by R. J. Ross
Doris pauses, clearly considering that statement from all angles. “That… actually makes a lot more sense than I’m willing to admit,” she says finally, “in a completely senseless sort of way.”
“In a completely ridiculous sort of way!” Ariel says.
“WAIT!” Carla yells from behind them. “We’re coming!”
Skye turns, her eyes widening as she sees Carla with two very familiar men walking behind her. “DADDY!” she shouts, running straight for Superior with her arms open wide. “When did you get here?” she demands as she throws herself into his arms. He hugs her back, not budging from her weight at all.
“We were just in the neighborhood,” Nico says, obviously lying. “Good to see Choop is doing well.”
The chupacabra jumps to his feet, his tail wagging wildly as he launches himself at Nico, much like Skye had done Superior. “Why on earth did you give them something that ugly?” Superior asks only to get three glares directed at him.
“He’s NOT ugly,” Skye says, poking him in the shoulder. “He’s our beautiful, intelligent, MAGNIFICENT—”
“Code breaker chupacabra,” Nico finishes, petting the chupacabra as the AI’s files float in the air in front of him. “So far he’s learned to use the microwave, the grill, hack into security systems—bad Choop—and do the Macarena. I’m not even sure HOW that works, since he goes on four legs, but whatever. He’s also getting quite the ego, being told he’s all that by his three girls. But there’s no sign of him getting mean, at all, which is good.”
“Of course he’s not getting mean!” Ariel says, wrapping her arms around Chooperic’s neck. “We have lots of little kid fans! We take him out whenever we’re not working and he gets petted by EVERYONE!”
“Except the store security people,” Doris says a bit dryly. “Volt had to go around and explain that it’s not bringing a pet into the building when the pet’s actually a robot. These two air—lovers think the dog will get lonely if we leave him alone too long. So we had to get him a special vest, and everything.”
“That was nice of him,” Nico says. “So… why don’t you four go on home? I’m sure you’re tired after all that work you did, today—”
“No!” Skye says. “I’m not going home! I’m going to talk to Davis!”
“But why would you need to talk to Davis, Skye?” Nico asks.
“Because-because—”
“Is there something you haven’t told us, Skye?” Superior asks. The stares directed at Skye have her panicking, and she looks around, as if hoping for someone to rescue her. All she gets are the same looks from her partners.
“Yeah, Skye, is there something you haven’t told us?” Doris says.
“Ohhh-KAAAY, I GIVE!” Skye says, throwing her arms in the air. “But not here, he might be watching,” she adds, looking around. “Nico! Scan!” she orders, pointing at her brother.
Nico looks at her for a second before shrugging and taking to the air. He holds out his hands and their hair threatens to stand on end as he checks the area. Before he’s done, two people step out of the security wall that surrounds the school. “You!” Skye says, pointing at Davis. “You’re going to tell me EVERYTHING!”
“You know, we could just go into the school,” Cheval says, mildly.
“Can’t, acting super villains aren’t allowed on campus,” Nico says. “Of course, we allow her into our branch, but she’s not an acting super there. Skye, there are no cameras anywhere, save for mine, but I’ll put up a field, if it makes you happy.”
“Why don’t we just take this to the Hall?” Carla asks. “I’m sure that Century wants to know what’s going on, as well.”
“Good point,” Nico says. “Skye? Are you willing to tell Century what’s going on?”
Skye hesitates, looking around the group. “It… it won’t get me in trouble, will it?”
“Why would it get you in trouble?” Superior asks.
“Because norms know all about my powers,” she says, “and it’s all my fault.” She looks close to tears. “It’s ALL my fault! I should have known better! I’m stupid! So stupid! I—” She stops as Carla hugs her. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers, hugging the young girl tightly as she starts to cry. “It’s all my fault.”
