Steampunk Time: Cape High Book Seven (Cape High Series 7) (19 page)

“Because if Tatiana isn’t knocked out I’ll lose my sister--or should I say that my sister will never be born?” Technico says.  “It’s a selfish reason, but it’s mine.  I’m not losing Liz.  I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep my little sister.  No one threatens my family.”  He dodges the punch and slams his own into the black man’s face, not surprised when Taurus Sr. simply shakes it off before tackling him full force.  It’s far heavier than a truck, Technico thinks as his breath is knocked out of his lungs.  Whoever passed over this guy as a Hall member should be shot.

Techn
ico wraps his arms around Taurus Sr.’s waist and flips, pile-driving him head first into the ground.  For a second he thinks it’s over--then he remembers.  Taurus Sr. is a shape-shifter.  The body he’s holding grows larger and larger until he lets go and backs off, stretching.  It’s been a while, he thinks.  Full out brawls aren’t his speed--

Wait.  The only reason Taurus isn’t an S class is because he can’t fly, he remembers Liz saying.
  The same probably goes for his father.  Mere seconds before the minotaur rushes forward Technico takes to the sky.  “I don’t have time for this!” he says.  “I’ve got to make sure everything turns out the way I want it to.”

He shouldn’t have said that, he realizes a second too late.  It gave the
minotaur time to jump.

***

“We’ve LOST him, Noelle!” Jason says.  We’ve been running in the direction that Mimic flew with Tatia for miles, and there’s no sight of him.

“We can’t give up, Jason--she’s my great grandma!  Grandpa left this up to us
. We can’t tell him that we accomplished everything he wanted only to have the bad guy run off with her!” I protest, pulling to a stop and looking around.  “Let’s go on top of that building!  Maybe we’ll be able to see him from a higher viewpoint.”

“Fine,” he says as we race up the ladders and onto the roof.  Automatically we turn so we’re facing different directions, searching for the man that looks like my great grandma.  “There,” he says, pointing in an opposite direction.  “He’s dropping down in front of an abandoned building.”

“Let’s go,” I say, heading for the ladder.

“I’ll lead,” he says, jumping off of the roof and landing in front of several screaming onlookers.  He looks at them, and I can practically see his thoughts.  Norms are strange.  “Are you coming?” he yells up at me.

“I am!” I say, giving up on the ladder and jumping as well. We race away before anyone can say anything, heading in the direction I can only assume Mimic went.  Maybe this is another reason why Grandpa brought Jason back--because otherwise I’d be lost the entire time.  That makes him like... an extra large GPS or something, right?

“What are you laughing at?” he demands.

“I just figured out why Grandpa brought you back,” I tell him, grinning evilly.

“Why’s that?”

“You’re my GPS system.”  We pull to a stop at the building, where Mimic is on his knees, looking down at Tatia with a heartbroken expression.  He looks up at us, and I suddenly feel guilty--oh, who am I kidding.  I’ve felt guilty since I lifted my hand to keep him from lowering the gun.

“What do you want?” he asks.

“We want Tatia,” I say.

“All that’s here is her body,” he says, gently reaching up and pushing her hair out of her face.  I jerk, turning as I hear cars pulling to a stop behind us.  There’s tons of them, I think
, tanks, too.  Men in military uniforms jump out, all holding weapons.

“Hand her over, M
atkey,” a man says over a bullhorn.  “We’ll consider our deal finished when we get her body.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Mimic says, standing and shifting back into Tatia’s form.  “You’ll have to take this as proof that I’ve stolen everything she has to give,” he goes on, his voice so much like Tatia’s that it’s unnerving.  “If you won’t accept that, I’ll just have to destroy all of you.”

A tank shoots him, but he reaches up, smacking the shell away.  It slams into the building behind him as he rushes forward, ripping the top off of the tank with his bare hands.  “I SAID IT’S OVER!” he bellows in an eardrum bursting tone.  Then he takes to the air, flipping over and sticking out a fist, heading straight into the earth just like Great Grandpa had at the base. 

