by Lucas Flint
I looked at the rest of my team and the New Heroes. Everyone was staring at Shade dumbfounded. No surprise there. I had always known that Shade was pretty powerful, but seeing her wipe the floor with that Limb Drone like that was another thing entirely. It made me glad, for the first time, that she liked me, because if she didn’t … well, let’s just say that I wasn’t so sure that my super speed would save me from her if she ever decided to take me out.
“Thanks for the save,” I said to Shade. “I didn’t realize you were so powerful.”
Shade shrugged. “I can’t take any credit for it. Most of my power comes from my dear old mother. She was quite the powerful superhuman herself.”
“Your mother was a superhuman?” I said in surprise.
“Yes, but that’s irrelevant at the moment,” said Shade. “I bet that the Pokacu will send another one of their machines after us once they realize that one is dead, so we need to get you all out of here.”
“How?” said Shell. I noticed that his back was starting to grow and become more shell-like again, which was a sign that the powerless gas was starting to wear off. “If we try to use the Neocopter, the Pokacu will probably just shoot us down.”
“I can take you all away from here,” said Shade. The shadow blades around her arms vanished. “I can shadow travel, so I can just take all thirteen of you off Hero Island easily.”
“You’ve helped that many people escape before?” I said doubtfully. “Are you sure you can take all of us like that?”
“Not all at once, I’m afraid,” said Shade. “But I can take two at a time and I’m pretty quick, so I should have you all off Hero Island in a jiffy even doing two at a time.”
Shade stepped forward, holding out her hand toward me, but then Strike appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him in surprise.
“Strike, what are you doing?” I said, looking at Strike in confusion.
Strike looked at Shade in distrust, his eyes analyzing her face as if looking for a trick. “Why should we trust you? You’re G-Men, aren’t you? The one who broke into the Cavern, if I’m not mistaken.”
Shade’s arm instantly turned into shadow, causing Strike’s hand to go through it. Shade pulled her arm back and glared at Strike in annoyance.
“And you’re Strike, right? Leader of the New Heroes?” said Shade. She tsked. “You’re cuter in the pictures, you know that?”
“Stop avoiding the question,” Strike snapped. “I know all about the G-Men. The Midnight Menace says we can’t trust you.”
“The Midnight Menace is, if I’m not mistaken, also powerless and in the clutches of the Pokacu at the moment,” Shade said. “Just like you, except for the ‘in the clutches of the Pokacu’ part, though that will probably change if you don’t come with me.”
“Where will you take us?” said Strike. “And why should we come with you?”
“I’d take you to a secret G-Men facility where you will be safe from those creepy Pokacu aliens,” said Shade. “As for why you should come with me, well, aside from the fact that I’m very pretty, it’s also your best chance of getting off Hero Island alive and with your powers intact.”
“Strike,” I said. “As much as I agree with you on the G-Men, we really don’t have time to argue about this. I’d much rather be in the hands of the G-Men than the Pokacu, you know?”
“See? Bolt agrees,” said Shade. She winked at me. “Smart and cute.”
I could feel Blizzard glaring daggers at Shade still, which made this whole situation far more awkward than it should have been.
Strike opened his mouth to argue, but then Nicknacks—who had been quiet due to his broken legs—suddenly said, “Please stop arguing. We should go with Shade. She’s our only chance of getting out of Hero Island alive and in one piece, as well as stopping the Pokacu. The G-Men did help us beat off the first Pokacu invasion, after all, so they will be able to help us defeat this one.”
“Exactly,” said Shade. She threw Strike a smug look. “You should listen to your elders. You might just learn something.”
Strike looked annoyed, but he didn’t object to the plan. He just stepped away from her and crossed his arms over his chest, saying, “Okay, fine. We’ll go with you. I guess the G-Men are better than the Pokacu.”
“Excellent,” said Shade. “Now we have no time to lose. I’ll start taking you guys in pairs right away, before the Pokacu send another one of their killing machines after us.”
Chapter Six
Shade teleported us off Hero Island two at a time, just like she said she would. The first to go were Stinger and Nicknacks, because Nicknacks needed medical attention and Shade said that the G-Men base she was taking us to would have a medic who could help him, plus a room where he could rest and heal. I have to admit that I was a little bit worried that the G-Men just might take Nicknacks into custody instead of healing him, because he was an alien and all, but because we didn’t have much of a choice, I kept those worries to myself.
Shade was very quick, taking us two at a time very rapidly, until it was just me and Strike left, who as usual had stayed behind in case the Pokacu attacked. Thankfully, Shade moved so quickly that we were not attacked by any Pokacu soldiers or robots.
When Shade returned from dropping off Blizzard and Dizzy, she grabbed my arm and Strike’s arm and was about to pull us into the darkness before she stopped and said, “Oh, I almost forgot.”
“Forgot?” I said. “Forgot what?”
Shade looked at me with a mischievous smile. “Shadow travel can be rather … disconcerting, especially if you are not used to it.”
“Is it painful?” said Strike.
“Not really, but the shadow does block out nearly all your senses for the duration of the trip, which can be disorienting and sometimes even induce panic in some people,” said Shade. “But don’t worry about that. We’ll be there before you know it.”
