“No it isn’t,” Brendan said. “Charlotte’s decision to stay was hers alone. Vlad’s right, I don’t really believe it’s necessary. The nurse and Charlotte both lived here without any disasters. This is Charlotte’s way of dealing with her guilt, her falling on her sword for a world that might not survive. Brian, you’re our friend just like your twin. We’ll figure something out. We’ll take care of you. Sperry will help. If you want to go back, I understand. But don’t do it just for some abstract theory of where you belong.”
“I need to know if my folks are okay,” Poser said. “Let’s do it.”
“I get it. I’ll get to work.”
***
It took a week. The more Brendan worked on upgrading the old glove, the less confident he felt. He longed for the heady brain boost from the upworld food, but that was all gone. Both Posers helped, as did Vlad. None of them were slouches in the brain department when it came to applied science and tech know-how.
“We can’t be sure this will work,” Brendan said as he took off his magnifier. The glove was built, the circuits in place, the power switched on, but he couldn’t stop rechecking each component. It was his friend’s life on the line.
“You’ve said that before,” Poser said.
“Twice this past hour,” his twin said. “The longer this takes, the more certain I am that I’m willing to risk it. I want to be back home. I’ll help them face whatever they’re going through. I can’t sit this out. Would you if it were your world?”
Brendan didn’t answer. He hadn’t wanted to leave Not-Earth, but he didn’t know if he could face never seeing his mom, his friends, or even his dad again. One world with one life was overwhelming enough.
“We should test it,” Brendan said.
“On who or what?” Poser said.
His twin nodded in agreement. “There’s no way of knowing for sure what it will do except to return someone out of alignment back home. That’s me. Let’s quit stalling and do this.”
“Maybe we should take the day, go to class, sleep on it,” Brendan said. But when he saw the determination on the twin’s face, he knew that wasn’t an option.
***
Sperry sent an escort: two thuggish-looking men wearing heavy coats and boots and packing pistols in shoulder holsters. Each had a black shoulder bag that Brendan could only guess held grenades, ammo, knives, and perhaps even rocket launchers. Neither man smiled.
They had the park to themselves that morning. Or maybe the headmaster had had his security team clear the park. Brendan first went to the hill and confirmed the gate was gone. Tina brought up the rear on her crutches as the others gathered nearby. Their two escorts stood nearby. They were eyeing the park as if at any moment a platoon of ninjas might spring up from the landscaping.
Poser’s twin appeared nervous. He inhaled through his teeth as he readjusted his pack. Poser gave him a final hug.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if it didn’t even work?” the twin said.
“You’re going to be awesome,” Tina said.
Brendan powered on the glove. He waited for a final nod of approval, praying that the boy would change his mind. But he didn’t. The twin nodded. Brendan touched his shoulder, and he was gone.
Vlad stepped forward and waved his hand through the vacant space. “This is where you tell us to forget everything we’ve learned because this is too much power for any one man to have.”
Brendan took the glove off. “Something like that. Once we close the gate in the nurse’s pool, this thing gets taken apart. Or at least we remove enough of its components so no one can mess with it.”
“Just in case,” Poser said. “Because you never know.”
“It’s a shame,” Tina said.
Brendan was puzzled. “What? Us not traveling between worlds?”
“No. All that food and water from Torben’s world. It would be nice to have a source of that from time to time. Finals. Track meets. Disagreements with boyfriends.” She winked. Brendan flushed. Maybe whatever they had started wasn’t beyond repair.
Poser appeared glum. “You’re not the one giving up a secret twin. Think of the hell we could have raised.”
“One of you could have gone to school while the other was a slacker,” Vlad said.
“No, not that. We could have started a magic act. Or gotten costumes and started a two-Poser crime wave.”
“There’s already at least three sets of twins wearing costumes in New York City alone,” Tina said.
“Yeah, but none are villains.”
Brendan knew they were missing school, but with the headmaster on their side, what teacher could say anything? A dog walker was staring as she moved along one of the park’s paved walkways with twelve canines either pulling her along or in tow.
“This must look weird,” Vlad said. “I wonder how much she saw.”
“Damn rich kids and their drugs,” Tina said in a mock elderly woman’s voice.
Their escorts drove them to the nurse’s house. With less ceremony, Brendan went alone into the backyard. The pool pump wasn’t on. Staring into the pool, he imagined he saw the slightest ripple in the water. He placed his hand on the water’s surface and hoped he wouldn’t have to chance shorting out the device by submerging it.
The ripples faded. The glove’s LED blinked green after a minute, but he powered it down.
“That’s it?” Tina asked when he returned to the car. “I was expecting at least a tremor.”
Brendan put the glove away into his pack. “I think it’s just the warlords’ machine that made unstable gates. The headmaster’s gate and the permanent ones that stayed open don’t seem to be as volatile.”
“You know you have no idea what you’re talking about.”
They drove to the body shop. One of their escorts went to talk to the mechanic on duty. Brendan and the others went to look around. After a thorough inspection of the outside grounds they concluded the gate from downstream didn’t connect to their Earth. Next, Brendan asked their driver to drop him off near campus. The others got out with him, including Tina, even though he told them all he wanted to walk.
