Guitar Hero (Cape High Series Book 12)

by R. J. Ross

  "Somebody's been working out!"

  "I thought he'd be a skinny little twerp all his life!"

  "Shut it, already," I yell. "You pervs!" I reach up, covering my chest with the suit to add to the joke. "Can't a guy get some privacy around here?"

  I hear Malina laughing behind me, so I guess it wasn't THAT bad of a thing.

  It's mere moments before the bus pulls to a stop and the door swings open. "Okay, everyone, we've found a somewhat private place to stop," Alphonse says. "Falconess, are you ready?"

  Falconess walks past us in a pair of shorts, a t-shirt with Star Spangled written on it, and a baseball cap. She actually has a whistle. Am I the only one worried about that fact? "Now," she says as we get off the bus and line up in front of her. Brian, Cole and Lonny move to a nearby picnic table, clearly intent on watching, "let's see how we should pair you off," she goes on, looking us over closely.

  "Can we have teams?" Freddy asks.

  "Interesting idea—sure," Falconess agrees. "Freddy, you're partners with Emily, Malina, you're with Justin," she declares.

  "I call discrimination," Freddy says.

  "How's that?"

  "Her usual partner has probably a hundred and fifty pounds on me, and hits a million times harder—I'm definitely going to come out looking like an idiot."

  "Don't worry about it," Emily says cheerfully. "If it makes you feel better, I can throw YOU instead of you throwing me!" Freddy stares at her in shock, but she just grins at him. "I'm stronger than I look," she tells him before a second version of her pops up on his other side. They reach down, hauling him up and throwing him directly at me.

  "I didn't hear GO!" I bellow, sending him flying backwards and into them. "Malina, you ready?" I ask, looking over at her. She's looking around the empty park with a rather panicked expression.

  "What do I do?" she asks, "I don't see any bodies of water. How can I fight without water?"

  "Water fountain, right over there," I say, pointing to the concrete building that the bathrooms are in.

  "It's not on! If I pull at the water, I'll break it," she says, right as Freddy is launched through the sky again. She doesn't even notice it, I think as I race over, grabbing her. I twist, pushing her behind me as Freddy catches his balance and lunges at me. His fist catches me straight in the face, making my jaw turn.

  "Oh crap—is that going to make singing hard?" he asks looking guilty as can be.

  Water hits us and I dare to glance over at my shoulder. Malina has run over to the water fountain and is standing there, pushing the button with one hand and controlling the water with the other. She looks so focused, I think—which is a bad thing, because Emily and Ditto popping up next to her catches her completely off guard.

  She lets out a cute little "EEP!" as the two grab her, hauling her away from the water fountain. "Justin! Help!" she calls, waving her arms in my direction.

  "Never! Malina is ours!" Emily and her doppelganger say cheerfully before teleporting away with my partner.

  "How's your jaw?" Freddy asks, still worried.

  "My jaw is fine, I'm tough—but you really shouldn't ask," I admit, standing and looking around for Malina. This time the fist to my jaw is completely out of the blue, I think as I go flying back.

  "That's good to know," Freddy says, grinning. He jumps into the air, flipping mid-jump and slamming his heel down at my head. This time I manage to block it, shoving him off balance. He falls to the ground, only to flip onto his feet again. I should have known he'd be light on his feet—I mean, the guy hangs by his fingertips all the time.

  "I thought you didn't like to fight," I say, punching him. He blocks, returning it with a fist to my gut.

  "I don't," he says. "I'm imagining that you're Shadowman. He's an exception." We start brawling, and I'm actually a bit concerned about my jaw soon enough. The more comfortable he gets with the idea of punching someone, the faster the hits come. And while he'll never be a heavy hitter, he's silent, accurate, and makes up for lack of force with rapid fire hits.

  "They've totally forgotten about us," I hear Emily say behind us. "How rude. I just kidnapped your partner, you know!" she yells. Obviously that's directed at me.

  "I should help him, shouldn't I?" I hear Malina say as I block another rapid-fire set of hits to the face.

