The Distort Arc: Cape High Books 1-4 (Cape High Series Omnibus) (29 page)

"A very fitting decision," Ken says.  "There's a lot of really nasty jobs out there that need to be done, and maybe it will teach them a bit of humility.  But sweetie," he says, looking her straight in the eyes, "I want to talk about forgiving with you.
"

"I know," Emily says.  "But it's easier said than done."

"I know," he says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.  "Trust me, I know."

***

"So... they're building a school," Star says as she sits down at her desk.  The tiny office she has is in the basement of yet another abandoned building in the middle of another city.  No one's noticed, no one comes to this area except for druggies and homeless people, and they couldn't care less about what happens in the building.

"Yeah," he says, playing with a rubik's cube.  She's not sure where he got it from, but she really doesn't think it matters.  "I don't feel right, Star," he says abruptly.

"About what, honey?" she asks.

"About taking their abilities.  I thought you said we were making people better, not worse."

"But aren't there some people we don't want in our new world, honey?  People that are so willing to share secrets shouldn't be trusted with ours, right?"

"But they were just kids," he says, still staring at the rubik's cube.  She knows he won't look at her, not when they're arguing.  If he looks at her he'll feel guilty and start apologizing.  "I like kids.  We're helping kids, right?"

"Not all kids," she says.

"But--"

"Why don't you go check on the pretty lady, honey?  Make sure she seems comfortable," Star says.

"Yeah, okay," he says quietly, getting to his feet and heading for the stairs.  She frowns slightly, thinking about how to deal with her partner thinking for himself.

"Think I should wear this or this?" Emily asks, barging into my room with Ditto in tow.  They're wearing two different outfits, I notice as I glance over.  But they're both wearing jeans and t-shirts, just different colors and pictures on the front.  "Or should I put this shirt with those jeans?" she asks.

"Does it matter?" I ask, "the only people that are going to be there are the usual crowd--"

"And Cub!" she says as Ditto poofs out of existence.  "Another girl, Trent!  You don't think she'll pick on me, do you?" she asks as abruptly worried as she was excited.  "She looked really tough."

"She can probably beat you," I say honestly.  She's caught me in the middle of working out, but she doesn't seem to care that I'm doing situps, so I just keep doing them--it's only when I start doing pushups that she sits down on my back.  "What are you doing?" I ask.

"Adding weight," she says.  "You're getting flabby."

"Whatever," I mutter, flushing slightly.  "Look, Cub's a super villain in training, right?  You can't just assume that they're all like Max, got it?  So be careful around her."

"I know," she says.  "Oh!  You're going to be on the news tonight, right?  We should go see it!"

"Why?  You saw it first hand," I say.

"But you're going to be
on TV
," she repeats, as if its important.  Dad and Mom are on television every once in a while, like, once a month practically.  It makes me look like a total noob when I'm excited to see myself--

"Trent!  Emily!  Get in here!  Everyone else is already here waiting!" Mom yells.

"Did you set it to record?" I hear Dad ask.  "We've already got the Hero TV version--"

"Of course I set it to record!" Mom says.

"Trent!  Hurry up already!" Max calls.  "Flirting can wait!"

"We're coming!" Emily says, hopping off my back and racing into the front room.  I get to my feet and follow at a slower pace.  "Would you hurry up already?" Emily demands.  She's already sitting on the floor in front of the couch, waiting for me.  I drop down next to her and lean against Dad's leg, since he's sitting behind me.

"And today had a bit of Super excitement," a lady says into the mic.  "Maximum showed up right off the highway, only to have a newcomer stand up to him!"  The screen changes, showing me throwing the bus at Max in a dramatic fashion.  "We've done some research and it seems that the newcomer is none other than America's Son and Star Spangled's boy, Kid Liberty!"

The video changes, showing me crouching down and talking to the little boy.  Somehow they even managed to capture the conversation, I think in amazement.  "I'm here with the little boy that met Kid Liberty earlier," she goes one as the screen returns to her.  The little black boy is standing next to her, beaming like he won the lottery.  "You talked with Kid Liberty, right?" she says.

"Yes," the little boy rasps out.

"Did he seem nice?" she asks.

"He asked me if I'm going to be good," the boy says.

"I saw that!" she replies.  "And what did you say?"

"I said yes," the boy says seriously.

"And how old are you?" she asks.

"I'm five and a half."

