by R. J. Ross
"You like cats?" I ask.
"You try rooming with one for two years and not like them," he drawls with amusement. "What about you, Adanna? Do you really want to be involved in the brawling game or would you rather focus on your true calling?"
"True calling?" I ask. "I've been called to be a super villain--but then Cubby was born--" I look down, staring at my knees for a long moment. "Now I'm the useless daughter," I say quietly.
"You really think that?" Nico asks. "With a dad that takes such great pride in taking your hat off? Or brags about how well you do in training? Your dad, he's never struck me as sexist in the least," he says. "Your granddad, yeah, I can see that. But maybe what your dad wants is something more for you."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Well I'm not going to lie," he says slowly, "I think Zoe would make an awesome super villain. Can't you just picture her riding around on massive robots of mass destruction? She'd be adorable."
Somehow I really wonder about his fashion sense right now.
"But," he goes on, "I loved being a super villain. I built things, got into fights, all the best parts of life, at least in my opinion, or they were at the time. Your dad, though, your dad wanted something else out of life. He wanted your mom, you, the little squirt and the cats out in the backyard. Maybe, just maybe, he thinks you could want the same sort of thing rather than the super life."
"But I am a super," I protest. "I can’t change that!"
"Sure you can't," Nico agrees a bit too easily. "Which is why we're still training you, but listen, Cub," he says, leaning forward. "There's more options for you than there will be for your little brother. If you want to run off and save all the wildlife in the world now, your granddad won't say a word--"
He stops, frowning slightly, and reaches into his pocket to pull out his smartphone. For a second he stares at it, then taps on the screen. "Double M," he says. "It's three in the morni--what? Seriously? You--you're lying--" He's gone pale. In fact he's swaying slightly where he sits, as if this big, bad, super villain is going to faint. "I'll be there in two seconds--I gotta get the kids." He hangs up then looks at me, before going, "Hey! Ken! Do me a favor, would you?" rather loudly at the floor.
"Do what?" Ken asks back in a sleepy tone.
"Take care of Cub."
The door opens a second later and Ken steps into the apartment, wearing his uniform. "What happened?" he asks. "Who's attacking?"
"Not attacking," Nico says, opening Zoe's room and knocking loudly on the door. "They found Summer."
"What?" the entire apartment building says (save for Sunny--all he does is snore.)
***
As a group, about five minutes later, we stand in front of a norm hospital called St. Peter's. I have no idea why I'm here, or why Taurus is, or even Trent's parents, but we're all here, wearing mismatched clothes and looking a bit wild with hair sticking out in all directions. I have never been to a norm hospital before, I think as the door slides open. I'm not sure they're usually open at these hours. Maybe it's just this "er" section, or maybe it's because of Mastermental.
He's standing right in front of us, talking with the people behind a round counter. He, unlike us, is impeccably garbed in a suit and tie, looking like a very important man. "Yes, Summer Rosenthorn," he says.
"And who are you to her, sir?"
"A friend of the family."
"Visiting hours are closed, I'm afraid--"
"We're her family," Zoe says, shoving Mastermental out of the way. I stare, a bit shocked at her doing that, but there are tears running down her face. "We're her family," she repeats. "Please, let us see her."
***
It's still a bit fuzzy how she got here, Summer thinks as she stares at the ceiling. She should leave, she knows. Go to the Hall, go find her babies, but she's so weak. The poison that had been pumped into her system, keeping her unconscious for who knows how long, still lingers in her blood, making her lethargic. Yet she can't sleep. Her mind, stuck in dreams and nightmares for so long, is finally free to think. So ever since she was admitted to this hospital by well-meaning strangers, she has been thinking.
No one knew about her babies. She hid them so well, hid their growing abilities, hid their father's identity--what has happened to them since then? It had been almost two years. The very knowledge makes her feel sick to her stomach. Twenty two months stuck in that place while her children grew stronger.
