The Superhero's Powers (The Superhero's Son Book 4)

by Lucas Flint

  “That's good to hear,” I said with a sigh. “I was worried for a while that Robert might come after us again.”

  “If the avalanche didn't kill him, he probably will,” said Dad. “Luckily, however, we will be long gone and in a secret location before Robert returns, a location that Robert will likely never find.”

  “I hope so,” I said. “At least we're all back together again.”

  “Yes,” said Dad, squeezing Mom tighter by his side. “And that's what matters in the end, that we all survived and are together.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “So when will we reach the Compound?”

  “I don't know,” said Dad, stroking his chin. “Let me go ask Mimic. He should know.”

  Dad let go of Mom and walked toward the exit. Mom and I followed him, but then Mom suddenly looked at me and said, “Oh, Kevin, I almost forgot. Graleex wanted me to give you something.”

  I stopped and looked at Mom in confusion as she dug through her purse. “Wait, are you saying that Graleex asked you to give me a gift? From him?”

  “Yes,” said Mom. “Hold on … here it is.”

  Mom pulled out a small canister from her purse and handed it to me. Puzzled, I took the metal tube and looked it over. It was about as tall as your average thermos, made of a dull gray metal with strange Pokacu letters and numbers written on its surface. It had a clear glass surface that showed its contents, which appeared to be some kind of mustard yellow gas that looked very toxic.

  “What is this?” I said, looking at Mom. “What did Graleex say it is supposed to do?”

  “He didn't tell me,” said Mom. “Before he left, he told me that you might be able to use it against Robert, though he didn't say exactly how it would help. He just said that it was his way of showing his appreciation for us returning with a functioning escape pod he could use to return to the Mother World.”

  “Weird,” I said, turning the canister over to see if there was any English on it that might tell me what its contents did. “I thought he hated us, but I guess even he believes in showing gratitude toward those who help him.”

  “It sure looks that way,” said Mom. “Perhaps you should show it to your father. He might know what it is, seeing as he has fought the Pokacu before.”

  “Yeah, sure,” I said. “But later, when we reach the Compound. Dad probably doesn't have the necessary equipment to tell what it is here. And besides, I don't want to have him open this and kill us all because it turned out to be toxic.”

  “Well, for what it's worth, I didn't think Graleex was trying to trick me,” said Mom. “He seemed very sincere when he told me that that canister would be useful for stopping Robert. I think the only reason he didn't tell me what it did was because he was in a hurry to escape Earth.”

  I nodded and put the canister in one of the pockets of the underwater suit. “Yeah. Now let's go back to the control room and see if this ship has any beds on it. I'm really tired from everything that's happened so far today and am up for a nap.”

  Mom also nodded and soon we were leaving the hold, though I wondered if I would ever see Graleex again. I didn't think I would, seeing as it would probably take him years to reach the 'Mother World' even if his escape pod was flying at the speed of light, and it would take just as much time to get back to Earth even if he got a new fleet, but I still felt just as uneasy about Graleex's escape as I did about Robert's fate, whatever it was.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The rest of the journey to the Compound was very uneventful. We didn't run into any other supervillains or sunken alien spaceships or even sea monsters. It was an entirely undersea journey, however, because the Compound was apparently underwater somewhere, so Mimic had seen no point in taking to the air again, especially if there was a chance that Tornadess and Ring Out were still in the sky somewhere looking for us.

  I showed Dad the Pokacu canister, but to my disappointment, Dad didn't know what it was or what was inside it. But he seemed very interested in it, taking it from my hands and scanning it with the scanner built into his gauntlet and said he would love to look at it in more detail later. Dad didn't exactly tell me, but I could tell that he had a theory about what the canister was even if he wouldn't tell me what it was just yet.

