by R. J. Ross
“I have no reason to talk to supers, unless they’re here at the house,” he says, looking over at the door to the front room. “They aren’t, are they?”
“No, of course they aren’t. They’re all at the wedding. But they insist on training my son to be a super villain! Do you know what sort of damage that could do to the family name?” she demands.
“But Lydia, you and your son do not carry the family name,” he points out. “Who was this ‘Monk,’ anyway? You’ve never spoken of him.”
“Ah… that,” she says, cutting into her own food for the first time since he sat down. “There is no such person. I changed my name legally shortly after I found myself pregnant.”
He stares at her. “Immaculate conception?” he offers after a moment.
“Do I look like Mary?” she snaps back.
“Then who is the father of the child?” he asks.
“Well…” she says. “To be perfectly honest, it was a… moment of… impulse.”
“So you had an indiscretion and wound up with a super’s child?” he says. “My, that is quite impressive. I never thought you would be that lucky. But at least you could tell me what he looked like? Some sort of trait that can show while the man is wearing a mask?”
“I truly doubt it,” she says. “Now, enough of this, you still haven’t promised to help change the Hall’s mind about Davis! He is far too intelligent to be one of their silly little play villains.”
“And it’s not something you can brag about to your clients, is that it?” Richard says.
“That is not the point! But yes, if we are being honest, I can hardly lead with, ‘My son is training to be a super villain, here, let me show you his picture,’” she says sarcastically. “I really doubt that will improve my sales rates.”
“Really, Lydia, I think it would increase your sells exponentially, myself,” Richard says. She waves her fork at him.
“Very funny, Richie,” she says. “I can’t threaten people to buy with my villain son, at least… not that overtly.”
“You’re a smart girl, Lydia, I’m sure you’ll figure out how to do it discreetly,” Richard says, pushing his plate away from him and standing. “Thank you for the meal, but now I have work to do.”
“Of course you do,” she says with a sigh. She starts eating as he heads for the stairs. After a second, though, her phone rings and she’s forgotten about him, entirely.
***
“For someone that dislikes his sister as much as you do, you spent quite a lot of time with her,” Clay says as Richard enters the room. The computer is still flickering as he searches the internet. “So? What did she want?”
“She made food,” Richard says. “Despite what you seem to think, this body requires fuel to survive.”
“Whatever,” Clay says. “Now, I’ve already figured out the override code, so let the little monsters loose, would you?”
“Thank you so much for your consideration for my safety,” Richard says.
“As soon as they’re done eating one another, release the canister that you’ve been holding onto for so long,” Clay says. “Don’t bother making excuses. I’ve always known you had it.”
“I didn’t plan on making excuses,” Richard says, heading for one of the shelves and pulling a tiny lever. A hidden door swings open, revealing a frozen canister. He unscrews the top, setting it on the table. “Now,” he says, “do whatever it is you do.”
“It has to thaw first,” Clay says, irritably. “No wonder I had trouble finding it all those years.”
Slowly, crackling with the cold, mud starts crawling out of the canister. It’s more than one of his little dolls, and for just a second, a small glowing rock shows through the moving mud.
“Ahhh, and to think I used to hate you for chipping a chunk of my core off,” Clay says with satisfaction.
CHAPTER EIGHT
*Central Hall*
“Welcome, everyone, to Central Hall, where we will be celebrating the union between Technico and Lady Rose,” Max says as we all enter the same large room where the last party we threw had taken place. The paintings of the super villains are gone, now, replaced with the same type of digital walls as we have at the apartments. Pictures of Dad and Mom in uniform appear on the walls, along with pictures of me and Mom working in the fields and Dad and Zoe building machines. “As this is a private affair, we will not be recording this part, so feel free to make yourselves comfortable,” Max finishes.
Several masks are shoved into pockets and I even see a few people head for the bathrooms to change. I tug my own mask off and undo the bow tie, letting it hang around my neck. I look over as I hear a familiar sound, and see my mom’s favorite singer tuning her guitar. “Max?” I say, looking over with a pointed nod in that direction.