The exhaustion hadn’t left Brendan and he was sore all over, but being there on that perfect warm morning felt good. Then he thought about Charlotte. Unless this all started again, he would never again see her. Even if she or someone else managed to open a gate, would it ever connect to his Earth? The vault had showed him that there were infinite worlds beyond his, and the odds of any two of them connecting again were basically impossible.
“What’s bugging you?” Tina asked.
He told them. Vlad offered to run the numbers.
Tina made a face. “Nothing’s bigger than infinite.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Vlad said. “You take an infinite distance and add to it an infinite height, you have infinity squared, don’t you? You can keep doing that with each added dimension, and continue adding exponential infinities one atop the next.”
“Your parents do the arranged marriage thing, don’t they? It’s truly your only hope.”
Brendan nudged Poser. “How’s this all sitting with you?”
“I’ll be fine…that is, the other me will be. He’s a bit more grounded, as my counselor would say. I’ll admit I’m a bit jealous with his folks still being together and him having a good relationship with them, assuming they’re all okay. Gives me hope for my parents. Not that it’ll happen because my dad is a douchebag. Not-Earth Dad must keep his lustful soul in check.”
Tina snorted and laughed.
“Hey, I’m damaged goods. My therapist says I can lay this all at my dad’s feet, so that’s my game plan. But other me will survive. That’s what we Posers do.”
They were walking past the Bean when Brendan stopped.
“I need coffee if I’m going to make it through the day. I’m buying.”
“Is this alternate reality you?” Poser asked. “I thought you were poor.”
Then Brendan realized he didn’t ha
ve a phone or wallet. Poser took him by the arm and led him inside.
***
When his dad called, it felt too soon. How much of his father’s passive neglect could he stand in one month? He let it go to voicemail. He had homework. The class notes on geometry proofs were unsurprisingly dull. The problems appeared easy enough, but he couldn’t focus. Maybe the headmaster could nudge each of his teachers into giving him a passing grade on his assignments for another week so he could catch up on sleep.
He closed his tablet and returned the call. His dad picked up after the first ring.
“Sorry I missed your call,” Brendan said. “What’s up?”
“I’m shooting up to San Jose tomorrow, and I thought I’d stop by and we’d catch an early dinner. Like five o’clock. How does that sound?”
“Sounds great.”
After they hung up, Brendan wished he had mustered a little more enthusiasm in his reply.
He texted Tina. “Dinner tomorrow?”
Brendan decided he liked having something to look forward to. It almost distracted him from his lingering doubts of whether they had accomplished anything in their fight against the headmaster and the warlords. The next day’s classes passed along at a good clip.
He half expected to see Charlotte show up at the electronics lab that afternoon. Knowing that she was where she belonged provided no comfort. At least Poser’s twin had parents and a place to go.
Vlad had finished a group assignment on functioning op-amp circuits, and all Brendan had to do was sign off on the sheet as having participated.
“Thanks for carrying me on this one,” Brendan said.
“My guilt knows no bounds,” Vlad said. “But this makes us even.”
Tina came into the lab once class let out. She was distracted by her phone.
“Anything good?” Brendan asked.
“Scorpion Twins showed up in Dallas. Desert Fox answered their challenge, but the cops arrested everyone before a punch could be thrown. Big yawn.”
“Maybe everyone’s getting tired of it all.”
“Maybe. But Desert Fox’s arrest video has a hundred thousand hits.”
“That’s because her new costume is basically a fur-lined bikini with a bushy tail,” Vlad said.
Tina watched as Vlad and Brendan put away their lab equipment. “Is Soren not even in this class anymore?”
“Someone told me he switched to band,” Vlad said. “Apparently he plays the clarinet.”
“That’s not right. Lucille’s going to pay for this.”
“Maybe,” Brendan said. “Her control will diminish. Hopefully it already has, and Soren’s just too embarrassed to face us after everything that’s happened.”
“He’ll snap out of it,” Vlad said. “I did.”
Tina looked glum. “With Charlotte back home and Soren off the deep end, I guess this is the end of the A.V. Club.”
“That was a stupid name for us. It never really made sense.”
“I kinda liked it,” Brendan said. “When Lucille called us that and we kept using it, it pissed her off.”
“So you guys got something going on tonight?” Vlad asked.
“Drone King’s in town, and we’re going to dinner,” Tina said. She straightened her T-shirt. Brendan’s father’s masked face was in the center of a design featuring four hovering drones, with the words “Drone King #1 Fan.”
“No,” Brendan said. “Absolutely not.”
Vlad just laughed.
***
Tina wore the shirt to the restaurant.
The fish tank in the front lobby of the Hunan Dynasty restaurant was cloudy, but through it Brendan could see his father already seated at a table. Brendan and Tina weren’t late. It was 5:01 p.m., but the table had a dozen dishes of food on it. Myron Reece was thumbing a text on his phone. Brendan had helped Tina get situated in a seat and leaned her crutches on the table before Myron even noticed.
