But now that the cops were here, he had second thoughts about going to them. He ran.
The drones would keep them all busy, and he was far enough in the shadows that even the cops’ car and body cameras might not get a good look at his face. Besides, what had he done wrong? They would have no explanation for the drones.
The campus was empty. There would be no fudging curfew if security stopped him. And he had no way of knowing if any of them were working with Charlotte. He felt exposed, as if eyes were upon him, and he stayed off the paved pathways. He spotted one guard walking across a courtyard near the restaurant. The guard paused to check the outside eating area with a flashlight before moving on.
Brendan took a moment to catch his breath. Where am I going? His room would be dumb. It wasn’t as if he could just go to bed and pull the sheet over his head and pretend none of this was happening. Charlotte, Lucille, and all of her enthralled minions would have their eyes out for him. Campus was the worst place he could possibly be.
He wanted to head straight for Vlad’s room and slap his friend silly to snap him out of his daze. How could a freshman who was already taking calculus fall prey to rudimentary mind control?
He found himself moving further across campus until he was at the side of the admin building next to the window where the two kids had snuck in. The window was locked. He paused for a moment. Counted to ten. Think, then act. Hurting himself smashing in the window wouldn’t help.
He summoned the drones and heard their distinct hum as they hovered near the top of the building. He unslaved them and brought the first one down with the window as its target. If security’s on its game, they’ll hear this. The drone smashed through the glass, shattering it with a loud pop as it splintered into hundreds of white pebbles. Once inside, the drone clattered about the hallway like a baseball thrown down a stairwell. He pushed away the remaining safety glass and climbed in.
The drone was recovering, hovering shakily in the air in the middle of what appeared to be a storage room for excess office furniture. Brendan waited by the window and strained to listen. If any of the guards had been close by and awake, they would have been there already. He checked the drone app. He found a setting that put the hovering drones into a broad pattern from which they could surveil the entire perimeter of the admin building, and he sent the feed to the tablet.
He took the stairs up to the fifth floor.
The headmaster’s office doors were locked. He put his hand to the wood and felt the metal door hardware. If the gate had been open, it would be cool to the touch, but it wasn’t. The hidden key was no longer in the bell on the wall. He went to the kitchenette and found a cup in the cabinet. He drank some water.
No one had used the office since the admin building had been vacated. The coffee urn had three cups of coffee remaining in it. Little white spots of mold grew around its inside. He sat at the secretary’s desk.
The drones spotted a guard heading towards the dorms and in the opposite direction of the admin building. He set a drone to follow the target.
He thought about his dilemma. He had a batch of advanced drones and few options. He took out his phone. Charlotte had sent three messages. He ignored them. Tina had wanted to call the police. The thought of delegating this whole mess to someone else was seductive. But what could he prove at this point? He could take them to the hangar, but Charlotte could evade capture. It had been hard to even prove she existed when he’d first arrived at school. He could never get Tina back that way. The police were good for upholding traffic laws and stopping riots, but in his view they received failing grades on the in-between stuff.
He pulled up his father’s contact numbers. Which number would work, he wasn’t sure. But his father had the ring. All he had to do was send some texts and recover the ring. If that sent Charlotte away and got Tina back, wasn’t that worth it? He didn’t really understand the function of the ring. It acted as a key to the machine when on this side of the gate. It opened some supposed vault. Charlotte’s original plan had been to copy the signal her father’s ring produced. They had accomplished that. Brendan had kept Charlotte’s original glove device with that coding inside and had since taken it apart. Charlotte had to have gone through the pack to confirm the ring wasn’t there. But with the machine turned off from the Not-Earth side, the ring could do nothing as far as Brendan knew. Yet she was still after him. There was more to the ring than he understood.
His thumb hovered over the call button.
So what about Lucille? Charlotte’s ultimate play there was to have her manipulate Brendan and perhaps get him under Lucille’s spell. Lucille had tried to touch him during the fight at the Bean. But she had been up to more. She’d had Vlad take the drone from the lab. Charlotte didn’t need to learn anything about machines that her henchmen already controlled. Lucille had also made Paul and Tyler follow Charlotte to the nurse’s house. Lucille was doing her own research. The girl kept up the appearance of being a dumb blond, but he suspected she maintained the illusion as a distraction.
Whatever boost Charlotte was giving her, she would want more.
He called Lucille.
12. Morning Scramble
“And here I was about to go to bed,” Lucille said. Her voice sounded unusually bright. “How very forward of you to call me after our last meeting. I have my boyfriends wait for my call. But in your case, Cesar, I’ll allow it, as long as you’re interesting.”
Her smug tone made him want to hang up. “Tell me that Vlad and Soren are okay.”
“That’s not interesting. You won’t be the first boy to get his number blocked. Should I do that? You’re calling me; you must want something at such a tender hour, but I’m a poor guesser.”
“Did you release them?”
“Hanging up now.”
“Wait.” He got up from the desk. “What if I can get you what Charlotte’s offering?”
