Guitar Hero (Cape High Series Book 12) (5 page)

“So, she’s your mom, huh?” Max says, completely shattering it.

“Yeah... sort of.”

I turn and head for my bunk, crawling into it. I don’t feel like going into details right now.

***

*The Arctic Circle*

"Doris is right," Nico says. He'd spent the last day and a half searching through records and even calling Double M for information. He'd even gone so far as to talk to Century, who had checked out Skye's base. "I even knew it, I just didn't know about the connection. It wasn't Kunnins that had the super stopping gun built—it was Herold. The weapon goes back all the way to the Cold War, if not further. The problem is that I didn't make it."

He turns, looking at Superior and Doris. They're in his room in the Arctic, which has grown by half a mile, since he'd figured he might as well add an expansion with the hole in the wall. Doris is looking surly, Superior is just flat-out scowling. "My assumption was that he used his scientist to come up with it. I was wrong."

"He used that to trap me!" Doris says. "Right after he convinced me that we could work together."

"What would a politician need with a shape-shifting super?" Superior asks her.

"He wasn't a politician at the time! He was a military man—one that was helping in the fight against the U.S.S.R. He said I'd be helping our country." She takes a deep breath, shuddering slightly. "I wanted to be a super hero so bad," she admits quietly, with a shameful look on her face. "I thought I could live down my father's reputation if I helped the military—if I could fight for our country. But the moment I turned my back, he shot me with that stupid gun and knocked me out!"

"Why?" Superior asks. "It seems to me he could have found a much better use for you."

"Because… I…" She stops with a confused look. "I'm not sure. I think I saw something I shouldn't have."

"Do you remember what that was?" Nico asks.

"No. I mean, it didn't stick out or anything, but I heard him talking about it after I was put in the tube." She frowns, slowly shaking her head after a moment. "I think… it might have been a woman?"

"We need Mastermental," Superior says with a sigh. "While I can affect people by manipulating the physical aspects of brains, I can't do anything about the spiritual or the mental."

"But I can—to a point," Nico says, heading for one of the long tables in the room and digging through various things. "All we need is this and a screen," he says, holding up a metal hoop.

"Have you been ripping off people's powers?" Superior asks him curiously.

"Not really," Nico says. "I just find this more convenient."

"You like to prove you can do anything they can do," Superior corrects.

"I have yet to figure out how to do what you do," Nico says, giving him a knowing look. "Your title is still safe."

Doris looks from one to the other. "Aren't you two ACTUALLY family?" she asks finally.

"Some family members get along better than others," Superior says. "Nicolas, here, is far too much like me for his own good—he's been fighting that fact his entire life."

"Don't worry, Doris, we won't treat your precious Skye like we treat one another," Nico says as he walks over. "This shouldn't hurt, but it might feel strange. I want you to think back to what happened right before you were put in the tube."

"You still don't understand—Tatiana is dangerous!" she starts out. "She's the reason I was going to help—" She stops as they both burst out laughing. "This isn't funny!" she yells at them. "She and Skye are out there somewhere and who knows—"

"It's computer class right around now," Superior says. "She's intent on catching up with today's technology so she can talk Nicolas into making her something better."

"I could do that without her taking classes," Nico says.

"Of course you could, but she wants to know how to use it. But when you do make it, make sure the keyboard is reinforced—she keeps coming home complaining that they're too flimsy."

"Will do," Nico says. "Look, Doris, we know how dangerous Mom—Tatiana is. We also know one other thing—the norm world thinks she's dead. The super world knows otherwise, but it doesn't matter. She's retired and living up here with the man she loves. That it just happens to be my father, well, we shouldn't judge her tastes. Sure, she's Russian, and sure she's a tank, but that doesn't mean she's not human."

"I'm not human," Superior says.

"That's right, he's the one you really can't trust," Nico says.

"You're only half human."

"So you can half trust me," Nico says without blinking.

"But—isn't he Superior?" Doris asks.

"We try to ignore elitist titles here," Nico drawls, "they make everyone feel uncomfortable."