She reaches for the phone on the table next to her bed, cursing as it falls to the ground with a clatter. How can she call them--
The door opens. It's not that soft, hesitant opening of the norm nurses, no, it's slammed open and light floods the room. "Mom," she hears for a mere second before two bodies throw themselves at her, crawling onto the bed as well as they can.
"Zoe," she says, "Sunny--my babies--" Tears are streaking down her face as she pulls them as close as she can get them. She knows she's dreaming. So often she'd had this same dream before, so often she'd woken up to more dreams, vivid nightmares--
"Where have you been?" Zoe demands, pulling away just long enough to reveal tears on her face, as well. "Don't say traffic, for the love of God, please don't say you were stuck in traffic."
"I don't care where you were," Sunny mumbles against her neck. "Just don't ever go back." She can feel the hot tears against her skin and knows that both of them are crying as hard as she is.
"Are you healthy? Are you safe? Where have you been while I was gone?" she demands between sniffles.
"We--we went into the foster system--and then our powers came in--Mom why didn't you tell us?" Zoe demands, pulling back to glare at her through red-rimmed eyes.
"Zoe."
The voice makes Summer go still, so familiar, yet--"No," she whispers. "No. Not you," she says, pulling back hard against the back of the bed as the outline of a man steps into the doorway. "You can't be here. You can't. If you're here that means--that means this is just a dream--"
The light comes on. He stands there, looking exactly like he had sixteen years ago. "It's not a dream, Summer," he says. "It's not a dream."
"That's what you always say," she accuses him. "You always say it's not a dream and then--then it becomes a nightmare--"
"Mom," Sunny says. "It's not a dream.” Summer looks from him to Zoe, then to Nico once again.
"Nico," she says. "How did you get out of the Cape Cells?"
"With good behavior," he says, moving closer and picking Zoe up physically to move her to the right. Then he stands there, as if he's got every right to be by her bedside, as if he hadn't been gone for half a lifetime, as if he'd done no wrong--"Don't cry," he says. "Please don't cry." His hand reaches up, gently brushing at the tear trail down her cheek.
"You--you--this--" she whispers. "So many dreams, so many nightmares--just let me hold my babies. It feels real." The twins fall into her arms again, holding her tightly. She could have sworn she was out of there, sworn she was free from the dreams...
But now she can't believe it anymore.
CHAPTER FIVE
I feel awkward. I can hear them crying, hear their conversation as if I were in the room, even guess who's standing where. But this isn't a moment we should be intruding on. I look at Taurus, who's sitting next to Liz, who is--she's crying, too. The sight stuns me almost as much as the sight of Taurus patting her on the back. And Trent's family and Emily are talking with the nurse about Zoe's mom's health, trying to find out what went wrong, and I--I'm just standing here.
I turn, walking a bit further away, heading for the little waiting area where there are chairs and a coffee machine. Maybe if I close my eyes I'll be able to rest enough for tomorrow. Then again--I look up as Max comes in through the elevator. "Did they really find her?" he asks me.
"Yeah," I say. "She's in room 309," I add as he practically runs past me to join the others. I wish I had brought a book, I think idly as I try and get comfortable in the chair. I can still hear them. More than that, I can hear others--hundreds o
f people either working or sleeping--or trying to sleep. I hear a beeping sound turn into one long beep and I shiver, knowing that someone's heart just stopped. That's what happens in movies and TV shows when that sound starts.
I tug my knees up to my chest and cover my ears with my hands, trying to block out the noise. It doesn't do much good. When the elevator slides open again I glance up and watch as a tall, thin, plain looking man steps into the waiting room. I look down again, expecting him to walk past, but he stops in front of me, dropping down in the chair across from me.
"Hi," he says.
Reluctantly I pull my hands from my ears. "You should ask the ladies at the counter if you're visiting a relative," I say. "Otherwise visiting hours are over."
"I see, that makes sense," he says. "Are you visiting a relative?"
