The Distort Arc: Cape High Books 1-4 (Cape High Series Omnibus) (51 page)

Technico steps into the elevator with me, along with a handful of black suits.  I find myself getting several curious looks from the suits before Technico speaks.  "You can call Marge when we get outside, your phone won't reach from inside here."

"She won't care," I say, watching the lights over the door obsessively.  I don't weigh so much that it'll break, do I?  Especially considering how many other people are in here with me--

"Sure she won't care," Technico drawls.  "She'll just hunt you down and figure out how to get through my security system to hit you over the head for being a moron."

I can't think of anything to say, so I just count down until we're to G on the lights and step out when the door opens.  Thing is... you know, considering all the crap I've done in the past--running around, getting in trouble, you realize the cops in the area knew me by name, right?  I still... well, I still like Marge.  She's the only lady that's put up with me for as long as she has.  She's the closest thing I got to a mom, basically.  Not that I would ever call her that in front of the other kids in the home, but it's true.

He leads me through the garage full of boring carbon copy cars and minivans, stopping at the one car that stands out.  A firebird.  It needs a paint job and looks like it came straight out of a junkyard.  I stare at him, even as he pulls the driver side door open and gets in.  "Either get in or walk," he says.

I get in.  "Aren't you a super hero?" I ask.  "Don't super heroes get paid enough to not have to drive crap cars like this one?"

"When you can fly, how often do you really need one?" he asks as he turns the car on and glances at me.  "Call Marge."

"Can't, don't got a phone," I say, staring out the window.  I don't really want to call her, either.  She's just going to yell at me.

I blink as a phone lands on my lap.  "Use mine."

Slowly I pick it up, only to blink as it starts to smash within my hold.  "Gently," he says.  "I just rebuilt that."

I hold it as gently as I can, punching in Marge's phone number.  The phone rings for a few times before a breathless Marge answers.  "Nico?  Has something happened?"

"Um... hey, Marge," I say.

She screams my name, making me wince and stick a finger in my ear until she's done.  "What do you think you were doing, mister?" she demands.  "You about gave me a heart attack!  What in the world were you thinking?  Are you okay?  Can you walk again?  Are you--"

"Marge!" I say.  "I'm okay!  I mean... sort of okay," I add, looking at my hand.  "I'm a walking tank or something, but I'm alive.  Uh... Marge... you know--"

"You'll be joining the Hall, won't you?"

"I dunno--I'm just--well... I guess, something like that," I say, not about to go, "You seriously think I'll be a hero?" right now when she's finally calmed down.  "Look--um... I'm sorry you had to put up with me all these years," I tell her, feeling extremely self conscious of Technico listening to everything I say.  "But hey, it's over now, right?"

"I have never thought of it as putting up with you," she says.  "You're the closest I get to a son, you know.  Don't become a stranger just because you're moving out."

"You probably say that to everyone," I drawl.

"Only the cute ones," she says, making me laugh.  "But you'd better call me at least once a week, understand?  And come over whenever you get the chance!"

"Yeah, yeah," I say.  "But... thanks, Marge."

"You're welcome," she says with a hint of a smile.

I hang up and hand the phone back, staring out the window as we drive down the street.  He doesn't say anything.  Usually when someone's taking me in for the first time they try and make small talk, try to "get to know me" and "be my friend."  It's a waste of time for both of us, but it's still better than most silences, right?  Except this silence isn't like those awkward silences that I've experienced millions of times.  This is more like "I got nothin' to say and you got nothin' I need to know, so I'll ignore you now."

It's... oddly comfortable.  I'm half asleep when he finally speaks.  "Ken's a preacher, by the way."

"What?" I ask, jerking awake again.

"The guy I'm sticking you with.  He's a preacher."

"America's Son... is a preacher," I repeat blankly.

Technico grins at me.  "He's out to save us all."