"Would you stop feeding the girl lines of hogwash?" Superior says dryly. "Doris, was it? Don't worry about Tatia, she'll take very good care of your friend. Besides, think about it—who is the one you shouldn't trust, the man that used her to get you trapped in a tube, or the woman that had no clue you were even in one?"

"Why should I trust any of you?" she asks, glaring at the metal hoop Nico's holding. "What does that do? Are you going to brainwash me?"

"Nope, just read your mind. I invented this to find out what happened to an unconscious kid. I figure it can get into the memories you can't recall just as easily."

She hesitates, looking from one to the other. "If you try anything I'll scream this entire place down," she threatens.

"That would be inconvenient," Superior says.

She grabs the hoop and sticks it on her head.

  Emily’s phone ringing wakes up the bus. It’s the theme song from the latest Superior movie, I note curiously. She doesn’t get to it in time, because she falls out of her bunk and is now sitting on the floor, looking confused. I might be recording that little scene on my phone--don’t tell her, though.

“’ello, Grandpa?” she says as she reaches the phone. All she gets is a dial tone. “Darn it,” she mutters.

“What’s wrong?” Malina asks sleepily. Okay, so it’s ten in the morning--we didn’t get to sleep until about four hours ago. It took us that long to figure out how to expand the tour bus--well, and other things. There might have been a karaoke machine involved.

“Grandpa called,” Emily says sleepily, falling onto her back and tapping on her phone.

“Andre?” Falconess asks.

“Nuh uh, the other one.”

“What other one?” Freddy asks, his eyes barely opening to look at her.

“Grandpa Superior.”

“WHAT?” all three of my bandmates demand, waking up instantly.

“I gotta call him back before he does something stupid,” she says, bringing the phone up to her ear. “Darn it, he’s not answering now. Wonder why.”

“What do you mean, ‘does something stupid’?” Cole asks.

“Grandpa Superior likes to be involved,” Emily says, as if this wasn’t the most shocking conversation ever. “I think he’s making up for failing so much with Mom and Nico, so now he does all sorts of stuff to keep his grandkids happy--he even went with Aubrey to deal with bullies just last week.”

“We’ll be pulling over for a picnic brunch soon,” Alphonse says over his shoulder. “Nathan worked it into your schedule, as per Falconess’s request. I suggest you get dressed in your training uniforms.”

“Training uniforms?” I repeat.

“You DID promise Freddy you’d spar every other day,” Falconess says.

"Where IS Nathan, anyway?" Emily asks, getting to her feet and digging her training uniform out of her bag. "Wasn't he going to ride with us?"

"Nathan told me that he would show up when we reach our next destination," Alphonse says. "He's got a meeting with Mega lined up—something about changing the plans for his protege?"

"Ward," I say, echoed by both Malina and Freddy. "You can't really blame the guy, Mega's been gung-ho on getting him pinned down ever since he found out about him," I say to them. Now usually I try and keep out of their business, but in this case I have every right to mention it—I've been tossed at Mega at least a dozen times as a distraction technique. Ward is always happy to throw me under the bus. I head for my bags, digging out the white and gold uniform that Nico provided and heading to the bathroom door to wait my turn.

"It's funny," Malina says, much to my surprise. I thought for sure she would speak up about how Mega is terrorizing poor Ward. "What?" she asks me as I just stare at her. "I love him, but it's still funny seeing him run off screaming."

"He doesn't scream," Freddy says with an evil little grin, stripping down to his boxers without even bothering to look at the bathroom door, "Mega caught him faster the one time he screamed, so now he just shoves the nearest person between them and races away silently."

"How come I'm always the one between them?" I demand, giving up on modesty when Malina pulls out her uniform and walks over to stand behind me. "You can go next," I tell her, feeling a hint of a blush cross my face as I head to the back of the bus to change. It doesn't help when Lonny wolf-whistles at me.

"Somebody's been working out!"

"I thought he'd be a skinny little twerp all his life!"

"Shut it, already," I yell. "You pervs!" I reach up, covering my chest with the suit to add to the joke. "Can't a guy get some privacy around here?"

I hear Malina laughing behind me, so I guess it wasn't THAT bad of a thing.

