Ditto Ditto

by R. J. Ross

  I give her a dirty look and race off, knowing she’ll follow me even if she doesn’t want to. I can feel her glaring at me for being an idiot the entire trip across town. I don’t care, because frankly I agree. She’s got a very good point. The only thing is, I want to hear from Skystep directly what happened to my parents. I just don’t know if she’ll tell me.

  We slow down as we get to a more derelict part of town. The buildings are abandoned and plants are growing up their sides and in their parking lots. There are no signs of norms, other than graffiti and broken beer bottles. I find myself slowing down and glancing around on a regular basis, wondering if we’re being watched. I half expect a tumbleweed to drift past.

  I see Repeat ahead of us, pulling to a stop and looking at her piece of paper. She turns, heading for one of the dilapidated stores. It’s an ugly four story square building with faded remains of letters across the front. The windows are boarded up, all except a few of them on the top floor. Those look like they’ve been busted out–and had curtains hung. It’s a bit strange, I admit, especially when I notice underwear hanging on a hook in the window, air drying.

  There’s music coming from inside, Johnny Cash. Who knew Skystep listened to Johnny Cash, I wonder as Repeat drags us behind an overgrown bush. ‘So what’s the plan?’ I hear her ask us.

  ‘You’re the one that decided you were going to do it on your own!’ Ditto snaps. ‘My plan is to leave her here with her drying undies and ancient music and make Trent take us on a date! He’s supposed to be building a pool, remember? I want to go swimming!’

  ‘She’s got a point, we didn’t get to go swimming because of Skystep,’ I admit, glancing up at the fluttering underwear. ‘Besides, you’re the one that’s trying to be so big and bad in the group, not me.’

  ‘I AM you!’ she snaps, glaring at me darkly.

  ‘I vote we kick her out,’ Ditto says, holding up a hand, ‘any seconds?’

  ‘I can’t kick a part of me out, Ditto,’ I drawl, rolling my eyes at her, ‘no matter how much it might save me in headaches.’

  ‘She’s just going to try and get Trent time when this is over, you know–that’s one too many of us!’ Ditto complains.

  Yes, I am fighting over my own boyfriend with myself. That’s not the important part. ‘I...’ I start out slowly, ‘I want to hear directly from her if she did it–and why,’ I tell the others, looking at the ground. To my surprise, they both hug me. Ditto I’m not surprised by, but Repeat is holding on just as tightly.

  ‘We all do,’ she whispers through the mind link, ‘and fighting over Trent can wait until we’ve dealt with this problem.’

  ‘In other words she totally plans on it,’ Ditto complains.

  I’m about to tell them both that as the original I get first dibs, when the sound of a car catches my ear. I grab them both, hauling them down and out of sight as this square, ancient looking car makes its way down the street. It’s one of those cars you see in those cheesy seventies movies, with sharp angles and low slung doors. You can imagine “Low Rider” playing in the background if it helps you out. I know I am.

  We go silent, all wondering what the car’s doing. Maybe it’s a gang member here to hide some bodies or something. No one would look in a place like this, but Skystep might disagree with the smell. The sight of the car pulling to a stop in front of her building has me holding my breath. Definitely not a dead body drop-off.

  The door squeaks open, hanging open as a cane comes out first. We watch in silence as an old man pulls himself out. He’s well dressed, with shiny black dress shoes and a classic cut shirt. His gray white hair is stylishly trimmed, as is his short beard. He looks around, and I don’t dare move in case I catch those sharp looking eyes. Finally he heads for the building, his cane tapping casually on the concrete.

  “Skystep!” he calls up to one of the open windows. “I’ve come to offer you a deal!”

  The music pulls to a scratchy stop and Skystep steps to the window, looking down at him.

  “Who are you?” she demands, not looking impressed. Does she get propositioned by old guys a lot? I glare at Repeat as she lets out a splutter, covering her mouth with her hand before the laughter fully escapes her. Thankfully neither of them seem to have heard her.

  “They call me Mr. Will,” the old man says, not bothering to yell even though she’s several stories above him. “I’m just an old man with a few very good connections. I’d like to offer my assistance.”

