Unmasked Heroes (Book 1)

Chapter 8

Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting - Napoleon Hill

"I'm here for Lieutenant Carpenter," I tell the man at the front desk.

"And you are?" He raises a bushy ginger brow at me, and I stare back blankly. I don't know why he has the time to be stupid. I'm dressed in my superhero costume. It's kind of obvious who I am.

Maybe, there's another purple-cladded teleporting freak I didn't know about.

The police station is quiet, except for the occasional sound of a phone ringing or the hustle of officers moving between rooms. The walls of the office I'm in, are covered in brown corkboards, black and white photographs of suspects and criminals from their mugshots. Sheets of printed paper lay scattered and manilla envelopes are strewn across the mahogany table. Neon folders are carelessly stacked together, leaning against empty throwaway coffee cups, still with fresh brown stains.

"Kidwolf," I tell the officer and he slowly types onto his computer, searching up my name to see if I'm authorized. "Hero of Skylight City and kind of in a hurry."

"Who are you here to see again?"

"Lieutenant Carpenter," I say, on the brink of snapping like a pencil in half. Given the nasty imagery, maybe I just want to snap the officer before me like a twig.

"She's in the back," he says boredly.

Begrudgingly, I thank him though silently, I cure the guy as I walk into the connected office.

Unlike the previous room, Carpenter's office is tidy, kept clean and neat. The woman in question is sitting forward, hunched over a computer as she works on an open file next to her. My eyes catch on a frame at her desk, the only personal item she has in the office. A picture of a young girl with red hair bunched in two messy pigtails, and a smatter of freckles dotting her nose and cheeks.

"Kidwolf!" Lieutenant Carpenter says in surprise, worry lining her forehead. "Back so soon? Is everything alright?"

She's already out of her chair when I stop her. "No, it's all good. I just came in to call in that favour. If it still stands."

"Yes, of course. How can I help you?" She smiles and I see her resemblance to the girl in the frame. Her daughter maybe?

"I need to speak to Chasm," I hold my breath. "It's urgent."

The lady slumps back in her chair. "I don't know about that Kid. You are a hero but you still need to be authorised."

"I know," I say quickly, holding out the official document Dex gave me as proof. He'd obviously been prepared for this – you didn't become the head executive if you didn't recognize all the protocols and laws. "Here, it's signed and sealed."

Lieutenant Carpenter skims through the doc before looking back at me.

"Okay, it looks pretty official. Just be quick. Chasm is dangerous enough without any visitors," she tosses me a set of keys and the metal jingles as I catch it deftly. "And if anyone asks, I didn't have anything to do with this."

I nod, understanding it's her job on the line.

The prison cells remind me of a dungeon. It's cold, dank and smells of sweat and urine. My boots trample on cobwebs and gravel as I approach the last cell, all bare except this one. When Dex designed this particular holding cell with his engineers, they'd made it specifically for the high-class supervillains that my team were responsible for arresting. Once we were done with these convicts, they were sent to the most secure prison vault in the country – the Lighters Imprisonment Compound. Of course, there was a place for regular criminals but that one didn't concern me much.