by R. J. Ross
"SHADOWMAN!"
She's yelling loud enough that he can hear her in another dimension, Shadowman thinks with a hint of wonder. But that's not the problem, is it, he realizes abruptly. She's still back there in reach of "Mother." He hesitates, several ancient feelings trying to rise to the surface. These same feelings have been bothering him ever since the text message from Nico. Family. It's a word that keeps echoing though his mind, one that he tried to shove to the back of his mind over a hundred years ago. "GET BACK HERE!"
Time to run, he decides. Family reunions are all good and well, but not when it comes with a woman he's almost positive is—
Nope, not going to think about that, either, he decides as he strolls on through the Shadowlands, completely ignoring the monsters that dwell in it. He'd much rather deal with these monsters than those.
***
Something is wrong with me. I can feel my heart pounding without rhythm, and the very idea of being non-rhythmic has me panicking silently for a moment before I hear it jerk back into beat. I let out a silent breath, relaxing for all of a second before I realize someone is screaming. I don't know that voice.
Wait, where am I? It smells funny and there's a breeze. If I was in the tour bus, it'd—well, no, it'd still smell funny, but there wouldn't be a breeze. I dare to open my eyes, waiting for a second for the world to snap back into focus. I'm staring at a tiled ceiling, with some of the panels threatening to fall on me. I hear movement beside me, and slowly I turn to look. If it's a super, they already know I'm awake. We're good at that sort of thing.
A beautiful woman stares back at me, one with silver hair and a perfect body. She's got a thoughtful look on her face for a moment, one that turns into a scowl as she turns away. "Enough!" she says. She's not yelling, but it has enough intensity to make the world go still. "Young lady, come here right this moment," she orders.
I turn more to see someone literally jerked out of the earth by some unseen force. I think I know her—I've seen her, at least. Ever since she came to Central that one time, our branch of Hero TV has been checking up on her. Her name is Skystep. She jerks as she's pulled over. I see her go semi-transparent and realize she's trying to phase through the invisible hold, but nothing happens. Instead she comes closer and closer to the silver haired woman. "Now, don't worry, sweetie, I'll forgive you for running my little tool off," the woman says, reaching up and stroking Skye's face.
Skye spits in her face—or tries to. The spit goes still and floats between the two before flying off. "Bad girl," the woman scolds. "You don't spit at your mother."
"What?" Skye asks blankly. "You're not my mother."
"But I am," the woman says, holding Skye's face and staring her straight in the eyes. I feel every hair on my body try to stand. "You will help Mother, won't you?"
I almost want to speak up, but something is wrong. I can feel a pressure in the air that seems to vibrate like an electric chord. It's coming from Skystep, I realize.
"MY MOTHER IS TATIANA!" she bellows in "Mother's" face. "She said she would be!" she adds in a childishly stubborn tone. "She bought me ice cream—in the ARCTIC! Anyone that buys you ice cream in the Arctic is a good mother!"
I have no clue how that makes sense—isn't it way too cold to eat ice cream there? And it's pretty obvious by now that Tatiana isn't her mom. I wonder if she even HAS a family. Probably not. I mean, there are a lot of supers that don't have any blood relatives, just look at me.
"I will give you far more than this Tatiana ever will," Mother says sweetly.
"She comes with a dad, too! And a brother and a sister and nieces and nephews!" Skye says, starting to struggle again. "I won't fall for your stupid mind control thing!" she yells dramatically. I have to admit, it's a shame this isn't on Hero TV, it's a pretty amazing show.
"Focus, my dear," Mother says, reaching up and grabbing Skye's chin to try and get her to look her in the eyes.
"I'M NOT LISTENING! LALALALA! I'VE GOT A BROTHER AND A SISTER AND NIECES AND A HUUUUGE FAMILY!" Skye bellows at the top of her lungs.
This is actually pretty hysterical—wait. I let my eyes dart around the room as much as I can. We AREN'T being recorded. And that "Mother" lady? I've never seen her in my life. I know all of the West branch supers—whether they're hero or villain. She's not on the docket. This isn't a show, this isn't one of those "bring your mic to work" deals. This is actually, seriously, happening. "Mother" is trying to brainwash Skystep.
