by R. J. Ross
"No pressure," Max adds dryly.
I blink as the air is suddenly full of the school staff. I'm positive they came out here to stop this from happening--until I see that Dad's got a bag of popcorn in his hands. "You don't mind us watching, do you, Taurus?" Dad asks. "It's getting a bit boring getting our classes ready for next week."
"Sure. You might help with the spotting if you want," Taurus says.
"I think the boys could use the practice," another says, floating in the air in a lounging style. In other words, they're just here to watch. I can feel most of their eyes on me and I know that I'm probably the one most of them are intent on seeing. I'm the new kid.
"You can do it, Ace!" Dad calls cheerfully.
"Should you really be cheering your own kid on when he's about to jump off a building?" I ask him.
"You just floated for fifteen seconds, you can fly," he says. "Have fun!"
Fifteen seconds at what, less than ten feet off the ground? There's a big difference between that and flying, but he doesn't seem to notice. Oh well. "You're not catching me," I say, pointing at Jack.
"What did I do?" he asks as I start for the building with the rest of the group.
This feels insane, I think as I head up the stairs of the building, stepping onto the roof. The wind tugs at my clothing and I look around as the others join me at the top. "What sort of school encourages you to jump off a building?" I ask myself, heading to the edge to look down.
"This one," Justin says, making me glance back at him.
"Are you going to jump?" I ask him.
"I... doubt it," he says, looking over the edge as well. "None of the guys doing the catching like me enough to bother. Or if Jack does catch me, I bet it'll be worse than if I'd hit the ground."
I feel something at that statement. It's like I finally understand what he said about maybe being friends when he went to the future. I look over at him, grinning slightly. "I bet it would be, too," I tell him.
"Aren't you supposed to tell me I'm paranoid when I say something like that?" he complains.
"When it's Jack? No chance." Don't get me wrong, I don't think Jack is that bad--but he's not that good, either. He'd probably catch a guy by his underwear to give him a super wedgie or something stupidly painful like that. "But I'm surprised you don't trust any of them," I admit.
"Trent and Jack are brothers and Max is a super villain," he says bluntly. "What's there to trust?"
"I wouldn't let you die," Trent says simply, making Justin jump as he drops a hand on his shoulder. "I'm the good Liberty, remember? Somebody grab Carla, I need to jump first," he calls as the black girl stares down at the ground with a little grin on her face. Morgan grabs her shirt, tugging her back.
"INCOMING!" Trent bellows, starting at a run across the building and jumping off. For a moment he falls like a rock, then abruptly stops, floating in mid-air--
Then drops again, face first into the ground. "Almost worked!" Taurus says. The entire staff starts cheering as Trent shoves himself off the ground. "You're getting there, Trent! You just need to do it a few hundred more times."
"I've changed my mind," I say, starting to turn.
"Oh c'mon, Ace, we'll catch you!" Max calls. "Don't chicken out--you can do it!"
"You didn't catch Trent!" I yell back. "Who's to say you'll catch me?"
"Trent's face caught Trent!" he says, flying up so he's looking at me. "C'mon, it's not like you wouldn't live through it even if you do drop!"
"I don't have all my power back," I say again, intent on arguing this.
"Trent, you up for this?" he calls down, completely ignoring me.
"I'm ready!"
"I said--" I say, only to blink as he disappears, reappearing behind me and pushing me off the ledge. Seriously, with friends like these--
Wait, I should be screaming right now, right?
Before I decide the answer I feel something rushing into me. For a moment I'm no longer in the air, I'm in my paint field, staring at myself. It's shocking, especially when the image of me looks right back into my eyes, his mouth opening slightly--
I grunt as I feel my physical body fall hard into someone's arms, dragged out of my paint field.
"Sup?" Jack asks, looking down at me curiously. We're floating, I realize as I twist to look at the ground. He's standing on a sewer lid, which is hovering in the air. "Looked like you sortta blacked out there for a bit."
