Steel Life (Cape High Series Book 25), page 20
The recording stops, and Tony looks at Herold, seeing a strange little smile of anticipation on his face. The caller sounds a lot like a psycho to him, but Herold doesn’t seem bothered at all.
Supers, Tony decides, are trouble no matter what side they’re on. They’re all a bunch of arrogant jerks that think they can just waltz right in and take over whatever good thing he has going! He has a half a mind to just not come back!
But, a little voice whispers, when this jerk leaves, won’t he be leaving all those machines he created behind?
“So… anything else you need us to get?” Tony asks, eagerly.
***
*Cape High Central*
“Jack?” Aubrey says over the earbud. “How are you feeling?”
Jack looks around the campus, having JUST gotten here, even though classes have already finished for the day. He’d planned on getting his extra credit turned in real quick, because it’s a physical thing, and then heading home for a long shower—or if he can talk Reaper into letting him borrow the jacuzzi, a soak. He still has dirt in his hair, and there are several videos up on YouTube of Sandra dumping it on him. He’s going to have to bug Nico about taking them down, but Nico has more important things to worry about right now. Besides, it’s not like it’s THAT big of a deal. He gets buried in the ground by his “sister” every time they spar, practically. The entire world probably won’t be surprised to see him getting dirty. It’s not like it’ll ruin his rep.
“I’m fine, just need a bath. What’s up?” he says, heading for Blackjack’s class.
“I have another shout-out that I want to go to,” Aubrey says. “Do you want to come along? I’ll understand if you don’t—”
“I’m coming,” he says. “Let me set up my machine and get a shower, first. Sandra was making it rain, today.”
“Should rain really bother you?” she asks.
“Dirt, babe, she was making it rain dirt,” he explains.
“Ooh… well that does make more sense,” she admits, making him laugh. “But I wasn’t talking about that. You went through a lot yesterday—”
“Eh, I’m fine,” he says. “I’ve gotten more bruised up in a fight over popcorn.”
“Trent never rips off your metal, hon, so don’t lie to me,” she says.
“I didn’t say I got more ripped up, I said I get more BRUISED up,” he says. “Hey, Blackjack, I brought my extra credit,” he calls out as he walks into the room. There’s Blackjack sitting at his desk, but Jack stares at it for a moment before walking over and waving a hand. The illusion disappears. “You coulda told me he skipped out for the day,” he says.
“Oh, you know how it goes,” she says. “He had the illusion teach. It’s about the same, either way.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” he says. He puts his bag on the ground and pulls out the box of items he’d tossed together with scraps. It still cracks him up that Blackjack accepts Rube Goldberg type contraptions for extra credit. Oh, sure, thanks to his special abilities he’s actually gotten a lot better at math, but this is a competition! He’s going to win best non-technological contraption if it kills him!
“What did you make this time?” she asks.
“A dog brushing station,” he says, grinning. “It’s on a miniature scale; if it works I plan on setting one up for Krispy. I’m pretty proud of this one, since getting that many brushes to work in a row was challenging.”
“Couldn’t you just brush Krispy the old fashioned way?” she asks.
“Yeah, but what’s the fun in that?” he asks before pausing as he hears people coming down the hall.
“So has Lance learned anything from the monkey?” he hears Malina ask.
“Not yet,” Carla replies.
Jack steps out of the room, blocking their way. They stare at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. “Did you take a dirt bath, Jack?” Malina asks.
“Nah, it was a shower,” he says. “You guys have the monkey here? You didn’t take him to the Hall?” he asks.
“Lance and his mother have been trying to talk with him,” Carla says.
“Huh,” Jack says.
None of them notice the small metal guinea pig creeping across Blackjack’s room and peeking into the bag that Jack had left on the floor. It’s got MORE metal in it, since he always carries extra. The guinea pig doesn’t even hesitate—he jumps in, curling up small before going into sleep mode.
“Want us to call you if we find out anything interesting?” Malina asks. “We have to tell Nico, but ALL of us want to know if we have to worry about evil monkeys.”
