by R. J. Ross
I pull it all out, almost laughing at the swirling silver that decorates the suit. “You went with the Cold Steel style, huh?” I tease her as I pull out shiny silver boots and gloves from the bag.
“I thought it would make you happy,” she admits with a little smile. “Of course I added your symbol on the back.”
I turn it, seeing a gold swirling sun design across the back. “I had Ace draw it up for you when he designed mine,” Emily says helpfully.
“Thank you,” I say as I head into my room to pull it all on. The boots are less bulky than the ones I originally brought, but much warmer. The gloves are the same. “I might wind up blinding people out there,” I complain.
“That’s the funnest part!” Emily says evilly. “Grandpa said he’s got something planned for after breakfast, so eat quick!” she says as we all sit down at the kitchen table and dig into the heavily loaded plates Grandma Tatia has already laid out. We thank her when we're done and pull on our coats, heading for the outside.
“How can he train you for a fight against Ace?” I ask as we all head outside and into the snow. There are ice structures floating in the air, I realize with surprise. There are hoops and platforms and various strange objects that I can’t even name. In the center is Superior. He’s just floating there, looking a bit bored, really.
Taurus steps up next to us, looking at the field with wonder. “That is a very powerful man,” he says.
“You realize, I can’t fly,” Emily says as she steps forward, stretching her arms over her head.
“I do--I’ve also heard of your teleporting abilities,” Grandpa Superior says. “We’re going to work on judging distance and landing. Once you can land firmly on flying ice, you’ll be able to land anywhere.”
“It is good there is plenty of snow below,” Grandma Tatia says from behind us, “for when you fall.” I glance back with a little smile.
“Yeah, it really is,” Emily agrees with a hint of trepidation.
“Aubrey, you want to try, too?” Superior asks.
“I think I’ll just watch, thanks,” I say. As if I could even get up that high.
“One more thing,” Liz says, walking over to Emily, “here--spikes,” she tells her, touching a button on Emily’s gloves and boots. “Traction is important.”
“I could consider that cheating, you know,” Superior says.
“You could, but you won’t,” Liz tells him, grinning slightly. “I’m training my daughters to win--not play fair.”
“Fine, but with that advantage I’m going to up the game,” Superior says. “Emily, bring out the doppelganger you’re having the most trouble with.”
“What? No wa--“ she catches herself a little too late, “but Grandpa--“ she says, changing tactics, “I can’t work with her! She’s so hard headed and she’s always doing whatever SHE wants to do, not what I want her to--“
The fact that Superior floats down, standing in front of her silently makes her stop. Emily looks up at him with a pout. “Do I really have to?” she asks.
“Yes, you really have to,” he says. “Bring her out.”
Emily lets out a heavy sigh and Repeat appears behind her. The snow suit she’s wearing is in black with neon versions of the red, white and blue. You have to admire that ability, I admit. All the various outfits she gets away with without even having to shop are amazing.
“What?” Repeat demands.
“We’re training,” Emily says, motioning to the floating obstacle course. “Don’t you dare start complaining, either--“
“Really? Really, really?” Repeat says, getting excited. “We’re being taught by THE Superior? Where’s Ditto? She’s going to do it, too, right?”
“Tomorrow,” Grandpa says, reaching up and patting her on the head, “today is for you and Emily. Isn’t that right, Emily?”
Emily nods, but there’s a confused look on her face as she looks at the doppelganger. “So we just jump from one piece to the next?” she asks.
“No,” Superior says. “You jump from piece to piece trying to catch me,” he tells them, jumping onto the first of the floating hoops. “With two of you, I would suggest coming from two different directions, if you can.”
Emily and Repeat look at each other before disappearing and reappearing on the hoop--Grandpa’s already gone. Taurus is watching with a huge grin. I don’t think he plans on going anywhere.
“Now, since they are playing, shall we do something fun as well?” Tatia asks. “I have been told that you have a defensive mechanism!” she says to me. “Shall we see if we can’t learn to use it? We should do so before Felicia and Jonathan come for dinner,” she adds.
