Burn Out

by R. J. Ross

  “We will, of course, have to bring someone in to check this,” the boss says.

  “Feel free,” Nico says. “I won’t even charge you.” He holds out his hand and all of his things come back, slipping into their proper places. He pulls his gloves back on.

  “Thank you for that,” the boss says as the other guards barely manage to stop themselves from saying something.

  “If you would follow me, please, I’ll take you to the person you need to speak to,” their boss says.

  “So they told you why we’re here, as well?” Nico says.

  “Yes, sir, they say you have proof that the Monk boy should be under Hall jurisdiction,” the boss says. “I have to admit, this is a very… unusual case. The relationship between our system and yours is quite…”

  “Delicate?” Nico offers.

  “Exactly,” the man says. “Usually the Hall doesn’t push for a child to be… well… acknowledged by the court. Of course there are some special situations, but those are usually because of personal reasons.”

  “Well,” Nico says, “this one comes with… circumstances.”

  The man leading them stops at a nondescript door and knocks twice before a woman calls for them to enter. “She has an extremely busy schedule, so you should probably thank her for it,” he adds quietly as Nico and Vinny walk into the room.

  The woman sitting at the desk is beautiful, well-dressed, and clearly a super to those that can recognize them at a glance. “Hello, Technico,” she says.

  “Cheval?” Nico says as soon as the man that had led them is gone.

  “Her daughter,” the woman says with a smile. “Judge Veronica Kelson. Please, call me Veronica. In my spare time, I’m in charge of the government’s classification of children in the system with powers, it goes hand in hand with being both a super and a judge of my standing. How are your children doing? I’ve been checking in, of course, but it’s always good to hear it straight from the people involved. I’ve also been keeping a very close eye on your little school system. It helps that my mother is working in one. It was nice to see her taking interest in something other than baking.”

  “Then you… probably set up the release for Shadowman’s daughter, right?” Nico asks.

  “Of course I did,” she says. “That one was an obvious choice. This one, on the other hand, is not. Tell me, why should I take a child from his mother? He’s an intellectual super. They don’t, officially, exist. They’re some of the few that can live as norms AND make the most of their powers, all at the same time. Davis Monk is, as much as I’m sure you could argue this, the picture perfect super. The world will embrace him.”

  “I realize that,” Nico says.

  “So why are you asking me to register him?” she demands.

  “Because by being that ‘perfect’ super, his father has become the perfect super villain,” Nico says. “We didn’t know him, he could do whatever he wanted, and he’s now turning his attention on the kid. The kid is already walking a thin line between good and evil, and he’s only twelve. It’ll be easy for his father to push him over the line.”

  “Then tell me, Technico, why were you so quick to hand him over, when it’s clear that you realize something wrong is going on?”

  “I thought he would be put into one of the various norm colleges looking to boost their numbers,” Nico lies. “That was what his mother planned on doing before he started going to Cape High.”

  “I see,” she says. “And what do you know of his father? According to our records, he’s the son of a single mother.”

  “They’re living with his father, right now. His name is Walter Colleck, and according to official records, he’s Charles Colleck’s brother. In reality, he’s his grandfather, Walter Colleck the first,” Nico says, clapping his gloved hands together and activating his hologram to bring up every bit of dirt that he has on the man. It’s not much, but the connection with Richard Penski has her frowning thoughtfully.

  “And do you have visual, physical proof that the boy is a super?” she asks.

  A new hologram appears, showing Davis’s power read-out. She stares at it for a moment. “I see. I will need a copy of that, if possible,” she says. “But I have to admit, that’s a… dangerous little ability, isn’t it? Do you have my daughter’s stats, as well?”

  “I have a good chunk of the Hall’s, and all of the students in the Cape Highs,” Nico says.

  “Do they know you have this information?”

  “They do,” he says.

  “There was a lot of sacrifice made to keep people from knowing this much information,” she says, staring at him. “It could be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands.”

