Not Your Backup, page 21
Emma tugs at the formfitting supersuit. It feels weird, especially because it’s the same fabric Christine and Abby made to help focus meta-abilities. Is it wasteful that she’s wearing it?
She taps the steering wheel; Bells is sitting next to her, ready to shift into Lysander and approach the scene.
Starscream hasn’t been spotted yet. They’re across the street from a jewelry store and arrived just in time: Echo is stealing jewels; gleaming necklaces bounce at his neck as he laughs and sweeps jewelry into his bag.
“I kinda want to jump in and stop this robbery,” Bells says, shaking his head.
“Just wait,” Emma says. “Test, test, this is Mastermind, over.”
“Compass here.”
“And Abby!”
“Do we have to do this?”
“Sound off,” Emma repeats.
“Here and There are here— c’mon, I love our code names but seriously, roll call?”
“Invisible Boy— okay, can we change this? Can I be Invisible Man?”
“Crinoline here. Invisible Boy is Invisible Boy because that’s what you requested when—”
“Okay, stop right there!” Ricky yelps.
“Starscream still isn’t here yet,” Emma says. “Isn’t that weird?”
Bells nods. “Yeah. Usually the League likes to have someone on the scene immediately. And look, there are already cameradrones.”
Echo cackles, holding two bags full of jewelry and dashing into the street with two cameradrones recording him.
People gasp, backing up.
“Where’s Starscream?” Tanya asks. “This plan doesn’t really work if we don’t have a staged battle to stop.”
“Uh—” Emma thinks quickly. “Maybe he isn’t going to show up. Maybe Echo is actually robbing this store and—”
“YES! Invisible Boy to the scene! Tanya! Teleport me!”
“You’re fifty feet away. You can walk.”
“But the element of surprise!”
“Go ahead,” Emma says.
Echo stops halfway down the street, wincing in pain. “What? Who’s there?”
Christine appears next to him as Tanya snaps her fingers. She gestures at Echo’s bags, unraveling them with her power. All the jewelry clatters onto the street.
Echo’s mouth falls open. “What? Who are you? This isn’t in the—”
“In the what?” Christine asks, grinning.
Echo gulps, looking at the cameradrone. “You cannot stop me! I am Echo!” He doubles over, grabbing his stomach. “Ow!” He glances up, looking from Christine to the other people on the street. “Is this a test?”
“Yup! And you’re failing!” Christine waves her hand.
Echo’s sleeves stitch themselves to his torso, and his pants legs stitch themselves together. He falls over. “What even is— wait, I know you! You’re that second-rate villain that’s always going around after—”
His sleeve unravels and reforms around his mouth, muffling him.
“Okay, cue Lysander,” Emma says. “Everyone else, stay put. Ricky, you can stop, Christine’s got him trapped already.”
Bells steps out of the car, adjusts his bowtie, and pats his coiffed hair. People seem to relax after spotting him.
“Good evening,” Bells says in Wilton’s oily tone.
One of the cameradrones points toward him.
Emma exhales. Okay. Step one. Now to—
Something flashes in the sky. Lightning? The sky was clear; there shouldn’t be any chance of a storm.
Lightning flashes again, and Emma sees a flash of red and another crackle of white-hot light. The whole street echoes with the booming sound of someone landing right in front of Echo.
“You’re not getting away, Echo!” booms a deep voice. It’s familiar, but Emma can’t place it.
Christine freezes. “What— who are you?”
The drones immediately start buzzing around the new meta-human.
The man stands tall; he’s wearing a bright red supersuit with a flowing gold cape and a red facemask and is definitely not Starscream. “My name is Vindication.” He punches the ground; his fists glow red with energy. The asphalt cracks and melts, turning into a puddle.
“Hey!” Echo says, twitching as he sinks into the melted asphalt.
Vindication turns his gaze on Christine, who takes a step back.
