The Betrayal of Renegade X (Renegade X, Book 3) (18 page)

He runs a hand through his hair, not liking that answer. “I know it must be a strange situation to be in, getting recognized by villains while on a hero mission. Especially if they don’t agree with the choices you’ve made.”

“Dad, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but
nobody
agrees with the choices I’ve made. Not even you.”

“That’s not... There might be a few things that we disagree on, and I don’t always understand why you do what you do, but...” He smooths out his shirt and clears his throat. “I was trying to say that if you have any questions for me, I’m here.”

“Actually, there is one thing. And I want you to tell me the truth. Don’t hold back or sugarcoat anything. Okay?”

“Of course.”

I squeeze my eyes shut for a second, unable to believe I’m really asking him this. “Do you think I have a future as a hero?”

“
What?
”

“You heard me. And don’t say I can join the League, because you already know how I feel about that.”

“You might change your mind.”

“I won’t. And that’s not the point. Just tell me, realistically, where you see me in five years.”

He leans against the door frame, his forehead wrinkling. “You’ve got plenty of time to figure out what you’re going to do. You’re only sixteen. It’s not like you have to decide right now.”

“I’ll be seventeen next month. And don’t avoid the question. You said you wouldn’t hold back.”

“All right. The truth is, I don’t know any more than you do. I didn’t know where I’d end up when I was your age, and I wasn’t half villain, and I didn’t have the whole city watching to see what I’d do. So I don’t expect you to know. Your friends and your sister might plan to join the League, but that doesn’t guarantee them success. And it doesn’t mean they know what job they’ll have after they join, or if it will make them happy. No one can say where their lives will really take them.”

“Great. So you think I have no future at all. Let me put in a formal request right now for Alex’s room as soon as he moves out, since I’ll obviously still be living here.”

He laughs and shakes his head, like he thinks I’m just being dramatic. “You’ll be fine. Now come on. Grab your stuff and meet me downstairs. You’re late enough as it is.”

R
iley shoves his open notebook at me in Advanced Heroism third period. He’s sitting at the table next to mine, so it’s not exactly discreet when he passes his notebook across the gap between our desks and clears his throat.

There’s a note at the top of the page.
What happened to you yesterday??

The  teacher, Mrs. Deeds, is at the whiteboard at the front of the room, talking about how impressed she is with how all our missions went. Well, with how
most
of them went. Amelia’s sitting next to me, listening to Mrs. Deeds, but she glances over when she sees the notebook and tries to read it. I turn my shoulder and keep the page out of her view.

You already know what happened
, I write back. Because I know Amelia was on the phone with Zach for at least an hour last night, recounting every little detail of our mission. And there’s no way he didn’t tell Riley as soon as they hung up.

Riley waits until the teacher isn’t looking and then slides his notebook back to his desk. He scribbles on it some more and passes it back.
I know what you told Amelia. I want to hear what really happened.

I look up from the notebook and raise my eyebrows at him. Does he seriously think I’m going to write down all my secrets in the middle of class? Leaving an easily confiscated paper trail? Not that I’m sure I want to tell him what really happened. I don’t
not
want to, but it’s one thing to tell Kat. It’s another to tell someone who can’t wait to join the League and has had all their rules memorized for years.

Riley tilts his head in response, like he knows I’m hiding something and should tell him anyway.

I roll my eyes at him and write,
If you wanted to know what happens on my missions, you shouldn’t have ditched me.

I’m in the middle of passing it back when Mrs. Deeds suddenly looks right at us and says, “Damien. Riley.”

I freeze. Maybe if I don’t draw any attention to it, she won’t notice the notebook. Even though she obviously knows we were passing notes and is calling us out on it.

She looks at us like we’re supposed to do something, like we’re supposed to already know what it is. Then she says, “Come up here and tell the class about your missions.”

Oh. So, this isn’t about writing notes in class, then. We get up from our seats. Amelia kind of half scowls, half pouts, like she doesn’t know why Mrs. Deeds would only call up one of us. Mason gives Riley a questioning look, probably wondering the same thing.

Mrs. Deeds smiles once we’re standing in front of the class, doing her bidding. “I’ve singled you out as examples of what to do on a mission, and”—she looks straight at me for this—“what
not
to do. Riley, your mission was particularly successful, and your partner wrote in his report that most of that had to do with your actions. Would you like to tell us about it?”

Riley lets out a deep breath, seeming relieved that this isn’t about us getting in trouble, and maybe kind of touched that he and Mason are still such amazing BFFs. They share a look, and Mason gives him a nod of approval.

Barf. And meanwhile, Amelia’s smirking at me, probably because she realized that me being up here isn’t a reward—it’s some kind of punishment.

“Our mission,” Riley tells the class, “was to stake out the Golden City Museum, to check for any weak points in security before the new exhibit goes up. But while we were there, we sort of noticed a suspicious guy trying to do the same thing.”

“Don’t be modest,” Mrs. Deeds says. “Mason already told me what you did in his report.”

Riley glances down at his feet, then back up again. “I might have noticed the guy first. And I was the one who apprehended him when he ran. After he realized we were onto him, I mean. He went tearing through the museum, pushing people out of his way. He looked like he was heading for the main entrance, but I took a chance that he was just trying to throw us off, turned invisible, and took a shortcut to the side entrance that’s past the Egyptian wing.”

A couple people nod. Everyone is watching him tell this story, totally entranced.

“I got there first, and when he came running for the door, I tackled him to the ground. Security wasn’t too far behind him, so I didn’t have to detain him long.”

