Super Girls (Cape High Book 13) (27 page)

“Positive!”

“Well… then alright, then,” he says.

Max puts me down and digs out his phone, speed-dialing his dad. “Hey Dad? I’m a telepath!” he says.

“We knew that,” I hear Mastermental say.

“But it actually WORKS now!”

“Zoe?” I hear over my earbud. I step away from the others. “We’ve got the coordinates. Is everything wrapped up there?” Dad asks.

“Rochester unlocked Max’s telepathic abilities,” I say.

“He did? I didn’t know he could do that…”

“Neither did he,” I drawl with a hint of amusement. “Are we going now?” I ask.

“In the morning,” he says. “Tonight is my night to sleep, and I’d rather do it on a full charge. Get Rochester and Cisco set up with a room in the dorms, would you? And tell the teachers that Cisco will be sitting in on their classes tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,” I say before getting to work.

“The information is scarce—which is only to be expected of a technopath, but what I can find, he grew up in this house,” Dad says. He, Rochester and I are standing in front of an empty house in Kansas, early in the morning. It’s in the middle of nowhere, and obviously no one lives in it now. “He was born in 1940, making him seventy-five. His father’s name was Wade Herold, his mother’s name was Marie. According to all records, they were middle class citizens, his father worked as a millwright for a small car company that went out of business without making much of an impact on society.”

“So they lived here?” Rochester asks, heading for the door. He touches the handle. He frowns, touches the handle again, and then looks at us. “Nothin’,” he says with a shrug.

“Nothing?” Dad asks.

“Not a thing. The last person that touched this handle was Herold, sure, but only when he installed it—some three years ago.”

“Three—”

“YEARS?” I say, shocked out of my silence. I start circling the house, looking at it closely. I even touch the side, checking the wiring that runs through it. It’s old. Not so old that it should be dangerous, but a lot older than three years. “Maybe it was a new door?” I ask, glancing up at Dad. He’s floating over the roof, a frown on his face.

“It’s possible,” he says. “Let’s go in and see what we can find.”

Rochester digs through his pockets, pulling out a small pack of metal picks. I look at Dad, who just drops down to sit on the roof and watch the psychometric work. “You know, we could have just broken in,” Dad points out as the lock pops open.

“It’s the art of things,” Rochester replies, putting his picks away. “If y’go around just breakin’ down doors, you’re no better than a thug.” He turns the handle and the door swings open. “Shall we?” he offers.

Dad jumps off the roof and I follow along, looking around the rather Spartan house. There aren’t any pictures on the walls, and there’s hardly any furniture. The furniture that IS there is IKEA style—the type that you could find anywhere. Rochester pauses and touches the nearest couch, a strange expression on his face.

“What is it?”

“Well, Herold DID bring it here,” he says, sounding hesitant. “But again, three years ago. I think—” he heads for one of the walls, touching it and going still. “This entire house has been rebuilt,” he says finally. “We need t’go to the basement,” he announces, heading for the garage. We follow, completely relying on him for this one.

“The wiring is old,” Dad says, “but he could have used the same wiring from the destroyed house—since he’s a technopath.”

“But who destroyed it?” I ask as we reach a concrete set of steps in the garage. Rochester heads down them, into the basement. I pull to a stop as I step in, staring around in shock. The house that I had expected to see above is here--in a way. All the furniture, all the homey touches—pictures of family members—and all of it has been torn to pieces. I crouch down, picking one of the torn images. “Dad? Rochester?” I say. “You might want to see this.” They head to me, looking at the picture.

“That’s Mother, right?” Rochester says. The woman is standing with a man that looks almost twice as old as she does, and a young man. She looks happy.

“And that’s Herold,” Dad says, looking at the young man in the picture. “So…”

“She came here… and started a family,” I say. “So what, she spent the past seventy-five years or something playing Susie Homemaker?” I ask, feeling a bit lightheaded with the thought. “She got married, had a kid, lived in a little house in Kansas, and—”

“And her husband grew old while she stayed the same,” Rochester says. “It ain’t as easy as y’think,” he admits. “Not that my lady stuck around that long. In fact, she sortta stuck around long enough t’dump Cisco on me an’ run,” he admits.

