by R. J. Ross
"What?" she asks blankly.
"Did I stutter?" I ask. "Justin's moving in on her. I couldn't beat Maximum, there's no chance I'm going to beat a professional singer, even if he is a prick."
"Justin's... seriously?" she asks, looking confused. "I mean, Aubrey's cute, sure, but he's the type that dates famous actresses. I think you're imagining it," she says. "But I'm serious about this, Jack, you need to act like a human being to her, otherwise I will disassemble you, are we clear?"
"Why did I ever think I liked you?" I ask her blankly.
"I have no freaking clue," she says bluntly. Then she leans back against the wall, staring at the lights over the door. "This thing is so slow."
"Your fault for getting on," I mutter.
"It's your fault for not taking the stairs."
"And you could have yelled at me in front of everyone?" I offer.
"Well, no, but it's still your fault."
"Why did you pick Max, anyway?"
She looks at me, blushing slightly. "He's really, really cute."
I bump the back of my head against the wall behind me, groaning loudly.
"And he loves me," she adds. "To the point of stupidity, according to him. I know you said it was just words... but he's always there when I need him to be. Which is why, even though I still don't like you very much, I want you to find someone like that, too."
I look away. Sure she's still awesome looking, she's actually prettier than Aubrey, but it's almost a relief to find that it's not her I'm thinking about right now. "She is too good for me," I admit.
"We all know that," she agrees. "But there's no convincing her."
***
Does he even like her? The question is weighing heavily on Aubrey's mind as she reaches the fourteenth floor, heading for the apartment she shares with Emily and Liz. She blinks as Ditto pops into existence, hugging her happily. "So?" she asks. "That's your Jack? He's so cool looking!"
"He's not mine," Aubrey says, knowing her face is bright red. "He's not even my patient anymore."
"Why not?" Emily asks from behind her. "Other than the fact he's probably going super villain? It's not really that big of a deal, I mean, look at Zoe and Max. And you're not going to be in the brawling game, so no one would even realize, right?"
"He just... it's like he's just tolerating me," Aubrey says, her frustration showing. "He goes along with things, but he hasn't--it's like we're total strangers!"
"Because you are," Trent says. Aubrey turns as Emily's boyfriend steps into the apartment. "You don't know Jack, Aubrey," he says bluntly. "You might know how to fix him, sure, but you don't know him. I was in school with the guy for a year, almost, and I barely know him. On the other hand," he goes on before she can reply, "he's a lot nicer to you than I've seen him be to... pretty much anyone."
"Really?" Aubrey asks, almost hating the hope that statement brings her.
"Yeah. Look, for him the whole incident with Zoe wasn't that long ago, right? He's been unconscious ever since."
"Why did she get in the elevator with him?" Aubrey demands, finally voicing her biggest worry. Maybe Zoe secretly has feelings for Jack, even though she's got a boyfriend--
"Why don't you ask her?" Emily asks. "Maybe she wants to apologize or yell at him or something, you never know with Zoe."
"Probably wants to yell at him," Trent says. "Look, why don't you two come over tonight? Dad rented a movie."
"Is Zoe coming?" Aubrey asks, starting to hate this jealousy. Yeah, jealousy. She admits it. "Forget I asked that," she says abruptly, looking away from them. She lets out a sigh. "I'm going to put my things away," she says, heading for her bedroom.
Jack is supposed to be hers. It's silly, she thinks, just assuming that, but it's how she's felt since she first saw him! She was positive it had been love at first sight! Not only that, he was her chance to finally help someone break out of their prison. She had been in a prison for over a year, the first of the zoo kids. The helplessness that had caused her, it had been overwhelming.
She closes the door behind her gently and drops her backpack before dropping down on her bed. She had spent over a year dreaming of escaping, or even just helping someone else escape so they could go get help, but day after day passed and they were still there. It had been too much, she had finally withdrawn completely, praying for death. Death seemed like the best way to leave.
Aubrey tugs her knees to her chest, leaning against the wall and staring blindly out the window. She has it cracked open, even though the wind was cold. She needs to feel the wind, needs to hear the sounds of nature. She even has a flower bed on her windowsill, one that she'd talked Lady Rose into helping her with. The sweet smell of flowers makes her relax.
