A Tale of Two Masks

Ashton was silent for a while as he deliberated how to answer. The more time he wasted the more suspicious it would seem. He decided to just go for the classic excuse.

“It may take me a while to contact Shadow Phoenix,” he told her, “In the meantime, we should improve your own skills. This Maskz guy doesn’t seem like he will rest until you do what he wants.”

“How can we improve my skills?” she asked, voice filled with doubt.

“I’m not sure,” Ashton admitted, “Do you mind telling me more about your power, and what you do know about combat?”

Ashton braced himself for the worst. Hopefully there was something, anything, he could work with. Whatever happened, he couldn’t let Summer get caught in the web of lies without the skills she needed to navigate it.

“Everything I know about fighting I learned from tips on the internet and movies,” she told him, her face flushed with embarrassment, “I wanted to enter an official training course, but I couldn’t decide which one was best.”

That wasn’t what Ashton expected, but he could work with that. “And your power?” he pressed.

“Sunlight,” she said, “I can generate sunlight from nothing, and I can control the sunlight around me. It isn’t that impressive, though. A magnifying glass can do more damage than I can.”

So it was basically what he already knew. That checked out. It was a bit more difficult of a power to work with, but Summer didn’t seem to think about accessorizing to amplify her power at all. Unfortunately, the best way to enhance a power that used or mimicked nature was knowledge.

“I’ll need to do some research,” he decided, “Until then, practice some basic exercises. It is easier to learn combat of any kind the more fit you are.”

Ashton noticed her flinch at his words, but there was no room for subtlety when it came to life or death situations. She needed to learn. If she refused then… It was out of his hands. For now, he gave her the exercise routine he started out on and promised he would be back.

Now it was time for the less fun part of this mess. At least he was being paid for this. Ashton waited until he got back home and began to research sunlight. He started by just typing the word into the search engine, only to receive a bunch of sponsored results instead of actual information.

There was everything from a bank, to a ski resort, to an emotional support group. Mixed in the middle of all of these was a few definitions from some online dictionaries. In short, sunlight was a wavelength, or part of a wavelength, sent by the sun and filtered through Earth’s atmosphere. That brought a few questions to his mind. Could she control the other wavelengths as well? Or was her power more light based than actual sunlight?

Rather than overwhelming her with endless questions and ideas to test, Ashton decided to just ask one. He sorted through his ideas for the most useful one that would actually be easy to test. After choosing an idea, he sent a text to Summer.

“I have a clarifying question. Can your power remove light as well?”

There was a long pause before her response. She probably didn’t know, then.

“Just tried it. I think I can hide light sources? I’m not sure, though.”

What did that mean? Ashton didn’t have to wait long to find out as Summer quickly typed out her answers.

“When I tried to turn off my light with my power, it looked like it was off to me, but my room was still lit. Let me know if you want me to try anything else!”

“Thanks. I will.”

The text felt a bit cold, but Ashton couldn’t spare too much time right now. He needed to get as much information as possible. First, he should record what he did know, then make a detailed list of things to try organized by the most useful, and the most likely to be possible in the first place.

Golden Reign could create, dim, and potentially snuff out light. The next step should definitely be to find out if she could control all wavelengths, or if she was limited to light. If she was limited to light, was she limited to specific light? It was amazing those limits had not been tested yet. Just in case it wasn’t limited to light, Ashton did some deeper research in wavelengths, their limits, and their uses.

Hours of research bogged down by ads and diversions hidden in every website, Ashton stepped away from his computer. That was enough for the day. He checked his phone that had gone off a while back. He hadn’t bothered to check it, but he assumed it was probably from Summer.

The message was in two parts.

“It’s here.”

“And so are my parents.”

There was no doubt in his mind what ‘it’ referred to. Things were going exactly as they had expected. That was another thing he needed to investigate. Who was MysteriousMaskz, and what was he planning? That wasn’t something he would be able to look into on his own, but something made him hesitate to tell SI. Was there anyone else who could help him?

As he was thinking about the problem, he noticed the business card he had yet to get rid of. Amber Gale. Would she be willing to help? Or would she just tattle immediately? He also needed to find some way to help calm Summer’s nerves for the good of both of them. That definitely meant spending lots more time together.

The list of tasks only kept growing, and Ashton already felt tired. There had to be some way to make progress without putting themselves at risk. Some way… That was it! Ashton only needed to turn in MysteriousMaskz in a different way. He could claim suspicion that he was behind the mysterious emails threatening the safety of SI.

It was sneaky and underhanded, but it wasn’t as if Maskz was playing fair either. Besides, Ashton was tired of rigidly playing by the rules. Now, to gather some evidence.

The evidence was easier to gather than he expected. MysteriousMaskz was very openly against SI, and also openly supported Shadow Phoenix specifically. The latter started right after his last fight with Golden Reign had gone public. The timeline matched perfectly, as did the motive. It was definitely enough for SI to look into him. That was all Ashton needed.