Ditto Ditto (5 page)

I snicker.  “Yeah, I’m sure someone does,” I tell them, getting to my feet.  “But I promised the girls a dance, so, um, nice to meet you, Melissa, and I’ll see you on Monday, right?” I say, holding out my hand to Falconess.  I’m going to have a mentor!  Sure, it’s not exactly what I had planned, but I think it’ll go okay.

I hope.

“I’ll see you on Monday,” she agrees, shaking my hand.  I head back to my table, where Carla and Malina are looking impatient, and grab their hands. 

“Let’s go dance!” I say, tugging them to the dance floor.

***

“So how’d you like her?” Liz asks, draped over my shoulder in a hug as I look at the various food products laid out in front of me.  Jeanie prepped them, and is waiting patiently for me to put them together, but it’s hard to concentrate on cooking classes when Liz is being like this.

“She seems nice,” I say as I wipe the pan down with cooking oil.  “Ditto doesn’t like the daughter, though.”

“She’s a snot,” Ditto says from where she’s munching on a celery stick rather than helping, “and I caught her staring at Jack a few times.  I don’t trust her,” she declares.

“She did?” Aubrey asks.  She’s sitting on the stool at the bar, doing her homework.  “You don’t think she likes him, do you?” she asks, looking worried.

“It doesn’t matter, Jack’s yours,” Ditto assures her.  “He didn’t notice at all--he was too busy shoving pizza into his mouth.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Aubrey says.  “Even I can barely get his attention when it’s time to eat.”

“But you CAN, and that’s the important part,” Ditto says.  “We can barely get an answer from Trent when he’s eating, and there are two of us,” she adds, motioning to herself and me.

“Nico practically kidnapped the place and Trent was too busy eating to notice,” I agree as I lay out the green beans in the pan, looking at the recipe with a slight frown.  “Are you sure this is going to work?” I ask Jeanie.

“Trust me, I’ve done it lots of times,” she says.  “You’re doing wonderfully!”

I put green beans in a pan, I think dryly.  It’s not exactly rocket science.  I reach for the chicken next, lining them up next to the green beans.  “I talked Vinny into letting me watch him cook lunch sometime,” I tell Jeanie.  “That’s okay, right?”

“It’s wonderful!  Can I come with you?” she asks.

“Um, I’ll ask him,” I say.  I want to say, “Yeah, sure!” but Vinny’s not exactly that easy to read.  He could get really offended by me dragging people in without asking, then I won’t get to go--and like I’ve said several times, I burn all the things.  I need all the help I can get.

“Now the potatoes and the butter,” Jeanie prompts when I just stare at the chicken for a long moment, “but wash your hands first!”  I do as she tells me, hoping that for the first time I’ll be able to make something honestly edible.  The family’s been eating a lot of stuff that would probably kill them if they were norms thanks to me.  Trent doesn’t say a word.  Jack does take a second to look at me pointedly before eating it, anyway.  But Jeanie keeps insisting that the families eat together whenever I cook.

“So what’s wrong with the daughter, other than the Jack thing?” Liz asks, leaving me and draping herself over Ditto, instead.  I think it’s her habit of being so huggy all the time that’s got me doing it.  “Should I have a talk with her?”

“She’s rude,” Ditto says, leaning back into the hug.  “She reminds me of the sisters, but we could totally kick her butt, right Em?”

“Definitely,” I agree.

“How old is she, anyway?” Aubrey asks, clearly still focused on the “Jack” part of the conversation.  “She looked young to me, like thirteen or fourteen?”

I just turned fifteen about a week ago, but Aubrey’s almost seventeen--Jack IS seventeen, so if she is thirteen she’s way too young, right?  “Dunno, we can ask Nico if you want,” I offer.

“As long as she looks and doesn’t touch I can deal with it,” Aubrey says, looking like a martyr.  I roll my eyes.  “But I’m kind of worried,” she goes on, “I spend so much time working at the ER.  I feel like I’m neglecting him or something.”

