Chapter 14 #2
Her jaw is hard set, and I beam, delighted that I have won. I tilt my head toward Ellison, who doesn’t seem to know what to do with it, so I take his hand and set it on top of my head, pleased by the head pets that weirdly feel more like thumps than pats.
“Ellison, I have procured us more money. We should go on a honeymoon.”
“Ma’am, the security footage is available for you to watch,” a woman says as she peeks her head in.
“I’m coming,” Valerie replies, and we all follow her to the security room. As we crowd around behind her, the guard plays the security footage. Nothing is amiss in any of the rooms until all doors in the facility are opened at once.
“How can these doors be opened?” August asks.
The woman motions to the computer to her left. “Only through here. But it takes a keycard to access this room, as well as a code.”
“How many people know the code?” Ellison questions.
“Five currently on-site and nine off-site.”
“Could someone’s superpower have done it?” August asks. “Is there anyone here who can manipulate electricity or electronics?”
“There is… but I’m not quite sure how he could have done it. I’m not denying that there could be a possibility. He’s just in a specialized room with no access to anything electronic,” the security guard says.
I cock my head. “So someone opens the doors, the people flood out to attack, and then this mind-fucker lady just manipulates everyone to try to get them to kill each other. How fun.”
“The real question is… why did it happen when you guys were here?” Nolan asks. “So were you the target? If you think about it, this is a building full of villains, most of whom have been placed here by August or Landon. I’m sure many of them would love an opportunity to kill them.”
“Who all knew of their arrival?” Valerie asks the woman.
She doesn’t have to think about the question for long.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone on staff did.
We had employees who went off-site to get the food that had been requested.
There were arrangements made for them, such as extra chairs placed in Nolan’s room, and we had their arrival on the staff room notification board. Anyone could have known.”
“Okay. For now, we will be transporting all villains to Trident prison. They have room in solitary for them until we figure out what happened here. Please let the others know,” Valerie says. The woman nods and hurries out to tell them.
Landon backs up so he’s in front of his brother. “Nolan’s not going there. That place is hell, and you know it.”
“There are no other prisons open right now for a super of his caliber,” Valerie says.
“He’s not a bad person! He’s not going to do anything!”
“It’s fine, Landon,” Nolan says, voice even and calm like always. “I know what I did was wrong and I will serve my time.”
“No. You’re not going,” Landon challenges. “It’s not a choice. You know that Nolan is a good person. He can help. He’s proven that he can. I refuse to let you lock him up in some fucking solitary.”
“Is that how you think laws work?” Valerie asks.
Landon shakes his head at her. “You know as well as I do that Nolan could have left here at any point. He proved it when Lex and I were taken. He could have left while the doors were open, but he didn’t.
Instead, he helped them control the prisoners who’d escaped by using his power to command them to stay in their rooms. Please… just look the other way as he leaves.”
“Then he’ll be a criminal on the run,” Valerie says.
Nolan turns Landon to face him. “It’s fine, okay? I’ve fucked up, and I will face time for doing that. I’ll be out before you know it.”
“You’ll waste your life in prison because of a fuckup. We’ve all fucked up!” Landon sounds so broken up about this. I wonder what it’d be like to have family fight for you. Fight to save you… to protect you.
I pull out my gun, lift it, and point it at Nolan’s head. “There’s no sense in keeping track of a dead man.”
“What the hell are you going on about?” Valerie asks.
“I mean… if he was killed during the chaos… would anyone be surprised?” I ask. “There’s a lot going on.”
Valerie looks irritated, but I’ve come to realize it’s her only expression. “Where the hell are we going to hide the ‘dead body’?”
“He can stay at Superheroes United for a bit,” Landon says. “Until we figure something out.”
“You want the man who can control minds to stay at our headquarters?” Valerie asks in disbelief.
“He could stay with us… but we have a lot of media poking around our place, so it probably wouldn’t be the best idea,” August says.
Nolan shakes his head. “Guys, you really… no. I won’t let you get in trouble over me.”
“What are they going to do? Fire me?” August asks.
Landon turns to me. “Just please don’t shoot him for real like you did Brandon. This one doesn’t heal as fast.”
“I’m not going to shoot him, but he’s going to have to manipulate some people into thinking he’s dead,” I say.
Valerie sighs. “What happened to my sweet, law-abiding August?”
August thinks about it for a moment before replying, “He learned what it meant to be happy.”
Landon has heart eyes going on, and if he was a character in a graphic novel, he’d have little flowers of happiness floating around his head.
“Fine. If he controls our minds and takes over Superheroes United headquarters, I’m beating both of your asses so fucking hard,” Valerie grumbles. “Let’s go fake his murder.”
“Thank you, Valerie,” August says as he gives her a hug which she seems to hate. It makes me want to hug her too.
Landon grabs Nolan, hugging him tightly. “I know this won’t be easy, but I need you in my life.”
Nolan’s hands are shaking while he hugs Landon back. “Thank you. I miss being in your life so much.”
I glance up and see a strange expression on Ellison’s face. Is he upset that we’re going against the law?
He pushes past them and out into the hallway. I’m not sure if the others even notice, but I slip out after him, only to find him gone.
I glance left and right as the security team moves quickly here and there before I head back toward Nolan’s room. I see Pocket Lint scratching at the bathroom door, so I rap my knuckles on it. “Ellison?”
Silence.
I try the doorknob, but it doesn’t turn.
“Ellison, if you don’t answer, I’m going to bust this door open,” I declare.
“I’m trying to take a piss, why would you bust the door open?” he snaps.
I kick it hard enough it flings open and find that Ellison isn’t taking a piss, he’s on the floor, his head in his hands. He jerks back and then suddenly his illusions are in front of me, driving me away from the door that’s slammed shut by one of them.
“Ellison, what’s wrong?” I call through the door.
One of his illusions slides his hand into my hair and I assume he’s going to drag me off but instead, he just stares at me like he wants to say something. Then they all vanish when the others walk in.
“We’re thinking about using the pipe you were carrying around to make it look like he was smashed in the head.
Then we’ll say that Nolan was trying to hold them back as he called for us.
The attacker rushed off before we could catch who it was.
Sadly, the cameras were down in this area when it happened,” Landon says, but my attention is on the bathroom and the man who’d been on the floor.
“Deus, we need you. You’d be best at this,” Landon urges, wanting me to set up Nolan’s supposed death.
He’s right, I can do it with ease, and halfway through, Ellison comes out looking like absolutely nothing was wrong. I stare at him until Landon tells me to hurry and I finish faking a murder.