Life Light (14 page)

They're sitting in a front room half the size of his house, carved out of ice. Cosmic and Superior are casually lounging on recliners as they talk about the old days, and Tatia and Felicia (as she calls herself) are chatting with Skye about her work as a super villain.

Isotonic, one of the biggest names in present hero society, feels like a kid playing dress up. The same question is repeating over and over in his mind as he tries to look casual. How do you yell at an icon in hero history for norms being bothered? It’s not as if he can threaten ANY of them with Cape Cells--the very idea is ridiculous. He’s not even sure the power inhibiting collars will work on this group. Of course he’s still positive Skye is the reason for all the trouble--she’s a super villain, after all. She’s also crazy. He hadn’t believed all of the stories Century told until he’d sat down with her for an hour. But for some reason all these heroes of the past are covering for her.

“Aubrey!” Tatia says as the small group appears in front of them. “You have returned!”

“AUBREY!” Skye yells, hopping to her feet and hugging the norm looking girl. “I’m SO HAPPY!”

“Hi, Skye,” Aubrey says. To Isotonic’s surprise, Superior actually gets to his feet and walks over. “Hi, Grandpa,” she says.

“We saw Emily’s debut,” Superior says, holding out his hand to Alyssa while placing his other hand on Aubrey's shoulder. “You make a very entertaining hostage,” he goes to the younger girl.

“Thank you,” she whispers, staring at him in wonder.

The only logical thing to do, Isotonic decides, is to introduce himself. Clearly these girls are special. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Aubrey,” he says, shaking her hand. He doesn’t expect anything--until her eyes start to glow and her brown hair starts floating. He almost pulls away, he’s so surprised.

“What is with all of you big leaders and too much stress?” she demands irritably as her eyes go back to normal. “Alyssa, pay attention--the higher up they are the more likely you’ll be to run into stress fatigue, even in heroes,” she tells the black girl behind her. For all the world it sounds like a teacher lecturing a student.

Now that he thinks about it, he DOES feel more relaxed, Isotonic thinks. “What, ah, did you just do?”

“Aubrey’s a healer!” Skye says, hugging the girl, her cheek pressed to Aubrey's. For a second Aubrey’s eyes glow again.

“You need to eat better, Aunt Skye,” Aubrey says.

Alyssa is looking away--he can hear the faintest sounds of laughter coming from her. “Is she always like this?” she asks after containing it.

“She’s gotten worse,” Nico says. “Ever since she forced all of Central Hall to come in for yearly check-ups--she had Double M repenting on his knees over skipping too many meals.”

“That wasn’t my fault, it was his own!” Aubrey says.

“Wait--so both of you are healers?” Isotonic says, finally catching on to what it means for him as a branch leader. “Have either of you thought about moving up north?”

“Not until they’re graduated,” Nico says. “Alyssa only just started at Cape High.” He pats the younger girl on the back. “Father, I’ll be borrowing your work room.”

“Use your own room,” Superior says. “There should be enough junk in there for you to do whatever you want.”

“Junk?” Nico repeats.

“You made a clone of me out of a coke machine, I figured junk works just fine,” Superior says.

“A coke machine, a car and--oh, forget it,” Nico says. “Let’s see this room.”

“Grandma, can Alyssa use Emily’s room?” Aubrey asks. “I really doubt Em will mind.”

“Of course! If she can find her way through it, that is. Emily created quite a mess in just a night,” Grandma Tatia says.

“Well there ARE three of her,” Aubrey says.

Isotonic stays silent, his eyes glued to the two girls as they head down a hall--at least they are until Skye gets right in his face.

“Don’t even think about it, mister,” she says, waving a finger in his face. “My niece is going to finish school!”

“So how DID you talk them into covering up for you about the light?” he asks instead of responding.

“What light?” She looks at him for a long moment before turning her back on him and walking away.

