A Tale of Two Masks

The next morning, Summer felt surprisingly refreshed. The first thing she checked when she woke up was the strange black ornament she had broken off Shadow Phoenix’s sleeve. It had been real. She needed to tell Ashton. Summer whipped her phone out to send a speedy text and then hesitated. He was supposed to be off of the office for the next while to watch her, so it should be fine to call him, right? She wanted to hear his voice right now.

This would be the first time she had ever actually called Ashton, so it was a bit nerve-wracking. Summer sucked in a couple of big breaths before quickly dialing his number. One ring. Two rings. Was he not going to pick up? Half of the third ring sounded before he picked up.

“Summer?” Ashton asked. His voice was still groggy from waking up but for a moment she thought she heard something, or rather someone, else. No, that wasn’t possible.

“Good morning. Did I wake you up?” Summer replied, concerned. Forget about weird suspicions. She needed to forget Shadow Phoenix existed at all. She must have just had some weird dreams that gave her morning delusions.

“Yeah,” Ashton mumbled. There were some muffled sounds as he moved.

“Sorry… I just had something happen last night I thought you should know,” she explained. She continued to tell him about everything that had happened the night before, from finding Shadow Phoenix in her living room to his… odd departure. All the while she tried to convince herself that what she thought she heard was just her imagination. As Ashton woke up, his voice smoothed and she no longer heard any similarities.

“That’s good, right?” Ashton asked her, “You got the answers you wanted, and you know he won’t be coming back.”

“Or he could have been lying,” Summer pointed out, but she had to admit she agreed with Ashton, “Either way, I think we should visit SI today. I will bring my mask just in case. If there is going to be an attack on the headquarters, it would be now.”

“Most likely,” Ashton agreed a bit warily.

“When do you want to meet?” Summer prompted. She knew it was a bit much to be demanding schedules from him first thing in the morning, but she felt like there was no time to waste.

“I can go anytime. Just let me eat breakfast and get ready,” Ashton replied.

“I can pick you up something to eat and bring it over,” Summer promised eagerly. After the words left her mouth, she realized it sounded kinda like she was inviting him on a date. She reminded herself that they were dating, so that was perfectly fine.

There was silence on the line for a moment before Ashton replied. “Alight. I’ll meet you there.”

It was after the call ended that Summer realized she hadn’t even mentioned anything to her parents. It should be fine if she said she was meeting Ashton, right? And it was. The moment she mentioned she was meeting Ashton, her father only wished her good luck. He must have bonded with him during that suspicious meeting with the CEO.

Then was the next dilemma. What did Ashton like for breakfast? Summer dropped by a fast food joint near the SI building and picked up a variety of easy foods to eat on the go. A breakfast sandwich, burrito, and smoothie. A hash brown patty and a set of mini pancakes in a pouch as well. He should like something, and she liked everything so she could just have whatever he didn’t take.

Most likely because of her time spent picking up the food, Ashton had beaten her to SI. He was sitting on one of the nearby benches overlooking the superficial park SI had set up in their side yard. The park was a good idea, but it was a shame SI hadn’t had the foresight to add picnic tables. Then again, it probably wasn’t a popular picnic location.

Summer slipped out of her car, grabbing the paper to-go bag on the way out, and jogged over to him. “I got breakfast!” she announced, presenting it to him, “Choose whichever one you want.”

Ashton took the bag she offered and looked inside. “That’s… a lot,” he commented.

“Did I get too much?” Summer asked, suddenly a bit embarrassed.

“It’s fine,” Ashton quickly assured her, and grabbed the burrito before passing the bag back, “So what is the plan now? Do you have one?”

“I was hoping you would,” Summer admitted, accepting the bag, “We could do some kind of stakeout?”

“Sure. We can discuss our plan of action in case something happens while we wait,” Ashton agreed.

Summer’s enthusiasm for the stakeout carried her through the first hour of waiting and discussions. The chocolate chip pancakes dragged her through the second. For a company surrounded by so much controversy, nothing out of the ordinary was happening at all. No one had told her stakeouts would be so incredibly dull.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. The crime shows she watched had warned her but she had thought this would be a bit more exciting somehow.

By the time it reached three hours, they had abandoned the bench to walk the park in search of a trash can. They had now eaten everything Summer had brought. After they emptied theory hands of trash, they continued to walk the tiny park just for something to do. Several laps in, Ashton came to a halt.

“Let’s go inside,” he whispered, “We need a private place to disguise ourselves.”

“What did you see?” Summer whispered back, trying to control her urge to whip her head around to see what he was seeing.

“I could be wrong, but I think that threat you were concerned about is here.” As he answered, Ashton took her hand and guided her inside the building. Luckily there were public restrooms right at the front. They split for a moment there.

Now that it had come to this, Summer felt vastly unprepared. She was wearing jeans and a hoodie. Even with a mask on, she would still be wearing jeans and a hoodie. She didn’t even have a hairbrush for security this time. As she pulled her mask out, she was startled by the sound of a powerful rattling from the entrance. It sounded like a powerful windstorm, but the day had been clear and calm just moments before. Was this a wind power?

There was no backing out now. Summer pulled her mask on and left the bathroom to meet up with Ashton. It was time to face whatever was coming.