She's Behind The Mask

Chapter 41 - Ambush

I turn around to see Lucas and Emily sitting in the back with me; Sasha is up front driving. "Get changed quickly, he leaves the builing in about fifteen minutes", she says and taps the steering wheel with her fingers.

Lucas hands me my suit and looks away as I get changed. Once I'm done I slip my mask on and wait restlessly. Sasha starts the engine and I peek out the front window to see Mr. Popwell walking to his car. He does a quick scan of the car park before hopping into the front seat.

Sasha creeps up behind him as he turns onto the road, trying not to be suspicious. As we get to a more secluded part of the city we ease the van a bit further away to make it less obvious that we are following him.

My knee bounces with nervousness as I watch the scenery go past in blur. I feel a hand on my thigh and follow the arm up to Lucas' face. I smile shyly and sit back on the bench seat.

"We should be there soon", Lucas whispers and slips his hood over his head. I do the same and look out the front window. Mr Popwell's car turns a corner in front of us.

We make our way down a long driveway and park off into the bush. "Alright, you two go first, I'll send the location back to headquarters", Sasha says and I open the back doors.

We hop out and snake our way through the bushes to a large mansion. It's an old derelict building, ivy running up the sides like tentacles. We watch as Mr Popwell walks casually to the front door and knocks two times fast, then three times slowly.

The door opens and shuts quietly once he's inside. Lucas signals to me and we jog to the side of the building. I scan the wall of the building and fly up, peeking into a window of the second story.

Once I see that the room is empty I open the window and lift Lucas up with my telekinesis. He scrambles clumsily through the window and lands on the ground with a quiet thump.

I follow him in and close the window behind us. I hear voices in the corridor and hold my breath as they come closer. The door knob twists and the sound of my heart beating echoes through the room.

The voices stop talking for a second, before the door handle twists back to its original position and the voices trail away form the door. I let out my breath and scan the room.

It seems to be an office of some sort, a desk in the corner and shelves around the room packed with books. I walk over to the desk and lift up look at the papers. It must be Mr Popwell's desk as I find the stack of test papers my class did the other day.

As I look through the drawers Lucas looks around the shelves. "Look", he says and I walk to him. "It's a map."

I look at a picture frame hung on the wall near the door. A map of Aeredale city sits in it, coloured pins scattering it like bugs. I take a closer look and see them pinpointing multiple banks and shops we've fought bad supers.

A red pin hangs over our school and my mind tracks back to the bomb they set off. Another pin is stuck in the tower where Aiden died. One pin stands out from the rest, a big gold pin sitting on the location of the Super Secretive.

That must be their goal at the moment, what they're building up to. "How many people do you think are even following him?" Lucas asks and I shrug.

"Must be quite a few", I say. "We've fought so many different people."

Before we waste too much time we make our way over to the door. Lucas waits with his hand hovering over the handle as I listen for thoughts and only find them further away. I nod to him and he slowly opens the door.

We shuffle into the deserted hallway, our black suits acting as camoflauge in the dark. We walk door to door on the second floor, finding all the rooms empty and all the lights off. They must all be downstairs. We get to a balcony that hangs over a large lounge emitting an ocean of light.

We lay down on the floor and peek over the edge, scanning the crowd of people. Some sit on couches, others sit on the ground and at a table in the corner. At the center of them all is a Mr Popwell. This must be the high teir people seeing as other people I've read the minds of have never even seen Mr Popwell's face before.

We sit and wait as they chat amongst themselves. I look at Lucas and think to him, 'They should be coming soon'. I start getting uncomfortable and shuffle to change to a better position. As I move I see Mr Popwell stop midsentence. I freeze in my place and look to Lucas in a panic. 'Maybe I was too loud.' I think to Lucas, I try to breath as quietly as I can.

I look back down and see the room go silent. I stay as still as I can and my muscles start shaking as I hold myself up. Mr Popwell glances around the room, his eyes going up and down until they find mine. His face turns into a scowl and I think to Lucas 'Run'.

Before they can do anyting the from door bursts open and supers rush in, surrounding them. I scan for Sasha but see her nowhere. Mr Popwell's pawns freeze for a moment in shock before the fights begin, and I leap off the balcony, flying down to catch Mr Popwell.

I fly towards him, my arms stretched out wide as they connect to his neck and push him into the wall. "You'll pay for what you did", I tell him and he smiles.