He shook his head. His mind raced. That wasn’t what he wanted. “But that means if it gets used on you…”
“Nothing will happen. But that’s okay. I’m not running.”
“So wait, open a gate to my world with it so we both can go.”
“Brendan, it doesn’t do that. That’s the one Poser took with him.”
“Is there a fix you can make? Add a few chips into it and get us both out of here?”
She offered a faint smile and shook her head. He knew there wasn’t time. Mimi had just lost the fight. In moments the warlords would find them.
Charlotte put the glove components back together. “Let me send you home. Then I’ll close their gate.”
“How?”
“By touching their gate with the charged glove.”
“What will that even do?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know enough about their gate. Touching it might kill me or cause any kind of extreme reaction. It could be bad. Then again, it might do nothing.”
“Wait. We have another option.” He removed the drone.
Brendan and Charlotte unsuccessfully tried to attach the glove to the drone, which would have been child’s play if they’d had a few plastic ties. Finally Brendan removed his belt and lashed the glove to the bottom of the drone’s skids. The drone could barely fly. He flicked the glove’s power on.
“What are you kids doing?” Simba came around the corner of the gas station, her rifle held to her side. She watched the drone hovering just in front of her.
“There’s going to be a party later,” Brendan said as casually as possible. He worked the simple remote and flew the drone straight up. “We might try to launch some fireworks with this thing.”
“Yeah, right. You’re the irritating kid from the school. Not only did you steal our bike, but you spoiled our fun. And you’re friends with Gundrun. She’s dead.”
“Get out of here,” Brendan hissed to Charlotte. He needed a minute to pilot the drone to its target, and right now the flying machine and the glove were sitting ducks, target practice for Simba and her rifle. So were he and Charlotte. Even if Simba didn’t destroy the drone, he was flying blind: the car wash entrance was out of view.
Charlotte stepped in front of Brendan. She picked up a car jack handle.
“And with Gundrun dead,” Simba said, “that makes the two of you unclaimed property. I claim you both. Les and I are going to have a fun time.”
“Stay away from us,” Charlotte said. She was tottering on her feet and struggling to remain upright.
In one quick motion Simba turned her rifle and smashed the butt against Charlotte’s shoulder. Charlotte’s makeshift club clattering to the ground. She moaned.
Brendan stepped slowly to the side, putting a gas pump between him and Simba. He brought the drone around. It resisted flying much higher than head level. Someone could jump and pull it out of the sky with its load strapped underneath.
“Where are you going, handsome?” Simba asked. She pushed Charlotte to the ground and began walking after Brendan.
“I’m not running. I’m just walking to the corner.”
“You’re up to something.”
He stepped over a curb so he could see the car wash. The commotion over by the tent only got louder. The guards at the gate were still looking in that direction, and now there were only three of them.
“Don’t let me down, baby,” he said to his drone. The machine didn’t so much dive as sag lower in the air, its forward momentum a languid glide, much like a child’s balloon that had almost run out of helium.
One of the guards saw the drone. Just before it reached the gate, he reached for it. Brendan pushed the joystick forward for maximum speed. The guard’s fingertips brushed the glove when it made contact.
At the same moment Simba was raising her rifle.
She was interrupted by a concussive shockwave that knocked her and Brendan to the ground. It was followed by a low shudder that grew in intensity, a trembling shake that instantly spread around them. Rocks and rubble began to dance. Nearby stacks of crates tumbled. Brendan felt the vibration inside his teeth and his ears popped. The burned-air smell washed over him. He tried to get up but fell forward. With outstretched arms as if he were trying to ride a skateboard, he gained his footing and looked at the gate. The shaking had stirred up a growing cloud of dust that filled the car wash exit and was beginning to choke the air.
He picked up a small chunk of asphalt and pitched it. It landed far inside the car wash. He threw another. Eddies of air followed the projectile as it struck a metal support post.
The warlord’s gate was gone.
The growing rumble continued and the overpass groaned. The remaining plaster on the nearby service station cracked. The warlords and porters alike that were still standing wore expressions of panic. Was this their first experience of what their own machine could do?
He worked the controls. His drone appeared from the rising cloud of dust, the glove still attached. He flew it towards him.
Simba was coming to her senses. She looked at Brendan as he took the glove off the drone. “What did you do?”
He put the glove on top of his pack. Simba appeared afraid to stand at first, but then glanced down at her rifle and her face hardened. As she reached for it, Brendan picked up the jack handle and swung it as hard as he could. Simba went down and didn’t move.
He went to Charlotte and helped her up.
Helen came running over from the gathered crowd of warlords. “What happened?”
“Time for us to get out of here,” he said. “We did it. The gate’s closed. Do you have a vehicle so we can go?”
“Not yet,” Charlotte said. “I need to see Mimi.”
“Mimi?” Helen asked. “Are you talking about Warlord Gundrun? She’s dead. Freyda killed her, but she’s in bad shape herself. I think she’s dying too.”
The fog appeared to have returned to Charlotte’s eyes. “No, she can’t be gone. I’m supposed to save her.”
