by R. J. Ross
“And tell him that we came down here and tried to break into a mad scientist’s creepy mansion?” Skye says. “He doesn’t need to know any of that!”
“Ah… that, perhaps, might be a problem,” Pan says. We all look forward, seeing a man floating in the air right in front of the plane.
“I’d be obliged if you would pull over, son,” Century says.
“Do you think we could outrun him?” Skye asks.
“He can stop time,” I point out.
“Preparing to land,” Pan says reluctantly, flipping a few switches.
“I think I’ll just be going now!” Skye says as the plane lands. “Buh bye!” she adds, waving at us before going straight through the floor of the plane. I hear a knock on the door and Pan pushes a button, letting the ramp swing down.
“I must ask,” Century says, “why you think I wouldn’t pick up on your little joyride through my territory?”
“Remind me to have a conversation with your father, Sunny,” Pan says, not even bothering to lower his voice. “Century, it is good to see you doing so well. How have things been?” he asks, smiling like this is a formal event.
“Fair to middling,” Century says. “I was just about to go visit an old… friend of mine, when that little fancy doodad Nico made me started to flash, saying I had an unexpected visitor in the area. I thought I would just look in, say hi, and all that.” The tone has changed, I notice. “You three wouldn’t be planning something, would you?”
“Ah, well, no?” I say as he looks straight at me. WHY does he look straight at me? Does the entire world know that I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut lately? “We’re heading home, now, right Pan?”
“So you weren’t planning on breaking into SITEC to see if they have something to do with the Petleaves?”
I look at Pan and Adanna, who shift the way they’re sitting, ever so slightly. “Do you want us to?” Pan asks.
“Well, I was just heading that way, myself, you see,” Century says. “Of course, if you weren’t planning on doing anything, I would be grateful, because SITEC and I have a very good relationship, but…”
“We would hate to ruin that relationship,” Pan says.
“So we’re agreed?”
“Agreed on what?” I ask, looking from one to the other in confusion.
“Take Sunny,” Pan says, “he is very helpful in friendly visits.”
“I’m really confused, right now,” I say.
“I would be happy to. Mask on, son, and suit off, if you’re wearing something under it, that is,” Century says with a wide smile. I pull out the mask that I always carry with me, putting it on before stripping off the black suit. I still don’t know exactly what’s going on, but hey, I know better than to argue that one. “And you two…?”
“Will be nowhere near the building, of course,” Pan says.
“Especially the areas that Rochester will not be telling you about,” Century finishes. “Time to go, son, I can show you around your prospective Hall.”
“When did you say you were going to join the South Branch?” Adanna whispers, glaring at me.
“I sort of said I’d think about it?” I offer guiltily. “You know, just to check on the forests once in a while. My aunt lives in one, remember?” She makes a face but shakes her head, waving me off. “Bye!” I tell them, heading down the ramp.
“We could get there faster by flying,” Century says.
“I sort of floated earlier, I think! I didn’t notice until I landed,” I say. “But… pretty sure I’m not up to cross state traveling just yet. Or, you know, traveling in general, really.”
“You’ll learn soon enough,” he says, wrapping an arm around my waist and jumping into the air, “Unless you’re afraid of heights?”
“Nope! Love ’em,” I say, looking around with a grin. “Hey, hey, do we have time for you to drop me somewhere?”
“Drop you? To visit someone?”
“No, just drop me. Or maybe we should stick with the tossing thing. I’ve got more time to try and fly that way. I bet you could get me pretty high. I haven’t asked Grandpa to do it, yet, either…”
“Maybe after our little visit,” he says. “If they have anything related to the Petleaves, will you be able to sense it?”
“Ohhhh, that’s why you’re bringing me?” I ask. “No, I mean, I knew that. Yeah, I figured that out a while back, I’m just… er, hey, Century? Did you know there’s a guy that lives on an island who’s a super genius? It’s off of Cuba, so I don’t know if it’s your territory or not. His jungle is pretty nice for such a little place, too. But the whole monkeys with guns is bugging Pan and Adanna a lot.” Oh, sure, Skye didn’t want us to tell him, but since he already KNOWS we were flying around, it won’t make much difference, right?