Silence on the line. He walked to one of the curtained windows and looked down at the dark campus. He checked the phone to make sure she hadn’t hung up.
“Look, just let me know what she gave you, and I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll get it for you without you having to wait for me to get the ring back here.”
“Now that’s interesting,” she said. “Where are you?”
“I don’t think we’re ready to meet yet.”
“Sounds like you don’t trust me.”
“Give me one reason to. What did she give you that has you supercharged and able to control Vlad and Soren?”
Lucille laughed. “If you don’t know what it is, how can you be so sure you can get more?”
“Because the nurse gave us what might have been just a shot of water from an upstream world. It gave Tina and me super strength on Not-Earth. If Charlotte gave you something similar, I know where to go for more, and I’ll get you some.” He wasn’t entirely sure about that last part, but Lucille didn’t need to know that.
“In exchange for what?”
“Information and a promise. You withdrawing your influence on my friends and leaving us alone. You telling me everything you know about what Charlotte’s been doing. I don’t know if you care, but she made Tina disappear.”
“Best news I’ve heard all night.”
Brendan sighed. “Think about it, Lucille. If she can make Tina blink to another world, she can do it to anyone. She might have done it to the nurse. She can do it to me. She might do it to you once she no longer needs your help.”
“She can try.”
“What did she give you?”
“Grapes. Just a couple of them. I didn’t eat too much. I don’t want to be fat like your girlfriend.”
“How did they make you feel?”
“You’re sounding like our English teacher. They were grapes. So if there was a drug or something in them, they didn’t do anything.”
“But you knew it gave you an extra oomph with your ability.”
Another laugh. “Cesar, you are so cute. You and Tina and the rest
obsessed with the crazies dressing up in costumes. So what have you been calling me behind my back? A freak? A mutant? A supervillain?”
He heard the edge to her voice. She was getting angry. “You’ve just always had a special charm. That’s been enhanced, hasn’t it?”
“I thought it was easy before.” Lucille yawned. “But it’s late. Whatever plans you think we need to make will have to wait. If I don’t get some sleep, it will kill my face. Let’s meet for breakfast, and you can share more of your wild ideas with me.”
“Hold on,” Brendan said, but she had hung up. He cursed. The shadows out the window below seemed to shift, but then he saw it was just a breeze pushing at the shrubs and trees.
He was tired of being lied to. The nurse had even told them before they went to Not-Earth for the first time that the water she was providing had no effect on their own world. Perhaps it was to keep them out of trouble, but now he knew that upworld food and water meant an advantage here.
Grapes.
He settled in behind the desk and pulled up the drone app. Within minutes, he was nodding off.
***
His neck hurt. He’d been dead asleep for hours in the secretary’s chair with his head lolled forward. Yellow sunlight came through the window. It took a minute to get his bearings. His head was sore from getting pummeled by the drones. Then he thought of Tina. Guilt gnawed at him. She had wanted to go to the police after the fight in the Bean. He had been the one to trust Charlotte.
He checked the drones. They were still in place, patrolling outside. He found the power levels. Twelve percent. They wouldn’t last the day. He didn’t know if their power consumption was a steady drain or if activity accelerated it, but the latter was more logical. He directed most of them to land on the roof of the admin building. He sent two out in different directions, finding both the nurse’s house and the headmaster’s in a list of previous locations on the navigation screen. They flew to their destinations, arriving in just a few minutes. He manually took over each drone in turn.
Sperry Appleton was home and eating breakfast in the kitchen. Brendan didn’t see anyone else there.
Nurse Dreyfus’s house was dark, and he couldn’t see anything through the windows. The garage was empty. The curtains to the rest of the house had been drawn. He couldn’t remember if they had been closed the last time he had been there. He considered sending the drone through the glass. If Charlotte’s there, why should she get to sleep in?
His stomach growled. He landed both drones on the homes’ rooftops.
In the kitchenette, he found some instant soup and heated water in the microwave. He ate the salty concoction, feeling oddly homesick for the days when he’d had to fend for himself while his mother worked her shifts at the hospital. He considered calling her, but she would be asleep, having no doubt gotten in late from work. And if she answered, he worried that he might not keep it together. There would be no way to explain what he was going through.
The messages from Charlotte filled the front screen of his phone. “Please call me.” “We have to talk.” And another that scrolled off down the bottom of the screen, about her responsibility to avoid another disaster.
He unlocked his phone and dialed his dad, using the last number he had reached him on. It went to voicemail.
“Hi Dad, thought I’d check in. See if you were doing okay. Haven’t heard from you in a bit, if you know what I mean. Hope the new job is working out. Everything is good here. Just up early on a Sunday morning, and I thought I’d say hi.”
He ended the call. He went to wash up in the sink and dried his face and neck with paper towels. A few students were moving about the campus below, most heading either to the gym and track or the restaurant.
His phone dinged. It was Lucille.
“Meet at restaurant.”
“No. You alone. North side bus stop,” he replied.
A scrolling ellipsis told him she had read the message. It took her a minute to formulate a response, but all she texted back was “OK.”
