Counterparts

by Lucas Flint

  “Well, if you didn’t want me to be a superhero in the first place, why did you let me join the Young Neos?” said Talon.

  “Because I thought I still had a decade or two of work left in me,” said Mom. She twiddled her thumbs together. “Besides, without Silver Wind, I didn’t feel very confident in raising a young superhuman like yourself. I thought that the NHA might be able to provide you the training you would need to learn how to control your powers. And I thought that Silver Wind would have wanted that, because he was a member of the NHA, too, remember?”

  “I do,” said Talon. “And I also think that Dad would have wanted me to stay a superhero or at least wait a few years before becoming the CEO of a company as huge as this one.”

  “Would he?” said Mom. “Are you so sure?”

  “Of course I am,” said Talon. “He loved being a superhero, so I don’t see why he would have been against me being one, too.”

  Mom, however, looked like she was trying to decide whether to tell Talon something important or not. “About that … before his death, Martin told me that he didn’t want you to be a superhero.”

  Talon stared at Mom in shock. “He did?”

  “Yes,” said Mom, nodding. “It was before you manifested your powers, obviously, but since Martin was your father, there was always a possibility that you would manifest powers at some point. He told me that he did not want you to follow in his footsteps and that he, himself, was also thinking of retiring in order to focus on being a father to you.”

  Talon rested her hands in her cheeks. “I don’t understand. I remember Dad enjoying his career a lot. I never heard him complain about it.”

  “He didn’t hate it, Jennifer,” said Mom. “He just loved you more. He didn’t want to die early and miss out on your life. He wanted to be there for every milestone in your life and not have to worry about being put in danger by some supervillain. Of course, he ended up getting killed by a supervillain anyway, but the point is that even he realized he couldn’t do it forever.”

  “And you kept this a secret from me for a decade?” said Talon. “Why? And why didn’t you bring it up when Mecha Knight invited me to join the Young Neos?”

  “I didn’t like thinking about Martin after his death,” said Mom. “I threw myself into my work and, besides, you hadn’t manifested any powers yet, so I hoped that you would grow up to be a normal girl. And when you did develop powers, well, I just didn’t think you’d want to become a superhero, that you might just be happy to be a normal girl who liked fashion, but I was obviously wrong about that.”

  “I—” Talon did not really know what to say next, because the revelation that her father had not wanted her to be a superhero had come as a real surprise to her. Though Dad had died years before Talon’s powers developed, Talon had always believed that he would have supported her decision to become a superhero and join the Young Neos.

  But knowing what she did now … well, that changed things, but Talon still wasn’t sure how to respond or what it all meant.

  At that moment, Talon’s thoughts were interrupted by a beeping noise from her suit-up watch. Curious, Talon looked at it and saw that she had received a message from Bolt, which read thus:

  TALON—Hope you’re not in the middle of anything important, because you need to get back to Hero Island pronto. There was an attack and we need the whole team here. Valerie will fill you in on the details on your way back.

  An attack? That wasn’t good. The last time Hero Island was attacked, nearly the entirety of the NHA had been defeated and the world itself had been in danger of being destroyed. Bolt’s message didn’t come across as quite that urgent, but Hero Island was rarely attacked and any time it was attacked was always serious business.

  “Mom, can I take some time to think about this?” said Talon. “I just received a message from my leader. It sounds like there’s an emergency on Hero Island that I need to be present for.”

  Mom frowned, like she didn’t like the idea of Talon running off back to Hero Island, but she nodded once and said, “All right, Jen, I understand. But please call me once the situation is over. And make sure to think about what I told you today, all right?”

  “Yes, Mom,” said Talon. “And if you need anything else from me, you know how to contact me.”

  Talon rose from her chair and ran back toward the exit. She hoped that the attack on Hero Island hadn’t been entirely serious, but at the same time, she was thankful that the attack had happened when it did, because it gave her an excuse to think about what her decision would be.

