The Trials of Renegade X (23 page)

He lets his head fall back and thud against the door, rubbing his face with his palms. “My life would be so much easier if you didn’t exist.”

“So much more boring, you mean.” As evidenced by the ... Well, okay, maybe his room’s not as boring as I expected it to be. I thought it would be all stamp collections and pictures of grass growing or something. Instead, there are some drawings on the walls, mostly of farm animals in outrageous settings. Like a pig standing in a coffee shop, looking confused, or a cow waiting in line to buy movie tickets. His shelves are overflowing with fantasy novels and comic books and model spaceships from movies and TV. Really intricate ones that look like they would have been a pain in the ass to make and really, really tedious, but that are also sort of cool.

I gesture at one of them. “I thought you liked trains. Isn’t that why you watch
Train Models
all the time?”

He shrugs. “I guess. Mostly I just like the show.”

“And the drawings?” I point to one of a duck taking a shower. “Did you make them?”

“What do you care?”

“I don’t know. I like them.”

“They’re kind of stupid.”

I roll my eyes at him. “Geez, Perkins. Can’t you take a compliment?”

“You really like my drawings?”

“I said that, didn’t I? But if you’re going to be such a jerk about it, we can forget the small talk. Do you have the personality enhancer or not?”

He crosses over to the bed, pulling his blue and green plaid comforter out of the way before leaning down and fishing the device out from under it. I grab it from him and turn it over in my hands, inspecting it, but it looks the same to me. Other than the dial being turned to the “better” setting, of course.

“It doesn’t light up anymore or do anything,” he says.

I test it out, pulling the trigger a few times, and see that he’s right. “So, how soon can you fix it?”

“Uh ... never? How am I supposed to fix this thing?”

“You were working on it with Sarah.” You know, when he was conspiring with her behind my back.

“Not, like, the technical stuff. I was just helping her put the pieces together. She’s the genius, not me.”

“Obviously. So, we’ll get her to do it.” I’ll just convince her Riley could use a few adjustments. It’ll be easy, since it’s true.

“She told me she already took a look at it. And that there was no reason why it shouldn’t be working.” He folds his arms and makes a point of looking down his nose at me. “Probably because
someone
zapped it and screwed it up.”

“So, what you’re saying is even Sarah can’t fix it?”
That
sounds promising. I sit down on the edge of his bed and rest my chin in my hands, trying to think.

Riley clears his throat. “Isn’t your mom a scientist?”

I glare at him. “No.”

“But I thought Sarah said she—”

“Not
no
as in she’s not a scientist. She is.” A mad scientist, anyway. “
No
as in that’s not an option.”

“But she could fix it, couldn’t she? Because Sarah told me about the incident before. With her hypno device, and that—”

“Did she also tell you my mom stole it from her and kidnapped her dad? And tortured him?” Well, she had “honeybuns,” a.k.a. Taylor, do that part. “Is that really the kind of person you want to bring into this?”

“Well, no, but you’d be the one asking. I mean, she’d be doing it for
you
, right? She wouldn’t have to know she was helping Sarah.”

“For me? Did Sarah forget to mention that me and my mom aren’t exactly on speaking terms?”

“She might have said something, but—”

“Or that my mom kicked me out? That she never wants to see me again?”

“That can’t really be true, can it? I mean, she’s still your mom, right?”

I sigh. “She had a baby without telling me. A replacement. I only found out about him by accident. And she’s getting married this Christmas, but she wasn’t going to tell me about that, either. And she certainly wasn’t—isn’t—going to invite me.” The last thing I need is to go crawling back to her because I screwed something up and need her help. I don’t need her. Not for anything.

“Oh.” Riley sits down next to me on the bed, taking a deep breath. “That’s messed up.”

“Tell me about it. I can’t go back there, and there’s no guarantee she could fix it, anyway. We’ll figure something else out.”

We’re both quiet after that, trying to come up with some other way to fix it. Or at least I think we are, but then, out of nowhere, Riley says, “I’m sorry about last night.”

“Why? Because now you know my mommy doesn’t love me?” I say it in as mean a voice as I can, because I
don’t
need his sympathy.

