Aces Wild: Cape High Book Six (10 page)

"I'd love to," he says, touching her chin and kissing her lightly on the lips.  "Now, go look for these people," he says, waving a hand in front of him.  A handful of supers fill the room, including one she's only seen a few times, and another that looks just like him.

"Is that Technico?  He was on TV," she says, getting off the boxes they were sitting on and walking over to the man in question.  She looks at him curiously, noticing how much taller he is than she.  "Then who's that?" she asks, pointing at the white clothed man.

"Superior," Ace says.

"He--what?  Like his son or something?" she asks.  Because everyone knows that Superior's dead.

"Something like that," Ace says.  "You have my number, right?"

"Oh--um--yeah," she says, tugging out her phone and showing it to him.

"Call me when you see them," he says, lounging on the boxes, still.  "Then we'll go on that date."

"Okay!" she says, racing out the door.  The illusions of the capes disappear--as does Ace.  Mimic steps out of the shadows, still in Ace's form, and looks at the empty warehouse.  He couldn't have risked being that close to her. Not when it's taking almost all of his concentration just to keep Ace's powers in check.

It's amazing, he thinks with a laugh.  Just amazing how powerful this kid is.  He's almost as hard to handle as Nico had been.

***

We spend almost three hours running an obstacle course based on rooftops.  The only thing I had going for me was a grappling hook gun that I had to shoot at least twice each time to get right.  I'm so exhausted right now, even with the suit, that my eyes are starting to cross.  I almost don't notice that I'm pushed into a room that no one else is going into.

I do when I see Dad sitting on a mat in the middle of the floor.  I jerk awake quickly, looking around.  The room is empty except for the two of us.

"Come sit down," Dad says, patting the mat in front of him.  "We've got work to do."

"It's a waste of time," I mutter, turning back to the door.

"It's not.  Nico's going to find Mimic sooner or later, Ace.  I promise."

"Yeah?  Well I couldn't even use illusion abilities before I lost my powers," I snap, the frustration suddenly rising to the surface.  "All I had was a bit of extra strength and speed--and look, this stupid suit makes me like that!  It's not even special, Dad!  A stupid suit can do exactly what I could do before he stole my powers--why in the hell should I train for something I don't even have?"

"Nico says differently," Dad says.

"Nico this, Nico that--what's so special about Nico, anyway?  I've never even heard of him before this stupid school came up, and I'm obsessed with capes!"  Wait, probably shouldn't have admitted that.

"Nico is Superior's son," Dad says.  "You don't get more dependable than that--although I questioned it at first, too.  I looked up his past, checked out all the things he did as a super villain, thought about it for a long time before I decided to take the job.  He's hard to deal with sometimes," he admits.  "He's a genius, they usually are."

I stare at him.  "You're still not answering the biggest problem, Dad," I say.  "What if, when I get my powers back, I STILL can't use my illusion abilities?"

"Oh, that won't be a problem," he says, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket.  "This is your reading," he tells me as he hands it over.  It's a computer line drawing of me, with the various lines in different colors and a grid next to it.  "The red is power lines, the
silver blue is specialized abilities that are illusion based.  You're eighty eight percent silver blue.  Your specialized abilities are almost ninety percent of your cape levels.  Ace, you ARE an illusionist.  You promise to be a more powerful illusionist than I am.  I'm not ego stroking or lying to calm you down this time," he says, watching me as I stare at the paper.

"Oh," I say quietly.

"So, we're going to start training you--and since your mother still hates the sight of me, we're going to do it here."

"She... she doesn't hate the sight of you," I say, reluctantly putting the piece of paper down.  "I don't think," I add honestly.

"She does," he says.  "Not that I can blame her, looking back.  If I didn't even notice my own son being a super, how many other things have I missed over the years?" he asks quietly.

I look at him.  "You notice tiny details in your work, but are completely blind in your personal life, right?"

"Yeah... yeah, I told you that earlier," Dad admits.

"I hate you for that," I tell him.  He flinches.  "I kept waiting for you to notice--it's not like I was really trying to hide.  Not like I COULD hide it.  But you were completely oblivious, and Mom--"

"Mom what?" he asks.

"Mom... I don't know what she's thinking," I admit.  "I think she knew, she just never said anything.  Maybe she doesn't want me ending up like you."

"Wow, that's a real ego stroke," he mutters.

"Yeah, good thing I'm being kind, right?" I say, a grin escaping me.  "I could be telling you the truth."

