The Normals

Chapter Twenty Six: Double-Crossed

“Listen,” said Roger, “I’m offering you a very good deal. We have one helicopter still left in working condition. It even runs on autopilot. It’s enough to take you all back to the ground. You can go back to your headquarters, rest a bit, tell them the situation, and rally a second attack. What’s the problem here?”

Nicole folded her arms. “You’re the villain.”

“I really don’t do any villainy. I’m not very good at it. I’ve been told that I’m a bad liar, and not very threatening. Please. I don’t have any evil plans for you. I don’t have any plans at all. It would just be easier for everyone involved if you went along home now.”

“Exactly,” said James, “so you must have a trick planned.”

“You’d have to talk to Pet about that. She’s the one who plans all the tricks. I’m just the mechanic.”

There was a crowd standing in the hall on the top floor of the building, just before the elevator. That was how far Roger had managed to get the de-powered Supers to follow him before James and Nicole, the most well-rested and clear-thinking, had gotten them to stop. It was annoying, because Roger genuinely just wanted to send them off in comfort now that Marianne had their powers. There was no need for them to be on the Stuffed Cloud any more, and it would just be unpleasant for them to see the other Supers being rounded up and put into the Machine for Roger. He had no desire to subject them to that. He wasn’t evil or anything.

The elevator doors opened. Cindy Cyan stepped out. “Where’s the Shark?”

“Miss Cyan,” said Roger in surprise. “Weren’t you evacu—?“

She shoved past him and rushed down the hall.

The elevator doors opened again. Marianne flew out. “Where’s Cindy?”

“Why is she still here?”

“She’s a traitor. She’s trying to stop us. She brought my mom to yell at me.” Marianne looked at James and Nicole as if she had just noticed them. “Oh, hi. You guys are looking a lot better.”

Two fists punched her in perfect unison, and though the twins weren’t strong, the shock was enough to knock Marianne backwards a couple feet. She blinked.

“Are you still mad? Yeesh. Goodbye.”

She rose over their heads and shot down the hall. Cindy had dashed through the control room, her sensible shoes crunching shards of glass beneath them, and now she found the door to the Machine room. It was open. Marianne watched her charge through, calling the Shark’s name, and she heard her gasp when she found him.

He was lying in the middle of the floor, his arms tied behind his back, as if somebody had just left him there. Marianne could guess who. She watched as Cindy bent over him, a little bent shape detached from the shadows in the corner of the room and raced forward to bowl her over. Cindy was very good at being captured; she didn’t scream, but she kept struggling valiantly as Pet pulled her to the side of the room and handcuffed her to an exposed pipe.

“Stay there,” said Pet. “Be nice.”

“Thank you,” said Marianne to Pet. “I didn’t really want to take care of her myself. She is a Nomal, after all; she doesn’t deserve it.”

Pet nodded, smiling her constant twisted half-smile, as she returned to the Shark and resumed dragging him across the floor. “Help me,” she said. “To the Machine.”

“Right,” said Marianne, “it’s Roger’s turn now.” He weighed almost nothing as she picked him up using her new super powers, and he barely stirred at all. Marianne looked down at him, remembering what a jerk he’d been about letting her into the Fantastic City Supers, and wished he could be a bit more awake now to see how she was so much more Super than him. In fact, she thought, it’d be nice if she could be the one to get his power; she’d certainly deserved it, putting up with him all that time, and besides, controlling water would be fun. She felt a bit jealous of Roger. But she forced herself to let it go. “Should I go get him? He’s just down the hall.”