Fallout (Lois Lane) (13 page)

CHAPTER 16

The next morning I kept my head down
as I scanned the faces of everyone I passed in the halls before first bell, looking for Anavi. I had used the entrance at the far end of the building in order to elude Butler—who I knew would be waiting to gloat about sentencing us to detention. His slick front of false charisma would be back in place along with his pricey silk tie.

My strategy of avoidance was working so far. Sadly, my attempt to locate Anavi was proving less successful. I’d been all over and there was no sign of her.

After sleeping on it, I was sure that if we talked all of this could be resolved quickly and relatively painlessly. Assuming Anavi had calmed down enough to hear me out.

I was many things, but I wasn’t a quitter. I didn’t give up, and I wasn’t going to start.

Anavi
had
trusted me. I needed to know what caused that to change.

Dad was already gone for the day when I left for school, but I had no illusions that fight was over.

He was regrouping too. I wouldn’t be surprised to find a stack of glossy military academy brochures on my bed, all shiny patches and medals and horses and smiling teenagers who looked like they’d begged to be there but who were last-resort delinquents.

I caught sight of a familiar cluster of black-clad students up ahead, near the front entrance, but I refused to turn back. There was the possibility that the Warheads had done something to Anavi. Something more. Something worse.

So I forced my posture straight and my steps steady. When I reached them, I stopped and crossed my arms, casual but demanding. “Have you seen Anavi?”

The group turned to face me, slowly and in even smoother sync, somehow, than they had been before. Their heads tilted slightly to the right, and the looks they gave me were pitying.

“Where—” My arms dropped, my throat dried up.

Anavi was right there. In front of me.

She was wearing head-to-toe black and had her head tilted slightly to the right and she was pitying me just like the others.

She was with
them
.

I had prepared many arguments. I had anticipated various scenarios. None of them were anything like this.

“Anavi, why?” I realized, too late, that I shouldn’t have spoken, that if ever there was a time to retreat and do more licking of wounds and reconsidering of strategy, this was probably it. I waited for that mental shove, for the pressure against my mind.

Would Anavi be assisting them if it came? Would I be able to
feel
that, or would it be that same uniform push as before? Was Anavi truly one of these creeps?

No. She couldn’t be.
No.
Not willingly.

I braced for their attack on my mind.

But instead Principal Butler showed up beside us. “Here she is. Lois Lane herself. I thought she was going to be late again, and that would mean another day of detention.”

I never thought Butler would be the one to save me from anything, but gratitude spiked through me for his timing.

He grinned that slick shark’s smile. His gloating set me back on my feet.

The others were with him—
my
others, the
Scoop
staffers. Though they didn’t seem overjoyed to see me. They were frowning at me like when they got their parents’ angry phone calls.

Except for Devin.

He frowned at the Warheads. And at Anavi. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows in question. I shrugged, helpless.

He recognized that something bad had happened. But he couldn’t know
how
bad.

Suddenly I was less worried about any attack against me than them targeting him. I was almost certain that they had tried to the day before. Anavi had said they had to be nearby to do anything. It was a safe gamble that remained true.

I needed to get him away from here.

“Detention awaits?” I asked, striding away in the opposite direction, saying a silent prayer that they’d follow. Hoping that I picked the right way for detention.

“Yes. Time to go think about what you’ve done,” Butler said, hurrying after me to make sure I heard. A quick glance told me that he and the others were behind me.

I slowed so they could catch up.

“You could have created unnecessary difficulties for Anavi. And for me,” Principal Butler finished, drawing even with me.

“Wouldn’t that be a shame?” I asked in a tone he could interpret however he wanted.

As we walked away, a chorus of voices raised to follow us:

“Yes, think.”

“About how you lost.”

“And about how we won.”

“We told you we would.”

The last voice, unmistakable, belonged to Anavi.

*

An hour into detention, I realized I should have asked Butler what it was we had supposedly done wrong. I didn’t even know how he’d justified this detention. You couldn’t sentence students to punishment because they worked somewhere you didn’t like or for publishing negative things about you.

