by R. J. Ross
"Can I get one of those?" Max asks, looking at the dome in awe.
"No," Frank says flatly.
"Before entering the school yards I'm going to have to make some temporary passes for a few of you, and a permanent one for Emily, come here, kid," he says, motioning to Emily. She looks at him, wondering what exactly he's up to, then moves forward, slipping out of Trent's hold to stand in front of Nico. "And your doppelganger," he says. "If you plan on sleeping through my classes and sending her, I want to know."
Emily hesitates, looking at him for a moment, then sighs. Her doppelganger appears next to her, and promptly turns to look at the sisters.
"Ditto," Nico says, snapping his fingers next to the doppelganger head. The doppelganger looks up at him. "Hand," he says, holding up a tablet for her to touch. The doppelganger, (who would be stuck with the name Ditto for the rest of her existence,) touches the tablet. Nico taps the tablet a few times, then turns it, scanning Ditto with a green light. "Emily," he says, holding the tablet out to Emily and repeating the process. "By the way, I was right, a few major details are wrong--remind me to stick you in biology class, kid," he says to Emily after checking both stats.
"But the insides don't count!" she protests, flushing as Trent starts laughing. That doesn't bother her, but when the sisters start laughing derisively she feels her temper try to snap. Nico doesn't seem to notice as he taps on the tablet a few times.
"Sure they do, some supers have X-ray vision," Nico says. "Or special tablets that can scan you. Now Double M, you're up," he says.
Emily and Ditto turn, their eyes going straight to Allie and Kelly. They're still snickering as if she's a moron for not getting her doppelganger's insides right. She takes a step forward, right in step with Ditto, their hands raised in fists--
Trent steps in front of them both.
***
Have you ever seen a petite redhead and a copy of herself look like they're about to launch? I'm seeing it just now, and it is--well, I'll be honest, just don't tell people I said this--it is freaking AWESOME. She looks like she's going to rip them a new one! She's looked at me somewhat like that once or twice, but this is a whole new level of P.O.'d.
"Trent," Emily snarls. "You're in my way."
"We're in public, Em," I say, wrapping an arm around Ditto's waist as she tries to go around me. "Behave yourself... yourselves."
"You laughed too," Ditto points out, and promptly punches me in the stomach. It almost hurts, I notice. "Ow," she says, looking at her hand. I start laughing again, earning a punch from Emily this time.
"She's so abusive," I hear Allie say.
"He was asking for it," I hear Zoe say in Emily's defense.
"Doesn't matter with him, anyway," Max says. Before Emily can lunge for the sisters again I grab them both in a group hug.
"Keep your head," I whisper to Emily silently. "Don't let them bait you. They're on your home turf this time."
She looks at me like she wants to argue, but something's stopping her. "Put me down."
"Will you behave?" I ask.
"Yes. But if they start something--"
"I've got your back," I promise. "Even though, seriously, you don't look like you'd need it," I add dryly as I look from her to Ditto before putting them both down.
"You--the brunette on the right," I hear Nico say. I turn to look at him as one of the sisters moves forward hesitantly. "My right," he says, motioning to the other one.
"I'm Kelly," she says.
"That's good," he says. "Touch the screen."
"What all are you learning from this?" she asks. "I mean, can you tell things about our abilities or something?"
"A bit," he says. "If you decide to come to this school I'll do more than just a quick scan."
"So you'll know everything about our powers?" she asks. "Like, that ranking thing?"
"Yeah, I'll know your ranking--and your prospective ranking," Nico says. "Hand," he adds, holding up the tablet for her to touch. She hesitates. "If you don't want the tour you can stand out here," he adds.
She touches the tablet, gets scanned, and Nico motions her sister to come forward. Max moves to Nico's side, glancing at the tablet. "Hey! He has no right to see those things!" the first girl snaps.
"I want to see Emily's," Max says. "Can you go back a few pages or something?"
"Max," I say warningly.
"Hey, can I see Trent's, instead?" Max asks. "C'mon, you didn't have to turn it off!" he protests as the tablet is put away.
