by Lucas Flint
So Shell quickly formed a protective red bubble around Father and gently lifted him out of the crater in which he lay. He carefully, albeit shakily due to his inexperience, moved Father all the way to the other side of the street, near the destroyed dumpster, and then laid him carefully on the street. Just as he did that, he heard a groan and looked over to see that Zanni was already rising back to his feet.
Deciding that this was his best chance to get Zanni, Shell fired two more energy bubbles at him. But Zanni winked out of existence, causing the bubbles to pop harmlessly against the side of the building. Shell looked around wildly, but he could not see Zanni anywhere.
How did he disappear like that? Shell thought. Can he teleport, too?
A shadow suddenly fell over him and Shell looked over his shoulder. Zanni stood above him, a twisted grin on his face. Zanni immediately grabbed Shell by the neck and lifted him up. Shell’s arms and legs flailed, but he couldn’t hit Zanni because his limbs were so short. He could just barely breathe as Zanni lifted him a foot off the ground, an evil madness glinting in Zanni’s eyes.
“You know, it would probably be more productive for me to chase after Eli,” said Zanni, his voice every bit as mad as his eyes. “But my employer gave all Venetians orders to kill any Young Neos we run across. Your friend who I sent flying should hit this very street soon, which will be rather messy, and once I am done with you, I will have taken out two of my employer’s worst enemies.” Zanni brought Shell closer, his hot, onion-smelling breath washing over Shell’s face. “Truthfully, though, I simply dislike anyone who harms my teammates or gets in the way of our plans. My employer’s plans for humanity are glorious and any who oppose it must be crushed like an ant.”
Shell couldn’t respond. Even though Zanni appeared to be a fairly thin man, he had a vice-like grip, making it impossible for Shell to speak. And then Zanni’s grip tightened on his neck, making him gasp, but he was unable to breathe in any more air. What little air he did manage to inhale was mixed with Zanni’s disgusting onion breath, which made Shell gag. Shell couldn’t even reach his suit-up watch to send a distress signal to the rest of the team.
This is it, Shell thought. I’m done, at the tender age of thirteen, and I’ve never even kissed a girl. I now understand what that phrase ‘the good always die young’ means.
Abruptly, an arrow with a suction cup head came flying out of nowhere and landed at Zanni’s feet. Zanni looked down at it in confusion and surprise. Shell also managed to look down at it and see a small, blinking red light on its shaft. He immediately knew what this arrow did; Zanni, on the other hand, was still staring at it like he had never seen an arrow in his life.
Knowing what was about to happen next, Shell summoned a red energy barrier around himself. The barrier enveloped Zanni’s hand and the sudden increase in temperature caused Zanni to gasp in pain and drop Shell. Shell’s barrier hit the ground and rolled a few feet away just as the arrow exploded at Zanni’s feet.
Zanni screamed as he was covered in a thick cloud of yellow powerless gas. Because Shell was still near Zanni, he was also bathed in it; however, Shell’s barrier kept the gas from actually touching his skin and taking away his own powers. Even so, the blast from the explosion sent Shell rolling a few more feet uncontrollably until he bounced into the wall. His head spun from the impact, but he recovered his senses in time to look at Zanni.
The Venetian still stood, despite having taken the brunt of the blast. His outline was just barely visible in the thick cloud of powerless gas that covered him, but Shell could hear him coughing and hacking from inhaling so much gas. Shell hoped that Zanni perhaps had some sort of allergic reaction to the gas that might kill him or at least knock him out.
Unfortunately, Zanni just stepped out of the gas cloud, or really staggered. His hat was askew and his clothing had yellow dust on it, but he otherwise looked unharmed. He was hacking and coughing worse than ever, but he didn’t sound quite as bad as he had within the cloud itself.
“What … what was that?” said Zanni in a weak voice, punctuated by a bad cough every now and then. “Who shot that arrow?”
