by R. J. Ross
“That is SO embarrassing,” she complains to her mother. “We could at least have taken the car!”
“This is official cape business,” Falconess says. “I’m working here as a mentor, Keliah, you should get used to that idea now.”
“Then let me take the bus or something,” Keliah mutters, flushing slightly and peeking over at our group--straight at Jack. I let go of Zoe’s hand and move, blocking her view of the metal man with my hands on my hips.
“Hey,” Jack says, tapping me on the shoulder. “What are you doing?”
I turn, giving him a wide and pointless smile. “Nothing important!”
“Then get moving,” he says, poking me in the back. I start forward, still acting as a shield--albeit a short one. What? Jack is like a foot taller than I am, or more! It’s really hard to block a guy from view when he towers over you!
A classy looking black car pulls up next to us and Adanna gets out, leaning over for a second to talk with her dad. I peek around her, completely distracted, to see what Panther is wearing today. Sometimes he wears his super villain uniform--it’s the coolest outfit--
“I’m going around if you’re just going to stand there,” Jack says, jerking me back to the present.
“No, I’m coming!” I say, straightening up and rushing forward to keep trying to block. Half of the group is watching me with amusement, but Trent has a different look on his face.
“Em?” he asks. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing!” I say, grabbing Jack’s arm when he just keeps going. I can’t let him run off and get drawn into the surly girl’s wiles!
“Hey,” Jack says as we reach the control panel, “you’re acting weirder than usual, you know.”
“Nothing for you to worry about!” I tell him, still grinning widely. He gives me a disbelieving look before shrugging it off.
“You heard from Aub this morning?” he asks. “She sent me a text last night around midnight, but that’s about it.”
“She’s probably either still working or finally getting some sleep,” I admit, frowning as I pull out my cell phone. I tap on it a few times before bringing up a very simple note. “See?” I say.
It says “night” and is time stamped at four in the morning, Central time. “My guess is she typed this right before falling asleep,” I tell him. “She does this a lot,” I admit, looking at the phone with a little smile. “She knows I get worried when she’s out all night working.”
I blink as his hand lands on my head, ruffling my hair. “Thanks,” he says. “I needed that.”
I stare at him a bit blankly as he heads up to the panel, pressing his hand against it and heading inside. He never even looked at the blonde, did he? “This is the first time they’ve actually been this far apart,” Trent says, draping his arm over my shoulders. “He’s taking it a bit hard, not that he’ll ever admit it.”
“Now we’ll just scan you and get your stats put into the computer,” I hear Nico say. I glance over to where he’s standing in front of Keliah with his phone in his hands. She’s staring over at me, a dark expression on her face. Trent looks at her, and then looks at me, frowning slightly.
“How, exactly, did you make an enemy when she’s not even been to the school before?” he asks me silently.
“She was at the pool, remember?” I whisper back. “She’s annoying.”
“She’s also Falconess’s daughter, right?” he asks as we get in line to go into school. Nico’s taken over the panel, showing Keliah and Falconess how to get inside. I’m stuck behind Zoe, who promptly turns around and joins the conversation.
“So why are you being so over-protective of Jack, anyway?” she whispers to me.
I turn bright red as Trent looks at me. “So that’s what you were doing?” he asks.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say, lying through my teeth.
“You were practically bearing your teeth,” Zoe says.
“Because--“ I start out, reluctantly about to explain. Thankfully Max decides to show up for school about that time, wearing his mask and a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He lands (still one of the very few that can actually fly) next to Zoe, looking at me and Trent curiously.
“Am I missing a vital plot point?” he asks.
“You spend way too much time acting as a super villain, man,” Trent says dryly.
“Sorry, yeah, I was working last night,” Max admits, yawning loudly. He looks around. “Who’s the blonde?” he asks, not bothering to lower his voice as he tugs off his mask.
“Falconess’s daughter,” I say. “The bigger blonde is Falconess.”