Strike and I had only a moment to exchange uncertain looks before Shade yanked us both into the shadows with her. She was much stronger than she appeared, pulling us along through the shadow like we were underwater.
And it really did feel like were underwater. I should know, because I had been on the bottom of the ocean once and it had been extremely dark down there.
Yet this was even darker than the ocean. At least on the bottom of the ocean, I’d had a small light that had allowed me to see at least some of my environment. Here, however, I couldn’t see anything; not me, not Strike, and not even Shade. I could feel her pulling me along, could hear Strike’s breathing beside me, but it was so dark that I actually felt panic starting to rise within me. It didn’t help that my powers still hadn’t returned and I wondered what would happen if Shade accidentally let go of me before we got to our destination. Would I end up falling out of the shadows back onto Earth somewhere or would I just endlessly float through the empty darkness forever?
Those dark thoughts were interrupted when we abruptly fell out of the darkness and into the light. All three of us landed on our feet, which was a strange sensation, because it had felt like we were swimming through the darkness just moments before. Maybe physics worked differently in the shadows or something.
In any case, my eyes had trouble adjusting to the bright light of the room. But they adjusted quickly enough, which allowed me to see where, exactly, we had ended up.
We were standing in an open room that appeared to have been designed specifically to hold large groups of people like ourselves. The room was pretty bare, with no carpeting or wallpaper, and it didn’t have any furniture, either, or windows for that matter. There was a single door that appeared to be the exit, which also appeared to be unlocked. That was good because this place was reminding me of an actual prison cell.
“Here we are,” said Shade, gesturing at the room in which we stood. “Our destination. How do you two feel?”
I put a hand on my stomach, which was starting to act up. “Okay. I probably just need to rest and relax for a
little bit. Strike, how do you feel?”
Strike was breathing in and out rapidly, which made me think that he was about to throw up, but then he shook his head and said, “I … need … air …”
“So you’ll be perfectly fine, then,” said Shade brightly.
Strike looked at Shade in annoyance again, but before he could say anything, Blizzard—who had been standing on the other side of the room with the rest of the Young Neos and the New Heroes—ran up to us and said, “Bolt, are you okay? You look sick.”
“I’m fine,” I said as I took my hand off my stomach. “The shadow travel just didn’t exactly agree with me. How about you?”
“Same here,” said Blizzard. She gestured at the others, which caused me to notice Shell sitting on the floor with a look of death on his face while Treehugger gently patted and muttered to him. “Shell actually threw up, though the people who took Nicknacks cleaned it up when they got here, which is why you don’t see it.”
“The people who took Nicknacks?” I said, looking at Blizzard in confusion. I suddenly looked around the room, but did not see Nicknacks anywhere. “Say, where is Nicknacks, anyway? I don’t see him anywhere.”
“When we got here, some people claiming to be doctors entered the room and took him away,” said Blizzard. “They said they were going to look at his legs and get him fixed up right away.”
I looked at Shade suspiciously. “Shade, can you explain this?”
“Sure,” said Shade. “What your girlfriend probably saw was the medical staff of the Facility. I sent them a message ahead of time warning them that I would be sending you all here and that Nicknacks would need medical attention as soon as he arrived.”
“You mean they got organized and prepared that fast?” I said in astonishment.
“Of course,” said Shade. “The Facility medical staff are some of the best in the country. They’ve dealt with all kinds of weird medical issues before, since they work for the G-Men, so I don’t think they’ll have any trouble fixing him up quickly.”
I raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Can I have your word that they will actually fix him and not harm him?”
Shade shrugged. “If they were, going to harm him do you think there is anything you could do about it?”
My hands balled into fists and I met Shade’s glare without flinching. “Yes.”
We glared at each other for what felt like hours—though it was probably just a few seconds—before Shade looked away and chuckled.
“Huh?” I said. “Why are you chuckling?”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” said Shade. She patted me on the shoulder. “You’re just so cute when you try to look tough.”
Immediately, Blizzard slapped Shade’s hand off my shoulder, causing Shade to look at her in surprise.
“Don’t touch him,” said Blizzard. “Or else.”
“Or else what?” said Shade. She just grinned. “Are you going to freeze me? It won’t work, you know, since there’s nothing colder than darkness.”
“If you want to fight—” said Blizzard, taking a step forward, but I immediately stepped between them.
“Hold on, you two,” I said, holding up my hands. “No need to fight. We have a much bigger enemy to fight at the moment. Let’s not let our anger distract us.”
Both Shade and Blizzard glared at me. I felt the need to shrink and become really small, but instead I looked over my shoulder at Strike and said, “Strike, can you back me up on this?”
But Strike didn’t look like he was in any condition to help anyone. He was leaning against the wall, his face still quite green as he clutched his stomach. He didn’t look anywhere near as handsome as he normally did at the moment, which made me feel rather sorry for him, but not nearly as sorry for myself, because I was pretty sure that Shade and Blizzard were going to tear me apart with their bare hands if I didn’t get out of their way.
