It was that very night, when Summer was doing some late night scrolling on the hero forums that she first saw the news. One of the villains paired with a hero almost no one watched had found another artifact, and died. She knew from experience that if it had just been released to the public now, it likely happened a couple of days ago.

Still, even if she was benched, she felt like she should have been informed about the first reported death of a villain, especially one caught on camera. The previously unpopular hero, Scubadude, was suddenly showered with attention after the clip went viral. With some trepidation, Summer clicked on the link to see what had happened. Heroes didn’t kill villains, right?

To her relief, Scubadude had not killed his assigned villain, RefRain. RefRain had found an artifact in the old town that summoned a tsunami from nowhere. If Scubadude had not been waterproof in every sense of the word, he likely would have also been swept away by the strong current. There was also the fact that while SI proclaimed RefRain dead, they had yet to find his body. Even if they did, would they recognize it without the villain disguise?

She almost sent a text to Ashton about the news, but thought better when she looked at the clock. He probably had to get up early. Besides, he would probably hear all about it at work. Summer could only hope her father didn’t stumble across the video later. Too many things were happening that had never happened before. Forcing her thoughts down, Summer managed to settle into an uneasy slumber.

The very next day, at 13:00, or one o’clock, another video was released. This time the footage was not taken by SI, but with an unprofessional hand. Perhaps even with the phone of the person involved. What shot the views to the very top was who appeared in the video. It was none other than the villain announced dead the day before, RefRain.

Summer stumbled upon it via a link posted by MysteriousMaskz with the caption, “Told you SI was fishy.” She instantly clicked on it, as she had all the other links posted by the user. What she had hoped would be another clue to their identity turned out to be something much worse.

“Surprised to see me alive and healthy?” it opened, “I promise SI isn’t. My death, and every act I have ever done as a villain was all a sham. Listen close, and I will tell you everything.”

Summer remembered MysteriousMakz’s caption as she continued to listen to the video. Something fishy. Something SI was hiding.

“First things first, to make sure my sacrifice doesn’t end in vain, so that you all know what happens to me, I will tell you all who I really am.”

RefRain removed his mask, revealing his face. A face full of bitterness and spite. Summer flinched and looked away, even though it was merely the image on a screen. Should she really be watching this? It didn’t seem to have anything to do with MysteriousMaskz. Even though she thought this, her finger did not move towards the pause or the x.

Stolen novel; please report.

“My name is Collin Mcshay. I have been working for SI playing the part of a villain for about four years now. My job was to play a part and make my useless hero partners look good. The motto was always lose, but always escape. As for heroes? They are just famous idiots who don’t even realize they are actors in this stupid play. Once they lose their fame, they are discarded. Don’t believe me? Look at the facts.”

Summer was now at a point where she didn’t dare look away. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she was filled with a sense of denial. She was just a fake playing a part? Impossible. What about everything that had happened? Did that mean this whole time, Shadow Phoenix was just acting too? With her mind filled with conflicting thoughts, she missed parts of the speech, but was snapped out of it when she heard a familiar name.

“Shadow Phoenix, if you end up watching this, please listen to their warning. It’s too late for me, but you still have a chance. Show those fakes at SI that they never should have mocked us! They can protect you from that awful place.”

They? Who were they? And what was with everyone supporting Shadow Pheonix? If all villains were just actors, what made him more special than the rest? Summer finally gathered the courage to shut the video off as RefRain, or Collin, or whoever he was continued to prattle on. What she ended up doing instead wasn’t much better. She followed the thread to see what the others had discovered.

What she read at least saved her a lot of research. Graphs had already been made showing the direct correlation between a hero’s popularity and their disappearance from the scene. The villains, on the other hand, were shown as constants. Those that vanished had long runs, and likely properly retired. And then there was Shadow Phoenix, who quit at the height of his popularity.

There he was again. Every time her was mentioned, Summer was filled with a mass of twisted emotions. If only she could meet him again. If only she could ask him what was going on. As she saw more hatred for SI, another thought occurred to Summer. What about Ashton?

Before she knew it, her phone was in her hand with their text conversation open, still showing her well wishes from earlier that morning. It hadn’t even been read yet. Yeah, Ashton was probably busy too. SI had to be scrambling to squash this. She had already seen comments about the growing number of times the video had been taken down and released on a new account.

What would she even say to him? Once again, Summer decided not to send him anything. Instead she watched the latest episode of Even Light Needs Shadow, hoping the drama would get her mind off of things.

Naturally, it had the opposite effect. She kept over analyzing all the scenes where Shadow Boy was about to tell Lady Light something important and hesitated. Every time Lady Light stood in the spotlight after going easy on her opponent with none the wiser. Even in this stupid drama, Shadow Pheonix was the one who knew everything while she was left in the dark.

It was a message from Ashton that finally pulled Summer’s mind of things, before it set her mind on entirely different things.

“Good news, I got a promotion. I might have to work longer hours from now on, though.”

A promotion? Right when SI was under fire? They weren’t trying to use him as a scapegoat, were they? Or maybe this was an excuse to shove more workload onto him. Or maybe… No. Impossible. Summer shoved the thought aside before it could even finish forming. Odd promotion timing aside, there was nothing suspicious about Ashton.

Working at SI did not make someone bad, even if SI turned out to be. Summer bet most of the employees there didn’t even know about the secrets. If they were real. She couldn’t just take the word of some villain she had just heard of. But Ashton worked in Hero Assignments. He might know the secrets.

After arguing with herself over her conflicted thoughts, she decided it was best to meet the man in person. They were dating anyway, right?

“Then I guess we have to meet now,” she sent back, trying her best to sound playful, or at the very least not like someone who was doubting the company he worked for.