by R. J. Ross
“Ye--yeah,” I say, still looking at my lap.
“What happened with Skystep, Em?” he asks, patting my hair.
“She... she killed my parents.”
***
Exactly three minutes have passed since I made that admittance. That’s why I’m standing behind Ken, Jeanie, and Trent in Mastermental’s office, hiding a bit behind Ken as he stares down Mastermental. “Why didn’t you tell us that Skystep was behind Emily’s parents’ death?”
“Well,” Mastermental says, a serious expression on his face, “because I’ve never heard it before. From what I’ve seen, her parents died in an avalanche while saving a group of hikers. Where did you get the idea that Skystep had something to do with it?”
This is the part where I speak up, right? I look up as the family moves out of the way, clearing the path between me and Mastermental. I take a deep breath. “I heard them,” I say, my hands fisting at my sides for a second. “Geoff and Marlina--you know, the parents of the last family they stuck me with. They were talking about how Skystep was involved when Mom--Mom and Dad were--were--” I sniffle, wiping at the tears that are welling up, “were killed.”
“I see,” he says, flipping through the paperwork in front of him before standing and coming out from behind the desk. “Do you want me to find out what really happened?” he asks, moving to stand in front of me.
“Yes,” I say. I need to know.
“If you want, I can have Century take her back south, as well. Of course there could be more complications--such as having to leave Aubrey there longer, or sending Flameblaster back before Vinny’s training is complete. But--”
“I--I just...” I say, only to jerk as the door slams open and Liz storms in, in full uniform.
“Permission to deal with Skystep,” she says, stepping between me and Mastermental in a protective manner. “I’ll make it quick,” she adds.
“Denied,” Mastermental says. “Although I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re here when you should be doing an interview, now should I?”
“This is more important. She’s already taken one of my girls across country--”
“That was Century.”
“Permission to deal with Century, as well, then?”
“Denied. Again.”
“She killed my daughter’s parents!” Liz says, ignoring the Century thing as soon as it’s denied. I don’t think I’d want Liz to go up against Century, anyway, I decide as I grab her waist, hugging her tightly.
“Stop,” I say, holding on tightly. “I don’t want you going up against her--I don’t want anyone I love to--to--”
“We only have the thoughts of a couple I was not very impressed with as a source,” Mastermental says patiently. “There’s a very good chance they were misinformed or just making assumptions. Emily, I know you were vulnerable at that time, and had reason to believe they were truthful, but I don’t really think they’re worthy of being trusted blindly.”
That... that’s true, isn’t it? I find myself nodding even as Liz wraps her arms around me almost too tightly. “Yeah,” I say. I hope he’s right, actually. Not having anyone to blame other than nature--other than circumstances--it’s better. I don’t like hating people. I’ve also been trying really hard to learn to forgive people. The sisters, Geoff and Marlina--even the ones that hadn’t known what was happening at the time, like Century.
But what if she is the reason my parents died? She’s running around here as if she owns the place, beating up Mega--I actually sort of like Mega! He’s like the egotistical uncle that everyone should have! Sure I might make fun of him once in a while, but that gives her no right to knock him out. And now we don’t even have Aubrey here while she’s out rampaging against the Central Hall. This just isn’t right.
“I’ll talk to Century, see what he knows,” Mastermental says, jerking me back to the present. “If he has no clue, I’ll see about reading Skystep’s mind to find out what happened. I won’t leave this uncovered, though, Emily,” he promises. “You’ll find out exactly what happened by the time I’m finished.”
I nod, wondering briefly if I really want to know. If I find out that she killed my parents on purpose, what do I do? I’m still just a kid. I’ve got no chance at getting revenge. “If she did do it on purpose, Emily, we’ll make sure she’s punished properly,” Ken says, turning to place a huge hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner. “We’ll put her in the Cape Cells, where she would belong.”
I nod, feeling a tiny hint of relief slip down my spine. It’s wrong, not wanting to get vengeance. It’s wrong to take the easy way out and let the adults handle the problem, right? It should be my duty as a super hero to clean up my parents’ messes.
