by R. J. Ross
I sigh, staring up at the ceiling of our hotel room. My com-bracelet is on the ground next to the mattress. I’d used it to play on, even though the screen is a hologram, and could possibly wake the others. Malina is sound asleep on the other side of the mattress, tangled up in the sheets. Jeanie is on the bed next to ours, sleeping, as well. I’m all alone. Maybe that’s why I did it?
I can’t sleep. I get to my feet as quietly as I can, heading for the bathroom. Jeanie told me that tomorrow I’ll be doing my debut. I’ll officially be facing down my birth mother, accusing her of framing me in front of everyone. There will be drones and norm watchers, and I’ll have to declare my official name. I don’t HAVE an official name. The only one that I can come up with right now is “Liberty Belle” which doesn’t suit me, at all. But I’m panicking, so I can’t come up with anything smart.
I’m a walking rock. I shouldn’t bother trying to be smart. I groan and stare at myself in the bathroom mirror. I feel empty, right now. I mean, I was so angry, earlier, and frustrated, but now I just want to get it over with. I shock myself as a sob escapes me. I’m not sad—at least, I don’t think I’m sad—I give in, sitting on the ground and crying as silently as I can while still breathing. My body is shaking, so I wrap my arms around myself. I shouldn’t have expected anything else. I should never have expected Annie to happen in reality—
“Oh, honey,” I hear Jeanie say at a distance. I feel arms wrap around my shoulders and I start sobbing in earnest, wailing over just how screwed up my life is. I was betrayed by my own mother, not once, but twice. Now I’m being forced to reveal my true self in front of millions of watchers—they’ll see me for the freak that I am. They’ll all know that I’m an ugly, rocky gargoyle, whose birth mother doesn’t even care, even though SHE’S the reason I look this way in the first place—
“I’m TOO UGLY TO BE ON TELEVISION!” I wail.
There’s a little moment of silence before Jeanie says, “Is that what’s really bothering you?”
“It would bother you, too!” I say. “But you’re beautiful!”
“Malina, sweetie, can you call Ace for us?”
“Yeah, sure—if he comes his usual way, he might get noticed, though.”
“I’ll call up Marigold and explain the situation, once Sandra has calmed down a little,” Jeanie says, holding me close. “I hate this world, in some ways,” she says. I stop, sniffling pathetically as I look up at her. “They place so much importance on looking a certain way that they completely ignore what’s most important.”
“What’s that?” I ask, only to stop as she pulls some toilet tissue off of the roll and hands it over. I blow my nose.
“What’s inside will always be more important than what’s out,” she says, “for everyone, including supers. Someone might have astonishing powers that can change the world, but if on the inside they’re bitter, or hard-hearted… well, it’s a very bad thing, don’t you think?”
“Like… if Superior really was a super villain?” I ask.
“In a way, yes,” she says. “Would you like him if he was that way?”
“He sort of is bad,” I point out. She laughs.
“He’s just a bit… difficult to deal with, not bad,” she says. “How about this one; Lance’s uncle is—”
“Nope, he looks like a villain,” I say.
She gives me a chiding look. “Okay, well, picture the most beautiful person you can imagine. Would that matter if they were the type to kick puppies?”
“Puppies?”
“Cute, fuzzy little puppies—like Krispy, but in miniature!”
“What a jerk.”
“Now picture a person you would consider ugly,” she says. “What if that person took care of puppies, and was kind and generous with everyone… would you still see them as being ugly?”
“Is Krispy going to have puppies?”
“Well, no, for one he’s a boy, and two, he’s fixed, but you see where I’m going with this, don’t you?”
“Everybody KNOWS what you’re saying,” I say, wiping at my tears, “but they also know it’s a huge lie, especially for supers. They only see supers as how they look on television, Jeanie. And when they see me, they’re going to see an ugly lump of rock.”
“No, when they see you, they’ll see a beautiful girl, who just happens to be made out of stone,” she says.
