The Rivalry of Renegade X

by Chelsea M. Campbell

  “Damien!” other me shouts.

  The lights come on, blinding me for a second.

  “Now that he’s out of the way,” Xavier says, “it’s just you and me. Brother against brother.”

  “Half brother,” other me says, anger burning in his voice.

  “You had this coming, you know. You brought it on yourself.” Xavier holds up the portal device. He aims it right at other me, who’s only a few feet away from him, and fires.

  There’s no way it takes more than a split second to hit, but it feels like longer. Like time slows down. I scream at him to stop, but it’s too late. Not that he’d listen, anyway. I can’t see Other Damien’s face, but I see him twitch as soon as Xavier presses the trigger. As soon as he knows his fate is sealed.

  That both of ours are.

  I watch as the beam from the portal device hits him in the chest.

  There’s a loud crackling sound. He goes sprawling to the floor.

  But we’re both still here.

  He looks shaken, but he gets to his feet. He picks up something from the ground. Something small, and round, and totally fried. Smoke drifts out of it. Sarah’s device actually worked. I mean, not that I ever doubted it, but still. I feel a wave of relief, followed by panic as Xavier aims the portal device again.

  “Zap him!” I shout. “Do it now!”

  Other me looks like a deer in the headlights, half frozen in place. He holds up his hands, aiming his palms at Xavier, but nothing happens. He screams in frustration, or maybe in an attempt to charge himself up or something, but nothing changes.

  “Too bad, little hero,” Xavier says, a smug tone in his voice, “but lightning’s a villain power, and you’re not one of us. Not now, not ever.”

  “Run!” I shout just as Xavier starts to pull the trigger again.

  Then something crashes into him. That or he just slams sideways and onto the floor for no reason.

  Other Riley turns visible, still sprawled on top of Xavier. I know it’s him instantly and not my Riley without even having to think about it. Maybe because he’s wearing different clothes, or maybe because of the guilty look on his face when he turns to other me and shouts, “Get out of here!”

  I realize I can move, that Xavier’s hold on me is broken. I try to use my lightning, but the stupid net is blocking me. It’s tangled around my arms, locked in place somehow behind me. I struggle with it, trying to free myself.

  “Riley?!” Other Damien says, sounding completely shocked.

  Other Riley opens his mouth, forming the word Go, but before he has a chance to say it, Xavier uses his power to throw him off of him. He slams him into the ground. “I hope it was worth it,” Xavier says, pointing the portal device at him, “because it’s the last thing you’ll ever do.”

  “No!” me and Other Damien both scream at the same time.

  I scramble to get free from the net, but it won’t come off, and the more I struggle, the more it tightens around me. But Xavier’s not just going to kill Other Riley, but all instances of him. He’s going to kill my best friend like it was nothing. Panic spreads through me. Struggling isn’t working, so I try to make my lightning surge enough to break the net somehow. The more I use it, the more it burns, but I don’t care because I have to stop him.

  Then Other Damien screams. It’s a primal scream of rage and determination. Electricity crackles along his arms and spreads over his whole body. It crawls over him in waves. He raises his palms and fires at Xavier.

  Who manages to throw himself to one side before the blast hits him. It blows a hole through the wall on the other side of the warehouse, scattering debris everywhere. But even though he manages to dodge the blast—which would have, like, killed him—he loses his grip on the portal device, which goes skittering across the floor.

  “Zap the device!” I shout as Xavier starts using his power to pull it to him.

  Other me holds up his hands again, but all the electricity’s drained out of him. A couple sparks flicker on his knuckles, but that’s it.

  Other Riley tries to grab it and misses.

  I make my lightning surge again. I give it everything I have this time. It burns so bad, but it’s not enough. I cry out, both from the effort and from the pain, as I push more power into the net. And just when I think I can’t take it for even one second longer, the net snaps. The metal strands break, and suddenly I have a hand free. I don’t stop to aim or to think about it—I just zap.

  My lightning hits the portal device right as Xavier’s about to grab it. It blasts it into bits, and what’s left of the crystal goes flying off into the depths of the warehouse.

  “No!” Xavier screams. He whips around to face me, his face contorted in rage. I’m drained from using so much lightning, and he’s quicker than me. He holds his hand up before I have a chance to zap him and slams me back into the wall. With his free hand, he does the same to other me and Other Riley, until all three of us are lined up next to each other, unable to move.

  Xavier walks toward us, even though he doesn’t need to. Even though he can use his power just fine from where he is. All three of us are in one place, letting him focus all his energy. I can’t even twitch my fingers, let alone pull them away from the wall. I feel a weight against my chest. My lungs get heavy, and every breath takes so much effort.

  The room starts to go dark. Colors bloom across my vision. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realize that he’s crushing us to death. But at least we destroyed the portal device. At least he can’t hurt anyone else with it.

  I’m dimly aware of a loud crashing noise. Then a voice, telling him to stop. It doesn’t mean anything to me.

