Steampunk Time: Cape High Book Seven (Cape High Series 7)

by R. J. Ross

  Nico goes silent, looking down at the twin teenagers standing with him. After a moment of thought he speaks. “Mom, you can’t be seen,” he says.

  “What?” Superior demands.

  “No one can know Mom’s back,” Nico says to him. “Everyone needs to keep thinking you’re dead,” he tells Tatiana “The Russians and America are having a hard time again right now. Is there somewhere you can go that people won’t know about?”

  “Yes,” she says. “To our secret place,” she tells Superior. “I will--”

  “Both of you can go, right?” Zoe asks, stepping away from her father. “Nobody in the norm world knows you’re back, Su--Grandfather,” she adds a bit awkwardly. “If you two can go to a place no one will be able to find, you won’t be used against one another.”

  “But--are you my grandchildren?” Tatia asks, looking at them. “So beautiful.”

  “We’ll be able to fly, soon,” Sunny says, giving her a grin. “We can come visit, right? We can get to know each other then. Because, honestly, you look like you’d have some AWESOME stories.”

  Tatia hesitates. “This is no longer my time, is it?” she says, hugging herself and looking around.

  “Take your earbud,” Nico says to Superior. “Call us whenever you want. I’ll make you both a phone, soon, too.”

  “You’re avoiding the fact that Kunnins might still be out there,” Superior says.

  “No I’m not,” Nico says, “but I’m ignoring the fact that you want revenge. I’ll get it set up so you can video message the kids until they’re flying. I’m sorry, though, that I’m running you off the moment you get here, Mom,” he says, heading to her. “I’ll come to you, soon.”

  “I... feel as if I have lost my baby,” Tatiana admits, looking into his eyes. She pulls him into a hug, tears welling up. “I am sorry, Nicolas,” she whispers.

  “No, Mom, I’m the one that’s sorry,” he says, hugging her back. “I did what had to be done, though. I always do.” He looks at Superior over Tatiana’s shoulder. “I’ll take care of Kunnins. Call me when you get to your secret place.”

  There’s an expression on Superior’s face that says he wants to argue, but he merely nods. “Fine, tell me when you find him.”

  “Agreed.”

  ***

  We’re back. I look around Grandpa’s lab for a moment, taking in all the glowing objects, the various half finished toys he’s left hanging around--and am grabbed by my father, lifted into the air and swung in a circle. “Noelle,” he breathes out, hugging me tightly.

  “Daddy,” I say, wrapping my arms around him as well. For a long moment I just stay there, burying my face in his chest. Then I’m pried out of his arms and hauled into my mother’s, where the process is repeated. Until she puts me down and places her hands on her hips, giving me that “You are SO grounded, little lady” look. Whoops.

  “You are SO grounded,” she says.

  “I know,” I say.

  “You will be going to church, school, and home--anywhere else is out of the question, and no music or television for three months!”

  “You might make it longer,” Grandpa says, patting me on the shoulder. “She’s come into her technopathy.”

  Mom’s eyes widen and she lets out a squeal, sounding like a little girl as she hauls me up in a hug. “My baby’s a technopath!” she brags. “I told you she would be, Max!”

  “She’s also got gravity powers,” Grandpa says a bit drolly.

  “HAH, I told YOU--” Dad says. “Wait--what?”

  Now everyone’s staring at me. I look down, staring at the floor and feeling embarrassed.

  “Isn’t that a bit... dangerous?” Mom finally says.

  “You’re tellin’ me,” Jason says, drawing their attention. “Cleaning up after her is a pain in the neck, too. She gets all over-dramatic and sends everything around her swirling and the electricity goes out. She needs one of those bracelets like Aunt Morgan’s got,” he declares. “Any norm that knows about her thinks she’s a D class cuz of that thing. She says it’s a lot easier on everyone.”

  The adults look at each other, then at me. Only Grandpa looks like he’s used to the idea already. “Actually, you both do,” he says.

