by R. J. Ross
“See? I’ve got his routine memorized. It wasn’t hard. He’s an extremely regimented man. You can set your clock by him. I’m absolutely positive that he scheduled in that trip to try and kidnap Skystep,” he says, clearly not impressed by such rigidity. “Truthfully, just one quick read through of the villainy handbook points out exactly what I’ve known for a very long time. Being too regimented is dangerous,” he says.
“How long does his shopping trip last?” I ask.
“Thirty minutes,” he says. “That’s more than enough time, don’t you think?”
I nod, feeling an icy ball developing in my stomach. There are several reasons I’ve never seriously considered going villain. One is because the last thing I want is for my little brothers and sisters to see me as a bad example, and honestly that extends to all of the kids in the world. I will never choose to become a bad example! I’m a good girl with lots of people watching me and looking up to me! At least that’s what I’m aiming for, and—
“Time is ticking, Carla, and the cameras are down… in ten… nine…” Davis stops as he sees my face, letting out a groan. “Consider this a way to rescue a friend, if it’s really that big of a deal. You’re venturing into the VILLAIN’S hideout, remember? And GO!”
“OH!” I say, as it finally clicks. “Oh, then I can do THAT!” I grip the key and race for the house, my mind filled with images of breaking into a secret lab of a dastardly villain. Even if he’s a norm, he still totally counts as a villain! He tried to kidnap Skye! NOBODY kidnaps Skye! (Well, actually a couple of people have kidnapped Skye, but not on my watch!)
I unlock the door and head into the house, making sure to close it behind me. If any nosy neighbors are watching, a swinging open door is a red flag. They don’t realize they’re living next to a villain, so they might think I’m doing something bad. I head through the front room to the basement door and finally reach the discreet looking entrance behind the swinging bookshelf. My mental countdown is running, as I reach the door to the secret lab and type in the passcode, 1918. It’s obviously a year that means something to the guy, right? It doesn’t seem like something that’s just been randomly generated. I shove that thought down and enter the lab, racing through the tables even as the automatic lights come up.
“Help…” I pull to a stop, shocked as I hear that word. There shouldn’t be anyone down here, right? “Please… help me,” the voice says, but his tone says he doesn’t expect anything. “I don’t care if you steal everything here, just… please…”
I see the cabinet with the canister of nanobytes right in front of me. I can jiggle the lock, grab the canister, and—
“Please,” he whispers, and I smell tears.
I have thirty minutes, I tell myself. That’s more than enough time to save this man and get the nanobytes. I turn and head towards the sound of his voice.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“So… you’re saying that Richard Penski retired just recently,” Nico says. He and Century are standing in front of Mr. Cage’s desk. There’s a slight tick in Nico’s jaw, because he’s been scanning the business’s files without the other man realizing it, and Century is starting to notice. He’s probably going to get yelled at, but he doesn’t care. “According to his sister, he’s been dead for fourteen years.”
“Oh, her,” Mr. Cage says. “Truthfully, if I was her sibling, I would have faked my own death, as well. Look, Richard Penski is a strange… fellow, but he’s not dead, and it couldn’t have been an impersonator, since in order to even get into the parts of the building where he worked, he had several physical parts scanned for clearance.”
“Those can be copied,” Nico says silently, looking over at Century.
“You’re thinking Mimic, again?” Century asks.
“Just because he’s the one we know of doesn’t mean he’s the only one. I mean, we’ve got Morgan right over at the school. He’s a long lived guy. There could easily be other kids.”
“That’s… actually worth considering,” Century admits. “And it isn’t as if that line is the only one with shape shifting capabilities.”
“Look, don’t you think his coworkers would notice if he started acting strangely?” Mr. Cage says, sounding irritated. “I really think that the problem is his sister. Either she lied to you, or he lied to her.”
“Except wouldn’t Skye have noticed if he was a cape?” Nico asks.
