Summer spent the next day putting her all into studying. Ashton was putting his all into work so she needed to do the same. She did take the opportunity to practice her power in tiny but helpful ways, such as removing the glare from the shinier textbook pages, or lightening any areas that were difficult to read because of shadow. It was almost fun to study while practicing her newfound uses of her power. Honestly, this was already more useful than she felt it had ever been.

After she finished another intense study session, Summer took a break to check her emails. Almost as soon as she opened the app on her phone she turned her screen off and closed her eyes. How long had that message been there? The all two familiar email address was already giving her shivers of terror even though she hadn’t read the contents.

Why was Ned contacting her now? SI was over. Shadow Phoenix was gone forever. The deal she hadn’t even officially made meant nothing now. Still, ignoring it might put her in an even worse situation. Her last experience with Ned or MysteriousMaskz had ended with her being accused of stealing her old hero suit.

She opened her email again with trepidation, carefully reading the subject before clicking on the email. The short question in the subject line made her chills even stronger.

“Giving up already?”

Ned didn’t think it was over. He must still need her for something, whether it was finding Shadow Phoenix or something worse. Would he know whether or not she read his message? Did she dare click on it? Then again, if he didn’t know he might take action against her for ignoring him. With a trembling finger, she tapped on the email in question. The email began with the same phrase as the subject.

"Giving up so soon? Was one little villain really enough to make you give up on your goal? I know who Shadow Phoenix really is now, and unless you want the world to know the identity of Golden Reign you're going to help me again. I'll even give you a freebie. Bring whoever you want to our little meeting."

As she read those words, Summer couldn’t help but think of the terrible aftermath of Collin Mcshay. His entire family had been left completely ruined. With the terrible reputation Golden Reign was now gaining, her own family might face the same fate. His little freebie was far from comforting as well. Sure, she could bring someone, but if she brought the police he might turn things against her, and if she brought someone she trusted they could be used as a hostage against her. She couldn’t involve Ashton this time.

Then she read the rest of the details. The meeting was set for that night in a place she knew all too well from her time as a sham hero. The Old Town. Ever since SI had shut down, that place had become even more of a ghost town than it already was. Even criminals didn’t bother to sneak in since they found out the relics had been a lie.

This time, Summer made sure her car was far enough from the scene not to get caught up in whatever was going to happen. It would be a bit of a walk, but that might give her the chance to shake off anyone chasing her. Meeting Ned unprepared once was enough. It might not do much against a super, but she had also packed a keychain pepper spray.

The moment she stepped foot between the first cluster of abandoned buildings, she heard a familiar tone from her phone. This was a terrible moment for a phone call, but she did check just in case. It was Ned. Since when had Ned been a contact on her phone? Regardless, she had no choice but to answer it.

“I’m surprised you actually came alone,” Ned told her from the other side of the line, skipping past any greetings, “I guess you are smarter than I thought.”

Summer tried not to let his insults get to her and demanded answers instead. “Why have you called me here?”

“Didn’t you read my email?” he asked, “You are here to help. You see, there is someone who hired me because she wants to meet you.”

Someone who hired Ned of all people to meet Golden Reign was definitely not friendly. “I refused you so now you want me dead?” she demanded.

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“Goodness, no,” Ned refuted, “I still need you around so I made her promise not to hurt you… too much. All you have to do is meet her and then you can leave and go home for today. Easy, right?”

Not too much, huh? How incredibly reassuring… “Fine, where is she?” Summer gave in. A quick meeting and she would run at the first chance she got.

Ned directed her to a very familiar warehouse. It was the very same one that had been the stage of her last fight with Shadow Phoenix. The building was in even worse repair than she remembered, but between the explosion and the tsunami it wasn’t that much of a surprise. Hopefully the thing wouldn’t collapse on her while she was inside.

Waiting in the warehouse was a beautiful young woman wearing a magenta vest jacket with black sides that matched perfectly with the magenta hair clip in her black hair. Summer logically knew she was supposed to be wary and afraid, but how could such a beautiful woman cause any harm to her?

“Are you Golden Reign?” she asked. Even her voice was incredible.

“I am,” Summer confirmed, feeling oddly breathless, “Can I know who you are?”

The young woman walked over with a slight frown. Had Summer ever seen such an attractive scowl before? “Making you like me is gross after all,” she told her with distaste, “but sure. I can tell you who I am. I am Queen Heart, the new and very real villain who will take revenge on what you turned my beloved Shadow Phoenix into.”

She spoke with such passion and devotion, Summer found herself impressed. Queen Heart was such a fitting title for her. A woman like her could easily win everyone’s hearts. Why would someone like her resort to hiring Ned just to meet someone?

“Why did you want to meet me?” she asked.

“For revenge,” she replied, “I can’t very well hurt you if I don’t know who you are. It looks like Golden Reign really was a pretty little princess, so this will be easier than I thought. I can finally eliminate the so-called hero who used and abused him and made everyone call him a villain.”

Him? Who was she talking about? It was somewhat hard to think with the Queen Heart standing right before her. Her thoughts were full of awareness of her perfectly graceful movements. She seemed upset about something, and that was definitely a bad thing.

“But I promised not to kill you yet. At least not today,” she continued with a sigh. Why was she sighing? Was there something Summer could do to help? “I can still hurt you, though.”

Queen Heart leaned down and scooped a handful of ash and debris into her delicate features. As she raised her hand to throw, Summer automatically raised her arm to protect her face and suddenly her thoughts returned to full clarity. The debris hit her elbow, luckily missing her face, but she felt some stinging on her neck and arms.

What was that? She didn’t dare lower her arm in case she lost her mind again. She walked straight into an enemy’s trap and started practically worshiping her while being threatened and insulted the whole time. When had it started? Was it from the moment she spotted her? There had to be some way to get out of this situation. Summer couldn’t just stand there with her arm out.

“What are you doing?” the much less pleasant sounding voice of Queen Heart asked, dripping with mocking and hatred as she slowly approached, “Are you trying to hide from me now?”

Hiding was a good idea. Summer suddenly thought of something she could do. This had better be enough to satisfy Ned because she couldn’t risk staying here any longer. Using all of her practice with light and Shadow, Summer cloaked the woman standing before her in darkness so she wouldn’t be able to see her.

She cautiously lowered her arm to see the misshapen form of darkness standing mere inches away from her. She jumped back, luckily not affected by whatever spell had overcome her now that she couldn’t see her. An unexpected bonus was that with no light able to reach her eyes, Queen Heart couldn’t see anything at all.

“Blindness! I thought you had light powers, not darkness!” she shouted in rage.

There was no time to hang around. Summer bolted towards the exit of The Old Town and her car before she lost her concentration and her pursuer recovered her sight. She needed to get some kind of help. With an ability like that, it probably wouldn’t take her too long to find her home and her family.

Who could she even ask? The new heroes were all amateurs. They wouldn’t be able to deal with this. The police? What if her ability worked on them too? That could end terribly as well. Summer slammed her car door closed and drove off without even looking back. What about Ashton? Right now he was doing his trial with the very place that had created the anti-power serum. If there was anyone who would be able to do something about Queen Heart, it was Gale Research.