Charlotte thanked him. The headmaster looked back at the crowd of students, many of whom were watching them, no doubt wondering if Brendan and Charlotte had gotten to cut the line. She gave the headmaster a polite embrace, and he went back inside.
“What a bastard,” she said.
“Why?”
“He never once mentioned my mother. I looked her up. He was married to her for seven years. They never had me in this world, but still.”
“Have you tried to talk to her?”
Charlotte shook her head. “She remarried and has a couple of kids. I guess that makes me their sister once removed, or something like that? I think if I tried explaining who I was to her, she’d just call the police.”
“At least you’ll have a place to stay. Probably pretty swank. Has to be nicer than where you’ve been living all this time, right?”
“If you’re keeping my glove and the ring, I’m at least keeping where I go a secret, if you haven’t figured it out.”
***
Tina and Brendan got off the hyperloop at Bakersfield. It wasn’t Las Vegas or St. Louis or anyplace else his father had suggested, but rather a few short stops from the university. He reasoned his father could drive a little further, or get a private plane if he had the funds. Brendan had yet to see the central California city. Even though the school was closer to the Mojave Desert, it felt hotter here, the air heavy with rippling waves of rising air. He checked his phone for directions, and they walked about a mile to a row of restaurants on the Kern River. Their route took them along a large park where joggers and bicyclists braved the midday heat.
They went in the ice cream shop first and each got a single cone. They ate inside the air-conditioned store. After a while, Brendan checked his phone. Over an hour had passed since they had arrived. His father was late. Tina didn’t say a word. She was studying the menu, about to make another purchase.
“Let’s go somewhere else,” Brendan said.
They tried the gourmet French fry restaurant. The garlic and cheese fries were soggy but Tina ate them anyway. Brendan stirred an iced coffee absentmindedly as he stared out the window. Another hour passed.
“Could be traffic,” Tina said.
“Maybe.”
A family of five came in, all wearing identical hot-pink T-shirts with some sort of logo. There had been similarly colored banners and balloons around the park advertising some charity event. Brendan tried to ignore them as they noisily debated what to order. The automated kiosk waited patiently.
Brendan stood. “Let’s get out of here.”
His phone pulsed. He checked it and looked up at Tina.
“Is he here?” she asked.
She followed him out the door and hurried to keep up. Brendan followed the signs to the Memorial Fountains. Five smooth arches of water sprayed over a large circular concourse, the center of which was a large black pentagon. Several people were walking the concourse. Among them, standing at an information kiosk, was his father.
Brendan fought the tug of anger and resentment that made him want to strike the man even as he raced forward for an embrace. His father wrapped large arms around him and kissed his head.
“My boy, my boy,” his father was saying.
When they broke off the hug, Brendan wiped his eyes. He pointed to his father’s midsection. “How are you feeling?”
“Hurts,” his father said. He lifted the shirt to show a large clean bandage above the beltline. “Lets me know I’m alive. And who’s this with you?”
“A friend. Dad, meet Tina. Tina, my dad.”
She offered a hand and they shook. She then handed him a napkin from the French fry restaurant and a pen.
“What’s this?” Myron Reece asked.
“Sign it, please. It’s not every day you get to meet the Drone King.”
They spent an hour strolling in the park, trying to ignore the triple-digit heat. Brendan talked about class and his mom. His father listened, although he kept checking his phone and replying to text messages. Eventually Brendan took out his own phone. “Time to go,” he texted Tina, who was giving them some space and poking around at the edges of one of the ponds.
“I’m going to get back,” Brendan said.
“Already?” Myron asked. “I just got here.”
“There’s a bunch of stuff at school I need to take care of. I’m using the week off to get some extra credit done, and I don’t want to fall behind.”
“You’re the smart one. Learn it. Learn it all.”
“I will.”
They hugged and his dad made promises to keep in touch. They said a final goodbye. Brendan walked with Tina back to the hyperloop station. He sent his dad a “Drive safe” text and didn’t get a reply.
As they stood waiting for their pod, Tina looped an arm around Brendan’s.
“How are you doing?” she asked.
“About as expected. At least he showed up.”
“So we’re doing this?”
He looked at her arm in his. “I…sure.”
“No, I mean going back to school. This is above our pay grade. A power level above anything we can muster. Boss monsters that outclass us. We could get our parents to foot the bill at another school, and the headmaster will gladly do the paperwork. We can bug out with our heads held high.”
He rubbed his eyes. “We’re the only ones who understand what’s happened. We need to watch and keep track of both the headmaster and Charlotte. Eventually, the world will need to be informed. It’s not fair to the families who lost loved ones to keep it to ourselves. We’ll keep a record. And one day, we’ll tell what we know. So yes. We go back, and we do this.”
Tina nodded, a satisfied smile on her face.
Brendan checked his phone one more time, even though he knew he hadn’t received any messages. Then he put it away and watched as the pod pulled into the station. The school was two short stops away, and he couldn’t wait to get back.