“What’s he doing?” Jason asks as he comes out, then scoops up Tatia’s body.

“He’s burying her,” I say.  “NO!” I yell.  “Don’t--”

But it’s over.  He’s already closed the hole he buried her in.  “There!” he says.  “Tatiana is dead and buried, just like you asked for.  I won’t allow you to take her apart--if you do, I’ll go to the Hall myself.”

There’s an impasse, I think, slinking back to try and avoid being noticed.  One of the soldiers notices us and rushes forward, pulling us behind the tanks.  It’s a bit too late for that, I think, but I ignore it.  He just buried my great grandma, and is now picking up a piece of concrete from the exploded building and writing on it with a finger.

“There, she even has a tombstone,” Mimic says, shoving the concrete into the ground where he buried her.  “We’re done here.  Tell Kunnins that his ‘Russian spy’ is taken care of.”

Then he flies off, leaving us and the military staring at the tombstone.  “Tatiana, Heroine of Nations” is written on it with a date underneath.

“Someone call Kunnins,” the man with the b
ullhorn calls over his shoulder.

“I would rather you didn’t,” Mastermental says.  Everyone looks up to see Grandpa Mastermental floating above their heads.  “This is the Hall’s business,” he says as he lands in front of the gravestone.  He kneels in front of it, bowing his head.  “We’ll deal with her death.”

“But the USSR--” the military man starts out.

Mastermental turns and looks at him.  “We’ll deal with that, as well,” he says in a tone that tells me he’s using his ability.  “I suggest you leave now.  Let us mourn our fallen friend in peace.”

Abruptly everyone gets back in their cars and drives away, following the command to a T.  He stands as they leave, turning to us.  “Get a hold of your grandfather,” he says to me as I tug off my wig.  It’s annoying.  “Tell him I’ll take care of all the details, he can have Tatia.”

“Thank you,” I say.  “Um, Jason, do you have Grandpa’s number?” I ask Jason.

“Yeah, and hopefully the satellites will still work for it in this time,” he says, pulling out his phone.  “Start digging her up,” he orders me as he calls.  “You’re messing up my phone again.”

“Oh, right.”

***

The ground all around them is completely ripped up. 
Technico grunts, holding off the massive minotaur.  His phone rings.  There’s no way it can be anyone other than Jason--especially since Noelle’s phone blew up.  He twists, throwing Taurus Sr. as far as he can, and pulls out his phone.  “Is it done?” he asks.

Taurus
Sr. stops mid-charge as he hears the question.

“It’s done,” Jason says.  “Mimic took her powers and buried her--then Mastermental convinced the military guys she was dead and that the Hall would take care of things.  Now he and Noelle are digging up her body.  He says we can take her now.”

“Good.  I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Technico says, hanging up and looking at Taurus Sr.  “I’m sorry,” he says.  “It isn’t that I don’t have faith in your abilities, it’s just I don’t want to change history more than I already have.  Your son will thank me in some forty years or so.”

“I don’t agree with this foul play,” Taurus Sr. says coldly.

“That’s what makes you a hero and not me,” Technico tells him, taking to the air and flying away.

***

Grandpa Mastermental pulls the last rock off of Tatia and I lean down, ignoring that I’m literally covered in dirt, and touch her throat.  Her pulse is strong, I think, letting out a sigh of relief.  “She’s alive,” I tell him, feeling a tear trickle down my cheek.  Of course I knew she would be in theory--Mimic had done the same thing to me--but I wasn’t sure she would survive being buried alive, without oxygen.  It seems she can.  Thank God.

“He buried her rather deep,” Mastermental says, glancing up.  “I’m impressed.  Noelle, if you would move I’ll take her up, then come and get you.”

I nod, moving to the side of the hole and watching closely as he picks up Tatiana.  She makes him look tiny, I think as he flies upward.  She’s probably twice as broad through the shoulders as he is.  I don’t care right now, though, all that matters is that we’ve gotten her back.

I sink down in the dirt, sitting down and waiting for him to come back and get me.  It shouldn’t take too long, I know, but I’m feeling a bit shaky from all the stuff that just happened.  We need to get her to Aubrey, then we’ll... what?  Leave her in that time?  That means she’ll be in our time, too, right?

