Super Villain Academy 2: Polar Opposites (24 page)

Sarah leaned forward. “How do you know that?”

Gyro squinted at the locket. “Imprinting an object is like a strange way of reading an aura. It goes deeper than that, but you get a full sense of the person when you imprint them. There is always a mix of good and bad in a person.”

His gaze flitted to Jeff and back to the locket so quickly, Jeff wondered if he’d imagined it.

“It isn’t colors I’m seeing, but it is almost like I’m feeling the colors of the aura. Mystic’s is as dark as it gets. It felt like wading through black ocean waters on a starless winter night.”

Source slid out of his seat and stood next to Sarah. “But I’ve worked with her a lot on her powers, and I’ve never noticed anything different about her.”

“She’s a psych,” Gyro said. His lip curled as he stared at the locket. “A really powerful one, I think.”

Gyro slid his thumbnail under the clasp of the locket and popped it open. His pallor turned a grayish-green before he handed the locket to Jeff.

Squinting down at the two tiny pictures set in each side of the locket, a lead ball of dread grew in Jeff’s core. Both pictures were of him. One was from their time at Super Villain Academy, but the other one was from fifth or sixth grade. “What does this mean?”

Sarah squeezed his shoulder and swallowed audibly. “It looks like she’s had her eye on you for a long time, Jeff.”

Delfina’s calm tone cut through the tension. “Gyro, were you able to find Mystic?”

Gyro sighed heavily and nodded. “If she is as powerful a psyche as I suspect, then either it is a bogus location, or she wants us to find her.”

Jeff’s head snapped up. “She knew that.”

When everybody looked at him questioningly, he continued. “When we went to the academy the first time, she told me you’d be able to find us anywhere. So, she’d know to obscure her path if she didn’t want to be found.”

“Or drop bread crumbs if she did,” Sandra said, now tucked under Source’s arm in the aisle.

“Share with me where we are headed,” Delfina said.

Gyro shook his head, his face crumpled into a miserable expression. “I don’t want you to touch this evil, my love.”

Jeff frowned.

Delfina smiled in her serene way. “Evil has no place within me, Gyro. You know that.”

Sarah shifted. Jeff glanced at her and saw a confused expression on her face as she watched the exchange.

Gyro groaned quietly. His hands trembled as he reached for Delfina’s. Her contented smile deepened when Gyro’s fingers intertwined with her own, but not long after, her forehead wrinkled and her expression pinched in pain. She didn’t pull away though, just pursed her lips and straightened her spine.

Delfina opened her cloudy eyes and disengaged her fingers from Gyro. “I’ll be right back,” she said.

As she stood, Jeff noticed sweat glistening on her brow. “What’s that all about?” he asked waving his hand to where theirs used to be.

Gyro watched Delfina with concern etched across his forehead. “She’s my guide. When I imprint, I get the location, but I can’t interpret it. She is able to convert it into coordinates, or a general location, or a specific place, depending upon what I pinpointed during imprint.”

When Delfina sat down next to him, Gyro clutched her hand in both of his. “Are you alright, my love?”

Delfina’s tranquil smile seemed to settle his nerves a little. “Yes, dear. The evil in the imprint has nothing to do with me.”

Jeff reached up and rubbed his hand over his head. The way these two villains talked about Mystic’s evil, like it was on a whole other level, made him grow more and more uncomfortable knowing his defenses were built by her. Were his defenses like a cancer slowly eating away at him? Could she have set them to self-destruct and take him out too? And what about Oceanus?

The pilot’s voice came over the loudspeaker, telling them to buckle up in preparation for take-off. Jeff followed Source and Sandra to the table and slid into the chair next to Set. Sarah took the seat Jeff abandoned while Gyro and Delfina buckled the belts in the loveseat they shared. Don, Frank and Edmond were deep in conversation at the back of the plane, while Whisper stared at their knees, not participating in what appeared to be a heated debate.

“Where are we going, anyway?” Jeff said loud enough to be heard over the whine of the engine.

“Arizona,” Delfina answered.

Chapter 36

During the two and a half hour flight to Kingman, Arizona, Jeff overheard Mother ask Delfina how she could not have any evil in her if she had been a villain, which touched off a long, philosophical conversation about good versus evil. Then he eavesdropped on Edmond, Don and Frank, only to discover that they were talking about trucks, which surprised Jeff completely.

