Ditto Ditto

by R. J. Ross

  “But on a serious note, is there something between you and Taurus? We’ve seen several moments where you two work together and we all saw that you sat with him during the Mega premier. The super world wants to know!”

  Liz hesitates, glancing over at me and Andrew before smiling slightly. “If I gave you a straight answer before I gave my own family one, that wouldn’t be right, now would it?” she says. “Let’s just say he can beat me in an arm wrestling competition,” she decides, “and a cooking competition. Those aren’t things a girl like me can completely ignore.”

  Prisma looks like she wants to squeal with excitement at that line. “You heard it here, folks!” she says, turning to the camera. “Thank you for the interview, Firefly, as always it was extremely informative.”

  “Hey now, I didn’t say--”

  “Tune in tomorrow when we have a cooking class with Taurus!” Prisma says, turning to the camera and promptly cutting Liz off completely. “That is, if I can talk him into it. Good night everybody!”

  “And it’s a wrap!” someone calls from the filming area. “Good job, everyone!”

  “Prismaaaa,” Liz says, glaring at the interviewer, “you pulled that trick on me again!”

  “I would never!” Prisma says. “You just like to talk,” she adds, grinning evilly.

  “They’ve been doing interviews since I hired Prisma,” Andre leans over slightly to tell me. “She was the first interviewer that could get Liz to hold still long enough to make sense.”

  “And who is this? Mr. Harrison has actually deemed my little show important enough to come visit--and with a guest!” Prisma says, clearly still excited over the interview. She hadn’t looked nearly as chipper when she interviewed Technico, I notice.

  “This is a special situation,” Andre says, smiling as she heads towards us. “I wanted to meet Liz, myself,” he finishes. “I lucked out and got to meet Emily, as well.”

  “Emily?” Prisma says. “You’re Divine Justice, aren’t you? You go to Cape High, right? Can you convince my daughter that it’s a decent place to go to school?” I blink as she grabs both of my hands, looking urgently into my eyes. “She’s obsessed with the idea that there aren’t enough cute boys in the school.”

  “Um...” I hesitate, thinking about it. “Well we just got Rocco! He’s kind of cute--how old is she?”

  “Thirteen.”

  “No, he’s too old, I think. Um, Lance is super cute, and there’s Brandon! Except I’ve never actually SEEN Brandon, so I can’t say whether he’s cute or not. Vinny’s going to wind up with Jimmi--she’s totally locked on, Trent, Max, and Jack are all taken, and--oh wait, does she know that Justin is in our school?”

  “Justin?” she repeats.

  “THE Justin. The pop singer?” I say. “Is she a fan?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ll definitely find out,” she says.

  Like I’ve said before, Justin has a thing for Morgan--so does Ace. Does it matter when Morgan’s oblivious? Nope, not at all. Justin can totally be used for luring in new girls for the school.

  “Ready to go?” Liz asks, dropping a hand on my shoulder.

  “I’ll only let you go if you promise to bring both of your girls to a dinner with me sometime,” Andre says. “You can bring Taurus if you want.”

  “We’ll do it,” I say before Liz can try and back out, “when Aubrey gets back!” Then I hug him briefly before grabbing Liz’s wrist and tugging. “Let’s go, I bet Trent’s getting worried by now,” I tell her.

  She nods and slips out of my hold, draping an arm over my shoulders instead as we head out the front of the building. Look, I don’t ASK for all the physical contact--I’m a teenager, I should be past the whole touchy feely stage by like, ten years. But like you’ve probably guessed, I have abandonment issues. Thing is, I think Liz has bigger abandonment issues than I do. Her father, Superior? He was supposed to have died like twenty years ago, or something. He’s back now, but he’s living up in the middle of the Arctic with his wife--not much time spent with his daughter, basically. Her brother, Technico? He was in the Cape Cells for half of her life because he used to be a super villain and turned a massive piece of ground into a canyon--that’s where Cape High is now. Basically, Liz was all alone since she was fifteen, no family or anything. I have no idea what happened to her mom, either. She never talks about her.

  It’s dark out, I realize as we step out of the building. The night wind tugs at my short hair and I almost feel cold, even though it’s the summer.

