Cape High Villainy: A Side Story (Cape High Series)

by Ross, R. J.

  “So... Rocco’s mommy loves him, too, right?” Ariel says. “Aren’t you glad, Skye?”

  “Mmmm…” I say, looking at Gwenda thoughtfully. “But HE thinks she doesn’t, and honestly that’s more important to me. So…”

  “So?” Doris asks, a wicked little grin starting to cross her face.

  “Soooo…” I say.

  “We’re gonna do something bad, now, aren’t we!” Ariel says, letting out a happy little sound and clapping her hands. “Ooo! I LIKE being bad!”

  “What are they talking about?” Gwenda asks, looking nervously at Century.

  “Ladies, we’re not in our territory just now,” Century says, not answering her question.

  “Yeah, but we can GO to our territory!” I say. “All right, girls! Time for the dramatic reveal!”

  “No dramatic reveal until we get to the South Branch!” Century says as the girls start to unbutton their blouses.

  “No, no, I think I want to see this dramatic reveal,” Johnnie says, only to get glared at by his wife.

  “What’s the fun of wearing disguises if we don’t get to do the dramatic reveal?” I demand, already out of my coat.

  “These stupid suits have too fragile of buttons,” Doris complains as more buttons drop to the floor.

  “Doris—“ Century says.

  “If I don’t change into my uniform, I can’t go home,” she says. “These two airheads don’t need wings to fly, remember?”

  “She called us airheads again, Skye,” Ariel says.

  “Ooooh, someone’s gonna get punished!” I say, grinning widely.

  “I didn’t say airheads, I said—um—fair heads, that’s right! These two FAIR heads don’t need wings—“

  “Pool cleaning duty! One week!” I say, and then strip off my shirt.

  “Ariel can clean the pool with her powers!” she says.

  “But you gotta do it in the bikini of shame!” Ariel says cheerfully, stripping down to her uniform. I strike a pose, since that’s what you do for grand reveals, and Ariel copies me. Only Doris grumbles as her pants drop to the ground, revealing her uniform, as well.

  “Hey, wait—you’re—“ Johnnie says, only to stop and yelp in terror as Doris shifts into her monster form.

  “You’re coming with me!” I say to Gwenda, scooping her up in a princess hold. “Jersey, grab the big guy! He’s family, too, now!”

  “Can’t I hitch a ride with the water girl, instead?” Johnnie whimpers as Doris crosses over to him, looming over him with glowing eyes and large clawed hands.

  “Rocco, son, can you come here?” I hear Century say. “Your aunt and her girls are acting up again.”

  “Sure thing, boss,” Rocco says.

  “Awww, you’re going to ruin my fun!” I complain. “Well, we still have time, girls, let’s run!” I race straight for the wall and Gwenda screams as it looks like we’re about to hit it. When we phase right through it, she goes limp, and I glance down just long enough to see that she’s fainted. Whoops. I probably should have warned her first, huh?

  “Skye! We need a hand!” Doris yells from the other side of the wall. I stick my foot through the wall, since both hands are full, and someone grabs it, so I pull them through. Unfortunately, along with my two partners, Century comes out as well.

  “I’ll only allow you to do this if you take them back to our territory,” Century says.

  “Fiiiiine,” I say, turning and racing for the South Hall territory.

  “You kidnapped me!” Gwenda says, clinging for her life. At least she recovers quickly! “That’s a crime!”

  “We’re family!” I say cheerfully, “this is just a family trip, right?”

  “This is AWESOME! Can my new son fly?” Johnnie asks at the top of his voice.

  “I like him, he’s a keeper,” I tell Gwenda, grinning at her. “But no, Rocco can’t fly, he travels through shadows!”

  “But Skye,” Ariel says, moving to run beside me. I’m not going top speed, they have trouble keeping up with that. “Isn’t Rocco a villain? Villain’s can’t kidnap other villain’s parents—at least, not to get paid for, right?”

  “This is pro bono work!” I say cheerfully.

  “Oooh! Hey, Doris! We’re doing pro bono villainy! Does that make us like Robin Hood?”

  “I don’t—that is…” Doris starts out, only to decide, “absolutely. It absolutely makes us like Robin Hood.”

