Super Villain Grandpa (Cape High Series Book 15) (8 page)

“There’s nothing wrong with dressing how you like!” I declare.

“Mmmhmm, but if you ever dress like your grandma did I’ll have to ground you,” he says.

I glare at him. “You MARRIED her when she dressed like that.”

“Which is why I understand just how powerful it is!” he teases me. His hand comes up, messing up my hair. “Just make sure people can focus more on your actions and abilities than whatever you wear, sweetheart. High heels look good but it takes a lot of practice before you can fight crime properly in them, or so your Grandma told me. I never tried it.”

“Heels or fighting crime?”

“Either.” He looks up and grabs my arm, pulling me into a shadow, his attention on the sky. I look up, watching as a purple and orange clad superhero flies overhead. We stay there, hidden in the shadows long after he’s gone past. “Voltdrain,” he says, “a very dangerous man to have as an enemy.”

“His daughter goes to school with me,” I say. “I think her name is Jimmi. I’ve never actually talked to her.” Then again, I’ve never actually talked to most of the people at school. I can’t admit that to Grandpa—he’ll realize how unpopular I am.

“Does she have his powers?” he asks, still watching the sky.

“Part of them? I don’t know if she can fly. I think she’s dating Vinny, or at least she’s trying to. I like Vinny’s dad, Tony. He’s our janitor!” I say, thinking of one of the friends I DO have. “He’s a norm, but he’s really smart and nice.”

“Yeah? Do you like that Vinny guy, too?” he asks as we slowly step out into the light again.

“Vinny’s weird,” I say. “I mean, he’s got the ability to light up like a torch, right? But for the most part he’s always reading cooking magazines. He cooks for the dorms—they’ve brought in black suits to do it for him a couple of times, but I think he WANTS to do the cooking. He’s already a working hero and everything, too. It’s stupid, right?”

“Stupid to want to do something outside of being a cape?” Grandpa asks. “Do you really think that?”

“Well… being a super takes a lot of time and effort, right? Shouldn’t you… I don’t know, relax? Cooking for so many people has got to be a lot of hard work, right?”

“Not if you love it,” he says. “Well, no, it’d still be hard work, but if he likes to do it, maybe he’s willing to put the hard work in. I used to mess around with machines all the time when I wasn’t working. I was an inventor.”

“Yeah, but inventing is, like, a big part of being a super villain, right?”

“I wasn’t inventing machines of destruction,” he says, “I was inventing useful things. That boat we sunk? It was supposed to be all-terrain. The military was working on them at the time, too, but I wanted to make my own. I lived on a tiny series of islands that I converted into secret bases. I wanted an easy way to get from one to the other—”

“But you could fly,” I have to point out.

“Sure I could, and so could Angela, but our daughter couldn’t,” he says. “She wouldn’t be able to fly until she was older than you. I had plans,” he says softly. “We were going to have so many kids that we couldn’t carry all of them to the next island.”

“Then… then… you knew you were a dad?” I ask, stunned.

“I knew I was a dad,” he says.

“And you STILL did something to get thrown into the Cape Cells?” I yell. “You—you! You could have had a family! You could have been there when I was born! You could have—you could have—” I take a deep, shuddering breath, wiping angrily at the tears that are falling. “You’re a terrible grandpa!” I declare, storming away. He’s going to follow me, right?

I dare to glance over my shoulder and see him sitting next to the building, his hand on his face. He’s not going to follow me, is he?

Hmph.

***

Ten minutes. I’ve been pouting, waiting for him to come after me for TEN WHOLE MINUTES and he hasn’t budged. Okay, now I’m mad. Well, I was mad earlier, but now I’m really mad! I storm back, standing over him with my hands on my hips. When he doesn’t even look up I glare at him before sitting down next to him. “I’m not happy with you,” I say.

“Everything,” he whispers. “Everything that could have been—”

“You’re a super,” I say, moving so I’m in his face. “You have lots of time ahead of you! Giving up isn’t going to get anything accomplished, but you have TIME. Grandma’s still single—well, I guess technically she isn’t, but she doesn’t have a boyfriend or anything, not that I know about! Maybe—maybe if you can avoid getting captured you can… I don’t know, get back together? You still love her, right?”

“It’s been half a lifetime,” he says.