Well... It’s not like he can do much to her, even if she DID send the light, he thinks with a sigh. Not here, or even back in her own territory. He gets the feeling Century would do something extremely violent if he threatened one of his favorites.

***

“So, whatcha doin?” The question makes Nico look up from the metallic platform he’s building. It will create a full sized hologram of whoever is standing on it. The teams in the field will have a hologram of Aubrey to talk to their targets thanks to it. There are pieces of computers scattered on the huge desk behind him, and larger machine parts all around. He wants to think his mom got them for him, but somehow he doubts she was the only one.

“Hello, Skye,” he says, going back to his work. Even if he's only seen her in passing, he's not that surprised. He's heard plenty of stories, and then there are the videos from summer camp. “I’m building a hologram projector.”

“Were you REEEALLLY a super villain?” she asks, floating over his head and poking some of the metal scraps he has hovering over his head. “I never heard of you.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty five.”

“You were almost ten at the time I was tossed in the Cape Cells,” he says, soldering a line with his finger. “I really doubt you would remember me.”

“I’ve seen you on TV lately. But I didn’t know you were Superior’s son.”

He finally looks at her. “You’re scared?” he says, a bit surprised. He’s usually terrible at reading emotions, but this one is obvious when you look at her face. It’s either fear or a lot of worry, at least.

“I--I’m NEVER scared!” she blusters. "I am SKYSTEP!”

He stands, watching as she jerks away. “Mom accepted you, right?” he says.

“Well, but--” she starts out, looking left and right. It’s almost funny, seeing her look for a way to escape. Can’t she phase through anything? She leans forward, whispering dramatically, “she’s not THE Superior.”

“Mom can beat Dad fifty percent of the time.” The words escape him before he realizes he called Superior ‘Dad.’ “Learn who your adopted family is before you adopt them, Skye,” he scolds.

“Sorry,” she says, looking like a guilty little kid. “Are there any more huge secrets in the family that I don’t know about?” she demands.

“Well, I’m in a relationship with Lady Rose,” he says. “We’ve got twins--one’s a technopath, the other’s a dual elementalist. You met him already, his name’s Sunny.”

“Lady Rose is my sister-in-law?” she squeaks. “Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, I LOVE HER!”

This time he’s the one that’s surprised. “She's a specialized S that only gets filmed once in a blue moon.”

“I--I have a thing for the environment, so sue me,” she says. “Oh, would you look at the time--gotta go!” she goes on, phasing through the wall before he can say anything else.

“Of the two of us, I am ninety-nine percent sure I’ve got a better grasp on what time it is,” he says to the empty room. He looks up as Superior steps into the doorway, leaning against it with his arms folded. “There a problem?” he asks.

“She’s crazy, but your mother is already fond of her,” Superior says bluntly, going straight to the problem. “Isotonic thinks it’s her that’s been causing all the little norm... 'trolling,' as Emily says.”

“We both know that’s not true,” Nico says blandly.

“Of course we do. You’re the one still on the super docket, son, so I think it should be up to you to get rid of him.”

“Super hero docket, Father, not super villain.”

“I didn’t mean the ‘leave no evidence’ way. Bribe him, blackmail him, whatever it takes to get him out of my territory. Otherwise Cosmic and I will simply toss him out. I thought I’d leave some room for you to negotiate before we got to that point.”

“Double M will want the teenage healers for the school,” Nico admits, "and the majority of them are in his territory."

“I’ll talk to him.” They both turn, watching as Aubrey squeezes past Superior into the room. "I can get him to leave."

“You realize, Aubrey, that as much as I hate to claim it, WE'RE the ones called Superiors,” Nico says as Grandpa lets me through. Trust me, there’s no way I could get in unless he was willing to let me. “We’re supposed to take care of these problems.”

