A Superhero's Assault

by Lucas Flint

  After Mack and Gina set the bomb, they would set the timer for thirty minutes and meet up with us at the top of the Tower of Icon. Uncle Josh said that he wanted to hijack one of the Tower’s helicopters, which we would then use to escape the island and return to the mainland USA. Thirty minutes hardly seemed like enough time for us to travel from the dungeons of the Tower to the top, but Mack and Gina couldn’t guarantee us any more time than that, so I didn’t complain. I just hoped we would be fast enough to meet the deadline before it happened.

  Christina’s nearly encyclopedic knowledge of the compound’s security cameras and guard patrol cycles (seriously, it was really creepy how much she knew, even though she claimed that she didn’t play much of a role in the island’s security systems before she quit the organization) came in handy for the three of us. She helped us find a small gap in the compound’s defenses, a portion of the compound where no security cameras were focused and where none of the guards patrolled regularly, save for the afternoon guy who only came by once. She told us that we were unlikely to be seen if we took that route, so we took her advice and made our way around the edge of the compound until we found it.

  Then, one by one, we crossed the gap between the forest and the compound, taking shelter in the shadows of a warehouse that towered above us. Once all three of us crossed over, I said, “Okay, Christina, where should we go next?”

  “Easy,” said Christina. She pointed down the streets between the buildings. “We keep going until we reach the Tower.”

  “We’re going through the front door?” said Uncle Josh with a frown. “Come on. You have to realize that Icon has probably buffed up their security since we got here. Even with Trickshot’s super strength, I don’t think we’d be able to just force our way in.”

  Christina tilted her head to the side. “Good point. But the front door isn’t the only way into the Tower. Hell, even the back door isn’t the primary way to get in. There are other ways inside if you know this place as well as I do.”

  Christina nodded at a building on the other side of the street, which had the label Lab #5 on it in bright red paint. “Lab Five should do the trick.”

  “How?” I said. “It’s a completely separate building from the main Tower. I’m not sure how entering Lab Five will take us anywhere.”

  “I guess I forgot to mention how the compound works,” said Christina. She gestured at the street under our feet. “You see, nearly every building on Iconia is connected to the Tower through a series of underground tunnels. It’s really a maze of sorts, connecting the Tower to every lab, warehouse, and living quarters in the vicinity. It even extends out to the docks in some cases, which is helpful for transporting goods that you want to safely take to the Tower.”

  “Why are they connected like that?” I asked in bewilderment. “It must have been expensive even for Icon to build and maintain.”

  “There are … things that Chaser doesn’t want even his agents knowing,” said Christina. “I told you that the various laboratories here on Iconia do all kinds of freaky experiments, but I never told you what these experiments are. That’s because I don’t know, because a good chunk of them are delivered to the Tower via the underground tunnels connecting them to it. Oh, and sometimes the Tower sends things like prisoners through the tunnels to the labs for experimentation purposes.”

  My stomach churned at the thought. “You mean there are experiments so awful that even Chaser doesn’t want you guys knowing about them?”

  “Yep,” said Christina. “Now you’re starting to get why I quit.”

  “I see your plan,” said Uncle Josh. “If we break into Lab Five, then we could use its underground tunnel to enter the Tower of Icon from below. In fact, it should take us directly to the dungeons, right?”

  “Spot on,” said Christina. “I’ve only used the tunnels a few times myself, however, so I’m not as familiar with them as I am with other parts of the island. But I understand how they work, and they aren’t all that complicated, anyway. Plenty of signs to help anyone who gets lost down there to point them in the right direction.”

  “I hope you’re right,” I said. “How well guarded are the labs?”

  “Not as well guarded as you’d think,” said Christina. “Usually, there’s just one guard and maybe a security camera to cover the door, but we can just go through the back entrance. Follow me.”

  Like a ninja, Christina moved with silence across the open streets to Lab #5 across from us. Uncle Josh and I followed her as quietly as we could, making our way around to the back of the building which was, as Christina said, unguarded. The back door stood all by itself next to a dumpster, with a single security camera fixed on it.

  “A security camera,” said Uncle Josh as the three of us came to a stop just a few feet away. “Luckily it’s not focused on us, but it is still problematic if we’re going to enter without being—”

  Christina jerked a hand toward the camera and an energy rope launched out of her palm and wrapped firmly around the camera. Then Christina jerked her hand back and the camera tore off its mount and flew toward us. Christina caught the camera with two hands and then looked into it as if to make sure it wasn’t functioning.

  “What was that?” said Uncle Josh in surprise.

  Christina looked at Uncle Josh as if she had forgotten he was standing there. “What? I got rid of the security camera. Now they won’t be able to see us enter.”

  “But we’ve lost the element of surprise now,” said Uncle Josh.

  “Trust me, we didn’t even have it in the first place,” said Christina. “They knew we were here as soon as we washed up on the island in those escape pods. Besides, I’m pretty sure you said we’re supposed to be the distractions for the other two, and this seems like an excellent way to gather a lot of attention we wouldn’t want under other circumstances.”