"Something... weird just happened," I say, trying to escape his hold. "Let me down, I need to check my paint field." He doesn't say anything, just lands on the ground and puts me down. I stand there, closing my eyes and focusing inward.
Where the illusion of me had been is now a castle front, big and gothic looking, with vines growing up the walls. I walk around it--but that's all there is. Just the front wall of a castle. Suddenly the paint field seems even larger--because I see just how much of the castle is missing in my mind's eye.
"I don't have my powers back yet," I say quietly, opening my eyes and finding myself face to face with an entire school. "I thought I did, but..."
"What did you see?" Morgan asks. I look at her, seeing honest concern on her face, and wonder if I've ever seen that look on a girl before--one other than my mom, that is. "Was it bad?"
"I saw me," I say. "That's not the first time he's done it, either--but... that doesn't make any sense," I admit in frustration.
"No, it doesn't," she says. "I mean, since he's taken your abilities and your appearance--why would he need to make an illusion of you, too?"
"He's using me for something," I mutter. For some reason that tiny scene with Jetta this morning flashes through my mind and I go perfectly still. "Jetta," I say. "She yelled at me this morning, about lying to her and being an escaped convict--but I barely talked to her, much less had time to lie."
"It's true, you were plain stupid around the blonde," Max agrees a little too easily. I can feel Morgan watching me, which really shouldn't matter, but for some reason it makes me feel a bit ashamed. Not going to think about that right now.
"But maybe he's the one that lied to her... why does he need an illusion of me to do it, though?"
Dad is quiet, but I can practically feel him thinking, so when he speaks I'm not surprised. "How much of your power is still missing?" he asks me.
"All but the front wall of my castle," I say. "It's huge. Like, I think it'd fill up half the field."
"That's a lot of power," Dad says. "Probably too much to risk losing."
"So he won't risk touching a B class super hero," Morgan says. There's a strange look on her face, one that has me watching her. "What?" she asks.
"How do you know so much about him?" I ask.
"Because... reasons," she says sharply, looking away. "I'd rather not get into it. But we have no way of finding them--I mean, Nico's out looking for them now, right? He flew off as soon as everyone came on campus. If they could be found that easily we would already have them, right?"
"No, because Nico needs to know two things," Dad says.
"What?"
"One, that he's using your appearance--either as himself or as an illusion, and two, that he's with Jetta." He digs out his phone, tapping in a number as we watch.
I can't help but think that even with that information I could find him faster. "I sense my own illusions, Dad," I say. "Let me go out and find him. If he is using my abilities to make another me, I'll be able to find it."
"I don't think--" Dad starts out.
"We'll help," Max says. "We've got an entire Hall sized group of heroes right here doing nothing but jumping off of roofs. We might as well put them to good use."
"I'm going, too," Morgan says. I look over at her, taking in the stubborn expression on her face.
"Why?" I ask.
"Because this is--I--" she says, a look of hesitation in her eyes as she looks at me. "I feel like this is all my fault. It's like that old like you hear about the sins of the fathers, or something," she says, looking down.
"Sins of the fathers?"
"Mimic," she says. "Mimic is my father. And I'm not sure, because I don't remember much, but I think the reason he's even here is me."
Wow... and here I thought having Blackjack as a dad was bad.
***
Why did he go along with her idea to go to a theme park? Mimic is still cursing himself over that one, because there's no possible way to maintain the illusion with this big of a crowd. He'd had to let the illusion go--which meant another bit of his power leaving--just to keep this silly little girl happy so he can use her as bait for the real Ace later! And worst of all? She insists on holding his hand. Thankfully it's cool enough out still to wear gloves, he thinks, glancing down at the hands in question. He doesn't dare risk it.
"This is awesome!" she says excitedly. "Do people always just automatically get out of your way?" she asks. "I've never seen that happen for anyone!"
"Always," he says with a little smile. "They sense it, even if they don't realize it. Humans are like prey animals in some ways. They instinctively know who's a predator." Sheep, he thinks. Humans are a lot like sheep. Especially when they flock to places like this. Flock. Hah.
