The Rivalry of Renegade X

by Chelsea M. Campbell

  “Dude. Seriously?” I know he’s wallowing in his own inevitable demise right now, but still.

  “Maybe you can live with everyone hating you, but I don’t know how to do it.”

  “Okay, first off, not everyone—”

  The joop sound of a laser firing interrupts me. The blast just misses Other Damien. It hits the picnic table he’s sitting on instead, which disappears out from under him, suddenly dropping him to the ground.

  All three of us look over to see Xavier coming toward us. Except he’s wearing the red and black spandex outfit we saw in his room, complete with a red mask that covers almost all of his face and has horns curling above his head, so I guess right now he’s the Red Demon. And it’s definitely not a laser he fired—not that I still thought it was—because he’s holding the portal device, only now that crystal thingy’s attached to it.

  “Run!” Riley screams.

  I reach down and grab Other Damien’s hand, hauling him up from the ground. There’s a split second where I consider turning and trying to zap Xavier, but then there’s another blast from the device, and the three of us are too busy running. We push through the line of trees—a line that has one less now, thanks to the blast from the device hitting one of them—and scramble through the park.

  I don’t know what happened to the tree or the picnic table, but I don’t want to find out.

  Xavier chases after us.

  We tear through a more popular part of the park that actually has people in it. They start screaming and running when they see the Red Demon. I glance over my shoulder real quick and see him aiming the device at us. His hand’s unsteady, due to the fact that he’s running, but it doesn’t stop him from pressing the button.

  “Duck!” I shout, shoving Riley and Other Damien out of the way.

  Other me stumbles, but manages to keep his footing. I end up on the ground. I twist around and hold up my palms, sending a blast of lightning toward Xavier. My hands are shaking. I miss, accidentally tearing a chunk out of the grass. Kind of a large chunk.

  And people are really screaming now.

  I try again, taking a second to aim. Xavier uses his power to pull a picnic table in front of him. My electricity hits it and dissipates. I send out another blast, this time strong enough to explode the table.

  Chunks of it go flying everywhere. I think one of them hits Xavier, because he cries out, but it doesn’t do anything to stop him.

  “X! Come on!” Riley reaches for me, even though I’m still covered in electricity.

  I turn it off just before his hand makes contact with my arm. The two of them pull me to my feet, and then we run like hell.

  Chapter 29

  I FEEL LIKE I’M going to die by the time we get back to Other Sarah’s house, since we basically run the whole way. All three of us are out of breath, but that doesn’t stop Other Damien from shouting, “What the hell were you thinking?!” at me. Then he bends forward, his hands on his knees, as he tries to catch his breath.

  “Gee, I don’t know, maybe that I didn’t want us to die?” A bead of sweat trickles down my forehead. I wipe it away with my hand.

  “You blew up a picnic table! Everyone saw you! They’re going to think it was me, and they’re all going to know now!”

  “What else was I supposed to do? And maybe no one will recognize me.” Even though Katherine instantly knew who I was, despite me not being in the Son of Flash costume or whatever.

  “There’s no way someone didn’t record that.”

  “It could have been worse.”

  He looks at me like he’s this close to murdering me. “It doesn’t matter. My dad’s going to see it, and then…” His face gets all pinched, like he’s already dreading the outcome.

  “You could call him,” Riley says. “Explain everything before he sees it.”

  Other Damien’s face goes pale, like that’s the worst idea he’s ever heard.

  We go inside and find Other Sarah sitting on the floor of her room, working on something, though it looks like she’s having a hard time. A couple strands of her poofy hair are sticking out from her forehead in crazy directions, and her glasses are a little askew, and she’s muttering to herself as she picks up the random bits and pieces surrounding her and then sets them back down again.

  Kat and Sarah are sitting on the bed, watching her. Kat’s sitting cross-legged with her arms folded across her chest. She looks bored, while meanwhile Sarah’s chewing her lip and watching her doppleganger intensely, looking worried.

  Other Sarah jumps up when she sees us come in, a bright smile lighting up her face. “You’re here!” She hurries over to Other Damien and hugs him. “When you weren’t answering your phone, I started to fear the worst.”

  “I’m okay,” he says, sounding anything but that.

  She pulls back, her eyes studying his face. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. We had a run-in with the Red Demon. And before that…” He swallows. “I tried to talk to Riley. It didn’t go so well.”

  She frowns and takes a deep breath.

  I sit down on the bed between Kat and Sarah, not leaving much room, so that Riley has to lean against the wall on Sarah’s other side, since there’s too much crap on the floor to pull the computer chair out from the desk.

  I look at Sarah. “Tell me you got something working.”

  Her eyes dart over to her doppleganger, who’s still talking to other me and not paying any attention to us. “I’ve been watching, but she hasn’t made much progress. Not that I could tell, anyway.”

  “What? You’ve just been watching her?”

  Riley frowns. “You didn’t work on anything?”

  “She’s a master. I’m not there yet. I didn’t want to get in the way.”

  “Sarah! That’s…” I turn to Kat. “You were supposed to be supervising.”

  Kat gestures to all the junk on the floor. “I told her she was being ridiculous. And that’s not why I was here.”

