by R. J. Ross
"That's stereotyping," Trent declares. They're just going on, cracking jokes like that, while the zoo kids hang back and listen. I can practically see my group's thoughts. They don't exactly know how to deal with this situation. The lines are trying to blur, especially when the apartment kids spread out, moving to the sides of the group. "What about you, big guy?" Trent asks Ward. "Who do you think the nerd of the school is?"
Ward looks at him, a hesitant expression on his face. "Dunno," he says after a moment. "Vinny?"
"I'm not a nerd," Vinny protests. "Although nerds make good money when they're adults, so does it really matter?"
"He's got a point--if we weren't cape brats," Max says.
"If you need to go to the restroom, this is the place," Mega interrupts as we reach two buildings. I glance up at him, feeling his eyes on me, then nod.
"I need to go," I say quickly, heading for the restroom sign. Noelle is quick to follow, even as the others head into the buildings to see what's inside. I look around the restroom, leaning down to see under the stalls before turning to her and shrugging off my backpack. "I got it. I don't know if it's fully fixed, or what, but I got it," I say as I dig the watch out from the bottom.
She takes it, looking at it with a frown and turning it around. "It looks fixed," she says hesitantly. "We just need to change the date... it's like this--"
"Wait," I say, grabbing her hand. "You need to know the right date, right?"
"It's six years ago," she says. "Right?"
"No," I say, squaring my shoulders. "It's eighteen. I want to go back eighteen years."
"What?"
We both look up as Justin steps into the girl's bathroom, staring at him blankly. "Hello, girl's bathroom?" I point out when he doesn't even bother to look ashamed. "You're a boy."
"I don't care," he says. "I've decided. I'm not going to let you do this, it's stupid and dangerous."
"Eighteen... years... I think it's like this..." Noelle says as she fiddles with the watch. "Yeah, this looks right, I think--" she yelps as Justin crosses the room and grabs the watch. "Hey! We're going to--"
I grab the watch from Justin, but he won't let go. We start to struggle for the watch and I feel my grip shift on it, bumping into a button. "No--" I hear Noelle say. I see her reach forward.
Then she's gone. The world is spinning around me and Justin. I feel like I'm going to throw up. That button I bumped? I think it's the start button. Wish I'd noticed that before.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Noelle takes a step back, staring at the place where the two had just been standing. She glances up as she bumps into someone large and hard. She expects it to be Nico--she knows he must have sensed that--but it's not. "Me--Mega?" she asks in confusion.
"Good," the man says with a look of satisfaction. "I was hoping that would work."
The door bursts in and Nico stands there, a look on his face that quickly turns to rage as he sees Mega just standing there. "What happened?" he demands. "Where's Morgan?" He grabs Mega by the shirt, lifting him off of the ground. "What did you do?" he demands.
"They--Justin and Morgan--they used the watch," Noelle says, childhood instincts kicking in. "Grandpa Nico, stop, he didn't do anything--"
"Grandpa?" Nico repeats, turning his attention back to Noelle for a mere second. It's all the time Mega needs to slam his fist into his stomach and send him flying backwards through the wall of the bathroom.
"It's too late for you to interfere, Nico," Mega says, stepping through the hole he just created. "They're gone. And you can't change what's already happened--well, YOU can't. I can," he goes on, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a very familiar looking watch.
Nico gets to his feet, digging a hand into his pocket and pulling out a mask, which he slips on with an irritated look. "Who are you, really? I was starting to wonder when I caught you in front of the statue, now I know I should have trusted my instincts."
"Who do you think I am?" Mega asks with a crazed grin before launching himself at Nico. He runs straight into a fist. It slams into his face so hard that a cracking sound comes from his jaw. The sound makes Noelle feel sick to her stomach, but it's far worse looking at the face. It shifts, turning into a different one, then another, all in a blink of a second before it returns to Mega's. The imposter Mega looks at Nico, grinning insanely.
"Mimic," Nico says, his eyes widening. He slams a fist into the man's stomach, sending him flying through the air. "Noelle!" he shouts, turning to her. "Get out of here!"
