Steel Life (Cape High Series Book 25), page 3
“Why are we just standing here?” Zoe asks. “Let’s go, everyone! The beach awaits us!”
“Who are we leaving to take care of super stuff around here?” Jack asks as the students start going through the portal when Zoe motions to them.
“Who would we need to leave? All of the villains are either retired or coming along,” Nico says. “But Cosmic, Flameblaster, and Boom will be watching the school grounds, since Century’s going to be representing the South Branch for this thing.”
“I have also managed to gain a teleportation watch,” Mastermental says. “The black suits will inform us if anything becomes problematic and I will take a few supers with me to deal with it. There is no reason to worry, Jack.”
Jack nods, reaching back for Aubrey’s hand. Unfortunately for him, she’s too busy taking pictures. Selfies are much, much easier to get when your phone can hook into the drones that are hovering overhead. Jack gives up on holding hands, feeling like an idiot for trying.
“Smile, honey, we need a picture too!” she says, her attention on a drone as she moves to his side. He barely manages to react before she’s running off to take pictures with Emily and Liz. He shakes his head and moves forward in line, finally stepping on the platform. A second later he’s standing in front of a large, gorgeous beach house… one big enough to be called a hotel.
He barely glances back as the “poof” sound of people porting into the area stops. Everybody should be here, right?
***
Nico stands alone in the middle of the apartment parking lot, looking at the teleportation booth for a moment. There should be a faster way to set up and dismantle it, he decides. Having to unscrew things, even with his powers, is a pain in the neck. No, it should be portable, especially if he needs to send a crew into a situation, like he needed to send the black suits in on Boombastic’s island a while ago.
He walks around it, forgetting that his little sister’s wedding is tomorrow, and that he probably should be there. His mind is completely on the schematics of an easily portable design. The machine should fold up into its own carrying case—
“Nicolas,” a strangely familiar voice says from behind him. He jerks, his hands tightening into fists in an ancient reaction that honestly makes no sense. Slowly he forces his hands to loosen and turns to face his childhood nightmare.
“Sparky,” he says. “What an unexpected surprise.” His tone doesn’t say it’s a good one. Years ago, when he was fifteen, he had tossed Sparky out of their lives, and his father had done nothing to bring her back. Yeah, so she’s Liz’s mom, but she had been so obsessed with power levels and proving she was better than Tatiana that she hadn’t been a proper mother. She’d tried to force Liz to be a super before her powers actually came in. To him it had looked like nothing more than abuse—even to this day, he still sees it that way, and he TRAINS kids.
The woman in front of him is still beautiful, but her eyes are dull. She stares at him for a long moment before sighing. “My daughter is getting married,” she says, “and I had to find out over the television.”
“I knew I should have censored that,” he says. “How did you find us?”
“The fact that there’s a school was on television not that long ago,” she says, “and really, Nicolas, you created a canyon in the middle of the states. You can’t expect me to NOT put two and two together. I’m not that stupid, you know. I always knew you were going to go bad. You’re the son of a USSR spy. You’re probably training all of our youth to go ‘Heil Hitler!’”
He stares at her. “The USSR is gone, for one. Secondly, I’ve never even spoken to the Russians,” he says after a long pause. “They have no clue that I’m Tatiana’s son, and we’re going to keep it that way. And thirdly, Hitler was German. He invaded the USSR.”
“So you don’t deny the fact she was a spy?” she demands, completely ignoring the history lesson.
“Why should I?” he asks, shrugging. “She was one. But she died, and they got nothing out of it.”
“And you call yourself a Hall member,” she says, glaring at him.
“What do you want, Sparky? I have things to do,” he says, waving a hand at the teleportation booth. It comes apart, and then all the pieces fit together in a smaller version. “No, still not portable enough,” he says to himself.
“I want to go to my daughter’s wedding,” she says. “You owe me that much, Nicolas.”
“I hate that name, you know,” Nico says, “but I don’t want you calling me the same thing my family calls me, so I’ll ignore it. No, Sparky, I’m not going to let you go to the wedding. You can watch it online like everyone else.”