  “For what?” she demands. “Honestly, I can’t think of anything you can offer me.”

  “I saw what happened in Missouri,” he says, leaning with both hands layered on the head of his cane. “What happened to you wasn’t right, now was it? I’m here to offer you some revenge.”

  “I don’t deal with crazy norms,” Skystep says after a long moment of staring at him incredulously. She steps out of view, but I bet she’s still listening.

  “Do I strike you as crazy?” he asks casually. “Do you think a regular norm would know about what Firefly did to you? Or how about the little showdown with the Liberty family? What is it that you were so intent on getting up there, anyway? Was it the girl?”

  Skystep steps into view again. “Who are you and what do you want?” she demands bluntly.

  “I’ve already introduced myself. I’m here to help you get what you want.”

  She hesitates, then steps onto the window ledge, jumping out and landing in front of him. “You speak big for a norm.”

  “It’s not speaking big when you can back it up,” he says confidently. “Now, this girl, she’s what you want, right?”

  “You really think I’m going to let a complete stranger get close to Melody’s daughter?” she asks him, her expression going hard. “I don’t like how casually you speak about her.”

  “Oh? And Melody is?”

  “My best friend,” Skystep declares. I feel Repeat go still before she disappears, only to reappear in front of Skystep.

  “YOU LIAR!” she bellows, tackling the older woman to the ground.

  “I see, so we’re going to have to do this the quick and ugly way, are we?” I hear the old man say. He brings up his cane, twisting the handle off and flipping it in his hand. He shoves the needle on the end into both of them, moving so quickly that I wouldn’t have seen it had I been normal. Skystep goes limp and I mentally shout at Repeat to follow suit. Whatever he had in that needle was some nasty crap. If she doesn’t react as he expects, bad things could happen–he might realize she’s just a doppelganger.

  The old man pulls out a phone, tapping on the screen and speaking into it. “Bring the van–keep the super sedatives at hand, I don’t believe this will last long on her.” I hear the van coming, racing down the street and pulling to a screeching halt beside the old man. Two large men in nurse uniforms jump out of the back and head for Repeat and Skystep. A third man swings the back doors of the van open and jumps out, pulling out a gurney.

  “What about the kid, boss?” one of the nurses asks as he stands over Repeat.

  “Bring her, she obviously has powers,” the old man says. The nurse nods and I watch as he picks up Repeat, heading for the van while the other two snap Skystep into the gurney. I can feel how stressed out Repeat is right now, playing dead. Suddenly this situation’s gotten serious–more serious.

  I get the feeling we’ll never find out what happened to my parents if we let this old man take Skystep.

  ***

  “Stop right there.” Normally that sentence wouldn’t mean a thing, Nico thinks as he pulls to a stop. Unfortunately that’s not the case when it’s Voltdrain saying them. The short Hispanic man floats in front of him, wearing full uniform. “I’m afraid I was told to stop you at our border, Señor Nico. Century cannot have you running around without permission–“

  Voltdrain stops as Kid Liberty flies right past them, and then turns and looks back at Nico, as if it never happened. “He cannot have you running around without permission, I am afraid. You will
have to go through the proper procedures.”

  Nico hesitates, but he has to point out–“You just let Kid Liberty through.”

  “Century said nothing about Kid Liberty,” Voltdrain says with a glint in his eyes. “He just told me to stop you.”

  “Well, one of my kids is down here without permission, I’ve come to get her back,” Nico says impatiently.

  “Si, and you can–as soon as you go through the proper procedures.”

  “Fine,” Nico says irritably, glancing over once again where Kid Liberty had flown past. Mentally he was guesstimating the speed the boy had been going at. He’s going to have to time him when they get back to school, he decides. “Where’s the paperwork?” he asks Voltdrain.

  “It is not paperwork, it is an interview,” Voltdrain says with a sigh. It’s obvious by the beleaguered expression on his face that he feels a lot like Nico does right now. “We are to show the norms that we are perfectly fine with the situation between us.”

  “Situation? There’s a situation?” Nico asks blankly.

  “You have my daughter, no?” Voltdrain points out.

