by Lucas Flint
“What if I went back inside and woke up Mom and Dad and told them what you were doing instead?” said Rebecca. “Maybe I’ll wake up your boyfriend, too. Really, all I need to do is scream loud enough for everyone to hear me and your little plan will fall apart like a house of cards.”
“And all I need to do,” said Shade, putting a hand on Rebecca’s shoulder, “is throw you into the shadows and see where you fall out. If you’re lucky, you might end up somewhere with cell phone service; if not, well, I hear that Siberia is nice this time of year.”
Rebecca yelped again and jumped away from Shade, holding up her rather thin arms in defense. Shade, meanwhile, just lowered her hand, the smirk never leaving her face as she looked at Rebecca.
“Who is she?” said Rebecca, looking at Blizzard in horror. “Another one of your super freak friends?”
“’Friend’ isn’t exactly the word I’d use to describe her,” said Blizzard. “More like barely tolerated acquaintance, if you catch my drift.”
“Can’t disagree with that, given how I feel the same way about you,” said Shade with a shrug.
“Anyway, Rebecca, please don’t tell anyone what we’re doing,” said Blizzard. “This mission is supposed to be top secret and I can’t let anyone else know about it, at least not right away.”
Rebecca folded her arms across her chest, a smug look on her face. “Sure, but only under one condition.”
Blizzard sighed in relief. “Great. What is it?”
“Take me with you,” said Rebecca.
Blizzard stared at Rebecca in shock, while Shade said, “No way. This mission is too dangerous to bring along an untrained normal girl like you. I’m already risking a lecture from my boss for bringing a non-government superhuman into it; if I bring along a girl like you, I might lose my job entirely.”
“So?” said Rebecca. “I want to come along. I don’t know what this mission entails, but if Emily can do it, so can I.”
“Stop being so stupid,” said Blizzard. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I think you just don’t want me to help you and get some of the credit for doing whatever it is you’re going to do,” said Rebecca. “As always, you want to hog all the glory and praise to yourself. I bet you were planning to complete this mission and then come back and tell Mom and Dad and get their praise. Of course, I don’t know why you would need to do that, given how Mom and Dad practically worship the ground you walk upon even when you don’t do anything, but you’ve always had a gigantic ego that always needed to be stroked, especially once you got your powers.”
Blizzard pressed her palms against her forehead, feeling a headache coming on, although not from the heat. “Rebecca, do you even hear yourself when you talk? You sound as batty as a brain-dead bear.”
“I don’t care,” said Rebecca. “I still have leverage and you don’t. One shout and I mess up your careful plans that you’re hiding from everyone else.”
Shade stepped forward, her hands already covered in shadow. “One shout and that will be the last thing you do.”
Rebecca’s face went even paler, but she didn’t back down. She met Shade’s gaze with defiance, but it came less from bravery and more from sheer stubborn foolishness. And at this point, if Shade actually did kill Rebecca, Blizzard was not sure that she would even try to stop her.
But Blizzard caught herself. As entertaining as it would be to see Shade teach Rebecca a lesson, Blizzard knew that they didn’t have time for that. And, as much as she despised Rebecca, she realized that her sister was indeed the one with leverage in this situation. Even if Blizzard and Shade just left, that would not stop Rebecca from running back into the house to tell their parents.
So Blizzard sighed heavily and said, “Okay, you can come along.”
“What?” said Shade. “No way. I’m the one in charge of this mission, not you, and—”
“And do you want everyone in the house to know about it?” said Blizzard. “You yourself told me this was supposed to be top secret. Unless you want your top secret mission compromised, we have to bring my sister along.”
“She’ll just be a liability,” said Shade.
“I can take care of myself,” said Rebecca. “I’m not a little kid. I’m the same age as Blizzard.”
“You sure don’t act like it,” Shade said.
