Guitar Hero (Cape High Series Book 12) (10 page)

With that assurance, Tatia heads back to her home, mentally plotting out dinner.

***

There's something wrong with this situation, Shadowman thinks as he crouches on a high rocky ledge, watching a glowing tour bus head his direction. It's like it's right on the tip of his tongue, but he can't exactly figure out what. He has a job—get the singing super. It's the usual thing for him, actually. Kidnapping a teenage cape is part and parcel with his way of living. He's got a boss that's—

Wait, IS he getting paid for this job? He doesn't even remember signing a contract, much less writing one up! In fact, who IS his boss?

Instinctively, even as he's trying to put the most important parts of this gig together in his mind, he jumps off the ledge, landing on the roof of the bus as it starts to go past. Several of the other cars swerve, certain that they're going to hit him as he hits the concrete, but he ignores it all, crouching on top of the bus until a shadow hits him.

He slips through the roof, right into the middle of the group. A familiar looking girl lets out a squeak, and for a second his eyes land on her. How does he know her? Does it matter?

"I'm here for Justin," he says, striding over to where the teen in question is now standing. "This can go the easy way, or the hard way—I'm sure most of you would survive dropping out of the bus, but it'll hurt like hell, don't you think?"

A glowing whip comes out, wrapping around his throat. "The last I heard was that you were in Mexico somewhere, getting drunk," a female says. "Why didn't you stay there?"

"I've got a job," Shadowman says, jerking at the whip. It's hard to phase through something glowing, he abruptly realizes. More like impossible, actually. So he'll deal with it the old fashioned way. He grabs the whip and yanks hard, slamming Falconess into the wall of the tour bus. She hits so hard that the entire bus swerves with it, slamming into a few cars on the right before crashing through the railing and into the mountain they're driving through. The whip disappears. People are screaming outside of the bus. The ones inside of it race forward, grabbing for him. The only ones that look terrified are the three boys in the back who are keeping away from him. Even the little girl that gasped as he entered is hanging stubbornly off of his leg.

"Falconess, we're going to have to find solid ground," the man driving the bus yells without looking over his shoulder. He's veering back into traffic. It's a bit surprising that the bus is still driving.

No it's not, a little voice whispers in his mind. Technico did this.

Wait, what does Technico have to do with this?

He doesn't have time to figure it out. Instead he kicks as hard as he can, sending the little girl flying across the bus and into a window. He twists, slamming a fist into Falconess's face. She barely manages to get a screen of light up before it hits her full on. She probably realizes he planned on going through her face, he thinks unemotionally. Instead of continuing after her, he turns sinking his fist into the nearest kid's chest and touching the heart.

For a second he almost squeezes, but he stops himself as he realizes that this is his target. He pulls his hand out and grabs the boy by the shirt. "LET GO OF HIM!" a redheaded teen bellows. Two others pop into existence and they tackle him—or try to. He hears them crash as he sinks through the floor and into the Shadowland, taking the boy with him.

His head hurts, he thinks as he slings the now unconscious boy over his shoulder. Touching the heart as roughly he had was enough to send the boy into shock. Even for a super, it's no surprise the kid had fainted. Absently he listens for a heartbeat. If the kid is dead, he won't be paid.

Will he be paid?

Why is there a voice shouting at him from the back of his mind?

***

"What just happened?" Emily asks, looking around the trashed bus. Falconess has a grim look on her face, and Malina is on the floor next to the window, shaking her head.

"Ow," she whispers, reaching up and rubbing the back of her head. "He kicks hard."

"He took Justin," Falconess says, pulling out her phone. "Alphonse, call Negatia, have her send in some black suits. I'm calling Mastermental. Emily, call Nico, we're going to need his help."

"On it," Emily says.

"What's he going to do to Justin?" Malina asks.

"Didn't something seem… wrong?" Freddy asks, making them all look at him. "We saw Shadowman on a regular basis—every time he brought in a new kid he would hang around for a few moments, walking around and giving us a hard time. We hate him, but…"

"He didn't seem himself just now," Malina finishes with a frown. "Like he was…"

"A machine," Freddy finished.

"EMILY!" the shout makes all of them jump, especially as feet sink through the ceiling of the bus. The color drains out of their faces for a moment until a female drops to the floor and throws herself at the redhead. "What happened here?" Skyestep demands, hugging her tightly.

"Justin got kidnapped," Emily says. Her phone is answered and they all hear Aubrey's voice.

"What's wrong?" Aubrey asks.

"Shadowman just kidnapped Justin," Emily repeats for her sister's benefit. "We need Nico—we need to get him back. Malina and Freddy say something was wrong with Shadowman and I think they're right—he almost killed Justin before grabbing him."

"What? How?"

"He stuck his hand through his chest."

"I'll get Nico," Aubrey says.

"Shadowman," Skye says, letting go of Emily. Her expression changes drastically and she looks around for a moment.

"Skye?"

"Quiet, sweetie, I need to concentrate for a moment," Skye says. The very serious and logical tone is enough to have the group staring at her in shock. Emily and her doppelgangers look the most shocked of them all. Skye turns half a step, and then another, her eyes faintly glowing. "Found him," she says before running straight through the three band members and out the back of the bus.

"Did you know she could do that?" Falconess asks Emily.

"Be serious? I had no clue," Emily says in a stunned tone.

***

Shadowman steps through a hole, stepping out into the light of an abandoned building. The boy is still lying over his shoulder. His breathing is shallow, his heartbeat unsteady, but they'd never said he had to bring him in perfectly healthy. They're lucky he's even alive.

He slings the body off of his shoulder, about to drop him when someone steps up behind him. "Do be more delicate," the woman says. "I don't want him dead just yet—he might be useful."

