CHAPTER NINETEEN:
The Crossover

It was 10 o'clock at night, and Evette was ready. The email didn't specify the exact location of the "rendezvous," but she'd followed a few men from Gran's Grounds hours after the shop closed to this warehouse on Wickman Street on the outskirts of Elton City. Sure enough, an FGC logo sat in the front window of the building.

Evette entered the building through an unlocked window on the top floor of the building. She stealthily snuck down to the main room, which occupied the bulk of the large, mostly empty warehouse. Every little sound created a deafening echo, so Evette had to be extremely careful with every movement.

She used the wind to carry herself up into the rafters of the high ceiling. She tuckered down behind a metal support beam and waited. For what? She wasn't exactly sure. The "subjects" were apparently meeting the masterminds behind this whole ordeal tonight, and their compliance was a matter of life or death. Evette wasn't sure what was going on, but she was sure she wouldn't let anyone die tonight.

She watched on as five men and two women strode into the room, all in professional business attire. Was one of them Biggs, from the emails? None of them stood out as the obvious leader. Maybe he wasn't going to be present tonight.

Evette's pulse quickened as she noticed the guns in all of their arms except for the woman in a dark black suit.

"Everything in order?" The woman in the suit bellowed, voice authoritative and strong.

One of the men nodded. "The subjects were spotted outside the warehouse."

"And?"

"They're all accounted for. It seems they came together."

"Really?" The woman looked pleasantly surprised. "Well, let's get this show on the road. Remember, we need them on our side, by any means necessary."

"What if they ask questions Biggs doesn't want us to answer?" the other woman questioned.

"Tell them whatever they want to hear." Suit-lady paused as the sound of a door opening and closing echoed throughout the warehouse. "Get in position, now," she hissed, and two of the men and the other woman fled, leaving just the woman in the suit and one more man in the center of the room. Suit-lady straightened her back and plastered a formal smile on her red lips. The man beside her stuck his gun in the back of his pants.

Evette narrowed her eyes at the three as they left. They took cover behind large crates, but she noticed of the tips of their guns poke out, barely visible in the dark shadows of the warehouse.

Speaking of darkness, why did they only keep three lights on? Dramatic much?

Approaching footsteps brought Evette's attention to a group of three teenagers. They walked together, cautiously, out of the shadowed part of the warehouse and into the lit center, and stopped several feet away from Suit-lady and the man.

Evette cracked her knuckles—except they didn't really crack because that would be too loud and honestly cracking joints grosses her out, but that's not the point—and shuffled closer to the edge of the beam she's on. Her eyes widened as she recognized all three of the teenagers below.

There was Camille, a brooding girl in her class whom Evette didn't dare talk to—though Evette would admit that she admired the girl's creative fashion choices from afar.

Next Evette recognized the tall, sturdy frame of Ross from Cole's football team. Evette didn't talk to him much up until recently, as he'd taken a weird interest in checking up on her randomly at school.

And then there was Lewis. He was the sweet guy her brother occasionally picked on, and Evette regretted not ever making homemade hot chocolate to prove to him that she can make better hot chocolate than that coffee shop.

What are they doing here?

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Lewis, Ross, and Camille entered the warehouse cautiously. Lewis had already sped around the perimeter of the building to scope things out before they went inside, but the three still found themselves sticking close to each other's sides. Ross turned the music up in his earbuds to block out Camille and Lewis's worried thoughts—his alone were enough.

Two people stood in the circle of light at the center of the large room. Ross stopped walking towards them as soon as they stood in the light, which left a good ten to fifteen feet between them. He held his hand out to stop Camille and Lewis. They complied without hesitation.

"Thank you for joining us," the woman said. Already, Camille hated her voice—it reminded her of her fourth grade teacher.

Lewis wet his lips nervously, bouncing on his heels. He glanced over at Camille and Ross, but neither spoke. Ross looked like he was trying to solve a puzzle in his head and Camille looked like she was seconds away from punching someone, probably the lady in a suit. Lewis cleared his throat, hoping his voice wouldn't come out shaky. "Who are you?"

"The people who gave you your powers." Her lips curled into a cocky smirk. "The FGC, more specifically. My name is Jane Harrison, this is Herb Abbott."

Camille's eyes narrowed at the woman. Okay, she was going to have to explain more than that.

"What do you want from us?" Ross spoke up, like he read Camille's mind. She cocked her head at him. He avoided her gaze.

"You were each specifically chosen to be hosts for the development of a serum the FGC has been working on for decades to eradicate major enemies in the world, most of which have never been covered by the media. Most of the world is oblivious to the battles constantly being fought, but thankfully the FGC has kept the United States safe.

