Guitar Hero (Cape High Series Book 12) (4 page)

“Oh for crying out loud, this is ridiculous,” I mutter, reaching over and taking the mic from Malina. “Everyone plug your ears,” I tell the crowd before turning off the mic and tossing it toward my bandmates. One of them will grab it—I hope. I open my mouth and scream, hitting Max straight on and sending him flying backwards through the air. All that practice back at school, I think in wonder as Max pulls to a stop almost a mile away. I look behind me--none of the beautiful glass windows are even cracked. “Cool,” I say, grinning--

At least I’m grinning until I’m lifted from the ground by Max’s gravity powers. The crowd cries in alarm, and I mentally groan. “I’m just trying to have a nice little conversation--” Max starts out.

“I’m trying to do a concert!” I reply before screaming again. I fall as Max gets hit full on, but I manage to land on my feet. The crowd is cheering, but I really doubt this is the end of it.

“You get back to the music, I’ll take care of this villain,” Emily says, poofing out of sight.

“Sorry about the interruption, everyone,” I say as I turn the mic back on. “We now continue with your regularly scheduled concert.” We start playing again, since Emily and Max are nowhere to be seen--at least they aren’t until we call for a break. All of a sudden Max is thrown straight at me. I jump, catching him before he crashes into the stage.

“Tie him up!” Emily says from where she’s standing on the roof of the church. She looks like a tiny avenging angel up there.

I grab some of the cords from the stage and tie Max’s hands behind his back as she drops down next to us. Max gives her a surly look, but he’s not breaking free. “Stupid Liberty girl,” he complains.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Divine Justice,” I say, introducing her properly. “Don’t ever let it be said that girls can’t play in the big leagues,” I add as they start to cheer. “Did you let her do that?” I ask Max silently.

“She’s a lot trickier than her boyfriend,” he whispers, “she caught me off guard with one of the doppelgangers--I can show you the concrete dents to prove it.”

“Hello, everyone!” Emily says cheerfully, holding Max’s familiar gold mic. “Wow, this thing is shiny--are you sure you’re not the one giving people sunburns?” she asks Max. I hear him snort. “My name is Divine Justice--I’m a Cape High student, and yes, I’m dating Kid Liberty. Before you jump to conclusions--do you see him here, saving me?” She hops onto the speaker she’s so fond of, crossing her legs and leaning back on her free hand. “I’m here to tell you what we’re REALLY doing. We aren’t here to kidnap your children, or whatever the rumor is--we’re here to recruit young supers.”

The crowd looks around, as if expecting a young super to just show up. No one steps forward.

“We’re also here to give a concert,” Emily says, “which Maximum just felt the urge to interrupt.”

“Hey, Raindrop,” Max whispers in a theatrical way. “Raindrop, come here.” The audience can hear him--it’s being picked up by my mic. I can see them crane their heads to see what’s about to happen.

Malina hesitates for all of a second before taking a step closer.

“I don’t know what you’ve been told,” Emily goes on, playing oblivious, “but supers are here to keep you safe--ALL of you. Our hope is to take those like us, the teenage supers, in and give them a place where they can be themselves.”

“Raindrop,” Max whispers again, giving her a pleading look, “this wire is really tight.”

“You deserve it!” Malina says, her hands on her hips. I hear the crowd start to giggle. “You interrupted our concert!”

“But it’s painful,” Max says, jerking pathetically at the wire. “Can’t you just loosen it a bit?”

“No,” she says.

“But Raindrop--”

“I don’t have an official name, you know,” she tells him, absently taking a step closer just to glare at him.

“Raindrop is cute,” he says shamelessly, only to grab her before she can reply. “HA! I got her!” he says, taking to the air. The wire drops to the ground as he carries Malina into the air. “A water manipulator is EXACTLY what I asked Santa for, for Christmas!”

“Christmas was over MONTHS ago!” Emily yells.

“Bad boys don’t get presents,” Max says with a shrug.  I see water coming up from the barrels and know that Malina is about to take him down, when shockingly, Max falls out of the air without even being touched.

