Super Girls (Cape High Book 13) (16 page)

"Sure," Ace says. "Sounds fun." He turns, heading away from downtown and Freddy grabs onto me again. I don't say a word.

***

"We can wait a little longer," Mother says, waving a hand as she leads Hard Knocks and the boys through a jungle-like setting. "There's always time for dinner, first!" she adds cheerfully, her eyes going to the animatronic dinosaur with amusement. "I've always wanted to see this place--unfortunately my own child was far too old by the time it opened up. You need kids to come to a kid restaurant, right?"

"Yes, Mother," Hard Knocks says. "We're happy to assist, right, boys?" he asks Mitchell and Jules.

"Sure," Mitchell says, looking around in wonder. "This is pretty cool."

"It's not as cool as when Dad does the wooden dino trick," Jules whispers.

"Well, yeah, but it's still cool," Mitchell says with a shrug. "I like dinosaurs." He stops, though, as one of the larger dinosaurs turns, looking in his direction. Something seems wrong, he realizes as reptilian eyes focus on his face. He unconsciously takes a step back, bumping into the guy behind him. "Um, sor--" he starts out, turning and looking up at the black clad teenager. His eyes widen as the guy looks down at him with dark, swirling eyes.

"Not a problem," the guy says, smiling just a tiny bit evilly. "Freddy, Jen, what's taking so long?" he asks over his shoulder.

"Mitchell!" Mother snaps. "Keep up, son."

"Oh, um, yeah, coming, Mother," Mitchell says, chasing after his group. When he gets to his brother, he grabs Jules' arm, tugging on it.

"What?" Jules asks.

"I think I just saw--" Mitchell stops, closing his mouth tightly as Mother turns and looks at him.

"What did you see?" she asks.

"A triceratops," he says. "It moved. It was like it looked straight at me."

She laughs. "I'll have to see that for myself after dinner!"

"Um, yeah, okay," Mitchell says. He glances over his shoulder, searching for the black clad teenager. Is it possible?

What would Dragon be doing in a kid's dinosaur restaurant?

Even with as crowded as it is, we get a table really fast. I think it's because of Ace--I mean, no one SEEMS to realize who he is, but he's still a really strong super. They tend to get an unconscious reaction from the people around them. Soon we're sitting in a booth towards the back, with a giant dinosaur display right next to us. We're a bit secluded, which is nice. It's really noisy in here. I'm trying to block out all the conversations, but I can't help but wince slightly when things get too loud. I've already gotten used to a quieter setting, huh?

"Okay," Ace says, lounging in the vinyl booth exactly how he'd lounged on his false throne. "Let's get started."

"Shouldn't we pick what we want to eat first?" Freddy asks, flipping through the menu.

I flip through, pick something at random, and wait impatiently. The waitress appears as Freddy's still searching, and we order our drinks. I get my new phone out, searching through the settings. "Um, how do you record on this, anyway? It's got the strangest OS I've ever seen," I admit.

"That's because it's a Technico," Ace says, reaching over and taking it from me. He holds it so I can see the screen and shows me how to access the school system. "If you record it with this, it'll go straight to the school computer," he explains. "That way you don't have to worry about how long the interview is--and the screen resolution is hi-def, always," he adds with a grin.

"But what if I don't want it going straight to the school? What if I want to edit it first?" I ask.

"You tap here--it'll go to the account for your files," Ace says. "Only you and the technopaths should be able to access it there. You can't actually keep Nico and Zoe out of things, you know? That's why if you two start dating, you should keep personal stuff personal, if you know what I mean."

I swear I turn bright red. I know Freddy does. "I'm not planning on dating anyone," I say quickly, focusing on my phone a bit too intently. "So who is Morgan, anyway?" I ask, more to change the subject than anything else.

This time there's a faint blush that crosses Ace's face. "She's ah... a friend," he says. "She's also Freddy's sister--well, they call each other siblings," he adds.

"She's one of us zoo kids," Freddy says. "She was trapped by the Collector like I was. She's our leader. Ace has a crush on her."

My jaw drops open slightly before I force it to close. "So she's what, hot, blonde, and--"

"She's nothing like your sister," Ace cuts me off. "Morgan's... bossy and tougher than steel. It's a one-sided thing, well, it WAS a two-sided triangle sort of thing, but Freddy says Justin gave up. Her side is completely apathetic," he admits, looking at his hands. "So I've been trying to get over it--it's really lame to have a thing for a teammate."

"How's that working for you?" I ask, leaning forward.