“Monkeys with guns?” he repeats. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
“Well, it all started with a commercial over at Pan’s place,” I say, obligingly. I’m pretty sure that’s not the beginning he was looking for, but hey, he SAID to start from the beginning! At least I’m not pushing the joke so far that I talk about the time we visited Dad at the Cape Cells!
I could, you know.
***
“Hey, hey, hey!” Skye says, coming up through the floor of the plane as soon as the other two are gone. “I thought you were going to get in trouble, not invited to break into SITEC!”
“Would you like to come along?” Pan asks, going through a shelf of supplies in the back.
“Well, DUH! Of course I want to come! But why did you just hand Sunny over to him? This would be his very first ever breaking and entering! We could have taken selfies and posted them on Facebook! It would have been an aunt nephew bonding experience!”
“Because he’s Sunny,” Adanna says.
“EXACTLY!”
“No, I mean, we sent him along because he’s Sunny. He’s as noisy as a three legged elephant,” she explains.
“Well… yeah, that is true,” Skye says, pouting. “But how will I brag to Liz if he’s not there?”
“You can take pictures with Adanna,” Pan says. “Or is that not good enough?”
“I’ll take pictures with Adanna!” Skye declares happily, pulling out her phone and wrapping an arm around Adanna’s shoulders. “Say infiltrate!”
“Infiltrate?” Adanna repeats, just as the flash goes off.
“That one’s going straight onto the wall!” Skye says happily. “Now, let’s go!”
“I was told ta call you?” someone says from the speakers of the plane. “This is Rochester Scythe. It’s an honor ta be of use ta the one and only Panther!”
“One of many, truthfully,” Pan says. “It is an inherited position. I will switch you over to the commlink. Ladies, hoods on, please.”
The girls pull their hoods back on. “Hi, Rochester!” Skye says.
“Skye?” he says, sounding startled. “Whatcha doin’ there?”
“We’re going to break into SITEC and BLOW IT UP!”
“There will be no blowing up, Skye,” Pan says. “That will have to wait until the future.”
“So… there’ll be no blowing up… YET!”
“Yes, exactly,” Pan agrees.
“Poo,” she complains. “But there WILL be blowing up in the future, right?”
“It is possible, yes,” Pan says.
“I don’t think ya should go,” Rochester says. “I know what they—I mean—they—” he takes a breath, letting it out slowly. “It might be… painful, is all I’m sayin’,” he finishes.
Skye is quiet for a long moment before she says, “That’s why I want to blow it up!”
“Oh,” he says.
“It’s going to be an AMAZING boom,” she goes on. “And then I’ll go after Penski. Oh, but he’s still a norm, isn’t he… Well, I’m sure I can come up with something that’ll get to him.”
“Well… I c’n walk ya through the building, or if ya meet me somewhere, I can share the layout directly ta
your mind,” Rochester says, although he sounds a bit reluctant. “I still… well… ya’ choice.”
“Meet us a block away from the SITEC building, to the north,” Pan says. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Got it.”
They head out, leaving the plane invisible. “Will we be able to find that again?” Skye asks, looking back at the “empty” place curiously.
“I have the tracker on my phone,” Pan says. “I can find anything with it, including the plane.”
“That sounds handy!” Skye says. “Did Nico make it?”
“Of course he did,” Adanna says.
“I’ll download it from the store, then! That way I can find Chooperic if he gets lost!”
They race down the street until they reach buildings close enough together to jump from. Before the ten minutes are over, they reach their destination, only to find Rochester leaning against a lamppost, waiting for them. “Hey,” he says as they land in front of him. “Ya don’t mind if’n I tap inta’ ya’ brain, d’ya?”
Pan tugs his hood off, looking him in the eye. “If I find you have done anything to our minds that we do not know of, I believe you will be the one that minds it.”
