Steel Life (Cape High Series Book 25), page 14
“Why are you helping them?” one of the group demands. “They hate you! They don’t want you here! THEY’RE the ones that should leave!”
Jack turns, only to pause and dig something out of his pocket. The handful of metal balls shift into a glass cutter, which he hands to the black suit. “Cut this into the rough sizes, I’ll come in and finish it,” he says before heading for the group of angry looking teenagers. Their surly looks of defiance almost have him shaking his head. He used to have that look on his face all the time. They back up as he gets closer, but he ignores it, heading for the toughest looking guy in the group. The guy has a Cold Steel t-shirt on and has shaved the sides of his head. He braces himself, his hands clenching, as if he expects Jack to attack. He’s probably the one that threw the can.
“Did you do that?” Jack asks, nodding towards the house. The teen grits his teeth, about to nod when another speaks up.
“We didn’t do it!”
“Shut up,” the teen in front says.
Jack reaches up, touching his earbud. “Did you find out who did it?” he asks.
“Chris knows—” the kid in the back says, only to shut up as the teen turns and glares at him.
“We have a list,” Nico says over the comm. A light flashes on Jack’s wrist and he taps on it, bringing up a hologram. It has a line of pictures, which he holds up and compares with the people in front of him. Every single one of them goes pale at the sight as Jack swipes through the faces with a finger, stopping on one.
“This one looks like you, huh?” Jack says. The kid takes a step back, about to bolt for it.
“It’s his brother, according to the police files,” Nico says over the comm. “His name is Chris Campbell. The brother’s name is Jackson. Ironic, huh?”
“Your brother, huh?” Jack says. “Tell your brother I’m looking for him.” And then he turns, about to return to the cleanup work.
The teen stops, staring at him. “That’s it?” he asks. “That’s all you’re gonna do?”
“He threw a can at you!” another kid says. “You should at least knock him around a bit!”
Jack inwardly groans, crossing the street again, glaring at them all irritably. “Why are you here?” he asks Chris. “You know what your brother did, you know I’m looking for him, so why are YOU the one that’s here?”
“Because…” Chris looks at the others, hesitating, and then squares his shoulders. “Because he was right! They shouldn’t live here if they’re like that! They’re hateful! They’re the type of people that called the cops and got Jackson tossed into prison the first time! And they’re just going to do the same to you!”
Jack looks at him, and then, to all of their shock, hauls the teen into a hug, not daring to slap his back because he doesn’t want to break anything. “But I like the way you handle it a million times better than what your brother did,” he says softly as the teen goes still.
“Wh—what?”
“I changed my mind,” Jack says, grinning evilly as he pulls back. “You threw a can at me.”
“I—”
“And because you did that, I’m going to make you pay for it,” Jack goes on, and then he picks the large teen up and places him on the board that comes flying. “You’re going to help clean up the mess your brother made. You AND your buddies,” he declares, hauling a couple others onto the board. They don’t try to run that far, to his surprise. The last one even jumps on the board, all on his own.
“Why did you do that?” Chris asks him. “Are you stupid?”
“Why WOULDN’T I do it? This board is awesome!”
“Boys, we’re putting these guys to work!” Jack says—and then promptly drops the group on the ground in front of the house. “Get them set up with paint rollers, we’ll get this done faster and move on to the next one.”
Chris looks at the woman that comes out of the house, glaring even as she brings out a tray of drinks. “I thought… you might want something to drink,” Ms. Clerks says hesitantly, seeing the angry teenager.
“Sure,” Jack says, walking over and taking the first cup.
“You haven’t done anything!” one of the black suits tells him.
“I’m gearing up!” Jack says, shamelessly. “A guy’s gotta run on his stomach, you know!”
To the teens’ shock, and even to Mr. Johnson’s, the other black suits start protesting.
“If you start, there won’t be any left for us!” one calls out. “Somebody keep him away from the snacks!”
“I’ll call Life Light,” another says seriously, reaching for his phone.
“Wait! Not that!” Jack says, “One more cup and I’ll be done!”
“I’m going to call her,” the black suit says.
“Okay, okay, I’m done,” Jack says, heading for the glass panels that have been cut out. He taps on his watch and a more precise blueprint appears on the glass, which he traces with his finger. To their astonishment, the excess glass falls to the ground. “Nice stuff, but it seems pretty familiar…” he says. “Did you take it from the vault?”
“It was cheaper, since you helped create it,” a black suit calls out. “It’s from your stuff.”
“All of it?” Jack asks.
“Yeah, all of it.”
“Looks like I’m gonna haveta restock next weekend.”
“What do you mean, restock?” Chris asks.
“Cold Steel makes all of his own materials,” the nearest black suit says. “Once he got a hold of that clear aluminum, he came up with a few new metal laced glass products. This one has a thin layer of aluminum on the surface, which makes it easier to cut into form, but also enhances the strength against hits. Whoever tries to break it next time is gonna get a bit of a shock.” He gets to work, carving out the windows and framing them in metal. The teens, seeing him working this hard, slowly start working as well—not because they like the lady they’re working for, but because they don’t get yelled at whenever they take a moment to snap a picture of Jack working. Those pictures are going to make them FAMOUS.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The twenty-something-year-old man glowers at the teenager that’s painting the house. The man is hiding behind a tree, having come to see his brother start a fight with Cold Steel, and is sorely disappointed that he’d been betrayed this easily. He’d thought that Chris understood him! Chicks like that shouldn’t be allowed in this neighborhood! They don’t belong! They’re always sticking their noses in other people’s business, and—
“So,” a man says from behind him, “spying?”
