Super Villain Academy 2: Polar Opposites (2 page)

Oceanus slipped through the hole in the wall with no problem, but Jeff knew the hole wasn’t big enough for him and the man draped over his shoulder. Without slowing down, Jeff threw himself sideways against the wall. Drywall crumbled around them as he broke through the thin metal framing of the interior wall. A third blast rocked the restaurant just as Jeff tumbled to the floor of the adjacent store, the heavy man heaped over him. Propped on his elbows, Jeff gaped into the restaurant as flaming roof tiles and cracked beams collapsed onto the ghostly tables and chairs.

“Everyone okay?” The smothered voice of a fireman in an air mask drew Oceanus and Jeff’s attention from the spectacle of the collapsing room.

“Yeah; I could use some help with this guy though,” Jeff said.

Another fireman appeared, and the two masked men lifted the unconscious man and carried him out of the store. Jeff stood and brushed off his pants.

The sweet bright ping of Oceanus’ laugh sounded out of place in the destruction that surrounded them. “You’re really worried about your appearance?”

“No!” Jeff said defensively. Oceanus enjoyed teasing him about being more conscious of his looks than she was of her own.

“Shall we?” Oceanus asked, nodding toward the back of the store and grabbing his hand.

The first time Jeff played the hero in an emergency, he ended up being interrogated by authorities and asked questions he couldn’t answer. Policemen tended to become suspicious when the back of a T-shirt was burnt away, but the skin underneath was fresh and pink and unblemished. After that incident, Jeff and Oceanus learned to quietly slip away before anyone could identify them.

He yanked her back toward him and kissed her on the nose. Enjoying the mischievous promise in her expression, he let her pull him toward the storage room. As expected, they found a back entrance into an alley. Hand in hand, they strolled to the car, trying not to attract further attention with their soot covered, singed clothing. Jeff was extremely pleased he didn’t have to see the movie after all.

Chapter 2

“You didn’t even hesitate! You were off like a shot as soon as that concussion hit.” The kid who’d been in line at the movies was now seated at Jeff’s dinner table exalting his reaction time.

“Look, um…” Jeff looked at him.

“Dozer,” the kid introduced himself.

“Look, Dozer, I was just in a better spot than you to see what was happening first. You would have been Johnny on the spot if you’d been where I was.” Jeff looked down at the thinly sliced ham, applesauce and au gratin potatoes that had looked so appetizing when he’d gotten them from the cafeteria lady. Now his appetite was gone.

“No way,” Dozer shook his head faster and faster as he seemed to convince himself more and more. “You reacted as fast as… as fast as… a hero!” Dozer’s eyes grew wide and he whispered the last two words.

Jeff rolled his eyes. “I’m not a hero!”

“Villains don’t react that fast, Polar,” Oceanus said, using the nickname given to Jeff at his old academy. Her nose crinkled when she smiled down at her empty plate as he flashed her a withering look. “I’m just saying that neither Dozer here nor I leapt to the rescue.”

“I’m not a hero!” Jeff growled.

Dozer shrugged and, to Jeff’s relief, stood and walked off to his usual table.

“Think about it, Polar: the only people who run into burning buildings to save people are firemen, policemen and heroes.” Oceanus shoved a fork full of Jeff’s ham into her mouth.

He pushed the tray in front of her and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His head snapped in her direction. “Wait a minute. You were there!”

“Yeah, sure. This balancing act that we started eventually has me saving the day, but my villainy is still the initial reaction. I stood in front of the restaurant grinning like a kid on Christmas until it hit me that I could be helping.” Oceanus frowned down at the plate of food that she’d commandeered from him. “It’s cold.”

Jeff shot a blaze of flame at the ham and caught it on fire. “There, it’s not cold anymore.”

“Real mature, Polar. Scorching your ham doesn’t make you a baddy.” Oceanus leaned back from the blaze and eyed him as he stood. She shook her head and crooked a finger at the drinking fountain. Water arced over the heads of a few students and splashed onto the flaming pork. “What a waste.”

