The Distort Arc: Cape High Books 1-4 (Cape High Series Omnibus) (23 page)

They smirked, Emily thinks as her hands tighten at her sides.  They dared to smirk when they saw her!  Of course those smirks faded the moment they saw Trent (yes, she's using him, she thinks, but he didn't protest too hard) and their expressions are now set in a look that she knew all too well.

We'll be taking that.
  She can almost hear them saying it aloud, she's heard it said so many times before.  They just walk in, assuming that anything Emily has is theirs, ultimately, and there's nothing Emily can do about it--

I don't think so,
Emily thinks so sharply that Mastermental turns and looks at her with a hint of surprise.  He covers it up easily enough, approaching the two with a hand held out.

"Thank you for coming," he says mildly, shaking hands with Allie and Kelly.  "I'm afraid
that I personally have very little knowledge of the school building, so we'll have Nico lead the tour--Nico," he says sharply, looking at the super villain who's in the middle of playing with the earbud he created for himself.  Somehow between then and now it's become a full headset, complete with a screen.  "Nico, if you would," Frank repeats sharply.

"Ah, right," Nico says, handing the strange machine to Sunny.  "Hold onto this for me--and keep it away from your sister," he adds quietly.  He steps to the front of the group, looking a bit bored.  "My name is Nico Masters, my old cape name was Technico, I'm recently released from the high security Cape Cells--"

"Wait, that means you're a super villain, right?  Why are you leading the tour?" Allie asks.

"Because I'm the principal," Nico says, smirking slightly.  "Make sure you pass that fact on to your parents.  Now if we can continue," he drawls, snapping his fingers.  The security system blinks into view.  Lasers crisscross in a dome that covers the entire Death Canyon.  A bird flies a little too close to the dome and one of the lasers turns, shooting it out of the air.  "Usually these can't be seen.  The lasers crisscross randomly, and shoot anything that goes within a ten foot radius of the dome without permission.  This isn't all of the security measures, by the way, there are several I don't feel like showing you."

"Can I get one of those?" Max asks, looking at the dome in awe.

"No," Frank says flatly.

"Before entering the school yards I'm going to have to make some temporary passes for a few of you, and a permanent one for Emily, come here, kid," he says, motioning to Emily.  She looks at him, wondering what exactly he's up to, then moves forward, slipping out of Trent's hold to stand in front of Nico.  "And your doppelganger," he says.  "If you plan on sleeping through my classes and sending her, I want to know."

Emily hesitates, looking at him for a moment, then sighs.  Her doppelganger appears next to her, and promptly turns to look at the sisters.

"Ditto," Nico says, snapping his fingers next to the doppelganger head.  The doppelganger looks up at him.  "Hand," he says, holding up a tablet for her to touch.  The doppelganger, (who would be stuck with the name Ditto for the rest of her existence,) touches the tablet.  Nico taps the tablet a few times, then turns it, scanning Ditto with a green light.  "Emily," he says, holding the tablet out to Emily and repeating the process.  "By the way, I was right, a few major details are wrong--remind me to stick you in biology class, kid," he says to Emily after checking both stats.

"But the insides don't count!" she protests, flushing as Trent starts laughing.  That doesn't bother her, but when the sisters start laughing derisively she feels her temper try to snap.  Nico doesn't seem to notice as he taps on the tablet a few times.

"Sure they do, some supers have X-ray vision," Nico says.  "Or special tablets that can scan you.   Now Double M, you're up," he says. 

Emily and Ditto turn, their eyes going straight to Allie and Kelly.  They're still snickering as if she's a moron for not getting her doppelganger's insides right.  She takes a step forward, right in step with Ditto, their hands raised in fists--

Trent steps in front of them both.

***

Have you ever seen a petite redhead and a copy of herself look like they're about to launch?  I'm seeing it just now, and it is--well, I'll be honest, just don't tell people I said this--it is freaking AWESOME.  She looks like she's going to rip them a new one!  She's looked at me somewhat like that once or twice, but this is a whole new level of P.O.'d.

