by R. J. Ross
"Almost!" he yells down from his room. "That doctor of mine is quite the looker, you know—I've got to be spruced up properly."
I feel a smile pull at my lips, and I'm about to call back teasingly when a hand clamps over my mouth. I jerk, struggling, trying to pull free. I can't scream—I try to. I can't even get a whimper out before I'm sinking through the floor, kidnapped by an unseen super.
Time jumps again and I'm in the middle of my glass cage. I turn, looking for my fellow "zoo kids." I hate the term, but we've all accepted it—we can't deny it, after all. Something is wrong, though. I don't see Morgan, or Vinny, or Carla, or any of my friends. Instead I see a group of strangers. There's one right next to me, sitting against the glass wall with his knees hugged to his chest. Hesitantly I walk over, tapping on the glass. He turns, pushing his glasses up and looking at me with the most heart broken expression I've ever seen.
I think he might be a healer.
I start to cry.
***
“Now she is waking up,” I hear a soft voice with a Russian accent say. I open my eyes, looking straight into Grandma’s. She smiles at me. “Hello kitten, how are you feeling?” She reaches up, wiping away the tears on my cheek without a word. I'm grateful for her silence. My mind snaps back to the present, but the dream is still lingering.
Instead of speaking about it, I take the time to do a thorough scan of my body. It’s a trick I learned when I accidentally hit myself with that attack. “Slight muscle strain that’s already almost healed, a bit light-headed, though,” I admit, sitting up slowly. Grandma braces me when I sway. “What happened?”
“You had a small... incident,” Grandma says. “It is nothing to worry about at the moment, I am sure!”
“Not exactly,” I hear Grandpa say. “We’ve got a few news reports saying that ‘norms’ are starting to act strangely all throughout Canada and the states. There are a few recorded on YouTube, here--“ I look over, realizing we’re in the workout room again. He’s standing next to the wall of televisions. There’s a man that I don’t know standing next to him, watching the coverage with an amused look on his face.
“She’s made quite an impact, hasn’t she?” the man says.
“She IS my granddaughter,” Superior says proudly.
“Through blood?”
“No, adopted. I have a theory that she’s a descendant of Mary’s,” Superior says easily. “Of course this means we’ve just accidentally revealed all of the healers in Canada and America...”
“Isotonic isn’t going to be very happy.”
“Neither will Mastermental.” I get the distinct feeling that under their extremely serious expressions, they’re amused by those facts.
“What do you mean, ‘revealed all of the healers’?” I ask, getting up and heading for them. “What happened? Did I--was it my fault?”
“It was an accident, kitten, these things happen with S-class supers,” Tatia says.
I ignore that, heading for the television screens and staring at the YouTube video playing. We see a stocky looking teenager start to float, he has his back to the screen, but I can see lights coming from his eyes. He's in a school gym, there are banners with school symbols all around him. The people recording it are whispering loudly over how amazing it is, but I know better. This isn’t amazing--this is extremely dangerous.
“We have to protect them,” I say as another video shows up.
“There seem to be about seven on record,” Cosmic says. “We’ve got the cities they’re in, and an idea of their age, but not their addresses or name. Some of them are obviously high school students, though—this happened while they were in school. The only ones that know what this reaction indicates are us, right? Those watching--”
The screens change, going static for a second before a huge image of Nico appears on the wall. He doesn’t look happy. “Hello, Nicolas!” Grandma says, waving at him.
“Hi, Mom,” he says before looking straight at Superior. “What did you do?” he asks.
“That, actually, is a good question,” Superior says as he looks over at me and Grandma. “What caused this, exactly? Something about falling off a wall?”
“We were trying to push Aubrey to her limits so we could access her self-defense abilities,” Liz says. “Instead of a beam, though, she melted the ceiling and sent out a pulse that seems to have revealed all the healers in Canada and America.”