“She’s MY daughter,” she says. “I carried her for nine months! I couldn’t see my feet and I couldn’t use my powers! I also did my best to raise you, as well—”
Nico lets out a curse, losing his temper. “You treated me like dirt, Sparky,” he says. “You couldn’t have cared less about me and we both know it! And sure, Dad SUCKED at being a father, but at least he didn’t…” he stops, running a hand over his face. “No, I’m not comparing the two of you, you were both terrible,” he says, snorting. “Why did you choose now of all times to show up?”
“I admit… that I could have done things better,” she says slowly, her hands clenched so tightly that she’s white knuckled. Slowly she lets them loosen. “I am sorry for what happened in the past, but I still want to support—”
She stops as a black van pulls into the parking lot. It has an HTV logo on the side. Nico groans, because he’d forgotten about this. The van door opens and Andre Harrison steps out, heading for the passenger side and opening a door to help Prisma out, not that she actually needs it.
“You’ve already put away the teleportation booth?” Andre asks, only to stop at the sight of Sparky. “I see… Sparktastic, it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen you around.”
“I see that you’ve gotten rid of the jerry curl,” Sparky says. “At least that’s changed.”
“Might I ask… who is she?” Prisma asks Nico.
Nico makes a face, not really wanting to answer that question.
“Sparktastic is Liz’s birth mother,” Andre says. “And no, we will not be doing a story about this.”
Prisma pouts for all of a second but then shrugs it off. “Has my daughter already gone ahead, Nico?”
“Yeah, she just went through a bit ago with Olivia and Jennifer,” Nico says, relaxing slightly at the change of subject. “I’ll just set up the bigger version for you to bring the van through. You might want to get a smaller operations base tossed together in the future, though.”
“And how much would that cost me?” Andre asks with a hint of amusement. His eyes don’t show it, though. Instead he’s focused on Sparky. “This is my son’s wedding, you know,” he says quietly. “If you think you’re going to disrupt it, I suggest you think again.”
“I just want to see my only daughter get married! Is that a crime?” Sparky demands.
“When it could change the wedding to something all about you?” Nico asks. “Don’t lie, Sparky, this isn’t about Liz being happy, it isn’t about old emotions welling up, either. You want to cash in on the wedding to make yourself famous. You’ve always been that way, you’ll always be that way. You are NOT going anywhere near my little sister’s wedding. You’re not going anywhere near any of my family,” he says, taking to the air. “Go back to where you came from, Sparky, because you’re not welcome here.”
“You think you’re so big and bad now that you’re all grown up—” Sparky says, her body shifting to electricity. “I should have taken you down when you were a—”
Nico waves his hand and she turns back to normal, much to her shock. “Just don’t, Sparky,” he says, his tone going soft. “I could have taken you out at fifteen, and we both know it. If you really care about Liz, even in the slightest, leave her alone. It’ll be better for all of us if you do.”
She stares at him, her hands coming up and then falling again. “Don’t you think she should have a say about this?” she asks, finally. “I’m her mother.”
“She’s got a new one,” he says, and machines start flying through the sky, forming into a portal large enough to drive a van through. “Andre, do you have more than Prisma in there?”
“Two of my most veteran and trusted cameramen,” Andre says, knocking on the van. The back opens and a man and a woman peek out, waving at Nico. “Albert and Nelly Vergii,” he introduces the two. “They’re married, if that’s not obvious enough. Al was actually my cameraman back when I was doing the Hero TV show.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” Nico says. “I was a fan of your show back in the day—when I actually got to get close enough to the television to watch something, that is. You’re clear to—”
The moment the portal lights up, Sparky races through it. Nico groans, knowing he should have kept a closer eye on her. “Great,” he says. “Andre—”
“I’ll get her,” Andre says, running after her.
“I was going to tell him to go on in, while I warn my parents,” Nico says to Prisma. “The last thing we need is for her to find out that they’re still alive.”
“Got it,” she says, hopping in the driver seat. “Al, Nelly, places! I’m heading in!”