“Hmm…” Century goes on to speak in normal tones, turning his attention to Mr. Cage. “Antony, you might be right. She might have lied to us, it’s very possible, or he might have lied to her. We don’t have a truth-testing super on the docket, so we can’t know for sure. Either way, could you tell us where we can find this Richard Penski, now?”
“Of course,” Mr. Cage says, “but if you could keep this between us, I’d appreciate it.” He turns to his computer, only to stop and look at it for a second. “I wouldn’t be doing this for anyone other than you, Century, you realize that,” he says after the pause. A few seconds later his printer starts up and he turns to grab the sheet that it spits out. “This is his last known address. I can’t promise he’s still there, but it’s what I’ve got.”
Nico reaches out and takes the paper. “Thanks,” he says, turning and heading for the door.
“We appreciate it,” Century says.
“Can you tell me why you’re so interested in him?” Mr. Cage asks. “As far as I can recall, he was too busy with his studies to draw the attention of the Hall.”
“We’re just following some leads,” Century says, “nothing to be concerned about.”
They leave, and Mr. Cage brings up the security feed to make sure they’re out of the building before calling his security chief. “Scan the files, see what he was looking at,” he orders sharply.
“What?” the security chief says. “Sir, no one was logged on except for the usual suspects.”
“One, you really need to stop calling them that, and two, we just were visited by a technopath. There is no doubt in my mind that he looked at our files. You had better have been VERY thorough on cleaning up that mess from a week ago, got it?”
“Of course I was, sir!”
“You’d better have been.”
***
Something tells me that Davis didn’t even know about this door. It wasn’t in the blueprints that he made me memorize, and it doesn’t even look like a door, it looks like a metal box of some sorts. I pry at the edges of the box, searching for some sort of handle. The only reason I’m even bothering is because I can still hear someone quietly crying from behind it. “I’m coming,” I say. “It’s okay. I’m going to get you out of there soon.”
“You can hear me?” he asks with a hint of surprise. “I’ve been calling for so long, but the only one that could hear me was him—or her—or whatever they want to be.”
I find a tiny switch and I tug and poke at it until I feel it move. The metal plate swings open, revealing stairs. I start down them. At the bottom of the steps it opens to a large concrete room. It stinks down here, and the only light is a bare bulb swinging from a wire overhead. There’s a man sitting on a cot against the wall. He’s dirty, and has a beard that’s well past his stomach, and not one of those deliberate beards that are everywhere nowadays, this one looks like he’s got a pet rat living in it.
He looks at me with watery eyes. “You came,” he whispers, getting to his feet and almost falling over as he heads towards me. “Someone actually came. It’s been so long—”
“It’s okay, mister, it’s okay,” I say, trying not to cringe when he touches me. He smells SO bad. There’s a toilet and a sink in the corner, but no soap to be seen. The only furnishings are a cot and a wobbly looking table holding an old box style TV and a clay doll. “We need to get out of here,” I tell him. “We only have a little bit of time before he comes back.”
“You’re right, you’re right,” he says, straightening and almost falling over again. “Sorry, I—I haven’t eaten in… a week or two, I
forgot the last time he remembered to bring something down.”
“It’s okay,” I say, slipping my shoulder under his arm and helping him up the stairs slowly. I’m fighting the urge to pick him up and run, but he feels even lighter than Davis had been. He’s over six feet tall, so that means he’s all skin and bones, right? It would be far too easy to break one of his bones by accident. “Mister, can you tell me your name?” I ask.
“It’s Richard,” he says, “Richard Penski.”
I’m so stunned that I don’t notice that someone’s reached the door before it slams shut right ahead of us. I hear a click, and I realize that it’s been locked. Not even a half second later, I hear a hissing sound and I turn, seeing a puff of gas starting to enter the room. It hangs low, clinging to the floor for now, but I doubt it will stay there forever. Something about it sends a chill down my spine.
We’re stuck down here, in a concrete cell. Memories of my days in the zoo come crashing back as Richard lets out a moan of despair. In my mind’s eye I’m once again stuck in the glass walls. My heart starts doing double time and I find it hard to breathe.