“Ow,” he mutters. I note that he’s moved Malina so she fell on top of him, even after whatever happened to him. “What the heck was that?” he asks, looking over at me with confusion. Water spills over both of them, drenching his perfectly spiky hair. I would laugh, but I seriously don’t think he planned on falling. I turn to the audience, my eyes widening as I see a woman standing in the middle of the group, her hand aimed straight at Max.

“Negatia,” I say. Well... Crap.

***

  “HE was not assigned to be at this concert! If he was, I would have been informed--I made sure of that the LAST time he attacked Justin’s concert,” Nagatia says, pointing straight at Max. We finished up the concert and found her waiting impatiently for us in our tour bus. Now she’s yelling at us for goofing around. Oh, joy.

“HE,” Max repeats, “is still in CENTRAL TERRITORY--which means YOU are the one who’s not supposed to be at the concert!”

“Well, you’ve got to admit she’s right, you could have called first,” I point out to Max, lounging on the couch next to him. I’m best friends with Ace, and that means once in a rare while I have to hang out with the other villains (or fight with them, in Jack’s case)--and put bluntly, I rather feel like taking Max’s side on this. “But it’s not like anyone got hurt. We were goofing off.”

She gives me a scathing look, one that says she’s got a LOT to tell me off for. “This is not a game!”

“Actually, um, it sort of is,” Emily says, sitting on the bunk over our heads next to Freddy. “Look, if it’d been a real super villain--”

“I am a real super villain,” Max says.

“One that’s NOT dating my best friend and pals with my sister’s boyfriend,” Emily goes on, “it would have been a problem. But that doesn’t change the fact that you were supposed to be doing debut tours,” she says to Max. “Why aren’t you working?”

“My first debut is in your next town,” Max says. “Same night as your concert. I figured I might as well check in with you guys, and hey, crashing your concert sounded fun.”

“Where’s the rest of your group?” Freddy asks. “You’ve got Rocco, Lance and Piper, right?”

“They decided to play a game of shadow run for the night--Summer went with them,” Max says. “Which, honestly, is a TON of fun, I just hope they can figure out how to get back in time for our first gig,” he admits.

“Shadow run?”

“Rocco opens a shadow tunnel and you run through it--you can wind up anywhere,” Max says grinning. “I’m working on getting him on the villain team, he’d be awesome.”

“What are they teaching you kids at that school?” Negatia demands. “From what I’ve seen, you’re just playing around, causing distractions and a ridiculous panic among the norms!” She looks at me, her eyes narrowing. “I said nothing when they sent me your transfer papers, because I trust Mastermental, but I see that was the wrong choice.”

“Wait just a second,” I say, feeling panicked, myself. “You don’t know the full story!”

“Wait, why does she have your transfer papers?” Max asks me blankly. “I would have thought I’d hear about something like that.”

“Why should you hear about something like that?” Negatia demands.

“He’s Mastermental’s son,” I say. I’ve got a headache.

“’My son would have destroyed the place,’” she says to herself, as if repeating someone from the past. “I see. That does explain a few things. Regardless, this has nothing to do with you, Maximum.”

“Max,” Max says.

“I don't care what you’re called, or who you’re related to. You ARE a super villain. According to your own father’s rules, you must follow protocol on ambushes like the one you just pulled off. I have every right to have you court-martialed by the Hall.”

“No!” I say, jumping off the bench and stepping in front of her. I’m taller than she is now. It’s a bit startling. “Look, Negatia--Nora--MOM--”

“MOM?” the entire group demands in shock.

“She’s my foster mom,” I admit, sighing loudly. “She took me in after my dad died. I left a little after that to become a singer.” They stare at me, but I’m not sure what else they want out of me. At least Negatia looks a little less angry. “Look, Mom, this wasn’t an actual attack. He didn’t even bring in the buses!”

“Like the last time he attacked you?” she demands.

I look at Max, and then back at her, shrugging with a sheepish grin. “That Super Bowl made me world famous, you know?” I say finally, scratching the back of my head. “They showed a scene of that before this year’s Super Bowl halftime show--it totally made the new halftime band look like chumps.”