“Ace is on his way,” Malina says. “He said not to bother Marigold, since he’ll just come in invisible.”
“Okay, did you give him our coordinates?” Jeanie asks.
“What’s he going to do, improve my illusion watch?” I demand. I should have asked earlier. Now I’ve got a Goth boy flying across the country because I was pathetic and started to cry. That’s just great.
“He’s going to fix your hair, just like he offered,” Jeanie says. “I know the boys probably thought it was stupid, but we’re women. A good hairdo is as good as armor in certain situations. Now everyone find someplace comfortable, we’ll try to get some sleep while Ace is on his way.”
“We’re making him lose sleep,” I say. “He’s probably going to be tired.” It doesn’t stop me from getting to my feet and heading back into the room to try and get a nap.
About an hour or two later, we all jerk awake at the sound of someone knocking on our window. Malina gets up before I think to, and lets Ace in. To my surprise, he’s carrying a massive box of tools and has an eager grin on his face. That’s a bit disturbing, especially since it’s dark, and he looks like a picture-perfect serial killer in the shadows.
“I brought my tools,” he says. The lights come on, but he’s still a bit unnerving to look at because that little grin isn’t going anywhere. “So how do we want to do this?”
“The easy way or the hard way?” I provide, when he doesn’t go on. He starts laughing. “I see why they made you a villain, man. You’re downright terrifying.”
“Relax, Sandra, this will only hurt a bit,” he says, popping open the case and pulling out a chisel. I swallow, loudly.
***
*The Frozen North*
Superior stops, hovering over the stretch of ice and snow with a slight frown on his face. There’s something off. It’s the second time he’s picked up on this, but he’d been talking with Cosmic, so it had barely registered. Now that he’s alone, it seems a lot more obvious. He can’t see anything, though. He drops to the ground, looking around, only to stop as he sees a piece of trash on the ground. He heads over, leaning down and picking it up. It’s a wrapper from a stack of crackers. There are still two crackers and a few crumbs in it.
He looks around. Norms don’t usually come to this area unless it’s a large scientific expedition. Those usually come with equipment and housing, not a single almost-empty cracker pack. This hadn’t been what was bothering him, though. He looks around with a scowl. The snow is falling heavily, and he doesn’t even feel something else as it hits his back, quickly starting to eat through his white uniform as it slides down his shoulder.
“Hey,” he hears over the earbud he’d built for himself, “Mom just told me I was making HER a teleportation watch, as well.”
It distracts Superior and he allows himself to grin a bit evilly. “I forgot to mention that, did I?”
“I’m betting you didn’t even think of it,” Nico says. “Either way, I’ve got them here. You said you were going to pick them up, right?”
“Why are you so compliant all of a sudden?” Superior asks, suddenly suspicious.
“I’ve got other things to deal with right now. They’re forcing one of my kids to make a debut way before she’s ready. I want to get over there to walk her through it.”
“What kid?” Superior asks.
“Sandra.”
Superior curses and takes to the air. “What idiot would do that? She’s not had any training!”
“Her mother.”
Superior speeds up, only to stagger a few minutes later, his eyes going cloudy. The air around him ripples, changing co
lors as he starts to fall to the ground.
***
*Washington D.C.*
“And we’re done,” Ace says, examining his handiwork with an evaluating eye. Her hair is now a piece of art—literally. He’d opted to go with small braids, braided into a larger braid hanging down her back. “Beautiful,” he says, running a finger over the “hair.” It had taken almost seven hours, even with his super speed. He hadn’t wanted to screw up the fine details.
“It looks wonderful!” Jeanie says.
“Think we should wake her up?” Malina asks.
“Her being asleep is why it was so easy to add such fine details,” Ace says. “She wanted to just chop it all off and go bald. Look at this striation, she’s got black, brown, red, and even a streak or two of white in it—”
“Wha—” Sandra says, waking and looking at them blearily. “What happened?”
