Sidekick Returns

by Auralee Wallace

  Suddenly I felt a hand grip my wrist.

  A hot rush of tingles ran over my body. Yes!

  ‘Pull me up,’ I grunted through gritted teeth.

  Bart yanked me up the last few feet as Queenie grabbed the waistband of my jammies and hoisted me over the edge.

  I grabbed both of them around the necks and pulled them into my chest for a group hug. ‘You guys.’

  Then I heard a whizzing sound right before something struck me in the back of the neck.

  I let them go as I reached a hand up to touch the spot at the base of my skull.

  ‘I think something bit m—’

  Not quite sure what happened after that.

  Chapter 37

  Loud moans woke me. Loud moans coming from my mouth. In fairness it was hard to form any thoughts at all, beyond, My head!

  Something cool and damp landed on my brow. I inhaled deeply. Minty. Herby. Choden. My eyes fluttered open to the sight of his smiling face. ‘Hello,’ he said in a much-appreciated quiet voice.

  I blinked a few more times. ‘Ow.’

  He nodded.

  ‘I got tranked.’

  He nodded again.

  ‘Like some elephant on the savanna.’

  ‘You certainly felt like one,’ another voice called out. ‘Do have any idea how hard it was to get you here? Thank—I was going to say God, but credit where credit’s due—thank me that I thought of throwing you down the garbage chute to the basement of your building.’

  I blinked. ‘Bart? You’re here too?’ I couldn’t quite make him out, but a fuzzy Bart-like shape moved into view. ‘Yup, I left the Lion and Tin Man at home, and instead brought the Wicked Wit—I can’t say it. Please take me back, Queenie! Dump Kevin, and take me back into your sweet, sweet palace of pain!’

  I closed my eyes. ‘Somebody put me back out.’ I licked my lips with a dry tongue. ‘But how did you know?’

  ‘I installed a webcam or two by your apartment back in the early days when I was a little doubtful of your connection to Ryder. I decided a little surveillance might be in order after last night.’

  ‘Thanks, Weirdo.’ I closed my eyes again. They were very heavy.

  Choden gently removed the washcloth. I could hear him dip it into something close by, then wring it out, before placing it back on my forehead. ‘I’m afraid you are going to need to stay with us and speak of what happened.’

  Thoughts swirled into focus. ‘Ryder!’ I shot up and pain exploded in my head. ‘Slowly, Child,’ Choden said, guiding me back down. ‘Slowly.’

  ‘But she’s been kidnapped! In fact, I think she was kidnapped a long time ago, escaped, and then was kidnapped again! Today!’ I blinked the residual fuzziness out of my eyes and focused on Choden’s face. I could see something there I had never seen before. Guilt. ‘But you already knew that.’

  He remained still for a moment then nodded.

  ‘You knew, and you didn’t tell me!’

  He nodded again.

  ‘Choden,’ I said in a whisper. ‘I can’t believe this.’

  ‘Wait, wait, wait.’ Bart, wearing a worn ATARI t-shirt, moved into sight. ‘That’s impossible. She’s been spotted all over the city unless … but then again, you had said there was something different about her … but no, it couldn’t be … unless … don’t tell me Ryder has a—’

  ‘Doppelganger!’ Saying that might have been one of the best moments of my life, if I hadn’t been super close to vomiting. Bart grimaced. ‘I wanted to say that.’

  ‘Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.’ I paused. ‘Doppelganger.’

  Suddenly Queenie stepped into view and slapped the small table by the cot I was resting on. I startled. Not just from the noise she had made, but from her appearance. She was wearing blue flannel pyjamas with clouds, no make-up, and her hair was bundled up with a scrunchie—a scrunchie!—on top of her head.

  ‘Queenie, I—’

  Her eyes flashed as she raised her hand again. My guess was if I dared to comment on her appearance, the next slap wouldn’t be for the table. ‘Right, we need to focus,’ I said, turning my attention back to Choden. ‘I think it’s time you filled us in on everything.’

  Choden squeezed my arm gently then rose to his feet.

  We all waited, but he stood completely still. Moments passed, before he finally moved, running a hand over his face. I had never seen him do something so … emotional? Vulnerable?