Unless you run your school like Butler does. Then you probably can.

Detention was living up to the grim reputation the word conjured. We’d had to hike through the patriotic blaze of a gym that looked recently renovated to a decidedly less spruced up area in the hallway beyond. The large open space had been outfitted for detention with rows of desks, but I suspected it was a former locker room from the few cubbies remaining around the edges of the walls and what I imagined was the lingering odor of stale sweat and gym socks, the hollow echo of a thousand dirty jokes.

We were shown to desks, and told there was no talking or studying, just quiet reflection on whatever had landed us here. It was going to be hard to stay awake.

And we had to stay awake. That was another rule of detention.

One that became even harder to follow when the instructor, a small man with a widow’s peak, announced he had “something to aid your reflection,” and switched on a small stereo on the corner of his desk. The low music that came out was sleepy classical.

I was convinced Maddy would start to weep. Her T-shirt today was for a band called Fatal Retraction. Coincidence?

Maddy looked miserable. So did James, but I was trying not to care about that. He scowled at me whenever he caught me looking, and I shrugged that off with only a moderate amount of guilt. He hadn’t taken me up on being listed as a contributor to the story. Technically, he didn’t deserve to be punished with the rest of us.

Not that any of us deserved this.

Devin alone seemed not to be harboring any hard feelings toward me, but he wasn’t into this scene either. There were a handful of hipsters in the back row who had waved and called to him in greeting when the four of us entered. These must be the cool kids Maddy had mentioned in the cafeteria. Being seen with the likes of preppy James, misfit-by-choice Maddy, and unknown quantity me wouldn’t help Devin’s reputation. I couldn’t help wondering again if the hipster crowd knew about his kingdom in the game or his love of big fat fantasy novels.

Basically, what it boiled down to was that I was ruining the lives of the people I wanted to be my new friends.

And then there was Anavi. Anavi, who was—it seemed—one of
them
.

SmallvilleGuy could and would help me, but there was only so much he could do from far away. If I was going to get to the bottom of this and have that retraction request retracted and find some way to rescue Anavi, then I needed more allies.

Needed allies, and wanted friends. I wanted to earn their trust back. But if I told them everything, about my growing suspicions of hive mind control experiments, they’d think I was crazy.

Evidence of what was going on at the lab might be enough to seal the deal. Prove it. But first, I needed them willing to listen to me again.

We’d been stripped of our phones outside the door, taken by Butler himself with another slick grin, and would only be returned at the end of the day.

But then there was a positive development. The teacher stopped following the rules (or maybe he didn’t have to), and succumbed to a nap. His widow’s peak fell forward as his weak chin dipped down to his chest.

Someone spoke in the back of the room, and I said, “Shhh.”

To my surprise, whoever it was did. Who knew how long this opportunity would last? I didn’t want to risk waking the teacher up by talking.

I needed this time to get a message across. So I took a piece of paper from the reporter’s notebook in my backpack and wrote fast. I copied the same message—more or less—three times. Then I tore the paper into pieces as quietly as I could and tossed them to Maddy, Devin, and James.

I’d apologized and asked them to please meet me at the
Scoop
after school to discuss our next move, that I had something important to tell them.

I would have to figure out something not insane-sounding to say—
if
they agreed.

James’s note was the only one that landed on the floor instead of his desk. He considered it, next to his expensive sneakers, making no move to pick it up.

Maddy and Devin opened theirs, and I could barely stand to look at them to see what their reactions were.

Devin gave me a small thumbs-up and a nod. Okay, I figured he’d be the easiest.

Maddy stared down at the paper for a long time. Finally, she looked up and solemnly nodded.

The teacher coughed, and I shifted back to face front. He sat bolt upright as if he hadn’t been asleep, though the way he was blinking himself awake confirmed that he had.

I yawned, turning my neck so I could see if James had moved yet.

He quietly sighed and bent over his desk to retrieve his own note. He read it and put it in his pocket, with no indication whatsoever whether he was in or not.

Fine
. Two out of three was better than no one.

