by R. J. Ross
"I didn't say nothin," Taurus Sr. says, looking back at him. Nico waves a hand and touches his ear, indicating he's talking. "Insane," Taurus Sr. mutters.
"I need a little diversion, and I don't have time to rig one up for myself," Superior says. "I need you to create a massive explosion the next time I hit the ground."
"What are you doing?" Nico demands.
"Fighting your mother. Now give me a bit of help faking my death."
***
It's way past my bedtime when I jerk awake. Something's changed, I realize as the earth below my too thin blow up mattress shakes wildly. I get to my feet and almost get knocked down again as I hit the roof of my tent. I'd forgotten I was in a ten, stupid of me. I crawl out the entrance and look around. The ground is cracked. My tent is a good two feet lower than it had been when I went to bed. Even as I stand it shakes and sinks another foot deeper.
"Well, then," I hear Grandpa say, "looks like we've begun."
I turn, looking at him, then look in the direction he's staring. Jason is floating in the air, his arms held out. Beneath his feet are massive spikes of crude metal and rock shooting out of the ground.
"Grandpa--" I start out, only to fall as the earth shakes violently again.
"Your uncle did something similar," he tells me, still just standing there. "But he didn't have metal, he had earth and plants--it was a lot less violent."
"Would you quit talking and SAVE HIM?" I demand, trying to get back to my feet. "I need my beauty sleep!"
He takes to the air, scooping me off of the ground and floating out of reach of the spikes. "It'll calm down when he gets comfortable," he says in a calm tone. "This isn't the first time he's used his powers in his sleep--Jack was getting tired of having to redo Jason's wing every morning. He shouldn’t have. The kid needs to see what he’s capable of, even if it’s by accident."
"Won't it hurt him?" I ask, watching in awe as the boy starts to glow faintly. "Did Cold Steel have this sort of thing happen?"
"No, but Jack's not a true born elementalist, either," Grandpa say as the world shakes again and a large rock spike comes up then curls around Jason. "Jason is. He's more than Jack realized he was, even."
Jason stops floating, falling into the curl of rock as if it were a bed, and snoring. The earth stops rebelling. "Should we get him out of that?" I ask.
"He looks pretty comfortable to me," Grandpa says, landing on the ground. "Let him stay that way, it’s what I wanted him to see."
"I don't know if I like him," I say, scowling up at the snoring male.
"Don't know?" he repeats with amusement. "That's better than what you used to say about the kids at your old school."
"Because I KNEW I didn't like them," I say, yawning and heading for my tent. I look at it for a moment before picking it up and carrying it over to a flat spot. "Grandpa, what are you doing for the Hall?" I ask.
"Right now? I'm building the Cape Cells," he says.
"But weren't you stuck there for fifteen years?" I ask. "Why would you help them with it?"
"Because they're needed, and they don't have them. Go to sleep, kiddo. Your training starts tomorrow."
"Don't forget my shower!" I say.
"I won't."
"Night," I add, crawling back into my tent. I know I should be freaking out, or something, who knows what would have happened if my tent had fallen down a cliff or something? But overall I just feel tired and a little irritated. Tomorrow I am SO going to give Jason a hard time about messing up my night. I need my beauty sleep!
I'm a princess, after all.
***
"What WAS that?" Taurus Sr. demands as he stares at the two males in front of him. The explosion had been amazing, but that was nothing compared to the broken robot that had been left in the middle of it when the smoke cleared. It had looked exactly like the man walking next to Nico--except the flesh was gone and the gears had been exposed. "How did you put that together in twenty minutes?"
"What, the fake Superior clone?" Nico asks. "It doesn't work."
"Well, duh--it's not really possible, right? But it looked amazing!"
"Oh, it's possible," Nico says. "Not with the tech I had on hand, though."
"You stole a car, didn't you?" Superior asks, wincing slightly as he grabs his side. "I'd forgotten how hard she can hit," he adds in a mutter.
