Crossover

by Lucas Flint

  “Hi, Curtis,” said Bolt. “Sorry. I didn’t see you coming.”

  “That’s all right, man,” said Curtis, stopping a few feet away from him. He gestured at the top of the Statue with one massive hand. “I just wanted to congratulate you on doing such a fantastic job cleaning the upper parts of the Statue. That’s always the hardest part to clean and the most dangerous, because unlike you, we can’t fly, so if we fall off while cleaning it, it’s disability for us.”

  “Uh, thanks,” said Bolt. “So, um, where do I put my bucket and brush?”

  “Oh, I’ll take them off your hands and get them to Manny,” said Curtis, holding out his hands. “He’ll make sure they get put up properly. Meanwhile, you can get some lunch if you want.”

  “Oh, thanks,” said Bolt, handing Curtis the brush and bucket without hesitation. “I was worried for a second there that I might have to put them away myself.”

  “Nah, man, you don’t need to worry about that,” said Curtis. He emptied the bucket onto the ground without looking at it, getting some water splashed onto the legs of his jeans in the process. “Figured Mecha Knight has a ton more work for you to do today, so I wanted to make sure you got lunch so you can regain your energy.”

  Bolt groaned inwardly, because Curtis was probably right. It had been Mecha Knight’s idea to put Bolt to work helping around Hero Island, rather than going out and fighting supervillains like he did before. Mecha Knight had explained to Bolt that it was for his own good, but Bolt was pretty sure Mecha Knight had done it just to get him out of the way.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” said Bolt. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Think I’m going to take a minute or two to rest before I head back to the House.”

  “Okay,” said Curtis, nodding. “Well, thanks for helping again. These jobs are always easier whenever we have one of you superhumans helping, especially one as powerful as you. Heck, even ones like your dad were helpful, because they can use those big brains of theirs to figure out better ways to clean things that we can’t.”

  “Were?” said Bolt. “Did you know my Dad?”

  “Genius?” said Curtis. “Sure. He was actually the guy who hired me back when Hero Island was first created. I was in my twenties back then, barely out of college, and no one really knew much about superheroes back then, but I thought the NHA was awesome after they defeated Nuclear Winter, so I was eager to help.”

  “Huh,” said Bolt. “You’ve been around for a while, then, haven’t you?”

  “Yep,” said Curtis, nodding. He patted his chest. “Longest serving worker on Hero Island, which is why I’m the head janitor. But I wouldn’t be nearly as effective as I am if your old man hadn’t given me a few pointers in regards to efficiently cleaning up the island. I wish I could have gone to his funeral, but I was in the hospital because of a knee injury at the time and couldn’t go anywhere.”

  I nodded. “It’s fine. Thanks for your condolences anyway. I’m sure Dad would have appreciated them.”

  “Sure,” said Curtis. “Anyway, I got to go and make sure the rest of these monkeys don’t mess everything up, because I’m hungry and can’t wait to have lunch myself. See you later, Kev.”

  With that, Curtis turned and walked away, shouting at the other janitors to stop messing around and put everything away. Bolt watched him go for a second before shaking his head and looking up at the Justice Statue, which shone under the rays of the afternoon sun.

  Bolt liked Curtis, and the rest of the Janitorial Team for that matter. They treated him like one of their own, even though he was a superhuman and they weren’t. They were certainly nicer than Hero Island Security, anyway, who always treated Bolt as if he was some kind of spy.

  Still, Bolt would have traded janitor duty for active duty in the NHA in a heartbeat. When he graduated to full-time NHA membership, Bolt had assumed he would do on missions all the time like when he led the Young Neos. He was sure he would have been set against the really dangerous threats and villains, the kind that the Young Neos were not allowed to deal with due to how dangerous they were.

  Instead, Bolt spent nearly all of his time on Hero Island doing these kinds of chores while every other adult NHA member seemed to go on all kinds of cool adventures. Even the Young Neos seemed to go on more adventures than him, which Bolt was not allowed to join or help with because he wasn’t a part of the team anymore.