“You’re in the Arctic Circle--you covered more than just Canada and America,” Nico says. “As far as I can tell, you’ve revealed half of Earth’s healers, at least. Those that were caught on camera, that is.” He runs a hand over his face. “You might not have noticed, but at least two thirds of them were teenagers, or pre-teens. Even adult healers don’t have that good of a defense!”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. Tears are threatening as I picture little girls and boys being hunted for their abilities--no, they’re not threatening anymore. The tears are pouring down my cheeks as I fight the urge to sob like a child. “I didn’t--I wasn’t--”
“Shhh,” Taurus says, pulling me into a hug and pressing my head to his chest. “We can handle this,” he tells me, stroking my hair. “We’ve got connections to heroes all over the world. It’s just a matter of bringing them into the Halls for their protection--”
“What about their LIVES?” I demand, pulling away to look at him. “Some of them are adults--that means they’ve got jobs and families and--and even the kids will have families, I hope! We can’t just drag them out of their lives because of something STUPID that I did! I didn’t even know I COULD do that! I wish I couldn’t!”
“We’ll work that out when we get to it,” Nico says. “While most super villains are secretly dealing with the Hall regularly, not all of them are--but the most dangerous people in this case are the norms.”
I go still, stunned by that idea. “Why--no, you’re right,” I say. “I need to help. Grandma, Grandpa--I’m sorry, I love being here, but--”
“It is fine, kitten,” Grandma says, walking over and pulling me out of Taurus’s arms and into her own. “We will have many more visits in the future!”
“Yeah,” I say, hugging her tightly. “Maybe sometime you and Grandpa can meet my Granddad?” I ask.
“We’d be honored,” Grandpa Superior says.
“I really wanted to talk to you more,” Emily says, making me look over. She’s standing in front of Duplicitous, looking as if her heart is breaking.
“I’ll come visit after your work is done,” Duplicitous swears, pulling Emily into a hug. “Well, one of me will. I want to meet all of your doppelgangers as well!” she says.
“Me too!” Emily says, breaking into a smile. “Maybe you can come for my debut?”
“I wouldn’t miss it!” Duplicitous says. “I would love to see you in action.”
“I’ll call you when it’s about to happen, okay?” Emily says excitedly, pulling out her phone. “What’s your number?”
“I do believe your granddaughter likes my wife,” I hear Cosmic say to Superior with a hint of amusement. “Isn’t she going hero?”
“She’s going to be a Liberty girl,” Superior says.
The look of shock on Cosmic’s face is hysterical. “You’re kidding, right?”
“She is to be the partner of Kid Liberty!” Grandma tells him cheerfully. “They are an adorable couple.”
“But--does he realize--” Cosmic starts out, only to get a dark look from his wife. “Nothing, honey,” he says.
“Trent already knows I’m a handful,” Emily says with a wicked grin. “There are three of me--and we tend to fight over hand-holding privileges.”
“But you haven’t gotten to the multiple ages stage yet,” he says.
“Multiple ages?” Emily repeats, her eyes going huge.
“It’s good to have a teenage and child version,” Duplicitous tells her. “We’ll talk about it later, okay?”
“Absolutely,” Emily says eagerly, only to frown. “I can’t
teleport us,” she admits, looking at me, “at least not yet. Grandpa’s game sort of tapped me.”
“I...” I start out, looking to Liz.
“I can fly two of you, but--” she starts out.
“I can take you,” Duplicitous says. “I need a picture of where you want to go. Do you have anything?”
I let out a sigh of relief and pull out my phone, showing her a picture of one of the famous Kansas City fountains. “It might shock people if we just appear there--so everyone put on your masks,” she says as she motions us closer. “Hold on to me, please.”
I pull on my mask and then bring my hood up for good measure. “After this is over, we can come back, right?” I say, feeling guilty for abandoning our family vacation so quickly.
“Any time,” Grandpa says.
We teleport.
