by R. J. Ross
“And you regret it, so this is your chance to apologize,” Nico says in a bored tone. He stops, touching his earbud. “Speaking.”
“Nico, can you let us in?” I hear Grandpa Andre say.
“Us?”
“I’ve brought the healer girl.”
“I’ll be right up.”
***
There’d been a bit of a delay, since her roommate yelled at her. She’d had to go grocery shopping again, Skye thinks irritably. Shopping when it’s NOT shopping day is just so--so WRONG! But then again, she didn’t factor in feeding two people the last time she went, so it sort of made sense--
Well, whatever! She’s going to see her family!
She stops over the Arctic Circle, looking around in confusion. Everything is all ice and snow as far as can be seen--how is she supposed to find Emily in all of this mess? She frowns, just standing in the air high above the ground. The air sure is thin up here, she notices idly.
Abruptly she starts walking north. She probably should have asked for directions, huh? Usually she’s REALLY good at finding heroes--they sort of give off this feel, right? But this place is--
“Oh,” she says, her eyes widening as she realizes what the problem is. She’s feeling three (maybe four?) supers right where she’s at. It’s just that their power is just so gigantic that it’s hard to pin-point WHERE they are. They could be anywhere. Liz had sort of been like that--and Volt and Century are like that, to a degree, too... But it’s strange, she thinks, usually Emily is easy to find! It’s almost like she’s not here anymore.
“So you’re the problem.”
She turns and looks down, watching as a man formed of ice emerges from the ground. He grows larger and larger, until she looks like a toy in front of him. “This is North Hall Territory--who gave you permission to cross borders, Skystep?” he demands.
She tilts her head, her mind whirling as she tries to figure out who he is. “Um... Abominable Snowman Man?” she finally guesses.
“I am NOT the abominable snowman!” he snaps. “Haven’t you even learned who the other branch leaders are?”
“You’re a branch leader?” she asks.
“YES! I’m Isotonic!”
“Like the drink?” she asks.
“No, that’s gin and tonic--I am ISOTONIC!”
“Are you sure? Because it definitely sounds alcoholic,” she says. “Maybe you should change it, you wouldn’t want people making that mistake.”
“You’re the only one that’s made that mistake,” he says, an irritated look on his face. “How did you create the light pulse? Some sort of weapon?”
“You mean that glowy light that covered a ton of land?” she asks. “The one that made a couple of people float and get glowy eyes and stuff?”
“Yes, I mean that ‘glowy light.’”
“Never saw it,” she says, waving a hand. “I’m looking for my new parents--have you seen them?”
“Parents?” he repeats. “According to Century’s files, you don’t have family.”
“Of course I do! I have a niece, which makes her new mom my new sister and that makes HER parents my parents!”
“And how is she your niece?” he asks, daring to go along with this line of thought. Every once in a while the branch leaders get together and share information. None of them LIKE it, but they hate being out of the loop even more. With Century, though, you just need to give him a few beers and some food and he’ll start telling “Skye Stories,” until the entire group is actually amused enough to pretend they get along.
“She’s the daughter of Melody! She looks just like her. That makes her my niece!”
“In a way, that makes sense... I’ll accept the niece thing, but that doesn’t mean the rest of her family is yours,” he says, crossing his huge ice arms over his chest.
“You will back away from my daughter right now,” a deep female voice bellows from behind Skye. They both turn, staring blankly as a large, muscular woman in a pink snow suit takes to the air, her white hair tugged by the wind.
“MOMMY!” Skye yells, racing for the complete stranger and tossing herself into her arms. This, that tiny logical part of her mind whispers, is one of the supers that are so powerful she can’t pinpoint their exact locations.
Her new family ROCKS!
“This isn’t going how I expected it to,” Isotonic admits after staring at the newcomer for a long, long moment. “Aren’t you Tatiana?”
“Nice to see you again, Isotonic,” a deep voice says from behind him.
“Should we invite him in, Superior?” another asks. Isotonic turns, staring at two of the biggest names in super history.
“Sounds like a good idea, Cosmic. Why don’t we do just that?”