“
No
. Because I almost got you killed. And I interrupted your ...” He looks away, trying to think of the right words.

“Sex night with my girlfriend? Who I never get to see now that she’s away at school?”

He swallows and looks like he kind of regrets opening his big mouth. “Yeah, that. You didn’t have to come down there, but you did. And I was kind of a jerk to you on Friday.”

“You think?” Wow, has hell frozen over? I double-check the drawing of the pig in the coffee shop to see if it’s suddenly sprouted wings. “And I
did
have to, because you were at Kat’s dad’s company, and those robots are ruthless.”

He shakes his head. “You hate me.”

“So? Not enough to let you get dismembered by killer robots. And Kat had the card.” I shrug.

“We grabbed the security tapes on the way out,” he says. “I mean, she did. But I was the lookout.”

I nod. Kat told me as much on the phone last night.

“She seems cool,” Riley admits.

“What, for a supervillain?”

“No. Just ... She’s not what I expected.” He hesitates, glancing over at me, then says, “Her dad looked like he was going to murder you. But you’re still here, so what happened?”

“He yelled at me for an hour for breaking and entering and destroying his robots. Or at least that’s the version I told Kat.”

“And the truth?”

I lean my head back, shuddering a little as I remember staring down from the ledge, waiting to feel that sickening drop. “It doesn’t matter. I survived, no thanks to you.”

There’s a knock on the door. Riley shoves the personality enhancer back under the bed and then tells whoever it is to come in.

A scrawny-looking kid, probably only a year or so younger than us, with the same light-brown hair as Riley bursts into the room. “I got it!” he says, holding up a video game called
Aliens vs. Dinosaurs IV
that has a picture of space aliens shooting lasers at a bunch of cyborg T-Rexes on the cover. “This was the last copy and it’s
mine
. And
you
said you would play it with me, and I’m going to blast your face off!” He grins at Riley, waving the game at him. Then he notices me on the bed and clams up, suddenly getting all quiet and taking a step back.

Either he’s really shy or my reputation precedes me.

“Zach,” Riley says, “this is Damien. He’s, um, one of Sarah’s friends. Damien, this is my brother Zach.”

Zach glances over at me, then quickly away again. “Is ... Is he the one you told me about?”

Riley ducks his head, looking kind of embarrassed, and nods.

Great. I wonder what kind of monster Riley’s made me out to be. He probably told his brother all about how I broke his finger and bashed his face in. Or how I’m an evil villain who attacked school property and let supervillains roam free in the halls. Not that I care what this kid thinks of me, but it would explain why he’s staring at me like I’m some kind of freak show.

I get to my feet and look down at Zach—even though he’s Riley’s brother, he’s a lot shorter than him—and clench my jaw. “
What?
”

He swallows and his eyes get real wide. “Is the Crimson Flash really your dad?” He sounds super nervous, like he can’t believe he’s actually talking to me. “Because that must be
so awesome
.”

I blink at him. That was so not what I expected. I raise my eyebrows at Riley. “
That’s
what you told him about me?”

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” he mutters, not meeting my eyes.

Zach, however, is staring right at me. Gaping, actually. “I can’t believe you’re friends with my brother.”

“Yeah, I can’t believe it, either.” Okay, so maybe I don’t have the heart to tell him his brother and I don’t exactly get along. At least, not when he’s looking at me like that, like it’s an honor just to be in my presence.

“And you’re at my
house
.”

“
Zach
,” Riley warns. “Back off.”

Zach’s face gets a little red, like he just realized how much he was gawking at me. He holds up the video game again. “Do you want to play with us? It’s really fun. I have the first three already, and—”

“Zach!” Riley glares at him. “Didn’t I
just
tell you to leave him alone?”

“But ...” Zach’s face falls, and he stares at his shoes, clutching the video game to his chest. “
Fine.
”

Sorry
, Riley mouths at me behind his brother’s back.

“Actually ...” I can’t believe I’m saying this. But the game does look fun, plus with Kat back at Vilmore and Sarah turned crazy, it’s not like I have anything better to do. And, okay, maybe the way this kid is looking at me, like I’m some kind of celebrity, is pretty flattering. “I could play with you guys. For a little while.”

