Steampunk Time: Cape High Book Seven (Cape High Series 7) (16 page)

“No on
e, sir.”

“That had better be the truth,” Superior says coldly before flying away.  For a long moment Will just stands there, watching him leave,
and then he turns and heads for the nearest phone.

“Sir?  We have a slight problem.”

***

Great Grandpa Superior
just destroyed the base that had held Mimic.  I stare at it for a moment, trying to equate that obviously evil action with my great grandpa.  It’s not as hard to do as you would suspect, honestly.  I mean, of all my family members he’s the one I’m LEAST surprised to find out something like this about.

“Noelle,” I hear above me.  I turn, looking at Grandpa.  It’s the one from my time--again, would someone PLEASE send one of them back home?  I bet EVERYONE is confused by this whole two-in-one-time thing!  “What happened?”

“Great Grandpa destroyed the base,” I say as he lands behind me.  “He’s looking for a guy named Kunnins.”

“I see.  That does make sense,” Grandpa says mildly.  “But that means he’s done chasing Mimic.”

“Mimic--but--Mimic’s the one that kills grandma!” I say.  “He can’t stop now!”  I turn, starting to run, only to be grabbed by the wrist and pulled to a stop.

“It wasn’t Mimic,” he says, pulling an earbud out of his pocket.  “Nico, do you hear me?” he asks as he slips the earbud into his ear.  “I need you to grab Superior the moment you see him and take him back to your own time.”

“I was planning on doing that earlier,” I hear his younger self say dryly.  “The old man is faster than I thought.”

“Don’t try, just do.  He’s going after Kunnins.”

“Where is Kunnins?”

“At the White House,” I say.  Both versions of Grandpa curse--using the same word at the same time.

“I’m on it,” the younger version of Grandpa says.

Grandpa pockets the earbud.  “Now we’re going to do something extremely important,” he tells me.

“What?” I ask.

“We’re going to save your grandma--and your great aunt all at the same time.”

“Really?” I ask, getting excited.

“Really.  And you need to forgive Jason,” he adds as he picks me up in a princess hold and takes to the air.  “He really did save all the people he could.”

“But why did he do it?” I demand.

“Because your great grandpa plays dirty,” Grandpa says coldly as he takes off.  I stare forward blindly, then realize my eyeballs are threatening to dry out from the wind and tug my goggles down to cover them.  “I’m going to have to get some of those,” he says.

“He used Jason,” I say, getting more irritated by the moment.  “I am going to give him SUCH a talking to!”

“You do that, sweetheart,” he says.  “You do just that.”

***

Mimic hangs up the phone and heads down the steps into the second level of the base, ignoring the hole that Superior just created.  This “Will” that he’d stolen after the fight with the supers is an excellent form, he decides as he starts down the hall to the cells he’d once been held captive in.  He stops at his own, peeking in at the man he’d left unconscious on the pallet.  Casually he prods the door open, so when someone c
omes along he’ll be found.  There were others he’d just left on the wayside, but this Will had actually had a conscience.  It would be a shame to leave him to die of starvation.

He moves on to the next cell, checking inside.  The white haired Superior’s question had made him curious, after all.  He pauses as he sees what looks like a child chained up in the middle of the room.  Something makes him hesitate before he crosses the room and crouches down in front of the child.

She’s beautiful, he thinks, a bit stunned.  Long blue hair tangles and falls over her shoulders.  Her skin is china white, her eyes are the color of sapphires.  Hesitantly he reaches up, pushing her hair out of her face.  “I’m going to let you go,” he tells her softly.

There’s distrust in her eyes, but he ignores it as he lets his shift fall.  In his normal form he unlocks the chains that hold her, letting them fall to the ground.  For a second she just stares at him,
and then she shudders, turning translucent before shifting into a heavy fog that flows out of the room.

Mimic stands there for a moment, stunned beyond belief, then goes back to checking the cells.
A handful of supers are released by the time he’s done. They hadn’t even bothered to thank him, he thinks as he shifts back into Will’s form and heads out of the building and off base entirely.

