Super Villain Grandpa (Cape High Series Book 15) (7 page)

“I got it,” I say. I start swimming, heading for the beach. This is actually pretty cool, I realize after a bit. Once I learn to fly, I’m totally going to hit the beaches more often! But the water is freezing. I’m shivering by the time we get to the beach and my teeth are clattering uncontrollably.

Grandpa lets out a curse as he realizes it, picking me up and running onto the land. “I completely forgot it was winter,” he says, hugging me tightly. He’s as warm as a fire, practically. He puts me down and races off, collecting twigs and wood. Soon he’s got a small fire pit set up. He grabs one of the twigs and it lights up with a tiny FWUMP! He shoves it into the stack of wood and sits down next to me. I grab his arm and wrap it around me, much to his surprise.

“You’re warm,” I say, blushing slightly. “And I want to see your tattoo,” I add, bringing his hand up and looking at the golden pair of wings wrapped around the base of his ring finger. “Does Grandma’s ring look like this?” I ask him.

“She’s got fireworks,” he says, looking at his hand, as well. “Or she did. I wouldn’t blame her if she got it removed.”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “I don’t see Grandma all that often, and I’ve never looked at her ring finger.”

“That’s a shame,” he says. “You’re a lot like her.”

“I’m not,” I say. “Grandpa—I’m not who you think I am,” I declare, dreading his reaction. “I’m not a good girl—I’m not a picture perfect super hero, either. I don’t even WANT to be Falconess. I want to be a super villain! I want to—” He’s just looking at me. Shouldn’t he be shocked by this point? For that matter, why is no one EVER shocked when I tell them this? Even my own mother had just groaned like I gave her a headache! “You’re supposed to be shocked now,” I point out.

“Nah,” he says. “I bet your mom went through the same thing. You’ve got super villainy in the blood, sweetheart,” he teases, grinning at me. “And I can’t swear that all of it comes from me, either. I did tell you that Falconesses were anti-heroes, didn’t I?”

“But—but Mom’s a member of Central Hall! You don’t get more heroic than that!”

“You dry, yet?” he asks instead of arguing with me.

“Um, yeah, I guess I am,” I say, looking down at my still damp pants. “Should we get going?”

“Yeah,” he says. “I’m going to need some sunglasses,” he adds, looking inland. “Let’s go find a cheap souvenir joint.”

“We need money, first!” I say.

“You said you wanted to be a super villain, right? Well, consider this your first job,” he says.

***

There are super heroes and black suits sitting in the large meeting room of the Central Hall. HTV is playing on the wall, with Nico lounging casually in the air over their heads with his feet crossed at the ankles and a bucket of popcorn on his stomach. “See?” he says to the ones below him. “How can we say a guy that spoils his grandkid—one that he had no clue about—is such a bad guy?”

“Aren’t you at least a little worried about Keliah?” Mega asks. “I admit he’s putting on a good show for the cameras—”

“This is a drone I built for Andre,” Nico says. “No, that’s a lie—I built it for the hell of it and realized I didn’t need it. Andre paid top dollar for it—it’s got a cloaking device.”

“You ripped off science fiction movies again, huh?” Ken asks, smiling slightly. The smile doesn’t change the fact that his eyes are as sharp as a hawk on the screen. “What he said about your evaluation, Double M, is it true?”

“Of course,” Mastermental says. More than half of the Hall is out searching for Deathblow, but Ken and Jeanie just finished their shift. Now Liz and Taurus are out on the job. “Bombastic has several triggers that can set him off, still. I did an evaluation a few years ago to make sure.”

“But everyone has triggers,” Nico says.

“Like Herold was for you?” Mega asks.

“Herold deserved it.”

“Nico handled the Herold situation well,” Mastermental says. “He’s still alive.”

“What are Bombastic’s triggers?” Jeanie asks. “Is Keliah in danger if she says something wrong?”

“I don’t believe so,” Mastermental says.

“They’re similar,” Nico says. “I honestly should have realized it earlier; I just wasn’t thinking about it. We all know how the Falconess line works. They’re practically Amazons. I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t secretly cloning themselves.”

“Don’t let Falconess hear you suggest that,” Ken says. “She might get ideas.” He looks at his wife. “That was uncalled for, sweetie,” he says, rubbing his shoulder where she had poked him just hard enough for him to notice.