  But not forever. Sooner or later, she’d have to make her decision about her future, and she didn’t like that one bit.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Stinger leaned against the wall, his arms folded over his chest, as he looked through the one way glass at Rime. The ice man sat alone in a soundproof room on the other side of the glass, his arms and legs tied to a steel chair bolted to the ground. Stinger’s venom had worn off, which meant that Rime could move his whole body like normal again, but he had been sprayed with some powerless gas in order to make sure that he didn’t use his powers to escape. Even so, Rime still looked dangerous.

  Rime wasn’t alone in that room. Black Blur stood before him, waving his arms every now and then, clearly trying to get him to talk. But Rime, as far as Stinger could tell, had not said a word since being brought down into the underground jail cells of Hero Island. Stinger glanced at Bolt, who stood next to him, his eyes focused on Rime. Bolt looked a little betrayed; not surprising, given how Rime had helped Bolt break out of Ultimate Max several months ago but now wanted to kill Bolt for some reason.

  “Think he’s ever going to say anything?” said Stinger, looking back through the one way glass at Black Blur and Rime.

  “Doesn’t look like it,” said Bolt. “Black Blur’s been trying to make him talk for hours already.”

  Bolt was correct. After Stinger had successfully paralyzed Rime, Rime had been taken to the Hero Island Jail. The Jail was located underneath the Tower of Heroes; its cells were rarely used, as most supervillains and criminals defeated by NHA members were usually taken to Ultimate Max. And whenever a supervillain was dumb enough to stage a direct attack on Hero Island, they usually only stayed in these cells for a day or two before being transferred to Ultimate Max as their permanent residence.

  As a result, the Jail’s cells, while equipped to handle most superpowers, were not particularly fancy or well-kept, but Stinger had been informed by Black Blur (who, in addition to being a member of the Leadership Council, also pulled double duty as the warden of the Jail) that Rime would never be able to escape from the cell without their permission, especially since Rime had been de-powered by powerless gas. Thus far, Rime had made no attempts to escape; then again, if Rime knew how difficult it was to escape from, he probably didn’t really have a plan to escape yet.

  The rest of the team was on South Beach at the moment, searching the Beach for any hints that Rime may have had a partner in crime, even though Rime claimed to have come to Hero Island alone. The other Young Neos were also cleaning up the ice, along with help from several veteran NHA members. The Leadership Council had been informed of the attack, but Stinger had heard nothing from the Council, except for a message from Mecha Knight congratulating him and the others on helping Black Blur defeat Rime.

  Technically, Black Blur helped us, Stinger thought. Not the other way around.

  Regardless, Hero Island was still safe, as far as Stinger knew, though depending on why Rime had come here, it was equally possible that it was not going to remain safe for much longer.

  Bolt shook his head. “I can’t believe he did this. Rime seemed like a good guy to me; a little unhinged, sure, but pretty much everyone in Ultimate Max is. But what really gets me is how he attacked Hero Island; even Master Chaos didn’t try that, and he was completely nuts. I don’t even remember the last time Hero Island was attacked.”

  “How could you forget the second Pokacu inva
sion?” said Stinger, looking at Bolt in surprise. “You were right in the middle of it.”

  “I mean, when was the last time a supervillain attacked Hero Island?” said Bolt. “Pokacu are not supervillains.”

  Stinger was about to answer, but the door to the room suddenly burst open and Talon, dressed in her gray costume, rushed in. She came to an abrupt stop, panting slightly like she had run to Hero Island all the way from New York.

  “Bolt, Stinger,” said Talon, brushing aside her hair, which had gotten in her face. “Sorry for taking so long to get here. The Neocopter ran into some bad weather and—”

  “It’s fine, Talon,” said Bolt. “We already got the attacker. Hero Island is safe.”

  Talon looked at Rime on the other side of the one way glass. “That’s him? He looks familiar.”

  “Yes, his name is Rime and he was one of the prisoners who helped me escape Ultimate Max several months ago,” said Bolt. “Now he wants to kill me.”