  I slept for most of the rest of the journey because I was utterly exhausted from my fight with Robert. Though my underwater suit had kept me from suffering injuries that were too serious or life-threatening, the fact was that you couldn't just jump back from being pummeled by a superhuman at the bottom of the ocean floor instantly like that. Maybe if I had still had my superpowers, I wouldn't be so tired, but I didn't and so I was normal again and had to suffer the same consequences that all normal people suffered whenever they went through those kinds of experiences.

  But it felt like I didn't get a whole lot of sleep before Dad was shaking me awake and telling me that we were just about to land in the Compound and to get ready to disembark the ship. I rolled my shoulders and yawned, then looked toward the front where Mimic was still piloting the ship. I looked out the windshield and saw that we were approaching what looked like a huge, underwater mountain, but I didn't see any buildings or anything on its surface to indicate that that was our location.

  Rubbing my eyes, I said, “Mimic, are you sure that that's the Compound?”

  “Of course,” said Mimic. “It may look like an underwater mountain, but trust me that this is our destination.”

  I was about to ask if we were going to have to become underwater mountaineers when Mimic suddenly pressed a button and said, “Pilot to base! This is Agent Frances Martin, codenamed Mimic, coming in with the Guests. Please open the main gates so we can enter.”

  “Affirmative, Agent Martin,” said a voice from within a speaker on the dashboard that I didn't recognize. “Opening the main gates now.”

  Then I noticed movement outside the ship. On the face of the mountain, right between its peak and its foot, a portion of the surface was rising. Dirt tumbled down in droves as a portion of the mountain's surface opened wide enough for the Spinner to enter.

  “Please hold onto your seats,” said Mimic, glancing over his shoulder at us as we approached the mountain. “Though I am an excellent and skilled pilot, landing in the Compound can be a little rough sometimes. Just a heads up.”

  I nodded and double-checked my straps to make sure I was secured, while Mom and Dad did the same as the Spinner entered the mountain.

  Now we were going through what looked like a dark metal tunnel that seemed to stretch on for a while. But we were inside it for only a moment; in a second, we passed out into a much larger and more open area that looked kind of like a swimming pool. The Spinner came to a halt before it started to ascend and soon it broke the surface, water rolling down its exterior as it came to a halt.

  “Here we are,” said Mimic. “The Compound. You can't see much from here, however, so why don't we step onto the roof and await the boat that will take us to the rest of the Compound?”

  -

  It wasn't long before all four of us were standing on the wet and slightly slippery surface of the Spinner, with our bags and suitcases at our feet. While Mimic called for someone to send a boat out to us, I took a good look at the Compound and was impressed by what I saw.

  The area we had emerged inside was gigantic. It reminded me kind of like a massive indoor swimming pool and even smelled kind of like bleach mixed with seawater. Slapping water echoed off the walls, while bright lights in the ceiling illuminated every corner of the place. Ahead of us was an artificial bay with a building that looked like a lighthouse, although it appeared to be a control tower rather than a lighthouse. It was too far away for me to see who was inside it, but I could see movement in the top, as well as a few people climbing into the boat at its foot that appeared to be government agents.

  “Wow,” I said, looking around the Compound with my mouth hanging open. “This place is amazing. How big is it?”

  “Classified,” said Mimic, lowering his
phone and putting it back into his pocket. “But it is easily one of the largest government bases in the world, that much I can tell you.”

  “All just for people like us?” I said in surprise.

  “Supervillains are unusually dangerous and motivated,” said Mimic. “So normal government compounds or secret facilities are usually not enough to protect innocent people from them. Building a base at the bottom of the ocean floor inside of an underwater mountain, however, is typically enough to discourage most supervillains from trying to get their targets.”

  “So Robert couldn't get in here even if he tried?” I said hopefully.

  “Probably not, unless someone let him in,” said Mimic. “The Compound has a wide array of security and defense measures, both exterior and interior, that would beat back all but the most determined of supervillains. And even then, the determined supervillain in question would need to be Omega Man level powerful to survive our various defenses.”

  “Like what?” I said.