Suddenly, Father appeared behind Zanni, who whirled around to face him. Father’s head was still bleeding, his toga was still torn, and his left arm might have been dislocated; however, even from a distance, Shell could see the sheer anger coursing through Father’s whole body. Even with his sunglasses on, it was obvious that Father was murderously angry, and Zanni just happened to be in his way.
“You!” Zanni said, pointing weakly at Father. “I thought you were dead.”
“Sorry to disappoint, dude, but I’m made of sterner stuff than that,” said Father. “There’s a reason I named myself Radicles, after the raddest hero of all Greek mythology, after all.”
Zanni growled. “Strength and endurance can’t stand against my reality-warping powers!”
Zanni thrust out a hand toward Father, perhaps intending to vanish him like he did Shade. But nothing happened; Father did not disappear or even move slightly. He just stood there, his hands on his waist, looking at Zanni with severe disappointment on his features.
“What … why won’t my powers work?” said Zanni.
“Powerless gas, my dude,” said Father. “Really helpful for taking down stupid supervillains like you.”
With that, Father drew back one of his fists and slammed it into the side of Zanni’s face. Zanni immediately collapsed into a heap on the street, smacking his head against the concrete and lying very still on the street; obviously not dead, but clearly out for the count.
Sighing in relief, Shell dropped the barrier around his body. He was still panting and sweating, but he no longer felt as afraid as he used to, at least.
All of a sudden, however, Father dropped to his hands and knees. Father grabbed his shoulder and winced, causing Shell to run over to him to make sure he was okay.
“Father, are you all right?” said Shell, stopping beside him and putting a hand on his back. “I didn’t know you could still stand after what Zanni did to you.”
“I’ll be okay,” said Father, although his strained voice made Shell doubt that. “Gonna need to take a trip to the hospital, though. These injuries are so totally not cool.”
“I’ll call nine-one-one,” said Shell. “Just hang in there, all right?”
“What about your friend?” said Father. “The girl, Blizzard?”
Shell couldn’t believe that he had nearly forgotten Blizzard, but before he could answer, he heard a scream above and looked up into the sky. At first, he didn’t see anything, but then he spotted a small dot against the night sky that was growing larger and larger with each passing second. And not only was it growing larger, but it was getting louder and louder and Shell realized that its scream was incredibly familiar:
It was Blizzard. And she was falling straight toward her death.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Although Blizzard was screaming her head off, she couldn’t breathe. The whole world spun around her; she was falling head over heels through the air, her cape and hair whipping wildly about her, making her senses even more confused. The ground and sky kept changing places with each other, to the point where she sometimes thought she was falling up rather than down. She couldn’t concentrate long enough to use her powers; of course, it wasn’t like her ice powers would be of much use in breaking her fall. She couldn’t even reach her suit-up watch to call for help, though given how fast she fell, she doubted that even Bolt would be able to get there in time to save her.
Every glimpse of the street below showed Blizzard that she was getting closer and closer to smashing into it. She couldn’t believe that this was how she was going to die. She cursed herself for agreeing to help Shade and she vowed that the next time Shade asked her to help her, she would run the other way as fast as she could. Then she remembered that she was going to die, which made that vow pointless.
All of a sudden, however, Blizzard caught a glimpse of something below directly be
neath her. It was a flash of red light, which she at first thought was just another light from the city’s buildings, but then the light flashed again and a long, red barrier suddenly appeared in her path. It was flat and square, shaped like a two by four, but from what Blizzard could see, it looked as solid as the concrete street below. It was much closer than the street, however, which was how Blizzard knew that she was going to be smashed into a billion pieces once she hit it. Her death would just come much sooner.
But when Blizzard fell onto the barrier, she did not crash through it immediately. Instead, the barrier caught her like a trampoline, breaking the speed of her fall and slowing her down without hurting her. She still pushed against it, but the barrier was strong enough to hold her. Then it slowly but surely began to push her up, inch by inch, until soon Blizzard found herself lying on the barrier’s flat surface. Although it was transparent, it was solid enough to hold her weight.