“Don’t worry,” Max says. “She’s agreed to not wear her contacts, turns out her eyesight is terrible without them. She seems to be your mom’s biggest fan.” It makes me laugh, especially as I see Mom let out a happy little squeal and run over, barefoot. “Now, I’m going to go ask your sister for a dance,” he announces, straightening his tie and walking away. I look around, seeing the Cape High South kids huddled together, looking stunned, and then the rest of my classmates heading for the buffet table. Adanna is with her brothers, with both of them held by the back of their dress shirts. Somewhere along the way she changed into pants. While I’m a bit disappointed, I can’t say I’m surprised. I should go over and invite her to dance, but first…
“So,” Pan says from behind me. I almost jump out of my skin. I did NOT hear him coming. “You knew what I was doing?”
“Your sons said you were doing the thing with the money, and then Robo told me all about it,” I explain. “What happened? Did someone outbid you?”
“They brought in armed mercenaries to stop the auction,” he explains, quietly. “I was already out by that point, since I heard them coming. While that would not be a problem in uniform, my secret identity needs to be kept secret. If anything happens it could jeopardize my large cat rescue.”
“Yeah, I can understand that,” I say, looking down. “Did you… did you at least get a good look at them?”
“No, not well enough to give you any details.”
“Were they attacking or eating?” Trent asks, making me look over. He has a serious expression on his face. “Sorry, I know I shouldn’t have been listening in, but… I know what they are.”
“And do you know where they come from?” Pan asks.
“They come from a planet that we went to help not too long ago,” Trent says, “but if they’re on the market here, then they had to have come from SITEC. We went there to dispose of our uniforms as soon as we returned.”
“We?” Pan asks.
“Mom and I,” he says.
“I see…”
“If you’re thinking of going to their building, you’ll need to get permission to enter the South Branch,” Trent says.
“You truly are a Liberty boy,” Pan says, dropping a hand on his shoulder. “You do your father proud.”
“Thank you?” Trent says, looking as if he realizes something is wrong, but not sure how to call Pan out on it.
“I want to go,” I say. “I’m going to see them for myself.”
“Of course,” Pan says. “But aren’t you going on the honeymoon with your parents?”
“Nah,” I say. “They deserve some time alone. Besides, they’re going to be gone for a week, right? I already have bad grades and a legal suit against me, so I can’t leave Central for that long—oh, I need to talk to Kim.”
“We will discuss this at a later time, then,” Pan says. “Now I am going to ask my beautiful wife to dance.” I look over, seeing his problem. Amara is surrounded by supers, who reluctantly move out of the way as they see how she greets Pan.
“But… Century’s right over there,” Trent says, finally.
“You know, sometimes you’re TOO good at playing the straight man,” I have to tell him. “Plu
s, I don’t think Pan wants to dance with him, so it doesn’t matter, right?”
Trent chokes on a laugh, only to get dragged away by Emily towards the dance floor. I’m not going to get anything else out of Pan right now, so I might as well try my hand at dancing, too, right? I look around for Adanna, only to smile as I see her dancing with her brothers at the edge of the dance floor. They’re doing the sticky stick dance. I HAVE to get in on that one!
I jog over, taking a few seconds to get into the groove before jumping in. Oh, sure, this probably isn’t the right dance for folk music, but hey, it’s a LOT of fun! I flip onto one hand, just like Adanna and the boys are, twisting on the palm of my hand. To my surprise, I hear people start cheering. I’ve done it several times, which is why I’m proud to say I don’t mess up nearly as much as I used to! Just as I think that, I do another flip, only to have my hand slip on the bow tie that fell to the ground when I wasn’t paying attention. I barely catch myself before falling flat on my face. “Whoops.”
“DOG PILE!” I hear Skye yell before she lands on top of me, fluffy dress and all. I hear Cubby and Robo laugh as they launch themselves on top of her. They seem so happy, though, so I just lay there, thinking about whether I should get up or not.