The back of the van closes and she revs the motor before racing through the portal. Nico watches for a moment before shaking his head and tapping on his earbud. “Yeah, Dad? We have a problem.”
“Yeah, your mother is insisting on everyone wearing those beaded sandals that she and Marie put together,” Superior says. “I don’t DO sandals. I can handle knee high boots, and that’s about as stupid as I go.”
It almost makes Nico laugh—it would, if things weren’t so dire. “Sparky’s there,” he says.
Superior lets out a curse. Nico tears down the portal. The last thing they need is MORE party crashers.
***
Andre lets out a curse as a spark of lightning shoots up from the ground. The only reason Aubrey even notices is because she was looking for him. “Grandpa!” she says, running over. She stops, though, as she sees his face. “What’s wrong?” she asks.
“She got free,” he says. “Honey, as much as I would love to chat, I need to find Spark—”
“Spark?” Aubrey repeats, her eyes widening. “You mean Mom’s mom is here?” She should have whispered, she realizes a second later. Every single super on the island turns to look at her in shock. Several of the younger ones look confused, but the older ones start to scowl and most of them take to the air.
“Wait,” Liz says, holding up her hands. “Calm down, everyone. As much as we might have a bit of bad blood from the past, she’s still never been reported as breaking the Hall law. She’s not a super villain, or anything. She’s just a really bad mom. Actually now that I think about it, that should be breaking the law, shouldn’t it?”
“Liz,” a woman says as lightning hits the ground behind Liz, morphing into a woman. She looks a lot like Liz, but with long white hair and blue eyes instead of Liz’s steel gray.
“Sparky,” Liz says. “If you expect me to burst out in tears and throw myself into your arms, you’re going to be disappointed.”
“I realize that,” Sparky says. “But I—”
“Nico said you weren’t welcome to turn this into a one-woman show, Sparky,” Andre says.
“I am NOT here to do that!” Sparky snaps at him. “I’m here to see my only family get married! I came halfway across the world for this, you know!”
“Yeah, but… we all sort of did that, right?” Sunny says. He stops as Mastermental places a hand on his shoulder, and looks up. “She’s my… what, grandma?” he asks. “How does that work, anyway?”
“She’s Aunt Liz’s mother, but not Dad’s,” Zoe says. “So… step-grandma? But we never use the ‘step’ word, so…” she shrugs as he looks at her.
“Should we shout ‘Grandma’ and hug her?” Sunny stage whispers.
“Dad threw her out of the house when he was fifteen, remember?” Zoe deadpans.
“Oh, so shouting is out, then,” Sunny decides.
Jack bursts out laughing, because he’s terrible like that, and Aubrey gives him a dirty look. He grins at her. “What do you want me to do?” he asks as she storms over to him. “I’ve seen more family drama in my life than most, and this is just stupid.”
“How is this stupid?” she demands.
“She’s Liz’s mom, right? If she’s telling the truth, let her stay. If Nico was really pissed off by her being here, she’d already be gone by now, right?” He shrugs. “If she finds out something that she shouldn’t know, we’ve got Mastermental coming, he can do cleanup duty. We can’t exactly start the wedding off by tossing the mother of the bride to the curb.”
“Why is a villain at this wedding, anyway?” Sparky asks, looking straight at him.
“I changed my mind,” Jack says. “Let’s kick her to the curb.”
“He’s my future son-in-law,” Liz says coldly. “He’s far more welcome here than you are.” She blinks as Taurus takes her hand, moving close to her side. “Devon…”
“Dad,” Taurus says, nodding to Andre. “Did you ditch your date, already?”
“Date?” Andre repeats, blankly. “Son, this isn’t the time to—”
They all look up as a van appears on the beach, the doors opening and three people starting to unload. “I want our drones set up to cooperate with the drones that are already operating,” Prisma says to the other two. “Make sure we get all of the background stuff—even the things we won’t be showing to the public. I’m sure the family will enjoy watching a properly edited documentary.”
“Your date,” Taurus says, smiling ever so slightly. “But first… Liz,” he says, making her look up from where she’s staring hard at Sparky. “We aren’t going to chicken out, and we have all our loved ones—plus more, here to enjoy themselves, right?”