"I bet you're going to tell all your friends at kindergarten about this, right?" she says.  I'm pretty sure she's realized she's getting nowhere, but he's too cute to mind that.  The little boy nods enthusiastically.  There's a crowd of people behind her, waving at the camera and trying to get some screen time.  "What about you?" she asks an older girl.  "Did you see the fight?"

"I did!  He got hit with a bus," she says.  "It was awesome!"

"So tell me, are you a new Kid Liberty fan?" the interviewer asks.

"Sure!  But I felt a little sorry for Maximum, though.  He got hit in the face."

"So you like Maximum?" the interviewer asks.

"Well, I mean, he was on youtube and he stopped this crazy kid not that long ago--I think he's just misunderstood."

"Because he's too cute to be really evil," another girl butts in.

"He seriously is!" the first girl agrees.  "Oh, but that Kid Liberty was cute, too, wasn't he?"

"I think Maximum's just a little bit cuter, though."

"Either way it looks like we've got some up and coming capes to keep track of!" the interviewer says.  "This is Renee, signing out."  The show goes back to the two people at the desk, who are grinning.

"So you can't be really evil if you're cute, huh?" the man asks.  "That's good to know."

"It's so good to see a new generation of old fashioned heroes," the woman says.  "I'm a big fan of America's Son, myself, and his son looks so much like him!"

"That's funny, I'm a huge fan of Star Spangled," the man says.  "That family is one to watch.  Now, on a less super note--"  The news becomes a drone in the background as the group starts to cheer.

"Ha!  I'm cuter!" Max says, looking far too proud over that fact.

"They just didn't get a good enough shot of me," I say.  "That or the girl was blind!"

"Very nice cover for your first fight," Dad says, messing up my short hair.  "A feel good piece, sure, but since nothing major was destroyed it would be."

Emily's staring at me with a frown.  I look at her.  "What?" I ask.

"I'm trying to decide whether she was blind or not," she says seriously.  I start tickling her. 

"Admit she was blind," I say as she starts giggling.

"Stop!  Stop!" she cries.

"Once you admit she's blind!"

"NEVER!" she says, trying to get free.  "Okay fine!  Someone's blind!" she says.  I grin, pulling away.  "You, that is," she says.  Dad grabs me before I grab her again, and she hops up into my Mom's lap, sticking her tongue out at me.

"That's enough," Dad says with amusement.  "Now, we're going to discuss proper interview behavior as capes.  Emily, you aren't in uniform yet, but you should listen.  Firstly, whether you're the good guy or the bad, you've got little kids hanging on your every word.  You do not curse.  You can get creative all you want, but I don't want to hear some six year old cursing and saying they learned it from a Hall member, got it?"

"Sir, yes, sir," Max says.

"I'm holding you to it," Dad says.  "I know some supers might not agree with me, but I don't care.  They'll just beep the words out on news, anyway, so it's a waste of air time as well as offensive.  You're free to give each other a hard time on television, though, but keep it superficial until you've been fighting for a while.  They don't need to know that you two know each other well."

Emily slides back down to the ground, leaning back against Mom's legs.

"But I can make fun of his height, right?" I say.

"Of course," Dad says. 

"Yeah?  Well I can make fun of your empty head," Max mutters, throwing a couch pillow at me.  I grab it and stick it behind me.

"My head's not empty!" I protest.  "I'm thinking something right now!"

"What are you thinking?" he asks.

"Shorty, shorty, shorty--" I say, making Zoe have to grab Max from lunging at me.

"No fighting in the apartment building," she says, tugging him back onto the couch.  "Dad'd kill you both then make you rebuild it."

"Where is your dad, anyway?" Max asks.

"He went out to check the school's security system again," Zoe says.  "Ever since the sisters were caught he's been rebuilding it so that his brother won't be able to affect it."

"I think I'll take a quick walk," Dad says, getting up.

"Are you worried about him?" Mom asks.

"No, of course not.  He's the son of Superior.  I just feel like getting some air," Dad says.  He's out the door the next second, leaving us to look at each other.

"He's worried," I say.

"Extremely," Mom agrees.

***

Nico goes perfectly still, the hairs on the back of his neck rising as he slowly turns.  He'd sensed him coming, he thinks, he'd thought he'd been ready for the world warping, too--but it is a bit off-setting, even with expecting it.

"Hi," the man in front of him says, raising a hand.  "So you're that girl's dad, right?"  It's like looking in a mirror, in some ways, Nico notices.  But just like the world all around him being the wrong colors, so is the man in front of him.

