Not Your Villain (Sidekick Squad #2)(78)

“Blood pressure looks normal. Heart rate is rather fast—were you just exercising?”

“Nope,” Bells says, fidgeting.

“Hm. That’s interesting. You should be at rest.” Michael clucks his tongue.

“Is that bad?”

“No, no, just interesting. Meta-humans tend to have slightly different vitals, so it’s not out of range. All right, I’m going to draw blood. We’ll do the usual—cholesterol, mineral levels, electrolytes, and of course, measuring your gamma protein levels.”

“The League told me I was B-class,” Bells says, staring at the machine. It’s a different one than the model Orion had, and he shudders, shaking that memory out of his head. “I’m not really sure.”

Michael brings him his lab results, and he’s smiling. Ever since that first day, he’s been extra flattering to Bells, and Bells isn’t sure if he likes it. “Can I just say this is so incredible? I mean, your parents must be really powerful meta-humans as well.”

“They’re not,” Bells says flatly.

“What?”

“I’m the first meta-human in my family,” Bells says, blinking as people break into whispers around him.

“What does this mean?”

“Oh, I’m surprised that we haven’t seen more natural mutations resulting in powers,” Genevieve says. “It could be that people don’t know that it’s possible. If they don’t have a meta-human parent, they don’t think they’d have the ability either.”

“That’s not the only thing.” Michael hands Bells his results. “I’ve never seen anything like it. You’re… beyond A class. Stronger than Captain Orion, and she’s got the highest documented power level in the country.”

Bells doesn’t know how to react, and he certainly doesn’t know what to say when other adults in the Villain’s Guild congratulate him, telling him what an honor it will be to work with him.

Everyone is looking at their own lab results, and out of the corner of his eye Bells can see Abby’s mouth drawn into a tight, frustrated line.

Many rooms in the network of tunnels and caverns are set aside for activities: lounging, eating, sleeping, even a few with wide space and matted floors and exercise equipment. The Squad is one of the training rooms, trying to come up with another way to convince the adults to get the Registry before Orion does.

Jess and Emma are deep in conversation about the recent tests. As always when Emma gets a new thing to research, she can’t stop talking about it. “It’s so cool, Jess. Like, do you think if you concentrate you can figure out how far away something is?”

“I don’t know,” Jess says with a small smile. “I’ve been trying.”

Abby gets up. “I can’t do this anymore,” she says, biting her lip and stepping back.

“Do what?” Jess asks. “I know it’s annoying but I think we can make a good case for why we can be helpful—”

“You mean how you can be helpful,” Abby snaps, pushing her hands away.

“That’s not what I—”

“Stop trying to make me feel better. I hate it. I hate that even trying to do even a fraction of what I could before put me in the hospital, and I’m broken and I can’t do this,” Abby says, clenching and unclenching her fists.

“Can’t…” Jess repeats, staring at her outstretched hands and then at Abby, who stands an arm’s length away. Abby doesn’t say anything, just makes a noise that’s a cross between a hiccup and a sob, and then runs out of the room. Jess dashes after her.

Jess and Abby are absent at dinner, and Emma nudges Bells.

“You think everything is okay?”

Bells frowns. “I don’t know.”

Jess finally comes into the main cavern, gets her plate, and joins them at their table. She looks dazed and glassy-eyed.

Emma and Bells share a look, and Brendan seems to pick up on the cues and shovels food into his mouth.

“Hey,” Emma says softly. “You wanna talk about it?”

Jess’ lip wobbles. “She wants to go back to Andover. She doesn’t think she’s useful here without her powers, and I was trying to say I didn’t care about that but I think she just— She took it badly. Like I didn’t care about her, but I do, and she—”

Bells draws her into a hug.

Brendan makes a face. “You’re both being dumb,” he says and then gets up from the table.

“It’s going to be okay,” Bells says.

Brendan returns with a plate full of mashed potatoes and sets it in front of Jess.

Abby is nowhere to be seen for the rest of the night, not during dinner or when the adults play charades.

Jess’ shoulders are hunched over when she gets to the room that was assigned to Bells and Brendan. “Genevieve said Abby wanted to be alone,” she sniffs.

“You can stay here,” Bells offers.

“Sleepover?” Emma asks.

Jess is red-eyed, and dirty tear tracks smudge her face. “Okay,” she says.

Brendan is already snoozing in his blanket burrito in the corner, but Bells lays out the rest of the sleeping bags in the middle of the room, making a wide, comfortable space for them. They change into their pajamas—the spare tees and sweatpants the Guild gave them—and brush their teeth and lie down. Jess is moving as if on autopilot. Emma tugs her into the middle, and Bells curls up around her. He pulls the covers over their heads, just like old times, creating a fort and shutting out the rest of the world. It’s almost as if they’re in middle school again, giggling about crushes.