"Trent," Emily snarls.  "You're in my way."

"We're in public, Em," I say, wrapping an arm around Ditto's waist as she tries to go around me.  "Behave yourself... yourselves."

"You laughed too," Ditto points out, and promptly punches me in the stomach.  It almost hurts, I notice.  "Ow," she says, looking at her hand.  I start laughing again, earning a punch from Emily this time.

"She's so abusive," I hear Allie say.

"He was asking for it," I hear Zoe say in Emily's defense.

"Doesn't matter with him, anyway," Max says.  Before Emily can lunge for the sisters again I grab them both in a group hug.

"Keep your head," I whisper to Emily silently.  "Don't let them bait you.  They're on your home turf this time."

She looks at me like she wants to argue, but something's stopping her.  "Put me down."

"Will you behave?" I ask.

"Yes.  But if they start something--"

"I've got your back," I promise.  "Even though, seriously, you don't look like you'd need it," I add dryly as I look from her to Ditto before putting them both down.

"You--the brunette on the right," I hear Nico say.  I turn to look at him as one of the sisters moves forward hesitantly.  "My right," he says, motioning to the other one.

"I'm Kelly," she says.

"That's good," he says.  "Touch the screen."

"What all are you learning from this?" she asks.  "I mean, can you tell things about our abilities or something?"

"A bit," he says.  "If you decide to come to this school I'll do more than just a quick scan."

"So you'll know everything about our powers?" she asks.  "Like, that ranking thing?"

"Yeah, I'll know your ranking--and your prospective ranking," Nico says.  "Hand," he adds, holding up the tablet for her to touch.  She hesitates.  "If you don't want the tour you can stand out here," he adds.

She touches the tablet, gets scanned, and Nico motions her sister to come forward.  Max moves to Nico's side, glancing at the tablet.  "Hey!  He has no right to see those things!" the first girl snaps.

"I want to see Emily's," Max says.  "Can you go back a few pages or something?"

"Max," I say warningly.

"Hey, can I see Trent's, instead?" Max asks.  "C'mon, you didn't have to turn it off!" he protests as the tablet is put away.

"This is classified information," Nico says.  "Meaning I don't give it out to the super villains they'll be up against later on... like tomorrow," he drawls.  "Now, Star Spangled--"

"Oh, call me Jeanie!" Mom says, heading forward.  "I'm certain you'll keep this information to yourself, won't you, Nico," she adds.

"Won't breathe a word," Nico promises, repeating the process.  Then he moves to the left, revealing another highly advanced looking panel like the one at the apartment building.  "Proceed in an orderly fashion, touch the panel, follow the footprints as usual, do not step anywhere OTHER than the footprints, and keep up with me--Zoe, start singing."

"Wait, what?" I ask, completely confused by why Zoe needs to sing.

"If she's focused on something else she's less likely to blow up my toys," Nico says as Zoe starts singing a--oh man--

"Justin?" Max asks.  "Seriously?"

"It's the only one I could think of!" Zoe says before launching into the chorus.  We pass through the security system, listening to Zoe singing off-key and step onto the large platform that's built on the edge of the canyon.  There's steps built into the side of the rock wall, leading down to the bottom of the canyon.  Nico moves to stand in front of the stairs.

"You can stop, kiddo," he says.  "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Cape High.  Our specialties will be hand to hand combat, ability training, and typical high school classes--provided by the teachers Double M's already set up."

I tug Emily and Ditto to the edge of the platform, looking at the massive campus built below.  There are three buildings, each at least four stories high, and a huge metal field to the side.  "What's that?" I ask Nico.

"A multi-purpose sports and battle arena," Nico says.  "It can be changed to fit the occasion.  If you get enough brawlers in the school I can even set it up for football."

"Seriously?" I ask, feeling like a kid at Christmas.