  “It’s in my hands,” Nico says. “And honestly, this information isn’t nearly as dangerous as what else I have in my hands.”

  “What else do you have in your hands?” she asks.

  “The education of both the heroes and villains of our future,” he says. “You tell me, since you’ve already said you’ve been watching, what do you think I do with this information?”

  She looks at Vinny, who’s been silent this entire time. “I have some ideas, but I have an easier way to answer that question. What does he do with the information, Fire Hazard?” she asks him.

  “He sent me to the South Branch,” Vinny says, “I would have been perfectly happy passing myself off as a sidekick level cape. Now it looks like I’ll be stuck acting as second-in-command someday.”

  “And has he ever abused this knowledge?” she asks.

  Vinny looks at Nico, and then back at her, shrugging. “He uses it to program our characters in the Technico game?” he offers. “He must, because Sandra didn’t know she could tunnel like she does until she learned how to do it in the game.”

  “Nico, we’ve got a problem,” Rocco says over the commlink. “I’ve lost Jimmi.”

  “You lost her? How did that happen?” Vinny demands.

  “A teleporter grabbed her. For a moment we picked up on where she was taken, but her power level is getting weaker, rapidly…”

  Vinny’s hand tightens on his phone and a strand of his hair lights up, but it calms a second later. He looks at Nico. “Can you track her gear?”

  “I can,” Nico says.

  “Don’t worry, Rocco, we’ll find her,” Vinny says. “How are things on your end, other than that?”

  “Phoebe Woods was poisoned,” Rocco says. “According to Jonas, it was a lot like the venom that he dealt with up in the North Pole. Max is going to take her to Central after Jonas is done, since it looks like she really needs a psychic of her own. And I hate to say this, but now that the orphans are calming down, I need to go. Something’s going on with my little sister.”

  “Go on, then.” Nico says, his expression getting colder and colder. He looks at Veronica, placing his hands on the desk. “I need legal permission to get the kid out of there, now.”

  “What does this have to do with Davis Monk?” she asks.

  “That venom? The person that has it is his father. He’s poisoned a super and used her as a distraction so he could kidnap one of my kids,” he says.

  “Do you have proof of this?” she asks.

  “I can get it, officially, after I save the kids and the father is registered as a super,” Nico says. “He’s the type to record everything. But you know how it goes, if I give it to you now, you’ll have to sue me for spying on a supposed ‘norm.’ I don’t have time for that, and I definitely don’t have time for this. I’ve got to go,” he says, starting for the door.

  “I’ll be truthful, Technico. I understand your concerns, and I believe you’re right about getting him away from that man, but I still believe that the best option is to go through his mother and have her send him back to your school,” she says. “I’m sure that she’ll be reasonable, given everything you’ve told me. Since we have never had any reports concerning the boy’s welfare before, we have to assume that she’s a good mother, who only wants what’s best for the
boy. Registering him is NOT what’s best… he’ll be far too easy to find at this age.”

  “I realize that,” Nico says. “I’ll send you the information, but I’d appreciate it if you kept it on a need-to-know basis.” She nods and glances at her computer as he flicks his finger.

  “Thank you for that. Have you spoken to his mother?” she asks.

  “I did,” Nico says, “she doesn’t want to believe me. She’s planning on marrying the man.”

  “I see… perhaps I can convince her to reconsider. I really have to try, you understand? If she doesn’t seem reasonable, I’ll begin procedures.”

  “Make it quick, please,” Nico says. “Vinny, let’s go.”

  “Yeah,” Vinny says, his teeth clenching.

  “Can I ask… who IS Jimmi?” Veronica asks. “The name sounds familiar.”

  “Voltdrain’s daughter, Burnout. She’s my girlfriend,” Vinny says shortly before the two leave, closing the door behind them.

  For a moment Veronica stays where she is, watching the door, her mind rushing, and then she picks up the phone.

