by R. J. Ross
“I’ll call her for you, if you insist,” Superior says.
“Father, would you PLEASE stop scaring Aubrey? She happens to be my niece, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, your granddaughter,” Nico says.
“Which is why I think she should leave the Central Hall entirely, but since that probably won’t happen, I’m sending in my daughter.”
“You’re over-reacting.”
“I’m being cautious.”
“I’ll call Liz,” Aubrey says in a tone that says she’s just trying to get them to stop fighting.
“Good,” Superior says.
***
The mutant guinea pig seems stunned for a moment, and we just stare at it blankly as it slowly twitches the new wings coming out of its back. “Pan?” Ace asks. We’re still driving down the street as if nothing is happening. “The guinea pig mutated.”
“Try to keep it from causing a ruckus,” Pan says, merely glancing at it in the rearview mirror. “It’s an ugly thing, isn’t it?”
“It’d make a good evil minion,” Jack says.
“No way, you got the dog!” I say--only to jerk as the guinea pig flaps its wings hard several times before taking to the air. It shoots forward, straight at Cubby, so I tackle it to the ground before he can get there. If my girlfriend’s little brother gets eaten by a mutant guinea pig, I will be kicked to the curb so hard--and then she’d dump me.
The guinea pig twists in my arms, biting me hard on the arm. It doesn’t quite pierce the skin, but it hurts! I jerk away automatically. The guinea pig races through the air and crashes straight through the window behind me, leaving a massive hole. Pan pulls the RV to a screeching stop, pulling over to the side of the road and getting out. “We can’t let that fly free,” he says to us. “Everyone after him!”
We don’t stop to think, we just race out, chasing after the flying mutant guinea pig. Even Skystep is racing--okay, that’s not racing. She’s sort of skipping through the air with a huge grin on her face. “THIS IS EXACTLY HOW SUPER VILLAIN SUMMER CAMP SHOULD BE!” she bellows excitedly, practically dancing with excitement. “Unleashing massive mutants on the unsuspecting public, finding secret bases in the middle of a forest--I want to do this EVERY year!”
“We’ll invite you next year,” Pan says, “IF you catch that guinea pig for us.”
“But it hasn’t terrorized the locals yet,” Skystep says a bit blankly.
“Found him,” I hear Max say over the com link. “It’d be easy just to take him out--”
“Don’t kill him!” I say. “He can be tamed, I swear he can!”
“We’re getting really close to civilization, guys,” Jack says. “If we don’t catch him soon, he’s going to reach a gas station--”
I race forward, seeing the guinea pig flapping wildly through the sky and Max and Jack hot on its heels. “Try herding it back this way,” I say over the com, wishing once again that I knew how to fly. I swear it’s going to happen any day now--it did for Trent! Well, okay, Trent’s like a year older than me--
The guinea pig turns and I barely realize it’s heading straight for me before I hear Max shout my name over the com. “Wake up, you moron! He’s heading your way!”
I jump, tackling the guinea pig to the ground. It seems stunned, jerking under my grasp as its eyes turn cloudy. For a moment it seems like it’ll just faint--It explodes all over me. “EWWWW!” I yell, jerking away and looking at the mess covering my shirt. “NOT cool! Definitely NOT COOL!”
“Just picture the mess they’ll have in the South Branch Hall,” Max says, landing a good four feet away from me. “Also, you smell really bad, Sunny.”
“Thanks,” I drawl sarcastically, wiping a bit of goo off of my face, “I hadn’t noticed that.”
“Think we could get him a shower somewhere?”
“No, but we can attach a hose to the side of the RV,” Pan says, looking at the leftover parts of the guinea pig with a scowl. “That’s going to cause problems,” he adds almost to himself.
“You think?” Jack says. “I figure it’ll get eaten by crows or something. Nobody needs to know, right?”
“What happens to the crows that eat it?” Ace says. “Do they mutate, too? Will there be massive flocks of mutated birds flying through the sky thanks to this?”
We all look at him. “Ace,” Max says abruptly, “leave the dramatic end lines for when you’re being filmed.”
