Super Villain Academy 2: Polar Opposites (7 page)

Jeff blinked up at Myron, not sure how to answer. Why hadn’t they taken him? Why did they take Oceanus?

“Sorry, son.” Frank squatted next to him. He ran his hand through his longish graying hair and peered at the horizon where the helicopter was a disappearing speck.

Except for the bodies of the few dogs that had been taken down, nothing was left to indicate that any foul play had taken place. A teacher shooed the group away, telling them to get to their classrooms.

Frank held a hand out to Jeff and helped him up off the ground.

“Glad it wasn’t you, though.” Frank slapped Jeff on the back before he jogged across the lawn to inspect one of the fallen dogs.

Chapter 10

The entire scene had played out in less than fifteen minutes. Jeff was astounded. Jeff was dumbstruck. Jeff was told to go to class. In an amazed haze, he moved on autopilot and found himself walking into his classroom. He flopped into his seat and looked around the room as if stunned to find himself there. Was he really expected to go on with his school day as if Oceanus hadn’t just been kidnapped?

“Wasn’t that your girlfriend?” Hawaiian Punch asked. No, that wasn’t his name, but it was close.

“Uh, yeah, it was,” Jeff said.

“Are you gonna do something about it?” Punch Drunk (no!) said.

Jeff sucked in a deep breath, held it, and then let it out in a whoosh. “Got any ideas?”

The guy’s mouth flopped open like he’d been sucker punched. That’s it! His name! Sucker Punch shook his head and slumped into his seat.

For the next couple of hours, Jeff trudged from one class to another, oblivious to any instruction given by the teachers. The whole while, he wracked his brain, trying to figure out how to track down Mystic and find Oceanus. He had no idea where Mystic would go. She’d graduated from school and worked as a recruiter for his dad until a few months ago, when Frank had asked her to keep an eye on Jeff, so she’d enrolled at Super Villain Academy, and then at his current school, Future Villains of America, which had recently been renamed the Future Vindicators of America.

When the lunch hour finally hit, Jeff went to his dad’s office, hoping to get some reassurance that someone, somewhere was doing something to find her.

“Your dad can see you now,” Hans told Jeff.

Feeling old and creaky, Jeff unfolded his long body from the uncomfortable couch he’d been waiting on and trudged into his dad’s office.

“What’s up, my boy?” Frank asked. His hundred-watt smile glowed as bright as his tacky Hawaiian shirt.

Jeff’s mouth fell open. “What do you think?”

Frank’s smile slipped and then fell away completely. Jeff thought he saw guilt cross his dad’s expression before he plastered his ‘all business’ frown on.

“Yes, of course, you want to know about Oceanus,” Frank said. He shuffled papers on his desk in a poor attempt to indicate he’d been working on it.

“Dad! You can’t tell me you haven’t done anything! Seriously? And parents trust you with their kids?” Jeff hollered.

“Keep your voice down, son.” Frank heaved a heavy sigh. “Quite frankly, I forgot. Old habits and all.”

Jeff scowled at the lame excuse for an apologetic smile his dad shot his way. “Dad, you’ve given Mystic almost a four hour lead! How will we ever find her now?”

“There are all sorts of supers trained to track. We’ll find her,” Frank said.

“Now, Dad. Start now! Pick up the phone and make any calls you have to make to start people looking.” Jeff slammed his fist down on his dad’s cherry wood desk. The legs buckled and the desk tilted alarmingly. The desk blotter and laptop slid toward the edge. Frank snatched the laptop before it crashed to the floor alongside pens, a paperclip holder, and the framed picture of Jeff and Sandra.

Jeff stared at the pile of office supplies.

“Son, why’d you do that?”

“Uh, I didn’t mean to,” Jeff said. He looked at the hand he’d slammed onto the desk as if it had the answer to his growing temper stamped into the throbbing heal. “Sorry, Dad.”

Hans stuck his head through the door. “Everything okay in here, gentlemen?”

Frank chuckled. “Just another desk casualty.”

Hans pursed his lips, not finding the situation as amusing as Frank. “I’ll get that taken care of, sir.”

Frank gave Hans a thumbs-up, then turned back to Jeff. “Any other furniture you’d like to destroy before Hans gets the repairmen in?”

“This has happened before?” Jeff asked.

“Well, not as frequently since the balancing, but think about it, Polar. This is a school full of angsty teens with super powers. Yeah, it’s happened before.”

