by R. J. Ross
I blink, feeling guilty. “I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s fine,” Justin says, shoving through the crowd. To my shock, he pulls me into a hug. “It needed to happen. When my dad blew out his ears, he recovered and—” he goes silent, holding me tight. This is really awkward, you know? He doesn’t even seem to notice that fact. “He’s still dangerous, even if you blow his hearing,” he says finally. “So you did the right thing.”
“It wasn’t on purpose,” I admit. “I just knew he was down and Rocco opened the portal, so—”
“Thank you,” Justin says, pulling away and looking at me with a bittersweet smile.
“Did you—did you want to do it, yourself?” I ask him.
“He thought about it,” Zoe says, dropping down next to me. She holds out her hand, and I look at it for a moment before taking it. “Congratulations on your decision to become a Falconess,” she says. “I look forward to seeing what you accomplish.”
“Thanks,” I say, only to blink as Jennifer shoves her way through the crowd. “Jen—” I start out, certain she’s going to punch me.
“I will forgive you for breaking my nose,” she says, “IF you let me interview you. We want to hear all about what happened while you were out there.”
“Um, okay?” I say. “Is Carla here?” I ask, looking around for the speedster.
“She’s still down in Texas,” Aubrey says. “I came home with Emily and Trent after I cleaned up Mimic’s mess, but Carla is on clean up, since she’s South Branch. I think Century is turning her into a mascot.”
“That’s not fair to Carla!” I say, suddenly outraged. “Carla’s far too good a hero to be a mascot—”
The group starts laughing at me. “She’s the perfect mascot,” Vinny says, the only one just grinning slightly. He’s standing on the steps. “She’s a kid and she actually enjoys hugging little kids and kissing babies. That’s exactly what they need right now. Obviously I can’t be the mascot—I’d catch too many things on fire. Plus, we’re all agreed that she’s a lot cuter than I am, right?”
“Well, yeah,” I say, still frowning.
“That means you can get T-shirts with her symbol on them, you know—and probably really soon,” Mom says silently from behind me. “Now go on, sweetie, I need to get to the Hall.” I nod as she and Grandma leave, my mind on more important things. I have to get one of those T-shirts. I would DIE before wearing it to school, sure, but I can wear it to bed! I need to replace all my Cold Steel shirts, anyway, right? I am SO over that stupid crush. I have more important things to do than chase stupid boys. I need to learn to fly!
***
“We have some things to discuss before I send you on to your new job,” Mastermental says, straightening a pile of papers on his desk. “First, though, congratulations on the apprehension of Deathblow. While we expected you to bring in Massteria, we aren’t going to quibble details. This proves that you are loyal to the Hall, now.”
Bombastic stays silent on that and Mastermental lets a little smile pull at his lips. “Or, off the record, that you are beyond loyal to your family. I look forward to Keliah’s ascension to position. I would say I look forward to inviting her into the Hall, but I believe I won’t be in charge by the time she’s ready for that.”
“So what do we need to discuss?” Nico says. “I’ve got a ton of parents sitting outside the school, wondering why. If I’m going to bring in another ex-con, they need to know.”
“Understood, and agreed,” Mastermental says. “We have Deathblow under control. Once he recovered he was collared and placed in the Hall cells you rebuilt last week. He shouldn’t be able to escape.”
“And Mimic?” Nico asks.
“The same; we plan on moving them both as soon as the new Cape Cell building is up and functional—”
“Deathblow needs to be stripped of his powers,” Bombastic says. “He’s psychotic.”
“Agreed, and there will be a trial very soon.”
“You said ‘both.’” Nico says. “Shouldn’t it be all three? I sent Massteria in, as well. And even if he IS under thanks to Mimic—”
“But he is not,” Mastermental says. “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you. Massteria regained his senses after you collared Mimic. He recovered before the black suits could collar him—they both survived, but only thanks to Aubrey.”