“Oh, right, sorry,” Ace says, looking a bit sheepish. “Next time, on Super Villain Summer Camp,” his voice added from out of no-where, just like the voice-over at the end of a cartoon. “Sorry, sorry, couldn’t help it!” Ace says, holding up both hands. “It just sort of slipped.”
“He can do his own voice-overs,” Jack says, staring at Ace with a mix of shock and admiration.
“Don’t sound so impressed! If you do that, he’ll never stop,” Max admonishes him.
“Says the guy that brings his own mic to a fight,” the voice-over says.
“Turn it off, Ace!” we all yell, even though Cubby is giggling his head off. He must not be too traumatized by the exploding guinea pig. I think I might be, though.
“Can I get that hose now?” I ask, still dripping with gunk.
“Ace is right,” Pan says. “While I wash Sunny down, you three clean up the gunk. There’s an extra ice chest in the back of the RV, make sure you get every last bit of it, got it? Including the stuff that washes off of Sunny.”
The others look at each other, then around for Skystep--who slipped away while they weren’t looking. “Fine,” Jack mutters. “We’re going to need a mop.”
***
“So when is Jack getting back?” Liz asks Aubrey as they just sit there, watching the unconscious teenager in the bed. Aubrey is starting to get frustrated--they won’t let her DO anything! This poor kid is obviously suffering right in front of her, and was brought here BECAUSE she’s here, but she can’t even touch him because Superior is a--a superior PAIN! She looks over at Liz, only now realizing her foster mom had spoken.
“What?”
“Jack,” Liz says, “and Sunny, and the others. When are they coming back? I know Nico and Dad will be back pretty soon, but are the boys coming in the RV?”
“Yeah,” Aubrey says, her fingers literally twitching as she fights the urge to move forward and just do what she was meant to do. It’s impossible for her to sit by idly when there’s something that can be done! She gets up, reaching out and touching the teen before Liz realizes what she’s doing--almost. Her wrist is grabbed in a firm, but gentle hold.
“Not yet,” Liz says.
“I have to do it, Liz--Mom,” Aubrey says, tears threatening to fall. “I can’t just stand here and do nothing!”
Liz hesitates, glancing at the door for a second before letting go. “Go on,” she says, “but make it quick, if Superior finds out he’ll try to ground me.”
Aubrey doesn’t wait for her to finish, she just presses her hand to the unconscious teen’s forehead, her eyes changing to white, her hair starting to float. She’s like that as the door slams open and Superior and Nico walk in.
“Why is she healing him?” Superior demands.
“Because she can’t stand to see him like this,” Liz says. “She’s a healer, Dad, that’s what she does--” she stops as Aubrey pulls her hand away and her hair stops floating. “What happened?” she asks Aubrey.
“This is going to take a few sessions,” Aubrey admits, starting to sway. Nico grabs her before she falls over. “They did something to him,” she tells Nico, leaning against him. “He should be dead already.”
Nico’s about to say something when his phone rings, instead of pulling it out, he simply says “Answer.” For a second the room goes perfectly still, waiting to hear what’s happening.
“Nico, we’ve got a slight problem,” Pan says. “Your son wanted a guinea pig--one of the ones left over from the Kunnins raid. Century let him have it.”
“And?” Nico asks.
&nbs
p; “It mutated on the way here--it grew larger and a pair of bat-like wings. It crashed through the RV window.”
“Well crap, I’ll fix it when you get back--where are you and what happened to the pig?”
“We chased it down before it got to civilization. The problem is that it exploded,” Pan says in an almost bland tone. “I had the boys put all the parts in an ice chest. It’ll have to be destroyed, there’s no way I’m keeping my cold cuts in that thing now. Oh, and I think your boy’s a bit traumatized by guinea pigs now.”
“Because it exploded?”
“All over him,” Pan says dryly.
“Well, can’t exactly blame him. It’s always a bit traumatic the first time. So this guinea pig came from the Kunnins raid, right?”
“Yeah. It looked perfectly normal until we were halfway home. It didn’t show any sign of mutating at all.”