  “As I said, classified,” said Mimic. “So long as you and your family stay within the confines of the Compound, you will hopefully never have to see any of them.”

  “Can I guess what they are?” I said excitedly. I put a hand on my chin and thought deeply for a moment before snapping my fingers. “I know. Robot sharks with laser guns attached to their heads.”

  Mimic looked at me like I had just said something stupid. “What part of 'classified' do you not understand?”

  “So there are robot sharks with laser guns attached to their heads defending this place?” I said.

  Mimic sighed in exasperation, which was all the confirmation of my theory I needed, while Dad said, “I have never been down here before, though I've heard of it. It is far more impressive than I thought.”

  “Yes,” said Mimic proudly. “I was not here when it was constructed, but I was one of the first to step inside it when it was finished. It is the pride of the G-Men and practically impenetrable.”

  Although Mimic sounded proud of the Compound, I noticed a hint of worry in his voice, so I said, “What's the problem? You seem worried about something.”

  “Hmm?” said Mimic. “Oh, it is nothing. I am just thinking that I will need to report Robert Candle's attack to Director Smith after we reach the Control Tower. He will need to know about this immediately.”

  I nodded, but before I could ask him more about that, the small motorboat sent to pick us up reached the side of the ship. The four of us climbed into the small boat carefully and then went back across the water to the large lighthouse-like building at the other end, the one that Mimic had called the Control Tower.

  Upon reaching the dock, my parents, Mimic, and I climbed out of the boat without delay, bringing our bags and suitcases with us. As we climbed onto the metal deck, a group of men who looked like soldiers approached us. They all wore military-style gear and weapons, so I assumed that none of them were neoheroes.

  In the front of the group, however, was a man who was clearly in charge. He was a tall, athletic-looking black man who reminded me of someone, but I had no idea who he reminded me of, although for some reason I was thinking that he looked like someone I had seen back in Silvers. His outfit was a professional-looking military uniform, but I noticed he had a G-Men patch on his right shoulder, so that meant that he was a superhuman, but I couldn't tell what his powers were just by looking at him.

  “Agent Mimic,” said the man. Even his voice—commanding and deep—sounded familiar, but I still couldn't place it. He and the four men behind him stopped a few feet from us. “Are these the Guests that Director Smith told us would be staying here for a while?”

  “Yes,” said Mimic, nodding. He pointed at each one of us in turn as he said our names. “Kevin Jason, also known as Bolt; Theodore Jason, also known as Genius; and Genius's wife, Ashley Jason, who is not a superhuman.”

  The man nodded at each one of us in turn. “Good to meet you all. I am Agent Renaissance, a member of the G-Men and the current Commander of the Compound. I came here to welcome you three to the Compound personally, because I have heard so much about you and your situation with the Thief.”

  Renaissance suddenly looked at me. “You, in particular, Bolt, I have heard much about. I wanted to thank you for saving my younger brother, Malcolm, from the Thief a week ago.”

  “Wait, you're Malcolm's brother?” I said in surprise.

  “Yes,” said Renaissance, though he sounded reluctant to admit it. “But I have been told you and my brother are friends. Has he never told you about me?”

  “No, he hasn't,” I said, shaking my head. “I mean, he told me he had a brother working for the G-Men, but I didn't know you were a superhuman. What kind of powers do you have?”

  I was pretty sure I must have said something wrong, because Renaissance suddenly put on a stone cold face. He just shook his head and said, “Perhaps Malcolm just didn't see any point in telling you about me. As for my powers, you do not need to know what they are right now.”

  Uh oh. It seemed like Malcolm and his brother didn't get along too well. I wondered why that was, but apparently Renaissance wasn't going to tell me about it. This probably wasn't the best place to talk about that anyway, though I made a mental note to call Malcolm later and ask him about his older brother.

  “Now, then,” said Renaissance. He looked at Mimic. “What took you so long to get here? You are an hour late.”