"I stole a car, a coke machine, a train engine, and a few other things," Nico lists off. "All of which had been wrecked by your fight, so don't try and make me feel guilty, here. What in the hell do you think you were doing?"
"I was looking for Mimic. Tatia just found me first," Superior says coldly, as if he had been perfectly within his right.
"There's nothing to hide behind in the air, moron!" Nico snaps.
"Hey, um--you know--" Taurus Sr. says, trying to interrupt what looks like will turn into a brawl at any moment. "It's getting late. We can't talk to Mastermental until morning, and it's been a long day, right?"
The two look at him, identical faces and identical expressions. It's a bit creepy, but he ignores that fact. "There's a place... for our kind. It's not very fancy, or anything, but--"
"Our kind?" Superior (or at least that's what he calls himself) asks. "What exactly do you mean?"
"Supers. Ones that aren't in their special little club," Taurus Sr. says. "Either they're not strong enough to qualify or they're like me--a minority."
"You didn't let minorities in?" Nico asks Superior.
Superior frowns, looking a bit confused for a second. "I never knew there were minority supers in this time, other than Mastermental," he admits. "The ones in the Hall were all screened and interviewed long before I met them. At this time, with the Cold War going on, the military insisted on making sure our Hall members weren't spies in disguise. They really didn't like the idea of bringing Tatia over, but it was an attempt at peace."
"So where is this place?" Nico says to Taurus Sr., not bothering to reply to that.
"It's um, this way," Taurus Sr. says, heading down the street. "Like I said, it's not fancy, so don't get any big ideas--you probably won't get your own bed, either--"
"Why are they living together? They could be out getting jobs and contributing to society," Superior says.
"They have them," Taurus Sr. says as he approaches a run-down looking four story building. "But you try fitting in with society when you've got powers. We don't know how to deal with norms, they don't really know how to deal with us, either. So you get a lot of guys like me--construction workers, and girls that work at diners."
"Why diners?" Nico asks.
"Because nobody thinks twice about a waitress carrying fifty plates of food at once, or a cook that can lift big pots of things," he says as he heads up the step and walks into the building. Nico and Superior follow him, looking around at the bodies that are scattered all around, most of them snoring.
"It's like a commune for capes," Nico mutters. "Why aren't they going out, joining the other branches?" he asks.
"You've said stuff about branches before--what are they?" Taurus Sr. asks.
"You haven't created the branches?" Nico demands of Superior.
"It was Mastermental's idea," Superior says.
"He's a far better leader than you ever were, you know," Nico says.
"I must admit, seeing it from this vantage, you might have a point," Superior admits, stepping over a leg. "As much as I hate to agree with you on anything," he adds in a bland tone.
Nico shoots him a dirty look, wondering if anyone would notice if Superior doesn't come back from this little trip into the past.
***
"What the--hey! HEY! This ISN'T FUNNY, GUYS!"
The bellowing from outside my tent makes me groan and pull my pillow over my head. Why so loud? Some of us are trying to sleep, you know!
"Noelle!! NOELLE! DID YOU DO THIS?"
I'm not going to get more sleep, am I? I groan and blink up at the ceiling for a moment before sitting up. My hair is probably a mes
s, I know my clothes are--and makeup? Pretty sure that all wore off days ago, or something. But then again, it's just Jason, so who cares? I get to my hands and knees and crawl out of the tent, looking up at the rock sculpture bed.
"Why would I do that?" I demand. "Better yet, HOW could I do that, moron? I'm not an elementalist!"
"Yeah, but you've got freaky powers--" he starts out, squirming in the rock that seems to have tightened around him.
"Element-a-list," I repeat, stressing the word “element”.
"I know--" he stops and has the decency to look sheepish. "Oh."
"I'm going back to sleep," I say, starting back into my tent.
"Wait--waitt! You can't do that! Come on, Noelle! Help a cousin out, here!"
"I don't buy that cousin thing!" I reply over my shoulder. "You look nothing like Grandma Summer!"
"Okay, forget the cousin thing! If you don't help me down I'll keep yelling and someone will come and find us," he threatens. "Then how are you going to explain it?"
