Rainbow Rush (Cape High Series Book 19)

by R. J. Ross

  “I’ve missed you,” he says. “We all have. It’s a lot quieter back at Cape High without you.”

  “I do sort of light the place up,” I say smugly. “I bet Vinny’s sobbing over his stove from missing me!”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” he says, “but you need to call them and tell them you’re safe.” He pulls me to the right and steps through a portal that I can’t see, tugging me out into the light.

  For a second I look around, seeing the cornfield where the school is, and then I hear a very familiar voice coming from inside. I pull free of Rocco’s hand, blushing as I remember the hug, and race through the security field, heading straight for the three visitors standing there. “CARLA!” Emily shouts, holding out her arms.

  “EMILY!” I say, throwing myself at her. Oh, sure, I should welcome Trent and Jeanie back to the planet, and I will! It’s just this is WAY too funny not to do, especially since I just ran right past Trent. I like Emily, she’s hysterical. She presses her cheek to mine and kicks her leg up behind her, so I follow suit. I hear people laughing all around us.

  “Trent!” Rocco says, joining us. “Hug?”

  Trent just looks at his open arms. “Oh, fine,” he says, hugging Rocco, who promptly kicks his leg up behind him. Emily and I start roaring with laughter, especially as Trent’s leg slowly rises, as well. He laughs and pulls away, clasping arms with Rocco, instead, and then turning to me with his arms open.

  “Your girlfriend might get jealous,” I tease him as I hug him, fluttering my eyelashes.

  “I am! I want another Carla hug!” Emily says. I laugh and pull out of his hold to hug Emily again.

  “How can I say no!” I say, dramatically. We’ve got an audience, and they’re laughing at us.

  “Excuse me, but I would like a hug as well!” Jeanie says, only to wrap her arms around both Emily and me and pick us up. I turn, hugging her, because who WOULDN’T want to hug Star Spangled? On the list of supers I’d like to hug, she’s definitely in the top ten! Maybe even the top five! Definitely the top five of female supers I’d like to hug! I wonder if anyone else has a list of supers they’d like to hug…

  “So… what happened?” Cheval asks, making me look over. “It’s on the news, Carla, so you can’t tell us it was nothing.”

  “I… um… you saw, huh?” I ask.

  “We saw,” Jeanie agrees. “And it seems you’ve got quite the tale to tell us.”

  “Well… it all started with Ruckus taking me out to dinner,” I start out.

  ***

  “We have the nanobytes,” Nico says as he walks into Century’s office. “I’ll deliver them to the kid after we take care of Penski.” He has a frown on his face as he looks at the canister in his hand. “But I almost could have sworn there were thirty more…”

  “Thirty,” Century says. “How big are they?”

  “Decently small,” Nico says, placing the canister on the table.

  “And they’re built to stop Skye?” Century asks. “Destroy them.”

  “If I destroy them, he’ll just rebuild them,” Nico says. “The boy is a genius. I actually wouldn’t mind bringing him up to Central with me, just to oversee his training, myself.”

  “You’re that impressed with a child that makes weapons to be used against your sister?” Century asks.

  “I have a game based on kids making weapons that can be used against me,” Nico says with a shrug. “I want my students to do exactly what the boy’s been doing. And I’ve been watching him and the South kids lately. Since they brought him into their gameplay, they’ve gotten a lot better organized. Don’t get me wrong, Jimmi is a very good leader, but the kid, he’s a tactician. He’s even lured Zoe into playing outside of her store, and he’s been playing for less than a week.”

  “So… what you’re saying is that he has the makings of a Hall leader, like Zoe does?”

  “Zoe won’t be a Hall leader,” Nico says, “although I’ve heard that Double M’s used her as a threat to keep Max focused. I’m not saying she wouldn’t be a good one, but her heart is with the school. She cares more about that than I do, really.”

  “I know, which is why I brought her in on ours,” Century admits, still frowning. “I still don’t like those things being out of my hands… From all accounts, it could have gotten Skye hurt. It DID get Doris hurt. You don’t seem to understand just how important those girls are to me—to South Branch, that is.”