  Then all of a sudden I can breathe again. I suck in air—all three of us do—and look up. The spots are gone from my vision. There’s a red-haired woman standing there with a really familiar, angry look on her face. Oh, and lasers flashing in her eyes. For a second, I think it’s my mom, and I’m confused, not sure what she’s doing here. Then I realize it’s not her—it’s the Mistress of Mayhem from this world, not mine.

  “What do you think you’re doing?!” she screams at Xavier. She fires her lasers at him, though she misses on purpose. Or at least I’m pretty sure she does. “You told me you were using that device to take over the city, but you conveniently left out the part where you were going to destroy your own brother!”

  Xavier looks hurt by that and maybe a little terrified of her, but also defiant. “Of course you’d say that, because you care more about him than you do about me! Why wasn’t I enough?” He presses his hands to his chest. “I’ve done everything you ever asked for! Why would you ever care about some worthless hero who’s done nothing but be a huge disappointment every chance he gets?!”

  The Mistress of Mayhem stares at him for a moment. Both of them are breathing hard from their argument, their chests heaving. Then she looks over at other me, just for a split second, before turning back to Xavier. “Because he’s my son.”

  That’s all she says. Without another word to any of us, she turns and walks away.

  Xavier hesitates, like he’s considering still trying to kill us, but either his fear of her or his desperation to please her wins out, because in the end he gives up and hurries after her.

  Chapter 31

  “IT REALLY WORKED?” SARAH asks, her eyes going wide when I tell her that her invention saved the day, or at least part of it. If it hadn’t been for her, not only would Other Damien have ceased to exist, but also me, which would have really sucked. For, like, everyone. And not just because I wouldn’t have been around to help stop Xavier.

  “You don’t have to sound so surprised,” I tell her.

  We’re all back at Other Sarah’s house. The four of us are standing awkwardly in the kitchen with Other Riley while other me and Other Sarah have a heartfelt reunion in the living room, which involves them making out a little, and Other Sarah telling him how worried she was when he ran off like that, and both of them saying how much they love each other. W
hich is uncomfortable enough as it is, but then every time one of them says something mushy and gross, Other Riley flinches and looks like someone’s ripping his heart out and stomping on it.

  So basically we’re all ignoring him and pretending it’s not happening.

  “It was a long shot,” Sarah says, meaning about the device. “Even though I did my best, there was no guarantee it would work. I’m not—”

  “You’re not Other Sarah. We know, we know.” I roll my eyes at her.

  “I was going to say I’m not in practice. Not like I used to be.” She blows out a breath, then glances over toward the living room, even though we can’t actually see anything from here. “I’m not Other Sarah, but… I think that’s okay.”

  Riley takes her hand in his and squeezes. “It’s more than okay. You know that, right?”

  Other Riley turns away, like it’s painful to see them together.

  “I thought she was more advanced than me.” Sarah speaks slowly, her words measured. “But…”

  “But now you know that’s ridiculous?” Kat says.

  “What?” I ask her. “You don’t want to be Katherine anymore?”

  “I never wanted to be her. I just… thought she had her life together. A lot more than I do, anyway.”

  “But then you realized she’s marrying Xavier and that her life is actually pretty horrible.”

  “I wouldn’t say it’s horrible, but…” She makes a face.

  “But just because you wouldn’t be rude enough to say it doesn’t make it not true.”

  She smacks my arm, though only halfheartedly. “I thought she had everything figured out, but it’s more like she’s just going along with what everyone else tells her to do. And that doesn’t work for me.”

  “Which is good, considering how much your dad hates me and all. I don’t think marrying me’s ever going to up your stock prices.”

  “What about you?” she says. “Are you still jealous of Other Damien?”

  I scoff and take a step back. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Are you sure about that, X?” Riley asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

  “Uh, yeah, because there was never anything to be jealous of. Who wants a perfect hero family that gets along all the time and has all these sappy father-son bonding rituals?” Well, besides Gordon, obviously.

  “But,” Sarah says, adjusting her glasses, “even if you weren’t jealous of his family, that doesn’t mean you weren’t worried that your family might like him better than you.”

  “Again,” I say through clenched teeth, “no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Really? Because I thought it was pretty obvious how much they liked him. Your parents were really proud when he rescued those people and they thought it was you. And Riley told me how upset you got when you went over to his house and Other Damien was there. You were definitely jealous then.”

  “Sarah. No, I wasn’t.”

  “But—”

  “And if I was maybe a teeny, tiny bit dismayed to see that my supposed best friend had instantly replaced me with my interdimensional doppleganger—who might look slightly similar to me but is otherwise my complete opposite—like I was yesterday’s garbage, who can blame me?”

  Riley sighs. He gets this annoyed expression on his face and looks like he’s about to tell me off for that, but then Other Damien and Other Sarah come in. They’re holding hands and looking significantly less miserable than they were a few hours ago. They actually look happy and keep smiling at each other all sappy and gross-like.

  Other Riley swallows when he sees them. Then he takes a step forward, a look of determination on his face. “I’m sorry about earlier,” he says. “About what happened at the park. I shouldn’t have said those things, and I definitely shouldn’t have run away like that.”