All that thought does is make a cold ball of worry build in my gut that I don’t think is going to disappear any time soon.
“Liz,” Mastermental says, “you were supposed to be doing an interview with HTV.”
“Oh, right,” Liz says, still holding me tightly. She looks at the others, a torn expression on her face before something seems to occur to her. The expression on her face makes me a little worried--I’m right, I realize as she slips an arm under my knees and picks me up in a princess hold. “I’m taking Emily with me,” she declares before taking to the air.
Mastermental lets out a sigh and presses a button on his desk, opening a window in the ceiling. “At least keep her off the television,” he calls as Liz flies away with me in tow.
“Will do!” she calls over her shoulder. I’ve been flying with Liz before--halfway across the country. It’s surprisingly peaceful, I think as I lean my head against her shoulder. She stays silent for a long moment, and I almost believe that she’s not going to say a thing--until she does. “Devon’s dad owns HTV,” she says a bit randomly.
“What?” I ask.
“Taurus--his dad owns HTV,” she repeats, smiling slightly. “I don’t think many people know that. I didn’t until he called me up this morning, introduced himself and demanded I actually do my civic duty and get interviewed.”
“Have you met him yet?” I ask, grateful for the change in subject. “Like a ‘meeting the parents dinner’ or something?”
“Just what are you thinking?” she demands. “Devon and I are just friends.”
“Hah! Yeah, right!” I scoff. “You totally like him.” It’s getting dark outside, but I can still see a hint of blush creeping over her face. She’s really pale, so it’s easy to see. “But I want to meet him--Taurus’s dad. Have you ever met him other than the phone call?”
“Nope, never,” she says. “He seems like an interesting guy, though. I mean, he put together one of the biggest super businesses outside of the Hall, all by himself.”
“He’s a super, too, right?” I ask curiously.
“He’s a shape-shifter like Devon is,” she agrees. The HTV building comes into view, huge and intimidating. There’s a man standing on the roof of the building, who Liz heads straight for, landing in front of him and letting me down. The tall black man with the business haircut looks exactly like Taurus in the face, I think as he steps forward, holding out a hand to Liz.
“Firefly,” he says as she shakes his hand. He pulls her into a hug, much to both my surprise and hers. “I hear you and my son have been getting along quite well,” he says with a laugh as she makes a tiny squeaking noise. I’ve never heard Liz make that sound in my life--this guy must be SERIOUSLY strong. “And who is this?” he asks as he lets go, turning to me. “Divine Justice, I presume?” He holds out a hand and I stare at the huge smile on his face.
This guy could TOTALLY be my grandpa someday. “You’re going to shake and then hug me aren’t you,” I accuse him.
“I might,” he says.
“But Liz is way tougher than I am, and you made her squeak, so if I hug you instead will you be gentle?” I ask. What? I spend a LOT of time with tanks, okay? He holds out his arms as an answer and I hug him. Sure I’ve never met him before, but somehow that doesn’t seem to m
atter. He picks me up with one arm, looking at me seriously for a long moment.
“I’ve been waiting for almost forty years,” he tells us, looking over at Liz as well. “I knew before Devon was born that he’d meet the daughter of Superior. I’ve been watching your career, Liz,” he tells her. “When you brought out your daughters, though, I was a little shocked.”
“We’re her foster kids,” I tell him. “I’m Emily, my sister’s Aubrey--wait, forty years?” I ask.
“Almost that long. I’ve met Technico before,” he says. “It was thirty-eight years ago. He told me that you and my son--who hadn’t even been born--would be pretty close. I’m happy to see he was right.”
Liz is bright red at this point and looks very close to bolting. I shake my head at--um-- “Hey, what’s your name, anyway?” I ask him.
“Andre,” he says, “Andre Harrison.”