He wants to see her again.  He wants to see the fog girl, sure, she was fascinating, but the one he really wants to see is Tatiana.  He hesitates, standing there for a moment and thinking of the destruction the white haired Superior created.  For a moment he wonders what happened to change him so much,
and then he starts forward, allowing his feelings to direct him.

Just once more, he thinks.  Just once more.  After he sees her this time he’ll walk away and never look back.

***

Superior floats far above the White House, staring at it thoughtfully for a long moment.  He’s tempted to destroy it.  Of course that goes against everything he stands for, in theory--the White House is supposed to be what represents and protects all of America, and he still loves America.  But right now it’s unwittingly aiding and abetting the man that would have his beloved Tatiana killed.

So what does he do?

Before he can decide, arms wrap around him and a tiny button is pushed.  The world twists around him and he’s stumbling forward
into his own time.  “Father!  Nico!  You’re back!” Liz says as Superior bites back vomit.

“Shocks,” Nico mutters, looking as green as he doe
s, “I’m definitely installing shocks of some sort in the next time travel watch I make.”

“What DID YOU DO?” Superior roars as he turns on his son, grabbing him by the shirt.

“I saved you from attacking the White House,” Nico says coldly.  “What were you thinking?  You could have started a norm-super war!  One that could easily have killed everyone on the planet!”

“They had Kunnins!” Superior bellows.

“Who cares?  He’s probably still alive in this time!”

“What?”

“Star Born--when she exploded, or whatever, and almost killed you, she was working for him--and when I visited her in the Cape Cells to get the formula to take away Mimic’s powers she told us why she’s still working on her genetic formulas,” Nico says.  “She has reason to believe that Kunnins is still alive somewhere.  That he’s going to show up again.”

“Where is he?” Superior demands.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter,” Nico says.

“Of course it matters!”

“No, it doesn’t.  At least it doesn’t until we find out what, exactly, he’s after in this time.”

“What happened while you were back in time?” Liz demands.  “Who is Kunnins?”

“He’s the man that got my mother killed.”  Nico turns, looking at her with a hint of wonder before dragging her into a hug.  “Liz.  Thank God,” he adds, holding her tightly.

“What for?” she asks.

“You.”

***

“Aren’t we going to save everyone?” I ask as Grandpa lands at the campsite.  It looks different, I notice.  The rocks have been knocked down and the ground looks a little more level.  My tent is, at least.  In the middle of it all, though, is Jason, who’s sound asleep and snoring.

“Looks like he tried to clean up,” Grandpa says as he puts me down.  I look around curiously,
and then head over to the sleeping teen, nudging him with my shoe.  “Your uncle had the same problem around that age.  He’d try to use his powers too much and wind up crashing for a while.  It’s going to take more than a nudge to wake him up.”

I pull back my foot,
and then lower it again.  Kicking him would be wrong, considering he was just used by Great Grandpa like a pawn.  It’s really hard to say “no” to Superior, especially if you didn’t grow up with him in your life.  He’s a living legend to the entire world.  I mean, I’ve seen every single Superior movie ever made--and that’s saying a lot.  There’s a ton of them.  I bet Jason’s seen at least one or two.

I crouch down next to his side, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him a bit.  “Wake up, Jason,” I say.  “You’re snoring.”

He rolls over onto his side, away from me, and continues sleeping.  I glance at Grandpa.  “What do I do?” I ask.

“Try pouring water on him,” he offers as he packs away the tents.  “We’re going to check on the Cape Cells, first.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because after we take care of the Mimic problem we’re going home.  I’d rather have the Cells at least half built before I’m gone.”  I nod and head for the camp supplies, grabbing bottle of water and heading back for Jason.  With a slightly evil grin, I uncap it and pour some over his face.  He comes up spluttering and stares at me in shock.

“What was that for?” he demands.