I have to save her—I have to save both of us. I just—
I don't know if I can. I might have mentioned this earlier, but I am NOT hero material. I'm not one that can run in and save damsels in distress, or anything dramatic like that. I don't even feel confident about going into the "photo-op game" like they call it at school. And this is an honest-to-God super villain right in front of me.
That's how Dad died. There, now you know my biggest secret. My father died in a battle with an actual super villain, not one of the guys that just pretend to be one like Jack. That super villain's name is Deathblow. He's in the Cape Cells now, but he took out my dad before he was finally captured. A small part of me knows that Nico has probably even chatted with the man—I just try to avoid thinking about that fact.
I'm only seventeen. I don't want to die. I don't even know Skystep. Right now is the perfect time to sneak out, while she's got Mother occupied. I think I can do it—I'm extremely good at being silent—
I creep to my feet, looking for an exit. My eyes land on the holes left by Skystep's fight with Shadowman. If I can make it through those holes—
"Let her down," I hear someone say. For a moment I can't figure out where it came from. Was that—was that MY voice? Oh man, what made me say that? I'm going to die—I'm going to die—I AM GOING TO DIE!
Mother turns, looking at me curiously. "So you're awake now?" she asks in a mild tone.
"Put her down," I say again, hearing a faint tremble in my voice. I'm not a hero. My hands feel clammy and my heart is pounding against my chest. It'll be all too easy for her to kill me, a voice whispers in my mind, just like Deathblow killed my father. I actually saw it on HTV—it'd been over so fast—
"Hey, hey, aren't you Justin?" Skystep asks, squirming in the hold Mother still has. "I LOVE YOU!" she yells in a fan-girlish squeal. "Can I get your autograph?"
"Not right now," I say, staring at Mother. I swallow, especially as she walks towards me.
"What a precious boy you are," she says, reaching up and touching my cheek. I'm captivated by her kaleidoscope eyes. "I've been watching you, Justin," she says in a sweet voice. "I think you and I could do wonderful things together."
"Hey, hey Justin! I'll do wonderful things with you, too! I've got a skeleton DINOSAUR!" Skystep yells over Mother's voice. "We can go for a ride! Sure, the bones can be a bit painful on your behind, but it's totally worth it to see everyone run screaming!"
I can't help but look over at her, because kaleidoscope eyes or not, how can you ignore the promise of riding on a skeleton dinosaur? "What type of dinosaur?" I ask.
"It's a triceratops!" she says eagerly.
"Look. At. Me," Mother growls, grabbing my chin.
"But she's got a dinosaur," I say, knowing I'm starting to act as illogical as Skystep is, but it seemed to work for her! "Do you have a dinosaur?"
"It's amazing! Liz says it'll shoot lightning but won't tell me how to make it happen!" Skystep yells. "You and me, we'll figure it out! Just look away from the lady and focus on me!"
"SILENCE!" Mother says, turning and waving a hand at Skystep. Skystep is flung back, slammed into the wall behind her so hard that I hear her grunt.
"Owwww," I hear her complain. "That wasn't nice, lady! Just wait until I tell my Dad!"
"Really, why this world's supers are so… difficult to deal with, I'll never know," Mother complains as she turns her full attention on Skystep. I jerk back to focus, racing past her and grabbing Skystep around the waist. I can't budge her. The plan had been to drag her off
at top speed and get as far away from Mother as possible. Instead I'm jerking as hard as I can even as Mother reaches us. She touches our faces and the world goes still.
"You will both serve Mother," she says, her eyes going from mine to Skystep's and back again. The world spins, and I feel my stomach turn inside out for a moment. Skystep jerks for a few moments before going still.
Suddenly I have nothing I want to do more than to serve Mother.
"Mother," Skye says in an awed tone. "What do you want me to do?"
"I'll do anything for you, Mother," I say. I've never felt more loved in my life as she smiles at us.
CHAPTER SIX
There are screens on every wall of the tour bus. In the center is an image of Nico's chin from below. He looks like he's flying, because he only glances down at the screen once in a while. On the screen next to his is Mastermental, who from the painting behind him, is in his office. On the opposite wall is a rather pale Negatia, who seems to be shaking slightly. Malina finds herself watching her instead of the others. Her heart breaks for the woman, and guilt keeps creeping up and stopping her from speaking.