"Let's ride that," she says, pointing at the Superior Slider. He hadn't realized the theme of this freaking park until they got here--now he's regretting it with every cell of his body. A Central Hall theme park? Whose psychotic idea was that? When he finds out, he plans on killing them. Painfully.
"Oh, look--they're already building a new ride," she says, turning and pointing to a massive building being built. "Think it's for Technico?"
"Probably. It'll be a mind trip, I'm sure," he drawls, thinking of the time he spent pretending to be Nico.
"Why?" she asks.
"Because he's a technopath? Because he's the son of Superior? I don't know, something like that," he says, blowing it off--or trying to. She grabs his arm and moves so she's face to face with him.
"The son of who?" she asks.
"That hasn't gotten out yet?" he asks.
"No, it hasn't."
"Oh, then forget I said it," he says, waving it off. An hour. It'll only take an hour of this before they need to go back and meet Ace after school. Once there he'll reveal himself. A phone call will work. He'll lure the boy into the warehouse and catch him off guard--
"Let's go! You can clear out a line, right? I really want to ride the Superior Slide," she says, tugging his arm. This, he thinks, is why older men shouldn't date teenagers. Well, of course there's plenty of other reasons, but the squealing and tugging are at the top of his list at the moment. Frankly, she's annoying. Even with Ace's memories of how cute she is, he's pretty sure he's going to need some headache medicine soon. Just to get her to stop tugging he follows along, wondering if he can't sneak into the school somehow and set off a fire alarm.
Anything would be better than staying in this place for an hour.
***
Nico looks at his father, scowling slightly, then looks at Liz. They're several miles above Kansas City, floating in a triangle, each facing one another. Each in uniform, much to Nico's irritation. He still isn't fond of this uniform--except the gloves. "Thanks to Ace, we know what he looks like and we know that he's traveling with this girl," he says, moving his hands apart to show a hologram of Jetta.
"Do we know why?" Superior asks.
"Because Ace expressed some interest in her--she's a hot little blonde with powers and he's a teenage boy. My guess is that he's using her for something--and if they're right about any illusion going back to Ace, it'd be bait. So, as much as I hate asking this, I need your help," he says to Superior, his expression showing just how much he hates it. "We're going to check every security camera feed in the area for them."
Superior raises an eyebrow. "Every feed? I've been dead for twenty years, but even back then that would have been a lot of cameras."
"That's why I asked you to help," Nico says through gritted teeth. The very idea of asking his father for anything chafes. "Liz, I want you to find her sister--she's going to Ace's school. She'll have her sister's number and with it--"
"We can track her by GPS," Liz says.
"Exactly. We don't know how cooperative she's going to be, so we'll get started with the cameras. Either way, you're our best bet," Nico tells his sister. She nods and races away, leaving Superior staring at him.
"What are you really planning for us to do?" Superior asks.
"There are more people left in comas by Mimic than we know about. Several of them could still be alive, just comatose. We have a healer, Superior. One that can do the impossible and wake up the victims."
"You're saying you want to find those victims and wake them? Why?"
"Because a lot of them could be capes. I can name one off the top of my head, and it isn't Detriment. What did you do with Mom's body, Father?" Nico asks. "Did you bury her? Or is the grave empty, like I've always thought it was?"
"What are you suggesting?" Superior asks.
"She's not really dead, is she? Mom was an S class tank. A guy like Mimic couldn't have killed her!" He moves forward, nose to nose with his father. "I've already lost my granddaughter to that psycho--so where is my mother?"
***
I'm floating over Kansas City on a simple piece of metal. Sure, Jack's here, too, it's the simple piece of metal that's most prominent in my mind. "Sense anything?" Jack asks.
"I think... that way," I say, pointing north. "So why did you volunteer for this job, anyway?" I ask as he starts flying in that direction.
"It was either riding the lid with me or being carried like a little kid by one of the others," Jack says. "Even if you are wearing makeup, I figured I should at least offer you the chance to keep some dignity."