“You can?!” Zach says, his whole face lighting up.

“You can?” Riley says, sounding really skeptical and drastically less enthusiastic.

“Oh, my God!” Zach runs off into the living room, shouting something about setting it up.

“You don’t really have to play,” Riley whispers once he’s gone. “I mean, if you don’t want to.”

“Nah, it’s okay. Besides, I want to see him blast your face off.”

“He’ll blast yours off, too—he’s really good at this game.”

“How old is he?”

“Fifteen. He’ll be at Heroesworth next year.”

“And the ladies ... they’re all over him?”

Riley snorts. “Are you kidding me? He’d probably throw up if one ever actually talked to him.”

So I’m guessing it’s a safe bet he doesn’t have a date for Homecoming then.
Perfect
. Amelia’s going to be so pleased when she asks him out and he vomits all over her. And she
is
going to ask him out, because, contrary to what she believes, I’m not doing it for her.

“Why do you ask?” Riley says.

“No reason,” I tell him. “I just like to know who I’m going into battle with.”

Chapter 18

“HA! I TOLD YOU you were dead, Perkins.” I blast his alien with the cyborg T-Rex I’m playing, mashing the buttons on the controller.

Riley grits his teeth and leans forward, pressing a combination of buttons that make his alien do some weird spinning attack that blocks the lasers I’m shooting at him.

I mash some more buttons—after a little over two hours, I think I’ve mastered the art of button mashing, if not how to actually play—and resort to elbowing him in the ribs in real life, since he’s sitting next to me on the couch. Zach’s on the other side of me, waiting to play the winner, and has kicked both our asses in this game several times already.

“Ow!” Riley cries, trying to fend me off without letting go of his controller. “That’s cheating! And it’s not going to work!”

Sparks race up my spine as I struggle to beat him, not for the first time since we started playing. I’m so worked up about this game, I can feel electricity burning beneath my skin, like my body thinks I’m in an actual fight. Possibly a sign that I should take a break, but there’ll be plenty of time for that
after
I destroy him.

“Flip him!” Zach shouts, urging me on. “
Flip him!
”

“What? I don’t know how to do that!”

“It’s the most basic combo! Just do it!”

“That doesn’t mean anything!”

“Like this,” Riley says, making his alien throw my dinosaur across the screen.

I grip the controller really hard, frantically pressing buttons. I manage to make my T-Rex whomp him with its tail. While he’s down, I shoot more lasers at him before he can block me. I’ve almost got him—just one more hit and I win—and then electricity flickers in my palms. It zaps the controller, which instantly goes dead. The game freezes as a message pops up on the screen, saying we need a second controller to play.

Oops.

“The battery needs charging,” Zach says.

But Riley must have seen what happened, or at least suspect, because he looks at my controller, then at me, and says, “Nice going, X.”

Zach scowls at him. “It’s not his fault.”

Well, that’s what he thinks. “You should be grateful, Perkins. I was just about to kick your ass. Now you’ve been saved the humiliation.”

“Yeah, right.”

I lean back against the couch cushions and set the now-dead controller on the coffee table.

Zach gets up to turn the game off. I’ve learned several things about him in the past two hours. For one thing, he thinks I can do no wrong, which, I must say, is a great feature. He also likes Velociraptors—another plus—and is nice to his mom. Even when she made him stop playing for about ten minutes to help her put groceries away after she made a trip to the store. I think she would have made Riley help, too, if he hadn’t had a guest over. Or, you know, if she’d known I’m not so much a guest as I am the guy who keeps injuring her son, but I wasn’t about to volunteer that information.

All in all, Zach seems like a good candidate for taking my sister to Homecoming. I can’t picture him turning her down, and he’s more than just a warm body. After all, he’s a warm body
I
approve of. More importantly, though, I’m pretty sure going on a date with Amelia would actually mean something to him. Possibly a lot. And that he wouldn’t try anything.

But it won’t mean anything to Amelia if I just tell him to go with her. Like I said, she’s going to ask him—whether she knows it or not—and he’s going to say yes. And they’re going to do that all on their own, without knowing I’m pulling the strings. All I really have to do is get them in the same room together. Then their mutual desperation will take care of the rest.