“Oh,” Jeff blinked at the desk perched awkwardly on its drawers on one side while the other side seemed to balance precariously on tiptoe. “So, Oceanus.” Jeff steered the conversation back to what had gotten him so riled in the first place. “You gonna do something or not?”

“That’s right,” Frank said, clearly having forgotten yet again that a student was spirited off his campus by intruders. “I’ll get Hans on that after he calls the furniture repair people.”

Jeff grabbed the edge of his father’s desk. “What?”

“Right away. I’ll get Hans working on it right away.”

“Seriously? You can’t even spare your own time to do it yourself? Give me the info. I’ll make the calls. What has to be done? I’ll do it.” Jeff squeezed the lip of the desk so hard, he heard the telltale creak of wood about to break. With a measured exhalation, Jeff released his death grip on the desk before he popped the top off.

“Okay, okay, you’re right, son,” Frank said. “I’ll make the calls myself, and I’ll do it right away.”

Jeff nodded and stood to leave.

“But, son, I don’t know that I’ll get anywhere. We really don’t have any leads,” Frank cautioned.

Jeff balled his fists and closed his eyes. He spoke through clenched teeth. “Promise me that you’ll do everything you can.”

“Sure. I’ll do whatever I can. That’s a promise,” Frank said.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Son,” Frank said when Jeff was at the door.

“Yeah?”

“The manners at home, well, your mother likes that. But I’d rather you skip them here.” Frank eyed Jeff.

“I’ll do what I can, Dad,” Jeff said. He was pretty sure he couldn’t stop himself from apologizing and thanking people; it was suddenly as natural as breathing.

“That’s all I can ask.” Frank picked up his phone to make a phone call.

Chapter 11

That evening, Jeff had just finished explaining Oceanus’ abduction to Sandra and Sarah when Frank walked into the kitchen.

Sarah’s face was flushed red with anger and blotched a sickly grayish-yellow with worry. “Frank, did you find any leads? Do you have any ideas where Mystic might have taken Oceanus?”

Frank shook his head. “Just a lot of dead ends.” He picked up a chicken taquito from the baking sheet, popped open the tub of sour cream, and dunked the taquito in.

“Dad, that’s so gross,” Sandra said, her lip curled.

Sarah sighed, got a plate from the cupboard, and snatched the taquito from Frank’s hand. She tossed it, along with five more, onto the plate and dropped a dollop of sour cream next to them. “You checked with Mysty’s mom, I assume?”

Frank nodded and took the partially eaten taquito off the plate, dipping it into the pile of sour cream while Sarah plopped a spoonful of refried beans onto the plate as well. With the last bite of the taquito, Frank scooped up some beans, dipped into the sour cream, and then popped it all into his mouth. He spoke with his mouth full. “Annie says hi. She’d love for us to get together over the summer. Maybe we could take a lake trip. She wants to meet the kids, now that she can.”

Jeff squinted at his parents. Had he just missed something? “Who’s Annie?”

“Mystic’s mother,” Sarah said.

“Wait, you know her mother?” Jeff looked between Mother and Dad.

“Annie?” Sandra said. “You mean, she’s a hero?”

Jeff hadn’t even picked up on that, but his sister had to be right. If she was a villain, she’d have a nickname.

“Nope,” Frank said. He took another smothered bite of dinner. “Have you guys already eaten? Is that why I’m eating alone?”

“Yes; I thought you were going to be late again tonight,” Sarah said.

“Hey! Let’s get back to you being all cozy with Mystic’s non-hero mom, please,” Jeff yelled.

“Jeffrey!” Sarah scolded. “Keep your voice down.”

Jeff felt the characteristic tingle of fire in his fingertips and looked down at them in surprise. Certainly he wasn’t going to lose his temper with his own mother, was he? He went over to the sink and pushed the spigot on with his arm. He shifted the handle so that water was as cold as it could get and put his hands under the stream. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, enjoying the cool sensation coursing over his hands. When he felt calm again, he turned the water off and dried his hands with the hand towel hanging over the handle of the oven door. His temper flair had gone unnoticed by his parents, but Sandra had an eyebrow raised at him in silent questioning. He shrugged and shook his head as if it had been nothing more than washing off residual taquito grease. Sandra frowned, but let the moment pass unchallenged.

Jeff realized his parents had continued the conversation and that he’d missed it.

