Steel Life (Cape High Series Book 25), page 10
“Ah, yeah, Liz?” Jack says, suddenly realizing what the problem is. “I got my watch on—”
“Be quiet, Jack,” Ken says, his voice soft but resounding. “Liz is right. You attacked my son, Sparky, on live television. You also put children in danger with that little lightning stunt of yours.”
“Is it her island?” Jack hears Sunny ask, sounding more curious than anything. “Think she’ll let me claim the tree house for a base? I figure I could hang out here during—”
“It’s our family’s island, Sunny, you can set up base here anytime you want,” Liz says, waving it off. “Right, Dad?” There’s a cold smile on her face as she looks over at Superior, “Mom?” she adds, looking straight at the woman next to him.
“Mom?” Sparky repeats, looking confused. She turns and watches as Superior turns off his illusion, and then, to her shock, so does the woman sitting next to him.
“It is been not long enough, Sparky,” Tatiana says with a tiny smile on her face that doesn’t reach her eyes.
“Why…? How?” Sparky asks breathlessly. “HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?”
“I am not!” Tatiana says cheerfully. “Mastermental, you will take care of this when we are done, yes?”
“I will,” Mastermental says as Tatiana stands and starts for Sparky. She looks quite stunning in her dress, even though it had been hidden under an illusion for the entire wedding. That doesn’t change the fact that she’s a very intimidating woman who towers over Sparky by a foot, at least.
“I am taking your daughter, Sparky,” she says, reaching up and patting Sparky’s cheek. “She is mine now, just as our Jack is ours, as well. You will not be hurting my children again.” The coldness of her voice contrasts starkly with the gentle pat to the cheek. “You will be forgetting, after this.”
“What—” Sparky says. She tries to pull back as Tatiana takes her jaw in hand, but she can’t pull free. She can only watch in terror as Mastermental walks over. “You can’t—” she starts out.
Mastermental reaches out, touching her temple, and the world goes dark for Sparky.
CHAPTER EIGHT
There’s a somber attitude on the island after Nico takes Sparky, leaving her somewhere with all memories of her time here forgotten. “She’s going to see the feed, sooner or later,” Jack points out from where he’s lounging on his board. He keeps looking down at the charred, green glass covered remains of their benches. “I liked those benches,” he complains, almost to himself.
“We all liked the benches, but you can make more later,” Aubrey promises. She’s sitting next to him, leaning into his side. “I was… hoping for something different,” she says a bit wistfully.
“A woman that can smack an eight-year-old around and feel justified by calling it training is not going to be suddenly maternal,” Max says, but he’s scowling. “She was working for someone. Are we sure that dumping her somewhere on the planet is the best choice?”
“I’m still open to the idea of an I.O.U.,” Reaper says.
“I might take you up on that,” Liz says, “but AFTER we have the reception. The least we can do is have a good meal.” She starts for the area where they had thrown the luau, and Taurus watches her for a moment before chasing after her.
“I should talk to her,” Aubrey says.
“No,” Jack says, “let Taurus.”
“Actually, YOU should talk to her,” Aubrey says, poking him.
“What did I do?” Jack asks.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” she says, sighing. “If you weren’t wearing the E.P.B. at the time, she could have done a lot of damage to you with that electricity. Let me think… Here’s a way to explain it. What if she had aimed that at Robo, instead?” she asks him.
His expression goes dark, his eyes narrowing at the thought. “She had better not even think about it,” he says, starting to get up.
“She didn’t! I doubt she even noticed what Robo is. But now you know how Mom feels. How… a lot of the adults feel,” she says.
“Yeah, but I ain’t a little kid,” Jack says.
“But you’re vulnerable to things like that,” she says, and then pats his arm, knowing he will never see it. Even after all he’s gone through, he still doesn’t understand how people could get angry over something happening to him. “Yes, this sort of thing happens, but it’s pre-arranged and planned out,” she says. “It’s all just a show. She might have ACTED like it was a show, but she put a lot of people, including the kids and you, at risk.”
