by Lucas Flint
“But he said not to let anyone into the Museum,” said the security guard. “And we have already sent a message to HQ telling them about this. They'll probably send someone else to help him.”
I heard a loud crash from within the Museum and said, “Do you know how long it will take for someone to get here? We're here already, so can you just let us in so we can help Muscle?”
The security guard hesitated, but then he nodded and said, “Okay. But please be careful with the exhibits. We don't want any of them to get damaged or destroyed, because nearly all of them are priceless and irreplaceable.”
“Okay,” I said. I looked at Blizzard. “Blizzard, do you feel up to helping fight the creature?”
Blizzard looked over her shoulder like she was thinking of staying, but then she looked at me again and nodded. “Yes. I'll just make sure to keep my power usage down so I don't lose control.”
“Great,” I said.
The two of us ran up the steps to the entrance. The other security guards moved out of the way, allowing us to push through the front doors and into the Museum itself.
I had been in the NHA Museum a few times in the past, but due to my position as the leader of the Young Neos, I never had the time to explore it. So when we entered, I looked around the front lobby and saw that it was almost completely empty. A help desk stood near the front, but the person who sat at it was gone, while the metal detectors that tourists were supposed to walk through appeared to be off. But I could hear the sounds of Big Muscle fighting the creature not far from the lobby, so Blizzard and I ran across the lobby, jumping over the front desk and landing on the other side with a run.
As we ran, we passed dozens of different exhibits and displays, such as the costumes of dead or captured supervillains, weapons or gadgets used by the aforementioned supervillains or ones used by deceased heroes, and even a stuffed Pokacu alien in a glass case. If I was a history geek, I could probably spend all day in here just looking at things, but at the moment I cared more about helping Big Muscle than in staring at the exhibits.
We turned a corner and stopped when we saw the scene playing out before us.
Big Muscle was wrestling a giant lizard-type creature. I had never seen anything like it before; the lizard creature, that is, not Big Muscle, though he looked pretty weird, too.
The lizard was at least as big as Muscle, if not larger, and was trying to claw at him, but he held back its claws from his skin. Still, there were scratches on his face and body and arms where the lizard had obviously already harmed him, though none of them looked lethal or very painful.
Even stranger about the lizard, though, was that it had creepy purple eyes, but I couldn't see much more about it due to how violently its tail thrashed about as it wrestled Muscle.
“Big Muscle!” Blizzard shouted. “It's us, Bolt and Blizzard! We're to help you.”
“What?” said Muscle, glancing at us briefly. “What you kids doing—”
The lizard creature screeched and clamped its teeth around Muscle's neck. I thought for sure it was going to rip his head off, but Muscle just punched it in the throat so hard that it actually flew off him. It landed on the floor, but then immediately vanished before I could get a good look at it.
“Huh?” I said, looking around for the creature. “Where the heck did it go?”
“Turned invisible,” said Muscle as he pushed himself up to his feet and rubbed his neck. He was panting and sweating, even though it wasn't very hot in the Museum. “Don't ask me how. All I know is that it can do that.”
“Do you know what it is?” said Blizzard, who was also looking around for the creature.
“Nope,” said Muscle, shaking his head. “But what are you two doing here? I told Jones not to let anyone in.”
“It's okay,” I said, holding up my hands. “We can defend ourselves. We just thought you'd need some help.”
Muscle grunted and said, “Help? From a couple of kids? I told Jones to call for one of the adults.”
“We're not just a couple of kids,” I said in annoyance. “We have powers, too, you know.”
“But you don't have the experience that adults do,” Muscle pointed out. “Anyway, I guess you're here to stay, so make yourself useful and keep an eye out for that tricky bastard. Dumb beast could be any—Oof!”
Muscle was suddenly knocked off his feet. I tried to help him back up, but then something thick and heavy struck me in the abdomen and I fell to the floor, too. And even with my super strength, the blow took the air out of me, leaving me stunned on the floor for a moment.
Then I heard shattered ice and looked up to see Blizzard's hands glowing and two chunks of ice on the floor. It looked like something had shattered an ice block that Blizzard had summoned and I figured that that something had to be the lizard.
Rising to my feet, I said, “Blizzard, are you okay?”
“Yeah,” said Blizzard, but her voice was much higher like she was afraid. “It tried to attack me, so I summoned an ice block to protect me.”
“Do you know where it went?” I said, looking around again as Muscle got back to his feet, rubbing the spot where the lizard had attacked him.
“No,” said Blizzard. “It could be anywhere.”
I stopped and listened, trying to see if I could hear the lizard's movement. That was when I heard claws clicking across the floor, and based on their position from me, it sounded like they were right behind Big Muscle, who must not have heard it because he was still rubbing his aching head.
So I zoomed around Muscle and punched at where I thought the lizard was. My fist connected with something soft and alive and the lizard immediately reappeared, only now it was really angry. It swiped at me with its claws, striking me in the chest and knocking me flat off my feet. Then it jumped on me, its weight making me gasp, but then I heard Blizzard shout, “Get off him!” and a chunk of ice flew out of nowhere and struck the lizard in the face.