  Mecha Knight had told Bolt that it was common for new NHA members, especially ones who graduated from the Young Neos, to go through a probation period where they did chores on Hero Island until they were called to active duty by the Leadership Council. But Bolt suspected that this was just an excuse to get free labor and help for the Janitorial Team, because Bolt wasn’t paid anything extra for all of the work he did.

  Wouldn’t surprise me if Black Blur suggested this, Bolt thought. Jerk has never liked me for some reason. I could see him convincing the rest of the Council to relegate me to janitor duty just to mess with me.

  It was just such a drastic change from his time in the Young Neos, which made the change hard for Bolt to deal with. Going from leading a team of young superheroes against various and sundry supervillains and even world-threatening catastrophes to glorified janitor duty was as hard as it sounded. It didn’t help that Bolt was not in the spotlight as much as he used to be, which he had to admit was one reason he disliked his current job.

  I didn’t even get to help during the Tsunami incident, Bolt thought, a frowning appearing on his lips, despite the fact that I have as much experience fighting supervillains as anyone else.

  That was when Bolt noticed something shining in the sky out of the corner of his eye. He turned his attention in the direction of the shining object and squinted, trying to see what it was. At first, he thought it was just an airplane flying overhead, but the object wasn’t merely flying over Hero Island. It was flying toward the Island … and based on its speed, it would be here in just a few minutes.

  Bolt whirled around and shouted to the other janitors, “Everyone, get down! Something is coming out of the sky and is going to crash any minute—”

  Bolt was interrupted by a roaring flame above. He had just enough time to look up and see a massive fireball hurtling through the sky toward them before the fireball struck the ground behind and exploded.

  The explosion sent Bolt flying. He hit the ground and rolled several times until he hit the base of the Justice Statue, where he lay, dazed from the blast and trying his best to clear his head. He was aware of a hot flame burning somewhere in front of the Justice Statue, as well as huge clouds of smoke rising from within.

  “Kev!” said Curtis, suddenly appearing in front of Bolt. “You okay, boy? That explosion looked bad. Can you walk?”

  Bolt pushed himself up and coughed. “Yeah, Curt, I think I’ll be okay. Is everyone else okay?”

  “Yeah,” said Curtis. “The other guys ran as soon as they saw that ship.”

  “Ship?” Bolt repeated. “What ship?”

  Curtis jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the fire. “The one that fell out of the sky. Saw it with my old eagle eyes before it blew up. Not sure if it’s still in one piece or not, though.”

  Frowning, Bolt slowly rose to his feet, dusting off his shoulders, and looked around Curtis at the burning flame not too far away from them. The fire was already starting to die down, though it was still too hot and bright to approach.

  But as the flames died down and the smoke began to clear up, Bolt saw that Curtis wasn’t joking. The thing which had crashed into the ground wasn’t a meteorite or anything like that. It was a round, ball-shaped spaceship, almost like a pod. In fact, unless Bolt’s eyes were playing tricks on him, he thought it looked an awful lot like—

  “Pokacu,” Bolt muttered under his breath.

  Curtis started when Bolt spoke. “Poka-what?”

  “Pokacu aliens,” Bolt said. He looked at Curtis seriously. “Remember? They invaded Earth twice, nearly destroyed the planet the second time.
That looks like one of their escape pods”

  “Oh, you said Pokacu,” said Curtis. His face became pale. “I remember ‘em now. Scary dudes. Are you saying that they’re—”

  “I don’t know what they are,” Bolt said, interrupting Curtis. “They can’t possibly be back, because when I blew up the Mother World, all of the Pokacu died with them, but that’s obviously a Pokacu escape pod.”

  “Holy crap, Kev,” said Curtis. “What should we do?”

  “Call the Leadership Council,” said Bolt. “Tell them Code A. They’ll know what that means. Meanwhile, I’ll inspect the pod and find out where it came from.”

  Curtis nodded again and ran off, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing the Leadership Council’s emergency number as he did so. Bolt didn’t doubt that the Council would respond, because Code A was the NHA’s official codeword for potential alien invasions of Earth. It could also be used if you found yourself dealing with individual extraterrestrial visitors. Either way, it was only supposed to be invoked in emergencies and there were harsh punishments for anyone who used it to spread false alarms.

