Life Light (19 page)

“Nah, she’s actually come in handy,” Vinny says, “she pimped out the RV we got from the Hall just so we could play video games. Now it goes from zero to two hundred in fifteen seconds flat.”

“An RV,” Jack says.

“How exactly did you find that out?” Nico asks.

“We should get back to our missions, don’t you think?” Vinny says quickly. “Vinny out.”

His image disappears from the wall as the rest of the school starts to laugh. Even I can’t help but smile. It’s far too easy to picture.

“If you have any questions or concerns, call in,” Nico says. “I’m putting Aubrey and Alyssa on the phones again, they can answer any questions or call me if needed. Watch each others’ backs. Leaders, I expect more out of you than the others, can you do it?”

“Absolutely,” Emily says.

“I’m going to hold you to that. Nico out.” The images disappear, leaving the room oddly empty. He turns and looks at us. “You two know your job?”

“Yeah,” I say. “But--I just feel so useless up here,” I add honestly. “I wish I could--”

“We’ve been through this,” Nico says. “You'll talk with the healers when we find them, just like you did with Bob. If he's any indicator, they're going to be looking for you. We need you in one place so everyone can get a hold of you when they need to.”

I nod, giving up. “Go on,” I tell him. “You’ve got contacts to talk to and tours to schedule, right?”

“Yeah. After I'm finished, I'll set up a more comfortable room for you to work out of.” He heads out, leaving Alyssa and me standing here, with nothing to do until someone calls us. Well... Not exactly nothing, I realize as I look around. The room is a lot like Nico’s room back home. Somehow in the short amount of time since he’s gotten it, more and more toys have appeared.

“This place is like a video arcade from the future,” Alyssa says as she looks around. “I--I hate to ask this, but can I call my parents?”

“Why do you hate to ask it?” I ask.

“Because I’ll have to explain what happened at that school.”

“Oh.” I look around and shrug, pulling out my own phone and offering it to her. “This should work best, actually.”

She stares at the phone, rather than typing in the number. “What do we do about him?” she asks me abruptly. “Him and his friends--they’re going to keep looking for someone to take my place. How do we stop them?”

“They’ll have to deal with the cops watching them, now,” I say. “They aren’t going to get very far.”

“I hope not,” she says. She finally starts dialing and I walk away, giving her privacy to talk to her parents.

“Aubrey,” I hear someone say quietly from the door. I glance up, a bit surprised to see Grandpa Superior standing there, motioning for me. I walk over, looking at him curiously.

“What?” I ask.

“Do you want to take care of her problem?”

“I’d love to,” I admit, glancing over my shoulder at the worried looking teen. “But I’m not sure how, exactly.”

“I am. Put your goggles on.” He scoops me up before I can reply and races out of the mountain. “We have to move fast, otherwise my wife or son will catch us,” he admits as he takes to the air and races away at top speed. I have to turn and hide my face in his neck just so I can breathe, he’s going so fast. I get the feeling whatever we’re about to do could get us both in a lot of trouble.

I look forward to it. Trouble or not, at least I’ll be fixing ONE problem.

***

“Your father has just run off with our Aubrey,” Tatiana says as she walks past Nico.

“He did,” Nico agrees.

“He is so very nosy,” she says with a laugh.

“Let’s just hope they don’t get caught,” Nico says. “Had he asked, I would have loaned him the teleporter watch.”

“Oh, let him do it his way, he will be secretly proud of himself for months.”

***

"If I'm just here to see an empty room, I think I'm done," Shadowman says, scowling slightly as he looks around. It's an abandoned building, as far as he can tell. There are doors hanging off the hinges and broken windows everywhere he turns. It isn't exactly the cozy little house with "motherly" things he'd unconsciously expected. Of course, those expectations are stupid, and he knows it, but still—what sort of person claims the title "Mother" and hires mercenary super villains like himself?

Wait, never mind, that question pretty much answers itself.

"It's not empty, my child," a smooth voice says. He turns, raising an eyebrow as he opens his mouth. He's about to tell her that there's no chance he's her "child." He's not been a child for over some eighty years.

Instead of getting it out, though, he finds himself stopping entirely, his mind scrambling as he looks into the most beautiful eyes he's ever seen. He forgets who he is, forgets what he came for.

"Mother," he breathes out.

***

"So we're looking for Melissa's—"

"Alyssa," I correct Grandpa. We're no longer going so fast. I wound up pulling the hood of my snowsuit up on top of the mask, and it still hadn't done me much good. I'm actually grateful for the fact that I don't have to fly in my super job. I never thought I'd feel that way before. "Her name is Alyssa. We're looking for her brother and his friends. There's a chance they'll be at their homes, grounded because of the whole police thing, so let's start at Alyssa's house." I look around.

"I see a teenage boy sneaking out of the back of his house, should we check that?" Grandpa asks.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," I admit. I knew the area, because we'd actually come here to grab her things for the trip to the Arctic Circle, but all of these houses look alike. I hang on as Grandpa flies over to the house where the teenager is. He lands on a roof a few houses away, and we watch as the boy races through his backyard, jumping the fence.

"Is that him?" Grandpa asks.

"Yeah," I admit. "Let's follow him?"

He takes off, heading up into the sky far enough that most won't notice. His white uniform sticks out, not that I can exactly complain right now. I don't want to be dropped. We see Rylon head into a basketball court, looking pretty nervous. It's almost like he realizes he's being followed.

I wonder…

"What took so long?" another guy asks, stepping out of the shadows.

"Dad was on a rampage," Rylon mutters. "He threatened to kick me out of the house."

Two more teens head into the basketball court, their faces hidden in the hoods of their hoodies. "Did he?" the first guy asks.

"Not yet."

"Too bad."