“Like hell it is,” Nico growls, making them all look over. “We’re going to the Hall.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The South Hall’s meeting room is silent, save for the slight sniffles that Skye is letting out. I look over at Davis, who got dragged along, seeing a confused expression on his face. I’m not sure what he expected, but this obviously isn’t it. Century clears his throat, hesitating for a moment before walking up to Skye and kneeling down in front of her, since with her sitting, she’s extremely short compared to him. “Skye, sugar, can you start from the beginning?” he asks softly.
She looks at him, a strange expression on her face, and then looks down. “You won’t get mad at me, will you?”
“I won’t get mad, I promise,” he says.
“Well… um…” she says. “When I was just a kid… I was adopted. I mean, I don’t know if it was official or not, really, I had Chooperic do a search, but he couldn’t find anything in the system, even in the classified stuff, so maybe they sold me. It makes sense, I guess.”
“They sold you,” Century repeats, his eyes narrowing.
“You said you wouldn’t get mad,” Skye tells him. “If you’re going to break your word, I’m not going to tell you!”
“I’m not mad at you, sugar, I promise,” Century says, changing his tone. He blinks as he’s pulled back by his uniform and Superior takes his place.
“You’re taking too long, Charles,” Superior says, grabbing a chair and sitting down in front of Skye. “All right, Skye, you’re going to tell ME the story, and if anyone from the Hall gets mad, they’ll go through me, got it?”
She looks up, stunned, and then smiles a little. “Okay, Pop,” she says. “So they sold me to this clean-cut, norm, right? And I thought I was going to finally have a family, and even a dog. I was all excited, because every family that saw me before that would freak out whenever I started floating, or something. It REALLY freaked one guy out when I put my hand through his chest. Norms are so uptight, you know? But I did it to this guy, and he clapped. I was so proud of myself… and that’s why I was stupid. I went with him. He took me to this big building and told me I was going to live there for a while, but it wasn’t what I expected…” She blinks as Chooperic shoves his way between her and Superior and climbs into her lap. He’s bigger than she is, sitting like that, but she just wraps her arms around him. “I FINALLY got what I wanted, now, which is awesome.”
“What did the man do to you, Skye?” Nico asks.
“He experimented on her,” Davis says, making everyone look over. “Has no one figured it out, yet? She changes the atomic speed. She could easily figure out how to turn one material into another. An entire building could be turned into Styrofoam, a safe could be turned into glass. LEAD could be turned into GOLD with her powers!”
They look at him blankly, until Nico says, “So? Pop does it all the time.”
“Not all the time, Nico. Once in a while, perhaps, but not all the time,” Superior says. “Your mother runs out of beads and getting them shipped out is a pain in the neck, not to mention expensive.”
“Who ARE you?” Davis asks Superior.
“Now’s not the time to get distracted, son,” Century interrupts.
“I… felt dirty. Like… like they had… it was like I was… used,” Skye whispers, burying her face in Chooperic’s neck. “How did you make him feel so real, Nico?” she asks, distracted. “Did Pop change the material?”
“Actually that was done by Kim’s father,” Nico says. “He’s an expert at material manipulation. He did all of the AI’s, including Pan’s new son.” They let her change the topic for a moment, since tears are streaming down her cheeks.
“Skye,” Ariel whispers. “My poor Skye!” She g
oes over, wrapping her arms around Skye and Chooperic. She’s starting to cry, as well.
“No, Ariel! I should have known not to trust him! It’s all my fault!” Skye says, getting angry again. “And now there’s his mini-me right over there, but the kid is SMARTER than he is, isn’t he? He’s got super smarts! And all he can think of is that I can change stupid lead into stupid gold, and I don’t need EITHER of those things, since I’ve got a credit card!” She points at Davis, angrily as she rants. “And I don’t need to change a building because whether it’s Styrofoam or brick, it doesn’t matter, I can go through it! And Pop is right, changing things is only good for making beads so that Mom can be happy! And even THAT is silly, because she can go out and dig up REAL gems with no problem, if she wants!”
“You don’t think like a normal person,” Davis says, sounding a bit surly. “Normal people would never think a credit card could replace turning things into gold whenever they want to.”
