by R. J. Ross
“That comment about Senator Herold is what bothers me,” Falconess says, sitting back down and crossing her legs. “That little speech the old man gave on television seems to have had a wider impact than I thought.”
“Are we freaks?” Malina asks softly.
“Sure we are,” Emily says before I can reply. She crouches down in front of the other girl, grinning wickedly. “We’re freaks, we’re different, we will never fit in, Malina--and I’d rather be all of those things than a jerk like that guy, any day, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Malina agrees with a smile, “definitely.”
“I’m going to need a new agent,” I say, dropping down in my chair again and sighing. “There’s also a really good chance that Tom will put the word out that I can’t be worked with.”
“Rather than Double M--maybe we should call Grandpa,” Emily says.
“Superior?” I ask.
“No, my other grandpa,” she says. “Bus, call Grandpa Andre,” she orders. A screen comes down behind my head. I have to turn to see the large black man. Now, think about it here--Emily’s as much an orphan as I am, from what I’ve heard, yet here she is related to THE Superior, and the owner of Hall TV, not to mention a future Liberty girl. I won’t lie, I’m a little jealous—well, I mean, other than the Liberty girl part. I'm not built to wear a stars and stripes mini skirt. You know what? Forget I said anything.
“Good morning, sweetie,” Andre asks. “I thought you were starting your mission today.”
“Justin’s agent turned out to be a super hater,” Emily says. The instant she says it, there’s a look of shock on Andre’s face.
“An agent?” he repeats.
“Yeah.”
“That doesn’t usually happen... at all, actually,” he admits. “In our business, it’s always about the green. Did something happen?”
“We were just being ourselves,” Emily says with a shrug. “Sure, Freddy climbed the Hall, and I might have let Ditto out--but it wasn’t anything to freak over.”
“Huh,” he says, a frown playing on his lips. “What’s his name?”
“Tom Macow,” I say.
“I’ll see what I can find out,” Andre says. “So what are you going to do now?”
“Can you send us a replacement agent? Nico can send you all our paperwork and contacts--he’s the one that set up the tour,” Emily says.
“Well, that’s the problem--my agents usually only deal with super work,” Andre says. “Our contacts are strictly interested in stories about supers. Unless you’re willing to be outed as a cape, Justin, I’m not sure how good one of my people will be for you. Supers are as much a genre as any other.”
“But they won’t freak out on us, right?” Malina says to me.
“You’re asking a lot, though,” I admit. “Sure there have been rumors about me being a cape, especially since I screwed up, but--”
“I can pull some strings and find you a norm agent,” Andre offers. “It’s up to you.”
“I was going to have Malina do her water dance--that’s as good as admitting I’m a cape, already, isn’t it?” I realize. “And if I admit to it, there’s a bigger chance of the hidden capes coming to the show. I pretty much outed myself a year ago, after all. Send us one of yours, please.”
“I’ll send a few camera drones as well,” he says. “Where should he meet you?”
“We’re picking up my band in Kansas,” I say. “They’re still a bit irritated by that, but they’re used to traveling to strange places.” I rattle off the address and he nods.
“I’ll send them right over.”
“Will they be a super?” Malina asks.
“He’s a D class,” Andre says, “but if you’d prefer a norm, I can send one.”
“Either’s fine,” I say, looking at Malina. “As long as they don’t care we’re supers, we won’t care if they’re norms, right?”
She nods, but I can see that the whole Tom thing threw her off guard. I look at Freddy, who’s frowning in thought. I don’t like this. I don’t like how all of a sudden there’s this big, ugly feeling of “Us vs. Them.” I can’t change what happened to the zoo kids--they were captured by a norm, right? But he used a super to do it, so really, shouldn’t they be paranoid about EVERYONE? Not just norms? Not that I want them to be paranoid about anyone. I just...
I feel guilty because I should have known about Tom and his super hating. But DID he use to hate heroes? I don’t remember him ever freaking out or even saying something when I watched the news. There are a lot of heroes on the news. “Something seems wrong,” I admit.
