Ditto Ditto Read Online Free PDF

in place, “please come and talk to me--I’ll get you out with no fuss.”
    “Emily?” Carla asks.  “Did we just kidnap a building full of norms?”
    “Yep, we sure did,” I say, trying to wrap my mind around it and promptly giving up.  “Eh, he’ll let the ones that need to go go,” I tell her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and grinning.
    “You sure?” she asks.
    “Yep, it’ll be fine,” I declare.  Have I mentioned that Nico just happens to be an ex super villain?  He does some of the craziest things without blinking--and Jack just totally goes along with it.  Then again, Jack’s a super villain, too.  “Let me grab some money and we’ll go hit the games,” I tell her, letting go and heading for the richest kid in the class--Max.
    Max is sitting at a table next to Zoe, drawing on a napkin.  He’s got a few of the zoo kids watching curiously, but it’s Ace that’s right in front of him, leaned over the paper with a thoughtful expression.  “Yeah, what we need are some massive speakers,” Ace says, pointing at the picture.  “Here, here, and here.  That way we can get the whole echo thing going on--”
    “Kind of hard to do when it’s the Super Bowl,” Max says.
    “You’re really going to crash the super bowl?” a zoo kid girl asks, looking shocked that she spoke up.  She covers her mouth with her hand, squeaking slightly.
    “Sure,” Max and Ace say, as if it’s perfectly normal.
    “Max, can I borrow some money?” I ask, holding out a hand with a wide grin.  “My group wants to play some games, but I’ve got no cash.”
    “Shouldn’t you be borrowing from your boyfriend?” Max asks, digging out his wallet and handing over a couple of twenties.
    “I will when we’ve finished with yours!”  He shakes his head as I run off for the quarter machine, then goes back to plotting the next super bowl.  I call the others over to scoop up all the quarters and we head into the games, joined soon by Trent and a sheepish looking Lance.
    “Did you hit up Max again?” Trent asks as he moves to my side, watching as Carla and I do a round of DDR.  She’s kicking my butt thoroughly, by the way.
    “Yep,” I say shamelessly as the game ends. 
    “You could have waited until I got back, you know,” he says quietly, only to turn as Jack approaches us.
    “Do we know anything new about Mega?” Jack asks him, moving so he’s casually standing at the entrance of the game room next to Trent.
    “Not yet, but Aubrey healed him, right?” Trent says.  “Think we should call Dad when we get a chance?  He’s probably heard by now.”
    “Yeah, good idea.”
    I pop another couple of quarters into the game and let Carla pick the next song, not saying a word.  Somehow that quiet statement about waiting for him makes me feel extremely guilty.  I just don’t know why.
     
    ***
                               
    “So what you’re saying,” Mastermental says, leaning back in his chair casually as he stares at the large Texan standing on the other side of his desk, “is that one of your capes--the super villain side, but regardless--got stood up and is taking it out on my team, and it just happens to be my fault.”
    “Yes,” Century says bluntly.  “Skystep was never informed that Flame was coming up here--she’s hard enough to handle when her favorite sparring buddy is on call twenty-four seven.  You take him away and she takes out half of my team before someone finally gets the chance to tell her!”
    “Who told her?”
    “Voltdrain bought her a smoothie,” Century mutters, shaking his head as he recalls the embarrassing scene on television.  “It calmed her down long enough to listen--but if you’d followed the proper procedures, we wouldn’t be having this problem!”
    “So, before we go passing the blame on this, why don’t you make a list of villains that interact with Flameblaster on a regular basis,” Mastermental says, “along with