The Betrayal of Renegade X (Renegade X, Book 3) (42 page)

His eyebrows come together. “You’re too soft when it comes to them, you know that?”

“My friends and my family are here. You used me, and now a lot of people are going to get hurt because of it.”

“And what do you think is going to happen if you destroy my machine? You think the heroes will come quietly when the Truth shows up? You’re not preventing anyone from getting hurt by doing that. You’re making it worse. And you’re right—those villains are coming here because of you. Is this what you want for them? To have to fight for their lives?”

I glare at him, and I can’t help the lightning that surges along my arms and collects in my palms. I think about Sarah’s alert bracelet still in my pocket and wonder if I should put it on, so I don’t accidentally lose control and hurt the machine. Maybe if Grandpa wasn’t here, I would. But then again, if he wasn’t here, I wouldn’t need to.

“Don’t try anything,” Grandpa warns. “I can take you down before you even think about it.”

“Just listen to me. We’ve got, like, two minutes before that thing goes off, and... What?”

“You think I’d be standing here if I really only had two minutes left? I reset it, gave it an extra ten. Xavier’s already out. Twelve minutes is plenty of time for us to do the same and get far away from here.” He holds up his hands, electricity crackling. “I’ll take you out of here by force if I have to.”

“No, wait! You have to listen to me! The heroes have villain-targeting lasers set up. They’re going to turn them on if they see a bunch of villains coming. They’ve got remote access, and it won’t matter if everyone in this building is knocked out.”

“All the more reason to get you out of here!” He takes a step forward, the lightning in his hands growing brighter.

“Grandpa, wait!” Sweat prickles along my back. My heart races. Even if I use my lightning and make myself immune, it only goes so far. I don’t doubt that he can overpower me.

“This isn’t up for discussion. And we don’t have time to stand around—we’re leaving.
Now
.” He grabs my arm. There’s a surge of electricity as our two powers meet.

Before I know what I’m doing, I’ve got Sarah’s alert bracelet in my hand. I slap it around Grandpa’s wrist and hold it there.

There’s a loud
zzzzzt
noise as the bracelet cancels out both of our powers. Grandpa gasps and pulls away from me, the bracelet slipping off his arm. I couldn’t keep it there forever. Even if I managed to close the clasp, he could take it off again. And even without his power, he could probably still drag me out of here. He’s a lot stronger than you’d expect for someone in their sixties.

But the bracelet stopping his power like that startles him. Enough so that he stops trying to force me to leave and actually pays attention.

“You can still call this off!” I tell him. “It’s not too late.”

He’s staring at the bracelet in my hand, like he can’t believe it did that to him. Then he comes to his senses. “I’ve got hundreds of riled up villains waiting for me. They might not know my exact plan tonight, but they know this is their chance to stand up and be taken seriously. To make a change. They’re ready to face their oppressors, and I can’t just call that off.”

“Face their oppressors? They’re coming in here and attacking people who are unconscious—that’s not ‘facing’ anyone! If they come here, they’re going to get hurt. A lot of people are. I know you, and I know that you care about these villains. They’re trusting you. And... and maybe they came to that rally because they trusted me, but those were your words I was saying in those commercials. You didn’t just start the Truth for me, or for yourself. You did it for
them
. So villains could finally have a voice. And I know—I
know
—that you don’t want them to get slaughtered. Because that’s what’s going to happen if you don’t call it off. All those people, looking for a way to be heard, who trusted you... You can’t betray them like this!”

“You’ve got good leadership potential, Damien. Just like I said. But you’ve never been in charge of this many people. I might have started the Truth, but if I want to keep it going, I can’t afford to look weak. I can’t go around getting people charged up and ready to attack and then calling it off at the last second. This is the first rally, the first chance for us to show the heroes that they need to take us seriously. Letting them scare us off with their lasers?” He shakes his head. “I’d never live that down. And no, I don’t want anyone to get hurt, but the Truth needs me. It’s still a new organization, and starting a revolution... It’s fragile. People might get hurt tonight, but the Truth will go on to do a lot more good in the long run. So, come on, let’s get out of here. You weren’t going to do anyone any good by destroying my machine, anyway.”

