Okay, that’s it. I’ve had enough. Besides, we really don’t have time for him to have some kind of existential crisis about—oh, no—being half villain, which shouldn’t be news to him, considering he’s only known that fact his entire life. I march up to the front door.
He sucks in a breath. “What are you doing?!”
“Getting this over with. The sooner she knows, the sooner we can—”
The door flies open, even though I haven’t even knocked yet, and a girl who looks exactly like Sarah, right down to using tinfoil accents in her hair, shrieks and throws her arms around me.
She also kisses me.
On the lips.
I don’t kiss her back. My shoulders go tense and I jerk away from her, startled. “Whoa.” I hold up my hands, warding her away.
A hurt, confused look washes over her face. “Damien?”
“I’m not—”
“Sarah.” Other Damien shoves me aside and sweeps her into his arms, kissing her like he thought he might never see her again, which I guess was a real possibility.
I move away from them, hoping we can all just pretend that didn’t happen.
Kat has an annoyed look on her face, and she’s definitely clenching her jaw.
“Kat, that wasn’t—”
“I know,” she says.
“And you stuck your hands down his pants, remember?”
She winces, her annoyance replaced with embarrassment. “Don’t remind me.”
Sarah stands next to us and taps her chin. “She was a better kisser than me. I could tell. I need you to write down her technique.”
“Sarah,” Riley says.
“What?” She blinks at him. “I don’t see a problem—you’ll benefit from this knowledge, too.”
“She wasn’t better than you,” I tell her.
Kat’s eyes go wide.
“I mean,” I add, “you can’t compare yourself to her.”
“So she was better than me.”
All three of them are staring at me now. I hold my hands up. “I don’t know, okay? It happened really fast, and I was caught off guard and kind of busy not kissing her.”
Sarah sighs. “Definitely better. I knew it.”
“That’s not what I said.”
Once they’re done making out, Other Damien fills Other Sarah in on who we are and what we’re doing here. When he says we’re from another dimension, she just nods, like that actually makes any sense. Then she comes over and peers at me really closely, pushing her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose.
“It’s uncanny,” she says. “He looks just like you. He doesn’t kiss like you, but otherwise the resemblance is unmistakable.”
“You don’t know how I kiss,” I tell her, “because I didn’t kiss you.”
She shrugs. “You were very stiff and unresponsive. I’m just reporting what I observed.”
“Because I didn’t… Never mind.”
She moves on and stares at Sarah, who stares right back at her. Their movements are so similar as they study each other that they might as well be looking in a mirror. They even both clear their throats at the same time as they finish their inspections.
“Maybe we should go inside,” Riley says, his eyes on a neighbor who’s walking their dog and openly staring at us.
Other Sarah waves at them, and they look away and walk a little faster.
We all go inside, and Other Sarah ushers us into her room, which is kind of cramped with six people. And just like in Sarah’s room back home, there are boxes overflowing with random electronics and robotics parts everywhere, and her laptop still has… Okay, instead of having a giant sticker of the Crimson Flash on it, it’s got a skin featuring the Crimson Flash and Other Damien flying through the air together and looking really determined and heroic. Other Damien’s costume isn’t quite as stupid as the one I ended up wearing on Gordon’s show, but it’s not much of a step up, either. It’s blue with orange trim. The legs are a darker blue, and there’s a black stripe between the two sections, like a built-in fake belt. It’s all one piece, and something about it makes me think more of pajamas for little kids than it does fighting crime or whatever.
“I was so worried,” Other Sarah says. “The last two weeks felt like years, but I didn’t give up. We’ve been doing surveillance the whole time. Well, not the whole time, because the first day, I didn’t know you were gone, and I was just getting more and more worried, because you really should have been back by then—”
“We?” Other Damien asks.
