Aces Wild: Cape High Book Six (4 page)

"Want me?" Ace repeats blankly.  "Nobody wants me."

"We do," Morgan says.  She's not even sure why she says it, but she knows she means it.  "We want you here."  She can feel the rest of the zoo kids staring at her, but she stubbornly plows on.  "We know what you are--you're one of us.  I won't promise that everyone will be one big happy family, or whatever, but there's some fifty--"

"Fifty five," Max provides.  "Give or take."

"Less than a hundred of us our age in the world.  That means there's a group of kids out there that will never fit in, will always try to hide the fact that they stand out.  That are vulnerable to monsters like Collector every time they step outside," she says, her hands fisting at the thought. 

"Collector?" he repeats.

"Y
eah, Collector," she says grimly.  "The guy that captured half this group and had them as a sort of freakshow of heroes."

"Um... yeah," he says.  He glances at his watch.  "I should get home, I bet they've called my mom by now."  He takes a step back, then another, then breaks into a run for the steps.

Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned that so soon after meeting him, huh?

Collector?  Capturing?  A super villain principal and a choice of being a hero or a villain?  Is there like some sort of degree involved?  I bet they get a signed piece of paper saying they graduated with highest honors at torture devices!  This place--and I've used this word a few too many times today, but--it's INSANE!

I stop at the top of the canyon, jerking to a halt as I realize that Nico is already standing there, as if waiting for me.  "Let me out," I demand.

"Not yet," he says.  "I need to ask you something before I let you go."

"Fine," I say.  "Ask."

"You're too old to just be developing.  I'm not going to ask why you hid it.  My question is why you chose now to show it."

I stare at him, feeling the welling emotions that this place dragged out of me slowing.  The question is logical, one I've been trying to ignore all day.  I don't want to answer it, but if I don't, he might not let me out.  He's a super villain, right?  He can do that sort of thing.

"I..." I say, looking behind me.  The crowd of kids--of super kids--is still down below, watching us.  "This is blackmail," I say.

"Ex super villain," he says, pointedly.  "I'm not above a bit of blackmail."

I stare at him.  I look away, my hands fisting at my sides as this morning flashes brightly through my mind.  I don't want to say it.  It sounds stupid and childish, I even know that before opening my mouth.  I take a deep breath and brace myself.  "She signed the papers today," I say almost silently.  "She signed them and left them out on the table for the whole world to see--now can I go?" I demand harshly. 

He steps aside, revealing the panel.  "Press your hand to the screen and step on the glowing footprints," he says, as if I hadn't just told him that my world is crashing around me even as I speak.  I do as he says, only stopping as someone appears behind me
and taps me on the shoulder.

"Take this," the muscular blonde says, holding out a hand.  He looks like a jock, I think darkly.  I've had enough trouble with jocks today.  "It's my ear
bud for when I'm fighting against Max or Jack," he explains.  "If you're going to interfere at tonight's fight, this will make it easier.  Trust me, I forgot it my last fight with Jack.  I'm just lucky he's predictable."

"Good idea," Nico says.  "Take it, Ace.  I'll make you your own next fight."

I'm doing this for Jetta, I tell myself as I hold out my hand.  Not because I've been invited into the big boys' game.  I slip the bud into my pocket and turn back to the panel, leaving the place behind.

***

"Who's got his back?" Nico asks as the teen disappears from sight.

"I'll do it," Adanna says.  "The others are too obvious."

"Says the one with detention," Max says.  "There's two little blondes that might be a problem, though."

"You sure?" Sunny asks Adanna.  She looks at Morgan, a little smile on her face.

"For a friend," Adanna says.  The relationship is brand new, there.  It's only been a week since Morgan approached her, offering her friendship, but Adanna takes even new friendship extremely seriously.

"Thanks," Morgan says with a little grin.

***

The woman walking up the stairs of the Hall is dressed in
a business suit.  Her reddish brown hair is pulled up in a sweeping fashion, her high heels look like they should be registered as lethal weapons.  Her normally beautiful face is set in a dark, foreboding expression and she's clutching her purse like it's a shield. 