"My son," Negatia says quietly, looking over at the screen behind Malina, "was under your care, Mastermental. He is all I have left of his father, and you just LET him be kidnapped by a second rate super villain?" she demands.
"We weren't expecting Shadowman to be in the states," Falconess starts out.
"EXPECT?" Negatia bellows. "YOU ARE SUPER HEROES! You should be prepared for the unexpected at all—"
"Nora," Mastermental says in a quiet, commanding tone. "We will get your son back. You've already sent out your black suits, haven't you?"
"And I'm tracking his com bracelet," Nico says. "I'll have him back within half an hour."
"And just why should I trust you? My son has been kidnapped before he’s even debuted, thanks to the mission you talked me into agreeing to!" Negatia says.
"Have you talked to your son?" Nico asks calmly. "Justin has no desire to debut in the first place. Being a super is, and always will be, a gimmick for that kid. He hardly pays attention to his training classes, he uses his vocal lessons to learn how to NOT take out fan-girls, and he's best friends with a super villain. He doesn't even watch when my brawlers spar—everyone else in the school takes notes on those fights."
"We might have to go up against them sometime," Malina agrees quietly.
"Plus, there's a running bet on who wins most each week," Freddy says. "Lance owes me five bucks for two weeks ago."
"Regardless—when much younger kids are more interested in learning how heroes fight than a seventeen year old cape like your son, it's pretty obvious he's not made for this line of work."
"I'm not a kid!" Malina complains. "I'm only a year younger than he is!"
"I was talking about Keliah and Carla, who are still thirteen—although Carla's almost fourteen now," Nico says, smiling slightly at her. "I fully plan on setting up your debut any time now. I think Max wants it, but you can pick whoever you want."
A blush creeps over Malina's cheeks. "Oh," she says.
"I expect you to wipe the floor with them, whoever you choose," Nico adds pointedly. "Found him," he says abruptly. "Got to go." His screen goes black and it leaves the group with Mastermental on one side and Negatia on the other.
"He had better get my son back," Negatia says, looking at Mastermental.
"Technico can handle Shadowman," Malina says, only to blush more as they look at her. "We heard all about it—he took Shadowman down in seconds when he tried to kidnap Adanna. He made this gun out of scraps and a light bulb that took away Shadowman's powers and then Nico broke his jaw!" This is the story she's calmed herself with a million times when waking up from a nightmare. She believes it, she thinks as her hands fist at her sides. She believes it happened one hundred percent.
Negatia's look of pale worry and anger calms as she looks at Malina. "He did, did he?" she asks.
"He did. We heard about it from Adanna, herself. She said he punched a hole in the street big enough for a car to fall in. He can take on ANYONE!"
"Rather violent for a principal, don't you think?" Negatia says to Mastermental, but there's color coming back into her face. The tension in the room is easing.
"Adanna IS his best friend's daughter," Mastermental says simply. "I believe that makes her something like a niece in his mind. Of course we had to send people out quickly to patch it up—at least one car fell in that hole before we got to it."
"Were they hurt?" Malina asks worriedly.
"They were more scared than hurt, don't worry," Mastermental assures her. "Thankfully they weren't going that fast."
"So it really DID happen that way," Freddy says, breaking into a grin.
"I told you so," Malina says smugly.
***
"Hey, Mother," Skye says cheerfully. She's no longer held captive—I'm not sure WHY she was held captive earlier… was she held captive? Every time I try to remember, my head starts to hurt. "Nico is coming! It'll be a family reunion, right? Since you're my mother and he's my brother—"
"Sweetie, calm down, calm down," Mother says with a laugh. "Why don't you tell me who this 'Nico' of yours is?"
"Nico! My brother! He looks almost EXACTLY like Dad, too!"
"And who is 'Dad' again?"
"Superior, duuuh," Skye says. Mother jerks, her eyes widening with shock and—is that excitement I see? But why would—my head starts pounding again and I groan, grabbing my forehead in a pathetic attempt to make it stop. "Nico is a technopath!"