  "Nah, you're a hostage. Your job is to sit here and look pretty," Emily says—only to yelp. "Really? Wedgie?" she asks.

  "I don't want to sit pretty!" Malina says, before shouting, "TSUNAMI ATTACK!" I barely catch sight of her before she jumps Freddy from behind, sending them both sprawling onto me. "Um… that didn't go how I imagined it," she says. I groan. Emily starts laughing her head off.

  "TSUNAMI ATTACK!" I hear her shout. Another weight is added onto the pile on top of me.

  A whistle shrieks. "Okay, okay, off the dog-pile," Falconess says, moving to where we can see her if we turn our heads. She looks at Malina as they crawl off of me. "Tsunami attack?" she says dryly.

  "It sounded cool," Malina says, blushing brightly, "you know, in my head."

  Emily's laughing so hard that tears are falling, now, I note idly. "I—" she says between breaths, "like it!"

  "Well, um, I could yell something else?" Malina offers.

  "How about 'duck'?" I offer dryly.

  "That would ruin the whole point of it!" she says, looking highly offended at the idea. "I don't want them to duck, I'm tackling them!"

  "Well, if you yell ANYTHING, people are going to know you're doing it," I have to tell her. I can hear my bandmates in the background, they're laughing even harder than Emily is.

  "Okay, okay, work on catch phrases later," Falconess says, clapping her hands. "If your partner has a problem reaching their weapon of choice, what do you think you should do?" she asks, looking straight at me.

  "I can't exactly stand over there and make the water fountain flow," I say darkly. "You saw how well that worked for Malina."

  "But that's not the ONLY source of water here," Falconess points out. "Check the bathrooms, see if you can't get the sinks running. Either of you can do it—it depends on who draws the most attention, understand? What you did was correct, but I would suggest more stealth and speed when looking for water. Justin is loud and flashy, a perfect way to distract the other team, but you only have so much time," she says to Malina. "Thankfully, your small size will come in handy—people won't expect you to be dangerous, at least they won't the first time they run into you."

  "If it's Max or one of the other boys, they'll make sure to fall for it every time," Emily agrees.

  "Really," Falconess says skeptically.

  "Definitely," I have to agree. "Jack, especially—he's actually really good at acting stupid."

  "Fine. Now, let's start over—the surprise attack was good, but let's do this like a photo op. Emily, Freddy, you're villains this round, Justin, get your heroic pose on." She blows hard on the whistle. "And START!"

  ***

  *Somewhere in Utah*

  “The Hall is getting out of hand,” Senator Herold preaches through the speakers of her parent’s television. Rachel Proctor, future West Hall hero, ignores it, typing away on her computer. This is no time to freak out over yet another rant about supers and how they’re “dangerous to our children.” Something far more important is going on. Justin is going back on tour.

  “Dad? Mom? Can I go over to Kirsten’s tomorrow night?” she calls over her shoulder.

  “Is it that silly fanclub thing of yours?” her mom demands. “Don’t you have more important things to do than obsess over a pop singer? Like getting ready for your debut this weekend?”

  “It isn’t silly! This is a seriously BIG thing! Bigger than a stupid debut! And I CAN’T do it this weekend!” she protests, getting to her feet. “Justin is finally coming back--I have a million and one things to do--”

  “In other news,” the news lady says, cutting off the Senator entirely, “it’s been confirmed that the pop singer Justin is finally admitt
ing that he's--”

  “Please don’t say married,” Rachel says, crossing her fingers. How will she be able to write fanfiction of their marriage if he’s already married? Maybe if his wife dies off in a freak accident--

  “A super,” the news lady finishes.

  “He’s a WHAT?” Rachel yelps, only to hear the question echoed by her parents.

  “There have been rumors, of course, since the incident at his last show, but we finally have confirmation from his new agent, Nathan Pao.”

  An Asian man wearing a pair of glasses and a suit appears in the left hand upper corner of the screen. “Yes, it’s true, THE Justin is a super. We’re proud to announce that his new tour, Live Loud, is being brought to you by Hero TV, television for heroes. This isn’t to say we won’t be posting videos of behind the scenes on our Patreon account--”

  The TV turns off before she can get the address. “What did you do that for?” she demands.