“Yes, it certainly was,” she says. “Falconess is a very good woman, she just has… relationship difficulties. That’s not uncommon for capes, male or female.”

“Didn’t she used to flirt with you?” Nico asks, just to fan the fires.

“That was a very long time ago, Nico,” Jeanie says, sweetly. “She didn’t realize that Ken and I were together—it wasn’t her fault,” clearly meaning that it was KEN’S fault. Her attention never moves from the screen. “Is there any way we can help him with his temper, Mastermental?” she asks, her heart showing in her tone. “I hate the idea of separating these two. Family is so important.”

The group is silent, even as they watch the two on the screen plot how to steal money. The drone moves a little closer, catching their conversation. It rapidly becomes clear that Bombastic isn’t taking this theft seriously at all, while Keliah looks like she’s about to commit the biggest crime of the century.

“Okay,” Bombastic says, stopping at the corner of the building and crouching down next to his granddaughter. “All you need to do is bump into a man or woman looking at her phone. They aren’t paying any attention at all, so it should be easy.”

“Um, I just grab their wallets?” Keliah asks, watching the people and looking a bit nervous.

“Take whatever cash they have and put the wallet back—you should be fast enough for that,” Bombastic says, a little grin pulling at his lips.

“Right. Um…” she says.

“Or we could just see if one of the stores has a lost and found box,” Bombastic offers as she still hesitates.

“It’s just I TRIED to rob a building once and I got caught—” Keliah says, looking worried. “But Panther is up in Missouri, right? He didn’t move down here—”

“You were caught by Panther?” Bombastic asks.

“He was dressed like a regular hero at the time,” she explains. “I’m going to go to his ‘Super Villain Summer Camp’ this summer!”

“Sounds like fun,” he says. “Now, see that lady there?” he asks, pointing to the woman walking down the street. “Her purse is open and she’s glued to her phone. She’s the perfect target.” Then he gently pushes her out from the safety of the corner. She stands there, looking like a deer caught in the car lights. She stares, awkwardly, as the woman walks right past here, and then she turns on her heel and stiffly walks right back to Bombastic.

“I can’t do it,” she says in a tiny little voice. “What if I get caught and it gets YOU in trouble?”

He smiles, but doesn’t laugh. “Why don’t you go into that building, instead, and ask them if they have a lost and found. We’ll need a pair of sunglasses and a hat, got it?” She nods, looking close to tears at failing.

“She’s adorable,” Jeanie says, clasping her hands. “I’m so proud of her for making the right choice!”

“She wants to be a super villain,” Nico says dryly. “She was well on her way to being a problem child—looks like Boombastic has had a good influence on her.” He touches his earbud and says, “Rocco, hold off on going after Boombastic. Yeah. Tune into HTV, I think Falconess will want to see this.”

“Got it, boss,” Rocco says. They all hear him, even though Nico’s the only one wearing an earbud at the moment.

“Does he really have to call you boss?” Mastermental asks. “Technically he’s a part of my Hall.”

“He’s the one that decided to call me that,” Nico says with a shrug. “And he’s still a Cape High student—you’re the one that put me in charge of them. Until they graduate, they’re mine to deploy.”

“I see.”

They all turn their full attentions to the screen again.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Okay, sweetheart,” Grandpa says, slipping the sunglasses on. “Now we pick up enough cash to eat.”

“Are you going to steal it?” I ask. A part of me wants to see a professional super villain at work, another is worried that he might get caught—

“Petty theft is below a professional super villain, and robbing an entire boardwalk draws too much attention,” he says, pushing me forward gently and stepping out behind me. He tosses the baseball cap I found onto the sidewalk and turns to me, bowing extravagantly. I blink, staring at him blankly until he says silently, “This is where you curtsy, or bow, your choice.”

I curtsy as well as I can in a pair of pants and watch as he holds a hand out, still bowed. I grin, realizing what’s going on, and step onto the hand, balancing on the single foot as he lifts me up. The people walking past are starting to notice, which is good.

He raises me up so his arm is at his chest, and I jump straight up. This is exactly what we were doing on the beach, but the norms are stunned. I jump a few times before starting to do tricks. A flip, a pose, it’s almost as good as flying, I think happily as I somersault through the sky. I land head downward, standing on the single hand that lands in his. I twist, shooting a grin at the audience as I wave with my other hand. Change and cash is tossed into the baseball hat and a few phones are recording us. Crap—I should have thought of that, I think as I flip over, landing on the concrete.

