“You promised me my cat,” Herold says.

  To his surprise, Nico pulls a tiny, old-fashioned toy from the nineties out of his pocket. “Toma-Micro,” he says, tossing it to Herold. “You can speak with him, but there’s barely any tech to it. You can, I suppose, create a radio from it to call passing ships, but it’ll cost you the cat. I won’t give him to you again.”

  “Are you sure this is wise?” Negatia asks. “If he hails a passing ship, he could be rescued.”

  “I’ll have both the Cosmic group and the sentient planets check on him. Several of them consider Skye their ‘aunt.’ They’ll be more than happy to make sure he stays put,” Nico says. “I say we send Sparky with him. I realize that’s supplying him with electricity, but… well, she’s too annoying to let loose on another inhabited planet.”

  “WHAT?” Sparky says, outraged. “I refuse! How dare you—”

  “Agreed,” the entire council says. “Reaper, we will… ah, you’re extremely difficult to pay, aren’t you?” Century says.

  “My dad will pay him,” Nico says. “He’s already offered the I.O.U.”

  “Then we’ll consider how to pay you for Herold,” Century says.

  “I’m doing that one pro bono,” Reaper says, smirking slightly.

  “He DID offer to work as our financial adviser for the right to do it,” Mastermental says. “I think we should accept the offer.”

  “Denied,” Nico says. “He’s doing YOU the favor, not the other way around.” He looks at Herold, who’s holding the little toy in his hand, staring at it with a slight smile. On the pixel screen is a tiny cat image. It lets out a rather tinny sounding “nyaaa” and his smile widens.

  “Then I’ll just be taking these two,” Reaper says.

  “I’ll go with him,” Nico says. “Have someone bring us clothing for both of them; they’re going to need it.”

  “This isn’t humane!” Sparky protests, “How can you do this to me?!”

  Nico looks at her, his eyes going cold. He stands, and Mastermental stands as well.

  “I think I will take on the job of going along, instead,” Mastermental says before Nico can reply.

  “I agree,” Century says, seeing the look on Nico’s face. “You have the controllers to remove the collars, if you want to.”

  “How is Cold Steel?” Marigold asks. “I like the boy. I’d hate to hear anything bad happened to him.”

  “That surprises me,” Mastermental says.

  “He’s good to Sandra,” Marigold says simply. There are hints of confusion from half of the group, but she ignores them.

  “He’s fine,” Nico says. “He’s planning on building up a group of lackeys, so don’t be surprised to see kids running around in his ‘official uniform’ soon.”

  “Is that smart?” Negatia asks.

  “He’s making sure they all have their G.E.D. and are trained by the black suits,” Nico says, looking amused. “He’s a Liberty from the top of that spiked Mohawk to the steel-studded soles of his boots now. I honestly didn’t think they could do it when I first met him.”

  “Don’t lie, son, you knew exactly what they would do,” Century says.

  “I hoped, I didn’t know,” Nico says. “I lucked out, really.” He looks at Herold as the other man finally looks over.

  “That kid is…” Herold says, thinking his words over for a moment, “no,” he says, changing his mind.

  “Yeah, I get it,” Nico says. “He’s a living piece of art.”

  “We’re talking about Cold Steel, still, aren’t we?” Marigold asks after there’s a long pause.

  “We are,” Nico says. “You would have to see him the way we see him to understand, I think,” he admits. “But Herold, here’s something we didn’t tell you,” he says, looking almost amused, “that living piece of art was left in a trash can at birth. He was tossed from foster family to foster family. He was one of those kids that are constantly falling through the cracks.”

  “Then how was he changed?”

  “He was experimented on, sure, but if you ask the Liberties, that wasn’t what really changed him,” Nico says, looking thoughtful. “They would say he found God. I don’t know about that, although I’ve been thinking about it for a while. What I do know is that it isn’t just his metallic body that’s beautiful. He’s a great kid. He probably doesn’t even hate you, even after what you’ve done.”

  “If he doesn’t hate me, then you have no reason to do this—” Sparky starts out.