“I wasn’t trying to destroy it. I was going to reprogram it. To delay it, so it doesn’t come on until the villains are here, too. Just hear me out!” I say when he scowls at that, his electricity crackling again. “We’re taking down the lasers. I mean, my friend Sarah is. She’s the one who made this bracelet. She knows what she’s doing, and if you just help me reset the time on this thing, then no one has to get hurt tonight.”

“Or your friend can take down the lasers, and I can still let my machine go off as planned. None of my guys are in danger, and we still show the heroes we mean business.”

“You can’t do that. Everyone in the world who’s important to me is here tonight, in this building. Maybe you hate heroes, and maybe you think you have to prove something to them. But all this attack is going to do is prove that we’re exactly who they thought we were—dangerous and untrustable.”

“We
are
dangerous. Especially when we’re being ignored. Villains aren’t going away. We’re not a problem to be swept under the rug, and they need to know that.”

“Yeah, but... Look, maybe your plan tonight would work. Maybe it would make them take you more seriously.” Not in a good way, but still. “But I lost Mom, okay? I lost her, and my dad thinks I’m crazy, my sister isn’t talking to me, and... Everyone I love is here.
Kat
is here. And if you hurt them, if you let all this crap get in the way of seeing reason and you bring in some crazed mob, I’m not just going to lose them—I’m going to lose you, too.”

“Damien—”

“
No.
Just shut up! I thought Mom cared about me, but it turned out she didn’t. I wanted to protect my hero family from her, and she abandoned me at the drop of a hat. She
gave me up
, because she didn’t really care. And now you come along and you act like you care about me, despite me having an
X
and not going to Vilmore and all that. You used me. And maybe you did care, but... It’s happening again. You might not be abandoning me in the same way she did, but if you hurt my family, or my friends, then you might as well be. Because we can’t come back from that.”

My eyes are wet. Just a little. I’m torn between wiping them on the back of my hand and doing nothing in the hopes that he doesn’t notice.

“You going to let me talk now?” Grandpa says.

I nod, though I guess it depends on what he has to say.

“Damien, I’m not abandoning you. I did things that were for your own good without consulting you, and, yes, putting it plain and simple, I used you. But I’m not your mother. One disagreement isn’t going to send me packing. I love you, and nothing’s going to change that, all right? If it means that much to you, I’d call this whole thing off and take the risk. I would, but it’s too late.”

“What? What do you mean, it’s too late?”

“I told my seconds that if I wasn’t back before seven thirty to lead the attack without me. It’s seven thirty-two. They’re already on their way. They’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.”

“Can’t you call them?!”

“I can try, but there’s no guarantee they’ll pick up. It’s loud over there. And once you get an angry mob going, it’s not that easy to stop them.”

“Okay. So, we stick to my plan. We reset the machine so it goes off after they get here. It knocks everyone out, including the mob, and nobody gets hurt.”

He frowns at that. “That plan leaves my people completely defenseless. It’s one thing if they’re awake and can fight back against these lasers, or try to avoid them, but unconscious? That’s a lot of death warrants you’re signing, there.”

“Sarah can turn them off. She
can
. Tell me how to reprogram the machine—give us until seven fifty. Nobody has to know you helped me. You don’t even have to lose face with the Truth.”

“If I do this and that mob shows up here, only to be knocked out and murdered by the League...” He shudders. “If the Truth is still around after that, I won’t be leading it. And you’ll have a lot of angry villain families crying for blood. So you’d better be damn sure you can do this.”

“I am. I swear, Grandpa. You just have to trust me.”

T
HE ELEVATOR DOORS OPEN, and I almost run into Amelia as I hurry inside. She was on her way out, and her forehead bonks into my chin.

“
Ow!
” She glares at me and puts a hand to her head.

“What the hell are you doing here? I told you to—”

“Warn Mom and Dad? I did. That only took about two seconds. Then I called Sarah, and she said you were either on the roof or in the basement. It wasn’t hard to guess which one of those
you’d
be in.”

“I also told you to get out of here. And since when do you have Sarah’s number?”