She'd spent years hoping and praying that this situation wouldn't come up.  Why, oh why, does she have to deal with this on the same day she signed the divorce papers?  Her head is pounding and her hands are clammy because, put bluntly, she's terrified out of her mind.

She's going to lose Ace.  Oh, they'll paint it differently, say that they just want what's best for her boy, say that he needs to be among his own kind, but she knows what it really is.  Her son is a super.  She's known for years, just never mentioned it to her always absent husband.  If he was too stupid to notice what was right under his nose, he doesn't deserve to know!

She walks through the automatic door and finds herself staring at the statue in the middle of the room.  These people, they aren't human.  They're bigger than life--greater than mere humans--

She has no chance of keeping her son.

Her resolve falls, just like that, every little lie she's told herself about the situation just drops to the ground as she stares up at the metallic Superior looming over her head.  Her eyes go to the man next to him--the man she will be talking with any moment, Mastermental.  Her son is one of them.  She knows it better than anyone, knows that he takes after her father--

"There's a chance Ace will grow up stronger than his father," a voice says from behind her.  She practically jerks as she turns to confront the newcomer.  It's Mastermental.  "You know that, though, don't you?" he asks in a gentle tone.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she lies through her teeth.  She can feel herself start to sweat and she tries to clear her mind.  This man is dangerous--far more dangerous than a normal super, in some ways.  He can see into her very soul, she's certain.

"Mrs. King--"

"It's Ms. Nyler," she says.  "I'm divorced."  There's a tone of defiance in that statement, one that she feels is childish, but can't help.

"Then Ms. Nyler, please, why don't you join me in my office?  This is something I think we'd both prefer to talk about in private."

"Is my--is Blackjack coming?" she asks.

"Not yet," he says.  "I think this is something you need to think about without... outside difficulties involved."  He seems so reasonable, she thinks as he offers his arm in an outdated fashion.  He acts as if her entire world isn't spinning out of control at the moment.  "I want what's best for your son, just as much as you do, Ms. Nyler," he says earnestly, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Do you, really?" she asks.

"I do," he says.  Hesitantly she touches the arm offered, pushing down, and he lowers it.  She refuses to hook arms with a man that's about to take her boy from her.  "It's this way," he says, motioning forward.

***

Skinny, rather creepy looking for a teenage boy, honestly, and those eyes...

"I've always wondered," Jenna says, jerking Jetta out of her thoughts.  The two sit in a tree at a distance from the canyon, watching as Ace steps over the yellow tape.  "He scares me," she admits quietly.  "There's something about him that's seriously creepy."

"He's a typical teenage boy," Jetta says, blowing it off and crossing her legs.  "He's a typical CAPE teenage boy, which is who you really should be chasing instead of that idiot jock of yours."

"Yeah, right.  There's nothing wrong with Matt!  He's cute," she says, almost pouting.

"He's a moron that didn't even recognize an obvious cape," Jetta retorts.  "But they just dragged him into their secret base like he was an old family member."  It's not fair.  She wants to say that so much, but she can't.  Their parents, respectable members of the East Branch, refuse to even consider putting them in Cape High.  She'd asked.

"Dragged Matt?"

"No, moron, they dragged Ace.  Why didn't you tell me you had a cape in your class?" she demands.

"I was hoping they were contacts.  You know how creepy goth guys can get!"

"That's not goth," Jetta says.  "That's flat out super villain material."  A bad boy.  One that had practically drooled at the sight of her, her mind whispers.  "He'll be useful," she announces boldly, challenging her little sister to say what they both know.

"It'll never happen," Jenna says.  "
Our parents would kill you."

"So?  I'm not a little girl anymore.  I'm a working cape.  If I want to toy with a cape boy, they have no say in it," she says, pushing her hair over her shoulder in an arrogant move.  "Like I said, he'll be useful."

"He'll be dangerous," Jenna says.  "He's scary, I'm serious.  There's something that happens when you look into his eyes.  It's like the world starts to get darker and you feel like something's really, really wrong--"

"You're just a wimp," Jetta says.  "I can use him--he'll be happy to be used, even."  She hops out of the tree and starts for him, only to stop as he pulls out his phone.  Thanks to her wind ability she can hear every word.