“Yeah, okay,” he says, and she gives up on the topic. It’s over now, and that’s all that matters. They hear cheering from the luau area, and she takes his hand.
“I am NOT tossing my bouquet, soooo,” they hear Liz say as they head for the area. “We’ll have a limbo contest, instead!”
“LIMBO!” Skye yells, doing a silly dance of excitement. “Nobody’s gonna beat ME at limbo,” she declares proudly.
“She’s got a point,” Century admits. “She is quite good at going through impossible spaces.”
“No powers allowed,” Liz says, holding a stick in her hand. “Now, who’s ready to limbo!”
Music starts playing and the group gets in line, or moves to the side to watch and laugh as the game starts. Aubrey stays right where she is, leaning into Jack’s side and thinking about what could have happened. Jack, on the other hand, brings out his phone and checks on the secret base feed. “Ha! We got an old tractor now. I’m tempted to leave it like it is.”
“We aren’t having a tractor in our front yard, Jack,” Aubrey says dryly. “You can take it apart and make some sort of art out of it, though. But don’t do too many of them, otherwise the neighbors will start to hate us.”
“Ah, yeah, they already do,” he says.
“What do you mean they already do?” she asks, suspiciously.
“We had a bit of a protest goin’ on the day before yesterday. Bunch of ladies and their kids thought I’d be throwin’ all-night parties.”
“I thought we were a few miles from the nearest neighborhood,” she says, taking his phone from him and tapping on it to see what he’s talking about. “You’re in the business district, right?”
“We ARE, but it’s still just a block away from the neighbors, and actually…” he gives her a crooked grin, “we own the block, so… neighbors.”
She sighs. “I can go speak to them after we get back. I’ll just have to work it in.”
“No, the house is my job,” Jack says. “I can deal with it. You got a lot of work to do, right?”
She looks at him, hesitating. “I think I know what my graduation gig will be… but I was hoping you would be my partner for it.” He frowns, and she hurries on, “I mean, it’s not going to be going out for a long period of time, it’ll just be a series of trips, instead. I don’t think I can fit an internship in, honestly.”
“Series of trips?” he asks.
“I’m going to have Mastermental’s team check out the YouTube shout-outs that I’ve been getting,” she says. “We’ll send in a healer, me, or one of the others, and a guard. I still need my adult overseer though…” she looks over the crowd, seeing some of the biggest names in supers laughing their heads off as they try to limbo without their powers. Her eyes fall on Grandpa Andre, seeing him chatting away with her Granddad Jake, and she starts to smile.
“You found one already?” Jack asks.
“Maybe I could ask Grandpa Andre?” she says silently. “He has all sorts of connections, he could get us into the hospitals, I bet.”
“But he’s pretty busy, right? They’re startin’ up the new VTV soon,” Jack says. “We got time, don’t worry about it just yet.” He looks around, noticing that Nico is nowhere to be seen. “He still hasn’t gotten back yet, has he?” he says quietly, but he knows everyone’s heard it.
“He’s taking her way, way, waaaaay far away,” Skye says cheerfully. “It’ll take her a really long time to come back and bother us, I’m sure!”
“But it’s still on the planet, isn’t it?” Reaper says. He’s leaning against a wall with a glass of whiskey in his hand, looking appropriately dangerous for a grim reaper—or he would look that way if there weren’t little girls sitting on the ground next to him draped in jewels. Evie, apparently, had told Hana about all of Reaper’s shinies. “Why don’t you tell me where they went, Little Darlin’, and I’ll take care of that problem?”
“Okay!” Skye says.
Liz looks at him, and then sighs, shaking her head with reluctance. “We… can’t,” she says slowly. “What she did was wrong, and I… I don’t like her—sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever be able to forgive her, actually, but… she’s still my mother,” she says finally. “Shipping her off planet is only an option if she comes back.”
