Damsel[ed]: Some Rescue Required (#2 of the Damsel[ed] series)

Chapter Four: Catfight

Heaven.

I rub my temples. I'm alive, I tell myself, at least there's that. Even if Toby  promised me to my enemy.  Even if a supervillain just showed up to claim me. Whatever. My heart's pumping, I'm awake, and I should be grateful for a second chance at life I very frankly don't deserve.

Instead, I'm mentally slapping myself for letting Angel and Gatsby get caught up in this mess. I should've locked Angelos up in my lair as soon as his powers showed. I should've taken him home when he ran at the dance. I should've worked harder to find Gats the moment Cat took him. I should've worked harder period. At every turn, I made a wrong decision, and now I'm paying.

"I don't want to play stupid Monopoly!" Gats shouts from down the hall. "I want to know why Poison called Jupes a killer!"

"Shut it," Angel says. "I'm the banker. We're doing this. No supervillain is gonna keep me from playing!"

"I really, really doubt Poison tried to kidnap you to break up your stupid game of stupid Monopoly."

"Well, it's the principle of the matter!"

I plop on the living room floor. Catalyst laughs from the couch, and I look up to see her sipping a diet coke. I turn away. She threatened to slit Angel's throat. I don't want to look at her. "What's the matter, princess?" she asks.

"Don't call me that."

She laughs. It's not the giggly laugh that sounds like unicorns tap-dancing she's known for at the academy, it's her usual slasher-horror cackle. It doesn't match without her mask, the wrong voice synced up to her body. "Oh, come on! You're the princessiest girl I've ever met!"

I blink. "What?"

"Oh, Gatsby! Save me! I'm falling into a deep slumber!" She rolls off the couch and thuds in front of me, her laughter gone back to soft cutesy one that leaves Angelos all puppy-eyed. I glare.

"I saved his sorry ass." I point at my neck. The arm Owl smashed is still healing, but it works, the bones all snapped back in place like jigsaw pieces. Dark, ragged scars criss-cross my skin, just another sign my screwed-up healing factor is still screwed up. "He owed me one."

"So?" She shrugs. "He still had to carry you all heroically and stuff. You were so cute, bleeding to death and all."

I glance at her, draped over the floor like a tiger-skin rug, all languid and lanky. She's in my territory and Angelos is my friend. I don't want to share. Just looking at her makes me want to throw a hook-shot or two.

"I don't want to talk to you," I say, tracing angry patterns in the carpet. Gats, Ang, Jupes and Storm shout in the other room. I don't care to listen in and Catalyst won't let up.

"You know," she says, "I was supposed to drag Gats back so you could die without interference. But I let him escape."

"Why?" I ask dryly. She laughs again. It's all she seems to know how to do.

"You really are ungrateful, you know?"

I clench my fists so hard my arms tremble. "Well, thank you for not letting me die then." I give her my fakest smile and count to ten like all the anger manuals say to do.

If Snare catches her, they'll execute her on the spot for treason. A horrible person she may be, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone, and I understand why Juniper took her in. Not that I agree with her decision. Jupes should've turned her in so she could rot in Starlight's Supervillain Containment Facility. Even if Catalyst is only a henchman. Even if she betrayed her organization to save my life.