Villains in Training

Chapter Fourteen: One Wrong Move

"So let me get this straight," Bella whispered angrily after Quinn had explained everything.  "You're a shapeshifter and you can perfectly mimic someone's persona if you know them well enough?"

After Jade found them in the garment district post Bella's fight with Hades, Jade told them all that had happened during the day, not hiding an ounce of anger.  Jade was usually so good with keeping her anger in check and nothing good ever came from her anger, so Bella took her anger over for her.  She'd reminded Jade that heroes don't get their hands dirty in such a manner; that's a villain's job.  Jade calmed down quite a bit after that and Bella registered more anger than was actually present while Hades tried to talk them both off the ledge, telling them that there was still another side to the story.

"Well, I don't actually have to know them, just their motivation.  It's kind of a central point of a person's personality, the reason they do what they do.  Once I know that I can become a very convincing replacement or copy."  Quinn mumbled half of his words, still very conscious of the looks on the faces of those around him.  He'd never been in such a confusing, unfortunate, and dire situation.  He was completely aware of the fact that one wrong move could mean his life.

"Have you used it?"

Quinn turned to Hades.  From the look in his eye and the sound of his voice, there was a correct and an incorrect answer and the correct one wasn't just "the truth" though he wished it was.  Quinn turned to Jade, who still seemed unhappy with him, though no longer murderous, before answering the question.

"Yes, I have.  Several times.  That's probably why the headmaster knows in the first place," Quinn finally answered.  "No one else does, not even my family."

"What'd you do?" Hades asked.  By the look on his face, Quinn had definitely given the wrong answer, but by the sound of his voice, it seemed he was willing to still give him a chance.

"A lot of things I'm not really proud of," Quinn started.  He sighed deeply before continuing, giving an list of every time he'd ever used his power.  "I took the form of this guy I knew, really smart but the biggest bully I've ever encountered, and I took the SATs as him, making it extremely obvious I was cheating.  It messed up his grades and that's something that gets reported so I was hoping to mess up his future too.  I took the form of this girl in my sister's class who got her in trouble for shoplifting and made sure she got in trouble for that plus more on several occasions.  I liked this girl who was dating some guy I didn't even know, so I took his form and 'cheated on' her.  The last one I wasn't as careful with, though.  I changed form somewhere where there were cameras.  I went in and erased the footage, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone saw it before I got to it."

Bella smirked at him as she responded.  "Not quite the blemishless little thing you'd expect a hero to be, are you?"

"No, I guess not."  Quinn raised his eyes from his hands to the wall in between Bella and Jade, not wanting to even look near Hades.  "The truth is, I haven't used my power since then, almost two years ago now.  I never really planned on using it again.  I came here to be a hero behind the scenes, one of the ones who makes gadgets and advancements in technology so heroes don't have to rely solely on their powers and physical ability alone, to make their jobs easier.  Either that or be a front-and-center hero who relies solely on intelligence and technology, like Wifi. Getting caught up in some weird covert mission spy thing was not a part of the plan, I swear."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jade asked.  She was way more in control than she had been earlier in the day, but Quinn didn't miss the edge in her voice.

"I don't know.  I never saw a reason to.  Like I said, not even my family knows.  My twin sister, who decided to be normal and go to a normal college, doesn't know.  My mom and dad don't know.  My best friend since first grade doesn't know and he'd usually be the first person I'd tell.  I just never saw a reason to bring it up."

"How do your parents not know?"

"It's not one of those uncontrollable powers that show up unexpectedly.  It's just something I thought about one time and materialized.  I freaked out and changed back, then didn't think about it again for three years until I decided I needed it.  I only ever took on someone's personality once, with the boyfriend situation.  It was mostly an accident, but I'd talked to him while he was drunk at a party and he told me a lot and without even thinking about it, I began acting like him while I was talking to his girlfriend...  Every time I found out something new, I was alone and as I said, I never had a reason to tell anyone."

Bella, Jade, and Hades all looked at each other as if deliberating about what to do.  After several moments, Bella walked up to Quinn and didn't stop until she was so close that Quinn could see the green that traced the irises at the center of her eyes.

"How much control do you have?" she asked him.

Quinn swallowed.  "A-a lot, I guess?"

"Turn into me," she commanded.

"Uh..."

"Do it," Hades practically growled.  Quinn jumped.  If he wasn't sure whether or not Hades trusted him, he was sure now.

Quinn turned into a perfect clone of Bella, even going so far as to wear the same clothing.  The green lining of the iris was present as well, now that he knew it was there.

Bella smiled and turned to Jade.  "See, no reason to worry."  Jade's shoulders relaxed as Hades looked on with a smile that hadn't faltered since Quinn altered his appearance.  Bella turned her eyes to Quinn once again, a sly smile on her face.  "I don't trust many people.  Just like no one really knows about your powers, no one knows my motivation for doing anything I've done to this point in my life or anything I plan on doing.  If I didn't tell Jade, I wasn't going to tell some random guy who wanted an interview with me.  You can copy my face, but not my personality.  You never know what I'll do and you don't know why you never know what I'll do."

"You knew just by looking at me?" Quinn asked.

"You still looked like Quinn," Hades stated.  "Just as scared as you were a few seconds ago."

"Bella's never shown fear," Jade stated.

"And only I know why that is," Bella stated.

Neither statement was completely true.  Bella had shown fear on multiple occasions, but Quinn had never seen it.  The look on his face didn't match the look on Bella's when she was fearful.  And there was one person who did, indeed, know Bella's motivation, but that person didn't know that they knew, so she was in no danger of having that part of her soul revealed.

Quinn changed back into himself as his face twisted in confusion.  "If you knew I couldn't do anything against you, why were you angry with me?"

"You still betrayed Jade's trust and hurt her-"

"No, it's OK.  I get it," Jade interrupted.  "I guess I was just angry with the headmaster and took it out on you, Quinn.  Sorry."

"I'm still alive so... no hard feelings."

"Great, now that that's behind us, we need to make a plan for this new problem," Hades stated.

"Yeah. Our headmaster didn't say what the punishment for failure was, but I also don't want to find out," Quinn added.

"We can sit at the table and figure it out," Jade suggested. "I haven't eaten dinner yet and I'm starving so..."

"Well thanks to your roommate, I haven't eaten since breakfast, so you'll get no arguments from me," Hades commented as he followed Jade into the kitchen. Quinn tried to follow as well, but stopped when Bella abruptly stuck her arm out in front of him.

"If you lied to us just now, I suggest you make sure we don't find out," she said before turning on her heels and walking into the kitchen as well.

Quinn let out a long sigh. Apparently, he wasn't out of the woods quite yet.