by R. J. Ross
I rub my forehead and glare at him, my hands clenching at my sides. “I’m going to do it,” I say through gritted teeth. “Well… I’m going to try, at least,” I admit, my confidence sinking after a second. “Pop…”
“Don’t focus on me, focus on the Petleaves,” he says, moving to my side and placing a hand on my shoulder. I nod, looking down and envisioning the first of the Petleaves. I pull, my hand opening and then slowly closing again as it goes from green to brown. It fights back, and I can literally feel it shaking, but I keep pulling. “One,” I say, my hands unclenching as I take a moment to get my breath back. “Ninety-eight to go,” I tell him dryly.
“Then get to work, kid,” he says. “You can take as long a nap as you want once it’s over.”
“I’m holding you to that,” I say as I take a deep breath and reach towards the next one.
***
*Cape High South*
“What did you do?” Jimmi demands, cornering Davis. Her eyes, which usually glow, are bright enough to blind him. It doesn’t help that he’s never seen that look on her face, before. Even when he deliberately tried to make them dislike him, she hadn’t scowled at him like this.
“They stole my nanobytes,” he says, her jaw tightening. “They stole ALL of my work and stuck it in some stupid plants! All I was going to do was change the frequencies for a little bit, but… they didn’t even steal them properly! If they had built them like I designed them, this wouldn’t have happened!”
“That’s why you tell US about it! You don’t just—just do whatever it is that you did!” she yells. “We’re a TEAM, Davis! We work together! You’re supposed to let us weigh in on how to get justice, not just do whatever you want!”
“They stole my tech and shoddily copied it! They didn’t even bother to change the backdoor coding!” he says, his anger showing. “You expect me to sit back and do nothing?”
“Yes! I do! Your actions might get all of the plants on the planet EATEN,” she says. “You’re under dorm arrest. And while you’re at it, turn those nanobytes back on.”
“I can’t,” he mutters. “If they had been mine, I could, but they were cheap knockoffs that couldn’t handle the surge that came when I overrode them. They’re basically burnt out pieces of plastic, now.”
She yells something in Spanish that shouldn’t be translated, turning away from him as she tries to calm herself down. “And then how do you plan to stop them?” she asks.
“We could… use some plant killer? They’re bushes, Jimmi, we don’t need supers, we need a weed whacker.”
“Then build us one,” she says.
“What?”
“Build us a weed whacker that will take down monster plants,” she repeats. “We don’t have a technopath here, we have you. You can use the room of scraps.”
“Wait, that won’t work.” They blink as Zoe’s face appears on the wall. “Not a weed whacker, Davis, make us a weed killer spray. Keep it from affecting the norms, the supers, and all indigenous plants. That’s something you can do better than I can. I’ll give you access to the information that the South Branch scientists have come up with so far.”
“You’re not going to yell at me, too?” he asks, in a surly tone.
“That’s Jimmi’s job,” she says. “She’s your future Hall leader, after all. Besides, we don’t have time for that, right now. You made the mess, you help clean it up.”
“Fine,” Davis says. “I’ll need a chemical set.”
“It’s in the science lab. I’ll grant you access, now,” Zoe says. “But try not to kill anyone.”
“What sort of high school science lab has the stuff to kill?” he asks. He groans as they turn matching expressions on him. “A super school, right, yes, of course we have that sort of thing.”
“He was home schooled, wasn’t he?” Zoe says. Davis feels a blush rise up the back of his neck and onto his ears as he turns and heads for the science building without a word.
“They’re starting to die!” Marisol yells, excitedly. “Someone’s killing them!”
Jimmi runs into the rec room, seeing the news. “We aren’t sure what’s happening here,” the reporter says as the camera zooms in on the rampaging Petleaf that’s starting to slow down. “It seems to be turning brown. Can someone look into—”
The screen flickers and then an image of Sunny in a mask appears. “So which one are you on, now?” they hear Nico ask.