“Mr. Harrison!” The door leading into the building opens and a woman steps out in a business suit. “Really, how many times have I told you that you can’t just wander away in the middle of a conference?” she demands with a dark expression. “It seems that Firefly has stood us--”
“She’s here,” Andre says, cutting her off. “As is her daughter. Emily, Firefly, meet my assistant, Gloria. Gloria, meet Emily and Firefly. Now who’s up for that interview?”
Liz has a dry look on her face and I can actually hear her thinking, ‘Not me,’ as she walks past us. “Andre, could you watch her for me?” she asks, rather than saying it. “She’s had a really rough day,” she adds, hugging me briefly.
“I’d be happy to,” Andre says. I feel like a little kid right now, being held like one and asked to be babysat. Did I mention that even though I’m still pretty short, I’m still fifteen? I’m going to be a working cape any day now! “I’m fine,” I say. “You can put me down now, by the way.”
“Of course,” he says, letting me slide to my feet. He towers over me. I think he might actually be bigger than his son, now that I’m looking up at him. “Why don’t we go watch your mother’s interview?” he offers.
“Oh, she’s going to get herself in trouble,” I say, shrugging, “she always does. It might be entertaining for me, but you’re the guy that owns the place--it’s going to be seriously embarrassing.”
He lets out a laugh, one that has to come from his gut because I swear it can be heard all the way from the city. “Oh, I know,” he tells me, ruffling my hair. “I’m the one that created this station--I’ve been watching Liz since she was about your age. In fact, I’ve got almost all of her career on file, if you’d like to see some of it,” he says as we start down a long set of stairs.
“Oh wow, I’d LOVE to,” I say. “Can we wait until Aubrey gets back from South Hall, though? She’d really enjoy it, too!”
“Absolutely,” he says. “I’d like to meet Aubrey, too,” he says. We’re getting strange looks as we head past several of the workers into a filming area. In fact several of the people look downright shocked at the sight of Andre walking with me. I wonder why...
“Sir, is there something wrong?” a man asks, heading for us with a worried expression.
“No,” Andre says. “I’m just interested in seeing this interview, myself.”
“I... see.” He looks around almost wildly and motions to two other people. “Get us two chairs, stat,” he orders them. They race off and I look up at Andre, raising an eyebrow.
“You don’t do this very often, do you?” I ask him.
“I was tempted to do it for Technico’s,” he admits, “but Mastermental was here--I still haven’t told him about what happened in the past.”
“Think he’d wipe your memories?” I ask.
“It’s a bit too late now, don’t you think? But because of Technico’s visit in the past, I ah...” he hesitates before shooting me a sheepish smile, “stole something from the Central Hall that he created. I used that technology to make the money it took to start up HTV.”
“You stole something Nico made? What was it?”
“A clone,” he says. “The technophiles of the day practically fell over themselves giving me everything they had to buy it off of me--I didn’t have the heart to tell them that it wouldn’t have worked even if they knew how to fix it.”
I can’t help myself, I start to laugh. I get several shushing sounds from all around even as Andre grins and places his hand on my shoulder. “Thanks to Technico and his father, I’ve gotten to this point,” he says, motioning to the huge room full of the newest technology. “I’m one of the richest supers in the world--which is saying quite a bit,” he tells me, “especially when you realize I did absolutely no fighting to get here. Well, that’s not exactly true,” he admits as we head for the chairs that are provided. “I fought Technico in the past.”
I’m curious, but from where we’re sitting I can see Liz and Prisma sitting on the set. They’re already talking.
“So you really wiretripped into the oval office once?” Prisma asks, leaning forward with an entertained expression on her face.
“Well you know how it goes,” Liz says, “first Mega swears he can grow taller than Mt. Vesuvius--and proves it, so I had to top him. We were just starting out at the time, after all, we hadn’t been ranked yet. And Mega is a pain--I couldn’t let him beat me, you know? So I thought of the most outrageous place to go, and went,” Liz says with a shrug as Prisma starts laughing.
“It sounds like you and Mega get along well,” the beautiful black interviewer says, still grinning. “Has there ever been anything other than a colleague relationship there?”