  “I don’t blame you, though,” other me says. “You saw me covered in… in lightning. A villain power. You—”

  “You’re my best friend. I always knew you were half villain, but when I found out who your mom was, and then that you have lightning… It made it all too real, and it was hard to believe you were still you, the person I’ve been going on missions with all year. It felt like the world around me didn’t add up anymore. But I should have trusted you. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that.”

  “It’s okay,” other me says, a slight waver to his voice. “I mean, it’s not, but… but maybe it could be.” He gives him a tentative smile.

  Other Riley smiles back.

  I grab the only remaining portal device—the one Sarah made that my mom fixed up—off the counter and motion for us all to go into the backyard. Other Sarah makes Other Heraldo go into the house so he doesn’t accidentally end up in another dimension, and then we all stand around, not saying anything for a while, because nobody wants to be the first to say good-bye. Even though the last thing any of us wants is for us to get stuck here, and every second that we delay going back home feels like a risk, or at least it does to me.

  I look over at Other Damien, who’s no longer wearing my clothes, since he changed when he stopped by his house earlier today, though I don’t think he has any intentions of actually giving them back to me, either. Figures. “Are you going to be okay?” I ask him.

  He looks a little surprised by that question. He considers it for a second, then gives a tight shrug. “I’m not who I thought I was.”

  “You’re not who your dad wants you to be, you mean.”

  “That, too. But… I used lightning. To stop the Red Demon and save Riley. It felt good to do that, even though I was using a villain power.” He holds out his palms, inspecting them, even though there’s no lightning there. But instead of looking at them in horror like he did earlier, he seems awed. “I always thought that anything that had to do with me being half villain would make my life worse, that it would mean I was somebody else, but I’m still me.”

  “What about your dad?” Not to mention the rest of Golden City.

  He takes a deep breath. “He’s not going to like it.”

  “You can always stay here,” Other Sarah says.

  “Or with me,” Other Riley adds.

  He nods at them and smiles a little. Then he turns back to me. “My family’s going to be freaked. My dad especially. I know it’s going to take time for them to be okay with it. But he’s had seventeen years to get used to the fact that I’m half supervillain, and if he still can’t handle it… I’m kind of done waiting for him.”

  “Good for you,” Kat says. She moves like she’s going to hug him, then hesitates, like maybe she’s remembering what happened the last time.

  “Don’t worry,” he says, closing the gap between them and hugging her anyway, “I didn’t think you were going for my pants.”

  “What?” Other Sarah says, frowning at them in confusion.

  “It was a misunderstanding,” Kat tells her as she pulls back from him, though she doesn’t make eye contact, and her face is a little red.

  Then everybody hugs everybody and says their good-byes.

  Other Damien clears his throat. “I’m sorry,” he says to me. “About what I said earlier. About you ruining my life. There’s, um, a teeny, tiny chance that it wasn’t true.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  He waits a moment, then tilts his head at me expectantly. “And?”

  I raise my eyebrows at him. “And what? You were wrong, I was right. End of story. Except,” I add, when he gets all huffy about it, “maybe I said some things I shouldn’t have, too. And you didn’t ruin my life, either. Or at least not completely.”

  He frowns and points a finger at me. “I improved your life. I upped your hero rep by at least tenfold.”

  I make a face. “Don’t remind me.”

  He laughs and says, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope I never see you again.”

  “Same here.”

  We salute each other at the exact same time, which is kind of creepy. Then he takes the portal device from
me, aims it at an empty space in the yard, and presses the button.

  The portal flares to life, casting glowing, swirling light across us, and I’ve never been more relieved to go home in my life.

  My phone practically explodes with messages once we’re back in our world. I ignore all of them.

  Heraldo barks and comes running across the yard. Sarah holds her arms out and lets him jump up on her for once. She hugs him, then tells him to get down. He eagerly follows us inside.

  “Dad!” she shouts as she flings open the back door. “We’re home!”

  He peers over at us from where he’s watching TV on the couch in the living room, his forehead wrinkling in confusion. “Were you out?” He hesitates, a worried look crossing his face. “Was I supposed to get more ice cream?”

  Sarah laughs like she thinks he’s joking and says she’ll tell him all about it later.

  He tells her it’ll have to wait until tomorrow, since it’s past his bedtime. He turns off the TV and heads to his room.

  Kat looks at the time on her phone and yawns. “It feels a lot later than ten o’clock.”

  “That’s the interdimensional jet lag kicking in,” I tell her.

  She rolls her eyes at me, then gasps. “Oh, crap! My car’s still over by your mom’s house.”

  “Stay the night at my place. We can go get it in the morning.”

  “No way, Damien. Your dad’s going to be pissed that you left. I’m not staying to get lectured.”

  “But, Kat, you’re leaving out the crucial part where he might not lecture me if you’re there.”

  She shakes her head. “I have to get home. My parents might be worried about me. I mean, they probably just think I was at your house, but I know I wasn’t, and after meeting Katherine’s dad…”

  “It’s cool, Kat. I get it. I’ll walk with you to your car.”