“Is there… I don’t know… is there anything I can do to help?” Daniel asked seriously.
She stared at him, surprised to feel actual tears pricking her eyes.
“I don’t think I deserve your help, Daniel.”
He made an exasperated noise in the back of his throat.
“And, really,” she continued, “you’ve got enough problems of your own.”
It was clear he hadn’t thought through the long-term implications of what had happened.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re a target now, too. You’ve just learned a lot of things that you’re not supposed to know. If you go home, if you go back to your normal life, they’ll end it.”
“Not… go… back?”
He was totally stunned. Pity welled up inside her. Again she remembered how far away his kind of life was from hers. He probably thought he could fix everything by hiring a lawyer or writing to his congressman.
“But Alex, I have to go back. My team is in the championship tournament!”
She couldn’t help it. She started laughing, and the pricking tears turned into real drops. She saw his expression and waved her hand in apology.
“Sorry,” she said, gasping. “It’s not funny at all. I’m sorry. I think my painkillers are beginning to wear off.”
He got quickly to his feet. “Do you need something? Aspirin?”
“No, I’m good. I just have to come down from the high.”
He walked over and rested one hand lightly on her arm. She felt the sting, the bruising there just beginning to grow sensitive. It was going to be a very rough day.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “Can’t I get you something?”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
He looked at her in surprise. “Oh. I guess I see your point.”
Finally, she thought. She’d been starting to worry that maybe the drug she’d used to kidnap him – Follow the Leader – had some permanent neurological effects they’d missed in the trials.
“Look,” she said. “After I have a little chat with Kevin, I’ll get my stuff together, and then I’ll give you the key so you can unlock your brother once I’m in my car.”
“But where will you go? What about your injuries?”
“You’re being nice again, Daniel.”
“Sorry.”
She laughed once more. The sound hitched on the end, like a sob.
“Seriously, though,” he said, “you don’t have to leave right away. You look like you could use some sleep and some medical attention.”
“Not on the agenda.” She eased herself into the desk chair, hoping he couldn’t see just how stiff and weary she felt.
“I wish we could talk some more, Alex. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now. If you really mean it, that I can’t go back… I don’t even know how to begin to think about that.”
“I do mean it. And I’m sorry. But I think your brother can probably fill you in on the details. I imagine he’s better at hiding than I am.”
He looked at his brother – wearing half of a Batsuit – doubtfully. “You think?”
“Don’t you agree, Kevin?” she asked. She was fairly sure he’d been awake for at least a few minutes.
Daniel fell to his blanketed knees next to his brother. “Kev?”
Slowly, with a sigh, Kevin turned his head to look at his brother. “Hey, Danny.”
Daniel leaned in and embraced him awkwardly. Kevin patted Daniel’s arm with his free hand.
“Why, Kev, why?” Daniel asked, his voice muffled in Kevin’s hair.
“Trying to keep you safe, kid. Safe from people like that —” And he added several quite unflattering descriptions of her; she knew all the individual words, but the combinations were fairly unusual.
Daniel jerked away and cuffed Kevin’s head.
“Don’t talk like that.”
“Are you kidding me? That psychopath tortured you.”
“Not for very long. And she only did it because —”
“Are you defending that —” More creativity.
Daniel smacked him again. Not hard, but Kevin wasn’t in a mood to play. He grabbed Daniel’s hand and twisted it into an unpleasant position. He got his right knee pulled up under his body and tried to yank away from the table. The locked wheels whined against the floor as the metal slab shifted a few inches.
Her eyes widened. The table had to weigh at least four hundred pounds. She scooted her chair back.
Daniel wrestled with his free hand, trying to break his brother’s hold.
“I’ll gas you again if you don’t let go of him,” she promised Kevin. “The bad news is, the chemical I’m using does have a few negative side effects. It kills only a small percentage of your brain cells with each use, but it adds up over time.”
Kevin dropped Daniel’s hand, glared once at her, and then focused on his brother.
“Danny, listen to me,” he hissed. “You’re bigger than her. Get the keys and get me out of these —” Suddenly his face froze, went beet red, and the vessels in his forehead pulsed in time with his words. “Where is my dog?” he shouted at her. The table squealed another inch across the floor.
“Sleeping in the back room.” She had to work to keep her voice even. “It weighs less than you; the gas will take longer to wear off.”