“Duplicitous is coming for dinner?” Liz asks.
“It is one of the reasons you came, is it not?” Tatia says. “She is looking forward to meeting Emily, as well,” she adds.
“Um, can I make a call before we start training?” I ask. “I sent Trent and Jack on a mission last night. I’d like to check up on them.”
“Yes, of course! It might take me a few moments to set up,” Tatia tells me. "Liz, you will help me,” she adds, grabbing my foster mom and pulling her down a hall. “We will be just down here, kitten!” she adds over her shoulder.
“Okay,” I say. Suddenly I’m a bit worried. Tatia, as far as I know, is purely a tank, right? So how can she teach me how to use my attack? I look at my phone, speed-dialing Jack, since he’s fourth on my list of numbers. The first is the Central Hall ER, second is Liz, third is Emily, and then it’s him. I sometimes feel guilty about that line-up, but he just laughs at me when I mention it.
“Hey,” Jack says. “How’s it going?”
“We’re fine. Emily’s training with Superior out front. Did you and Trent go see the family, yet?” I ask, going straight to the point.
“We did—Taurus's dad was right about the girl, she’s getting transferred as soon as all the paperwork on their side is done,” he says.
“Thank you, Jack,” I say, sighing in relief.
“She’s going to be... well, I’ll leave that for when you get home,” he says. “I miss you,” he adds more quietly. I hear laughter in the background, and he goes, “Shuddup you morons,” in a growl. It must be their break time. He tends to hang out with Max and Ace, who are the most likely to laugh at him.
“I miss you, too, Aubrey!” Ace yells. “Hey, when are you going to dump the bolts for brains boy?”
“When are you going to stop hittin’ on my girl, man?” Jack demands.
“When she’s not your girl anymore,” Ace replies evilly.
I can’t help the laugh that escapes me. It’s a bit flattering, even if I know that it’s just to get to Jack. Ace is a really nice guy, after all.
“So if Emily’s training, what are you doing, Aubrey?” Max asks.
“Grandma Tatia says she’s going to teach me how to use my defense ability,” I admit. “I have no idea how, but I’m going to go see what she’s got planned.”
“Be careful,” he says. “Don’t hurt yourself, okay?”
“I won’t,” I promise. “With both Liz and Tatiana overseeing, nothing should go wrong, right?”
“I would hope so,” he says. “See ya, Aub.”
“Bye, Jack,” I say as I hang up. Anything more would be too embarrassing to say when everyone is listening in. Jack isn’t the type to say the “L-word” in front of his fellow super villains. I’m actually a bit stunned he admitted that he missed me. It makes me happy. I have a little smile on my face as I head down the hall Grandma and Liz went down, stopping as I come to a large door. I push it open, looking in curiously.
The room inside is a state of the art exercise room--one designed for tanks. There are massive weight machines that tower high into the air. Instead of punching bags, they’ve got an entire wall of steel that has several fist imprints in it. The wall on the left side of the room is covered with television screens, showing news from all over the world. The entire room is lit by the sun coming through the clear
ceiling. Liz and Grandma are standing by another wall, talking quietly.
“Are you sure this is the best way?” Liz asks. “We won’t hurt her, will we?”
“As a healer, she will be fine,” Grandma says. “I have met healers in the past--they are tougher than they believe. It is a matter of pushing her--which, from what my son has said, has not happened yet.” They both turn and look at me expectantly. “Will you try this, kitten?” Grandma asks, motioning to the wall. Looking closer, I realize there are handholds built into the ice.
“You mean, like rock climbing?” I ask. “But--“
“We need to get you to your limits,” Liz says. “Tatiana thinks that by pushing you past your comfort zone, you should be able to access your fight or flight reflexes,” she explains. “You don’t have to worry about falling, we’ll be sure to catch you--we just need to see how much it takes to get you past your threshold. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to--“
I look at my gloves, tapping the button she had pushed on Emily’s. Spikes come out. I repeat the process with my boots. “I think it’ll be fun,” I admit. “I’ve always wanted to try rock climbing walls!”
