Aces Wild: Cape High Book Six (8 page)

"And what punishment would that be?" Mom demands.

"Yes, Papa, what punishment would that be?" Adanna asks, looking almost as irritated as Mom does.

"Really, Adanna, must we discuss this?" Panther asks, looking a bit abashed.

"Papa," she repeats, her hands on her hips.  "What is your punishment?"

"I am spending the next three months assisting as a generic hero," Panther says with a sigh.  "That means I can't shift, of course, but when dealing with small time villains and their like, really, who needs to?"  He looks to Mom, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket.  "I promise I will not hurt, endanger, or even let your son be late to school, ma'am.  I hardly see the point in doing that to a young man who's so good at capturing my good side," he adds, holding out the piece of paper.

She takes the piece of paper, looking at it with a sigh.  "Ace," she says.

"At least it's not someone naked?" I offer.

"You know who my hu--my ex-husband is, don't you," she says in a threatening tone, turning on Panther again.  "He's Blackjack.  He won't hesitate to deal with you, you know."

"MOM!" I yelp.  "Don't threaten him!  He's already promised.  I'll be fine!  Adanna's a student at Cape High."

"You are?" she asks Adanna.

"Yes, ma'am," Adanna says.  "I've been going since it started."

"How's the education?  Are the classes hard?" Mom asks.

"They aren't as difficult as what I'm used to," Adanna admits.

"She's already at a college level.  We aren't really sending her there for the education," Panther says.  "She's learning social skills.  But I honestly need to leave, if we're going to get there in time for the first bell.  Adanna hates being tardy."  He looks at his watch, to prove the point.

"Fine.  Ace, have a good day at school," Mom says, grabbing her
briefcase and slipping on her heels.  "I need to get to work, as well."

"Yeah, thanks, Mom," I say, feeling a bit naked without my backpack... and my eyes.  No, seriously, I can almost feel the lack of swirling.  I feel a distinct lack of super, especially as I head out of the house and stare at the sleek black car in front of our house.  "I thought crime didn't pay," I mutter.

There's a grin on Panther's face as he unlocks it with a car fob.  "I paid for this with my legitimate work, Ace," he tells me, not saying a word about whether crime pays or not.

"Papa is a scientist," Adanna says, getting into the front with her dad.  I slip into the back, looking around with admiration.  Leather seats, sleek lines, it's a seriously fine car--except--

"What make is this, anyway?" I ask blankly.  There's no signs to be seen, nothing to say what car company made it.

"It's a Technico," Panther says.

"A--"

"Technico," he repeats.  "When your college roommate and best friend happens to be a technopath, you can get an extremely nice environmentally friendly car.  For the right price, of course."

"We're very big on keeping the environment safe," Adanna says over her shoulder as she straps on her seatbelt.  I... no, seriously, what?  Well, I mean, I guess even super villains can be tree huggers.  If they do it this classily, who wouldn't be?  "And Technico used it in Zoe's training," Adanna adds.  "She had a very big hand in developing the motor, right, Papa?"

"Yes, she did.  This is what you get when a technopath is training his daughter.  Now tell me, Ace, how long have you been drawing that well?" Panther asks, making me look at him.

"Um... a while?"

"Do you take mural jobs?"

"Papa, we're here already," Adanna points out.

"I was thinking of having him paint the cage walls, something pleasing for the cats," Panther says.  "I'm sure your mother would enjoy it--"

"Papa, Sunny's knocking on the window," Adanna says.  "Ace and I need to get to school."  She opens the door and slides out, leaving me with Panther.

"Um, I sort of promised Banshee a painting first, but maybe after?" I offer.  What?  This is PANTHER.

"I look forward to it," he says with satisfaction as I get out of the car.  He drives away, leaving me facing a wall of students, each looking somewhat intimidating in the light of day.  Or maybe it's in light of me having no powers of my own.

"Hey, goth boy, you got the right place?"  I jerk, my hands fisting as I turn around to face the ones behind me and--Jack.  He's grinning.  No, seriously, does this guy ever NOT grin?  He seems way too happy to be normal, especially when he walks over and pats me on the back hard enough to send me flying.  Thankfully Trent grabs me before I go too far.  (And have I mentioned how creepy it is to see a guy with a metal mohawk and metal teeth grinning?  It is.  Way creepier than I used to be.)

"He's gotten his powers stolen, Jack," Trent says, standing me upright.  "Remember?"

"Oh, right.  Sorry," Jack says.

"He's the school bully, isn't he?" I ask Trent.

"Just don't irritate him anywhere near a bathroom," he says.  "He believes in old school style bullying."

"Now, I let you come up for today, but honestly, this is plain stupid," Dad says, moving through the crowd of kids in front of me.  "Get back inside, we've got work to do."

"Where's Nico?" Trent asks.

"He's not going to be in for a while," he says.  "I'll be taking over until he's accomplished what he set out to do.  Now move it, we've got work to do!"

"I didn't think
math class called for that much urgency," Jack drawls.

"We're not doing classes this week.  This week we're going to study something new."

"What?" one of the dorm kids asks.

"The norm hero."

***

Nico floats over the city, knowing that several satellites are focusing in on him and watching him as he searches the land below.  "North?" he asks.

"No sign of him," Ken reports.

"South?"

"Nothing," Jeanie says.

"East?"

"I see, your logic makes sense."  The voice isn't on the same channel as the others, Nico notices as a twitch appears under his right eye.

"Nothing," Mega says over the mic.

"If you can capture Mimic and put his powers on lockdown, he'll be easier to deal with," Superior says, his voice easily going over the rest of the search party.  Of course it does, Nico thinks darkly, he hacked his family only line.  The only other one using this line is Liz.