Falconess looks at me. “How so?”
“He never came off as a super hater before,” I explain. “He would watch them on the news and everything, and never said a word about it. Every once in a while we’d even have one come to one of the shows, and he never complained. I don’t get it.”
“That does make you wonder,” she agrees. “Well, regardless, it looks as if we’re to our destination.” I look out the window as the bus pulls to a stop. There’s a group of three guys standing on the corner. They’re all around my age, and have all gone the hipster route, I notice blankly as they load their instruments and climb on board.
“What’s with the beards?” I demand as Lonny gets to me. He grins, pulling me into that bro hug where you slap each other on the backs. I repeat the move with Brian and Cole before introducing everyone.
“Hipster is in,” Lonny says, dropping down next to Emily and giving her a wicked grin. “Hi.”
“I’m dating Kid Liberty,” she tells him flat out. He falls off the bench, grasping his heart.
“That’s got to be the most impressive example of ‘shot down’ that I’ve ever seen,” Cole comments. “Is this bus big enough for all of us?” he asks me as he looks around.
“It gets wider if you push the big red button,” the bus driver calls back to us.
“Hey, you’re a black suit, right?” Brian says, heading to the front. “What’s your name?”
“Alphonse,” the driver says. “A pleasure to meet you, my daughters love you guys.”
“Cool! How old are they?” Brian asks.
“Thirteen and twelve.”
“Still cool,” Brian says with an easy grin.
“Hey, we got a call from Tom,” Cole says, dropping down on another chair, “he seemed to think we didn’t know you were a super.”
“Yeah, we’re getting a new agent,” I tell him. The three of them shoot me shocked looks.
“Wait--are you guys heroes, too?” Lonny asks Emily.
“Yeah,” she says with a grin, “we’re all capes.”
“Even the little cute one?” Brian asks, motioning to Malina.
“She’s a cape,” I say.
“She has a name,” Malina mutters under her breath.
He gets down on his knees in front of her, digs through his pockets almost wildly, and pulls out a candybar. “Will you marry me?” he asks. “I would have used a ringpop, but I ate my last one.”
“No hitting on either of the girls, moron!” I say, trying not to laugh.
“Would you prefer a ho-ho?” he asks Malina. I hear a tiny snort escape her before she’s laughing her head off. “I’m not a headliner, so I don’t make enough to buy an actual ring. But I’ve always wanted to be married to a super!”
“You’re a dork,” she tells him, grinning widely, her legs swinging absently. He grins back at her, shamelessly, and I can’t help but feel relieved.
“Guys, I have to tell you something,” I say, making them look over, “I’m going to be outed as a hero for this tour. It’ll be covered by HTV and everything, and our new agent will be a D-class super. If you want me to find a replacement for you--”
“Heck no! This is going to be awesome!” Lonny says. “Besides, everyone already knows you’re a super--unless they’re in denial like Tom must have been. This way we can meet all the super hot hero chicks! Speaking of which, hell-ooo,” he says, leering che
erfully at Falconess.
“That’s Falconess,” I have to point out.
“Oh, whoops, sorry ma’am, didn’t--” Lonny stumbles over himself as Emily and Malina start rolling with laughter. “Don’t kill me, please?” he whimpers.
“Are you seriously dating Kid Liberty?” Cole asks Emily. “I thought it was a joke.”
“No, I’m seriously dating him,” she says. “I’m Divine Justice, and technically I’m the leader of this mission--we’re just using Justin as a front man.”
“Hey, I saw your debut! You went up against Dragon, right? Is he really hard to get along with?”
The entire group of heroes look at me. “Ah, well,” I say, hesitating as I try to find a way to put it, “you have to keep this to yourself, okay?”
“What, you’re secretly his stalker?” Cole teases.
