by R. J. Ross
“I am relieved,” Alonso says with a slight grin, “since I plan on coming to visit, regardless.”
Century is staring at Double M, who smiles back at him. “Really, Century, I’ve given up on reining him in for the most part--especially when what he wants could be extremely beneficial to me. Remember, he IS the son of my previous boss.”
“Superior?” Alonso asks, his eyes widening. “You’re the son of Superior?” he asks Nico, looking excited.
“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Nico says. “Trent, Vinny, Carla, we’re leaving.” He heads for the door, leaving the others behind as we chase after him.
“Nico was never very fond of his father, I’m afraid,” Double M says in an apologetic tone. Jimmi follows us, a confused look on her face as we start for the elevator. She moves closer, walking next to me, and I just KNOW she’s going to ask--
“Is he really Superior’s son?” she whispers silently.
“Yeah,” I say, not bothering to whisper. “He is. Personally I think he’s a million times cooler, though.”
“Thanks, Vinny,” Nico says as we get in the elevator and go down. “I like to think I am, too.”
We hit the ground floor right as Carla’s starting to look bored, and head out. “Leave the bike here,” Nico says as I start for it. “I was planning on upgrading it before we leave, it might as well be in an air-conditioned garage.”
Then we head into the evening, racing for the smoothie shop that we have to rebuild. After this is done, I’m done with Texas and the Glowstick Gang. Thank God.
***
They’d been cleaned up, patched up and tossed into a holding cell. For the most part they’re teenage kids, caught up in something they shouldn’t be, and now regretting it--or at least regretting going up against real capes. They’re covered in bruises. “I quit,” one says in a mutter. “This whole super--”
“You can’t say that, man--Speed is going to show up sooner or later--”
“Yeah? Well let him. It’s his fault we wound up like this.”
The steady tapping of a stick hitting the floor alerts them to someone coming down the hall. They go silent, wondering why someone using a cane would come here. “Did someone call their granny to bail them out?” one asks.
“Yeah, right.”
They start laughing, only to stop as an old man comes to a stop in front of their cell. “What a useless batch the boy brought into this,” the old man says, looking over each of them with a disgusted expression. “Plenty of them, though,” he adds in a more thoughtful tone. “Tell me, boys, do any of you have any of my tubes left?”
“What are you talking about, old man?”
“The tubes, the power containers I gave my worthless grandson. Do any of you have any left?” he demands. “Don’t play with me, boys, you don’t know what you’re messing with.”
“Sure we do. It’s called a geriatric.”
“Big words from a boy that never graduated high school,” the man says with a snort. “Hand them over,” he demands, holding a wrinkled, spotty hand through the bars.
“We don’t have anything, old man, and we wouldn’t give them to you even if we did!”
The old man brings up his cane, twisting the top of it and pulling it apart from the bottom. Where there would usually be a sword is a long glowing tube. The guys in the cell go silent, hints of terror on their faces as they realize what’s about to happen. “Let’s put it this way,” the old man says with a slight smile. “Either you give me what you’ve got left--or I take it from you.”
“They’re at the house, Speed’s house.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
I’m exhausted. I spent the entire night rebuilding the smoothie joint with the others--if it weren’t for Trent’s massive amount of strength and a ton of special black-suit grade cement (it’s amazing stuff, it cements ANYTHING--including Carla, but that’s a story for another time) I don’t think we would have even gotten it done. Well, we could have, if Nico had been willing to do more than the electrical work. It turns out that the students in the field were expected to do all of the grunt work themselves. Trent’s done a ton of it.
Now we’re sitting in Century’s personal plane rather than running home like we’d planned. My fully revamped, super-speed electric motorcycle--the one that Nico rebuilt (speeding it up and probably adding more hidden canisters) while we were finishing up the painting--is in the cargo bay, completely useless for this trip. Now all I need to do is kick my chair back and go to sleep.
“I can’t sleep,” Jimmi says abruptly, making me look over. “How does she do it?” she asks me, motioning to where Carla is sound asleep in her chair. “Or him?” she goes on, motioning to the snoring Trent. “Don’t they know that life is about to change completely?”
