by R. J. Ross
“If there are any problems, call me, first,” Century says. “I’ll take care of it. There’s no need to go running back home.”
I nod, letting my hand fall as I look at the boring bed, one more time. “I could use a sparkle-y pillow or two,” I venture, looking at him. “I like the ones that you can touch and they change colors.”
“I will get you as many as you want,” he says.
“And some posters?” I ask.
“How about I ask Skye to go shopping for you?” he offers. “It’s her shopping day, anyway. The girls should enjoy another excuse to spend my money.”
“YES!” I say, excitedly. “Let’s do that! It sounds like fun!”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” he says, patting me on the back. “Now you’re going to be late for class.”
“Okay! Um, which class is it?”
“The only one that has people in it.”
“Then I’ll be able to find it!” I say with a smile.
CHAPTER FOUR
“This is the place,” Dolly says, stopping in front of the large ranch style house. “Um, is that going to be a problem? You’re not going to put a laser wall around the place, are you? All the electricity makes my hair stand on end. I like my hair looking like this, you know?” she reaches up and pats the coif, affectionately.
“No, she’s old enough to handle being outside of the field, but I will be placing several cameras in the area. If you find it violates your privacy, I can take them down when she goes home.”
“Does Skye have that?” she asks. “I saw one when we went over for the pool party.”
“Yeah, Skye has that,” he says.
“But according to all of the reports, shouldn’t she be paranoid that people are watching her over hidden cameras and things?” she asks. “I did a study on her before I came to this branch, and the girl was… well… pretty much past paranoid and into neurotic.”
“She is,” Nico says, “but I’m her brother. I give them all access to all of the videos that are taken, and honestly I only check in once an hour. I don’t have time to watch them.”
“But still… isn’t that an invasion of their privacy?” she asks.
“It is,” he says, a strange little grin on his face, “if they actually cared about me seeing them do ridiculous things like their weekly eighties’ party, or pool parties, or the conversation about which instrument makes someone sexier. I actually muted that one until Skye demanded I buy her a guitar and the other two oboes. But don’t worry, I don’t film bedrooms or bathrooms. Think of it as a simple security camera, and me as the guy that comes running if someone breaks into the house.”
“Oboes?” she repeats, starting to laugh.
“She was intent on proving that guitars are ‘sexier,’” he says, amused. “She just assumed that anything with the name ‘Oboe’ can’t be sexy.”
“So did you buy them?” she asks, still giggling.
“No, I sent Rochester over with two oboes and a guitar, and they spent the entire afternoon making him play pop music on the oboe while they danced around like crazy.”
“Rochester did that?” she asks, looking awed. “He’s such a nice guy.”
“If you ask them, they might let you see the video,” Nico says. “Now, is there anywhere you want the cameras that isn’t on my plan?” he asks, swiping his hands outward and bringing up a hologram diagram of the building and the fields. There are little glowing lights scattered throughout the diagram. “These are where I plan to place them.”
“Ummm,” she says. “Do you really need to record the fields?”
“Yes, I really need to record the fields, especially the cornfield. People can use that for cover.”
“I can understand going this far for all of your students,” she says, hesitantly, “but there’s only Hypersonic Rainbow, right now, and she’s got two adult supers that will be right here with her, so is… is all of this really necessary?”
“She’s a zoo kid,” he says, taking to the air. A large drone carrying a case flies towards them, and she looks over as it opens and plastic and metal parts start floating through the air. “Until they graduate, I’m going to take care of them as if they were my own. For some of them, like Carla, I’ll probably take care of them even longer than that.”
“I heard you sent Fire Hazard down here without all of this,” she says.
“Have you met Fire Hazard?” he asks, looking over.
“No, not really.”
“I was sending him in to take care of a gang of upstart kids, not to be in the public eye. It took him a weekend, and he had them all cleared out with the help of three other kids. If I gave him two weeks, he’d probably clean up all of Texas just so he could go back to watching his cooking shows.” And then he stops, his eyes narrowing as he heads for the fields and drops down in the middle of the cornfield.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, running over to him.
