Not Your Villain (Sidekick Squad #2)(64)

“We were halfway across Utah when I realized you were going in the opposite direction so we just turned around,” Jess says. “Emma drove all night, and then we charged the car this morning and kept going.”

“And we came prepared. I mean, we found you only an hour away from Andover, but believe me, this has been one ridiculous night. We were prepared to go all the way across the country for you.”

“We withdrew from school,” Abby says.

“What?”

“I mean, the idea was yours. We checked your house first, looking for you, and found the paperwork your dad left. Genius,” Emma says. “I mean, it’s just the rest of the year, and we have to file a lot of assignments for independent study, and Bells, Ms. Rhinehart says she can definitely write you a recommendation letter for that art school you wanted to apply to.”

Bells’ heart swells with affection.

Abby nudges him into the car, and they all squeeze in around the luggage. “So what happened?”

“Yeah, you haven’t answered any of our questions.” Brendan says. “It’s vital to have as much information as possible.

“And what are you wearing?” Emma asks, poking the fluffy coat.

Bells laughs. “I smell fresh bread,” he says. He hasn’t eaten since that dismal protein bar back in Elk Ridge. “Is that bánh mì?”

Jess hands him a sandwich and glares at Brendan. “Let him eat. And then he’ll talk to us. The important thing is he’s safe.”

Bells nods around his mouthful of bread. They’re not really safe, now. No one is. But he can finish his sandwich before they do something about it.

His friends’ reactions to the incident are what Bells expected: horror, shock, and worry. Bells… Bells is tired. He doesn’t want to talk anymore, doesn’t want to go into the details or re-experience any of it, but he has to answer questions. How much did Orion know? Where was she going? What was she working on with Stone?

He’s eating another sandwich, and his feet are comfortable in Emma’s lap as everyone talks rapid-fire about what to do next.

Brendan scrunches up his face in concentration. “She must be setting her sights on more meta-humans for her experiments.”

“If my dad gave up the plans because he thought I was captured, or maybe me and Mom were captured…”

Jess taps her fingers restlessly against the window. “Why would Claudia… Do you think she is in the Resistance but is lying about it?”

“We need to stop Orion before she gets that Registry,” Emma says. “She’s not going to stop until she gets what she wants. And once she has the Collective’s complete list of meta-humans in the country, descriptions of their powers and all their contact information, and where they live, who will be able to stop her?”

Bells shakes his head. He doesn’t like the sound of that at all.

“She did say she didn’t know where it was, but she had a contact,” Abby says. “What does this mean? How close is she?”

It seems impossible, yet inevitable. Bells has been thinking of it since Orion brought it up in the first place, and the idea has been simmering in the back of his head on the train ride, but now it’s charging to the forefront.

He takes a deep breath. “We’re going to need to steal it first.”





Part 3: Go





Ch. 12...





“Steal the Registry?” Emma tilts her head. “Is that possible? Can’t you hack it, Brendan? You are a genius.”

Brendan whistles. “Well, it’s not on a server. They keep that kind of data on hard documents. Paper. Can’t hack those.”

“Where would they be? In the capital? New Bright City?”

Brendan shakes his head. “They store these docs in the most secure place they know. It’s guarded by either the best tech or meta-humans or both, day and night.”

Bells exhales. “The training center. That’s why she was asking me about it.”

“What’s that?” Emma asks.

Bells takes a deep breath, trying to put into words the breadth of the archives he’s seen. In both locations where he’s trained, there’s been an area that was off-limits to trainees, patrolled constantly by guards.

“It’s the base for all things meta-human. The headquarters,” Bells says. “Everyone who goes into training learns about their powers and how to perfect them. It would be the most secure place in the Collective; it’s only accessible by hovertrain and even after that there’s a myriad of lifts and paths to get there.” Bells shudders, thinking about how high the facility is. He glances out the window at the golden desert flying past them. Those lush green heights seem so far away, like another world.

Abby raises her eyebrows. “But the training center’s location is the League’s most heavily guarded secret; not even all the members know where it is. And it changes every five years.”

Bells holds his hand up. “And they just changed to a new location.”

“So how do we get there?”

Bells grins. “Someone who recently completed training would be able to find his way back.”

Brendan nods. “If your ID as Chameleon—Barry Carmichael—still works, you’d be able to access the transport to get you in there. Good job on that ID, by the way; it’s flawless.”