Rivals 1

"I'm serious," Brent told Special Agent Weathers, later on. "I'll be keeping an eye on her. If I see any sign that you aren't taking care of her properly, you'll have to answer to me."

"And what exactly will you do, then?" Weathers asked. He sounded as if he was just curious. "Will you spring her out of jail because we're being mean to her?"

"I'll - I guess I'll - "

"He'll make a stink," Jill Hennessey said. "He'll go to the TV news and tell them you're performing illegal experiments on her. Or that you're defying the Geneva convention. Brent's a celebrity, and the media will love him after this. You're with the government. They already expect you to mistreat people."

Weathers' face grew dark but he clearly knew she was right. He raised his hands in surrender.

"Thanks," Brent said. "I didn't think of that."

"Yes, I know. Thinking isn't one of your superpowers."

"Jill!" Dana said, shocked.

Jill and Dana had done what he said and waited an hour, then went and got the police. A whole fleet of jeeps with flashers and sirens had descended on the cylinder site. SWAT teams with heavy weapons had set up perimeters. The FBI had sent snipers and hostage negotiators. Men in bulletproof vests and baseball caps were everywhere, collecting evidence in little plastic bags or photographing pieces of equipment and vehicles that Maggie had turned into weapons. A whole medical team had showed up to check out Lucy and make sure she hadn't been hurt by the green fire.

None of it was necessary. Lucy was fine. Maggie was trapped and couldn't get out. Every once in a while she would scream in rage but that just meant she was alright down there, so Brent didn't mind. The police would have to figure out a way to hold her once they moved the bulldozer, but that wasn't Brent's problem. Maybe they could sedate her until they could move her to some kind of jail cell she couldn't break out of.

"It's over, detective. Can we take Brent home now?" Dana asked.

Weathers sighed deeply and took out his notebook. "I've still got a lot of questions. Brent, I need you to tell me again exactly how this happened." He gestured at the ambulance parked at the edge of the perimeter fence. Lucy was sitting on its tailgate while a paramedic shone a light in her ear. "But maybe," Weathers said, shrugging, "maybe it can wait until later. I've got a bad headache right now. A new one. I used to have two headaches, and now I have three." He wandered off muttering to himself.

Jill and Dana grabbed Brent's arms, one on either side.

"It's over," Jill said. "And we won."

"Brent won," Dana said, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Over at the ambulance Lucy looked up at him and frowned. Then, slowly, her face brightened. She shrugged and smiled at him as if to say it was okay.

"Everybody won, because we're all safe now. Brent, you saved the day. There's only one thing left to do."

"What's that?" Brent asked.

Jill clucked her tongue. "You're supposed to kiss the girl, stupid."

"Oh, yeah." Brent looked down at Dana's expectant face. "Sorry about this," he told her. Then he pulled free of the popular girls' arms and jogged over to sit down next to Lucy.

She looked surprised.

"Hi," he said.

She opened her mouth but for probably the first time in her life she was at a loss for words. So he leaned over and gently kissed her. On the lips. For real.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," he told her. His best friend. The girl who loved him. "I was so blind - I had feelings for you too, I think I always have. I was just worried if I said anything it would ruin our friendship."

"Dummy," she said, and leaned into him. Her arms went around his neck. He put his hands on her waist. "You look good in this," she told him, and rubbed her chin against the costume that covered his chest.

"We'll need to make one for you," he told her. "You're a superhero now, aren't you?"

She laughed. "I guess so, maybe."

He pulled her close and asked her, "Can I be your sidekick?"