“This one’s my third,” Sunny replies, not looking at the screen. “When this is done… you know, after my nap? Can we go down and clean up the mess they left? There was a really beautiful juniper that just got eaten.”
“Just how long of a nap are you planning?” Nico asks with amusement.
A little window opens in the corner of the screen, with a confused looking news anchor appearing. “What we’re seeing here appears to be a live recording of—oh, I see, yes, that would be the son of Lady Rose and Technico,” she says, touching her ear. “It seems he’s doing something extremely hard.”
“I think I’ll sleep for a week, to begin with. That’s three down,” Sunny says, turning his body and breathing a bit hard for a second before holding out his hand. “This will be four.”
“You can do it, kid,” Nico says. “Just focus on killing the plant eaters.”
“Ah, it seems he’s… killing the creatures they call… yes, they’re called ‘Petleaves.’ Do we have any idea where they are right now? Does anyone have a live view of… Sunshine? His name is Sunshine?” She doesn’t laugh, but there’s a real hint of surprise. “Are you certain? I’ve heard of strange names for supers before… I see. Okay, straight from Century, his name is Sunshine. Sunshine seems to be a plant elementalist. He’s caused quite a stir in the media, lately, first being accused of assaulting a civilian, and then of killing a… plant.” There’s the tiniest of twitches to her mouth when she says this. “Ah, I see, it seems that the plant he was recorded killing was another of the Petleaves that are causing havoc around the states at this moment.”
“He’s extremely young to be doing something like this, isn’t he?” the other anchor asks, finally looking away from the screen. “I’m thinking fifteen, maybe sixteen?”
“It seems that supers start working at a very young age. I’ve been told that Hypersonic Rainbow is still only fourteen,” the female anchor explains. She stops, touching her ear again. “This just in, we have a sighting of the two supers. They’re hovering high above Arkansas, right now. That plant that was just taken care of was in Texas, though, wasn’t it?”
“It was.”
“I see. That’s very impressive.” She pauses. “This just in, it seems that the Deadly Darlin’s are now battling another of the Petleaves. Do we have a feed on that?”
It’s almost as if they’ve forgotten that their feed was stolen, but since what needed to be seen was seen, the feed changes easily, going to the Deadly Darlin’s beating up a gigantic bush. “Scenes like this one are being seen throughout all of America. The heroes, and villains, it seems, are stepping up to the plate. We’re in very good hands.”
***
*High above America*
There’s something that’s bothering me. I focus on finishing off the next plant, letting out a sigh as I feel it die. “That’s another one,” I say, leaning forward and panting. “But…” I frown, finally looking over at my dad. “Are you recording me?” I ask as I see his eyes glowing strangely.
“I might be,” he says.
“Is now really the time?”
“It’s the only way I can keep Pop from stepping out of retirement. He’s watching you, right now.”
“Oh… um, hey, Grandpa, Grandma,” I say, waving at the camera. “But there’s a bigger problem, I think…”
“What’s that?” Dad asks.
“There’s something growing under the surface,” I say. “I was distracted by the ones on the surface, so I didn’t notice until they started to die, but…”
“What is it?” Da
d asks.
“Something huge… and really hungry,” I say. I look at him, knowing that I have a difficult choice to make. “The ones on the surface… they can wait until he’s gone.”
“Are you sure?”
“No,” I say, honestly, “but I don’t have a choice. I have to go straight for the root of the problem. Those guys might be stripping the ground, but he’s killing the land.”
“Then let’s do it,” he says. “Lead the way.”
***
*Underground*
The tiny penlight that Grahmm is carrying isn’t doing much good. All it does is reveal just how dark it is down here. He keeps tripping over rocks, and every sound he hears seems to be larger than life. There’s something behind him. He turns, his light going a bit wild before it settles on a figure.
“Don’t shine that in my eyes, Floyd, I’m having enough trouble seeing as it is!” Thelma says while flipping on a much larger flashlight than the one he’s carrying.