Nico looks stunned. “I—” he says, only to curse and run a hand over his face. “I’ll get Aubrey,” he says, instead. “And I’ll catch Massteria.” He taps on the air, sending a text to Aubrey.
“I know you will,” Mastermental says. “But,” he says calmly, “I want you to remember this moment.”
“Yes, sir,” Nico says, looking down. His jaw ticks slightly. “I will.” He says nothing about the other victims, the ones that HADN’T woken up after Mimic was caught. No, he shouldn’t have figured Massteria would be the same, he thinks darkly. Massteria is pretty powerful in his own way. He should have made sure to collar the man, wiped out or not.
“Mastermental,” Bombastic says, “I’d like to talk to… the Falconesses,” he says, after searching for what to call them. “Can I do that before I go to the school?”
“Of course, they’re waiting in the corridor. While you go speak with them, I’d like to talk with you, Nico,” he says. Bombastic nods and leaves the room, leaving Nico staring grimly at nothing. “You made a mistake,” Mastermental says.
“I did,” Nico says. “I seem to be making them left and right nowadays.”
“You aren’t perfect,” Mastermental agrees. “But you, yourself, escaped the coma that Mimic left you in. I’m surprised you didn’t think someone else could, as well.”
“Do you want to fire me?” Nico asks.
“This is a very personal case for you, isn’t it?” Mastermental asks gently.
“It isn’t!”
“No, it is,” Mastermental says. “The connection between you and the other inmates, it’s deeper than I realized. You’re acting arrogant, because you’ve always seen yourself as stronger than the others. You are, of course, but I didn’t think that would make you underestimate them. That was my mistake,” he admits.
“I spent fifteen years,” Nico says, forcing himself to calm, “living in the same building as them. Every day it seemed like the world got smaller, and smaller, until it seemed like it was just them, me, and the guards. I could check the monitors, did I tell you that? I would look in on them daily, wondering what they were doing and if it was as boring as what I was doing. Yes, I underestimated Massteria. I shouldn’t have, but I’ve never known a more rat-like, useless horror-monger in my life. He’s the weakest of the lot, and we all knew it, B-class, at best. Even Badmoon could have taken him—”
“And that’s the problem, isn’t it?” Mastermental says. “You placed a ranking on him. I truly hate the ranking system. It allows the truly dangerous ones to be overlooked, simply because they aren’t as traditionally powerful as the others. Shadowman is a perfect example of that. I believe you’ve said something along the same lines, yourself.”
Nico stays silent, feeling like a kid for the first time in a very long while. Mastermental looks at him, a strangely sympathetic expression on his face. “You will, of course, remember that you brought in two of our Cape Cell convicts in one go,” Mastermental says.
“Not good enough,” Nico says. “I’ll get Massteria—”
“I have a small request concerning that, since we’re on the topic,” Mastermental says, leaning back in his chair.
***
“So…” Austin says as he looks at the two women standing in front of him. He actually misses Keliah a LOT right now. Keliah would step up and act as a go-between, and they all know it. As it is, he’s looking at two beautiful and extremely unreadable faces. “I… want to start out by apologizing.”
They nod, and when he takes too long, his wife prompts with, “That was a very good start... is there more?"
“I won't do anything that stupid
again,” he says. “I know it’s probably too late to… to go back to how we were, but—I would like to at least speak with both of you, once in a while?” He’s groveling and he knows it. “I’d like to get to know my only daughter,” he goes on, looking at Missy. “I know that you might not want to know me, and if that’s the case, I’ll not bother you—”
“You’re going to be teaching my daughter,” she says. “I can’t exactly ignore the fact that you’re in my life, now.”
“Yes, but—”
“I’m moving here,” Angela says, shocking him slightly. “I’m going to make sure that Nicolas’s schooling is up to my standards. She’s going carry the family name. Honestly, I would like to see her surpass me. I think she can, with effort.”
“So—” Austin says, trying not to feel hopeful. Like he’d told Keliah, it’s been an awfully long time. “You’ll be around?”