Rebecca opened her mouth to argue further, but Blizzard raised her hands and said, “Stop arguing, both of you. Listen, Shade, I know we shouldn’t bring her along, but we have no choice unless you want to keep wasting time arguing. We have to bring her along, whether we want to or not.”
Shade looked like she was considering just leaving by herself, but then she nodded slowly, reluctantly, and said, “All right. She can come along.” But then she pointed a finger at Rebecca sharply. “But you need to stay out of the way. Don’t do anything unless we tell you to. And keep your mouth shut, because this mission will require stealth.”
Rebecca’s smirk grew even wider. “Of course. Unlike my sister, I don’t need to be told to behave. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
Blizzard rolled her eyes, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she took Shade’s hand, while Rebecca took her other, and then they all sank into shadow, traveling to wherever their mission was supposed to take them. Blizzard just hoped that Rebecca wouldn’t get in the way too much, at least.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Shell sat down on the left side of the table, while Sarah sat down opposite him on the right side. But Shell wasn’t looking at Sarah; instead, he was looking at the man who called himself Zanni, one of the Venetians. With his brightly-colored costume, strange mask, and funny hat, Zanni looked less like a dangerous supervillain and more like a silly clown, but Shell knew better than to underestimate this man; at least, he knew better than to underestimate the Venetians, despite not having met this particular Venetian before.
The Venetians were a team of supervillains financed by the billionaire John Mann, with each member of the team wearing a mask from Venice’s Carnival of Masks. Their true identities and goals were unknown, but Shell knew that they were not good people; they had kidnapped White, for one, and nearly killed Bolt more than once. It had been over two weeks since the Young Neos last clashed with the Venetians, but that didn’t mean that Shell had forgotten about them. He had not known about Zanni; however, the full lineup of the Venetians was still unknown even to the NHA, so it didn’t surprise him that there were more members than he knew about.
Zanni, thankfully, did not seem to notice or recognize Shell. Zanni leaned back in his chair, folding one leg over the other, his hands on his knee as if he was simply sitting down for a nice lunch with an old friend. Shell didn’t know what Zanni’s powers were, but he figured that they had to be very strong, given how powerful the other Venetians were. Even if Zanni’s powers were not very powerful, the fact was that the Venetians were quite the professional team. Shell wondered if Zanni was alone or if there were other Venetians somewhere in Phoenix; either way, Shell wished that Eli had allowed him to leave before Zanni arrived, if only so he could get back to the house safely and tell the others about the Venetians’ presence in Phoenix.
Keep your cool, Shell, Shell told himself, keeping his hands resting on his legs in what he hoped would make him look casual. Don’t do anything to attract Zanni’s attention. If he asks you more questions about who you are, just tell him you’re a kid interested in the Unwanted or something like that. If you’re lucky, you’ll go through this whole meeting without having to even speak to him.
Shell looked at Eli. Unlike him, Eli looked perfectly at ease, holding a small box about the size of a smartphone in his hands under the table. Zanni’s attention appeared to be on Eli and Eli alone, which was good, because Shell thought that Zanni might somehow figure out who he was if he looked at him too closely, despite the fact that Shell’s shell was hidden underneath his t-shirt and backpack. Keep your cool … keep your cool … keep your cool …
“Now, Zanni,” Eli said finally, “I assume you have the money?”
“Indeed I have,” said Zanni. He held up a large, fat-looking bag. “Right here, as per our agreement. Do you have the Call?”
“Of course,” said Eli.
He placed the box on the table in full view of everyone seated around the table. Zanni lowered his feet onto the floor and leaned forward, his eyes glittering through his mask’s eye holes. The box was rather ordinary and plain; if Shell had just seen it sitting around somewhere, he would have assumed that it was just an empty box. It had no markings or labels on it, but Eli held the box defensively, as if he didn’t want it to be stolen from his hands.
“Here it is,” said Eli, patting the box’s lid. “The Call, just as I told you.”
“May I see it?” said Zanni, his voice eager. “Just to be sure that you really have it.”
