“Danny…” John appeared in the reflection beside him and placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder.
Snapping to attention, Danny turned to face his father. “Sorry, Dad. I fell back asleep and had a bad dream. You know they’re always worse when you’re right on the edge of waking.” He smiled but didn’t try too hard to make it real. “I’m okay. Just trying to shake off the nightmare. Really. I should head out to meet Andre. We have to come up with a plan to take care of Ludgate.”
“If you’re sure, kiddo. But breakfast first, okay?” John pointed a parental finger at him as if Danny was still a teenager; sometimes, still living at home, he felt like one.
“Deal,” Danny said.
He held his smile until the moment John left, then frowned as he looked at his reflection again. No motion he made or whispered word he threw at it caused the imposter to resurface. Danny resigned himself to getting dressed and heading out to meet the day.
Before going downstairs, he reached for his bottle of pills. He held three in his hand for a solid minute before he finally put the third one back and took only two.
R
After downing a hasty breakfast, Danny lightning jumped to the alley behind the precinct so he could stop at his office before heading to the basement. Food and his pills had him feeling marginally better. If he explained things to Andre, maybe that would make confessing to Cho that much easier. Maybe Andre would have some insight on how to do it.
Maybe Andre would never want to look at him again after finding out what a low and dirty bastard Danny had been these past several weeks. Killing Thanatos had been an act of passion, they often told him. What was his excuse now? Maybe he’d just been showing his true colors...
Slowing his steps, Danny occupied himself with smoothing down his sweater and avoiding meeting gazes with any of the officers he passed. Looking down was easier than looking around him. Every so often along the hallways there was a window or surface that held a little too muchreflection. Sometimes he thought he saw a flicker of shadow. Sometimes he was certain it was just his imagination. Sometimes he felt like he was being watched. And the worst part was he didn’t know which feelings were the truth. Ludgate had power over him whether he was really there or not.
“Hey, Danny, you’re late,” Andre’s voice startled Danny as he reached his office only to find Andre there instead of down in the morgue. He sat at Danny’s desk with coffee and a grin on his face. But as Danny opened his mouth to respond, Andre raised a hand. “Hold that thought.”
After pressing a button on Danny’s computer, every reflective surface, every bit of glass, every window, fogged over like they’d been frosted or covered in paint. Danny stared at the small window in his door in awe. Nothing. No reflection.
“Andre…”
“Don’t get too excited. It’s not a device you can take anywhere you want—not yet. But I could definitely set up something like this in the morgue, maybe your house, and anywhere else we might need, and if we decide to build something to lure Ludgate out—”
“This is fantastic, Andre. Amazing.” Danny never realized how much relief he could feel just from no longer seeing his reflection. “How did you create something like this?”
“Hours of working on The Invisible Man with technochromes and harnessing light, that’s how. All I needed was a smaller room to test out my theory, but give me the weekend and I’ll have the whole morgue locked down.” Rolling his chair back a couple of inches, Andre spread his arms wide. “Give me some love. Who’s the best?”
“You are the best, Andre,” Danny said unabashedly. “Thank you.”
Andre shrugged with mock modesty and grabbed his coffee as he vacated Danny’s chair. “So. What’s with the late arrival? You didn’t do patrol last night, so I figured…Cho?”
Danny’s nausea returned full force.
“Whoa, dude, relax.” Instantly, Andre’s smile vanished. “I am so not belittling your romance. It’s just you said you hadn’t broken things off yet, so I thought maybe you changed your mind. Not that I’m trying to side with Cho here, it’s your decision, your love life—”
“Andre.” Danny didn’t mean for his voice to crack, but every time he thought he had a handle on things, the worst of it rushed to the forefront of his mind again and he felt like he was drowning.
“Danny…what? Tell me.”
The words flooded out of Danny like a wave, “He told me he loved me.” He hadn’t known where to begin, but apparently that was it.
“He…seriously? He said the words?Prometheussaid ‘I love you’?”
Danny nodded numbly.
“Mazel tov?” Andre shrugged. “Danny, why does being told he loves you make you look like he killed your cat?”
“Because,” Danny said, steeling himself for what he’d planned to confess when he headed there that morning, “I’ve been lying to him since day one.”
R
Parking his bike in an alley a couple blocks from the downtown OCPD precinct, Mal wore his glasses and had his hair tucked into his hat—but not a ball cap today. He had a police hat and uniform on that he kept handy for moments just like this. Not that he snuck into precincts regularly, but a convincing costume was useful when he needed to blend in as a wolf among sheep.
He headed toward the precinct like he belonged there and kept his head only slightly bowed. Mal couldn’t be sure if Danny was even at the station, but if not, Vaughn might be around at least. Maybe he’d feel generous and give Mal a line on Danny after their rapport the other night.
