Ditto Ditto (18 page)

Nico hesitates, but he has to point out–“You just let Kid Liberty through.”

“Century said nothing about Kid Liberty,” Voltdrain says with a glint in his eyes.  “He just told me to stop you.”

“Well, one of my kids is down here without permission, I’ve come to get her back,” Nico says impatiently.

“Si, and you can–as soon as you go through the proper procedures.”

“Fine,” Nico says irritably, glancing over once again where Kid Liberty had flown past.  Mentally he was guesstimating the speed the boy had been going at.  He’s going to have to time him when they get back to school, he decides.  “Where’s the paperwork?” he asks Voltdrain.

“It is not paperwork, it is an interview,” Voltdrain says with a sigh.  It’s obvious by the beleaguered expression on his face that he feels a lot like Nico does right now.  “We are to show the norms that we are perfectly fine with the situation between us.”

“Situation?  There’s a situation?” Nico asks blankly.

“You have my daughter, no?” Voltdrain points out.

“Technically the school has her–she’s started helping Vinny cook,” Nico says with a shrug.  “Where’s the interview?” he asks, following as Voltdrain leads.  “Jimmi’s taken over the dorm thanks to the cooking thing.  You don’t piss off the cooks.”

Voltdrain grins slightly, a hint of amusement in his eyes.  “I do like Vinny,” he admits cheerfully as they head to a stage, where Century is already talking to a large group of reporters.  “He is doing well, with his father and Flint?”

“Yeah, far as I can tell.  Nobody’s been killed so far.”  They land on the stage, only to get a dark look from Century.

“Where’s your uniform, boy?” the South Hall Leader asks Nico, covering his mic with his hand.

“I didn’t realize I’d be shamming for the public when I took off after Emily,” Nico says dryly.  “Can we make this fast?”

Century shoots him a dark look before turning to the mic.  “And without further ado, I present to you Technico and our very own Voltdrain!”

***

I watch silently as the van slowly heads down the street, focusing on the license plate and memorizing it.  Z18-GG3.  An older van, white, no side windows, no rack on top–I commit the facts to memory, wondering if I can keep out of sight while chasing it.  Ditto pops up beside me, pointing to the roof.  “Let’s try teleporting there,” she says.  “We’ll hang on and–“

“Can’t, there’s a chance the old guy in the car will see us,” I say, scowling.  “Man, I wish I could fly,” I complain.  “If we could fly we could–“

“If I could offer my assistance?” a very familiar voice says from behind us.  We turn, staring in shock at Trent, who’s floating in the air.  He drops to the ground and rushes forward, pulling us both into a hug so tight that I let out a squeak.  “You’re alive,” he breathes out as we instinctively cling to him.  “Now I’m going to KILL YOU!” he snaps, pulling back and glowering at us.  “What were you thinking, teleporting all the way down here?  Are you crazy?  There was nobody to guard you!  You could have been kidnapped–or worse!  You are SO GROUNDED it’s not even funny!”

He’s wrong, right now it IS funny, but I can’t exactly say that to a pissed off boyfriend.  “But we were,” Ditto says, “well, one of us was, at least.”

“Were what?” he asks.

“Kidnapped,” Ditto and I say, looking at each other.  “Repeat was grabbed along with Skystep,” I explain.  “This old man that called himself Mr. Will shot them up with some sort of super sedatives and had his nurse guy drag them off in a van.”

“Just call her back,” he says.  “We’re going home.”

I stare at him in shock.  Ditto reaches up and touches his forehead, checking to see if he’s got a fever.  “We can’t do that,” I say when she looks at me and shrugs.  “They kidnapped a super.  There’s got to be a reason, right?  And if we let him keep Skystep, we’ll never know what happened to my parents, Trent.  We can’t let that happen.”

“That’s why Repeat is playing dead right now,” Ditto adds, “and we’re losing track of the van–we need to catch up with it if we’re going to get them back.”

“That’s South Hall–“ he stops, groaning.  “I’m starting to sound like Nico,” he mutters, shaking his head.  “But it’s true,” he admits, looking me in the eye.  “There are borders for each of the Halls, Em–trust me, I’ve been lectured on this since my last trip down here.  Certain heists and jobs are only to be handled by the local Hall.  If we were to have capes from different Halls butting in on any problem that caught their eye they’d not be there for problems in their own area.  There’d also be a lot of–“

“But we’re just saving one of our own,” Ditto says, looking patently innocent.  “I mean, Repeat is one of us.  We’re not really interfering that way, right?”