  “Technically the school has her–she’s started helping Vinny cook,” Nico says with a shrug. “Where’s the interview?” he asks, following as Voltdrain leads. “Jimmi’s taken over the dorm thanks to the cooking thing. You don’t piss off the cooks.”

  Voltdrain grins slightly, a hint of amusement in his eyes. “I do like Vinny,” he admits cheerfully as they head to a stage, where Century is already talking to a large group of reporters. “He is doing well, with his father and Flint?”

  “Yeah, far as I can tell. Nobody’s been killed so far.” They land on the stage, only to get a dark look from Century.

  “Where’s your uniform, boy?” the South Hall Leader asks Nico, covering his mic with his hand.

  “I didn’t realize I’d be shamming for the public when I took off after Emily,” Nico says dryly. “Can we make this fast?”

  Century shoots him a dark look before turning to the mic. “And without further ado, I present to you Technico and our very own Voltdrain!”

  ***

  I watch silently as the van slowly heads down the street, focusing on the license plate and memorizing it. Z18-GG3. An older van, white, no side windows, no rack on top–I commit the facts to memory, wondering if I can keep out of sight while chasing it. Ditto pops up beside me, pointing to the roof. “Let’s try teleporting there,” she says. “We’ll hang on and–“

  “Can’t, there’s a chance the old guy in the car will see us,” I say, scowling. “Man, I wish I could fly,” I complain. “If we could fly we could–“

  “If I could offer my assistance?” a very familiar voice says from behind us. We turn, staring in shock at Trent, who’s floating in the air. He drops to the ground and rushes forward, pulling us both into a hug so tight that I let out a squeak. “You’re alive,” he breathes out as we instinctively cling to him. “Now I’m going to KILL YOU!” he snaps, pulling back and glowering at us. “What were you thinking, teleporting all the way down here? Are you crazy? There was nobody to guard you! You could have been kidnapped–or worse! You are SO GROUNDED it’s not even funny!”

  He’s wrong, right now it IS funny, but I can’t exactly say that to a pissed off boyfriend. “But we were,” Ditto says, “well, one of us was, at least.”

  “Were what?” he asks.

  “Kidnapped,” Ditto and I say, looking at each other. “Repeat was grabbed along with Skystep,” I explain. “This old man that called himself Mr. Will shot them up with some sort of super sedatives and had his nurse guy drag them off in a van.”

  “Just call her back,” he says. “We’re going home.”

  I stare at him in shock. Ditto reaches up and touches his forehead, checking to see if he’s got a fever. “We can’t do that,” I say when she looks at me and shrugs. “They kidnapped a super. There’s got to be a reason, right? And if we let him keep Skystep, we’ll never know what happened to my parents, Trent. We can’t let that happen.”

  “That’s why Repeat is playing dead right now,” Ditto adds, “and we’re losing track of the van–we need to catch up with it if we’re going to get them back.”

  “That’s South Hall–“ he stops, groaning. “I’m starting to sound like Nico,” he mutters, shaking his head. “But it’s true,” he admits, looking me in the eye. “There are borders for each of the Halls, Em–trust me, I’ve been lectured on this since my last trip down here. Certain heists and jobs are only to be handled by the local Hall. If we were to have capes from different Halls butting in on any problem that caught their eye they’d not be there for problems in their own area. There’d also be a lot of–“

  “But we’re just saving one of our own,” Ditto says, looking patently innocent. “I mean, Repeat is one of us. We’re not really interfering that way, right?”

  He looks at her, his expression dry. “YOU can explain that when we have to talk to Century, got it?” he says, pointing at her.

  “Fine! Now can we go?” I demand, jumping on his back. I’ve wanted to do this since Ditto did it at the pool, I won’t lie. “Onward, to save my doppelganger!” I say, pointing in the direction the van went. Ditto disappears, leaving just me and Trent to fly. Less weight for him to carry means he’ll go faster, right?

  “Okay, fine, I just... need to figure out how I start,” he says. From where I’m at the sight of his neck turning red with embarrassment is blatantly obvious.

  “What? You don’t know how to start?” I ask, torn between teasing him and getting irritated.

  “I wasn’t paying attention, I was just going as fast as I could,” he mutters, the red creeping to his ears.