  ***

  *Central Hall*

  Phoebe looks up, slowly, as the world clicks back into place in her mind. “What just… what was I just doing?” she asks, only to stop as someone steps into view.

  “Hello, Phoebe,” Mastermental says. “It looks like it is time for our first therapy session.”

  She swallows, and the knowledge of what had just happened starts rushing through her mind. “What… what have I done?” she whispers in horror.

  “That’s what I was about to ask,” he says.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  My hand slams into the glass a second time, except I am positive that there’s no glass involved in this wall, at all. I’ve heard that they’ve been working on clear metal, recently, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t it. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made a decent dent. I’m just sucking the battery dry on my uniform, and it’s starting to worry me. This room is pulling my energy, I’m pulling the suit’s energy, and somewhere out there is Davis, who’s got something REALLY wrong with him, and—

  I stop punching, taking a moment to get my breath back and think. Getting through this wall is taking too long, and I need recharged. Even if I DO break out that way, there’s no promise that electricity will be right at hand. I look up, seeing more of the clear metal, and then down. It’s a thin layer of concrete, probably not even the bottom floor. I can deal with that. I jump into the air and slam down with a fist. Just a little deeper, I think, there should be electrical lines down here somewhere. I keep punching, feeling weaker with every punch. The stream of orange energy is rushing out of me and into the vent. I’m never, EVER wearing one of those glow sticks again, I decide. I’ll get fake ones, just because they’re part of the uniform. Or better yet, I’ll have Nico build me something like Vinny’s earrings.

  I see the lines thanks to my powers, and I hit one more time, breaking through the final few inches of concrete. I reach through the rebar and grab onto the electrical lines, desperately, and pull at the energy running through it. My hair starts floating, I can feel it rise. This feels AMAZING. The rush is so great that I forget that I’m trapped for a moment and the lights of the room I just broke out of start to flicker before the entire building goes black.

  “I feel SO much better, now,” I say, gleefully. I bend the rebar back and make the hole larger before jumping feet first, landing in a crouch on the floor below. I expected to find something science-y, since I just assumed that I was at Walter Colleck’s place. I guess that was a foolish assumption. What I find is the remains of where they kept Vinny and the other zoo kids. I know I’m there, because the broken glass walls still litter the floor. I feel my hands grow clammy as I walk through the building, completely distracted from my plan of escape. No one has come in here and cleaned up the things the kids decided to leave behind. I think they’re leaving it as evidence for when The Collector wakes up. I stop as I see a familiar looking room, hesitating for a moment before I step through the hole in the wall. There’s an old, boxy television in the corner, which looks like it should have been tossed twenty years ago.

  I can almost picture Vinny sitting on the floor in front of it, trying to get the channel to come through while he takes notes on how to cook this, or that. I’ve seen his notebooks. They’re ratty, and half of the time the ink is faded to almost being illegible, but even now he uses them. It would be easy to convert the recipes to the computer, but no… he still uses the notebooks that he filled out, sitting right here as a prisoner.

  The tears start to fall, and I dig through my pockets, looking for a tissue. My phone is gone, but I still have the little atomizer bottle that I got off of Ms. Mace, earlier. I stare at it. I think this is what they used on Phoebe. I need to show this to the Hall. If they think that Phoebe was acting on her own, they’ll strip her powers all over again, and as much as I hate what she did in the past, she seemed earnest about changing her ways, right? Everyone deserves a second chance, if they’re willing to try.

  I stand, looking around again, and stop as my gaze falls on a pile of balled up paper in the corner. I walk over, crouching down and picking one up. “Dear Dad…” I read, my eyes widening as I see the first sentence on the sheet. “I’ve been captured by…” Then the words are scratched out, and another sentence begins. “I can’t come see you, because I’m stuck in…” More scratched out lines, and even several rips in the paper, showing that he had gotten irritated. I think that’s when he crumpled the sheet up, because there’s nothing else on the page.

