Voltage

Five

[Imogen's POV]

"What is he doing here?" Imogen pulled on Alex's arm as she gestured towards where Kaden was making his way towards the limousine. She couldn't push down the twisting feeling of guilt in her stomach as she looked at Alex, her best friend.

It was dark out, now. The lights of the city illuminated the streets. No stars were visible due to light pollution. The black limousine was waiting outside the Cadwell mansion for Mr. Cadwell and his company. The people who worked for him were all dressed elegantly and with masks in their hands for the gala at the museum. Since they worked with him, critical eyes were bound to follow them the whole night.

It had been a week since the death of Eli and Kaya and it seemed like Alex had no clue it even happened. Everyday since, Imogen tried to tell him but every time she had the chance she told herself she was going to spare her best friend the heartache for just one more day.

     Imogen had been watching him carefully for the past week to try to find the perfect moment to break the news to him. But every time she opened her mouth to tell him the girl he loved was dead, her mouth ran dry and she lost the ability to create words. She wasn't supposed to know about Kaya. Instead, she observed that Alex checked his phone more often but never unlocked it to reply to the messages and he glanced at his watch so often you would think all the unanswered questions of the universe were hidden within it. Kaya was dead, Imogen had watched, and Alex didn't know, and the only thing that was bound to change was the latter.

Oh god, she felt sick.

Alex, who was dressed very formally for the event in his white button-up and blazer, glanced behind him to see what Imogen was talking about. "Your father? Well, I'm pretty sure he owns the mu-"

"No, you jerk! Kaden. What is he doing here?"  she lowered her voice, still clutching on to her dear friend's arm. He was going to suffer heartbreak, the biggest thing her father had banned her from ever going through. She felt like her brain was split into two; one part was focused on tonight and Kaden's presence while the other was stuck in the night from The Dark Room.

"Oh," Alex paused, probably basking in the fact that he knew something Imogen didn't. "The memory serum we used on him is starting to wear off and it's having weird effects on him. We said the word 'SPQR' earlier and something inside him just got triggered. He started getting suspicious and weird, wanting to go to this gala really badly though he claimed he didn't know why. He wouldn't take no as an answer. So to suppress his suspicions Mr. Cadwell is letting him go, too. We should be having a new dosage of serum coming in soon."

"Is my father crazy? Won't people recognize Kaden?" Imogen was baffled. Sure, she wasn't a huge fan of Kaden's kidnapping but she didn't want this slip up to land everybody she cared about in jail.

"Listen, nobody besides the SPQR knows that Kaden is missing. The SPQR doesn't want the citizens of the city to find out. They think it'll cause the city to become afraid and chaotic if they knew that one of the biggest superheroes was able to be captured. So anyway, Kaden thinks he's being a bodyguard for your father so he'll never leave his side. You get it, blondie?" He didn't wait for her to respond. "Good. Besides," his hand gingerly touched the royal blue and golden mask in Imogen's hands. "That's where these come in."

Imogen looked down at the mask in her hand and then glanced at Kaden, who was engaged in a conversation with the driver. In Kaden's hand there was a white mask that would cover his whole face. The mass was accented with little black swirls that outlined the features of the mask. He, too, was dressed formally in slacks and a blazer.