"I'm an illusionist, I don't deal well with the truth," Dad says.  "Now, seriously, let's get started on your training.  If Nico catches Mimic too soon, we might be dealing with more than we can handle.  You know your paint room?"

"Field," I say, the dream from the night before coming back vividly.  "It's a paint field."

"Focus on that," he says.  "Close your eyes and picture the field the same way you saw it last time."

I sit cross my legs and close my eyes, imagining the empty field from my dreams.  It comes, quickly, but something's wrong.  I jerk around, looking at the people standing in my field.  That's Mega, Technico, America's Son--

And that's ME.

"Dad?" I say, feeling a bit panicked.

"What, son?"

"It's not empty anymore."  I watch in shock as they start to get fuzzy, then fade.  A single tree appears where they stood.  "I've got... um... a tree."

***

The bird flutters above my head.  It's tiny, sure, but it's visible, and when it lands on my finger it's solid.  I can't help but stare at it in wonder--not because I've never seen an illusion before, but because I've never seen one of MINE before.

"You've got a mental block," Dad says, watching the bird as well.  "It's the only explanation I can come up with.  A part of you has been holding it back."  He looks worried, so I glance at him.

"What's the problem?" I ask.

"If something had happened to break that wall down all of a sudden..." he says slowly.  "Man, it would have been nasty.  I need to thank Double M--YOU need to thank Double M for sending Banshee."

"Yeah," I say quietly, reaching up and petting the bird with a finger.  I stop as Dad reaches forward, gingerly touching the bird and letting out a curse.  "What?  What did I do wrong?" I ask.

"It's solid," he says.  "It's SOLID!" he bellows, jumping to his feet and racing to the door.  "Taurus!  Get in here!" he yells.

"What?"
Taurus demands, appearing in the door.  Dad moves to the side and points at my bird.

"Touch it."

"The bird?" he asks, crossing over to me.  He reaches out gently, barely running a finger over its head.  "It's solid," he says, looking astonished.  "Is it an illusion?"

"Yeah," I say, watching as the bird disappears.  It's hard to focus right now with all of the shouting.

"He's operating on another level already," Dad says, looking stunned.  "He's tapping into the senses with his illusions."

"How did
he do it at all?" Taurus asks.  "I thought he didn't have any abilities at the moment."

I look at Dad.  Dad looks at me.  "I... have no idea," he admits.  "You said there was a tree in your field, Ace.  Was that all?"

"No," I say.  "There were a lot of supers there at first--Technico included, and then they went fuzzy before turning into a tree.  Oh, and there was me, too," I say.

"Were they doing anything?"
Taurus asks.

"Just standing there," I say.  "In a group."

"I wonder," he says.  "Did you picture them?"

"No, not at all."

"Then... think it was Mimic?" Dad asks.  "And when he released the illusion... it must have gone back to where it really belonged.  To Ace.  In other words, the more he uses your abilities, the more power goes back to you," he says, looking at me.  "You're going to get your power back, Ace, regardless of what we do, just as long as Mimic keeps using it."

"We can't just assume he will, though,"
Taurus says.

"Oh, he will," Dad says.  "He wouldn't have broken character just to take them and not use them."

"But what is he after?" I ask.  "I mean, what is he after that he needs my power for?"

"We don't know,"
Taurus says.  "You can never tell with Super Villains, especially ones as strange as Mimic is.  It might be he just wanted to be an illusionist for a while."

"I don't think so," Dad says.  "If he wanted just that, he would have grabbed me.  I was right there where it was easy to get me.  No...
there's a reason he waited for Ace."

Wow, that's nice to hear.  Not.  "How does he know to pick me over you?" I ask.

"Because he's from the future," Dad says.  "At least the one we're dealing with is."

"Oh... wait, what?" I ask.

"Long story.  We need to start practicing again, who knows how soon you'll have the majority of your powers back?"

***

This wasn't as good an idea as it had sounded, Jetta thinks as she creeps behind a building.  HOW had Ace talked her into this?  Wasn't it supposed to work the other way around?  With her talking Ace into doing things for her?  She'd had it all lined out in her mind!  But noooo, a couple of kisses and she's doing some seriously dangerous things--all for a date!  He's not even that cute, okay?

Breathe.  Breathe.  She lets out her breath slowly, leaning hard against the concrete building behind her.  Firefly is in the sky above her, looking for any signs of movement.  She can practically feel the eyes running over the street in front of her.  And what's worse, she thinks darkly, what's so much worse, is that she gets the feeling Firefly isn't even the most dangerous cape out there!  That Superior guy?  She's never heard of him, but the whole line about being related to THE Superior still freaks her out.