  “YAY!” both Ariel and I say.

  “How can you just let them do this? Aren’t you a Hall Leader, Century?” Gwenda demands, since obviously her husband is happily going along with this.

  “I will be sure to prepare a nice basket for apologies, ma’am,” Century says, flying along behind us. He could easily stop this, and we all know it.

  “Century has a crush on Skye!” Ariel says cheerfully. “So we get away with all SORTS of things!”

  “That is not why I’m letting you do this,” Century says. “If this truly was traumatizing Ms. Stiltz—“

  “Mrs. Verti,” Gwenda says.

  “Mrs. Verti,” Century corrects himself, “then I believe she would say clearly that she never wants to see her son again. If you can say that, ma’am, I’ll turn all three of them around and return you both to your home.”

  “I—“ Gwenda says. “So where in the South Branch are we going?” she asks reluctantly. “I’m going to miss work, so I expect to get a phone call before whatever it is you’re planning goes down.”

  “That’s fine,” I say. “We’ve got a really fancy phone!”

  ***

  Rocco steps out of the shadows, looking around the familiar apartment with a scowl. Skye and the others are gone, he knows that straight away, but he still checks all of the rooms to see if his mother is here.

  He stops as he sees a picture hanging on the wall. It’s of his mother and a man he’s never met. The frame is one of those that say “Just Married” across the top. His heart jerks, and his hand falls to his side. She’s married. He hadn’t even been invited to the wedding.

  He runs a hand over his face and wonders if he can just go back to the dorms. Maybe he can cheer up if he gets a few of his buds to hang out with him. Or maybe he should go over to Max’s place and—

  “Nightstep!” he hears Skye say over his earbud. He almost doesn’t want to answer. “I have kidnapped your mother and your step-daddy! I’m going to show you, once and for all, who’s the biggest villain in the south!”

  He stops, her words making him blink. “Skystep, um, I already know—“

  “You think you can save them?” she goes on. “Just try!”

  “Skye—“ he says.

  “Roc—“

  “His name is Nightstep,” he hears Ariel say.

  “Nightstep?” he hears his mother say. “Don’t come—wait, what was my line, again?”

  “You’re supposed to say that he’s no match for the three of us,” Doris prompts.

  “Well of course he isn’t, he’s a teenage boy!” his mom says.

  “No, I think he could take me on,” Doris says, thoughtfully. “He might even have a chance against Ariel in a one-on-one, right?”

  “I dunno, maybe!” Ariel says. “He’s cute, so I might take it easy on him.”

  “But he’s got no chance going up against Skye,” Doris says.

  “Of course he doesn’t! I’m the most powerful villain IN THE WORLD!”

  “Nightstep, don’t come!” his mother says urgently.

  “She’s the most powerful,” Rocco says, quietly, “but she’s not the most villainous, or angsty, or even dangerous. I’m coming to get my mom back, Skystep.”

  “We’ll be waaaaiting!” Skye says happily. Rocco taps on his earbud, just standing where he is and looking at the picture.

  He’s scared, Rocco admits to himself. Here his mom obviously has the life she wanted, now that he’s out of the picture, and Skye is dragging him right back into it—

  “Rocco,” Century says over his earbud. “S
on, Skye is doing this for your sake.”

  “She shouldn’t bother,” Rocco says. “Century, Mom’s married. What if getting dragged into this ruins her marriage? I’ve already ruined a good chunk of her life, what excuse do I have to make it worse?”

  “I don’t think you need to worry about that,” he says.

  “Of course I’m worried about that!” Rocco bursts out. “She deserves a good life! One that doesn’t include super problems.”

  “Just come, boy. I’ll be watching over the whole thing.”

  “I… is it okay if I yell at Skye for this when it’s over?”

  “That’s perfectly understandable.”

  He takes one last look at the man standing next to his mother in the picture and heads through the nearest shadow.

  ***

  *Near Skye’s Hidden Base*

  “Sooo, this is a grand show-down between the reigning champion villain, ME, and the new up-and-comer, Nightstep!” Skye says, waving a stick in front of her face like it’s a mic. “Make sure you aim the hairpin at me, okay, Doris?”

