He takes that in, then slowly nods, like that makes sense. He also gets that smug grin on his face again. “She’s going to tell you you’re wrong and a liar.”
“And probably that she likes you more.”
“She loves me more, because I’m her special little bestest boy in the whole wide world.”
Ughhhh. “Yeah, and I don’t really want to be there for that. So Kat’s taking you inside to see her.”
He perks up, actually buying it now. “Okay, let’s go.”
Kat exchanges a look with me. She shapeshifts her thumb, and it shimmers a little as her V changes to an H. “Here goes.”
“Let’s go now!” Xavier tugs on her hand and stomps his foot.
People are already starting to glance over at us, so maybe this really is going to work.
Kat takes Xavier up to the entrance, where the two ticket-takers are.
“Hi. Excuse me,” she says.
“Tickets, please.” The one on the right holds out a hand. He frowns when he sees that she’s not dressed up.
“I don’t have—”
“I’m sorry. If you don’t have tickets, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” He doesn’t sound that sorry about it.
“I’m babysitting this little guy”—she pulls Xavier forward a step—“and he really, really needs to see his mom. So—”
The ticket-taker holds up a hand, as if Kat is really stupid and needs visual cues that he doesn’t want her coming in. “The best I can do is have someone give her a message.”
“I want my mommy!” Xavier screeches.
Both ticket-takers wince at his nails-on-the-chalkboard voice.
“You see,” Kat says, “it’s just really important that we get in and see her real quick.”
“I can’t let you in. If you’ll give me her name and—”
“Do you hear that?” Kat asks Xavier. “This guy doesn’t want you to see your mom. He doesn’t want her to get to tell you how much she loves you.”
“Wh-what?!” Xavier’s face is already turning red.
“He thinks your mom should be able to go hours and hours without seeing you, like she could just forget about you.”
“That’s not true!” Xavier glares at the ticket-taker and screams, “You’re lying!”
The ticket-taker looks bewildered. “I didn’t say any of that!” He has to raise his voice to be heard above Xavier’s wailing. “Now, if you’ll just step to the side, we can—”
“No!” Xavier screeches. “You have to let me see my mommy!” His face is almost as red as his hair now, and he takes big, gasping breaths as tears slide down his cheeks.
Kat sighs. “Come on.” She tries to drag him away from the door. “You heard him. We have to go. Your mom’s just going to have to be heartbroken that she didn’t get to see you.”
“You can’t do that!” It’s unclear who Xavier’s yelling at at this point—Kat for trying to drag him away, or the ticket-taker for not letting them in—but he’s so loud, and his voice so ear-splitting, that everyone turns to stare at him. Even all the security guys from the League. He tries to shout something else, but he’s crying too hard now, and his words aren’t exactly intelligible.
Especially when he drops to the ground in full-on tantrum mode and starts kicking and flailing and screaming bloody murder.
The guys in front of the door actually kneel down—I think because they’re worried he’s having a seizure or something—and someone in the crowd asks if they should call 911.
“You see?!” Kat shouts. “This is what I’ve had to put up with all night!”
With everyone’s attention turned to Xavier, this is totally my chance. I pretend like I’m part of the crowd of freaked-out bystanders, then slip past the ticket-takers when nobody’s looking.
Everyone at this thing is dressed way fancier than me, especially since, as Kat pointed out, I’m wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. With the hood pulled up, no less. Everyone else is in tuxes and fancy dresses, and they keep glancing at me as I walk by, like they can tell I’m not supposed to be here, even if they don’t know who I am.
The awards ceremony is taking place in the grand ballroom. There are round tables all over, covered with red tablecloths and flickering candles as the centerpieces. There’s some hero I don’t recognize—but who sounds really full of himself—up on the stage, doing an introduction speech.
I find Riley and everyone sitting at a table near the back.
Amelia’s the first one to spot me. She scowls and pinches Zach’s arm, directing his attention to me.