Her heart beating fast, Blizzard sat up and looked around. She was still high up in the air; however, she was much closer to the ground now and she was no longer above every building in the city. She had no idea where the barrier had come from or who had made it; she worried that it might have just been another trick from Zanni. After all, he had said that he wanted to ‘play’ with her and Shell before killing them. Maybe he had created this barrier in order to ‘play’ with her a little before finishing her off in the most brutal way possible.
Then the barrier began to descend. It was a slow, jerky motion, causing Blizzard to lie down to avoid falling off as it came closer and closer to the street. In a couple of minutes, Blizzard was back on the street where she had been standing previously, with the barrier only a couple of inches off the ground. A split second later, the barrier vanished and Blizzard landed on her bottom. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but it didn’t hurt very much and it definitely did not kill her like that fall would have. For that, Blizzard was thankful, although she still didn’t know who had saved her until she heard Shell shout, “Blizzard!”
Blizzard looked over her shoulder. Shell and Radicles were walking over to her, although Radicles was leaning slightly on Shell for support. Zanni lay on the street behind them, looking unconscious, while a cloud of yellow gas that looked like powerless gas floated silently next to him, although the gas was already dissipating and would soon be gone. Blizzard rose to her feet, rubbing her back as she turned to face Shell and Radicles.
“Shell, Radicles?” said Blizzard. “What happened? Where did that barrier come from?”
“Me,” said Shell in a somewhat sheepish tone as he and Radicles stopped before Blizzard. “It’s part of my new powers. I wasn’t sure it would catch you, but it was the only way I could think of to save you from becoming a splattered mess on the street. Looks like it worked.”
“It was pretty rad,” said Radicles, who, despite the pain in his voice, sounded as confident and energetic as he always did. “Really rad, actually. But I shouldn’t be surprised, since he’s my son, after all, which means that he is automatically radical.”
While Radicles said that with one hundred percent sincerity, Shell looked more than a little embarrassed by his father’s praise. But he didn’t look anywhere nearly as embarrassed as he had the day before, so perhaps he was getting used to his father’s praise.
Regardless, Blizzard looked over at Zanni. “Is he down?”
“For the count,” said Radicles, giving Blizzard the thumbs up. “And I hit him with some powerless gas, too, so even if he wakes up, he won’t be much of a threat even to me.”
“You guys actually beat him?” said Blizzard in surprise. “No way. We’ve never beaten a Venetian before; at least, not like this. If we can hold him here, then we might be able to take him back to Hero Island and interrogate him about the other Venetians. Or at least send him to Ultimate Max, if nothing else.”
“Yeah,” said Shell, nodding. “That sounds like a good idea. But first, we’ll need to contact the rest of the team.”
“Are you sure about that?” said Blizzard. “You seemed surprised to see me. Like you were doing something that you shouldn’t.”
Shell gulped and avoided looking at her eyes. “Oh, well, it doesn’t really matter what I was doing here, you know, since it’s done and over with. The important thing is that we get the whole team here to grab Zanni and take him away. We should probably also contact the NHA and let them know what happened. That way, they can send someone in to take him to Ultimate Max or wherever he is going to go.”
“No, I want to know what you were doing here in the first place,” said Blizzard. “I didn’t even know you were here until you came out of the building with Eli and Sarah. Did you sneak out of the house without letting us know? And, if so, why?”
“I—”
“And don’t lie,” said Blizzard, holding up a warning finger. “We’re friends and friends don’t lie to each other. Tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
“Do I really have to do it right now?” said Shell. “Father here really needs to—”
“Nah, I’ll be fine for a few more hours,” said Radicles, patting Shell on the back. “You can answer your friend’s questions without worrying about me. These injuries aren’t as bad as they look.”
“If your dad is telling you to be honest with me, then I think that’s a pretty clear sign that you should be honest with me,” said Blizzard. “Now, tell me, what were you doing here and why did you not tell the rest of us where you were going? And what’s up with your new powers? Where did those come from?”
Shell looked like he would rather jump off a cliff than have to come clean with Blizzard, but thankfully, he just sighed and said, “All right, I—”
“He was interested in learning more about the Unwanted,” said a voice from a nearby alleyway. “That’s all.”