It's mere moments before the bus pulls to a stop and the door swings open. "Okay, everyone, we've found a somewhat private place to stop," Alphonse says. "Falconess, are you ready?"

Falconess walks past us in a pair of shorts, a t-shirt with Star Spangled written on it, and a baseball cap. She actually has a whistle. Am I the only one worried about that fact? "Now," she says as we get off the bus and line up in front of her. Brian, Cole and Lonny move to a nearby picnic table, clearly intent on watching, "let's see how we should pair you off," she goes on, looking us over closely.

"Can we have teams?" Freddy asks.

"Interesting idea—sure," Falconess agrees. "Freddy, you're partners with Emily, Malina, you're with Justin," she declares.

"I call discrimination," Freddy says.

"How's that?"

"Her usual partner has probably a hundred and fifty pounds on me, and hits a million times harder—I'm definitely going to come out looking like an idiot."

"Don't worry about it," Emily says cheerfully. "If it makes you feel better, I can throw YOU instead of you throwing me!" Freddy stares at her in shock, but she just grins at him. "I'm stronger than I look," she tells him before a second version of her pops up on his other side. They reach down, hauling him up and throwing him directly at me.

"I didn't hear GO!" I bellow, sending him flying backwards and into them. "Malina, you ready?" I ask, looking over at her. She's looking around the empty park with a rather panicked expression.

"What do I do?" she asks, "I don't see any bodies of water. How can I fight without water?"

"Water fountain, right over there," I say, pointing to the concrete building that the bathrooms are in.

"It's not on! If I pull at the water, I'll break it," she says, right as Freddy is launched through the sky again. She doesn't even notice it, I think as I race over, grabbing her. I twist, pushing her behind me as Freddy catches his balance and lunges at me. His fist catches me straight in the face, making my jaw turn.

"Oh crap—is that going to make singing hard?" he asks looking guilty as can be.

Water hits us and I dare to glance over at my shoulder. Malina has run over to the water fountain and is standing there, pushing the button with one hand and controlling the water with the other. She looks so focused, I think—which is a bad thing, because Emily and Ditto popping up next to her catches her completely off guard.

She lets out a cute little "EEP!" as the two grab her, hauling her away from the water fountain. "Justin! Help!" she calls, waving her arms in my direction.

"Never! Malina is ours!" Emily and her doppelganger say cheerfully before teleporting away with my partner.

"How's your jaw?" Freddy asks, still worried.

"My jaw is fine, I'm tough—but you really shouldn't ask," I admit, standing and looking around for Malina. This time the fist to my jaw is completely out of the blue, I think as I go flying back.

"That's good to know," Freddy says, grinning. He jumps into the air, flipping mid-jump and slamming his heel down at my head. This time I manage to block it, shoving him off balance. He falls to the ground, only to flip onto his feet again. I should have known he'd be light on his feet—I mean, the guy hangs by his fingertips all the time.

"I thought you didn't like to fight," I say, punching him. He blocks, returning it with a fist to my gut.

"I don't," he says. "I'm imagining that you're Shadowman. He's an exception." We start brawling, and 
I'm
 actually a bit concerned about my jaw soon enough. The more comfortable he gets with the idea of punching someone, the faster the hits come. And while he'll never be a heavy hitter, he's silent, accurate, and makes up for lack of force with rapid fire hits.

"They've totally forgotten about us," I hear Emily say behind us. "How rude. I just kidnapped your partner, you know!" she yells. Obviously that's directed at me.

"I should help him, shouldn't I?" I hear Malina say as I block another rapid-fire set of hits to the face.

"Nah, you're a hostage. Your job is to sit here and look pretty," Emily says—only to yelp. "Really? Wedgie?" she asks.

"I don't want to sit pretty!" Malina says, before shouting, "TSUNAMI ATTACK!" I barely catch sight of her before she jumps Freddy from behind, sending them both sprawling onto me. "Um… that didn't go how I imagined it," she says. I groan. Emily starts laughing her head off.

"TSUNAMI ATTACK!" I hear her shout. Another weight is added onto the pile on top of me.

A whistle shrieks. "Okay, okay, off the dog-pile," Falconess says, moving to where we can see her if we turn our heads. She looks at Malina as they crawl off of me. "Tsunami attack?" she says dryly.