"I don't remember my love life--"

"Or lack of one!" Freddy chimes in, getting a dirty look.

"Or lack of one," Ace agrees dryly, "being part of this interview agreement."

"No, that was just me being nosy," I say honestly. "I'm not even recording yet--" the waitress comes up, hands out our drinks, and takes our orders. It's a decent distraction, and I sit back in my chair, casually listening to what the other tables are saying. If we get noticed my interview could totally be blown, right?

I absently twirl my finger, changing the air waves from one table to the next to see what people are talking about. Freddy and Ace are watching me. "Do you know what she's doing?" Ace asks quietly as the waitress leaves.

"Maybe she's listening to the music?" Freddy offers.

I roll my eyes and wave my hand, cutting off the spying for now. "It's nothing," I say.

"Didn't look like nothing," Ace says. "What were you really doing?"

"Just checking to make sure we aren't going to be interrupted," I admit, shoving the phone into Freddy's hand. "Here, you record this, we're going to start, okay?"

"Okay, but move over next to him so you're in the screen," Freddy says, motioning me over. I move so I'm sitting next to Ace. "You need a mic," he says.

"So sorry that I don't come equipped with a mic--" I start out, only to blink as Ace hands over his trademark silver one.

"You really should, every villain should have one," Ace says. "We stole the idea from Max."

"I'll make a note to get one," I drawl before bringing the mic up. "Hello, everyone, we're here with one of the biggest names in teen capes around--the one and only,
Dragon!
" I say quietly after making sure it's not on. It's one thing to have a mic for looks, another to announce that Dragon is in the building to an entire restaurant full of parents and kids. "Dragon, first off, I'd like to thank you for coming here during your busy schedule--can you tell me what you're working on right now?"

"I'm touring up North," Ace says, looking at the camera. "I want to spread the fear of the Dragon throughout all of America. It's a big job, but someone has to do it, right?"

"Absolutely true," I agree, trying not to laugh. "But we all know that your latest little experiment blew up in your face--does it have something to do with that?"

His expression turns surly. "It did not 'blow up,'" he says, "it just had a few... glitches. I don't recall this question being on the list of approved topics, blondie," he adds dangerously.

"I don't recall there being a list of approved topics," I say brassily.

He twitches his hand and a list appears. "Better yet, here's a list of things NOT to ask. Memorize it."

I give him the dirtiest look I can, inwardly laughing my head off as I take the sheet. "Oh, wow, these are PERFECT questions to ask! Thank you, Dragon!" I say evilly.

"Oh my gosh, you kids are adorable!" I jerk, looking up in shock at the waitress. She has our food, but she's just standing there grinning from ear to ear. "Is this a school project?" she asks. "You know, a pretend interview?"

"We--" I start out.

"It's not really for school," Ace says, catching on way faster than I do. "We're members of the Dragon Fan Club--there's an entire site full of people that post pictures and videos of him, right? And since I sort of look like him, we thought we'd see if we could fool them."

"Dragon's the best," Freddy adds, giving the waitress a friendly grin. I grab the phone from him, since this is too good to NOT record. She, on the other hand, winds up staring at his hair.

"I can see you're a big fan," she says. "I'm more of a Maximum fan, myself--"

"Heretic!" Ace says, pointing at her. "Begone with you, you Maximum lover!"

"But leave the food first," Freddy says quickly, grabbing the plates from her and handing them out. I choke on a laugh, catching the waitress's face with the camera before speaking.

"He's joking--we all know that Maximum and Dragon get along--"

"They do not! That little pipsqueak is a pain in the neck!" Ace announces. "He's like, five foot nothing but has an ego the size of Mount Rushmore," he drawls.

"Okay, okay, I can tell when I'm not wanted," the waitress says, laughing it off. There's a hint of worry, though, I can hear it in her voice. On some level she's worried about Ace--she hasn't looked him in the eyes once, I notice as she asks if there's anything else we need before leaving.

"That's another reason I prefer Cape High," he says quietly, looking over at me. "Did you just record that?"

"Of course I did," I say. "It was funny." I hand the phone back to Freddy and pick up the illusion paper, skimming it cheerfully. "Okay, romance is at the TOP of the list--"

"Nope, no way, no how, I'm going into the priest-hood," Ace declares, his collar changing.

"You're not even Catholic, man," Freddy says.

"Oh, right... hmmm..."

"So you're going to talk about romance?"

"No, I'm deciding what religion I'm going into," he says. I throw my napkin at him.