“Eww, no!” Liz says, making a face. “That’d be like dating an annoying cousin or something. Gross.”
“You realize he’s probably watching this.”
“Oh, sure, he’d say the same thing. We’ve been working on the same team since we were teenagers. Back then we hated each other, now we just tolerate one another,” she says. “That’s only because I’m best friends with Star Spangled and he’s practically brothers with America’s Son--we wind up going to a lot of family barbecues together.”
“Oh? So you know Kid Liberty?” Prisma asks.
“He’s my nephew!” Liz brags. “Or close enough. I changed his diapers back in the day.” Oh man, Trent is going to be so embarrassed over this. I can’t wait! “He’s actually dating my foster daughter, Divine Justice, now.”
“She’s adorable, by the way,” Prisma says. “Can you tell us how you became her foster mother, or is it super secret Hall information?” she asks.
Liz hesitates, frowning slightly as she thinks. “Well, I don’t think it’s that big of a secret,” she says finally. “My brother, Technico, was released from Cape Cells and Mastermental put him in charge of putting together Cape High. Well Mastermental had his eye on one of the orphan capes in the South Branch. Her parents passed away in the line of duty a few years ago and she was living with another family. Mastermental wanted her in Cape High, so he pulled some strings and got her transferred up here. I was just lucky enough to get asked to take her in,” she says, summing it up a bit too briefly.
She looks over at me and I give her a smile, waving at her. She smiles this smile that makes me feel a bit embarrassed because people everywhere will see it. It’s the sort of smile that’s openly loving. The sort of smile I took months to get used to.
“And Life Light?” Prisma asks.
“Life Light is...” Liz says, her expression turning serious, “another story. I’m afraid that one is classified.”
“I see. Well it seems to me they’re both very lucky girls.”
“Oh, I am, too,” Liz says. “They’re great kids.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“Now, to the serious scoop,” Prisma says, leaning forward, “you and Taurus.” Liz turns bright red and I can’t help the snicker that escapes me, especially when Andre just leans back and grins like a cat with a canary.
“Well... can we go back to the Cape High thing?” Liz asks.
“Absolutely not!” Prisma says. “Let us know--are you and Taurus a thing or not?”
“I don’t know if we could call it a ‘thing’ exactly,” Liz says, moving restlessly. Liz hates being pinned down like this. “We just... get along well,” she says.
“Mmmhmm, hard NOT to get along with a specimen like Taurus, now isn’t it?” Prisma teases.
“Oh, sure it is,” Liz says. “He’s bull-headed about a lot of things, even when he’s NOT in Minotaur form. He and Mega don’t get along well at all half of the time.”
“Oh? Is that a bad thing?” Prisma asks. “We’ve already covered Mega and your relationship.”
“Okay, that’s true,” Liz admits, “but Mega isn’t really that bad once you get past the preening and all the creepy fan-girl letters he gets. I’m not going to say they can’t work together when they need to--but they definitely go out of their way to avoid that whenever they can. Now we both know this will get those Mega fans out for Taurus blood, so I’ll say one thing,” she goes on, looking at the camera, “all of the Central Hall capes are serious about their work and never let their personal differences cause problems.”
“So no big brawling fights between Taurus and Mega to look forward to, huh?”
“Nope, none of that,” Liz says. “I’m just saying that we don’t all get along perfectly. I mean, you won’t find a cape that doesn’t have an extremely strong personality--well, except for me. I get along with everyone,” she says, smiling so widely that I start to laugh. Andre’s hand covers my mouth before it gets caught by the mic. My shoulders are still shaking, though.
All of today’s stress and worry is less pressing with Mastermental’s promise and watching Liz be Liz. I needed this. There’s nothing I can do about Skystep, right?
“Oh, of course,” Prisma drawls. “I also noticed how you threw Taurus and Mega under the bus to get out of discussing your relationship,” she says, making Liz laugh.
“I did, didn’t I?” she says shamelessly. “They’re big boys, they can handle a bus or two,” she declares, waving it off with a flick of her hand.