Knowing that there was nothing she could do in the zoo had almost broken her. She had first talked when she literally begged Nico to let her out of the dorms. It was too much like being stuck in the cells for her. When he offered to take her to the Hall to help people, it had been like a Godsend.
She could still remember the first time he introduced her to Jack. Nico had looked at her, reaching down and tapping on Jack's forehead. "He's still alive," he said casually. "Stuck in there."
It had become her one goal in life to get him out. Now... now she has no goals, nothing left to work for. It's so tempting just to withdraw again, pull away from those that don't need her--
"Hey," Ditto says, jerking her out of her thoughts as the girl appears in front of her. "Jack's out of the elevator."
Aubrey looks out the window. "So?"
"We're going to eat over at their place tonight. Liz called and said she's going to be late."
"I don't--"
"You've only talked to him a couple of times, right?" Ditto says. "You can't give up yet! You need to at least try before deciding that he's not the right guy, got it?"
Aubrey looks at her. "You're in love with Trent, aren't you? It's pretty obvious," she says. "But technically he's dating Emily. Do you ever get jealous?"
Ditto stops, looking away for a moment before shrugging. "How can I?" she asks. "We are the same person... more or less."
"Are you, really?" Aubrey asks.
"I'm a piece of her," Ditto says. "Sometimes I work on my own, but at the end of the day, I'm still her. So... that means Trent is mine, too!"
"But that's not how it works with me and Zoe," Aubrey says.
"But Zoe's not dating Jack, either," Ditto says. "She's dating Max, and they're really close, so she's not a threat."
"Maybe," Aubrey says. "It was stupid of me to crush on a guy that wasn't even conscious at the time," she admits.
"Sure it was," Ditto says a bit too easily. "But it doesn't change anything. And he's conscious now, so I say go for it! Starting with dinner, before Trent eats everything."
Aubrey hesitates, looking at her flowers again before getting to her feet. "I should at least get to know him, right?" she says.
"Exactly," Ditto says with a grin as she hops to her feet. "Let's go!"
***
You know, I've heard about it, but seeing it is completely different. I stare at the twins--no, they're not twins, right? It's the same girl, just two different bodies... or something. Either way, they're both walking on either side of Aubrey, each holding one of her hands.
"The one on the right is Emily," Trent says from behind me. "One on the left we call Ditto."
"You weren't lying about having two girlfriends, were you?"
"Sort of," Trent admits. "Same girl, twice as much trouble. Don't piss her off, you'll get pranked so hard." Then he steps aside, moving out of the doorway so they can come in. "Is there a reason Ditto's out?"
"Support duty!" Ditto says cheerfully. "We're going to play twister tonight, right?"
"We are?" he asks. Nobody answers him, which makes it even funnier to me, especially when I see the look on Trent's face. The girls just walk past, laughing and talking as if nothing happened. The door opens and Zoe and Sunny walk in, followed by Nico and--
I stare, shocked at the sight of the same redheaded woman from the glass room next to mine. Sure she's dressed in hippie clothing, but I remember that face like it was yesterday. "Jack, this is Summer," Nico says. "Also known as Lady Rose."
The woman looks at me curiously for a long moment, then walks over and wraps her arms around me, much to my shock. "You poor boy," she says, leaning her head against my shoulder.
"So everyone's here?" Ken asks from behind me. "Good! I figured we could grill tonight, so everyone downstairs!"
I would complain about going up and down the stairs all the time, but it's pretty impossible right now. It's not even close to cool to complain all the time, especially when a beautiful lady is hugging you. Still. No, seriously, why is she still hugging me?
"Summer," Nico says.
"This is my fault," she says, pulling away and looking at me with tear-filled eyes. "You've gotten a manipulated version of my elementalist powers--you poor boy," she repeats, reaching up and patting my cheek. "And in such an obvious form--"
"I like it," I say, giving her a grin. "I look awesome. So y'know... you can stop the waterworks. I'm still not convinced I won't rust." It startles a laugh out of her.