“She wanted to save you,” Brendan said. “That was the only reason she gave me a chance to stop Anak.”
“I want to see her.”
“Not a good idea right now,” Helen said.
“The gang is about to discover they’re stuck here,” Brendan said. “And it looks like they have no leader.”
Helen nodded. “Once that sinks in, this isn’t the place we’ll want to be.”
***
The roads proved to be even more broken than before. Fortunately the Humvee had been left in its place. The walk over had been quick enough, with Charlotte saying nothing. The silent tears she’d shed while leaving the warlord camp had dried up. Brendan still didn’t quite understand her relationship with the nurse. If Mimi Dreyfus had been so close to her, had she also told Charlotte everything about her connection with Anak and the warlords? If she had, then Charlotte had kept so much more secret from Brendan. The girl was incapable of sharing information, even as both of their worlds faced invasion.
Brendan got the Humvee started as Helen and Charlotte climbed in. He drove to the park. Along the way, they saw that more of Dutchman Springs had been leveled. He tried not to think about what might be happening at the school with the kids in the gym. He passed several families standing outside collapsed homes that might have survived the first earthquake. A few trails of dark smoke rose into the air.
He pulled up to the park entrance.
“Is this it?” Helen asked. “Is it still there, the way to your home?”
“We’ll see.”
They walked to the bottom of the hill. He didn’t see anything. Was it possible touching the glove to the gate had disrupted this gate too? He was halfway up the slope when he made out the shimmer.
“It’s here. Come on.”
Helen and Charlotte weren’t coming. Helen turned to look over her shoulder at the devastated houses nearby.
“What’s the holdup?” Brendan asked. He slid back down, thinking Charlott
e needed a hand. But she stood on her own strength.
“Go and get yourself home,” Charlotte said. Her voice was crisp and her eyes clear.
“It’s your home too. You need to get checked out. We can always come back.”
“I’m staying. This is where I belong and where my body belongs. You were right; we’ve messed with our worlds so much without realizing the possible consequences. Just my being on your world could have jeopardized everything. My dad was right in wanting to get me back. It was the one thing he got right.”
She reached into her pants pocket and took out a flash drive.
“Take this. It’s a copy of the final glove design. It doesn’t open anything, just sends people back where they belong. Once you get the glove back from Poser you can swap out the main chips with the new ones made from these plans. Double-check everything against the design. There are two gates we know of—this one and the one in Mimi’s pool. Check the body shop in case the one there connects from downstream. But leave me the glove, and I’ll close this gate once you’re through.”
“Wait a minute. What about the warlords already here? We have no idea how many there might be. If the police or army don’t get them, it’s going to turn into Torbenville all over again.”
“It doesn’t matter for you. They’re my world’s problem now. Without their supplies from upstream they’ll weaken. They’ll cause some problems on the way, but we’ll handle them.”
“But closing the gate could cause another quake.”
“It probably will. I can only hope it won’t be as big as the one when the warlords’ gate opened. At least we proved that the glove can close a gate. Maybe I’ll get to test whether it sends any of the warlords home.”
He looked at Helen. At first it seemed that the woman hadn’t made up her mind. She was staring at the gate with obvious desire.
“We’ll use the PA system on the Humvee to warn the town about the warlords,” Helen finally said. “We’ll get as many people as possible to evacuate. Any with weapons and training we’ll collect together for a fight.”
“Charlotte, this is stupid. I said I’d help you.”
“Don’t make this harder than it already is, Brendan. What do I need to do, fight you? I’ll win. This is the right play. Go back home. Once you upgrade the old glove, close the last gate in the pool. I’ll search for any more I can locate here.” She nodded at Helen. “I could use your help with that.”
“What about Brian?” Brendan asked. “There’s two of them now. One belongs here.”
“Let him know what’s happened here. With my final design you can use it to send him back home. But if he returns, he’ll be here to stay.”
Brendan nodded. He brushed the hair from his face. He couldn’t meet her eyes. His were stinging. “Goodbye, I guess.”
“You were a pain in my butt,” she said. “But thanks for being a friend.”
24. Rage Quit
As Brendan walked back towards school, he was almost overwhelmed with the urge to scream or cry. He realized he must have looked somewhat foreboding, as a jogger’s eyes widened on seeing him. The man yielded the sidewalk.
It was ridiculous to think the remaining warlords would just fade away. They might have their enhanced abilities for months or even years, supplemented with whatever food they had brought through. Their search for other gates might bring them to another world, maybe even to Brendan’s, through some undiscovered gate. Leaving Charlotte behind to face an uncertain fate crushed him.
Perhaps she’s right.
Anything not belonging had to be sent back if its presence might harm his world. But would it really? Was there any proof, or was it just something convenient she had said to get him to go home? The responsibility of not damaging reality was too abstract. Brendan wasn’t sure he cared about any of it anymore. Charlotte was a friend, and he had run away.
She hadn’t waited to use the glove he had given back to her. Seconds after stepping through, the gate simply went away.
He was sore all over. For a moment he wished for more of whatever alcohol the nurse had given him. The numbness would be a welcome respite.