  Christina tossed the camera aside before we could say anything and walked over to the door. Uncle Josh and I exchanged uncertain looks, but we followed her anyway because it wasn’t like we had much choice. It was hard to argue with her logic, but I still thought it was foolish of her to destroy that camera like that. But it was too late to argue with her about the wisdom of doing that now. I would just have to hope that it would work out better than I thought.

  The back door was locked, but I easily opened it by smashing the door handle off. Ordinarily I would have handled that a bit more stealthily, but given how Christina had already blown our cover wide open by destroying the security camera, I didn’t see the need to be stealthy anymore. I shoved the door open and stepped inside, looking around at our surroundings as I did so.

  We had emerged into the end of a long hallway that stretched on for a surprisingly long distance. Closed office doors stood on either side of the hallway, illuminated by the fluorescent lights on the ceiling above us. It looked like a stereotypical office space. Indeed, I would have thought I had stepped into your average office building if I had not known where we were.

  “Looks like no one is here,” said Christina as she and Uncle Josh entered behind me. “Lucky us.”

  At that moment, however, the sound of heavy boots hitting the floor could be heard and then two armed guards appeared from around the corner up ahead.

  “Intruders!” one of the guards shouted. “Die!”

  Both guards raised their guns and began firing. Uncle Josh and Christina dropped to the floor with their hands on their heads, but I flew into the air, just barely dodging the bullets. I flew toward the two guards, who kept shooting at me, but even in this small space, their aim was off and I dodged their bullets easily. I pulled two disks out of my pouch and hurled them at the floor. The disks began bouncing off the walls almost uncontrollably until they struck the guns out of the hands of the guards, who cried out in pain and dropped their guns.

  I landed in front of the guards and grabbed them both and slammed their heads together before dropping them onto the floor. The guards crumbled into a heap on the floor, while I turn
ed around and gestured for Christina and Uncle Josh to follow me. “Come on, guys. Let’s get going before more of these jokers show up.”

  Uncle Josh and Christina were back on their feet instantly, walking over to me as fast as they could.

  “Okay, where do we go from here?” I said to Christina as she approached me.

  “Down the hall,” Christina replied. “The entrance to the secret underground tunnel is located inside the actual laboratory itself. If we move quickly, then we should be able to get in there before more guards show up.”

  I nodded and led Uncle Josh and Christina down the hallway in the direction from which the guards came. The three of us soon found a set of double doors which were labeled ‘LAB #5.’ I didn’t even hesitate to push open the doors and stride inside without even a hint of fear in my step.

  The lab was huge. It reminded me of the lab in Bug Bite’s Hive back home, except this place was even bigger than that. Strange vats of some kind of purple substance bubbled that smelled like mud below us, dozens and dozens of vats by the look of it, while huge computer monitors were attached to the walls with control stations set up underneath them. The whole room technically didn’t even have a ‘floor,’ per se. Just a long series of catwalks above the bubbly vats that made me feel like we were in danger of falling into them if we weren’t careful, despite the waist-high railings on each side. It didn’t help that the platform appeared to be suspended by thick steel cables at each corner.

  In the center of the room was a large platform with a huge computer on it. The computer monitor was on, displaying a variety of numbers and symbols which made no sense to me but which were probably related to whatever scientific experiments they did in here. Again, I was reminded of Bug Bite’s lab, only there were fewer giant bugs in here than back home.

  “Whoa,” I said, looking around the lab in awe. “What is this place?”

  “Where they study and experiment upon Power,” said Christina. She gestured at the vats below us. “See all of that purple goop? That’s Power, albeit in an unrefined form.”

  I looked over the railing, unable to believe my eyes. “They must have gallons and gallons of the stuff. I didn’t know they were making so much of it.”

  “Neither did I, honestly,” said Uncle Josh. “We knew they had manufacturing facilities and labs where they made this stuff, but this is even more than we thought.”

  “Icon sells this crud all over the world,” said Christina. “Of course we—I mean they—need to make tons of it. The US alone orders more Power than all of Europe put together. Turns out that drugs that give you superpowers are a profitable business. Who knew?”

  My hands curled into fists. “If this is where most of the experimentation and manufacturing of Power is done, then we can destroy this facility and end this here and now. We can make sure Power is never used to hurt anyone ever again.”

  “Not now,” said Christina, shaking her head. “It would take too much time for us to destroy all of these vats. Remember, we’re trying to save your grandpa here, not play DEA.”

  “Christina is right,” said Uncle Josh. “Besides, when the Gift goes off and destroys Iconia, it will also destroy all of their supplies of Power, as well as the equipment they use to manufacture it. We’ll kill two birds with one stone.”

  It was hard for me to ignore the vats of Power below us, but I decided that Uncle Josh was right. “All right. You’ve got a point. Still, I’d love nothing more than to destroy all of this junk and end its reign of terror once and for all.”

  “We’ll end its reign of terror later,” said Christina. “For now, let’s keep going. We don’t have much—”

  “Hold it r-right there!” a shrill, high-pitched voice cried out. “You three intruders will g-go no farther!”

