Super Girls (Cape High Book 13)

by R. J. Ross

  “Why are you interested in your old planet?” he asks.

  “Because it’s the one thing I CAN do,” I say, feeling frustrated.

  “Fine,” he says, looking around for a long moment with a slight frown. He turns to the left. “This way,” he says. I follow along, shoving my hands into my pockets. For a long moment we’re silent, until I can’t stand hearing the scurrying sounds around us.

  “So you’re good friends with the zoo kids?” I ask. He glances over with a hint of surprise before grinning.

  “Yeah, they’re all really good kids,” he says. “Or, at least the ones I’ve met. Vinny’s pretty awesome, Morgan’s tough, but firm, and Carla’s freakin’ adorable,” he says. “She’s like the cute little sister I never had. She’s turning fourteen next week. I still haven’t figured out what to get her,” he adds, scratching his head in a thoughtful manner. “Got any ideas?”

  “You’re going to get her a present?” I ask, feeling a little surprised.

  “Sure, why wouldn’t I?”

  “I don’t know, I guess you should,” I admit after thinking about it. “I don’t know Carla that well,” I admit guiltily. “I keep TRYING to make friends, but I feel so… bossy when I talk to people. I mean, like they automatically figure I’m just stepping in for Dad—”

  “Because you are, right?” he says.

  “What?”

  “Like you were telling those guys—you’re a Superior. You just punched through rocket resistant glass because you were angry at my old man. You’re not, exactly… um…”

  “Normal,” I finish for him, feeling my shoulders slump.

  “You’re kind of scary,” he says too bluntly. “Your aunt is scarier than crap, too,” he goes on. “She’s the one that caught me last. But I can help,” he says, looking at me. “All you really need to do is have some alone time with each of them. Carla should be the easiest, right? She’s really open. Why don’t we, after we do all this, go take her birthday shopping? We can let her pick her presents and you can do all the girly talking part and I’ll just follow along and carry the bags.” Then he stops, groaning and running a hand over his face. “But for them, I should be WAY more scary than you are, shouldn’t I?”

  “You don’t seem to be,” I say. “They willingly became your friend, right?”

  “Because Justin and Ace calmed them down before I ever came into the picture. And I didn’t know I was related to their kidnapper—I had no clue until we ran into him! But even though I DIDN’T know, I still feel guilty. This is so messed up,” he complains. “What if Carla finds out who my dad is and gets scared of me? Or Piper? She hardly talks even on mission, you know? I don’t want to be—”

  “You aren’t your father,” I say, “and I’m not mine, either. We are ourselves,” I tell him. “We’ll take Carla birthday shopping—maybe we can make Max go with us,” I say, smiling at the idea, “and force him to sit through all the My Little Pony talk.”

  “Hey, now, it isn’t THAT bad a series,” he says.

  “You’ve watched it,” I accuse him.

  “It’s the quietest time of the week! Practically everyone in the dorm sits around and watches it! Carla’s got us trained,” he admits, laughing at himself.

  I look at him for a long moment. “Carla’s your favorite, isn’t she?” I ask. He stops mid-step, a strange look crossing his face before he shrugs.

  “She just… she’s the most accepting of them,” he says a bit sheepishly. “She’s still got that innocent little kid thing going, even after all the stuff they went through. I’ve met kids years younger than she is that aren’t that—well—innocent.”

  “Or hyper,” I offer.

  “I think she’s a bit ADHD,” he says seriously.

  “A bit?”

  “Just a tiiiiiny bit,” he agrees. We both start laughing, because while I haven’t talked to her that often, I still remember the time she got her hands on chocolate covered coffee beans. Plus, I’ve seen her in class. “You can’t be that surprised, though,” he says, “she travels even faster than I do—and she goes the long way. For someone who’s used to reacting that fast, the rest of us must be seriously slow,” he says, reaching out and taking my hand. I’m starting to get the hang of this, I think as he pulls me through a shadow and out into freezing temperatures. “This it?”