“Uh, since she gave it to me? We got our hair done together before we went to Zach’s house.”

I glance over at Amelia’s hair. It looks a little shinier, but otherwise exactly the same. “That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.” I get out Riley’s phone and dial Sarah’s number to tell her I did my part and that she’s got until 7:50. Er, well, she’s got until the mob of angry villains shows up, I mean, since that’s when the heroes will turn on their lasers.

“I’m here,” Amelia says, “because you don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“I told you to get out of here so you wouldn’t get hurt.”

“Yeah, like I’m completely useless.”

“Riley?” Sarah says, answering the phone after a couple rings. She sounds kind of panicked. “Where are you? Is—”

“It’s me.”

“Oh, Renegade.” Then, presumably to Kat, “It’s Rene— I mean, it’s Damien. Your boyfriend.”

“I reset the machine. You’ve got until seven fifty, but the villains are on their way.”

“That’s— Watch out!” There’s the sound of a raygun blasting, and then something exploding.

“Sarah?! What’s going on?”

“Damien?” It’s Kat this time. “You guys have to get over here! We were on our way to the control room, to turn off the lasers, and—” There’s another exploding sound.

“
Kat?!
”

“I’m here. Anyway, someone saw me shapeshift, and we got stopped by security, and then your crazy-ass sidekick pulled out a megaphone—”

“It wasn’t a megaphone!” Sarah shouts in the background. “It was a stupefication gun!”

“Okay, your crazy-ass sidekick pulled out a
gun
, and aimed it at security, and then it exploded.”

There’s a muffled noise as Sarah takes the phone back. She sounds out of breath. “I made some adjustments on this new model, but I overcompensated, and I didn’t have a chance to test it. So— Kat! The door!”

“Got it!”

“Sarah, what the hell is going on?!”

“Basically, some superheroes think I attacked them—”

“Because you
did
,” Kat says.

“—and they pulled actual rayguns on us, so we had to run. Now we’re barricaded in a hotel room, and I’m trying to fix the stupefication gun. We’re holding them off, but you guys need to get here,
now
!”

“Where are you?”

“Fourth floor. I don’t know the room number, but it’ll be obvious which one, since it’s the one all the superheroes are shooting at!”

“Okay, I’ll—”

“I have to go! Just get here!”

She hangs up. I press the button for the fourth floor. The elevator starts to ascend, and I brace myself against the railing, since I’m still not sure Riley was joking about that knocking sound. “I don’t have time to drop you off,” I tell Amelia, “but as soon as I get off this thing, you’re going to the lobby and getting out of here.”

“I’m going with you,” she says, even though her voice wavers a little and she looks kind of like going with me is the last thing she wants to do. “I’m
not
useless. And you don’t get to tell me what to do, because you
left
.”

“Amelia, I—”

“You left, and you didn’t tell anyone where you were going! You weren’t even going to tell anyone you were leaving! Everybody was worried, and they were all mad at me, because I kind of knew about it. I felt sick for days. And you
lied
to me. A bunch of times. You lied about what happened on our mission, and you lied about that awful red-headed kid being your
brother
.”

“That’s only twice. And if he was your brother, you’d lie about it, too.”

She glares at me. “But those are just the ones I know about. You’ve probably lied about a bunch more things. And then you show up here and tell everybody what to do, and you think you can just send me off to babysit and warn people. You didn’t even consider the fact that I could really do something.”

Since when is that a fact? “Warning people is important. You know you’re not exactly the best at fieldwork, and this is an emergency. I don’t have time to babysit anybody, least of all you.”

She gives off an angry noise that makes her sound kind of like an elephant. “At least I’m here, and I’m not leaving, unlike
some
people.”

“I
had
to leave, okay? I had to! You guys could have gotten hurt. Which is why I don’t want you here now.”

“But you didn’t even ask us!”

“Because if I had, you would have told me to stay, and it was hard enough to leave as it was. But Alex almost got kidnapped, and if something else had happened, I couldn’t take it.”

“So you left because of
you
. Because you couldn’t take it. Don’t pretend it was for us.”