“Evil monkeys,” he repeats, trying not to laugh.
“They DO know how to use guns, if Sunny’s right,” Carla says, but she’s frowning. “Can monkeys go bad?”
“They can, according to sci-fi movies,” Jack offers. “Yeah, call me,” he decides, heading back into the classroom and grabbing his bag. He holds out a hand and the Rube Goldberg sets itself up. Once he’s happy with it, he turns and heads out. He’s got a lot to do, and he’s starving. If he’s lucky, his mom kept him a couple of plates hidden from the rest of the family.
He doesn’t even notice the guinea pig stowaway, since its body is made out of the same metal he works with daily, the same metal that fills half of his bag. And since Nico had gotten distracted before putting him into the system, the security field doesn’t notice, either.
***
“Mom! Dad!” Aubrey and Emily shout as they step out of the apartment. Liz and Taurus run forward, meeting them as soon as they girls are out of the security field with hugs.
“Why didn’t you call us when Jack was grabbed?” Liz demands.
“We got him back quickly,” Aubrey says, but she does look a bit sheepish, “and we didn’t really want to interrupt anything. Honestly, you shouldn’t be back this early! You should have taken the full week honeymoon like you planned!”
“We have teleportation watches, Zoe gave them to us as our wedding gift,” Taurus says.
“Those are from the entire family,” Summer says as she comes out of the apartment’s security field. “Zoe was the one available to set them up.”
“Ah, yeah, that makes sense,” Liz admits, admiring her watch once again. “Thank you. I’ve wanted one of these for a while, but it seemed like cheating, considering.”
“We always expected you would make your own,” Emily says.
“Welcome back,” Jack says from behind them. Liz turns to yell at him for putting himself in danger, only to stop and laugh, instead.
“What happened to you?” Taurus asks, walking over and pulling a clump of dirt out of his hair.
“Sandra,” Jack says dryly. “Oh, hey, Summer, you can’t take this off of me, can you?”
“Unfortunately I’m plants, only,” Summer says, her sympathy mixed with a dose of amusement. “But Sunny’s inside, if you want to ask him. I’m sure he’d be willing to help.”
“Yeah, that might be good,” Jack says, shrugging his bag up higher on his shoulder.
“Actually, we should bring him out here,” Summer says. “That way all of that dirt doesn’t wind up in my front room. I’m perfectly happy to have dirt in pots and in the greenhouse, but not so much on the carpet.”
“Ah… yeah… Vinny’s dad isn’t gonna be happy with me, is he?” Jack says, frowning.
“You went into the school like that, didn’t you? You’ll probably get cleaning detention, again,” Emily says.
“Eh, but I still like this Tony,” Jack says, shrugging it off. “I’ll get some metal poles for the brooms and do it… tomorrow morning, I guess.” He mentally tries to fit it into his schedule, fails, and decides a bit less sleep isn’t going to kill him.
“This Tony?” Taurus asks.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s all ancient history,” Jack says, waving it off as Sunny comes out of the apartments. He takes one look at Jack and starts laughing, much like everyone else has. “Ha ha, laugh it up,” Jack says dryly as he puts the bag down and holds out his arms. “But give me a hand while you’re doing it, would you?”
The dirt that covers Jack lifts off of him and fills the air for a moment—just long enough for the little guinea pig to wake up and dash away to freedom. He’s going to find his master! Herold was the only one that ever truly loved him!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
*Somewhere in Great Britain*
“You’re searching for a super?” The man in front of Sparky asks. He looks a bit surprised. He’s an older norm, but still in good shape, and most importantly, extremely rich. He’d sent out a plane to the middle of nowhere, expecting her to be extremely grateful, only to get this.
“His name is Herold, and I’ve called him a few times, but he’s ignoring me,” Sparky says, looking at the glass of wine in her hand. “He owes me quite a lot of money. Ah, before that, get me a computer, would you?” she says to the woman standing in the corner of the room.
