“My invoice for saving your precious little heroes again today,” I say while I dust myself off with my free hand.
Valerie yanks the invoice off the prongs, eyes it, then shreds it.
At least she read it this time, unlike most of the other times that she goes directly to shredding.
“I’m not paying youfiftythousand dollars for stopping that woman,” she snarls.
“How much would it have cost to compensate the families of every single employee who works here after they slaughtered each other? What I’m asking for seems like mere pennies compared to that,” I say.
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.