Eli smiled in an amused way. “No. Once we make the exchange, then you can look at it.”
Zanni pulled back, sitting upright and looking at Eli with a confused and hostile scowl. “So you can just make off with the money before I can find out if you’ve scammed me or not?”
“I’m a lot of things, but scammer is not one of them,” Eli replied. “I just don’t want to give you a chance to steal it before I get the money I want.”
“Eli, you know I am not a thief,” said Zanni. “I would never take something that didn’t belong to me.”
“Perhaps, but I know your employer and his methods well, too well in fact,” said Eli. “I know he has a tendency to, how should I put it, take the direct route to get what he wants, even if that means screwing over potential business partners. I simply want to ensure that I will get the money I need before I even let you look at it.”
Shell had no idea what ‘the Call’ was, but based on how annoyed Zanni looked at not getting a chance to see it, Shell guessed it must have been something very important. A weapon, perhaps? That didn’t make sense, because there was no way that a weapon that small could be worth anything unless it was a grenade or something. And given how valuable the weapon seemed to be, Shell doubted it was just an ordinary grenade.
“All right, all right,” said Zanni. “My employer will understand, I suppose. And if it turns out that you have scammed me, well, I know how to find you.”
“Of course,” said Eli. “Now, as for price: I want one million dollars for the Call.”
Shell’s eyes widened. A million dollars? That seemed like a huge price to him. Shell had never owned even one thousand dollars in his life. He looked at the box again; how could something so small be worth so much?
Zanni, on the other hand, looked rather unimpressed. “One million dollars? My, you’re rather unambitious, aren’t you?”
Again, Eli smiled. “One million dollars isn’t all that I want, Zanni. I thought you would have figured that out already.”
“What else do you want?” said Zanni. “Your own private plane? A third summer house, perhaps?”
Eli shook his head. “Nothing like that. Rather, I want information.”
For a moment, a look of genuine surprised appeared on Zanni’s face, but it vanished instantly, replaced by an amused grin. “Information? What kind of information, exactly? Do you want to know my middle name? Or perhaps the similarities between a raven and a writing desk?”
Eli’s own smile never left him. He leaned forward, keeping his hands on the box. “I want to know who the Starborn are.”
Zanni’s amused grin slipped off his face. Shell looked at Sarah, hoping that she might be able to help him know what Eli meant, but Sarah looked just as confused as Shell. That meant that Eli must have been keeping this part of the deal a secret even from his own allies, which meant it must have been extremely important. Why Eli apparently felt comfortable discussing it now, Shell did not know; maybe he just didn’t want to lose the chance to ask this question and so didn’t care who heard him ask it.
“Where did you hear that name?” said Zanni. The amusement in his voice was gone, replaced by fear.
“I learned it from the Call, naturally enough,” said Eli. He tapped the box’s lid. “The Starborn made the Call. That much I’ve figured out on my own. Beyond that, I know nothing else about them; however, I know that your employer has an interest in them, though I don’t know why.”
Zanni rubbed the back of his neck, looking like a trapped rat. “I am not at liberty to give such information to people like you. Even just telling you that I know this information could get me in big trouble with my employer.”
“That may be so, but it’s either I get the information and the money or you don’t get the Call at all,” said Eli. He pulled the box back across the table, closer to his chest. “And I know your employer isn’t the only man in the world with an interest in Starborn artifacts. I could sell this to many rich idiots; in fact, I already have a few alternate customers who would be interested in purchasing this object to add to their own private collection.”
“If you renege on the deal now, you do know that I could utterly crush you, yes?” said Zanni. “You know what my powers are. And I know what your powers are. In a fight, I could crush you easily, as well as these two teenagers. I wouldn’t even have to think about it.”
“True, you are more powerful than all of us put together,” said Eli. “Very few superhumans match you in terms of raw power. But I don’t think that that would be a particularly wise thing for even a superhuman as powerful as you.”