A cold chill runs down Emma’s spine; whoever this is, the look on his face is pure venom. Is he Starscream’s replacement? Why does he look so angry?
“You,” he says, advancing on Christine. “You’ve been a thorn in my side.” He opens his palm; lightning crackles in his fingers.
Sasha and Tanya pop into the car and then Ricky. They need to leave now. Emma waves frantically at Sasha. “Get Christine!”
“I’m trying!” Sasha says, scrunching her face.
“Get out of there!” Emma shouts into the radio. Christine’s five minutes are up, she can’t—
Christine pops into the car just as they see lightning race down the street, right to where Christine was standing.
Ch. 15…
“That was close.” Christine exhales. “What about Bells?”
“He thinks, he thinks Bells is Lysander,” Emma says weakly. “It would be suspicious if he just disappeared too.”
Vindication roars, shaking his fist at the sky. “You— you’re early,” he says, noticing Bells for the first time.
Bells nods, playing along. “I thought it would be prudent to be here,” he says.
“Fine, let’s do it now,” Vindication says, gruffly. He kicks at the still-struggling Echo, who is stuck in the pavement. “How do I look? Hair?”
“Perfect,” Bells says, snapping his fingers. The cameradrones point toward them.
“You can edit out the part with that kid,” Vindication says. “Meddling pest.”
Emma watches, gripping the wheel tightly. Who is this guy?
“Of course,” Bells says, bowing his head a little.
“You’re laying it on a little thick,” Emma whispers over the radio. “Lysander doesn’t bow!”
Bells wobbles and does a curtsey.
“Are you okay there, Wilton?” Vindication asks, narrowing his eyes.
“Never better. Shall we?”
Vindication coughs and turns toward the camera. “Greetings, people of the North American Collective. I am Vindication, the newest member of the Heroes’ League of Heroes, and I have a special message for you tonight. Anyone who would oppose the League and their mission is against the Collective itself. And rest assured, this evil will be stopped.” He gives the camera one final look of smug satisfaction before flying into the sky with his cape fluttering dramatically.
The people on the street whoop and applaud.
“Is it just me or were Vindication’s powers…”
“Exactly like Captain Orion’s,” Emma says.
“Where did he come from?”
“Who is he?”
“Those are definitely Captain Orion’s powers.”
Emma paces, tuning out the worried conversation of her friends. “What was Orion saying when the Authorities were taking her away?” she wonders aloud.
“Something about not knowing what they’ll do,” Jess offers. “She sounded scared.”
“What would Orion be afraid of? She’s the most powerful meta-human in the country,” Christine says, worrying a piece of fabric in her hands.
“Well, technically that’s not true,” Emma says. “If we’re going by power rating, that is.”
“Huh,” Bells says, flopping upside down on the couch with his hair dragging on the floor. “So who is the most powerful in the country?”
“You are,” Emma says with a broad grin.
Giggling, Jess elbows Bells playfully. “That’s right! Bells had the highest rating when we tested in the Rockies.”
Abby crosses her arms. “Well, we don’t know anything about this Vindication and how powerful he might be.”
“That’s true,” Emma says, remembering their problem.
Christine flicks the projections above her console. “Well, it looks like the League updated their page. Vindication definitely outranks Orion in power.”
Emma shakes her head. Where have all these new meta-humans come from? They certainly haven’t been in training, according to Bells, and all their powers seem awfully like—
Emma gasps. “The powers,” she says. “These new meta-humans in the League, they’re new meta-humans.”
Christine frowns. “What do you mean?”
“You know how Michael was testing power capabilities back at the Rockies?” Emma asks.
“Yeah, he’s a nurse. And a scientist,” Jess says.
“He was working on Orion’s research and trying to find a way to invoke powers in people,” Emma says.
“He what?” Abby’s mouth falls open. “I thought we— he was supposed to be helping me! We worked so much together decoding that research, and he never told me what it was for— I just assumed that he was working on reversing the effects of the serum for me!”