A car pulled up next to him. It was the headmaster’s long black Rolls-Royce. When Brendan paused, just looking at the car, Sperry got out and came over. Brendan almost collapsed in his arms. Sperry helped him into the car.
“Good god, Mr. Garza, you’re exhausted.”
“How did you find me?”
“I hired a man to watch the park for any signs of anyone just showing up, especially you or Charlotte. He called me.”
Sperry started driving. Having a smooth street under the wheels felt like a novelty. Brendan was about to ask where they were going when it became obvious. They pulled up to the headmaster’s house, and Sperry helped him inside and got him on the couch.
“I’ll have a physician here soon who can examine you for injuries,” the headmaster said. “Let me get you something to eat. Some water? Tea?”
“Anything is fine.” As Brendan waited, he fell asleep.
***
Brendan felt like his brain was full of honey. Waking up on the plush couch amidst the finery of the headmaster’s giant living room was confusing. He heard sounds in the kitchen of someone working at a cutting board. Two someones. Brendan was seeing double.
Poser and a second Poser stood at the kitchen island chopping vegetables with a giant salad bowl between them. Tina was digging around in the refrigerator, and she came out with a bottle of mineral water.
“Chop the cilantro next,” she ordered as she hobbled to a large reclining chair. She wore a bright purple cast on her leg. Her bottle fizzed up as she twisted the cap off.
Vlad was at the stove stirring at something that sizzled.
“What’s going on?” Brendan asked. No one heard him. He got up and almost tripped over an ottoman.
“You’re awake,” Tina said. She snapped her fingers several times. Vlad wiped his hands with a paper towel and came over to help Brendan to a stool at the counter.
“What’re you all doing here?” Brendan asked.
“Making tacos,” Vlad said. “What does it look like?”
He couldn’t stop staring at both Brians. “You made it back.”
They both nodded and then both laughed. Then one said, “It worked. It was the coolest thing ever. I get the tinglies just thinking about it, but I want to do it again. I opened the gate like Charlotte told me and got Paul back. He’s…going to be fine. Sperry took him to get checked out.”
“How are you both feeling?”
They looked at each other. Both shrugged. “Surviving,” the other one said.
“And the glove?”
One of them pointed to a denim backpack heavily marked up in black ink with band logos.
“Has anyone told Lucille Paul is back?” Brendan asked. “It seems only fair. She’ll need to amend her story.”
“I texted her,” one of the Posers said. “She actually replied and was polite.”
Brendan nodded. A pounding was building in his head. He rubbed at his temple and found he was wearing a bandage. Several smaller bandages were on his arms.
“Did someone patch me up?”
“There was a doctor here earlier who actually does house calls,” Tina said. “Can you believe it? The lifestyles of the rich and wealthy.”
“Those mean the same thing,” Vlad said.
“Shut up, traitor. Anyway he checked you out. You were awake enough to answer his questions, and he didn’t see anything to indicate a concussion so he left you here. Poser One, Poser Two, and the traitor came soon after. Figured we were hungry so I put them to work.”
“I don’t remember any doctor.”
“He put you under when he took your kidney. Mumbled something about his fee.”
Brendan had actually put his hand to his side when he saw Tina’s wolfish grin.
“Where’s Sperry?”
“He went back out. Apparently he has security watching both the
park and the nurse’s swimming pool. Do you know this place has a billiard room? I’d like to see if there’s a conservatory and a ballroom so we can play a round of Clue LARP later.”
“Is Charlotte here?”
Tina frowned. “We’re waiting for you to fill us in. The doctor forbade using smelling salts to wake you.”
She doesn’t know. Brendan cleared his throat. His voice cracked as he told them about Not-Earth and the warlords and Charlotte staying behind.
Brendan had everyone’s attention until the meat on the stove started burning and a smoke alarm began to beep. Windows were opened, and Vlad put the hood fan on high while moving the smoking pan off the burner. When the alarm quit, they waited in silence and looked at Brendan. He completed his story.
“Charlotte may be a pain, but we should go back for her,” Tina finally said. “You can monkey with the glove, can’t you?”
“But would my glove go to her world or start some brand-new mess? I can’t stop thinking about trying to go back. She didn’t want it, practically forced me to return home. What if she’s right? What if just her presence here on this world put everyone at risk?”
“That doesn’t sound logical from what we’ve observed,” Vlad said. “You guys said that you saw the headmaster fight himself. The universe didn’t implode. And Poser here was introduced to himself just today. No fireworks.”
“And now they’re practically holding hands,” Tina said.
Both Posers looked at each other awkwardly. One looked a bit haggard. The other still had one painted fingernail, which informed Brendan that this was their Brian.
The Poser from Not-Earth asked, “But what does that mean? Do I need to go back or not? I’m not sure I want to stay here, as much as I’ve enjoyed getting to know you. I need to know if my mom and dad are okay. But if they’re not, if they’re dead and my world is ruined, what’s the point?”
“No one is making you go anywhere,” Tina said. “But it also sounds like it’s where you belong.”
The Supervillain High Boxed Set: Books One - Three of the Supervillain High Series Page 66