  “It’s aimed, it’s aimed,” Doris says, holding a tiny hairpin in her hand as if it was a camera. “Can’t we use the phones instead of this? You know that you don’t get that good of a picture with it!”

  “Ohhh, good point. But then again, who else can say they recorded a major heist with a hairpin?”

  “I’ll use the phone!” Ariel says, pulling her phone out of her suit and aiming it. “Now we’ve got two angles!”

  “Are they ALL crazy?” Gwenda asks Century. She’s tied to the trunk of the tree he’s sitting in.

  “Well, you see, ma’am, Skye’s an S-class,” he says. “That gives her a bit of leeway in… interpreting reality. But in this case, her big brother is the one that made the hairpin. It’s a fully working camcorder and tracker.”

  “Who’s her brother?” Johnnie asks excitedly. Sure, he’s tied to the tree next to Gwenda, but even if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t budge for anything.

  “Technico,” Century says. “She’s an adopted Superior.”

  “And—wait, Superior? Technico is a Superior?” Johnnie says, his voice breaking, he’s so excited. “And she’s adopted, AND my son’s aunt—“

  “Stepson,” Gwenda says.

  “You know I always wanted a son,” Johnnie says. “Well, now I got one! And he’s related to Superior!”

  “You never once said you wanted a son!” Gwenda says, irritably.

  “Details, honey, details. Besides, what’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine—including your son!” He stops as he feels the ropes binding him loosen, and then fall into his lap. “What—“

  “He’s here!” Skye says, looking around the woods expectantly. “We should have waited until morning, huh?” They all look at the sky, where the sun is rapidly setting.

  “You didn’t think of that, earlier?” Doris demands.

  “Well, it IS three against one!” Skye says.

  “Eep—“ they all look over as Johnnie is pulled into the shadow at the base of the tree.

  “Although, I honestly didn’t expect THAT,” Skye admits.

  ***

  “What the—“ Johnnie stops, blinking several times. The area is completely dark, save for two glowing eyes.

  “I’m sorry that you got dragged into this, sir,” a teen says. “I’ll grab your wife, now, and take you back to your apartment. I hope you can bear with the smell—“

  “Rocco?” Johnnie asks. “You’re Rocco, right?”

  “I… ah, yeah,” the teen says. “Sorry about getting you drag—“ He lets out a surprised yelp as Johnnie wraps his arms around him. “What—“

  “You’re a lot taller than I thought you’d be,” Johnnie says. “Skinnier, too. Don’t you eat, boy?”

  “All the time,” Rocco admits, “it takes a lot of energy to do what I do. Um… so you know who I am?”

  “I’m sure she would have told me eventually,” he says, as if covering for Rocco’s mother. “We’ve only been married for a few months, now. You don’t exactly come out of nowhere and say, ‘by the way, my son’s a super.’”

  “I see,” Rocco says.

  “But should you really ruin Skystep’s fun like this? I thought she had some epic showdown planned.”

  “Sure she does,” Rocco says, grinning, “but I’m not stupid. I have no chance in a fistfight with those three.” Rocco heads back to the shadow portal, reaching for his mother. “Darn it,” he mutters. “They must have noticed.”

  “What happened?” Johnnie asks.

  “Skye must have grabbed her while we were talking.”

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” he hears Skye call.

  ***

  Oh, don’t get me wrong, at this distance I know exactly where he is, even if he IS in the stinky Shadowlands. This is all about DRAMA! And JAZZ HANDS! Well, it’s sort of hard to do jazz hands right now, since I’m holding Gwenda, but in my heart, I AM DOING JAZZ HANDS! “Here, Nightstep, Nightstep, Nightstep! I’ve got a treat for you!”

  “Is Nightstep a cat?” Ariel asks Doris.

  “No, but he IS a cat burglar!” I explain.

  “That’s so…”

  “Cheesy,” Doris finishes for her.

  “I want a kitty,” Ariel decides. “Skye, can we get a kitty?”

  “I thought we were getting a cow,” I say, frowning. “Or maybe we should get a goat, that way if Jersey gets hungry, she can suck its blood!”

  “That’s a Chupacabra, not a Jersey Devil,” Doris says.

  “Oh! Let’s get a pet Chupacabby thing!” Ariel says, excitedly. “Are they cute?”

