Zack’s heart stopped as the door slammed behind him. Rachel stood there, her eyes blazing at him.

“What did you do, Zack?” she asked.

Zack didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to do. He stood, frozen in place.

“Rachel, I…I…” he stammered.

He wanted to tell Rachel the truth. He wanted her to know everything. But not like this. He glanced at Perry for help. Perry stood by Blake and simply shrugged.

“They were very persistent,” he said.

“Saber is in the hospital,” Rachel continued.

“How is he?” Zack said, the image of Dirk Saber being pulled out of the rubble.

“As if you care,” Rachel said, her arms crossing her chest.

“Rachel!” Zack pleaded. “I do care…look I was coming to tell you…I was wrong about Dirk. He…wasn’t who I thought he was.”

“Who you thought he was?” Rache raised her voice. “He’s a college professor, not a serial killer!”

In his defense, Zack never thought Dirk Saber was a serial killer…but he did think he was a killer. He had been wrong about that.

Rachel took a step towards him, but this time she lowered his voice. She kept her steely gaze focused on him. “When did you get so paranoid, Zack? What happened to you?”

Zack looked away, not wanting to show her all the shame he felt. “It’s been a very hard two years.”

Rachel exhaled deeply. Her posture remained closed off, but she kept her eyes on him. “I’m listening.”

With no other option, Zack decided to start to finish. “My dad…”

“Hold up!” Blake spoke up. “Can we talk about why we just had a seven point earthquake in Illinois? If I’d know it would be this bad, I’d have stayed in California!”

“Actually,” Perry spoke up. “We are sitting on a fault line. The Sandwich Fault Zone runs from DeKalb to Dixon.”

Zack started itching the back of his neck. “So maybe this whole thing was just coincidence?”

“A seven point earthquake strikes a college for superheroes?” Blake turned to him. “Try harder.”

“And I read you when you showed up at Dirk’s classroom,” Rachel said, backing up Blake. “You were incredibly guilty. I could practically feel it. So how is any of this your fault?”

With no other options, Zack wanted to come clean. He felt a pang of annoyance though, having wanted to confess his father’s fate, only to be dragged into this piece of the puzzle instead.

“It’s the Magnometer,” Zack said. “It belongs to Amber Shaw.”

Blake cocked her head. “Why is Amber Shaw wrecking the campus? It seems like a really bad way to get a pay raise…unless she’s an insurance adjuster. She’s not an insurance adjuster is he?”

Perry chuckled. “No honey, she’s not.”

Zack spoke up, eager to avoid this tangent. “Amber Shaw isn’t the one doing all of this. It’s Kaine.”

“Kaine who?” Rachel asked.

“I…actually don’t know his last name,” Zack said, finally thinking about it. “Or if that’s not his last name…kinda weird.”

“Oh shit,” Blake cursed. “That Kaine that creep at the Alpha House?”

Zack nodded.

“How the hell did he get the Magnometer?” Blake continued.

Now Zack knew he was in the corner. He squirmed a bit before finally coming clean.

“Because I stole it from him,” Zack finally said.

The whole room erupted in a combination of shock, silence, and obscenities, mostly from Blake.

“You gave that sexist asshole an earthquake machine?” Blake said.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Zack could even himself buckle under Perry’s microscopic vision. He turned to him, but Perry looked away in shame.

“If I had known you were going to do this…” he said quietly.

“I didn’t know, okay?” Zack said defensively.

“That doesn’t explain why you stole it in the first place,” Rachel said. She had been quiet up until now.

Well, technically, I didn’t steal it. Icer did.

Still, he felt this wasn’t necessarily the time or place to explain his current partnership with a C-list supervillain. That likely wouldn’t have gone over good.

“He had something I needed,” Zack said.

“And you just decided to give it to him?” Rachel threw up her hands, angry.

“I didn’t know he was going to use it. Hell, I didn’t even know what it actually did,” Zack said.

“It’s an earthquake machine,” Blake shot back. “You knew Miss Magnitude’s powers. After all, she and your dad were real tight, as I recall.”

Rachel turned to him. “Why did this keep coming back to your dad?”

