by R. J. Ross
“Um... Dad was a super villain when we were born,” Zoe says hesitantly. “It’s not that big of a surprise, you know?”
“Yeah, she’s got a point,” I agree. “And our Falconess’s daughter wants to go super villain, right?” I say to Zoe. “She’s kind of annoying, though.”
“She’s got a crush on Jack,” Zoe drawls, “it’s more like she’s kind of delusional.” I snicker, since I know exactly how Zoe feels about people crushing on Jack. Oh, she likes Aubrey just fine, don’t get me wrong–she just questions her taste in boyfriends. I don’t think she’ll ever forgive Jack for being... well, Jack.
“Yeah, but that’s not the annoying part,” I say. “It’s the whole ‘I’m going to be a super villain, so look at me,’ thing she’s got going on.”
“Eh, she’ll outgrow it,” Dad says. “She’s still a baby, you know–about the same age as Carla.”
“What, seriously?” I ask, stunned. “She’s only thirteen?”
“Just came into her powers–actually Carla’s older than she is.”
“Huh.” We pull to a stop and I look out, expecting to see the apartment building. Instead we’re parked in front of the campus, where a gigantic RV is parked. I can see Dad’s hand in its design, because there’s a giant satellite dish sticking out of the roof. It’s long, black and silver in color, and probably has several weapons hidden in strange places. “Looks like your ride to camp is here,” Dad calls back to me. “Get a move on it, Panther will leave you here if you take too long.”
“I’m getting out, too!” Zoe says, squirming out of the seat and heading forward. “I want to tell Max goodbye.”
“How long are they going to be gone?” Grandma asks, frowning out the window slightly.
“A week or two,” Mom says, sighing. “Sunny, if you want to come home early, just call,” she adds as I make my way to the nearest door. I have to climb over Grandma’s lap, but she doesn’t seem to notice. She’s watching Zoe race over to her boyfriend for a hug.
“So she’s dating Mastermental’s boy?” Grandpa asks, “Already?”
“They get along pretty well,” Dad says casually.
“It’ll make for some interesting powers,” Grandpa Superior says.
I get out and head over to the others, not wanting to think about kids or super powers. Instead I stare at Jack’s shirt, tilting my head slightly as I study it. It’s not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, I decide. It’s black, but that’s sort of expected with super villains, right? “What?” Jack asks. “Max gave it to me–I go through a lot of shirts, you know? No point in turning one down.”
“I think I like it,” Ace says, pulling his own shirt out and looking at it. It’s got the words “Cape High SVSC Super Villain Summer Camp” across the front in white. “It’s got my name on the back,” he says, turning so I can see “Dragon” written across his shoulders. Jack turns without me asking, showing off his “Cold Steel.”
“Here’s yours,” Max says, tossing me a dark green version. “Wear it proudly, you’re the only non-villain on the trip. I even made one for Cubby,” he adds, digging out a tiny kid’s version of the shirt. “Cute, huh?”
I look over at Ace and Jack, who sort of shrug, as if this were only to be expected. “So um, where’s Pan?” I ask, shrugging out of my t-shirt and putting the new one on. I’m such a follower.
“He’s over there talking to your dad,” Jack says, motioning to our car.
“Oh crap,” I mutter, racing over. It’s too late, the back door opens even as I stop, and Superior steps out, standing in front of Panther.
CHAPTER TWO
“I am Panther,” Pan says with a courtly bow. “I am the terror of Central Hall.”
“He’s my girlfriend’s dad, Grandpa Superior,” I say quickly. “Getting into a fight would really mess up my chances to get a date–“
They ignore me completely, and I stare in horror as Grandpa Superior’s hand comes up. I only remember to breathe when they shake. “I knew your father,” Grandpa Superior says. “He was a quintessential example of super villainy. You look a lot like him.”
“Thank you,” Pan says, smiling. “Father was my prime example.”
“So you will be training the super villains of the future?” Grandpa Superior asks, glancing over at the three guys in matching t-shirts.
“Just for a few weeks,” Pan admits. “Your son is a very good trainer for them. He’s got an impressive past of his own.”