“No, but he is my best friend,” I say. The three of them look at me in shock. “He’s a great guy, although he keeps leaving his crap in my dorm room because he’s too lazy to take it back to his place, and we have the same taste in girls,” I make a face, because he actually got Morgan on his team, so there’s a chance he’ll actually confess that he likes her.
“You’re so screwed,” Cole says bluntly.
“Yep.”
“I mean, sure you’re a famous singer--but he’s DRAGON.”
“I know, trust me, I know,” I say dryly.
“Poor Justin, out-done by a super villain,” Brian says, sadly.
“It’s not because he’s a famous super villain!” Malina protests. We all look at her, watching as she turns bright red at the attention. “It’s... It’s because Ace is a nice guy,” she says, looking down at her lap.
“So basically, I’m still out of luck,” I say with a shrug. “I can’t even hate the guy, because like I said, he’s my best friend. Sure he hangs out with Max and Jack a lot, but...”
“We’ll find you a new girl!” Emily says. “Maybe Jack or Max can check out the debuts they’re going to get, see if there’s anyone cute.”
“No thanks,” I say. “I’d rather not trust either of them with picking a future girlfriend.”
I hear Freddy snort and look up, realizing that he hadn’t drawn any attention to himself since the band came. “Freddy, come out, would you?” I say quietly.
He slowly peeks out from the upper bunk. Freddy is a pretty interesting looking kid. All of the supers are distinct looking, often good looking, but once in a while you find one like Freddy. Freddy has a long, narrow face with a long, narrow nose, and eyes so green that it looks like he’s wearing contacts. He’s emphasized that package with several piercings and letting Ace do his hair--it looks like a lizard clinging to his head, and is dyed bright green. Ever since Ace did that, I’ve sworn he’d never touch my hair--EVER. Freddy loves it.
“Guys, meet Freddy, the last of our team,” I tell them, reaching up and bumping knuckles with him. “He’s a wall-climber.”
“As in ‘he’s really hyper’ or--” Cole asks.
“I can climb on any surface,” Freddy says, reaching up and touching the ceiling of the bus. Soon he’s crawling across the ceiling and stopping in front of Cole. “See?” he asks, looking up--which is down for us--at Cole.
“That...”
“That’s awesome,” Lonny says. “Wait, what do you do?” he asks Malina.
“I play with water,” she says, shyly.
“Like water guns or something?”
“Sort of,” she says. We turn to stare at her, because that’s the lamest comparison I’ve ever heard.
“You--” I start out, only to see her shake her head slightly. “Okay, fine, but you’re still going to be doing the show, right?” I ask her.
“It’s part of the mission, right?” she says, looking down. “Nico says he’s not treating me special, so I need to do my part properly.”
“Nico’s never going to give you special treatment,” Emily says, earning sharp looks from the band.
“Why wouldn’t he? That seems pretty rude,” Brian says.
“You don’t get it,” Emily says, “EVERYONE will want Malina--Century said to put in a good word for him, and he said Negatia would love to have you, and I bet the other branch leaders would kill to have you, too,” she says to Malina. “In fact, it’s only our branch that’s probably not going to get into the fight--”
“That’s because for now we already have you,” Falconess says with a little smile. “But more importantly, those with coastlines will need you a lot more than we do.”
“Century wants me?” Malina asks.
“He said you could work in children’s welfare as well, if you want--we’re allowed to have side jobs,” Emily says. “If anything, he’d bend over backwards to make sure you’re happy--but it also means dealing with Skye on a semi-regular basis, as well as all the other South Branch villains.”
Malina has that same hunted look on her face she had when I was trying to convince her to go on the road with me. “Hey,” I say, catching her attention, “you haven’t graduated yet--until we’re out of Cape High, we’re not up for grabs.”
“Oh, you’re not up for grabs,” Emily tells me. “You’re going back to the West Branch unless you form a contract with one of the others, that’s what Century says.”
“How do you know Century that well?” Cole asks her.
