Steampunk Time: Cape High Book Seven (Cape High Series 7) (15 page)

"I'm not my dad," he says slowly, "but I want to do things like dad does.  I want to be a super villain that does a good show--one where nobody really gets hurt, one that has fans all over the world.  Sure it's fake, and sometimes stupid, but--" he shrugs, glancing over at Noelle.  "It won't make anybody cry."

"It's a dangerous balancing act,"
Technico says.  "It seems easy, since your dad's been doing it for almost twenty years, but it's harder than it looks.  You need to have absolute control of your powers to pull it off.  Do you know where I'm going with this?"

"I need to train more," Jason says.

"Until you saw just how dangerous your powers can be, would you have thought that?  You have the potential to be one of the strongest kids in the school, Jason.  But until you take it seriously you’re a danger both to yourself and everyone around you.”

“So you just let my powers go wild last night?” Jason accuses him.

“What’s more dangerous?  You going out of control on a small camping trip with me overseeing it, or you losing it in the middle of school, where some of the capes are barely over D class?” Technico asks bluntly.  “It’s already happening at your home, in your sleep, but it’s getting more powerful each time.  Your dad asked me to deal with it before you fell asleep in class one day.  The first step is to make you aware.”

“I guess I’ll have to be careful about really boring classes, too, huh?”

“Exactly,” Technico says, messing up his hair.  They hear a groan from behind them.  “Looks like Noelle is waking up.”

***

The Nico from 2014 jerks, looking around the lot of ridiculously cheesy super villain toys (mostly broken) for a second before taking to the air and looking over the now blackened Kansas City.  He curses, forgetting for a moment that Banshee is right next to him, and holds out his arms.  The lights come back on.

"How did you--"

"Noelle must have lost it," he says.  "I knew I should have taken her back to her own time already."

"How did you do that?" Banshee demands
; appearing in front of him so he's forced to reply.

"I'm a technopath," Nico says, giving up.  "And so is my granddaughter.  Except I know what I'm doing and she--" he grunts as someone slams into him, hauling him away from the lot before he can finish his sentence.  They pull to a stop over the ocean
far away from Missouri, and Superior lets go of him.  "Well that was rude," Nico says.

"Who let Mimic out?" Superior demands.

"What?"

"WHO LET MIMIC OUT?" Superior bellows, as if getting louder will make the question more obvious.  "He's the one that aimed to have Tatia killed--he's the one that will hire someone else if we kill Mimic--I want his name, address, and what size of underwear he wears, NOW!"

Nico stares at him blankly.  "We can't do that," he says.  "We've already interfered in this time too much as it is.  And since you're here, and future me is here for Noelle, we're going home now," he says, grabbing his father's arm only to get thrown off.

"Tell me who he is, son," Superior says, looming over Nico.  "If you don't, I will hunt down each and every single one of your precious students in the future."

"Listen to yourself,
Father
," Nico says.  "Who's the super villain now?"

"He's the reason I los
t the only person I ever loved," Superior says, desperation showing clearly.  "He can't be allowed to live."

"Wait," Nico says.  "What was that part about Mimic?"

Superior goes silent, cursing the fact that his son is so intelligent.  "What did you just say about Mimic and Mom dying, old man?" Nico demands, grabbing the front of Superior's shirt.  "What happened after I left the hospice?"

"She disappeared," Superior says quietly.  "I was taking the cords off and she disappeared.  It's that man's fault!"

"Why?  Because you killed--or maimed, or whatever, Mimic before he could steal her powers and knock her out?  And then, correct me if I'm wrong, whoever hired Mimic to take her down found another cape to do it," Nico says, feeling a bit pale as he realizes what almost happened.  "Who stopped you?  Or did they not stop you?"

"You did.  So it's now your job to find out who that man is."

"Why can't you do it, Father?" Nico asks in disgust.  "You're a techno--"

"I'm not."

"What?"

"I'm not a technopath," Superior repeats.  "To a point I can manipulate machinery, just like I can manipulate anything else--but I'm not the same as you are.  I don't have the time to pretend I am.  WHO is it?"

"If I tell you, will you come with me to our own time without doing anything in this one?" Nico demands.  "I'm sick and tired of wondering if our future is completely shot because of some random misstep.  So unless you swear on Mom’s honor--since you have none--I won't tell you."

For a long moment Superior doesn't say anything.  Nico can practically hear him thinking.  "Fine," he says.  "But that doesn't stop me from doing something in our time."

"If he's even alive," Nico agrees, going higher and looking over all of America.  He holds out his arms, closing his eyes as he reaches into all of the computers in the area.  They're simplistic and slow, which is frustrating to him, but he finds the more "secure" computers quickly.  There aren't that many of them, not in his opinion.  His eyes flash subtly as he searches the files.

Then he goes still.  "I have reason to believe Kunnins is still alive," he says, repeating Star Born.  He hadn't known what it meant then, but he does now.  "Superior," he snaps.  "We need to go back to our own time--and we need to talk to Star Born."

"What?"

"Your problem from this time, it's not over in ours," Nico says bluntly.  "No hunting down my kids, you can hunt down Kunnins in our own time.  We ARE GOING HOME."  He grabs for his father's arm, only to curse as he doesn't get it.

Superior is gone.

***

I had a terrible dream.  In my dream my friend crashed a plane, and people were  injured and a woman died, and it was all Jason's fault.

It wasn't a dream.  I find myself staring right up at Jason, who looks way too happy, if you ask me.  "Murderer," I snarl as I sit up, shoving him away from me.  "You're a murderer!"  The ground under my butt cracks--okay, probably should have put that a different way--ANYWAY!  I get to my feet and glower at the boy that killed a poor defenseless woman.  "HOW COULD YOU?" I bellow.