“And why, my little Eli, would you say that?” said Zanni. “You bluff very well, you know. Just like your father.”
Eli’s confident smile briefly turned into an angry scowl before he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to keep his cool and his confident smile returned. “Because if you try to use your powers on me, I’ll just destroy the Call right now and neither you nor your employer will be able to use it.”
“You wouldn’t,” said Zanni in a warning tone.
“I would,” said Eli. He placed a fist over the top of the box. “The Call is old, but also very fragile. I could crush it as easily as a soda can, if not easier, and much faster than you could use your powers to take it from me.”
“Are you so sure about that?” said Zanni. “I’m very quick.”
“I’m sure,” said Eli. “You, on the other hand, aren’t, or at least not so sure about your own speed. One lesson I did learn from my old man is that the confident man always crushes the uncertain man. Guess which one I am and which one you are in this particular conflict.”
Zanni’s eyes darted back and forth, as if he was trying to find something wrong with Eli’s logic. Shell had no idea what powers Zanni had or if Zanni was as strong as he seemed to think he was, but he was worried nonetheless that Zanni would just kill them all and take the Call himself.
Finally, however, Zanni leaned back in his chair, an annoyed look on his face. “Well played, young Eli, well played. In addition to the million dollars, I will tell you what I know about the Starborn.”
“Excellent,” said Eli. “I am glad that you are indeed capable of seeing reason. Let’s start the transaction, shall we?”
Just as Eli said that, a phone started ringing. Shell glanced at his suit-up watch, but its screen did not show anyone calling him. Neither Sarah nor Zanni answered their phones; Eli, however, pulled his ringing phone out of his pocket and held it up against his ear. “Chip, what is it? I’m still in the middle of a negotiation at the moment.”
A low voice that sounded like Chip’s came from the phone, but Shell, despite sitting so close to Eli, could not make out the individual words. The tone, however, sounded urgent and worried, causing Eli to frown.
“Okay, I see,” said Eli. “I’ll be down there momentarily. Thanks for letting me know. Keep the situation under control until I get down there.”
Eli ended the call, causing Shell to ask, “What’s the problem? What happened?”
“Nothing,” said Eli. “Just an attack.”
; “An attack?” Zanni repeated. “From who?”
“Chip isn’t sure,” said Eli. “He just said that two teenage girls are attacking the building. One is using ice powers, but the other one appears not to have any powers at all.”
Teenage girl with ice powers? Shell thought. Uh oh. I hope that isn’t who I think—
“Then I should leave,” said Zanni. He stood up. “I don’t want to get caught in some kind of attack.”
“Please don’t leave just yet,” said Eli. “You and I need to finish the transaction. Besides, there’s nothing to worry about; Chip and the others have the situation under control. Let’s just get this transaction over with and go our separate ways.”
Zanni opened his mouth, perhaps to tell Eli they could finish the transaction later, when a long, black tendril shot from out of the shadows of a corner of the room toward the Call. Eli frantically snatched the Call off the table at the last second; however, the black tendril still smashed the table in half, sending Shell falling backwards off his chair onto the floor. He hit the floor hard, his head spinning, but he managed to recover quickly enough to raise his head and see Eli, Sarah, and Zanni were all standing up, looking over at the dark corner of the room from which the tendril had emerged. There did not appear to be anyone or anything in that corner, but Shell felt like something was watching them from within the shadows anyway.
“Who is there?” Eli said. “Are you a thief?”
A feminine chuckle came from the shadow. “That’s a rather funny question, coming from a man who stole from the government. Then again, you revolutionary types always do have strange definitions of words. But I guess I might as well show myself anyway.”
From out of the shadows stepped a young, twenty-something woman, her skin a pale white, the light from the ceiling illuminating the G-Men patch on her right shoulder. But despite having stepped into the light, the woman still looked rather dark, as if she was standing just outside the light’s illumination. It was a strange effect, but given who this woman was, Shell wasn’t surprised.