  “It took you long enough.” The simple sentence has us both looking up into the air, where a woman stands with her hands on her hips. Her long brown pony tail is tugged by the wind, her black outfit is skin tight and reveals the fact that she’s skinny--and a bit flat. I’ve never seen her before in my life, so--

  “Em? Go back into the building,” Liz says quietly, pushing me behind her. “Go to Andre and tell him--”

  “Melody?” the woman says, suddenly losing the cocky expression as she sees me. She looks pale. “You’re alive?”

  “This has nothing to do with my daughter,” Liz says, moving to block me from view entirely. “What do you want, Skystep? Why are you hunting me down when you’ve got Flame to play with? I thought that was the entire reason you came up here.”

  “Oh, I like having Flame around--he gives me a challenge, but--” she stops, her eyes going to me again. I seem to have thrown her off. It shows when she drops to the ground like a rock, landing on her feet as she starts for us. “You’re not her,” she says, reaching out to me. I flinch away, feeling something dark and uneasy welling up in me. I’m scared. This is the woman that killed my parents.

  I don’t notice the sparks flaring around Liz until my hair starts to stand on end. I’ve never seen this before, I realize as I look at my foster mom, even when watching her on video. There’s a crackling sound. Her eyes are glowing white and her hair, usually spiky to begin with, has grown taller and glows like lightning.

  “Em, I said to go inside,” she says in a cold voice. Before I can reply, someone grabs me from behind. I blink up at Andre, who’s pulling me back from the two women.

  “Spread out, get those cameras on them--keep them out of range of the electricity!” he bellows as an entire group of cameramen in super uniforms comes rushing out. “We want to keep our equipment from getting fried--it might be insulated, but Firefly’s--”

  The field of crackling electricity seems to disappear, but there’s a strange, oppressive feeling in the air that replaces it. Andre lets out a curse and picks me up. “RUN!” he bellows. “SHE’S MANIPULATING THE ELECTRIC FIELDS!”

  The entire group runs as fast as they can, but I’m watching over Andre’s shoulder as we get out of range. It’s glowing a light blue, smoky color that I can only see now that I’m away from it. Skystep looks confused--until she lets out a scream. Her body seems to go transparent for a second before solidifying again--

  Liz is going to kill her, I realize in shock.

  “NOOO! LIZ DON’T DO IT!!” I bellow at the top of my lungs, struggling to get free--I can’t. But Ditto can, I realize as she appears in front of Liz.

  “Don’t!” she says, tackling our foster mom and wrapping her arms tightly around her waist--for all of a second before she literally dissolves out of existence. The haze disappears and Skystep falls to the ground with a thump. Liz is staring in horror at the space in front of her.

  “Di--Ditto?” she says. “Ditto, honey, you--you’re--”

  I feel the recoil--it’s not the same as being tore apart, but I can’t handle it. That’s my last thought before I go unconscious, overcome by the pain.

  ***

  “Em--” Andre says as the girl goes limp in his arms. He pulls her forward, grabbing her head to keep it from flopping around and checks her pulse. It’s strong and steady. The girl merely fainted. “Take her to Central Hall’s ER--I need to go to Liz,” he barks, handing the girl to the nearest cape before rushing to the sobbing white hair
ed woman in the middle of a circle of devastation.

  “Why--”

  “Because she’s my future daughter--and that’s my future granddaughter, so GO NOW!” he bellows as he reaches Liz’s side.

  “I--I killed her--” she says, sobbing her heart out as he pulls her into his arms. “I killed my baby girl--Ditto--”

  “Shhh,” he says, sitting on the ground and rocking her gently. “She’s a doppelganger--she’ll be okay.”

  “I killed her,” she says again, not hearing him. He wraps his huge arms around her, feeling a bit of wonder that such a delicate frame (to him, at least) could do so much. This woman absolutely deserves the title of S-class, he thinks as he starts to stroke her hair.

  “She’ll be back,” he promises as she turns into his chest and starts to bawl. He notices she doesn’t say a word about Skystep. It’s as if the “death” of the doppelganger has made her forget the woman was even there.