“Thank you, thank you,” Grandpa says, bowing to the audience this time and grabbing the baseball hat full of cash. “Time to go,” he tells me, grabbing my hand and walking away. “That should be enough for a couple of burgers.”

“That wasn’t very villainous,” I have to point out as we start into the main town, looking for a fast food joint. “Burger King!” I announce as I see a sign. We go inside, heading for the counter. I can’t believe how much I’m drooling at the thought of fast food. I missed home… well, can’t call it home cooking, now can I? I missed junk food. “We’ve got a problem, though,” I say as we drop down at a table to wait for our food.

“What’s that?” he asks.

“They recorded us on their phones. If they put that up on the Internet, Nico will find us,” I say. I grab the number and head to the front as they call it, grabbing our food. He’s sitting there, frowning at nothing as I come back. “I’m sorry,” I say. “I should have mentioned that earlier.”

“No, it’s fine,” he says. “We can’t change what’s in the past.” We dig into our food, our mouths too full of food to speak for a while. Once I’m full I sit back in the uncomfortable chair and let out a happy sigh.

“We’ll just have to make a run for it,” I decide. “If we keep moving, Rocco and Nico will have a harder time following us!”

“No,” Grandpa says. “We have a date planned. A grandfather/granddaughter date isn’t something I’m going to miss because I’m too worried about being caught. But instead of a movie… let’s go to a theme park,” he decides. “There should be one or two around here, right?”

I hesitate. “There is…” I say slowly.

“And? Do you not like theme parks?” he asks.

“It’s um… it’s a South Branch Hall theme park,” I explain. “Mom took me a few years back, for vacation. There are all these rides based on super heroes. I mean, we’ve got a Central one back home, too. They’re pretty popular.”

“Let’s go,” he says.

“But—”

“It’s the last place they’ll think to look for me,” he says, looking more cheerful by the moment. “And it’ll be a fun way to spend my last day of freedom.”

“How are we going to get there?” I ask.

“We’re going to run. As soon as we can find out where the thing is, that is,” he adds belatedly, looking around. “Where can you get a map?” he asks a random stranger.

“On your phone?” the stranger offers, taken off guard by Grandpa. I mean, I guess he is sort of scary looking. I completely forgot about that fact.

“Can’t have a phone,” Grandpa says. “I need a paper map. You unfold it?” he prompts.

“Then, I don’t know, a gas station?”

“I should have thought of that,” Grandpa says. “Come on, sweetheart, we’re going to a gas station.”

“Thanks, mister,” I call to the stranger, following Grandpa out. “You sort of freaked him out back there,” I have to point out as we start down the street.

“Did I?” he asks.

“Yep. When can I start doing that?”

“Sorry, sugar, but the females of the cape world don’t tend to have that effect,” he says, “well, most of them. I’m sure one or two can properly freak people out,” he corrects himself.

“Like that Tatiana lady, right?”

“Tatiana?” he repeats. “How do you know about Tatiana? She died just a little before they caught me.”

“She didn’t stay dead,” I say. “They brought her to the future and Aubrey brought her back. She and Superior were living at the school for a while. She taught us Russian,” I say.

“Interesting,” he says. “But she’s a perfect example of a woman that could freak people out. I suppose there are a few others, the ones with specialized abilities are at the top of the list. Other than that, well, cape females tend to be too pretty to be scary unless they’re threatening you specifically.”

“That sucks,” I say. “I want to instill fear into people just by walking down the street!” I declare, trying to match steps with him. It’s impossible—for every one step he takes I have to take two or three. When I do try to lengthen my stride I wind up bouncing as I walk. That’s got to look stupid.

“Sorry, baby girl, I don’t foresee that in your future,” he says with a grin. “You will get stares, though. You’re already beautiful, you’re going to be a stunner when you’re full grown.”

I blush, giving him a shy little smile, which just as quickly turns into a frown. “That’s so sexist,” I declare, startling a laugh out of him. “A woman shouldn’t be judged by her face!” I declare, putting my hands on my hips. “She should be judged by her actions first, and abilities second! The face shouldn’t even come into the story!”

“You are definitely a Falconess,” he says. “Although your grandma tended to bait people by dressing like she did and THEN giving that speech,” he adds with a grin.