Aces Wild: Cape High Book Six (9 page)

"What?  He is seriously pale!"

"Thanks," I mutter, giving him a dark look.  He grins at me shamelessly.

"He's a goth, he's supposed to be pale," Justin says.  I look over at him, a bit surprised to see him moving through the crowd to stand next to me.  "I'd like to learn how it works," he says.  "Being a norm hero."

There's a strange look on Taurus's face.  "Really," he says.

"Really," Justin repeats.

"Then we'll start with the toys," Taurus says.  "Since I planned on teaching all of you these facts--yes, even the super villains."  He heads across the gym, stopping in front of a wall that slides open at a touch.  On the wall is an entire arsenal of weapons, and a suit.  "This is a technologically advanced suit," Taurus says.  "This one was built by Technico--because... well, honestly, I've got no clue what the guy is thinking more often than not.  You let him goof off for a day and you wind up with all sorts of things that supers will never need.  No offense, Sunny, Zoe."

"None taken," the twins say in the exact same dry tone.

"It's bullet proof, strength enhancing, speed enhancing and a dozen other 'enhancings' that a norm might need to play in the big leagues.  Why it has pointy ears on the head, again, no clue.  With this suit--and just this suit--a norm can easily stand toe to toe with a C class super.  If the norm has combat training, he might be able to take on a B and not get put in traction.  Now tell me why Nico stopped there?  If he's a technopath, shouldn't he be able to make an A class suit?"

"He should, but non super humans shouldn't," Zoe says, raising her hand.  "There's a lot of norms out there that would like to take a suit like that apart and use it against each other--"

"Or even against us," Adanna says.  "And while we can handle each other, handling an entire army of norms in suits that equal our second most powerful group is impossible."

"Exactly," Taurus says.  "Now, where's our volunteer?"  Then he looks at me.  I look around, but he's still looking straight at me.

"Um... here?" I say lamely, holding up a hand slightly.  Not so high that he thinks I actually want to do this, of course.  But I obviously have no choice.

"Then come on up here and try it on," Taurus says.  I can literally feel the eyes on me.  I'm the special needs kid of the class, okay?  I've realized it
already--

"I'll try it on!" Emily says.

"No way," Trent says.  "You're a big enough pain without it--would you stop kicking me?  You're going to break a toe or something."

"You're the one that called me a pain," she says.

I step forward, because nobody seems to care about the boyfriend abuse going on, and look at the suit.  "How do you even put it on?" I ask after staring at it for a long moment.

"Um..."

Okay, it's sort of wrong to laugh at a super hero, not to mention dangerous, but the blank look on his face is seriously funny.  Especially when he starts poking various parts of the suit, including the rubber nipples.  "Why did he even put these on it?" he mutters under his breath.  The entire class starts laughing at that one, so I let a grin escape.  I've got my back to them, anyway.

"It's probably here," Zoe says, stepping up beside me and flicking a switch on the suit.  The chest of the suit opens up, revealing the cavity.  "You just step into the legs and it'll close again," she tells me.

"Okay," I say.  Even Taurus is looking at me expectantly and I suddenly realize something.  He wanted to see this work, personally.  I wonder how many other toys are stashed in this building that supers can't use, but want to know about.  Probably a ton of them.  I step into the suit, almost falling over as I try and do it backwards.  I feel a bit claustrophobic as it closes around me, leaving only my mouth and the bottom of my nose uncovered by the mask.  "How do I move?" I ask.  I can't even see, actually, there's no holes in front of my eyes.

"The suit should be compensating for your size," Zoe says.

"I see your one-on-one training has been paying off," Taurus compliments her.

"It has," she says.

Suddenly there's light.  I find myself looking at a screen that shows everything in front of me and a grid that looks like it's monitoring my vitals.  "Welcome to the Nico1000," Nico's voice says over the speakers.  "Either you're a norm that somehow got into my school, or you're a cape that got into something you shouldn't have.  According to your stats you should be..."

The voice goes silent for a moment as the screen in front of me flashes.  "Of the Loaded Deck line, with... powers on lockdown.  What's your name?"

"Ace King," I say, feeling extremely vulnerable right now.

"Well, then, user Ace King--"

"How did you know?" I ask.

"Know what?"

"That my powers were gone."