“You wouldn’t wake up,” I say, crossing my arms.  “I had no choice.”

“Sure you didn’t,” he says as he wipes his face off with his forearm and gets up.  “What... um... I blacked out again, didn’t I?” he says a bit pathetically.

“You were trying to clean up, weren’t you?” Grandpa says.  “After dealing with the plane and healing people, you pushed yourself too far.  You’re not anywhere near full grown, Jason, you’ve only got so much
stamina.”

“Oh,” he says.  “But it worked so well on the plane--”

“Adrenaline rush.  It can do that.”

Jason nods and pushes his hair out of his face.  He’s got strands of metal mixed in with the regular brown hair.  It looks cool, I admit silently.  He pauses, and I can see his fingers play over the strands.  “Is all of my hair going to turn metal?” he asks Grandpa.

“If you want it to.”

“That’d be cool.”  He gets to his feet and starts to help clean up the campground.  Soon we’ve got everything cleaned up and are ready to go.  I watch as Grandpa steps on the pile of camping supplies and pushes the button on his watch, disappearing with all the items.  “Did he just leave us?” Jason asks me.

“No, he just took everything back to our time,” I say, hugging myself.  It feels like I’ve been abandoned, though, which is just as bad.  I’ve spent way too much time alone in time.  The presence of my Grandpa is like an anchor to reality--before I can finish that thought there’s a spark and he’s back, the camping gear gone.  I can’t stop myself, I run forward, wrapping my arms around his waist and hugging him tightly.

“So,” Grandpa says, hugging me back, “not ready to be a time traveler
hero, huh?”

“No, absolutely not,” I admit.  “I’m staying in my own time for the rest of my life.”

“Good, because we’ve missed you like crazy,” he says, pulling back and giving me a crooked smile.  “Now let’s finish this little job and get back to our time.”

“What about the younger you and Great Grandpa?” I ask.

“They should be back in their own time by now,” he says.  “We’re almost done.  Then you two have more important things to do.”

“Like what?” Jason asks.

“Making friends at your new school,” Grandpa says.  “You’re both ready to be enrolled after I toss together some inhibitors.”

I look at Jason, expecting him to be grinning as widely as I am, but instead he’s got a slight scowl on his face.  “What’s wrong?” I ask him.  “I thought you wanted to go to school.”

“Well, yeah--I mean, yeah, I do,” he says, forcing a grin.  “It’s going to be awesome.”  I look at him, frowning slightly as I try and figure out why he’s lying.  What had changed since our first fight?

“Don’t worry,” I tell him, realizing.  “I won’t tell anyone that we’re friends.”  He looks at me blankly.  That wasn’t it?  “Or that you caused a plane wreck because of my great grandpa,” I add.

“Oh... um... I wasn’t going to tell you that,” he says, looking away.

“Tell me what?  That it was Great Grandpa’s fault?  Grandpa told me,” I explain.  “You know, even if he’s the hero of the masses, I’m not really surprised.”

“Yeah?  But he’s your granddad--”

I hesitate, looking around as if anyone other than Grandpa might be listening in.  “Great Grandpa... can be... difficult,” I admit slowly.  “He’s hard to read... and deal with.  I mean, I love him, he’s family, but...”  I shrug.  “I’ve said this before, right?”

“Yeah,” he says.  “You have.”  He falls silent as we start to run, chasing Grandpa to the building site of the Cape Cells.  I’m not sure what’s going through his head.  I mean, I’ve made it pretty obvious that I forgive him, right?  Don’t tell me I actually have to SAY it.  That’s so embarrassing!

So I fall into an awkward silence, pretending to focus on following Grandpa.  Having a boy for a friend seems like it’s going to be extremely confusing.

Having a girl for a friend is way too confusing, Jason decides as they reach the building site.  He glances at Noelle, frowning slightly before looking away.  She’s talking to her grandpa, who very calmly points to an area far away from the robots that are working on the Cape Cells.  Jason hesitates for a second before walking up
him.