“You are getting your pretty dress messy, kitten!” I hear Grandma say before all of the weight on my back is pulled off. “And hello, my little ones! It is good to meet you!” I sit up, seeing her holding all three of them in her arms and smiling at the two brothers. “You are such adorable little troublemakers!” she declares.
“Mommy!” Skye says, wrapping her arms around her. “I knew you were there, but I couldn’t see you… did you get an illusion, too?”
“Yes, my zaichik!” Grandma says. “It is such the fun! Sunny, you will not be sleeping on floor,” she orders me.
“Yes, Grandma,” I say, getting to my feet and dusting myself off. “Grandma, this is Cubby, and this is Robo, they’re Adanna’s little brothers. Cubby, Robo, this is my grandma, Tatiana.” You know, since they look really confused being held by a stranger.
“Grandma?” Cubby asks me.
“Grandma,” I agree. I’m perfectly happy to share, especially since all I’ve heard about their grandfather is that he’s a sexist jerk. I bet he’d rethink that quickly if he ever ran into Grandma Tatiana.
“Grandma!” Robo says, hugging her and Skye. Grandma laughs, hugging them all back.
“Now! I will do the sitting of the babies, and you will dance,” she says to me. “We will eat until our eyes are bulged!”
“YEAH!” the boys and Skye say.
“Skye, you don’t need to be babysat,” I hear Nico call over from where he’s dancing with Mom.
“Who cares?” she asks, cheerfully.
Since I’ve pretty much been ordered, I turn, bowing to Adanna with a smile. “Would you care to dance?” I ask. She stares at me before sighing and holding out her hand.
“You realize that I have no idea how to ballroom dance, don’t you?” she says as I pull her into my arms.
“Mom taught me,” I say, starting to pull her along. “We used to have dances in the front room, playing old records in the background. Mom wasn’t very fond of television. She said life is too short to spend it glued to a box.”
“I can picture it,” she says, swaying along with me. “Sunny…”
“Yeah?”
“Have you talked to Kim about the tree?”
I groan, realizing that I’d gotten distracted again. “I’ll do it after this dance,” I promise. I see Rocco from the corner of my eye and glance over. He looks nervous, and keeps looking over at Carla. “Hey, hey, he’s going to ask her!” I whisper.
“He’ll chicken out,” she says, blowing it off as she glances over at Carla. Carla is dancing with a group of kids, including Cisco. “Hey, go ask her to dance,” she prompts me.
“That’s just mean,” I say, trying not to laugh. “Wouldn’t you get jealous?”
“Of course I wouldn’t,” she says. “I have no reason to be jealous.”
“What if I ask Elidee to dance, instead?” I tease her.
“I would be fine,” she says, “YOU’D be the one sleeping with one eye open for the rest of your life.” I start laughing, picking her up and swinging her in a circle, much to her protests. She lets out a noise that sounds suspiciously like a giggle as I put her down.
“So what’s the difference between dancing with Carla and dancing with Elidee?” I ask.
“Dancing with Carla might prompt Rocco to actually do something,” she says. “She’s been in love with him ever since they met, practically.” She unconsciously leans against me. “I…”
“You know, you could just ask her to go out shopping with you, or something,” I offer, knowing the problem. A look of embarrassment crosses her face.
“Are you going with Papa to steal the Petleaves?” she asks, clearly changing the subject.
“Yeah, I think he’s going to SITEC to see if he can find anything…” I hesitate, and then go on, “but Dad already said that the company doesn’t have any obvious ties with them, so I don’t know if it’ll do us any good.”
“But it’s a starting point, right?” she says. “How about I ask Rocco to dance, drag him over there, and ditch him?” she says.
“I’ll get Carla!” I say with a grin. We separate, heading in opposite directions. I join the group of kids dancing quickly, spinning Keliah to move her out of the way, before taking Carla’s hand. “Hey, Carla!” I say.
“SUNNY!” she says happily. “Hi! I wanted to introduce you to the South kids! Oh, did you talk to Kim, yet? I wanted to help buy the bonsai tree! I got my very first paycheck the other day, so I’m rich!”