  The return of the Pokacu is definitely what I’d call an emergency, Bolt thought. Time to see what’s going on.

  Carefully, Bolt approached the crashed escape pod. It was completely blackened from its reentry to Earth and radiated heat like a furnace. But Bolt’s suit allowed his body to handle extreme heat, so it didn’t bother him that much. He made his way through the charred earth and between the flames until he got to the main hatch, which was firmly closed shut.

  Coming to a stop, Bolt listened carefully for any sounds coming from within. He heard nothing, but that didn’t mean anything. For all Bolt knew, there could be a Pokacu warrior waiting for him to get close enough so it could pop out and kill him. He would have to be careful, regardless of what was inside.

  Electricity began dancing along Bolt’s fingers as he prepared himself for the pod’s occupant. He took a step toward the pod when, all of a sudden, the hatch burst open. Bolt jumped and nearly fired a lightning bolt at the hatch, but caught himself at the last moment. That was good, because when the hatch opened, someone fell out of the hatch and onto the ground below.

  The being who had fallen out of the hatch was not human. It wore strange, blocky armor and had slimy blue skin that seemed to be constantly sweating. It was vaguely humanoid in shape, but it looked more like a Pokacu than a human, though Bolt didn’t think it looked exactly like a Pokacu, either. There was something extremely familiar about it, but Bolt didn’t know where he could have seen it before until the creature raised its head and looked at him, showing its glowing red slit eyes and vent-like mouth.

  Bolt gasped. “Nicknacks, is that you?”

  Nicknacks gasped for air and said, “Bolt …”

  His face fell onto the dirt, but Bolt rushed toward him and, flipping Nicknacks over, grimaced at the sight before me.

  Nicknacks’ body was cut up. Deep gashes ran along his chest and stomach. His right arm hung awkwardly off his side, while a large open wound ran directly underneath his chin. He looked like he had just lost a fight with a kitchen knife, making Bolt surprised he was alive at all.

  “Nicknacks, what happened to you?” said Bolt in horror. “Who did this to you?”

  Nicknacks opened his eyes and stared up at Bolt. His eyes, which normally glowed a rich red, were softer and even slightly pink.

  “Bolt …” Nicknacks’ voice was raspy and dry. “He’s coming … they’re coming …”

  “Who’s coming?” said Bolt. “Who?”

  Nicknacks made a deep, shuddering gasp before he said, “The Dread God’s Avatar. And he will destroy us all.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  The alien bat’s sucking was becoming louder and louder. Beams glanced over his shoulder, wondering whether he would be able to survive the fall from this height. His power boost earlier was already starting to wear off and he wasn’t wearing his costume, which would have helped prevent a few bumps and scrapes at least.

  Do I really have a choice, though? Beams thought, looking back up at the alien bat. If I don’t let go, I’m going to get a face full of alien acid, which will probably kill me immediately. Maybe if I fall and break my legs, I can drag myself to safety somehow.

  But the thought of falling and breaking his legs was too scary for Beams to even consider. He held tightly onto the edge of the roof, looking into the face of the alien bat, listening to the sounds of the other aliens flying around and attacking the citizens of Golden City. Beams just hoped that Rubberman would somehow be able to stop this invasion even if he died.

  All of a sudden, the alien bat gasped in pain and teetered back and forth for a second before it fell forward. Beams clung to the side of the building as closely as he could as the alien bat’s body fell past him and crashed onto the street below, knocking down a street lamp in the process. Looking over his shoulder, Beams saw the alien bat lying on the street in a very awkward position, with weird yellow liquid rapidly pooling underneath it. Even from a distance, Beams could smell the stink rising from the yellow liquid, which reminded him of sewage water and blood.

  It’s dead, Beams thought. But who killed it?

  “Kid!” a voice above shouted. “Are you okay?”