“I think he was doing that, but he definitely prioritized this other project,” Emma says. “He showed me, back at the base. He was already at human trials. I don’t know how far he got; it didn’t look like it was going that well.” She remembers the sickly way that woman looked, even as she proudly made a ball of light.
“Human trials?” Abby gasps. “Michael said he was months away— ugh! I’m going to call him right now. Jess, what’s the Port Clarion frequency?” She stalks off, all scarlet curls and fury.
Jess gives the rest of them an apologetic look before following Abby down the hall.
“If Michael only had part of the research and he was working on duplicating it, that means the League’s had this tech for a while already,” Bells says. “Why haven’t they used it before?”
“Maybe they didn’t have it before,” Emma muses. “Maybe when they made Orion their scapegoat, they found out exactly what she was doing and took her research.”
“I thought she was working on power enhancers,” Jess says.
Bells shakes his head. “She thought she was. Claudia made her think she was getting stronger when she wasn’t. Placebo effect.”
Emma waves her hands. “Well, I don’t know what exactly power transference entails. In any case, she’s in the hands of the League now.” She bangs a book on the table; it’s not quite the same as the gavel, but it still makes a nice, commanding sound. “Let’s get back to the plan. Brendan, when do you think we would see Starscream or Vindication—”
Jess walks back into the living room, wringing her hands.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Bells asks. “Is everyone okay?”
“Oh yeah,” Jess says. “But they said the Port Clarion is compromised.”
Christine’s mouth falls open. “I thought that was where they were going to rebuild the headquarters after the destruction of the Rockies base!”
“Where are they going now?” Tanya asks.
Jess takes a deep breath. “Deirdre and all the meta-humans, they’re all coming here.”
“Don’t worry, kids. We’ll handle it from here on out,” Deirdre says, her hands on her hips as she oversees people unloading luggage and equipment into Christine’s home.
It’s chaos: unpacking and commands and all the meta-humans from the Villain’s Guild bustling about.
“Plasmaman just found a spider and asked me if I had a cup and a piece of paper,” Christine whispers to Emma.
“Sounds like Cass,” Emma says. “Did he ask you to trap the spider?”
“Yeah, he wouldn’t go near it.” Christina shakes her head. “One of the most terrifying villains in the Collective is here in my house and afraid of spiders. I mean, I know he’s not a real villain, but…”
“I get it, though. Spiders do that leg thing,” Emma says, wiggling her fingers and laughing.
Deirdre has found a chair to stand on. “Most excellent. We’ll use this as the communications annex.”
Cass is barely visible over a huge box, wobbling down the hallway and tracking mud everywhere. “Be careful! Those are antique rugs,” Christine says.
Every inch of Christine’s expansive home has been taken over by the thirty-seven odd meta-humans who have gathered inside: the remnants of the Villain’s Guild and what Emma once thought would be the driving force of the Resistance. She’s not sure what it is now. She heaves, setting the last box in one of the spare bedrooms.
“Perfect, thanks,” Michael says, dusting his hands off and smiling at her. “It’s good to see you again, Emma.”
“Yeah,” Emma says. “Glad you’re all here safe.” That’s true, at least. Maybe more true for the Trans and Abby’s mom. She’s not sure how she feels about all the people who kept her out of plans in the Rockies. But this time she’s not going to stand for it.
“The Resistance is looking good these days,” he says, setting up his computer console.
“Oh, you’re part of the Resistance now?” Emma cocks an eyebrow.
“Of course, we are,” Michael says, chuckling. “We’re fighting back against the League!”
“Hey, you know your research that you were doing with invoking powers?” Emma asks.
Michael’s face falls, and he looks at the floor with an ashen, guilty look. “Ah. Yes. That. I mean, I had most of Orion’s notes, and I didn’t know what the consequences. I was swept away by the possibilities! You can’t— I’m sorry if I made you think I could—”
Emma holds up her hands. “Wait, what?”