He leans down, pulling a cornstalk from the ground. “That no-good, low-down…” he mutters, staring at the stalk. There’s a tick in his jaw. He looks at Dolly. “I need to check your house.”
“Um, okay? I thought that was what we were doing.”
“I’ll do that, too,” he says, crushing the stalk in his hand before taking to the air. He holds out his hands and Dolly’s hair threatens to stand on end as a wave of electricity covers the area. She hears a few tiny snapping sounds and yelps as she sees sparks in one of the fields. “What just happened?” she asks.
Nico drops down next to the spark and stomps it out. “He’s watching you, too,” he says grimly, heading into the farmhouse.
“Who’s watching me?” she asks, chasing after him. She has to jog, because she’s a lot shorter than he is, and it looks a little silly since she’s wearing seven-inch-tall wedges, but neither of them notices. “What did you mean by ‘too’?”
“The real reason Skye’s so agreeable to my cameras is because she’s paranoid,” he says, heading for the kitchen and unscrewing a light bulb cover. He pulls out a small camera that’s still smoking from being blown. “She uses my cameras to check for things like this.”
“That… that was recording us?” Dolly says, stunned.
“That was recording you, along with the corn stalk and a few others. It makes you wonder who else they’re recording.” He hadn’t found anything in the South Hall, and he’d gone through and completely redone their system several months back. So what’s the connection? He stops and almost snorts as he realizes how obvious it is. “Does Voltdrain ever come by?” he asks as he goes through the building, taking out all of the cameras. There are only a few, inside, but even just one is more than there should be.
“Other than when I first moved in, no, but I was going to invite him over again, soon,” she says. “I can’t believe he did this, though—”
“Of course he didn’t do it,” he says, looking at her. “Voltdrain’s the south’s equivalent of America’s Son. I was thinking he would have caught these. Neither of you are tech types, right?”
“No, not really,” she admits.
“These are extremely well made,” he says. “It’s no wonder that you didn’t notice. Whoever made them had some connection with super technology in the past.”
“How do you know that?” she asks.
“Because I’m a technopath, and this was either based on something I made when I was in the past, or something Herold did,” he says.
“Couldn’t it be another technopath?” she asks.
“It could be, but the parts are directly from SITEC,” he says. “I had Rochester look into them, earlier. Look, Dollface, I’m going to set up the security system, and then I’m going to go consult with Century. I’ll set up a wall for you to check any of the feeds whenever you want. If you see anyone on your property that shouldn’t be, I want you to call me, understand?”
“Yes, I can do that,” she says as the small cameras start floating overhead. Her mind is full of the fact that someone’s b
een watching them for who knows how long. Ruckus isn’t going to be happy. DOLLY isn’t happy. She wraps her arms around herself, hugging tightly. “The real world is scary,” she whispers.
“Not when you’ve got the Hall backing you,” Nico calls over from another room. “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back.” He comes out, heading to the front room and looking at the walls. “Mind if I set up your monitor here?”
“Is it going to take up a lot of space?” she asks, sort of happy for the change of subject.
“It’ll be the wall,” he says, tapping on the wall a few times before poking his finger through it in a pattern. She lets out a yelp as she sees the destruction. “Don’t worry, I’ll fix it in a little bit.”
“Dolly!” Ruckus says, coming into the farmhouse. “What happened in the fields? Did you light something on fire?” She stops as she sees Nico. “What are you doing?”
“I’m setting up your security system,” he says.
“We don’t need a security system, we’re supers,” she says.
“Ruckus, stop,” Dolly says.
“Did you TELL him to do this?” Ruckus asks Dolly. “What were you thinking? I’m going to call Century—”
“Someone was spying on us!” Dolly says. “Someone was spying with cameras and everything, and neither of us even noticed! We NEED a security system!”