"This is classified information," Nico says. "Meaning I don't give it out to the super villains they'll be up against later on... like tomorrow," he drawls. "Now, Star Spangled--"
"Oh, call me Jeanie!" Mom says, heading forward. "I'm certain you'll keep this information to yourself, won't you, Nico," she adds.
"Won't breathe a word," Nico promises, repeating the process. Then he moves to the left, revealing another highly advanced looking panel like the one at the apartment building. "Proceed in an orderly fashion, touch the panel, follow the footprints as usual, do not step anywhere OTHER than the footprints, and keep up with me--Zoe, start singing."
"Wait, what?" I ask, completely confused by why Zoe needs to sing.
"If she's focused on something else she's less likely to blow up my toys," Nico says as Zoe starts singing a--oh man--
"Justin?" Max asks. "Seriously?"
"It's the only one I could think of!" Zoe says before launching into the chorus. We pass through the security system, listening to Zoe singing off-key and step onto the large platform that's built on the edge of the canyon. There's steps built into the side of the rock wall, leading down to the bottom of the canyon. Nico moves to stand in front of the stairs.
"You can stop, kiddo," he says. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Cape High. Our specialties will be hand to hand combat, ability training, and typical high school classes--provided by the teachers Double M's already set up."
I tug Emily and Ditto to the edge of the platform, looking at the massive campus built below. There are three buildings, each at least four stories high, and a huge metal field to the side. "What's that?" I ask Nico.
"A multi-purpose sports and battle arena," Nico says. "It can be changed to fit the occasion. If you get enough brawlers in the school I can even set it up for football."
"Seriously?" I ask, feeling like a kid at Christmas.
"Absolutely," Dad says. "I helped him design it."
"Now, if we can proceed," Nico says, starting down the steps. "School days will be longer than the typical high school, considering that we'll take an extra hour for abilities training. For some it could be even longer than that. Trent, Max, you're going to be working as mentors for the less experienced students--"
"I could use a mentor," I hear one of the sisters say. I glance back at her, seeing that she and her sister have moved closer to me. "To be the best that I can be."
"You'd need to be someone else to be that," Emily mutters.
"What did you just say? Because I seriously can't believe you just said that!" the girl says. "That was rude!"
"Yeah, it was really rude!" the other girl says. What are their names again? Lollie? Sallie? "We come all the way out here just to see you and you're like that?"
"I thought you came to see the school," Sunny says.
"Well we wanted to see our little foster sister, too," the first girl says. "We were worried about her, right, Allie?"
"She can't do anything on her own," Allie agrees. "She needs constant guidance--otherwise she winds up in situations she shouldn't be in."
"I'll show you a situation I shouldn't be in," Emily and Ditto snarl, trying to climb over me since they can't get free of me.
"Whoops, no you don't," I say, holding tighter. "I'm trying to go down steps here, Em, if you throw off my balance we'll all go down. It'd hurt. You, mostly, but it'd hurt."
"Then let me go!" Emily says, still squirming.
"Emily, sweetie," Mom says from ahead of us. "Please?"<
br />
They go limp and Ditto disappears, leaving me only holding Emily. "I can walk myself," she says.
"I don't mind," I say, but I put her down in front of me anyways, taking her hand instead. She glances at me.
"So... are you two dating or something?" Allie asks. "Because it just doesn't... fit. I mean, I get the goth couple--they're kind of cute together, but you and the football jock? You definitely don't suit him."
"Goth couple?" I hear Zoe mutter.
"You can write dramatic poetry for me later," Max says.
"I do not write poetry--dramatic or not!" Zoe says. "And where do you get off deciding who makes a good couple or not? It's got nothing to do with you!" I hear a popping sound from Allie's purse. Then I hear a popping sound from my pocket.
"Zoe, calm down, you just killed my transmitter," I say, pulling the sparking machine out of my pocket before it catches my pants on fire.
