Free Superheroes Anonymous by Lexie Dunne

no, no.”
    â€œHold still.”
    When I tried to get away, I stumbled at precisely the wrong moment. Dr. Mobius grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and shoved the needle in my arm. He covered my face with his hand to keep me from crying out. A wave of nausea and dizziness slammed into me. I staggered sideways, my knee knocking against the corner of the footboard. Dr. Mobius changed his grip on my neck to grab a handful of the back of my shirt. The floor and walls unhelpfully switched places as he yanked me out of the room and down the hall.
    â€œWhat did—­what did you do to me?”
    â€œHave you considered, my dear Girl, a little gratitude? All of this suspicion can’t be healthy.”
    â€œExcuse me for being suspicious when the guy who turned me into a super-­substance addict pokes me with things,” I said, swallowing my gorge. “It’s a bad habit.”
    â€œSarcasm never won anybody friends.”
    â€œI don’t feel like that’s true.” When I tripped over my own feet, Dr. Mobius hissed out an annoyed breath and yanked me back upright. “Where are we going?”
    â€œAway. There are too many of them.”
    â€œBut—­” I had a hard time focusing my eyes. “But not Blaze?”
    â€œEvidently not. It appears to me he doesn’t love you as much as everybody thinks—­no, no, don’t lose consciousness now. There’s too much to be done.”
    Right, I thought. Like I had a choice. We moved through the dining room and a series of rooms I didn’t recognize. I was too busy trying to keep my latest meal in my stomach to really gather much detail. Another door led us to a garage with a blue sedan inside. Mobius shoved me into the passenger seat. Though I groped for the door handle, my hand missed and hit empty air.
    â€œGonna be sick,” I said, when he climbed into the driver’s seat.
    â€œThere will be ample time for that later.”
    â€œIt’s so charming that you think I can schedule something like this.” I tried for the door handle again. It made the world wobble.
    He turned the key in the ignition, and the engine gunned to life. It sounded way too loud, but I didn’t have time to wonder why because he slammed his foot down. The car went backward, and the crash as it hit the garage door sounded like an explosion. My shoulder hit the dashboard, and I cried out.
    Dr. Mobius stomped harder on the gas. A great, wrenching sound filled the air, and the car seemed to explode backward. I cried out again at the sound of something scraping against the car—­the garage door, I realized, what was going on—­ and Dr. Mobius began muttering under his breath. I thought I heard something about “Too soon, too soon,” but everything was starting to fracture and break in my head.
    I caught a glimpse of trimmed green lawns, of streetlamps hanging over the sidewalks, of night. Black figures. No, men. There were men in the front yard, dressed in black. I couldn’t see their faces behind their balaclavas.
    They lifted guns when Dr. Mobius peeled out of the driveway. I heard popping noises, like toy pop caps being stomped on.
    The window behind me shattered. Something rained down on my back.
    â€œGirl.” Dr. Mobius gripped my shoulder. He was driving, and his mouth moved for a minute, but my ears had stopped working. I wondered what he was saying and why everything felt padded in cotton floss. “—­un.”
    â€œWe’re already running.” My voice sounded slurred, the words tumbling out together. I could feel every inch the car traveled though we must have been going way faster than the speed limit. “Where’s Blaze?”
    â€œYour dependency on that green cretin is worrisome.”
    â€œHe’s not a cretin, he’s—­”
    But the car slammed to a stop again, sending me into the dashboard once again. Dr. Mobius leaned over me and opened