“Me and Riley. You still hadn’t come back by the next morning, and when I called Amelia, she said she hadn’t seen you. Not that I thought you would just go home and not tell me, but I had to make sure. I was really upset at that point, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make rational decisions about what to do, so I called Riley and told him what happened, and he was really worried—”
Other me scoffs at that. “Yeah, right.”
“He was.” She bites her lip. “He’s your best friend—of course he’d want to find you.”
“He’s not my best friend.” Other me folds his arms across his chest and leans against the wall. “Not after what happened. A real best friend wouldn’t care who my mom was.” He gestures to Riley, as if he’s proof of this.
Even though Riley’s my best friend, not his. “Again,” I tell him, “you’ve known each other, like, two days.”
“It’s been almost a week. But even two days would be long enough to know that he’d never abandon me because my mom’s the Mistress of Mayhem.”
“He didn’t abandon you,” Other Sarah says. “And either way, he’s really sorry.”
“He told you that?”
“Well… He didn’t need to. He was helping me look for you the whole time. We were both worried sick. I think if you guys just talked—”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“But—”
“You said you were doing surveillance?”
She nods. “We were watching their house. I set up a camera at first, but I had to hide it across the street, in a neighbor’s flowerbed, and then something happened to it. We think a dog peed on it. I didn’t have another one, so then Riley did routine checks while invisible. He even followed the Mistress of Mayhem and the Red Demon around the city. I mean, they weren’t in costume most of the time—just themselves—but he was still taking a risk.”
Other Damien grits his teeth, but otherwise ignores that. “The Red Demon’s planning to take control of the city. That’s what I overheard him say back when I first got sent to the other dimension. And thanks to someone”—he looks directly at me—“now he has everything he needs. If you were watching him, maybe you know what his plans are and how we can stop him.”
She shakes her head. “We figured out that he was up to something, but we were more concerned with finding you. I have no idea what he’s working on, but”—her eyes dart over to Kat—“I might know a way we can find out.”
“This isn’t working,” Kat says through clenched teeth with a fake smile plastered on her face as she waves to yet another bewildered-looking person at Wilson Enterprises.
“Stop smiling at everybody,” I whisper back.
“You think Katherine doesn’t smile?”
“You’re seventeen and wearing a pantsuit, headed to your corporate office.” Not to mention that the pantsuit is gray, and she has her hair up in an austere bun at the back of her head, based on a picture of Katherine we found online. “So, no, probably not. And even if she does? It’s probably not like that. You’re terrifying these people.”
“Shut up.” She smacks my arm without looking and misses, almost hitting the transmitter for the holographic device I’m wearing.
Other Sarah assured me it wouldn’t crap out and reveal my true identity at the most inopportune moments or anything—something I couldn’t help asking about, considering what happened last time I had to use something like this—but that doesn’t mean it can’t
be screwed up manually.
“I still don’t get why I had to look like him,” I mutter. People are definitely staring at me as we make our way over to Katherine’s office, which, according to the directory downstairs, is on the fourteenth floor, same as her dad’s. But knowing it’s on this floor isn’t the same as actually knowing where it is, and that means navigating a whole office full of people who are totally gawking at us and who will definitely notice if Katherine Wilson can’t remember which door is hers.
“Because Xavier’s the only person we know for sure Katherine might be seen with.” She smiles extra hard at an intern who’s sort of gaping at us.
“Maybe your office is next to your dad’s,” I whisper.
She shakes her head. “I just saw someone else go in there.”
“Maybe it’s one of your underlings bringing a report you asked for. Or maybe…” Maybe Katherine’s already in there, and that’s why everyone’s staring at us. But we can’t afford to think like that, so I push that thought out of my head. “Come on. Let’s go check the—”
“Katherine.” A familiar voice behind us sends a shiver down my spine. Katherine’s dad does not say her name in a friendly way, and I wonder if it has something to do with me being here. I have no idea what his relationship with Xavier is like, but I can’t imagine anyone being thrilled about him being engaged to their daughter.