“She’s going to be tutoring Em,” Trent says.
“Huh,” Max says, frowning slightly. I look over at Trent, curiously.
“If he was working last night, were you?” I ask him.
“Nah, he’s been setting up a massive scheme for a while now,” Trent says. “It takes a lot of ground work--heroes don’t have to bother with that part of the job unless they’re the thinking type and go up against the clue leaving villains.”
“There are clue leaving villains?” I ask, looking over at Max.
“It’s an old style, but it’s got some charm,” he admits, shrugging. “Or for the more difficult to deal with villains it can set up a nice running plot--I bet they’ll teach Ace some of those skills sooner or later. Panther’s an expert at it. Then again, Panther’s an expert at all the classics.”
“Fanboy,” Trent drawls.
“When a guy is that good at what he does, you gotta admire it,” Max says, pulling out his wallet and showing his Panther fan club card with pride.
“Papa will appreciate the fact,” Adanna says as she heads for our group, a sleepy looking Sunny in tow. “He’s quite fond of your work, as well, Max.”
“Yeah? Then what was that crack about at the Mega movie?” Max asks, earning a wicked smile from the beautiful black girl.
“Oh, he’s fond of it, but he’s also territorial. It’s nothing personal, of course,” she says, waving a hand, “but you’ll still be dealing with him soon.”
“Can super villains take out other super villains?” I ask. “I mean, according to Hall rules?”
“Sure,” Max says, “under rivalry rules. So far, though, I’ve not run into a villain that takes it seriously. There are usually too many heroes to juggle to bother with the competition.”
“It was nice knowing you,” Trent says, placing a hand on Max’s shoulder with a fake look of sympathy. Max shoves the hand off, glaring at him.
“Panther isn’t the type to kill off younger capes,” he says.
“That you know of,” Adanna says, cutting in line since no one is moving forward.
“She just cut me,” Max says a bit blankly.
“You cut us first,” I point out.
“Well whatever, not in that big of a hurry for first hour, anyway,” Max says with a shrug. He and Trent usually spend the first hour of school fighting. “They cut our part of the field in half for Vinny and Jack,” he complains. “How can you get a decent fight on with only half of a field? And what will they do when the others are working capes, cut it in fourths?”
“We’ll have to build a second field,” Nico says. “Now inside, the Falconess duo went in while you were discussing super villain tactics,” he adds, jabbing a thumb at the security wall that we can’t technically see at the moment. “Besides, I haven’t heard any updates on Flame’s villain,” he adds more quietly, looking at the sky.
“I’m sure she’ll get in touch with Dad,” Max says as Adanna and Sunny go through the security system. We head in one by one, going down the steps that line the inner wall of the canyon and step onto the campus that’s set in the bottom part.
“Emily, you’ll be training in the gym,” Nico says. “Show Falconess how to get there, would you?”
“And what about me?” Keliah demands. “What am I supposed to do?”
“You’ve got some catching up to do,” Nico sa
ys. “Banshee will be tutoring you for now.”
“Oh,” Keliah says, looking a bit stunned. Then she looks over at Jack again before trying to cover it up by looking at the rest of us. “What about classes?” she asks. “Do we have special years or something?”
“We’re still not quite big enough for that,” Nico admits. “We’re getting there--but for now we set the homework for each student based on their capabilities. A lot of the kids missed a year or more of school, anyway,” he adds as we start for our various areas.
“What?” she asks. “Why?”
“We were kidnapped,” Vinny says as he steps out of the small house next to the dorms, carrying his own cup of coffee. The wind brushes his hair, sending it floating to show off the shaved side. I gotta admit, he looks really cool with that haircut. I can see why he’s got a fanclub already--not as big as Trent’s is, of course, but they’ve got a website and everything.
“Who are you?” Keliah asks.
“Vinny,” Vinny says before looking over at me. “You’re staying for lunch today, right, Em?”
“Yeah!” I say excitedly. “I actually managed to cook something edible last night,” I add in a brag.