“He got caught.”
“Well, there is that,” Pan admits. “But he still has a strong foundation. I merely plan on adding to it during the camp, of course.”
“And the reason my grandson is joining you?” Grandpa Superior asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Sunny and Adanna plan on going to work in the forests scattered throughout the world,” Pan says. “Seeing as he’ll be living out in the woods a lot, I thought this trip might help in his training.”
“Where are we going, anyway?” I ask.
“Texas,” Pan says with a perfectly bland look on his face. I stare at him in shock, wondering why we need to go all the way to–
“That’s South Branch’s territory, isn’t it?” Max asks, appearing behind us. “Why are we going all the way there?”
“I thought it would be more interesting to take you away from everything you’re familiar with,” Pan says. “Now load up, please, we need to start out now if we plan on getting there by morning.”
“What happens in the morning?” Jack asks, picking up his pack.
“You start building your war bases, of course,” Pan says. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Superior. I will take care of your grandson as if he were my own child.”
Yeah, but his daughter can kick my butt in a fist fight on a regular basis, so I really doubt that treatment includes the comforts of home. “But my stuff is–“ I start out.
“Mom told me to bring it along,” Jack says, motioning to the bag tossed to the side. “Let’s go.”
“Um... see ya, Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad, Zoe,” I call over my shoulder, waving at them as I grab the bag and race for the RV. “I’ll try not to die!”
“He’s got some high aspirations there, doesn’t he?” I hear Dad say as I head inside. This RV is nice. There are bunks lining the walls which Jack walks over to and folds up. There’s a small kitchen past that, complete with a stove, and there’s a computer area. Before I can blink, Max pushes a few buttons and comfortable looking padded metal seats come out of the floor.
“So…” I say, looking at the three. “Who gets top bunk?”
“Not Jack,” Max and Ace say without a second of hesitation. “He weighs too much,” Ace adds. “Even if he DID build half the thing, we still don’t trust him not to capsize the bunks.”
“I’m a svelte four fifty, thank you,” Jack says dryly.
“How do you even move?” I ask him, staring at him a bit incredulously.
“Super strength, it came with the package deal.”
You know, I’m starting to think there’s a connection between these three that I hadn’t seen before. In fact they drop down in the chairs as if they’ve already settled who sits where. It leaves me looking around for a place to sit--and staring blankly at the little boy peeking out from under Jack’s chair. When did he get under that? With his speed and hide-and-seek abilities, who knows?
“So where are we going?” Jack asks, completely oblivious to the big blue eyes peeking out between his legs. “Some sort of forest, right?”
“Texas,” I say absently, heading for him. He jerks back in shock as I get down on my hands and knees in front of him.
“What in the--”
“Cubby?” I say softly, holding out a hand. “Come on out, buddy.”
The other three go perfectly still, not even breathing. I ignore them as Cubby slowly takes my hand and crawls out from under the metal chair. “Hey, man,” I say, sitting down on the ground and grinning at him. He gives me a shy smile back
and promptly crawls onto my lap. He’s staring up at the three with huge blue eyes full of worry. “You might be a super villain-to-be, but these guys are scary, huh?” I ask him.
He looks up at me and nods slightly. “Don’t worry, they just play the bad guys on TV, I promise,” I tell him, patting his ‘fro. Yes, Cubby has an afro. He’s got to be one of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen.
“Dat’s Cold Steel,” he says in a raspy voice, pointing at Jack.
“Yeah, he is,” I agree.
“An’ dat’s Max--Maximum. An’ dat’s--” He looks at Ace for a long moment, frowning thoughtfully.
“Dragon,” Ace provides.
“You don’t look like Dragon,” Cubby says, only to jump three feet in the air as Ace creates that dragon head illusion he uses for public shows. The poor four year old lands on my head and is still trying to climb me like a tree.
“Sorry, I won’t do it again, I swear--” Ace says, looking a bit panicked.
“Cubby,” I say, although my voice is muffled because his stomach is on my face, “it’s okay, buddy, it’s just an illusion. Ace, turn into a ninja turtle,” I tell him. I feel Cubby twist, turning slowly to look at Ace again.