“I won’t, I swear!” Rochester says, holding up both hands. “Justa quick run-through of the place.”
“Fine,” Pan says, moving forward and holding out his hand. Rochester grasps it, and his silver eyes start to glow. Pan doesn’t budge, even as Rochester finishes. “I see,” he says.
“Me next!” Skye says. Rochester visibly hesitates, only to have his hand grabbed. “I don’t like people messing with my mind, but I trust you! You won’t make me do anything, right?” And then she stops, the blood leaving her face as his experience from SITEC flashes through her mind. He lets out a yelp, jerking at the hand she’s threatening to crush, about halfway through.
“Skye!” he says. “It’s okay!”
“THEY KIDNAPPED YOU!” she shouts, tears falling down her cheeks. “They GASSED you! That’s it! THEY’RE GOING BOOM!” She turns, starting for the SITEC building, only to stop as Rochester moves to block her way.
“Wait, wait, wait!” he says, holding up his hands again. “It don’t matter what they did ta me!”
“Who says that?” she demands. “You’re my friend! They dare to do that to one of my friends! That—that Thelma Farkinkle lady is going DOWN!”
“Skye, ya got’ta lis’en ta me!” he says, reaching out and placing his hands on her shoulders. To his surprise, they actually stay there. “It don’t matter. They had me for a few minutes, maybe half an hour, or sumthin’ but not nearly as long as they had you. I didn’t care what they did ta me, Skye. What mattered was what ‘appened ta YOU. An’ that’s why I don’t want ya goin’ in thaar.”
“We’re here to speak to Antony Cage,” they all hear over their commlink. The entire group goes still, remembering what’s going on. “This is one of my youngin’s. He’s interested in what you do here.”
“We need to move,” Pan says silently. “Skye, are you coming?”
Skye looks at him, and then back at Rochester, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment before nodding. “Adanna needs to know the layout,” she says.
Rochester nods and takes Adanna’s hand, sharing the information before stepping back and watching them leave. When Skye glances back at him, she sees a sad expression on his face before he turns and walks away, his head bowed and shoulders slumped.
***
Really interested? Century’s words seem to echo in my mind for all of a second before I give the lady at the counter a grin. “I’m really interested in mad science experiments,” I say, not quite lying. “I thought it would be cool to see this place for myself. I can, can’t I?”
“We’ll have to ask Cage,” Century says, with a proud look on his face as he pats me on the back. I think he might have hit me harder than she expected him to, because her eyes widen and she looks at me with worry. I almost tell her that my Grandma’s hugs are WAY harder than that was. I barely even noticed it.
“He’s your friend, right? He’ll say yes,” I say, giving him my most hopeful look.
“Well, why don’t you two make yourself comfortable in the waiting room? I’m sure Mr. Cage will be out of his meeting, soon,” she says, giving us a hesitant smile.
“We can work on your flying while we’re waiting,” Century says, placing his hand on my shoulder and steering me along. “You do realize that the entire Hall is going to worry about you, don’t you?” he says quietly. “That little lawsuit’s going to affect all of us, sadly.”
“I… yeah,” I admit, looking at the floor. “But I had a reason for what I did! He grabbed me!”
“Yes, son, I’ve seen the video,” Century says. “We’ll make certain that the world knows exactly what went on. They already offered to settle out of court.”
“What? Really?” I say, hope filling me. “They would do that?” That would be excellent! This whole thing could be over with and I’d never have to speak in court—
“Mastermental turned them down and rightfully so,” he says, sitting down on one of the couches and motioning for me to sit down next to him.
“Oh,” I say, disappointed. What “rightfully so”? I want this over with! But I can’t argue with the Hall leaders. “Ah, first I should check, right?” I ask, still standing. He nods, and I close my eyes, holding out my hands.
“Now focus, son,” he says, almost distracting me. “You’ll be flying in no time with a bit of focus.”
