The Distort Arc: Cape High Books 1-4 (Cape High Series Omnibus) (32 page)

"Sure," I say.  "C'mon, Max, let's spar."

"I sortta want to watch Zoe--"  Max starts out. I grab his arm, hauling him along behind him.  "But digital Zoe--" he says.  "She's so cute--"

"Get over it," I say.  "Good luck on your training, Em!" I call over my shoulder.

"You too!" she says, already heading out to find someplace to work.

"I don't want to sleep," I hear Sunny say.  "Can I help Emily?"

"He's moving in on your girl, man," Max points out.

"And we're surprised by this?" I drawl.  Spar or make sure Sunny doesn't get Emily... man that's a hard choice.  "Nah, it takes more than just helping her out," I decide.  "C'mon, let's do this quick."

"Sounds like a plan."

***

"And you sent them off for more than just training, didn't you," Taurus says as the teachers gather around the table on the second floor of the experiment building.  He looks straight at Nico.  "Because you hauled me back before I could follow Panther's girl."

"Have you all heard what's going on in this area?" Nico asks.  "I'll let you follow the kids after we go over this.  First, Trent was going to a local school and his principal called him in--there was this woman in the room," he says, turning his laptop so they could see the thin woman.  "He ran, we transferred him, and the next day the principal was found foaming at the mouth and with his mind mixed like a blender."

"There's more, isn't there?" Blackjack, a wiry super that specializes in illusion, says.  "You wouldn't have built a security system ten times heavier than Cape Cells just because a norm was attacked."  He's playing with a deck of cards as he says that, like he's not taking any of this very seriously, regardless.

"There's more.  We had two small time super girls come for a tour of the school.  They were escorted home and came back--a grudge against Emily, and were caught by this woman and a man that looks just like me."  He turns the screen around, pushing play and letting them watch as the two girls were caught, grilled, and lost their abilities right in front of the school.  "They lost their abilities.  This man, at first I thought he was a sibling, now I'm not so sure."

"And why's that?" Taurus asks.

"Because he came to see me," Nico says.  He looks at them each closely, as if testing their responses.  "He speaks like a child.  My daughter met him once before, but she was so distracted by his abilities that she didn't notice or didn't mention the simpleness."

"And what are his abilities?" Banshee asks.

"I don't know the extent," Nico says.  "But he can cause my security cameras to go crazy--or he could at first.  I think he can do the same to a man's mind.  He's dangerous, sure, but her... if she can take powers away, she might be the one that tried to give powers to Jack."

"You're sure it's her, not him?" Taurus asks.

"I watched the video several times.  She slips a needle into them.  It's her."

"I see why you want Adanna to have an escort," Taurus says.  "But you have to take into account her father.  He's not going to be happy having a super hero walking his daughter home."

"That leaves me doing it," Nico says.  "Or Max."

"Max is still young--do you really think he can take on your... brother?" Blackjack asks.

"I'm not sure," Nico admits.  "Of all the students he's the only one I'm trusting to fly here on his own--the others live in my apartment building--or are Adanna.  But really, I can call a few friends in, nice respectable super villains that have a vested interest in this school, if Panther isn't willing to bring her himself."

"How would they have a vested interest in this?"

"Because they're watching right now to see how I train the super villains I have," Nico says.  "You might not realize it, but most of the super villains are my age now, with kids the same age as mine.  Just look at Pan.  I can find them, I'm sure.  I just need to make a few phonecalls."  He looks at them each.  "Now I'm putting my trust in you," he says.  "My kids, my friends' kids, these things are reliant on us.  It goes beyond the game of good guys and bad guys that we used to play."

"Of course," Banshee says.  "They're our future."

"We're heroes," Blackjack says.  "Taking care of kids comes with the job description."

"Jack... he was the one on youtube?  What happened to him?" Taurus asks.