"Adolescent brains in particular are the best fit for the serums. Each one of you were given a different variation of the same serum." She folded her hands in front of her. "You were chosen based on specific qualities my boss recognized in each of you after copious time spent studying you. Congratulations—you made the cut."

Camille snorted.

"Why?" Lewis asked.

"Well, we are starting the experiment earlier than we were planning because something—or, someone—stole the most powerful serum the boss created. We need it back, or his life's work is ruined, and I'm afraid, the nation could suffer the consequences." Her voice turned grave. "The FGC's largest enemy is planning an attack that could quite possibly wipe out the entire country."

Ross stared at her, studying her unwavering face and perfect posture. "Who stole the serum?"

"The Elementum, but you might know her better as The Flame." Jane paused to let the three gasp. "We speculate she's an enemy of the FGC. She must be caught and stopped before she kills anyone else."

At that, Lewis's eyebrows draw together. "I haven't heard of her killing anyone." And he'd done just about as much research as anyone can do on The Flame. Not a single story included a casualty at the hands of the supervillain—she just causes a lot of property damage and she scares people. Other than the bomb incident, she hadn't been too violent.

Jane's eyebrows arched as she regarded Lewis. "She's done that and much worse, trust us. She has the potential to completely uproot life as we know it." She paused and studied each of the three standing before her. They shifted uneasily under her gaze. That smirk curled on her lips again. "So, we are asking for you to join us in protecting America. All you would have to do is allow us to run minimally evasive tests to study the serums and further develop them. We also ask for you to use the powers we gave you to help us whenever the need arises."

The three looked at each other.

"All of your work for the FGC will be paid, of course," Jane added.

Camille turned to the other two. "Let's do it."

Ross gnawed on his bottom lip, darting his eyes between the suited woman and Camille's hopeful face. Lewis seemed pretty sold on the idea, too. He motioned for them to huddle together, turning away from Jane and Herb. "How do we know we can trust them, though?" Ross questioned.

"Everything she said seems legit. Why don't you just read her mind, see what she really thinks?" Camille proposed.

Ross's eyes turned to the floor. "I can't," he mumbled.

Lewis blinked. "What?"

"I can't hear her thoughts," Ross sighed. "I don't know why. She must have some kind of technology or something that keeps me out."

Seriously?

Ross cut Camille a sharp look. "I don't know!"

"So what do we do?" Lewis asked. He crossed and uncrossed his arms, then did it again.

The three of them cut Jane and Herb a look.

Ross let out a low breath. "I don't have a good feeling about this, but all we have to go off of is what she told us. If we say no, we could be putting so many people in danger."

"So we say yes, for now. If things get too sus, we just back out. That sound okay?" Camille earned a hesitant nod from Ross, so she turned to Lewis. "What do you think, Superhero?"

As soon as the lady mentioned the fate of the country essentially resting in their hands, Lewis had decided to do whatever they wanted him to do in order to save as many people as possible. If they turned her down, and the FGC really did lose to whatever enemy they were talking about, and people start to die, Lewis wouldn't be able to live with himself. He copied Ross's nod. "I think it's worth the risk."

"Okay." Camille forced a small smile to the boys. They all turned back to Jane and Herb. She took a step forward, about to cross the floor to shake the lady's hand or show she trusted her or whatever, but a flash of black and a rush of wind sent her several steps back.

A cluster of blonde curls bounced as the girl in black whipped her head up to stare at the three teenagers. She stood between Jane and Herb and the three. Her eyes connected with Lewis's, and the boy frowned.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Camille held her fists up defensively. "Oh shit what do you want?"

"Don't listen to a word they say, they're evil, they're lying to you, they're actually—" Herb rushed forward and sacked The Flame like a defensive lineman, cutting of her rushed speech. She stuck her hand in his face, coughing loudly at the impact as she hit the ground. "GET THE FREAK OFF ME, LOSER!"

"What do we do?!" Camille hissed at no one in particular.

Jane's eyes lit up suddenly. "Hurry, capture her before she gets away again!"

Camille, Lewis, and Ross shared a look as they hesitated.

Just then, The Flame's body lit up a glowing amber color and Herb jumped off of her in pain. She laughed. "Ha, can't handle the heat, get out of the ki—" Gunshots drowned out her attempted quip, sending her flying around the warehouse to dodge the bullets.

The three teenagers hit the ground automatically.

"Hold your fire, we need her alive!" Jane hollered. The bullets stopped. She turned to the three on the ground with a serious look. "If you're with us, we need you to use your powers to catch her. Please."

Camille was the first to stand. She cracked her knuckles and narrowed her eyes at The Flame, who stood facing her. "Okay, let's do this."