"My phone!" Allie yelps, digging it out of her purse. "You killed my phone! You little--" she lunges for Zoe, only to find Max standing in front of her.
"Do you know who I am?" Max asks as Allie stops.
"You're the boyfriend of the girl that just killed my phone!"
"Exactly," Max says, lifting a hand in the air.
"MAX!" I yell. "Can we get to the ground before you start a war? These stairs might be tough, but I don't want to test it!"
Emily's shoulders are shaking. I look at her curiously then hear the hints of laughter. "Hey," I say, poking her. The laughter escapes her, and she's giggling as we step off the final step.
"I don't see what's funny," I hear the other sister--Kelly, maybe? say. "That was her phone!"
"That was almost her life," Emily says, looking back at them. "That's Maximum."
"Ma--Maximum?" she says. "The guy with the buses and the--"
"But he's so... short," Allie says.
"Why do people keep thinking height has anything to do with powers?" Max complains. Zoe hugs his arm, patting his forearm consolingly.
"You're still seriously cute," she tells him.
"Thank you."
I ignore it, focusing on Emily. She's got an actual smile on her face, I think, as if she's forgotten her enemies are right behind her. "So the idea of him crushing her cheers you up?" I ask her.
"Who wouldn't it cheer up?" she asks.
"Are you going super villain when you're older?"
"Maybe. It might be interesting."
I shake my head, sighing.
***
"This is absolutely not fair," Kelly whispers to her sister, hanging several feet behind the rest of the group. "She winds up in the Central Hall without even trying, now she's got a boyfriend like that--it's absolutely not fair."
"Be patient," Allie whispers back. "Revenge takes work, right?"
"But I don't want to come to this stupid school!" Kelly says. "It's ran by a super villain and it's in the middle of nowhere and there's only three guys--one who's already threatened you, one that's stupid enough to actually date that brat and a third that is--" She looks over at Sunny. "Short," she says.
"But cute," Allie says.
"That doesn't matter. What matters is getting revenge," Kelly snarls silently, her eyes on the redhead. "Ever since Mastermental talked to our parents we've been on complete lockdown. No boys, no parties, nothing. It's all her fault."
"Then why aren't we doing something to--" Allie starts out, only to stop as her eyes fall on the thin man in question. Mastermental is so far out of their league that she's shocked at herself for thinking that. Even his seventeen year old son--who is her age--is way more than she and Kelly can handle--but-- "Her boyfriend," she whispers, looking at the tall blonde teenager. "Didn't they say something about him fighting Max?"
"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention!"
"But if he is--that means he's tough, right? So we need to make sure we catch her away from him," Allie hisses.
"Better yet, we need to take him away from her," Kelly says. "She's short, flat and totally lacking in sex appeal, right? So it should be easy, right?"
"That means splitting up. You go after him," Allie says. "I'll take on Emily."
"Not yet," Kelly says. "But soon."
"Make it quick, otherwise the tour will be over and we'll be sent back home," Allie says.
"I know that."
***
"This will be one of the classrooms," Nico says a bit later, leading the crowd through the first building. "For the most part this entire building is dedicated to classrooms like this one."
"And what's in the next building?" Frank asks curiously. I glance over at him, questioningly. "I'm afraid there was only one building planned in the original--"
"We decided there should be more," Max says. "I built most of the second building. It's dedicated to the mad science and experiment training."
"And you let him," Frank says to Nico dryly.
"I like how the kid thinks," Nico says shamelessly. "You see it can work both ways--we'll train the super villains how to build things and train the super heroes how to break them down. There's even a special section dedicated to proper demolition methods. That way it's easier to destroy buildings during fights without killing the norms as you do it."
"That... makes sense, actually," Frank says.
"That's insane!" one of the sisters says. "Why do any of it? It's like this is some sort of game to you!"
Frank and Nico look at her with bland expressions, their stances the same. "Really, child, you sound as if you're a norm," Frank says. "This is how we work."