"Yes, Mother," Shadowman hears himself say. Wait, what? Mother? His mother's been dead for over sixty years—

"Good boy," the woman says, dropping a hand on his shoulder and turning him so she's looking him in the eyes. "Oh, how interesting!" she says, her expression brightening, "Someone's trying to break free of my hold. You are a strong one, aren't you?"

"What does Technico have to do with this?" he asks abruptly.

"Oh?" she asks, cocking her head slightly. She's beautiful, in a cold sort of way that sends a chill down your spine. She's got long silver hair that's pulled up in an intricate fashion, full, red lips, high cheekbones, and narrow eyes that change color every second. "Let me think for a moment, there are so many silly named supers out there—"

"Technico," he repeats. "Ex-super villain. Technopath. The only super to ever get out of the Cape Cells on good behavior."

"Oh, yes! The new boy in the Central Hall. I worried for a moment he would be a problem, but he doesn't ever seem to come into the light, does he?" She waves a hand and the boy he's still holding floats over to the pallet in the corner. "Good job with this one, I'll call you when I need you again."

"You didn't answer my question," Shadowman says, "and I can't remember the contract."

"Contract?"

"The one that shows I'm working for you," he says, gritting his teeth as his head starts to throb. "The one that means I'll get paid."

"You're a super villain, sweetie, no one would believe you in court, even if you did have a contract," she says, patting him fondly on the arm. "But you're not getting paid, so we don't need a contract, now do we?"

Shadowman feels his head turning on its own and finds himself staring into the kaleidoscope eyes. "You're doing this out of love for Mother," she says. The world is swirling around him and he feels his head nod all on its own.

"Love… for… Mother…" he hears himself repeating. That voice in the back of his head is screaming even louder now, but he can't seem to make sense out of the words. "What next, Mother?"

"Well, since you're in such a helpful mood…" she says, touching her cheek with one finger in a thoughtful manner. "How about we collect those little floating supers that came up in the news lately? They're the way I finally got my son to give in, so they must be worth SOMETHING, don't you think?"

"Son?" he asks, finally getting a tiny bit of control back.

"Oh, that doesn't matter right now," she says, waving a hand. "Go back to work, sweetie—"

"SHADOWMANNNN!" the bellow comes from outside but it doesn't finish until a woman races through the wall and slams straight into him. They both go flying, crashing through wall after wall. This building had once been a business, it looks like. He only notes that idly as he searches his mind for the name of his attacker.

"Skystep," he says as they slam into the building next door. She pulls back, a look of rage on her face before she hits him in the gut so hard he feels her fist against his spine. It's followed by another hit, and another. The only reason she hasn't killed him is because they have similar powers—in a way, they negate each other. Just like she can't reach inside of her own body, she can't reach into his, and rip his heart out. He's far more grateful for that fact than he'll ever admit. But it also means he can't do the same, he realizes as she picks him up, twisting in a circle and sending him flying through the building they'd come through earlier. She must have aimed, because he goes through all of the walls again, mere feet from the holes he left the first time.

"YOU DARE TO ATTACK MY NIECE?" she bellows, taking to the air as the building he's now lying limply in threatens to fall. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Niece?" he repeats, staring at the enraged woman diving straight for him. He's spent all these years avoiding the girl, he thinks darkly. She's right up there on his list of "who NOT to get involved with" with Technico and half a dozen others—so why is he dealing with her now?

"DIVINE JUSTICE IS MY NIECE!" she bellows as she slams into him, fist first. He barely manages to dive into the Shadowlands, leaving her behind.

Divine Justice might be HER niece (although, really he doubts that) but SHE is HIS. Of course it's more like great-niece, but he really doubts claiming family ties right now is going to do him any good. He's been trying to avoid the whole family—

Family.

That's what he'd come here for, he realizes. Perhaps it's the odd, but familiar smell of the Shadowlands that's knocked him back to his senses, or maybe it was the way Skye just thoroughly beat him. One of those hits should have been enough to knock him free from the mind control. He takes a deep breath, gratitude welling up over the fact that she can't come into Shadowlands. She has his sister's prominent powers—the ability to phase through things. He hadn't gained that until he was almost seventy, and even now his version is limited to only a foot or so. There's a chance that someday Skye will see Shadowlands, but it wouldn't be for forty-some years, at least.

"SHADOWMAN!"

She's yelling loud enough that he can hear her in another dimension, Shadowman thinks with a hint of wonder. But that's not the problem, is it, he realizes abruptly. She's still back there in reach of "Mother." He hesitates, several ancient feelings trying to rise to the surface. These same feelings have been bothering him ever since the text message from Nico. Family. It's a word that keeps echoing though his mind, one that he tried to shove to the back of his mind over a hundred years ago. "GET BACK HERE!"

Time to run, he decides. Family reunions are all good and well, but not when it comes with a woman he's almost positive is—

Nope, not going to think about that, either, he decides as he strolls on through the Shadowlands, completely ignoring the monsters that dwell in it. He'd much rather deal with these monsters than those.

***

Something is wrong with me. I can feel my heart pounding without rhythm, and the very idea of being non-rhythmic has me panicking silently for a moment before I hear it jerk back into beat. I let out a silent breath, relaxing for all of a second before I realize someone is screaming. I don't know that voice.

Wait, where am I? It smells funny and there's a breeze. If I was in the tour bus, it'd—well, no, it'd still smell funny, but there wouldn't be a breeze. I dare to open my eyes, waiting for a second for the world to snap back into focus. I'm staring at a tiled ceiling, with some of the panels threatening to fall on me. I hear movement beside me, and slowly I turn to look. If it's a super, they already know I'm awake. We're good at that sort of thing.