“They have been this whole time,” Sandra informed him. “It started when they somehow tripped over the fact that both Don and Dad had a 1973 Chevy Blazer when they first started driving.”

Jeff looked around the plane to see if there was a mobile seat of any sort. He felt bad that Whisper was stuck sitting with a group of middle aged men, but there was nowhere for her to sit except for on his lap.

Whisper smiled at him. “No thanks.”

He blushed and tried to pull his thoughts in tighter, not that he understood how.

“So what are your specialties?” Set asked Sandra.

“What do you mean?” She scrunched her brow, but a blush bloomed as Set’s eyes scanned what he could see of her. Thankfully, most of her was hidden under the table between them.

“If this turns into an extraction, it’s best to know what our team’s strengths are,” Set said.

Source glared across the table, dark red blotches colored his cheeks. “She slices and dices and julienne fries with her lasers. Great defensive moves in flight.”

“That’s right, you fly,” Set said with a half-smile.

Sandra jutted her chin in his direction. “What’s your thing?”

“Weather,” Jeff and Source said in unison.

“Whether what?” Sandra asked, looking between her brother and her boyfriend.

“My namesake, Set, was the God of Storms,” Set drawled.

“Oh, that kind of weather,” Sandra said. Pointing between Jeff and Source, she asked, “Why don’t you ask these guys what their strengths are?”

Set chuckled. “I went to school with them. I know their… um… strengths.”

Jeff shifted in his seat, stuffing his hands under his legs before they combusted or wrapped around Set’s throat. He saw another smile touch Whisper’s lips, and knew she was dialed in on their conversation, or at least his portion of it.

“I’ve discovered quite a few new powers since converting to hero,” Source said with wounded pride.

“You converted?” Set asked.

“Well, she stole me out of SVA before the balancing, so I had to choose it or chance losing her.” Source wrapped his hand around Sandra’s and bumped her shoulder with his. “Turns out I can tap far more abilities when fighting on the side of good.”

Set narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t realize supers could convert.”

“Well, it stands to reason,” Source said. “Really, all our abilities are either mental, physical, or elemental. They don’t know if we are bad or good, do they? It is our environment that leads us down a specific path. I have a theory…”

“Source,” Sandra interrupted.

“Well, this is relevant,” Source said.

“She’s right, dude,” Jeff said. “No one would understand your theory even if we let you share it. Shouldn’t we come up with some sort of battle plan?”

“But…” Source said.

Not seeming to hear him, Set talked right over Source’s protests. “It’s hard to have a battle plan when you don’t know where you’ll be fighting, or who you’ll be fighting.”

“Or if you’ll be fighting,’ Jeff finished.

Set nodded. “That’s why it’s important to at least know each other’s strengths. Hey! Superman!”

Jeff grinned when he realized Set was talking to Don.

“What are your main abilities? Do you smile everyone blind?” Set asked.

For the rest of the flight, everyone, except Gyro and Delfina, shared their strengths. Jeff and Source talked about Mystic’s abilities so the group would have a better idea of what to defend against. Yet, even with the discussion and Jeff’s personal experience training with Mystic, he felt apprehensive as the jet approached the small airport in Kingman.

“We’ve got a new problem,” Gyro said, gazing out the window at the barren landscape.

“What?” Jeff and Sarah asked together.

“No transportation,” Gyro said.

Jeff’s gaze swept the small offering of control towers, outbuildings and a parking lot at the airport, and realized Gyro was right. It appeared to be a self-serve airport.

“I’ll take care of it,” Frank said, sliding into the vacant seat next to his wife.

“We’ll need two cars for all of us,” Sarah said. “I’ll go with you.”

“You can’t fly,” Frank said. “I’ll take Sandra.”

“She can’t drive, Frank,” Sarah said.

“Oh that’s right.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “I’ll just run. It isn’t as if we haven’t traveled that way before.”

“Very well,” Frank agreed reluctantly. “But I need you to agree that I’m the one in charge of securing the vehicles.”

Sarah squinted. “Why?”

“Just… please, Sarah,” Frank asked. He ran a hand through his shaggy gray-blond hair.

Sarah’s expression softened. “Fine, Frank. You’re in charge of operation transportation.”

Frank relaxed into his chair and patted her knee. “Thanks, dear.”