They take skipping school way too seriously around here.  She could understand his dad looking for him, maybe, but an entire arsenal of super heroes?  Not JUST super heroes--S class super heroes?  That is like... child abuse or something!  She dares to glance up, letting out a sigh of relief as she notices that Firefly is gone.  She pulls out her phone to text Ace.

"Who you calling?"

The question almost gives her a heart attack as she turns to face Firefly.  When had she gotten there?  She was just--it was--

"Wh--what?" she asks, shoving her phone behind her back.  She pushes the red button, hoping that's enough to keep the phone number from appearing.  She doubts it, though.

"Who," Firefly annunciates, "are.  You.  Calling?"

"My--my boyfriend?" Jetta stammers.

"Oh," Firefly says, turning and starting to walk away.  Jetta starts to let out a sigh, only to suck it back in as Firefly turns back.  "You look familiar," the white haired super says, walking over again.  "Have I seen you before?"

"Um... no?" Jetta offers.

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," she says.

"Because I really think I recognize you.  Were you at my last job?"

"Probably not," Jetta says honestly.  "I would remember something like that."  Firefly looks at her a little more closely, frowning.

"I guess not," she says finally.  "Hey, if you see a boy that looks like this, yell, would you?" she says, holding out her hand.  A holographic image of Ace appears over the open palm.  "He's a dangerous guy."

"I--I will," Jetta says.  "What did he do, anyway?"  She has to know.  If it's skipping school like she thought, she's going to give up on coming to this school forever.

"He's an escaped convict," Firefly says as she takes to the air.  "Don't forget.  Don't try to talk to him, just yell.  I'll come running."  Then she's gone, leaving Jetta standing there with a cold ball forming in her gut.

"He's a what?"

It's frustrating, Nico thinks as the moon rises high in the sky.  There's no sign of Mimic, and they've been searching for hours.  But of course there isn't, he thinks darkly, with Ace's abilities Mimic could literally be anyone.  ANYONE.

Nico drops down on a rooftop, sitting on the edge and looking up at the moon, racking his brain for something that could draw the man out.  He barely glances at his half
-sister as she drops down next to him, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"What Father said," she starts out.

"I did what needed to be done," Nico says, not wanting to think about the past now.  "She was either going to kill you or run away, anyway.  Your mom--"  He stops, shaking his head.  "I'm still... I won't apologize."

"It wasn't easy," Liz admits.  "I mean, raising one of us--raising you," she says, honestly, looking at Nico.  "I don't think she ever knew how to deal with you.  You came into your powers so early... and you were stronger than she was."

"She was a self-centered--" Nico stops himself.

"Super heroes often are," she says.  "I don't miss her."

"I..." Nico says slowly.  "I won't apologize for running her out of the house," he says.  "But I will apologize because it left you without a mom," he finishes.  He'd been barely fifteen when he came upon that woman trying to beat toughness into his seven year old little sister.  She'd always felt that Liz needed to surpass him--to prove she was the better woman for Superior.  Joke was on her, Superior didn't pay attention to any of them.

A
t the time he had lost it.  The A class super had been thrown through the front door by a fifteen year old kid--one who hadn't been able to fly yet.  He'd stepped through the hole her body had left and waited for her to climb out of the building across the street.

"If you ever touch my little sister like that again," he'd said in a very calm tone, "You won't be getting back up."  So yeah, technically Liz's mom had abandoned them--she hadn't come back.  But it was still his fault.

Liz doesn't move, still leaning against his shoulder.  The wind is brisk, but neither seems to notice it.  "We're going to find him," she says after a long moment.  "There's got to be something he's not thought of.  What is he after?"

"I... would have thought it was Morgan," Nico admits after a long moment.  "That's why Noelle..."  Noelle what?  Was kidnapped?  Swapped out with Mimic?  Somewhere or some WHEN that he's got no clue where to find her?  "Liz?  I know who Noelle is," he says quietly.

"What?"

"She's from the future.  She's my granddaughter."

"Oh... wow..." Liz says, stunned.

"And I've got no idea what he did with her."

She wraps her arms around his arm, hugging it.  "We'll find him, we'll find out what he did with her.  How are you going to take his powers away, though?"

"Oh, that," he says, pulling away from her.  "I need to call Double M."

"What for?"

"To get back into the Cape Cells."