  “I know exactly how important those girls are to you, Century,” Nico says. “They’re basically my little sisters. But which would be smarter, angering a kid that can develop weapons like this, or winning him over to our side? Right now he’s young. His mom is… well, I’ve got personal experience with parents that aren’t that good at the job.”

  “Point noted,” Century says with a nod.

  “Showing him that we’re willing to trust him is the first step. It worked with me.”

  “When did we show we were willing to trust you?” Century asks.

  “You gave me your kids to train,” Nico says. “Have I let you down yet?”

  “Fine, do what you want, but keep an eye on that boy. I’m already getting flack about an unplanned fight,” Century complains.

  “Not just that,” Nico says, waving a hand and bringing up a hologram screen. “They filmed you hugging the girls. It’s all over the net, right now.”

  “They did what?” Century says, shocked. He watches the video before bringing it up on his own computer to see the comments.

  “The general consensus is that everyone already knew the girls were just the ‘heels’ of the super world,” Nico says, “but you might think of some way to spin it. Brainwashing is always an entertaining idea.”

  “None of the girls are psychics. Besides, Max pulled that gig off just last year,” Century says, frowning. “How much will it cost me to get you to dispose of the evidence, son?”

  “Let the kid have his nanobytes and give me a one-on-one class three times a week,” Nico says.

  “If it’s that cheap—”

  “And I want extra funding to deal with the clay man. He’s going to be a pain in the neck to keep under control,” Nico finishes.

  “I’ll see what we can drum up,” Century says. “Your father’s already heading for Central with him, and I need to get going, as well. Will you come?”

  “I want to have a talk with the real Penski, first,” Nico says. “But don’t worry, I’ll be listening in on your meeting.”

  “That’s exactly what I was worried about,” Century says, shaking his head. “And speaking of which, why on God’s green earth would you give Superior an illusion watch of you?”

  “I forgot to wipe it, didn’t I,” Nico says after a long pause.

  “I’m positive that you did,” Century says. “Wipe it now.”

  “It’s too late,” Nico admits. “He might not be a technopath, but once he’s seen a bit of simple code like that, he’ll easily be able to reproduce it.”

  “Simple code? I had several of my best minds try to build one of those and they’ve never gotten anywhere.”

  “Simple to a Superior,” Nico corrects himself. “If the kid ever got a hold of one, he’d probably figure it out, as well.”

  “He would?” Century repeats, suddenly looking intrigued.

  “Most likely. Now you go handle that, and I’ll go have a chat with the real Penski,” Nico says, starting to walk out of his office, only to stop. “Also, give me Barnett for the school,” he adds, stopping at the door. “I like her. She’ll do well with the kids.”

  “I’m not sending one of my best up to Central!”

  “I meant for South.”

  “Ah, if that’s the case, fine. You can have her on Mondays.”

  “Got it.”

  Century sighs and stands, flying through the open hole in the ceiling. He has a council meeting to attend.

  ***

  “Penski,” a man says from the door of his small hospital room. Richard looks u
p from the phone he’s holding. “Once you’re released, you’re free to go.”

  “Then why is a big named super hero telling me that?” Richard asks as he sees who it is. “Technico, I believe you’re called?”

  “That’s right,” Nico says. “I’m here to make sure you make it home, safely.” Richard stares at him, seeing the cold expression on his face. Super heroes are supposed to be more jovial, he thinks as the man turns and waves a finger. The television flips off, as do the lights. “I know what you did to Skystep.”

  Richard says nothing, not even blinking at that comment. After a second, Nico looks at him. “If you ever go near my little sister again, you won’t remember who you are by the time you get out of your next prison.”

  “Sir, he’s already been cleared to be released,” a black suit nurse says.

  “Then once he’s finished dressing, have someone escort him home. The cops are finished, which means he has a lot of cleaning to do.”

