33 Cape High Mega Me, page 20
part #1 of Cape High Series
Negatia looks away, the faintest of trembles in her shoulders as she fights back laughter. It doesn’t help that she hears several Cosmics choke on laughter in the distance. “We do not say that the toilet splashed back, Ho’pa, we say that the toilet has a bidet.”
“Whatever it was, it was definitely unsanitary,” Ho’pa says, still making a face.
“The water used is perfectly clean,” Negatia tells her. This is NOT a conversation she’s ever had with someone, and she would rather change it, quickly. “So you blew it up. Did the Cosmics arrest you for it?”
“They started laughing,” Ho’pa says. “They told me that the toilet was only trying to help.”
“That doesn’t sound like such a mean thing to do,” Negatia says.
“I got soaked,” Ho’pa says, very seriously.
“By the… um… splash?”
“By the water shooting up after the toilet exploded,” Ho’pa says. “Do you have kids?”
“I have a step-son,” Negatia says. “He’s turning into an adult, and moving up to the North Pole, soon.”
“You live in a pole?” Ho’pa asks.
“It’s an area on our planet that is very cold and icy,” Negatia says, sitting down on the air and tapping on her comm to bring up pictures. “Here. There’s a very nice man called Santa who lives up there, and makes toys with his elves for all the good boys and girls on our planet.”
“Your planet is really strange,” Ho’pa says, staring at the pictures in wonder. “Does he just run around giving random gifts to strangers all the time?”
“There’s a special night where he does it,” Negatia says.
“I see…” Ho’pa says, although the look on her face says she doesn’t see at all. She turns to the wall, instead. “Will they return?” she asks. “The power hunters?”
“Are you afraid?” Negatia asks.
“No… I want them to come,” Ho’pa says. “If I have this taken away from me…” She looks at her hands, and tiny flames flicker over her fingers. “Maybe… if I lose my powers I can actually be a good girl and get a toy from your pole dweller.”
Negatia stares at her, feeling a strange urge to hug the girl. She isn’t quite comfortable with that. She isn’t exactly… good… with teenagers, or even pre-teens. That’s obvious, considering how terrible things went with Justin when he was that age. And just as she’s starting to move forward, the wall lights up. “Negatia,” Nico says, his face appearing on the wall. “You can head back to the planet, if you want.”
“Really? Does this mean you’ve captured the power hunters?” Negatia asks. She sees Ho’pa stiffen from the corner of her eye, but she doesn’t know how to respond to it.
Nico, on the other hand, looks over at the girl curiously. “Are you one of the Cosmic kids?” he asks.
“Who are you?” Ho’pa demands. “I don’t have to tell you anything.” There’s a defiant look on her face. “And you never answered Negatia!”
“We haven’t captured them, but we’re working on it,” he tells Negatia. “Actually, we’re hunting down Herold, first, and figuring he might be good bait. Bonus points if they steal a chunk of his powers before we get to him.”
“Really, Nico, that’s a terrible attitude. The stronger the hunters get, the more troublesome they become,” Negatia says. He grins at her, evilly.
“Between you and Reaper, they aren’t any trouble at all, are they,” he says.
She feels the strangest urge to blush at that, but she ignores it. “I am not a Hall leader by chance, regardless of what you might have believed before. It takes a level of competency to do my job.”
“Yeah, I know,” he says, “which is why I want you heading home. The Cosmics aren’t paying enough for all of us.”
“I thought it was Mastermental who insisted on being paid properly,” Negatia says.
“This is different. The Cosmics keep dragging us into messy situations, working for free, practically. It’s one thing to make my old man do it, it’s another completely to make one of my kid’s godmothers do it. So you head on home, I’ll make Stellar and Mega help me clean this up, it’ll prove that Stellar isn’t going to go rogue on us again—or it’ll show if he’s going to, either way, it’ll clear up the problem.”
“Mega is hardly—“ Negatia starts out.
“He’s tossed the power hunter out of the atmosphere once,” Nico says. “With my tech, he loses the weakness that he has—and frankly, his kid NEEDS to see what he’s capable of.”
