Daddy's Girl: Cape High Book Five (15 page)

***

"It happened about a month or two after I woke up," Jack says slowly.  We're sitting in the front room as if Ace doesn't have Justin.  A part of me wants to say that the story can wait until we get Justin back, but another knows I need to know what I'm dealing with.  "I started as a working cape the same week I woke up, practically--I had no choice--but people started calling the Hall about me, parents of up and coming heroes in training."

"They wanted to get their kids' names out there," Trent says.  "Jack was the perfect super villain to go up against, since the entire community knew that he was actually under the Hall's control.  He was a Cape High kid."

"I did a few of those, faked a few falls for the tougher ones, wiped the floors with the kids that had no business being in uniform," Jack says, grinning slightly at the memory.  "Nico told me I could," he adds.  "He had it all lined up and charted.  It was fun.  Plus he oversaw it like he used to oversee you and Max's battles, at least on my side.  We figured nothing big would come of it, really... except there was this one chick that wanted to fight in a club.  We tried talking her out of it but she cheated, dragging me into this night club to show off her powers to
a bigger group.  Thing is, Ace was there."

"I have a theory who Ace is, but I'm not sure," Trent admits.  "You know, don't you?"

"Yeah," Jack says.  I found out after he started launching attacks on me.  Look," he says, glancing at me, "I terrified the guy at the time.  He was going through a rough time, and... well, you almost get killed when a metal coated teenager bursts into your club and try not to have nightmares.  And when an illusionist has nightmares, so does everyone around him."

"Blackjack," I whisper, my mind flashing back to that little talk we had on the way to the apartments.  "He's Blackjack's son."  I knew he reminded me of someone!

"Yeah, he is," Jack says.  "But nobody knew Blackjack even HAD a kid back then--"

"I did," I say.  "I mean, I do.  But Blackjack swore he was a norm--they're going through a divorce right now, and he's going to leave his son with his wife, I think--"

"He's not a norm," Trent says.  "He's a Specialized S class.  More powerful than Blackjack ever was, actually."

The room is silent for a moment as I let that fact soak in.  "But if this happened already and I didn't go find him--why won't I go find him?" I ask them both.  "It's what I WANT to do with my life!  I don't care about fame or a costume or anything like that--I want to save kids!"

"I don't know," Trent admits.  "Maybe it didn't happen in our past... or maybe you forget?"

"I doubt it," I say.  "I mean, this is definitely not something that's going to be forgotten any time soon."

"You never mention it, though," Jack says.  "Maybe... there's a chance Double M wipes your memory.  I mean, since you knowing the future probably isn't that great an idea, right?"

I stare at him.  "You got a permanent magic marker?" I ask, getting to my feet.

"What?  Why?"

"Just get me the marker."

***

"We ready?" Jack asks as I step out of the steel palace and into the light.  "I had to call Aubrey and tell her to take Jason to your place," he adds to Trent.  "Hope you don't mind."

"It's fine," Trent says.

I look at him, wondering if I'm right in thinking he's married to Emily.  He probably has kids, too.  Blackjack's words flash back into my mind and I wonder if just assuming that both of them are happy in their marriages is naive.  Then again--

"Emily's there," Trent says, seeing me looking at him.  "But you saw that coming, didn't you?"

"Is it easy?" I ask, flushing as I hear the question even though I'm the one that asked it.  "I mean, being married and a cape... Blackjack said that only a few capes can manage it. 
Like how nobody knows what happened to Max's mom or--"

"It's not easy," Jack says as he steps onto his metal surfboard.  "I want to send you over to Aubrey and Emily, but I doubt you'll stay there, will you?"

"If it's not easy then how do you make it work?" I ask, stepping onto the board behind him.  "I mean, even norms get divorced all the time because they have other things that--that make it hard to stay together, right?  But you're both super heroes.  Doesn't that mean you have to put your jobs first?"

