by R. J. Ross
He watches the girl, slowing as she slows. Something must have tipped her off, he realizes seconds before she turns and races straight for him. The expression on her face is off, he notes as he dodges her attack. It's like she's a completely different person.
"You will not stop me," she says, racing for him again, her hands fisted. "I'm going to Mother!"
"Your chosen mother is right behind you," Superior says, blocking her punch. He feels her hand sink a centimeter into his flesh and he instantly stops it. He should have realized her ability would work on flesh—too many years off the job has made him rusty. "Or do you no longer want to be part of the Superior family?" he demands.
"HA!" she says. "Like you really accept me as one of you," she goes on, punching him again. Her eyes are glazed—but he sees a tear trickle down her cheek, freezing as the cold air hits it. "You're just ignoring me!"
"You aren't my daughter," he says.
"I KNEW IT!" she bellows, slamming her knee into his gut and sending him flying back.
"But my daughter doesn't like me much, anyway," he finishes as he levels out about twenty feet away. "My son downright hates me, so do you really think it's a good thing to be related to me?"
She stops, looking surprised. "But—"
"This isn't a picture perfect family you've joined, but it's real," he says, moving closer. "At least I can honestly say that my grandkids are starting to like me. That's more than I ever expected to get. And you might not be my daughter by blood, but I'm willing to let you in. With how you are, who knows, you might wind up being one of my favorites," he says honestly. "You're entertaining, at least, and Tatia already claims you. But maybe your new mother seems better than she is. Tell me about her. Does she have kids? Grandkids? Has she taken you to her beading classes? Or made dinner for you? Tell me the truth, Skye, is she a better mother than Tatia?" he asks. He literally sees a small, blocked spot in her brain activity. His hand twitches slightly and he sees the blockage disappear.
Skye jerks, her eyes widening for a moment before she snaps back into normal. "She is NOT! She didn't even offer me ice cream, much less ice cream in the Arctic!" she declares. "And she doesn't come with Liz, who helped me make my dinosaur, or Nico, who's training my roommate to be my super villain partner! AND SHE DOESN'T HAVE EMILY!" she bellows at the top of her lungs. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD, LADY!"
The scream echoes over the ice, and he inwardly winces as he hears a few avalanches crashing in the distance. At least there aren't any humans out here... hopefully.
"What did you do to her?!" He turns, seeing Doris racing for him in her Jersey Devil form. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"
"Wait a moment—" he says, only to blink as Skye throws herself on his back. Doris stops, hovering there and watching them blankly.
"She kidnapped me!" Skye declares dramatically. "I didn't even REALIZE it! That is one tricky, tricky lady, Pop," she says, shaking her head. "She might be even WORSE than a mad scientist! I didn't even think it was possible!"
"Who is she?" he asks her as Doris pulls to a stop, staring at them blankly.
"You know, I don't know," Skye says, sounding slightly surprised. "But we need to get to Justin!"
"Justin?" he repeats.
"He got brainwashed too—and I want his autograph!" she says. "Let's go save the cute kid!" she adds cheerfully, lifting a fist to the air—and more importantly, not moving an inch.
"And I'm supposed to carry you there?" he asks dryly.
"Up, up, and AWAY!" She pauses, thinking for a moment, "Or maybe I should say 'To infinity and—'"
"I'd rather you didn't," Superior says, shaking his head and taking off.
***
"You just let them run off!" Doris yells as she comes racing back through the window of Nico’s workroom, still in shifted form. "You didn't even follow me when she screamed! What sort of 'brother' are you?" she demands.
"The type that figures Superior isn't going to attack someone Mom is fond of," Nico says, lounging in his computer chair with his hands on his stomach. It's an eerie sight for her, once she sees images of her past from her own eyes flashing over the screens in front of him. He knows EVERYTHING, she thinks, feeling sick to her stomach. From her crush on Eric Hampton when she was in grade school to how she keeps busting present time technology when she can't figure it out.
"Do you have to keep playing that?" she demands, pointing at the microwave scene.