“…a shame, really. I would have done it differently. But, who am I to judge?” Sarah said.

“What are you judging now?” Jeff asked stepping back into the conversation circle.

Sarah sighed. “Oh, I’m sure I’m wrong, but I can’t help but think the reason Mystic is so rebellious is because Annie’s never admitted who her father is. Though, I think it’s obvious who it must be.”

“You got that right,” Frank said.

“Who?” Jeff and Sandra asked at the same time.

“Mystic is the spitting image of…” Sarah’s gaze swept over each of her family members. She bit her lip and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Who?” Jeff cried.

“Vietato,” Sarah whispered.

Sandra and Jeff blinked at her.

Sarah’s eyebrows rose up under her bangs. “You’ve never heard of Vietato?”

Jeff looked at Sandra. She shook her head at him, and he turned to Mother and shrugged.

“What do they teach you in those academies?” Sarah asked, leveling a meaningful look at her husband, who simply shrugged. “Vietato is only the most dangerous psych around, and what he can do to a poor, hopeless human… well, Annie’s proof. Or, rather, Mystic is.”

Sandra curled her lip. “Come on, Mom. You don’t have to be a super bad villain to get a girl pregnant. It happens all the time.”

Sarah pursed her lips and shifted them from side to side. She did that when she was thinking hard about something. “Well, you’re correct about that, Sandra, but I wasn’t referring just to the pregnancy. Annie was… um… well it took her a long, long time to crawl out of the dark hole she’d fallen into when Vietato left her. Or, I’m guessing it was him, based on his reputation and her state of mind.”

Jeff didn’t want to talk about this soap opera anymore when his girlfriend was missing. “Regardless, do we have any ideas besides Annie in order to find Mystic? Why do the bad guys disappear so well after they kidnap someone?”

“If you’re referring to Source’s abduction, that was us, not the bad guys,” Sandra said.

“Oh, yeah,” Jeff said. He’d spent so many months thinking his friend, Source, had been taken by villains that he still forgot his sister had staged the abduction, with a lot of help from Mother.

Jeff looked at his dad, who was fully concentrated on happily dispatching his meal. “You know what? Forget it! Looks like I’m on my own. Again!”

With that, he stormed out of the room.

Chapter 12

Jeff paced. He hoped that he’d be spotted walking past the house and wouldn’t be forced to walk up to it, but he’d ‘walked past’ several times and figured that if any neighbors were watching, they’d probably want to call the police by now.

He stopped at the end of the walkway leading up to the porch and examined the house. The angle of the sun didn’t allow him a glimpse through the windows, even though the curtains were wide open. He saw no light and no movement within. Maybe nobody was there.

With a deep sigh, Jeff surged forward and strode up the walk. As soon as he hefted up onto the first porch step, his nerves lit up. His stomach churned and twisted in an ominous way. Jeff peered through the window next to the front door, but only the reflection of the porch glared back at him from the glass. He stepped up onto the second step, and his stomach pitched and danced some more. He paused and considered what he might be walking into. If this were a Mystic hold, he could be greatly outnumbered.

He remembered Oceanus being dragged across the lawn by the dogs, and he found the strength to step up onto the porch and stride to the door. Before he could consider his way out of it, he raised his hand and knocked.

Jeff thought he heard shuffling inside of the house, but nothing happened. He waited. All was quiet. More shuffling, and then finally the door opened a crack.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the tall, clumsy guy.”

“Savannah, let me in,” Jeff said.

She opened the door a little more, but blocked the entry. She wore silky pajamas, the thin straps of the low cut top threatening to slip over her shoulders. The silken pants floated over her curves. Jeff hadn’t thought about how early it was when he’d decided to come over.

“How bold he is to expect a poor innocent human, like me, to just give in to him.” She smiled up at him with no hint of innocence in her expression whatsoever.

“Savannah, I know she’s here. At least Mystic is, if not Oceanus. Let me in.” Jeff pushed through the door.

Savannah leapt in front of him, her palms pressed against his chest. “Wait.”

Jeff heard a new pitch to her voice that made him pause. Was it fear?

Savannah masked it well, though. “You can’t just come in here and spout about people I don’t know and expect me to just step aside for you. I don’t care who you are.”

“Look, Savannah, Big Bad Voodoo Mysty took my girlfriend yesterday and I aim to get her back. Being that you are only human, I’d think you’d be more willing to cooperate.”