  I wasn’t going to be able to take this much longer. He obviously knew more than we did, and it scared him. His eyes met mine, and I knew.

  ‘Oh, come on. Really?’ I shook my head. ‘I mean, I already knew, but really?’

  Nobody said anything. I groaned … loudly. Why did everything evil have to have a St. James Industries label affixed to it? ‘Let me guess, she’s currently being held captive in a secret underground facility by none other than my father,’ I grumbled. ‘Some underground facility that’s probably guarded with sharks and lasers, or sharks with lasers, where they’re planning to do unspeakable science-y experiments on her … but, instead of those God-awful sweats and sneakers, they should have her in some silky pantsuit … you know the kind where she can still do cartwheels across the room, and land with her thighs wrapped around some poor peon’s neck?’

  ‘Bremy,’ Bart said. ‘Sean Connery called. He wants his movie back.’

  ‘You’re so old,’ I muttered. ‘Choden?’

  ‘I have been attempting to track your father’s activities. My sources have heard chatter about a facility, not that far away,’ he said. ‘The intel seems to suggest your father has been involved in genetic testing to build his own … superhero.’

  ‘Jenny,’ I said softly. ‘My father’s orchestrating everything. Oh my God!’ I shouted before grabbing my head. ‘Of course! The flash mob! That’s what I missed. It was Jenny who bent back that wall and saved all the Bremys!’

  No one answered. I looked around at their faces. ‘Oh, you all figured that out already.’

  They nodded.

  ‘So, he’s done it,’ I said carefully, trying not to feel the emotion of what I was saying. ‘He’s made Jenny into a superhero. But why … why keep Ryder?’

  ‘Maybe he just can’t have two superheroes running around in the city, or maybe he’s not done cloning her,’ Bart said, voice picking up speed. ‘Or maybe he plans to restart his brain chip program and use her as his minion?’

  ‘Nope,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘Those just don’t have my father’s special evil sauce on them.’ I suddenly turned to Choden again. ‘Besides,’ I said remembering our conversation in the diner. ‘You know already, don’t you?’

  ‘I cannot be sure of anything,’ he said. ‘But I suspect your father has plans for you. I believe Ryder figures into those plans.’

  I closed my eyes. ‘And that’s why you lied, or, at least, didn’t tell me the entire story.’

  ‘We have spoken at length about the extremes your father is willing to go to punish what he perceives to be disloyalty.’

  I nodded and rubbed my eyes.

  ‘How do you think he has felt, knowing you have put your faith and trust in another?’

  I snapped my eyes open. Freaking hell! How was it that Choden was always having these brilliant life and death insights while the chimp in my brain was pulling petals off daisies? ‘You think he’s going to use Ryder to teach me a lesson, and that’s why you wanted to get rid of me.’ Which was kind of exactly what he said a minute ago, but my tranquillised brain was having trouble keeping up.

  ‘He could not play his game without all the players,’ Choden replied. ‘But that was not my only reason.’

  ‘Wait.’ I waved a hand in the air. ‘So you save me, but that still leaves Ryder at his mercy.’

  Choden’s expression went still, mask-like. ‘She would not want you to sacrifice yourself to save her, and, I believe, we all know that is exactly what you would do.’

  I flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. ‘That was
n’t your decision to make, Choden.’

  ‘Perhaps you are right.’

  ‘Don’t you perhaps me!’ I straightened back up. ‘So what were you going to do if I did go Nepal?’

  ‘I was planning a rescue attempt.’

  ‘A rescue attempt? By yourself?’ Anger raced over me as my stomach roiled, trails of sweat running down my ribcage. My body was having trouble handling everything it had been through. ‘What about your vow of no violence?’

  ‘She is my child.’

  ‘So, you were thinking of a suicide mission?’

  He didn’t answer for a moment. ‘I am not untrained.’

  ‘Okay, everybody just calm down,’ Bart said. ‘Bremy, take a breath. You look like you’re going to throw up.’

  I closed my eyes and tried to calm the chaos in my body.

  ‘Let’s focus on the here and now,’ he continued, ‘and figure out what we need to do next.’