“I might,” she says, tossing her hair, “YOU have a lot to make up for, after all, so I might as well make sure you do.”
“Mom… are you flirting?” Missy asks, looking slightly shocked.
“I’ll be the first to admit that your father is an idiot—”
“Ouch,” Austin mutters.
“And he doesn’t think anything through,” she goes on, completely ignoring his reactions, “and he spent almost FORTY years locked up because of his stupid mistake, years that could have been spent making a family, like he always promised—I wanted six kids, you know,” she goes on. “Do you know that it’s really difficult for most supers to have children? It would have taken a lot of time and effort—”
“Stop! Just stop there, PLEASE!” Missy says, putting her fingers in her ears like a child. “I have no desire to think about my parents and… and EFFORT,” she adds, making a face.
“But then he goes and gets himself arrested,” Angela finishes, completely ignoring Missy’s childish moment. “What was I talking about again?” she asks, frowning.
“There was a ‘but’ in there somewhere, I think,” Austin says.
“No there wasn’t,” Missy says.
“It was an implied ‘but,’” he says.
“Maybe there was a 'but'—but I doubt it,” she says. “You went and got yourself thrown into the Cape Cells—”
“BUT!” Angela says, lifting a finger to stop them, “I used to love him. I used to love him with all my heart and soul, and I believe he loved me the same,” she says. “A love like that is a once-in-a-lifetime deal, Missy. It’s something that, if you get a second chance at it, you should probably see what happens.”
“I did—I mean, we should,” Austin says, that feeling of hope almost overwhelming him.
“But first I’m going to make him work for it,” Angela says. “I might be mature, but I am STILL quite a catch. So, I MIGHT consider—after a time, of course—letting him escort me somewhere nice.”
“Mom, you shouldn’t just come out and say that sort of thing, you know—it’s just too straight-forward,” Missy says after a long moment.
“Honey, I’m in my sixties. Now isn’t the time to dance around things expecting a man to suddenly develop telepathy. For crying out loud, Mastermental HAS telepathy and he never could keep a lasting relationship. If you ask me, you need to be a little MORE straight forward,” she says. “I want more grandchildren! Why haven’t you met a nice super boy and settled down?”
“I need to go check on Keliah,” Missy says instead of answering that. “You,” she says, pointing at Austin, only to change her tone. “I’ll… try to get along with you, for Mom and Keliah’s sakes.”
“Thank you,” Austin says. “I’ll try, as well.”
***
*Half an Hour Later*
The clearing in front of the school campus is somewhat crowded with supers—most of them in full uniform. Even Panther is there, looking extremely interested. The other supers, including all of the Branch Leaders, make a point in watching him a bit warily.
Nico is standing in front of them, with the staff of Cape High behind him. The students are watching from inside the laser field, invisible. Everyone’s attention goes straight to the technopath as he takes to the air. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to thank you for coming today. I know several of you have important jobs to do right now, so I’ll try to make this quick. Today we’ve taken down two of the escapees. It would have been three, but… we had a bit of a mishap,” he says, his expression grim.
“But it’s still three, in a way,” Ken says. “That’s Bombastic standing behind you.”
“Yes,” Nico says, “and he’s why we’ve come here today. All of you have ties with this school, mostly because you have a child in the school, some because you plan on enrolling your child once they’ve come into their powers. That’s why you need to be informed about this face to face. Boombastic is going to become part of my staff.”
There’s a mixed reaction to this, some looking shocked, others not surprised in the least. “Will he be a danger to my daughter?” Panther asks, while the others whisper among themselves.
“No,” Nico says, “but if you don’t believe me, I will transfer your children to whatever school you want to send them to—if it’s a private school, I’ll pay for their tuition.”
“What class will Bombastic be teaching?” Jeanie asks.