“I’ve heard tales that Century’s wife died of old age,” Dad says. “Still, it rather ruins the crazy maniacal chick out to take over the universe vibe she had going on, doesn’t it?”

“Dad,” I say dryly.

“No, really… why would she spend so much time underground, raising a family, and then all of a sudden have--or let her son run for president, kidnap every healer she can get her hands on, and brainwash several others—including Skye and Justin?” he asks.

“She was looking for Grandpa when she came here, right?” I say. “Maybe somehow she found out he was still alive?”

“Or maybe when her husband died, she decided it was time t’do somethin’,” Rochester offers. He walks around, picking up random objects and holding them for a few seconds each. “One moment the man’s there, the next he’s gone. It’s like a blink of a screen for the things, but that lil’ blink did a lot. They were destroyed right after it.”

“Huh,” Nico says. “What do you know about Herold--the son, from this stuff?” he asks.

“Not much,” Rochester admits. “None of this belonged to him. I think he moved out a long time ago.”

“I just,” I say, still staring at the picture, “I… I’m having a hard time putting these two things together. I mean, it looks like she was a loving wife and mother, right? But she kidnapped our friends, and she brainwashed them, and—it just doesn’t fit! Bad guys are supposed to ALWAYS be bad, right? Or at least have some sort of tragic past that—well, okay, she has a tragic past, but it was a long time ago! And it looks like she got over it! What is she after?” I demand. “Why is her son running for presidency? Why—why did she brainwash my aunt? It doesn’t make any sense!”

“But it does,” a sweet, somewhat amused voice says from above. I look up, watching in shock as the house literally develops a hole over our heads. The silver haired woman sits on the roof, her legs crossed and hanging over the edge of the hole. “You steal my ship, you break into my home, do you really think I wouldn’t notice these things?” she asks.

“Well, yes, actually,” Dad says when there’s a long pause. “Did you think she’d notice?” he asks Rochester.

“Nope, not really,” Rochester says.

“Zoe?” Dad asks.

“Really?” I ask. “Right
now?”

“Well, I mean honestly, if she’s like Dad, she’s only got a certain range—and we’ve been in Texas and Alaska and Kansas in the past day and a half--”

“Fine, you caught me! I caught sight of a video on YouTube with Superior and the crate up in Alaska,” Mother says, waving a hand. “Really, must you kill all the mystery? But since no one was there when I got up there, I decided to check on my other little hidey-holes and here you are—so predictable,” she says irritably. “And who is that? I can see that she’s a Lerrestian half-breed—”

“The term ‘half-breed’ is REALLY offensive, you know,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “And honestly, I’m only a quarter alien. Grandma was human, and so is Mom.”

“I see. Oh, where are my manners? Here you are in my home, and I’ve done nothing about it! I should offer you something to drink. I’m such a bad hostess—I’ve gotten out of habit, you see,” she says.

“Do you spend a lot of time on YouTube?” Dad asks.

“Really it all depends—someone has been hiding away all the healers, so it’s been a bit boring waiting for Shadowman to come back with the newest recruit,” Mother says. “And Marvin gets so touchy when he finds out I’ve been out and about. He can be quite obsessive about such things,” she says, waving a hand. I look at Dad, who’s about a foot off the ground, but still acting as if he’s not going to do anything.

“Tell me one thing,” I say. “Why? Why are you doing what you’re doing? Why are you kidnapping innocent healers? Why are you brainwashing my friends? Why is your son hiding his abilities and running for president?”

“Oh, is it that time already?” she asks.

“What time?” I ask.

“The time for the villainous monologue, where I tell you why I did it, while expecting you to do nothing but stand there and listen?” she asks. “Do you really think I’m that stup—”

I don’t even see it. One moment Dad’s there, the next he’s grabbed her, pinning her arms behind her back and floating several feet over our heads. He has a power blocking gun in his hand, which he aims at her head. He pulls the trigger. He pauses, though, looking at the gun for a second before pulling the trigger again.

“Really,” she says, “do you REALLY think that would work on me?” she asks, elbowing him in the gut and shoving him away. “You, of all people, should know my abilities! You are no match for me, boy,” she says, floating in the air. Her hair whips around her, tossed by the wind. “I’m the same as Superior!”