  “Yeah, but you were the only not-crazy one in the room. It was sort of implied.” I rub my eyes with my palms and sigh. “Sarah, you’re the one I asked to do this.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Not Other Sarah, you. You’re the one I trust, and you’re also the one who’s been working on inventing things to protect people.”

  “Stupid things, like a thermos that doesn’t even give you your coffee.”

  “Nobody said it was…” I clear my throat. “The point is, it worked.” Even if it involved pressing a million buttons first. Though I also didn’t actually see it work—I’m just taking her word for it.

  “It should have won,” Riley says, which I think is a bit of a stretch, but it at least shouldn’t have been disqualified.

  “And that thing you made for the people at the retirement home last winter? To suppress their powers in case they accidentally endangered themselves?”

  She wrinkles her eyebrows. “The whole retirement home almost burnt down because of it.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  “It was one room,” Riley says.

  Sarah sighs. “The only reason it ever worked properly at all was because my friends there took a look at it.”

  “Okay, but everybody needs help sometimes. And,” I add, lowering my voice, “all we really know about Other Sarah is that she invented a portal device that didn’t do anything. Not until the Mistress of Mayhem got a hold of it.”

  “So, you’re saying neither of us knows what we’re doing.”

  “That’s definitely not what I’m saying. My point is… It’s… Perkins?”

  “That we love you no matter what,” Riley says, reaching for Sarah’s hand and squeezing it.

  “Yeah, no, that wasn’t it. Kat, what’s my point?”

  She leans past me to look at Sarah. “You’re a freaking genius, and you need to step it up and own that.”

  “Yes, that. Exactly. You’ve made tons of things that work, whether you had help or not, and I trust you. And m
ore than that? I’m also really counting on you right now.”

  Sarah’s eyes dart over to Other Sarah, then at all the debris scattered on the floor. Her mouth thins out, and something sparks in her eyes. Her hand tightens around Riley’s. Kind of hard, judging by the way he winces. “Okay,” she says, an energy in her voice that I haven’t heard in a while, “if we’re going to do this, I need to know what happened. You said Xavier attacked. What did he do?”

  “He had the portal device. His version of it.”

  “It was different, though,” Riley adds. “It had that crystal attached to it. In the front, so the beam had to go through it.”

  “And when he used it, things disappeared.”

  “We don’t know what happened to them. One second they were there, and the next… gone, instantly.”

  Sarah’s expression is grim. “And you’re sure they weren’t invisible?”

  “Positive.”

  “I think I know what to do.” She lets go of Riley’s hand, already reaching for some of the pieces on the floor.

  I feel a rush of relief when she says that, though it only lasts for about two seconds. Partially because Sarah making something that can help us is only a maybe, and partially because a video starts blaring on Other Damien’s phone.

  We all look over and see him and Other Sarah gaping at the screen as Xavier’s voice plays.

  “This message is for Son of Flash. You think you got away earlier, but your fate is inevitable. Seven o’clock tonight, meet me at the place where you like to hide, or else a lot of people are going to die, including everyone you care about. Come alone.”

  The video ends. Other Damien holds his phone away from him like it’s going to bite. Other Sarah takes it from him and plays the message again.

  “This can’t be happening,” other me says, a note of panic in his voice. “He wouldn’t—” He stops himself. “What am I supposed to do?!”

  I get up from the bed. “You can start by not freaking out. It’s four o’clock now—”

  “Almost four thirty,” Riley says, checking his phone.

  “Okay. That still gives us two and a half hours.”

  Other Damien looks at me like I’m insane. “What good is that going to do?!” He waves his arms. “A minute ago, we were running for our lives, unable to face him, and now you think we’re actually going to, what? Fight him and win?!”

  I take a shaky breath and try to sound like I mean it when I say, “Yes, I do.”

  “He’s going to kill me.” Other Damien’s voice is small. “But if he doesn’t kill me, he’s going to kill my family. And my friends. That’s not happening—not ever.”

  “Good, then we’re agreed. We’re taking him out.”

  “But that’s—”

  “Sarah, you’re in charge of defense. You already know what to do.”

  She nods and gives me a salute.

  “What about us, X?” Riley asks, gesturing to him and Kat.

  “Get her whatever she needs to finish it. And order pizza. We missed lunch. And you,” I say to Other Damien, “you’re coming with—”

  Other Sarah gasps and puts a hand to her mouth. She’s still looking at the phone. This time, I have a view of the screen, and I look over and see a video clip of us at the park earlier.

  The video’s focused on me, sprawled on the ground, shooting lightning at Xavier. You can see that I’m not alone, but you can’t see anyone else’s face, either.

  Electricity crackles. The picnic table explodes.

  The guy taking the video practically starts hyperventilating. He goes, “Oh, my God, oh, my God, was that Son of Flash?! Did he just…?”

  Then his friend shouts for him to run, and the video ends.

  Other Sarah looks like she’s about to throw up. She stares at Other Damien, like she’s waiting for him to tell her it isn’t true.

  “Sarah, I…” His voice comes out a rasp. He swallows.

  “It was me,” I tell her. “In the video. Not your boyfriend.”