“Are you certain?” Reaper asks. “I dislike what she did so much I might not even need the I.O.U. Jack is my little gemstone’s brother by choice, you know.”
“I didn’t choose!” Sandra says. “He dragged me around until I figured I was stuck with him!”
“Love you, too, sis,” Jack says, completely unrepentant. Then he shoots Tank a dark look, because the jersey devil teen is standing right next to her with a plate of food in his hands. Tank glares right back, but now isn’t the time for that and they both know it. That doesn’t stop Tank from smirking at him and pointedly moving a little closer to Sandra. She turns, giving him a dry look. “Something scaring you, junior devil? If you need to hide behind me, you’re out of luck. I’ll be the first one to toss you to the heroes.”
Jack starts laughing, because he should have seen that coming. Aubrey shakes her head and reluctantly laughs, as well. Sandra had hated Aubrey with a passion for a long time, but now… well, sure, Jack has a closer relationship with the girl than she does, but at least they’re on talking basis.
“Well, since that’s the case,” Reaper says, putting his cup down. “What say we cut a rug, Sheba?” he asks Doris, holding out a hand to Doris. As if cued, the music changes from reggae to big band. Jack looks over, seeing Rocco manning the DJ booth, and gets a grin in return before the old big band music turns into a mix. Soon several of those out of the limbo competition are either swing dancing or making a ridiculous attempt at it. Aubrey grabs Jack’s hand and tugs him out onto the “dance floor,” grinning widely.
The fact that Nico isn’t back yet is completely forgotten by the party goers. If anyone can handle an electric type super, it’s him.
***
*Somewhere in a Desert*
Sand stretches out as far as the eye can see. There’s nothing living that doesn’t either slither or creep on the ground for miles upon miles. Sparky looks around and raises an eyebrow as she looks at Nico. “Where are we?”
“Western Desert,” he says, “it’s near Egypt. You’re welcome to go looking for civilization. But if I hear that you’ve come back to Hall territory, well, I’ve got a friend who can find me a planet just like this desert.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Why would I?” he asks. “I never wanted to see you again, Sparky.”
“What… why am I here?” she asks. “What did I do to deserve this?”
“Oh, right, you wouldn’t remember, would you?” he says to himself. “Well, let’s just leave it in the past. Right now, I’m here to tell you one thing. If you even come NEAR the Halls—any of them—I will do something that will make you regret being born.”
“If anyone should regret something, it’s you! You attacked me! I was FAMILY!” she says. “You don’t regret that?”
“You think THAT’S what I regret?” he asks, a bit incredulously. “I NEVER regretted tossing you to the curb. Honestly, you should be grateful I waited until I was older, because when I was eight I would have done much, much worse to you.”
“Eight?” she repeats.
“When you just yelled at me for the microwave blowing up, you didn’t even look at my back,” he says coldly. “That wasn’t the only time something like that happened. Stuff like that seems to stick out in my mind. I wonder why.” The sarcasm in his voice is chilling.
“Then what is it you regret?” she asks, looking for a weakness.
“Why should I explain it to you? Do you suddenly feel like a heart-to-heart with your stepson? I really doubt it,” for a moment there’s a dense atmosphere around him, one that has her taking a step back. He looks out at the desert that surrounds them, and sighs. “Sparky, you’re out of your league. Don’t screw with us again, or you’ll regret it. This is your last chance, so don’t blow it.”
He taps on his watch and leaves her there, in the middle of a massive desert with no electric lines nearby. She has no water, and she has no supplies, not even the bag of things she had taken to the wedding.
She shouts curses at him for a long moment, throwing a massive fit that no one but a lizard hears, and then she sets out to find a phone. Herold OWES her. She’s almost positive that she’s missing a chunk of memories. Mastermental probably has something to do with it.
She stops, though, wondering why the last thing she remembers is running through the portal that Nicolas had put up. She had been going to the wedding, right? What happened after that? Did he catch her right after she went through? Has the wedding not started yet?
She needs to find a television! She also needs to find a phone.