I want to have my great grandma.  I want to know that I can see her and talk to her at any moment, whenever I want.  It’s just a matter of moments from now.  Everything we’ve done, even if it seems bad, it’ll all be worth it.  I know it will be.

“Noelle?”  I look up as Grandpa Nico drops down in front of me.  “You did good,
kiddo,” he says, holding out his arms.  I jump into them, hugging him tightly and burying my face in his chest.

“I--I did it,” I say.

“You did it,” he agrees.  “Now it’s time to take Mom into the future.”

“Won’t that mess things up, though?” I ask.

“Either she stays unconscious until I’m almost forty or we skip that part and she wakes up in that time, anyway,” he says, taking to the air and flying me out of the hole.  He lands at the edge of the hole and looks at Grandpa Mastermental.  “Thank you, Double M,” he says, putting me down and holding a hand out to shake.

“Double M?” Mastermental repeats.

“You don’t go by that yet?” Grandpa asks.

“Not yet, I don’t.”  The two shake hands and Grandpa walks over to where Jason and Tatia are.

“One last stop before we go home,” Grandpa says, crouching down and touching Tatia.  “Grab on, kids.”

I grab his arm, glancing over at Jason as he does the same.

We leave 1978 behind.

***

*Present*

“What information do we have on the failed super creations from the last few years,” Double M demands as he and the Superior storm into the Hall’s science lab.  The scientists practically jump out of their skins at the intrusion.  One of them even drops a test tube, jumping away from the liquid that splashes all over the floor.  Double M ignores it completely, looking at the only scientist that appears calm. “Gerald?”

“I’ll bring up the files,” Gerald says, turning to the computer and tapping on his mouse a few times.  He stops, though, turning and looking at the two males that look so much alike.  “If you wouldn’t mind letting me do it,” he says to Nico.

“Wasn’t me,” Nico says blandly.  “Father, let the man do his work.”

Superior scowls but the scientist looks satisfied as he goes back to work.  “I thought you fixed the computers in the building,”
he says to Nico.

“I haven’t messed with these,” Nico admits.  “I’ll remember to upgrade them later, this is downright pathetic.”

“Do you make a habit of upgrading things without telling me?” Double M asks in a mild tone.

“Do I?” Nico replies in an equally mild tone.

“We’ll discuss this later,” Double M says as paper starts printing out on the printer.  There’s a lot of it.  He walks over, picking up the pile when the machine finally stops.

“
Do it now.  Fix the printers, as well,” Superior says to Nico.

“I’m not getting paid to be the tech guy, you know,” Nico says as he looks over the room.  All of a sudden even the computers that were off are on.  Binary flashes over the screens, running far faster than the norms can read.  A
bruptly one of the computers stops flashing and Nico crosses the room, standing in front of one of the younger scientists.

“Wh--what--” the scientist asks, jerking back and almost falling off of his chair.

“They might not be paying me for this, but they’re paying you,” Nico says bluntly, tapping his computer, “play Halo on your own time.”  Then, almost casually, he looks at the woman sitting at the next desk, his expression unreadable.

“Shall we go?” Double M asks as he tucks the paper under his arm and heads out.  Nico and Superior follow him.  Nico stops in the hall, though, pulling out his phone.  “
What is it, Sunny?” he answers.

“Dad, you and Noelle just brought this massive lady with white hair to school--then you told me to call you,” Sunny says a bit blankly.  “We think the lady is a super.”  A rush of wind tells Nico that Superior has already left him behind.

“Bring Aubrey to her, but don’t let her wake her until I get there,” Nico tells his son.  “I’ll be there in a minute.”  He looks at Double M.

“I’ll look this over,” Double M says.  “I’ll see if we have any traces of where they come from.”  Nico nods and takes off, leaving it all behind to get to the campus.  He doesn’t want Tatiana losing it because she has no idea where she is or what happened.  The chances of that happening are slim, of course, but he’s not going to risk it.  His kids are there.