“Your life,” I say. “Your life is about to change completely. Our lives are just going back to how they were.”
“You were on television--people are going to start looking you up online and expecting you to do the whole hero thing regularly now,” she says. “Or did you not realize what would happen when you were leading a group? And what about Carla? Isn’t she too young to have made her debut? They’re going to be looking for her, too! And Trent--well, he’s Kid Liberty, isn’t he?”
“Yeah. Look,” I say, trying to be patient. “Everyone knows about Cape High. Right now they might be trying to get info on us, but they’re just going to assume we’re still in training. Like the typical sidekicks. How often do you see people obsessed with sidekicks, huh? They’ll find what they can and then forget about it until we’re fully working capes. Now go to sleep, you’ve got a big move ahead of you,” I tell her, leaning my chair back.
“Where... um...” she starts out slowly. “Where am I going to live?”
“In the dorm, probably,” I say reluctantly.
“Okay,” she says. “Will Emily be there?”
“No, she lives in the apartment building down the street. She’s Firefly’s foster daughter.”
“Oh. Will Trent?”
“No, he’s in the apartments, too.”
“Oh.”
I look at her, letting out a sigh. “Carla and I live there, along with Morgan and Lance and Ward and Justin and some others. Look, you’ll be fine. You won’t be alone, okay?”
“I’ve never lived anywhere except with my dad,” she admits, looking at me with a worried expression. “What if I don’t fit in?”
“None of us fit in,” I tell her. “We will always stand out. And since we all stand out we all realize how hard it is for the others in the group. We try to help them deal with it.”
“You do that, don’t you?” she asks softly, looking over at Carla. “You’re one of the ones that help them deal with it.”
“What else can I do?” I ask. “They made me their second in command.” I yawn and close my eyes, ending the conversation there. I need sleep if I’m going to be up to cooking dinner when I get back. I bet everyone’s starving.
***
“Vinny! Carla!” The shout makes me look up as I step off the plane. The entire dorm is standing nearby, with Morgan right at the front. I head down the steps, grinning widely as they rush forward, grabbing me and Carla in hugs. It’s not been that long, I think as they start trying to talk over one another, but they’re acting like it’s been forever.
“Hey.” The simple word has the zoo kids moving aside as Max walks through them. He heads straight for me, holding up a fist with a little grin. “You pulled it off?”
“I pulled it off,” I agree, bumping his fist with mine. Morgan steps forward, pulling out of Carla’s hug and heading for the plane. Jimmi is at the top of the steps, looking hesitant.
“Welcome to Cape High,” Morgan says, going up halfway and holding out a hand. “I’m Morgan, leader of the zoo kids. Wait--” she says, digging a glove out of her pocket and slipping it on. “Just in case.”
The hands clasp and I can’t help but watch Jimmi’s face. A hesitant look crosses h
er face before a tiny smile appears. “Why the glove?” she asks curiously.
“Because if you take the power from my bracelet things might get a bit awkward,” Morgan says. “Don’t worry about it. Nico came this morning and told us you’ll be moving in. So welcome to the family.”
“Okay, okay, the greetings are all well and good,” Nico says, stepping through the crowd in a pair of jeans and an America’s Son t-shirt. He’d flown home before we even got on the plane. He has that simple little black mask on that I’m positive he’s going to get rid of as soon as possible. “Did Century come with you?” he asks me.
“Nope, he just sent us along.”
“Then this thing can go,” Nico says, ripping off the mask and tossing it over his shoulder. Sunny catches it and slips it into his pocket.
“Dad, you know Mom complains when you lose those things,” Zoe says. All of the apartment kids are here, as well, I realize. It’s pretty crowded, really.
“Yeah, but Sunny got it, right?” Nico says, not bothered. He turns to face the group of kids, placing a hand on Jimmi’s shoulder as he addresses us all. “Everyone this is Jimena--she’s the daughter of Voltdrain. If the electricity goes out, it’ll be either her fault or Zoe’s. Now come on, we have work to do.”