“I took the liberty of ordering some food,” Myron said.
“Dad, it’s just the three of us. This is enough for ten people.”
“I wasn’t sure what you’d like so I got a little bit of everything that looked good.”
Tina went around the table and gave Myron a hug. She then presented her shirt.
“If you sign it, I can sell it on eBay for big bucks.”
“Of course. Who am I to get in the way of the entrepreneurial spirit? What do you say we eat first before it gets cold?”
They ate. As far as Chinese food went, the local places around Brendan’s home in New York were better, but the meal was serviceable, if a bit greasy and salty. Brendan’s dad mostly kept his attention on his phone, and he wasn’t eating.
Brendan put down his fork. “Dad, is this a bad time?”
“Not at all. Just eat. As usual, work has thrown me a curveball.”
Tina dove in with both chopsticks at the ready, heaping a sample of everything onto her plate.
“At least someone has a healthy appetite,” Myron said.
Brendan picked at his food. His dad tried to make some conversation, asking about his mom and school. Brendan answered with single words and checked his own phone just to look at the time.
Finally Myron’s phone buzzed, and he read the screen. “I better scoot. I’ve got a four-hour drive, and I’m running behind.”
He signaled the waitress, and she brought over a plastic tray with the bill and three plastic-wrapped fortune cookies. Myron handed the woman a credit card.
“It’s good to see you,” Myron said. “If one of my trips lines up on a weekend, you should join me.”
“Why? So I can watch you text all day long?”
“Don’t be like that, kid. Sometimes things can’t wait.”
Kid?
The waitress returned with the card and a receipt, which Myron signed. With his left hand.
“No, it’s not possible,” Brendan said.
“What’s wrong?” Tina asked.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Since when are you left handed?”
One of Myron’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He put the receipt down on the tray with the pen on top. “Time for me to go.”
Brendan clamped a hand down on Myron’s.
“Where’s my dad?”
“Take it easy, Brendan. What’s wrong with you?”
While holding his father’s hand down, he picked up the phone and unlocked it. He started to dial 911.
“Put the phone away,” Myron said. “Now, or there’s going to be real trouble before you even say hello to the operator.” Myron opened his jacket and revealed a pistol in a shoulder holster.
Brendan looked around. The waitress was taking an order at a table with a group of senior citizens. Only one other table was occupied, but no one was paying them any attention.
Tina set her chopsticks down. “What’s going on?”
The table had nothing that would make for an effective weapon, and it was too large and rested on carpet so pushing it forward was out of the question. Three short numbers and he would connect to the police. But Myron’s hand was moving ever so slowly to the pistol.
“I can tell you’re an angry kid,” Myron said. “I noticed that the first time we met. But this isn’t the time or place for us to get square. I wanted to know if you were still here and if there was anything going on with the gate. Now you know I’m here too. A bit premature for that, I’ll admit. But if you don’t hand your phone over, she’s first.”
Brendan gave him the phone.
Myron took it and closed his jacket. “I had a little talk with Sperry before coming to dinner. He really opened up about some of your latest adventures. If you people would use your heads, you’d realize there’s money to be made.”
“Where’s my dad?”
“Uh-uh. I need some things from you first. You have a ring that controls that machine. This is where you hand it over. Then we can talk about you getting to see your
daddy.”
Brendan scowled. In a low voice he said, “You got here on your own. Why can’t you get yourself back?”
“Because I built a device that spoofs magnetic data wirelessly,” he said with a growl. “No ring needed. At least on that side of the gate. But if I want to get back, I need the ring. Now hand it over.”
“It’s gone. The machine is destroyed. If you talked to Sperry, how could you have missed that fact? Weren’t you still on your world when the first big earthquake hit? There were more of them, one big enough to almost destroy the school, and then your world was invaded by a gang of people from upstream. We cut them off. It meant closing all the gates between your world and mine for good.”
Myron let out a laugh. “Nice story. I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t have a choice.” Brendan reached into a pocket and produced the ring. He tossed it to Myron. “Take it, it’s useless. You’re stuck here now. Anyone you’ve ever known is trapped on the other side of a gate that will never be opened again. We managed to get the kids you kidnapped back home, and Charlotte and your world’s Brian are where they’re supposed to be. You abandoned your world and will never go back home. There’s nothing left you could ever want from me. So tell me where my father is.”
By his expression, Myron was processing everything Brendan had told him. Then a smile crossed his face. “Maybe there is a little bit of me in you after all. I’ll find out if what you’re saying is true. If it’s not, we’ll settle up later.”
He began to rise. When Brendan pushed away from the table, Myron waved a finger. “Not so fast, kid. You’re going to sit there and finish your Mu-Shu-whatever. If you get up, you get a lot of people hurt. Even if you have a trick up your sleeve, I’ll drop your girlfriend and a few other people before you bat an eye.”
The waitress came up to him, and he handed her the tray with the receipt. “These kids’ll want to finish up without me.” She nodded and went away.
The Supervillain High Boxed Set: Books One - Three of the Supervillain High Series Page 67