A Tale of Two Masks

Ashton was summoned to the office as soon as he returned. “What were you thinking, quitting on camera?”

“What were you thinking with that key?” he countered, “What would you have done if I had to ignore the light cage on camera instead, and save Golden Reign’s life?”

Amos frowned. “While I approved the creation of fake relics, it was never meant to be dangerous. Only showy. I have already sent an inquiry to the lab about this.”

Which basically meant ‘oops, but nothing will be done about it’. Ashton was frustrated, but decided to forget about it. Neither he nor Golden Reign would have to worry about this nonsense ever again.

“Are you going to claim I failed my internship?” he challenged.

“No. I think it is best we end things here. It was… a surprise but nothing we can’t deal with,” Amos assured, “I will have everything set up for you.”

Ashton was able to finish everything up with the CEO who was always suspiciously available when he returned. It was still late when he brought the paperwork to the appropriate office, so they gave him a quick explanation about how nothing would be done until the next day and to check back.

Well, that wouldn’t be a problem. Ashton practically lived on SI’s doorstep. On his way out, Ashton thought he caught sight of Golden Reign, but it was just a woman. He decided to ignore the possibility she was the person behind the mask and just headed home.

The next day, Ashton felt fate laughing in his face again. His chosen position was in Hero Assignments. Meaning he had access to the records of the heroes, and the villains and would be one of those in charge of what kind of villain the heroes the recruiters picked up would be pitted up against. It was more or less the opposite of how he had been brought into the sham.

He also found out the identity of his hero partner. Summer Aster, the daughter of a rich business owner who had happened to give a large donation to SI about two years ago. A spoiled rich girl. Ashton quickly lost interest and focused on his first assignments.

Ashton had not expected to find her in the lobby of SI just as he was leaving work. The woman he had previously judged as a spoiled rich girl looked lost, torn, and like she was barely holding back an emotional breakdown. It shouldn’t have had anything to do with him, but Ashton felt a pang of guilt. Against his better judgment, he approached.

“Are you okay?”

Perhaps this wasn’t the best way to start. She stared at him with shock for a few moments of awkward silence before relaxing and managing the slightest of smiles.

“Yes,” she said, “Thanks. I just had a hard… Which department are you in?”

“I work on hero assignments,” he replied. He had a bad feeling about where this was going. Was she going to spill her own confidential information in the lobby?

Summer looked around before continuing. “You know my secret identity, right?”

Ashton nodded with some hesitation. She was. He should probably warn her against-

“I recently… my villain quit and now I don’t know what to do.”

Nevermind. At least she was vague about it. She didn’t know what to do, huh? “Isn’t that a good thing? Heroes are supposed to keep everyone safe from villains.”

“He quit,” she reminded, “I didn’t capture him or anything. I don’t even know if I should believe him. It’s even worse because I kind of miss his snarky face. Or what I could see of it.”

Ashton hadn’t thought about it that way. If villains were real, one quitting and still being out there somewhere could be a bit unnerving. It was also odd for her to say she missed him to his face, but she had no idea who he was. “I guess that is understandable,” he told her, “He may have been your enemy, but you spent two years with him.”

Back to the awkward staring, but this time was far more intense. Just as Ashton was about to come up with some sort of excuse to leave the interaction, she blurted out something ridiculous.

“Hey, do you want to go on a date?”

“A date? Miss, do you even know my name?” He switched into customer service mode out of habit. He had no idea how else to react, though.

“Just one date. You can decide when, and I will pay for everything.” Her eyes pleaded him to agree as well as her tone. She sounded desperate. Too desperate for his liking.

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” he decided, “If anyone finds out a hero was dating someone in hero assignments, they might misunderstand.”

“Misunderstand what? I won’t be doing anything anytime soon. I was all but fired,” Summer pointed out, “I just wanted to thank you for your words of encouragement.”

She just wanted to thank him? Somehow Ashton doubted that, but he also doubted she would give up. A rich girl with connections to SI was not the sort of person he needed digging into his past. He would have to make her lose interest naturally.

“Fine. Just once, as a thank you and nothing else. And my name is Ashton.”

“Summer,” she replied, a relieved smile blooming on her face, “Thank you so much!”

Ashton was already having second thoughts. “I need to get back to work,” he told her, but hesitated. He had just gotten off, so there was no work left for him to do. Why had he even lied?

“Just text me when you know what you want. You have my number, right?” she asked.

Why would he know her number? It took a moment for Ashton to realize, and as soon as he did, he quickly protested. “I can’t just use company information for personal reasons!”

Summer sighed and grabbed his hand before quickly scribbling her number on the back of it. “See you later?” she checked. That nervousness and uncertainty from earlier was showing on her face, and Ashton caved.

“Sure,” he agreed, and stared at the scribbles she had left on his hand. Was he supposed to be able to read this? When he looked up to ask her to write it properly on paper, she was already gone. At this rate, he might have to look at her records.

That night, Ashton got a call from Amos Wyndart personally. Ashton had never given the man his number, but everything he owned had more or less been provided by SI.

“Hello?”

“Our security team has sent me footage of you having a meeting in the lobby with Golden Reign. Would you mind explaining what happened?” Amos demanded.

Based on the tensity of his tone, Ashton could guess what this was about. He was being suspected of breaking confidentiality out of pity for his old hero partner. With that in mind, he admitted the truth to him immediately.

“She asked me out on a date,” he told him, “and she has no idea who I am.”

There was a pause from the other side of the line before a snicker slowly turned to a full blown laugh.

“You are dating your old hero? Your nemesis? This is more amazing than I ever could have hoped! I give you my blessing.”

The CEO hung up before Ashton could correct his misunderstanding. They weren’t dating. It was just a little thank you date… probably.