“It’s paid off by Century,” Doris says, just standing there with a grim expression on her face.
“That’s still…” he stops, waving it off as he focuses on the bigger problem. “You were a little kid,” Davis says, quietly.
“Yeah? Well you’re twelve, and you would know better than to—”
“You’re wrong,” he cuts her off, running a hand through his hair and starting to pace. “He was right, I knew he was right. I thought I was doing the right thing, helping him out. If anyone should know how dangerous supers can be, it’s me, right? I mean, I’ve had my powers since I was born. I was building laser guns when other kids were having trouble balancing building blocks. I almost killed my mom. And if I’M a threat to society, how much worse is Skystep? I ran a million different scenarios, all different ways that she could cause anything from a small town to all of America going down,” he says. “You play these games, pretending that it’s just some big show, when really, how easy would it be to turn norms into slaves? To take over this planet, entirely? All supers are a threat, and no matter what sort of joke you make, or whatever sob story you tell, you won’t change my mind on that.” The entire room is staring at him. “Don’t think I didn’t see what happened with that senator guy,” he adds, defensively.
“So you help your uncle, who… what? Plans on stopping Skye?” Nico asks.
“Yes! He’s what I should have been! He’s an intelligent NORM!”
“We could fix that,” Nico says. Davis looks at him blankly.
“You… what?”
I have to say something. I have to. My hands clench and I stand. Everyone looks over at that. “I…” I start out, distracting Davis.
“Don’t even say you’re not dangerous,” he cuts me off. “When you add super speed to force, the impact grows exponentially. If anything, you’re MORE dangerous than those tanks that the Hall’s so proud of, because other capes can at least dodge a tank!”
“Would you PLEASE let me finish what I’m about to say?” I demand. He closes his mouth, but continues to glare at me. “This is something we’ve argued over and over again, back at Cape High. Norms can be a threat, too. ANYONE can be a threat, if they have a reason to. But at the same time, even the most dangerous people in the world can be perfectly harmless, if they have no reason to do something! Motives are important!”
“Really,” he says, his tone condescending. “You really want to go into that? That holds no water, logically. If someone has the capacity to do something, sooner or later, they’ll do it. It’s only natural! That’s the very reason you do those ridiculous shows in the first place, isn’t it? So you can use your abilities in public? If that wasn’t the case, everyone in the Hall would be doing something that actually contributes to society instead of this farce!”
“If you feel that way, then why did you save me?” Skye asks, looking confused.
“Because… because…” he stops, frowning slightly. “Why HAVEN’T you turned everything to gold, yet? If I had the power to do that, I’d be living in a mansion with cute girls in maid outfits and a pool full of money!”
“You know that gold isn’t soft enough to swim in, don’t you?” Ariel points out. “A regular pool works WAY better than one full of gold.”
“And couches are a lot softer if you’ve got padding on them,” Doris adds.
“Besides, you’re wrong,” Superior says. “Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you will. People aren’t like animals, and even animals restrain themselves. A real wolf, not the ones in the stories, is a peaceful creature who only hunts to eat. Even spiders that can kill norms tend to run away instead. And supers aren’t suited for government work.”
“It’s too dirty, even for the villains,” Nico agrees. “You have to be a special type to do that sort of job.”
“I wasn’t talking government! I was talking about overthrowing the government and becoming a tyranny!” Davis says.
“Ahhh, but then we’d all have to agree with the guy running it,” Century says. “Oh, sure, Mastermental could pull it off, but he’d be constantly on guard against every other super in the world, especially me and our boy, Technico, here. He’d most likely wind up with his powers stripped.”
“Mastermental can’t take over the world,” Nico says, “if he did that, we’d be stuck with Max running the Hall, and he’s not ready to go hero.”
“How can you make jokes about this?” Davis demands.
“Who’s joking?” Nico says.
“I’ll take over the government!” Skye declares, hopping to her feet and posing.
