An alarm rang.
Charlotte kept a hand on Paul as they stepped through, but he moved along without complaint. Their feet crunched on the glass.
“No need to be subtle, huh?” Poser asked. He gave Brendan’s bicep a squeeze. “Where do I sign up?”
“Just head in,” Brendan said. “We don’t have much time.”
They crowded in the elevator.
“What else can you do? Fly? Heat vision?”
“Nothing dumb like that,” Brendan said, hitting the button for the top floor and the headmaster’s office. “Skin is tougher, feels like I’m on too much coffee. But it’s temporary. And I worry that it might be addictive.”
He thought about Lucille and her exceptional effect on other people. That had been augmented by upstream Earth food. What were the other possibilities?
The lights were on in the headmaster’s outer office. The door to his office was ajar. Charlotte kept a firm hold on Paul as they stepped out of the elevator. Brendan went first. He pushed the door open.
Several desk lamps were on the floor, casting knee-level warm light throughout the office. Machine parts and tools were spread everywhere. Someone was crouched down on the opposite side of the giant desk, leaning over a set of notebooks all opened and laid out around them. Charlotte pushed past Brendan.
“Dad?” she said.
The headmaster was kneeling over a pulled-apart circuit board. He wore magnifiers that made his eyes monstrous as he looked up at his daughter and around at the rest of them.
“Are you here?” he asked in a tremulous voice.
When Charlotte approached, he recoiled and moved across the floor away from her, pushing aside machine parts in the process.
“Dad, what’s wrong with you? It’s me, Charlotte.”
She caught up with him and put her hands on his shoulders. He raised his arms as if to protect himself.
“I’m not going to hurt you!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He took the magnifiers off and looked up at her with sheepish eyes. “I tried to bring you back, but I failed.”
“He’s gone around the bend,” Poser whispered.
“Has he been taking care of you?” Brendan asked.
“He’s had some help at the house. A few different guards and a nurse checked in most days. I never saw him around the house much. I guess he’s been here playing with his junk.”
Brendan caught Paul slipping away towards the elevator and grabbed him. He brought him into the headmaster’s office and sat him down at the desk. Charlotte was crouched next to her father and speaking softly, but he was muttering to himself and looking down at the mess of parts.
“Charlotte, can we fix this thing?” Brendan asked.
She got up and began looking at the scattered pieces. “Give me a day, yeah. That’s assuming nothing’s broken. If he’s snapped any of the boards, it’ll take longer.”
“Then we don’t have any other option,” Brendan said. “We use your glove to send them back to the downstream Earth and then get them back to ours. It’s an extra step but it’s our only choice.”
Charlotte took the glove out from her pack. When the headmaster saw it, his eyes went wide.
“No!” he screamed. He got up from the floor and grabbed for the glove. Charlotte was taken by surprise and barely held him off. Brendan pulled the headmaster away, amazed at how strong the man was, even against Brendan’s enhanced strength from the upstream water.
“If you use that, they’ll know,” the headmaster said. “You’ll bring them here.”
“Who, Dad? The scientists? They’re searching for your machine, aren’t they?”
“I thought it was locked and no one could use it. But it wasn’t true. It was turned on. I thought it was you, honey. I thought it was you with the ring. But they’ve been here, and managed to unlock it. They used it. Somehow, they used it.”
Charlotte had tears in her eyes. Brendan wasn’t used to seeing her act like the adolescent girl that she was. She had lost her father and her home all in one day when she had been trapped on his world, and now some of that pain was finally evident.
“Dad, I don’t understand what you’re saying. Your machine is broken. It wasn’t working because we took your ring. Did you fix it?”
The headmaster appeared to be hung up on his words. Then in a small voice he said, “No. I thought it best not to. But others did. And they were here. I found it on but turned it off. They couldn’t open the gate, but yet someone did. Now they know about it. I took it apart so they could never have it. And if someone went through, they’ll never come back.”