***
“So we’ve got it all set up?” Ace says over the com-link. Emily and I are just a few blocks away from his abandoned warehouse, where Emily is in full uniform. She’s got pants and bulky army boots, unlike the skirt version she wore to Mega’s movie. She’s also got a few extras that I’m pretty sure Nico equipped her with. "Can we get someone to put up a warning that this might be scary for little kids?"
"You want a disclaimer for your own act of super villainy," Nico drawls.
"Yeah, I don't want anyone having nightmares," Ace says. "I mean, I've heard all about MY dreams going bad, the last thing I want is for theirs to."
"I'll see if I can't sneak something in," Nico says.
“I’m ready whenever you are,” Emily says, playing with a tiny disk. “Check this out, Aub! If I throw it on the ground it’s another me!” she says, tossing it to the ground. “All I have to do is press this button here--” she goes on, tapping a control panel built into the back of her fingerless gloves.
A perfect replica of herself sticks her tongue out at me.
“Don’t you have doppelgangers?” I ask.
“That’s why it’s so cool! I can do a whole ARMY of doppelgangers with these things!” she says excitedly.
“But unlike your real doppelgangers, these don’t fight, so only use them if you really need a distraction,” Nico says, walking into the room with his headset already on. “We want to make it dramatic enough for the norms, but fast enough that we can get it out of the way. I want you leading a team.”
“What’s the story of the fight?” I ask.
“It’s going to lead up to our hunt,” Nico says. “We’re going to say that that beam was actually Ace’s. He used it to find weak supers that’ll make good minions--except it failed. That’s why Alyssa’s with him--he kidnapped her, thinking she was a super--only to realize now she’s a norm.”
“This sounds way too convoluted,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest and just staring at him.
“That’s why it’ll sell. Emily, your entire goal is to save Alyssa from his evil hold. You’re the perfect hero for this.”
“Why?” Emily asks.
“Because you’re a tiny, spunky little female hero, not a big strong man,” he says, reaching over and messing up her spiky red hair. “Show the world just how much a girl can kick butt.” She grins hugely at this.
“Does Ace HAVE a super finding beam?” I ask blankly.
“He’s an illusionist--he can have whatever we say he has,” Nico says with a shrug.
“Good point,” I admit. I walk over to Emily, placing my hands on her upper arms. “Be careful--I know this is just for show, but still!”
“I’ll be fine!” she says, still grinning excitedly. “This is the PERFECT debut!” she tells me, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I need to call Grandma and Grandpa and tell them to watch! And Skye! Do you think she’s got a new phone yet? Oh, I’ll call Century and tell him to tell her to watch! And Duplicitous said she would come—we HAVE to call her!” she says, tapping on her phone wildly. “Oh my gosh--Aubrey, I’m going to beat DRAGON! Isn’t this amazing?!”
“What should I do for this?” I ask Nico.
“Stay with me and watch it,” Nico says. “This is somet
hing you’ll be telling your kids about someday, we’ll make sure it’s well recorded--actually, Andre’s already got Ace’s base loaded down with cameras.”
“He said he’s not about to miss his granddaughter’s debut,” Ace says over the link, proving he’s listening. “Alyssa, you connect to the com-link like this--there we go.”
“Is Life Light over there?” an unfamiliar voice asks.
“I’m right here,” I say. “Are you Alyssa? It’s good to meet you--I just wish it were under other circumstances.”
“Yeah, can we talk later?”
“I’d love to,” I say.
“Good.”
“We’ve got the go-ahead to start, guys,” Ace says. “Emily, you ready?”
“Yep, all my text messages have been sent! And Trent’s not going to do anything at all, right?” she asks Nico.
“Not a thing--this is all you,” he says.
“Good. I got this,” Emily says, nodding her head and teleporting away.
She appears on the wall of screens in front of us and Nico pulls two chairs over, along with a bowl of popcorn. “For convenience,” he says, dropping down in one.
I sit down, intent on seeing every second of this. A poof comes from behind me and I look up. "Hiii," Duplicitous says, grinning widely and waving at me. "I did promise, after all."
