Shadow Boy (8 page)

“So what?” I ask.

“What’s your name going to be?”

I open my mouth, about to admit I have no clue, when Cisco comes over and drops down on the other side of Carla. I stare at him. “Hey, Cisco! Did you hear? Rocco’s going to debut!” Carla says excitedly.

Cisco looks up at me, hesitantly. “Congratulations?” he offers.

“Yeah, thanks,” I say a bit gruffly. I feel relief when my number is called. It’s stupid—I even TOLD myself I would get to know the kid! I, of all people, know how tough it is being the odd man out, right? And didn’t I already decide I was the outgoing, friendly guy that liked everyone?

“Hey, Rocco!” Freddy says, making me look over. “Have you met the new girls yet?” He’s sitting at their table, I notice, and I wonder if they actually invited him to. “Come meet them!”

“In a second,” I say, holding up my number. “I gotta get food first.” I head to the kitchen, collecting my pancakes and hesitating as I step back out. One part of me is saying I should go talk with Cisco, the other—well, it’s not that surprising when I head for Freddy’s table, okay? “Hi,” I say to the three, grinning at them.

“This is Jennifer, Olivia, and Elidee,” Freddy says, pointing at each of them in time. I sit down in the empty chair, next to Elidee, and hold out my hand.

“Rocco,” I say as we shake. She’s cute—

No, she’s more than cute, I realize as she looks up with soul-stealing brown eyes. She’s beautiful—I’ve never seen a more gorgeous girl in my life—

“ELIDEE!” I hear Carla bellow from a distance. “Don’t you DARE!”

“Hi,” I say stupidly, not wanting to let go of the hand. “Do you have a boyfrie—” my chair goes sliding back through the room, with me still in it. It stops when it hits the wall. For a moment I just sit there, stunned. “What just happened?” I finally ask as everyone starts laughing their heads off.

“Rocco is off limits!” Carla says, glowering down at Elidee with her hands on her hips.

“He’s your boyfriend?” Elidee asks. “You should have—”

“N—noooo, but—but he’s off limits!” Carla says.

“Can I at least get my pancakes?” I ask a bit childishly as my stomach growls. “I’m starving.”

“Two girls fighting over you and you’re focused on the pancakes?” Max asks as he stops beside me. He shakes his head and waves a hand, using his powers to bring my tray to me. I grab it, but stand and head back to the table to grab the syrup and coffee. Elidee and Carla turn to look at me in shock.

“I’m guessing… pheromones?” I say, looking over at Freddy.

“Yep, she’s Prisma’s daughter.”

“I’ll remember that,” I say. “Nice to officially meet you, Elidee, Olivia, Jennifer,” I add, moving my tray to one hand and grabbing Carla’s arm. “Don’t fight with your friends, Carla,” I say.

“She tried to manipulate you!” Carla complains as I pull her along with me. “That’s dirty!”

“So is traveling by shadow,” I say, sighing as I drop down at the table Cisco’s sitting at. “Some of us come with shifty powers, Carla. It’s how you use them that make the difference,” I add, remembering the conversation with Zoe with a little smile.

“Trying to steal—” Carla stops, blushing slightly but still obviously pouting. “To steal—um—people’s attention is NOT right!” Then she stops, looking at me, “Unless you actually LIKED her, that is…”

“Nah, don’t know her,” I say, shrugging. “And it seems to me that you’re overreacting. How many guys has she tried that one since she came?” I ask Cisco.

“As far as I can tell, half of them? I think she sort of slips up a lot,” he offers. “But I haven’t been here that long.”

“Did you get angry over all of them?” I ask Carla curiously.

“I—it—well, it was sort of funny when she did it to Justin,” she admits, a little grin pulling at her lips. “You should have SEEN how mad Malina got! The pool started shape-shifting and everything!”

“Has she tried it on Max?” I ask, eagerly. “That will be one heck of a show!”

“No, but we should talk her into it!” she says, practically bouncing in her chair. “Oh, but that would probably get her cell phone destroyed,” she admits after a second. “I wouldn’t want to make Zoe mad—I bet it’s scary.”