"Morgan," Jack says with a hint of amusement, "you grow up to be the poster child for single heroes, and in some fifteen years of living
in what could conceivably be called our basement, you never once asked either one of us this, so why are you asking now?"

I grab hold of his shirt, not knowing what to say about that.  He glance
s back at me.  "Everyone makes their own decisions in life.  It's up to them to find a way to live with them, and if you can't live with the decisions you make, you probably shouldn't have made them in the first place, right?  My biggest decision was to go to Star Born--it almost got me killed.  Everything since then?  Well, I see that stuff more like... opportunities to prove I'm alive and I'm dealing with my choice."

"So being married is..."

"The best opportunity I've had," he tells me.  "Sure we got problems, she's working for the Hall, I'm a super villain, our kid is starting to develop metal spots, and I can't exactly go out and do the shopping, but we work through it.  You help," he adds, much to my surprise.  "When you're home you help out with a lot of things, on top of everything else you do. Far as I'm concerned, you're family.  Like a sister. So even if you DO get your memory wiped, try and remember one thing."

"What thing?" I ask when he goes quiet for a moment.

"That regardless of how much you might hate me in your time, I NEVER hated you. And after I got used to you, I always had your back.  I never told anyone about your dad, you know?  I even beat a few guys after the school got larger when they started talking about it."

I'm dumbfounded, even as he goes on, "Sure it was annoying when you kept giving me crap about dating Aubrey, but you were still her best friend.  That meant, to me, you were someone I had to watch out for--as in 'avoid when you were on the rampage', sure, but also seriously watch out for."

I feel guilty.  I never thought of Jack like that, I was certain that the entire school would learn about my dad from him--but they hadn't, had they?  He hadn't said a word.   They found out from me.  So... had he really been hiding my secret?  It'd happened so quick that I never even thought about it.

"You never told us why Ace is obsessed with Morgan," Trent says.  He's flying alongside us.

"Ace, far as I can tell, ran into her one time and she took his abilities in self defense.  Thing is, that let him sleep.  I don't think the guy gets much sleep at all if you consider how intent he is on getting her."

"Why doesn't he just take a sleeping pill?" I mutter.  "I'm not a night light, you know!"

"If an illusionist has a nightmare, it tends to come real," Jack says.  "Did Blackjack ever have nightmares when he was living in the dorms?"

"Not that I know of," I say, picturing what could have happened.

"That's because Blackjack was trained from childhood, I bet.  He should have trained his kid, but like you said, he thought he was a norm.  Another factor is what's IN the mind," he says.  "Dad always says that what's in the heart comes out in one way or another.  In Ace's case it's a literal fact."

"So how do we find him?" I ask, looking around.

"Look for something that doesn't seem quite right," Trent says.  "He's an illusionist but he's an exhausted one.  He's probably hiding in plain sight."

"What does he need Justin for?" I demand.  "Justin isn't responsible for any of this and he can't help him sleep, either!"

"I would say... bait," Jack decides.

"For what?"

"You."

***

Justin stares blankly at the run down club's stage, wondering why he's there.  "Hello?" he says, looking around.  The place is falling apart.  There's a massive hole in the wall and scattered pieces of tables and trash all over the floor.  The stage itself can barely be called a stage anymore, with holes in the wooden floor and fallen lights and speakers.  It's a complete wreck.  "Anyone here?" he calls again.  "Anyone at all?"

He doesn't know how he got here
. One moment he's pounding on Morgan's door, the next he's in this place.  It's creepy, and he's almost certain that it has something to do with the guy they picked up on the way to Jack's place.  WHY had he just watched as they took the guy with them?  Seriously, it's so easy to get dragged into Morgan's pace--even Jack had said they were going to leave the guy one moment then picked him up the next!  All because Morgan wanted to bring him along!