“She did,” Trent says. “So... why are you staying for lunch?” he asks me blankly.
“Vinny’s offered to help me with my cooking,” I tell him.
“Is Flame in, or is he on the docket?” Nico asks Vinny.
Vinny makes a face and takes a drink of his coffee before answering. “If it’s about that one chick, he heard,” he says. “He’s been gone since last night. I heard about Century snatching Aubrey--you’re going to get her back, right?” he asks, looking at me and Trent again.
“We’ll get her back,” Nico says. “I only loaned her to them for three days.”
“That’s good,” Trent says, “because Jack is already getting irritable.”
“What, um, does Jack have to do with this Aubrey girl?” Keliah asks.
“You didn’t know?” Trent asks. “They’re dating. They have been practically since she saved his life when he got changed into a cape.”
There’s a shocked look on Keliah’s face that she tries to hide quickly. “Oh,” she says finally.
There, I think, that’s one problem taken care of! Now I need to get Falconess to the gym--I look around for the super, only to blink as I catch sight of her chatting it up with Taurus. My mind instantly jumps to the wrong conclusion. Is she flirting? If she’s flirting, she absolutely needs to know that we’ve (me and Ditto AND Aubrey) have already picked Taurus for Liz! The whole man-stealing thing seems to run in the family!
“So then she stops and stares at me,” Falconess says as I get closer, “and says ‘Well they said the wifi was free!’”
Taurus starts to laugh. “Oh, man, I wish I’d been there!” he says.
“The entire town was down for a few days after that, Liz had to wear the cone of shame for the entire time--Mastermental made her swear not to go to Burger King ever again,” Falconess goes on, smiling. Taurus is grinning so widely that I’m positive his cheeks hurt. “She was such a cute kid--she’s still a serious handful,” Falconess finishes up, smiling as she sees me coming. “Are we ready to start?”
“Um, yeah,” I say, blushing slightly and feeling extremely guilty for the man-stealing thought. I think I’m being overly paranoid right now, especially when Taurus walks over to me, draping a massive arm over my shoulders in a familiar way.
“Be careful about her,” he says to Falconess. “She’s pulled more pranks on me than I can count.”
“It’s just cuz you’re a big target,” I tell him, grinning up at him shamelessly.
“And NEVER fall asleep with her near--you’ll wake up with Mickey Mouse ears,” he adds, giving me a dry look.
“His hair is perfect for it,” I admit, “plus, Adanna paid me for the pictures.”
“Father has them hanging up in his office,” Adanna calls all the way from across campus. “He still laughs whenever he sees them! And Cubby thinks that’s how you usually look!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be in panther form?” Taurus yells back. “Cat’s can’t talk!”
“I would be if my instructor was here!”
“She has her father’s sense of hearing, doesn’t she?” Falconess says, looking amused. “Are you her mentor?” she asks Taurus.
“Yeah,” he says. “I think that’s why they brought me into the school in the first place. They brought Blackjack in for Emily, but he’s taken over Ace’s training--plus--“ he looks at me and I shrug.
“Blackjack and I never really clicked, I guess,” I say.
“She keeps falling asleep in his class,” Taurus says.
“Well it’s right at nap time!” I protest.
“See?” he says. “Blackjack doesn’t take it very seriously in the first place, but he still finds it a bit annoying when she snores during his attempt of teaching the kids how to count cards.”
“Gambling is a sin,” I say smugly, crossing my arms over my chest. “Cheating is, too!”
“And she’s been playing the ‘dating a preacher’s son’ card too often lately,” Taurus finishes. “Even Trent doesn’t play that one, and he IS the preacher’s son.”
“You seem quite proud of her,” Falconess says. Taurus laughs and ruffles my hair.
“I need to get to work--you behave for Falconess, Em,” he says, heading for Adanna’s playground rather than replying to that. I feel a little red from that statement, myself, so it’s no wonder he ran.