  “Fine, but mine’s got to be steampunk! I need to replace the watch, anyway,” I say. “And I have GOT to have a shower--and a curling iron! I can’t believe I let Morgan and everyone SEE me like this!” I say, catching sight of myself in a shiny metal surface. “I look terrible!”

  “You spend all that time alone, lost in time, and you’re still saying things like that, huh?” Dad says, shaking his head. “You’re beautiful, Noelle, but you are a bit dirty, I’ll admit that. Let’s get you both home so you can clean up.”

  “Good idea, since you’re both starting school tomorrow,” Mom says. “And the strangest thing happened,” she adds, frowning slightly. “I got a call from Morgan this morning, asking about you.”

  “Is she here?” I ask eagerly.

  “She said she’d be back in America tomorrow afternoon to celebrate with you. Said she’s been waiting a very long time for it.”

  “Yeah, like eighteen years,” I say, grinning. “But if I’m grounded... how are we going to have a party?” Then I stop, turning to look at Grandpa and Jason for a second before asking my parents, “Great Grandma Tatiana--”

  They look at me blankly. “What?” Dad asks.

  “Is she--is she alive?” I ask.

  For a second I see their confusion and start to worry. Then something seems to spark. It’s like time just caught up with the changes we made, I think as they relax. “She’s still up in the North Pole,” Dad says, reaching up and patting my head, “with your great grandfather.”

  I didn’t expect that... but at least she’s alive, right? I let out a sigh of relief and look up at Grandpa. “We did it,” I say.

  “We did it,” he agrees.

  ***

  “So she’s starting today, right?” Tristan asks Jason.

  “I’m starting today, too,” Jason points out a bit irritably. He’s already getting a wide berth from the other students, most of who plan to be heroes. It’s only his perfect Liberty boy cousin that’s willing to hang out with him on the half wall in front of the Cape High campus, waiting for a certain princess. “I don’t see you making a big deal about that.”

  “Well, yeah, cuz you’re my cousin,” Tristan says. “I’m used to you, metal face. I want to meet the great granddaughter of Superior, himself!”

  “I gotta warn you--she’s not exactly how you pictured her,” Jason says slowly.

  “What? How would you know?” Tristan asks. “You’ve met her?”

  “You could say that,” he says, looking up as a familiar figure in brown and tan ruffles and those familiar leather heels starts walking down the steps into the campus. He reaches over and closes Tristan’s mouth for him.

  “What in the heck is she wearing?” Tristan asks after a long moment.

  “Steampunk,” Jason says.

  “JASON!!” she bellows as soon as she reaches the campus floor, racing straight for him. “We’re here!” she says, making him laugh as she hugs him. “It took FOREVER.”

  “C’mon, Noelle, you’re making everyone stare,” Jason says, hugging her back. He understands why she feels this way, though. A trip through time can make anything feel like forever. Oh well, at least she forgot the promise to make it seem like they weren’t friends. He’d sort of expected that, though. He lets go, feeling a bit strange about hugging a girl while being surrounded by would-be super heroes.

  “You wore your bracelet right? Grandpa finally finished mine last night--I can’t take it off, because if I do I accidentally blow it up, so I stood there the entire time after you left to make sure I liked how it looked,” she says, showing him an ornate brass and leather watch proudly. “It matches my new wedges!” she adds, showing him her shoes.

  “It...” Tristan says, making her look over at him curiously.

&nb
sp; “Matches her shoes,” Jason says a bit blandly. Inwardly he’s laughing his head off. “Looks good, princess,” he says. “C’mon, let’s go find the teacher for Uniform Design, you can show it to them.”

  “Are you Tristan?” she asks his cousin.

  “Yeah,” Tristan says, “nice to meet you.” He looks from Jason to Noelle and back, a strange expression on his face. “You... um, know Jason?” he asks.

  “He’s my best friend!” she says, grabbing Jason’s arm. “Where’s the Uniform Design teacher? I want to meet them!”

  “Don’t know,” Jason says. “Let’s go find them.” Then, as she’s dragging him away, he gives his cousin the most evil grin he can manage. Time travel? Worth every second just to see his perfect cousin make that face.

