doesnât see my reflection in the glass. I was never good at keeping a poker face.
âIt fell off during the fight, didnât it?â he says.
âNot exactly. She pulled it off.â
âShe?â
âYeah. Turns out Monkeywrench is a girl.â
Trent slams on the brakes and pulls the car over. âWhat happened back there?â
âCan we talk about this later? Weâre kind of conspicuous out hereââ
âTell me what happened.â
I take a deep breath, then let it out slowly. âWe were fighting on top of one of the warehouses and the roof gave way. We fell like forty feet. Iâm OK, really ⦠thanks for the concern.â He doesnât say anything, so I continue. âWhen I got up to check on Monkeywrench, I saw that her mask had come off.â
âWhat happened to yours?â
âWell, after I saw her, she flipped out and attacked me. I thought she was trying to kill me. She wasnât. She was just trying toââ
âGet to your mask,â he finishes.
âYeah. âMutual assured destruction,â she said. I tell people who she is, sheâll tell people who I am.â
âSheâs smart. Iâd expect nothing less from our main adversary.â
âRight.â
âSo the girl is someone you know?â he asks.
âYeah, I go to school with her. Sheâs in my grade. I have a few classes with her.â
âHm.â
He turns the wheel and hits the gas. We take off again.
âYou donât seem that upset,â I say.
âBeing upset about it is a waste of energy. Instead, we need to figure out where to go from here.â
Thereâs a long pause.
âSoooo, what do I do?â I ask.
â
You
shouldnât do anything. As long as you donât tell, she wonât tell, either. She canât.â
âBut what if she does?â
âWell, then weâll have to do something drastic, wonât we?â Thereâs an odd tone to his voice, almost as if heâs smiling when he says it.
âWhat do you mean?â
âNothing. Listen, this could actually be a good thing. We might able to use this to put an end to Dr. Chaoticâs reign of terror once and for all.â
âReally?â
âYes. You two have to stay close to each other now, if for no other reason than to make sure that the other one isnât plotting something.â
âOK ⦠uhh ⦠So, Iâm supposed to go to school tomorrow and pretend like nothing happened?â
âNo. Youâre going to pretend that you didnât tell me or anyone else anything about this,â he says. âYouâre going to get to know her. Youâre going to get close to her ⦠become friends with her. Sheâs going to get comfortable with you ⦠then one day sheâs going to slip up ⦠get a little
too
comfortable, and accidentally reveal some important piece of information ⦠and ⦠Wham! Thatâs when weâve got them.â
âOK, I guess. But ⦠um ⦠you know Iâm not exactly great at making friends.â
âI know. Louis has expressed some concern.â
âYeah, so ⦠what if I just turn her in?â
âAnd let her give up your identity?â
I nod. âIt would end their reign of terror, wouldnât it?â I say. I donât tell him that at the moment, I donât think giving up my identity would be that big a loss.
âYes, except that you wouldnât just be giving up your own identity; youâd also be giving up mine, and who else would keep darkness from engulfing the city?â
âYeah, but ⦠couldnât we figure something out? Maybe get new identities or something?â
Trent turns to me. âYou donât get it, do you? Once your identity is compromised, itâll be leaked to every news source in the world. Pretty soon your name and face will be beamed across the