“Mikey!” he says excitedly. I pull him off of my head now that he’s not clinging so hard, and put him down on the floor.
“Is that better?” Ace asks, still looking like Mikey. He blinks as the little boy throws himself at him, hugging him tightly.
“Cubby loves the turtles,” I say with a shrug. “He’s also a Mega fan, but we don’t mention that in public.”
“Yeah, I know those feels,” Jack says.
“You’re a Mega fan?” Max asks him in an incredulous tone.
“Well… not fan so much, but he IS my uncle, you know?” Jack says with a shrug. “He’s not that bad when he’s around my parents--you can’t exactly act like a prat with them right there.”
“Prat,” Ace repeats, snickering. “Who uses the word ‘prat’ in America?”
There’s a thoughtful expression on Max’s face. “I think I like it,” he says. “I’m going to start using that!”
“It was mine first!” Jack protests.
“You look like a prat when you say it--I can actually pull it off.”
A metal ball speeds across the room, only to get grabbed by Max and thrown back. “Hey, stop it, guys, you might hit Cubby,” Ace complains, bringing up his hands to cover the little boy’s head.
“That prat started it,” Jack mutters guiltily.
“You’re the prat,” Max says.
“Prat,” Cubby says cheerfully, pulling away from Ace to get in the middle of the argument. I think he thinks it’s a game. “You da prat!”
“Now you’ve got Cubby saying it,” I groan, feeling a headache come on. “His dad’s going to kill us.”
“Jack started it!” Max says cheerfully, completely passing the blame. Those two never have liked each other that much.
Before I can reply the door of the RV opens and we all turn and stare as Panther steps in. The problem is that Cubby is still dancing in the middle of the room, pointing at everything in sight and going, “Prat! Prat!” He used to be such a quiet three-year-old… turning four changed him.
“I see you’re increasing my son’s vocabulary already,” Panther drawls, staring pointedly at Ace--who still looks like Mikey, “and bringing in pop culture references.”
“I accidentally scared him with my Dragon head,” Ace admits, “I was making it up to him.”
“Prat, Papa! Prat!” Cubby says gleefully, completely not picking up on the vibe of the room. He’s too excited by his new word. Remind me to prank Jack for that one later, would you? Maybe I’ll ask Justin what he HASN’T done yet.
“Yes, Cubby, I know,” Panther says with a hint of hidden amusement. It took me months of going over for dinner to pick up on that expression. He walks over, picking the boy up and carrying him to a booster chair that comes up from the floor when he pushes a button. It looks as if it were specifically designed for the boy. There’s even a tablet on a mechanical arm that comes up when he’s buckled in. Cubby starts tapping on the screen, completely distracted. “Now, everyone buckle in--meeting Superior took a small bite out of our time.”
“Sorry about that,” I say, rubbing the back of my head. “Dad brought him and Grandma in because of the whole mutant dog situation, I guess.”
“What about Krispy?” Jack asks, looking worried. “He’s not going to do something to my dog, is he?”
“Nah,” I say, “I think it has something to do with the guy that made him that way.”
“Huh,” Jack says.
“Regardless, we have training to do. I’m certain that Superior and Nico can handle it with no problem,” Panther says, getting into the driver’s seat. “Sunny, you’re in charge of Cubby while I’m driving,” he adds over his shoulder. “Push the second button and your chair will come up.”
“Um, yeah, sure,” I say, suddenly realizing what I was really brought here for. I’m the babysitter boy. I push the button.
“He’s got snacks in the cabinet next to you. Try to go light on the cheese curls, he’s a little too addicted,” Pan adds, checking the rearview mirrors and starting the RV. Ace and I grab a seat as he starts to drive. To my surprise, the moment I sit down in my chair, a tablet on a mechanical arm comes up.
“How do I get mine?” Max asks, looking over at us.
“Button on the right,” Jack says. “You can’t actually stop Nico from pimping out a machine--half the time I caught him adding things without even looking, like all of a sudden there’s a computer console floating behind his back as he toys with the wiring on the other side of the RV.”