The woman looks at her boss, who gives her a nod. He doesn’t look very happy with the idea, but he still agrees. She heads out, coming back a little while later with a sleek laptop. Sparky takes it, opening it and starting to search the web. The wedding between Taurus and Firefly starts playing. The man almost speaks up, but stops when she waves a hand, staring at it as if it’s the first time she’s ever seen it.
Her expression grows darker and darker, until it’s twisted with rage. “Oh, it is ON,” she says. “Get me a hairdresser,” she says. “No, wait, the less people that know, the better. Get some scissors; you’ll do it,” she says, pointing at the woman.”
“I’m not a hairdresser—” the woman starts out.
“And do you really need one to do that botch job of a cut?” Sparky asks, motioning to Liz’s image on the screen. “Get the scissors. I’m going to need a change of uniform, as well, aren’t I?”
“What are you planning to do?” the man asks.
“I’m going to make sure she regrets letting them do whatever they want to me,” Sparky says as the woman comes forward with scissors in her hands. “Give me those for a second. You might need some rubber gloves,” she adds, taking the scissors. Soon they’re lit up with electricity dancing over the blades. “I always have had trouble getting a good trim,” she says. Then she looks at the man. “What’s taking so long? You should have already tracked Herold down by now.”
He tugs at his collar, feeling rage building up in his chest and mixing with a dollop of fear. He had aspirations of romance, but now… well, he’s starting to think he’s better off not even trying. The sooner this lady is off of his back, the better. He picks up his phone.
***
*Central*
Aubrey turns, looking at Nico and Summer with a sigh. “Really?” she asks. They’re standing in front of the same hospital that had thrown her out just the other day. She almost expects to be turned away at the front door. Honestly, she should have traded with Alyssa, but Alyssa was already on her way to her gig by the time Aubrey realized where it was.
“If they want to call the cops on one of my kids, I’m not about to let one of my healers be at their beck and call afterward,” Nico says, but his eyes are running over the parking lot.
“You expect him to show up again, don’t you?” Jack says.
“He won’t,” Nico says. “He got what he wanted you for. Honestly, Zoe’s searching for his base of operations even as we speak. She’s also looking for the trucks that stole your metal. Turns out they were stolen a while back, and they’ve been changing out the plates regularly. But I think I need to take a look at the files that the Hall just picked up, because I’m almost positive she won’t find it. He must have picked up some new tools while at Colleck’s place. The black suits are scanning all of the files Mastermental found right now.”
He claps his hands and brings up a hologram, showing several files appearing line by line. “I just don’t feel like sitting around while they do it,” he admits, clapping his hands again. The hologram disappears.
“So you came here?” Aubrey asks.
“Yeah,” he says with a chilling smile on his face as several guards come out of the hospital. “I did.”
“Excuse us, Technico, but all of you are welcome to come in, except for that young man, there,” the guard says, pointing at Jack. He looks nervous.
“Oh, really,” Nico says. “Did you hear what happened to this ‘young man’ after you had him arrested?” he asks, placing a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “The kid who you say he assaulted was bait, used by a villain that kidnapped my kid, here.”
“But he’s—he’s Cold Steel,” the guard says, disbelieving.
“Yeah, and he’s tough, sure. I’m quite proud of how good he is,” Nico agrees, “but he’s still a minor, and there are much more dangerous supers out there.”
“Hey, I think I might be offended right now,” Jack complains.
“You should be embarrassed for taking the bait,” Nico tells him.
“Excuse me,” Aubrey says, stepping forward. “I admit that Cold Steel didn’t handle the situation well, yesterday, and he is very sorry for causing a ruckus in the hospital, right, Cold Steel?”
“I heard they just slapped him on the wrist and let him go—” Jack starts to complain.
“He’s VERY sorry,” Aubrey says. “But if you ban my boyfriend, I’m afraid I can’t come in for the call-out that I received online this morning. I was told it was rather urgent.”