"I'm working on it," Nico says.  "If I push too hard and too fast to get the metallic parts to retreat it rips into him.  It's slow and a pain in the neck, put bluntly.  What they've done to a norm is worse than abuse.  But the fact that they can take powers away, as well--we're dealing with a very dangerous pair."

"Call your friends," Mega says, making Nico jerk.  "I don't have kids of my own," he goes on, "but I watched Trent grow up.  I love that kid.  I was worried when he started having trouble and when your kids and Max showed up, he turned back into the happy kid I think of as a nephew.  Now he's got a future partner and a job as a hero, it's more than I can ask for, honestly.  So I figure, even though I didn't want to at first, I'm going to throw my lot in with you.  I'll trust your decisions,
to a point.
"

"It was the pranks for Emily that added that 'to a point' wasn't it?" Nico says.

"Of course it is!  She's a future hero--a future Liberty!  You're training her to be--"

"Oh let it go, Mega, a bit of honest trickery on the good side isn't going to be that big of a problem," Banshee says.  "I bet that's part of why Trent picked her.  He takes after his dad.  You can't exactly sneak in when you're a walking tank.  Some jobs require a bit of delicacy."

"Trent picked her because she's adorable and he's crushing hard," Nico says.  "He used that excuse because she still hasn't figured out how bad he's got it.  But it works, so we can't complain."  He turns the laptop back to himself.  "Now, since we've discussed the problem, I'll let you go see what the kids are doing."

"And you?" Mega asks.

"Oh, I've got this entire place wired," Nico says.  "I can watch them all at once right where I'm at," he adds, kicking his feet up on the table and placing the laptop on his lap.

***

He'd been planning on helping Emily, Sunny thinks as he creeps closer to the back of the second building, so why is he stalking Adanna instead?  Probably because he's seen Ditto before. He's never seen a shape shifter shift in person!  Yeah, he thinks as he peeks around the corner, this is all about having a new exper--

A tiny black cub sits in the middle of the dirt, looking miserable.  He can't help but fall forward onto his hands and knees at the sight.  She's about the size of a house cat, and her fur is fluffy and sticking up in all directions.  And, he thinks inevitably, she's looking straight at him.

"Um--uh--sorry?  I got lost," he says, backing up with his hands in the air.  The cub stands up, shakily, and straight leg struts a few steps before tumbling over her own paws.  A tiny little mewing sound comes from her, which he's almost positive is cursing in kitty.  "Hey, don't get mad," he says, crawling over to her.  "I'm really new to my abilities too!  I mean, I've been tripped by flowers more times than I can count!"  His hand reaches out and pats her head--only to get bit by tiny teeth.  "Hey, that hurts," he complains, tugging his hand away.

She lets go and hisses at him, her fur fluffing up more.  "Okay, I get it, no petting," he says, looking at his hand.  She didn't pierce the skin, thankfully, but it hadn't been fun!  "I promise," he says.  "No touching."

He looks away from her, not really wanting to leave but knowing she's not going to calm down with him staring at her.  Absently he pokes the dirt with a finger, a bit surprised as the finger sinks into the hard dirt easily, and downright shocked as a flower springs from the hole as he pulls his finger out of it again.  "How the heck does that work?" he says.  "Maybe there was a seed down there," he guesses.

He glances at her, then makes a fist and shoves it into the dirt up to his elbow.  It's like mud to him, he thinks in wonder, giving easily.  And when he pulls his arm out again a tree shoots out, about as tall as he is when standing.  He falls
on his butt, almost sitting on the cub.  "Whoops, sorry--would you look at that!"  Then he sways.  Adanna barely manages to leap out of the way before he falls on his back, sound asleep, as if he's been switched off at the wall.

The cub hesitates, looking up at the tree for a long moment before cautiously belly crawling over to the sleeping boy.  She sniffs him, then sniffs the arm he created the tree with, patting it twice with a paw before leaping back in caution.  The hand doesn't even move.

So she lies down where she's at, resting her muzzle on her paws and just... waits.  It's not like she can move well enough to go anywhere, anyway.