  “I know,” said Mimic, “but we ran into some … complications on the way here. I need access to a computer so I can contact Director Smith and tell him what happened.”

  Renaissance nodded. “Of course. You may use the main computer in the Control Tower to report the status of your mission to the Director, but I would like to hear about it as well, because I am interested in hearing about it as well.”

  “You won't be showing us to our rooms?” I said, looking up at Renaissance in confusion.

  “No,” said Renaissance, shaking his head. He gestured to the armed men behind him. “These four will escort you and your parents to your living quarters. I will come by later, however, after lunch to discuss some important issues with you.”

  “What might these important issues be?” said Dad.

  “You will know when I come to talk with you about them,” said Renaissance. “Now, please follow these men. I would like to talk with Mimic in private.”

  My parents and I followed the four armed men toward the other end of the dock. As we walked, I looked over my shoulder at Mimic and Renaissance. Mimic was talking to Renaissance in a low tone, while Renaissance listened as intently as if Mimic was telling a very interesting story. Based on his serious expression, Renaissance was obviously not pleased at what he was hearing.

  I understood that, of course. After all, if Robert had managed to find me at the bottom of the ocean like that, then he might be able to find me here. I still didn't know how he had found us, but perhaps Robert had stolen a tracking power from some poor guy and was using it to locate me. It was the only idea that made sense to me, anyway, because I couldn't think of any other explanation for how Robert had found me.

  Anyway, we went through a large metal detector before we could leave the dock, which, according to one of the guards, was just to make sure we weren't taking anything into the Compound that could be dangerous. The only thing that set off any alarms was the Pokacu canister that Graleex had given us, but Dad assured them that the yellow gas was safe and would not be a problem in here. I wondered why Dad didn't let the government confiscate the canister; probably because he still wanted to examine it.

  After that, we took a small cart—which had a trunk large enough to carry our luggage—through the Compound to an elevator on the very back wall. This elevator took us down into a long hallway that had doorways to several different rooms. My parents and I were taken to a door at the very end of the hall, which turned out to be a large suite-like room. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room, but none of it was particular
ly fancy or luxurious. It was mostly plain and boring, but at least there was a bed in my room, which was better than that awful seat I had back on the Spinner.

  When we got to the suite, one of the guards told us that Renaissance would be here soon, but until then we should stay in the suite and not venture out without the knowledge of the Commander or anyone else in the Compound. I didn't mind that too much, because I was too exhausted to want to do any exploration (but I planned to do some later, because this place was just too big to leave unexplored), though I noticed Dad didn't seem thrilled that we didn't have as much freedom of movement as we'd like.

  When the guards left, Mom said that she was going to go and make lunch for us, since she had discovered that the pantries and fridge in the kitchen were full of food and ingredients to make lunch. I was surprised that Mom was feeling good enough to do that after everything we'd been through, but neither Dad nor I objected to the idea of lunch.

  Instead, I went to the room that I was given, without talking to my parents, to take a nap, because like I said, I was really tired and needed to sleep. I was also thinking of taking a shower, although I was too tired to do that just yet.

  But just as I lay down on the bed, I heard a sudden beeping noise from my suit-up watch. I looked down at it to see who is calling and saw that it was Malcolm. That was a weird coincidence, because I had been intending to call him later after I took a nap myself, but I decided that I had enough energy to talk with him.

  So I tapped the screen of my watch and said, “Hi, Mal. What's up?”

  “Kev, are you okay?” said Malcolm. His voice sounded hurried and scared for some reason. “You sound okay, but are you really?”

  “Um, yes, mostly,” I said. “Why? Did something bad just happen?”

  “Someone on Neo Ranks posted a picture of an alien spaceship flying into space and it looked like it was coming from the Atlantic,” said Malcolm. “I remembered that you were going out into the Atlantic Ocean, so I just called you to see if you had been attacked by aliens or not.”

  I blinked. “Well, I sort of was, actually.”