Chapter 37

A nondescript sedan squealed to a stop in front of the waiting group. Frank climbed out of the driver’s side. A few minutes later, an SUV pulled up next to the sedan, and a red faced Sarah scrambled out, slammed the door, and stalked over to her husband. “That was stealing!”

“No, dear. I left cash in the drawers to cover the time we will have them. They’ll get them back,” Frank patted Sarah’s shoulder. “It isn’t my fault the small town operation has banker’s hours.”

“I’ll drive the car,” Delfina said. “Jeff, er, Polar, you need to be in our car. We’ll probably need Set, too. I don’t care how the rest of you travel.”

Jeff stared at her with his mouth hanging open. “You’re kidding right?”

Gyro patted Jeff on the back as he walked toward the car. “She rarely kids, kid.”

“You’re blind, Señora,” Jeff said.

“I’m aware of that.” Delfina slid into the driver’s seat of the sedan and patted the steering wheel and dashboard as if she were reading by Braille.

Gyro paused in the door of the car and looked across the roof at Jeff, who hadn’t yet moved toward the vehicle. “It’s a guide thing. She can ‘see’ well enough to get us there.”

Jeff’s stomach dropped as if he’d just plunged bodily over a cliff. He watched Don and Set get into the backseat of the car as though it were normal to be driven around by a blind lady. An unexpected surge of panic threatened to derail Jeff’s good senses.

Source paused before getting into the back of the SUV. “Polar, you okay?”

Jeff looked at him with wild eyes, feeling like a horse wanting to run from an advancing fire.

“Polar, she’s a super. Her husband is in the car with you. She wouldn’t drive if she couldn’t,” Source said.

“You’re right,” Jeff agreed. “The sooner I’m reunited with Oci, the better it will be for all of us.”
I hope
.

He scrubbed his hand on the back of his head. “I feel like I’m losing it, Source.”

Source stared at Jeff with foreboding. He gnawed his lower lip and glanced at the deionizer hanging from Jeff’s belt loop. “Yeah, let’s go find Oceanus.”

Jeff kept his eyes slammed shut most of the ride, concentrating on not catching the car on fire or crunching it like a wrecker with gravity each time they bounced over a pothole or strayed onto the soft shoulder.

Occasionally, Gyro gently prompted Delfina with “you need to correct to the left about 10 degrees, dear” or “the road ends up ahead. Are you prepared to change direction?”

Delfina seemed to feel the need to explain how guiding worked. “I know where we need to arrive, but the course to get there isn’t revealed as clearly. Often, I won’t know I’m driving off the road until I’m four by-ing over cactus or the front end of the vehicle is stuffed into a ditch. Gyro has learned how to prompt caution.”

Jeff wasn’t sure if the nausea he felt was due to her explanation, or because he was squished between the door and Don Juan. Dapper Don’s pectoral muscles occupied two thirds of the backseat, and both Jeff and Set were mashed into their corners like little kids.

“I thought you said you haven’t taken a job since you lost your sight,” Jeff said through clenched teeth.

“We haven’t. Taken a job, that is. But we’ve used our skills plenty of times since,” Gyro said and then he switched to his tour guide voice. “Delfina, dear, the blacktop ends ahead, and the road continues as dirt. It doesn’t look well groomed, and I don’t think this car can really handle the terrain at high speed.”

Thankfully, Delfina slowed considerably before they bounced onto the forest service road.

“How much further?” Jeff asked. He would clutch his stomach if he could move his arm, but Don had it trapped against the backseat. Telltale prickles sparked, alerting Jeff to the fact that he was losing the feeling in it.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Delfina sighed. “Soon, sort of. I think.”

Jeff groaned and returned to concentrating on tamping down his abilities, which buzzed just under his skin like a hive of angry bees.

They bounced and lurched long enough that Jeff lost track of time. Finally, the car fishtailed to a halt, throwing up a plume of sandy dirt ten feet into the air. Jeff threw the car door open and spilled out onto the desert floor, inhaling a lung full of sand in the process.

“Polar!” Gyro called over his shoulder. “A bit of caution?”

Jeff stood and squinted through the settling dust. The sun clicked toward the western horizon, drawing oblong shadows of cactus and shrubs. Jeff turned slowly in a circle, shielding his eyes against the blaze of late afternoon light. “There’s nothing here.”

“She’s here alright,” Gyro said, supporting his lower back as he stood.