"I can't leave you!" she says. "This is all my fault! I talked Morgan into going into the past! I'm sorry! I should have listened to you--"
"I SAID TO GET OUT OF HERE!" he bellows, taking to the air and rushing straight into Mimic. They crash into a display, then through the display and into the ground below. People are starting to notice, rushing forward with cameras to record the supers out of uniform brawling. "Give up, Mimic," Nico snarls to the man he's got pinned by the throat. "You know you can't beat me, no matter whose powers you're using."
"You're wrong, Nico," Mimic gasps out. "There's one power I can use that'll take you down."
"Whose?" Nico demands. Too late he realizes his own mistake. He should have never touched Mimic's flesh. He stares at the hand on Mimic's neck, then collapses, falling limply on top of the man that now looks exactly like he does. The man flips them both over faster than eye can see and presses his hand to Nico's face. Nico begins to shift, changing into Mega. It won't last very long, but it doesn't need to.
"Now, then," Mimic says, getting to his feet. For all appearances to the norms, Nico won and is right in front of them. "Let's see..." He looks around, seeing all the cameras and shocked looks on norm faces. His hand comes up and every camera in the area explodes. "That's handy. Now..." he says, looking over at Noelle, who's glued to the place she's standing at. "To take care of the evidence."
***
*The ????*
I feel sick. Seriously sick, to the point where the moment we hit solid ground I find myself dry heaving. I don't even realize where we are until I feel Justin grab my shoulder and shake it. "Wh--what?" I demand, trying to get my breath back. He just shakes my shoulder again, and I look up at him, wondering why he isn't speaking.
I expected to be outside. I mean, I don't know why I expected that, but I definitely didn't expect to be in an all white room with... a... glass... wall.
I look up as I hear someone move, staring in shock at the man that's in the room with us. It's my father. He looks as stunned to see us as I am to see him. "Mor--Morgan?" he asks, taking a step forward.
"Where are we?" Justin demands. "Who are you? How do you know Morgan?" He gets to his feet, moving between me and Dad.
"We're... we're in the Cape Cells," I say slowly, pushing myself to my feet. "But--but we set it for eighteen years in the past--I think the watch is broken," I admit, grabbing it from Justin's hand.
"I wish I had time to ask questions," Dad says. I blink as he appears right in front of Justin. "But the alarms are about to go off." He presses his hand to Justin's forehead and grabs the watch from me at the exact same time. It won't work--he's wearing a collar and a suit--but even as I tell myself that he turns to the glass, opens his mouth, and screams.
The glass wall shatters into a million pieces and Dad races out, leaving me with Justin and no explanation for what just happened. I look down at Justin, fearing the worst. I know what Dad can do to people--but he's groaning. "He stole my voice," he mutters, getting to his feet. "I hate when that happens!"
"You're awake," I say, impulsively hugging him as I drag him to a standing position. "Now we gotta go."
"What?"
I can hear footsteps racing for the cell, and I know that if we get caught we'll have a lot of answering to do. I don't know what to tell them. I grab his hand and run through the hole, racing down the hallway and for the nearest door. I haul him in behind me, looking around. We're trapped. It's some sort of computer room, with lights flashing all around
. The only exit is the one we just came through.
"What are we doing?" Justin demands.
"We just helped a very dangerous man escape the Cape Cells," I hiss. "If they capture us, we'll be stuck in a cell just like the one he broke out of. We NEED to get out of here--" I look around, searching for something that might stop the alarm. There's a flashing red button on the computer panel and I race for it, hitting it.
The alarm stops. I'm not sure why the alarm stops, I'm just grateful that it did. "Where are all the humans?" Justin demands. "I heard them earlier--"
"This is Mimic's area," I say, trying to breathe. "That means there aren't any humans in direct access to this part of the cells. There can't be."
"Who is that guy?" he demands. "Why did he know your name?"
I tap on the computer, trying to find a blueprint of the building to get a way out. "He's Mimic, AKA Shawn Matkey. My father."
"Oh."