“Is that truly why you’re going along with all of this so willingly?” Negatia asks.
“It’s more important to me that my kids realize who and what they are than… well… the rest of this setup, actually. Although Herold getting free is a rather large pain in my—“ there’s a beeping noise from the comm to cover up what he’d just said.
“We speak the same language,” she points out, “and it’s still censoring things?”
“My daughter insists on it—it’s actually pretty hysterical in certain circumstances,” he admits. There’s a beep on his side of the conversation and she sees him bring up another hologram. “What’s the problem, Mega?” he asks, not muting this conversation for the new one.
“Is there a reason you just ran off like that?” Mega demands. “You could have at least explained the plan—“ there’s the sound of people yelling and several crashing noises in the background. “I’m ON the PHONE!” Mega yells as several people start shouting. “How can you just ditch my kid like that?”
“I left you and Stellar,” Nico says.
“Nico, I’m having trouble picking up on his signal—he must have stolen some of Clay’s clay,” another voice says.
“You left me with a criminal who’s REALLY good at running away!” Mega snaps.
“Did he run?”
“He’s thinking about it,” Mega says. “He’s been hovering in the air—“ several snapping sounds come from his side of the conversation. “Did you do that?” he calls out.
“Their technology was giving me a headache,” Stellar calls back. “So I destroyed it.”
“Oh… well…” Mega says.
“Look, Mega, this is what I TRAIN your kid for, daily,” Nico says. “He’s one of the few kids we have to put a limiter on during crowd control training. But I didn’t ditch him, I left him with you. You’re a Central Hall super for a reason, and it’s not just because of your big head.”
“My big head has a very LARGE part of it, along with the rest of me—“
“I was talking your ego—Rocco?” he says.
“I don’t sense Herold, Boss, but there are two huge powers heading right this way,” they hear Rocco say.
“Then we’ll just be hanging up, now,” Nico says, and there’s a click. The hologram disappears from over Negatia’s arm.
“You’re just going to leave me,” Ho’pa says.
Negatia looks at her, wondering how it’s turned into this. “Ho’pa, we only just met—“
“You can stop my powers from going out of control,” Ho’pa says. “You’re not scared of me.”
“Well, of course I’m not,” Negatia says. “You’re a young girl who’s only barely coming into her powers. I am a fully-grown woman who has been dealing with supers for the past… well, much, much longer than you have been alive. Truly, the idea of people being afraid of you—“ she stops herself as she sees the tears welling up in Ho’pa’s eyes. “I see,” she says, sighing. “Ho’pa, have you decided that you want to come to my planet with me?”
The little girl nods, emphatically, throwing herself at Negatia and clinging tightly. Awkwardly, Negatia pats Ho’pa’s back, wondering just what she’s gotten herself into. Just how do you bring an alien to Earth and not cause mass havoc, anyway? Well, no, there are capes that—
The hologram over her wrist lights up again, and she brings it up behind the little girl’s head to see what’s happening.
On the screen is that boy, Ward. He seems to have broken several buildings, she notices with the tiniest of twitches of her lips. There’s a gaping hole in the wall behind him and he’s out on the streets, with several dozen people hanging off of him in a dramatic manner.
“He is going to be rather impressive when he’s grown,” she says quietly. “And without the ego of his father… But the collateral damage could be a problem.”
Ho’pa pulls away, turning to see the video, calming down quickly. Well, Negatia thinks, she’ll place the girl in Cape High and let Nico raise her like he and his team are raising so many others. She tries to ignore how Ho’pa leans back against her comfortably.
***
They just WON’T GET OFF OF ME! What is this, “climb Ward like a playground” day? Do I look like the easiest target in the group? Well… okay, I can sort of see that. Carla’s way too fast for them to grab, so they’d all grabbed me once the tech blew up, and we wound up crashing out of the building and into the street. Do you have ANY idea of how many “don’t crash through buildings!” lectures I’ve sat through? Even more than the Liberty Boys! It’s probably a RECORD!
I’m a little tweaked right now, if you can’t tell. I’m also feeling really ganged-up on. I look around, seeing my dad talking on a hologram, completely ignoring the fighters, save for when they go after him—he sends another group of them flying with a flick of his arm. And now more people are flooding out of the buildings around us and my translator kicks in as it picks up on a broadcast over the speakers.