Blizzard looked in the direction from which the voice came. Eli Corey stepped out of the shadows of a nearby alleyway, along with Sarah and Rebecca. All three of them looked fine, although Rebecca was still shaking slightly and kept looking around the area like she thought that Zanni might still be awake. Blizzard was glad to see that Rebecca was safe, at least.
“He came to us because he was interested in learning about our movement,” said Eli as he, Sarah, and Rebecca walked over to Blizzard, Shell, and Radicles. “I was simply telling him what the Unwanted stand for and believe. That’s all we did.”
Blizzard’s eyes narrowed and she looked at the box in Eli’s hands. “What about Zanni? What was he doing here?”
“I was … trying to sell something to him,” said Eli, glancing at the unconscious Zanni with disgust. “Unfortunately, the plan went haywire as soon as that female G-Men agent showed up. And then when Zanni learned who Shell was, well, that’s when everything went to hell.”
“Yeah, that’s it,” said Shell, nodding quickly. “I just wanted to learn more about the Unwanted, nothing more and nothing less.”
“Did you have to do it at midnight?” said Blizzard. “And by sneaking out of the house without any of us knowing?”
“He was afraid of being judged,” Eli said with a shrug. “He didn’t think you or the others would understand. Right, Shell?”
“Yes,” said Shell, although he said it a little too quickly for Blizzard’s tastes. “I’ve always felt rather weak in comparison to everyone else, so when I heard about the Unwanted and what they’re trying to do for superhumans like me, I got curious and wanted to know more.”
“What about your powers?” said Blizzard. “You’ve never demonstrated the ability to conjure those weird red shields before.”
“Hey, I’m still young,” said Shell. “They just, uh—”
“Manifested on their own,” Eli finished for him. “A fairly common occurrence for superhumans his age. Nothing to worry about. Just a coincidence that they manifested tonight.”
It seemed a little too convenient to Blizzard that Shell’s powers would manifest on the same night that they fought
one of the Venetians; on the other hand, Eli was correct that it was common for young superhumans to develop new powers spontaneously. Shell shouldn’t have been able to control his new powers so well, but then again, Shell had a lot of training and experience that most superhumans his age didn’t, so even that was explainable. Still, Blizzard couldn’t help but feel that both Shell and Eli were not giving her the whole truth, although she was unable to figure out what they were hiding from her or if she was just being needlessly paranoid.
In any case, Blizzard was too exhausted from her fight with Zanni to care. She just nodded and said, “Okay, but what about Shade? Where is she?”
“She was vanished,” said Eli. “I don’t know if that means she is dead or if she is somewhere else, but Zanni ‘got rid of her,’ as he said. She might still be alive somewhere, but I don’t know where.”
Blizzard gulped. She never really saw Shade as a friend—didn’t even like her as a person—but the thought that Shade had gone missing filled her with dread, because she figured it wouldn’t be long before the G-Men came to her to find out what happened to Shade. She doubted she would go to jail or anything like that, but she really did not want to receive a visit from the G-Men when they were looking for one of their own.
“All right,” said Blizzard. “I’m sure that Shade will turn up eventually. But for now …” Her eyes lingered on the box in Eli’s hands.
Eli must have noticed, because he brought the box closer to his chest. “If you are thinking of taking this from me, you’re out of luck. I was originally going to sell it to Zanni, but now, I think I will keep it for a little while longer.”
Blizzard considered whether to take it from him by force. On one hand, Shade had said that the object that Eli was trying to sell could potentially destroy all of Phoenix; on the other hand, Shade wasn’t exactly known for being an honest and reliable individual. It was entirely possible that Shade had said all of that for the sole purpose of getting Blizzard to help her. Given the G-Men’s track record in the truth department, Blizzard did not think that entirely outside the realm of possibility. Besides, Shell didn’t seem too bothered with the idea of Eli keeping the box’s contents, whatever they were, and if Shell was fine with it, then she was fine with it as well.