***
The statue is as cool as ever (why do you think I’ve got the picture on my phone?) but the crowd of people staring at us is a bit overwhelming. At least it is until Taurus shifts and Liz starts sparking dramatically--then it’s REALLY overwhelming.
“Nothing to see here, ladies and gentlemen,” Liz says, taking to the air and striking a dramatic pose. “Teleportation is just one of our many skill-sets as heroes!”
“Call me, okay? I want to hear how all of this goes!” Duplicitous whispers to Emily and me, hugging us briefly before disappearing again.
“She likes me!” Emily says happily. “And different ages--why did I never think of that?”
“Because she probably used it for criminal activities?” I offer dryly.
“Oh... Those would come in handy, wouldn’t they?” she says. “Distractions, hostages, even in a crowd, nobody would notice kids. I mean, look at them--only a few of them are even glancing at us with Mom and Dad being so dramatic.”
“Exactly, which is why we should use this as an opportunity to sneak away,” I say, tugging her off from the crowd. Our snowsuits stand out a bit too much, so we duck down the nearest alley and take them off. Thankfully we’re wearing normal clothing underneath. “I want to keep the boots,” she complains as we stuff them into their bags.
“You can do that when your outfit matches them,” I say.
“Okay!” she says. “Now we need help--and to call the other Halls, right? So... Mastermental and Nico?” she asks.
“Nico can track them down, Mastermental can make the calls,” I agree, swinging the bag of clothes over my shoulder and pulling out my phone. “We need to get to school.”
“Yeah, but I can’t teleport us, and the parents are busy,” Emily says.
“Hi, Jeanie,” I say, as the phone is answered. I've figured this one out already. “Can you come pick us up? We’re downtown.”
“What are you doing back so soon?” Jeanie asks. “Never mind, you can explain later, I’ll be right there--where downtown?”
“Next to the Winstead's near the horse fountain.”
“Okay! I’ll be right there--”
“In the car, please.”
“Sure!”
***
“So,” Nico says, standing in front of the school body. The teachers tend to float in the back during these things, eating popcorn. Where they get the popcorn from--no, he knows where. There’s a popcorn machine in the teachers’ lounge--
“You outed an entire group of heroes and now we’re going to have to protect them from the norms--if the norms find out what their reactions actually meant,” Max sums up. The real question here, Nico thinks, is where HE got the popcorn from.
“Max, did you mug one of your teachers?” Nico asks.
“No! Blackjack just bet me a bag on--something else,” Max says, stuffing a handful of popcorn in his mouth rather than explain what that bet had been.
"But Max is right--for the most part. It wasn’t actually me that outed them,” Nico says.
“For once,” Jack says.
“For--I do not tend to out supers in public, thank you,” Nico says, snorting. “I’m trying to be professional about this, but you’re making it really hard, you know.”
“So what are we supposed to do about it?” Vinny asks, looking at his watch. “Isn’t school supposed to be out by now?”
“This is more important than school being out,” Morgan says. The group is actually smaller than usual. Both Sunny and Adanna are still down south, helping clean up after the earthquake Sunny caused. Justin is in special training with Banshee, in order to prepare for his upcoming tour. And Carla is--
“Where’s Carla?” Nico asks, looking at the group.
“My Little Pony marathon,” Jimmi offers. “She's inside watching the first four seasons on Netflix because she's paranoid they'll take them down before she can finish.”
“Fine, she would have gotten bored halfway through the explanation, anyway,” Nico says, waving it off. “Now, since a good majority of you are ready to do a bit of street work, I’m going to use you.”
They just stare at him. “Don’t we have a Hall?” Lance says finally. It’s a bit of a surprise to see him speak in public, so everyone turns to look at him.
“Who have actual, REAL jobs to do--” Nico starts out.
“They wear tights and fight in arranged battles,” Vinny says.
“They also deal with natural emergencies and help feed the hungry, as well as several other philanthropic activities. Listen, do you want to tour America or not?” Nico says.
