When Harper called the rest of the team over, Summer gave herself a mental pep talk. She couldn’t let her nerves get in the way and mess things up. She needed to show Ashton in no uncertain terms that her feelings had not changed.

  Her determination was still burning bright when she heard him approach with the rest of the team. At a glance she could tell he was cautious. Nervous even. Seeing this, Summer was even more certain of what she must do. She charged forward before she could lose her courage and grabbed Ashton by the collar.

  "Summer?" he asked, clearly confused.

  Before he could get any more words out, Summer pulled him into a kiss. Well, at least their lips touched. What was kissing, anyway? The last time had been different, not like this chaotic crashing sensation. Still, she couldn't let her confusion show. She needed to be confident and unyielding or Ashton might push her away again.

  "I told you it wouldn’t change anything,” Summer announced stubbornly.

  When she pulled back, Summer quickly noticed Ashton's condition was strange. His face was flushed all the way to his ears, and he seemed a bit dazed. In hindsight, maybe that hadn't been the best way to prove her sincerity. The rest of the team was in shock, and Harper was scowling.

  "I get that you two are lovebirds, but take it somewhere else," she warned, "Right now we need to cover your most important training and I need the team leader to be able to focus."

  "Sorry!" Summer apologized quickly, feeling her own face heat up from embarrassment.

  Really, what had she been thinking? The words alone probably would have been enough. Or a hug? Hugs were pretty normal things to do. Rather than Ashton, she felt like she was the one who wouldn't be able to pay attention to the day's training. She focused her mind back to the topic at hand. Secrets, serums, and facilities.

  Harper guided them all to a private meeting room and gave them each a pamphlet. “As you know, this is an experimental specialized unit designed for dealing with mental, emotional, and other unseen types of powers,” she began, “Your job will not be to subdue them, but to make a decision on information you will gather in the field. The lives of each target will be in your hands. Your team captain has already helped one such individual.”

  The door to the meeting room opened, and a man Summer had never seen before stepped inside. Ashton, on the other hand, seemed to recognize him immediately.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “John Doe,” Ashton realized, “Has his power been completely neutralized?”

  “It has,” the man confirmed, “And now everyone is slowly beginning to remember me. My family, my name, and even my very existence have been saved thanks to that serum. For privacy reasons I will still be going as John Doe here.”

  His very existence? That sounded far more serious than Summer had been expecting. As Harper said, the lives of their targets would be in their hands. She felt the extra pressure of Harper’s plea for her to have an outsider’s opinion. How could she be able to tell if her opinion would be different from theirs?

  “What kind of power did you have?” Summer asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

  “Everyone forgot me,” John Doe explained, “When I was younger it would take a year, but as I got older the time shortened and I was forgotten within a few minutes. Not just me, but anything to do with me. If it belonged to me, it would be forgotten as well. It was especially hazardous while driving.”

  Summer felt a chill as she imagined what that would entail. No wonder he was so thankful for the serum. Imagine getting into an accident by hitting a car you forgot was there, only to forget how you got into the accident a few minutes later. It was more amazing that John was able to survive so far.

  “As you can see, many of the mental abilities are more of a threat to themselves than to others,” Harper explained, “That is why it will be your main job to find them and save them. You will have the authority to administer the serum to a willing subject, but if you believe they must be apprehended or are a serious threat to yourselves, you will need to call in reinforcements. John will be working here under an alias to coach you through the process of administering the permanent serum and the paperwork involved.”

  “Who will we be calling for backup?” Ashton asked.

  Harper seemed pleased with the productive question. “As he has worked with you before, and had some luck with dealing with mental types, Jared’s team will be your primary backup. If he is unavailable, we will have others on standby.”

  Wow. Everything seemed organized for them already, as if they hadn’t considered for a moment that this team would fall through. Did they have that much faith in them, or was it just faith in Ashton? Summer couldn’t even imagine what he must have been through to prove he could be trusted with freedom from the facilities. Not that she really understood what it was like there.

  The discussion continued from there, with Harper and Ashton doing the majority of the talking. It seemed they would be assigned a test case as soon as their training was over. For their very first case, it would not only be deemed as a low threat, but Jared would personally be accompanying them.

  The idea of their cases starting so soon was a bit nerve wracking, but Summer had already gone past the point of no return. She couldn’t abandon Ashton now even if she wanted to. Besides, it was also exciting. Maybe they would be able to use this experience to find some way to deal with MysteriousMaskz.

  It had been a while since Summer had even thought about him. Her head had been full of thoughts of Ashton, and he hadn’t bothered either of them lately. Summer couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a sign things were going a little too well.