Super Bad (a Superlovin' novella) Read Free

like to be able to entrust her
to your care, Lucien, she’s simply too much of a danger to everyone around her.
At this point, I feel our only option may be to send her back to Area Nine,
where at least they can contain her.”
    “Absolutely not.”
    “No. It won’t come to
that.”
    Mirage was surprised to
hear DynaGirl, of all people, agreeing with her brother’s feral snarl.
    Eisenmann sighed. “I’m
sorry, but it has come to that.”
    “Suppress her powers.” The
harsh command in Lucien’s voice fell like a blow and Mirage flinched.
    He can’t mean it .
    “Lucien—”
    “It must be possible. You
have some drug, some chemical that can do it. Don’t tell me Trident isn’t
experimenting with it.”
    Mirage wrapped her arms
around herself, as if she could protect the wild light of her power where it
was buried deep inside her. She wouldn’t know who she was without that light. Lucien
couldn’t mean to neuter her that way. It would be like stripping away a piece
of her soul. That he would even suggest it…
    “We don’t do that
here.” Eisenmann’s reprimand was low, but steely hard. “Trident has always been
in the business of celebrating those with powers. To be so gifted…” He trailed
off and Mirage wondered if the good doctor realized how evident his raw envy
was in that moment. “I would never violate her by tampering with her powers. Unless
she needed help honing or focusing them—”
    “Honing her powers is
not the issue. They are clearly working all too well,” DynaGirl interrupted. “She’s
in control of her powers, just not of herself.”
    “She doesn’t know
what’s real and what isn’t,” Eisenmann said flatly. “During her time with
Kevin, he fed her a string of false images that are still embedded in her
memory. There are lingering compulsions and alternate realities, which normally
we would be able to help her undo, but her ability to warp the perception of
others seems to have played into the illusions Kevin implanted in her brain and
it’s exacerbating her condition. She doesn’t have any grounding in reality. Even
on the good days, she can’t even tell when she’s lying to herself.”
    A chair creaked with
sudden movement. “Lying to herself?” DynaGirl said, her voice sharp.
    “A figure of speech. It’s
what we call it when she can’t distinguish whether a memory is something she
put there rather than something Kevin did. Often even we can’t determine when a
memory is authentic versus implanted—unless we have the records to prove one
way or the other, but memory is so subjective…”
    “But the way you put
it, like her brain was lying to her…”
    “That is essentially
what’s happening.”
    “What if there was
someone she couldn’t lie to, whether she wanted to or not?” DynaGirl’s
voice was bright, filled with a hope Mirage couldn’t share. “I think I know
someone who might be able to help.”
    “We’ll try anything at
this point, but if this doesn’t work…” Eisenmann trailed off, leaving the
consequences unspoken, but Mirage heard them all the same. Area Nine. Neutering
her powers. Either one was a prison. A life sentence. But would she even know
the difference with her thoughts in pieces? She was already trapped in the
fragmented prison of her mind. Caged by Kevin… had she killed the only man with
the key?

Chapter Two: Sweet Little Lies
     
    Lies were useful
inventions. At least once a day, Julian Case, known to the general public as
Captain Justice, found himself wishing he could turn off his innate ability and
just believe a lie. This was one of those moments.
    Kim Carruthers stood in
his bedroom, hurriedly jamming the contents of her drawer into a bag.
Toothbrush, change of clothes, spare hand-held recorder—everything an
up-and-coming reporter might need on a moment’s notice. She looked up, blonde
hair flipping over her shoulder, and caught him watching her from the doorway. A
wry, apologetic smile twisted her lips. “You