“Not in this case,” I say boldly. “I want to help the healers--they’re mine,” I insist, looking from one to the other. “I’m the one that’s going to train them, for the most part. And we all know that whoever comes from a branch goes back to that branch after training. I have the perfect way to get him to turn this territory over to you and Cosmic, Grandpa, and for us to have more healers in the school, Nico." And I could argue that I'm a Superior by foster-hood, but it doesn't work when you're standing in front of TRUE Superiors.

“Double M will want to keep them,” Nico says.

“You’re underestimating his political savvy,” I say. "Healers will be a great source of leverage."

“Very true,” Superior says with a thoughtful look on his face.

“And Skye is family now, so we can't toss her under the bus just to get rid of him,” I go on. “Whether you two like it or not, Grandma’s already decided she's ours. Of course, she’s already got Century to keep an eye on her. Century seems to do well with her--she’s not in the Cape Cells, after all. It’s obvious that he keeps her calm most of the time, otherwise we all know what would happen.”

“She did knock Mega out when she went on that little rampage,” Nico says.

“She did?” Grandpa says, looking a bit surprised.

“As well as most of the South Branch and half of ours,” I say, sighing as I remember the mess THAT had been. “I was working triple shifts for weeks thanks to that. That’s a very good reason to keep her happy!”

“Really? Mega?” Grandpa asks Nico.

“He was completely unconscious--and it happened so fast that he’s still not sure how she did it,” Nico tells him proudly.

“That’s my girl,” Grandpa says, equally proudly.

“Oh for crying out loud,” I mutter, shaking my head. “NOW you’re on board?” They shoot me identical wicked grins.

“Mega’s a prat,” Nico says.

“You’ve been spying on Jack and the others, haven’t you?” I say.

“They’re funny. Now come here, Aubrey, let’s see if we can get this to work,” Nico says, motioning me over. “After we do this you can convince Isotonic to do whatever you want him to.” I shoot him a dark look but walk over, stepping on the small platform. Lights flash, scanning me as tiny robots float around me. A few feet away a perfect copy of me appears. I lift a hand, she lifts a hand.

“Hello?” I say. The echo almost makes me jump.

“We’re good,” Nico says. “Computer, bring up the Six Dwarves,” he says.

“Aren’t there seven?” I ask.

“We need to debut another one, don’t we?” he says as holographic images of windows appear all around him. Each one is of a different group leader. “Hey, guys, we’ve set up the holographic transmission,” he tells them. “There’s a com-link cuff on your non-dominant forearms--I added it even to the official uniforms. Flip it open and tap on the A button twice.”

“It looks like a game controller,” Trent says.

“I might have gone the cheap route,” Nico says shamelessly. “These are also in the generic uniforms, so pass it on to your teams. Have you all tapped the A button twice?”

“It’s Aubrey!” Emily says happily. A screen pops up in front of me, so we’re looking at each other. “Hi, Aub!”

“Hi, Em!” I say. “How’s it going?”

“We’re thinking of starting a band,” Emily says. “We just need to get Malina a drum set and Freddy a guitar.”

“She’s joking,” I hear Malina say from behind her. "We're all on video duty at the moment—so we're watching all the videos and looking for stuff that sticks out. We think we've found one already!"

“It's not a joke if you really do it!" Emily protests, looking over her shoulder. “I can play the bass!”

“Hey, Aub,” Jack says, popping up in another window in front of me. “You doing okay up there?”

“I’m fine,” I say, giving him a smile. “How are Ward and Brandon?”

“They’re good," he says, glancing over his shoulder. “Call me tonight?”

“Yeah,” I say, reaching up. My fingers go through his hologram.

Vinny pops up next to him, looking a bit irritated. “Hey, Aub,” he says. “Are they feeding you up there?”

“Only you would think of food right now,” I tease him.

“Oh, wait—I'm starving. Think we could take a break and rob a McDonald's?” Jack says, making my last words a lie. “I could seriously go for a quarter pounder.”

“I vote Wendy’s,” I hear Brandon say. "But you can stay outside and Ward and I will go buy it."