***
“So who hired her?” Nico asks over the comm as he appears in front of the school. He has a very good idea of who hired her, but he needs to be certain. He looks at the metal wall that’s underneath the now-visible security field, and then up at the three supers floating in a circle above it.
“Max was correct to think it was Herold,” Mastermental replies. “She was working as a diversion. Has anything happened?”
Nico frowns and claps his hands together, checking the system. “I don’t see any obvious changes, but you can never be too careful with a man like that. Pops, Zoe, did anyone approach the island?” he asks, changing to the family line.
“No one,” Zoe says, “although I did see the Capuchin monkey on the feed again. I’ll have everyone spread out and find him once the party is over.”
“Make sure it doesn’t get fried,” Nico says. “The last thing I want is for a dead monkey to be on my conscience.”
“Have you ever thought of making the security field one way?” Mastermental asks. “It seems it would be much safer for the children inside of it.”
“Yeah, but how else would we stop the baseballs from taking out satellites?” Nico asks, logically… or well, NICO-logically. “If the kid or adult is powerful enough to fly up there, they should be trained enough not to go through it. It also teaches them to be aware of where they are while fighting. The last thing we need is to destroy something that’s not slotted to be destroyed in a fight.”
“I see. That does make sense, I suppose,” Mastermental agrees. “Where are you now?”
Nico looks up as Cosmic and Bombastic land next to him. “I’m at the school, still. Did anything happen while we were gone? I’ll have to check the Hall after this.”
“My brothers are guarding the Hall,” Cosmic says. “They haven’t reported anything wrong.”
“That could be a good sign,” Nico says.
“There was one thing,” Bombastic says. “There was a man in a baseball cap about five miles away that I swear was watching us. When I say it out loud, though, it seems a bit more paranoid than I’d thought it would,” he admits.
“You’re thinking like I do,” Nico says, bringing up the camera feeds from five miles away. He snorts as he scans the past few hours, seeing how they all pixelate at the same time for a good five minutes. “He was here,” he says as they watch over his shoulder.
“You have cameras that far away,” Cosmic says. It’s not a question; it’s more of a dry, “I-should-have-known” phrase.
“I have cameras throughout the entire city,” Nico says. “I’ve even gone in and replaced the crappier norm ones with some of my own, because the feed was too grainy.”
“No one has complained of that,” Mastermental says. “I find myself a bit surprised by that fact. There are several that would love to sue us for tampering with their things.”
“I build them to look exactly like theirs,” Nico explains. “They don’t even notice. Okay… did either of you see his reaction to the living metal?” he asks as one video plays.
“He seemed surprised, I think,” Cosmic says.
“Yeah, he was,” Nico says, his expression going dark as he sees the look on Herold’s face. “That’s why he left so easily.”
“Are you certain?” Flameblaster asks from overhead. “I’ve been keeping an eye out for him, but he hasn’t shown up again.”
“He’s got a new goal,” Nico says. “It’s what would happen to me, if I saw that.”
“Then why did you use it?” Bombastic asks.
“Why WOULDN’T I use it?” Nico asks. “That stuff is amazing.”
“So now he’s going to try to steal the living metal?” Bombastic asks. “Are you an idiot?”
“It’s bait,” Nico says. “He finally came out of hiding. I have something he’s going to want to check out. It’ll keep him in this area long enough for me to find him. This time he doesn’t have Clay backing him up, or breaking him out.”
“But he does have Sparky,” Mastermental says.
“I should have dropped her off on another planet,” Nico mutters. “But it’s fine. I put a tracker on her. If she comes anywhere near the states, I’ll know.”
“What if she meets Herold?” Mastermental asks. “Would he be able to find the tracker?”
“If he does, we’ll have a very good idea where to find him when he messes with it,” Nico says. “Thanks for your hard work, guys, I can take over from here.”
“You should at least go get everyone off of the island, first,” Cosmic points out. “Besides, we haven’t finished planning out the date.”