“Ow. Hey, what did I—” Zach trails off when he sees me. I can’t tell if he’s stunned or angry.
“You made it,” Riley says, sounding pretty shocked.
Sarah’s wearing a dark-blue dress with little fake roses in her hair that are dyed to match. She pulls out the empty seat next to her. “It’s about time.”
“I can’t stay. I—”
“Oh, great.” Riley exchanges a look with Mason, like they’ve been talking about me—probably about how I wouldn’t really show up for this.
Sarah purses her lips in thought. Amelia makes a hmph noise. Zach swallows and stares down at the table.
“Riley,” his mom says, “you didn’t tell me this is who you were saving that ticket for.” She sounds nervous. I wonder if she’ll try to ban me from their table, or if she’ll let it go, since it’s Riley’s big night and all. And because Curtis isn’t here to remind everyone how horrible he thinks I am.
“Look, I can’t stay, because—”
“Save it,” Riley says, keeping his voice hushed. “I don’t want to hear what your excuse is. If you don’t want to be here, then just leave.”
“But—”
“Ry’s tried several times to communicate with you,” Mason says. “But you’re not open to that connection. It’s obvious you’re still not thinking about how he—”
“Cosine.” I turn to Sarah, ignoring Mason. And Riley. And the way everyone’s looking at me, except for Zach, who isn’t looking at all. “We have an emergency.”
“I knew it,” Sarah says, sounding almost happy about that. “Your body language was all wrong for an awards ceremony.”
“An emergency?” Riley asks.
I check my phone. It’s 7:07. “In exactly twenty-three minutes, the Truth is going to attack this place. I mean, my grandpa’s machine is going to go off, and everyone here is going to be knocked out. And then all these villains are going to storm the place, and it’s not going to be pretty.”
Mason sighs and tries to exchange another look with Riley. “Convenient that this story puts all the focus back on him. This is typical behavior for his personality type, making up elaborate scenarios to make himself the center of attention.”
I really want to tell Mason to shut up, or maybe just zap him. Judging from the way Sarah opens her mouth and the way her eyebrows come together, I’m pretty sure she wants to, too.
But Riley beats us both to it. “He’s not making it up.” He’s already getting to his feet as he says that. “What do we do? We really only have twenty-three minutes?”
“Twenty-two, now,” Sarah corrects him.
“We have to warn the League or whoever’s in charge. And...” I run my hands through my hair, trying to think fast. “We have to get everyone out of here. Amelia, you—”
“Did you hear something?” Amelia asks Zach. “Because I didn’t.”
“Amelia.”
“I’m not talking to you.”
“Seriously? Now?”
Kat hurries over to the table, dragging Xavier with her. His face is still red, though he’s stopped crying. “Give him your phone,” Kat says, slightly out of breath. “To call your mom.”
“They let you in?” I ask her.
“We’re supposed to have an escort, but I ditched him between the bathroom and the concession stand. And if the hellspawn doesn’t get to talk to your mom in, like, the next five seconds, he’s going to have ano
ther meltdown. So, phone. Now.”
I get out my phone and find Mom’s number, then hand it to Xavier. Not that I want him using my phone—especially so Mom can call him some gooey, disgusting pet name and tell him how great he supposedly is—but the last thing I need is for him to throw another fit and get us kicked out. I shove him down into my empty seat. “Zach, you and Amelia watch my brother—”
“Your brother?” Amelia gapes at me and Xavier, apparently forgetting that she’s not speaking to me. “You have a brother?”
“—and find Gordon and the rest of my family. Get them and your mom out of here, and don’t stick around.”
“What?” their mom says. “And where are you going?” She looks at Riley, then at Sarah, who’s already on her feet, then at Mason, who reluctantly gets up from the table, as if anyone asked him to join us.
“We’ll be okay,” Riley assures her. “Just do what he says and get out of here.”
This is bad. Like, really bad.