“Three million to the ones who take down the Broccostian terrorist and his crew! Dead or alive! Preferably dead!” keeps blaring over the speakers, apparently changing languages several times along the way, but saying the same thing each time.
“Nico,” I say, suddenly seeing EXACTLY why they won’t give up.
“Ward, if you’re tired—“ Dad calls out, and I look over, seeing that he’s finally gotten a few feet taller. “We can cover for you while you make it to safety!”
“Ward—“ Carla says, rushing past us, “spends three…” she rushes past again, “hours on the…” another speed-by, “Apocalypse field!” she finishes with a flourish.
“Three hours?” Dad repeats, looking at me blankly.
“It was a competition against Kaden,” I say, shrinking again. This time I’m deliberate about getting smaller, as fast as possible. I’m roughly six inches tall, now. The fighters fall on top of each other, as I jump out of the way. “That… yeah, that’s not a bad trick,” I admit as I see them struggling to get up again. I’m about to get back to work when a strange feeling comes over me. I feel the hair on the back of my neck start to stand, and I’m almost reluctant to look up. I do, anyway, because this is one of those comic book worthy moments, and even I realize it. There, floating over us with a far-too-wide smile is a… childlike creature with wild hair and tattered clothing. To be honest, it would be a lot more impressive if they were bigger, or not drooling.
“We have one power hunter in sight,” I hear Dad say over the comm. “Did anyone bring a power-blocking collar?”
“There might be one on Fauna!” Carla says, rushing past us. “I’ll get it!”
The power hunter looks us over, his eyes falling on my dad. That sort of surprises me, actually, because Stellar is still floating there, watching him with a sharp expression on his face. The power hunter doesn’t even glance at him before letting out a roar and racing straight for my dad. That… no, seriously WHY did he do that? You’ve got a true Lerrestian standing right there—
Dad grows almost a mile taller and smacks the power hunter so hard that it breaks through the concrete and gets buried in the ground for a moment. Dad reaches up and rubs the bridge of his nose. “I did it again,” he says, his voice so loud that the ground shakes a bit under my feet—or maybe that’s the after-effects of the gigantic impact to the ground.
“At least this time you didn’t toss him into the atmosphere—you didn’t, did you?” Nico’s voice asks over the comm.
“Just slammed him into the ground,” Dad says. I head for the hole, peeking over the edge. It’s pitch black down there, so I bring up my comm, turning on the flashlight. I wave it around, searching for the power hunter. For a moment it looks like there’s no one down there—then he’s in my face. I don’t even have time to react, or go back to my normal size before he’s hauling me into the air, holding me hostage.
“This little one smells like you,” the power hunter says, his hand tightening. “If I take his powers, how will you feel? He’s still young, and fresh,” he says, sniffing my head in a very disturbing manner. “What would you call it… veal? Fresh powers are sweet and delicious.”
“Let go of my son,” Dad says.
“Shrink,” the power hunter demands. “Go to a normal size, and stop doing whatever it was that burnt my tongue. I’m going to EAT YOU.”
The hold tightens even more, and abruptly I wonder if I can break even with my E.P.B. on. Dad smacking him made him look weak, right? I’m starting to think that that isn’t the case. I jerk, trying to get out of his hold, but it doesn’t accomplish anything.
“You have it too, don’t you,” he says, right in my ear. “But you’re not as strong as your old man. You’re just a baby. A baby…” he says, distracted. His hold loosens ever so slightly and I slam my elbow into his hand, several times in a row. He barely grunts. He starts to shapeshift. I feel something drip on my head before I’m enclosed in darkness, completely. I have no idea what just happened, but I get the disturbing feeling that I was just…
Eaten.
Like, there’s something moving under my feet that’s slightly squishy and I am definitely feeling something large and… dare I say… tooth-like.