The Headmaster’s Shadow
Supervillain High Book 2
by
Gerhard Gehrke
1. The Sentinel
Something moved inside the admin building.
Brendan maneuvered his drone for a better vantage point. Its current position above the trees of the academy campus allowed him to see two sides of the building, and this was to be the last pass before packing it up for the night. He yawned but came fully awake as he double-checked his tablet monitor that relayed the drone’s camera footage. They hadn’t seen a thing move within the building since leaving it locked up after the fight with the headmaster. Every night since the gate to the headmaster’s world had been closed, Brendan and the A.V. Club had kept watch, not trusting the Dutchman Springs Academy security enough to leave it in their hands.
A curtain fluttered. Fourth floor. One level below the headmaster’s office. The entire building was dark but for exterior lights. No one had entered any of the doors. He would have seen them. That could only mean someone had gotten in through the gate from the other Earth.
“Soren,” Brendan said into his phone. No reply came. The push-to-talk app they all had installed had been working perfectly so far. “Soren, wake up.”
“Huh?” Soren said, his voice thick. “Yeah, I’m here. What’s up?”
“I’ve got someone inside. None of the building’s doors have been opened. They’re back. Where’s Vlad?”
“He, uh, went to bed.”
Brendan cursed silently. “What do you have on your thermal scope?”
After a pause, Soren said, “Nothing. The top floor is as it always is. Are you sure you saw something?”
“I’m sure,” he snapped, knowing as he said it the words would sound angry. He clenched his teeth and took a deep breath. Soren, more so than any of the rest of the A.V. Club, was sensitive. A cross word would send the boy into a nervous tizzy. Or he’d sulk and be useless.
“Look, I’m sorry,” Brendan said. “Just check again.”
“There’s nothing to se
e. If the gate machine had turned on, I wouldn’t miss it.”
Brendan piloted the drone down to the fourth floor right by the window and set it to hover.
“I know you wouldn’t, Soren. Just check the rest of the building. If they’ve moved the machine, maybe the heat signature won’t show up on the top floor.”
The headmaster’s machine radiated a heat effect when on as well as intense cold close to the gate between worlds. There also had been a disruption in wireless signals and even a haze in the air. These had been the clues that had first tipped them off that something was amiss inside the headmaster’s office.
“Nothing,” Soren said. “I’m looking at the entire building. I see your drone. There’s a few people walking around campus. That’s it.”
Brendan tuned him out and focused on the screen. He could see nothing past the curtain and hoped the moonlight wouldn’t reflect off his drone’s black body. He didn’t have any fancy features on the drone’s camera, but he was able to adjust the gain levels to maximize the light of the image. He could make out the edge of the desk within the office.
There. Someone moved. Two someones. He inched the drone closer. If it was the headmaster from Not-Earth or any of his flunkies, he had to know.
He worked the remote as gently as possible, but it proved difficult. His fingers trembled from the coffee he had drunk before the night’s watch. It was a bad habit he had gotten used to, chugging two cups every evening from the Bean, their off-campus coffee hangout. When the headmaster reopened the door to this world, he would be awake and ready for it. His finger pushed too hard on the controls. The drone hit the window.
From his seat on a courtyard bench, he was too far away to hear, but the drone had to have made a noise. He worked the twin control sticks, and soon enough the drone was up and backing away from the window. He struggled to get it stable. The window came into view. He didn’t see anyone. Whoever had been there was gone.
He set the drone back on a programmed patrol pattern and grabbed his phone. He punched Tina’s contact button and waited. “Come on, answer. You sure you don’t see anything, Soren?”
“Nothing.”
Tina picked up. “What’s up?”
“Get down here. Call security first.”
“You sure?”
“Just do it.”
He got back on the controls. The drone was now revolving around the building’s perimeter, and he set it to hover once it was on the opposite side of the structure. Then he woke up his second drone. This quadcopter waited right where he had parked it atop an aluminum awning above the student restaurant. He launched it upwards and had it hover around the fourth floor on his side of the building. The power levels were at ninety-five percent. It could remain in place for over an hour.
His tablet screen now split, allowing for both drones’ cameras to send their feeds. A small red circle on the bottom of one side of the screen indicated the second drone’s weapon was charged. The stun gun was a special modification he hadn’t shared with anyone.
“Tina,” he said to his phone.
He piloted the drone lower. Third floor. No lights. No movement. Second floor.
“Tina.” No answer.
Lobby floor. He zoomed in. He could see the elevator lights. It was descending and almost there. The building was locked. The real headmaster had transferred all staff out of the building. It was off-limits to everyone. Even security was ordered to enter only in groups of four. He watched as the elevator bypassed the lobby and went down to the basement.
“Tina!” Where is she?
“Hold on,” Tina said finally. “I’m just getting off the phone with security. Keep your pants on. I’m heading your way now.”
His phone lit up with an incoming call. School security. Brendan touched the answer button and set the phone down again, intent on the screen. He pulled the second drone back and began to move it along the building’s right side. A single door led to the basement. It was locked. He had checked that night after the regular security guard had made his rounds.
