Free Super Villain Academy 2: Polar Opposites by Kai Strand Page A

screeching to a halt halfway through the cross walk. If the pedestrian hadn’t leapt backward, she would have ended up underneath the car. Jeff and the pedestrian gaped at each other for a long, heart-pounding moment before she finally made an extra wide berth and walked in front of his car to the opposite curb.
    Jeff’s heart rate slowed to a more normal pace and dropped out of his throat. He rubbed his face and raked a shaky hand through his hair. The car behind him honked, and Jeff saw a green light looming overhead. “Crap. Get a hold of yourself, Tohler.”
    He accelerated through the intersection. “Focus.” The remainder of his drive was uneventful, but he was relieved nonetheless when he pulled into visitor parking at Mother’s work.
    Since he hadn’t known she was a white hat until a few months ago, he’d never been to her work before. The building was just one of many in a business park. Jeff was surprised at how utterly nondescript the place was, but supposed they had to hide in plain sight so that no one figured out what they were and what they did.
    He pulled open the glass door stenciled with HUMAN EQUALITY RETAINMENT ORGANIZATION. This was the nonprofit cover for the HERO network. His grandmother had founded the nonprofit to assure that heroes were able to afford to devote their lives to fighting injustice in the world. Mother was one such hero, but apparently she didn’t need the financial backing of HERO because his dad had made so much money in his villain days that they were an extremely wealthy family, not that they lived like it.
    An elderly gentleman sat behind a desk. He had a newspaper folded on the desk in front of him and seemed to be working the daily crossword. Jeff stopped in front of the desk and stared down at the man engrossed in his puzzle. Jeff cleared his throat, but the man didn’t look up.
    “Excuse me,” Jeff said. The man still didn’t look. Jeff leaned over trying to catch the man’s eye and said louder, “Excuse me.”
    The man finally glanced up and then grinned at Jeff. “Oop! Didn’t know you were there.” The man fumbled a device into his ear. “My hearing aid has been whining all morning, so I took it out. Sorry ‘bout that, son.”
    Jeff couldn’t help but grin back at the jovial old man. “No problem.”
    “What can I help you with today?” the man asked.
    “I’m here to see my mom,” Jeff said.
    “You are, are you?” The man looked slightly confused. “We don’t have many people in the office, and I thought I knew all their families. I’ve been volunteering here for twelve years, ever since my Edna died. Yep, after I lost my Edna, the house was too quiet. Those two days I was home were the longest days in my life. On the third day, I walked into the HERO office—that’s back when they were above the bakery over on 20 th —and I’ve been coming twice a week ever since.”
    Jeff smiled politely at the man, but didn’t know how to respond to the random info dump.
    “Oop! Sorry. Got off task, didn’t I?” The man chuckled, and Jeff was worried his frail body would shake right out of the chair. “Who is your mother, then, son?”
    “Sarah Tohler.”
    The genial expression on the man’s face clouded with suspicion and anger. “Son, we wouldn’t have anyone by that name here. You must be in the wrong place.”
    Jeff frowned, wondering about the man’s Jekyll and Hyde act. “Oh! I meant to say Sarah Mean. Sorry.” Jeff rolled his eyes and flashed an apologetic smile.
    The man looked confused again, but then his eyebrows shot up toward his receded hairline and his mouth formed an “O” of surprise. “You’re the… oh my!”
    The old man picked up the phone and punched in a three-digit number with his craggy old pointer finger. His hearing aid whined and he winced, holding the phone away from his ear. When it stopped, he put the receiver next to his ear again and said, “Ya still there?” He looked up at Jeff as he spoke into the