  “Of course,” she says, tentative relief in her voice. “Of course it was. I should have known that.” She looks over at Other Damien, waiting for him to confirm it.

  He doesn’t say anything. Mixed emotions flicker across his face, and his mouth moves, like he wants to say something but can’t. Like he doesn’t have the words.

  Other Sarah shakes her head. “It can’t be you. You can fly. You can’t—”

  “It was him in the video, but it could have been me.” His shoulders deflate as he says it, though I can’t tell if it’s because he feels defeated or relieved.

  “But you already have a power. That’s impossible!”

  “It’s not,” Kat says.

  “We can both fly,” I tell Other Sarah, “and we both have lightning.”

  She’s still shaking her head. “But lightning, that’s a…”

  “A villain power? Yeah, it is. And you can freak out about it all you want later, but right now, we only have a couple hours to try not to die. Sarah, you’re on invention duty. You guys”—I look over at Kat and Riley—“order food. And explain to Other Sarah that this isn’t the end of the world. And you.” I address Other Damien. I hold up my hands and make them go all electric. “You’re going to learn how to do this.”

  Me and Other Damien go into the backyard. We make Other Heraldo go inside so he stays out of the line of fire.

  Other Damien’s just standing there with his arms wrapped around himself. “What am I going to do? You saw the look on Sarah’s face. She was horrified.”

  I want to tell him that he’s exaggerating, but I’m not sure he is. “You can worry about that later. We’re kind of in a time crunch right now.”

  “How am I supposed to not care? The Red Demon’s going to kill us in a few hours, or at least he’s going to kill me, and I’m going to die with Sarah thinking I’m a monster!”

  “She doesn’t think that.”

  He presses his hands to his face. “Being half villain is ruining my life. It’s pushing away everyone I care about. First Riley and now Sarah. My family’s going to see that video, if they haven’t already, and they’re going to think you’re me, just like everybody else is. And then my life’s going to be over.”

  I sigh. “It’s not going to be over.” It’s just going to feel like it for a while.

  He drops his hands and looks at me. “It might as well be. If everyone hates me because of this—”

  “If anybody hates you because of this, you’re better off without them. Even if that includes Sarah. Even if… even if it’s the whole city.”

  He glares at me. “And my family?”

  I swallow. My mouth feels dry, and I don’t want to answer. “Just because everyone’s freaking out now doesn’t mean they won’t be okay with it. Someday.”

  He shakes his head. “Why should they be okay with it? You know what this makes me.”

  “It makes you like me. Now shut up and let’s do this.” I hold my hands up and let electricity arc between my fingers.

  Other me holds his hands up, too. He stares at them like they’re snakes about to strike. Like he can’t trust them anymore. He looks like he’s going to throw up. “Nothing’s happening. It’s not working.”

  “Keep trying.” He only gave it, like, two seconds. “You can do this.”

  “I don’t want to do this! I don’t want to be like you! I was happy—everything was great—until I went through that stupid portal and you started ruining everything.”

  I scoff at that. “Yeah, right. Having to constantly prove to the people closest to you that you’re a hero and not going to go psycho-villain on everybody isn’t what I’d call great.”

  Anger flares in his eyes. A muscle in his jaw twitches. “And constantly pissing off everyone around you and making their lives a living hell is any better?”

  “I don’t—”

  “You got Riley fired. Your supposed best friend!”

  “That was for his own good!” I don’t know how
many times I have to say that.

  He sneers at me. “You can’t seriously believe that. You did it for yourself. Because it’s what you wanted. Just like how as soon as I became a better friend to Riley than you, you suddenly couldn’t get rid of me fast enough. And it’s easy for you to say that it doesn’t matter if my family accepts me or not, because clearly you don’t care about yours. Your dad had to practically beg you to be on his show, and even then you only went on it to spite me.”

  Lightning sparks up and down my back and along my arms. I think for a second that maybe I should try to keep it more in check, but then a look of pure horror and disgust washes over his face, and I decide it’s good how it is. “I’m not obligated to make myself look stupid on TV, no matter who wants me to, and saying no didn’t mean I don’t care. At least I’m honest about who I am. At least I’m not spending all my time pretending to be somebody I’m not.”

  A couple sparks flare to life on the backs of his hands. They flicker out again as quickly as they appeared. I know he saw them, though, because his arms start shaking a little. “You’re the one pretending. Pretending like you care, like you could ever be mistaken for a hero, even for an instant. I’m the real thing. I’m on my dad’s show. I’m out there saving people.”

  “And bragging about it on the news.”

  He gets a sour look on his face. “The difference between us is that I’m not a villain. I just happened to be born with some villain DNA.”

  “Only, like, half of it.”

  “Just because your life’s all mixed up doesn’t mean mine has to be.”

  I hold my hands up. My lightning’s died down, but I make a couple sparks run across them. “Try it again.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Xavier’s going to try to kill us in a couple hours.”

  “Yeah, and I have to decide how I want to be remembered.” But as soon as he says that, he gets a worried look on his face, like he’s imagining going up against him, and he holds his hands up anyway. “Fine. Now what?”