"It sounded cool," Malina says, blushing brightly, "you know, in my head."

Emily's laughing so hard that tears are falling, now, I note idly. "I—" she says between breaths, "like it!"

"Well, um, I could yell something else?" Malina offers.

"How about 'duck'?" I offer dryly.

"That would ruin the whole point of it!" she says, looking highly offended at the idea. "I don't want them to duck, I'm tackling them!"

"Well, if you yell ANYTHING, people are going to know you're doing it," I have to tell her. I can hear my bandmates in the background, they're laughing even harder than Emily is.

"Okay, okay, work on catch phrases later," Falconess says, clapping her hands. "If your partner has a problem reaching their weapon of choice, what do you think you should do?" she asks, looking straight at me.

"I can't exactly stand over there and make the water fountain flow," I say darkly. "You saw how well that worked for Malina."

"But that's not the ONLY source of water here," Falconess points out. "Check the bathrooms, see if you can't get the sinks running. Either of you can do it—it depends on who draws the most attention, understand? What you did was correct, but I would suggest more stealth and speed when looking for water. Justin is loud and flashy, a perfect way to distract the other team, but you only have so much time," she says to Malina. "Thankfully, your small size will come in handy—people won't expect you to be dangerous, at least they won't the first time they run into you."

"If it's Max or one of the other boys, they'll make sure to fall for it every time," Emily agrees.

"Really," Falconess says skeptically.

"Definitely," I have to agree. "Jack, especially—he's actually really good at acting stupid."

"Fine. Now, let's start over—the surprise attack was good, but let's do this like a photo op. Emily, Freddy, you're villains this round, Justin, get your heroic pose on." She blows hard on the whistle. "And START!"

***

*Somewhere in Utah*

“The Hall is getting out of hand,” Senator Herold preaches through the speakers of her parent’s television. Rachel Proctor, future West Hall hero, ignores it, typing away on her computer. This is no time to freak out over yet another rant about supers and how they’re “dangerous to our children.” Something far more important is going on. Justin is going back on tour.

“Dad? Mom? Can I go over to Kirsten’s tomorrow night?” she calls over her shoulder.

“Is it that silly fanclub thing of yours?” her mom demands. “Don’t you have more important things to do than obsess over a pop singer? Like getting ready for your debut this weekend?”

“It isn’t silly! This is a seriously BIG thing! Bigger than a stupid debut! And I CAN’T do it this weekend!” she protests, getting to her feet. “Justin is finally coming back--I have a million and one things to do--”

“In other news,” the news lady says, cutting off the Senator entirely, “it’s been confirmed that the pop singer Justin is finally admitting that he's--”

“Please don’t say married,” Rachel says, crossing her fingers. How will she be able to write fanfiction of their marriage if he’s already married? Maybe if his wife dies off in a freak accident--

“A super,” the news lady finishes.

“He’s a WHAT?” Rachel yelps, only to hear the question echoed by her parents.

“There have been rumors, of course, since the incident at his last show, but we finally have confirmation from his new agent, Nathan Pao.”

An Asian man wearing a pair of glasses and a suit appears in the left hand upper corner of the screen. “Yes, it’s true, THE Justin is a super. We’re proud to announce that his new tour, Live Loud, is being brought to you by Hero TV, television for heroes. This isn’t to say we won’t be posting videos of behind the scenes on our Patreon account--”

The TV turns off before she can get the address. “What did you do that for?” she demands.

“Negatia isn’t going to be happy,” her mom says, completely ignoring Rachel’s outburst. “Do you think we should call her?”

“She should already know,” her dad says, looking grim. “He’s just given up his secret identity--right when the norms are starting to turn on us.” He runs a hand over his face. “What would Sonic say?”

“Sonic?” Rachel repeats blankly. “What does Sonic have to do with Justin?”

“Sonic was Justin’s father,” her dad says. “But none of this has anything to do with you--we finally got you a debut with Maximum, you need to seriously buckle down and train!”

“Maximum is STUPID!” Rachel yells childishly. “I want to debut with Justin! He’s a million times better--AND a super!”