One benefit to having told the story of how I became Paintball and everything that that had led to several times by now was that I was getting rather efficient about it. That first time, with Izzy, had been one of the most uncertain, fumbling moments of my life, with a lot of hesitation, ‘umms’ and ‘uhhhs,’ and just general overwhelming confusion. Now I knew what I was saying. Oh, it was still a lot, and my heart felt like it was trying to beat all the way out of my chest while I was getting into it. But I knew what to say, at the very least. I knew what words to use, I just had to actually use them. And even once I did, I still felt pretty damn anxious with every word that came out of my mouth. Yes, this was Pack, who had proven that she wouldn't go blabbing secrets to her boss immediately. Plus, even if she had been the sort of person to do that, Ryder would warn me the second he heard. Which didn’t exactly eliminate the problems that would spring up, but at least I wouldn’t be taken completely off-guard.
And yet, despite all those very logical points, I still felt the urge to bolt rather than tell the truth.
But I pushed that down and got through all of it, somehow. I made myself ignore that powerful urge through the entire story. Bit by bit, I told the other girl everything in between bites of taco. Which, truthfully, also helped me stop myself from running away. They were very good tacos.
Pack knew who I was. She knew my identity. In the rush of going out to save her lizards from those people, that simple fact hadn’t really fully dawned on me, to be honest. Not until we were sitting there with our food, and I didn’t have any other distractions. But there it was, Pack knew my identity, and even if I really didn’t think she’d go exposing it, she could if she wanted to. She could tell her boss exactly who I really was. Even if Ryder did warn me, like I believed he would, that wouldn’t completely contain the damage. I just… I had to push that out of my mind and hope that I really could trust the other girl with this. She was a Fell-Touched, yes. She was a thief. But if there was one thing I’d learned after all this time, it was that things just weren’t that simple.
To my surprise, Dani had her own story to tell after I got through my own. It was surprising both because I had expected her to need a few minutes to process, and because she had a few things of her own to share. First and potentially foremost, she had obviously seen Sierra before and worked out that she looked like me. That had led her on a whole long thing to try to figure out why Pittman would have made a Biolem Cassidy Evans. Which had made her realize that my parents must have had some strong connection to the Ministry. Though she believed they were probably simply financing it, not that they were actually in charge. More importantly, and embarrassingly, she had apparently been watching me rather closely whenever we were at school. Close enough to have noticed how on edge I was, which had convinced her that my parents were abusive.
Was it weird that I felt a rush of defensiveness on my parents’ behalf? Under the circumstances, it was probably pretty weird. Especially considering what I had seen that night. My brother had shot a man in the leg for failing to find me. My mother had smacked him for bringing my shoe home. I still didn't know what that was all about. They had seemed rather different that night, and immediately after, than they'd been ever since. Something had clearly happened back then to put my family on edge so much, but what? Why had they been so quick to jump to family violence and murder as a solution? I still remembered my father talking to Simon about killing me. Or at least, about killing the mysterious witness they thought was a small boy. But in all subsequent interactions with them, they had seemed much more capable of negotiation and just… more diplomatic. Less prone to jumping straight to death threats, at the very least. It couldn’t all be just because I had proven myself to be kind of useful and hadn’t tried to go to any of the authorities yet, could it?
I was pretty sure there had to be more to it, but I didn't have time to focus on it right then. Not when I was sitting there listening to Dani talk about how she had been just a few seconds from swooping in to give my entire family a real piece of her mind. And that was only if she had restrained herself from outright assaulting my parents, lizards or no lizards. Which--yeah, the thought of Dani being so thoroughly offended and outraged on my behalf, someone she didn’t even know that well, that she had been very close to literally physically assaulting the richest, most financially and politically powerful couple in the state (before you ever even added in the whole Ministry thing), made me blush deeply. I couldn’t even imagine how that would’ve gone.
Fortunately, we didn't have to find out. Now she understood just how dangerous it could be if my family knew just how much she was aware of. She understood that we had to keep this secret.
And speaking of keeping things a secret, once I finished explaining all that and made sure she was actually processing who my parents were, I found myself asking, “Okay, but does--err, That-A-Way know? I mean, does she know about you being--about Dani and Pack being the same person?” Boy this was hard to ask without outright asking if she knew that Amber and Way were the same person.