“It’s going to be okay. You took it apart. It’s broken now.”
The alarms were still ringing downstairs.
“Charlotte,” Brendan said.
She powered her glove up.
“Mind filling me in?” Poser asked.
“We were hoping we could use the machine to get you home,” Brendan said. “That was plan B. Plan C is to get you to the Earth down from ours. Then you can open a gate that will get you home. The Sperry Appleton of that world will help you if you hit a snag.”
“Wait,” Poser said, “you’re not coming?”
“Brendan, you need to go with them and help them get back,” Charlotte said. “I can give you the glove.”
Brendan was immediately suspicious. “What do you mean? Give Brian the glove. They can get home on their own.”
She shook her head. “They won’t make it without help. And I need to stay with my dad.”
“I’m not leaving you and Tina here. We agreed to find the vault together.”
Charlotte powered up the glove. With a touch she could send someone to the Earth downstream from Brendan’s. She could deliver them all there one at a time. It was a weapon that had saved him when fighting Torben, but now it made him nervous again. She could remove him as an obstacle if she wanted, and their truce would be nothing but words.
Brendan went to Paul. “Do you understand we’re trying to help you get back to your family and the world that you know?”
Paul nodded but eyed him warily. Brendan noticed Charlotte coming up behind him. He patted Paul on the shoulder.
“Then you’re going to have to listen. You’re going first, and it’ll be like you’re stepping into this office once again, but we won’t be here. Just wait. Brian is coming next. Then you’re going to help him. Brian, you’re going to feel better once you’re across. Tell Paul what to do.”
“And what’s that exactly?” Poser asked.
“Charlotte will explain the glove to you. You’re going to put it on and use it on yourself. Once across you’ll use it to open a gate back home. The gate only opens between the two. It’s never failed Charlotte. If there’s any problem, call Sperry Appleton. He’ll help you on either world. He’s not the same as this one here.”
The headmaster wasn’t paying any attention to them. He was transfixed by Charlotte’s glove.
Poser sighed. “Dude, don’t make me babysit Paul.”
“It’s too dangerous here, and we have work to do. You could come with if you were feeling better, but you’re not.”
“So how do we do this?”
Brendan stepped away from Paul. Paul started to back away, but then Charlotte touched him and he vanished.
“Whoa!” Poser said. “He’s like gone! How did you do that? That’s amazing!”
“It’s like stepping through the gate, except she can send people to the Earth one down from ours. We’re one up from home right now.”
“Yeah, I follow the concept of it. I’m not a moron. But you say stepping through the gate like it’s something you do every day. Maybe that’s what you’ve been up to, but I woke up here and never saw any gate or power glove or anything. All I know is that everyone got different and I was sick.”
“We’ll have time to catch you up better later.”
They both looked at Charlotte. The LED on her glove was dark. “It takes a minute,” s
he said. She then started to explain the basics of using it to open a gate.
“This sounds complicated,” Poser said. “Why am I all of a sudden filled with nervous energy? Is this going to hurt? Wait, don’t answer—you’d only lie. But you’re going to go over this a few more times so I get it right.”
The door to the stairwell in the outer hallway clacked open. Brendan heard a voice he had hoped he would never hear again. It was Officer Foster, the head of security who had been the headmaster’s right-hand man. It sounded like he was concluding a phone call.
“Dad, can you order him to leave us alone?” Charlotte asked.
“Oh, honey, it’s so good to have you back,” the headmaster said absently. He held up a piece of circuit board and examined it as if he had never seen anything like it before.
Officer Foster knocked as he entered and then looked at the kids standing in the office. His hands went to his hip and he pulled out a Taser. Before he could aim, Brendan grabbed a brass lamp from one of the shelves and pitched it straight into Foster’s chest. Foster groaned and dropped to his knees. Brendan rushed over to him and kicked the fallen Taser away. He then snatched a pistol from Foster’s belt and tossed it to Poser. Poser examined the pistol before aiming it at Foster.