  ***

  *The Present*

  Was it wrong to use the problem with Russia as an excuse to get his parents out of the area? Nico ponders that question for a while as he floats above the country, his arms held out. He doesn’t feel guilty about his father at all. Getting rid of him is a great thing. His mother... he hesitates, contemplating the fact that she’d been a spy for the USSR.

  There are several thoughts running through his mind about that one. Now that he’s traveled to the past, though, he can all too easily see a present where he’s a tool used by a government to keep the norms under control. If he’d been raised to think that way, would he be able to escape it? A frown pulls at his lips as he imagines it. He doesn’t know. It would be just as likely that they used his abilities to build massive weapons of destruction--and when he’d been younger, he hadn’t thought a thing about using them.

  Tatiana had made a good choice, he reluctantly admits. He’d just been thrown off by the idea of his own mother being a spy--and his father knowing it.

  Thing is, he goes on as he turns slightly to his left, his arms still out, knowing that Tatiana WAS a spy puts Kunnins in a slightly different light. The man might have been ruthless, but he’d had actual reason to want Tatiana out of the picture. That doesn’t change the fact that Nico’s going to hunt him down.

  The information Double M had found on the experiments released by the man had been mind-blowingly terrible--norms of all ages, shapes, ethnics, all died because they were never meant to be supers. Their bodies hadn’t been able to handle the change. And yet whoever had sent them out had kept doing it over the years.

  If it is Kunnins, like Star Born suspects, the man needs to be put away. He stops, his left hand coming up as he finds a computer in a Texas morgue. “Samuel H. Kunnins, July 30th, 1933 - August 7th, 2010,” he says. “Retired Military, no family listed.” He lowers his arms and looks around before taking off to the south.

  A quick flight later he lands in the middle of a cemetery, glancing around curiously before starting forward to the spot listed on the funeral home’s map. The grave is grown over with grass and the brass headstone has to be wiped off before he can read it. He crouches down, doing just that and staring at the words.

  He reaches up, touching his earbud and tuning it to the family line. “Superior.”

  “Yes?”

  “Kunnins is dead. I’m looking at his headstone right now.”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it,” Superior says coldly.

  “I’m not digging up his grave, Father. We’ll just have to accept it.”

  “For now.”

  ***

  *The Future*

  School was strange. I’ll admit I’m pouting a little right now, but not as badly as I would be if Jason hadn’t been there. I didn’t make any new friends--well, I mean, I guess you could call Tristan a new friend, but that’s just because Jason’s his cousin, right? Instead people kept watching me, with strange looks on their faces.

  Maybe Cape High is more like my old school than I thought. The very idea is depressing. I drop my bag beside the front door and start forward, only to stop at the sight of a tawny haired woman standing in front of me. “Hi, Noelle,” she says, “been a while.”

  “MORGAN!” I yell, forgetting the day entirely and running forward. She’s taller and tougher looking now, but that doesn’t matter. It’s so good to see her that I can’t even start to explain, even if technically I saw her just yesterday. It feels like it’s been forever. I wrap my arms around her waist, hugging her tightly.

  “Vinny sent a message,” she says as she starts to laugh. “He says he’s still never going to wear man panties. I’d forgotten how short you are! Even with heels,” she teases.

  “You got taller,” I accuse her.

  “So I did,” she admits. “Come on, let’s go to the party, then.”

  “Party?”

  “Your welcome back party. You’re going to stay in this time for a while, I hope?”

  “Forever. I’m swearing off time travel for good,” I say.

  ***

  *The Present*

  Mimic has aged. His body is ancient and weak. His hair is starting to fall out. He doesn’t even want to think about his teeth. At this point he’s merely waiting for release. He’s been alive too long. Without his powers, his body can’t keep up with time. He lets his eyes drift shut, wishing that, just once, he could see her again.

  Tatiana. She’d been the only kindness he experienced during his darkest days. When he’d heard she’d been killed he had sworn he would get revenge--he’d known just whose fault it was, too. Superior. Superior and his interference was the reason Tatiana was dead.