Jackson jerks, turning and looking at the strangely familiar man standing there. “Who are you?” he demands.
“Seeing just what a fake villain Cold Steel is, aren’t you?” the man says, moving closer and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Is that your… family member, maybe?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, old man,” he says, trying to move. The hand on his shoulder keeps him right where he is. Suddenly he realizes why the man looks so familiar. “You’re that one guy, aren’t you? The one who wanted to be president, and then tried to blow up the White House, right?”
“That’s exactly who I am,” Herold says with a little smile. “And I’ve always said that supers are no good. They’re constantly sticking their noses into things that have nothing to do with them.”
Jackson stares at him for a long moment before saying, “Aren’t YOU a super?”
“Aren’t you a norm?” Herold asks. “You don’t see me accusing you of being the same as that woman now do you? There’s a reason you attacked her house. She’s not like you. She doesn’t understand you. She hates people that don’t fit her little world view, isn’t that right?”
“She’s a hypocrite!” Jackson snaps. “Who is she to tell us who can or can’t live somewhere?”
“Exactly,” Herold says, looking around. He tugs his hat down lower. “But now isn’t the time. This is something we need to plan out.”
“Er… what?” Jackson asks.
Herold drops an arm over his shoulders and tugs. The man comes along a bit hesitantly. “Cold Steel is looking for you, you know. Do you really think he’s going to thank you for what you did after seeing this?”
Jackson’s face goes pale, and he glances back at the house. Herold pulls him away, far more easily this time. “I can save you. Cold Steel is no match for me, you know. He’s just a walking hunk of metal, which is something I specialize in. You’re safe.” Jackson nods, the color coming back into his face.
“Thanks… I just…” he says, but Herold goes on before he can go on.
“But nothing is free, my friend. In exchange, I need you to give me a little hand,” he says conversationally. “I need you to help me rent a room.”
***
*Egypt*
“So, Firefly,” the man says to Sparky. He’s an archaeologist post-graduate who’s come here to do his thesis on the area, “I thought you were getting married soon. I haven’t really been able to keep up with the Hall news, since we’re out here in the middle of nowhere, but I did hear about that. Are you and Taurus good?”
“Taurus is… okay, I suppose,” Sparky says, almost snorting. Her daughter just HAD to pick a man like that. Oh, it isn’t his skin color, she couldn’t care less about that, it’s the “A-class” part that irritates her. She, herself, had been stuck with that sub-par title. She hates it. Not that it really matters. She’s left that life behind, and will be more than happy if she never sees her “precious daughter” ever again. Nicolas raised her to be just like him, and it’s disgusting. The only thing they have in common is how they look, and their powers—except even those aren’t the same, her mind whispers. Her daughter is stronger than she is, can fly, and can, she’s heard, manipulate the electric field. She’s never even HEARD of the electric field.
Well, it doesn’t matter. The girl doesn’t use any of those powers Sparky had worked so hard to get her. What a waste of so many years of her life, Sparky thinks, sipping the beer that the man had given her. “Can I borrow your phone?” she asks him.
“Ah, yeah, sure,” he says, but he seems to be hesitating. “It’s a satellite phone, so there’s a certain way to do it—” he starts out, picking it up. She takes it from his hand and taps on it for a while before bringing it up to her ear.
“I need a favor,” she says, not offering a greeting. It’s clear that they don’t expect one as she goes on, “get me a pick up at—” she looks around, seeing a map on the table and walking over. Luckily for her, their coordinates are already written down. She rattles them off and then hangs up, stretching for a moment before going back to her beer. She gulps it down. “Thanks,” she says, heading out of the tent, clean, fed, and with a plane heading her way.
It’s good to have clients that want to keep her in their good graces, she thinks as a plane comes flying their way a while later. Oh, sure, she could have kept looking for an electrical system, but why bother? She needs to find out just what happened that she can’t remember. She also needs to find Herold so she can get paid. She ALWAYS gets paid.
***
*Central*
Aubrey smiles as she closes the hospital room door behind her, feeling exhausted. Oh, it’s not physically. She can go on for several hours more, not that they’ll allow her to. Until she graduates, she’s on a very regimented schedule. As it is, people would think they were abusing her with the schedule she already keeps, but she’s a cape. She has far more endurance than a normal person. It’s just the emotional strain that can get to her.
She sees Alyssa and Bobby sitting in their little room, already, and walks over, sitting down next to Alyssa and leaning her head on the other girl’s shoulder.
“Rough day?” Alyssa asks, still tapping on her phone. They had finally talked Nico into adding match games to their phone apps.
“I’m exhausted,” Aubrey admits. “And Jack’s been working his tail off, so I can’t even complain to him about it.”