“Don’t worry about that, sweetie, Jack knows just how important what you do is,” Jeanie says, handing me the cut potatoes for the next section of the meal.  I put them in.  “He owes his life to it.”

A knock comes from the door and we glance up as the guys walk in.  “Is Em cooking?” Jack asks as he heads to the bar, dropping down on the stool next to Aubrey’s to watch.  “Think she’ll catch the kitchen on fire again?”

“Jack, don’t tease her about that,” Ken says, coming over and dropping a hand on my shoulder.  “You’ll do just fine, Emily.  And if you do catch it on fire we’ll be quick to put it out, I promise.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I drawl, pouring the melted butter over it before sprinkling the seasoning on top.

“Now cover it with aluminum foil and put it in the oven, honey!  After an hour we’ll take the foil off and leave it in fifteen more minutes, so check the clock!” Jeanie says.  She looks far too happy over me putting some pre-prepared food pieces in a pan.  Okay, so I’m feeling a little proud of myself as well.  So sue me.  I feel a grin stretching across my face as I slide the pan into the oven and glance at the clock.

“I did it!” I say.

“Not till it’s fully cooked you haven’t,” Jack says.  “Hey, Aub, can I see your math homework?” he asks.

“Have you even started your own?” she asks, only to slide her notebook over.

“I hear you met Melissa today,” Ken says to me.  “Have you decided if she’ll be your mentor yet?”

“Yeah,” I say, grinning slightly.  “I mean, I was hoping for Jeanie, but Nico says I’ll never be able to hit as hard as she can.”

There’s a tiny bit of red across Jeanie’s face at that, and she tosses me a chagrined smile.  “Well, it’s true, I’m afraid--but I’m sure you’ll do just fine!  You just need to remember to make it look good while you’re doing it,” she adds with a firm nod.

No, seriously, I’m picturing her punching tanks as practice.  There should be a mirror to the side so she could check her stance as she sends it flying.  This is Jeanie.  It could totally happen.  “We’ll work on it!” Ditto says cheerfully.  I wonder where I can get a mirror big enough...

“So Nico kidnapped an entire restaurant at lunch today,” Trent says casually.  “Thankfully Em talked him out of it--I think that should count as her unofficial debut, don’t you?”  I turn bright red, feeling the urge to hide at that compliment.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” I say, even as the group congratulates me.  I’d mentioned it before, but I think they thought I was exaggerating.  I do that sometimes.  “He didn’t want anyone taking our pictures, so he was going to make all the norms hand over their phones--which he doesn’t have to do, right?  So I talked him out of it.”

“And where were you during this?” Ken asks Trent.

“It was Funhouse,” Trent says with a shrug.  “Where do you think I was?”

“Eating pizza,” the room says dryly.

“We had meat lovers,” he agrees.  “Em did it perfectly, so there’s no problem, right?  I bet it really impressed Falconess,” he adds grinning at me.

I give him a shy grin, knowing that I’m blushing, then put my hands on my hips and give him a haughty look.  “Just because mister super hero is too busy shoving pizza into his face to do his job doesn’t mean I am!” I declare.

The group starts to laugh, making me smile proudly as Ken ruffles my hair.  “Good job, Emily,” he says, “you’re going to be a great super hero.”

“Yeah,” I say.  “I hope so, at least.”

“I’m so proud of you!” Aubrey says, hugging me from behind as we pick up our empty plates and head for the kitchen.  “It was good!”

“Yeah,” I say, blushing slightly at the praise.  “But I didn’t really do much--“

“You did good!” Aubrey says firmly.  “I’ll do the dishes,” she volunteers.

“No, you won’t,” Jeanie says.  “Honey, weren’t you planning on going back to the ER tonight?” she asks.  “We can handle the dishes--“

Someone knocks on the door, making us all look up as it opens.  “Hey,” Nico says as he sticks his head in.  “Can I talk to my sister and the girls for a bit?”