“Thanks for the information, Pan. I’ll see you when you get home,” Nico says, hanging up with a flick of his finger and looking at the boy on the bed. “Aubrey? Is there any way you can speed it up?”
“I’ll do my best,” Aubrey says, straightening and going back to the bed. The look on Liz’s face says she wants to protest, but she doesn’t say a word. A guinea pig exploding is one thing--a human exploding is something entirely different.
***
“I swear he still stinks,” Jack says as we continue along. There’s a plastic bag taped over the window the guinea pig slammed through. It’s flapping annoyingly right behind my head. It doesn’t help that Jack is tormenting me over the smell.
“I took a shower,” I say for the tenth time, practically. “AFTER getting hosed down! It’s all in your head.” I can’t even turn away and look out the window--the black trashbag is blocking the way. I reach up, touching my ear piece instead. “Call Adanna--I can at least have a decent conversation that way,” I add with a dark look at the other three. They’re holding their noses, the jerks.
“What is it?” Adanna answers. “It had better be important, Sunny, I’m in the middle of class.”
“A gigantic mutant guinea pig exploded on me,” I tell her.
“Is that all?”
“Is that all?” I repeat incredulously. “That was a pretty big deal in my book!”
“Oh man up, Sunny, you should get used to those sorts of things now,” she says. The sound of the entire RV choking on laughter has me turning bright red with embarrassment.
“I was hoping for a little bit of sympathy, here,” I mutter, turning my chair so my back is to the others. I’m sure they can hear every word, regardless of which way I turn--well, Jack might not be able to. Maybe.
“I’m sorry,” she says, sighing. “Poor baby, did it ruin your shirt?”
“Yes.”
“And your pants?”
“Yes.”
“And let me guess, your shoes?”
“How’d you know?” I ask.
“We’ll go clothes shopping when you get home,” she tells me. “You need a suit for the party, anyway.”
“Party?” I repeat. “Oh, right--”
“Party?” all three of the super villains behind me ask, looking excited. I look at them. I picture a classy party of well dressed capes being crashed by these three. As if my day hadn’t been bad enough.
“It’s a formal affair,” I say, trying to put them off. “Celebrating ethnic capes--”
“Sunny,” Max says, “you’re white.”
“Well, yeah, but I’m going as Adanna’s date.”
“I’m part Japanese,” Max says.
“I’m silver,” Jack says, looking at his arm and rubbing a spot as if there was a smudge, “does that count?”
“I’m pretty sure pale white should count--but if it doesn’t, I can change my color, you know?” Ace says.
“Tell Adanna we want to come shopping with you--and get our girls, they’ll want to come, too,” Max says. I look over at Pan, seeing him watching us in the mirror again.
“I want to go to a party!” Skystep declares, jumping to her feet. I could have sworn she was asleep just now... Oh well.
“Pan--” I start out.
“It sounds interesting,” he says. “It will definitely make it more entertaining than spending an entire evening trying to make small talk with Taurus.”
“I just don’t want to offend people,” I admit with a shrug. “I mean, it’s a special time for a minority group. It’d be rude just to let everyone in without... I dunno, talking to the people running it.”
Pan shrugged. “RV, call Andre Harrison,” he says. We all blink as a screen comes down between the cockpit and us, and a man that looks a lot like Taurus appears.
“Nico?” he asks, only to look at us a bit blankly. “Well this is Nico’s line--I wasn’t expecting a room full of super villains. How can I help you, gentlemen--and lady.”
“Sunny wants to talk to you,” Pan calls, “about the Capes of Ethnicity party.”
“Hi, Mr. Harrison,” I say, since I’ve been chosen as the spokesman. “I’m Sunny--”
“Son of Technico and Lady Rose,” Pan adds helpfully. “He’s an elementalist like his mother.”
“Impressive,” Andre says, smiling slightly. “And what would you like to talk about, son?”
“Well, actually, um--” I say, glancing at the group surrounding me, “I was invited as Adanna’s date, right? But I was talking to her and she mentioned a party, and these three--four--want to go to a party, and if we don’t invite them they’ll probably crash the party, right? But Max is half Japanese, and Jack, well he’s silver, and Ace is so pasty it should be considered an ethnicity in itself, right?” He’s laughing. That’s a good sign, right? “And Skystep is definitely one of a kind,” I add, since she looks like she’s about to say something.