“Oh, sorry,” he says, turning his penlight away. “What are you doing down here, Thelma? I thought you’d be halfway to Mexico by now!”
“I was planning on it,” she says. “I was halfway packed.”
“What changed your mind?” he asks.
“I saw the flashlight in my desk,” she says. “I… I don’t have many friends,” she admits in a quieter voice. “Not many people can… understand my love for the Deadly Darlin’s, but you’ve never once made fun of me for it.”
“I’m a little obsessed with Lady Rose,” he admits after a few beats of silence.
“Lady Rose?” she repeats. “That’s a good choice.”
“When I heard she was getting married… well, it was heartbreaking,” he goes on. “Of course, then I found out that she had a son, and a daughter, I suppose, but her son is amazingly cool. Do you know how rare it is to find a male super that appreciates the beauty and complexity of plant life? I’ve been searching the web for videos of them. There are several showing them helping farmers all over the Bible Belt.”
“That is pretty impressive, I guess,” Thelma says.
“So I figure I can tolerate the fact that she’s married, especially if it increases the chances of supers with her abilities. But… we’re probably going to die down here. At least I know that the future of the world is going to be okay.”
“He deals with plants, not war,” Thelma points out.
“Plants ARE the world, as far as I’m concerned,” he says. He reaches out, blocking her way with an arm before she can say anything else.
“What are you—” she starts out, only to stop as she sees what stopped him. The wall of the tunnel is moving. It jerks and shudders before a strange, muddy creature steps out of it. The light of the flashlight trembles, almost falling away as the creature turns and looks at them.
“Wh—who are you?” Grahmm demands in a shaky voice.
“I’m hurt,” a familiar voice says. “You’ve forgotten me already.”
“Penski,” Thelma says.
“This one is mine, Farkinkle,” the mud creature says before it turns and heads down the tunnel ahead of them, leaving them behind.
“That… that’s not good, is it?” Grahmm says after a second of just standing there.
“That’s very not good,” Thelma says, “but I don’t know what we can do to stop him.”
“We can kill Little Monster,” Grahmm declares.
“Yeah? How?”
“I… have no idea,” he admits. “I left my weed killer in my other jacket.”
There’s silence for a long moment before Thelma asks, “Was that sarcasm?”
“I don’t even know anymore,” he says, throwing his hands up in the air before breaking into a run.
***
Herold starts pacing in his room, worried. He knows it’s ridiculous to be worried. The cat is just a machine, a tool, yet he can’t seem to stop himself from worrying. Micro should have been back by now. He jerks as he hears a familiar creak of metal, almost running to the entrance of the vents. He’s almost taken out the government, he mocks himself, but here he is, panicking over a piece of metal covered in fur. “What took so long?” he demands as his cat drops to the floor. “What’s that thing on your back?”
He leans forward, reaching for the clay doll clinging to his cat, but stops as Micro sits up, opens its mouth, and speaks. “You’ve been watching me this long, so shouldn’t you know by now?” a familiar voice says.
“I expected you to have a cuter voice, Micro,” he says, covering his surprise.
“Enough joking, Herold, you know who’s talking right now.”
“I thought you were too busy talking to your invisible friend to spend time on us poor villains,” Herold says, heading for his chair and sitting down.
“He’s not my friend,” Clay says, “He’s my enemy. I was this close to having him arrested when someone interfered.”
“And what does this have to do with me?” Herold asks, crossing one leg over the other and reaching for his now-cold cup of tea. “I’m just a poor old man stuck in a jail cell.”
“I want him stuck in a cell,” Clay says, “but as much as I know about science, I don’t know anything about the norm judicial system. They’re hardly of any interest to the big brains stuck in a think tank.”
“So you have no desire to be free? Or how about revenge? Who was it that stuck you in here?”
“Superior did that,” Clay says. “Trying to get revenge on a ‘dead man’ isn’t on my list of things to do. And if we go after him, your darling mother won’t have a guard, anymore.”