All five of us are standing in the head of security’s office. We raced over here after Kat used her shapeshifting power to transform into someone official looking to get directions. I just finished explaining to this guy that the Truth plans to attack tonight and that he needs to evacuate this place as soon as possible.
And he just kind of scoffed in response, like it’s no big deal.
“Didn’t you hear him?” Sarah adjusts her glasses and glares at the security guy. He’s in a suit, but also wearing one of those League badges, and looks maybe ten years older than us. His nametag says Wooster Shine, which I’m guessing must be his superhero name.
“Did I hear the spokesperson for the Truth tell me they plan to attack? I was sitting right here—it would have been hard to miss.” His phone buzzes, and he actually picks it up to check his texts.
“Wow,” Kat mutters.
See, this is why Grandpa’s attacking tonight in the first place. Because the League thinks they don’t need to take villains seriously, like if they just ignore us, we’ll get tired of fighting to be heard and shut up.
Er, not that I agree with what Grandpa’s doing, but it doesn’t help that this security guy is totally proving his point.
“So, if you heard him,” Riley says slowly, like he’s talking to someone really stupid, “then you know you need to get everyone out of here.”
Wooster Shine glances up from his phone, amused. “We don’t need you to tell us that the villains are going to attack. We’re not idiots. It’s taken care of.”
“I don’t think it is,” I tell him. “You don’t understand. People are going to get hurt. Or worse.”
“No, you don’t understand. You’re half villain, right? I liked that video you did for your dad. I’m a big Crimson Flash fan. I keep up with the tabloids, and I’m pretty sure he cares about you, despite all the ways you’ve messed up lately. So I’m going to do you a favor and give you some advice—get out of here.”
“But—”
“Look, if you don’t want people to get hurt, go back to the Truth and tell them to stand down. Because if they come here tonight, they’re not going to get very far.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I wouldn’t want to be a villain at the Heroes’ Gala. We’ve taken precautions.”
“You expect me to leave, to abandon everybody when I know they’re in danger, because you’ve ‘taken precautions’? I’m going to need a better reason than that.”
“We all are,” Riley says.
“You guys will be fine,” Wooster Shine tells the rest of the group. Everyone except me. “But you have villain DNA. So I wouldn’t want to be you when the Truth attempts to attack.”
“I don’t know what that means, but I’m not leaving until you listen to me! Whatever you have planned, it’s not good enough. You have to get everyone out of here, and you have to do it now.”
“No, really, we’ve got it under control, and you need to not be here. We’ve got villain-targeting lasers placed in the ceiling. Remote access. This whole place is being closely monitored, and we’ve got people on the outside ready to hit the button if a bunch of villains show up. Or if the cameras go dark,” he adds, like he thought I might have been getting ideas about it. “Those lasers go live, and any villains stupid enough to be in range are toast. That includes half villains.”
“And what about the person standing next to them?” Sarah asks. “That kind of targeting from that distance isn’t very accurate. A lot of people could get hurt, and not just villains.”
“That’s a risk we’re going to have to take. The Truth is bringing this on themselves, and if a few of our people get hurt because of them, then maybe the public will realize what we’re dealing with. And if you’re so concerned about it, like I said, get the Truth to stand down. The people monitoring the gala have their orders, and I have mine, and we’re proceeding as planned. No evacuation.”
Chapter 30
MASON PUTS A HAND on my arm when we get out into the hallway. “If you need help talking to the Truth and getting them to see that attacking tonight is only going to end in misery, I’m here.”
I jerk my arm away. “No one’s talking to the Truth.”
“But you heard what he said. Getting them to stand down is the only way to stop all this violence.”
“That would never work,” Kat says, looking just about as disgusted with Mason as she did with Xavier. “If we even had time for that, which we don’t.”
Mason’s face goes pale. He swallows. “What are we going to do? We can’t just let this happen.”