“Do you want to know why I started Capes of Ethnicity?” he asks, still grinning.
“Well, yeah, kind of. I mean, it’s not really any of my business, though.”
“When I was a bit older than you, I kept trying to get into the Hall,” he says, leaning forward into the screen. “It was my calling to save people--I’m a shapeshifter, like my son. I thought, for the longest time, that the color of my skin was the only thing that kept me from being a Hall member.”
“It wasn’t?” I ask.
“The problem was who I approached when trying to get in,” Andre says. “Your father and your grandfather came back in time--do you know what Superior said about Capes of Ethnicity? He hadn’t realized there WERE any back then.”
Max snorts and starts laughing his head off. “That’s so stupid!” he says, almost falling over. “I mean, he knew there were Japanese heroes--his second in command was one!”
“It wasn’t his fault,” Andre says, but there’s a little smile on his face that says he doesn’t disagree. “Had I gone up to the man, I give you odds he would have let me into the Hall at the drop of a hat, regardless of the color of my skin. I shouldn’t have tried to go through Kunnins. But things worked out, really. I’m one of the most powerful capes out there, now, both in influence and in helping people. I just do it without breaking things.”
We watch him, because this is honestly awesome, hearing his story. “The reason I started Capes of Ethnicity all those years ago was to encourage both myself and my fellow black supers to speak up--to step forward. We shouldn’t let false pretenses and false beliefs keep us from becoming the heroes--and villains in Pan’s case, that we should be. We should support one another--because at the time I started it, I honestly felt that we were the only ones we had. Something tells me that’s no longer the case,” he says, looking at each of us.
“We’ll support you,” Max says. “Well, I mean, we’re super villains, so it might not mean much, but we’ll support you, right, guys?”
“Absolutely,” Ace says. “I’m a huge fan of Panther’s. I’ve got a fanclub membership,” he adds, digging out his wallet and flipping it open. I expect the others to make fun of him, but they do the same,
each flipping open their wallet to show the card.
“I also got Taurus,” Jack admits. “Don’t tell him, though, he’d never let me live it down.”
“I’ll try to keep it to myself,” Andre says, looking pleased.
“I’m a huge fan of both AND Adanna, and Cubby, and Amara,” I declare.
“Dude, you’re dating Adanna. If you weren’t a fan we’d talk her into dumping you,” Jack says.
“Thanks for the vote,” I drawl darkly, earning a shrug and a grin.
“Ace needs a girlfriend,” Jack says shamelessly.
“He’s after yours, though,” Max says to him.
“I’m not picky!” Ace says. “They’re both pretty awesome.” I really want to throw something at him, so I dig through my pockets and pull out a seed, hitting him in the forehead with it. It instantly starts to sprout and vines wrap around his head, much to my amusement.
“Go after a single girl!” I say before turning to Andre. “Does this mean we can invite people?” I ask him. “I was going to ask Dad if we could host it at the school--”
“Why not do it at the Hall?” Max asks. “Dad would love to do it--we could turn it into a massive thing, where we show that Central Hall supports ethnic groups, especially among capes. I’m sure HTV would be willing to cover it, wouldn’t they, Mr. Harrison?”
He looks thoughtful. “Am I right to assume you’re Mastermental’s son?” he says. “I’ve heard a few rumors, but nothing solid.”
“Yeah, I am,” Max says.
“You realize the party’s slotted to be within a week, don’t you?” Andre says. “I highly doubt your father can get a place ready before we can.”
“I’ll get it ready by tomorrow,” Max says, a look in his eyes that says he’s not about to back down. “We’ll have the doors open by six p.m.”
“Really,” Andre says. “You’re not even in Missouri right now, are you?”
Jack, Ace, and I look at each other. “We’ll fly,” Jack says. “Can we, Pan?”
“Sure,” Pan says, pushing a button. The roof opens up.
