Steampunk Time: Cape High Book Seven (Cape High Series 7) (8 page)

We can run.  It's amazingly fun, too--I mean, it was for the first ten minutes until I realized something really, really bad.  I pull to a stop, making Jason slow down and turn to look at me.  "What's wrong?  Get tired already?"

"No... but... I'm not sure where we are," I tell him, looking at the air force base to the left and the fields all around.  I had no clue that there was a base here.  I mean, maybe a long time ago.  This is right in the middle of America, right?  It's a good place to have a base.  But...

"Isn't that the Hall?" he asks, coming up next to me to look at the base.

"That's not the Hall!  The Hall is downtown!"

"Hey, how should I know?  I've never been!"

"Well it's not the Hall," I repeat, wondering why I feel nervous.  "It's a norm air base.  I think we went the wrong way," I admit.

"Then what's the right way?" Jason demands, not showing the same unease I'm feeling at all.  "We should get going, right?"

Something's happening at the base.  All of the norms are starting to move in the same direction, like there's about to be something big.  I look up and around, wondering if they're going to be attacked.  It's the Cold War, but I don't know much about what actually happened during that war.  Were there bombs and stuff?

"There's a building under there," Jason says abruptly, making me look over at him.  "It goes pretty deep--it's like there's at least four floors going straight down," he tells me, crouching down and touching the ground.  I'm not even sure he realizes what he's doing.  "There's a lot of metal--not the crude stuff, either.  It's manmade."

"Are there people down there?" I ask.

"How should I know?" he asks.

"Well, you know about the building!" I say.

"Yeah, but that's because it's concrete and metal.  Elementalist, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, so you're only half useful," I grumble, moving closer to the base.  "What's going on?"

The norms are surrounding a bare piece of dirt, their guns aimed at it.  "Looks like someone's coming up," Jason says as the dirt rises at an angle, revealing a ramp going down into what must be the building he was talking about.  I expect a car, or a jeep, or something, it's big enough for them, but what I see makes me go perfectly still.  "Wow, they got him chained up pretty good," Jason says.  "Does a norm really need all those chains?"

"That's not a norm," I say, barely breathing.  "That's Mimic."

***

This isn't going to end well, Will thinks as he follows the heavily chained super up the ramp.  He's got a gun, even though he's more of a desk jockey than a front liner.  It's more for show, anyway--from all the reports he's seen, Mimic doesn't even flinch at bullets.  It's still nice to have something between him and the man, even if it's a thin scrap of metal and plastic.

Matkey had all too willingly agreed to kill Tatiana, in exchange for his freedom, his record cleared, and the Hall off his back.  He'd told Will that even if they set him free the Hall would come after him--it was the
military that was supposed to keep them from chasing him.  Will hadn't believed they could do it, but Kunnins had agreed far too confidently.

It turns out, Will thinks in disgust, that the government is basically in control of the Hall.  To a point, perhaps, that's a good thing.  Having supers running around with no checks is dangerous. But when that power is abused like it will be here, it sickens him.

"I can't exactly do anything chained up like this," Matkey says as he steps into the light and turns to them.  "Unlock me."

"You know the terms of our deal," Kunnins says.  "You take out Tatiana and we let you go--and protect you from the Hall.  I suggest you l
ie low, though, because there's always that rabble group of wanna-be Hall members around.  They won't know our deal."

"Rabble is exactly what they are," Matkey says.  "They won't be a problem.  Now," he adds, holding up his chained hands and jingling his chains
, "If you would?"

Kunnins nods a
t Will.  Will hesitates for a second before fumbling with the hoop of keys at his side and heading forward.  He looks at Matkey, feeling sick at heart as he unlocks the chains one by one.  They fall to the ground with a heavy jingle.  Each one makes the ball in his stomach grow larger.  When Matkey stretches his free arms over his head, he steps back several quick paces and brings up his gun in a protective manner.  Matkey looks at him and laughs in his face.

"Tatiana," he says.  "Give me her picture."  He holds out his hand and Kunnins hands over the manila folder with all the information.  Matkey opens it, staring at the picture of the large woman in question, a patently bland expression on his face.  He flips through the folder for a moment.  "I'll take this," he says, holding it up briefly then racing away.

"Sir, are you certain we can trust him?" Will dares to venture.

"We'll have to find out," Kunnins says, pulling out a metal tin full of cigars and getting one out.  "If we can't, well, we'll turn to our second choice."

"Second choice?" Will asks.

"You didn't really think he was the only super we've got, did you?" Kunnins asks.

***

I let out a breath, still clutching Jason's arm as tightly as I can.  There's a giant rock in front of us--one that hadn't been there a moment ago.  "You know, I'm seriously glad my arm is metal coated," he says as he looks pointedly down at where I'm strangling the arm in question.  "Who is Mimic?"

"He's the guy that left me back in this time," I say as I daringly watch Mimic race away in a different direction.  "We need to follow him."

"Why?" he asks.

"I--I don't know, but there's got to be a reason they let him out, right?  It's probably something really bad, too.  He's not a nice guy."

"I ah... think he's too fast," Jason admits, looking over in the direction Mimic had been.  "I mean, I thought we were fast, but that guy just disappeared while we were talking."

I stare at him darkly.  "This is totally your fault," I tell him.

"You're not a princess, you're a prima donna," he mutters as he looks at the base.  "Let's leave, maybe we can find our way back to the campground.  I bet your granddad is back by now, he can show us how to get to the Hall."

"But Mimic is out there--"

"And this isn't our time, right?  It's already happened.  If we change it, what happens to us in the future, huh?  I don't want to risk it, so I vote we forget about it."

