“Who are you?” Shade demanded, not needing for once to slow her speech.

Her doppelganger grinned and said, “I’m calling myself Mirror.”

“Oh, good, another Rockborn nut with delusions of comic-book heroism.”

“I sent in an application for a trademark,” said the voice identical to Shade’s own with an identically ironic tone. “It’s going to be tough figuring out an action figure since I always mirror someone else, but, hey, small price to pay, amiright?”

“Why are you backing that piece of shit, Vector?”

“Because you can’t bring it all crashing down. And he can.”

“And you think it’s a good idea to bring everything crashing down?”

Mirror shrugged. “Why not? We could use a revolution.”

“Read some history, dude. Revolutions almost never work out well.”

“Working out fine for me, so far,” Mirror said. “See, I look like you right now, Shade Darby, but I’m not you. I’m not some entitled, rich white girl looking for thrills. In real life I’m a middle-aged paraplegic vet with a hajji bullet lodged in my spine. I haven’t walked in nine years. Then I’m in my apartment minding my own business, and bang: the rock!”

“Congratulations. But if you fight for Vector you’re going down.”

Mirror shrugged and smiled with Shade’s own smile. “You can try.”

The entire conversation had not lasted five seconds of real time. And from Shade’s point of view, it wasn’t going well.

Hero, Chapter 30