“It's this button, right?” Morgan says before she appears in a window in front of me. “Don't worry, Aub, we’ll find all of them,” she promises. The others repeat the promise, appearing in little hologram windows all around me. I can’t help but feel extremely loved right now.

“Thank you, guys,” I say. “I know you will.”

“Aubrey, Aubrey, AUBREY!” Carla bellows as she pops up in her own window, “I miss you! But this is amazing—we get to go after the first found target! Trent and me and Keliah are RUNNING there!” she says, looking extremely excited.

“We’ve got the Central area, so there’s no point in bringing a car--not when we’re all decent runners. We’re going to check in with Mega every few hours by phone, since he’s close enough to come running,” Trent explains.

“Be safe,” I tell them. “All of you be safe.”

“You too,” everyone says before hanging up.

I look over at Nico. “This is what you wanted me to do?”

“Yeah.”

“I guess it’ll work,” I say, still feeling a little left behind.

“First, you need to get rid of an annoyance,” Grandpa Superior says, motioning me to come. “Then we’ll get back to your training—we can pause when you get a call.”

“I’d rather not,” I admit as I walk over, “the last attempt wound up pretty disastrous.”

“Only for the moment,” he says as we head out of the room. “Soon we’ll have more healers and your job will be much easier, even if only a handful of them decide to take up the mask.” We head down the hall, stopping in the front room.

“Superior,” Isotonic says, starting to stand. “I think we need to have a discussion--”

“In a moment,” Superior says, waving him off easily as he sees Cosmic and Duplicitous pulling their coats on. “Cosmic, are you two heading home for the night?”

“We thought we’d leave you to your work,” the large retired super says, crossing over to shake hands. “Tell your sister that she’s growing into an amazing cape, Aubrey,” he adds as we shake hands as well.

Duplicitous pulls me into a hug. “I’ll come see both of you after the healer situation is over,” she says.

“I’m looking forward to it,” I say, hugging her back. She walks over to her husband, takes his hand, and they’re gone.

“Now,” Superior says, turning to face Isotonic, “let’s have this little conversation.”

“Do you know who’s creating the spaceship problem?” Isotonic asks. “Do we have unwanted visitors in the area?”

“No, it’s just me,” Superior says. “It’s the easiest way to travel with family members that can’t fly.”

“Like Aubrey, here?” Isotonic asks, his tone calming.

“And my daughter’s boyfriend, yes.”

“Daughter?”

“Firefly’s my foster mother--and Superior’s daughter,” I tell him. “She’s sort of dating Taurus, not that she’ll ever admit to it.”

“That does explain a few things,” Isotonic says, his shoulders visibly relaxing. “Can I ask that you fly higher next time? You’re unnecessarily bothering my cattle farmers up here.”

“That can be arranged, if you refrain from coming up every time one of their cows fart,” Superior says dryly. “I think, between Cosmic, Tatiana and myself, they’re perfectly safe.”

The look on Isotonic’s face tells me he doesn’t like that comment. I step forward, intent on calming things down. “Excuse me, Isotonic,” I say. “I’d like to speak to you about a few things--since you’re here, you probably haven’t been alerted to the fact that Ace is heading into your territory.”

“Ace?”

“Dragon,” I say. “Before you panic, I need to explain,” I say quickly. I launch into a full explanation of what happened, feeling a bit worried as his expression becomes more and more unreadable. “So what we want is to try and bring the teenage healers to Cape High--that will allow Nico and me to set them up with a training program. Once they’ve been trained, according to the arrangement between the Halls, they’ll be coming back to your branch--unless they want to arrange to go to another one,” I say.

“So you’re saying the five or six sightings of norms acting strangely--”

“Are healers,” Alyssa says from behind him, “like me.”

“And they’re in my branch?”

“Not all of them, but the ones that live here will be,” I say, giving Alyssa a little smile.