I stare at him for a long moment before getting to my feet and starting back for the others. Before I can get there his hand grabs my wrist. "Let go," I say, twisting instinctively and throwing him over my shoulder. He hits the ground, his head hitting one of the chairs. I just--that's a norm--and I just--
America's Son appears in the doorway and I look at him guiltily, knowing I'm going to be in trouble. I just threw a norm in public! I can't believe I did that! "I didn't--he grabbed--" I stutter as he stops at the visitor's side, crouching down next to him.
The stranger looks at me with a grin. "I should have expected that," he says as America's Son reaches for him--then sinks through the ground, disappearing.
"Are you okay?" America's Son asks me, much to my shock. He's standing in front of me, looking me over. "Did he hurt you?"
"He grabbed me," I say, hugging myself. America's Son wraps his arm around me, further shocking me as he rests his chin on my head for a second.
"It's okay. You did the right thing, Cub," he says. "Actually, you did the second step first," he says in a faint rebuke, pulling away from me. "First you yell--" Then he stops, shaking his head. "Actually, no, he could have the ability to take you through the floor with him. You did exactly the right thing," he tells me seriously. "Or you could have yelled as you were throwing him--"
"He's getting away," Trent says from behind him. "Go find him, Dad, we can lecture Cu--" America's Son is gone before he can finish that sentence. Trent walks over to me, looking serious. Then he grabs my arm, looking at my wrist closely.
I tug it free from his grasp. "I'm fine."
"Did his eyes glow?" Trent asks.
"What? No."
"Huh. It was a guy, right? Did he have white hair with a streak of black?"
"No. He had brown hair and needed to shave," I say. "And brown eyes."
A confused expression crosses his face. "But he grabbed you? And he wasn't here visiting anyone?"
"Yeah," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. "I don't get it either."
"It's probably your face," he says abruptly. "He must have seen you when we were going through the stupid round door."
"What's my face have to do with anything?" I demand.
He stares at me blankly. "You seriously don't see it?" he finally says. I blink as Emily comes into the waiting room, grabbing Trent's arm--tugging--and then giving up and moving to my side to wrap her arms around my waist. "Emi--" I stop, sniff her hair, and go, "Ditto?"
"I don't want Trent telling another girl she's gorgeous when we're not here," Ditto says as Emily comes through the door. She grabs me from the other side.
I look at them both blankly. "Who was he?" Emily demands. "Trying to kidnap my Cub," she growls. Then she looks at me, and both she and Ditto hug me tightly. "Are you okay?" she asks. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"She hurt him," Trent drawls. "Or tried to, at least. She flipped him like a burger. And I didn't realize she belonged to you," he adds. I think he's jealous, actually. Probably because I've got both Emily and Ditto basically hanging off of me, and he's Emily's boyfriend.
"She can be my nemesis!" Emily says.
I look at her. "You just decided that yourself, didn't you?" I say finally. She grins at me shamelessly, still hugging me.
"It'd be fun! Max and Trent have another big battle coming up, you know. You should watch it and see what I mean."
"Okay?" I say. I hesitantly, and extremely gently, try and pry both of them off of me, but when I move one arm another takes its place.
“Why don’t we sit down?” Emily asks.
“I’m fine,” I say, still playing the hands move game with her.
“Adanna, you look as pale as me,” she says bluntly. “You need to sit down. Trent, get her something to drink,” she orders, dragging me to a bench chair and making me sit down. "I'm not as good at this as Jeanie is," she says as she and Ditto hug me, "but I can do it!"
"Do what?" I ask.
"Help people out when they go through a rough time," she explains, leaning her head against my arm. "Hey, Adanna?" she asks.
"Yes?"
"Do you think Sunny's cute?"
"Wh--what?" I ask, completely shocked out of thinking about what just happened. I can feel heat in my cheeks and for a second I'm confused--then I realize I'm actually blushing at her question. Blushing! "You shouldn't ask that when you have a boyfriend--" I start out, only to blink as she starts to laugh.
