This was Mouse’s lab. Much to my dismay, however, Mouse himself was nowhere to be found and didn’t answer when I called him on his cell phone. Feeling frustrated and thwarted, I left him an urgent voicemail asking that he call me back asap.
I hung around for a few minutes afterwards, hoping that my mentor would quickly return my call (or better yet, show up in person), but it didn’t happen. Impatience quickly got the better of me, and simply for want of something to do, I teleported to my Alpha League quarters.
My suite, like all the other teen units, was furnished, but in a strictly utilitarian manner – with chairs, a bed and so on. There were no pictures on the walls, no photos, no memorabilia or knickknacks. In short, it lacked a lot of the homey features that make a place feel cozy and inviting.
Obviously, being my quarters, it was left to me to select the items that would fill that particular void and give the place character. Not trusting my judgment in that arena, Electra had volunteered to help me decorate, but thus far we hadn’t been able to find the time.
Looking around the place now, it occurred to me that I probably had some things at home that could be used to enhance the aesthetics. In fact, I probably had suitable items in a couple of the places I called home. Now that I thought about it, there were at least three locations – other than my quarters at HQ – where I could lay my head at night: the Caelesian Embassy (where my family currently lived), my father’s mansion, and my condo unit. (That last, however, was probably out, as I hadn’t truly felt comfortable in the condo since the murder that took place on the premises.)
Still, having even two choices seemed like an embarrassment of riches, and I was still contemplating what I should bring to liven the place up when Mouse called me back.
“Where are you?” I asked without preamble after tapping the “Talk” button on my phone.
“Well, hello to you, too,” Mouse said nonchalantly.
“Sorry,” I muttered apologetically, “but I’ve got a situation and could really use your help. Are you back at HQ yet?”
“Just got here. I had to gather up the weather rods from Alpha Prime’s mansion.”
The weather rods! I’d forgotten all about them. Of course, there had been no explicit agreement that I’d assist in taking them down, but since I’d help put them up…
I began apologizing to Mouse for the oversight, but he cut me off.
“Don’t worry about it,” he assured me. “You did enough just helping us get them in place. Plus I’m sure you had a late night and were planning to sleep in.”
“Well, the sleep-in didn’t happen,” I stated, then gave a quick overview of the morning’s events.
“Alright,” Mouse said when I finished. “Meet me in my lab in five minutes.”
I hung up and teleported to the lab immediately, too impatient to wait any longer.
Chapter 33
“That’s not you,” Mouse said, the first words he’d spoken after watching the footage from the flash drive three times in total silence.
“Really?” I droned mockingly, then wiped imaginary sweat from my brow with the back of my hand. “Whew! That’s a relief. I was worried there for a minute.”
My mentor gave me a sideways look as he tapped a button, pausing the clip. “I was trying to be supportive.”
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Thanks.”
We were in Mouse’s lab, standing at a worktable and watching the video of my doppelganger on a laptop. I had expected all along that Mouse would discount what the footage seemed to imply, but it still felt great to hear him say it.
“So what makes you say it isn’t me?” I asked, blatantly curious.
Mouse shrugged. “Aside from almost killing Incendia – which would be out of character for you – the guy in the video just seems to exhibit a sort of callousness that isn’t part of your personality. He’s got cold eyes.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think the fact that I’ve got a more bubbly nature is going to mean anything to the people investigating this.”
“Well, let’s give them something they can sink their teeth into.”
Noticing an odd gleam in Mouse’s eye, I asked, “What are you thinking?”
“For starters,” he said, “I’m going to tear into this footage and make sure it’s a hundred percent legit.”
“Sounds great. Let’s do it.”
Mouse seemed to contemplate for a moment. “It’s going to take a little while.”
“How long?”
“A couple of hours to do everything I’m thinking,” he stated. “If you want to take off, it’s fine. I can call you when I’m done.”
“I’ve got nowhere to be,” I said firmly, then immediately realized that it wasn’t exactly a true statement. I had an outing scheduled with Vestibule.
“Suit yourself,” Mouse said, then went to work.
*****
As Mouse predicted, it took several hours for him to fully examine the footage. From what I could tell, his analysis included – among other things – applying some advanced algorithms to the video and feeding the clip into a specialized program that broke the images down frame by frame.
Initially, I attempted to help, but quickly realized I was out of my depth. I then settled for asking questions about what he was doing, which Mouse willingly answered. (Far be it from my mentor to pass up a teaching moment when it came to me.) A good portion of that was also over my head, so ultimately I decided to just sit quietly to the side and let him work.
About the only thing I personally accomplished during that time was sending a text message to Vestibule telling her she’d have to take a rain check on our outing, but without going into detail. Her response was an emoji involving