“I’m going to put him in charge of the clean-up training. He’s good with machines—not as good as I am, but good enough that he can teach repair, and strong enough he can rebuild buildings easily. He’s actually built several underground bases along a chain of small islands, which in itself is a pretty impressive task. This way, when we do branch out as a school, I can send him in my stead. Plus, he’s really good for demolition purposes.”
“Will he run, if you do that?” Mega asks.
“I don’t plan on it,” Bombastic says. “My family is here. I know I screwed up in the past. I won’t blame you if you watch me like a hawk, or don’t want me near your children, but I’m not going to leave. I’m going to do my best as a Cape High staff member. I screwed up, and I can understand if you don’t want to trust me, now, but I’m a changed man.”
“Are you, really?” Liz asks.
“Well… I’m pretty sure I am,” Bombastic admits. “And I only did what I did because they were trying to put everyone in a registry. The government wanted to know who we were, where we lived, what powers we had—” The group goes silent, nodding slightly in some cases. “But I’ve been told that’s been taken care of—for the moment,” Bombastic says. “It wasn’t right, what I did. I regret the lost lives more than you can imagine. And I know that my explanation doesn’t justify it, but you deserve to know.”
“Also, he’ll only be working with the students already in the field,” Nico says. “So now is the time to set up transfers, or whatever it is you want to do, knowing that another ex-con is on your high school staff. After this is done, I’ll be going after the other three.”
“It isn’t your job to recover the capes that escaped,” Negatia says, much to everyone’s surprise. “Really, people, we’ve put a heavy burden on Technico, already. I, for one, want him to focus on training my future teammates and leave this job to us. We’ve already depended on him for several things that are not truly his responsibility. Just because he’s the son of Superior doesn’t mean we should expect him to take his father’s place. I’ve learned that fact personally, with my own son. Nico, as one of the board, I dismiss you from the duty of hunting the escaped convicts.”
“I agree,” Isotonic says. The two look at Mastermental and Century, who are curiously silent. Only Marigold isn’t there to vote.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Nico says. “They were released because I screwed up when dealing with Herold. I’m also the reason that Massteria got free after I captured him. You can’t expect me to just step down that easily,” Nico says.
The leaders that are there look at one another, frowning slightly. Mastermental meets their eyes one by one, nodding slightly. Only a f
ew of the other capes still watch Bombastic with hesitation. Angela steps forward, taking Bombastic’s hand. “I’d like to make an announcement,” she says. “I will be temporarily moving back to Central—I’d appreciate a job in the school, as well.”
The atmosphere changes as every set of eyes shoot to the clasped hands. Jeanie’s the most obvious, she slaps a hand over her own mouth, barely muffling a squeal of excitement.
“How can I say no to that?” Nico asks. “I can arrange for an apartment in our building, as well.”
“Thank you,” she says.
“And what will you be teaching, Angela?” Century asks, grinning for the first time since this interview started.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Angela says, “I’m sure they’ll find something I can do. Won’t you, Nicolas?” she adds, looking at Nico.
“We lost my old man before he got very far in security training,” Nico says. “I think you should be able to cover that. Unless you can speak another language, then there’s always that. Some of these kids will be wanted all over the world.”
“I know one or two,” she says. “Does anyone have a problem with me teaching in your school?” she asks the group, looking strangely dangerous.
“Not at all!” Jeanie says.
“It’s fine with me.”
“Welcome, Falconess!”
“Good,” she says, pushing her hair over her shoulder. “I look forward to teaching your children.”
“Now, then, since everything is on the up and up, I have a school to run,” Nico says.
“I think, since we came all this way, that we should at least get to see how our kids are doing—an open house sort of thing,” Isotonic says. “I want to see their classes.”
“I see,” Nico says. “Fine, line up—but this includes me scanning those of you that I haven’t yet,” he warns them, motioning them forward and getting out his phone. “And don’t expect to see a play, got it? Or crayon drawings taped to the walls.”
“I can arrange for both, if you want!” they hear someone shout from inside the school.