“Let’s do it!” they cheer.
“We’ve got a generic hero outfit for each of you--at least the ones that aren’t debuted,” Nico says. “When I say generic, I only mean they look alike. Each one is fitted and equipped for your personal abilities.” He steps aside and the wall of the gym shifts, opening to reveal an entire wall uniforms. Half are white and gold, the other half are black and silver. “We’ve got the school logo on each of them, so if anyone wants to know who you are, you just say you’re a Cape High student.”
“So we’re just out to find the healers, right?” Morgan asks.
“That’s our main goal. Since there are so many of you, we’ll be separating you into groups and sending you to the places already known to have healers,” Nico says.
“Once you’ve talked with the healer, and at least tried to take them to their specific Hall to discuss their future, you’ll come back here. This will become a regular thing--sending you out as teams to deal with smaller situations. The groups will be a mix at all times. That means no team will be purely apartment, or purely dorm. So no complaining, got it?”
“It’s like at the pizza place, right?” Trent says.
“Exactly, each group will be led by an already debuted student. That means some of you will have to make your jobs look like criminal activity while others will make it look heroic. Regardless of how it looks, you’ll be doing work for the Hall, and with the generic uniforms, no one will realize who did what when you do debut,” he finished, only to pause and look at Malina. “Except Malina--you’re always going to be on a hero team,” he says.
“Should I yell discrimination?” Malina whispers to Morgan. Every single one of them hears her, and starts to laugh.
“No, kiddo, I’m just being honest. You’ll make a lasting impression on people--and unless you abruptly get the urge to go villain, I’d rather it be a good one,” Nico says.
“Well, okay...” she leans up, whispering at Morgan, “Then would it be special treatment?”
“Not exactly? He’s still making you do his dirty work,” Morgan says, not bothering to whisper.
“Oh, okay! As long as I’m not being treated differently.”
“You’re absolutely not,” Nico says. “Except I DO expect a lot from you, considering your powers.”
“WAIT!”
The group looks up, watching as Emily and Aubrey race down the stairs. “We’re here,” Aubrey gasps out as she reaches the canyon floor. "We need to talk to you, Nico--”
“No,” Nico says, “we don’t have time--Emily, your suit’s already pre
pared. Ace, we’re moving up her debut. We need another hero leading a team, and she’s had her debut put off long enough,” he says.
“Wait, what?” Emily asks blankly.
“We’re forming teams and heading out to find the healers--especially the teenage ones, right?” Max says, his arm draped around Zoe’s waist.
“I would think so,” Zoe admits. “We want to bring them to Cape High, right?”
“So... I’m debuting? NOW?” Emily demands, looking terrified.
“The sooner the better,” Nico says.
“She can’t! She needs--” Aubrey starts out, only to stop as she catches sight of Jimmi. “She needs recharged,” she says. “Jimmi, can you help me?”
“I just need a bit of electricity,” Jimmi says, rushing off for one of the buildings.
“Can I at least put some makeup on before we start?” Emily asks. She still looks a bit stunned.
“Make it quick.”
***
“What do I do?” I ask, looking at the group of students. They’re gathering into groups on their own--well, sort of. Max and Trent are sorting out “sides” as if it were a football game.
“I call Aubrey!” Trent says.
“She’s dating Jack, that automatically puts her on our side,” Max says.
“I’ve already picked the teams--Aubrey’s going to stay with me,” Nico says. “She’s the one we’re going to have the healers talk to first.”
I stare at him blankly. “We’ll set up a communication station,” he explains. “Each of you have a holographic system built into the com bracelet on your non-dominant arm. Once you find a healer, you’ll set up contact with Aubrey--she’s speed dialed if you push the A button. The plan is for her to be brought up as a hologram in front of you. Hopefully she’ll be able to talk the Healers down.”
“I’m the last person that should do that!” I say. “I’m the entire reason they’ve been outed!”