“Good point,” Herold says. “I’d rather she stay right where she is.” He doesn’t ask how Clay knows about his mother. Clay seems to know a lot more than he should. “Tell me, that little clay doll of yours… is it piggybacking on my cat?”
“What do you think?” Clay asks.
“I think it can piggyback on lots of things, can’t it?” Herold says, getting to his feet and walking over. “Does Technico notice?”
“What do you think?” Clay asks again.
“What did you mean, big brains stuck in a tank?” Herold asks, instead of answering. “Are you a scientist?”
“I am… in a way. I spent some time masquerading as one, at least.”
“Can you get my powers back?”
“No, but I know exactly who can,” Clay says. “If you help me, I can tell you.”
“I’m listening,” Herold says.
“First, I need to concentrate on something. This ‘little monster’ is harder to deal with than I thought it would be,” Clay says, obscurely.
“I have all the time in the world,” Herold says, pulling the clay doll off of his cat and looking at it thoughtfully.
***
“Skystep!” The Deadly Darlin’s turn and watch Jimmi run towards them. She’s wearing her new uniform.
“She looks so cute in that!” Ariel says, from where she’s hanging onto the back of the rampaging Petleaf. “Put that tree down right this instant, mister!” she yells at it a second later. “You can’t have my trees!”
“We have no time to fight you, little Nemeses girl,” Doris says, from where she’s wrestling with a second Petleaf. “Also, whatever you do, don’t tear these things. They just make more.”
“That would be my fault, tee hee,” Skye says, with a ridiculous pose.
“Yes, yes it WAS your fault,” Doris says. “And what’s with that ‘tee hee’? It sent a shudder down my spine.”
“I propose a temporary truce,” Jimmi says. “I’ve brought something that should stop them, but since we’re not positive it won’t affect humans, we thought we’d let you try it, first.”
The three stare at her. “Oh, thanks,” Doris says sarcastically.
“Skystep can change the composition before it does too much damage,” Jimmi explains. “Or maybe Ariel can, but either way, we need to know before we distribute it to the others.”
“I got it!” Skye says, run
ning over and taking the machine that looks a lot like a pressure washer. “I just aim and shoot, right?”
“Exactly! Everyone, please move back,” Jimmi calls to the large crowd that’s been filming the fight with their phones.
“Who made this stuff?” Skye asks, staring at the canister of the pressure washer. She has a surprisingly serious expression on her face.
“Davis,” Jimmi says. “Is there something wrong with it? Will it hurt the norms?”
“It shouldn’t,” Skye says. “But it’s going to be a bit messy, so get out of the way, Raindance!” she says, aiming the hose and pulling the trigger. Ariel jumps off, just in time, and thick foam shoots out, spraying everything, including Doris.
“Where was MY warning?” Doris asks, wiping the foam off of her face.
“You needed a bath, anyway!” Skye says with a grin. The Petleaves that have been hit start jerking and thrashing, only to slow down and freeze in place.
“Are they dead?” Jimmi asks, walking over. She pushes off the ground when she reaches the foam, flying just over it.
“Not dead, no,” Davis says over the commlink. “They’re in a state of suspension, I suppose you could say. I was working off of what little information the South Branch scientists have. I didn’t have a sample of the bush on hand to experiment on, myself, so I couldn’t create something that would kill them. Bring me one of them and I’ll create a proper formula.”
“How long will this foam stuff last?” Doris asks, stiffly. The girls all look over, seeing how stiff she is. Her lips are barely moving as she speaks from the corner of her mouth.
“You froze Doris, Skye!” Ariel says, flying over to Doris. “Let’s draw on her!”
“A simple solution that I can provide later should break down the compound,” Davis says. “This shouldn’t hurt anyone, but a norm, especially, would have difficulty moving after being hit.”
“I WANT this,” Skye says, hearts in her eyes as she hugs the canister to her chest. “This is mine, now!” Doris shifts into her monster form, creaking noisily.