  And now, he thinks, he’s accomplished nothing even with all these years of plotting. Even taking the child into the past to try and change things has gotten him nothing but his powers taken away. Death will come soon.

  At first he doesn’t even notice the steam coming through the vents, but he can’t help but notice when his breathing changes. Slowly he opens his eyes, staring blankly at the swirl of fog that surrounds him.

  “Mimic,” a female says in a soft, almost reverent tone. He feels pressure against his cheek and realizes that the fog is taking form. A woman stands in front of him, her body made of water. “You saved me once,” she says. “Now I’ll save you.”

  He stares at her blankly, not remembering her at all but not wanting to argue, when the arms of the chair holding him unsnap he hesitates. “I can’t,” he says quietly. “I have no strength. I’m going to die.”

  She hesitates, then kneels in front of him, wrapping her arms around him gently and resting her head on his lap. “Then I’ll stay with you,” she whispers, “until the end.”

  “No,” he says. “Go to the other me--the one they have in a box. Tell him that... that going into the past isn’t worth it. I won’t let this cycle repeat again.”

  She looks up at him, a confused expression on her face. “Are you certain?”

  “I’m certain.”

  Then she’s gone, leaving him alone to close his eyes.

  Bonus Section:

  MEGA MOVIE MADNESS

  MAX

  There’s a rule in this world--there are times when side neutrality is acceptable, even in front of the norms. That includes the first viewing of a movie based on one side or the other. As in, Panther could go to the Mastermental Movie premier and not even be blinked at--and did. Of course it’s expected to go in formal uniform, and it’s perfectly acceptable to bring a date. The better looking your date, the more you get on the gossip shows, both norm and hero.

  So it’s no wonder I’m standing next to my brand new car--it’s beautiful, especially since I just got it detailed, perfect for that big moment where we pull to a stop in front of the movie theater and I escort Zoe out of the passenger side, while everyone starts snapping pictures of both us and my car.

  She’s late. I look at my watch, wondering if I should call her. I don’t really WANT to go watch a movie about Mega--the very idea puts me to sleep, but I still figure it’s a good excuse to show off my absolutely gorgeous girlfriend. I probably should have gone up--that’s what you’re thinking, right? Well then you probably don’t k
now my girlfriend’s family.

  Two months ago when I tried to take her out for a date I went up, knocked on the door, gave her mother a potted plant (you do NOT give cut flowers to a plant elementalist, they’ll probably sic a rosebush on you or something) and said I wanted to take Zoe out to dinner. You know what happened? It went something like this:

  “You don’t have to go out! I’ve made dinner already! Trust me, there’s plenty,” Summer Rosenthorn said, giving me a brilliant smile before dragging me to the table. She spent the entire dinner sitting next to me so Zoe was across from me--and next to her twin brother. Then, trust me, it got worse. “So Sunny, we need to cover your knowledge of natural fertilizer better--trust me, it’ll be important when you’re older.”

  And I sat there, dreams of taking Zoe out dying a silent death as Sunny and Summer Rosenthorn spent the entire dinner talking about various types of animal poop. Not to mention we were eating something brown. I’m assuming it was extremely healthy for you--it sure tasted like it. Regardless, eating something brown and unnamed while talking about poop just doesn’t make for a very romantic night at all.

  Don’t get me wrong, one time isn’t enough to break me. Especially when my girl’s dad is my principal, and a very dangerous ex super villain in his own right. You just don’t offend guys like that, you know? So, rich kid that I am, I headed up the stairs planning to invite the entire family out to ice cream the next time, just so I could get Zoe out of the apartment on an actual date, or even a semi-date. Maybe miniature golfing would be involved, right?

  That time around I stopped a floor before Zoe’s as Liz went past me with a piece of paper in her hand. “Don’t forget the extra makeup, please!” I heard Emily shout from down the hall. I couldn’t help but take a detour down the hall, stopping at Liz’s apartment to peek in.