“True love lasts forever!” I declare. It startles a laugh out of him. To my surprise he pulls me into a hug, burying his face in my neck. “Hey! I’m mad at you right now!” I say, shoving half-heartedly at him before sighing and hugging him back. “You were supposed to chase after me,” I complain, hating the pout in my voice. “You’re the one that says we only have a couple of days! Stupid arguments need to be wrapped up quickly!”

“You’re right,” he says. “I made a very stupid mistake all those years ago. Will you forgive me?”

“I suppose,” I say, grudgingly. “If I
have
to.”

“I’m afraid your Grandma won’t be so willing,” he says, sighing heavily. “Do you still want to go to the theme park? It’s winter—are we even sure they’re open?”

“If we can’t run off to Antarctica, why not? And the Hall theme parks are open year-round,” I say, pulling back. “But we need to get a move on it, otherwise we’ll be sleeping in the parking lot.”

“Antarctica is too cold for a little chicklet like you, sweetheart,” he says with a little grin. “You’d freeze to death before you came into your wings.”

“We’ll build an igloo,” I decide.

“You need to finish your schooling and stay with your friends.”

“I don’t—I don’t have any friends and mom is always working,” I say. “Even Grandma practically ignored me when I showed up on the island. Nobody will miss me. Actually, I—I got suspended for punching a girl, so they’ll probably be happy when I don’t come back, and—and—” I take a deep breath, looking away from him. I shouldn’t have said that.

“And?” he prompts.

“Nico… um… he said he would call me once a day and he might…” I feel like an idiot. I mean, even I know he’d be forcing people to talk to me. Well, maybe other than Aubrey, which doesn’t even make sense, because I was the one that had a crush on HER boyfriend—

“He might what?” Grandpa asks.

“He might, um, have some of the other students talk to me,” I say, looking down. “But it’s not like anyone will really want to—except maybe Aubrey, but Aubrey’s way too nice for her own good,” I declare. “I mean, I have—well, had, anyway, a crush on her boyfriend—”

“Did you want to talk to them?” he asks.

I hesitate before saying, “Who needs them? I’m perfectly fine on my own!”

He smiles slightly, pushing some of my hair behind my ear. “You and I are quite the pair, aren’t we?” he says with a hint of amusement. “Come on, let’s get going.”

“To the amusement park?” I ask, getting up.

“Sure, why not? I’ve always wanted to see what kind of ride they’d make out of Century. Did they manage to make it stop time?”

***

The classroom is completely silent. Blackjack had seen this as the perfect way to get out of teaching and turned HTV on, but his class was over a few hours ago. The television is still on. Every teacher that’s come in since has been given a very calm, yet unyielding expression from the class. It’s followed by a simple sentence from Max, “Sorry, but can we keep watching this? She’s one of ours.”

That he’s even claiming Keliah had most of the class looking at him strange the first time. Now, though, since it’s the third teacher to walk in, they just nod in agreement, turning back to the screen as soon as the teacher nods in return. Banshee is actually sitting in the back, watching along.

“I want to go to her,” Aubrey says abruptly. “Emily, can we go talk to her?”

“No,” Max says, answering for Emily. “Not yet.”

“But you HEARD her, Max! She’s just a little girl that’s been trying to act tough—”

The entire attitude towards Keliah has changed since they started watching. Max can see the rest of the group debating on joining the argument.

“She is tough,” Jennifer says, absently touching her nose.

“Maybe to you, she is,” Trent says, although not unkindly. “And that’s understandable. She promises to be a very strong cape. But right now… well, she’s one of the…” he hesitates, glancing over at Jennifer’s friends, Olivia and Elidee, and then over at Cisco, “she’s one of our… what should we call you guys?”

“Fledglings,” Max says, grinning slightly. “I liked that one.”

“It sounds stupid,” Jack points out bluntly.

“We can’t call Cisco a chick, though, even if he is the right color,” Max says.

“I dunno, he kinda looks like—”

“Jack!” Aubrey says in a scolding tone. “Ignore him, Cisco, he has no filter between his brain and his mouth. Trust me, I’ve checked.”

“Love you, too, Aubrey,” Jack says to his girlfriend, earning a teasing grin.

“Whatever,” Cisco mutters, ducking his head and turning a bit red at the “looks like” burn.

“The fact of the matter is,” Trent says, giving his brother a warning look, “those of you that are just coming into power are the ones we need to protect most. We’ve all been there, so don’t take it personal, fledglings. Soon you’re going to fly, or run, or whatever it is you’re built for. When you get to that stage you’ll get tossed out onto the field like the rest of us, and we’ll expect you to watch out for the next group of fledglings.”