  “Negatia isn’t going to be happy,” her mom says, completely ignoring Rachel’s outburst. “Do you think we should call her?”

  “She should already know,” her dad says, looking grim. “He’s just given up his secret identity--right when the norms are starting to turn on us.” He runs a hand over his face. “What would Sonic say?”

  “Sonic?” Rachel repeats blankly. “What does Sonic have to do with Justin?”

  “Sonic was Justin’s father,” her dad says. “But none of this has anything to do with you--we finally got you a debut with Maximum, you need to seriously buckle down and train!”

  “Maximum is STUPID!” Rachel yells childishly. “I want to debut with Justin! He’s a million times better--AND a super!”

  “Maximum is a super villain, and as far as we can tell, Justin isn’t,” her dad says. “There’s no way he can be your debut partner. Honestly, do you even realize how many strings Negatia had to pull to get him to come here? His tour was already lined up by Central Hall weeks ago. You’re a last minute addition.”

  “Then I’ll go super villain!” she says rashly. “Don’t you understand--this is fate!” she turns and runs off before they can reply, racing out of her house and across town. For a long moment she looks around, wondering where she is. Her phone rings. She pulls it out, checking the caller ID before answering.

  “I think we should do something,” Kirsten says without bothering to announce who it is.

  “What?”

  “Justin is coming in concert this weekend, Rach! We need to get his attention!”

  “I know, but I’ve got my stupid debut planned for this weekend--I can’t get out of it, even if I DID tell my parents I was going super villain and that Justin would be my debut--” Rachel starts ranting.

  “Wait, stop, calm down,” Kirsten says. “Now breathe. Are you breathing?”

  “Yes, I’m breathing,” Rachel says, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. “They just don’t understand how much this means to me, Kirsten. Justin’s music got me through--through my powers coming.”

  “I know, it did for me, too,” Kirsten says, “which is why you might have something with your super villain idea...”

  “But how can I get out of fighting Maximum?” Rachel asks. “I’m one of the few B-class capes that he’s even willing to take on--and I think that’s only because Negatia did some sort of deal with him!”

  “We’ll just call him up and see about rescheduling. Tell him you’re sick or something. He’s got a website, it comes with an email and everything. This is way more important than becoming a super hero, Rachel!”

  “What, exactly, are we going to do?”

  “We’re going to the concert, and we’re going to get his attention--one way or another.”

  “But what if Maximum doesn’t agree?”

  “Then we deal with him, first.”

  ***

  *Kansas City*

  "You were supposed to keep him from this!" the man bellows in Tom Macow's face, waving a hand in the direction of the television on the wall. The room is empty, save for the two of them. It's an old building that most people assume is abandoned. All of the windows are boarded up and covered in graffiti, the water doesn't work—it'd been cut off months ago, and the electricity is shoddy. Whenever you plug something in, the outlet sparks. It's the meeting hall of the Anti-Super Society. Of course they make sure to say the name properly rather than shortening it, Tom thinks dryly. He still isn't sure how he got mixed up in this. Every time he tries to remember, his head starts to hurt.

  "This what?" he finally asks when he notices the man just staring at him.

  "Your EX client is now officially out as a super hero! He's running around, right now, showing off just what a freak he is!" he pushes a button on the TV controller and a video starts playing. Tom watches for a second before pointing at the little water girl.

  "Her! I know her name!" he says. "We can do something with that, right? If we know her name, we can track her down, right?"

  "FINALLY you do something useful! What's her name?"

  "Ma… something. Mal…" Tom frowns, trying to remember what it was, exactly. "Malina!" he says. "She had a weird name—and she was short! One of those little people!"

  "Did you get her LAST name?" the tall man asks.

  "No… I mean, I didn't even think—"

  "You IDIOT!" the tall man says, raising a hand to slap him.

  "Now, now," a familiar voice says as a man steps out of the shadows, "really, Sam, we should treat our help better than that, don't you think?"