CHAPTER 17

The others might have agreed to meet me,
but they hadn’t completely forgotten and forgiven. After Butler showed to redistribute our phones at the end of the day and told us (well, me mostly) that he “hoped you’ve learned a valuable lesson,” we went our separate ways.

I risked taking the subway, since the other day’s cab tipping bonanza had left me cash-poorer for the moment, and I might need what remained for some unavoidable expense of the investigative variety. I could only cross my fingers that Maddy and Devin would be waiting at the
Scoop
office when I got there. Possibly even James.

But I wasn’t holding my breath. Or at least I wasn’t admitting that I was.

As I crossed the lobby of the Daily Planet Building, my phone buzzed and I took it from my bag. I’d signed into the messenger app as soon as I got my phone back, so SmallvilleGuy could reach me if he’d learned something else while I was busy with the day’s punishment.

SmallvilleGuy:
Out of dentist?

I tapped out a short reply.

SkepticGirl1:
Huh?

His next message came fast.

SmallvilleGuy:
Autocorrect. You out of detention?

I snorted.

SkepticGirl1:
Yes. On way 2 work.

SmallvilleGuy:
Do you have your holoset?

SkepticGirl1:
I have James’s.

SmallvilleGuy:
Something going on in the game. I’ll meet you in there.

I hurried past the security guard. I almost hoped the others hadn’t gotten to the office yet, because I wanted no delay in finding out what had red-alerted SmallvilleGuy.

So obviously that meant Maddy and Devin
and
James were waiting when I got to the Morgue. They’d wheeled their chairs out from behind their desks, making a tidy row across from mine. Waiting for me to explain.

I had to. Maybe SmallvilleGuy wouldn’t get too antsy in
Worlds
.

“You’re here,” I said, not quite able to keep the surprise out of my voice.

“You said you had something important to tell us,” Maddy said. “And we know you didn’t lie about Anavi. I don’t understand what’s going on, but . . . something is.”

I took a seat on the corner of my desk. “You really should be in news instead of style,” I said.

Maddy shrugged one shoulder. “I’ve been told I’m stylish. So, what’s up?”

“Yeah,” Devin said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “Anavi never got along with those guys and all of a sudden they’re hanging out and she doesn’t even sound like herself. I don’t get it. Is it about whatever Project Hydra is?”

“You remember Project Hydra,” I said. “Yes, I think that’s exactly what it’s about.”

“What is it?” Maddy was frowning again. “Did you find out and keep it from us?”

“I don’t know everything.”
And I can’t even tell you all of what I suspect.
“But I did, sort of—well, okay I followed the Warheads. The other day when they left school after lunch, I caught a taxi. I didn’t want to risk getting you guys in trouble.”

“Given today’s jail sentence, that’s ironic with extra sprinkles,” said Maddy.

I went on. “Anyway, Ms. Johnson, from our comp sci class—”

Devin raised his eyebrows. “
Our?”

I would never get through this if they kept interrupting. Then again, they had every right to give me a hard time.

I’d endure it.

“You knew I wasn’t staying in that class forever. I didn’t want to get too attached to Ms. Johnson and make our parting too much sweet sorrow.”

“Continue,” Devin said, with a flowery, regal flourish of his fingers.

“They all loaded up in a van and Ms. Johnson drove them across town . . . to the headquarters of Advanced Research Laboratories. I think Butler has them hooked up with some sort of experiment there. He freaked when I asked him about Hydra. We all know he’s letting them get away with whatever they feel like, and it must be because of this. And now Anavi’s involved too.”

“What kind of experiment?” Devin asked.

The kind that apparently makes you lose your personality and start finishing the sentences of creeps. The kind that has no positive application I can think of.

“That,” I said, carefully, “I don’t know. Yet. But I figure if we can uncover it, then we have a bargaining chip with Butler. We can make the retraction stuff all go away, and end whatever they’re doing too. No way this is all above board. Butler’s too determined to keep it hidden.”

“Huh. Okay.” Devin leaned back. “Apology accepted. I’m in.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about this before?” Maddy asked.