“No, thanks,” Doris says. “You’d get bored after twenty minutes and I’d wind up doing all the paperwork.”
“Hey, did you bring any of those cookies?” Skye asks Ariel, proving just how long her attention span is.
“I thought you were the one with the cookies, today, Skye,” Ariel says. “I left our caper bag at home, because it was too big to carry into battle.”
“Darn,” Skye says. “I already ate all the Santa cookies.”
“WHY IS EVERYONE BEING SO CASUAL?” Davis bellows angrily.
“What’s his name, and where does he live? Rochester got amazingly little information out of the camera we have,” Nico asks, in a deceptively casual voice. Davis looks over, his eyes widening as he catches on.
“You—”
“That’s right, we just have one question for you to answer, and you can go back to dreaming about cute maids,” Superior says in a matching tone.
He looks around, and then looks at Skye, as if she’s going to save him. “He’s… he’s still my uncle,” he says, his face pale. “He’s the closest I get to a dad. I can’t just—”
“No!” Skye says. “Don’t tell them! Don’t tell anyone his name, got it? If they go after him, they’ll get in trouble, and Nico was already in the cape cells once, he doesn’t need to go back, and—”
“Skye, sugar, I’m a Hall leader,” Century says.
“And you’re still only one in five!” she says. “The others would see this as going against the norms and then you’d be punished, and I don’t want ANYONE stuck in the Cape Cells because I was too stupid to know better when I was younger! NOBODY gets his name, got it? This is MY problem.”
“Skye, you’re not making any sense,” Superior says, his irritation showing.
“I heard what happened to Pan!” she says. “And he got off light because-because the man did bad things to LOTS of supers, right? Well, this one just did something bad to ME, and I’m not anyone special, I’m just a silly little villain! I don’t want you to get in trouble for something that happened years and years ago! It’s all in the past!”
“But it’s not in the past, Skye. They said he tried to assault you in the bookstore, and he’s been filming you!” Nico says. “And anyone that says you’re just a ‘silly little villain’ is clearly blind. You’re the… what did you call yourself, ‘the undefeatable Skystep.’”
“She’s not going to give up,” Century says. “She gets stubborn
about the darndest things…”
“His name is Richard,” Davis says.
“Don’t say another word, you little twerp!” Skye says, only to be grabbed by Superior to keep her from attacking.
“He’s my mom’s brother,” Davis tells them. “I never met my dad, so… he’s the closest I could get.”
“Don’t you DARE tell him where he lives,” Skye says from Superior’s hold. “You might not care about protecting your loved ones, but I do!”
“It’s fine,” Century says. “Don’t tell us. Carla, honey, why don’t you and Davis head back to school? We can send someone with you—”
“We’ll take them,” Doris says. “No one will attack us as a group, especially not a norm. And we’ll keep Skye from attacking him.”
“Thank you, darlin’,” Century says as he pulls out his phone. “Nico, Superior?”
“We’ll stay right here,” Superior says, letting go of Skye.
“Then everything’s decided. You’re all dismissed,” Century says. I look over at Davis, who looks like he wants to protest.
“Come on,” Doris says, herding the group towards the door. “The sooner we’re out of the Hall building, the better. The last thing we want is for them to figure out we’re here.”
I reach out, grabbing Davis’s hand. He’s going to start protesting any minute, so we need to leave before he can. He looks shocked at my touch, and it shuts him up as he stares at me blankly, following along behind me.
***
“So…” Nico says as soon as everyone’s out of the room except for the three of them, “I’ll just start scanning the local records.”
“What in the hell is wrong with that girl?” Superior asks. His irritation shows clearly by the way the room around them seems to change colors for a second. “Does she really think that three S-class capes can’t deal with one pathetic little norm?”
“I really don’t understand how her brain works, Pop,” Nico says. “As far as I can tell, she thinks she’s protecting us by not getting us involved. She wouldn’t even explain what was going on when she asked me to set up her security system.”