"A fully functioning cape comes with an electrical signal that tells me everything I need to know.  Now resetting for school use," the suit says.  I hear a whirring noise, and see Taurus and Zoe back up abruptly.  A second later I blink as my head is fully uncovered.  I look down, staring blankly at the strange suit that I'm wearing.  Most of the suit is back where it started at, which means not on me, the rest--well it looks like I'm wearing a new pair of forearm cuffs,
boots, and a belt.  There are strands of wires that somehow have gone under my clothes, attaching each piece.

"Did you know it could do that?" Taurus asks Zoe.  She shakes her head and looks at it curiously.

"I have no clue why it even has that option," she admits.

"It didn't," I hear Nico say from the rest of the machine.  "But it triggered me, so I figured I'd redo the schematics.  Nice idea, letting him use the suit, Taurus.  I'll pretend it wasn't just to torture the new kid."

"I wanted to see what it looked like on, too," Taurus says.  "How is the search coming?"

"We're working on it.  Nico out," the suit says before powering down.

I wonder what that means.  Probably that they haven't found him.  What happens if they find him, anyway?  Do they know how to get my powers back?  Or will I be stuck like this even after they capture him?

"Next," Taurus says, heading for the wall of items.  "We find out what these things do!  Everybod
y grab one and head to the fighting field, we'll have target practice!"

That sends a wave of students rushing past me to loot the wall.  It's blatantly obvious by this point that I'm just an excuse, but... well, I prefer being a test subject to being a third wheel.  "Here," Justin says, handing me a massive gun.  "You can try this one."

I look at it.  It looks a lot like those old tommy guns from ancient mobster movies.  "Awesome," I breathe out.  Yes, both you and I remember that comment about being the kid most expected to bring a gun to school.  But I didn't bring this one--it was handed to me. 

"I'm supposed to be in school," Jenna says, scowling at her sister.  "Not trying to peek in on this stupid school!"  She looks at the yellow tape in front of her, wondering why she suddenly feels her hair threatening to float the closer she gets to it.  "I don't even see anything," she complains.

"They're in there," Jetta says.  Ever since the debut fight with that Cold Steel guy, she's been acting like this. Obsessed.

"Mom
's going to yell at you, you know," Jenna says, still looking at the tape.  There's nothing else to look at.  "You're supposed to be in school.  So am I."

"They can deal with it.  That little creep just totally blew me off," Jetta growls, her hands fisting at her sides.  "And his dad actually threatened me!  Can you believe it?"

"He's Blackjack," Jenna says.  "He's an A class super.  It's not like you can do anything about it."

"I can complain to Marigold!"

Jenna takes a moment to stare at her sister in shock.  "You would seriously go to the East Branch head just because--never mind, of course you would.  You always were Mom's favorite."

"What does that mean?" Jetta asks.

"What do you think it means?" Jenna snaps back.  "Who's the one out here in the middle of nowhere, not being trained?  Just because I'm a C class--"

"Jenna, you're a D class, we just didn't want to tell you," Jetta says, patting her on the arm.  Jenna jerks away, glaring at her sister darkly.

"I am not!"

"We did the tests.  You're a D.  I mean, sure you can blow a little hot air, but do you really think you're up for playing in the big leagues?  Forget about being a hero, settle down with some muscular norm with no brains.  Nobody will say a thing."

"You--you're such a--" Jenna jumps to her feet.  "Spy on the creepy kid on your own, I'm done here," she snaps.

"Jenna--" Jetta starts out.  It's not very enthusiastic, and she shrugs as her little sister storms off.  "She's the idiot that didn't figure it out a year ago," she mutters, waving it off.  But her sister had been right about one thing.  She couldn't see anything inside.  It just look
s like an empty canyon to her.

She moves forward, her finger sticking out.  There must be some sort of force field or something, right?

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Jetta almost jumps, twisting to see who's behind her.  "A--Ace?" she says.

"Hey," Ace says, sticking his hands in his pockets.  "It's dangerous," he adds a bit lamely, motioning to the area in front of her.

"Your eyes, they're back to normal," she says.  "So you have your powers back?"

"Yeah," Ace says with a little grin.  "I do."

***

"Hold it like this, aim, and pull the trigger," Zoe says, making me glance at her as she adjusts my hold.

"Have you always been good at this sort of stuff?"

"Nope.  I spent a while blowing up everything electrical that I touch," she says, grinning slightly.  "Dad started taking me out to the junkyard with Jack lately, though, so I've been learning how to put things together."

