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Well, this was certainly unexpected and unplanned. The only question Firebrand had now was if it was unwelcomed too.
Should he actually tell her the next time he'd see her?
She knew his identity (admittedly, he was glad and a bit surprised she hadn't ratted him out yet), so this could provide some much needed leverage.
True, he had anticipated she'd find out who he was one of these days, but... No, that wasn't right. He had anticipated that the Swashbuckler would find out who he was. But this wasn't actually Swash, was it? It was, Firebrand was certain of it, her twin sister.
All because he had decided to clean his apartment after that little totally-not-a-date-according-to-not-Swash date at the Golden Eagle to clear his mind. Just sort through some old papers, try not to think about the evening (in part to not get angry about Lee, in part because he was maybe still a little flustered about Swash asking him out for a date), that kind of thing. Maybe figure out where half of his socks went, because he was certain they didn't get lost in the laundry.
This plan had panned out quite well until he had fished up some receipt from last summer for an odd job at the edge of Dockerstown. Little terraced house in one of the odd folds of the city, with an overgrown backyard chaotic enough that Firebrand had almost suspected to dig up some archaeological sensations there when he (in his civilian guise, of course) was called in by the neighbors to see about cutting the grass.
He faintly remembered the jokes he had cracked about it, but only now, upon finding the receipt, did he remember a peculiar detail. The name of the woman owning that mess of a yard.
Gentry.
Like Ellie Gentry, the TV star who is meant to marry the mayor in about a week's-or-so time, and who currently has been kidnapped.
Just that that yard did not belong to 'Ellie Gentry', but to 'Mag Gentry'.
The longer Firebrand looked at the receipt, the more bits and pieces he remembered. Things like Miss Mag Gentry's neighbors telling him that, yes, she absolutely looks like Miss Gentry on TV, and if Miss Mag would be two inches taller they might be twins. Things like Miss Mag watching him work from the roof of all things as he faceplanted into her backyard after discovering a long lost flower pot (not an archaeological sensation), and the two even talking about scaling the buildings of the area as workout.
And then something that Lee had said just hours prior to now had sank in, and the epiphany had hit him like an 18-wheeler loaded with sledgehammers.
Lee had, maybe genuinely, maybe jokingly, said that Swash (in disguise, of course) looks so much like Miss Gentry from behind. And hadn't Firebrand often mused that Ellie Gentry was the Swashbuckler?
Sure, he had assumed that the Swashbuckler now and back at the station a few days ago had been a body-double meant to throw off people suspecting the same thing about Miss Ellie, but this way things started to make a lot more sense.
Because a body-double would not have much of a reason to risk their hide like that, no matter how much Swash might have been paying them. But a sister? Especially one who already made a living out of doing almost the same stuff as Swash?
A sister would.
So, the Swashbuckler he had faced at the station was the genuine deal, the one he faced after the kidnapping was Ellie, stepping in for her sister, who was the one who had gotten kidnapped.
No wonder she had kissed him, he doubted the actual Swashbuckler would ever do that, as much as he'd like for that to happen.
Firebrand would be lying if he said this hadn't made him a little giddy. Then he had remembered that Ellie had quite certainly found out his real name and address. And he would also be lying if he said he wasn't torn right now.
He should actually tell her he knew, and press her to not tell Swash. Then again, Ellie was trying to save her sister's live, and Firebrand did have a conscience, no matter what the media said, thank you very much. He couldn't really bring himself to just waltz up to her in such a situation and threaten the two of them.
He opted for counting on Ellie not being an asshole. She hadn't been so far, so there was a chance she wouldn't even tell her sister once all of this was over.
There was, however, something about the entire thing that was worrying:
Who had gotten the upper hand of the Swashbuckler?
That Firebrand himself had managed to ultimately best Swash in the first battle after the kidnapping was obviously due to that being Ellie, not Mag. So, who would have the skill and means to best the actual Swashbuckler?
And another thought sank in.
Ellie was up against the King of Diamonds. Not that Firebrand thought her incapable (for all he had heard she bested Bloodmist but then bargained her own life against that of the old bloodsucker's hostage or something? Typically Swash, even if it's not really Swash), but it wouldn't hurt to hang around the casino the following night.
Firebrand got up and stretched. He still had to get his mail, and then he needed a good night of sleep in preparation for tomorrow.
This was really a mess.
At least things couldn't get more convoluted than they already were.