  “Why?” said Talon in surprise. “Did you do something to piss him off?”

  “We still don’t know,” said Bolt. “He mentioned something about his family, but he was pretty incoherent and unclear.”

  “Maybe he’s being mind-controlled by some supervillain to try to assassinate you,” Stinger suggested. “Granted, I don’t know of any mind-controlling supervillains who might want to kill you, but it’s the best explanation I can come up with.”

  “Nah, I don’t think he’s being mind-controlled by anyone,” said Bolt, shaking his head. “Anyway, Talon, Black Blur is interrogating him, but no luck in making him talk so far.”

  “He looks as impassive as an iceberg,” said Talon with a sigh. “Was anyone hurt?”

  “Everyone took a few hits, but no one got killed,” said Stinger. He gestured at his right wing. “My wing got frozen, but it’s all thawed out now and works just fine.”

  “Yeah,” said Bolt. “We were just talking about how crazy it was for Rime to attack Hero Island like that. We can’t remember the last time Hero Island was attacked by a supervillain, not counting the recent Pokacu invasion, that is.”

  “Oh, I remember the last time a supervillain attacked Hero Island,” said Talon.

  “You do?” said Stinger. “I didn’t know you paid attention to that stuff. Never seemed like a history girl to me.”

  “I don’t care much for history,” said Talon, folding her arms in front of her chest. “The only reason I know of this attack is because it directly affected me. It happened ten years ago, almost to the date.”

  Ten years ago? Stinger thought. He gulped. Uh oh. I hope we’re not thinking of the same attack here.

  “Who attacked Hero Island ten years ago?” said Bolt. “A supervillain we might know?”

  “Maybe,” said Talon. “Her name was Electrica. Ever heard of her?”

  Bolt shook his head, while Stinger tried to look as casual as he could. He knew that name, all right, but he had also avoided ever mentioning that name aloud in public. Indeed, he could have lived his whole life without hearing that name again, but he didn’t say that. He didn’t want either Bolt or Talon to know how he knew that name or why he disliked it as much as he did.

  “No, I haven’t,” said Bolt. “Who was she?”

  “A very powerful supervillain,” said Talon. “She was powerful because she could control electricity, sort of like you, Bolt, but much stronger. She was—and probably still is, though I haven’t heard much about her recently—a thorn in the side of the Neohero Alliance for five years, mostly because she was very clever. The NHA had never been able to capture her due to her cleverness and strength and even the G-Men couldn’t stop her. She specialized in theft and loved trying to steal from bigger and more secure places.”

  “Did she try to steal from Hero Island?” said Bolt.

  “Yes,” said Talon. “Even back then, Hero Island had a reputation as a well-fortified island that your average supervillain or criminal couldn’t hope to break into. Electrica, however, managed to pull off the most successful heist of her career. There was a documentary about it released about a year ago, I think, but I can’t remember what it was called.”

  “Super Heist,” Stinger said without thinking. “Directed by Evan Scott, the guy who did that documentary on Omega Man that came out five years ago.”

  “Yes, that’s it,” said Talon. She looked at Stinger curiously. “How did you know it? You never struck me as the kind of person to like documentaries.”

  “Eh, I just have a good memory,” Stinger said. “Read a review of it on Neo Ranks. It wasn’t very good, at least according to Neo Ranks’ movie reviewer, anyway.”

  That was a lie, but Stinger didn’t want to risk the others finding out about how he was related to Electrica. The real reason he knew about the documentary was because of his connection to Electrica, but if he admitted that, he would have to tell Bolt and Talon everything. And, while he trusted Bolt and Talon, there were still some things that he didn’t want even his closest friends to know about him yet.

  “Right,” said Talon. “Anyway, it was all over the news, because it was the first successful attack on Hero Island in years. Only one NHA member was killed during it, a man named Silver Wind, who Electrica killed when he cornered her.” Talon sounded very sad when she said that, like Silver Wind had just been murdered yesterday. “Silver Wind was my father, by the way.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” said Bolt. “I had no idea that your father had been a superhero or that he had died defending Hero Island.”