"Honestly, I'd rather they didn't destroy anything at all," Nico says. "Since I'm still going to be stuck on janitor duty after school is officially open. But if they swing too hard or such, well, it happens. Let's go check it out."
I follow along with the crowd, lacing my fingers through Emily's more to keep her from going after the sisters than to look like boyfriend and girlfriend. But she's looking all around as if trying to memorize everything. "Hey," she says abruptly, "you're going to destroy things tomorrow, right?"
"It's an abandoned empty lot," I say. "We might make a few craters or something, but I'm not planning on doing anything too stupid."
"I can bring in the buses, right?" Max asks, making me glance back. "I like to think they make for a good trademark."
"If you pay to get it replaced after you wreck it," Frank calls over his shoulder.
"Seems a bit extensive," Max complains.
"Maybe you can find something in a junkyard?" Zoe offers. "That's where we got the family car."
"Can you make it look like it works?" Max asks her.
"No."
"Oh, come on, you can try at least, right? It's got to be impressive!"
"Does no one care that I'm going to be hit with a bus?" I ask.
Emily looks up at me. "Not at all. I think your head is hard enough," she says with a grin before slipping from my hold. "Jeanie! Where's our class going to take place?" she asks, running to catch up with my Mom. Before I can protest, Zoe's following after her, leaving me walking with Max.
"Do you really mind the bus?" Max asks.
"Nah, should be fine," I admit. "But she just goes 'not at all,'" I complain. "You'd think she'd have a bit more fake compassion than that!" Max starts to laugh. "What? At least pretend to worry," I mutter, pouting. Yes, I'm pouting. My fake girlfriend should show fake compassion, and worry, right?
"You can take a hit with a bus, right?" Max says.
"Well, yeah, I figure. I'd hope, at least. Dad said I should be fine for heavy hits last time we sparred."
"I'll make it light the first time," Max promises. "So," he goes on, lowering his voice to almost silence. "How's it going with her?"
"I... have no clue," I admit.
"Well if nothing happens, tell me," Sunny says, blatantly joining the silent conversation as he catches up to us. "If the choice is her or the two sisters, well, I know who I'd pick."
"Seriously, Sunny, don't worry abo
ut it," Max says, dropping an arm over Sunny's shoulders. "You're an elementalist, your sister's seriously hot. You'll have your pick of girls and women as soon as you get a little older."
"What does my sister have to do with any of this?" Sunny asks darkly.
"Well I can't say if a guy is hot or not, you know? But you're twins, and look enough alike that if your sister is cute to me, you're probably cute to girls, right?"
"Maybe a girl just like Max!" I say. I swear we all picture it. Sunny literally shudders.
"No thanks," he says.
"Yeah, that might be a bit too disturbing," I admit.
"I get the feeling you're both mocking me right now," Max says.
"We are," Sunny and I agree.
"Jerks," Max mutters, giving us a dirty look which is a bit ruined by the twitch of his lips as he fights a grin. "Now, how do we want to deal with the sisters?" he asks silently. I glance back at the two trailing along behind the rest of us, a slight frown on my face.
"My question is why they even came," Sunny says. "They fit in with norms, don't seem interested in training at all--"
"Seriously, Sunny, are you interested?" I ask him.
"I'd like to walk through the park at least once in my life without getting tripped," Sunny says. "And lately I've noticed that the rocks try to move if I stand still too long."
"Stand still," Max and I tell him in perfect tandem.
Sunny looks at us. "Fine, over here," he says, moving to the side of the path and standing completely still. For a moment nothing happens. Then Max points to the right. I look over, watching as a small pebble starts to vibrate against the ground, moving towards Sunny.
Yeah, it's just a pebble. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's plenty of supers out there that can make pebbles move--I know Max can make a lot more than just that move, but what you're not seeing is that Sunny's an elementalist. A plant elementalist--at least that's what we assumed. But there are no plants in Death Canyon. Everything was wiped out by Nico's weapon of mass destruction a while back, then what few weeds were trying to grow were wiped out by Frank's workers. This is all dirt, rock, and concrete.