Just because Harper had given him a head’s up about what kind of training might be taking place didn’t mean Ashton had any real advantage. Especially because she had left all of the truly important details out. Ashton had mistakenly believed he would be given some time to plan with his team before the training started, but she barely gave them a chance to hear the rules.

  It was as if she was sending him a message that there would be no time to plan on the field and he needed to be ready before he even arrived at the scene. That was fine in theory, but as a non-combatant team they would be dealing with mental abilities. No amount of planning or preparation would make them ready for things they didn't know about.

  At least the layout of the training seemed fairly simple. It was like a mix of tag and capture the flag with an obstacle course provided in the background. All they had to do was keep Harper's phone away from her for half an hour to prevent her from calling in backup. From the sounds of things, this backup was designed to be far above what they could handle, so they needed to do whatever they could to prevent that call from going through.

  How would they do that? That was where all the pressure was. It was up to Ashton to figure all of that out. Luckily, he had spent some time planning, even if he hadn't been able to convey those plans to the others.

  For the twins, he had thought about ways to combine various advantages and disadvantages so neither of them would be at a disadvantage. He had only been able to come up with one that really fit this situation. Summer's greatest asset in a situation like this was to blind their opponent. It would be incredibly useful as a distraction and preventative measure. Up until then, Ashton was confident his decisions were based in logic and reasoning.

  Kayla was a different sort of matter. Her power was not something she could use herself, and not even necessarily useful. It could even be dangerous if used haphazardly. However, Ashton had immediately come to the conclusion that she should give Summer a power.

  Summer's power shouldn't pose a problem no matter what power was given, and the twins had enough on their plate power wise. That much was true, however Ashton couldn't deny his bitter feeling towards gaining another power, and Summer's insecurities about being the weakest.

  Before he could decide whether his current plan was filled with favoritism, the training began. If he didn't do something, they would lose before they could even get started. Everyone was looking to him to make the first move.

  "Summer, blind her!" He called out, "Kai, speed. Get the phone as far away as possible. Kayla, give Summer a power and help her figure it out."

  It was easier to give orders than he had expected, and to Ashton's surprise everyone followed them immediately without question. However, Harper was more prepared this time as well. She had used her information about them to improve her shield aura.

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  Not good. "Levi, grow and block her path!" He ordered, hoping the size would be enough to outweigh the cost of slowness. It seemed to work at first, but Harper was still gaining on Kai.

  That was when the phone suddenly went flying through the air, landing squarely in Summer's grasp. She had figured out her power so quickly? Maybe everything would work out better than he thought. He was about to tell her to throw it to him, but thought better of it. Harper could hear his every word as much as they could. He regretted not coming up with a better means to communicate.

  Summer failed to dodge Harper's charge and the phone went flying. Ashton only had a moment to register Kayla had picked it up before it was flying through the air towards him. He scooped it up, barely catching it with his fingertips.

  Instinctively Ashton knew that all he had to do was fry the phone with electricity and everything would be over. However, one look at it and he could tell this was Harper's personal cell not a spare made for training. He didn't want to be held responsible if breaking the phone was against the unspoken rules of the game. Besides, it just felt wrong.

  His hesitation cost him his opportunity to finish things and everything devolved into chaos. With everything moving so fast, Ashton couldn't even keep track of the phone, much less make plans and lead the team. He had the phone in his grasp a couple more times after that, but he couldn't bring himself to break it.

  As a team leader, he knew he would be expected to make difficult decisions, but he was too much of a coward to even break a phone. Maybe, if they could hang on just a bit longer, it wouldn't matter. Such wishful thinking rarely ended well, and this situation was no different.

  Harper finally reclaimed her phone and it only took her a second to dial her backup. It was over. They had failed. Just as Ashton was about to give up, he remembered there was a second part to this training. The backup that Harper said would be coming to face them was a former villain of SI. If that was true, they couldn't stay out in the open.

  “Run for cover!” Ashton ordered, “We can’t fight here!”

  The reason for the obstacle course was becoming painfully clear. It had been meant for this purpose from the very beginning. Ashton followed his own words and found the most secure hiding place he could without blocking too much of his view. He needed to know what was going on as the leader. His chosen position between the rock wall and wobbly bridge gave him a perfect view of the entrance.

  Ashton barely had a chance to get settled before the backup arrived. He had been braced for someone dangerous, but once he saw who it was, Ashton froze stiff. Had it been any other villain, they might have had a chance, but the man standing atop the wall was the Purple Tortoise, the first ever villain of SI and the one who had trained him as Shadow Phoenix.

  “What’s this? Hide and seek? I’m game!” the Purple Tortoise announced. He somehow managed to appear threatening despite his tacky torn cloth mask and discount purple turtle shell.

  Game? Things were even worse than Ashton could have ever imagined. The Purple Tortoise’s games were nightmare fuel, allowed because technically no one ever got hurt. If there was every anyone that Ashton would call a madman, it was him. He got way too into his role, to the point he was unrecognizable outside of it. Whether it was method acting or a whole other personality, he was the last person Ashton wanted to face today.

  As Ashton was thinking this, he felt the moment their eyes met, and the world around him shifted. The Purple Tortoise was setting the stage.