"I like how I look," I mutter, only to be stunned as he starts to laugh.
"Ace, seriously, have you looked at me?" he asks. "I'm covered in metal--literally. Jea--Mom puts dishwashing soap in the shower just for me. If I make fun of how another guy looks, well, it's just giving them a hard time."
"I was thinking of investing in shades," I admit. "The glare is pretty overwhelming. I'm just glad it's not a seriously sunny day."
"Me too," he admits. "We going the right way, still?" he asks. I glance down, watching the world beneath us. Houses, trees, open areas of grass.
"I... honestly don't know," I admit. "Maybe?"
"Eh, we'll keep looking. Look, there's one other thing I wanna talk to you about," he says, his tone getting serious.
"Is it becoming a super villain?" I ask.
"Nah. It's Morgan." He's silent for a moment as I think about how everyone seems to react to Morgan. Even Jack--
"Wait, aren't you dating the brunette girl?" I ask.
"Aubrey? Well, yeah, which is why I'm even bothering. They're best friends. Look, Morgan isn't her old man," he says. "I mean, sure, she's got some of his abilities and all that--but she wants to go out and find kids that have powers, not do the stuff Mimic does. So just because her dad took your abilities--don't get mad at her, okay?"
"I wasn't planning on it," I admit, watching the ground. "I mean, she wasn't there--nobody picked up on the Noelle thing." Except me. I had. I wonder why, now.
"Yeah," Jack says. "Well, I mean, we didn't really know her. Not even the guys that lived with her in the dorms. She's from the future, right? She just showed up a month ago, or so, then next thing you know Morgan and Justin are going to the future and she got held captive--I guess. I heard all of this from Aubrey," he admits. "Nobody really... thought she wasn't who she said she was, cuz we were all too focused on Morgan. And Justin. I guess."
"You and him don't get along very well, do you?" I ask. I feel something faint... a tiny hint of my power--"Go that way," I add, pointing to the right slightly. He turns in response.
"Hate him," he says cheerfully. "But honestly, ever since we started this little prank war of ours, it hasn't been as terrible as I thought it'd be. I still hate his music."
"What started t
hat fight, anyway?"
"I think it was just a natural development."
"Shouldn't you hate me, too, if it's like that?" I ask. He looks back at me, a curious expression on his face.
"Why? You sing songs like Lover Lover?" he asks. "I mean, you look more like you'd sing rock or that emo rock stuff. I've always liked My Chemical Romance."
Well... can't exactly argue with that... "They weren't really emo, you know," I have to point out.
"That might explain why I liked them," Jack says. I snort, then give into laughter. "Hey look, it's the Central Hall theme park. Always wanted to go there..."
I stare at it, wondering why I feel worried all of a sudden.
***
Does she feel guilty for storming into a high school in the middle of the day? Not at all, Liz decides cheerfully as she walks through the glass doors. The security guard starts forward, so she stops, pulling out her Hall card from her top. What? A skintight uniform doesn't allow for many pockets! He looks at the card, then goes, "Can I take a picture with you?"
"If you tell me where I can find this girl," she says, pulling out a small picture of Jenna. "She should be a junior, her name is Jenna Berkley?"
"Um, I know she's here, but I'm not sure what classroom," he admits. "We can ask the teachers in the lounge! They can probably look it up!"
"Thank you," she says, heading for the teacher lounge.
"Um... my picture?" he asks.
"Oh, right," she says, walking over and waiting for him to get his phone out so he could snap a picture of them.
"Thanks," he says as she heads into the teachers' lounge.
"I'm looking for Jenna Berkley," she says, flashing her Hall ID. "I need some information from her."
"I'm not sure I'm allowed to give that information to you--" one teacher says. Then a man raises his hand.
"I'll take you to her," he says.
"And you are?" Liz asks.
"Mike Henderson," he says. "I... was Ace's teacher. She's this way," he says, heading out of the office. Liz follows, with the security guard following along behind like a puppy. "Jenna--did she do something?" Henderson asks as they reach the door of a classroom.