It made him way stronger than any middle-aged human ought to be. I’ve never seen anything like it though, have you?” Evan reaches for the vial but Nova slips in between us and snatches it out of my hands before he’s even close.

  “It’s an injector.” She rubs her thumb over the smooth bulbous end of the vial and a needle the length of a thumbtack pops out of the other end.

  “You know what this is?” Evan asks. She nods. “Felix made tons of them.”

  “You know Felix?”

  She shrugs. “Yeah. How do you know him? He hung out in the underground.”

  Evan bolts up from the couch, hands twisting into his hair. “No, Felix hangs out here. He was my partner in Research. My mentor.”

  “Really?” Nova laughs. “Did he try to bring you over to the villain world?”

  “Hell no. I wouldn’t have even if he did try.” Nova looks a little taken aback by the absoluteness of his answer. She sets the glass vial on the coffee table. “Well it’s his. I can assure you of that. There’s a little F insignia in the middle of the tube. That’s how I know it for sure.”

  I pick up the tube and examine it, finding the mark like she described. “Why would Felix be selling drugs to humans? What could he possibly gain from that?”

  “Money?” Nova offers.

  Evan shakes his head. “Villains have ways of getting money and they’ve never stooped this low. Maybe humans have stolen it or something.”

  “Can you test the tube and find out what the drug is?” I ask.

  He takes the tube and rolls it around under the overhead light. “There’s nothing left. I’d need a sample if I were to test it.”

  I stand, putting my hands on his shoulders. “I’ll go get it.” I smile, hoping it looks as sincere as Nova’s stupid smile. “We can solve our first mission together. And bonus, Central will love my initiative.”

  “I’ll come too.” Nova pops up and puts her arms around mine and Evan’s shoulders.

  “That could work,” Evan says, glancing at Nova. “I’m sure you could do some kind of twin switch-er-roo to confuse people and steal the drug.”

  My jaw clenches together. “No.”

  Nova’s shoulders fall. “I just wanted to help.”

  “Well you can’t. You’re a fugitive. I can’t risk ruining my mission because I have a wanted villain tagging along.”

  Spark rubs his head on my leg until I look down at him. Then he looks outside and barks. “You need to pee?” I ask. He cocks his head to the right. Pee isn’t the correct police dog word to use. “I’m going to take him outside for minute,” I tell Nova and Evan. “Do you mind looking out for him just a little bit longer? I don’t want him with me when I’m searching for the drug. And I’m not ready for him to go back to the station.” I ruffle the fur behind his ears. “Not yet.”

  “Sure thing,” Evan says. He wraps his arm around my back and I lean into the hug for a brief moment. I can tell from Nova’s energy that I’ve hurt her feelings by calling her a villain. I’m not sure if the truth would make her feel any better.

  That I don’t want her to come with me because I’m afraid she’ll do a better job than I will.

  “Is it true that dogs align themselves with the Earth’s magnetic field when they poop?” I ask. Spark ignores me as he sniffs around the sand behind the Research facility. “Fine, I’ll give you some privacy,” I say, turning around and folding my arms across my chest.

  Evan walks around the side of the building, his arm up to shield his eyes from the sun. He smiles nervously when he sees me.

  “What’s going on?” I ask. “You don’t trust me to let a dog out by myself on a secluded island?”

  He shakes his head. He doesn’t even laugh at my stupid attempt of a joke. Evan always laughs at my stupid attempts of a joke. “I just wanted to talk to you alone,�
� he says, reaching out and letting his fingers trail down my arm.

  I wiggle my eyebrows. “Sorry Evan, I can’t make out with you while the dog is aligning himself with a magnetic field.”

  “This is serious,” he says. “I needed to talk to you alone. I’ve been given a job to do from the elders in Central.”

  My blood runs cold. “What kind of job?” For a tiny second, I’m afraid he’s been tasked with finding Nova as well and now he’s going to arrest her and he came to warn me so I wouldn’t be mad at him. He might be my boyfriend but I wouldn’t hesitate to kick his ass to save my sister.

  “They’ve tasked me with researching Hero and villain blood. They want me to see if there’s a way to determine if someone is evil before they show signs of it.”