I look at the dishes in my hands and sigh, handing them to Trent and looking over at Liz.  Liz is frowning slightly, so I’m a bit worried, as well.  Usually when Nico shows up she gets happy.  Something about his tone seems to have triggered a reaction.

“We’ll be right back,” Aubrey says to Jack, patting him on the shoulder as we head out the door.  Nico has a frown on his face as he looks at her, and he lets out a heavy sigh before speaking.

“Unfortunately someone let it out that we’ve got a healer--Century’s out to borrow Aubrey for a few days to heal up half of his team,” he says, looking at Liz.  “No one told the girl that knocked Mega out this morning that Flameblaster was coming up here for Vinny’s training, she got a little irritated.”

“But she’s still--“ Liz starts out quickly.

“I’m not a child,” Aubrey says, taking a deep breath and letting it out as a sigh.  “I’m not completely finished with the dog--I’ve got him stabilized, though, and you were going to talk to Star Born about a cure, right?” she asks Nico.

“Yeah, I am.”

“Then during that time I can go down and heal them--I can’t leave them understaffed during the summer,” she says.  “But--“ she hesitates and looks back at the door behind us before turning to me.  “Em?” she asks, moving closer to cup her hands around my ear.  “Can you protect Jack from that girl for me?  If she can cook I’ll be in trouble.”

“You won’t be in trouble,” I protest, “but I’ll guard him with my life,” I add seriously.  It’s not because I’m that big of a fan of Jack.  I like him well enough, I guess, but I’m doing this because he makes Aubrey happy.  I love Aubrey.  If she wants me to protect her boyfriend from prospective boyfriend snatchers, I’ll do exactly that!  “You be safe, okay?” I say, hugging her tightly.

“Of course I will,” Aubrey says, hugging me back.  “You’re the best sister ever,” she adds, holding onto me tightly for a moment.  Honestly, I don’t see Jack being stupid enough to stray, but I’m going to do the work regardless.  We can’t have people thinking that our boys are up for grabs when we’re off doing work!

This means WAR.

***

Aubrey left last night, leaving me to knock on the boys’ door the next morning.  I don’t blink as Zoe stops behind me, ruffling my hair fondly.  “I heard about Aubrey,” she says gently as I turn to her.  “She’s going to be just fine.”

“I know,” I say, turning to her with a little grin.  “I’m just feeling a little lonely.  She’ll be back in no time, though.”

“Aww,” Zoe says, hugging me.  I hug her back, putting one foot in the air behind me in a silly pose even as the door opens.  “Em, you’re just so adorable!” she says.

“So are you!” I reply.

“Ahem,” Trent says from the door, leaning against the frame as we just stand there, hugging.

“Trent!” Sunny says sleepily, pushing past us.  “You’re just so adorable!”  He holds out his arm--and as if that weren’t enough, he puts his foot up behind him just like I’m doing.  Trent just stares at him.

“If you’re not going to knock him over, can I?” Jack asks as he steps out with a piece of bacon in his mouth.

“Sure,” Trent says.  “When he drops you get to carry him,” he adds as he grabs my hand, pulling me--and subsequently Zoe--down the hall to the stairs.  I let out a laugh, tightening my hold on Zoe’s hand as we head down the stairs.

“HEY! I DIDN’T AGREE TO THAT!” Jack bellows down the stairs.  We ignore him, stepping out of the apartment and stopping to wait for Nico.  He’s not much of a morning person.

“So do you know for sure how long she’s going to be gone?” Zoe asks as we watch Jack come down the steps, shrugging Sunny off every time the shorter male tries to jump on his back.

“I’m not carrying your lazy butt down the stairs,” Jack says as Sunny jumps on his back, clinging like a monkey.  “Giddoff!”

“No way, I want a ride on your surfboard today,” Sunny says, only to yawn loudly in Jack’s ear.  “You promise me that and I’ll get off--no tossing me or anything, though.”