Kat swallows, and we both turn around to face him. “D-dad,” she stutters.
We’re still holding hands, but somehow it feels inappropriate now, so I let go. I don’t know what Xavier would say to his future father-in-law, so I decide to go with the classic move of keeping my mouth shut and not making eye contact.
Katherine’s dad—Other Tom—looks us over, his face stern. His eyes land on the giant engagement ring on Kat’s finger, and I feel my palms start to sweat. We looked at a ton of pictures of it before we came here so Kat could get it right, but obviously we must have missed something. Then he sighs, his expression turning relieved. “There was a rumor the two of you had called it off. I’m glad to see that’s not true.”
Seriously? I can’t help glancing up at him at that, my eyebrows raised. He actually wants them to get married? I mean, geez. What does Xavier have that I don’t have? Besides a V on his thumb, a ton of money, and a reputation as a celebrity villain, I mean. He was also apparently voted most eligible villain bachelor in Golden City last year, which is, like, barf.
Katherine’s dad puts a hand on Kat’s shoulder and looks her in the eyes. “You know what that would have done to our stock prices.”
“What?” Kat says.
“Even rumors hurt, Katherine. We’ve got our bottom line to think about.” He glances over at me, his expression serious, like I’m on the receiving end of this lecture, too. “Go out to dinner tonight. Somewhere public. Make sure the press gets pictures of you together. Make it clear the engagement’s still on. You know what we talked about.”
“Um…” Kat has a stunned look on her face. Then she blinks and flashes him her fake smile. “Right. Of course.”
He sighs again. “This is important. You know I only want you to be happy, right?”
He could have fooled me. I put my arm around Kat, pulling her close to me. “We’re headed to her office right now. For some alone time.”
Kat’s muscles tighten, and I can hear her gritting her teeth.
Katherine’s dad gets this look on his face that’s half disgust and half outrage, but his eyes flick over to a door on the right side of the room, which must be her office.
“He’s just kidding,” Kat says, elbowing me in the ribs and almost hitting the projector again. “Right, Dam—Xavier?”
“Right. Don’t worry. I have your daughter’s—I mean, this company’s—best interests in mind.”
He scowls at me, looking like he has some choice words to say to that, but then he swallows them down. “Dinner tonight. Be seen.” He looks us both in the eyes real quick, then hurries off.
“Come on,” I tell Kat, jerking my head to the right. “Let’s go.”
She follows me over to the door that I’m guessing must be Katherine’s. “Well, that was super weird. I mean… blech.” She makes a face and shudders. Then she tries to open the door, but it doesn’t budge. A DNA scanner clicks on, though, similar to the one at Other Marianna’s house. It makes a satisfied beep after it’s done scanning her, and then the door pops open.
Once we’re safely inside her office—where, thankfully, Katherine is nowhere to be seen—and once I’ve closed all the blinds, I press the button on the projector, not wanting to have to look like Xavier for even one more second.
Katherine’s office has a large wooden desk with a state-of-the-art Wilson Enterprises computer on it. Other than that, there’s not a lot in here, or at least nothing that hints at any personality. There are a couple paintings on the walls, but they’re really artsy and don’t do much to brighten up the place or make it seem any less business-y.
Kat sits down at the desk and starts going through Katherine’s computer while I start opening all her desk drawers.
“There’s got to be something here,” Kat mutters as she clicks through various folders on the computer. She opens up a bunch of pictures of Katherine and Xavier. One set is a professional engagement shoot.
I pause what I’m doing to watch as Kat goes through them. Then we share a look.
“You think they’re really getting married?” Kat asks.
“It sure sounds like it, after what your dad said.”
“What her dad said,” Kat corrects me. “He’s nothing like my dad.”
“Yeah, because your dad never would have let us have ‘alone time’ in your office.”