  “You attacked our children, and used one of our HEALERS as a hostage,” Marigold says, her voice booming. “The healers are very precious to ALL of us—”

  “Wait,” Nico says, waving a hand and bringing up a hologram of a text. He reads it, starting to frown. “I see. Life Light says you had one more hostage. What did you do with the girl, Herold?”

  “What girl?”

  “The one you showed Life Light, saying she was being held hostage.”

  “Ah, that,” Herold says. “She was paid for that video. I was actually surprised at how good an actor she is. She’s perfectly fine, and with her parents, I assume. I just used her as a distraction. I was hoping that it would send you and the others off on a wild goose chase, unfortunately that didn’t work.”

  Mastermental looks at him for a long moment before nodding. “He is telling the truth… as far as I can tell. His mind is a lot like yours,” he says. “But just in case, we will check to make sure.” He motions to one of the black suits, who nods and heads off.

  “Aubrey healed her, and she still turned around and did that,” Nico says with disgust. “It figures.” The black suits come in with a few suitcases, and he nods. “I’ll go, as well. I want to make sure that there’s no tech that he can use on the planet.”

  “That will be acceptable,” Mastermental says as Reaper slices a circle in the air, opening a portal into the “Spacelands,” as the Deadly Darlin’s had dubbed it. “Then we will return, shortly,” Mastermental tells the other Hall leaders as they head out.

  ***

  *The Small Grocery Store*

  “Kelly, really, is there a reason for us to be here?” her father asks, looking irritated. He has the code that Herold had sent him to try out! “We followed him around for that long, but now he’s not even here!”

  “I want to see what happened!” Kelly says, getting out of the car and running into the building. She pulls out her phone and turns on the flashlight, scanning the area curiously. The light glints off of something metallic and she heads over, crouching down and looking more closely. To her surprise, it’s the bracelet that she had wanted so badly! Without a thought she scoops it up, slipping it over her hand and heading back to her parents.

  “What did you find?” her mother asks.

  “The bracelet!” she says, showing it to her.

  “Oh, but honey, isn’t that Life Light’s?” her mother says, hesitating as she sees the metal move a bit.

  “Finders keepers!” Kelly says. “Now we can go!” She hops into the back seat of the car, admiring her new bracelet as it shifts, tightening around her thin wrist. It’s FINALLY hers!

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Jack sits on the living room couch with Aubrey tucked into his side. Both of their families surround them, most of them eating something as they have this super serious conversation. “So…” Ken says as he finishes his sandwich, “Nico let you drop from several hundred feet in the air?”

  “I’ve got the living metal, it was fine,” Jack says. “It worked out better than my board would have, actually.”

  “That sounds pretty awesome,” Trent says. “So you wear your board?”

  “Pretty much,” Jack says. “It’ll really come in handy.”

  “That’s good,” Ken says. “But what happened to the man that Herold tried to merge the metal with?” he asks Aubrey.

  “Bobby managed to reverse the time, so he’s fine… physically, at least,” she says, sighing. “Jack offered him a job, but he refused. We’re arranging for him to go through some therapy, to help him work through the attack.”

  “We also offered a settlement, since he WAS attacked by a super, even if it wasn’t one on the books,” Jack admits, not looking very happy about any of it. “That’s a one-day-at-a-time sort of thing, though.”

  “Yes, it is,” Ken agrees.

  “But…” Aubrey says, “Actually, give me a moment; I need to call some people, first.” She stops, looking at her wrist. “I need to go back—Jack, I took your bracelet off, I left it in that grocery store. I—”

  “We’ll get it after this,” Jack promises. She nods, but doesn’t look very happy.

  “What would ‘this’ be?” Liz asks as Aubrey brings out her phone and aims it at the wall. Soon her Granddad Jake and Grandpa Andre are both on the wall, looking a bit confused.

  “This,” Jack says, getting on one knee in front of Aubrey and digging through his pockets. “She refused to answer until you two were here to see it,” he adds as he pulls a box out of his pocket.