The question made her simultaneously blush and duck her gaze, and I heard a soft chuckle. “Yeah, she knows. It’s kind of a long story, with a bit of a sitcom twist, but still. She knows who I am. And for the record, I know who--wait, do you know that-- hang on, I think I need to figure out how to ask if… do you know who That-A-Way--”
We both stared at each other for a long moment before speaking simultaneously. “Amber.” Then we slumped back and laughed a little.
Dani found her voice first. “I really hope you’re not about to hold it against her for not telling you the whole truth.”
That made me cough. “I mean, to be honest I was about to say the same thing to you. Err, that is, I was about to say I hope you don’t hold Amber not telling you about my identity against her.”
“Not really, it wasn’t her secret to tell,” Dani noted with an easy shrug before taking another bite of her taco. From the sound she made, it was just as delicious for her too. Then she met my gaze once more, looking a bit curious. “Did you ever find out anything else about those people?”
The question made me blink in confusion. Weren’t we just talking about Amber and how much she had known about each of us and our secrets? “Find out anything else about what people?”
It was her turn to blink, leaning forward on the table to squint at me while her head slowly turned to the side. It was actually kind of a lizard-like head motion, which made me wonder if she was simply influenced by being around them so much, or if her powers actually made her act more lizard-like somehow. Either way, she pointedly clarified, “The people you saw get killed back at that motel, the first night. Did you ever find out who they were or why your family might’ve been so intent on killing them. I mean, you said yourself they seemed more angry about the whole situation back then and now they’ve cooled off. It’s obvious something about whatever was going on with those people they had killed in that motel must have really upset them. So what was it?”
Yeah, all I could do for a moment after she asked that was stare in silence. My mouth opened, shut, then opened again. I heard myself give a very faint whine before shaking my head. “Okay, it’s been a really busy few months. I’m not even sure how I’d look into that without tipping them off. I mean, do I go to the cops and ask if I can find out any details about them finding dead bodies in that motel and then just sort of hope I’m not talking to someone who works for the Ministry? And that it won’t get back to them any other way? They’ve cooled off since then, sure. But I’m pretty positive they’d probably object if they found out I was digging into that whole thing.”
Dani, for her part, considered that before lifting her chin. “Yeah, you’re right. I just thought you might’ve poked at it just a little earlier. At least enough to know who they were. But hey, if it’s too dangerous, it’s too dangerous. I just--hmm.” She trailed off, head tilting once more.
“What?” I found myself asking. This whole situation was already so surreal. Dani was Pack. The new girl at my school, and the lizard-using Fell-Touched from La Casa, were the same person. Was she going through the same confusion and disbelief I was when it came to accepting that Cassidy Evans and Paintball were the same person? Actually, maybe it was even worse for her. Or better, given she’d already known something was up with me since she saw Sierra.
Dani held up a hand, obviously taking a moment to run through a thought in her head. She whispered something silently to herself that I couldn't catch, then looked up and met my gaze once more with a small, yet mischievous smile. “What if I helped out with that? I mean, to be fully honest, I really want to find out everything I can about this Ministry. They take part of my money, my earnings, and I never agreed to that. I want to know what they’re providing, what they’re capable of. I want to have my own voice be heard, not be subject to some shadow government. You know, no taxation without representation. I need to know more. And that means finding out what had them so upset back then. So yeah, I can totally help you with it.” With all that said, she paused briefly before adding. “Okay, I really just have to say, knowing you aren’t a young teenage boy really makes our interactions feel different.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“There's a lot I should probably say to that,” I managed after a second of processing the whole thing, “but I guess I should focus on the important bit. What do you mean help? I'm pretty sure they wouldn’t react any better to finding out that you started looking into that whole situation than they would if it was me. I mean, Paintball me. If it was Cassidy me they’d probably just try to erase my memory again.” Yeah, I’d told her about that whole thing too, and I probably hadn’t kept the annoyance and indignation out of my voice then any better than I was keeping it out now.
