Secret Super (Book 1)

4. Choices

Sneaking around an office building was harder than it seemed.

Every time Kara heard footsteps, she had to duck around a corner or turn in the opposite direction. Eventually she got completely lost and had discovered nothing.

The problem with this building was that everything looked the same. Rows of metal doors lined the bare, white walls, each door and each wall indistinguishable from the next. It was like the building was determined to trap Kara into an endless corporate hellhole.

Maybe this was Xavier's secret base, right under the supers' nose, disguised as a maze of empty halls. Either way, if there were answers, they'd be here.

Glancing up and down the hallway, she walked up to one of the doors and held up her hands. This is where Jace's powers would have come in handy, she thought ruefully.

A force-field starting forming in her hands, an electric tingle coursing through her body and a slight dizzy rush coursing through her head as the glowing purple energy grew in her palms. She separated her hands, molding and stretching the force-field until it was a long, thin, rectangular shape, glimmering and faintly pulsing. She moved it until it floated right above the door.

Satisfied, Kara took a step back and shoved.

A soft dent appeared over the door, like it had been pressed back. Then, with a clang that echoed through the hallway, the door crashed to the floor.

Kara froze, her force-field sputtering out. She looked around wildly, half-expecting a dozen supers and half the Council members to come thundering down the hall at the sound of the crash.

But no one came, so she stepped over the door- right into an empty room. She groaned. This one didn't even have a table or a pair of chairs inside.

Kara kicked the door in frustration. Looked like there were no answers for her here- and she wasn't about to break down every sky-cursed door in the building to find out, anyway.

She turned to leave, but then she heard footsteps scuffing the tiled hallway. She whipped around.

"Is anyone there?" she said tersely. Her voice felt too loud and jarring in the silent hallway. No one answered, but her goosebumps prickled her arms, and she felt strange, like she was being watched.

"Skies," she muttered. "I hate this building." With that she turned and ran out.

* * * * *

Kara's fists crashed into the dummy, creating a soft dent in its metal stomach. She gritted her teeth and slammed it with her foot. The dummy skittered across the floor, and she sent a force-field driving it into the ground. The clanging noise echoed throughout the training room.

Energy tingled through her body. She drew a breath and moved on to another dummy, swinging her fist into its head repeatedly.

"I think it's already dead," Jace said flatly. "You can stop killing it." She was leaning against the wall in front of Kara, fidgeting with one of her curls. Her pale, round face glowed in the dim lighting, dark circles under her eyes and her bushy hair tied back in a ponytail.

Kara paused and cracked her knuckles. The second dummy swung limply on its stand and crashed to the floor.

She ignored Jace and blasted a force-field at another dummy, this time trying to split it in two. She willed the force-field to bend like she wanted it to, her muscles straining to keep it in place.

Her blood was rushing and her thoughts were racing. She felt hot, flushed, restless, like there wasn't enough air to breathe, like there wasn't enough space to think. Thoughts and images buzzed endlessly through her head, fighting for attention. Identical hallways. Fake skies and blue eyes. Xavier's smooth, thoughtful face. City rooftops, flashing cameras, glittering lights. The taste of blood in her mouth. Xavier, the hallway, the sky.