  I check another balled up piece, seeing that it’s along the same lines. Over and over I check, seeing more failed attempts at writing to his father, who was in prison at the time. It’s… shocking, and yet not. I wonder what his dad would think if he saw all of these tossed letters. That he hadn’t burnt them says a lot. He could have… then again, hadn’t he said that his biggest problem was the lack of oxygen?

  I look around, completely ignoring the fact that I’m crying. This tiny little room of glass walls, trapping a man that already kept himself so… so tightly bound. I sit down, hugging my knees and staring at the television, my mind stuck in the past.

  There’s a screeching sound in the distance, and I hear them enter the floor above me. “Are you sure she’s here?” I hear Vinny ask.

  “She’s here,” Nico says. “Her commlink isn’t on her, and her phone has been destroyed, but her uniform is here and in working order. I can find my tech anywhere.” I hear his voice a little louder, and I glance over at the hole I made in the ceiling. “Jimmi, kiddo, you alive?”

  I sniffle and wipe away my tears, not wanting them to know. “I’m here,” I say. “Don’t come down, I’ll come up.”

  Before I even finish that sentence, Vinny drops to the floor. I want to grab him and drag him away from all of this, but I can’t seem to move. He looks around for a moment before heading straight for me, completely ignoring the place we’re at. But just as I expect the whole romantic hug of reuniting, he stops, glancing over his shoulder.

  “Nico, scan her, would you? We need to know if they did anything to her,” he says, not touching me. I stare at him, the tears I had just spilled for him completely forgotten.

  “You have no romance in your soul, Pelican,” I tell him, when he doesn’t even notice my stare.

  “You put the entire neighborhood in a brownout,” Nico says, “he’s got a point. They’ve already poisoned Phoebe Woods, and the stuff they used was powerful enough to knock out my old man.”

  “You mean this?” I ask, holding up the atomizer.

  “Yeah,” Nico says, a little grin pulling at his lips as he scans me. “Exactly that. Good job, Jimmi.”

  “Did they spray you with it?” Vinny asks, finally coming closer. His hand reaches up, but it hesitates before touching me, and I see the faintest of tremors. Vinny’s hands never shake. He’s got as steady of hands as you can get. I see his eyes scan t
he place we’re in, and I hug him.

  “I grabbed it before she could,” I brag to Nico. “Vinny? You’re okay. It’s over. It’s ALL over, and you were very brave.”

  “Are you trying to prompt me? Shouldn’t it be you that was ‘very brave’?” he asks, his arms slowly going around me. That tremor in his hand is actually going through his entire body. I can feel it, as well as hear his heart beating too quickly.

  “No,” I say. “I was only in there for a—my energy,” I say, jerking away. “He was collecting my energy. That room up there sucked all of my energy out, and stored it. Nico, we need to get it before he can!” He races away without a word, and I hear another screeching sound before he lets out a curse.

  “Is it… is it gone?” I ask.

  “It’s gone,” Nico says. “They must have grabbed it before we got here.”

  “It’s the teleporter,” I say. “She’s working for him.”

  “Teleporter?” Vinny repeats. “Like Emily?”

  “No, I don’t think so, she’s not a duplicator,” I say. “She was trying to trade me for her freedom. And Davis! Vinny, they did something terrible to Davis!”

  “What did they do?” Nico asks.

  “They’ve… I don’t know, actually, but there’s something wrong with him. It’s like he’s been brainwashed. Do you think they used the spray on him?” I ask. “How could he do that to his own son?”

  “We’re going to find out. Vinny,” Nico says, “I want you to head back to the courthouse. We need that paperwork, otherwise we’ll be facing kidnapping charges, on top of everything else. If you have to, patch her through to me and I’ll show her everything.”

  Vinny looks at me, and then hugs me tightly for a second before pulling away. “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone,” he says before taking off.

  “Oh, how romantic,” I say a bit sarcastically.