Chapter 12: The truth comes out…
After gym class, Warren and Verity tracked down Speed. Warren threw him against some lockers, his arms getting ready to blaze. "You better explain yourself and quick."
Verity stepped up to the two boys, who were shooting daggers at each other. "Warren, I think I should handle this before I have to drag you to the Detention room." She placed a hand on his forearm, her eyes gentle. He let go, and instantly she was in his place, right in front of Speed. "I need you to tell me the truth, do you understand?"
Speed's eyes visibly softened. "Hey, Ver. I missed you."
Verity's eyes stayed firm, her voice still direct. "Are you going to tell me what I want to know or not?"
Speed, hurt by her avoidance and by her obvious disregard could only nod. "Yeah, whatever."
"Did you or did you not put this charm on my charm bracelet?" She held up the baggie in front of his face.
Speed's eyes widened as he looked back and forth between Verity's upset face and the skull charm in the bag. "How did you figure that out? We thought you'd never notice."
Verity's face softened into a look of victory. "I'll take that as a yes. I don't wear this all the time and Warren and I thought it was fishy that I only heard the new voices occasionally, most specifically when I was wearing my charm bracelet. I noticed it this morning because I was putting a new charm on from my father." Her eyes clouded back up. "He said it would protect me. I thought he was trying to make amends, but he wasn't, was he?" Verity glared into Speed's astonished gaze. "My father knew someone was trying to hurt me, didn't he?"
Speed deflated. "Royal Pain is in the cell next to his. She kind of went crazy a few months ago. She found out about you and thought if she could get you on her side, she could bust out of jail and get you to help her raise some super villains. The charm is really a small possession ray; it makes the wearer do whatever Royal wants. It was her voice you were hearing."
Warren was in shock at the admission. Verity's dad had told Royal Pain about her? Then tried to protect her? Royal Pain was going to use his girlfriend to create and train super villains. "How could Verity help raise super villains?"
Verity answered, her eyes closed. "I can absorb powers and give them to whomever I want." She looked at Warren sheepishly. "My dad mentioned it in the letter with the charm. He said it was the most severe kind of neutralization. He said it could turn a super villain into an average person, or give the wrong person the power to do whatever they want. Royal Pain would have used me as a holding tank for powers and then had me give them to various villains she raised, teaching them how to use them properly." Verity's face hardened. "The only thing wrong with that is I wouldn't have done it without severe provocation. The voices weren't just to try to get me to do her bidding, were they, Speed? They were supposed to be used to make me join her league here, in the hopes of getting the voices to leave."
Speed just nodded.
Verity let go of him, disgusted. "So, you spending so much time with me was just to keep an eye on me."
Speed spoke up. "At first, yes. But then I kinda fell for you. I really like you, Verity." He smiled sheepishly.
"Oh, you like me? So, tricking me into thinking I'm crazy, and causing me to stay away from the one guy I've ever loved is your way of showing me you really like me?" Verity's eyes blazed. "If I could get away with it, I'd drain you dry and leave you here to rot." Instead, she punched him square in the nose. He collapsed into a heap on the floor, swearing as he tried to stop the blood. She grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the floor, glaring into his eyes. "Tell Royal Pain I'm through. And even if I had wanted to join her, I can't be a holding cell for more than two powers at a time, or it will kill me." Verity dropped him and he landed with a thud on the floor. "You disgust me."
Then she walked away, Warren on her heels.
"I thought you weren't talking to your dad?" He understood everything else, but how her dad had protected her.
She shrugged, her mood still darkened by Speed and Royal Pain's evil plot. "He writes to me every once in a while. I rarely read his letters, but this one was marked urgent, so I took a chance." She stopped and glanced up at him. "He told me there were some things I should know. About people trying to convince me I'm crazy to help them with an evil plot. And about my powers. He said the charm he sent was to protect me from what they were planning because he knew I wasn't a bad person, nor was I crazy. He said I was just confused and it was partially his fault and he was sorry for hurting me." She sighed, and Warren could see tears in her eyes. "Apparently, he talks about me in his sleep. Because he misses me and feels like he deserted me. He said that's how the person in the adjoining cell knew how to get to me." A tear slid down her cheek as she looked up at Warren. "All this time, I thought he was some crazy man who would do anything to get away from his responsibilities. I thought Mom and I were what was making him nuts. But he'd gotten into a couple fights with some supers one night in a bar and absorbed their powers by accident. He never knew he even had a power and that's what drove him insane, having all those powers inside him at once, and not knowing how to use them, or his own."
Warren was silent. When her dad was at Sky High, they probably thought he was like Royal Pain; that he didn't power up. But instead of taking it personally, he went on to do what he could. An accident had driven him to the breaking point and now his whole family was suffering for it. He took a step toward her and held her close. "Maybe you could help him?"
"How?" She sobbed into his shirt.
"Well, for starters, you could try to teach him to control his power. Maybe get him to give back those other powers to the original supers they belonged to. If he takes medication like you do, that'll cover the bipolar disorder. Then it's just a matter of time before he's better."
Verity was silent except for her sobs. She pulled away and wiped her eyes. "Worth a shot…he'd still have to serve time for his robberies, but maybe I could convince the judge that convicted him to give him house arrest…"