"Plus her late night lessons in designing machines," Max says from where he's fighting his way out of a net
that sparks randomly.  "Carla, next time you need to look down the barrel before pulling the trigger," he says in an irritated tone.

"Sorry Max," Carla says, looking down guiltily.  There's an awkward silence where there should be laughter, I notice.  The groups that Adanna had mentioned are watching each other extremely carefully.  I can almost hear fists slowly tightening, as if they all expect someone else to attack.

"So... um... like this?" I ask, aiming at an empty area and pulling the trigger.  The silence is broken as a canister shoots from my gun, landing several feet away and starting to spin.

"Oh crap," Zoe says as gas starts coming out.  "EVERYONE RUN!" she bellows, racing away.  It's too late for the rest of us, though, because the gas hits us full on, including Max.

I blink as the world starts to warp in front of me.  I sway slightly, looking around curiously.  Everyone that I thought was standing there looks like someone different.  Longer noses, large eyes, ever shifting features.

"What just happened?" I ask, but it comes out funny.  I start laughing, just because I feel like it.  I try and take a step forward, only to trip and fall flat on my face.

"Compensating for gas," I hear from my arm cuff.  Something changes and I take a deep breath as the world goes back into focus.  I seem to be the only one that's fixed, though, because most of the kids around me are either on their back or their face, sound asleep or giggling like idiots.  Even Max is lying on the ground, singing a little song to himself with a strange, unsettling smile on his face.

I look around for Taurus, seeing him in the distance watching with an amused look on his face.  He must have r
un when Zoe said to.

I start forward, still not used to the whirling noise that came with each step, and stop at the sight of
the black cat from earlier.  It doesn't look like a house cat, I realize, crouching down next to it.  In fact, it looks a lot like a panther cub.  It turns to me as I get closer, staring at me with slightly crossed eyes and going, "Myowr?"  It--no, SHE--paws at me a bit wildly, then glares when she doesn't hit me, moving into a sloppy crouch before leaping forward--and missing again.  "Ryoowr!" she says.

"'Daannnaaa," Sunny says, crawling over to us.  "Stop attacking the cyborg."  He grabs for the panther, missing just as badly as she missed me.

I hear two girls giggling and look over to the right, seeing Emily wrestling with... herself?  I had no clue she was a duplicator!  But it's
really
funny when you realize that Trent is half-heartedly trying to break them up.  "Stop fighting," he says, tugging at one only to have her pulled away by the other.  "Noooo fighting," he says--then promptly falls onto his back and starts snoring.  Then he jerks awake again as they bump into him and it starts all over again.

"Brilliant... yet terrifying all at the same time."  I glance over as Taurus walks towards the group.  "He's figured out a laughing gas that works on capes."

"It worked on me before his suit fixed the problem," I admit.  "Where's Zoe?"

"Waiting for the smoke to clear," Taurus says.  "You could take out the entire Hall with this thing," he says almost to himself as he heads for the now empty canister on the ground.  He pokes it, sending it rolling a few feet before it stops on a rock.  "Ace, you realize--" he starts out.

"Yeah, I know," I say, looking at the tommy gun that I used.  "We need to get rid of that thing."

"Not necessarily," Taurus says quietly.  "It would work against us, sure, but it could also work for us.  He's already created
the counter-drug, obviously."

You know, before we started this conversation I had thought it was funny, watching them react to the gas.  Now I feel a little worried--until Jack and Aubrey sit up, yawning.  "Well, that was fun," Jack says, getting to his feet.  "You okay, Aub?" he asks, helping his girlfriend get up.

"I'm fine, it just caught me off guard for a little bit," she says, straightening her hair and blushing slightly.

"What--how--" I say, pointing at them.  Even as I say that, Sunny catches Adanna and hugs her happily.

"You're still so freaking adorable in this form," he says cheerfully before yawning and getting to his feet.

"Fast metabolism and regeneration," I hear my suit say.  "Gas is effective for two point five minutes, tops."

"So it only works for a few minutes?" I say.

"On supers with regenerative abilities," it tells me.  The next one up is Carla, who heads straight for Morgan, pats her on the head, then goes to Vinny and stares at him for a second.  She disappears in a blur, appearing again with a marker in her hand.

"Carla--" I start out, earning a brilliant grin and a finger to her lips.  Then she proceeds to draw all over Vinny's face, only to yelp as his hand grabs her wrist.

"Carla," he says in a warning tone.

"Morning, Vinny.  You sleep well?" she asks innocently.