He looks at her, his expression dry.  “YOU can explain that when we have to talk to Century, got it?” he says, pointing at her.

“Fine!  Now can we go?” I demand, jumping on his back.  I’ve wanted to do this since Ditto did it at the pool, I won’t lie.  “Onward, to save my doppelganger!” I say, pointing in the direction the van went. Ditto disappears, leaving just me and Trent to fly.  Less weight for him to carry means he’ll go faster, right?

“Okay, fine, I just... need to figure out how I start,” he says.  From where I’m at the sight of his neck turning red with embarrassment is blatantly obvious.

“What?  You don’t know how to start?” I ask, torn between teasing him and getting irritated.

“I wasn’t paying attention, I was just going as fast as I could,” he mutters, the red creeping to his ears.

“You can’t do that, you’ll pass up the van,” I say, frowning in thought.  “Try jumping?”

“Yeah.  Okay, hold on tight,” he says, crouching before leaping straight into the air.  We go up and up, far past the tops of the abandoned businesses.  “This is AWESOME!” I say, clinging tightly as I look down.  He stops and for a second it feels like we’re going to go down again, but then he catches his balance.

“Got it,” he says with satisfaction.  “Where’s the van?” he asks.  I look at the ground, searching for the white, windowless back end of the van.

“There,” I say, pointing.  He turns, flying above the van, high enough that it looks like a toy from where we’re at.  “I’m not too heavy or messing up your flight, am I?” I ask, laying against his back, my arms wrapped around his chest.  “I can teleport now, you know?”

“I know,” he says, “but you’re fine like this,” he adds.  “I figure once in a while flight will be more useful, right?”

“We can’t teleport to places we’ve never been,” I agree.  “We landed on the picnic table where we talked with Vinny last time.  So in order for it to be useful, we’ll have to go a lot of places the old fashioned way, right?”  I point.  “They’re turning.”

He follows along, keeping just close enough that our superior sight can see the cars.  Thankfully it’s cloudy out today, I think as we keep to the clouds.  “Can you teleport with someone other than your doppelgangers?” he asks curiously.

“I’ve got no idea,” I admit.  “We’ll try it sometime.”  It’s nice, flying like this.  It feels like we’re on a date, or something, and I don’t feel embarrassed hugging my boyfriend in public.  What?  I DO get embarrassed, you know.  Once in a... rare while.  That’s about the time I start picking on him.  Now, though, I can happily rest my chin on his shoulder and watch the world below.  “Trent?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you learned to fly,” I tell him.

“Yeah, me too,” he says.  “I’m not so glad you learned to teleport.”

“What’s that mean?  Teleporting is awesome!”

“Yeah, but it makes it really hard to keep track of you,” he says.  “I bet Zoe and Adanna are freaking out right now, wondering if you’re alive or dead,” he adds.

“Oh!” I say, digging out my phone and calling Zoe.  “Zoe!  I’m in Texas!” I tell her as soon as she answers.

“You’re WHERE?” she demands.

“Texas!  I learned to teleport!  But Trent is here with me, we’ve got some stuff we need to do before we come back, okay?  Tell Adanna not to freak out–and tell Liz–um, actually, unless she knows that I’m gone, don’t tell her ANYTHING, got it?  She’s under house arrest–“

“Taurus’s dad is here,” Zoe interrupts.  “He’s calling up people about a jet or something even as we speak–Em, what were you THINKING?” she demands.  I hear Adanna repeating the question in the background.  “How did you get to Texas that quickly?”

“I learned to teleport,” I brag.  “Look, Trent is here, tell Andre that we’ll be fine, okay?”

“Nico’s here, too,” Trent says.  “They got him at the border, though.”

“Who did?” I ask.

“Voltdrain–he let me fly right past, so I figure we’ve got a little bit of time.”  I pass the news on to Zoe, although I’m sure she heard it all. “Knowing Nico, though, he’ll get here soon enough.”

