Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain (50 page)

That was insane. I couldn’t even list the reasons that was crazy. I grabbed at the only ones I hoped Spider might care about. “Mech is at the superhero conference right now. Attacking his lab is off-limits. Even you wouldn’t break the rules like that.”

The back leg slid out of Spider’s fangs and fastened its claws around a silk line stuck to the ceiling. Spider’s mysterious voice remained implacable, crisp and gently condescending. “I never break the rules, children. Not ever. I wrote them in the first place and have gone to great lengths to enforce them. As we speak, heroes are arguing with my representative at the conference, refusing to accept that you are supervillains under my protection or that the rules apply to you. Performing this task should convince them that The Inscrutable Machine needs to be bound by all of the obligations and protections of regular supervillains.” Her middle legs, one pair at a time, unhooked from their weblines and grabbed new ones. I couldn’t read a spider’s display of emotions, but she did sound just a bit more smug as she finished, “Mech’s inconvenience will be highly useful to my plans, and a generous payment will be placed in your bank accounts.”

It sounded like a declaration that everyone wins. Except Mech, anyway. I couldn’t help but notice she’d planted another reference to knowing everything about us. It chilled me a little, but that rekindled my anger. “Protections like not being ambushed in a supposedly safe haven?” Yes, it galled me. Why were we the only ones who weren’t safe?

Spider waved a foreleg. That gesture was obvious, at least. It still looked strange upside down. “An excellent point. The Council of Seven and a Half would be well within their rights to issue such a warning, but only while you actively pursued supervillain business.”

“And if we refuse?” I demanded. Yes. Yes, I wanted to refuse. My gut burned to refuse. This was so obviously a trap. The task was beyond us, we hadn’t chosen to do it, and there were too many hidden snares even if we succeeded. We couldn’t possibly succeed.

Could we?

It didn’t matter. Spider reached a foreleg out and plucked the nearest rope of webbing to us, which successfully reminded me of how little choice we had. A stern touch crept into her voice as she warned, “I’m afraid I will have to insist. You girls may believe you can weather the storm of revelation thanks to your parents’ influence, but young Mr. Viles is not so fortunate.”

I turned my head to look at Ray. He was trying to hide it, trying to keep his face calm, but from this close the mask-like stiffness gave him away. Spider was right. Ray never talked about his parents, ever. I knew mine would forgive me eventually, but Ray clearly didn’t have that shield.

Anger knotted my stomach. I didn’t want to give in here. I hated being railroaded, that Spider was threatening my friend to control me. I knew the job was wrapped up in a web of strings attached. How could we hope to break into Mech’s laboratory anyway? His security systems would include every brilliant, crazy device he and my father together could invent. Could we possibly get through that?

Mostly I hated having no choice. It ate at me, crawled up my spine. That didn’t matter, because we had no choice. I did the best I could and hedged. “We’ll think about it.”

Spider folded its forelegs again, her voice going back to pretending this was all completely friendly. “While you consider the pluses and minuses of my offer, I hope you’ll enjoy mixing with your fellows upstairs. It is my sincere hope and belief you’ll be joining us every weekend for a long time.”

Claire couldn’t take anymore. She broke out of my and Ray’s arms, yanked open the door to the stairwell, and ducked through and out of sight. There wasn’t anything else we could do, and the interview was over anyway. Ray and I followed.

e trudged up the cement stairs and out into the commotion of the open market, then all three of us collapsed against the wall. We took a deep breath together, and let it out. Bull and Lucyfar were nowhere in evidence, and, for that, I was grateful.

Me and Ray looked over at Claire. She noticed our stares and gave us a faint smile and a shake of her head. “I’m fine, really. I just wasn’t expecting something so ugly.” Her voice didn’t quiver anymore, so I had to believe her.

Ray wasn’t quite ready to leave it at that. “Are you sure? Is there anything we can do for you?” he pressed.

Claire shook her head again, and leaned back against the wall. “I just need to go home and rest. I’m burned out and want to be alone.”

I nodded. I felt drained enough the gesture must have looked limp and lolling. “I one hundred percent agree. Can you two get home alone?”

Really, that was me and Ray both asking Claire. She nodded, stronger than before. “Easy. I’ll take the subway so I can sit down, but easy.”

I let out a loud sigh, and my shoulders relaxed a bit more. “Good. I loved the party…”

When I paused to look for a word, Ray filled in, “It was incredible.” Claire nodded.

“But I’ve had my fill and then some. Not to mention I need time to think about Spider,” I finished.

“Penny…” Ray started, but this time he didn’t know what to say.