"Okay, fine, no romance questions! I bet everyone knows about it anyway," I say, laughing as he grabs the cloth napkin and starts messing with it. "The next on the list is... trips to the children's hospitals?" I read, a bit confused. "What trips to the children's hospitals?"

"There aren't any--"

"Ace, this is for the school, only," Freddy says. "We all know about the hospital trips."

"Okay, fine, I'll talk," Ace says. "When I first was outed, you were there--Matt punched me in the face in the hall and broke his fist, right? Well shortly after I was outed I ran into Mimic. Mimic stole my powers and pretty much my identity, leaving me to start Cape High as a norm. Gray eyes, pimples, no powers whatsoever. Nico put me in this robot uniform that let me keep up--"

"Oh, wow, so that's where it's from?" I ask Freddy.

"What's from?" Ace asks.

"Nico put me in one, too--I mean, ah, screw it, it's only the school seeing this. The biggest claim to cape-hood I have is a 55 in my air manipulation," I say. "So Nico put together a suit for me so I can keep up."

"So I'm guessing you're a... specialized C class?" Ace asks.

"What? I thought that made me a D," I say blankly.

"Nah, if you've got some serious skills in one particular thing, it levels you up in a specialized way, right? I mean, I'm Specialized A, going on S, at least that's what Nico told me," he says. "Besides, ranking doesn't really matter if you know how to use what you've got properly. What all can you do with air manipulation? Suffocate people, for one, manipulate fire, manipulate a bit of weather, too--"

"She can hear things only Adanna can hear, too," Freddy offers.

"Sound manipulation," Ace adds agreeably. "I bet we could have you flying with the right stuff. You know those body suits--wingsuits. Ask Nico to get you one. Heck, get you some fine dust and you can have explosions with a bit of practice. You could do it in all different colors--they had a huge news report about how color runs can go flammable, right? Use it. Since you can control the fire directions, you can make it really flashy," he goes on, looking enthused.

All those years I was in school with him, he never talked this much. He hardly talked at all, actually. And here he is, going on about how to me ME, the girl that tormented him in his last school, into a decent cape. I stare at him, stunned.

"What?" he asks, suddenly looking self conscious.

"What changed you?" I ask. "I never thought I'd see you talk this much--much less try to help an ex-bully."

"I... I dunno," he says, looking a bit sheepish. "Cape High changed a lot of things for me. I've got friends--I spend my weekends hanging out with Justin and the zoo kids... people don't avoid looking me in the eye at this school. You saw what she did," he adds, motioning vaguely in the direction of the waitress. "I got that all of the time, no matter how I acted."

"Awww, group hug!" Freddy says, throwing himself at Ace. I burst out laughing as Ace shoves him off, trying not to laugh.

"Not in public, man!" Ace says.

"Oh, so you want hugged in private, huh? You're so daring!" Freddy says evilly.

"Ew, no, go hug yourself," Ace says, making a face. I'm dying, I think as I roar with laughter. I almost don't hear the boys, because of that.

"So what do we do?" a familiar voice asks a few booths away. I turn, watching as two black pre-teen boys walk slowly towards us. My eyes widen. "He's a super villain."

"Yeah, but he goes to Cape High--he can warn them, right?" the second whispers. They're trying their best to be silent, and I see them glance warily behind them. "She's going to ask what's taking so long, Jules," the second one whispers silently.

"Tell her you had to poop," Jules whispers. "A really big one."

"YOU tell her that!"

"Okay, I'll tell her you had to poop, forget about that for now--we need to tell Dragon what Mother--"

"Boys!" I hear their father call. "What's taking so long?"

"We uh, don't know where the bathroom is," Mitchell calls back.

"It's that direction," their father calls back. The two boys look at each other, swallowing loudly before turning and heading away from us.

"What can we do?" I hear one ask.

"I don't know... but if she catches us, she might kill us."

And then they're gone, leaving me clenching the table in front of me. Freddy and Ace are staring at me blankly.

"We need to call Nico," I say.

"Why?"

"Because something really bad is about to happen."

***

"All I know is that Mitchell and Jules were at the restaurant, and they seemed to be talking about Mother," I say over the phone as we fly back to the school campus. "I think they were with her there--their father was there. Is it possible that she's got Hard Knocks working for her?"

"It's possible," Nico admits. "It actually makes sense. They're due to be admitted into the school at any moment."

"So they're trying to infiltrate the school?" I ask.

"That's most likely. Did either of the guys hear the conversation?"