"Absolutely," Dad says.  "I helped him design it."

"Now, if we can proceed," Nico says, starting down the steps.  "School days will be longer than the typical high school, considering that we'll take an extra hour for abilities training.  For some it could be even longer than that.  Trent, Max, you're going to be working as mentors for the less experienced students--"

"I could use a mentor," I hear one of the sisters say.  I glance back at her, seeing that she and her sister have moved closer to me.  "To be the best that I can be."

"You'd need to be someone else to be that," Emily mutters.

"What did you just say?  Because I seriously can't believe you just said that!" the girl says.  "That was rude!"

"Yeah, it was really rude!" the other girl says.  What are their names again?  Lollie?  Sallie?  "We come all the way out here just to see you and you're like that?"

"I thought you came to see the school," Sunny says.

"Well we wanted to see our little foster sister, too," the first girl says.  "We were worried about her, right, Allie?"

"She can't do anything on her own," Allie agrees.  "She needs constant guidance--otherwise she winds up in situations she shouldn't be in."

"I'll show you a situation I shouldn't be in," Emily and Ditto snarl, trying to climb over me since they can't get free of me.

"Whoops, no you don't," I say, holding tighter.  "I'm trying to go down steps here, Em, if you throw off my balance we'll all go down.  It'd hurt.  You, mostly, but it'd hurt."

"Then let me go!" Emily says, still squirming.

"Emily, sweetie," Mom says from ahead of us.  "Please?"

They go limp and Ditto disappears, leaving me only holding Emily.  "I can walk myself," she says.

"I don't mind," I say, but I put her down in front of me anyways, taking her hand instead.  She glances at me.

"So... are you two dating or something?" Allie asks.  "Because it just doesn't... fit.  I mean, I get the goth couple--they're kind of cute together, but you and the football jock?  You definitely don't suit him."

"Goth couple?" I hear Zoe mutter.

"You can write dramatic poetry for me later," Max says.

"I do not write poetry--dramatic or not!" Zoe says.  "And where do you get off deciding who makes a good couple or not?  It's got nothing to do with you!"  I hear a popping sound from Allie's purse.  Then I hear a popping sound from my pocket.

"Zoe, calm down, you just killed my transmitter," I say, pulling the sparking machine out of my pocket before it catches my pants on fire.

"My phone!" Allie yelps, digging it out of her purse.  "You killed my phone!  You little--" she lunges for Zoe, only to find Max standing in front of her.

"Do you know who I am?" Max asks as Allie stops.

"You're the boyfriend of the girl that just killed my phone!"

"Exactly," Max says, lifting a hand in the air.

"MAX!" I yell.  "Can we get to the ground before you start a war?  These stairs might be tough, but I don't want to test it!"

Emily's shoulders are shaking.  I look at her curiously then hear the hints of laughter.  "Hey," I say, poking her.  The laughter escapes her, and she's giggling as we step off the final step.

"I don't see what's funny," I hear the other sister--Kelly, maybe? say.  "That was her phone!"

"That was almost her life," Emily says, looking back at them.  "That's Maximum."

"Ma--Maximum?" she says.  "The guy with the buses and the--"

"But he's so... short," Allie says.

"Why do people keep thinking height has anything to do with powers?" Max complains.  Zoe hugs his arm, patting his forearm consolingly.

"You're still seriously cute," she tells him.

"Thank you."

I ignore it, focusing on Emily.  She's got an actual smile on her face, I think, as if she's forgotten her enemies are right behind her.  "So the idea of him crushing her cheers you up?" I ask her.

"Who wouldn't it cheer up?" she asks.

"Are you going super villain when you're older?"

"Maybe.  It might be interesting."

I shake my head, sighing.

***

"This is absolutely not fair," Kelly whispers to her sister, hanging several feet behind the rest of the group.  "She winds up in the Central Hall without even trying, now she's got a boyfriend like that--it's absolutely not fair."