  “I think I might have a third or fourth cousin that’s a Chupacabra,” Doris says thoughtfully. “But he might be dead by now.”

  “Was he cute?” Ariel asks.

  “Don’t know, never met him—AH!” I look down just in time to see Doris’s leg grabbed from beneath and her body hauled down into the Shadowlands.

  “He got Jersey!” I say. “Ariel, stay away from the shadows!”

  Gwenda is holding on tightly to my sleeve and I look down at her, surprised to see a worried expression on her face. “You’re really good at acting,” I tell her. She almost jumps when I say that.

  “Who’s acting? Is this really my son?” she asks.

  “Oh, sure, but as long as they don’t stay in there long enough to attract the dinos, they should be fine,” I reassure her.

  “Dinos?”

  “Shadow Dinos! They’re a lot of fun on a weeknight!”

  “There are dangerous creatures in there?” Gwenda asks.

  I’m about to answer when I notice Ariel heading for a nearby shadow, looking excited. “What is she—“

  “Really? Really?” Ariel says. “I can have it?”

  “I’ll text it to your phone,” I hear Rocco say, right before Ariel’s wrist is grabbed and she’s dragged into the shadows.

  “RAINDANCE!” I bellow, dramatically.

  “Skystep,” Rocco says from behind me. “Now it’s just you and me.”

  “What did you do with my partners, Nightstep?” I demand, turning to glare at him. He’s just standing on the ground with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, grinning slightly. Nice entrance!

  “They’re somewhere safe,” he says. “You’ll get them back as soon as you let the lady go.”

  “What’s so special about this lady, Nightstep? Why is a villain acting like a hero?”

  “So… kidnapping your partners to use as leverage counts as heroic?” he asks. “I did not know that. But that lady has nothing to do with what we do, Skystep. She’s a random civilian that shouldn’t be brought into our business.”

  “A random civillian?” Gwenda repeats with outrage. “I’m your MOTHER!”

  “I don’t know who you think I am, miss, but I’m definitely not your son,” Rocco says calmly. “You’ve got the wrong woman, Skystep. So let her down and face me, one on one.”

  “Do I?�
�� I ask. “You took out my cameras, you know, so we’re not being recorded anymore.”

  “Your cameras?” Rocco repeats.

  “Yep! The girls were doing the filming. So now tell me the truth, is this lady your mom?”

  Rocco looks at Gwenda, a troubled expression on his face. “Skye, I told you that I didn’t want to bother her, so why’d you do this?”

  “Because you’re family!” I say. “You should at least see your mom once in a while! And—and—“

  “She’s better off without all the crap I come with, Skye,” Rocco says. “She’s even gone and gotten married—she never could, back when I was living with her. I kept freaking out her boyfriends, and I didn’t even realize it until it was too late. I got her in trouble with the Hall, too.”

  “Rocco—“ I say, and then stop, because I don’t know what else to say.

  “I’m sorry, Ma’am,” Rocco says. “I can take you back to your place, now. Um, I don’t know if this messed up your work today, or not—“

  “I…” Gwenda says. “What did you do with Johnnie?”

  “Eh, Doris and Ariel are with him, and they won’t let him get hurt,” Rocco says. “Skye—“

  “You two need to TALK,” I say, stomping my foot on the ground, only to crack it. “Whoops. Oh, no, that’s my ceiling! I need to get Jack to fix it!”

  “Skyyyyyeee—“ Rocco says.

  “You two talk while I go call Nico!” I say, slipping through the ground. “I’ll be right back! I promise!” Now, to make sure they actually talk!

  ***

  “It seems you’re doing well… as a super villain,” Gwenda says, when Rocco just looks at the ground with a slight frown.

  “Huh? Oh, um, yeah, sorry.”

  “Sorry?”

  “I wanted to be a hero, but it turns out that villains like me do a lot of good in this game. It’s also a LOT of fun—but… well, you don’t have to worry about people finding out, Skye isn’t really fond of the Hero TV thing—“

  “I see,” Gwenda says.

  “I ah, didn’t know you’d gotten married,” Rocco says, looking vulnerable.

  “It was a bit of a… whirlwind thing,” Gwenda admits. “I would have told you, but—“