“Goodnight!” Jeff stalked out of the cafeteria and down the hall, reliving that balancing act Oceanus had referred to. He’d been attending Super Villain Academy, where he’d first met Oceanus, as well as Source and Mystic. Unbeknownst to Jeff, Mystic had been sent to the academy to keep an eye on him by his dad, Frank—or Chill—as he was known in the villainy world. Knowing more about Jeff’s super heritage than Jeff did, Mystic got some crazy idea that having him would crown her queen villain or something, so she abducted him. She had clocked him over the head and dragged him off to some underground bunker where she kept him chained up while she attempted to sway him into liking her, like that was ever going to happen. Mystic’s main super power was psychic suave, but not even her ability to implant images of the two of them together in intimate situations could convince him she was the girl for him. In an unprecedented move, his villain dad and hero mother, with the assistance of his hero sister, Sandra, and his ex-villain friend, Source, rounded up a mixed group of villains and white hats to rescue him.

When Sandra and Source broke him out of the cell where Mystic had him chained up, Jeff was shocked to find the strange mix of supers battling Mystic and her minions. He’d waded into the thrall ready for battle, but as soon as he’d seen Oceanus, everything clicked into place for him. Prior to his abduction, Jeff waged an inner battle over good and bad. He tried to deny his increasing affinity for goodness, yet remained unable to tame his ever-present delinquent behavior. When Jeff saw Oceanus standing in the middle of the melee, he’d known right then and there that she was what balanced him, though he hadn’t expected what happened next.

On impulse, Jeff swept Oceanus into a kiss, and suddenly, the world had blinked out, turned cold, stopped. Just when the despair was about to squash Jeff out, the world erupted into a blaze of brightness and an overkill of happiness. Literally, overkill. The world ended again! Nothing remained but Jeff and Oceanus locked together in an embrace in the middle of some creepy cold void. The only thing tethering Jeff to reality was the vibrant feel of Oceanus in his arms, her warmth, her quivering body and the death grip she had on the front of his shirt. When the world was reborn, supers were balanced, neither good nor bad, as well as both good and bad. Super villains no longer had to wreak havoc and discovered that they cared if someone suffered—well, mostly. Super heroes no longer held themselves against an impossibly perfect standard, nor distrusted every move made by the ex-villains—for the most part.

Jeff still struggled to figure the whole thing out, even though he’d been there. Heck, he’d done it. Even though he’d been the catalyst, he couldn’t figure out how. The really odd thing was the part he hadn’t admitted to anyone; Jeff hadn’t changed a bit from the balancing. Pre-balancing Oceanus never would have spoken to his hero mother, but earlier she’d answered his phone like they were gal pals. And Mother. Her cold, no-break-the-rules approach to life had seriously mellowed. He’d even caught her lying to a friend to get out of attending a book club meeting last week. Mother, lying? Yet for him, nothing had changed. It remained as tear-your-hair-out conflicting as before. He couldn’t control either his good or his bad side. Both continued to grow with equal fervor. Neither side cooperated with the other like everyone else’s appeared to do.

Pulling out of his thoughts, Jeff found himself in the large main entry of the academy. At this hour, the only occupants were a sleeping student sprawled across a couple chairs he’d shoved together and a security guard. As soon as the guard spotted Jeff, she sprang to her feet and stood at attention.

“Good evening Mr. Tohler, sir. Is there anything I can help you with?”

Jeff squinted at her nametag. “No thanks, Ms. Edwin. Just feeling antsy.”

Jeff stood in front of the wall of windows and stared out at the bleak topography surrounding the academy. He saw Edwin’s reflection in the window, still standing at attention behind the reception desk.

“At ease, Edwin.”

“No, thank you, sir.”

Jeff watched her reflection for a bit, wondering about her reaction to him. That had been another surprise, to learn that he was super royalty. Before the balancing, his dad, along with being the headmaster of the academy Jeff now attended, had held an important place in villain hierarchy. Rather, their last name, Tohler, had a long and respected legacy in the villain world. Mother’s family heritage in the white hat world was nothing to sneeze at either, but she clinched her perch in the “I’m so perfect it hurts” world of white hats by being a badass hero—though that might be an oxymoron.

Since pulling the two worlds together, Jeff had catapulted to Maharaja status. People expected him to know everything there was to know about being both a super villain and a super hero, when, in fact, he was only now completing his first year of academy. Plus, with the shifts and changes the academies went through after the balancing to include a complete curriculum of good and bad super training, Jeff was actually behind in his super education.