“I still don’t like it!” she says.

“Negatia,” Falconess says quietly, getting to her feet. She’s been silent all this time--I almost didn’t expect her to speak up at all. “I understand you feel protective, but you need to understand, these are classmates.” She motions to the group, including Max. “They spend every weekday together--some of them even spend weekends that way. While I agree with Justin about calling first,” she looks at Max, who finally looks a bit sheepish, “it wasn’t as if anyone was truly at risk. But I’m not sure why you would be heading to our next town, Max. It’s in West Hall’s territory.”

“She hired me,” Max says, motioning to Negatia. “They’ve got a little force-field generator named Rachel Proctor that’s about to debut, so apparently I was the perfect choice.”

“Is she going to come to Cape High?” Malina asks curiously.

“Nah, if they’re to the debut point they generally have most of their training done already, according to their parents,” Max says. “Whether that’s true or not, who knows? But I usually get them as they’re about to be launched into a Hall career.”

“Trent had his debut already, so did Ace and Jack,” I have to point out.

“They’re special cases,” Falconess says. “They’re already surpassing the place most would consider a respectable cape.”

“Am I right in thinking some of those listed are super villains?” Negatia asks.

“Ace and Jack are Dragon and Cold Steel--but Cold Steel will always be a Specialized A-class, or so,” Emily explains. “He can’t fly on his own, and he’s actually only D-class when it comes to speed. It’s pretty pathetic.”

“He doesn’t need to be faster,” Malina says, “right?”

“No, in his case, he definitely doesn’t,” Falconess says. “Look, Negatia, we’ve got everything in hand here. And, as much as it hurts me to admit it, Max is right--at the moment we ARE in Central Territory. If you want, we can call Double M and discuss this.”

“Why are you trying to kidnap this non-debut’ed super?” Negatia asks Max, completely ignoring Falconess’s offer. I get the feeling she doesn’t want to talk to Double M.

“Malina?” Max asks, looking startled. “Didn’t you see her part of the concert?” he asks.

“I’m afraid I didn’t get there for that part.”

“She’s a--”

“Century won’t appreciate this,” Emily says in a sing-song voice. “He wants her.”

“Oh, he does, does he?” Negatia says. “This sounds important. What do you do?” she asks, walking over to Malina. She can actually tell if she touches her, but she doesn’t. She once told me she could tell who was a cape by sight, and what their abilities are by touch—and she can manipulate the ones she knows from a distance. She obviously knows Max's powers.

“I’m a... water manipulator,” Malina says hesitantly.

“A strong one?”

“I’m okay,” she says with a shrug.

“She’s one of the strongest of the zoo kids,” Freddy says, his tone defensive. He moves into sight, making Negatia look up at him. I get the feeling she hadn’t even noticed he was there. “Don’t pick on her.”

“I’m not,” Negatia says, looking at him thoughtfully. He’s crawling on the ceiling, so I can’t really blame her for it. “You’re a very interesting one, too, aren’t you?” she says, a little smile pulling on her lips.

“I’m afraid we really need to get moving, Hall Leader,” Nathan says, stepping forward. “If you don’t want to talk to Central Hall about this situation, I will politely ask you to leave. We have a long ride ahead of us.”

“And who do you think you are to tell me to leave?” Negatia asks, dangerously.

“He’s my agent,” I say quickly.

“The last I checked, your agent was a norm.”

“He turned out to be a super-phobe,” Emily says. The startled look on Negatia’s face makes me do a double take.

“A... Super-phobe?” she repeats.

“He hated us,” Emily explains.

“Yes, I figured it meant that... But I’m still a bit...” she turns away and pulls out her phone, tapping on it a few times. “I didn’t think he would actually do anything about it,” she says to herself. “I will leave you to continue on your journey--Falconess, I expect you to take very good care of my son.”

“Of course,” Falconess says.

Negatia looks at me, a mix of emotions crossing her face before she reaches out and touches my cheek. “We will talk more, later,” she tells me with a hint of sadness. She turns and leaves, leaving an awkward silence behind.