  “You can’t do that, you’ll pass up the van,” I say, frowning in thought. “Try jumping?”

  “Yeah. Okay, hold on tight,” he says, crouching before leaping straight into the air. We go up and up, far past the tops of the abandoned businesses. “This is AWESOME!” I say, clinging tightly as I look down. He stops and for a second it feels like we’re going to go down again, but then he catches his balance.

  “Got it,” he says with satisfaction. “Where’s the van?” he asks. I look at the ground, searching for the white, windowless back end of the van.

  “There,” I say, pointing. He turns, flying above the van, high enough that it looks like a toy from where we’re at. “I’m not too heavy or messing up your flight, am I?” I ask, laying against his back, my arms wrapped around his chest. “I can teleport now, you know?”

  “I know,” he says, “but you’re fine like this,” he adds. “I figure once in a while flight will be more useful, right?”

  “We can’t teleport to places we’ve never been,” I agree. “We landed on the picnic table where we talked with Vinny last time. So in order for it to be useful, we’ll have to go a lot of places the old fashioned way, right?” I point. “They’re turning.”

  He follows along, keeping just close enough that our superior sight can see the cars. Thankfully it’s cloudy out today, I think as we keep to the clouds. “Can you teleport with someone other than your doppelgangers?” he asks curiously.

  “I’ve got no idea,” I admit. “We’ll try it sometime.” It’s nice, flying like this. It feels like we’re on a date, or something, and I don’t feel embarrassed hugging my boyfriend in public. What? I DO get embarrassed, you know. Once in a... rare while. That’s about the time I start picking on him. Now, though, I can happily rest my chin on his shoulder and watch the world below. “Trent?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m glad you learned to fly,” I tell him.

  “Yeah, me too,” he says. “I’m not so glad you learned to teleport.”

  “What’s that mean? Teleporting is awesome!”

  “Yeah, but it makes it really hard to keep track of you,” he says. “I bet Zoe and Adanna are freaking out right now, wondering if you’re alive or dead,” he adds.

  “Oh!” I say, digging out my phone
and calling Zoe. “Zoe! I’m in Texas!” I tell her as soon as she answers.

  “You’re WHERE?” she demands.

  “Texas! I learned to teleport! But Trent is here with me, we’ve got some stuff we need to do before we come back, okay? Tell Adanna not to freak out–and tell Liz–um, actually, unless she knows that I’m gone, don’t tell her ANYTHING, got it? She’s under house arrest–“

  “Taurus’s dad is here,” Zoe interrupts. “He’s calling up people about a jet or something even as we speak–Em, what were you THINKING?” she demands. I hear Adanna repeating the question in the background. “How did you get to Texas that quickly?”

  “I learned to teleport,” I brag. “Look, Trent is here, tell Andre that we’ll be fine, okay?”

  “Nico’s here, too,” Trent says. “They got him at the border, though.”

  “Who did?” I ask.

  “Voltdrain–he let me fly right past, so I figure we’ve got a little bit of time.” I pass the news on to Zoe, although I’m sure she heard it all. “Knowing Nico, though, he’ll get here soon enough.”

  “Trent says your dad is here,” I tell Zoe, “but we have to go now, the van’s stopping at a house,” I add, hanging up. I watch in a bit of shock as the van backs up into a small suburban driveway, as if coming home from work. “What is going on?” I ask as the nurses cart both Skystep and Repeat out of the back of the van.

  “I don’t know, but I don’t much like the look of it,” Trent mutters darkly.

  ***

  It’s hard to pretend to be unconscious, Repeat decides as she’s pulled off of a gurney and strapped down to a table. The fact that the people doing it are nurses make her even more worried. They’ll notice that she’s faking it at any moment. If she’s caught, she’ll… what? Teleport out? It makes sense, but if she does that she’ll be leaving Skystep here, right?

  If she leaves Skystep here she’ll never find out what happened to her parents. She listens closely to the people that surround her, waiting for them to do something to her. So far they’ve only just gave her another shot. “Boss, I’m not sure it’s going to work much longer,” one of the nurses says. She can feel him staring at her, she thinks. She makes certain not to move.