by Lucas Flint
Where is Sarah? Shell thought, tapping his foot impatiently against the street. She said she’d meet me here at midnight. It’s three minutes until midnight, but still.
The fact was that Shell had had plenty of time to think over Sarah’s offer on his way back to Blizzard’s parents’ house earlier that day. At first, Shell had decided to just throw out the card Sarah had given him and forget all about her, but Sarah’s words had struck a chord within him, one he couldn’t pretend did not exist. That was why he called Sarah as soon as he was in his guest room at the house and arranged to meet with her and the leader of the Unwanted that very night.
That was an unusual move for Shell. Normally, he liked to take things slow and easy. He hated rushing into anything, especially anything important, but he had felt like this was something he couldn’t mull over, especially since he and the others were not going to be in Phoenix forever. There weren’t a whole lot of lessons that he had picked up from Father, but one lesson he did remember was to never let opportunities pass you by. Especially ones like this; despite what Sarah had told him earlier, Shell had a feeling that if he had not scheduled this meeting for tonight, he would never have been able to schedule it again.
Speaking of Father, Shell had received several texts from Radicles earlier about possibly getting together for lunch, but Shell had not responded to any of them. He felt a little bad about it, but Shell just didn’t want to hang out with Father right now, if ever. Father was just too embarrassing; besides, Shell’s anxiety had been building all day in anticipation of the meeting and he doubted he would have been able to hang out with anyone as a result.
Additionally, Shell had not told the others about where he was going. He had sneaked out of Blizzard’s parents’ house half an hour ago and took the bus to get here. As far as he knew, no one had seen or heard him leave; his teammates had all been sleeping soundly in the rooms, while Blizzard’s family had been knocked out entirely. It was actually amazing that Shell had managed to sneak out without being noticed; he was normally too clumsy to be able to sneak around unnoticed.
I just hope that no one wakes up in the middle of night and goes to check on me, Shell thought. That will be hard to explain.
But Sarah had told Shell that the meeting with the Unwanted leader (whose name he still didn’t know) would not be very long, perhaps an hour or so. Hopefully, Shell should be back in his room before anyone realized he was gone.
Actually, hearing a familiar voice would be kind of nice right now, Shell thought, looking around the deserted street in which he stood. At least then I’d feel a lot less alone.
According to the GPS on Shell’s watch, this was the place where he was supposed to meet Sarah, but he was starting to doubt that he had got the right place, because this part of the city just seemed so dark, sinister, and run down that he had a hard time imagining anyone living here. It seemed less like a place where members of a social movement would gather and more like where a gang or mafia would base their headquarters in. Shell had not even seen any police cars around here, despite having seen officers everywhere else in Phoenix since arriving here.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps from somewhere in the darkness. Shell looked around rapidly, thinking it might be a criminal coming to rob him, but then Sarah stepped into the light of the street lamp. She looked exactly the same as she had earlier that day, except for her hair, which was no longer done in braids, but was in a simple ponytail now.
“Oh, it’s you,” said Shell with a sigh. “Thought you were a criminal or something.”
“Sorry for not speaking up,” said Sarah. “I just didn’t want to scare you. Anyway, I’m glad to see that you came. I thought that you might … well, never mind what I thought. What matters is that you are here and on time. That’s important, because our leader doesn’t like people who are late to his meetings.”
“Uh, right,” said Shell. “Where am I going to meet him?”
“You’ll see,” said Sarah. She turned around. “Come and follow me.” But then she paused and said, “You weren’t followed, were you?”
“No, I don’t think I was,” said Shell. “Why?”
“Oh, no reason,” said Sarah. “It’s just that our leader has many enemies and doesn’t want any of them to find him, you understand.”
“Why does he have enemies?” said Shell. “Why would anyone hate the Unwanted?”
“Some people simply disagree with our message,” said Sarah with a shrug. “And they express their disagreement in a rather violent way. But don’t worry about that; as long as no one followed you, we should all be safe tonight.”
Shell nodded. “Okay. Are we going to go in now?”
“Yes,” said Sarah. “Follow me.”
Sarah turned around and walked back into the alleyway from which she had emerged. Shell followed closely behind, looking over his shoulder once just to make sure that no one was following them. He didn’t see anyone out on the dark streets tonight, although he did see a black cat that quickly hid behind a nearby dumpster. He turned his attention to Sarah’s back, doing his best to keep up with her as they turned a corner, going deeper and deeper into the alleyways of the city to wherever Sarah was taking him.
Eventually, they arrived in front of a tall apartment building that Sarah claimed was where the Unwanted were based. It looked like every other building in Phoenix, which would have made Shell miss it if Sarah had not stopped in front of its front door and knocked sharply on its surface.
A second later, a slit in the door slid open, revealing two eyes that looked down at Shell and Sarah. “Yes? Who is it?”
“It’s me, Sarah,” said Sarah, gesturing at herself. “And I have a guest with me tonight, the one who is supposed to meet the leader. The Young Neo.”
“Ah,” said the eyes, its voice becoming softer. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you there for a second. Hold on for a moment.”