“You don’t move much when you’re sleeping,” Ace says. “That’s good, I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off if you did.”
“What did you do?” she asks, confused.
“Here,” he says, waving a hand and creating a mirror. He hands it to her, and then creates another, holding it behind her back so she can see. “Now, let’s move on to the next part—”
“Put the chisel down,” she says. “You’ve already done way more than you should have.”
“Do you want me to chop it off, now?” he asks.
She goes silent, moving the mirror this way and that before, reluctantly, saying, “It’s fine.”
“I can chop it off, if you want,” he repeats.
“I said it was fine,” she says. She gets up and heads for the bathroom, leaving them to look at one another.
“She likes it,” Malina says, giggling.
“She loves it,” Jeanie agrees, smiling.
“You sure?” Ace asks. “I could have done something else!”
“Don’t even THINK about putting a lizard on my head!” Sandra yells from the bathroom.
“It’s too late to put a lizard,” he says as Malina starts laughing. “I didn’t leave enough hair. Want me to polish up your face?”
“No, thank you,” she says. She comes out of the bathroom, looking strangely vulnerable. “I… I need a uniform for tonight, right?”
“We’ll get you one,” Jeanie promises. “Ace, I don’t know how I can thank you—” She stops as he kicks his boots off and drops down on the bed with a yawn.
“Call me when the debut starts,” he says before falling asleep. They all jump slightly as the wall behind him goes black, spreading out over the walls. A dragon’s head comes down from the ceiling, right over the slumbering teen.
“He really DOES sleep with a dragon,” Malina says, awed.
“He just stole Jeanie’s bed,” Sandra says.
“You just blew the whole dramatic aspect of the giant dragon, you realize that, right?” Malina points out.
“Dramatic or not, a stolen bed is a stolen bed,” Sandra says.
“Don’t worry, sweetie, I got plenty of sleep,” Jeanie says, trying not to laugh. “I’m more worried about you two. Do either of you need naps before we head to the Hall to get a uniform made?”
“I don’t think I could sleep, even if I wanted to,” Malina says. “Let’s go get Sandra’s super uniform!”
***
*The Frozen North*
He had gotten far too close for comfort, Atlanti thinks as she crawls out of her hole in the snow. She lets that last drip of venom on her hand fall to the ground. It sizzles a bit before disappearing. She hadn’t originally PLANNED on hitting Superior with it, but it was his own fault. He’d gotten too close. No, she tells herself. She needed to do that. He would have been her biggest obstacle, so it’s best to get him out of the way, now. She looks around, hesitantly. When she sees no one else, she picks up the plastic and eats the last cracker before shoving the trash into her bag. She’ll dispose of it properly, later, but for now she has more important things to do.
Superior had been coming from this direction, she thinks as she turns and looks. No doubt he came from his secret base. A dead super has to have a dramatic, overly done secret base—it’s only natural. Well, no, it isn’t natural, but it IS traditional. She starts out, shifting into human legs even though they irritate her. She tugs the stolen clothing closer to her body, pulling the hood of the coat down over her eyes to block the wind.
It seems like no time at all before she finds it. He hadn’t even bothered putting it underground, she thinks irritably as she gapes at the mountain home. What was once a large chunk of ice is now hollowed out, and decorated with beaded curtains. Her lips pull back in a soundless snarl. Well, she thinks, that’s something that needs to be fixed.
***
*Kansas City, Missouri*
“Dad!” The word shocks him awake, and Superior looks up at Nico.
“What?” he asks. “When did I fall asleep?” He looks around, a bit confused to find himself in Nico’s apartment. He sits up, running a hand over his face. “I was coming here to get the watches…” It’s all a bit blurry after that, he realizes. He’d stopped and seen a piece of trash, and then Nico had called, and he’d started for Missouri—
“Rocco said he picked up on you up in Canada,” Nico says. “Your power kept fluctuating, so it caught his attention. You were unconscious in the middle of the woods.”