“See? It will be fine!” Grandma tells Liz. “It will also help with her upper body strength--it is very important in a healer,” she declares. “There are very heavy supers that must be lifted at times.”
“Yeah, there are,” I say as I head to the wall, looking at all the handholds. They cover the wall at various heights and distances from each other. I really think Grandma or Grandpa just stuck their hands into the ice, creating them. I can imagine what it looked like, I think as a grin crosses my face. Can’t you just picture them debating on whether I’ll be able to reach this spot or that?
I feel really loved right now. Obviously this wall would be completely useless to them, right? It was all for me. I start climbing, making my way up the wall slowly. “Do you think we could add one of these to my obstacle course at school?” I ask, reaching gingerly for the next handhold. “This is a lot more entertaining than running a mile.”
“Talk to Nico, I’m sure he can get one,” Liz says.
“Keep climbing, kitten! We need you out of breath,” Grandma says.
I look up, seeing the handholds go all the way to the ceiling, probably a mile above my head.
“I’m sure I’ll get there,” I say dryly. Handhold by handhold, foothold by foothold, I slowly make my way up higher and higher. It becomes instinctive after a while, and my mind starts to wander. Jack had been about to tell me something about the healer girl, right? What was it? Maybe she was still paranoid, even after we proved that we were with the Hall. I can see that, I mean, she reacted so harshly to--
I blink as I bump my head on the ceiling. I almost fall off the wall in shock. “See? She is much tougher than she believes,” Grandma says from right behind me. I look over as Liz moves into view.
“You did it, Aub!” she says excitedly.
“How?” I ask blankly, looking at the ceiling in shock.
“One step after another, kitten,” Grandma says. I dare to look down--feeling slightly light-headed as I see how far up I am. “You are not exhausted enough. I am afraid you will have to go down, as well,” she says.
I turn and stare at her. She gives me a beautiful smile. She looks so proud of that fact, I think as I start searching with my foot. There, I think as I bump into a foothold. Climbing down is a LOT harder, I realize as I slowly start going down.
“You see, I have known a healer,” Grandma explains as they float down alongside me. “She was a lovely woman, but small and not very noticeable in comparison to the rest of the team. I do not mean to say you are not noticeable, kitten! You are quite adorable--“
“It’s okay,” I say. I sound a bit breathless, I notice. “I know I don’t stick out. I look...“ I pause to breathe for a moment, “like a normal girl.”
“I think you’re beautiful,” Liz says faithfully.
I give her a grateful grin.
“It is part of being a healer, kitten,” Grandma says gently. “I think my Nicolas has already told you this, no?”
“Yeah,” I admit.
“It is a built in self-defense. But that does not mean you ARE normal. You should have very good stamina and strength--not on our level, of course, but much better than that of a norm. It is needed for your job. That you have another defensive ability is a pleasant surprise!”
“I...” I keep going down, trying to figure out how to say this, “You... realize that it was mostly Grandpa’s fault that I actually used it, right?” I say finally.
“Oh, yes, I know,” she says far too casually. “He can be quite frustrating, my Clifford.” I feel a large hand gently pat me on the back. “I am proud of you for putting that behind you.”
“How DID you put it behind you?” Liz asks abruptly. “I mean, I still feel strange calling him 'Dad,' and I’m a blood relative--I can’t exactly deny it.”
“Liz!” Grandma scolds.
“It’s true, Tatiana,” she says. “He was always gone. Nico got to where he absolutely hated him. I was stuck there, listening to him rant about how useless our ‘Father’ really was. He did calm down, though, after Dad ‘died,’” she says, her tone softening. “He started college, moved into the dorms, and met Pan and Summer.”
“And you?” Grandma asks.
