Atomic Rebooted

32. Deduction

CLAIRE

I actually ended up taking a nap right after esports. When I woke up, it was dark and my clock read that it was ten-thirty in the night.

I was about to get up and raid the fridge for whatever leftovers Holly had managed to hide from Julien when I noticed that something was off. Maybe it was a strange shadow, or perhaps the slightest of sounds. But I knew someone was there, and was considerably less surprised to see Renegade perching outside the gable window where my hanging chair was.

I quickly opened the window. "How long have you been out there? That outfit cannot be warm."

"It isn't," he admitted, teeth chattering slightly.

"Look, why didn't you just teleport inside and wake me up?" I asked as I helped him inside.

"Just because I can doesn't mean I should." The phrase sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't place it— not yet.

File that detail away for later.

"Look, I'm not going to invade your boundaries," Renegade said. "Despite. . . Everything, I guess."

"Well, you're here— let me guess, this is about Psyche?" I asked as I closed the window behind him.

He took a seat in the hanging chair— making himself right at home.

Stupid arrogant supers.

"More or less," he admitted. "Last I checked, you weren't going to become a superhero."

"I wasn't," I admitted. "But something changed."

His dark eyes softened. "What?"

"Just a minute." I quickly located the drawer in which I'd hidden the superweapon that belonged to Dark Titan. I had a moment of panic when I couldn't find it— but it was just under a piece of paper, much to my relief.

I hesitated a moment before I placed it in his hands.

He's been caught doing bad things, too, even if he wasn't ever apprehended, I reminded myself. Robberies, vandalism— and then what he did to you to get away. What if he isn't the good guy after all and I just handed him something—

I couldn't feed these panic spirals, so I put it in his hand before I could withdraw my own.

"This belonged to Dark Titan, didn't it?" He looked back up at me after turning it over and over in his hands. "Where did you get this?"

"I found it in the school library," I admitted, clutching fistfuls of my blue gingham dress. "My mom hid it there when she worked there, I think."

He frowned. "How would your mom have this?"

"I think she was the super whose suit Menlo found the night that she broke into here," I said. "I think she was the original Psyche. My stepbrother— he told me that both of my mom and dad were supers."

Renegade let out a low whistle. "I wouldn't have expected that, to be honest. I knew that there was probably one in your family— and my bets would not have been on your dad."

"I was thinking he was more likely than Mom," I admitted. "After all, Mom died in the City Hall fire, and she wasn't able to save herself. . . "

"We're not gods, Claire," he said softly. "We're not all-powerful, and we can't save anyone— no matter how hard we might try. Believe me, I've spent years under the mask."

"I know." I took the superweapon back from him. "At least, I know that now. But you see why I can't ignore this."

"I do— although you could have told me," he said. "You have the number to my hero phone."

"Is is a burner from the store?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Couldn't afford anything else, besides, it's not like I'm going to play phone games in the suit." He shrugged. "But my point still stands."

"Well, why did you take up the mask?" I asked.

"Because the heroes at Atomic Energy are assholes," he spat in disgust. But then his expression softened. "I know what you mean, though. It's the guilt— the feeling that you have all this power and you have the ability to change things— so you should, for the better."

"Yes."

"It's just too bad that the universe doesn't care what we do to change things." He sounded so bitter as he said it. "Where we end up corrupted by the power, or we're still relatively helpless."

"Which one are you, then?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "But this isn't about me. This is about you and Psyche."

"You're not going to stop me," I warned him.

"Oh I know, and at this point, I wouldn't." He cracked a smile. "You did good, though. You carried that fight."

"Thanks." I was suspicious of where this was going.

"You need to gage your energy better, though," he continued. "I was afraid I was gonna have to carry you out of there, because you could've passed out."

"That's fair." I agreed with that statement.

"And I guess I'm going to have to stop winging it so much," he added. "Because if we're going to work together, with you as my side kick—"

"I am no one's sidekick," I informed him coldly.

"Partner, then," Renegade corrected himself. "We're going to have to be better at working together, and that's on me."

"So what are you suggesting?" I asked.

"I don't know yet, I'm just thinking out loud," he admitted. "But we also now have an idea of what Menlo was probably looking for in the house. That tells me a few things."

"Elaborate, then, Sherlock." I gave him a flourished gesture.

"Well, that means that Tenebrous has paid attention to his history," he counted off on his fingers. "It also means he has a dedicated plan of some kind. It also means that those plans are something serious, and that the monorail was probably just the beginning."

"I'd agree with that." All of them were deductions I had gotten close to making on my own. "He hasn't been active for very long as a supervillain, has he?"

"No, it was about after. . . " Renegade stopped. "Doesn't matter. Anyway, I'd say his whole career is building to whatever he wants to do with this weapon."

"Then I'll do my part to keep this out of his hands." I buried it in my drawer. "In the meantime, we'll need to work to stop him before he gets close."

"Agreed." Renegade offered me a hand. "Do we have a deal?"

"Of course," I said. "Although, I think it is kind of unfair that you know who Psyche really is, but I don't know who you really are."

He went pale beneath the crimson mask. "I get that— but I'm not sharing that information. Not yet at least, sweetheart."

"But I know you outside of the mask," I pointed out. "Before I ever got the chance to tell you my name, you knew it."

"We've met." His reply was terse, as he got out his chair. "But I don't think you really want to know which of your friends held you at gunpoint with your mom's murderer."

"I do," I insisted.

"Let's get to work on defeating Tenebrous first," Renegade said. "Then we'll both retire as heroes. Now is that a real deal?"

"Yes."

We clasped hands—and I could feel this energy, humming on our skin, coursing through our veins, crackling between us.

We were bound by the power we shared, for better or for worse.

Despite that I'd only just picked up the mask for the first time, I knew it would be best if I could hang it up now. However, the only way I'd do it was if my city was safe.

From Tenebrous, Dr. Electra, Heretic, and Renegade.

I was going to take them all down, no matter what it took.