"I see. Now listen to me, children, I have one thing you need to do," Mother says. We both turn, looking at her expectantly. "Tell no one about me."
"But—"
"No one. Not even the rest of the family, understand? Not until I tell you to," she says. Before we can reply, she's gone. I look at Skye and she looks back, a strange expression on her face.
"So… what ARE we supposed to do?" she asks.
Before I can answer, a hole is blast through the ceiling and Nico drops in. He barely glances at us before starting to search the room. "Where is he?" he demands.
"Who?"
"Shadowman."
Skye stares at him blankly, tilting her head slightly as she thinks. "Ummm… I don't know?" she finally offers. "You look worried, Nico. Too much stress is bad for you, you know! Aubrey told me so!"
He looks at her a bit blankly, and then brings out his phone, running a green light over her and me. He doesn't say anything for a long moment as he looks over the stats, but there's a frown on his face.
"I'm ah… sorry I sort of disappeared. Are the others okay?" I ask.
"You were kidnapped," Nico says.
"I was?" I ask. I don't remember that. "Again?"
I get the feeling I get kidnapped a lot. There's this vague memory of Ace doing it when I went to the future. But I seriously don't remember being kidnapped recen—I let out a cry as a white hot spike of pain goes through my head. I'm falling, but I can't catch myself because the pain is too sharp.
It hurts so badly. I think I'm screaming, but I can't hear it through the pain. I can only hope I don't break too many things with my voice.
Like eardrums.
***
I hear voices. I vaguely recognize one of them—there are two females and two males, I think. At least they're the ones talking. "Can you fix him?" I hear someone say distinctly.
"I'm not sure," the one I almost recognize says. "I mean, it seems like his brain has been tampered with, but it's already healed over—his healing abilities are really good. But I can't swear that whatever happened to him hasn't caused more problems than the ones I can see. Bobby, can you do something?"
I open my eyes, looking around the room in confusion. Aubrey is standing over me, looking concerned. "Stay still, you're in the Arctic Circle, surrounded by friends," she says in a calming tone. "You're just fine—do you recognize me, Justin?"
"Yeah," I say, sitting up. She starts to push
me down, but I give her a dirty look. "I'm fine," I tell her, running a hand over my face. "What happened? I feel like someone tried to crush my skull."
"We're not sure," Aubrey admits, looking behind her. "Bobby, do you want to give it a try?"
"I can't," a stout looking kid says, shoving his glasses up his nose. "If I mess with the brain, who knows how far back I'll send him? I still haven't gotten to where I can control WHEN I heal back to, you know?"
"I see," Aubrey says, frowning slightly. "You've got a good point. My next suggestion is taking him to Double M," she goes on, looking to Nico. "He can do a thorough scan of his brain to see what's been changed—"
"What time is it?" I ask, bringing up my com. "No, what DAY is it—oh crap," I say, groaning and getting off the metal table. Why do they have a hospital room in the Arctic Circle? I have no clue—I don't have time to ask, either. "I've GOT to get back, Nico," I say, turning to the super standing on the other side of my table. "We're supposed to be on stage in an hour."
"I think this is a lot more important than a concert!" Aubrey says. The girl behind her reaches up and touches her shoulder.
"Can't we bring him back after the concert?" she asks. "If you think he's healed, and I didn't pick up anything when I tried, he should be fine for it, right?"
"Can we risk having what happened to you earlier happen again?" Nico asks me. "Skye still can't hear a thing," he adds, motioning to the woman over by the wall of machines. "SKYE!" he bellows. When that doesn't work, he waves a hand and his image appears on the screen in front of her, pointing her towards our group.
"I'M LEARNING TO READ LIPS NOW!" Skye yells cheerfully, turning to us. "NEWS HAS NEVER BEEN THIS FUNNY BEFORE!"
"Can we get one of you three to heal her? Now?" Nico prompts, looking at the healers.
"Oh, right, of course," Aubrey says, frowning. "She really should have healed by now, though…" She shrugs and heads over, grabbing Skye's hands. I see her give Skye a dry look, and Skye grin back at her, shrugging, but I don't bother to interpret.