  “Boss--about Skystep?” someone asks him.

  “Take her to the ER, too,” he says, rubbing Liz’s back. “We’ll catch up with you soon.”

  “Em--” Liz says, coming back to the present. “Is Em okay? She’s alive, right? I didn’t hurt her?”

  “She’s unconscious,” Andre tells her. “We’re taking her to the Hall’s ER. We’re going to follow them now, okay? Put them in two separate cars!” he snaps at his workers as he stands. “I don’t want Emily near that lady, even if they are unconscious.”

  “I want to ride with Em,” Liz says, pulling out of his hold and racing for the van they’re putting Emily in. Andre pulls out his phone, rather than replying.

  “We’re bringing in Emily and Skystep,” he says over the phone, “unconscious. I’ll explain when we get there.” Then he hangs up and slips it into his pocket, heading for the second van.

  There’s no way he’s going to leave Skystep alone with a C-class cape driver, even if Skystep is unconscious

  ***

  “What exactly happened, Liz?” Jeanie demands as they enter the waiting room. Liz is pacing while Nico watches her with an unreadable expression on his face. The large black man sitting to the side is only noticed by Ken, who walks over and shakes his hand. Trent is standing right next to the nurse’s door, looking close to tearing it down.

  “Skystep hunted me down,” Liz says angrily. “I was going to take it easy on her, but then she saw Emily. She wouldn’t stop trying to talk to her--and when she reached for her I felt--it’s like I felt Emily’s fear. I got angry,” she says, taking a deep breath. “I lost it.”

  “She started to manipulate the electric field around her,” Nico says. “I felt it all the way from the apartment.”

  “You can do that?” Jeanie asks, looking a bit shocked. Liz just looks at her dryly.

  “I’m the daughter of Superior,” Liz says when Jeanie doesn’t seem to grasp it. “I’m classified as an S-class, Jeanie, and it’s not because of brute strength like you. You’ve beaten me in every wrestling match we’ve ever had, remember?”

  “Oh, right. But we’ve never seen that.”

  “Wrong,” Andre says. “She did it once when she was sixteen. I’ve got a video of it--it cuts out halfway through, of course, but you can see what’s starting to happen. That’s why we mostly use drones to follow her when she’s working.”

  “When you were SIXTEEN?” Ken asks, looking shocked.

  “She’s gotten a lot stronger since then,” Andre tells him.

  “And when did you plan on telling me you owned HTV?” Nico asks him.

  “Is that really an issue to discuss right now?” Andre asks.

  “How’d you get the cash when you were living in that group house and doing construction work on the side?”

  “I stole the clone,” Andre admits, “it made me millions. I also had a ready-made crew living in the house, so it wasn’t too much work.”

  Nico lets out a snort, grinning for all of a second before turning serious as a nurse walks in. “How is she?” he asks as Liz turns.

  “She’s stable--the child, that is. Skystep is a bit more affected,” the nurse admits. “Does she have any representatives here?”

  “No,” Nico says even as the door opens and Flame walks in.

  “How is Skystep?” he asks, only to look at Liz. “Did you really have to go that far?” he demands.

  Liz stares at him for a long moment and the lights flash overhead. Nico grabs her before she lunges, hauling her back. “Skystep was threatening Emily,” Nico says coldly. “You should thank Emily when she wakes up, otherwise Skystep would be dead right now--or wishing she was.”

  “She threatened Emily?” Flame asks, looking shocked. “I’m... really pretty confused right now,” he admits, looking at the group of capes that surround him. “Can someone tell me exactly what happened? In fact, start out with telling me how you put a woman that can phase through matter into a hospital?”

  “She’s the daughter of Superior,” Nico says simply, placing a hand on Liz’s shoulder. The look of shock on Flame’s face says that he didn’t know that fact.

  “Excuse me, but Emily is awake,” a new nurse says as she steps into the room. “She’s asking for a ‘Liz’?”

  “I’m coming,” Liz says, following her out of the room.

  The door opens almost the second she’s gone and Taurus walks in, looking almost frantic. He’s still in his cape uniform and has a bit of rubble on his shoulders and in his hair. “Is Liz okay?”