The guards look at each other. “If you promise that he won’t cause problems,” one of the guards says, but the others give him sharp looks. “Really, we don’t get why a healer is dating a villain, in the first place. Isn’t that one of the relationships you should keep hidden?”
“He’s got a point, you know? I always thought that the good guys couldn’t date the bad guys,” another says. “Doesn’t it cause a lot of extra drama?”
“Only in situations like this, apparently,” Aubrey says. “I’m not going to hide my relationship when I am a neutral super, to begin with!” she says, her eyes glowing slightly. “I don’t pick sides! If I had to pick sides it would force me to ignore the hurting of people on the opposite side. There are far too few supers for me to just ignore half of them!”
The guards look at each other. “But… do supers get hurt?”
“She saved my life,” Jack says, only to stop as Nico turns, abruptly, watching a man heading for them. Jack turns to see who it is, and then stares, a bit shocked. “Are you KIDDING me?” he bursts out. He starts to take a step forward, only to stop as Aubrey places a hand on his arm.
Jackson Campbell stops in front of him with a defiant look on his face. “You turned my own brother against me,” he says. “First that psychopath politician uses me—he doesn’t even bail me out! And now you’re turning my only brother against me!”
Jack stares at him, feeling a strange mix of emotions welling up in him. He doesn’t like this man. He doesn’t like how he handles anything, but at the same time, what he dislikes most is how much he can see his old self in the man. He wants to yell at him, to tell him to stop passing the blame for EVERYTHING in his life onto someone else. It’s a bile feeling that…
He takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly, trying to pray. It’s REALLY hard to pray right now, when all he wants to do is slap the guy. “Help me, Father,” he whispers under his breath. The supers around him look at him, and then Nico, who doesn’t get it, looks up to see if Ken is there. That move startles a laugh out of Jack, and he feels the bile go down. “Not that dad, Nico,” he says, a crooked grin on his lips. “Someone a bit higher up the chain.”
Aubrey and Summer both smile at that, even as Nico shrugs it off. Jack looks at Jackson, again, feeling the anger he’s been holding onto start to shift, slightly. He steps forward, and the man cowers, as if certain he’s going to hit him.
“I offered your brother a job,” Jack says, his tone calm, “because I didn’t want him to turn out like you are. Honestly, even that wouldn’t fix it, if he had the same mindset as you do.”
“What do you know about me?” Jackson demands angrily. “You have EVERYTHING! You’re a freakin’ super villain! You’ve got people all over the world bringing you stupid sheets of metal just so they can say they helped build your HOUSE! I had to beg just to keep a roof over our heads! You’ve got one of the most famous families in the world saying that you’re ‘just going through a phase!’ You have no idea where I’m coming from!”
“I have every idea of where you’re coming from,” Jack says. He almost groans as he sees Nico’s eyes glowing suspiciously. He’s almost positive that means he’s being recorded right now. “But do you really think blaming everything you do on other people is going to get you anywhere?” he asks, ignoring it. He’s recorded most of the time, anyway. “Do you really think hating someone for having more than you do is going to help? I can’t make your decisions, man. I can’t change your mind, or your heart, I couldn’t even change my own, back in the day. I HATED Maximum, so I did something stupid. It almost killed me. It wasn’t his fault I did it, though. I make my own decisions. You can either act or react, Jackson, but no matter what you do, it’s YOUR choice.”
“And now you’re preaching at me?” Jackson demands. “You talk all high and mighty for a stupid villain who always loses!”
“I’m guessing the situation you’re in right now is all my fault, isn’t it?” Jack asks.
“YES! It IS!” Jackson bellows. “Why did you have to take that lady’s side? Those hypocrites were out to get you! Why did you have to take my brother from me? Everything is YOUR fault!”
Jack looks at Nico’s glowing eye, lets out a heavy sigh, knowing that if this gets out it could ruin his rep, but he’s got to say it. He steps forward, placing a hand on Jackson’s shoulder. Jackson goes pale, but doesn’t pull away, trying to look brave.