“It is,” I say, nodding, “It’s pretty terrifying. But she could do it to Ward!” I suggest.

“Yeah, but… well, nobody would save him,” Carla says a bit guiltily. “I mean, he’s my brother and I love him, but—”

“That’s so mean,” I say, cracking up.

“Ward’s a pain in the butt!” Carla replies. “And ever since he left, Mega’s been calling and asking for him, but Ward made us SWEAR to not tell him his phone number! So WE have to deal with the Mega calls!”

“Poor Carla,” I say, reaching over and giving her a one-armed hug by habit—and then going still. “Er, yeah,” I say, pulling away. “So what about Lance? He’s back, too,” I say, looking around for my animal shifter pal. “Actually, where is he? And Piper?”

“Lance is doing homework, Piper’s sleeping,” Carla says. “You all have a TON of catching up to do.”

“Oh. Crap,” I say, realizing abruptly that I’m in the same boat. I start eating as fast as I can.

“Did you see my dad?” I look up at Cisco’s question, realizing that I’d forgotten all about Carla’s promise.

“Sorry, Cisco, we didn’t get down South—we wound up running into Shadowman a lot faster than I thought we would,” Carla admits. “But we can call him! You can borrow my phone, okay?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Thanks.” I feel a little irritable, I think, quickly shoving it down. Maybe yesterday was tougher on me than I thought—

“What, exactly, is going on here?” I hear a familiar voice say from the door. I glance up, breaking into a grin as Vinny steps in.

“VINNY!” practically the entire cafeteria shouts excitedly. Carla’s gone with a whoosh, and I watch with amusement as she tackles him. That relationship doesn’t bother me in the least, a little voice whispers. So why does Cisco and her—

Nope, not going to dwell on it, I think as I get to my feet, clasping arms with Kaden and bumping chests. “Did you get bigger, man?” I demand as he grins down at me.

“A little,” he says modestly.

“Carla, you can get off,” I hear Vinny drawl.

“I didn’t miss you at ALL,” she declares proudly. “So why are you back?”

“Nico called me,” Vinny says, getting to his feet. “I’ve got a debut to plan out, right?” he adds, looking at me. “Unless you’ve picked someone else—”

“No way, if I’m debuting, you’re doing it,” I say.

“Have you picked your Hall yet?” he asks.

“As far as I can tell, I’m staying Cape High,” I admit, a bit confused, myself. “Nico offered me a dirty jobs sort of position, and it makes sense. Besides, I don’t have the best rep with some of the other leaders.”

“Officially you’d be a Central villain,” Max offers, walking over. “We’re a bit more lax on what Hall we work for on our side. Besides, all of the Cape High kids could change Halls at any moment—Zoe says Vinny’s probably going to wind up South, sooner or later.”

“That’s not been decided yet,” Vinny says with a shrug. “But I’m not as adverse to it as I used to be.” He looks at me again, raising an eyebrow. “So… you don’t mind if I see what they’ve done to my kitchen first, do you?”

“Nope, not at all—they make decent pancakes, though, so don’t be too harsh on them?” I add as he heads for the kitchen like a man on a mission. “Man am I glad I ate first,” I add as I watch. There’s the sound of pots clanking and Vinny talking very quietly to the group. Vinny never yells—I think that takes too much energy, or something. Vinny’s probably the most laid-back guy I know, but still, this is HIS kitchen. Everyone knows it.

“Well, there goes our ordering what we want for breakfast,” Carla says, holding my cup of coffee—oh crap, I think, grabbing for the cup. She gives me the most evil grin I’ve ever seen and disappears, reappearing across the room. “Oh wait, this is—hey, everybody! I GOT COFFEE!” she exclaims happily before taking a drink.

“ROCCO!” the entire room bellows at me as she tears around the room excitedly.

“Well, then,” I say, turning and heading for the door. “I have training to get ready for. Sorry to dine and dash, guys, but—” I race through the nearest shadow, positive that I don’t want to be held responsible for this one.

That I’m laughing my head off is something only the shadow dinos and I need know.