"Grab a seat," Nico says, not even looking up from the screen.
***
“This is demeaning,” Alyssa mutters as she leans against the throne in the middle of the room. Dragon--or Ace, as he insists she calls him, is sitting on a strange throne like chair made out of twisted metal spikes. He's dressed in a Gothic ringleader's uniform, complete with a cocky striped top hat perched on his illusion of a dragon head. She, on the other hand, is wearing a brightly colored tightrope walker outfit that looks like it's straight out of a black-lit circus. She's positive the poofy ballerina skirt glows in the dark. “I look stupid,” she complains as she looks down.
“I like the outfit,” Ace says, crossing his leg so an ankle sits on his knee. “You look great.”
“I look ridiculous,” she says, glaring at him. "Who wears neon tutus nowadays—or EVER? It looks like an eighties' movie threw up on me. Even this stupid mask is practically radioactive."
The dragon head disappears and he shoots her a grin, his shining black eyes almost hypnotizing her for a moment. “I can change it, if you want,” he says.
She will NOT get a crush on one of the biggest teen super villains in the world, she tells herself firmly. That’s just asking for trouble. “I heard that you were the serious one of the bad boys,” she tells him, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him, “and here you are--a shameless flirt!”
The look of shock on his face catches her off guard. For a moment he stares at her, as if she’s said something he’d never imagined. And then, to her shock, he starts laughing. In fact he’s laughing so hard that he doesn’t even notice Andre saying, “And we’re live,” until she pokes him.
A second later she’s staring into the face of a dragon. “You think someone will save you?” he demands--as if that was what he’d been laughing about. “You’re my new lackey, girl, get used to it,” he declares.
“Why?” she asks. “Why me?”
“My new toy picked you,” he says. A staff appears in his hand, glowing the same color as the light that covered the world. “I’m starting to think it’s defective--I told it to find hidden supers...” He frowns at her, “are you hiding a cape under that outfit?”
“I’m NORMAL!” she declares, “You moron! Just look at me! Do I look like I can jump over a building with a single bound? But no, you just DECIDE I'm a super, kidnap me, and stick me in a mask!"
“Obviously it still has a few kinks--”
“A few?” she yells. “More like it’s completely BUSTED!” She reaches for the staff, only to have it disappear as her fingers brush it.
“Someone’s here,” Ace declares, his dragon head expression growing serious. He waves at the wall, bringing up an image of Emily in full uniform standing outside the building. “I think I know her,” he says thoughtfully. “Does she look familiar to you?”
On the screen two more versions of Emily appear, poofing into existence. They see her motion one to go left, the other to go right.
“That’s it!” Ace says, hitting his fist into his opposite hand. “She’s Kid Liberty’s little girlfriend--D.J. I think it was?”
“Divine Justice?” Alyssa offers dryly.
“You sure that’s what it stands for?” he asks. “Not Double Jeopardy?”
“It’s Divine Justice.”
“Dangerous Joker?”
“What does that have to do with anything? It’s Divine Justice!”
He goes silent for a moment and she dares to think it sank in. The shocking thing is, other than the idea of his super finder screwing up, none of this is scripted. She’s just going along with the flow and trying not to laugh.
“So... seriously, how does he handle dating three girls at once?” he finally asks. She almost falls over with the question from out of left field. “Wait, answer that later--she’s breached the barrier,” Ace says, getting to his feet and stepping onto a clear disk and racing out of the room.
***
She doesn't know what's happening with her doppelgangers. It's one of the biggest problems, she realizes, and one she's going to have to fix. Sure, they can talk telepathically, but it takes too much concentration when they’re focusing on other things. Maybe Mastermental will give her lessons. Emily files that thought away and heads through the front door of the beat down warehouse and a into pitch black area, wondering what to expect. Sure she's talked to Ace about this—they'd come up with several different themes he could use for their dramatic face off, but they'd never actually SETTLED on one.
"Hello, little girl," a whisper says from behind her.