I start searching, my powers reaching out. A cactus in this room, a spider flower in that… wait, what? That’s not a spider flower. Is that legal in Texas? I think someone’s growing it in secret, but I’m not going to call them out on it. Wait… I sense a spore… I open my eyes, looking at Century, who is grinning and clapping like I did some grand trick.
“Great job, my boy!” he says. I jerk, looking down just in time to fall on my butt. “Well, don’t let it get to you, you’re well on your way!” he says. “Did you find it?” he asks under his breath.
“Spores,” I say. “There are some spores in one of the offices. Um, and another plant that might or might not be legal, but I’m pretty sure it’s got nothing to do with this, and it’s definitely from this planet.”
“It’s a good enough reason to do some searching, if I need it,” he says with satisfaction.
“You were actually… flying,” the woman at the desk says, looking stunned.
“Nah, I was floating,” I admit. “It’s not quite to where I’d like to be, but hey, at least it worked! Hey, Century, we could go outside and you could toss me! I might get to stay up longer, this time!”
“Maybe after the tour, son,” Century says with an indulgent smile. “Have you heard from Cage, yet, Ma’am?” he asks her.
“Ms. Mace will be escorting you to his office shortly, sir,” she says. “I would like to thank you for your patience.”
“Of course,” Century says. “Did you check the entire place?” he asks me silently.
“I didn’t get to the basement,” I admit. “I’ll do that, now.”
He nods as I stand and close my eyes again, reaching out with my powers. I hear the lady at the desk make a strange noise, but I don’t look over. Century can take care of— I jerk to a stop as a hand touches my shoulder.
“What?” I ask, seeing him next to me.
“She noticed the tree over there,” he says, nodding. I look around, realizing with surprise that nothing is moving. Even the water cooler that had been making little glugging noises is mid-glug. I look over at the tree, which is leaning towards me, as if reaching out.
“Awww, man! I forgot that might happen,” I mutter. “Did you stop time everywhere?”
“On this floor.”
“Will it last long enough for us to go get the spores?” I ask, eagerly.
“Well, why not?” he says.
“Oh, wait, did it affect Adanna and them?” I ask as we start walking
down the hall. “Also, you would be a GREAT super villain.”
“I try not to bring attention to that fact. The Santa line is a little too well-known for their breaking and entering abilities.”
“Yeah, but nobody knows you’re from the Santa line, right? Oh, it’s this office,” I say, turning the knob of a door and walking in.
“It’s also not something a Hall leader should be known for,” Century says.
“They should be in here,” I say as I reach a small fridge. I crouch down, opening the door and sorting through the things inside. It hasn’t been cleaned out, yet, unlike the room. There are a few lunch bags, a lot of water bottles, and a small tray of Petri dishes. “Here,” I say. “I’m… pretty sure that these are them. But if we take them all, won’t they notice?” I ask.
“Take a small sample of the spores,” he says, “and leave the rest here. Can you put it back how you found it?”
“Are you going to accuse them, now?” I ask as I look around for an unused Petri dish. I find a pile of them on a shelf, and take one before getting to work. “You have enough evidence here, right?”
“I do,” he says, “but I need to speak to the council before doing anything. This is bigger than just South.”
I nod, covering the Petri dish I had just made and slipping the older one back into the fridge. “Got it,” I say, showing it to him.
“Then shall we?” he says.
“We shall,” I say. “Ah, we should probably tell Pan that you froze this floor’s time, right?”
“We have already noticed,” Pan says over the commlink. “It makes this far less entertaining.”
“Sorry about that,” Century says.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“So there’s… nothing here?” Skye says, looking around the basement. That’s not completely true, of course. There are a lot of boxes full of supplies and several mops and buckets. It looks like the custodian moved in after they cleared the place out. “Right there is…” she stops, staring at an empty patch of concrete, her jaw tightening slightly. “Pan! Let’s blow it up!” she says.
“There are two reasons I will not,” Pan says as he starts digging through the boxes. “Please try and find an electric line, Adanna.” He tosses her a small machine, and she nods. “Skye, would you contact Zoe?”