Shadow Boy (9 page)

“You were planning on using me as bait, too,” I say as he starts to walk away. “You were going to throw me under the bus! At least if Nico uses me as bait, I’ll have backup!”

“But Herold will know EXACTLY what you can do—and that we’re related,” he says over his shoulder.

“I never asked for that relation,” I say.

“Too bad.” He’s gone before I can come up with a reply. My phone beeps and I let out a groan, realizing that I’m late for class. I don’t care, I decide as I head for my room. I didn’t do my homework, anyway.

***

Even if it’s supposed to be a more discreet restaurant, Picadillo’s has several people turn slightly to watch the two men walk past. The young woman leading them has a slight tremble in her hands as she motions them to a booth in the back. It’s somewhat separate from the rest of the diners, and Century notes that fact without even blinking. “Thank you, darlin’,” he says as he sits down and takes the menu.

“Picadillo’s is one of my favorite places for business lunches,” Herold says pleasantly as he makes himself comfortable. “It’s the perfect place to have a private conversation without it looking private.”

“I’m flattered,” Century says, his good ole boy act in full swing, “being brought to your favorite place. I take it you come here often?”

“Often enough,” Herold says, flipping through the menu briefly before putting it down. “Now tell me, Cen—ah, should I call your Charles?”

“Charles is fine,” Century says, staring at the menu as if actually looking for what to eat.

“Then tell me, Charles, how do you plan to stop me from running for president?”

“I’m going to blackmail you,” Century says. “I always feel a bit wary, getting Mexican this far from home—I’m pretty picky about my Mexican food.”

“I’m sure you’ll find it excellent,” Herold says. “And if you think threatening to tell the world I’m what you are, well, you can see how I can’t take that seriously. You in the game are so intent on secret identities that you won’t even tell who the villains are.”

“You really think that, do you?” Century says, closing the menu and looking up. “I will admit it’s true—for those that are playing by the rules. But you see, Senator, you’re not playing by our rules. And when you don’t play by our rules, there’s no reason why we should play by yours,” he says, leaning back in the booth and stretching his legs out. His knees bump against the bottom of the table. “You realize just how dangerous a position you’re in? If the norms find out that you—”

He stops as the waitress shows up, taking their drink order. He waits a bit impatiently until she’s gone. But before he can say anything, Herold speaks.

“You just exposed your secret identity to me,” Herold says. “It seems we’re in the same position.”

“Not particularly,” Century says. “You see, there are no rules against one of our kind owning a personal business. Nor do I have a family to threaten. Of all the Hall Leaders, I care least about whether or not my true identity comes out.”

“As an oil baron?”

“Technico redid my system not too long ago. I’m being heralded as an eco-lover, now. Tell me, Herold, what do you think would happen if I came out as who I am, on top of that?”

“Every super villain in the area will target your company to attack you,” Herold says. “You think so highly of Technico, but you forget—I’m one, too,” he says silently, leaning forward.

“Oh, I’m not forgetting,” Century says. “I’m just confident that you’re not as good as he is.”

The look of pure rage that crosses Herold’s face disappears quickly, but not so quickly that Century doesn’t notice it.

“You all think you’re so superior,” Herold says, his voice measured in a way that says he’s being very restrained. “This is why your type needs to be put in their place.”

“No, boy, this is why YOU need to be put in
your
place,” Century says, leaning forward slightly. “We know exactly what our role in society is. It’s you that’s blurring the lines.” He looks up as the waitress approaches, smiling as if he hadn’t just threatened the other man.

“Have you decided what you’d like to order?” she asks, smiling hesitantly at him.

“Well, I’m having a bit of trouble deciding,” Century says, his accent traveling ten degrees to the south. “Tell me, darlin’, what do you think is best here?”

“Oh, um, well I’m a huge fan of—”

Century’s left hand reaches out, touching Herold’s. The other hand drops on the table. A blue light shoots out from the hand, flowing through the room in all directions. The waitress goes perfectly still, her mouth still open to talk. The sounds of silverware clinking stops, the soft mumble of conversation stills. The world around them is completely stopped in time.