  “Home sweet home,” I agreed, looking over at the mess of Dad’s room. “Looks like they ran into her here—they haven’t fixed Dad’s place yet.” I turn, heading away from the mountain and to where the ship is buried under ice. I crouch down, staring at the roots visible through the ice, and only now wonder how the heck I’m supposed to actually GET to it. “I could punch through the ice, but that might hurt it, right?” I say, frowning.

  “You want inside the ship?” he asks.

  “Yeah, that’d work.”

  “Um… well, we can try,” he says, looking around before heading for the mountain. “Come on—I need some shadow.”

  I start for him, only to freeze as a familiar electronic signal hits me. I turn to the right just as Mother and Grandma appear. They don’t seem to notice me at first, but that’s changed quickly.

  “Tatiana, we seem to have unwelcome visi—”

  “ZOE!” Grandma says happily, holding out her arms. “Kitten, you could have told me you wanted to come for visit!”

  I look at Mother, rather than throw myself at Grandma like usual. “I was just stopping by,” I say dryly. I can see Mother’s mind rushing, and I’m not surprised when her expression turns friendly.

  “Is this your boyfriend?” Mother asks, motioning to Rocco. “It’s not exactly a good date spot—”

  “He’s just a friend,” I say quickly. “Rocco, you can go now.”

  “But—”

  “I’m just going to spend some quality time with Grandma Tatiana and her friend, you know how it goes,” I say, not looking at him. “Girl talk,” I add.

  “I do so enjoy the girl talk,” Grandma says cheerfully, clapping her hands. “We will make cookies and hot cocoa!”

  I glance over at Rocco, daring to send him a text. It’s a bit strange, doing that without looking at my own phone, but he pulls his out and glances at it before nodding and walking through the shadow in front of him.

  “So… you’re her granddaughter?” Mother asks me, a strange expression in her eyes. “Technico’s daughter?” she asks Tatiana.

  “Yes! Is she not beautiful? Oh, I am very fond of my other grandchildren as well—I do not pay favorites—”

  “Play favorites, Grandma,” I say, trying not to laugh, despite the tense situation.

  “I do not do that, either!” Grandma proudly proclaims. “But my little Zoe, she has just started flying! Her brother is still working on that, and my other grandchildren, well, they do not fly.”

  “But Emily’s more impressive in her own way,” I have to point out. “Teleportation is amazing.”

  “How many grandchildren do you have?” Mother asks Grandma.

  “Well, from Nicolas, I have Zoe—she is technopath, like him! And I have Sunny—he is elementalist! His grandfather is very impressed with his range at such young age! And my little Liz has brought home two adorable—”

  “Grandma—” I start out, wondering if we should be telling Mother this.

  “Girls! They are adopted, but we are not caring! They are quite beautiful and powerful. My Clifford is happily claiming them as his own. And then one day my Liz will marry Taurus and we will see what happens!”

  “Liz is—” Mother starts out in a questioning tone.

  “Oh, she is Firefly!” Grandma explains happily. “And then my newest daughter—she has adopted herself, you see—she will fall in love and bring more beautiful grandchildren! Someday,” she adds, frowning ever so slightly. “Skye, she is in rebellious time—she is planning all girl group of villainy at moment. But children will be children!”

  “I see,” Mother says, a strangely bereft expression on her face that changes
to a stubborn one. “Then you have plenty of family, right?”

  “No,” I say, unable to stop myself. “It’s not a family without Grandpa!”

  “What?” Grandma asks.

  “I know Dad and Grandpa don’t get along all the time—it’s because they’re a lot alike, I get it—I’m enough like Dad to know why it could be a problem! But it’s NOT A FAMILY WITHOUT GRANDPA!” I bellow, taking to the air. “YOU CAN’T HAVE HIM!”

  “Zoe! You are flying wonderfully!” Grandma says, clapping. I would tell her that it’s not the time, but, well, seriously—NOBODY tells Grandma Tatiana that it’s not the right time. Not even Grandpa.

  “She wants to take Grandpa!” I say, pointing at Mother accusingly. “She wants to drag him off into space and try and fix their old planet and have lots of babies to bring the species back—and I wouldn’t care, except he’s MY GRANDPA!” I bellow angrily.

  “Is that what you are after?” Grandma asks Mother.