***

The moon is huge.  It's cold out here, sitting on the roof of my one story house, but it's such a gorgeous night that I ignore it.  I've had the longest day of my life.  It really feels that way.  My muscles are sore.  It turns out that wearing the suit really takes it out of you, you just don't notice until after you've taken it off.

I fall back on the roof, taking a sip of my coke.  Absently my mind goes over the day and I close my eyes, picturing the small bird I'd created.  It was tiny, nothing compared to some of the stuff I've seen my dad do over the years and on the television, but it was mine.  I hold my arm out into the air, feeling tiny talons wrap around my finger.  I open my eyes.

The bird is staring back at me.  It lets out a little chirp and startles a laugh out of me.  My mind flashes back, and once again I see Justin.  "You sort of wanted to die."

The bird disappears.  Death...

When I was a kid, maybe seven or eight at most, I had a pet turtle.  I named him Henry.  Henry the turtle.  He wasn't much, just a little thing I kept in a fish bowl.  It had rocks and a water area, and I fed him every day.  I loved that turtle, even though he smelled funny, but one day...  Well, one day the cat got into my room.  I'd been at school, and I came home to find the fishbowl knocked over and a shell on the floor.

Henry had been killed.  It was my fault, I'd known it even back then.  I should have never left my door open.  Mom had offered to buy me a new one, but I turned her down.  What's the point, I had asked her.  It would just happen again.  Cats would never change and all things died sooner or later. 

I cried myself to sleep that night.  I was a bit stunned to wake up the next morning to find Dad actually home for once.  He stopped me at the door, his hand on my shoulder.  "Hey, Ace," he said.  "I think we have something more important to do today than school."  Looking back I know Mom must have called him home, that she had told him just how hard I was taking it, because he brought out a small wooden box and held it out to me.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Henry's coffin," he says.  "We're going to give him a proper burial."

My first death.  Look, we all know I'm sort of a goth, death should be more morbid or dramatic. There should be poetry involved or something, right? But the first death I ever experienced was a turtle, and it came with a little burial in the backyard while skipping school.  It had, stupid as it sounds, broken my heart.  A tiny little turtle that never did much except walk around his fishbowl and eat things had meant so much to me.

You know how Dad said he noticed the little details?  The tiny things, the things that make up much larger stuff.  Well, so do I.  That tiny little turtle is still so vivid in my mind that when I hold my palm up to the sky I feel his weight on my hand.  I pull my hand down, tilting it to look at the turtle I hold.  "Henry."
  For a moment I can pretend I have him back. 

I sit up, gently petting his head with a finger.  It's not the same.  I can tell.  It's a different weight, or a different texture, or something that I can't get exactly right.
Maybe it's a spirit.  Whatever it is, though, it's not Henry.  It'll never be Henry, even if it looks just like him.

Death is final.  Well, I mean, sure there's all the stuff about life after death and being ghosts or heaven or whatever, but in this world, death is pretty final.  I don't think you can just restart your life like a game.  So... how could being able to do something like this make me get to the point I wanted to die?  I need to ask Justin.  Maybe he can remember more somehow.

I blink as I see someone fly overhead and get to my feet.  That was Technico?  No.  He had a white suit on--and white hair.  He was in my paint field!  But why is he flying so fast?  I don't think of my limitations, I should have, I realize as I hit the ground, but it doesn't hurt that much, jumping off of a one story building.  Instead I take off, chasing after the flying super as fast as I can.  It's not as fast as I'd used to be, but it doesn't have to be.  He stops abruptly, floating in the air in front of a woman.

I've never seen this woman before.  She's obviously a super hero, she's almost as tall as the white haired man, with broad shoulders and muscles that I can see from where I stand.  She's got long white hair that's floating in the air, and is wearing a pink and white super uniform, with a white short cape flapping behind her.

"Tatiana," the man says, his tone stunned for a brief second.  "You DARE to bring her into this?" he bellows so loudly that I cover my ears with my hands.  Thing is, even though he's the one I probably should be watching, my eyes are drawn to the woman--glued to the woman, in fact.

It isn't that she's beautiful, which she is in the way that even the largest tank females tend to be, it's that I'm almost positive she belongs to me, somehow.  I can sense her.  I flinch as the man slams a fist into her gut, sending her flying--but not far.

"Superior," she says with a hint of a Russian accent.  I find myself going as still as the guy called Superior does.  "It is enough.  You do not have to fight alone anymore."