  “Thank you for your hospitality,” he says, simply, heading to the bathroom to get dressed. Hidden under the clothing is a familiar clay doll.

  ***

  “That was… utterly disgusting,” Dolly says as she comes out of the longest shower she’s ever taken. “I should have known this would be a bad idea. But if that’s what you want to do, I’ll put in for a new partner. Did you enjoy it?” she asks Ruckus, who’s sitting on the couch of their front room.

  “I never want to speak of that, again,” Ruckus says, grabbing the channel changer.

  “I thought you’d always dreamed of working with—”

  “Never.”

  “THE Voltdrain.”

  “EVER.”

  “And you’d be cleaning up all the dirty, smelly parts of the world—”

  “Again!” Ruckus says. “That was WAY worse than I ever imagined! Not only did I not get to punch anyone, I swear that my skin is still glowing! Why didn’t you back out when he said we were going into the sewers?”

  “How could I back down then? I might be girly, but I’m still as much a super as you are! And you always complain that I never get my hands dirty, so I had no choice but to show you that I could.”

  “Well, yeah, but… that was beyond dirty. Dirty isn’t supposed to glow.”

  “You could have said something, you know,” Dolly says. “Don’t blame it all on me. I was just waiting for YOU to back down, but obviously you couldn’t, since you’re tougher than any man, and like to get your hands dirty! Had you backed down, I wouldn’t have ruined a perfectly good nail job!”

  “How could I back down? You’re obviously the one that needs to back down! You’re the girly one that doesn’t like to get dirty!”

  “HA! That’s what you get for making assumptions! I can get dirty when I need to!”

  “That wasn’t getting dirty, it was getting disgusting,” Ruckus mutters, making a face. “I’m perfectly fine with normal dirt, mud, gunk, even blood, but the glowing stuff is way above my pay grade. And him! He was actually grinning! What kind of person grins when in that sort of place?”

  “He was laughing at us,” Dolly says.

  “He was probably laughing at you,” Ruckus says. “You looked like you were going to squeal when the rat ran past.”

  “It was a mutated rat, I swear,” Dolly says. “You saw it! They don’t grow that big! Do they?”

  “It probably had rabies,” Ruckus decides.

  “Stop, I’m going to have nightmares!” Dolly says.

  “I’m starving,” Ruckus says. “I completely lost my appetite when it was lunch time.”

  “I’ll go cook something,” Dolly says after a moment of staring at her. “I’m a little hungry, as well.”

  “What do you think about his offer?” Ruckus asks as she finally flips on the television. “Do you think his daughter would be okay?”

  “I don’t know,” Dolly admits as she starts digging through the fridge. “But from what he’s said, she’ll be as powerful as he is when she’s older, right? That means she could balance out the two teams. I just… I hope she likes me.”

  Ruckus is silent, pretending to focus on the TV as she tries to come up with a reply. “Well, they’re going to send us a counselor, soon, right? Maybe we can… work things out before she joins us.”

  “You know… you should find something like the EPA job that Voltdrain has,” Dolly says. “I mean, we don’t do gigs every day, and it would be a way to really help people. I don’t mean going down into sewers all the time, but… there are a lot of things that could use the help of a tank super, right? I was thinking I would like to do something like that, too, something that would help children. There are all sorts of programs out there for that.”

  “Yeah,” Ruckus says, “yeah… that might not be a bad idea…”

  ***

  After I finished telling everyone what happened, Trent and Jeanie went home, leaving me to help Rocco get comfortable in the school dorms. I feel really awkward right now, because I’d almost forgotten that I’m crushing on him while everything was happening. You know, if he would just STAY up in Central for this trip, I might be able to get over my crush by the time I get home! Sadly, that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. I shoot him a glare as I realize how unfair this is to me. I’ve already had a rough week! Why does he have to make it even worse?

  “What did I do?” he asks, seeing my glare.

  “Noooothing,” I say, walking past him. “I should go call everyone back home.”

  “Tell me what I did wrong, first.”