“Work?” I repeat.
“You didn’t think Jimmi was the only one I’m bringing in, did you?” he asks. “I’ve got a handful of new kids that will be starting next few weeks. That’s why we need to get an empty dorm room up to living standards.”
“What do you mean by that?” I ask.
“We’re going shopping,” Nico says. “We’re going to need sheets, towels, and clothing for Rocco. I don’t think the kid has any.”
“Rocco?” Jimmi asks.
“Of course Rocco’s not the only one,” he says. “We’ve got Falconess’ daughter coming, along with Jetta’s sister,” he says. Ace, who’d been hanging out towards the edges until now, speaks up.
“She came?” he asks.
“She came,” Nico says almost gently. “She and Falconess’ girl won’t be moving in, though, since they live close enough to commute like you do, Ace.”
“Did her parents agree to it?” Ace asks.
“No, but since her aunt is her legal guardian, she’s the one we had to talk to. She was perfectly fine with the idea.”
“So you’re taking the entire school to Walmart to buy sheets for one guy,” I say. “Have fun with that. I’m going back to the dorm to take a nap.”
“Where’s your spirit of bonding, Vinny?” Nico asks with a grin. “One night of construction work shouldn’t have you wiped out!”
“It wouldn’t have, if I hadn’t been fighting the entire day before it,” I tell him, walking off. “Have fun, guys!” I wave, not too surprised when a few of the zoo kids fall in behind me.
“If you come with us I’ll buy each of you one thing you really want,” Nico says. “Of course that doesn’t include technology--but clothes, dorm room stuff, food, toys that aren’t video games, all up for grabs!”
The zoo kids pull to a stop and look at me.
“Oh for crying out loud,” I mutter, running a hand over my face. “Come on, let’s go shopping.”
“Hey Dad,” Sunny says. “What size of clothes does Rocco wear?”
Nico looks so blank that the entire school starts laughing at him. “Well,” he says. “Get stuff that’d fit Ace,” he decides.
“Hey Nico, are you sure I should be coming?” Jack asks.
“It’s Walmart,” Nico says dryly. “We’ll pass you off as a crazy cos-player.”
“Ace?” Jack says, ignoring that answer. “Can you make me look like a norm?”
“Yes. But the question is ‘do I want to?’”
“Awww, man, come on, don’t be that way!”
“Hey, hey, make him look like a girl!” Sunny says. He starts laughing his head off as Jack suddenly turns into the ugliest girl I’ve ever seen. “That’s PERFECT!”
The kids that had been following me start to snicker. These are the ones that never speak--in fact I’m a bit surprised they actually came along, even if it was for me. Maybe it’s not so bad that I have to go, after all, if it gets them out of the dorms for a little bit.
“Wait--I don’t want to be a chick!” Jack protests. His voice is the same, which makes the scene even funnier. “Make me a guy! I want to be a guy!”
I glance over at Jimmi as I hear her laugh. See? I knew she’d be fine.
***
Ken pulls to a stop in the parking lot, making sure his pass is showing in the window, and gets out. This will be the second time he’s visited Vinny’s father in the past week. He heads in, going through all the usual security procedures, and finally going into the same bare room he’d met Tony in previously. The man in question is already waiting at the table, reading his bible with a slight frown on his face. Ken lets a little smile show. “It can seem a bit hard to take in at first,” he says as he heads for the empty seat.
“Yeah, you could put it like that,” Tony says, closing the book and putting it on the table. “They said you wanted to talk to me? Is it about Vinny?”
“It is, in a way,” Ken says. “We’ve been looking into your sentence. It’s possible that we can get you out of here if you go to work for the Hall. Of course it would have to be a very closely watched position--luckily we have one open.”
“Really? Where? Doing what?”
“We need a janitor.”
“At Central Hall?”
“At Cape High.”
Tony goes quiet, looking at the book on the table for a long moment. “That’s where Vinny’s going to school.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Well... I’m not too sure Vinny would appreciate it,” Tony says quietly. “The last time we saw each other we had a fight. Some... accusations were thrown around. It wasn’t very pretty.”
