Aces Wild: Cape High Book Six by R.J. Ross Read Free Book Online Page A

earbud.  That would be seriously impressive.
    "Because I'm a mad scientist's experiment on a norm," he says.  "Only reason we're even talking right now is because my girlfriend happens to be the only healer around.  Look, Max said he's trying to talk you into being a villain, right?  Well you don't gotta if you don't wanna.  You've got it set up to follow in your old man's footprints, take on the hero title and save the world if you want.  Don't go getting pulled into something you don't know all about."
    "What's it like?" I ask.
    "Fun," he admits.  "Playing the villain, that is.  You gotta be careful about destroying things, and more often than not they make me go back in the middle of the night with the suits to fix the damage, but it's fun.  Only thing that really sucks is having to take the fall all the time."
    "Why do you have to?" I ask him, falling into an easy pace as Adanna slows down.  I can see the reflection of his skin ahead of me, so I know we're back to Death Canyon.
    "Because the world needs to know their heroes aren't wimps.  But don't worry, I don't have to work that hard to fail when it's Trent."
    "Or at all," Trent says as I reach the crowd of teens standing by the yellow tape.  It looks like the entire school is here, I realize.  They're all dressed in jeans and coats, except for one girl, who's wearing a frilly looking skirt instead of pant s.  She must have noticed me looking at her, because she turns and looks me straight in the eye.
    Why do I feel a chill go down my spine?  She doesn't even look that old!  But I can't seem to look away from her, fighting the urge to take a step back.  I mean, I've had moments where I've felt awkward around girls before, and she IS cute, but--
    "We're going with you," a new guy says, stepping forward.  I stare at him blankly.  Actually I'm staring at the seriously ugly plastic rimmed glasses that he's wearing.  Don't get me wrong, I've seen plastic rimmed glasses that look cool before, these are not them.  In fact I have to glance down and make sure he's not wearing a pocket protector--not that I'm sure what one of those actually looks like, but with his outfit it calls for that elusive piece of epic nerd-ery.  Nerdiness?  Whatever.
    "Who are you?" I ask bluntly.
    "He's Justin.  THE Justin.  Hysterical, right?" a shorter male says for him.  He's got a streak of white in his bangs, sort of like Nico.  He's the one that Adanna stops next to.  "I'm Sunny," he adds, holding out his hand.  "This is Adanna, that's Zoe, that's Emily, and the girl you were staring at is Noelle, and that's--"  I go back to looking at Noelle, who looks patently bored.
    I don't have that same urge to back up.  Maybe I imagined it or something.  I really don't know.  I mean, I'm surrounded by supers, right?  One of them has got to have noticed something off about the girl, right?  Yeah.  It's all in my head.
    "You just totally stopped listening, didn't you?" Justin asks.  What's so big about this guy, anyway?  THE--oh.  Wait.  Waaaait.
    "Are you the pop singer that sent a handful of girls into the hospital?" I ask him.  The entire group goes quiet and I wonder if I just went somewhere I shouldn't have.
    "Yeah," he says.  "I am.  And now you know why," he adds a bit dryly, motioning to the canyon.  The rest of the group looks at him and I see a few hints of surprise.  I wonder why.
    "I just broke some guy's fist," I tell him, since it feels awkward.  Why not just add to that awkwardness?  "With my face."
    I hear Jack choke and look over as he bursts out laughing.  "I gotta try that sometime!" he says.
    "Nobody's stupid enough to do it to you," Sunny says.
    "I bet there are," Jack says.
    "Okay, okay enough talking," Nico says as he steps through the group of teens.  "What's going to happen is this, the fight is scheduled to take place at the local park--not many people, but you can make it showy enough to bring in the media," he says to Jack.  "This