"Yeah?"

"Come to the Hall, son."

"Why?"

"Because Mastermental and your mom are here discussing your future.  Look, I know you don't agree with the divorce--"

"I'm coming," Ace says, hanging up before the conversation can go on.  He looks around, not seeing her, it seems, because he breaks into a run.  Not just a typical run, she notices, a flat out one moment he's here, the next he's gone.

"Wow," she says.  "Who IS he?"

"I... think I know," Jenna says quietly.

"Then tell me!"

"He's the son of Blackjack.  He came to the school earlier--I mean, he convinced everyone he was just dressed like Blackjack, but I don't believe it."

"I could get into the Central Branch with him," Jetta says, her hands growing clammy at the very thought.

"I don't think this is smart--"

"No," Jetta says.  "It's BRILLIANT."

***

I hate running.  If I'd had any other way to get here, I wouldn't have done it, I think as I slow to a jog, then walk up to the massive building they call the
Central Hall.  Even norms know that America has five branches of the Hall, North, South, East, West and Central.  Central is right here in Kansas City, where the group is actually smaller, but higher class than the rest.  It's ran by one of the most dangerous capes around--Mastermental.

He's come to a few of my birthday parties in the past.  He's a slender, quiet man that looks like he's more suited to run a massive company than be a super hero.  Then again, running the Hall is basically running a huge company, I bet.

I stop, feeling a strange sensation, as if someone is watching me.  Of course they are, I realize as I see the cameras all around.  The security system here is outrageously huge.  They don't want crazy super hating norms running in strapped with dynamite.  Sure, it wouldn't hurt any of the capes, but there are a lot of norms that work here.  Tons of them, I bet.  But cameras don't leave you with the feeling of being hunted, do they?  I find myself looking around, searching the shadows to see if someone's watching.  Who would be watching me?  Maybe there's hidden workers in the shadows, or something--

"Ace."  The word makes me look up as my dad starts for me.  He looks torn, and his hands come up for a moment before he sees my expression.  "Look, this isn't what you think--"

"Where's Mom?" I ask coldly.

"She's still talking with Mastermental.  You need my help to get into that part of the building, so come on," he says, starting up the stairs.

"Blackjack," I say, making him stop and look back at me.  "That school--"

"This is something we can discuss when we're inside," he says.

"Fine," I mutter as I follow him inside.  "I'm not moving in with you," I add.  "Wherever you're living, that is."  I'm keeping my voice low, not wanting to be heard.

"I'm a dorm manager," he says.  "I'm living at the school."

"What?" I demand a bit too loudly.

"It's not exactly easy to find living areas for one guy that might have to don a cape, you know," he says.  "So far I've been kept on standby, but if something big happens I'll still have to suit up.  Really hard to do when you live in an apartment building."

"And you're trying to get me into that school?  Let me guess, you work there, too," I snap.

"I'm the math teacher," he says.  "Ace, I don't see why you and I can't have a civil relationship--"

"Because you just ditched me!" I snap.

"Ace Lawrence King!"  The sharp full-name rebuke makes me jerk and turn to the elevator.  Mom is standing there with a dangerous expression on her face.  It's the one that says if I go any further she'll toss me into boot camp until I'm thirty.  But for once, I glare back at her.

"Don't get involved, Mom," I say.  "You have no right to gang up on me with him, you're the one that signed the papers!"

"You... you signed them?" Dad asks, sounding a bit weak.

"Of course I signed them.  That's what you do with divorce papers!  Now if you don't mind, I need to have a calm, rational discussion with my son," she says, storming right past him and stopping in front of me.  For a moment she stares into my eyes, then she pulls me into a hug.  "Honey, I wish I had... I wish it was... I don't know," she admits.  "But it's not going to be that big of a difference," she goes on, pulling away.

"You're making me go to his school," I say unemotionally.

"But you're staying in the house," she says.  "I know--I know this is a lot of change for you, honey, with the divorce, and now the new school, but--"