"You did this to yourself!" I say, getting to my feet and glaring up at him. "All your powers kicking off while you’re sleeping--I didn't get any sleep last night because of you! Now you're threatening me!"
"I have to pee," he mutters.
"Oh for crying out loud," I say, heading for the rock that holds him. I kick it, but nothing happens. "This is hard, you jerk! Break it yourself!"
"Come up here, it should be easier to break where it's thinner," he says, looking at the sculpture.
"You're an elementalist, just make it break with your powers or something!"
"This is rock, not metal! I'm a metal manipulator, duh!"
"You're both, otherwise you'd be wrapped in metal, moron," I say, starting to climb up the rock. "Metal is a form of earth elementalism, right? So it's not really surprising that you've got rocks--" I grunt, tugging on the thin part of the rock behind him. It cracks, and he falls onto me, sending both of us tumbling to the ground. "Ow."
"Thanks," he says, racing away before I can respond.
"Whatever," I say, getting my breath back before standing. I look around, taking in the spikes of rock and the lack of Grandpa. He must have run off again before we woke up. "And you promised me I'd get a shower!" I complain to the absent man. "Forget this! I'm going to the Hall by myself!"
"Hey, wait up, I want a shower too!" Jason calls from the trees nearest me. "Take me with you."
"It's all the way in the city, though," I say, frowning. "I think I know how to get there, but--can you run yet?"
"Uh..." he says.
"You can't, can you."
"Haven't tried? I mean, my dad hasn't got speed--"
"Neither have I," I admit. "So... should we try?"
He hesitates, and I can clearly see him trying to compare himself to his dad. What sort of dad leaves a kid so focused on being like him when he's a super villain? "I guess," he says finally, glancing back at the rocks.
"Okay, but if one of us can't keep up, we walk, got it?" I say. I don't want to be all on my own in a strange time again, I've had as much of that as I can handle.
"Okay."
***
There's something on his chest. It's not like it's heavy, but it is waking him up. "Zoe, I swear it's not my turn to make breakfast," Nico mutters, gently pushing the weight off of him. It goes right back to where it was, irritatingly enough. He opens his eyes and stares blankly at the leg draped over his chest. It's bad enough that this was one of the nights he needed sleep, he thinks, but having someone use him as a footstool? He shoves the leg off and gets up, looking at the pile of people--then at his father, who's floating in the air above them, sound asleep. He wished he'd thought of that.
He looks around, seeing only a few places to step, and takes to the air, floating over them to avoid it entirely. He stops next to where Taurus Sr. is draped over a couch. "Wake up. It's time to go talk to Mastermental."
Taurus Sr. wakes with a jerk, looking at him blankly. "Are you flying?" he asks finally.
"There's nowhere to walk," Nico says dryly. "I should have slept like he did," he adds, glancing at the still sleeping super in question. "I don't want to leave him here, though. Better to keep an eye on him."
"Is he really Superior?" Taurus Sr. asks quietly.
"Yeah, he is. Unfortunately," Nico says. "Oye, Father," he calls, "time to wake up. We're going to the Hall."
Superior sits up, looking at him for a moment before straightening and flying over the mass of heroes. "I don't believe that all of these are capes," he says, looking down at them. "I'd say... one third at most. That one looks like one of your kids in the school. The rest are pretending."
"Not our place to judge," Nico says with a shrug. "And no point in scanning each and every one of them, we're not going to change the future at all." He stares into his father's eyes as he says that. "We're just here to get Noelle back and go back into our own time."
"Who's Noelle?" Taurus Sr. asks, looking for a place to step so he can get up.
"My granddaughter," Nico says, "from our future. Mastermental should know where she is." Superior's being oddly silent, so he glances at him. "Look, a part of me wants to do it, too," he says. "If I knew that I'd still have Liz--and that she'd--well, it won't happen. I'm not giving up my little sister for you, or anyone else, understand," he says. "I will happily take you out before that happens."
"I acknowledge that you think you can," Superior says.