"But--"

"Look, princess, you've already messed up the past enough--one minute Ace was fighting with my dad, the next they're long time buddies and hanging out drinking beer and watching anime together," he says.  "Not that I noticed it until I got dragged back here.  Time traveling does some really weird stuff."

"They watch anime?" I ask blankly.  "Like... cartoons?"

"Japanese cartoons--but that's not the point!"

"Cold Steel and Ace--" I'm sorry, but the image is stuck in my mind!  It's boggling.  "Your dad--the biggest super villain around--watches cartoons?"

"Well, yeah," he says.  "Then he talks Ace into making some of the cooler robots in the--that's not the point!  Ace changed because of your
interference--what else is going to change?  We didn't come back here in this time to mess with it, got it?  This is for the people that actually belong in this time."

I hesitate, hating the fact that he's right.  "But I don't like him," I admit, pouting.  "He's mean."

"Is the one they released the same guy that did it to you?"

"No.  Well, I mean he is, but I think he must be from this time, otherwise how would they have him chained up like that?  Unless he IS and he was stupid enough to get caught--"

"You're saying we can't be sure--and unless we are absolutely positive that he's from our time, we can't do anything.  How dangerous is that guy, anyway?"

I shiver, even though it's not that cold out.  "He's really dangerous," I admit.  "I'm not sure how I woke up from the coma he put me in--but Tatia said my eyes glowed when I did.  I think it's only because my powers were starting to kick in that I did."

"He hit you or something?"

"No, he just touched me."

"Woah... yeah, that's creepy."

"We should at least tell Grandpa," I say as I look around for a clue on which direction to go.  "Um... I think we came from that way," I say, pointing behind us.

He looks that way, he looks at me.  "We came from that way," he says, pointing to the right of where I pointed.  "Don't bother to ask if I'm sure, I know where I've been, just not where I'm going--not in this time."

'Oh.  Fine, we'll try your way this time."

"So kind of you."

***

There's a scowl on Superior's face as they wait outside the Hall.  Taurus Sr. went in five minutes before, leaving the two of them to lurk in the shadows, waiting for him to bring Mastermental out to talk to them. Nico gets the feeling that if it takes much longer, Superior will take off to find Mimic again.  "Why are you still here, anyway?" Nico asks him as it occurs to him how strange it is.

"I can't be caught by Tatia again, if she finds out I'm still alive she might jump to all sorts of strange conclusions," Superior says, looking irritable.  "She might think there's an entire army of fake Superiors somewhere and blow up a dozen or so warehouses looking for them."

Nico stares at him, the corners of his lips twitching before he bursts out laughing.  "Seriously?" he asks.  It's a terrible reaction, and his mental image of Summer is scolding him, but it's overthrown by the picture of Tatiana blowing up random warehouses.

"Shut it, Nicolas, you're going to draw attention to us."

"Right, I know, I know," he says, still snickering.  "Oh, man, I just--that's beautiful," he admits, shaking his head and fighting down his laughter.  "She's that type, huh?  How in the hell did you get a woman like that?" he asks his father.  Superior's face shows that he's not entertained by the question.

"It's this way," they hear Taurus Sr. say.  They both go silent, slinking back into the shadows without even looking at each other.  "Look, I don't know what exactly to tell you--"

"You can come out, Superior," Mastermental says.  Nico looks over at his father, a bit surprised, but Superior steps out of the shadows.  For a second a hint of surprise crosses Double M's face as he looks at the larger male.  "I take it time has been hard on you," he says.

"Something like that," Superior agrees.  "We're looking for my son's granddaughter."

"Nicolas has a granddaughter?  I just saw him a bit earlier, he's barely gotten all his teeth."

Nico steps forward.  "Hello, Double M.  Nice mullet," he adds, taking in the long hair on the man that looks exactly like the one he knows in his own time--save the clothes and haircut.

"It's not a mullet, those are short on top," Superior corrects him.  "He's just got a girl's haircut."

"I'm... confused," Double M says, staring at Nico and completely ignoring Superior.  "I admit it's been happening more often lately, and your hair is different-- but haven't you already claimed your granddaughter?"

Nico stares at him blankly.  "What?" he finally asks.

***

The site where the Cape Cells is being built has been cleared, thanks to a machine that resembles the very weapon of mass destruction that got him stuck in it all those years ago.  This time, though, he was smart enough to set up a cloaking device around the area, making norms think it's still the empty field that it's always been.  Not that there are many norms in this area. 

Techn
ico--the oldest version--watches the machines spread over the area, breaking the dirt below them into cubes and moving it to the side before it can fall apart.  Another machine is mixing the concrete using the resources at hand--most of it gathered from the local dump the day before.  He checks his mental clock, readjusting it for the time zone and year they're in.

"Mimic's out," he says, readjusting the program of the machines doing the work.  It's also about time the kids wake up, he adds mentally as he steps through the cloaking device.  A bird flies away, shocked by his sudden appearance, but he ignores it, starting to run.  Taking to the air is too dangerous when not a part of this time's Hall.  He heads for the campground, looking around curiously.

"Noelle?" he asks after checking her tent.  "Jason?"

They're nowhere to be seen.  He lets out a curse and looks around to see if there's any sign of where they went.  They only know a few places in this time, right?  And that's only Noelle, who has no sense of direction whatsoever.  If it had been Jason that was sent back in time, he figures, they would be fine--but it had to be his precious granddaughter.
  He had really hoped bringing Jason along for this “camping trip” would keep her busy enough not to do something stupid, like getting lost or involved with people of this time.