"You'll have to avoid going swimming," she tells me.
"Yeah, I figured. Not sure I could swim even if I wanted to," I admit. "I'd probably sink. But hey, I wasn't that good at it to begin with, so no biggie. Besides, we're in Missouri. Not an ocean to be seen."
"But there's lakes," she points out. "Either way, this sort of makes me like your second mother, doesn't it? Your super mother--"
"We're not moving him in with us," Nico interrupts. "He's perfectly fine with Ken and Jeanie."
"But--"
"He's a tank," Ken says, dropping a hand on my shoulder. "That practically makes him a part of the family in itself."
Usually people are arguing over who has to take me, not who gets to have me. Well, Nico isn't, but I'm definitely picking up on Summer's urge to protest.
"And he's just one floor down, Summer!" Jeanie calls from where she's doing something in the kitchen. "He'll be fine. I've already had some kevlar pillow cases made by the tailors!"
"Kevlar pillow cases?" Summer repeats.
"Um--my hair," I say, feeling like a little kid about to admit to wetting the bed. "It tends to tear up the sheets."
"It does look sharp," she says, reaching up and patting my mohawk. "I can see how that would happen."
"Yeah."
"Here you go," Ken says, handing me a huge bag of charcoal. "Take that down, would you?"
I glance around, seeing Trent carrying an ice chest and Jeanie carrying a barbecue grill--not one of those ball shaped ones, one of those high dollar grills that you can fit like, twenty burgers on at once. She acts as if it weighs practically nothing. Shouldn't that be outside already? Or maybe they don't want people to notice there's people living here... "Are we ready?" Jeanie asks.
"I'd say so," Sunny says as Trent's stomach makes a loud noise. "Otherwise Trent will starve."
Ken picks up a second ice chest, this one twice the size of Trent's. It looks like we're going to be feeding an army, I think as we start down the stairs. Well, considering it's this family, it might be like feeding an army every night. I just hope I can keep my balance going down the stairs. I follow as they all start down the stairs, shifting the bag to one of my shoulders once I feel confident enough. It doesn't really weigh much at all, now that I think about it. It's just bulky.
"Are you okay?" Aubrey asks, moving to walk down the stairs next to me.
"I'm just getting used to balancing," I mutter, feeling a bit embarrassed that she picked up on my problem. Well, I guess they all have, considering how I keep taking the elevator.
"But you're doing really well," she says. "I mean, other than when I tackled you, you haven't fallen over, right?"
"Or when other people tackle me," I admit.
"Well, yeah," she says before falling silent for a moment. I glance at her, wondering what's going on. She hasn't exactly struck me as the silent type, not unless something happened, like with Nico.
"Did someone say something?" I ask her.
"What?"
"You're quiet. It don't seem natural," I mutter.
"Do I seem like someone that talks a lot?" she asks.
"Yeah," I admit. "I mean, except once in a while." Did I say the wrong thing there? She's got a strange look on her face now. "I mean, I heard, uh... that you didn't, you know, earlier, but..." Yeah, I'm sounding reaaalll smooth here. Good job, Jack. "You talk to me, right?" I finish a bit lamely.
"Do you not want me to?" she asks.
I almost trip down the stairs at that question. "What?" I ask, grabbing the stairway railing. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Because I'm not Zoe?"
"You have no clue how glad I am that you aren't," I tell her bluntly.
"I heard that!" Zoe yells up the stairs.
"I don't care!" I yell back. "Zoe's got a midget fetish or something, anyway," I go on.
"Max is not a midget!" Zoe says.
"He's just really short!" Nico adds with amusement.
"Max is a perfectly fine boy," Summer declares. "For a super villain. And I'm sure he's going to grow taller!"
"Well anyway," I say, feeling a blush on what little skin I have left. "I don't mind you talking. Your voice... um..." Man I feel lame. "It's... you know... nice." Seriously lame. But how else can I say it? Her voice reminds me of coming out of my own personal prison? That I associate her voice with getting better? Stronger? Everything that I am now?