***

He pulls into a parking lot of an old apartment building, parks next to a four wheel drive, and gets out, leaving me to get out as well and stand on my own.  Look, I've already said I wasn't a pushover, but this is a low car and I suddenly weigh three times my old weight.  I growl under my breath as I pull myself out, bracing myself when I stand upright.

I can hear people talking, so I'm not that surprised when I turn and see a crowd of people standing in front of the apartment building.  I am surprised to see Zoe and Max standing right there in the middle of it.  All of a sudden I feel like there's a cold steel ball in my stomach, right along with the stuff that lines my bones.  I feel a bit sick.

Then a girl breaks away from the edge of the group, grinning brilliantly as she heads for--she's heading straight for me.  She's a little taller and a lot curvier than Zoe is, with brown hair that's pulled up in a pony tail.  She's wearing a t-shirt and those jeans that look too long for shorts and too short for jeans.  She's cute.  She's also about my age, and she's heading straight for me like she knows me.  Does she even realize who I am?  Probably not--

"Jack!" she says.  "You're awake!"  She's running now, and--she's wrapping her arms around my waist and--

"Shi--" I start out, toppling backwards with the imbalance of weight and falling onto the concrete.  She looks at me blankly, sprawled on top of me and looking completely confused. 

"Hi," she says.

"You can get off me," I say.

"Are you okay?  What happened?" she demands.  I know who she is, now. 

"Aubrey, right?" I say.

"You know my name?"

"Yeah.  But I still ain't used to--
me
, yet.  So get off so I can get up, okay?" I ask in a gentler tone than I was planning.

"Oh!  Right, um--just--" she says, trying and failing to get off of me a few times before being picked up by a teenager from behind.  It's a tall blonde--wait, I know this guy.

"Jack," Trent Styles says, moving Aubrey behind him in a protective manner before reaching down and picking me up by the armpits.  Wait.  What?  Trent?  This quiet little wimp that never even went to gym--he's lifting me like I'm a little kid!  "Put on a little weight, huh?" he says, putting me on my feet.

"When did you get experimented on?" I ask him.

"Never.  I was born this way," Trent says, trying to stop Aubrey from sneaking around him with an arm.  She keeps trying one side then the other, only to get caught.  "Aubrey, I think you should go stand with Emily," he says when she tries to duck under his arm and gets grabbed by the back of her t-shirt.

"Hey," she says.  "That's my patient!  I have every right to check and see that he's okay!" she declares.

"Aubrey," he says, his tone a bit impatient.  "You don't know Jack.  You might have worked on him, but you don't know him, get it?"

"He's right," Sunny says, stepping forward from the crowd.  "It's been a while, Jack."  I look at him, scowling slightly, then look at Zoe, who's just standing there, watching me with a bland expression.

"Sunny.  Zoe," I add, nodding to her.  I completely ignore Max.

"Jack," Zoe says.  "I'm glad you're alive."

"That makes one of us," I mutter, starting for the apartment building, only to get grabbed by Trent.

"Wait," he says.  "Even you wouldn't survive that."

"Survive what?" I ask.  He crouches down, picking up a small pebble and throwing it at the apartment.  It goes up in sparks as it hits an invisible barrier.

"Nico's defense system," Trent says.  "And you'll be staying with my family."

"Wait--you mean you're--"  I stare at him blankly as he looks at me.

"America's Son's kid," he provides.  "Kid Liberty."  A tiny redhead girl runs up, grabbing his arm.  "And this is Emily, my future partner."

Aubrey slips free, heading straight for me again and shoving my tanktop up.  "Wh--what the hell are you doing?" I ask, trying to tug my tanktop back down again.

"There was a spot that I was worried about," she says, pressing her hand against my chest.  "Let me check if it's still behaving."

"Aubrey, honey, do you really think this is the place for that?" a tall blonde woman asks as she heads for us.  "Why don't we get everyone inside first?"

"Oh, right, um, sorry Star Spangled," Aubrey says, pulling her hand away and straightening my top as she blushes brightly.

"Shouldn't you have blushed BEFORE groping me?" I ask her.