The slit slammed shut, followed by the sounds of locks being undone. A second later, the door opened and Sarah entered without hesitation. Shell only hesitated for a second, looking up and down the street one more time before entering after her. As soon as Shell crossed the threshold, the door closed behind him, briefly plunging him into darkness before someone turned on a white light on the ceiling. This allowed Shell to see that he was standing in a somewhat narrow, barren hallway, though he wasn’t alone; Sarah stood before him, while a man he had never seen before was doing the locks on the door behind him.
The man locking the door was stout but strong-looking, with a mop of thick gray hair on his head. His eyes were rather small and beady, but his thick arms and barrel-like body made him look like a strongman. He wasn’t much taller than Shell, despite being much older than him, although Shell figured that this guy could take him in a fight.
“Thanks for letting us in, Chip,” said Sarah, smiling at the man as he finished locking the door. “Sorry about not letting you know ahead of time about this meeting, though. It was kind of a last minute thing.”
The man named Chip turned around and shrugged. “Not a problem, Sarah. Whatever Eli wants, he gets. Besides, I never sleep very well anyway, so I don’t mind staying up later than I usually do.”
“Oh, Shell? This is Chip,” said Sarah, as if she just remembered that Shell was here and had not yet been introduced to this man. “And Chip, this is Shell.”
Chip held out a huge, meaty hand toward Shell. “Nice to meet you, Shell. Where are you from?”
Shell shook Chip’s hand, which was so huge that it completely covered his own. “Uh, New Mexico, though my parents were from Arizona.”
“New Mexico, eh?” said Chip as he took his hand away from Shell’s. “I’ve never been out there before.”
“Yeah, it’s not much,” said Shell with a shrug. “Anyway, what’s your superhero name?”
Chip suddenly looked as if Shell had just insulted his mother, although Shell wasn’t sure what he had done wrong; after all, he had just asked Chip
what he considered to be a fairly ordinary question that one superhuman would ask another.
Sarah put a hand on Shell’s shoulder and said quickly, “Ah, Shell, the Unwanted don’t use superhero code names. We just use our regular names when referring to each other.”
“Why?” said Shell. “I thought all superhumans had code names.”
“Because not everyone wants to be a superhero or supervillain,” said Chip. His friendly tone was gone, replaced by a more bitter one. “A lot of us just want to live normal lives. That’s what the Unwanted is all about.”
“Yes, what Chip said,” said Sarah. “It’s another reason the Unwanted exist. Not all superhumans want to spend their days fighting supervillains and criminals, putting our lives in danger and saving the world. Some of us just want to be normal, or as normal as we can be, anyway.”
“Oh,” said Shell. “Okay.”
But Shell didn’t really understand it. Well, he did to some extent; after all, fighting supervillains was hardly a safe job. Being a superhero was kind of like being a police cop in that one never knew if they were going to get killed while on the job. Still, Shell had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea of superhumans who didn’t use any sort of code names. The only superhuman he knew of who didn’t use some sort of code name was Cadmus Smith, the leader of the G-Men, but the G-Men were always kind of different from the Neohero Alliance anyway, so Shell had never given that much thought.
Sarah immediately started walking down the hallway and Shell followed just as quickly. Chip didn’t join them; instead, Chip disappeared through a doorway on the right side of the hall, though where he was going, Shell didn’t know. Shell wondered if his question had offended Chip so much that he didn’t want to be around him anymore. Or maybe Chip just had something he needed to do.
But thinking about superhumans and their code names caused another question to pop into Shell’s mind. “Sarah? What’s your superpower? You didn’t tell me.”
“I can stretch any part of my body like rubber,” said Sarah without looking over her shoulder at him. “I’d probably be called Elastigirl or something dumb like that if I was an actual superhero.”
“Having a body made of rubber doesn’t seem like such a useless power to me,” said Shell. “Actually, it seems pretty useful.”
“Trust me, it’s not nearly as useful as it seems,” said Sarah. “Anyway, Eli should be in the dining room, so let’s head there.”
“Eli,” Shell repeated as he and Sarah began ascending a set of stairs going up to the next floor. “Is that your leader’s name?”
“Yes,” said Sarah. “Eli Corey. He’s a great man and the founder of the movement. He’s done more for Unwanted superhumans like us than anyone else. He’s a true hero in my eyes, unlike all of those other so-called ‘heroes’ in the big superhero organizations.”
“What kind of powers does he have?” said Shell.
“You’ll see,” said Sarah.
When they reached the second floor of the building, Sarah led Shell down the hallway until they arrived in front of a door that had two large, burly men with guns not-so-subtly concealed under their shirts standing in front of it. The two men looked tough, with arms big enough to smash rocks, but Shell couldn’t tell what kind of superpowers they had. Nonetheless, he stayed about a foot or so away from them while Sarah walked up to them like she had known them her whole life.
“Hi, guys,” said Sarah, waving at the two men. “Eli’s guest is here. He’d like to meet him now.”
The two men—who must have been Eli’s bodyguards, Shell realized—looked at Shell for a moment like they were trying to determine if he had any weapons on him, but then they nodded and stepped aside without another word. Sarah gestured for Shell to follow her and she entered the room, pushing the doors open before her. Shell once again followed, but rather quickly, because he was worried that the two bodyguards might try to bar his entrance if he was too slow. Shell may have had an impenetrable shell on his back, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be beaten up by guys who were bigger and tougher than him.