“Trent says your dad is here,” I tell Zoe, “but we have to go now, the van’s stopping at a house,” I add, hanging up.  I watch in a bit of shock as the van backs up into a small suburban driveway, as if coming home from work.  “What is going on?” I ask as the nurses cart both Skystep and Repeat out of the back of the van.

“I don’t know, but I don’t much like the look of it,” Trent mutters darkly.

***

It’s hard to pretend to be unconscious, Repeat decides as she’s pulled off of a gurney and strapped down to a table.  The fact that the people doing it are nurses make her even more worried.  They’ll notice that she’s faking it at any moment.  If she’s caught, she’ll… what?  Teleport out?  It makes sense, but if she does that she’ll be leaving Skystep here, right?

If she leaves Skystep here she’ll never find out what happened to her parents.  She listens closely to the people that surround her, waiting for them to do something to her.  So far they’ve only just gave her another shot.  “Boss, I’m not sure it’s going to work much longer,” one of the nurses says.  She can feel him staring at her, she thinks.  She makes certain not to move.

“That’s why you should stop staring and get Ginger started on a new sedative,” the old man says.  The sound of heavy footsteps echo in her ears as the group leaves.  For a long moment Repeat keeps her eyes closed, listening for the sound of people breathing.  There’s Skystep, whose breath is on the same level as her ear, but no one else, she thinks, carefully opening her eyes and daring to look around.

The room they’re in is white and steel.  She’s lying on a surgical table, strapped down by her wrists and her ankles.  Skystep is in an identical position right next to her.  The older woman is sound asleep.  “Skystep,” she hisses as loudly as she dares.  “Wake up.”

For a long moment she’s sure it isn’t going to work.  She can’t speak louder, though, because she doesn’t know how close the kidnappers are.  And who is Ginger?  She shakes that odd thought off, focusing on what’s right in front of her.  “Skystep,” she hisses again, disappearing off of the table and popping back next to the unconscious woman.  “Wake up,” she whispers, shaking Skystep.

“Wh--what?” Skystep asks, a groggy look on her face.  “Melody?  Mel--”  Repeat covers Skystep’s mouth with her hand, since she’s speaking too loudly. 

“Be quiet,” she whispers.  “We need to get out of here before they come back.”  Skystep nods, jerking at the wrist bracelets.  Her eyes widen in surprise and she looks over at them.  “What’s taking so long?  Just phase through them,” Repeat hisses, daring to lift her hand.

“I can’t,” Skystep whispers.  “Whatever was in that stuff they gave us is messing with my powers.”

Repeat almost groans, looking around the room for some sort of key to the shackles.  There’s got to be a way to release Skystep in--there, she thinks, pouncing on a key on a side table.  The door swings open and she goes perfectly still out of shock.

“What--” a woman says.  Repeat turns, teleporting over to the woman and grabbing her.  Her hand covers the woman’s mouth as the other arm confines her.  She nudges the door shut with her foot, feeling a bit panicked, still.  All it would take is a single scream and they’ll be surrounded.  Who knows if this Mr. Will has supers working for him?

“Be quiet, or you’ll regret it,” she whispers next to the taller woman’s ear.  “You’re messing with a super hero, got it?”  She waits impatiently until the woman nods her head slowly.  “Are you the one called Ginger?”  The woman nods again.  “What are they doing here?”

“You need to go,” Ginger whispers quickly as soon as Repeat dares to lift her hand.  “He’ll hear us.”

“Who will hear us?” Skystep whispers.

“Me.”

As a group the three females turn, watching as a man steps out of the shadows in the corner.  “I don’t think this is what the old man wanted you to do, Ginger,” Shadowman says.

***

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I left my tights in another bag,” Nico says, leaning against the podium.  At least he’s wearing a mask, but just a plain black one that you could buy in any costume store.  He doesn’t look very bothered by that fact.  “My name is Technico, I’m the principal of Cape High, and recently we’ve breached out, bringing in children from other branches.  I’d like to thank both Century and Voltdrain for that sign of trust.  We won’t let them down.  Now if--”

“How can we be sure you’re really Technico?” one of the louder reporters demands.  “You’ve got nothing but a mask to show that you’re a super--you could be an impersonator!”