Kat clicks on another folder, and I go back to rooting through the drawers. I don’t know what we’re looking for. A receipt from Villains-R-Us? A copy of his dastardly plans that he left with Katherine for safekeeping? There’s nothing like that in here—just office supplies, all neatly arranged in plastic trays—and I don’t think Kat’s having any luck on the computer, either.
Kat sighs. “We knew this was a long shot.”
“Did we? Other Sarah said he and Katherine came here together a lot.”
“Yeah, but they’re engaged. Maybe they just had lunch or something. If they discussed his plans, there’s no trace of them.”
“Do you think it would be weird if we went and asked everyone if they’ve ever overheard us discussing any evil plans?”
Kat snorts. “No one’s going to admit to that, especially not to someone like Xavier, or their boss.” She pauses. “Katherine is their boss, right?”
I shrug, because I have no idea, although I guess I was kind of assuming that, too. “Let’s look again. There has to be something useful here.” Because if there’s not, we don’t exactly have any other leads. “We can’t just—”
The scanner on the door beeps. Me and Kat both freeze. There’s a split second where I think about turning the holographic projector back on, but I don’t. Kat could shapeshift and turn into somebody else—or something else—but she doesn’t do that, either. Not that there’s really time, because almost as soon as I have that thought, the door clicks open, and then Katherine steps in.
She’s wearing a pantsuit pretty similar to the one Kat’s got on—well, that she’s shapeshifted to look like she has on—except Katherine’s is dark blue. Her hair’s pretty much in the same style as Kat’s, though. She gasps when she sees us. The door falls shut behind her, but instead of reaching for it, her hand immediately darts over to a button on the wall.
“You have five seconds to explain yourselves before I call security,” Katherine says, in a tone that doesn’t leave any room for doubt. In fact, she doesn’t even wait five seconds before putting her finger on the button.
“Wait!” Kat cries out. “I can explain.”
“This is a new low,” Katherine says. “Making yourself look like me. Though I don’t know how you got past the DNA scanner. And
you, looking like…” Her nostrils flare as she gets a good look at me. She swallows. “Son of Flash?”
“Um.” I glance over at Kat, then back at Katherine. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m obviously just an ordinary citizen.”
Katherine makes a psh noise of dismissal at that. “Oh, please. That mask you wear on your show barely covers anything. I’d know you anywhere.”
“You watch the show?” I ask.
“Occasionally.” She gets a suspicious look on her face and narrows her eyes at us. “That’s off the record. I don’t want to see that online tomorrow.”
I hold up my hands in innocence.
“We’re not reporters,” Kat says.
“Reporters would be giving you too much credit. And we don’t allow paparazzi, especially ones who pretend to be me. And Son of Flash.”
“I’m not pre—” I stop myself from saying I’m not pretending, because it’s not like I’m eager to claim I actually am Son of Flash or anything. Plus, I’m not actually the Son of Flash she thinks I am.
“We’re not reporters, and we’re not paparazzi, either,” Kat explains. “And I’m not shapeshifted to look like you.” She glances down at herself. “Well, actually, I am, but…” She takes a deep breath, then morphs back to what she normally looks like, including the T-shirt and jeans she had on before she shapeshifted. “I’m Kat Wilson, and this is Damien Locke. We’re from another dimension, and we need your help to stop your fiancé before he does something really terrible.”
Katherine looks worried at the mention of her fiancé, but then her expression turns suspicious again. “You’re not making a good case for why I shouldn’t call security.” She reaches for the button again.
“Wait!” Kat shouts. “I can prove it.” She gets out her phone. It can’t make phone calls here or use the internet, but otherwise, it still works. She brings up her picture gallery and holds the phone out to Katherine.
Katherine hesitates, glancing at the security button again, like she thinks maybe she’s making a mistake, but then she crosses the room and takes the phone. There are a ton of pictures of me and Kat on there, plus some of Kat with her parents. Katherine scrolls through them, mixed thoughts flitting across her face. “This isn’t me.”
The Rivalry of Renegade X Page 21