“What are you talking about?” Ruckus asks.
“That burnt spot in the fields was from Nico blowing up a camera,” Dolly says. “He found more of them, both in the fields and in the house. He’s going to set it up so we can see what happens on all of the cameras he’s putting up, so if we see someone sneaking in, we can do something about it.”
“I want you to call me after you capture the person,” Nico says, finishing off the wall monitor. He tosses together a controller and places it on the table. “You’re going to want to get rid of that antique TV. It’s just taking up space, now.”
“If we do that, how will we watch TV?” Dolly asks.
“This is a TV,” Nico says, waving a hand and turning the wall on. “You’ve got all the HTV channels, as well as everything else. Carla will teach you how to use it, if you need her to. While I’m at it, let me see your cell phones.”
“Why are you doing so much for us?” Ruckus asks, her attitude changing. “I thought you were irritated with me for dragging Carla down here.”
“I send my kids out on missions all the time,” he says as Dolly digs her phone out of her purse and hands it over. “This is just another one of them. It’ll be good for her to get used to the South Branch, since she’ll be working here.”
“Can you keep my contacts and apps?” Dolly asks as the phone starts to float.
“I can transfer the contact list, but there are far too many back doors in the apps for me to trust them on my tech. I’ll give you the apps I give everyone.”
“But—but my Candy Smash!” she says, looking as if she’s about to cry. “Do you have any idea how long it took to get to that level?”
“Try the Technico game, the kids will love you,” Nico says callously. “I’ll be right back. The drone plane should have the parts I need.”
He leaves before they can reply, and Dolly looks pointedly away from Ruckus. “I’m not speaking to you,” she says, childishly. “You’d probably just make fun of my Candy Smash game, anyway, so I don’t need to hear it.”
“I didn’t say anything about Candy Smash,” Ruckus says with a beleaguered sigh. “How long?”
“How long was he here?” Dolly asks.
“No, how long were the cameras here?”
“He didn’t say,” Dolly says. “I’m creeped out, too, you know.”
“I’m not creeped out. I just don’t like it,” Ruckus mutters. “We’re SUPERS. We shouldn’t have problems like that!”
“And we won’t, not with a security system,” Dolly says.
“We ARE a security system, Dolly!” Ruckus says. “Forget it. We don’t have much choice but to trust him.” She stops as she hears someone else outside, talking. “Someone’s here.”
***
“Nicoooo!” Skye says, pulling to a stop over his head. “HI!” She drops down on top of him, her stomach resting on his head as she looks at the things in his hands. “Hey, hey, Century told us to go shopping for Carla, so we got her LOTS of stuff, but they won’t let us on campus. Can you break into the system so we can decorate her room for her?”
“No, but I can take all the stuff you got her in and let her do the decorating,” he says, completely ignoring her presence on his head. “There’s one done. Ruckus! Where’s your phone?” he asks as the two heroes walk out of the building.
“It’s fine, I don’t use it much—”
“Hand it over. You’ll probably enjoy the Technico game better than Dolly would, anyway.”
Reluctantly Ruckus pulls out her phone, handing it over. He tosses the new phone over to Dolly before starting to work on Ruckus’s. “Where are your Larry and Curly?” Ruckus asks Skye.
“Who?” Skye says, blankly.
“Moe, Larry, and Curly?” Ruckus offers.
“Who?” Skye repeats.
“Never mind,” Ruckus says, giving up. “Where are Raindance and Jersey?”
“They’re waiting outside the school campus,” Skye explains. “So come ON, already, Nico! I’ve got to say hi to Carla and talk her into joining the job tomorrow at the ice cream shop!”
“You’re robbing an ice cream shop?” Nico says.
“OF COURSE! We’re going to wipe out ALL the ice cream and bring all the cookies home! It’s in our contract!”