“Easy,” I tell him. “We stop the weapons.” Except I’m pretty sure easy is the last thing it will be. But it’s the obvious answer, and the only one that gives us any chance of success. “Sarah, if you had a machine that was supposed to knock everybody out, where would you put it?”
“The roof,” she says, not even having to think about it. Then, seeing me flinch a little, “Or the basement.”
Great. I know what kind of luck I have. There’s no way that thing’s in the basement. Because if there’s any chance at all that it’ll be on the roof, then that’s where it is. “We’ll split up. It’s—” I reach for my phone out of habit, forgetting that I left it with Xavier.
Riley checks his instead. “It’s seven fifteen.”
“We have fifteen minutes. Kat, you and Sarah find the lasers.”
“What?” Kat folds her arms and glares at Sarah, then at me. “Damien, I’m going with you.”
I shake my head. “You need to figure out where to go to disarm the lasers or where to cut the power or whatever. That means shapeshifting again and asking the right people. And Sarah’s the only one of us who can actually disable them. You can do that, right?”
Sarah nods. “We could cut the power, but the League will have thought of that. They probably have a backup generator. Our best bet is to take out the receiver or to disconnect the laser system from the rest of the grid.”
“So it has to be you two. And me and Riley will find Grandpa’s machine, and...” I press the heels of my palms to my forehead, trying to think this through. “If we disable the machine, then no one gets knocked out. But that still means a battle.”
“We need to postpone it, not disarm it,” Riley says. “If we can set it to go off after the villains get here, then maybe no one has to get hurt.”
“Unless we fail,” Kat says. “If we can’t turn the lasers off, then that means all those knocked-out villains will be sitting ducks.”
“We won’t.” Sarah smooths out the sides of her dress. “I can turn the lasers off. You just have to trust me.”
Kat looks like that’s about the last thing she wants to do, but she keeps it to herself.
“If you need to get in touch with us, call Riley’s phone,” I tell them. “And no matter what happens, be outside by seven forty.”
“We’ll meet back up at my house afterward.” Riley checks the time again and frowns. “Thirteen minutes.�
�
“Okay, let’s—”
“You forgot me.” Mason has a sour look on his face, like he doesn’t understand how I could possibly forget the importance of having a human light bulb around in a crisis. “I’m coming with you.”
I really want to argue with him on that, but we don’t have time. So instead I just nod and say, “Let’s go.”
“You sure you want to do this?” Riley asks as we wait for the elevator. “You don’t have to go up there. We could try the basement.”
“Maybe we should have split up into three teams,” Mason says. “Ry and I could go to one location and you could go to the other.”
He means he and Riley could ditch me again. “It’s not going to be in the basement. And we don’t have time to start second guessing.” Plus, one person going off by themselves doesn’t really count as being a “team,” and I don’t hear Mason volunteering for it.
“You might need backup,” Riley says. “And if you want me and Mason to check the roof—”
“I have to do this. I got us into this mess.”
The elevator doors finally open, and all three of us step inside. There’s no stop that takes us directly to the roof, so I hit the button for the fifth floor. The doors take forever to close again, and then we begin slowly going up.
“Why would we check the roof?” Mason asks. He doesn’t know about my problem with heights. Or with falling off of buildings.
“Come on, X,” Riley says, totally ignoring Mason’s question. “It’s not your— Well, it’s not all your fault.”
“None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for me. And...” I shrug. “Look, Perkins, I’m sorry, all right? That’s what I was trying to say on the phone to you earlier.”
“You mean when you hung up on me?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you during our final. Not because I think what I did was wrong or anything, and I really don’t care that I broke the rules, or—”
“Geez. If this is your apology, no wonder you hung up.”
I scowl at him. “My point is, I don’t care about any of that stuff, but you’re my friend. And we were supposed to be working together. I shouldn’t have acted like it was just me.”
The Betrayal of Renegade X (Renegade X, Book 3) Page 30
