The Undoing of Sidekicks | ✓

twenty seven

twenty seven

THE AUDACITY OF IT. The incredulity of it. The absolute, sheer shock of it — it had rendered me mute.

"It's you, isn't it?"

I gaped, mouth hanging open as I appeared to be doing my very best impression of how to act like a simpleton. My eyes darted to Josh's face, only briefly, spotting the amused glint in his eye.

You think this is funny? I narrowed my eyes, scowling at him.

"Yeah," I muttered. "Sure am."

But now Hyde's mouth thinned as she appraised me from head to toe, as if scanning my silhouette would somehow make the answer appear obvious. Josh was suppressing a snicker somewhere behind us, the side of his face illuminated by the light slipping in through the hallway outside of the lab.

Hyde, thankfully, didn't question me further. Or so I thought, as she moved closer to peer at me.

"Remove your mask," she demanded, gesturing to my face, "I want to make sure."

I swallowed, heavily, shaking fingers reaching slowly for the edge of my mask. Revealing myself to, well, anyone usually tended to be a mistake. I mean, look at the shitshow it caused last time. None of us really wanted that to happen again, yet there I was — standing like an idiot in front of my old mentor, hands reaching for the mask cloaking my identity, my face.

God damn it.

My eyes flicked to Josh's again, as if urging him to do something. He merely inclined his head my way, eyes scouring the room again as if a solution would magically appear. Then his eyes shot to the analysis machine beside him. The very, very, very expensive piece of lab equipment was still loudly making noise in the background, though all of us had managed to tune most of it out. Now, though ... Josh looked harder at the expensive slab of fancy metal, then met my eyes.

My finger touched the skin beneath the edge of the mask, lifting its edge. Hyde was looking right at me, mouth a flat line. My eyes shifted to Josh's, and right as they did, I saw my super-partner slam a hand into the side of the control panel.

Lights went off, a loud beep emanating from the machine. Hyde swivelled around, shaking at the loud noise.

"Not the machine," Hyde looked worried as she jogged across the room, seemingly unafraid of us supers as she lunged for the fancy machinery.

I'd asked her once what it cost. I dared not repeat the numbers for fear I was too poor to actually do so. And so, I remained standing completely still, staring at Hyde from across the vast space of the lab as she threw herself over the expensive machine.

She frantically began pushing a series of button. I met Josh's eyes, to which he winked.

That sly son of a gun. You set off that alarm on purpose didn't you?

"You were analyzing what soil, precisely?" asked Hyde, turning to raise a brow at Josh. As he was the grown equivalent of a boy scout, he responded promptly and honestly.

How does he do it?

"We were finishing analysis of samples from the industrial areas surrounding Dynamo."

Cassie pressed her mouth into a thin line, "And why?"

"We need it to pinpoint the source of a few strange chemicals." said Josh again, to which I shook my head. This was not exactly the time to brief someone who could very possibly expose the both of us (well, only Josh, since Hyde still thought I was Cassie).