****
"Mastermental, there's been an incident at the Cape Cells." The tone is calm, as is Double M's reaction. He leans back in his chair, reaching forward only to tap on his mouse twice and bring up a hologram in front of him. For a moment he watches the two teenagers in the image, then taps again, bringing up another image--where Mimic should be. He catches it just in time to see the man disappear.
"Patch me into Maximum, please," he says. "Actually, no, get me Jack."
"Jack?"
"Oh, right, you're new. Get me Cold Steel." He can sense her shock, but says nothing, just waits for the call to go through. It will take a few moments, he's sure, while the girl tries to figure out just why they have Cold Steel on speed dial in the first place. He waits, turning off the alarms in the Cape Cells and informing the guards of what happened as she tries to get ahold of Cold Steel. It'll take a bit for that, as well, Double M knows. Calling either of the Liberty boys during a meal time always means you have to wait, but finally the call clicks through.
"Double M," Jack says with an amused tone. "What's up?" He's still chewing on something as he speaks, Double M notices. "New assistant?"
"Why yes, she is, actually," Double M says. "But that's not why I called. I need a small favor, Jack, before things get out to the public."
"Say the word."
"Break into the Cape Cells for me, would you? I have a few idiots to get out."
***
"Don't make a sound," I whisper, creeping to the door of the machine room. I heard footsteps out in the hall just a few seconds before. Someone's out there. But maybe if we can work together to take the guard down, we can steal his badge and use it to get out of the Cape Cells. Once out of the Cape Cells we need to...
To what? Go to school? I'm not sure we're in my time right now--in fact I don't have a clue what year this is. It can't be when we were supposed to go, because Dad wouldn't have been in the cells. And telling what year it is by how Dad looks is impossible. I have no idea how he ages. He could look the same way he does a hundred years from now, for all I know. Supers are known to age gracefully--or more like, impossibly.
"Your dad just mugged us," Justin whispers. "Your DAD--"
"Shush!" I say in a harsh whisper. "Can you hear them?" I ask after a long second of listening.
"They're running away from this direction," he says. The alarms start blaring again and I jerk, jumping to my feet and heading for the red button. This time, though, when I push it, nothing happens. The alarms just seem to get louder. I hear the sound of crashing--the building is starting to shake. Anything not bolted down starts falling to the floor. I hear a loud creaking noise above my head and glance up just in time to be tackled by Justin. The light that had been hanging from the ceiling crashes right where I was just standing.
"We need to get out of here," he says, dragging me through the door before I get the chance to protest. "Whoever's doing this is way stronger than I want to deal with," he adds as we race down the hall. There's fallen light fixtures littering the hall and we wind up jumping or running around them. It takes up precious time, but it's a good indicator of where the front of the building is. This place is a maze.
"That way," I say, pointing to the hall that has more debris. "That's towards the front!"
"I'm looking for the backdoor!" Justin says.
"How are we to know there even IS a backdoor?" I demand. "This is a prison, remember? For capes!"
"Every building has to have fire exits!" Justin says, only to grab me and pull me to a stop. Somehow we've made it to the front of the building--or what's NOW the front. There's a massive hole right in front of us and the bodies of guards--both norm and super--are scattered among the rabble. I really hope they're just unconscious. There's only one person standing right in the middle, facing us and smoking a cigarette.
"Is that--" Justin whispers, trying to haul me into hiding. It's too late, I realize as the man looks straight at me. I--I can't believe it. I'm just standing here with my jaw dropped open as he tosses the cigarette to the ground, grinds it with his foot, and crosses over to loom over me.
"Ja--Jack?" I ask. But this isn't the Jack I remember. He's gotten bigger. He's got broad shoulders and a dangerous look--well it would be dangerous if he wasn't staring at me in shock. It's almost funny, or it would be if I wasn't trying to figure out what in the heck had happened to him.
"I don't believe it," he says. "I knew it was somethin' strange, but--it's a MINI MORGAN!" he exclaims, bursting out in laughter and--to my complete shock--grabbing me in a massive bear hug. "I thought you were in Africa!" he says, picking me up off my feet and swinging me around.