The lizard staggered off me, but before it could recover, Big Muscle ran up to it and brought both of his fists down on its head. The creature crashed into the floor with a roar, but then Muscle smashed his foot onto its head and said, “How do you like them apples, you stupid beast?”
The lizard was trying to get Muscle's foot off its head, but he was keeping it down with no effort at all. I got back to my feet and backed away from the lizard, trying to get out of its reach in case it attacked again.
“Blizzard, freeze this thing to the floor so it can't escape,” said Muscle, looking over at her with an impatient look. “I cannot—”
Something whistled through the air past my ear and a second later a dart was embedded in Muscle's left shoulder. It was small and red, standing out against Muscle's skin. He immediately covered it with his hand, like a bug bite, and said, “What the heck is this?”
But then Muscle's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell over onto the floor like someone had punched him out. And without anyone standing on its head, the lizard creature reared up and opened its mouth, like it was about to start chowing down on the unconscious Muscle.
So I jumped into action, landing between the lizard and Muscle and catching its open mouth with my hands. The lizard was stronger, much stronger than I anticipated, but my super strength allowed me to hold it back, although I got to smell its bad breath right up close. It smelled like rotten eggs, but I didn't give up.
“Blizzard!” I shouted as I struggled to hold back the lizard. “Get it now while we still have a chance!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Blizzard hesitate. “But what if I accidentally freeze you, too?”
“I'll be fine,” I said. “Just do it!”
But then the lizard lashed out with its tongue, which slapped me in the face. The unexpected blow caused me to lose my foot, allowing the lizard to knock me to the floor. The blow wasn't the worst I'd received, but it did take me by surprise and leave me defenseless for a moment.
Then the lizard snapped its teeth around my body. My
costume was made of tough material, which kept the lizard's teeth from piercing it, but the pressure from its jaw was still painful. I raised my fist to punch it, but then the lizard lifted me and threw me away like a rag doll.
I flew through the air before I smashed into a display of some sort, sending glass shards everywhere. Dazed, I shook my head and looked to see that I had crashed into the costume of some supervillain, but I didn't recognize it. It was made out of green spandex and had fake dragon-like wings sprouting from the back, but then I heard Blizzard scream and I looked up to see that the lizard was crawling toward her menacingly. She was firing ice at it, but oddly the ice didn't seem to hurt it.
I immediately stood up and flew toward the lizard. I landed on its back, but then it shook its body and threw me off, though this time I caught myself in midair and flew toward it again.
The lizard's tail came at me this time, but instead of dodging it, I grabbed it just before it hit me and then landed hard on the floor, hard enough to create cracks where I landed. The lizard looked over its shoulder at me in surprise, but I wasn't going to give it the chance to respond.
Instead, I shouted, “Freeze it, Blizzard!”
Blizzard thrust her glowing hands out and the lizard immediately started to freeze over so rapidly that even I had a hard time following it. The lizard tried to free itself, but I held its tail tightly and didn't let it get away.
Then, when the lizard was about halfway frozen, I lifted it up above my head by the tail even as it thrashed about. Once the lizard was high above my head, I turned around and smashed it directly on the floor of the Museum. Immediately, the frozen lizard exploded into chunks of ice and lizard meat, which scattered across the floor like ice cubes.
Standing upright, I tossed aside the frozen tail that I had been holding and looked over at Blizzard. Her hands were no longer glowing, but I asked anyway, “Do you feel okay? Still have control over your powers?”
Blizzard nodded, albeit shakily. “Yes. I thought I was going to lose control for a second there, but I guess freezing that lizard didn't require as much effort as I thought.”
I nodded, but then remembered Muscle and looked over to see him still lying on the floor unconscious. I ran over to him and immediately checked his pulse. His pulse was weak, but it was there, so I figured that he was alive at least. The dart was still there in his shoulder, but I didn't remove it because I figured that it was something that the doctors should have a look at.
“What happened to Muscle?” said Blizzard in worry. “Where did that dart come from?”
“I don't know,” I said. I looked around at the exhibits around us, but saw no one else in the area. “Someone else must be in here, but I don't see them.”
“Do you think that they've left?” said Blizzard.
“Maybe,” I said. “But it doesn't matter. We just need to get Muscle to the doctor. We have no idea what was in that dart. He's still alive, but if that dart is as poisonous as I think, then he might not have much longer unless we can get him the medical attention he needs right away.”
-
Thankfully, it wasn't long before the Black Blur showed up to help, but when we told him what happened and showed him Muscle, he quickly left to go get Healing Touch, the resident doctor and main healer of Hero Island, to look at Big Muscle. They returned quickly, but Healing Touch determined that Big Muscle needed to be taken to the medical station in HQ where he could be properly healed.
In addition, the security guards closed off the Museum entirely to anyone except for the Leadership Council. They were doing a full sweep of the entire building, searching for any clues that might point toward the identity of the person who had let that lizard in or who had tried to kill Big Muscle. Even Blizzard and I were kicked out, which I thought must have had something to do with the fact that Blizzard was still a liability even if she hadn't lost control of her powers this time.