Stepping into the dining room, Shell looked around at his surroundings. It was not a particularly elaborate place; there was a rectangle-shaped table in the center of the room, with six chairs seated around it. The table was covered with a simple white tablecloth and had no plates or silverware on it; that was probably because dinner had been hours ago. A black curtain hung over a nearby window, blocking off the view of the street outside, while florescent lights glowed from the ceiling, illuminating the room quite well.
But the table was not empty, because sitting at the end of the table was a man who Shell had never seen before. He was tall and lean, wearing a simple white button-down shirt that fit him well. He had a black goatee and a bald head. He looked to be in his early thirties or so, but his brown eyes gave off the impression that he was far more mature and experienced than his appearance let on. He had apparently been reading something on a tablet set on the table, but when Shell entered, the man removed the tablet from the table and put it under the table, probably on his lap. There was also a small box, but he hid that one under the table as well.
“Eli,” said Sarah, who Shell suddenly noticed standing a few feet away from him. “Shell is here and ready for the meeting.”
“Excellent news, Sarah,” said Eli. His voice was deep and smooth, which made Shell like him already. He stood up, a smile on his face. “Welcome, Shell. My name is Eli Corey and I am the leader of the Unwanted.”
“Uh, hi,” said Shell, waving at Eli. “I’m—well, I see you already know who I am, so I won’t waste time with introductions.”
“Quick and to the point,” said Eli, nodding in approval. “That’s what all of the rumors I heard about you said. It is good to see that you are living up to the reputation you have.”
“I have a reputation?” said Shell in surprise.
“Of course you do,” said Eli. “Everyone has a reputation; some are simply more well-known than others. Please sit down so we can talk in a more comfortable way.”
Feeling relieved that he no longer had to stand around looking awkward, Shell took a seat at the opposite end of the table. Sarah sat down as well, but she sat near Eli, which seemed to be a deliberate move on her part. Eli, however, apparently didn’t notice her, because he was looking at Shell, his fingers steepled together like a pyramid.
“I apologize for scheduling this meeting so abruptly,” said Shell, scratching the back of his head. “It’s just that I was so uncertain about the Unwanted that I didn’t know what I wanted to do until the last minute. And I still feel kind of conflicted about it.”
“Oh, it’s not a problem,” said Eli. “While I do have another engagement tonight, I still have time to talk with you about the Unwanted. Besides, I am usually up this late anyway; I’m not much of a morning person.”
“Neither am I,” said Shell with a shrug, though he did wonder what other ‘engagements’ Eli had tonight. “Anyway, Eli, the reason I am here tonight is because I want to know if you really can make me stronger. Sarah told me you could, but she wouldn’t say how.”
“That’s because that is our greatest secret,” said Eli. “It’s a secret that is only supposed to be known among the Unwanted’s inner circle. I don’t want this kind of knowledge to become known to the world at large, to put it lightly. Such knowledge, in the hands of the wrong people, could be … disastrous, to put it one way.”
“Have you developed some kind of formula that lets you artificially increase a superhuman’s power or something?” said Shell. “Are you afraid of the formula ending up the wrong hands?”
“It’s not a formula or chemical,” said Eli. “It is highly unlikely that it would ever fall into the wrong hands, but I would still prefer it if no one knew about it.”
“Let me guess,” said Shell, “since I’m not one of you guys, you aren’t going to tell me what it is, right?”
“Actually, I will tell you about it,” said
Eli. “I trust that you are not going to tell anyone else about it. Besides, you would not have come this far if you weren’t interested in joining us.”
Shell would never admit it, but Eli had a point. Although Shell was still uncertain about the Unwanted, he wasn’t nearly as uncertain about them as he had been before. There was no guarantee that he would join the Unwanted, but at the same time, Shell’s curiosity made him want to learn more and more about them.
“Tell me what it is, then,” said Shell. “I promise not to tell anyone else about it. I’m good at keeping secrets.”
“Very well,” said Eli. “You see, the method we use to make superhumans stronger is not a formula, chemical, or even a device.” He held up his hands. “It is these.”
“Your hands?” said Shell. “How are your hands supposed to make me stronger?”
“Perhaps I should clarify,” said Eli. His hands balled into fists. “As a superhuman myself, I have a power just like everyone else, but it is rather unusual than most superhuman powers. In my opinion, it is more powerful than most.”
“What do you mean by that?” said Shell. “Define ‘more powerful,’ please.”
“It’s simple,” said Eli. “With a touch of my hands, I can either increase the strength of a superhuman’s existing power or unlock a brand new one from within their brain. Of course, the latter part only works on young superhumans like yourself who are still growing and developing their powers, but even the boosting part alone is enough to make my power dangerous.”
“I’ve never heard of a superhuman who can make other superhumans stronger,” said Shell. He scratched the back of his head. “I remember Robert Candle could negate and copy the powers of other superhumans, but he was the only superhuman I know of who could directly manipulate the powers of other superhumans.”
