Unexpected Consequences

13. Seventy-Five Percent Is Good Enough

WHEN BEN HAD discovered me dressed as Red Soldier, the first thing I felt was dread. Beneath that, however, was relief—he was my best friend, after all, and a part of me had wanted him to find out. With Dana, there was dread and only dread, an overwhelming sense of oh, crap—I'm screwed. And it was no mild exaggeration, not like that person who says they failed their test only to get an A+. I was totally, royally screwed.

"Give me your phone."

That wasn't what she was expecting, and it showed. "Why?"

"So I can make sure you don't have any pictures," I snapped. Oh, man. What if she'd already mass-texted our entire school? She looked to be in too much shock to have already taken evidence, but I had to be sure.

Dana tiptoed her way around the bush, shaking her head. "I wouldn't just expose you like that."

The heartbreaking thing was that I honestly couldn't tell if she was serious or taunting me. Maybe that said more about me than about her—that I was incapable of thinking anything good of her, but could you blame me? After every petty fight we'd gone through, and now with everything I stood to lose? What choice did I have but to expect the worst?

And of all people: Dana. Of all people. Why couldn't it have been Fei or Ayomikun or Kevin or even Mr. Johnson, for crying out loud—why did it have to be the one person who hated me?

"You followed me?" I asked.

"Yeah." Her 'casual' shrug came off more as a shaky, confused nudge of her shoulders. Nice to know that even the indomitable bear-bee could be flustered. "But I, ah...I didn't know. About...this."

"You mean you didn't actually think I was Red Soldier?"

"I was a little suspicious," she admitted. "But it was too outrageous. I mean, you? A superhero? Please."

Even knowing I could snap her in half, she chose to antagonize me. The familiarity of being insulted did little to calm me down, though. "So then why did you follow me?"

"I was worried." Dana shoved her hands into her pockets, looking kind of...embarrassed. "Thought you were doing drugs or something else illegal."

"Excuse me?"

"Come on," she said defensively. "You sneak off places and refuse to talk about it and act weird and...I just thought you might be in trouble. That's all."

If an asteroid were to hit Earth at that exact moment, I would greatly appreciate it if it hit me. It dawned on me that, maybe, truly, annoyingly, all she'd wanted was to help me. It also dawned on me—no, actually, it hit me like a brick that Kavanagh, Nichols, and an entire team of police were probably on their way. I fixed my mask onto my face with a sigh. "You need to go."

"But—"

"We'll talk it over tomorrow. Please go," I pleaded. Hidden behind it was a desperate please don't tell anyone, ANYONE, who I am, and I hoped she had a big enough heart to understand.

Dana sniffed indignantly but did as I asked, turning around without a word. Not even a minute after she was out of view came the force, and what they found was a soaking wet superhero (Red Soldier did not have a good relationship with water, it seemed), an unconscious man lying in the mud, and a whole lot of destruction.

No one made any comments, at least not to me. As some officers got out yellow tape to block off the area, the rest of us went down into the warehouse. It was pretty much in shambles; if there had been anyone working in here along with the unconscious decoy, they were long gone. I picked at the machinery, trying to find something that would give us even a hint of a clue as to what Lex was doing or what he wanted, and I strayed a little ways away from Kavanagh and Nichols. They would, eventually, be told that Dana Edgar had found out my identity, but not today. I just couldn't tell them today.