“You can complain to us,” Bobby says.
“You’re going through the exact same stuff I am,” Aubrey points out. “I don’t even have to complain, you know what the problem is, already. But…” She sighs and pulls out her phone, tapping on it and bringing the information up on the wall. This room is ONLY for her and the healers. Oh, sure, the rest of the ER knows how Nico came in and fixed it up, but only the healers have access to the wall. “These are the call-outs that have been verified by the tech team so far,” she tells them. The list is over a page long. There are videos next to the information, which the group stares at for a while before looking at one another.
“We’re going to need Kirsten, aren’t we?” Alyssa says.
“She might be the right choice for some of them… maybe we can get Max or Mastermental to go along with her and oversee it,” Aubrey says. “She’s been practicing.”
“Oh, she can DO it, but will they appreciate it? Tact is something the girl knows nothing about,” Alyssa says bluntly. The other two look at her pointedly, and she at least manages to look sheepish about it. “I never said I was good at it, either,” she says, “But I’m also not the one that can bring memories out in the open.”
“I can help with that one,” Bobby says, pointing to a girl that had been burnt badly.
“Then we’ll set you up with a guard and send you out tomorrow,” Aubrey says, tapping on her phone. Soon they’re claiming various problems and adding them to a schedule that pops up for each of them. It’s already pretty heavy, but none of them say a word about that… until the entire week’s schedule is filled for all three of them. “Should we call Michael Allen?” Aubrey asks hesitantly.
“He’s in the middle of college classes. He’s been complaining about finals coming up for weeks,” Alyssa says, sighing. “Maybe we can get Jonas up here?”
“Ooooh,” Bobby says teasingly.
“What’s that ‘ooooh’ about, boy?” Alyssa asks.
“You miss him,” he says as she shoves his shoulder, starting to laugh.
“Of course I miss him!” Alyssa says. “He’s my friend. You can’t say you don’t miss him.”
“Sure I do, but he’s having a great time down there,” he says. “I call him up on a regular basis.”
“I know,” Alyssa says, sighing. “He’ll probably want to stay down there.”
“We can stay anywhere,” Aubrey says, finishing up the scheduling for all three of them and then making notes for the ones that Kirsten can do. Kirsten does her training under Mastermental at the local VA hospital once a week. She’s been doing much better than Aubrey had expected, regardless of what Alyssa says about tact, so she can be trusted with these. She just needs to be told. “We’re going to keep the watches after graduation and answer to all of the Halls.”
“So it’s official?” Bobby asks.
“They’re in negotiations for how much each of them pays us,” Aubrey says. “That also means this will soon be a lot longer list, since we’ll be reaching all the places in North America. I’m tempted to go speak with the adult healers and see if they’re willing to join in.”
The teens fall silent, not looking too hopeful about that idea. The older healers have spent so long NOT standing out that it’s almost impossible to get them to try. Oh, sure, some of them have gone to work for their local hospitals, but the rest just went back to their daily lives.
“Being us… isn’t easy,” Alyssa says quietly. There’s no reaction to that, other than Bobby’s head bobbing ever so slightly. “Well, either way, we have a long week ahead of us, so we should head home and get some sleep,” she declares, standing.
“Wait,” Aubrey says as she gets a new notice. She flicks the screen and it shows on the wall. “There’s one more that’s been approved,” she says, only to go silent as she sees the family on the screen. It’s the same little girl that had been on the YouTube video at Summer’s place. “No,” she says. “I’ll take this one. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Did you recognize her?” Alyssa asks.
“I saw her shout-out just the other day,” Aubrey admits, feeling a bit self-conscious about being read so easily. But of course she was. She’s been working with these two for a while. “I hate these shout-outs,” she admits. “I hate them, because I know that for every one of them that we see, there are so many other people that we’ll never hear about.”
“And even out of the ones we see, will we be able to help all of them?” Alyssa says, knowing exactly how she feels. “I hate to say it, but maybe Superior’s right. When you and Jack get married, you better have LOTS of kids. We need more healers in the world.”
“That’s not completely up to me, you know,” Aubrey says. “Why don’t the two of you find someone and help out with that problem?”
“I don’t like little kids enough to want some of my own,” Alyssa says, blowing it off.
“Says the one who peeks in on the kindergarten class once a day,” Bobby says.
“Those little kids are different,” Alyssa protests. “They’ve got skills! And I never said they weren’t fun to watch, I just said I don’t WANT any of my own.”
The other two just look at her, pointedly. “She’s right,” Bobby admits. “Someday we’re all going to have to have kids. It would be… wrong not to pass down the abilities. But I like little kids, so I’m fine with it.”
There’s a knock at the door and they all look up as Jack sticks his head in. “You hungry?” he asks.
“Why yes, yes I am!” Alyssa says, hopping to her feet.
“He was asking me,” Aubrey says, only to stand as well.
“Eh, I’ll take all three of you,” Jack says. “Let’s go out for dinner, I’m payin’.”
“But won’t your mom be cooking?” Aubrey asks.
“I can always eat it for second dinner. You know, if they actually LEAVE me anything,” he says. “I already told her I needed to eat something not good for me, today.”