“Be nice to juice this guy up,” Poser said. “He’s a real jerk.”
Foster had a confused look on his face. Then he nodded. “You kids found another gate.”
Brendan didn’t reply. He looked at Charlotte and she checked her glove. The LED was green. She picked up the Taser and took the pistol from Poser before handing him the glove. “Do you think you understand what to do?” Charlotte asked. Poser nodded. “It’s instant. Touch yourself. You’ll feel nothing. You’ll be fine.”
“If this is goodbye, then at least it’ll be a crazy way to go.” He put on the glove and slapped his thigh. He disappeared.
The headmaster began laughing. “You see? Do you?” At first Brendan thought the man was raving, but he was directing his comments at Officer Foster. “She knows how to use the technology, knows more than I ever will. She’ll stop you and your friends, and you’ll have nothing.”
The elevator in the hallway dinged.
“What are you talking about, Dad?”
“You’ll need to get to the vault, honey. Before they do. You can’t let them have what’s inside.”
There were voices in the hallway coming closer.
“But where is it?” Charlotte asked.
Sperry wasn’t listening. He turned his attention back to the circuit board still in his hand.
“In here!” Foster yelled. “I need help! Hostiles!”
Brendan moved Charlotte towards the window and opened the door to the small balcony. A breeze pushed at the curtains. It was a long jump down. Perhaps we can climb…
“Stop,” came a command from behind them.
A woman in a tan overcoat with a large shoulder bag entered the office, followed by one of the men in black uniform. They looked like the people who had captured Tina in the park. The man had his hand on his side, where he wore both a gun and a Taser. The equipment was apparently de rigueur for Not-Earth thugs.
Charlotte was climbing over the rail, but Brendan stopped.
“What are you doing?” Charlotte hissed. “Let’s get out of here.”
“There’s nowhere to go, young man,” the woman said.
“Tase him,” Foster said.
Brendan was tired of running. In one smooth motion he picked up the detached metal cover of the headmaster’s disassembled machine and flung it straight at the man in the black uniform. It struck him square in the chest and sent him to the floor. Brendan sprinted forward. Foster was getting up and diving over to the downed man, his hands frantically grabbing at the man’s gun belt. The woman staggered backward as Brendan pushed the giant desk towards them like it was a card table. It rammed into Foster, pinning him to the wall.
Foster bellowed in pain.
The woman was in the outer office and running. Brendan vaulted the desk and caught up with her as she pulled a phone from her bag. She was trying to unlock the screen when he caught her by the back of her jacket and threw her. She collided with the secretary’s desk. Something popped, and she screamed. Somehow she’d managed to hold on to the phone. Brendan took it from her and threw it aside. Her eyes were wild with fear. Brendan felt a weird smile cross his face. He was laughing.
She was shaking her head in disbelief, her lips trying to form questions that wouldn’t come out of her mouth. Her right arm was twitching and dangling before her at an odd angle. It appeared the shoulder was dislocated.
“Don’t kill me,” she finally said.
The words made it through the red haze in Brendan’s head. He had given in to another fit of rage. He felt shame start to overwhelm the exhilaration. In seconds he had injured three people. Was this how Torben felt every day?
He tried to clear his head. He thought about Tina.
“Where did you take her?” he asked.
The woman was trembling. Whether this was from fear or pain, Brendan didn’t know. He tried not to think about how easy it would be to hurt her, to smash in teeth, to break a bone.
“The girl from the park,” he said. “Where?”
“We have a field headquarters set up at the old drive-in theater lot on Soda Canyon Road.”
“I know where that is,” Charlotte said. She came up behind him. She had collected the weapon belt and the woman’s phone. She dropped the phone and stomped it with her heel.
“How many people are there at your camp?”
“Please,” the woman said. “My arm. I’m in so much pain.” As she looked at Charlotte, Brendan could see that none of what was happening was fitting with this woman’s sense of reality. A skinny fifteen-year-old had just thrown a giant desk and almost killed her. She was hyperventilating. Brendan saw her eyes start to flutter.