“Sounds like Dad,” I say, tapping on the screen and staring blankly at the list of online classes provided. “He programmed this with college agricultural classes,” I mutter. “Was this chair made for me?”
“We put you there so you can reach Cubby when you need to,” Pan calls back to me. “Of the four of you, you’re the one I trust most.”
“He’s got a point,” Ace admits. “I don’t even have cousins--I don’t think I’ve even dealt with a kid younger than me before, except when I visit the hospitals. That doesn’t count, does it?”
“I have!” Jack says. Everyone but Pan turns to look at him.
“So we’re all agreed, Sunny’s the best choice,” Max says blandly.
“Yep,” Ace says.
“It wasn’t up for debate,” Pan drawls.
“I didn’t try to flush all of them,” Jack mutters, crossing his arms over his chest. The sound of muffled laughter comes from Max, but when I look at him he’s staring intently at his screen as if nothing happened. Soon everyone has their tablets pulled up. There’s a long stint of silence, until I stumble upon the games.
There’s an image of everyone in the room on the tablet, and a ball floating in the middle. I glance up, looking over at Cubby. “You wanna play ball, buddy?” I ask him, leaning over and bringing up the game on his tablet. He lets out a delighted laugh and smacks the screen with his hand lightly. Max jerks, looking a bit blank.
“There’s a ball in my screen.”
“Dad programmed a ball bounce game,” I say as Jack leans over to look at Max’s screen. Soon all of us are tapping on the screen, throwing the digital ball back and forth--until Max discovers the weapons part of the game. Now digital explosions are flashing on our screens and Cubby is laughing his head off.
So we’re a bit simple minded, okay? At least the seriously long trip down to Texas will be entertaining!
***
“We’re here.” The words jerk me awake--okay, I’m lying. It’s not so much the words as the ice cold marbles that are rolling down my shirt. Either way, I’m awake. I jump to my feet, doing a stupid dance to get the marbles out of my shirt. Max merely records me with his phone and I realize belatedly that Panther’s holding the marble bag.
“That was cold,” I complain as the last marbl
e drops to the floor and rolls away.
“Your father told me how hard it was to wake you up,” he says simply. “We don’t have time to coddle you this trip, so get used to it. Everyone up, we’re here.”
“It’s the middle of the night,” Jack says, looking out the window, “and we’re surrounded by trees. Shouldn’t we just pull down the bunks?”
“Who said you could use the bunks?” Pan asks. “You’re going to provide your own sleeping places. Now out,” he says, pointing to the door. To my surprise, he pulls Cubby out of his chair and hands him over to me. “Him, too,” he says.
“But--that’s--”
“I hand him to the one that’s most capable in this setting, it’s not child abuse. It’s incentive--if my boy catches a cold, I’m going to be extremely irritated.”
“Sir yes sir,” I offer stupidly. I’ve got a four-year-old and myself to take care of in the middle of woods I’ve never seen before. Who knows what sort of wild animals are lurking in the shadows? I don’t. And while Cubby has great dexterity and whatever, he’s still not come into his true powers. Well… crap.
I grab our bags, slinging them both over my shoulder as I head out into the woods. To my surprise, all three of the villains are standing right outside the RV, looking extremely serious. “What?” I ask, adjusting Cubby slightly.
“He didn’t say we couldn’t work together,” Max says. “And it takes time to build a place to sleep, right? So I figure for tonight we should cooperate.”
“Super villains cooperate?” I ask.
“Ace, put up a place for Cubby to sleep,” Max says. “Jack, is there any steel in the vicinity? We can use that for building material. Sunny, how good is your plant growing ability? Can you bring up trees close enough together to keep the wind out?”
Jack glares at Max. “Who made you boss?”
“Do you want to leave a four year old outside the entire night?” Max asks him. “One who just happens to be Panther’s son?”
“Well… no, I guess not,” Jack mutters, reaching his hand toward the RV. His familiar metal surfboard comes from off the roof and he hops on. “We passed by a ton of metal up north. I bet it’s a junkyard.”