“You’re nothing like Grandpa Superior,” I yell, my hands clenching at my sides. “Grandpa Superior is worth a thousand of you!”

“Oh, how cute,” she says, looking at me, “such loyalty. And you? Are you going to stick up for Superior?” she asks Dad.

“Nah, I hate the guy,” Dad says before launching himself at her. I wince as I see his fist slam into her face. I mean, seriously, she’s the bad guy, but she’s still a girl—no, I take it back. She totally just slammed her knee into his gut so hard it sent him flying about a mile back before he catches himself.

“We’ve got to help him,” I say to Rochester.

“I dunno, looks like he’s holding his own,” he says, just standing there watching them.

I growl and head into the house. I’m going to need some parts for this.

***

“Wasn’t there some sort of rule—that the really high class supers shouldn’t fight?” Mother asks as she fists her hands together and slams them down on his back. Nico grunts as he slams into the ground, barely catching himself before going too deep. “Something about blowing up the planet?”

“Clearly you don’t watch enough anime. That’s what makes it entertaining,” Nico drawls, shoving off of the ground and slamming into her with his shoulder. But she's right--as long as it's purely a physical fight they can get away with it, but it'd be better to finish it before one of them breaks out the powers. He keeps going, aiming straight up. The higher they go, the less oxygen there is, but neither of them seem to notice. In the blink of an eye, he has her by the throat, and is choking her.

“Do you know, there IS a way to get rid of your type,” he tells her, his eyes narrowed dangerously. “It’s what happened to my old man. Oh sure, it didn’t finish him completely, which is a pity, but it was enough to take him out for a very, very long time.”

“Wha—” she gasps.

“What, you ask? It’s a black hole.”

“And exactly how do you plan on producing a black hole?” she asks as he loosens his hand enough for her to talk.

“Easily,” he says, holding up his left wrist. “I just happen to have a teleportation watch right here. It blows, we have a black hole.”

She stares at him in shock. “You wouldn’t,” she says. “You’re risking your entire planet! Millions of people would die if you created one here! Are you crazy?”

“Since when have you cared about millions of humans?” he asks. “You kidnapped MY SISTER, you brainwashed her into thinking you were some sort of god. NO ONE touches one of my family, adopted or not. Besides, a handful of people might die because of this, but that’s better than you controlling the masses like they’re cattle. I hate brain control.”

“You’re twisted,” she says.

“Tell me what you’re up to,” Nico says. “Tell me why you’re doing all this, or the watch goes boom.”

“You would die, too!” she says.

“That’s a risk I’ll have to take,” he says with a little smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Fine! I’ll talk!” she says. “I was going to give this planet to my son and then take Superior back to Lerrestia with me.”

There’s a long moment of silence between the two before Nico goes, “What?”

“Our race is DEAD. Our planet is like the ships—a sentient merge of technology and life. It turned against us—it let out this strange pollen that drove our people insane, and we started to attack one another. They all DIED. All of them except me, and your father,” she says. “I don’t know why, I—I think one of our technopaths started messing with something he shouldn’t have. Your type always were more brains than common sense—you’re the perfect example! Why did ANYONE allow you to make a teleportation watch that can turn into a black hole?” she demands angrily.

“You’re one to speak!” Nico says, “Why would anyone let YOU run around kidnapping innocent healers and making an unregistered cape run for president!”

“I'm going to take the healers back to Lerrestia with me to fix the planet!” she says.

“Really,” Nico drawls.

“Well, not at first,” she admits. “At first I wanted to take out the healers to keep them from stopping Marvin from his takeover, but really, they could come in handy, don’t you think? Now be a good boy and let your future stepmother go,” she says.

“I really doubt my present MOTHER would appreciate that,” Nico says.

“Superior’s married?” she asks. “To whom?”

“Tatiana.”

“The Russian hero?”

“Yeah.”

“Well… that does make it more difficult,” she says, thoughtfully. “Oh well, now I just need you to—” she reaches up, grabbing his face and looking him straight in the eyes. “Listen to Mother, Technico. Let. Me. Go.”

His hold on her throat loosens ever so slightly as his mind fights off the attack. It’s enough—she’s gone before he shakes it off completely a few seconds later. He dares to look down, cursing as he realizes— "She took the watch.”