You know how I was freaked out by being buried underground? Well, that fear has just been completely replaced by a new trauma—being in a gigantic MOUTH. I want to say I’m handling this calmly, you know, if they ever DO make this a comic, but—
“THIS IS NOT RIGHT, MAN! NOT RIGHT AT ALL!” I shout, trying and failing to balance on one foot so that only ONE sole of my shoes is touching the tongue. The tongue moves, and I start to topple over, as I lose my balance, and fall against teeth—“How many rows of teeth do you HAVE?” I demand as I see one layer close and then another—and they’re all pointed. It’s like being in the mouth of a gigantic shark. “NOT RIGHT!” I yell, again, trying to avoid getting chewed on.
Now, super logic says that I should just grow and see if I can break through all those walls of teeth—or barring that, I start punching his throat or do something else that will trigger his gag reflexes and make him spit—or possibly hurl me out of his mouth. That’s the thing we were taught in our “disgusting and disturbing fights” class. (No, it wasn’t called that, but it should have been.)
But if I do ANY of that, I am definitely going to be covered in even more drool than I already am, aren’t I? Even as I think that, though, I feel myself being sucked towards the back of the mouth and I realize I’ll just have to suck it up—ok, bad choice of words in this instance—but I’m definitely going to have to DO something.
“DAD!” I shout. “He’s trying to SWALLOW ME!” That… probably wasn’t the most manly decision I’ve ever made, I’ll admit.
“Seriously?” Dad says over the comm.
“It’s disgusting in here!” I say, even as the tongue tries to wrap around me. “WOULD YOU QUIT THAT, ALREADY?” I demand, punching the tongue as hard as I can.
“Ward… just grow,” he says. “Never mind, you’re probably dealing with your claustrophobia, aren’t you?”
There’s a WOOF of air and the mouth moves drastically forward. I slam into the rows of teeth.
“SPIT. OUT. MY! SON!” I hear Dad bellow dramatically from outside. The tongue tries to grab me again, only to jerk away a second later as I see my E.P.B. spark brightly.
Before I can see if I’m right—he HAD said something about burning his mouth, right? I get spit out.
***
“Boss, I’m useless when it comes to this, sorry,” Rocco says, fighting the urge to look over his shoulder. He’s worried about Carla and Ward, even though Mega’s still with them. One of his first memories from Cape High is Mega slamming through the ceiling of a glassed-in pool park. That it had been Skye who did it makes it a little less… worrisome? He thinks that one over for a second, only to stop as Nico walks past him. They’re in the Shadowlands right now, so Nico shouldn’t know where he’s going, right? Even Rocco is having trouble keeping his bearings, because he’s on an entirely new planet. “Boss—“ he starts out.
“He’s going to steal a ship,” Nico says. “The ones back there are too close to the trouble, besides, other than Fauna, they’re all crap. No, he’s after something first-rate, and more importantly, not near me.” He pauses, looking to the right with a thoughtful expression. “That way,” he says, pointing.
“Boss… I’m almost positive that the power hunters are heading straight for the guys we left behind,” Rocco says.
“Yeah, I figure,” Nico says.
“But you just left Ward and Carla—“ Rocco says as Nico starts running. He chases after him, knowing for a fact that Nico isn’t going as fast as he can, just because of him. “They’re not old enough to take on a Mimic-like monster, Boss! What if they get hurt? Or what about that Stellar guy? What if he turns on them? Can we seriously trust him after what he did to Alyssa?”
“I don’t know,” Nico says.
“Then why did you just leave them? We can deal with Herold later! You’ve dealt with him twice already—“ then he stops, because he’d been there when Nico had dealt with Herold. “Okay, fine, I get it, but Ward isn’t ready for this—“
“Do you really think that?” Nico asks.
“The biggest thing Ward’s done is act as Jack’s lackey to do crowd control!” Rocco says. “He’s done other stuff, sure, but all generic uniform stuff. He’s constantly running away whenever people talk about him having his debut—he’s not even on the list of kids the Halls are scouting! I mean… he’s…”
“You’ve felt his power, Rocco, can you really say that? The reason he’s not being scouted is because he’s Mega’s son. He’ll get the red-carpet entrance the moment he graduates, to the most powerful Hall in the group, and they all know it, unless I can get him an even better job.”