But when we stepped out of the Museum, we found Mecha Knight waiting at the bottom steps. He was talking with the head security guard, the one Muscle referred to as Jones, but when we left the Museum, Mecha Knight looked up at us and gestured for us to come down and speak with him. As we approached, he dismissed Jones, who ran past us up the stairs toward the Museum entrance, probably to supervise the search.
“Bolt, Blizzard, are either of you hurt?” said Mecha Knight as we reached the bottom of the steps. “I was just talking with Jones about the attack and he told me that you two defeated the creature that attacked the tourists.”
“No, we're fine,” I said. “Just a bit bruised, but nothing serious or like what happened to Big Muscle.”
“Yes,” said Mecha Knight. “Jones told me that Big Muscle was hit with a red dart filled with a currently unidentified kind of poison. Did either of you see who shot that dart?”
“No,” said Blizzard, shaking her head. “We didn't. We have no idea who shot him.”
“That is troubling,” said Mecha Knight. “If there is an assassin on Hero Island, I have a feeling that they will strike again, although there is also a good chance that they will leave the Island to avoid being caught, now that everyone knows they exist.”
“I don't understand how this could have happened, though,” said Blizzard. She looked around the area, but there were just security guards nearby and all of the tourists and tour guides were long gone. “Hero Island has extremely tight security. If an assassin sneaked in here, shouldn't someone have noticed or found him out before he attacked?”
“Ideally, yes, but there is obviously some hole in our security that we need to fill,” said Mecha Knight. “I suspect that the assassin got onto the Island while pretending to be a tourist, but we do not know that for sure.”
“Don't we have a telepath or something who could read their minds?” I said. “Just have a telepath read the minds of the tourists and see if any of them are thinking about how annoyed they were that their assassination failed.”
“Our only telepathic member, Brainwave, is currently out on a mission in Kentucky,” said Mecha Knight. “And even if he wasn't, it is illegal to read the minds of people without their permission or if you lack the legal authority to do so. Because we are not the G-Men, that means we cannot read the minds of the tourists without their consent unless we'd like to get sued.”
“Really?” I said. “But what if the assassin uses this time to get away? By the time Brainwave gets back here, the tourists will probably be back on the mainland and be impossible to track down from there.”
“I know, but that is just the reality of the situation at the moment, unfortunately,” said Mecha Knight. “Fear not, however, because the security guards are searching the Museum for any clues that might help us find out who the assassin is. I doubt it will be long before they find something that will help us identify the assassin, probably before the tourists leave the Island.”
Just as Mecha Knight said that, Jones burst out of the Museum's doors and shouted, “Sir Mecha Knight! We've found something that you and the two Young Neos need to see right away!”
“See?” said Mecha Knight as he started walking up the steps, with Blizzard and I falling into line behind him. “Like I said, they have obviously found a clue that will help us find the assassin.”
“It's a clue, all right, sir, but not one you or anyone else in the Leadership Council is going to like,” said Jones.
“What do you mean?” said Mecha Knight.
Jones just shook his head and said, “Follow me and I'll show you.”
The three of us followed Jones into the Museum. We made our way to the scene of our fight with the lizard, where we found about half a dozen other security guards all standing around the area like they were trying to make sure that no one got past them. The chunks of frozen lizard meat were still scattered around the floor, but many of them had melted already, causing the exhibit to stink of dead lizard. It made me and Blizzard cover our noses, but Mecha Knight didn't even flinch, probably because his helmet filtered out the smell.
“What have you found, Jones?” said Mecha Knight as the three of us stopped, watching as Jones walked over to another officer who was examining something on the floor. “Is that the clue?”
The other guard handed Jones a small plastic bag that had something black in it. Jones turned around and walked back over to us. The grim expression on his face told me that Jones wished he hadn't found it at all.
“This, sir, is what we've found,” said Jones. He held out the small plastic bag, allowing us to see what was inside it:
It was half of a badge with the letters INJ on it.
Chapter Fifteen
“You mean the INJ attacked again?” said Stinger a few hours later, in the House's Meeting Room, after Blizzard and I finished telling the rest of the team what happened at the Museum.
“Or at least someone trying to frame the INJ,” I said. “I know that Blizzard and I didn't see the badge anywhere on the creature when we fought it, though the badge could have been inside it or something.”
Talon shook her head. “This is ridiculous. It's that mysterious woman all over again. How much longer are we going to wait before we actually strike back against the INJ?”
“Mecha Knight said that he was going to speak with the rest of the Leadership Council about it,” I said, “but I don't know what they will do about it.”
“I hope they cancel the Summit, at least,” said Shell. He took his glasses off his face and started wiping them with his shirt. “If this is what the INJ does when they're not around, I don't want to know what they will do when they are around.”
“But it doesn't make any sense,” I said. “Why would the INJ do this? I've never even heard of them sending giant lizards after people. It could just as easily be a set-up by someone who wants the NHA to fight the INJ.”
“That theory is seeming less and less likely every day, if you ask me,” said Treehugger. “I'm sorry, Bolt, but we've already had two encounters with things that have had INJ badges. At this point, I'm pretty convinced that the INJ is behind these attacks, too.”