Mrs. Deeds is practically giddy with delight over one of her students doing something so supposedly awesome. She looks like it’s all she can do not to hop up and down. “
And?
”

“And it turned out he was an art thief the museum had been trying to catch for months. But it’s not like I knew that or anything.”

“Still, you caught him without much trouble, despite how well he’d eluded the authorities before. And,” she adds, addressing the whole class, “that’s why I’m nominating Riley Perkins for the Heroesworth Award for Bravery in the Field. You’ll be attending the ceremony at the Heroes’ Gala next month.”

Seriously?
I glance over at Riley. His mouth is gaping open, and he looks like people do in game shows when they find out they just won a fabulous new car. Mason beams at him, Amelia’s already not-so-secretly texting Zach about it, and a bunch of people start clapping.

“Wow,” Riley says, after the applause dies down. “I’ve never been nominated for anything before.”

“You deserve it,” Mrs. Deeds tells him. Then, to everyone else, she says, “It’s not every day that a mission turns out so successful, and I don’t expect that sort of thing to happen every time. But I do want you all to note that it was Riley’s determination to go above and beyond what was required of him that brought about that success. And now...” She looks over at me, the smile on her face wilting, like she just got a whiff of fresh dog poop. “Let’s hear a firsthand account of the class’s least successful mission.”

“What?” She can’t be serious.

She gets this stern look on her face. “Didn’t you read the syllabus? This is what we do after each mission, so the whole class can learn from each other’s experiences. Why don’t you start by giving us an overview of your goal yesterday, and then you can tell us where you think you went wrong.”

Shouldn’t Amelia be up here for this? I’m not the one who screwed everything up. The one time it’s not my fault and I
still
have to answer for it. “We were checking out a laundromat that was supposed to be a front for the Red Bandit. It wasn’t.” I shrug.

“And?”

And
I really want to zap pretty much everyone in the room right now. Even Riley, who’s supposed to be my friend, because he’s still looking all starry-eyed about getting nominated for a useless award. A nomination he got without me, because apparently he and Mason make a better team.

But I don’t say any of that, because that would be pretty stupid. “And it really doesn’t matter what else happened because nobody got hurt and we’re still here and everything.”

Mrs. Deeds purses her lips and shakes her head. “You got captured by supervillains and compromised your mission. Do you want to tell us why that was?”

Um, no? Why would I ever want to tell them that? “Obviously I wanted to fail, so I’d have something to work for the rest of the semester. And to make Perkins here look good, of course.”

Mrs. Deeds scowls at me. “From what I understand, these were villains you knew. Because you’re half villain yourself.”

A murmur runs through the class as people start whispering about that and giving me dirty looks, as if she just said I sold out the entire school instead of that I maybe happened to know some people.

Riley’s paying attention now, watching me.

“Okay, fine. You got me. It was all a set up. They were going to help me sell Amelia on the black market, but it turned out there weren’t any buyers, so they ‘let us go.’” I make exaggerated finger quotes on that last part.

“Hey!” Amelia says, glaring at me.

“But I can say with absolute certainty that it’s not a front for the Red Bandit. So I think that was a pretty successful mission.”

Mrs. Deeds is obviously not impressed. She looks back and forth from me to Riley, probably wondering how the two of us ever worked together. Or maybe like she gets why Riley has a new partner. “Is that why you didn’t use your
ability
”—her lip curls on the word—“to stop these villains when they pointed weapons at the two of you? Because you knew them? We all know you didn’t hesitate to use your power on that unarmed superhero last semester, so I find it strange that you refused to do so in this situation.”

“You mean why didn’t I use my lightning to fry some guys who had their fingers on the triggers?” I absently hold up a hand and let some electricity wash over it. I don’t even think about it until some people in the audience gasp, and I notice that everyone looks pretty horrified. Everyone except Riley and Amelia. And Mason, which just makes me hate him more, because it’s like he doesn’t think he’s in any danger from me. Even though I obviously have a dangerous power and he stole my partner and I hate his guts.

I make my lightning go away, though the class doesn’t stop looking horrified. “That was a free sample,” I tell them. “I normally charge admission for the lightning show. If anyone wants to see more or get their picture taken—for a small fee, of course—I’ll be available after class.”

“No, you won’t.” Mrs. Deeds has her arms folded across her chest and this really harsh expression on her face. Which really undermines the email she sent out at the beginning of the semester, about how she was so happy to be working with
all
of us. “You’re reporting to the office. Now.” She grabs a notepad from her desk and writes something down—presumably a message about how awful I’ve been, and that I’ve been conspiring with villains to sell my sister on the black market. She tears it off and starts to hold it out. But then she pulls her hand back, like she just realized she doesn’t want to make contact with me. Like I might zap her or something.

Riley comes to her rescue, snatching the paper from her and saying, “I’ll make sure he gets there.” Then he practically pushes me out into the hall.

I shove him off me as soon as we’re out of the room. “You’ll make sure I get there? What the hell was that?”

“I was trying to help you. Before you made it any worse.” He glances up and down the hall, which is empty, since it’s the middle of third period. “Did you really know those villains?”

I hate that he’s even asking me that. “Their leader knew my mom.” I also hate that I’m lying to him. Sort of. And I don’t want to see the doubt in his eyes as he considers that statement, so I stare at a student-made mural on the wall. It’s of a superhero and a government official—probably the mayor—both smiling and each holding one end of a giant golden key to the city. Propaganda at its best.

“And you couldn’t have just told Mrs. Deeds that?” Riley asks. He sounds kind of pissed at me. Or maybe just worried.

“Amelia was the one who screwed up and got us caught. But you didn’t see Mrs. Deeds calling her up to be humiliated about it. She’d rather blame the half villain.”