She slowly nods, her expression softening. “Aubrey and Emily did want to try surfing,” she agrees.
“The wedding is tomorrow at sunset,” Taurus says to the group. “Until then, feel free to enjoy the resort that my father-in—” he stops as Liz starts shaking her head, her hand tightening on his. “You can’t hide him, you know,” he says silently.
“But if she finds out—”
“Mastermental, remember?” he says. “If even Jack can point that fact out, it’s pretty obvious.”
She makes a face as several of the group start laughing.
“HEY EVERYBODY!” they hear a familiar shout, “We brought a new friend!”
They all turn, not surprised to see the Deadly Darlin’s appearing—but Aubrey lets out a happy little squeal as she sees who’s with them.
“Grandpa!” she says, racing for the group. There, standing proudly next to the three super villains, is Aubrey’s blood-related grandfather; a norm.
CHAPTER THREE
It’s like the who’s who of supers, Jack thinks as he leans against the bar next to the pool. Oh, sure, he’s drinking a smoothie, not something hard, but they HAVE a smoothie machine, which is the important part. What’s also important is that his girlfriend, who he’d planned on having a date with, is too busy introducing her grandfather around to notice him. She hasn’t even introduced Jack to him, yet, he thinks a bit darkly.
“Pretty hard to say that your boyfriend is a super villain, I’d say,” Superior says, almost making Jack spill his drink. The older man drops a hand on his shoulder.
“Shouldn’t you be hiding?” Jack asks. “Your ex is here.”
“I know,” Superior says, looking around. “Although not here, here. I’m going to have to find a monitor to track her down, aren’t I?”
“Nico wouldn’t have to,” Jack points out a little evilly, since he’s been training with the “dead” super for quite a while now. He’s found out just how much of a sore point Nico’s abilities are to the man. It amuses him.
“And since I can’t headlock you in public, I’ll just change the subject. How’s planning for the future going?” Superior says. Jack gives him a dirty look. “The boy wasn’t bad, but I want a girl, too. I expect you to step up to the plate this time around, got it?”
“You should be like me, and just be happy there’s a kid at all,” Jack says. “I’m honestly a bit shocked that I can have one, considering I’m a mad scientist experiment.”
“You can have kids. That one was definitely yours. Just make sure he doesn’t wind up hating you and that you have more than one,” Superior says. He has a slight twitch under his eye, though, and the glass in his hand develops a hairline crack. Jack notices straight away, because the cup is a metal tumbler.
“You’re stressed out?” he says. “Is that Sparky chick that bad?”
“It isn’t her that I’m stressing out about,” Superior says silently, and Jack can feel the tension. “Sparky wasn’t the best choice I could have made. She was an airhead, for one, but I had a kid I needed raised, and I wanted it done by a super. She was on hand.”
“Does Tatiana know she’s here?” Jack asks, finishing off his smoothie even as the cup Superior is holding crushes in his hold. “Yeah, I figured that was it,” he says.
“It’s going to blow up in our faces,” Superior admits. “So… want to help me kidnap her and leave her on an island in the Pacific Ocean?”
“Tatiana?” Jack asks.
“Sparky. If we did that to Tatiana she’d never stop yelling at us,” Superior says. Jack bursts out laughing, only to put his cup on the bar and shrug when he’s done.
“Sure, sounds like fun,” he says. “I’ll go find some rubber gloves.”
“That’s my grandson-in-law,” Superior says with a brilliant smile.
“And these two are the ones I REALLY wanted to introduce last, Grandpa,” Aubrey says, tugging her grandfather over to them with a severely irritated expression on her face, “but I have to do it now because they’re planning to do something stupid and need to be stopped.”
“It’s good to meet you, Cold Steel,” the man next to her says but then he stops, staring at Superior with shock, “I thought you were dead, sir,” he says. “I remember it like it was yesterday, when they started showing the videos of the explosion on the television. I never would have thought—no, I always hoped. Just like Elvis, I always wondered—”