“He’s, um, like an uncle?” She shrugs. “But anyway, Malina, Nico’s going to expect you to keep up with the rest of us--if not surpass us. This isn’t your debut, but it IS your first showing for the other Hall Leaders. They’re going to be watching all of us really closely, especially you and Freddy. He told me to make sure you both get plenty of exposure on HTV, because we’re going to get you both your pick of Halls and positions.”
“What about you?” Brian asks her. “Don’t you need to look good for the camera?”
“Sure, but I’m a Liberty Girl,” Emily says with a shrug. “I’m lined up to sort of take Star Spangled’s place when she’s retired.”
They stare at her, their jaws dropping.
“It’s true,” Falconess says. “Which is why I’m really hoping your boyfriend can talk Keliah over to our side--otherwise I won’t have a replacement and I won’t be able to retire to Mom’s little island in the keys.”
“He might,” Emily says with a shrug. “I can’t promise anything, though.”
The bus pulls to a stop and the door swings open, making us all look up as a slender Asian man walks in, carrying a briefcase. “I was sent to be your agent,” he announces, heading straight for me and offering his hand. “Nathan Pao.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say, shaking hands.
He heads to Falconess next, smiling slightly. “I’m a huge fan,” he says, obviously recognizing her.
“Thank you,” she says. “Please, make yourself comfortable, this is going to be a bit of a drive.”
He nods, introducing himself all around before finding a spot in the back to look through his paperwork.
***
Malina says nothing as the tour bus starts rolling. She’s got a lot on her mind, worry about her part of this job at the forefront of her mind. What if she looks stupid? What if nobody likes the water dance? What if she accidentally drowns someone? She’s not sure HOW that could happen, but it’s definitely a possibility! Whenever there’s water, there’s that possibility, right?
Idly she moves another checker piece across the board before glancing out the window. For a moment nothing registers. It’s beautiful, in a flat, boring sort of manner. Fields spread out as far as the eye can see, even hers. She sees windmill turbines slowly spinning in a group, and she smiles slightly. They’re sort of pretty, she decides—
A shadow crosses over the street next to her, drawing her attention back. For a moment she feels a chill run down her spine. It’s back. The cloud that’s been lurking over the dorms, it’s following her. A part of her swears she’s going crazy and that it’s obviously a different cloud, but another part
has her shoving the window open and sticking her head out. She has to stand on the chair to do it, but she does.
“Malina?” Justin asks. “What in the heck are you doing?”
“Nothing,” she lies, twisting her body and looking straight up. A cloud hangs overhead, but it’s too far away for her to be certain. For a long moment she stares at it, giving it her most evil eye, as if daring it to do something funny.
The cloud just floats there, just like the rest of them, and she gets pulled back into the bus. She gives Justin a dirty look, but he doesn’t seem to notice. He looks confused. “You weren’t trying to jump, were you? Because last I checked, you couldn’t fly.”
“It—there’s—” she starts out, only to stop herself. “Nothing,” she says again, plopping down on her chair and staring at the checker board instead. It had started out with the first pool party. The cloud had hovered over their heads—the only cloud on a perfectly clear day. She’d wondered about it, but dismissed it quickly. A cloud is just a build up of dirt and water in the atmosphere, or something like that. It’s not a stalker.
How can a cloud be a stalker? She doesn’t know, but she’s almost positive that she’s seen the same cloud a few other times. She looks around, her eyes falling on Falconess. “Give me a second,” she says to Justin before hopping off her chair and walking over to the hero. “Falconess, can I ask you something?”
“Hmm?”
“Are there any supers that can turn into clouds?”
“I… don’t know of any, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t,” Falconess says. “Is there a problem?”
“I don’t… I think I’m just paranoid,” Malina admits, looking at the window. The shadow outside is gone. “Yeah, just paranoid.” She heads back to her chair, peering out the window for a long moment. “It’s just a cloud,” she tells herself quietly. “Just a cloud.” She can feel Justin staring at her and she blushes, feeling like an idiot.
She turns back to the board game.
CHAPTER TWO