  I started to speak, but Choden interrupted me. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘Nothing.’ He held me in his gaze. ‘My reasons still hold for keeping you out of this situation.’

  I rolled my jaw before speaking. ‘Choden, I don’ t know if you know this—but you should, seeing as you’re Mr Psychology these days—I’ve got a few daddy issues. And right now, you’re acting like a real patriarchal f—’

  ‘Whoa!’ everybody shouted.

  I closed my eyes, causing a tear to run down my cheek. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that—I’m really … I don’t know what I am.’

  ‘I don’t mean to hurt you, Child.’ I felt him move some hair from my face with his fingers. ‘But you need to hear this. You cannot go after Ryder. It would be a waste.’

  ‘A waste?’

  ‘Of life,’ he said. ‘You would fail, and you would die.’

  Chapter 38

  My eyes snapped open, but I couldn’t say anything. I was too afraid I’d start crying for real.

  ‘I know this hurts you. I take no pleasure in this,’ he said, eyes never leaving mine. ‘Both Indira and I believe in your potential, but you are untrained, undisciplined, and ignorant to the ways of combat. Perhaps even more dangerous than all of that is your relationship with your father. He has more of an influence on you than you are willing to admit. It affects your judgement.’

  The echoes of the fear I had experienced back at the museum rippled over my body, but I shook them off. ‘You let me go into the prison last time!’ I pleaded, hating the childlike quality of my voice.

  ‘Many lives were at stake. There was no other choice.’ He paused, finally breaking eye contact to look up at the low ceiling. ‘Ryder would not want you to make this sacrifice for her. She—’

  ‘She asked me to help her!’

  He stopped, looking at me with question in his eyes.

  ‘Right before they took her back.’

  ‘Really?’ Bart asked. ‘She said the words help me?’

  ‘Not the words exactly. But she didn’t argue with me. It was the way—’ I cut myself off with a frustrated grunt. ‘She didn’t have to say the words.’

  Choden closed his eyes. ‘That … it does not change anything.’

  ‘How can you say that?’ I shouted, slapping the mattress of the cot.

  ‘If Indira were of her right mind, she would not have led you to believe she needed you to endanger yourself.’

  ‘I can’t believe this!’ I shook my head. ‘So, tell us about this suicide mission of yours. When’s it all going down?’

  He moved to sit on the bed again. I shifted away. ‘I have been studying your father’s security protocols and patterns. I—’

  ‘So, you’re fine with just waiting around for the perfect moment while Ryder suffers?’

  ‘Bremy,’ Queenie warned sharply.

  I flashed my eyes to her disapproving ones, but said nothing.

  ‘No,’ Choden said. ‘I am not, but I will not risk any more lives than necessary.’

  I shook my head again.

  ‘Your father is playing a game with you, Child. If you stay in this contest with him, I believe both you and Ryder will die.’

  ‘No.’ I smoothed the sheets on my lap. ‘No.’

  He sighed.

  ‘No,’ I said feeling my voice rise again. ‘You don’t get to go on some suicide mission while I sit on my hands doing nothing. Not when all of this is my fault. If anyone is going to sacrifice his or her life to save Ryder, it’s going to be me.’

  His eyes softened. ‘You are so young—’

  ‘Choden, if you don’t want to work with me in this, I think you should leave.’

  Bart cleared his throat. ‘Uh, Bremy, this is kind of his underground lair.’

  ‘No,’ Choden said getting to his feet. ‘I will go. It has been a difficult day. Bremy should rest.’

  He walked towards the door.

  Bart gave me a look that screamed, Aren’t you going to do something about this?

  But I just folded my arms across my chest and watched Choden leave.

  I cleared my throat. ‘So, anybody else want to bail?’

  Bart and Queenie exchanged looks.

  ‘Good. Then let’s get started.’

  ***

  I spent the next twenty minutes cutting off sentences that had beginnings like Bremy maybe we should, and Let’s just slow down for a minute because … So annoying, especially considering I was still trying not to cry. When the star-crossed lovers finally realised that my resolve was made of steel we got down to business. ‘Okay, let’s begin by figuring out a way to find out what my father’s real plan is.’ I pulled my hair back from my face. ‘An impossible task you might say, but—’

  Bart jumped in. ‘I never said that.’