What. The. Heck?
"LET GO OF HER!" Justin bellows. He's gotten his ability back, but it doesn't even budge the man holding me.
Jack goes still, looking over at Justin, then holding out a hand to the right. A metal pole rips out of the ground and flies over, twisting around Justin all on its own. Jack walks over, grabbing the metal that tied up Justin and picking him up with one hand. The other arm is wrapped around my waist, still. I can hardly squirm in the hold, it's so strong.
"Time to go, kids," Jack says, walking over to a metal surf board and stepping on. He acts like we don't weight a thing. I yelp as we rise into the air, and, to my complete mortification, wrap my arms around Jack's waist and hold on tight. What? You try flying through the air on a slab of metal with no wings, or more importantly, no walls!
"You just broke into the Cape Cells!" I yell as I glance up to see him grinning. It's worse for Justin. Justin's barely on the edge of the surfboard, being held by the bar of metal. "The entire Hall is going to come after you! Are you INSANE? Why did you do that? You've gotten even crazier with size!"
"Not the entire Hall," he says. "They gave up on doing that years ago. Just Trent. Or maybe Max, if he's not busy. Either way it's worth it. Now, I'm figuring you two weren't shrunk, so, what, time travel?" he asks, tilting the board to change directions. We're practically sideways hundreds of feet above the ground, I think in terror, gripping onto him tightly.
"I think I'm going to puke," Justin mutters.
"You always were a sissy, Justin," Jack says, straightening again. I can see a large metal building in the distance. That's new. But something else is new, too. The sky starts to get dark, rapidly getting to the point where I can't see anything at all. Jack lets out a curse and we start heading downwards. "We gotta land," he says. "Hold on, I'm doing this blind," he adds, tightening his hold on me.
"What's going on?" I demand. "Is it the Hall?"
"Does it feel like Trent or Max to you?" he asks as we hit the ground. He grunts and sets me down. "Find a spot, sit down and close your eyes. If anything happens just tell yourself that it's all in your head," he orders sharply, pushing me away. I run into someone, feeling metal at my fingers. Justin.
"Who is it?" I demand.
"Just do what I told you to!" I hear his foot hit the ground, then nothing. It's like all the sound has been cut off. The pitch black silence is terrifying, but nothing compared to when
the screaming begins. Wind starts whipping around us and I grab onto Justin tightly. But it's not the wind that's screaming.
I think... it's a man.
***
Jack lets out a curse, mentally noting that the kids are behind him and Ace is... Ace is... hell if he knows, he admits. Somewhere in the area. This little obsession that the illusionist has with him, well, for the most part he just deals with it, honestly. It had taken him a bit of digging to find out who the guy was and why he kept choosing him as a target, but once he had...
"Listen Ace!" he bellows, cupping his hands around his mouth. "This isn't the time! I swear I'll play with you later--" Wrong word, he thinks as the world flashes in front of his eyes and a man races straight into him, wielding a sword. The sword slices through his coat only to hit his arm. The steel on Jack's skin warps, shifting out and forming a two foot long metal spike sticking out of his forearm. "I mean I'll FIGHT with you later," he grits out, blocking another strike with his newly made spike.
"DIE!" Ace roars. But it's not the swordsman shouting. The swordsman is another illusion, which means--Jack twists, spikes rising from his back and ripping through his trench coat to stop yet another sword attack.
"I've got KIDS here, Ace!" Jack bellows, cutting the head off of one illusion swordsman. The body shifts into shadow and disappears. It'll be back, of course. None of the attacks on the illusions ever hurt Ace, as far as Jack can tell. "And Trent will be--"
The world beneath his feet starts to shake, ripping apart and sending him plummeting into the gaping hole that just opened. Jack curses and holds out his hand, calling his steel surf board. It's too late. He hits the bottom of the hole, grunting as his breath is knocked out of him.
"Jack!" He can hear Morgan calling his name, but he hasn't got the breath to reassure her. If she is from the past, she's probably from the time she hated his guts, right? So why does she sound so worried?