“He’s dating Liz,” I say, “not that she’ll ever admit it without a fight.”
“I know,” Falconess says. “They’re adorable.”
“It’s this way,” I say, not sure how to respond to that. Aubrey would know, she’d probably gush over how she “ships it” or whatever.
“Do you have a problem with the idea of Liz and Devon getting together?” Falconess asks quietly, making me glance over.
“No! I mean, I think I’m even more for it than Liz is half the time--but Liz is...” I wonder how I should put it. I touch my chin, thinking hard on the subject of my foster mom. “She’s... not... exactly straight-forward when it comes to stuff like this,” I admit finally.
“As in she’d deny it up until the marriage is over and the first kid’s in kindergarten?” Falconess drawls.
“I want to name her Adora,” I say, grinning now that she’s proven her understanding of the situation. I hesitate, frowning as a thought occurs to me. “Hey, have you run into that villain that knocked Mega out yet?”
“No, actually, why?”
“They said she was from the south, right?” I say, something nudging my brain hard. “Do you know what powers she has?”
“Well, from the reports Central got from South, he has the ability to phase through objects,” she says. “She’s called Skystep.”
I go still, the blood rushing from my face as it all comes rushing back to me. “Why?” I whisper.
“Why what?”
“Why does it have to be her?”
“What? Emily, is there a problem with Skystep?” she asks. I stare at the ground, trying to get my bearings back before I shake my head.
“No... it’s fine,” I lie, faking a smile. “If we don’t start our training we’ll be out of time, right? Let’s get started,” I say as I head into the gym. I summon Ditto, who looks at me with a serious expression before striking a pose from Sailor Moon.
“Ditto, reporting for duty!”
Falconess walks around her, looking her over closely for a long moment, even touching certain parts. For a moment she twirls a piece of red hair between her fingers, a strangely fascinated expression on her face. She moves on, touching Ditto’s throat. “An actual pulse,” she says, “impressive.”
“Nico forced me to watch a million videos on human biology,” I admit, scratching the back of my head. “The girl part was fine, I sort of expected all that, but I’m still trying to wash the guy part ou
t of my memory.”
“Is there a reason he made you study male physiology?” she asks me curiously.
“We want to try and shapeshift Ditto,” I say. “So I can make her look like someone else.”
“It’s an interesting concept,” Falconess says after looking at Ditto for a long moment, “but I think, instead, that you should consider trying to create more than one doppelganger at a time. The more of you there are, the more you can accomplish, right? And with this level of detail, I have a good feeling that you’ll have the strength.”
“More than Ditto?” I ask, looking at Ditto in shock. I was looking for something to distract me from Skystep being in town--she definitely accomplished that. “Like a third me?”
“Or more. Can you teleport?” Falconess asks.
“I can,” Ditto says.
“I wonder if you can’t, as well, Emily,” she says, looking at me. “There’s not many duplicators recorded in our history, but I just happen to have brought a file of one.”
“What? Nico said he couldn’t really find that much information.”
“That’s because Nico relies far too heavily on computer files,” she says, pulling out a manila folder from a simple bag. “He never thinks to look for hard copies.”
I stare at it, crossing over to her without thinking and bumping into Ditto as we try and get a look. “Who is it?” I ask.
“Duplicitous,” she says, “She was a super villain from the eighties.”
“A super villain?” Ditto asks.
“You don’t really think everyone with your abilities is going to be aboveboard, do you?” Falconess asks, looking amused. “You have a built in alibi, the ability to erase or not even leave evidence, and teleportation. Now sit, we’ve got a lot of news reports to read--and watch, if I can get a VHS player around here.”
“VHS?”
“It’s from the eighties,” she says simply. We sit and she opens the thick manila folder, handing out various newspaper clippings and white paper reports stapled at the corner. “The world thought she only had two duplicates at most,” she says as she spreads out more of the notes, “but Mastermental says she had to have had at least five to do all the things she did.”