  “You have really lousy timing, son,” Andre points out.

  Taurus groans.

  ***

  It’s repeating over and over in my mind--the view from Ditto’s eyes. Liz had looked so scary from Ditto’s eyes. She’d been like an avenging angel, about to kill--for me. I don’t know what I’ve ever done to deserve something like that. I...

  “Emily? I’ve brought Firefly,” a nurse says, peeking in. I’m almost scared to see her, I realize abruptly. What if she looks like she had when facing Skystep? I don’t think I could handle it--

  “Em? Sweetie?” Liz asks, peeking in shyly. “Can I come in?”

  She looks like Liz, I think with relief. Tears escape me, pouring down my cheeks as I hold out my arms. She crosses the room, pulling me into a hug so tight that I let out a little squeak of my own. “How is Ditto?” she asks as she finally pulls back. “Is she okay?”

  “I... think?” I admit. “I haven’t tried summoning her yet.”

  “Please try,” she says, looking serious as she pulls back. I nod, looking to the right of her--

  Nothing happens. A tiny frown of worry pulls at my lips and I close my eyes, picturing Ditto. Still nothing happens. I open my eyes, but just as I thought, Ditto isn’t there. “I--I think I’m just stressed,” I say, looking down. I feel sick to my gut. Did she die? Can a doppelganger die? I’m starting to get scared. “I just need to calm down--I mean, it’ll be fine, right?”

  “Yeah,” she says, but there’s a strained, worried look in her eye. “It’ll be fine in a day or two. You had quite a scare, right? It’s probably messing up your concentration.”

  “Yeah,” I say, unable to keep looking her in the eye. I feel a shiver race through me, then another, until suddenly I’m bawling like a baby, loud and obnoxious. The door opens but I don’t even realize it until both Trent and Liz are hugging me from either side of the bed. Liz is sobbing, too, though.

  “Shhh,” Trent says, pulling both of us into a hug. “It’ll be okay. Ditto is going to come back, you’ve just had a bit of a traumatic moment,” he says, rubbing my back. “When Aubrey gets back she’ll help, okay?”

  “Ye--yeah,” I say, sniffling. It’s pathetic. This is the second time today that I’ve cried like a baby in front of him. He’s probably getting sick of me.

  No, I’ve got enough stress with Ditto being gone as it is. I’ll worry about the pathetic girlfriend problem later.

  ***

  Flint steps into the room, hesitating as a nurse walks past him with a chart
in her hands. “Please keep quiet,” she says, “she’s still recovering.”

  “She’s got S-class healing, though,” Flint says, frowning as he looks over at the still form on the hospital bed.

  “She does, which is the only reason I’m even allowing you to come in,” she says, “it’s also the only reason she’s still alive.”

  He nods, heading in as she leaves and stopping next to the bed. He can literally see the healing happening, he thinks as he watches Skystep. “I won’t say I’m happy with all the crap you’ve been doing lately,” he tells the unconscious woman as he sits down in the chair next to her bed. “You hurt a lot of the crew back home. Then you chase me all the way back here, and then you go after Firefly. Why in the world did you pick her to attack?”

  “She...” he looks up, realizing Skye is awake, “seemed... like fun.”

  “Well you learned better, didn’t you?”

  “Why is a mini...” she takes a deep breath and he almost feels guilty, “Melody... here?” she asks, turning shining, tear-filled eyes on him.

  “She’s her daughter. She’s going to my nephew’s school for capes,” he says.

  “She... had a... daughter?”

  “Yeah. They had a daughter.”

  The tears start to fall silently and he reaches out, patting her hand. There are no words, they would just bring up things that can’t be changed.

  ***

  “I have to thank you,” Aubrey says to the man carrying her. They’d flown over half the country in the middle of the night after working almost constantly for who knows how long--and it’s all thanks to this man, she thinks.

  “Si,” Voltdrain says, glancing down with a slight smile, “you have, several times.”

  “But it’s my sister--I just--I’m sorry about the rest of your group,” she says, looking guilty, “but it’s nothing that their natural healing abilities won’t fix with a few days--make sure they take the time off, understand? I don’t want them aggravating their wounds.”