“I told you, I didn’t want to get you in trouble. With or without extra sprinkles. I wanted to know more before I brought you guys in. But we’ve run out of time for that . . . and I’m not sure I can do this on my own.”

James still hadn’t said anything.

Finally, he did. “Corporate donations to the school have increased big time in the last couple years. Butler’s brought in a whole bunch of companies to form research partnerships. I’ve met some of the senior execs from Advanced Research at fundraisers for Dad, and I’d believe they’re into anything, as long as it’s something they aren’t supposed to be into.”

“I heard Butler got a whole bunch of new computers from them early this year,” I agreed.

“Could that be a bribe? Or a pay-off, at least?” James asked.

I wouldn’t have banked on anything James had to say being helpful. But he was surprising me. “Could be. At least, a pay-off of a sort. You know Butler well enough to know he wants to shoot foxes or skeet shoot or whatever the nouveau riche do to pretend they’re your kind, with generations of money. I think he wants the connections. The power.”

James didn’t disagree, though he shifted in his seat when I mentioned his kind of rich people.

“Is there any way for us to figure out when Hydra started taking up the Warheads’ afternoons?” he asked. “We could see if it matches up with the donation.”

Devin considered. “I looked back at last semester on a couple of their records the other day and it wasn’t there. Looked like a new thing, this semester only, so can’t be longer than a few weeks? They could have been going over the summer, I guess—but if they were, it didn’t show up on their transcripts.”

“Whether it coincides exactly or not, it’s probably
not
a coincidence,” I said, throwing James a bone.

I didn’t need to bust his chops about his family all the time. It’s not like anyone got to choose who they were related to, not really.

“How
are
we going to find out what they’re doing in time?” Devin said. “I could try hacking into Advanced Research’s system, but it’ll be way tougher than the school’s firewall. It would take me days.
If
I could do it, it would be after Monday.”

Monday was Perry’s deadline. We couldn’t risk waiting that long. “And if you got busted, you could be in real trouble,” I pointed out.

Not that a little thing like that would stop me, but I didn’t intend to get these guys in any more trouble if I could avoid it.

So I decided on a course of action. I would get into the lab, but not quite yet. I wanted a better idea of what was happening once the Warheads arrived there. And if my luck didn’t screw things up, what I had in mind would be enough evidence to convince Perry why the retraction request had been made. Enough to save the
Scoop
.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll bug them.”

“With killer bees, or . . . ?” Devin trailed off.

“No, not with killer bees.” I rolled my eyes. “With a small unlikely-to-be-detected sound-and-heat-signature-capturing device. A bug. I figure Anavi will be the easiest to slip one onto. She always carries her backpack. If we do it first thing Monday morning, we should have enough for Perry by the end of the day. I’ll be the responsible party and take the heat if someone has to, so don’t worry about getting caught.”

Assuming we wouldn’t get enough information from this method, I was working up a plan B . . . or was it a plan C? But the rest of them
really
didn’t need to be involved in that. I had learned my lesson, though probably not the one Butler intended: don’t get people in trouble if you want them to be your friends.

The
plan, plan A, my original plan when I arrived in Metropolis—well, that was toast. My dad and I would have to work something else out. Because I had no choice but to get in trouble. To not fit in. To make enemies and rock the boat so hard it might capsize with me in it.

No choice but to do what was right.

“A bug.” James was shaking his head, the old disbelief back. “Where would you get one?”

Just when I was feeling like James might be all right. “Doubting me? Have a little faith. I’ll bring it to school.”

I happened to know that Dad had a stockpile of all sorts of handy tools in a locked cabinet in his office. Finding the key would be a challenge, but I was up for it. And once I did I’d have access to all kinds of things, like the latest generation of listening devices and spy gear.

I focused on Maddy. “You think you’re up to helping me plant the bug?”

“Oh, yes, definitely,” Maddy answered instantly. “Are there videos I can watch to get ready? Research I can do?”

“You’ll be a natural,” I said.

“You better be right about this,” James said. “Because if we don’t nail Butler,
this
is all over.” He swept a hand around us, indicating the office.