  “Oooooh, that,” Liz says. “Shouldn’t you be doing it up bigger? I thought it was something that should go viral.”

  “Absolutely not,” Aubrey says. “I want my family to see, I couldn’t care less about the world seeing.”

  “Makes sense,” Liz says. “But you both need to graduate first, you know.”

  “We know,” they say, with amusement. “I’m about to graduate next month, though,” Jack points out.

  “I say a long engagement,” Taurus says, “A couple of years, at least.”

  “We agree,” everyone in the room says, including Aubrey and Jack. “We’re thinking two years, earliest, but it might be three or four,” Aubrey says, “we both have a LOT to accomplish before we’ll be ready to settle down. I would actually like to get a few college classes in, maybe even a nursing degree? I know I don’t need it, but it would make getting into hospitals a little easier.”

  “And I, apparently, gotta be a licensed plumber, and I wouldn’t mind learning traditional metal-working, while I’m at it, so I need to go to trade school for a few years,” Jack says. “But I’m starting the house and I’ve got Max setting me up with trade school courses, so… I just want to make sure Aubrey knows my intentions,” he admits, a bit sheepishly. “I know how big a crush Bobby has on her, after all.”

  “Bobby has a crush on me?” Aubrey asks.

  “I should have kept my mouth shut,” Jack mutters. ”I’m the one that loves you most,” he says, opening the box. “So… Aub, marry me?” he asks.

  “YES!” she says, throwing herself into his arms. She barely even looks at the ring.

  ***

  *An Uninhabited Planet*

  Nico floats in the air for a long moment, scanning the planet. He’s been doing this for the past hour, covering the entire small planet to make sure there isn’t anything Herold can use. Herold is sitting on the ground below, looking perfectly content to chat with his cat while Reaper stands over him with scythe in hand. Sparky had run off as soon as her collar came off, searching the area for a means of escape. Nico knows exactly where she is, thanks to her energy signal.

  He can only be thankful she’s an idiot, he thinks as he finishes the final check. If she had gone through with her plans to ruin his sister’s reputation…

  He drops to the ground. “Let’s go,” he says to Reaper.

  Reaper slices through the air, opening a portal—and just as Nico had expected a bolt of lightning races right for it. He lifts a hand and it shifts into Sparky’s human form, which he grabs.

  “I gave you a second chance and you blew it. You will never hurt my sister again,” he says coldly before tossing her aside. The portal closes behind them, leaving her and Herold behind.

  “Why are you just SITTING there?” Sparky yells, getting in Herold’s face. “They just took EVERYTHING from us! And it’s all your fault! I would have never gotten involved with them if you hadn’t had some bright idea! And what’s worse! You didn’t even USE the distraction I provided—what are you doing?” she asks as he starts to pull the hem of his pants up. “Are you insane? Did you finally crack? I know supers that are as powerful as you’re supposed to be—”

  He runs his fingers over his leg, tapping on a spot that changes color slightly, no longer matching his skin tone. “Are you close enough to hear me?” he asks.

  “I’m RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!” Sparky bellows.

  “I hear you,” another voice says. Sparky goes still, stunned. “You abandoned me, Herold, so I don’t want anything to do with you.”

  “I didn’t,” Herold says. “It took me this long to get into space. You know just how backwater Earth is. Clay, don’t you want a friend to explore space with?”

  “Were you really trying to get into space, or are you lying to me again?”

  “I got captured by the Hall just for the off chance that they would exile me out here, Clay,” Herold says. “They stuck me on an uninhabited planet with a harpy, and I went without a complaint just so I can come to you. Now come pick me up. You can leave the harpy here, I wouldn’t mind.”

  “You have a piece of Nico’s tech on you,” Clay says.

  “He gave me back my cat,” Herold says with a little grin. “We’ve got everything we need to take over the universe, my friend. All you need to do is come get me.”

  There’s a long moment of silence, but Herold doesn’t seem nervous. Sparky glares at him for the “harpy” comment, but says nothing because she senses a way out, right now.