“Now,” Nico says as Vinny and I stand in the middle of the Apocalypse Field. The Apocalypse Field has a much more technical name, but nobody except maybe Nico and Zoe remembers it. We renamed it when Nico started dressing the robots up in rags and red paint, telling us we’re doing a zombie run. I really think the guy watches too many late late night horror movies or something—the cheesy ones in black and white, I bet. Either way, it also acts as a sparring field for the big names. I never thought I’d have to use it that way, though. “Since it seems to be Rocco’s fault that Carla’s still in Mach 3 mode—”

We all turn, watching as the blur races sideways over the wall of the canyon. “She’s literally bouncing off the walls,” Zoe says, sounding fascinated.

“She ran over the pool, earlier,” Max informs her.

“We recorded it, right?” Zoe asks excitedly.

“Of course we did,” Nico says. “That doesn’t change the stupidity of ordering coffee and not keeping your hand on it at all times,” he goes on, giving me a pointed look. “Rocco, you’re on dish washing duty today,” he tells me.

“I have a legitimate excuse, though!” I protest. “Elidee brainwashed me.”

“That might be true, but you’re about to become a working villain. You really should get used to unfair circumstances.”

“It was an involuntary reaction!” I hear Elidee protest from the group. “He’s cute.”

I feel a bit of heat creeping up the back of my neck, but I don’t dare look over. “Okay, clean up duty, that’s fine,” I say. “Tony’s a great guy, it shouldn’t be that bad,” I add, glancing at Vinny. He smiles slightly but doesn’t say anything. His dad, Tony, is the janitor of Cape High—a norm that was in prison for stealing cars before this. He’s become one of the unofficial parent figures for the zoo kids in the past few months. I don’t know how well he and Vinny get along, though. That one’s a bit more complicated.

“Now, let’s go over the rules. This fight will be a bit different, Vinny. We want to show off Rocco’s special abilities at least three times in the fight: once when he shows up, as many times as he can pull off during the fight, and finally, the escape. Did you give him some of your new super grade boxers?” he asks.

“He did,” I volunteer. The last thing I want is to wind up bare-butted in a fight in front of the school.

“Now, in theory you should recover from burns quickly enough that it’s just an irritation,” Nico says to me. “We’ll find out if I’m right.” He steps back and claps his hands. “Nothing higher than ten feet off the ground, no fireballs, at least for now, and remember to make it showy, but don’t destroy anything. I’ve already got a gig lined up this weekend, so get used to each other fast, boys.”

“What? This weekend?” Vinny demands.

“Century offered up a few places in his territory,” Nico says cheerfully. “I asked if we could use his oil refinery, but for some reason he wasn’t feeling THAT generous,” he adds evilly, looking pointedly at Vinny. The place would go up in flames. “He did mention an attempted theft of the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue, to try and prompt the opening of a museum—”

“Who?” I ask blankly.

“I can disown him for that, can’t I?” Justin asks Malina. “That’s definitely a disowning offense.” I glance over and see her pat his arm in a consoling manner.

“No, but you can yell at him later?” she offers.

“But I doubt it’d work that way,” Nico finishes, ignoring that little conversation. “So we’re going to hit up the Villainy Artifacts Museum. You’re going to try and steal a few of the old school relics from villains gone by,” he tells me. “Most of them are wrecked beyond repair thanks to the heroes, so it’s no big deal if we mess them up more. But hey, it’s still an interesting place for a field trip—”

“I WANT TO GO!” Carla shouts, stopping long enough to grab onto Nico’s shirt. “Can I? Can I?”

“I’m not sure we can trust you around that many old bombs,” he tells her, not even blinking at the “Carla-outta-nowhere” attack. She gives him a sheepish grin and lets go. “Already over the caffeine rush?” Nico asks.

“I only took a sip! It tasted funny,” she says, giving me a look as it was all my fault that MY coffee tasted funny to HER.

“Fine, next time you order coffee and leave it where she can get it, make sure it doesn’t taste funny,” Nico tells me.