***

Emily and Ditto stare at each other for a long, long moment before Emily lets out a breath.  "Nope, nothing," she says.  "You look exactly like me."

"But we were going to learn how to make me look like Trent!" Ditto says.

"I know, I know.  But... why don't we go watch him and Max?  That'll give us some ideas!"  Emily stops as she sees the hesitant look on Ditto's face.  "What?"

"Don't you think he's being too nice?" Ditto asks her.  "It's not going to last.  He'll probably realize we can't change me and then dump us for someone better--"

"We aren't dating him," Emily says.  "I mean I'm not dating him.  He's just going to be my partner--he can date anyone he likes."

"Like that new girl?" Ditto asks.  "She's really pretty.  Like really, really pretty--you saw how he reacted when she showed up!"

"Yeah," Emily says, sitting down and pouting slightly.

"And what about his parents... do you really think they love us?" Ditto asks.  "We thought that Geoff and Marlina liked us, but look how that turned out."

"But they don't have to choose between us and Trent, right?  And Trent promised and they backed him up and--and--"  Emily lets out a pathetic sigh.  "Maybe we should move into the dorms.  Before they get tired of us."

"Yeah... if they get tired of us... we'll probably die or something," Ditto says.  "I mean, just one hit from Trent--"

"He won't hit us!  He won't!  Even if he gets tired of us, he'll not hit us," Emily says, looking down at her hands.  "He made a promise on the Liberty name.  It's important."

"Yeah... but... either way we should move," Ditto says.  "Because they might like us now, but who can say if they'll like us later?  Even Mr. Nico seemed to think we're troublemakers.  Why else would he say we should prank people?"

"Because we slit those skirts," Emily points out quite logically.

"Oh, right," Ditto says, grinning as she remembers.  "That was funny."

"See?  We ARE troublemakers," Emily says.  "But... I like being with them," she whispers, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Which is why we should be the ones to leave first," Ditto says.  "Before Trent gets a girlfriend or Jeanie decides that--that we're not girly enough or something, or before Ken decides we're too much trouble or--"

Emily lets go of her legs and reaches for her doppelganger, hugging her tightly, and being hugged back.  "Yeah," she says.  "We'll--we'll talk to them after school."

***

The fight is brutal, even though we had been planning on making it quick.  I pick up another slab of the metal field that we've torn up and twist, slinging it like a discus through the air.  It gets caught in Max's gravity, floating for a moment before it starts to distort, rolling into a gigantic cone.  Then, with an evil grin, he sends it slamming straight for me at an astonishing speed.  It slams into my shoulder, tossing me back and ripping through the sleeve of my shirt to pin me to the exposed rocky ground.  I growl, because that actually stung a bit, and reach over, grabbing the giant dart. I pull it out of the ground, getting to my feet and wad it into a gigantic ball. 

"I'm just going to get it again, you know," Max taunts.  "You'll never hit--"  I throw it with all of my strength in the middle of his taunting, hitting him straight on and sending him flying.  He's past the edges of the field.  Hey, think we'll get in trouble if he's out of the field in the sky?

He manages to stop before hitting the security shield.  Good thing, too, because him getting fried on the first day would probably be a bad thing.  Now he's heading back for me, the giant ball of metal slamming into the field next to me.  I reach down as it creates a giant crater, tugging at a rather large piece of rock that's jutting out of the ground.  It's closer than the metal ball.  Before I manage to free it from the dirt, Max slams into me, sending us both backwards into the crater.

"You're messing up my hair," he complains as he punches me in the face.

"You're messing up my face," I drawl, although he isn't, really, before slamming my fist into his gut and sending him flying.  I get to my feet and race for the rock I'd almost gotten out, only to grunt as gravity hits me hard.  I find myself fighting the urge to fall to my knees.

"So this is your limit?" Max asks.  I manage to look up at him, although my head feels like it weighs a million pounds.  He's sweating, and breathing hard.  I wonder if this much gravity is hard for him to pull off for long.