A pair of girls walking past saw him come out of the bushes by the admin building. They walked faster.
He left campus, hopping a low wall at one of the parking garages and keeping an eye in all directions. Once on the street he jaywalked to the green belt and went straight into the bushes that comprised the landscaping. He sat on the sandy dirt and woke the drones that were still on campus. He assigned them a broad formation and had them fly overhead. Locals and students alike were out exercising on the nearby streets. None of them looked up. There was enough noise from the handful of passing vehicles that the faint sounds of the drones wouldn’t be heard.
He saw Lucille.
She wore a fur-lined jacket, as if the morning chill were a blizzard, but any warmth it gave her had to be offset by her miniskirt and spike heels. Then he saw both Paul and Tyler creeping through a row of parked cars and trying hard to stay out of sight. The sheltered glass bus stop was right in front of Brendan. He set his drones to follow and stepped out to meet Lucille.
“I’ve skipped breakfast,” she said, sounding like she had just given away her favorite puppy.
He held out a hand to stop her so she wouldn’t get too close. An indignant look crossed her face.
“Did you tell Charlotte we’d be meeting?” he asked.
“Like I’d tell you.”
Her answer comforted him a little. “And you’re alone?”
“As you requested.”
The two boys were staying behind the vehicles. If they moved to cross the street, he would see them.
“Can we go someplace to sit down?” she asked.
“Not yet. We’ll have to do some walking. Hope your shoes are comfortable.”
She kept up. The klop-klop-klop of her heels followed him. He made sure to keep his distance, as if she would lunge at him at any moment. Anything was possible with what he had seen.
“We’re heading to the nurse’s home,” she said.
He stopped at the street corner. He sent the drone he’d parked on top of the nurse’s house to check if anyone was home. Nothing had changed. The driveway was empty. He landed the drone and put the tablet away. A few locals walked past, some towed along by their dogs. Brendan offered them a good-morning wave and a smile. They smiled back while eyeing him suspiciously. He took a moment to scan the street they had just come down. Neither Paul nor Tyler were in sight, but he knew they were there.
“Here’s what I’m offering,” Brendan said. “I get you more food from her world. Maybe some water will do the trick, I don’t know for sure. I’ll bring both. You help me with Charlotte and with getting Tina back.”
Her face darkened at the mention of Tina’s name.
“There’s a big difference between hating someone’s guts and actually wanting them dead,” he said.
“Is there?”
“Yes. That’s my deal. The alternative is that I do it alone. I can get my hands on the upworld food and use it myself. That leaves you out of the picture.”
Lucille smirked. “Well, now that I know where she keeps it, maybe I don’t need you.”
“You knew she was coming here. You could have broken in yourself.”
“Relax, Cesar. I just like seeing you mad. I’ll help.”
They walked to the house. A neighbor across the street had an old crimson Chevy car up on jack stands. The man had a mask and gloves on and was chroming the back bumper. He didn’t seem to notice them.
Brendan went to the front door and tried the handle. It was locked. He looked under the mat.
“That’s rude,” Lucille said. She had gotten close, within touch range. He watched her carefully, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t care. She checked under several flowerpots that held little but dirt and the tatters of dead plants.
“Let’s not be too obvious.” He went to the side gate.
“Like this is subtle. Why not pull your hood up and complete the picture? At least when the cops come and shoot you down, I can sne
ak inside.”
“Shhh.”
The next-door neighbor had some sort of opera playing in his garage. They went through the gate and into the back. Brendan’s pack and old drone were gone. He took out his tablet and positioned all his drones over Paul and Tyler. The two boys were rounding the corner to the cul-de-sac.
“What do you keep doing with your tablet?” Lucille whispered.
“Keep your ears open. And watch out for him.” He pointed to the neighbor’s fence.
He sent his drones down for an attack run. It wasn’t subtle—other passersby would see the drones—but he didn’t want the boys to come any further. Paul and Tyler looked up at the sound, turning in place, and then held their hands up to ward off the flying assailants. One struck Tyler and he tucked the injured hand under his arm.
Lucille tried to see the tablet screen. Brendan tilted it away from her. She made a face and went to the rear sliding door.
“Just give me a minute,” he said.
He had the drones form up again and swoop down, but he kept the way to the corner clear. The boys needed an escape route. The drones made their pass, banking sharply just before striking. Tyler fell back. Paul held his ground. Then Paul’s hand shot out, and drone nine went out of formation.
Brendan couldn’t believe it. Paul had caught one of the drones.
It was hard to see what was happening from the other drone cameras, but he could just make out Paul smashing drone nine down on the sidewalk as if he was spiking a football. The drone’s information feed went black.
Brendan formed the rest of them up. Paul was now their sole target. The boy swatted at them as they flew in. One struck him in the shoulder, another the cheek, and a third hit his head. But he grabbed a second one and broke it. Then another hit him above his ear, sending him reeling. He stumbled to a parked car.
The Supervillain High Boxed Set: Books One - Three of the Supervillain High Series Page 32