  The three of us looked around in confusion before a man stepped out from behind the main computer in the center of the lab. He was tall and rail-thin, wearing a long white lab coat over his thin frame. He had a really big head and even bigger glasses balanced on the bridge of his nose that made him look almost bug-like. His hair was wild and frizzy and he had one hand behind his back, while in the other he carried a phone that he held before him like a gun.

  “Benny?” said Christina in surprise. “What are you doing here so late at night? I thought you would be in bed by now.”

  “Benny?” I said. “Who’s Benny?”

  “It’s Benjamin,” said the scientist in an incredibly nerdy voice. “Benjamin van Dijk, head scientist of the Power division of Icon’s science department.”

  “You’ll always be Benny to me, though,” said Christina with a smirk.

  Benjamin flushed in embarrassment at Christina’s remark, but then shook his head and said, “I don’t care what you call me. Chaser told me you betrayed the organization and that you might try to come here to destroy the Power vats. That’s why I came here, to make sure that my life’s work wasn’t ruined by a vindictive little witch like you.”

  “So you’re the guy who made Power?” I said.

  Benjamin smiled proudly. “Of course. Actually, my grandfather, Evan Homer, was the original creator of the Superpower drug. I’m just following in his footsteps by improving upon his original formula.”

  “How are you ‘improving’ on his original formula when Power is known to have all kinds of nasty side effects that Superpower doesn’t?” I said.

  “Shut up,” Benjamin snapped. “You’re just a kid. You wouldn’t understand science or how science works. I’m getting closer and closer every day to perfecting Power, but I can’t do that if I let you three destroy everything I’ve been working toward my whole life.”

  Christina sighed. “Listen, Benny, I know you are a Man of Science and all that jazz, but we really don’t have time to play. We’re on a bit of a deadline here and we don’t have time to beat up a nerd like you. Hell, we don’t even have a locker to shove you into.”

  “I’m not here to play,” said Benjamin. “I’m here to kill all of you, especially you, Christina. Chaser doesn’t tolerate traitors and neither do I.”

  I couldn’t help but smirk. “Dude, your threats to ‘kill’ us would be a lot more credible if you weren’t such a dork. Let me guess, you’re going to lecture us to death about the merits of the scientific method and peer review or something like that?”

  Benjamin smiled. “Yeah, I’m not Mr. Universe, but I can become Mr. Universe, and without having to work for it, either.”

  Without warning, Benjamin pulled out a needle full of purple goop—Power—from behind his back and inserted it directly into his arm, pushing down on the needle’s butt in order to inject Power into himself. He groaned in pain, but didn’t stop until every last drop of Power had been shoved out of the needle.

  Then Benjamin ripped the needle out of his arm and threw it aside. His arm was bleeding from where he had injected himself, but when he looked at us, he was grinning like a maniac.

  “Ben, what did you just do?” said Christina. “Did you just inject yourself with that stuff?”

  “Yes,” said Benjamin, nodding. “And it’s not just an ordinary dosage of Power, either. It’s a special mix I brewed just for myself. It will take a moment to kick in, but once it does …”

  Benjamin suddenly went silent. And then he screamed.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Benjamin’s scream was the most horrifying sound I’d heard in my life. His already high-pitched voice just grew higher and higher, while at the same time becoming more and more monstrous. He coughed and hacked between screams and fell down onto the floor, clutching his throat and looking like he was dying right on the spot. It was so horrifying that even Christina looked away, but Uncle Josh and I just stared at Benjamin as the dose of Power did whatever it was doing to his body.

  Benjamin’s skin began glowing purple. His skin started to boil and melt off his body. His glasses fell off his face, while his clothing started to fall off his body. He kept screaming the entire time, banging his fists against the
floor, sending more of that purple goo flying everywhere.

  Then he raised his head and looked at us and I wished he didn’t. The skin on his face was melting away, partially revealing his skin. It reminded me of what happened to Thomas when he injected himself with Power, how his own skin boiled away, leaving nothing but his skeleton and organs. Only Benjamin seemed to be conscious for every second of his horrific transformation.

  “See this?” said Benjamin, whose voice was horribly distorted due to his melted lips. “This is the power of science, the pinnacle of everything I’ve worked for. This is—”

  Without warning, Benjamin’s entire body collapsed into a disgusting puddle of sticky, purple goo underneath his lab coat, leaving his sentence hanging in the air unfinished.

  Christina finally looked back over at Benjamin, a disgusted look on her face. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”

  I blinked. “Did he just kill himself?”

  “Looks like it,” said Uncle Josh. “That’s one of the problems with Power, you know. Because it’s so unstable, it can kill you just as easily as it can enhance you. Looks like poor old Benjamin ended up losing that particular roll of the dice.”

  I shuddered. “I can’t imagine what it must have felt like. To melt into a puddle of goo … and based on his screams, he felt every minute of it.”

  “He sure did,” said Christina. “Jerk deserved it, too. Never liked him. Always considered himself above the rest of us due to the fact that his grandfather was the guy who made Superpower. He wasn’t a really great scientist himself, honestly.”