“Fine, now giddoff,” Jack mutters.

“Hey, hey, you lonely now that your girl is gone to Texas?” Sunny asks him as he hops off.  “You can hang out with me!”

“I’m not that desperate,” Jack says. 

“Ouch,” Sunny says.  “You’re still a jerk, you know?”

“I know,” Jack says as Nico steps into view holding his usual cup of coffee.  He passes us without a word, bringing up the panel that lets us out.  We take turns pressing our hands to it and dancing over the lit footsteps that lead the way out of the security field that surrounds our apartment building.

“This morning, we’ll be getting a new student,” Nico says as we start for the Death Canyon.  The fading yellow police tape has fallen almost completely by now, but it doesn’t matter, no norms come near the place.  They’re afraid of radiation poisoning--it’s a long story.  There are a handful of retired heroes flying overhead, their suitcases hanging from their fingers even though they’re in full uniform.  It’s a bit strange, but I’m so used to the sight that I don’t even blink.  It’s the sight of Falconess carrying Keliah across the sky that has me staring.  “Also, Emily, you’ll spend your morning hour with Falconess,” Nico adds as we reach the pair.

“Good morning,” Falconess says as Keliah slips out of her hold with a scowl on her pretty face.

“That is SO embarrassing,” she complains to her mother.  “We could at least have taken the car!”

“This is official cape business,” Falconess says.  “I’m working here as a mentor, Keliah, you should get used to that idea now.”

“Then let me take the bus or something,” Keliah mutters, flushing slightly and peeking over at our group--straight at Jack.  I let go of Zoe’s hand and move, blocking her view of the metal man with my hands on my hips.

“Hey,” Jack says, tapping me on the shoulder.  “What are you doing?”

I turn, giving him a wide and pointless smile.  “Nothing important!”

“Then get moving,” he says, poking me in the back.  I start forward, still acting as a shield--albeit a short one.  What?  Jack is like a foot taller than I am, or more!  It’s really hard to block a guy from view when he towers over you!

A classy looking black car pulls up next to us and Adanna gets out, leaning over for a second to talk with her dad.  I peek around her, completely distracted, to see what Panther is wearing today.  Sometimes he wears his super villain uniform--it’s the coolest outfit--

“I’m going around if you’re just going to stand there,” Jack says, jerking me back to the present.

“No, I’m coming!” I say, straightening up and rushing forward to keep trying to block.  Half of the group is watching me with amusement, but Trent has a different look on his face.

“Em?” he asks.  “What are you up to?”

“Nothing!” I say, grabbing Jack’s arm when he just keeps going.  I can’t let him run off and get drawn into the surly girl’s wiles!

“Hey,” Jack says as we reach the control panel, “you’re acting weirder than usual, you know.”

“Nothing for you to worry about!” I tell him, still grinning widely.  He gives me a disbelieving look before shrugging it off.

“You heard from Aub this morning?” he asks.  “She sent me a text last night around midnight, but that’s about it.”

“She’s probably either still working or finally getting some sleep,” I admit, frowning as I pull out my cell phone.  I tap on it a few times before bringing up a very simple note.  “See?” I say.

It says “night” and is time stamped at four in the morning, Central time.  “My guess is she typed this right before falling asleep,” I tell him.  “She does this a lot,” I admit, looking at the phone with a little smile.  “She knows I get worried when she’s out all night working.”

I blink as his hand lands on my head, ruffling my hair.  “Thanks,” he says.  “I needed that.”

I stare at him a bit blankly as he heads up to the panel, pressing his hand against it and heading inside.  He never even looked at the blonde, did he?  “This is the first time they’ve actually been this far apart,” Trent says, draping his arm over my shoulders.  “He’s taking it a bit hard, not that he’ll ever admit it.”

“Now we’ll just scan you and get your stats put into the computer,” I hear Nico say.  I glance over to where he’s standing in front of Keliah with his phone in his hands.  She’s staring over at me, a dark expression on her face.  Trent looks at her, and then looks at me, frowning slightly.