“I guess I forgot it was my night to sleep,” Superior says. “It’s happened before. I crashed into a non-active volcano once. It was a bit embarrassing.”
“You crashed into a volcano?” Nico repeats.
“It burnt all my clothing.”
“Did you run into one last night? Because that would explain the hole in the back of your suit.”
“Hole?” Superior says, tugging the top of his suit off and looking at the burnt hole in the back. “Where did this come from?”
“I’m bringing Aubrey in to check you out,” Nico says. “She’s got a packed schedule, but I’m sure she’ll come as soon as she can.”
“Did it do anything to my skin?” Superior asks.
“No, but that’s not the point—”
“It is. If it didn’t burn the skin, it didn’t do anything. We have more important things to worry about right now.”
“Superior—” Nico starts out.
“We’ll figure it out after we go to Sandra’s debut. I’m going to be there, no matter what you say.”
“Fine, AFTER Aubrey—”
Superior gets up and heads for Nico’s room, going straight for the dresser of clothes. He shuffles through them, a look of dry amusement on his face as he throws the multitude of t-shirts over his shoulder. “Do you have anything NOT made for a teenager?” he asks.
“They weren’t made for teenagers,” Nico says. “Even adults wear t-shirts.”
“With ridiculous images of established supers?” Superior asks, holding up Nico’s famous Mastermental of Puppets shirt.
“I love that shirt,” Nico says. “I ordered half a dozen, just in case it gets ruined.”
“Then you won’t miss this one,” Superior says, tugging it on.
“You did that deliberately, didn’t you?” Nico says, irritably.
“I can’t run around shirtless, it would make me stand out,” Superior says cheerfully before digging out a pair of jeans, as well. He stops, going still for a second and swaying a bit.
“Dad?”
“It’s weird…” Superior says. He holds out his hands and the air around him seems to shimmer for a moment. “What…”
“What is it?” Nico asks.
Superior shakes his head as the strange sensation fades. “I’m not sure. But like I said earlier, we’ll deal with it after Sandra’s debut.”
“Why are you so intent on this?” Nico asks. “I understand why I am, but you’re—”
“Because Avalanche was my friend,” Superior says. “I had many people that claimed to be that, son, but very few of them actually came th
rough for me when I really needed them. Mastermental was one. Avalanche was the other. If there’s some stupid war between his daughter and his granddaughter, I’m going to make sure that it works itself out.”
“Fine,” Nico says. “Here’s your watch. We’ll leave Mom’s here,” he opens a box on the table and hands the watch over to Superior. “I’ve already put in most of the coordinates that you’ll need, you’ll just have to use the computer to find the others. Let’s go.”
Superior puts the watch on and taps on the screen, bringing up a hologram. “All of the Halls?” he says as he looks at the map.
“All of the Halls, as well as Britain’s Order over in England,” Nico agrees. “I don’t expect you to use them, but they’re in all of the teleportation watches.”
Superior taps on his watch again, selecting the East Branch, and they disappear. On the wall of the room, an outgoing text flickers.
Aubrey, come to the East Hall as quickly as possible. You can use the teleportation watch on my table.
***
“We’re looking for earth tones,” Jeanie says as I yawn. I’m standing on a platform in the middle of the room, with two lady tailors. I wanted to do this with my illusion watch on, but, well, even I’m not stupid enough to think that will work. This is the second meeting with people from the Hall that I’ve been stuck in. The first was a grueling few hours of paperwork and negotiations between Halls. According to the Hall laws, I’m officially a ward of Central Hall until I graduate. All of the zoo kids without family are.
“How about something in green?” one of the tailors asks. “She’d look good in green.”
“Won’t work,” I say, only to yawn again. “It’d ruin my stealth abilities. I need something in browns and maybe reddish colors.”
“But honey, it’ll make you look… well, naked,” the second tailor says.
“Add some gold,” I suggest, “or black. Black would work.”