I knew what he meant. “I’m fine,” I insisted, holding up a hand. “I’m not going to freak out. I don’t like being backed into a corner, but I’m not going to panic or anything.”

We pushed ourselves off the wall and went our separate ways. For me that was easy. The light bike did most of the driving, letting me zone and listen to the swishing and honking of cars. My neighborhood was dark, and I’d left the lights off, so I felt safe walking right up to the door and letting myself in.

The house felt empty with my parents gone. That stillness washed over me, deeply soothing. Thank goodness they were out of town. I felt draggy and tired, and it was way past bedtime, but I didn’t like the idea of going straight to sleep. I needed to unwind, let it all bump around in my head.

I ended up shoving my jumpsuit under my bed again and sitting at my computer desk feeding plastic forks to The Machine. It didn’t seem happy or sad, life without consciousness, but it chewed them down and then spat them back out exactly like they had been, then coughed up little gooey clumps of fat and protein that had been clinging to them. A tin can met a similar fate, except he ended up spreading his mouth wide and spitting out the original can intact, with the lid back in place.

While he did that, I poked around online. Nowhere I’d have to talk to people. I looked up The Inscrutable Machine. After all, Claire and Ray said there were whole websites talking about us.

There were, although they didn’t have much to say. A few photos, a few mostly correct stories, a few rumors, and a lot of speculation. Most commenters thought I was the leader, although a strong argument ran that Claire led because Ray and I did all the fighting. They had a physical photo of us leaving the warehouse where we’d fought Marvelous, so they knew the jammed communications and stalled traffic in the area were my fault. There were entire, lengthy conversations about how my tech had changed.

The craziest and most amusing to me was that the idea had somehow gotten out that I’d dug up Vera when I hit the trash heap. They hadn’t even known I’d dug up a landfill, they didn’t know what Vera was, and the words “Conqueror orb” appeared nowhere, but there the rumor was in the tech discussion. Huh.

I looked up Mech instead. Wow, was he popular. Couldn’t blame anybody. That did mean I found whole lists of his equipment, descriptions of how he swapped out different weapons at different times. He had a computer virus ray for taking out cybernetic enemies? Yikes. What would that do to Vera? He’d adapted freeze rays and smokescreens taken from enemies. He had rocket launchers he rarely used, and a point-defense laser. A point-defense laser. Seriously? He had backup jet boots, but mostly used a backpack with glowing coils fans speculators thought might be antigravity. In the back of my head, the boots and the backpack looked different. Mech had made the boots himself. The backpack was my dad’s tech. So was the laser and the energy shield. I didn’t know Dad had even invented an energy shield, although I shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe he’d copied Conqueror tech. My super power felt comfortable with that idea.

And even without the shield his armor was made of ablative layers, each microscopic and designed to repel a different threat. The armor was tough. Even sitting in a closet, it would not be easy to destroy.

I’d piddled enough. I turned off the light and went to bed.

Mech had access to the most advanced technology humanity could produce, and a wide variety of it. Spider wanted us to break into his base. Three brand new supervillains against those kinds of defenses. What an outrageous challenge.

I fell asleep.

I knew I’d slept, and light glowed through my curtains, but I woke up to the same thought. We’d been thrown an outrageous challenge. Not an impossible task, just an outrageous challenge.

Not impossible, so I wasn’t trapped. We could do this. We could break out. Could, and would. You underestimate The Inscrutable Machine at your peril.

My heart and my body went loose, relaxed. Then it tensed up again, not with anxiety but energy. We were going to win this.

I swung out of bed. Seconds later I had my computer booted up, but Ray and Claire weren’t online. Not an obstacle, but… reluctantly, I went and took a shower. A fast shower. Then I made a sandwich. Still damp, gulping down cola between swallows, I headed back to my room and grabbed my phone.

I dialed up Claire. She sounded groggy. “Penny?”

“Spider sent you the information on Mech’s lab already, right?” I demanded.

“Sure. It was in my email when I got home last night. My home email, too.” Sulkily, she added, “Creepy bug.”

“Forward it to me. Email me everything we have about Mech’s lab, then meet me at ours.”

Drowsiness turned to confusion in Claire’s voice. “Now?”

“Waiting won’t do us any good. Do you know a fast way to contact Ray?” Email would be too slow. Victory was for those who don’t hesitate.

Claire yawned. “Sure. He has a phone now, you know. You just didn’t answer his calls.”

She gave me Ray’s number, and I let her go.

I dialed Ray immediately, but he didn’t answer immediately. His phone rang. And rang. I sat there, waiting. It was a cell phone. He’d hear it. Or I’d annoy him enough he had to answer.