Thankfully, Dani didn’t dwell on that too much, aside from giving me a brief sympathetic look. When I’d told her that whole thing, the full story about what had happened back then and what memories I’d lost for so long, I had been pretty sure she was about to go back to that whole ‘go give my parents a violent piece of her mind’ plan from before. She’d settled on grumbling about it. Now, after we exchanged that look, she simply went back to explaining her idea. Which was a doozy. “I didn’t say we should let them know anyone is looking into it. I’m talking about doing what I do best: steal things. In this case, records from the cops. I figure we can take a whole bunch of records so having those ones doesn’t stand out. It shouldn’t be too hard to make it look like we’re actually after some other sort of details or evidence if we’re careful about it. Then we just look through and find out what exactly they’ve found out about that whole thing. And as a bonus, if we take enough stuff, maybe I’ll find something useful in, uh, other ways. It’s win-win for both of us.”
There was a brief moment of silence, before I leaned forward to hiss, “Are you fucking high? How is breaking into a police station to steal records right out from under their noses an idea that won’t attract the Ministry’s attention? Actually, how is it something we could even pull off at all?”
“You seriously underestimate your own thieving skills, and mine,” Dani replied with a sniff of indignation. “Besides, I wasn’t talking about stealing from a police station. They keep records off-site these days. There’s a whole warehouse for keeping that stuff. That’s what we break into.”
Staring down at my empty plate (I kind of wanted another taco) for a few long seconds as I took a deep breath, I let that play through my head. “Okay if I’m even going to keep considering this at all, crazy as it sounds, I assume you’re talking about breaking in with disguises, like when we went into the Ministry base under the mall. No obvious use of our powers or anything like that.”
Her head gave a short nod. “Well yeah, we’re not gonna go breaking through the wall with your pink paint right in front of the camera before having my lizards carry things out to a van with ‘Paintball and Pack are working together to uncover Ministry secrets’ painted on the side.”
Raising my shoulders in an exaggerated shrug, I casually lamented, “That's too bad. I could have made a message like that look pretty sweet with lightning and flames all around it, and little pictures of your lizards standing on the letters in cute spy costumes. Maybe have Tuesday hanging off a rope from one of the letters like that old Scientology guy from Mission Impossible back when he was still acting. My dad says he used to be big.”
She pointed at me with one finger. “Well now I have to see that, whether we advertise what we’re doing or not. You take commissions, right? Though I’m not sure how much it’d take to impress you, given your family owns like… half the shit in the city.” As soon as she said that, the other girl’s face twisted a bit and she backtracked. “Sorry, fuck, I told myself I wouldn’t bring that up. I didn’t--yeah.” A heavy sigh escaped her. “This is weird. You’re just--I can’t believe--it’s obvious now, in hindsight, you know? It makes perfect sense. All that stuff you got into, especially with the Scions, it’s better that you’re not actually like a thirteen-year-old kid. And again, it makes so much more sense this way. But still, it’s just…” She trailed off, clearly searching for the right words.
“It’s a lot,” I finished for her, giving the girl a sympathetic look. “Trust me, I really, totally get that.”
For a moment, the two of us just sat there looking at one another. We were obviously still trying to process the whole thing. It was all I could do not to start blurting out a hundred different wild questions. Finally, I settled on a weak, “So what are you going to do now? I mean, about all this.”
She exhaled slowly. “Well first of all, I’m sure as hell not gonna tell anyone. For what it’s worth, you have my word on that. Whatever happens, I ain’t no snitch. Especially not to the people who think they have the right to tax my ill-gotten gains.” That bit came with a small smirk before she sobered. “But seriously, you don't have to worry about me. You may be a stuffy old goody-good Star, but you’re the-- ahem, second-best stuffy old goody-good Star I know. Sorry, Amber’s gotta take the lead on that. You don’t kiss like she does. I mean, I assume not, and I don’t think she’d be cool with us checking.” While my face turned pink, she cocked her head, holding up a finger with a contemplative look. “Let’s see…. nope, that still feels weird. Sorry about that, I was trying to see if knowing who you are made it any less awkward to flirt with you, and it really doesn’t. I think my subconscious still thinks of you as a little kid. Probably gonna take more time to sink in.”
“You know, I think I’m pretty okay with that never being comfortable for you,” I informed her dryly. “But yeah, you don't have to worry about me either. I think it's safe to say we can keep each other's secrets.” After saying that, I had to shake my head slowly at the sheer absurdity of the entire situation. Seriously, what even was my life? And it had to be even more awkward and strange for Amber, considering she was actually dating this girl, all while actively being part of an official government-sanctioned team that was meant to stop her from committing all her crimes.