***
“What’s taking her so long?” Davis mutters. At any moment the cameras will switch over to a random frequency, and he’ll have to start all over again. He’s already running a program to determine the next setting. Sure, he’d set it up, but there are several different layers of randomization that are used. He could probably remember them, if he had the time to focus, but he doesn’t have that sort of time. It’s been two minutes already, and he’d expected her to be out an entire minute ago. He needs those nanobytes. Just stopping Skystep is only ONE of the functions he created them for, and he can’t afford to underestimate his uncle. They could be looking at a very dangerous situation, and it would be all Davis’s fault.
If he’s going to be the one at fault, he at least wants to be the one doing it in the first place! Besides, being in the school has opened up a whole new world for the boy genius. The computer systems that the kids play that silly game on is more advanced than anything he’s ever seen. He even found his way into some of the Hall files from his bedroom after he’d quit gaming the first night. It was almost like they were just waiting for him to stumble across them! For having such a secure system, they’re pretty reckless with their high security files.
“And… the cameras are back up,” he mutters as his computer screen starts to flash again. He taps on the keyboard quickly, even as the feed from the cameras come up in front of him. “Where…” he says, focusing on the camera feed for a bit. “Where did she go? Wait—” he jumps to his feet, shoving the tablet and keyboard into the backpack. The run to the door seems to take forever, especially since he’d experienced just how fast Carla is a few minutes ago. He needs to go faster—
Before he can open the front door, it swings open on its own and a hand reaches out, grabbing him by the shirt. “What took so long, nephew?” his uncle asks as he pulls him in. “I’ve been waiting.”
“But you went—”
“Do you really think I didn’t know you were coming? For being a genius, you’re pathetically foolish. It’s almost a shame that I’m going to have to take you out of their stupid cape games. You’d fit right in. I’ve been expecting you to turn on me for years, Davis. I was actually a little disappointed that it took you this long to get up the nerve to try. Oh, but of course it did. You’d never do something that might put YOU in harm’s way. You needed a patsy.”
“I wasn’t doing anything,” Davis says, through gritted teeth, his mind rushing. One thing isn’t adding up, though. How can a norm hold him so easily? Sure, the supers that he’s run into could, but his uncle isn’t—
“DAVIS! RUN!” he hears Carla shout from below. It’s barely loud enough for him to hear. “THAT’S NOT YOUR UNCLE!”
“Oh dear, oh dear, finally someone caught on,” the man holding him says.
“You’re insane,” Davis says, feigning calm. When he’s older, he’ll be able to handle this sort of thing without blinking, he promises himself, but right now he’s inwardly freaking out. “Who ARE you?”
“Davis! I am your FATHER!” he says, “No, no, I can’t even say that with a straight face. I’ll tell you exactly who I am, you little brat,” he asks, shifting Davis so he’s carrying him under his arm. He heads through the lab to a metal box in the back, touching the side of the front panel and letting the door swing open. “I’m one of the poor saps that your real uncle did his cute little experiments on,” he says before throwing Davis into the pit.
“Please,” a voice whispers from the dark room that Davis fell into. “Please… you can keep the kids… just let me out.”
“Oh, no, Richard, that’s not about to happen.” The door slams closed, leaving them in the pitch black darkness.
***
I’m panicking, but so are they. I can hear Davis’s heartbeat from here, it’s pounding so hard, and the smell of sweat and fear permeates the room. That gas is starting to fill the room, and I let out a little cough. I need to breathe. I need to do what Ken taught me to do to calm myself down. No, it’s not singing a My Little Pony song, although I HAVE tried that little breathing out exercise a few times. Unfortunately it’s just not as effective in high speed.
“What was it… what was it… Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of…” I get that far before groaning at how stupid I’m being. DUH. Shadows? I know a guy that walks through shadows—I’ve still got a serious crush on him, you know? Besides, I’m pretty sure I can break out of this place. It’s not a rocket resistant door, and I’m a lot faster and stronger than I was before. But that gas…
“He did it again,” Richard moans, curled up in a ball on the steps. “I can’t go on like this,” he whimpers.