"Why not? My daughter did something similar just a few months ago—although with less fist. Relax, Doris, nothing here is going to ruin your 'rep.'"
"It doesn't matter—those are personal thoughts! I thought you said you wouldn't delve deep!"
"These are just your visual memories," he says. The screens stop moving and the one in the center blinks twice, visually rewinding. "This is the one I was looking for," he goes on with a hint of satisfaction. "Right here."
An image of Herold appears. They're in a concrete room—one of the rooms from Skye and her new base. She sees the tubes in the background and a chill runs down her spine. She'd destroyed it, she reminds herself. It's completely shattered now.
He pauses the screen. "Wait—you haven't seen the woman yet," she protests.
"I know, we'll get to that," he says, leaning forward and waving a hand. The screen next to the main one blinks and changes. Herold appears again, standing behind a podium.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," he says before going still.
"Do you see what I see?" Nico asks almost mildly.
"What?"
"The image on the left," he says, waving to it, "happened over forty years ago. The image on the right happened this morning. Do you notice the difference?"
She stares at them. "No?" she offers. "Well, other than a bit of white at his temples and maybe some wrinkles."
"Forty years," Nico repeats, as if that's supposed to mean something, "and no visible physical change except for what could easily be done with hair dye and a bit of makeup. Look at his hands," he says, zooming in on them. "They're exactly the same."
"So are mine."
"Yes, but you're not a norm. A norm ages a lot in forty years. Plus, you were in stasis for the majority of that time."
"So… you're saying that Herold isn't a norm," she says finally.
"No, he's not. And if you're right about those guns… there's a chance he's a technopath."
***
*Utah*
"They just left me," Kirsten says to the empty warehouse. Sure, she'd followed, and watched Rachel do her big debut and everything, but she'd just assumed they would come back here. She needed to heal Justin, right? Something huge had happened to him. But… it's been half an hour since the show finished, and not even Rachel has come back.
She lets out a sigh, wiping idly at the tear that escapes. She should be used to this, she tells herself firmly. Nobody pays attention to her—not even her best friend.
"Hello, kid," a voice says from behind her. She turns, her eyes widening as a man steps out of the wall. It might be dark in here, but her eyesight is good even in the dark—he wasn't there before. There's no door there, either. She takes a step back, her eyes focusing on his face. Even as he walks closer she can see his nose healing and dark bruises on his face turning green and yellow before disappearing entirely. He'd taken a hit to the face recently.
"Who are you?" she asks, stumbling back further. A voice is screaming at her to run—but he's obviously a super. Maybe he came to take her to Justin?
"They call me Shadowman," he says. "Mother wants you."
"Moth—"
Before she can finish the question, he grabs her. She can sense something's wrong with his mind—it's so distracting that she's pulled through the floor before she even realizes what's happened.
The room is left empty for a long moment, the echo of her voice completely gone. The door opens and Rachel peeks in. "Kirsten! I'm SO SORRY I took so long—Kirsten?" She looks around. "Maybe she went home without me…"
***
"So what happened
?" Cole demands as we reach the tour bus. "Why did you suddenly freak out, man? How can we run a tour with you just running off in the middle of it all the time?"
"It's unprofessional," Lonny agrees quietly.
"This isn't about the tour," I say, jerking in Freddy's arms. "This is about Mother!"
"Negatia? She's your mom, right? Did something happen?" Brian asks, suddenly worried. "She's already getting you to save the world? That is SO AWESOME!"
Negatia? The name appears in my mind, swirling like a kaleidoscope. Negatia is… Negatia is my mom. But Mother is my mom, right? So how can Negatia and Mother both be my mom—did Dad know BOTH of them?
But… I can't remember Mother from the past—I whimper as my head starts to hurt again. Thinking about this is giving me a headache!
"Mastermental? We need you to come here for a bit," Emily says over the phone. "Aubrey and the healers didn't fix Justin—Aubrey says that we should call you. He's already tried to run off once, so we used a collar—yeah. Okay. We'll wait." She hangs up, looking at me seriously. "He's coming. But you need to STAY HERE, got it? Do something to distract him," she tells everyone. "Turn on the television or something."