Yeah, I had some questions about how that all worked, but now probably wasn't the time or place to get into it. If there even was a right time and place for something like that. It was probably just… something the two of them should deal with between themselves. Not really my business.
By that point, the cops had shown up across the street. The two of us watched the first couple squad cars pull through with their lights off before a larger police van arrived a few minutes later. It looked like those first ones had gone in to see if there really was anything interesting there, then called in the van when they found all the stolen tourist stuff. That was going to take them awhile to sort through. But at least they actually showed up and looked like they were taking it seriously.
Glancing at the other girl, I slyly asked, “You have a bad taste in your mouth right now or what?”
She snorted. “You mean for turning over all that shit to the cops? Nah, not after those dumbfucks lizard-napped my buddies. They had it coming. Besides, it’s not like I was friends with them. They can just consider losing all that loot payment for fucking with me.” She seemed to think about that for a moment before pondering, “You think they have anything like the Ministry here?”
My eyes shifted to look at the one cop car still sitting in view while I answered, “If you're asking that because you think it might be a good idea to move down here so you don't get taxed, then yes. I think they probably have something much worse than our Ministry. Theirs probably take like… half their earnings. And don’t even provide nearly as much benefit. It’s totally ridiculous.”
Dani grinned at that. “Aww, you don’t want me to leave, huh? I guess I’ll take that as proof that you actually like me, even if I am a filthy criminal bitch who belongs in jail.” That came with a wink, while she balled up her taco wrappers and arced them into the nearby garbage can.
“Well mostly I just don’t want Amber to be sad,” I retorted immediately. “Or leave. I wouldn’t want her to follow you down here.” After that bit of teasing, I also told her about my feeling that my family might have something to do with what was going on here too. Maybe not a full-scale Ministry thing, but they probably had some sort of connection to that Lysander Legend guy and his casino-hotel. They’d obviously been investing in the place for a reason after all, and I didn’t think it was just to get more money. It felt like there was more to that whole thing, somehow.
In any case, satisfied that we hadn’t wasted our time contacting the authorities, the two of us went back to Dani’s hotel, but only long enough for her to pick up the stuff she had left there. Including her pet rats, whom she had picked up just as part of her cover but still cared about. And I kept watch the whole time, as did Riddles from the sky. Dani wasn't going to stay there another night, not with that gang still out there possibly wanting some sort of revenge. We just picked up her stuff and went to a different (but still very nice) place a few blocks away, where she checked in under another name. I politely ignored the fact that she had like three different fake IDs in her wallet.
Once she was all checked in, we went up to the room and gave it a thorough once-over, just in case. It was fine. We both knew that, obviously. But we still checked anyway. Dani was clearly still a bit shaken up from almost losing her lizards, and I couldn’t blame her for it. But once we were sure everything was clear (she was on the tenth floor, the windows were locked, and she was keeping the lizards and rats both out in the main room), the two of us sat together at the table, while Dani informed me that she would help Izzy cover for me to my parents while I was competing in the games. I didn’t tell her anything about my new sister’s Touched identity, just that she knew who I really was. It felt easier that way.
Sitting there with the four-foot long iguana Mars Bar lounging on one side of me and the even larger six-foot long Komodo dragon Bumbershoot on the other, I took a sip of the soda we’d picked up from the vending machine down the hall. “To tell you the truth, I’m really glad you ended up being Pack. I was kinda afraid I’d have to deal with Pack-you showing up at school the next time Dani-you flirted with Amber. Bunch of giant lizard-creatures running down the hall, scaring everyone, it would’ve been a whole thing.”
“Eh, that’s still not a bad idea,” she informed me. “Some of you rich fucks at that place could use a little excitement. And cardio from all the running away. Speaking of which, you sure you’re ready for your first real competition tomorrow? You’ll have to actually go up against other people.”
My shoulders rose in a shrug. “I dunno. If I totally suck, would you mind distracting everyone with one of those giant lizard attacks we were just talking about?”
With a bright smile, Dani agreed, “You know what, I think I can handle committing random acts of terrorism to stop you from being embarrassed.
“After all, what are friends for?”