  “I—” Mother says, looking worried. She takes a step back away from Grandma. “An entire species is more important than your little game of house!” she declares.

  “The planet is infected—even if you went back, fixing it would be close to impossible!” I say. “Why are you so intent on going back, anyway? You were here for EIGHTY years, and happy! You didn’t even want to become a working super before this! So why now? Why—”

  “Because Wade is dead!” Mother says. “And my only son hates me!” She starts to float, coming up even with me. I can feel pressure coming off of her and I realize that something inside of her seems to have snapped. “I have nothing to lose—so I’m going to do what I planned to do since I first came here, eighty years ago!”

  “Do it without Grandpa!” I say, a bit childishly. I don’t care if I’m childish, I decide angrily. I shove my hand down, aiming it at the ship buried under the ice. I jerk with all of my power and the ship cracks through the ice, coming to the surface. “Get off my planet, old lady,” I say as the ship comes up. “That’s what you want to do, right?”

  “You impertinent little whelp,” Mother says. The world seems to warp and I jerk as my powers suddenly go out. I plummet to the ground, freezing. I’m just grateful that Grandma catches me before I hit the ground. “That is ENOUGH from you!” Mother says. “And you—I’m done playing with you, as well,” she says, waving a hand at Grandma—and then waving it again. “Why isn’t—” she says as Grandma stares at her coldly.

  “I grow tired of this game,” Grandma says, taking to the air.

  “How do you still have your powers?” Mother asks.

  “Do you think it mistake that my government placed me against Superior?” she asks. “I am tank, with Molecular Adjustment powers. It is true, Mimic had an affect against me—I did not see his action coming. It is shame, yes, that I must anticipate the attack for it to not work, but I anticipated it this time. You are very predictable, Marie. I have fought Superior many, many times—in comparison you are mere child when it comes to knowing your powers.”

  “But—aren’t you married to him?” Mother asks blankly.

  “It gets very boring up here,” Grandma says with a wicked little smile. “We find many ways to keep occupied—friendly brawl is very high on favorite weekend entertainments!” She looks at me, “It is wonderful way to keep spark in relationship,” she says, only to look more closely at me. “Oh! We will have duel after I get my granddaughter changed,” she says, rushing away from Mother and into the mountain. Before I can blink, I’m wearing one of Aubrey’s silver and white snow suits, complete with shiny silver boots. I stop shivering, relaxing slowly as the heat returns—as do my powers.

  “She took my powers!” I say angrily. “That evil witch took my powers!”

  “Yes, it is not very pleasant,” Grandma says. “You stay here, kitten. I will take care of her.”

  “But—” She’s gone before I can protest. I head for the front door, intent on seeing what happens.

  I wonder if Rocco accomplished what I asked him to do.

  ***

  “So she’s up here,” Rocco says, sitting on top of a mountain in Alaska. “Well, actually, they’re higher up than I am—they’re at Superior’s place, I think? It’s where the spaceship is. Zoe wanted to look at the ship and find out if it’d been infected or not. Hey, Nico? What did my dad mean when he told me we have tricks that you guys don’t?” he asked.

  “In an alternate time line, your father killed my mom,” Nico says.

  “Wait—what?” Rocco yelps. “But I just SAW her—she could wipe the floor with a guy like that! There’s no way—”

  “Sure she could,” he hears another man say. He can only assume it’s Superior, because they were supposed to be together, right? “In a fair fight. Your father doesn’t fight fair, he never has, never will.”

  “Yeah, I sort of picked up on that,” Rocco admits. “But Zoe said you had some sort of serum that could take away Mother’s powers, right? You’re going to take them?”

  “It seems as good an idea as any,” Nico says. “Just as long as you guys can keep her occupied for another ten minutes.”

  “Yea—wait, she’s got the teleportation watch, right? What’s to keep her from running?”

  “Steal it,” Nico says cheerfully.

  “WHAT?”

  “You’re on a mountain, kid, try not to create an avalanche.”

  “I can’t steal a watch off of a lady like that!” Rocco says, lowering his voice as much as possible. “I’ll definitely get caught!”