  "Senator Herold," Sam says, jerking his arm back down as if he hadn't just threatened Tom. "Sir, we had clear instructions for Tom, here, and he failed on every count! He's useless! We need to put him back in the box."

  "Box?" Tom repeats. His head starts screaming in pain and he grabs it with both hands. It's like something is trying to drill through his cerebral cortex. He's not even sure WHICH part of his brain is the cerebral cortex, but he's positive that the drilling is hitting it, too.

  "That is not an option right now, Sam," Senator Herold says. "Tom, my friend, thank you for all of your hard work," he goes on, walking over and holding out a hand. Tom stares at it for a moment before shaking, wondering why something looks wrong about that hand. He can't seem to put a finger on it…

  "Thank you," Tom says instead of dwelling on the hand issue. "I just—I'm sorry, I don't know how I wound up failing so badly. I just couldn't seem to keep my feelings to myself all of a sudden." Something seems wrong about that, too, he thinks with a frown. He'd always been—

  "He needs the box," Sam repeats, looking over at the senator.

  "We can't DO the box right now, Sam. We're going to have to find out what all he knows and work from there," Herold says a bit sharply.

  "You have beautiful hands," Tom blurts out, only to wonder where it comes from. But it's true, he realizes as he looks at them again. "For your age, especially—do you use some sort of special cream?"

  "Thank you," Herold says with a smile. "I try to take good care of my appearance. Now, why don't you tell me about who else was with your ex-client?"

  "Well… Falconess was there! She's a real babe. And there was this strange kid with a lizard haircut—" he starts rattling off whatever he can remember. The idea of being "stuck in the box" sends a chill down his spine. He's almost grateful that he can't remember why.

  ***

  "That was pretty amazing," Cole says, still laughing as we go past the Colorado/Utah border sign. I ignore him, my eyes glued to the sign as it disappears behind us. We're here. I can't help but feel nervous, even though we've already had a run-in with Negatia. Now we're in HER territory. There's no Mastermental to hide behind, nothing to keep us on our mission except for her willingness to let it happen. Even if Nico's the son of Superior, I still can't expect him to force her to do anything she doesn't want to. There's a good chance we'll be visiting the Hall before we even get to our next gig. I look over at Falconess, who's playing a video game on the wall. "So he
's built this into all of the dorm building?" she asks Malina, who's right next to her.

  "Yep," Malina says. "Every once in a while we wake up and Nico's in the middle of the main room and things are floating everywhere."

  "But why?" Falconess asks. I think she borrowed Malina's phone for the game, since I really doubt teal is her color.

  "Um…" Malina frowns for a long moment. "I have no clue," she finally admits. "But that's how I finally got my own laptop! I just sat there in the room while he was tweaking all the stuff and suddenly there's this little laptop sitting on the table next to me—it glows!"

  "Nico is just like that," Emily says. "Are we going to West Hall next?" she asks curiously.

  "We should be stopping there next," Falconess says. "Do you think I could get him to upgrade my work tools sometime?" she asks, going right back to the Nico talk.

  "Hey, is Nico Technico?" Cole asks me, making me look over.

  "Yeah," I say.

  "What's he like?"

  I frown as I try to figure out how to explain Nico. "Well… Emily knows him better than I do—" I start out, trying to pass the buck. I look over at the girl in question, only to inwardly groan as I realize she's playing the game now. There's no chance of her explaining anything unless one of her doppelgangers come out to do it. "Or Ditto?" I offer a bit louder, trying to get her attention.

  "I've been using Ditto and Repeat to do little delivery jobs," Emily says, not looking back at me. "It's part of my training. She even took Skye and her roommate up to the Arctic Circle not that long ago."

  "Dang it," I mutter. "Okay… well… first of all, he was in the Cape Cells for fifteen years, right? I think it totally messed up his social skills, or something, because he never bothers to ask anyone anything—"

  "That's just his nature," Emily says over her shoulder, grinning evilly. She lets out a yelp a second later. "You killed me!"