“It’s so sweet of you to act like you care about that,” I said.

I didn’t miss how James’s attention gravitated to his shoes, as if they were fascinating objects he’d never seen before. That was interesting.

“What do we do now?” Devin asked. “Please don’t say ‘nothing.’ I don’t want to just sit around all weekend.”

Right. SmallvilleGuy was waiting. “Now you and I are going into the game. A . . . friend tipped me off that something’s happening in there. We should probably be careful when we go in.”

“I’m a
King
,” Devin said. “I don’t do caution.”

“Your secret is out,” I said.

“They don’t play, so they don’t even know what that means,” Devin countered with a grin. But I didn’t miss his worried glance over at James.

Would James recognize his holoset? There was a little red dot on one side, but it seemed like it had come that way.

I rummaged in my bag and pulled it out, sat down in my chair and slipped it over my ear. My shoulder ached with phantom pain like when I’d been shot. Devin already had his holoset on, but hadn’t powered up yet.

Maddy said, “We just sit here and watch you guys? Boring.”

James’s eyes narrowed, and he said, “Or I could ask Lois for my holoset back and go in with Devin instead.”

Devin and I exchanged a guilty look. “I need to do this,” I said, “and I was just borrowing it.” Devin didn’t say anything, so I went on. “And Devin said you’ve never even used it since he set it up. Is that true?”

James nodded, annoyed again.

I said, “
And
you’d be playing as an elvish princess named Lo.”

James blinked. I thought for a second he’d take me up on it to be testy. But he said, “Go on, use it.”

“Um . . . thanks?” I was tentative. Thanking James felt weird. But he didn’t even exert himself to toss back a “you’re welcome,” so I wouldn’t be doing it again anytime soon.

Devin reached up to tap the button on his holoset, but waited with his finger poised. “Ready?” he asked.

I nodded, and we pressed our holosets on at the same time. I started, “Remember, be care—”

But as the gamescape replaced the dim Morgue, the words died in my throat.

Worlds War Three
was on fire. I felt the ground tremble, then shake, under my still-bare elf feet.

I looked frantically around to find Devin, and there he was, a few feet away from me. Wearing a royal purple tunic with chainmail and plate armor, and an ornate, if tastefully small, crown. He stood, regally gaping.

I gaped too. It wasn’t the whole world that was burning.

It was only Devin’s kingdom.

His castle lay in ruins, flames licking from the openings along the tower walls, and much of the rest nothing but rubble. The proud flag that bore Devin’s likeness had been ripped and burned almost to shreds. I could barely make out his image on it.

All that was left was an impression of his silhouette, like he was a ghost.

A hand touched my arm, and Devin stopped staring and sprang into motion. He drew a long sword from a sheath covered in scrolled metalwork. It was augmented with a gun barrel on top of the blade.

“Stop right there!” he ordered, leveling the sword gun at the newcomer.

Devin made a kingly presence, defending his castle and me.

Unfortunately he was pointing his sword-gun at SmallvilleGuy, who wasn’t the source of the devastation.

“Devin, this is my friend,” I choked out through the growing haze of smoke that surrounded us. Funny how my throat was so easily convinced it was real. “He’s not responsible.”

Devin hesitated a second before lowering the sword. “He’s the one who told you about this? Asked us to meet him?”

SmallvilleGuy came closer, not intimidated by the monarch who’d threatened him, though in the game he was a gawky alien who should have been. He reached up to resettle his rectangular glasses, a tiny giveaway that maybe he was nervous beneath his cool. “That’s me. And I’m the one who was with her the other night when we ran interference with the Warheads. Good call on making her elvish royalty.”

I felt like I should be blushing, and then realized with horror that my elvish princess cheeks might be reddening. “Did you see who did this? It was them, wasn’t it?”

Because who else would have? And it was more evidence they might turn on Devin next.

It was as if SmallvilleGuy read my mind and saw the concerns there.

“Yes, they were single-minded about it,” SmallvilleGuy said. “Eyes only for Devin’s property, even when other characters showed up to loot the ruins.”