“How, exactly, did you make an enemy when she’s not even been to the school before?” he asks me silently.

“She was at the pool, remember?” I whisper back.  “She’s annoying.”

“She’s also Falconess’s daughter, right?” he asks as we get in line to go into school.  Nico’s taken over the panel, showing Keliah and Falconess how to get inside.  I’m stuck behind Zoe, who promptly turns around and joins the conversation.

“So why are you being so over-protective of Jack, anyway?” she whispers to me.

I turn bright red as Trent looks at me.  “So that’s what you were doing?” he asks.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say, lying through my teeth.

“You were practically bearing your teeth,” Zoe says.

“Because--“ I start out, reluctantly about to explain.  Thankfully Max decides to show up for school about that time, wearing his mask and a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.  He lands (still one of the very few that can actually fly) next to Zoe, looking at me and Trent curiously.

“Am I missing a vital plot point?” he asks.

“You spend way too much time acting as a super villain, man,” Trent says dryly.

“Sorry, yeah, I was working last night,” Max admits, yawning loudly.  He looks around.  “Who’s the blonde?” he asks, not bothering to lower his voice as he tugs off his mask.

“Falconess’s daughter,” I say.  “The bigger blonde is Falconess.”

“She’s going to be tutoring Em,” Trent says.

“Huh,” Max says, frowning slightly.  I look over at Trent, curiously.

“If he was working last night, were you?” I ask him.

“Nah, he’s been setting up a massive scheme for a while now,” Trent says.  “It takes a lot of ground work--heroes don’t have to bother with that part of the job unless they’re the thinking type and go up against the clue leaving villains.”

“There are clue leaving villains?” I ask, looking over at Max.

“It’s an old style, but it’s got some charm,” he admits, shrugging.  “Or for the more difficult to deal with villains it can set up a nice running plot--I bet they’ll teach Ace some of those skills sooner or later.  Panther’s an expert at it.  Then again, Panther’s an expert at all the classics.”

“Fanboy,” Trent drawls.

“When a guy is that good at what he does, you gotta admire it,” Max says, pulling out his wallet and showing his Panther fan club card with pride.

“Papa will appreciate the fact,” Adanna says as she heads for our group, a sleepy looking Sunny in tow.  “He’s quite fond of your work, as well, Max.”

“Yeah?  Then what was that crack about at the Mega movie?” Max asks, earning a wicked smile from the beautiful black girl.

“Oh, he’s fond of it, but he’s also territorial.  It’s nothing personal, of course,” she says, waving a hand, “but you’ll still be dealing with him soon.”

“Can super villains take out other super villains?” I ask.  “I mean, according to Hall rules?”

“Sure,” Max says, “under rivalry rules.  So far, though, I’ve not run into a villain that takes it seriously.  There are usually too many heroes to juggle to bother with the competition.”

“It was nice knowing you,” Trent says, placing a hand on Max’s shoulder with a fake look of sympathy.  Max shoves the hand off, glaring at him.

“Panther isn’t the type to kill off younger capes,” he says.

“That you know of,” Adanna says, cutting in line since no one is moving forward.

“She just cut me,” Max says a bit blankly.

“You cut us first,” I point out.

“Well whatever, not in that big of a hurry for first hour, anyway,” Max says with a shrug.  He and Trent usually spend the first hour of school fighting.  “They cut our part of the field in half for Vinny and Jack,” he complains.  “How can you get a decent fight on with only half of a field?  And what will they do when the others are working capes, cut it in fourths?”

“We’ll have to build a second field,” Nico says.  “Now inside, the Falconess duo went in while you were discussing super villain tactics,” he adds, jabbing a thumb at the security wall that we can’t technically see at the moment.  “Besides, I haven’t heard any updates on Flame’s villain,” he adds more quietly, looking at the sky.