"What?" Rylon asks, his expression changing. I see a hint of fear cross his face as the others surround him. "Michael, I tried—"

"You know, Rylon, you're a lousy football player," Michael says, stepping back. "The only reason we let you play was because of your sister. But now that you don't even have her, well—we're getting to Nationals the old fashioned way."

"Wait—I don't—I didn't—"

"It's nothing personal. We're just getting rid of the dead weight," Michael says. He motions the others forward. I see them hesitate for only a brief second, glancing at one another before starting forward.

"Do we stop them?" Grandpa asks me silently. "From what I've heard, he could easily deserve this."

"We stop them," I say, jumping out of his arms and landing in the basketball court. It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be, I think with surprise. We were pretty far up there, too. I guess I AM tougher than I thought. "Stop right where you are," I say, moving in front of Rylon.

"Who—" one of the three asks.

"GET HER!" Michael bellows.

"But she's a girl," one says as the other two race forward. I… have never been in a fight in my life, I realize abruptly. Instead of hitting them, I shove them away. I'm not quite as surprised as they go flying backwards. They don't go very far, though, and they jump to their feet quickly, digging small metal objects out of their pockets.

"This isn't your fight," Rylon snaps at me. "Go away!" I ignore him, watching as they pull the metal things over their fingers. Brass knuckles, I realize. I barely even notice how Rylon moves so he's between them and me. "You don't want to do this, guys—she knows Cold Steel—"

"That isn't how you use those," I hear Grandpa say from above. I don't think they hear him, because none of them glance up. "If they try to hit you like that, they'll break their own knuckles. Do you want me to interfere, Aubrey?"

"No!" I say quickly. "Stay out of this, Grandpa—they're norms, I can handle it." I hold out my arms with my palms toward them, turning as the three boys start circling me. It's hard to keep an eye on all of them at once, and they know that. Rylon turns so we're back to back, watching them as well. They come at us, fists swinging. Instinctively I bring up my arms, blocking my face. I notice one of them is focusing on Rylon—

I can see what's going on in my mind. I see Rylon's organs getting crushed, various blood vessels are popping, there are tears and ruptures to his internal parts, all caused by the hitting. I'm not happy with him, but I HATE seeing people get hurt like that. It gets worse, though. The damage is happening on both sides. Grandpa was right about the brass knuckles. They're really messing up their hands by punching us. I wince as I hear a tiny crack from one of the fists hitting me. Remember the story about Ace and the guy that punched him? I'm afraid that the same thing is happening to these guys when they punch me. The only reason they're still hitting is because their adrenaline is covering the pain.

I can't stand this. Every instinct I have is screaming that I have to stop them. And it has to be in a way that looks dramatic, and keeps them from going after other healers. The next cape they run into might not be so empathetic.

Time to get my acting on.

"This is pathetic," I say, grabbing the nearest one by the shirt and lifting him off the ground. He might be a foot taller than me, but he's light. "It's like being hit by babies. You think you're some sort of great football player? The big man on campus? You're wrong. You aren't men, you're abusive little brats," I tell him. "You used my Alyssa," I say, bringing him closer so I'm looking him straight in the face. "You HURT my Alyssa," I say. I don't glance over as the others turn to watch me in shock. Instead, I twist, throwing him into Michael, just hard enough to send them both tumbling to the ground. I grab the second one, looking around for a moment before throwing him at a pile of trash twenty feet away. He lands in the rubbish, looking stunned.

"I am not a violent woman," I tell them. I think I can heal them and scare them at the same time—I hope this works, at least. I just need to focus… I hope. The last one takes a weak swing at me, so I grab his wrist and push his arm down. He takes a step back. "I don't like confrontation. I don't want to hurt anyone—I was built to HEAL, not to hurt, but NO ONE TOUCHES MY HEALERS!" I bellow at the top of my lungs.

A small burst of light comes from my body and the teens are floored. I'm floating, I realize as I look down at them. Even Rylon is pinned to the ground. I did it! I actually created a healing wave! Inside I'm squealing with delight, but I hide it. They have no idea what happened by the looks of terror on their faces. They think it was an attack, or something. That's exactly what I wanted. They don't deserve to be healed like this, I know, but I cannot, and WILL NOT change my nature because of a bunch of bullies.

"You went after my healers," I say, looking down at them, "you even went after one of their family members. Do you really think I'll let you get away with that?"

Michael gulps, his mouth opening. "SILENCE!" I snap. "You will listen, and you will obey, or I will come back," I tell him. "You want to win Nationals? Do it the proper way! Through practice and hard work! If you ask me, you're undeserving of any of the wins you've had before this! And YOU!" I say, turning my wrath on Rylon. "You abuse your own sister! Well guess what, Rylon," I say, dropping to the ground and walking over to him. I grab his shirt, hauling him off the ground and touching his face. "You've got the same genes as she does—your healing abilities are just dormant."

"I'm not—"

"If you think she's a freak, here's a big surprise," I tell him, "you're one, too. How about I activate those dormant genes, Rylon?" I ask evilly, looking him straight in the eyes. "Then you can help your 'friends' out just like Alyssa did. You can be the one that takes all their pain. You can be the one they abuse for their precious football games. And when you try to fight back, you can come running to me for help. By then I might have forgiven you," I say.

"Who are you?" he whispers.

"I am Life Light," I say. "I'm the head of the healers, the foster daughter of Firefly," I say coldly. "Most importantly, I am NOT someone you want to make mad." He swallows loudly and nods. "Now all of you, go home!" I say, dropping to the ground and placing my hands on my hips.

"Are we done here?" Grandpa asks, landing behind me. The teens, who were already freaking out silently, race away at top speed when they get a glimpse of him. Even the kid in the trash pile climbs out and runs. Only Rylon is still here. It looks like he's about to have a heart attack.