Michael sits on one of his boxes and buries his face in his hands.
Cold horror sweeps over Emma. “What happened? Is everyone okay? Uh— Nina?” Emma doesn’t know how many other people Michael had in his trials.
“She’s fine. I realized why it wasn’t going to work with the methods I was using; that’s why everyone was getting sick.” Michael sighs.
“So you stopped the treatment and everyone’s better?” Emma asks.
“Yeah. They don’t have powers anymore either, that’s for sure,” Michael says.
“Huh.” Emma sits down next to Michael, thinking about all the new meta-humans on the scene. If the League is behind their powers, they must have used this same research. “Do you think there’s a way to make it work?”
Michael gives her a grim smile and doesn’t answer the question. “I was going about it all wrong, but I’m glad I did.”
Emma raises her eyebrow. “You’re glad you messed up and did the experiment wrong?”
Michael laughs, a mirthless, hollow sound. “If I had just decoded everything from the start and tried to replicate everything— I—” he shakes his head. “It’s awful. I can’t believe what it takes. I don’t even want to tell you. It’s so gross.”
“Well, now you can’t not tell me,” Emma says.
Deirdre’s grating voice echoes from the living room. “Resistance meeting!”
Michael sighs and gives Emma a small smile. “Back to work, eh?”
“The first plan of action is direct confrontation, right in the middle of Starscream’s next planned battle with Icebolt.” Deirdre sets down her megaphone to give Brendan a smile. “Thank you, Brendan, for this handy algorithm.” She turns to the crowd with an eager smile. “Now, it’s key that we are recorded. Once we have Starscream and Fireheart apprehended, we’ll redirect the cameras, where Chameleon as Wilton Lysander will explain to the public the truth.”
The room echoes with applause.
“Genius!”
“Fantastic!”
“That was my idea!” Emma gasps, elbowing Bells next to her. “Did you hear that? She’s using my idea!”
“Yeah! Isn’t it great? I finally got her to listen,” Bells says, grinning at her. “Now we can move forward with the plan. That’s what you wanted, right? For all of us to take action?”
Emma falters. “Well, yes. She didn’t give me any credit though.”
Bells frowns. “Yeah, Deirdre is like that.”
Emma clenches her fists. “I’m not even going to ask if I can go. I’m just gonna do it.”
Emma parks the car, idling in an alleyway in clear view of the town square. “Hey, Mastermind here. Over?”
Static crackles; most of her friends are out of range. Abby, Sasha, Tanya, and Ricky are off with Tree Frog and Arête in Shinewright, another Hopestar town, where they’re hoping to interfere with a battle between Sublimate and Swift Emblem. Emma looks for any sight of Jess, her mom, or Bells.
She has to admit, Deirdre’s simultaneous three-city battle interference is actually pretty cool, even if it is based on Emma’s plan.
“The Heinous Chameleon, reading you loud and clear, over.” Bells turns and gives her a little wave as he dismounts from his motorcycle. He glances around the empty street, and then his dreadlocks melt into coiffed hair, his face elongates, and his leather-look jacket transforms into a glimmering, sparkling suit. “Anyone see you leave Christine’s?”
“Nope,” Emma says proudly.
She watches Bells leave the side street and enter the square; it’s crowded already with people and a news crew. This must be a big battle; there are multiple drones buzzing around and also camera people hefting large cams for broadcasting live in high definition. Farha Rao is looking furtively over her shoulder, pretending to adjust the pin in her headscarf. She spots Bells and gives him a nod of acknowledgment.
Down the street, Starscream and Icebolt are trading blows; Emma can hear the echo of Starscream’s shrill energy bursts, and she can see slivers of ice slicing through the air. The camera people follow their moves diligently; drones catch multiple angles as another follows Farha as she narrates. Emma looks through the binoculars and squints as she studies Icebolt’s face. He definitely is pulling his punches as the villain, stopping every few minutes to hurl a practiced quip at Starscream.