Cole grabs the controller, turning the TV on as quickly as he can. The sound of the news droning on about weather is enough to make me groan. "Not this again—" I start out. Before I can go on, though, they’ve switched to an image of the old guy running for president. I think his name is Herold.
The screen blinks. If I weren't a super, I wouldn't have seen it, but as it is—"Mother!" I say, jumping out of my chair. Falconess shoves me back down in the chair. My bandmates turn and stare at me blankly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank you for coming today," Senator Herold says with a slight smile. It's like Mother's image never appeared—until it does, again.
"Bring me Justin Gregory," she says almost silently. Her image is a brief blip on the screen. I don't think the guys even realize it happened.
"My name is Marvin Herold, and I want to be your president."
"Bring me Justin Gregory," Mother whispers again. It happens in a blink of an eye. I can't help the trickle of fear that trails down my spine as all three of my bandmates turn, looking at me blankly for a long moment.
"Mother wants you," Cole says, his eyes glazed over.
"Mother wants you, Justin Gregory," Brian says, as well. The three of them start for me, only stopping as Emily and the others jump between us.
"Stand DOWN," Emily says, her fists coming up. "We don't want to hurt you, we consider you friends, but STAND DOWN!"
The tour bus shudders slightly, rocking as something happens outside. Malina looks over. "We've got bigger problems!" she says, her tone slightly panicked. "The norms are attacking the bus!"
Even with as tough as the tour bus is, it's starting to rock pretty hard. I can't help but imagine how big a group it would take to get it doing this. What's worse, I realize, is that with this collar on I'm completely helpless. "Take this off!" I plead, touching the collar and yelping as it shocks me. "Please! If they get to me with this on, I'll die!"
Emily and Falconess look at each other. "We can't trust you not to run," Emily says.
"It doesn't matter whether I run or not!" I say, fighting the urge to scream, "I won't get that far with a massive group of norms chasing after me!"
"He has a point," Falconess says.
"But he can fly now."
"I don't know HOW I did it! I mean, look at Ace—he still hasn't gotten used to flying! Who's to say I won't fall flat on my face? I REALLY don't want to die here!"
"Mother wants him," Cole says. I look over to where Freddy is holding him off.
"We must take him to Mother," Brian says. The people outside are chanting the same thing. It's turning into a roar.
"Am I the only one that thinks we should TURN THE TV OFF?" Malina yells, grabbing the controller and flipping it off. It doesn't even phase my bandmates, I think with an inward groan. They're still trying to grab me. I glance over at Alphonse—he's wearing headphones. Maybe the black suits were warned about the television message. Thank God for that, at least.
I hear a thump from the roof of the tour bus and look up as a panel slides open. Mastermental drops down into the bus. The panel slides closed, almost cutting a few arms off of people—thankfully they jerk back just in time. "Justin, let's see if we can't clear up your problem first," he says, heading for our group.
"The woman on the television is called Mother, Double M," Falconess says as he reaches for me. "She's apparently the one that had Justin kidnapped earlier."
"I see," he says. I feel his fingers press against my forehead and suddenly he's in my head.
***
The stage is lit up. I recognize this stage, I think as I look around. It's the same stage where I lost control of my powers. I see the giant screen to the right, showing an image of me standing here, dressed in the same outfit I wore that night.
"So this is where we start out?" Mastermental says from behind me. I turn, looking at him. "Shouldn't we start somewhere closer to the present?" he asks.
"I don't know," I say, "you're the psychologist here."
"No," he says, shaking his head, "this isn't about me working through your emotional issues just now. We need to deal with the 'Mother' situation."
"Why didn't you do this with the zoo kids?" I ask as the scene changes. This time I'm in the bus again, but everyone around us is frozen in time. "They need to—"
"You're avoiding the topic, Justin," he says. "I'm not here to help you work through your baggage, I'm here to fix whatever it is that she implanted in your mind. We only have so much time, you know—I do believe that the situation is a bit dangerous outside."