"You sick monster, Mimic," Superior snarls.  "Do you really think I'm going to fall for the words of a dead woman?"  But I can see them--glints of tears in the moonlight.  Even as he punches the woman again, I know he's crying.  "How dare you do this to me?" he demands.

The woman doesn't even seem to notice the hits.  She reaches up, cupping his face and looking him in the eyes.  "You and I should be together, now, my love," she whispers.  He jerks away from her.  "In the world after this one.  Come to me, my love.  It's simple enough.  Death is just a matter of letting me kill you."  Her fist slams into him so hard that I hear it from where I'm standing, sending him flying through the air at light speed.  He pulls to a stop and starts back, his fist ready.

I can't stand it.  I don't even know why I can't stand it, but I can't.  The idea of something that's MINE torturing someone like this--I hold out a hand to her, my palm out.  "Enough," I say, wondering why I feel tears falling.  I can only think that this is a lot like my fake Henry, only crueler.  The woman, who seems so solid, starts to turn translucent as she looks at me.  It's difficult, almost like I'm tugging with all of my strength, but she disappears.

I see her standing in the middle of my paint field for a moment before she turns into a brand new tree--one larger than the one made up of all the others.  It's magnificent, towering into the sky with birds nesting in the branches and--

"YOU."  I start to choke as I realize that Superior has me by the throat.  "Mimic.  You're bold enough to show up in front of me after pulling that trick?" he demands, shaking me.  I try to speak, but I can't breathe.  He's choking me.  I can feel my consciousness slipping away.

The hold lightens, but it's too late.  I'm standing in my paint field and positive that my body is unconscious.

***

I walk forward, staring up at the tree that had once been Tatiana.  It's gorgeous.  I've never really had a thing for trees.  Don't get me wrong, I don't hate them or anything.  They provide shade, air, all those good things, but I will never be a tree hugger.  So... why do I seriously feel like hugging this one?  Maybe because I'm starting to see color in my paint field because of it.

So if this is because of an illusion that Mimic created using my power, just how much power had he put into it?  I'm guessing, off the top of my head, that it was a ton of it.  I reach up and touch the bark of the tree and feel an actual jolt.  It's like a deep pulsing sensation, as if I can feel actual LIFE in the tree.  What do you have to put into an illusion that leaves this sort of feeling after it's gone?

A tiny part of my mind knows the answer.  It's got to be a lot of emotion.  Hate, maybe... but more likely...

"He's coming around.  Ace, can you hear me?  Ace, wake up, kid."

My eyes open and I stare blankly at the man hovering over me.  "Dad?" I say after a long moment.

"You're back," he says, dragging me into a tight hug.  He pulls away just as quickly, his shimmering black eyes staring into mine.  "And so are your eyes," he says.

"Seriously?" I ask, forgetting everything as I jump out of the hospital bed.  "Where's a mirror?" I demand, not waiting for a response when I see a door open.  I've got a faint idea of where I'm at--I think it's the Hall, I've heard they've got hospital rooms like this, but that doesn't matter right now.  Right now I'm in the bathroom staring into my own eyes.

They're back.  "They're back," I whisper, touching the glass.  "THEY'RE BACK!" I shout gleefully.  I'm not a norm anymore!  It'd only been a day before getting my powers back, but it'd been the longest day in my life.

"Don't assume everything's back," Dad says from behind me, making me glance up.  "But now isn't the time to focus on that.  What, exactly, happened tonight, Ace?"

I look at him, things clicking into place as I do.  If that man with white hair is the ACTUAL Superior... then I'm not sure, myself.  But Dad would know, right?  Dad's a lot older than he looks--he was part of the second wave of the Hall.  "I... Dad, who's Tatiana?" I ask.

He goes pale at the name.  "Where did you hear about her?" he asks quietly.

"I saw her," I say.  "She was the illusion that gave me back my eyes."

***

"This is highly irresponsible," Double M says as he and Nico drop down in front of the Cape Cell building.  "Your collar," he adds pointedly, looking like he won't budge.  Nico lets out a sigh and digs the pieces of a collar out of his pocket.  They float above his hand, taking form, then a controller takes form next to it.

"Collar, controller," Nico says, tossing the controller to Double M.  "Try not to lose it," he adds in a drawl as he snaps his collar on.

"There must be a better way than turning to Star Born," Double M says as he pockets the controller.

"No, the better way would be to use her little trick on the Mimic we have in the cells.  He's sitting perfectly still for us," Nico points out.  "We just take his powers now and then we won't have this problem coming back from the future."