Not Your Villain (Sidekick Squad #2)(59)

Claudia rolls her eyes. “It’s just a mint. Here, watch.” She pops the green pill into her mouth and bites down on it, chews, and opens her mouth for Bells to see the pieces dissolving on her tongue. She takes out another one and offers it to Bells. “You’ve gotta take it. She’s gotta see you swallow it.” Watching Bells’ every move, she jerks her head toward the camera.

Bells takes the supposed mint and sniffs it warily. It does smell strongly of peppermint, and the green with little flecks of white does look exactly like the mints that Emma buys. There’s even a little EverSparkle logo inscribed on it.

“You can spit it out if you want to,” Claudia says crossly. “Do it out of sight of the camera. There’s a blind spot here.” She gestures at where she’s standing, just under the camera. “It’s just a mint, I swear.”

He’s got nothing to lose. Bells pops it into his mouth, tucks it under his tongue, and glances at the camera. He can spit it out later. What’s Claudia up to?

Claudia exhales a visible sigh of relief.

The mint dissolves in his mouth, crackling with icy cold sweetness.

Oh.

“Thanks for the minty fresh pick-me-up,” Bells says nonchalantly, raising his eyebrows. “Is it because you can’t afford toothbrushes for your prisoners?”

Claudia stiffens. “Just— look, it’s for your own good. Play along with what she says, okay? She thinks it’s a—”

Footsteps echo from a short distance away, accompanied by a heavy rattling of something being rolled.

“Get anything useful out of the prisoner, Claudia?”

“No, Captain,” Claudia says, slinking back.

Captain Orion walks into view, dragging a machine on a cart behind her. “I don’t like that smirk he’s giving you. Shame we couldn’t get the audio on that feed to work. Step aside, let me get a look at him.”

Bells has only seen Orion in holovids and during that one, frenzied encounter at Abby’s house. It’s startling how different she looks now from the shiny, polished hero who graced comic book covers. Her hair is tied in a messy ponytail; her bangs fall limp across her forehead. She’s wearing her usual blue-and-white supersuit, but Bells has never seen it this dirty or in such a state of disrepair; there’s a patch ripped in the leggings, and her knee is poking out. Orion’s cape trails behind her; the edge is frayed and riddled with dirt. The cart she dragged in rolls onto it, causing her to stumble. Orion yanks her cape free of the cart, straightens up, and glares at Bells, as if she’s daring him to laugh.

Bells recognizes the machinery sitting on the cart; it’s one they used at the training center to measure the power levels of meta-humans.

He remembers the last time he was tested. All the other students had taken care not to use their powers all day so they could get an “at rest” rating and be sure that the League could see their full potential. He kept his Barry shift on all day, so that by the time he was measured, he’d be so tired out he’d get a low rating.

What does Orion want with me?

The former hero looks down her nose at Bells. “Well. The famous, talented Chameleon. The League was all about you. The next me, perhaps. Or maybe that was just what they were filling your head with. Did they promise you glory? Greatness?”

“Free lunch,” Bells says. “And travel. To the training center for three summers. Got to see a lot of places. I liked Baja, but the last one was pretty cool. The North is awfully pretty. Lots of trees. Huge, like giants. And last year I got to go to the beach all the time, so—win.”

“I don’t think you understand the gravity of your situation, Barry.” Orion grins like a feral cat. “I’ve got your file right here.”

Orion flips through the thick sheaf of papers. Bells takes a deep breath when he spots the word Broussard, followed by a photo of the restaurant and even a picture of him and Simon as kids. The file must have been important for Orion to print them on actual paper. Or maybe Orion can’t connect to the Net anymore.

How long has she been on the lam? What was she proposing to Stone? The League obviously doesn’t know where she is, since they still claimed she was in Corrections.

Even if she doesn’t have the League behind her, she’s still dangerous, especially if she knows who he really is.

“So you’ve got a file. Big whoop. You don’t know me.”

Orion laughs. “On the contrary. I know you can’t escape from this cell. You need superstrength to get out, and all you can do is change your appearance. Big. Whoop.”

She throws his words back at him with the same inflection, adding a smug smile as if saying, I’ve won. Orion takes a case from the cart and opens it. Inside, nestled in foam packing, are three glass vials and a long needle.

That must be the serum that neutralizes meta-abilities. He’s still not sure what it’s done to Abby, but it’s been five months, and she still hasn’t gotten her powers back. Abby says it’s permanent, but Jess hasn’t given up hope.

Orion paces. All her confidence seems to have returned to her, as if she stepped into another commercial to advertise EverSparkle teeth whitening. Despite the bedraggled uniform and the unkempt hair, she looks every bit as dangerous as she did as a hero, possibly more. As she walks, she touches her fingertips together, and a bolt of lightning sizzles.