“Something like that wouldn’t be in your contract, though,” Dolly says.
“It is, too! I told Century I wouldn’t do it unless we get the all-we-can eat treatment,” Skye says. “You want some?”
“You really did that?” Dolly says. “Yes, I want some!”
“Oh, but they want us to pose for the camera so they can use us for a commercial,” Skye says.
“Cookies aren’t a good enough payment for starring in their commercials,” Nico says, finishing up the new phone and tapping on it to call Century. “If they’re going to use you for that much advertisement, I’m going to make sure you get paid properly.”
“If they’re going to use us for the commercial, we want paid properly, as well,” Ruckus says.
“I’ll deal with it. You and Skye have some talking to do,” Nico says, walking away with her new phone. Skye hops off of his head, landing on the ground and looking at Ruckus, expectantly.
“Yeeeeessss?” she says.
“Yes, what?” Ruckus says.
“What do you need to talk about?”
“Nico found cameras in our field and home,” Dolly says. “He seems to think it has something to do with you.”
The playful look on Skye’s face disappears, turning dangerous. They’ve been fighting her for months, but neither of the Nemeses has ever seen her look like this. “He did, did he?” she asks.
“Do you know who’s doing it?” Ruckus asks.
“Not at all!” Skye says, too cheerfully for it to be the truth. “I should go tell the girls that we need to have someone take Carla’s stuff in for her. Buh bye!” She races off before they can say anything.
“Well, that was helpful,” Ruckus says, sarcastically.
“I think she knows something,” Dolly says, watching the villain go.
***
“So we have a monthly trip that we take with Coyote—we’ve only had one, so far, but it was so cool,” Cisco says. We’re supposed to be having math class, but the teacher had taken one look at the kids surrounding me and said that we’d have a free hour for today. He’s listening to us talk, now. I keep finding myself glancing over at him, wondering who he is, but I haven’t had the chance to ask, just yet. “And they say that Bombastic will be moving down here next year to teach us how to clean up after our shows, but other than that, well…”
“Cisco
says that we’re lacking a lot of the stuff that the main branch has,” Whitney says. “I’ve never really seen the main branch, so it’s not like I can miss something I’ve never had. And they DID build me a mirror room for first hour.”
“That sounds awesome!” I say. “Well… you don’t have the tree houses behind the Science building, or the pool, but really, the tree houses were for Adanna’s training. Do you have any shifters?”
“We’re supposed to be getting a wolf shifter, soon,” Jimmi says.
“A wolf shifter? Like, Badmoon?” I ask, worriedly.
“No, he’s from another line,” the teacher says. “He’s only got the one form.”
“But it was wrong of me to worry, anyway, because Lance is his nephew and I still like him, right?” I admit, frowning. “Oh, but anyway—”
“Horizon, when your class is over, can you send Carla to the entrance?” a woman asks over the speakers. “She’s got visitors.”
“Who are the visitors?” the teacher asks. I guess HE’S Horizon. I’ve never heard of him.
“Um, well… I don’t want to panic the children, so…” the woman says, hesitating.
“Is it Skystep?” Jimmi asks.
“Ah, well, yes,” the woman says.
The class starts cheering, except for the oldest male, who just twitches and crosses his arms over his chest. “Can we go see her, now?” Whitney asks. “We’re not really having class, anyway!”
“No one will panic, right?”
“Can I get my autograph book from my dorm room?” Marisol asks. She’s one of the newest faces, a beautiful Hispanic girl with the ability to bring her drawings to life. I think it’s somewhat like an illusion talent, but I’m not sure. I would have to ask Nico.
“If you make it quick,” Horizon says, standing and stretching. “Okay, everyone, go get whatever you want signed and we’ll meet you at the campus entrance. Carla, are you fine with that?”
“I’m fine! Skye won’t hurt anyone,” I promise.
“We never thought she would. Treble?” Horizon says, looking at the only kid that has refused to stand.