She jerks, turning around quickly enough to see just the faintest streaks of neon lights disappearing. Music starts playing. It's a creepy, off-key rendition of amusement park music that sends a chill down her spine. She feels the floor jerk under her feet and neon lights light up a circle that she's standing on. It starts spinning slowly, tilting up and down randomly. She holds her arms out to keep her balance and starts forward as a large pole sprouts from the middle of the circle. She grabs on just as the ride starts going faster.
Emily dares to look around her as more lights light up. The tilt ride is only one of the "rides" in what now looks like an abandoned amusement park. Before she can figure out where to go, the circle she's on rocks wildly and she sees large forms clawing their way out of the floor. Her eyes focus on a crazed looking carousel horse as it pulls itself out of the floor, snorting. It turns, its glowing pink glare focusing on her. Smoke comes out of its nostrils.
"Whoa, there," she says, daring to hold up one hand to try and calm it. The carousel horse snorts, pawing at the ground before racing straight at her. She dodges, only to get hit by a wooden carousel bear from behind. It sends her flying through the air, and off the tilting carousel ride.
She slams into a wall, sliding down it with a grunt. The carousel animals turn, watching her with glowing eyes and smoke rising from their nostrils. For a moment she dares to hope they're attached to the carousel, and can't come after her. They look down at the edge of the circle they're standing on, almost to confirm that theory.
The horse steps off. Emily doesn't wait for the others to join it, she races into the building she had slammed into.
For a moment it's silent, pitch black once again. A light clacks on loudly and Emily looks up, staring into her reflection blankly. Mirrors surround her in every direction. She dares to glance down, but sees more mirrors reflecting her image. She feels a bit dizzy looking down, so she stops and holds out a hand. It touches cold glass. She presses her palm to it and starts walking. Step by step she moves, growing confident—until she takes a step and finds nothing there. She barely has time to scream
before she falls down a steep slide, landing in the middle of a room full of lights.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Supers of all ages," Ace's voice echoes from all around. It's a circus, Emily realizes as she dares to glance around, "Welcome to the greatest show on Earth," Ace finishes dramatically, appearing in the middle of the center ring.
He pulls off a tall top hat and bows to a crowd that just appears all around them. "Now for the act you've been waiting for all night," he declares. "The amazing Double Jeopardy and her high wire act!"
Emily doesn't have time to gasp before she's seventy feet in the air, standing on a high wire barely an inch thick. A tiny parasol appears in her hand. She waves her arms a bit desperately, trying to keep her balance as Ace turns away from her. "And in THIS arena, we have a second Deadly Jujube, bravely awaiting her doom at the hands of the sword thrower!" She dares to glance over, her eyes widening as another circle lights up and she sees Ditto tied to a spinning circle as a shadowy figure throws sharp objects at her. "Oh, but that's not all," Ace goes on, "over here we have a THIRD Dasterdly Jukeboxer, the lion tamer!"
The third arena is lit up and she sees a cage full of the biggest lions she's ever seen—all drooling over Repeat. It throws her off guard and she yelps as she starts to fall. For a second she waves the parasol, trying to catch the wind.
"Ooooooh," the audience says, watching as she plummets to her "death." Dramatically, mere feet from the ground, she teleports. She plans to appear right behind Ace—and for a moment she thinks he has. It's a tall figure in a dark, Gothic suit. He even has a red lined short cloak over his shoulders, and a tall, striped top hat. He turns, taking the hat off and bowing in a courtly manner for her—
The face is of a creepy looking clown. Before her very eyes, the outfit changes to an eerily glowing clown suit. "Hello, little girl," the clown says in a high-pitched giggle, "do you like magic tricks?"
Before she can answer, he waves his hand dramatically before reaching into his top hat. He reaches further and further, his arm disappearing up to his upper arm before he starts pulling something out. Emily watches wide-eyed as the carousel bear is pulled head-first out of the hat. "Lookie, lookie! It's an old friend of yours!" the clown cackles as the bear grows larger and larger. It snarls and she does the first thing to come to her mind—she turns and runs the opposite direction.