"And you're my brother," Nico says.  "Or something like that."  Because there's something wrong with those pale gray eyes, he realizes.  Something missing that he usually sees in his mirror.  Cynicism, maybe.

"We're family?" the man asks.  "Oh, but I can't stay long," he goes one before Nico can respond.  "I'm here to say sorry."

"What for?" Nico asks.

"We're trying to make the world better," the man says.  "But she made it worse for those two.  I'm sorry."  He stops, looking up as if seeing something coming.  "I've gotta go.  Goodbye, brother," he says.

The world twists in on itself, jerking out from under Nico and flinging him backwards--and the negative him is gone.  "Nico!" he hears, from a distance.  "Nico, are you okay?"  Ken appears in front of him, looking worried.  "What just happened?" he demands.

"I met my brother," Nico says, shaking his head and shoving himself to his feet.  "I think."

"Did he hurt you?" Ken asks.

"No.  He apologized," Nico says, his confusion showing.  "Ken... it was like talking with a kid.  Not one of our kids--a
little
kid."

"What?"

"Exactly."

***

"Wake up!  Wake up, wake up, wake up!"  I wake up.  Hard not to when a ninety-something pound ball of energy jumps on top of you.  She's got me pinned under the blankets, but doesn't seem to care.  I look at her sleepily.

"What?" I ask.

"It's school!" she says.  "Get up and get dressed, we gotta get to school!"

"Emily, honey, quit assaulting Trent and come get your breakfast!" Mom calls from the kitchen.

"Coming!" Emily calls back.  "If you don't hurry I'm going to eat yours, too," she threatens before racing off.

"Don't let her eat mine!" I call from my room before heading for my shower.  I come out a few minutes later, get dressed, and head into the kitchen to sit down across from Emily.  "You're
way
too excited for school," I say.

"Like you aren't," she says.  "Think of it, a school where you don't have to hide what you can do at all!  I can make Ditto take notes for me!  I can run as fast as I want in gym, it's--it's like a dream."  Her eyes are shiny and her smile's so wide that my cheeks hurt just looking at it.

“Okay, okay,” I say as I start eating my rather large breakfast, finishing off my plate quickly.  I stand up when I’m finished, kiss my mother on the cheek, and grab my bag, leaving Emily to shove the last bit of food into her mouth and chase after me.  She’s still chewing as we start down the stairs--and Sunny falls on me from behind.

I jerk, looking at him blankly as his head rests on my shoulder.  He snores in my ear.  “You can carry him!” Zoe says, going past me and falling into step with Emily.  “Otherwise he’s never going to get there in time!”

“Oh for crying out loud,” I mutter, not even that surprised when Sunny wakes up just enough to climb onto my back, piggyback style.  “You owe me, man,” I mutter, starting down the stairs again.  The funniest thing, though, is Nico’s sauntering along behind us with a cup of coffee in his hand as if he’s got all the time in the world.  “I thought principals were supposed to be the first ones there,” I say over my shoulder.

“Eh, it goes against my super villain nature to be on time for anything,” he says.  “Also, you realize he’s going to do that to you every morning, don’t you?”

“I’m trying to ignore that fact,” I admit as we reach the bottom of the stairs and get in line to exit the security system.  “Hey--hey SUNNY!” I yell in his ear.  “You gotta go through the security system, man!”

“Five more minutes,” Sunny mumbles.

"There's something really wrong about carrying another guy piggyback," I complain as I drop him on his butt--or try to.  He's got a good hold on my neck and doesn't seem to be letting to anytime soon.  "Sunny!" I say.  "Get off, you gotta do this on your own!"

"Want to borrow the blowhorn?" Nico asks.

"Please," I say, plugging my ears with my fingers as Nico brings out the blowhorn--and blows it right in Sunny's ears.  "Although it'll be your fault if he goes deaf," I add as Sunny yelps and wakes up.

"I'm up, I'm up!  Sheesh," he mutters, stumbling over to the door and pressing his hand against the screen.  "That's got to be child abuse," he mutters.

I follow, pressing my hand and exiting the building when it's my turn.  Once outside, though, I look around cautiously.  "They know where we live," I say to Nico.

"Yeah," he says.  "Which is why we've got the entire staff of semi-retired hero teachers hovering over our heads right now."

I see them, now that he's mentioned it.  "Is that Banshee?" I ask, pointing at a rather dangerous looking woman with long brown hair.  "I heard she was working overseas."