  Stinger’s eyes widened, but thankfully his goggles kept his eyes hidden from Talon and Bolt. Even so, he couldn’t help but feel shocked. He had known that Electrica had killed Silver Wind, but he hadn’t known that Silver Wind had been Talon’s dad. Granted, he had never asked her who her dad was, but he still couldn’t believe it.

  That’s yet another reason to keep your mouth shut, Stinger, Stinger thought. Don’t say anything that might make Talon suspicious of you. Getting mauled to death by one of your friends would be a pretty bad way to die.

  “Uh, what Bolt said,” said Stinger. “Sorry.”

  Talon, thankfully, did not seem to notice Stinger’s weak response, because she said, “You don’t need to apologize. It was a decade ago. I’m over his death now. We should just be glad that no one got killed this time.”

  Despite Talon’s words, she sounded somewhat distracted. Maybe telling the story of her dad’s death had stirred up some dormant emotions in her. Regardless of why she sounded that way, Stinger was just glad that neither she nor Bolt were paying him special attention. The less they knew about his own parents, the better.

  At that moment, the door to Rime’s cell opened and Black Blur stepped out. He slammed the door shut behind him and cursed under his breath so fast that Stinger didn’t understand what he said, but he caught the gist of it easily enough.

  “Black Blur, sir,” said Bolt, pushing himself off the wall and standing at attention. “Any luck in getting him to talk?”

  “No,” said Black Blur, the frustration in his voice evident. “I shouted at him, threatened him, even slapped him a couple of times, but he is as stubborn as a glacier. He didn’t tell me anything.”

  “Nothing at all?” said Talon. “I find that hard to believe. Surely he told you something, didn’t he?”

  “He said that he wanted to speak to Bolt,” said Black Blur. “That’s all he said. Every time I asked him a question, that is how he would answer. He doesn’t want to speak to anyone other than Bolt.”

  “Then let me talk to him,” said Bolt. “I know him. I can talk to him.”

  “And put yourself in danger?” said Black Blur. He shook his head. “No, I cannot allow you to speak to him. He obviously just wants to get you alone so he can kill you.”

  “He’s chained up in a chair and totally powerless,” Bolt pointed out. “Just how much of a threat can he really be?”

  “Plenty of superhumans are dangerous even without thei
r powers,” said Black Blur. “Have you never heard of powerless training? I know that the Independent Neoheroes for Justice teach it to their members and Rime was once an INJ member. It’s too risky.”

  “Don’t know what powerless training is, but I think I can handle him,” said Bolt. “I’ll just stay out of his reach.”

  Black Blur pursed his lips in disapproval, but Stinger stepped forward and said, “Let Talon and I go in with him. That way, if Bolt ends up getting himself in trouble, we can bail him out. You can even stay out here and watch from the one-way mirror just in case.”

  Black Blur looked like he didn’t approve of that idea, but he reluctantly said, “Fine. The important thing is finding out why he attacked us. If you can make him talk, do so. But don’t waste any time; the Leadership Council is awaiting my report on Rime’s motivations to decide if he should be shipped off to Ultimate Max again or not.”

  Black Blur spoke in a rather condescending tone, the same tone he always used whenever he addressed the Young Neos. It annoyed Stinger, but he didn’t say that aloud. He and Talon just followed Bolt into the other room, which was slightly colder than the last room. Stinger closed the door behind them before running over to catch up with Bolt and Talon, who had stopped several feet away from the chained up Rime.

  Rime had had his head on his chest when they entered, but now he had raised his head and was looking directly at them with anger and hate on his features. Although the chains kept him securely tied down to his chair, Rime looked like he was trying to make them explode just by staring at them hard enough. In particular, he focused on Bolt as if Bolt had killed his puppy.