  Beams looked up to see a complete and total stranger standing above him. He was a young black man, probably in his early or mid twenties, wearing a weird-looking blue-and-yellow uniform that reminded Beams of an astronaut for some reason. The man had short, curly hair and stunningly white teeth, like the kind you see on models in toothpaste commercials. Nonetheless, he gave off a strange timelessness about him, as if he was much older than he seemed. He also carried what looked like a glowing energy sword in his hand, like a light saber, though Beams knew it couldn’t be an actual light saber.

  “Uh, yeah,” Beams said. “Who are you?”

  “A friend,” said the man. He crouched toward Beams. “Did that Kakarr hurt you too much?”

  “That what?”

  “The alien bat thing I just killed,” said the man, gesturing at the body below. “They’re called Kakarr. Very nasty creatures. They’re particularly fond of disemboweling their targets after melting their faces off.”

  Beams shuddered at the mental image of his faceless body being torn open by that creature. “Uh, can you help me up?”

  The man held out a hand toward him. “Sure. That’s what I’m here for, after all.”

  Beams took the man’s hand and the man helped him up onto the roof. Beams crawled a few feet away from the edge, however, before he stood up and looked out toward the spaceship. The ship was still hovering in the air above Golden City, lightning and clouds shrouding it like a robe, while more of those creatures this man called Kakarr swarmed the city like bees. People were running and screaming, traffic was backed up as people tried to drive home, and general chaos and pandemonium reigned in downtown Golden City.

  “Thanks for saving me,” said Beams, glancing at the man. He turned around. “But I need to get out of here. I have places to be and—”

  The man suddenly grabbed Beams’ forearm, making Beams look at the man again. To his surprise, the man wore a deeply serious expression on his face, as if he had no intention of letting Beams go.

  “I understand you’re one of this city’s protectors, but you shouldn’t toss on your costume and fight just yet,” said the man. “I came here to let you know exactly why these aliens are here and what they’re trying to do.”

  “How do you know my secret identity?” said Beams in alarm. “My license—”

  “Don’t worry,” the man said. He mimed zipping his lips shut. “As an IEA member, I’m used to keeping secrets. I won’t tell anyone you’re really Beams, the sidekick of Rubberman, though right now I’d say keeping your job is the least of your worries.”

  Beams hated the idea of this complete stranger knowing who he was, because it was illegal for a sidekick to reveal his identity to anyone, which was grou
nds for his license being instantly revoked by the government. On the other hand, this man did just save his life and he seemed to know what these aliens were and why they were attacking the city, so Beams decided he would worry about how this man knew his secret identity later.

  Yanking his arm out of the man’s hand, Beams turned to face him and said, “IEA? Is that some kind of government agency? You’re not with the Department of Superheroes, are you?”

  “I’m not affiliated with any earthly government,” the man insisted. “’IEA’ stands for Interdimensional Elite Agency. We protect the multiverse from any and all threats to its safety.”

  “Multiverse?” Beams repeated. He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not trolling me, are you?”

  The man smiled. “You just saw an alien spaceship spewing lightning descend from the sky and send giant alien bat creatures to terrorize the citizens. You almost got killed yourself. And you find it hard to believe that there are other universes beside your own?”

  Beams opened his mouth to say yes, but then thought about it and closed his mouth. “All right. Let’s say I believe you. You’re a member of some sort of interdimensional agency which protects the multiverse from threats. Why are you here?”

  The man jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the massive spaceship floating in the sky above Golden City. “I’m here for that, obviously. If we don’t stop that thing, it will destroy your entire city and everyone in it.”

  “Yeah, I could guess that,” said Beams. “Which is why I need to get to my boss, and fast, because it’s our duty to protect Golden City from any and all threats. It’s what we’re paid to do.”

  “True, but just destroying one spaceship won’t save your city,” said the man. “If you and your boss manage to take these guys down, they’ll just send another and another until they either destroy you or get what they want.”

  “’They’?” Beams repeated in horror. “You mean that thing is part of a fleet?”

  “Oh, yeah,” said the man, nodding. He spread his arms wide. “They’ve got tons of those things, mass producing them on a scale that would make even a Chinese factory look tiny by comparison. And that ship is one of the smaller ones. You don’t want to see the warships.”