“Because by then we’ll have graduated,” Vinny says, looking up from his magazine, finally, “and taking care of the norms, who are even more delicate than the ‘fledglings.’ This is just as much training as it is taking care of our own.” He hesitates, looking around the room. “Hey, does anyone know where Justin is?”

“He’s skipping class today,” Ace says. “He took one look at the screen and left.”

The older ones in the group go quiet. It’s only Olivia that speaks up. “Does he not like Keliah?”

“No, that’s not why he skipped,” Ace says.

“One of the escaped convicts killed his father,” Morgan says softly, still focused on the screen. “It wasn’t Keliah’s grandpa, but I bet it’s close enough to be a… tender spot for him. He saw his father die on television… sort of like this, I think.” Her hands clench for a moment. “My dad got out and is out there, somewhere, too, isn’t he?”

“Oh.”

“Shouldn’t some of you big names be out there searching for him?” Cisco asks. “Not this guy—I mean, Rocco’s got that handled, but the sooner the others… um, like your dad, are caught, the better, right?”

“They’ve got the S-class's on it,” Trent says, looking tense.

“Mom and Dad can take anyone,” Jack says, looking at his brother. “If anything, I’d feel sorry for the guy if he ran into them. They work as a team.”

“But our mom and dad are out there, too,” Emily says, glancing over at Aubrey. “Dad’s only an A-class. And there are like, four of the bad guys out there somewhere—”

“Dad?” Olivia repeats. “Who’s your dad?”

“She claims Taurus as her dad,” Max says, “since he and Liz are pretty much a thing.”

“Our gym teacher?” she asks Emily.

“I get really good grades in gym!” Emily says shamelessly.

The lunch bell rings, and they all jerk. Max’s eyes glue on Emily, since he can actually SEE that she’s up to some—she turns, looking him in the eye and giving him her sweetest smile right as a brick wall rises up in her mind, shoving him out.

“Ouch,” he says.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t try to read my girlfriend’s thoughts, Max,” Trent says casually. “At least not without telling me what she’s thinking.”

“Just because we’re dating—”

“And future partners,” Trent adds.

“AND future partners,” Emily adds dryly, “doesn’t mean you have a right to my thoughts. Banshee, permission for Aubrey and me to check on Liz? You know she forgets to eat when she’s been on patrol.”

“Why does Aubrey need to go?” Max asks.

“Because she’s the one that can cook,” Emily says.

Banshee looks at her. “I’ll go with you,” she says finally.

“What? Why?” Emily asks. “We’re just checking on—”

“I might not be a telepath, but I can tell a ploy when I see one. If you’re going to hop across the country you’re taking someone that can deal with unexpected problems. Aubrey is extremely powerful, yes, but not in a way that would help.”

“I can go,” Trent and Max both say. “Or we both can go,” Max says as they look at each other. Arguing over this will take too long.

“Fine,” Banshee says. “Emily, Trent and Max—”

“But I was hoping—” Aubrey says.

“Emily, can you take three other people?” Banshee asks.

“If there’s time before coming back, I suppose,” Emily says reluctantly.

“I want to go, too!” Carla says, waving a hand. “She’s part of my team!”

“I don’t think I can take more than three without getting really tired, Carla—especially if one’s Trent,” Emily admits. “He’s a big guy.”

“Oh… well at least tell her hi for me, okay?”

“Why are they allowed to go?” Olivia asks. “Shouldn’t they be here where it’s safe, too? This isn’t like one of their shows—”

Both males look at her. “We’re not just for show,” Max says. “We’re working capes now, fledgling. And I qualify as an M-class, now.”

“What’s an M-class?” half the class asks.

“Mastermental,” Max says cheerfully. “He has his very own class.”

“That’s such a lie, man,” Freddy says.

“No, actually, it’s true,” Banshee says. “Mastermental is on level with an S-class, but since it’s only because of his psychic powers that he is, they just gave him his own class. You are close, but honestly I’m not sure you’re M-class yet, Max,” she goes on, looking at him. “Until you can manipulate items as easily as your father does I believe you qualify as an A-class. You’ll have to ask Nico to be sure, though.”

“I only just upgraded to A-class when I learned to fly,” Trent says sympathetically.