"I FIXED HER AFTERWARDS!" he bellows right back.

"Wait, what?"

"I fixed her.  I healed her.  Come on, Noelle, I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt!  I'm--it was--" he hesitates, looking away from me.  There's something he's hiding from me, and I don't like it.

"Spit it out, Jason," I say, putting my hands on my hips and glaring at him.  "Because I'm still doubting that we can be friends."

"Yeah?  Not nearly as much as I am," he mutters, not looking at me.

"Oh, so that's how you feel," I say, feeling as if he'd slapped me.  "Don't want to be friends with the 'princess'.  You've been saying that all along, I can't believe I didn't listen to you!"

"Noelle--" he starts out in a frustrated tone.  "Don't--"

"Don't what?  I'm just finally listening--you're a BAD GUY, and you'd probably just USE me for something in the future, playing on my stupid naive idea that we can be friends!"  I stomp my foot like a child, barely noticing the hole in the ground that it leaves.  "You're probably lying about healing her--"

"I. Am. NOT LYING!" he bellows, jumping to his feet.  The ground starts to shake and rocks shoot up all around him.  "And nobody will ever be able to use you for ANYTHING because you NEVER LISTEN!"

"Well I'm listening now, and you're not saying anything I care to hear," I snarl before turning and racing away at top speed.  I don't want to deal with him right now!

***

"What just happened?" Jason asks
Technico after a long moment of stunned silence.

"She had a hissy fit,"
Technico says.  "I'll get her."  Then he's gone, leaving Jason standing there surrounded by a lot of destruction and rocks.  After a moment he heads over to a jutting rock and sits down on it, scowling to himself.

There is absolutely no way that little brat could go hero, he decides with a snort.  She would make an awesome villain, though.  He can picture it all too easily.  Of course that would totally blow Tristan's crush on her--can't have a perfect little Liberty boy chasing a villain.

Why does that thought make him feel like grinning?  It shouldn't, he scolds himself.  She's still mad at him.  He looks at the camping ground, seeing her tent on its side with a giant rock under it.

Maybe he can make it up to her.

***

I think it's this way.  I hesitate at a crossroads, not certain I'm right.  I really wish I could fly, already.  I'd be able to find Tatia's place if I could see from above.  I head down the way I think it is, hugging myself.  I'm not cold, I'm just... I don't know, in shock or something. 

Did he heal her?  I think so... and if he did heal her, or bring her back to life, or whatever, I should forgive him, right?  But I still have those scenes playing in my mind, the baby being flown away by Tatia, the poor woman going still--I shiver, hugging myself more tightly.  It was done by my friend.

I can't be friends with someone that could do such a thing, but I AM friends, except he never wanted to be friends in the first place, and--and I'm so confused right now that tears are falling.  I've always been taught that life is precious.  I mean, how could I not be?  My family lives their lives protecting every life they can.  My mom teaches the heroes of tomorrow to take care of the world, my father runs the Hall which was created to protect those that couldn't protect themselves.  It's in my blood!

So what do I do?  Do I stop being friends with him?  Was I ever really friends in the first place, or was it like he said, I just wasn't listening and assumed we were friends?  All these friend questions when I've never had a real friend in my life, I think, letting out a little irritated sound.

Something flashes white overhead and I glance up automatically.  "Great Grandpa?" I say.  I don't have time to think, I realize.  Either I run as fast as I can or I'll lose him.

***

Kunnins.  He remembers Kunnins, Superior thinks savagely as he pulls to a stop over the
air force base.  He remembers Kunnins all too well.  During this time he'd thought he was a trustworthy man.  Kunnins had sent him some of the best capes in the world to work with. He'd always been a bit of a brown-noser, as well. 

The relationship had changed over the next decade, when Superior found out that Kunnins was experimenting on humans, trying to turn them into supers.  It'd been a nasty piece of business, with the experiments dying
agonizingly slow deaths as they tried to deal with the trauma the change inflicted on them.  Star Born was the scientist.   Kunnins had used her, then she had used Superior in turn, when he was Distort.

This nasty little circle is something he is going to change right now, he thinks as the guards come racing out of the barracks, shooting at him.   He holds out his hands
and the bullets stop in midair before turning and hitting the ground right in front of the shooters.  “I can kill you with a thought,” he says, his voice booming over the base, “unless you bring Kunnins to me!”

They start firing more and he sees someone hop into a tank, the gu
n swiveling to aim at him.  He waves his hand again and sends the top part spinning.  He lands, ignoring the bullets that are trying to hit him, and heads straight for a man that looks somewhat familiar.  “Hello, Will,” he says, picking him up off the ground by the shirt.  “Where’s Kunnins?”

“He--he--” Will stutters, looking as pale as a ghost.  “He’s not here.”

“I think you’re lying,” Superior says.  “Let’s see... a place like this always has a hidden level.  Where is it?”

“I--”

“Never mind, I’ll help myself,” Superior says, tossing him several feet away before taking to the air.  He flips, his hand fisting, and slams straight down, punching a massive hole through the concrete hidden underneath the dirt.  Once he reaches the next level he flips over, landing on his feet and looking around.  “KUNNINS!  GET OUT HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!”

The soldiers race forward,
aiming their rifles at him, but Superior ignores all but one of them, grabbing him by the throat.  “Where is Kunnins?”

“G--Gone,” the uniformed man stutters out.

“Where?” Superior demands.

“The--the White House--”

“Well, then, I’ll find him there,” Superior says, tossing the man aside.  There’s no way he would lie.  Superior can see the puddle on the ground below where he’d been hanging.  He takes to the air, then stops, staring down at the base for a long moment.  “Who else are you keeping hidden here?” he demands, seeing Will.