Charlotte led her into the office. She plopped her down on the headmaster’s chair. Brendan moved the desk so they could check on Foster and the other guard. Both were alive, conscious, and moaning.
The headmaster was standing and watching his daughter.
“Can you watch them?” she asked her father. He nodded. “We’ll need an hour before they can go free.”
Brendan took the woman’s bag. Inside he found a set of keys, a couple of electronic devices he didn’t recognize, and a laptop computer. He collected his own things.
“We’re just trying to get home,” he said to the woman, but he could see only fear in her eyes.
“Let’s go,” Charlotte said.
They headed for the elevator.
5. Research Fellows
The alarms still echoed through the campus. Several students were outside looking concerned but they didn’t pay any attention to Brendan or Charlotte as they hurried past. Brendan clicked the unlock button on the key fob until a white van in the small lot closest to the admin building blinked its lights in response. Brendan gave the keys to Charlotte.
She climbed in and started the vehicle. The electric engine hummed to life. Mounted on the central console was a radio, a GPS, and another laptop computer on a swivel arm, and the back was filled with equipment.
“They sure have a lot of tech,” Charlotte said. “Might be stuff we can use.”
“We have tech too.” He got out his tablet and opened the drone app. He summoned the drones and locked their van in as a target for them to follow.
Charlotte got them on the road. When Brendan didn’t say anything for a minute, she asked, “How are you feeling?”
He looked at his right hand and saw that it was trembling. “I’m fine.”
“You’re starting to understand how much power we have. And you’re from downstream. Imagine what you could do with a steady supply of food and water.”
“I get it. This is dangerous. But if this is your way of changing my mind on saving Tina first, it won’t work. We’ll go look for the vault soon enough. Let’s find her
while there’s time. They might move her or do experiments or something worse.”
Charlotte didn’t argue. She drove them out of town and took a road similar to the one near the airport where she had set up her own base of operations in her efforts to get back the ring.
If there actually was a Soda Canyon, Brendan hadn’t heard of it. The flat desert was a moonscape with scrub brush. He was surprised to see several rabbits bound away out of the van’s headlights.
“There’s a theater out here?”
“Used to be. It’s just a lot now, where they used to host a flea market until that got shut down by the health department.”
A line of white lights lit up the night ahead of them, as if a small stadium was out here in the middle of nowhere. Charlotte turned off the headlights and slowed down. Brendan flew the drones forward and saw that a dozen motor homes were parked together in a weed-covered lot. The large frame of what once had been a giant movie screen towered over the parked cars. In the center of the vehicles were tents. Light towers had been erected to illuminate the camp. Brendan saw a pair of black-clad guards walking about.
Charlotte tapped him with the water bottle. He took a swig, considered it, and drank some more.
“There’s so much we still don’t know,” she said. “Side effects of doing this. Why running into ourselves doesn’t cause the universe to end. And what about germs? Is a cold or bacteria from an upstream world going to cause a pandemic?”
“Stop trying to freak me out. I’m trying to wrap my own head around all of this. And if you’re suggesting we go in and cooperate with these people, remember that they’re the ones with the itchy trigger fingers.”
“No, I’m not saying that. But someone with these resources will have to know things. Maybe we just go to the equivalent military back on your world with what we have for help.” She sighed with obvious frustration.
He nodded but tried to concentrate on the images the drones were sending. “Put it on the to-do list. Rescue Tina. Find vault. Close gates to world with superpowered barbarians.” He pointed to an image and expanded it.
Someone wearing a white lab coat and green surgical mask was stepping out of a tent. He pulled the mask down to his neck and pulled out a phone. Brendan zoomed in. The man had a split lip and blood trickled down his chin.
The Supervillain High Boxed Set: Books One - Three of the Supervillain High Series Page 47