“About that…” Zack started, but Perry spoke up.

“I just wish we knew why Kaine was doing,” Perry said.

“He’s crazy,” Blake said. She glanced at Zack. “They all are.”

“No, he has to have an objective,” Zack agreed.

Rachel sighed and then started to walk to the door. “I don’t care. I don’t care why you gave a crazy bastard an earthquake machine or what he wants it for. I just want this to end.”

She turned to Zack. “You go to Amber Shaw. You turned yourself in. Or I’ll tell everyone what I know.”

“Rachel…” Zack pleaded, but Rachel spun around.

“Don’t Rachel me. The Zack I knew was a hero…or at least he wanted to be. He wouldn’t let an entire campus get hurt just to soothe his ego,” Rachel said. “I don’t know what got into you. Hell, I don’t know you at all anymore.”

She turned to leave again. Blake and Perry started the same.

“Wait…guys…” Zack began.

“Turn yourself in,” Rachel said. “Otherwise, my editors will be very interested in this story…and I’m sure the campus police will pay you a visit for too long.”

Zack didn’t know what to do. This was going bad. Very bad. But another thought crossed his mind.

“I have a counter-offer,” he said. The trio of former friends stopped.

“You want to negotiate?” Rachel spun around. “People’s lives are at stake!”

“Yeah,” Zack said. “And they will continue to be until we figure this out.”

“The authorities–” Rachel said.

“Can’t handle this,” Zack said. “Kaine’s a teleporter. He’ll be gone before they even show up. And I already talked to Max. He won’t lift a finger to help.”

Silence fell over the room.

“Innshadow can’t stop this. They haven’t been able to stop Alpha House for a while now,” Zack said. He looked at Blake. “You said it yourself. They’re out of control.”

Rachel, Perry and Blake all paused and looked at one another before looking back to Zack.

“What do you propose?” Rachel said.

“We get the Magnometer back ourselves,” Zack said. “I know where Kaine is.”

The group was silent. Zack knew he had to sweeten the deal.

“Once I get the Magnometer back. I’ll take it to Shaw and turn myself in,” Zack looked at Rachel. “And none of you have to see me ever again.”

The silence continued. Zack felt his insides churn.

“We’ll think about it,” was all Rachel said before all three of them left, leaving Zack alone.

Almost alone.

Zack felt a familiar chill run down his spine.

“How much did you hear?” he said, turning to face Icer.

“Enough,” the supervillain said as he entered the living room, beer in hand.

Where is he getting all this beer?

“This is getting complicated,” Icer said. “I don’t like complicated.”

Zack shrugged. “Well, you now where the door is.”

Icer stepped into his path, and kept his masked face pointed at Zack. “You said you’re turning yourself in. Which makes me think you have a get-out-of-jail free card…if you rat on me.”

Zack didn’t lift his gaze. “And here I thought there was honor among thieves.”

Icer didn’t move. “We’re not talking thieves. We’re talking supes.”

“And you haven’t had good experience with superheroes honoring their word?” Zack said.

“Not in my experience,” Icer said.

“Hmmm. You should talk to someone about that,” Zack shook his head. “Maybe see a therapist.”

“I don’t need a therapist,” Icer shot back. “I need assurances you won’t rat me out.”

Zack walked past him, purposely turning his back on him. He had enough of Icer’s intimidation display.

“Look, I’m not going to rat you out,” he said. “I’ll tell them I used my muscle memory powers to pick the lock and gain access to her office. I won’t even mention you.”

“Good,” Icer said. “Because if I even get a whiff of treachery on your part, I’ll have to reassess your situation.”

Zack spun around. “You mind telling me what a whiff of treachery smells like?”

But Icer was gone. Which was too bad. Zack was proud of that comeback.

But he was finally alone. Now, Zack could face facts. He wasn’t actually going to turn himself in. He would return the Magnometer to Shaw’s office and then split.

Dirk Saber wasn’t his guy. There was nothing else keeping him on campus. He had made a mess of both the campus and his friends’ lives.

The easiest thing to do was move on, and resume the search elsewhere.

And that’s exactly what he intended to do.