“I’ll talk to her soon,” I promise, pulling her out of the group. “I wanted to dance with you, first! And I’ll be sure to meet the other guys soon, too, okay?”
“You’d better! So… why me?” she asks as we start to dance. “Won’t Adanna get jealous?” she looks around, only to stop with a look of surprise as she sees Adanna dancing with Rocco. “What… Um… have they even talked before?” she asks, her tone quiet. “She’s not… hurting your feelings, is she?”
“Relax,” I say. “She’s dancing with him for the exact same reason I’m dancing with you.” We move easily across the room, because she’s following my lead on instinct, her mind still focused on who’s hurting who.
“Annnnd switch,” I say once we meet the other pair. With a smooth move, I’m back to dancing with Adanna, and Carla’s dancing with Rocco. There’s a stunned look on both of their faces, which turns into sheepish looking smiles and an awkward conversation. “Mission accomplished,” I say smugly.
Adanna laughs. “You owe Keliah a dance after that spin of yours,” she tells me.
“After this song,” I promise.
“Actually,” I hear Mom say from behind me, “after this song is the mother son dance.” I turn, seeing her and Dad standing there with Zoe. Just as I’m about to respond, the music stops.
“Care to dance?” Dad asks Zoe, bowing. She lets out a laugh as she takes his hand, leaving me to look to Adanna.
“Go on,” she says. “I’m going to go hit the buffet before the food’s all gone. There are Liberties here, so I need to move fast.” I give her a grin and bow to my mom, offering my hand.
“So,” Mom says as we start to dance, “I saw that little tumble of yours.”
“Ah, yeah, I should have left the bowtie tied,” I say, laughing.
“You know, you and your sister are welcome to come along,” she says.
“Nah,” I say. “You two should have some quality alone time, right? Besides, I could use some sleeping in!”
“All you DO is sleep in, Sunny,” she says, shaking her head with amusement. “Well, if you need anything, I’m sure someone at the apartments will be happy to help.”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” I say. “You two have fun. You deserve it.”
She leans forward, ki
ssing me on the cheek.
***
It doesn’t seem long before everything is wrapping up and the presents, still unopened, are being carted off by black suits. I race forward, grabbing the bonsai tree before they can place it on top of a pile of boxes. “Not this one, thanks,” I say, as they look at me blankly. “I need to talk to Kim!”
I start looking around the room. Most of the supers are already gone, even Mom and Dad skipped out after throwing the bouquet and other traditions. It would be just my luck that she’s already gone—
“Cubby, Robo, say hello to your future classmate,” I hear Amara say. I turn and head for them, carrying the bonsai tree carefully. There, standing in a corner, is the Panterus family standing with Kim and her daughter. I let out a sigh of relief, heading over.
“Kim!” I say. “We need to discuss how much—“
“No,” Kim says. “I’ve already discussed it with Mastermental and Max. You and the rest of the kids will be helping me out with a few things as payment.”
“Oh, okay, cool,” I say, relaxing and looking at the tree. “Huh...” I pause as I see a tiny clay doll leaning against the trunk. “Cute.”
“What powers are you going to get?” Kim’s daughter asks the boys. “I’m going to be able to manipulate cloth into anything I want it to be! My mommy’s the best at making clothes. Do you like my dress?” she asks, lifting the front of her skirt and doing a little twirl.
“I’m going to be Panther,” Cubby says quietly.
“You’re going to be A panther,” Hana corrects him.
“No, I’m going to be Panther,” Cubby insists, looking irritated. “And Robo is gonna be a hero.”
“I am a hero!” Robo declares, posing dramatically. “I’m just from a villain family.”
“It is fine, Robo,” Pan says, patting him on the head. “If you insist on going hero in the future, we will not stop you. And Cubby, you will be both Panther, and a panther.”
“But she said—“ Cubby says, pointing at Hana.
“Yes, but she didn’t know that it was a title,” Amara explains. “Hana, your dress is lovely.”