  “But you’ve already done that,” I say, shuddering when I think that evil DNA runs through my veins as we speak.

  “I didn’t tell them that!” He grabs my elbows in his hands, pulling me closer to him as if he can’t possibly lose me. “If they knew I’d already figured out how to test for villain power then they’d make me test you. You know they would. They’d make me test every single Super kid alive. And I don’t want to be the one who sends children to the depowering machine. Besides, I feel like we could find a way to raise those kids to be good. Like you.”

  I nod. He has his power sucked in tight so that I can barely feel his energy. “Well...” I sigh. Spark paws at the water as it washes ashore before sweeping back into the ocean again. “You’ll just have to take a long time with your research.”

  “I wish it were that easy.”

  My eyebrows draw together. “It is that easy. Just don’t replicate your work. Keep screwing up your researching and tell them you haven’t discovered an answer yet.”

  He shakes his head. “I know, but I can’t stop thinking about how many Supers might turn villain before I pretend to discover the evil DNA again. How much more havoc will they cause while I’m sitting here pretending I don’t know how to identify them. What if someone dies? What if it’s you?”

  I look him straight in the eyes. “It won’t be me.”

  Tension fills the empty space between us. I turn my attention to the dog who I’m starting to think doesn’t even need to relieve himself, but rather just wanted to play in the sand.

  “I better get back,” Evan says. “I told Nova I had to pee. She probably thinks I fell in.”

  Evan’s living room is empty when I return later with Spark. And I don’t just mean it’s devoid of people, which it is. He’s been busy cleaning up the mess that was left by the Retriever Squad and because of that, most of his stuff is either gone or packed away. I check the balcony and the kitchen and when they’re empty too, I tell Spark to hang out on Evan’s brand new couch. They’re probably down in Evan’s research labs and I don’t want to risk something injuring the dog if I were to take him with me. I slip into the glass elevator and head down the floors one by one, looking for that shock of messy blonde hair or Nova’s fading black hair pulled back in a long silky ponytail.

  My chest aches. I can’t stop thinking about the look on Evan’s face when he told me about his job for Central. I used to think I could trust him with anything. But spending a few weeks in lockdown with someone doesn’t make you know everything about them. It’s not like Evan and I are in love. We like each other but we aren’t Romeo and Juliet. He could snap under the pressure of Central and give them the information they want. It could happen at any moment.

  Chills trace down my spine at the thought of it. Evan’s blood is as good as it gets. And real Heroes, the ones who aren’t like me with my tainted twin genetics...they can’t do any wrong.

  An unexpected laugh makes me look up from the floor of the elevator. I press the stop button and step out onto the fourth floor. They don’t even see me, they’re laughing so hard.

  Evan’s holding the remote control on his cloud bag, a modified bean bag chair that’s currently hovering off the floor with my sister sitting on it. She giggles and squeals as he yanks the controls to send her flying across the room in one direction and then sharply back across the room a moment later. The pure elation she feels radiates from her in all directions. I don’t think she’s had this much fun in, well, forever.

  “Okay, okay,” she squeals with ragged breath. “I’m ready to get down.”

  “What’s that?” Evan says. “You want to be thrown into the wall?” His thumb slams on the control button and the cloud bag heads straight toward the wall behind him at full speed. Nova screams. “No. Evan, No! Please no!”

  He’s laughing so hard he almost doesn’t press the stop button in time. When he does, the bag comes to a jolting halt just inches from his own body. Nova’s kinetic energy makes her fly forward, tumbling out of the bag. She throws her arms around Evan’s neck. He lowers her to the ground.

  I let out the breath I’d been holding. Power bursts from the chest, angry and jealous and impatient. My sister jumps from the force of my power. She steps away from Evan, clasping her hands behind her back.

  “Let’s go,” I say.

  “I thought I had to stay.”

  I look from her to Evan and back again. “Not anymore. You’re coming with me.”

  “I can’t believe how much my life has changed in the last few days.” Nova’s hands slip into the pockets of her tiny zip up jacket as we walk. “I have a family now. And friends. There’s hope now.”