Camille started running at the supervillain. Through the holes in The Flame's mask, Camille could see her eyes widen. A flash of blue whipped past Camille, and suddenly Lewis was holding onto The Flame's arm. Ross teleported beside them and held onto her other arm until Camille caught up to them. She held her fist over The Flame's masked face.

"Give the FGC back their serum, or I'll punch your nose off."

"That sounds unpleasant," The Flame muttered. "Raincheck?" Her eyes narrowed and a powerful gust of wind knocked Lewis and Ross across the room. Camille planted her feet and fought against the strong air. She hadn't moved an inch.

"What the heck?" The Flame's shoulders deflated as Camille smirked, unfazed.

"Super strength, bitch."

"Right," The Flame took a step back, "well, I'm outta here." She spun on her heel and started to lift off with the help of the wind. Camille scrambled after her and grabbed her ankle, yanking her back to the ground and accidentally slamming her against the concrete floor.

The Flame grimaced as her knee hit the ground. "Sonuva—"

Ross and Lewis appeared at Camille's side, both of them still wincing from being thrown across the room. They helped Camille hold the villain down, though they knew Camille was doing most (all) of the work.

Camille's breath came out in quick huffs as she glanced wildly at the boys. "Now what do I do?"

"Uh, did we just capture her?" Lewis asked, scratching his head.

"Yoink!" The Flame slipped her hand out of Ross's hold and elbowed him in the nose. Stunned, he grabbed his nose as blood started trickling down. It wasn't much—the hit was pretty weak and he'd been hit harder at football practice—but it caught him off guard.

Camille's fist was quick to slam down on The Flame's face. Her head painfully knocked back against the concrete. Her free hand came up to cradle her cheek, where a red mark was already forming.

"Ross, you good?" Camille asked, not looking away from the girl pinned below her.

Ross dabbed at his nose with furrowed eyebrows. He debated grabbing The Flame's arm again to restrict her, but something about the way she held her face where Camille hit her made him stop. Something about this whole ordeal—fighting this girl who was supposedly a supervillain but hadn't actually done anything particularly villainous—it made things muddy in his head. Well, more muddy than they already were. Plus, she had been trying to warm them when she showed up, not fight them. She didn't try fighting back until Ross's team had made the first move.

Ross cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah—yeah, I'm good."

Camille nodded and held her fist up again. "Don't try anything funny."

The Flame winced. "Uh yeah I think I learned my lesson." She gingerly touched her cheek and gasped. "Holy moly what kind of spinach have you been eating, Popeye?"

Lewis bit his lip to conceal his smile, but a chuckle escaped his throat. Camille shot him a glare. He sobered up and covered his laugh with a cough.

While they were distracted, The Flame brought her empty hand down and closed her eyes tight. Suddenly the ground began to shake, increasing in intensity by the second. Her eyes shot open just as the walls began to shake and the ceiling started to crack. Her eyes flickered up towards the crack forming above their heads. The three holding her down followed The Flame's eyes.

"Oh no," Lewis muttered. The crack widened substantially. Ross's eyes widened.

"Look out!" Ross shouted. He grabbed Lewis by the hood of his sweatshirt and Camille by her arm and teleported them several feet away just as a chunk of the ceiling fell right where they were sitting. The Flame rolled out of the way just in time and the earthquake ceased. She staggered to her feet and thrusted her hands down, propelling her body into the air. She landed on a support beam beside a high window.

Ross glanced up at her, wondering how she got up there so fast, and suddenly he was standing right next to her. He looked down, heart sinking at how high up they were. He snapped out of it and grasped The Flame again before she could escape.

Lewis ran up the side of the wall and landed on the beam behind Ross. Camille parkoured her way up to the beam a few seconds later and helped Ross hold her down for the hundredth time. Lewis climbed around Ross and stood in front of The Flame, who just stared right back at him.

A horrifying thought occurred to Lewis: there was no real way to keep her under control unless they were willing to beat her senseless. They weren't going to do that. Well, he glanced at Camille, Ross and I won't.

Ross, picking up on Lewis's thoughts, silently agreed with him. We aren't that kind of people, he said telepathically, to both of them. Camille glanced at him as he added, We aren't going to beat her up.

But if we take off her mask, it'll make it easier to find her if she escapes, Lewis thought, knowing Ross will hear. And he did.

So, after earning a nod from Ross, Lewis let out a sigh and reached out hesitantly. His hand found the lip of her mask, and he pulled it down.

His heart sank.

Evette stared back at him, face bruised and eyes wild.  "Trust me," she whispered through her bloody lip.

Ross stared at her in disbelief.

Camille's jaw dropped.

And they let Evette slip out of their hands and disappear into the night.

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