Then I'd have to say I feel sort of the same about Nico's voice, but without the whole crush aspect. That's pretty disturbing, okay? Especially if you think of Summer like my "super mom" or whatever she claims to be because of what I am now. That'd make Nico like a "super dad" which would make Zoe and Sunny my--
I'm just going to stop right there. Yeah, you can forget I said anything.
"I'm glad."
I look at Aubrey, having to think back to figure out what she's talking about. "Why?" I ask.
"Because I'm not annoying," she admits, looking at the stairs rather than me. After a second she peeks up at me, pushing her hair behind her ear and smiling. I don't get girls smiling at me much, or at all, if I'm going to be honest. I'm just glad they got all the metal off my heart, otherwise I'd probably be dead from a look like that. My heart's pounding so loudly that I can hear it.
"Yeah," I mutter, not knowing what else to say. "I mean, you're not annoying."
"So... are you really going to become Justin's nemesis?" she asks. "Is that a good idea?"
"I dunno," I admit, relaxing now that the unwitting attack has stopped. My head clears as I focus on my biggest problem at the moment. "I mean, I really don't want to crash his stupid concerts all the time, that'd mean I have to listen to them. Then I'd get the songs stuck in my head, which has got to be deemed corporal punishment or something."
She starts to laugh, making a little grin pull at my lips. "He's not that bad," she protests.
"Don't tell me you're a fan," I say, staring at her.
"I'm not a fan, but he's not that bad! I like music, and his songs qualify as music," she says.
"What kind of music do you like?" I ask.
"All kinds. I'm a violinist, too," she says, but her expression grows sad with that statement. "At least, I used to be."
"Why aren't you, now?" I ask her.
"When I was first taken," she starts out slowly, "I was coming home from lessons. I had my violin--it was important to me. My grandfather gave it to me, it was my grandmother's before she passed. But..." She falls silent and I can see a faint tremble run through her. "The Collector said it wasn't good enough... and bashed it against the wall. He got me a new one, but it... just wasn't the same."
I don't know what to say to that, so I don't say anything at all. But I can't help but want to do something to fix the problem.
CHAPTER FIVE
Somehow word has gotten out about the barbecue, and all of a sudden the entire school is there, including half of the teachers. I glance up as Banshee moves to my side, holding an open beer in her hand. "So," she says, looking at me thoughtfully, "you're an elementalist?"
Is she flirting with me? I never figured Banshee to be a cougar--
"How good are you at metal working, kid?" she asks. "Because I've been looking into getting my armor redone. Not that I plan on going back out in the field, but it'd be nice to have it on display, as a reminder of the good old days. Thing is, it got beat up so badly it's embarrassing."
Oh, nevermind the cougar comment. "Uh..." I'd have to get your measurements? Think I could get away with it? I'm about to say it (because, seriously, it's just such a perfect line it'd be a sin to let it go to waste) when Sunny walks over, leading a large, classy looking black man.
"Mr. Panther, this is our newest super villain, Jack," Sunny says, patting me on the arm. "Jack, this is Adanna's dad, Panther. He likes to keep tabs on up and coming super villains--"
This is Panther? He looks like a teacher that goes to the gym every other hour--I stutter something that I can't even recall, and shake the hand he's offering. "I'm a big fan," I say. "A huge fan. Seriously," I add stupidly. I can't seem to get my mouth to close, actually. Panther is the epitome of classic super villain--the guy you grow up hearing about, reading about, watching for on TV--
"A pleasure," he says as he shakes and pulls free of my hand. "I've heard you're taking to your new abilities quickly," he goes on, but his attention is drawn to Banshee. Sure it would be, what with their history. They used to fight constantly--
"Good to see you, Pan," she says with a smile. "Can I get you a beer?"
"No, it's fine, I'm driving," he says with a grin. "I hear you've been dealing with a lot, teaching at the school."
"It's true, Blackjack is a pain in the neck," she says, making a face. Panther lets out a surprised laugh. "I'm rather fond of the kids," she goes on. "Your daughter is an excellent student, especially. She catches on to everything quickly--it's a shame she isn't fond of music class."