“A bit showy, don’t you think?” Herold asks, pulling his hand away. “Is this a threat?”

“No, son, this is a promise,” Century says, pulling his phone out of his pocket and propping it up on the table, "from the entire Hall.”

The other Hall leaders appear on the screen, each in their own square. “Hello, Senator, as always, it’s an experience,” Mastermental says.

“Do you really think a show of strength and a threatening phone call is heroic?” Herold asks with a little smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“This is just a friendly little reminder, Herold. We don’t want to start a war, now do we?” Isotonic says. “We want to offer a truce, supers to super.”

“A truce,” Herold says. “Is this bribery, then?”

“Of course not,” Century says. He has a glowing green syringe in his hand. When he pulled that out, Herold has no clue, but the sight of it sends a chill down his spine. “It’s just a little… negotiation period.”

“And that is?”

“A way for you to stop being a hypocrite,” Marigold says. “You can take the serum and become what you’ve been pretending to be, a norm. Your little war against us can go on, and we won’t be able to touch you again—at least not like we are now.”

“Or you can choose to stay a super and open yourself up to our laws,” Mastermental finishes. “I believe you’re young enough that it won’t kill you.”

“Is that how you finished off my mother?” Herold asks, his eyes glued to the serum.

“Why yes, yes it is,” Century says. “Courtesy of a woman that if we dig deep enough, has a tie with you.”

“Fascinating,” Herold says. “Shadowman, if you would—” A hand reaches out of the shadows beneath the table and he grabs it, pulled through. Century curses, hitting the shadow just as the portal closes.

“We just showed him our ace,” Negatia says. “You meant for that to happen, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did,” Mastermental says. “Now, we sit back and see how he plays it out.”

“I won’t lie, this stuff gives me the chills,” Century says, staring at the syringe with fascination.

“It won’t work on you without the power blocking gun shutting down your abilities first,” Mastermental says, waving it off. “Now clean up there and return to your base. He’s going to go after you, first, I think.”

“I know,” Century says. “I’ve got Nico working on it.” He stands, digging out a wad of cash and tossing it onto the table before walking away. Once outside he taps the building’s door and time jerks back into motion. He’s long gone by the time the waitress realizes the table she’d been serving is now empty.

***

As soon as I take a super quick shower and get dressed I head to the science lab where Nico works. I need to tell him about Shadowman’s visit, but I can’t say anything. He’s got holograms open so they surround him, and is moving so fast that he looks like a blur. It looks like he’s a conductor, running a symphony in fast-forward. There’s no sound, but each of the screens light up as he motions to them, flashing from red to green, only to go red again a second later.

This has to be a technopath war, I realize, watching in stunned awe. Another hologram appears, making me jump back as it takes my place. It flashes quickly and I see code crossing the screen. “Rocco,” Nico says, alerting me to the fact that he knows I’m here, “get Zoe.”

“Sure, boss,” I say, disappearing through the shadows. I appear behind Zoe a second later. “Your dad wants you,” I say as she glances up. I drag her through the shadows and back to his office. She blinks for a moment, and I can practically see her mind rushing.

“On it,” she says, heading into the mess of holograms. I watch, silently, as the two start working back to back. Soon the red lights are STAYING green. Whoever is on the attack is getting shut out, and fast.

“A false front?” Zoe asks, starting to laugh.

“Why not?” Nico says. “With you doing the shutting down, it gave me plenty of time.” They turn, bumping knuckles with matching evil grins. “He’ll figure it out soon, though, so don’t let your guard down.”

“On it,” Zoe says, her eyes going back to the holograms. “Does he know there are two of us?” she asks.

“No, and we’re going to keep it that way,” Nico says, watching his side of the holograms with a hint of amusement. “Thanks, Rocco,” he adds. “I appreciate your speed. You can go back to class, now.”

“Actually I can’t—I have something to tell you,” I say. “Herold knows about me, well, maybe.”