"Right… Right, okay," I say, trying to focus. "The mental healer back in the warehouse did this trick where I could see the scene I forgot, right? So let's go there first."
"Mental healer?" Mastermental asks, suddenly intense.
"Her," I say as the scene appears. I see myself being held by the pink haired girl, and motion to the purple haired one in front of me. "She's a mental healer—and she brought up this weird illusion with Mother, see?" I tell him, heading for the faded image of Mother. "But I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about Mother," I admit as a sharp color of red flashes through the scene. I groan, grabbing my head, but the pain is all over.
"I see," he says, walking around. He stops at the purple haired girl for a moment before looking at the illusion. "Let's go there, then," he says.
The world twists and all of a sudden I'm in the room where Shadowman is getting his tail whipped by Skystep. It's silent, oddly enough, and I glance over at Mastermental. He's fast-forwarding through the scene, his attention fully focused on the woman standing to the side. He pauses as we get to the point where Mother reaches out and touches our faces.
If I didn't know better, I would think he just went pale.
***
"They're about to push over the bus, Double M!" I hear Alphonse yell as I come to. The foray into my mind has left me feeling a bit light headed. Whatever Double M had done in my mind is still settling in. At least the headache is gone, I think as I look around. It comes back with shocking quickness, though, as I realize that the bus is being rocked wildly by rabid norms. It doubles, even, when I see Cole, Brian and Lonny attached to the wall with Falconess's energy constructs. Even their mouths are clamped.
"GIVE US JUSTIN GREGORY!" the norms outside scream.
"MMPH MPHH MMMM-MMM!" my bandmates say.
"Bring in the black suits—" Double M starts out.
"Not necessary," I hear someone say from outside. A flash of light spreads out and I race to the nearest window to see what's going on. The norms stop rocking the bus and pull back, looking at each other blankly. I can see how confused they are—it's blatant on their faces. They look up at the roof of the bus and their expressions turn to shock and awe.
Double M groans. I turn, staring at him, because I've never
heard of the Central Hall leader face palming, but that's exactly what he's doing. It's such a shocking sight that I don't even notice the panel in the ceiling open until a man drops down inside. Cole, Brian and Lonny fall limply as Falconess releases them.
The first thing I notice is that Skye's piggybacking on the large newcomer. She hops off, though, and starts for me, only to stop. "EMILY!" she yells, throwing herself at the redhead, instead. "It's been FOREVER!"
"Hi Aunt Skye," Emily says, grinning slightly as she hugs the woman. "Hi, Grandpa," she adds to the large man in white. "You, ah, blew your cover, didn't you?"
"No, they think I'm Technico," he says, waving it off and heading for me. "This is the boy, right?" he asks Skye.
"I've already fixed him," Double M says, watching the crowd outside. They're slowly heading off, still confused.
"Are you Superior?" Cole blurts out before I manage to say anything. I've seen Superior before, okay? He came to the school once. But it's still unnerving seeing him alive.
"Are you a norm?" Superior asks Cole.
"Um, yeah," Cole admits.
"Then no, I'm not," Superior says blandly before turning to Emily and holding out his arms. "And where is my welcome?" he demands.
"I said hi," she says as she walks over and hugs him. "I'm supposed to be doing this on my own, though, you know that, right?" she demands after the hug, crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a scolding look.
"I'm here for my new daughter," Superior says, earning a huge grin from Skye.
"I wanted an autograph!" Skye declares, heading for me and hauling me into a hug this time. I almost yelp. I did NOT expect that. "You're even cuter when we're not being brainwashed by a crazy lady!" she tells me cheerfully. "You still want to ride my skele-dino with me sometime?" she asks with a flirtatious look.
Holy crap, Skystep is totally hitting on me, isn't she?
"Skye," Superior says.
"What's up, Pop?" she asks, forgetting me completely as she heads for him.
"You have more important things to do than ride a skeleton dinosaur," he says, placing a hand on her shoulder.