  “Sorry, Rocco, got to go—I’ve got a serum to get,” Nico says, hanging up on him. Rocco stares at the phone in shock for a long moment. He lets out a groan, running a hand over his face.

  “This is what I get for being a scholarship student,” he mutters, getting up and heading for the nearest shadow. “I’d better get extra credit for this—for LIFE.”

  ***

  “You know,” Tatiana says in a pleasant tone, “I think we could have been great friends in another life. It is shame you have placed yourself in this position.” Those blue eyes that have been bright so far go cold--the same cold expression that Mother still sees in her dreams. She feels a tiny fissure of fear try to hit her, and she shoves it down quickly. She can handle this woman. She can handle anyone on this tiny, backwater planet—

  The fist slams into her face before she even realizes it’s coming. It’s followed by a knee to the stomach. She goes flying back a few feet before catching herself. “Oh, this is surely not all you have!” Tatiana says. “This is pathetic, Marie. You claim to be in same league as my husband, yes?"

  Marie took a deep, deep breath, her hands clenching tightly before she rushes forward, attacking the larger female with all of her strength. Punches, kicks, all the rage she’s pushed down since she got to this backwater planet, it all comes out—

  And Tatiana has the utter gall to LAUGH as she blocks the hits, slapping away her heaviest punches as if they weigh nothing. “Adorable!” Tatiana says, one massive fist slamming up into Marie’s ribcage, almost breaking the bones. “Your punches are like baby fists!”

  Marie lifts a hand, looking at her fist and thinking for a second since Tatiana is just watching patiently. “I see,” she says, bringing up her power. She rushes forward, striking again. This time Tatiana goes flying back, slamming against the wall of her ice mountain home. “Did you feel that one, Tatia?” Marie asks, floating overhead.

  “It was like butterfly kiss,” Tatiana says, her voice rough as she groans and rubs her ribs. Her actions clearly show she’s lying, but she breaks into a blood thirsty grin from ear to ear. “You are finally getting entertaining again,” she says, taking to the air, those cold blue eyes shining with a heady, but terrifying joy. “We shall enjoy this!” Tatiana says before flashing out of sight.

  Tatiana can’t teleport—Marie realizes this a second too late before a thickly muscular arm wraps around her waist and a leg clamps around her own. She knows this move, she re
alizes almost too late. She twists reality right as the elbow comes down, barely managing to slip out of the large woman’s grasp. Tatiana is just that fast, she thinks with a hint of wonder.

  “Wait! I brainwashed you!” she says.

  “Oh, that did not last,” Tatia says. “I was normal by the time we reached South Branch. I saw that coming, as well.”

  “Then why did you tell me about them?” Marie demands.

  “I did not want South Branch to have you,” Tatiana says, appearing right in front of her. She reaches up, patting Marie on the face. “You have very special place in my heart, you know.”

  “Wh—you—you’re a MARRIED WOMAN!” Marie yelps, jerking back quickly.

  Tatiana roars with laughter, leaving her wide open. Marie’s too busy staring in shock to realize it until it’s too late. “You are first real competition in very long time, Marie,” she says. “Before, was Sparky—ahh, I hated her so,” she says cheerfully. “I caught her, you know, watching my Clifford when she thought no one watched. I could not tell Clifford to fire her, she was member of team, but I wished to—I did not realize how interesting it made life.”

  “You mean you WANT someone to—to want to steal your husband?” Marie asks in shock.

  “I am very competitive woman, Marie,” Tatiana says, coming closer. “I know that Clifford will always be mine, just as I am always his—he has gone through time for me, decades after losing me. It is knowing he is desirable by beautiful and powerful women other than myself that proves how lucky I am. I enjoy the game, do you not?”

  “NO!” Marie says, jerking away from her. “You’re crazy! Wade was—Wade was ALWAYS just mine! I was the only woman that wanted him, and he was the only one that wanted me--the only one that mattered! Even when I was still reacting to that stupid virus! When he died—when he died—” She takes a shuddering breath, feeling tears threaten to freeze her eyes shut. “When he died, I died too,” she whispers—only to go flying as Tatiana slams a fist into her face.