Free Sunny Daze by R.J. Ross

almost bland tone.  Max stares at him as Ace chokes on a laugh and looks away.  The glare is turned on Ace, who looks back with a tiny smile.
    “They are,” he says.
    “Well we just wanted to check out your bases,” Max says, changing the subject.  “Since you know what we’re staying in, it’s only fair.”
    “Well… it’s not anything fancy,” Sunny says, moving Cubby off of his lap and standing.  “C’mon in, though, it’s not like you haven’t figured out where it is,” he adds with a shrug.  For a moment Max assumes that he’s just sleeping on a branch and then corrects himself.  Even if Sunny WANTED to just sleep on a branch, it wouldn’t work out that way.
    He lands on a limb and follows Sunny inside, glancing briefly down at Cubby.  Cubby points a finger at him, then two fingers at his eyes, and then points at him in the classic “I’m watching you” move.
    Whoever taught a four year old a move like that… would probably be Adanna, he thinks with reluctant amusement.
    “Huh,” Sunny says, making Max look up, “looks like the tree decided to decorate.”
    “The tree… decorated,” Ace repeats incredulously.
    Max looks past Sunny at the plush green floor and flowers decorating the wall.  “The tree decorated,” he agrees.  He’s not even surprised to see Cubby jump to one of the higher branches in the “ceiling” with his blowpipe in his hand.  The little boy is staring at him.
    “I don’t think he likes you,” Ace whispers silently as he moves closer to Max.
    “Trust me, I picked up on that,” Max replies equally silently.  They both stare at the boy, who gives them such a mischievous grin that he’s positive the boy heard every word.
    “Cubby, buddy, are you getting hungry?” Sunny asks, holding up his hands to the boy.  Cubby happily jumps into the offered arms. “Me too.  Let’s go see if it’s lunch time yet!”
    The tree branches shift and Max takes to the air as he feels them leaning towards the ground.  Sunny walks down them as if they were a staircase.  They snap back into place as soon as the two are down, leaving Ace and Max standing in Sunny’s base.
    “How does he DO that?” Ace asks after a long moment of silence.  “Not the tree thing--the total obliviousness thing.  He’s faking it, right?”
    Max stares blankly thought the tree limbs, watching the two walk away.  “He’s dating the kid’s big sister, you know?  Imagine how dangerous it would be if Adanna was here instead of her little brother.”
    “Let me guess, he wouldn’t notice then, either.”
    “Not a thing.  Probably even less than he does now.”
     
    ***
     
    “Your son is terrifying, my friend,” Pan says as he sits in a tree, watching the little visit go down.  “How are you dealing with your father?”
    “I’d rather talk about my kid,” Nico drawls over the phone.  “I’ve actually contacted Voltdrain over the energy output theory--it worked with finding Star Born.  He says for a while he was noticing spikes in the area, but they recently stopped.  We know how quickly they can move with Shadowman, so it’s not that surprising… but for the past week or so, we haven’t seen a thing.”
    “So they’re off the grid?”
    “It’s the only thing we can think of,” Nico admits.  “Voltdrain is as good as I am at sensing energy spikes in the system--actually, he looks out for them more than I do.  He says he thought he found them not too long ago, but they were gone soon--sooner than he could get permission to break into a four star hotel,” he adds in a disgusted tone, “I don’t like Shadowman, but I do admire his capabilities--he’s extremely good at running away.”
    “I see… being a super hero can be a bit tiresome, can’t it?” Pan says.
    “Seems like it.  Regardless, the old man and I are searching for clues--I got stuck searching the files of the hotel, he’s calling ancient contacts.”
    “Ancient contacts?” Panther repeats