"Father," he hears her say.  "This isn't your business.  It's Cape High business."

"And since when has Mimic not been my business?" Superior asks.  "If anything I have more reason to want him taken care of than you two do.  Especially you, Liza."

"It's Liz," Liz says.  "And I'm not sure where you're going with this."

Nico feels a cold ball in his gut as he turns, scanning the distance.  His eyes land on a white uniform, taking in Superior's new clothes.  He looks like a completely different cape, Nico thinks.  But that's to be thought about later.  "What do you want with Mimic?" he asks.

"Do you remember your mother, Nico?" Superior asks in that same, eerie, almost peaceful tone.  "She could take out entire towns with a single hit.  She was almost as tall as I am, and built like a brick wall, yet she dressed in pink and white."

"Father," Nico says in a warning tone.

"I was obsessed with her," Superior says softly.  "She always wanted a daughter, Liza.  Said she would name her Elizabeth and treat her like a princess.  All the little girls that saw her got a hug and a kiss on the cheek and the promise that someday they would grow up to be just like her."

"Father!" Nico repeats.

"She wasn't my mother," Liz says.

"She would have been, if Mimic hadn't killed her," Superior says almost savagely.  "We thought he was a norm at the time, but it's thanks to that that I realized the truth.  The humans' system, it's flawed and useless against our kind.  That's why we need to deal with our own.  Now take all those self-righteous speeches about trying to capture him, trying to deal with him by putting him in the Cape Cells, and ask yourself, do you really think he'll stay there?"

"He's one of my students' father
s," Nico grits out.

"He killed your mother."

"Father!" Liz says.  "Stop.  Just stop.  We'll capture him--"

"And we'll take his powers away," Nico says, earning a stunned silence from both of them.  "I know," he says quietly.  "I don't remember her, but I know who she was.  I know what happened.  It doesn't change anything."

"If you loved her so much, why was I born?" Liz asks in a childish tone.

"It had been
over five years and I had no ability as a father.  Your mother was nice enough, liked Nico, and I figured she would be able to handle raising my children."

"Did you love her at all?" Liz asks.

"I'm not sure why people are so obsessed with love," Superior says after a long moment.  "Love can't be seen or heard, it's just a title people slap onto a few chemical responses.  We're supers.  No.  We're not just supers, kids.  We are SUPERIORS.  If you choose an inferior mate and expect them to raise your children just because you 'love' them, things will go south quickly.  So who is raising your children, Nico?"

"Lady Rose," Nico mutters.  "But she's not 'raising my children,' we both are.  Besides, you have no right to lecture us on any of this."

"She's an Elementalist," Liz adds.

"Very nice choice," Superior says, ignoring the comment about his rights.  "I'm surprised."

"I love her."

"At least part of your brain is wired correctly.  And you, Liz?"

"Shouldn't we be searching for Mimic rather than grilling us on our love lives?"

"Or our non
-existent ones?" Nico adds.

"I WILL punch you, big brother," Liz snaps.

"She's got an A class shifter chasing her," Nico says.  "Taurus."

"I see.  So both of you are apt to make noise about being in love, but logical enough to pick an acceptable mate for your level of power.  That sounds a bit hypocritical to me.  Although, really, you could aim a little higher, Liza--"

"He's only A class because he can't fly," Liz mutters darkly.

"Ah, I see.  So you are interested in power levels," Superior says.  "Your mother was an A class for the same reason.  I suppose you came out well enough, considering all that happened.  Of course, what Nico did when you were a child had a say in that, as well."

"What I did had to be done," Nico says coldly.  "Let it go, Father."

There's a tense silence for a moment before Liz lets out a sigh.  "It's in the past, we have more important things to do right now," she says almost softly.

"Agreed.  Now tell me, since everyone tries to keep me in the dark, what sort of powers did Mimic steal this time?"

"An illusionist," Nico says.

Superior curses.

***

"Welcome to hero training for norms, boys and girls," a massive black man with dreadlocks and a short cut goatee says.  He's got muscles on top of muscles, and looks like he could have broken me in two even back when I WAS a super.  I can tell all this because he's wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.  "We're here to discuss those times when you can't use your powers."

"Because of me," I mutter.

"Exactly," he says, looking straight at me.  "Or when a norm decides to play in the big leagues.  No laughing, it does happen, and those that survive the first year tend to be pretty dangerous guys to run into.  Usually the norm hero comes from a tragic past, loss of a parent, uncle, someone close to them, and rather than putting on a badge, they put on a mask."

"You're not a norm, are you?" I say, seriously doubting it.

"Of course not, Double M handpicked the school staff, Ace.  I'm Taurus."

"Oh."  Well that makes sense.  "Are there white shifters?" I ask stupidly.  The entire class turns and looks at me, but it's Taurus that breaks out in laughter.

"You were picked up by Panther, weren't you?" he says.  "For an answer, shifting isn't dependent on skin color, neither is any other super ability.  You can have any race as a shifter, and yes, that means there are white shifters, Chinese shifters, Native American shifters, really any race you can think of can come with a shifter ability.  Usually those abilities are passed down from one generation to the next.  Just like your illusionist powers were passed down from your father."

"Yeah... that makes more sense," I admit.  "I guess I just know you two best, cuz you're always on the news."

"Makes sense," Taurus says.  "You'll also realize that the race you come from or even your appearance in general doesn't matter as much in the super world as your abilities and conduct does."

"Sure it does," Sunny says, patting me on the back.  "But don't worry, man, we'll get you tan in no time.  That way you won't look like such a creepy--"

"Sunny!" Adanna says.