"I absolutely do NOT have a thing for her," Justin mutters, stepping over a piece of rubble and heading for the kitchen.  Maybe if that guy does live here there might be food in the fridge, right?  Right now Justin's feeling the fact that he hasn't eaten in some eighteen years.  Okay, sure he should be panicking right about now, but honestly, it's WAY past the panic point. 

"For who?" a voice asks from behind him, making him turn.  Ace stands there, a crazed gleam in his eyes.

"Who?" Justin repeats.  "For Morgan.  Everyone seems to think I like her, but they're wrong.  She's annoying.  You should stop trying to grab her or whatever, you'll just make your life more difficult.  Not only does she make everything harder than it should be, she comes with a whole pack of guys that are annoying, too."

"Who are you?" Ace asks.  "You look familiar..."

"Justin," Justin says, turning back to the fridge and opening it.  "I'm Justin.  And since you kidnapped me you've got to feed me, right?"

"Why... why are you so short?" Ace asks after staring at him for a long moment.  "And scrawny?"

Justin grits his teeth at the question, pulling out a half gallon of milk before replying.  "I'm from the past," he says finally, starting to search for cereal and bowls.  He finds something that looks like a bowl in the cabinets.  "I'm seventeen, okay?  I'm going to get taller."  He hopes.  It's alright to be 5'10, he admits, but being surrounded by adult capes over the past few months has made him feel exactly how Ace described him--short and scrawny. 

"You shouldn't be in this time," Ace says.  "If you run into yourself from this time it could destroy both of you, taking out the town--"

Justin turns, staring in shock as he sees a man appear.  The man has a white and blue uniform with a guitar slung over his back.  He's heading straight for Justin.  "Wait!" Justin says.  "Time out!"

The man ignores him, reaching forward--

Justin curses and waves a hand through the illusion.  "Quit it, you're creeping me out."  Ace lets out a laugh, which he stops abruptly.  The look on his face is shocked and confused.

"I... don't usually..." he starts out, frowning.

"Usually what?" Justin asks, going back to making his cereal.  He could rightly be in the room with a psychopath, but he doesn't feel like he is.  Then again, he's always sucked at reading the atmosphere. 

"Laugh," Ace says.  "Usually I can't control what comes out--you know--I'm talking to a kid about this," he mutters, groaning.  "This is ridiculous."

"Why didn't you go to Cape High?" Justin asks abruptly.  "You're what, the same age as Trent and Jack, right?  So you should be in Cape High."

"Because Blackjack's in Cape High," Ace says darkly, turning and walking away.  The conversation is clearly over, leaving Justin to stare at Ace for a moment before digging into his bowl of cereal.  The milk tastes a little off, but not so much that it stops him from eating it all.  Justin's never gotten food poisoning in his life, regardless of what he ate.

"They're going to come here," he says.  "You probably shouldn't have brought me to your home."

"This isn't a home!  This is my lair of justice!"

"There's a fold out couch in the corner," Justin points out a bit too bluntly.  "You're living here, like a hobo.  How often do you talk to people?  Norms, capes, it doesn't matter."

Ace looks at him, then drops down on a tattered looking chair and flips on the television, not answering.  The news comes on and the room darkens as images of Jack breaking into the Cape Cells flash over the screen.  "He's evil," he growls, his hand fisting at his sides.

"He did it to get us out," Justin says, walking over to see.  "Mastermental sent him."

"Wh--what?" Ace asks in shock.

"We accidentally got sent into the future--and into the Cape Cells," Justin says, shoving his hands into his pockets.  "We thought we'd get stuck in the Cape Cells forever, but then Jack came, broke in, and got us out.  Not everything is how you see it on TV, man," he adds, glancing at Ace.  "Far as I can tell, when it comes to capes, NOTHING is how you see it."

"You of all people should be the last to defend Cold Steel," Ace says sharply.  "You two hate each other!"

"Sure," Justin says.  "But I've got plenty of reasons to not like the guy--I KNOW him.  You know how annoying he is?  The first time we actually talked he threatened to shove my head down a toilet!"