“But she shouldn’t be drinking coffee in the first place!” I protest.

“I agree with Rocco,” Vinny says. “Now, can we get to work?”

I take a step back as he holds out his hands in his typical “lighting up” pose, and sink into the shadows. Sure I’m going to find out if I’m fire proof here, but there’s no reason to start out that way. I take two steps forward and jump through a portal, appearing behind Vinny and shoving him hard. Before he can turn back, I step back again, slipping into the Shadowlands.

Okay, so this isn’t the way a hero would fight. I guess Nico was right to make me a villain. I don’t have to admit—

The portals are disappearing, I notice as the one in front of me closes. I dive for the next one, slipping out onto the field again. A flaming fist slams into my face, sending me flying backwards. I hit the ground, catching my balance quickly before racing forward. I jump, slamming into him in a full-out tackle, even though he’s on fire. My clothes catch on fire, but it only feels unpleasant, so I ignore it, slamming a fist into his face.

For a moment we brawl, trading blows. My clothes are flaming, but I just shrug them off as it gets to be annoying. Soon I’m standing in boxers (thank GOD we wear the same size—I’d hate to have them tear,) and I hear the crowd cheering.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Max shouts, making us stop. “This isn’t NEARLY entertaining enough!” he says, taking to the air just so he can look down on us. Napoleon complex, I swear. “There needs to be some sort of chemistry between the two of you—”

“I like girls,” I say before he can go on. “Although I guess Vinny’s kind of—”

“For the love of God, please don’t finish that sentence,” Vinny says dryly. “I’d rather NOT know what you think I am.”

“Not that kind of chemistry,” Max says. “Look at me and Trent—there’s an ongoing argument there. We clearly want to piss each other off. You two are acting like this is just doing your duty! How will you ever get a fan club if you do it like that?”

“We’re not out to get a fan club—” Vinny starts out.

“Actually he’s right,” Nico says. “Getting the norms’ attention is a big part of this job. They need to either love you, or hate you. And Rocco, you’re in the perfect position to get plenty of attention… try to give Vinny a hard time.”

I look at Vinny. I look at Nico. “You do KNOW him, don’t you?” I ask after a long moment. “Getting Vinny angry is impossible.”

“Then throw him off guard,” Nico says. “Vinny, can you go along with that?”

“Yeah, sure,” Vinny says with a shrug.

“I’m not really the mic type, though,” I say, looking at Max. He’s the KING of mic drops. “So it’s not like—”

“Max, loan him your mic, we’ll see if he’s right,” Nico says. The ever-present gold mic drops and I grab it automatically. “Now! From the beginning—and since you’re stealing a super villain’s weapon… Zoe, go get me something shiny, would you?”

“I’ve got the ghost trapper I made last week!” Zoe says.

“That’ll do perfectly. We’ll call it a torture chamber.”

“But what do I need with a torture chamber?” I ask blankly.

Everyone stares at me. Was it something I said?

***

“Senator Herold, your one o’clock lunch appointment is here,” Herold’s secretary says. “You have a table at Picadillo’s booked for one fifteen.”

“Thank you,” Herold says, standing and reaching for his coat. He glances up, pasting on a smile at the tall Texan steps through the door. The smile slips, though, as he sees Charles Benton in person for the first time.

“Senator Herold,” Century says, holding out a hand and daring him to take it. “I have to say just how
pleased
I am that you could fit me into your schedule.”

“I can’t say how honored I am that you’ve decided to support me,” Herold says, his smile snapping right back into place. “I’ve seen good things about how you’ve been redeveloping your refinery.”

“I brought in a consultant a bit back,” Century says. “But I can tell you all about that over lunch, I’d say.”

“I can almost guess who you brought in,” Herold says casually as they head out.

“Hope you don’t mind using my driver,” Century says, as if they’re old friends. “I’m paying an arm and a leg to keep them for the week, I figure I might as well get my money’s worth.”

“No, not at all,” Herold lies.

