I pull out my gun, lift it, and point it at Nolan’s head. “There’s no sense in keeping track of a dead man.”
“What the hell are you going on about?” Valerie asks.
“I mean… if he was killed during the chaos… would anyone be surprised?” I ask. “There’s a lot going on.”
Valerie looks irritated, but I’ve come to realize it’s her only expression. “Where the hell are we going to hide the ‘dead body’?”
“He can stay at Superheroes United for a bit,” Landon says. “Until we figure something out.”
“You want the man who can control minds to stay at our headquarters?” Valerie asks in disbelief.
“He could stay with us… but we have a lot of media poking around our place, so it probably wouldn’t be the best idea,” August says.
Nolan shakes his head. “Guys, you really… no. I won’t let you get in trouble over me.”
“What are they going to do? Fire me?” August asks.
Landon turns to me. “Just please don’t shoot him for real like you did Brandon. This one doesn’t heal as fast.”
“I’m not going to shoot him, but he’s going to have to manipulate some people into thinking he’s dead,” I say.
Valerie sighs. “What happened to my sweet, law-abiding August?”
August thinks about it for a moment before replying, “He learned what it meant to be happy.”
Landon has heart eyes going on, and if he was a character in a graphic novel, he’d have little flowers of happiness floating around his head.
“Fine. If he controls our minds and takes over Superheroes United headquarters, I’m beating both of your asses so fucking hard,” Valerie grumbles. “Let’s go fake his murder.”
“Thank you, Valerie,” August says as he gives her a hug which she seems to hate. It makes me want to hug her too.
Landon grabs Nolan, hugging him tightly. “I know this won’t be easy, but I need you in my life.”
Nolan’s hands are shaking while he hugs Landon back. “Thank you. I miss being in your life so much.”
I glance up and see a strange expression on Ellison’s face. Is he upset that we’re going against the law?
He pushes past them and out into the hallway. I’m not sure if the others even notice, but I slip out after him, only to find him gone.
I glance left and right as the security team moves quickly here and there before I head back toward Nolan’s room. I see Pocket Lint scratching at the bathroom door, so I rap my knuckles on it. “Ellison?”
Silence.
I try the doorknob, but it doesn’t turn.
“Ellison, if you don’t answer, I’m going to bust this door open,” I declare.
“I’m trying to take a piss, why would you bust the door open?” he snaps.
I kick it hard enough it flings open and find that Ellison isn’t taking a piss, he’s on the floor, his head in his hands. He jerks back and then suddenly his illusions are in front of me, driving me away from the door that’s slammed shut by one of them.
“Ellison, what’s wrong?” I call through the door.
One of his illusions slides his hand into my hair and I assume he’s going to drag me off but instead, he just stares at me like he wants to say something. Then they all vanish when the others walk in.
“We’re thinking about using the pipe you were carrying around to make it look like he was smashed in the head. Then we’ll say that Nolan was trying to hold them back as he called for us. The attacker rushed off before we could catch who it was. Sadly, the cameras were down in this area when it happened,” Landon says, but my attention is on the bathroom and the man who’d been on the floor.
“Deus, we need you. You’d be best at this,” Landon urges, wanting me to set up Nolan’s supposed death.