“I was still pretty much alone,” Liz says quietly, “he would stop by daily, make sure everything was going well--that I was being taken care of by the lady he hired. She kept me fed, took me shopping, signed papers for school, that sort of thing. And then Nico was arrested.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“I moved into Central Hall, where I got my GED and started working as a cape,” Liz says. “The closest person to my age was Taurus, and he was transferred to the West Branch before I really tried to get to know him. But then I met Jeanie,” she goes on, her tone turning bright.
“Jeanie is Star Spangled?” Grandma asks.
“Yes! She’s a bit older than I am, but we didn’t care--we became best friends almost instantly,” Liz says. I smile, feeling much better about this story now. I always knew that Liz and Jeanie were best friends, but I didn’t know how it started. “She automatically accepted me. She was newly married and had a one-year-old, but she always made time for me. I learned to change diapers and she learned how to lure me out of video games. It was a good time. I just wish I’d known about the twins,” she adds a bit sadly. “I would have grabbed them out of the home in a heartbeat.”
“So Nicolas did not tell you?”
“Nico didn’t know,” I say. I’ve heard this part--Emily, Zoe, and Adanna are best friends. I’ve been dragged into a few of their sleepovers. It’s even funner when we get Morgan to come over. We learn a lot about each other on sleepover nights.
“Yeah, Nico didn’t have a clue. I’m not sure Summer even noticed until Nico was arrested, actually. There was no way to tell him when he was in the Cape Cells--supers aren’t allowed to visit.”
“And why did she not tell Mastermental?” Grandma demands. “This is why they were not known to you, is it not?”
“I don’t know,” Liz admits. “I need to ask her sometime.”
Grandma sighs. “There is much that happened while I was not here,” she complains. “I, too, would have been happy to take the twins in. I... have failed my family so much.”
“You didn’t fail! Things happened--it could have been a lot worse, you know?” I say. “You could have been killed.”
“Yes, I know that,” she says quietly. “That is the problem with our type--we just believe that we are undefeatable. It catches us off guard completely when something happens.”
“Maybe that’s what happened with Summer, too,” I say. I’m starting to get a little tired--oh, there’s the floor. I step down onto it, planning on sitting down.
“Back up, now, kitten,” Grandma says, patting me on the back again.
“But--“
>
“You have not reached your breaking point yet,” she explains.
I start climbing again, trying to focus on things other than the climb.
***
“So... I’m going to be transferring next week,” Alyssa says, looking down at her hands. Of all the teachers she has, Miss Vine is the only one she plans on telling. The others will find out from the principal--she doesn’t really care to see them pretend to care she’s leaving.
“I see,” Miss Vine says. The class hasn’t started yet, so they’re the only ones in the room. She pulls Alyssa into a hug. “I’m so happy for you,” she goes on.
“Wait, what?” Alyssa asks blankly.
“Andre Harrison called earlier, asking if he could come visit again--I think he’s intent on getting you into the Hall,” Miss Vine says as she pulls away.
“What?” Alyssa repeats. “I’m seriously confused right now--“
“He’s the owner of Hero TV, isn’t he?” Miss Vine says. “He had to have a reason for coming here--I thought, perhaps, that it would be Michael or Pedro, but for it to be you! How wonderful!”
“You mean you thought--you knew there was a--a super in the class?” Alyssa asks.
“Oh sweetie, it’s not the first super we’ve had come through the school. There are a few small powers scattered in every few years or so. I remember at least two that were whispered about when I was your age.”
“So wait--you’re transferring?” Michael asks from behind them. A chill runs down Alyssa’s spine as she slowly turns, looking at the football player.
“Yeah,” she says, crossing her arms in an unconsciously self-protective move. “You got a problem with that?”
He starts to say something, only to stop and look at Miss Vine. “Your brother didn’t say anything,” he says, instead.
“My brother has no say in this,” she says, turning away from him and heading for her chair. Michael is one of Rylon’s ‘pals.’ She hates him. She hates all of Rylon’s friends, actually.
The class starts, going as usual until Miss Vine is called away for a phone call. Almost a second after that, Michael is standing over her chair, right up in her face. “You think you’re going to get away that easily?” he hisses.