"I didn't grope you!" she says, looking offended by that.

"You groped him," Emily says, grinning evilly.

"Well, if we're done teasing Aubrey again, why don't we head in?" Technico says from where he's talking with a tall blonde man that looks a lot like Trent.  He stops next to a rock on the concrete.  It shoots up, revealing that it’s a really high tech panel.  “Jack, you’re already logged into the system, so all you have to do is place your hand on the panel and step on the glowing footprints,” he adds as people start doing what he just described as if they’ve done it a million times before.

“You know... I was kidnapped by the guys, and I still think this is overkill,” I have to admit as I walk past him.

“Not yet, but it will be when I get ahold of them,” Technico says quietly.  I look around at the shoddy looking main floor, wondering if anyone had even bothered to sell this building to them or if it had been condemned for being uninhabitable but never knocked down.  Not exactly the place I pictured a ton of super heroes living, honestly.  "If they see you moving around like you are now, they'll want you back," he goes on.  "So stay in the apartments or the school."

"What?" I say, turning to stare at him.  "Seriously?"

"Yeah," he says, an unmovable expression on his face.

I let out a curse.  "Why didn't you just stick me in prison or something, instead?" I demand.  "I was already close to going to juvie--send me there!  At least then I'll be around people like me!"

"Jack!" Zoe says.

"Oh shuddup, Zoe," I snap, pointing at her.  "You get no say in my life.  NONE.  We both know where we stand, and if you don't know, let me inform you--it ain't in the same place."

Max steps forward, about to get violent because his girlfriend looks offended.  I almost welcome it.  Maybe if we get in a fight I'll be kicked out--and Aubrey is stepping in front of me, her arms out as if she's going to stop Max from attacking.  "Don't you dare," she says coldly.

It's amusing, this little healer girl standing up to the baddest super villain our age.  I groan, though, because she's going to get herself killed.  "Aubrey," I say.  "Move."

"I'm not going to move!" she says.  "You don't need to be getting into fights right now!"

I reach down, pick her up, and set her a foot to the right.  "If I get kicked out now, everyone will be happier," I tell her bluntly before stepping up to Max and looking down at him.  I sort of have to.  I'm like, five inches taller.  "You have a problem, shorty?" I demand--and am grabbed from behind, set aside even more easily than I moved Aubrey. 

Trent is standing right in front of me, staring me straight in the eyes.  "That's enough, man," he says in a shockingly calm tone.  "You need all your energy to get up fourteen flights of stairs, right?"  I glare at him, but a tiny grin is pulling at his lips.  "Unless you want me to carry you, that is."

"He can do it," Sunny offers.

"I'm not a weakling," I mutter.  "I can do it."  I can't do it.  There is
no way
I can do it.  Fourteen flights at three times my regular weight, right out of the hospital--are they trying to kill me?  Especially with my lack of balance?  For crying out loud--

"It's good to see you two getting along so well," the blonde man from before says, coming up to us and placing a hand on both my shoulder and Trent's.  "Jack, welcome to the family!  I'm Ken, you already know Trent, and that's my wife, Jeanie," he goes on, as if I hadn't just tried to start a brawl with Maximum.  "You'll be living with us until you reach legal age, so we want you to consider yourself one of us--"

I look at him.  Here we go, the same old spiel, this time from a preacher super hero.  Great.  It didn't work when I was six, it's not going to work now that I'm sixteen, you know?

"I think he should take the elevator," Aubrey says.  "He's just gotten out of the hospital!  He needs to regain his strength!"

"It's slow," Technico says.  "He'd be stuck in there for twenty minutes or so just to reach his floor."

"Alone?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"I'll take it," I say, heading for the elevator and pushing the button.  I blink as Trent steps up next to me.  "What part of 'alone' includes you?" I demand.

"The part where I think we need to have a talk," he says as the door opens and I step inside.  Trent comes in and promptly blocks Aubrey from sneaking on as the door slowly slides shut.