"I give you odds she actually fell asleep," Taurus says next to me.  "Because if your suit is right, she should have been the first one up."  We watch as she squeals with laughter as Vinny starts chasing her with the marker.  I glance around, seeing if anyone's still asleep--to my surprise, Morgan's out like a light. I can't help but walk over, crouching down next to her.

"She's fine," one of the other kids says, looking at me with an almost scary expression.  "Get away from her."

"Ward," Justin says.

"She's FINE," Ward snarls.  "She doesn't need a stranger!"

I look at him, wondering when he grew so large.

"Ward, I warned you," Justin says coldly.

"You aren't the boss of me, Justin," Ward snaps.

"He isn't doing anything," Justin snaps back.  "He's just checking her with Nico's machine."

Ward blinks, his eyes widening before he grows smaller.  "Oh," he says.

Can I do that?  Well, it's worth a shot.  I reach out, touching her shoulder.  "Hey, suit, is Morgan okay?" I ask.  A beam comes from my arm brace, running over her still sleeping form.

"Checking database," the suit says.  I hear a faint whirling sound before it speaks again.  "Morgan is fine.  Without taking another's powers she has the basic regeneration of a D class cape.  She'll wake up soon."

"Good," I say, wondering why I feel so relieved.  "Wait,
is
she a D class?" I ask.

"Negative.  Morgan is a specialized class.  It's impossible to appropriately rank her until her powers have grown to full strength."

"What WILL she be?" I ask.

"At this rate of growth, Specialized S class."

"Oh."  I stand as Ward comes over and picks her up in a protective manner.  "I wouldn't have done anything," I tell him.

"Don't get any bright ideas.  Morgan is ours," he says coldly before walking away.  Ours?  What the hell?  It must have shown on my face, because Justin walks over, standing beside me silently for a lone moment.

"You ever seen Peter Pan?" he asks abruptly.

"What?" I ask.

"Peter Pan.  There's a group of lost kids on an island and Peter Pan kidnaps a girl named Mary--to be their mother," he says in a conversational manner.  "They grow attached to her, have her fix their clothes, read them stories, act like their mom, because they don't have one."

I see myself watching Ward a little more closely.  "So she's their Wendy?"

"She's their Wendy.  It took me a while to remember the story," he admits.  "But when I did, I just kept seeing it more and more."

"She seems... tougher than Wendy ever was," I say, trying to put it in perspective.

"In a group of teens with super powers, she has to be."  There's a tone in his voice, one that makes me glance over at him curiously.  Does he... like her?  He grins at me, breaking the mood entirely.  "That gun--let's try it again!"

"NO!" half the group shouts.

***

"I thought you'd totally ditched me," Jetta says, leaning in closer to Ace.  The place they're in, well, honestly, it's creepy.  It's an abandoned warehouse of some sort, but there's not much light at all.  She swears she heard bats or something up in the rafters.  It's just so Ace, though, she thinks as she looks around.  It fits his creepy super villain vibe.

She feels like SUCH a bad girl right now, she thinks, fighting the feeling of glee.  Bad girls don't glee.

"He's my dad," Ace says, holding out a hand.  An image of Blackjack floats above it.  "He's import to my future, right?  I can't exactly go around getting in his face."

Jetta stares in wonder at the illusion.  "It looks so real," she says in wonder.  "What else can you do?"

"All sorts of things," Ace says, turning those creepy, swirling eyes on her and smiling wickedly.  He leans forward, kissing her on the lips.  For a moment she feels shocked--she'd never thought he was the type to make the first move!  But he's really good at kissing, she realizes just as quickly, kissing him back.  "Jetta?" he asks after a moment.

"Yeah?" she asks in a dazed tone.

"I'm skipping their stupid school.  I bet the capes are out looking for me."

"Oh," she says.  "That's okay, though.  I mean, I skip school all the time.  I'm skipping it right now, actually."  She leans forward, planning on getting another kiss, but he lifts a finger to her lips.

"But you don't have this type of cape looking for you," he says.  "I need you to go look for them for me."

"But--I mean--" she stutters.

"Please Jetta?  If you find out where they are, we'll be able to avoid them.  I wanted to take you on a date."

"A date?" she asks in a tiny voice.  Just the idea of going somewhere in public with Ace--she can picture the mixed expressions on people's faces, fear, amazement.  Somehow he seems so much more... MORE than he did the last time she saw him.  "Can we go to the amusement park?" she asks.