“I’m not going to say that’s water under the bridge,” Ken says slowly, “but it seems a shame to let something that happened over a year and a half ago still hold your relationship hostage without even trying. He’s your only child, right?”
“He is,” Tony says. “I’ll... think about it.”
“You do that,” Ken agrees. “One last thing, do you know if Vinny’s mom had any relatives?”
“I... think she had a brother,” Tony says quietly, not looking at Ken. “I never met him face to face.”
“I see.” Ken falls silent, a curious look on his face. “I’ll look into it. Now, do you have any questions about that?” he asks, motioning to the Bible. “I’d be happy to help you out.”
“Yeah... I’ve got a ton of them, actually,” Tony admits, grabbing the book.
***
“Feeling lonely?” Flint asks as he sits down at the table across from Alonso. The South Hall cafeteria is bustling, but when a super looks like he wants to be alone, he’s left alone--except by his best friends. Flint looks at the platter in front of him, making a slight face. Vinny’s cooking had made him spoiled, he admits as he takes a bite out of his burger.
“It is for the best, no?” Alonso asks, poking at his own plate of enchiladas. He’d spent a week coming in and teaching the Hall chefs how to make proper Mexican food. It had been worth the effort, but he still isn’t feeling very hungry. “She will make friends of her own kind, she will be happy.”
“So when are we going to check on them?” Flint asks.
“Do you have plans tonight?”
***
Take twenty-one kids with super powers, all between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, and only one adult overseeing them. Now make that adult Nico. Yeah. You’re probably getting a vague idea of just how things are going.
“Nico! Can you make me one of these?” Lance yells as the group swarms the technology area. He’s holding up one of the laptops that are chained to the table. The security seems to be freaking out over it and a really annoying alarm is going off--I think he snapped the security chain. Lance i
sn’t the strongest in the group, but a little chain isn’t a match for a kid that can turn into a gorilla when he’s bored.
“Put it down, Lance,” Morgan says, looking through the movies.
“You haven’t earned your laptop yet, Lance,” Nico calls, looking over the televisions.
“Sir, are these kids under your control?” a lady in a blue shirt demands. “Could you please keep them from breaking the merchandise?”
“Who broke something?” Nico asks, turning to the group, as if he’s completely oblivious to the alarm. Yeah, right.
“He broke the chain!”
“Oh. Hey, Jackie, fix that would you?” Nico says, waving to Jack--who still looks like a girl.
“Fine,” Jack mutters, heading over to Lance to fix the chain. “It’s fixed. Now tell Ace that if he’s going to make me a chick at least make me a cute one.”
“It’s fixed,” Nico tells the worker, ignoring the cute comment. “Hey, what are we doing in this area, anyway?” he asks a bit blankly.
The entire group starts laughing at him. “You’re the one that led the way, Dad,” Sunny says from where he’s looking through the CDs. “We just followed.”
“Makes sense,” Nico says. “Okay, let’s head out! While we’re here, you can do some grocery shopping, Vinny. I’m tired of listening to people complaining about starving. Take a handful of the kids that have already chosen their item with you.”
“Sure,” I say. I look over at Jimmi, who’s standing as close to me as possible even as she watches the rest of the group with an expression of wonder.
“I’m in!” Emily says, leaving Trent behind and coming over. “Jimmi, are you coming?” she asks.
“Yeah,” Jimmi says, smiling at her. “I don’t mind grocery shopping.”
A handful of others join us and I look at Nico, realizing what just happened. He just put me in charge of another team. “Morgan, you take another group and head into the bedding stuff,” Nico goes on, pointing to where the sheets are. “Make sure you get sheets, blankets, and whatever else he’ll need for his room. Max, you’re in charge of clothing, you’ve got the best taste in the group. Make sure to get something he can train in. Sunny, Zoe, take the rest of them and find what they want--don’t break anything, got it? I expect everyone to meet me at the front in an hour, ready to check out.”