“I thought you might say that,” Century replies, nodding to the secretary as they walk past and out the door. The limo on the curb is a Hummer type, and has bull horns tied to the grill. “So I went ALLLLLL out,” Century finishes with an evil grin. “I thought I’d bring some southern comfort with me—I hope you’re not allergic to cow hide.”

“Tell me,” Herold says silently as he poses and smiles for a camera in the crowd, “are you planning on killing me in the car?”

“And ruin a perfectly good cow hide interior?” Century asks. “No sir, that would be a sin against nature. We’re going out to lunch, where we’ll pretend to be nice and friendly for the on-watchers.” He slides into the car as a black suited man opens it for him, and waits as Herold follows.

“Something tells me you’re not really willing to be one of my financial backers,” Herold says after the door closes. He leans back in the chair across from Century, watching the man with an unreadable expression. “You’ve made your feelings quite clear when we ran into one another before now.”

“I don’t like you, I won’t lie,” Century agrees, crossing his legs so his right ankle rests on his left knee. He’s wearing jeans. Herold’s eyes go down, taking in the ornate cowboy boots.

“You’re really pushing the redneck look, aren’t you?” he says.

“I find it makes people underestimate me. And these are thousand dollar boots, son. It's called
Cowboy Chic
.” There's a little grin pulling at his lips when he says that.

“You’re not paying anything for this driver, are you?” Herold says, looking around the limo.

“It was a pretty penny to get it brought all the way here,” Century says. “Now you and me are going to have a nice little chat, Herold. And when that chat is over, you’re going to withdraw from the presidency run.”

“That’s an interesting theory,” Herold says. “But by all means, let’s have that chat.”

***

I’m sore. The rest of the group is clapping, but all I can think of is relaxing in a bath, or something. We’ve been fighting for over an hour—and no matter what I tried, nothing seemed to phase Vinny. Not really. You can tell because there’s this second of thought before he reacts. Vinny isn’t the greatest of actors, but then again, neither am I.

“Okay, we’ll call that done for the day. Everyone get to class—Vinny, Rocco, go grab a shower before going. And some pants,” he adds with a pointed look at me. “We’ll get you suited up in a semi-fireproof uniform before this weekend.”

“Yeah, thanks,” I say, rubbing a particularly painful bruise. I’m healing up already, thankfully, but I swear that Vinny hits the same spot every other punch. He’s got to be doing it on purpose. I head for the nearest shadow, stepping through. It’s just a few more steps before I can crawl into a hot shower and—

“Rocco.”

I go still. There’s no way that Shadowman can be on this side of the force field. But I’m not surprised that I can hear him through it, I think reluctantly. “Get over here, kid, we need to talk.”

“I’m going to be late for class,” I say as I head for the force field. Sure enough he’s standing on the other side. Down here you can see through it. “Is there something Nico needs to know?”

“There’s something YOU need to know,” Shadowman says. “You were caught coming out of a shadow—Herold has it on video. He doesn’t know if it was Skye that did it or you, but either way, he wants me to ‘fetch you’ for him.”

“Oh, so you’re going to kidnap your own kid to keep on his good side?” I drawl. “Why am I not surprised?”

“It’s worth thinking about,” he says, his expression turning thoughtful. “I could drag you in and make it look like I’m faithful, and then you can escape when he’s not looking—or better yet, have someone come in and ‘rescue’ you. I really should have done that instead of taking all this time to warn you,” he goes on. I glare at him. “Why are you naked, anyway?” he asks. “You have some extremely strange hobbies in that school?”

“I was sparring with a fire type,” I say, shoving down embarrassment. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to debut,” I say.

“What? You can’t do that!” he says, sounding honestly shocked. “The LAST thing you want to do right now is debut! It’ll just get Herold MORE interested!”

“I’m going to be an official Hall villain—not one like you,” I say, scowling at him. “That means I debut and the world knows about me.”

“It means Technico is using you as bait,” Shadowman snarls. He steps forward, reaching for me only to curse as the lasers hit his hand. I watch his skin heal, but it did some definite damage. He stares at it for a moment before glaring at me. “This isn’t the end of this conversation, boy,” he says, "just a strategic retreat.”