At that exact moment, however, the room’s only door swung open, causing everyone to look over just as a familiar tall, black suited man who looked like he was in his early forties stepped into the room. His eyes, which looked far older than the eyes of your typical early forties man, swept over the room briefly before stopping on me, Shade, Blizzard, and Strike.
“Cadmus Smith?” I said in surprise, staring at the leader of the G-Men. “What are you doing here?”
“Given that this is a G-Men operated facility, you really shouldn’t be surprised to see me here,” said Cadmus dryly. Then he looked at Shade and said, “Shade, what are you doing?”
“Nothing,” said Shade, turning away from me and Blizzard and using the most innocent voice ever to address Cadmus. “Just having a little fun with the teenagers.”
Cadmus raised an eyebrow that told me that he knew what Shade had been really doing, but then he shook his head and said, “Whatever. Did you succeed in bringing every member of the Young Neos and New Heroes here, plus Nicknacks?”
“Yes, sir,” said Shade. She gestured at the others, who were all staring at Cadmus silently, probably because this was the first time any of them had actually seen him in person. “Everyone is present and accounted for.”
“Good work,” said Cadmus. Then he shifted his attention to me. “Bolt, do you feel well enough to come with me? Shade has already given me a brief report on what happened, but I would like more details on the attack and Shade’s report said that you were one of the two neoheroes who tried to stop the missile, so I assume you know some facts that Shade does not.”
“Uh, sure,” I said. “But what about my team? Where will they go?”
“I will have one of my agents move them into a nicer suite,” said Cadmus. He gestured at the room in which we stood. “This particular room is normally used for storage, which is why it isn’t very comfortable. But rest assured that I will have them moved to a much nicer place while you and I talk.”
“You mean they won’t be with us?” I said.
“No,” said Cadmus. “As you were one of the witnesses to the attack, I value your opinion more than the opinions of the others. Plus, we are going to discuss some important matters that your friends don’t need to know.”
“What kind of important matters, exactly?” I said.
“That is all I can say about them in front of your teammates at the moment,” said Cadmus. “Oh, and I would like for Strike to come as well, though he does look rather sick at the moment.”
I looked over at Strike. He had slid to the floor now and looked like he was about to hurl, but when Cadmus mentioned his name, he looked up and said, “No … no, I can talk.” His voice sounded horrible, like he was trying to talk through a mouth full of mud.
“Good,” said Cadmus, although he didn’t sound entirely convinced about Strike’s health. “Shade, please escort Bolt and Strike to the control center in ten minutes. In the meantime, I will be preparing for the meeting.”
With that, Cadmus left the room, which made me wonder what our discussion was going to be about and whether Cadmus had a plan to defeat the Pokacu or not.
Chapter Seven
Ten minutes later, Strike and I were following Shade down a long, winding corridor that looked similar to the storage room in which we had arrived, except that it had more lights and doors and was much narrower. Strike’s face wasn’t green anymore; apparently his sickness had just been temporary, though every now and then he’d rub his stomach as if to soothe it.
As for our teams, they were being escorted to a different part of the ‘Facility,’ as Shade had called it, where they would stay while Strike and I spoke with Cadmus. I felt a little uneasy about being separated from my team, but Blizzard had assured me that they would be fine and would be capable of taking care of themselves. Still, I rubbed my earcom every now and then, which would give me the ability to speak with Blizzard directly in the event that we needed to speak right away.
Shade seemed perfectly at ease in this place, walking without even looking back to see if we were following. She kept swaying her hips side to side; I
wasn’t sure if that was just how she walked or if that was deliberate on her part, but either way it was difficult to ignore. But thinking about what Blizzard would say if she saw me staring at Shade’s behind was usually enough to snap out of it. Strike, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have any problem with occasionally looking, despite his distrust of the G-Men in general.
“So what is the Facility, anyway?” I said to Shade as we followed her around the corner, hoping that the questions would distract me from looking where I shouldn’t. “Where is it located?”
“You mean you don’t remember this place?” said Shade, glancing over her shoulder at me.
“Have I been here before?” I said in surprise, looking around at the hall to see if I could spot anything that would jog my memory.
“No, silly,” said Shade, shaking her head. “Do you remember Master Chaos? This was the exact facility he broke into to get those weapons he used to try to kill you last year.”
I grimaced at the mention of the first ever supervillain I fought, Master Chaos. “Yeah, I remember that. I didn’t know this was the place he’d stolen those robots and weapons from, though.”
“Well, technically he didn’t break into it,” said Shade. “We suspected he had a friend on the inside who helped him get the weapons, but to this day we still have no idea who his friend was or is, even though we did a thorough interrogation of everyone working here after Master Chaos’s death.”
“How do we know it wasn’t you?” said Strike, looking at Shade skeptically.
“Because I only help cute guys, duh,” said Shade, waving off Strike’s theory like it was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard. “And Master Chaos was ugly. Big and strong, yes, but ugly. And his real name was Bernard, which isn’t very sexy, either. Plus, Director Smith cleared me with his telepathy.”
“You still haven’t told us where this place is located,” I said.