  “You don’t study back home, so how is coming here going to change anything?” I say. “You probably just came because no one else lets you copy their homework.”

  “I did not!” he says, but he’s fighting a laugh and it’s obvious. “But that is a nice little side bonus…”

  I poke him, and then pout, turning my back on him and waving him towards the boy’s floor. “I’m not going to bail you out anymore. I’m a working super hero! Cheating is wrong!” I yelp as he hugs me from behind, leaning his chin on my shoulder. “An-and now you’re trying to butter me up! That’s not going to work, mister! You do your own homework from here on!”

  “Don’t go running off with other guys, got it?” he says, right next to my ear. “We almost lost you, and you didn’t even tell me all of it.”

  “We were just trying to get his nanobytes back to keep the bad guy from using them against Skye!” I say, trying to keep my head. This is worse than the bullying in the Shadowlands! “How were we to know that he was a super?”

  “You’ll just have to stick closer to me or Skye for that sort of thing,” he says.

  I push him away, feeling so embarrassed that I want to crawl into a hole. “Go take a shower, you still stink. Actually, I still stink, too, and it’s all your fault—”

  “Oh my gosh! Are you two actually dating?” Whitney asks.

  “Wha-what? NO!” I yelp, jerking out of Rocco’s hold and racing across the room. “We’re just friends!”

  He looks at me with an unreadable expression before giving us both a crooked smile. “I’m just going to go shower and change, then,” he says, stepping through the nearest shadow.

  “Did anyone tell you which room was yours?” I yell after him, only to shake my head. “It won’t be the first time he’s walked in on the wrong room,” I mutter, waving it off.

  “He liiiiikes you,” Whitney sing-songs.

  “He just sees me as a cute little sister,” I say, trying not to pout.

  “Mmmhmmm, that wasn’t like any brother I’ve ever seen,” she teases me.

  “He’s just being clingy because of what happened. We’re a bigger group, but we’ve all been through a lot together,” I say, thinking of back home. “I miss them…” The wall blinks and to my surprise, everyone at school appears.

  “CARLA!” they yell, waving wildly. Malina’s right front and central. “Do you want us all to come down? I’ve got a teleportation watch, now,” she offers.


  “Or you could just come home,” Vinny says, looking faintly bored. Then again, he always looks faintly bored.

  “I…” I look around, seeing the other students come out to see what’s going on. “I miss you all a lot,” I admit, “but… I can handle one more week! I’ve been having a LOT of fun, other than the whole bad guy showing up, and I haven’t even gotten to sleep over at Dolly and Ruckus’s place yet. But I know how much you all miss me,” I say, coyly, “I can’t blame you, of course, since I’m so amazing, and adorable, and such a good friend—”

  “She’s fine,” Vinny says, waving as he starts to walk away from the camera.

  “HA! I miss you LEAST!” I yell after him.

  “THAT’S what a brother is like,” Whitney says, “right?”

  “Right,” the entire group says in the same dry tone.

  ***

  *SITEC Enterprises*

  “It seems to be some sort of semi-sentient plant, sir,” Thelma tells Mr. Cage a few days later, since Grahmm finally went home to sleep. “They began to devour each other after searching the test room. The best thing to do would be destroy them—”

  “I want to see them,” Mr. Cage says, standing. “Are they trainable?”

  “Not that we believe. They seem to operate on a very primitive level…” she gives up as he crosses the room and opens the door, motioning for her to go first.

  “If we add some sort of chip, could we control them, then?” Mr. Cage asks as they reach the test room and watch the plant creature from behind the glass. “It’s almost… cute, don’t you think?”

  A chill runs down Thelma’s spine.

  Snow Sisters

  “Okay, everyone clean up!” Toodles says, clapping her hands to get the attention of the elves. “I want this place to look spectacular! There are cookie crumbs on your table, mister, don’t think I don’t see them!”

  Santa looks up, and then looks down at his table, coughing slightly as he starts to pick up. She nods, moving on to pick on other people. The elves send silent looks at Santa, begging him to interfere.