“Who is that guy?” Davis asks me. His heartbeat is slowing, and I wonder if he’s caught on to the same thing I’m thinking.
“Richard Penski,” I say. “Who was that guy?” I ask him, motioning to the stairs.
“One of his experiment subjects,” Davis says, waving a hand at Richard. His tone is going to that cynical, annoying tone that says he thinks he’s superior to everyone around him. “Are you going to get us out of here or not?” he asks me, only to start coughing as he glances to the gas that’s rapidly rising. “What’s that… oh, crap, not that stuff. Wait, why is it so concentrated?” His eyes widen as he stares at it with horror, swallowing loudly before covering his face with his shirt.
“Do you really think that I’d leave you with your powers?” The screen on the antique looking television in the corner lights up, and the fake Richard Penski appears on it. “Oh, no, Davis, I know just how much trouble you can be if I leave you with idle hands. You’re too much like your uncle—your REAL uncle. You should thank him, by the way. He’s part of the reason you’re losing your powers right now. And you… you’re that hyper whatever girl, aren’t you? Breaking into someone’s house, shame on you!”
“My principal will be coming for me!” I tell him, only to cough and ruin the drama. “Just count your seconds, Mister Meany, because you’re going down!” He starts laughing and the screen goes black again.
“Great comeback,” Davis says, although his sarcasm is muffled by his shirt, “do you take classes for that?”
“Why yes, yes I do!” I say, doing one of my favorite Star Spangled poses, before I start coughing again. Look, I’ve got the fastest metabolism in my school, or, well, CLOSE to it. I don’t know how fast the twins are. But either way, my system will process this stuff quickly!
But until then… I think I need to sit down for a bit. My head is swimming and it feels like all of my energy has run out.
“I have to thank you, Davis,” the man on the screen goes on, holding up a canister, “I might be smart, but I would never have been able to create these without your help.”
“Those are MINE!” Davis yells, only to cough so hard that he falls to his hands and knees.
“No, these are a
ll mine. I’ve got plans for these little nanobytes. But since the girl is right, I really do need to get going. I’m sure the gas won’t kill you… at least I think it won’t.” And he runs, leaving the camera filming an empty room.
“Can I call Nico NOW?” I demand, tapping on my comm-bracelet.
“That won’t work. He’s jamming—“
“We’re coming, Carla,” Nico says over the comm-bracelet. “The address that we were given was a fake. Remind me to put you on cleanup duty for a year, though.”
“What? I didn’t—” I stop, because that would be lying. The gas is up past my chest now. The smell is starting to make me feel nauseous. I’ve never been sick before. I think this might be what it feels like, because I feel like I’m burning up and the coughing won’t stop. I try to cover it with my hand, but it doesn’t help, and something hot and drippy hits my fingers. I bring my hand up to look. “Blood?”
“You have to… come… get us first…” Davis says, as his arms and legs go out from under him. He face plants right into the stairs and starts to cough hard. “We’re… going to… die. He poured a year’s… worth in.”
What? I mean, I’m coughing, sure, and there might be a bit of blood, but this is temporary. I can definitely get used to it. I’m kind of surprised that I haven’t gotten used to it, yet, actually.
“You need to… catch him. We’ll be fine,” I say, only to start coughing even harder.
“I improved it,” Davis says, and I hear Nico say a word that he’d get in trouble for at school. “But he… used ALL of it.”
“We’re on our way,” Superior says. “Carla, stay with us. We’ll be there in two seconds.”
“One…” I whisper, the urge to cough leaving, the urge to sleep taking over. The blood on my hand seems to be glowing in my mind, even though I’m not even looking at it, now.
I hear metal screeching and turn, looking up at the door as Superior appears. “Don’t!” Davis says as he steps onto the stairs. Superior looks around with a hint of disgust and then holds out his hands. The air clears with a twist and a snap of the clouds that surround us.