“That means I would have the majority of healers,” he says. “In exchange for letting Dragon run rampant for--is there a time limit?”

“He should head back home as soon as he’s found his targets,” I say.

“I see. And tell me, just how certain are you that your principal can keep him from breaking Hall laws?”

“Ace?” I repeat, honestly shocked. “He’s Blackjack’s son, sir. He’s also a Specialized S-class super, he could easily take out any of the heroes he goes up against, but he takes the fall every time.”

“I've heard that Maximum is Mastermental's son, as well. Why you let both Blackjack’s son and Mastermental’s boy to go villain, I have no idea,” he says, scowling. “They obviously should be inheriting their father’s positions--”

“They find this more entertaining,” I say honestly. “You need to meet the three sometime--you’ll understand much better.”

“The three? You mean Maximum, Dragon, and Cold Steel?” he asks. “Of the three, Cold Steel is the most worrisome--where did he REALLY come from?”

“A group home for orphans,” I say. “He was experimented on by Star Born and I worked with Nico to bring him to working ability. He’s a Liberty boy, even if he does act as a super villain.”

“An adopted Liberty, right?”

“That means they chose him,” I say, trying to not get defensive.

“Hey, don’t go making her boyfriend out to be a bad guy!” Alyssa says. “Sure, he comes off as rough, and a bit strange--but he’s got a ton of pictures of her on his phone! She was the first thing he mentioned when he was trying to kidnap me!”

Isotonic turns, looking at her. “Boyfriend? Wait, more importantly, you just admitted he tried to kidnap you--how is that not bad?”

“I--I needed to know that it was really the Hall,” she says, blushing and looking away. “People are jerks, you know?”

“Why send Cold Steel?”

“I actually sent Kid Liberty,” I admit, “Jack just likes to be helpful.”

“Helpful,” they repeat dryly.

I can only shrug at that, because I know exactly where they’re coming from.

“We have a slight problem,” I blink as Liz comes through the front door. “Someone from your old school caught the eye of the news,” she says to Alyssa, waving at the television. It turns on, changing to what should only be a local channel in KC. A teenage boy is being interviewed.

“She’s NOT normal,” he says urgently. “Everyone here knows it--she’s a--I don’t know what she is, but when she touches people strange stuff happens.”

“Yeah, it’s freaky,” a kid says from behind him. “She’s NOT a normal person.”

“She scares me,” a girl says. “She’s got to be some sort of super--or something worse.”

The interview cuts off, because this is clearly not politically correct, but it’s enough. Liz looks at us, a scowl on her face. “This was actually shown earlier, right after we did Em’s debut. I would have stopped it, but it’s already gone viral online.”

“Michael,” Alyssa says. “That--that JERK! I can’t believe he’s such a dirty, no-good--no, I’m lying, I can absolutely believe it,” she says, her hands fisting at her sides. “Oh, if I could only get my hands on him I would hurt him SO bad!”

“This is bad for all of the healers that were outed,” Liz says. “We need to work faster--Nico, are you here?”

“I’m here, and I saw it,” Nico says, coming into the room. “This is no time to panic, though, we’ve already started cleaning it up, we’ll just have to work faster.” He looks at me and Alyssa. “We'll need your help, girls.”

“For what? Now I’ve made this mess even worse than it already was,” Alyssa mutters.

“No, you did what we asked you to do--the one that made it worse was that kid,” Nico says. “What’s the story with him, anyway?”

“He’s a friend of my brother’s,” she says, looking at the floor, “they’re both on the football team. They used to use me as--as a way of getting over accidents on the field, or even when they went out drinking.”

“Oh Alyssa,” I say, my heart breaking for her. I rush over, pulling her into a hug. “My poor Alyssa!” I say, automatically reacting the way I would with Emily. Her face turns bright red and she tries to pull free. I let her go and turn to Nico. “I want to meet these boys,” I say.