“Hello? Hello?” the security guard on the phone said.
“Get to the admin building,” Brendan said. “Someone is here. They’re in the basement. I’ve got the lower exit covered.”
There came a reply, but Brendan wasn’t listening. He stuffed his phone into his pocket and picked up the second drone control. He ran towards the admin building.
Tina was calling his name from across the courtyard. She was struggling to pull on a baggy sweatshirt. Her flip-flops weren’t letting her run well and she hobbled, skipped, and lurched to keep from losing a shoe. Her normally well-arranged straight-cut bob was up at several angles.
He didn’t wait.
He rounded the side of the admin building. Only then did he realize he had left his tablet behind. There was no way to see what the drone saw. The second drone hung perfectly in the air above the side door. Security wasn’t there yet. Their building was close; they were being slow. Negligent. It should have been them out here watching for this, the first line of defense against an invasion. He ran back around the front of the building and looked inside the dark lobby. The elevator was still on “B.”
Tina arrived and followed him back to the side entrance.
“What did you see?” she asked.
“Two people,” he gasped. He was breathing hard. His extracurricular activities didn’t include any cardio.
“You shouldn’t be rushing in here like this alone.”
The side door shook. Someone was on the opposite side and had tried to open it, but it was locked. Without a key, they were stuck. Unless they weren’t from this world. The people from Not-Earth had enhanced strength and might be able to break the door down, or they could just smash the lobby’s glass doors.
“Better stay back,” he said.
Tina didn’t budge.
He brought the drone down so it was right above them. The door stopped shaking. Now a small window pushed open. Short hedges obscured his view of who was coming out, but two people squeezed through the window. Brendan moved the drone forward, his finger hovering over the firing button of his drone’s weapon. He had one shot. It could only down one target, but that would be one less foe to deal with.
“What’s going on here?” a woman’s voice asked. It was one of the security guards. The woman brought up a flashlight and shined it in Brendan’s face.
“Shine it there!” Brendan shouted. “There! Behind those bushes!”
The security guard went forward.
“Wait, you’re alone?” Brendan asked.
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” Tina said.
The guard’s light went up to the bushes and the two partially obscured figures shielding their eyes. The guard ordered them forward, and out came two students, one boy, one girl. Brendan didn’t recognize either of them. His finger remained poised over the weapon button.
“Congratulations,” Tina said. “You’ve caught sophomores.”
2. The Song’s Not the Same
“Let me get this straight,” Vlad Behram said. The large boy was not even trying to suppress his broad grin. “You want the school evacuated because two kids snuck into the admin building to do some kissy face?”
“I didn’t say evacuated,” Brendan said. He stared at his empty coffee cup, swirled the last couple of drops together on the bottom, and drank it down. “I just want security to do their job like the headmaster promised.”
“Close enough.”
Brendan sank into his chair. The Bean was crowded even by Saturday morning standards. Champ’s business had always been steady, if not quite as robust as the chain coffee shops scattered throughout the town of Dutchman Springs. Perhaps it was the bite in the autumn air sending customers into his establishment. The aroma of a fresh batch of barfi filled the air with its notes of cardamom and cinnamon. Champ no longer gave out free samples, and a line quickly formed at the counter. The blue-turbaned owner was a one-man show, making coffee drinks, serv
ing treats, and taking money.
The TV was on but with the audio off. The non-supers news held few people’s attention, including Tina’s. She had her face in her phone.
“Sir Duke was spotted again,” she said. “On his way to stop a brawl at a shopping mall. Huh. His car broke down. There’s footage of him from a traffic drone walking along the side of the road. By the time he got there, the police had stopped the fight.” She put her phone away and considered Brendan. “How much coffee you drinking now?”
“You’re not my mom,” Brendan said.
“Definitely not. But I’d like to point out that it’s making you a bit edgy. And when’s the last time you called her, anyway?”
He didn’t want to say. It had been a week. She had left him four messages. Each time he had been busy, either with surveillance or working on his own batch of drones. Since she didn’t text, he had to catch her between shifts at the hospital or while she was home. Each voicemail notification pricked his conscience, but he had so much work to do. Even while in class, he was always thinking about new drone designs—when he wasn’t nodding off. The coffee barely put a dent in how tired he felt.
Tina put a hand on his. They had gone out a couple of times, but all Brendan could talk about was the headmaster, the gate to Not-Earth, and Poser and Paul, the two students who had been swapped for their Not-Earth counterparts. The two boys were still missing, presumably taken to Not-Earth like their real headmaster whom they had rescued. But the police would be of no help, as both boys’ doubles being at school meant they were accounted for, and the gate to Not-Earth couldn’t be reopened to show anyone in authority that there was a danger. Brendan had waited for the real headmaster, Charlotte, and the nurse to come up with some sort of plan. But no plan came.
“Brendan?”
“Sorry. I’m just a little tired.”
“I’ll say. When’s the last time you got more than a couple of hours of sleep?”
The Supervillain High Boxed Set: Books One - Three of the Supervillain High Series Page 24