It was also a trip to learn his last name was Tohler. He grew up thinking he was Jeff Mean. To avoid confusion—like that was possible—his parents still went by it, even after the big identity reveal. They explained that they wanted Jeff and Sandra to be raised oblivious to their conflicting heritage, and tried to explain something about not coming into their own if they were always expecting to come into their own. He guessed he understood on some level. There was a super villain he’d attended SVA with named Set who grew up knowing he was from power and money and had the arrogance and self-importance to go along with it.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Jeff decided to stop thinking before his head exploded. A movement of darker than dark shadow just beyond the lights caught his attention. He shifted his head to the side, trying to avoid the reflective glare of the bright interior. The grounds in front of the school were flat and treeless. There was nothing to hide behind, but the light on the exterior of the building only extended so far before it was swallowed by the hungry shadows of nightfall. Jeff peered hard into the depths where he thought he’d seen movement swallowed up by inky blackness. He saw nothing now.

“Is everything alright, Mr. Tohler?” Edwin asked.

Jeff turned to face her. “Yeah. I thought I saw a dog outside. Does the academy have any dogs?”

“No, sir,” Edwin said.

“Must have been a trick of the light, then. Goodnight Edwin.”

“Goodnight, sir.”

Chapter 3

“Are you sure you have the route memorized?” Coach asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Jeff said. He actually doubted he’d remember it, but since he never remembered a new route until he’d run it at least three times, he wasn’t too concerned. He’d make it back eventually.

Jeff squatted, then straightened his legs, keeping his hands on the ground. Coach leaned upside down and looked at Jeff intently. “You’re sure?”

Jeff sighed. “Coach, it isn’t much different from the route I’ve been running. You’ve only added an additional five miles. I’ll figure it out.”

Though Coach didn’t look convinced, he straightened up and went to bother another student who had a new route of hurdles mapped out for her. Apparently she’d be jumping large things like houses and irrigation canals.

Because Jeff was the fastest runner in class with the most endurance, he ran alone. Some kids could run as far as him, but not at the same pace. This new route had him covering sixty-five miles in forty minutes. The majority of the class tapped out at forty miles or a mile a minute. Jeff was thankful he wasn’t jumping over irrigation canals; otherwise, he’d be taking swim class too. He most definitely was not a hurdler.

Coach fired a starter pistol to send the students on their different courses. Jeff took off as the shot rang out. His reaction time was uncanny fast, like Dozer indicated, but it wasn’t because he was more hero than villain; it was simply because he had an unusually fast reaction time.

Jeff settled into a pace just above his comfort zone, since he was expected to complete an additional five miles in the same time period. He liked increasing his physical challenges, and looked forward to completing the run. His favorite power music played in his ears, and sleek wrap-around sunglasses prevented his eyes from streaming in the wind.

Fifteen minutes into the run, he’d gone about twenty-five miles when an odd shadow in his peripheral vision caught his attention. When he glanced in its direction, it was gone. Awhile later another blur swerved just into view in the corner of his eye again, but seemed to quickly fall back. He couldn’t figure out what was odd about it. After another five miles, another shadow swung into view again, and he realized that whatever it was seemed to keep pace with him. It had already disappeared by the time he turned to look at it. He glanced further behind him, but saw nothing.

The impact with the side of the parked car left a Jeff-width dent in the rear quarter panel. He tumbled up and over the trunk and another ten feet before ending in a heap in a front yard.

“Uuuuhhhh!” Jeff groaned as he struggled to find his wits. He rolled onto his back, his legs sprawled.

“Are you okay?” A female voice called from the direction of the house.

Jeff heard the screech of an un-oiled screen door and then the telltale slam.
Crap, how am I gonna explain this?
Still too stunned to move, he lay there staring at the wispy clouds floating in the blue-sky overhead. When the girl walked into his line of site, she was far from what Jeff had expected.

“Are you hurt? You look hurt,” she said, dropping to her knees next to Jeff.

He blinked a couple times, wondering if he’d hit his head. The girl leaned forward and felt his forehead and cheeks as if he were sick. Waves of long red hair fell forward and tickled Jeff’s arm and pooled onto his chest. Her top was low-cut, and her leaning forward only improved the view. She continued to feel his forehead and cheeks and sometimes his neck. Her brow was scrunched and her lips pursed in either concentration or confusion; Jeff wasn’t sure which. She placed her fingers on his mouth, startling him.