"Don't underestimate me, Superior," Nico says coldly. "You'll regret it."
"Hey, now, let's calm down," Taurus Sr. says, holding up his hands and heading for the door as quickly as possible. "Maybe we should come up with something else to talk about while we're heading for the Hall--like names. I can't exactly call you Superior, here, now can I?" he asks Superior.
"Call him Distort," Nico says with an evil grin.
"Distort is dead," Superior says coldly, glaring at his son.
"That was murder, pure and simple."
"Killing a multiple personality isn't murder, it's cleaning house," Superior says. "I only have so much room in my own mind. Really, he was an insufferable pain in the neck with the intellect of a rock, the world is better off without him."
"I liked him a lot better than I like you."
"I've heard that birds of a feather line before, it should fit in this situation, as well."
"You're a prick, Father, and Distort might have been simple, but he was a lot nicer than you ever will be."
"Maybe... a different different topic?" Taurus Sr. asks.
"Look Taurus Sr.," Nico says. "There's no peaceful talk when the two of us are stuck together."
"Taurus Sr.?" Superior asks. "You’ve called him that before--do you mean the Taurus that's chasing Liz?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
"He's black?"
"If you've got a problem with it, I'm going to pay for their wedding out of my own pocket," Nico says coldly. Although, honestly it isn't much of a threat--he probably would have done it, anyway. "I like Taurus. He's a good man, and more stable than she is."
"Really."
"Well, other than letting the kids jump off the roof just for the fun of it," Nico adds honestly.
"I'm not sure where you got the idea I disagree," Superior says in a mild tone. "I was just uninformed. He's an A class?"
"He's Central Hall," Nico agrees.
"My kid... is Central Hall," Taurus Sr. says, starting to grin widely. "My kid is Hall!" he bellows, shoving a fist in the air to celebrate.
"He's a good cape," Nico tells him, “one of the best. He's also one of the trainers of our future generations."
"Really, you shouldn't be telling him this," Superior says.
"Eh, who cares? He needed to know that there are things worth waiting for. Or did you not notice the mass of capes just rotting in an overfilled house? Like you said, that one looked like one of my students, this one is the father of one of my teachers, there's a future already in motion. Plus, there's th
e fact that I need him to train Taurus like he obviously will. This is just a little motivation."
"I see your point," Superior says after a moment.
"That there's a future?" Taurus Sr. asks curiously.
"No, in telling you so he reaps the benefits of it later," Superior explains.
Taurus Sr. looks from Superior to Nico, then back, a frown pulling at his lips. "You two really are related, aren't you," he finally says before starting to run. The two follow, falling into pace with him easily. The sooner he gets them to the Hall, the better, he decides.
CHAPTER FOUR
We can run. It's amazingly fun, too--I mean, it was for the first ten minutes until I realized something really, really bad. I pull to a stop, making Jason slow down and turn to look at me. "What's wrong? Get tired already?"
"No... but... I'm not sure where we are," I tell him, looking at the air force base to the left and the fields all around. I had no clue that there was a base here. I mean, maybe a long time ago. This is right in the middle of America, right? It's a good place to have a base. But...
"Isn't that the Hall?" he asks, coming up next to me to look at the base.
"That's not the Hall! The Hall is downtown!"
"Hey, how should I know? I've never been!"
"Well it's not the Hall," I repeat, wondering why I feel nervous. "It's a norm air base. I think we went the wrong way," I admit.
"Then what's the right way?" Jason demands, not showing the same unease I'm feeling at all. "We should get going, right?"
Something's happening at the base. All of the norms are starting to move in the same direction, like there's about to be something big. I look up and around, wondering if they're going to be attacked. It's the Cold War, but I don't know much about what actually happened during that war. Were there bombs and stuff?
"There's a building under there," Jason says abruptly, making me look over at him. "It goes pretty deep--it's like there's at least four floors going straight down," he tells me, crouching down and touching the ground. I'm not even sure he realizes what he's doing. "There's a lot of metal--not the crude stuff, either. It's manmade."