"Not that!" she says, even as Ditto keeps giggling. "I like Trent a lot--a lot of a lot--like--" Now she's the one blushing, I notice. "Um... When I first showed up I... wow, this is embarrassing," she says, not looking at me, "well I don't know how much they told you, but my parents... they died not that long ago. It was their work, it got dangerous. So I was put in this other supers' family, like a foster kid, right? They had two daughters. The daughters... I told you about them, right? Well they liked to gang up on me when I didn't do what they wanted, so I ran away."
Ditto speaks up, "I got stuck back there in her place," she says. "But a few weeks later Mastermental found Emily digging through the trash and living on the street and brought her here. And Max called her Cinderella, right? Because she--we had two wicked step sisters--"
"And Trent's sort of like the prince," Emily says. "But he's way better than a prince, just don't tell him I said that. He gets a big head."
"And bossy," Ditto adds. "And heavy handed and--"
Emily snickers. "I'm going to be his partner when I'm older," she says, as if I didn't know it already. "But you changed the subject! We were talking about Sunny!"
"But if you're so happy with Trent should you really be thinking about whether another boy is cute?" I ask.
"Not that! I asked if YOU think Sunny's cute. Because he's got a crush on you."
"Wh--what?" I stammer. Sunny? A crush? But--Sunny?
"It's pretty obvious," Ditto says, kicking her feet in a childish manner. "I don't think he'd be a bad boyfriend," she added thoughtfully.
"But he's a--a super hero in training--" I say, tripping over my tongue because my brain is still stuck on the idea of Sunny having a crush on me.
"So?" Emily asks. "His dad's a super villain, his mom's a super hero, it's practically a family tradition!"
"One or two generations is not a tradition," I lecture her.
"But you'd be so cute together!" she says. "He grows trees, you get stuck in them--" She pauses, seeing the dirty look I shoot her, and giggles. "Okay, bad example," she admits. "Is it because he's shorter than you? He's going to get taller!"
I can't think of something to say to that, but thankfully I don't have to. The sound of machinery blowing up and the sight of Nico running through the waiting room and for the stairs with Zoe in his arms is enough to change the subject. Especially when Trent comes back with a bottle of juice in his hand.
"Looks like Zoe blew something up again," he says, offering me the bottle. "Emily why don't you go see what happened? I'll stay with Adanna."
"I can send--" Emily stops and both she and Ditto stand, heading into the area with the nurses. Trent drops down in the seat next to me.
"Should you be sitting this close when you
have a girlfriend?" I ask, scooting as far away as I can.
"I'm acting as guard," he says, handing over the bottle I didn't take earlier. I take it. "I think I've misunderstood something," he says, looking me straight in the eyes. "Something Emily understood. I'm sorry."
"What?" I ask. "Is it about Sunny--"
"Not exactly," he says with a slight grin. "I didn't get why Emily liked you so much, with you snapping at her all the time, but I think I get it now. You really like her, don't you?"
"I--" I say, wondering why it feels so awkward. "I think she’s too nice," I decide. "She should be more careful of herself--"
"Why?" Trent asks. "I'd rather that be my job than hers. But you like her, don't you? As a friend."
I look down, chewing on my bottom lip for a second as I think about it. "I do," I admit, looking at him. "I don't want to hurt her when I become a super villain, but she's talking about being my nemesis and I find it really hard to say no to her," I complain, scowling. "But I would definitely have trouble putting her in death traps and--"
"Why?" Trent asks.
"Because she might get hurt?"
"Then how about you make Sunny your nemesis?" he offers. "How about this," he says, grinning evilly--it's so wrong for a super hero to grin like that, especially when talking about his best friend, "how about tomorrow--or the next day, or whenever, you try putting together a death trap for Sunny?"
"Or... just a trap," I find myself saying, enjoying the idea, then I stop, remembering what Emily had said. "Trent--" I start out. Then I stop myself, shaking my head. "Never mind."
"What?"
"It's nothing."
"If you say so," he says, staring at me closely.
"Quit staring, please," I mutter, looking forward instead of at him.
"Tell me what you want to--"