  I shot him a look. ‘But there just might be a way.’

  Queenie let out a breath in a way that sounded an awful lot like a growl. ‘Stop using your I have a plan voice and just tell us your plan, or I will come up with a plan of my own.’

  ‘Oh! And let me guess, I won’t like it one bit,’ I said, chuckling, which was weird because I still felt really sad. I blinked a few times. Strange things were happening with my eyes. Maybe emotional turmoil and tranquillisers weren’t a good mix. The look on Queenie’s face frightened me back into focus. ‘We need more information. We may not be able to free Ryder right now, but if we know what my father has planned, maybe we’ll know better how to stop it.’

  ‘And,’ Bart said, drawing out the word, ‘we do that how? I don’t think your father is exactly going to let you waltz into another one of his facilities.’

  I nodded. The last time we needed information, I broke into my father’s office, but that certainly wouldn’t work this time around. ‘I think it’s time I paid a visit to an old friend,’ I said, squinting my eyes knowingly and nodding.

  ‘Bremy,’ Queenie warned.

  ‘What?’ I looked to Bart for backup. He sighed. ‘Yeah, no. Just say you’re going to see Ricky, and don’t do that thing with your eyes.’

  ‘Sorry. The tranquilliser they gave me is still making me feel funny … in both senses of the word! Ha!’ Nobody laughed. ‘I’m going to go see Ricky.’

  ‘And how are you going to doing that?’ Bart asked. ‘How do you know he won’t turn you over to your dad? How do you know he’ll even see you?’

  I couldn’t help the satisfied smile from sliding across my face. ‘Oh, he’ll see me … he’ll see me.’

  A moment later, I was shouting to my friends’ departing backs as they left for another underground room, ‘Wait! Come back! I’ll stop! I promise! I haven’t even got to say I told you so yet about the Ryder thing! Don’t deny me my I told you so moment!’

  They didn’t stop, but that was okay. They’d be back. And I needed to think. They wouldn’t leave me, like other Tibetan mentors I knew.

  Despite my throbbing head, my bruised body, and my horrible, horrible fight with Choden, I was starting to feel better. Well, maybe not better�
��everything was still pretty bleak—but focused. Purposed. Yes, what Choden had said hurt, but it had also made me angry and then determined. It was time to add Choden to the list of people I would prove wrong.

  The sight of Ryder standing on that ledge flashed through my mind. She had looked so unsure, vulnerable … broken.

  I need to warn you …

  I knew what I had to do.

  He has plans for you …

  What every good sidekick would do.

  Stay away from your father …

  I was going to go save my superhero …

  … After one more quick nap.

  ***

  It was hard to tell how long I slept. That bumper car of a tranquilliser I had been given still had me spinning, but at least the spin was winding down. It was time to get moving. Satan only knew what my father was doing to Ryder at this very moment.

  Suddenly someone appeared in the threshold of my little underground room. ‘Just the person I wanted to see!’ I shouted then instantly regretted it. My head still hurt. ‘I have a job that only you can help me with.’

  Queenie, still oddly terrifying in her flannel pyjamas, said nothing.

  I waited a few seconds before saying, ‘You really can hear me, right? Normally I can tell when you’re ignoring me for effect, but the trank has left me feeling a little thick.’

  ‘You need my help. Again,’ she said. ‘This is my shocked face.’

  I squinted my eyes and twisted my lips to one side. ‘Which looks a great deal like your I’m about to punch you in the nose Bremy face.’

  ‘I am an amazing creature.’

  Oh, come on,’ I said, straightening up in my cot. ‘Haven’t we moved beyond this? I thought we had moved beyond this you hating me business.’

  Nothing.

  I sighed. ‘I get it. You act all tough, misanthropic and, well, terrifying, but I’m starting to figure you out.’

  She took one ominous step forward. ‘Do tell.’

  ‘Okay, first,’ I said with a point, ‘don’t do that.’

  ‘Do what?’

  ‘Look like you’re going to smother me with my pillow.’

  ‘Once again, this is my shocked face.’

  ‘Seriously!’ I slapped the mattress on either side of my legs. ‘Can’t we just talk like people for once?’