  “They’re watching me,” Clay says quietly.

  “Then I’ll wait until they aren’t,” Herold says. “You and I, Clay, we’re the only ones that understand each other.”

  “Skye doesn’t hate me,” Clay says softly, but there’s not much assurance in his tone.

  “But she abandoned you out here,” Herold says, “just like they abandoned me.”

  “Nyaaa,” his cat says from the little toy.

  “I’ll… I’ll think about it,” Clay says. There’s silence for long enough that they know the conversation is over.

  Herold stands, stretches, and heads out to search the planet, completely ignoring Sparky. She sits there for a long moment, and then groans and gets up, heading out to find something to eat.

  ***

  *One Month Later*

  Jack looks at the massive pile of metal that’s been gathered for him, including several retired eighteen wheelers. “There is NO way I can claim they didn’t give me enough metal,” he says to Nico, who’s floating right next to him. Nico has a hologram over his arm that’s monitoring Summer’s physical stats. It’s been there for the past three weeks. It’s set to go off the moment Summer’s contractions start.

  “Well… how are you going to go viral, then?” Nico asks.

  Jack looks at the metal for a long, long moment before a grin pulls at his lips. “Leg, leg, arm, arm,” he says, motioning to the eighteen wheelers. “Let’s make a gigantic robot!”

  “That’s such an old school thing to do,” Nico says, “But hey, if you really want to, I’m not going to stop you. You just need to—”

  “I’m bringing up the paperwork now,” Max says over the comm., seeming to have anticipated something like this happening. “I’ll highlight the areas that are uninhabited and we’ve got permission for—a lot of that area belongs to us, already. I’ll get the areas that aren’t cleared out cleared, as well.”

  “So… will this get me viral?”

  “Who knows?” Nico says even as several drones appear in the air. “We just need to film it right.”

  Jack grins, the metal going down his boots. Before he gets into the air, though, he hears someone calling out his super name. He looks down, a bit surprised to see Ms. Clerk and Chris Campbell both heading his way, both carrying ice chests.

  “What’s up, guys?” Jack asks, dropping down.

  “We thought you’d be hungry by now, boss,” Chris says, grinning as he opens one of the ice chests. Then he stops, seeing the drones. “Should I be acting tough now?” he asks. Jack starts laughing as a few more of his new “boys” come out, striking tough-guy poses. All of the kids that had been protesting are now working for him, along with several others that had dropped out of school, and even a few ex-gang members. He plans on having at least twenty of them by the time he’s done. He had actually hired Ms. Clerk after finding out her job paid diddly squat. She was given a credit card and the job of feeding the boys, and is now the unofficial “mother” of his lackeys. She’s now fussing over the same boys she’d been scared of a month ago.

  “I was just tellin’ my principal about how much extra metal everyone gave me,” he says, taking to the air. Instead of a board, though, there are two metal plates under his feet, just large enough to support him. “So I thought that instead of flooding the place, which could mess up my new carpet, I would play with my new toys!” he says, holding his hands out to the metal pieces. The group watches in shock as the eighteen wheelers stand on end and he starts forming the giant robot’s body. Instead of cheering, though, the entire group bursts out laughing at the sight, even the black suits in disguise.

  Only Carla’s dad is frowning. “I removed the motors, but there’s still the chance of gas being in those. Try not to blow anything up, would you?”

  “I shouldn’t,” Jack says, “but back up, just in case, guys!”

  “Pops is savin’ the day, again,” Chris says.

  “When your boss is Cold Steel, you need to think of that sort of thing. Remember it when I go back to the Hall,” Carla’s dad says, draping an arm over Chris’s shoulder. “When’s your brother going to come work for us?” he asks.

  Chris frowns, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Jackson’s still… working through things,” he admits.

  By this point the giant mishmash of a robot is already half formed and the news stations are sending out their vans, intent on getting this from the start. Jack grins, and then does his best super villain laugh before flying over so they can all get a good shot of him.

 

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