Nico looks over, raising an eyebrow. “Go on.”

“Shadowman appeared at the force field in the Shadowlands,” I say. “He says that Herold wants him to bring me to him. He’s got me coming out of the shadows on film thanks to the Anti-Super meeting. He thinks it might be Skye that did it, but he’s still after me.”

“Makes sense, so is Shadowman going to kidnap you?”

“That’s his father!” Zoe protests. “Shadowman might be evil, but even HE wouldn’t throw his own son under the bus!”

“Actually, after thinking about it, he said it might be a good way to make him look good,” I say dryly. “You know, bring me in, let you guys come in and save me. Especially when he found out I was going to debut.”

“And how did he find that out?” Nico asks.

“He caught me running around looking crispy,” I say.

“I see. Well… why not?” he says after a moment of thought. “I don’t trust Shadowman, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use him. Tell him that as soon as the debut is over, he can kidnap you. We’ll be looking forward to it.”

“What?” I ask.

“You can’t just toss Rocco under the bus, Dad!” Zoe says.

“Says the one that would have tested the shields on him a while back,” Nico drawls with amusement. “If Rocco doesn’t want to, we’ll bring Ace back and substitute.”

“What will we gain if I get kidnapped?” I ask. “Is it really worth it?”

“He’s just going to keep coming after you, don’t you think? Which would you rather have—a kidnapping we’re aware of and can turn to our advantage, or one we don’t see coming?” He focuses on the holograms, tapping on the air. Another screen turns yellow. “He’s starting to figure it out. Who wants to bet he throws a temper tantrum?” he asks, his grin downright wicked.

“Oh, I don’t think he will,” Zoe says, tapping away as well. “But we could put off the debut until after all this is over, if you don’t want dragged into it, Rocco,” she says, not even glancing at me. “You’ve already done plenty with stealing the watch from Marie.”

“I’ll… think about it,” I say, watching them work for a moment. “What shields?” I ask, abruptly.

“Hmm?” Zoe asks.

“What shields would you have tested on me?” I ask.

“Oh, we were going to see if you could get through the force field by shadow,” she says. “But we didn’t have a stun setting.”

“We still don’t have a stun setting,” Nico says.

“Oh,” I say. No, seriously, is everyone out to treat me like bait? I sigh. “You can’t,” I say, giving up before even arguing. “Get through, I mean—you can’t get through the force field, even in the Shadowlands. That means I don’t have to deal with any of the shadow dinos when I’m on campus—they all fried themselves when it went up, I think.”

“Good to know. Get to class, Rocco,” Nico says.

“Going now,” I reply, stepping through the shadows and heading for class.

***

“I almost had him,” Herold says, closing down the holograms and falling back in his chair. “I was almost there. But all of a sudden it was like he was just playing with me,” he admits, running a hand over his face. He hates to admit that Century is right—that Technico is better than he is. No, not just better—”better” is how he would (if he was honest) describe the first part. It’s when he got trapped in the false business front that Technico went from “better” to amazing. He’d actually believed he’d gotten through for a minute.

“Technico,” Shadowman says, lounging in the chair in front of his desk and playing on his phone.

“I realize that it’s Technico,” Herold says sharply. “I realize that they’re trying to throw me off guard, but it isn’t going to work.”

“Seems to me it already has,” Shadowman mutters.

“Once I have the presidency—”

“You don’t get it!” Shadowman says, getting to his feet. “The supers aren’t under U.S. law! They never have been, they never will be—they are ABOVE the law! That’s why when you wind up having a freaking LUNCH date with one of the Hall Leaders, you know you’re about to be gunned down!” He stares at Herold, his hands on the desk between them, his irritation finally shoving him over the edge. “You can’t beat them. Technico couldn’t beat them, and you just admitted he was a better technopath than you are. Face it, Herold, we’re well and truly screwed. They’ll take our powers and toss us into the Cape Cells, all because you got some wild hair to become president. Do you REALLY think they’ll allow a super to be the leader of the free world?”