  “I don’t feel like having some kind of emotional awakening right now, okay? We have a job to do.”

  “Sorry.”

  Nova’s hair has faded back to a dull blonde which gives her face a look that can only be described as angelic. Our shared facial features look much more frightening when framed by my dark locks. I wonder if that’s how everyone saw me before my hair darkened; a sweet fragile girl with soft features.

  Every set of Super twins in the history of forever has had one good twin and one bad twin. And it isn’t like one person is just better or smarter than the other one--they’re actually good or evil. Scientists have this idea that Supers, who originally derived from homo sapiens, have genetics that simply can’t split into twins in the way that humans do. Super twins end up with one of them having a one hundred percent good moral compass while the other one has an equally evil one. I disagree with that.

  And it’s not just because I’m genetically the bad one.

  I was raised by the greatest dad and the most caring brother ever. They took care of me, they nurtured me and taught me the ways of being a Hero. I know I have evil genetics; I can feel them every second of every day. But I am not evil. I choose not to be.

  “No, I’m sorry.” I nudge Nova in the shoulder as we walk. “I didn’t mean to be a jerk. I’m just nervous.”

  “You’re a Hero. There’s nothing to be nervous about.”

  I snort and look down at the severe lack of Hero clothing on my body. We’re dressed as regular humans tonight. Nova’s brilliant idea, not mine. I knew that trying to waltz up to the human fight clubs and ask for a vial of their drug as me, Hero Maci Might, wouldn’t go over well. And the other alternative is to bring the situation to Central and let them assign another Hero, one who isn’t probationary and therefore not allowed to deal with villain missions. So instead of charging head first into the situation and demanding that someone give me a vial of that drug, I’m going to try something different.

  A crisp pair of dark wash jeans, cheap fake leather jacket, an old pair of Converse sneakers and no Hero eye mask makes me look just like one of the humans. Nova is dressed similarly with jeans and an oversized sweater. I’ve never felt so naked in my life.

  We chose the populated streets of New York City to go on what will hopefully be a short scavenger hunt for the drug. I didn’t want to hit up New Orleans or Vegas because of the fear that one of the drug-induced fighters I’ve dealt with earlier might recognize me sans mask. That’s never happened before in the entire history of Heroes wearing eye masks, but until n
ow, humans were never as strong as us either. I’m not taking any chances.

  My BEEPR rings from under the sleeve of my jacket. I slip it off the wrist strap and hold it up to my ear, cell phone style to fit in with the humans. “Please tell me you have something,” I tell Evan in lieu of a hello. Nova and I have been wandering aimlessly for far too long and haven’t seen a single clue as to where to get the drug. So far, marijuana has been the local drug peddler’s drug of choice.

  “Delancey Street, Manhattan. The police scanner said something about a fight.”

  “That’s all?”

  “Yup.”

  I turn around, pointing Nova toward our new destination. “We’ll check it out. Thanks.”

  “Be careful.”

  “Sure thing.”

  The BEEPR snaps back onto my wrist. It’s a conscious effort to make myself walk slower than a comfortable pace so I can blend in with the humans. Nova does it effortlessly, trailing her fingers along the fabric of a local vendor’s imported wool scarves. We find the fight just as it’s wrapping up, one winner collecting cash from the betting onlookers and one poor pathetic guy sitting impishly on the curb, wiping blood away with the remains of his shirt.

  “Next week,” the loser pants. “I’ll take you again.”

  The winner, a large man with a stomach lopping over his belt so far he could probably use it as a table says, “Let’s go again right now.”

  The other guy shakes his head, spitting out a mouth full of blood. “I ain’t got no more money. Next week. Double or nothin’.” He grabs his wallet and cell phone from a woman in the crowd and then slinks off into the night. The winner throws up his arms and asks who wants to be next.

  I cup my hand over my mouth and whisper, “Think we could find a dealer in this crowd?” Only no one hears my question because Nova is gone. Chasing the subdued vibe of her power, I find her a few yards away and grab her elbow. “What the hell are you doing?”

  She points in front of her. “Uh, duh.”