by Lucas Flint
“No, you are not,” said Cadmus. He put his hands on the table, a serious and intense look on his face. “You were almost tricked into joining them last year, but when you helped to defeat their leader, they marked you as their number one enemy. They are using you for their own purposes, but you are too stubborn and foolish to realize it.”
I bit my lower lip. As much as I hated to admit it, Cadmus’s words rang with truth. I remembered how hostile and callous Incantation would treat me, how I was treated more like a tool than a person. I told myself that Cadmus was lying, but no matter how much I repeated that lie to myself, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it.
“Do you understand now?” said Cadmus. “I see you’ve gone silent.”
I didn’t want to talk to Cadmus, because I was so confused and overwhelmed with fear and worry that I didn’t know what to believe. But I had a deep, burning question, one I couldn’t ignore for much longer.
“Cadmus,” I said. “If all of this is true—and I am not saying that it is—how did I end up this way? Did I ever really have an … accident?”
Cadmus pulled back from the table and folded his arms behind his back. “No, at least nothing like what the Visionists told you. A week ago, you and your teammates responded to an attack call for helpin Brooklyn, where some Visionists had been spotted attacking innocent people. But when you arrived, it turned out to be a trap. You and your teammates were separated by Vision and you vanished into thin air. And, until last night, no one knew if you were even still alive.”
I frowned. Another flash. I saw myself and five other teenagers walking down a street in Brooklyn. All of a sudden, a smoke bomb came out of nowhere and exploded between us. Coughing and hacking, I looked around for the others, only to see a woman in a dark cloak standing in the mist. She raised her hands and that was where the memory ended. “Is anyone still searching for me?”
“Everyone has,” said Cadmus. “Your teammates, the NHA, the INJ, and even the G-Men have been searching for you. It appears that I got lucky and ended up being the one to find you, which will no doubt irritate Mecha Knight.”
Cadmus smirked, which looked weird and strange on his otherwise calm face.
“Okay,” I said. “I’m still not sure I believe anything you just said, but I do have a few memories that seem to match your story.”
“Of course,” said Cadmus. “But if you need proof of your antipathy toward Vision, here is an article from Neo Ranks from last year that details your conflict with them.”
Cadmus drew a smartphone out of his pocket, swiped across the screen a couple of times, and then showed me the article, which was dated late October of last year and was headlined ‘PLOT BY SUPERHUMAN CULT ‘VISION’ EXPOSED BY BOLT,’ complete with a picture of me flying away from what looked like a crime scene. It was a very short article, detailing how I had saved President Plutarch from being assassinated by a woman named June, who was apparently the assistant to the Visionary.
I looked up at Cadmus, still unsure whether to believe what I’d just read. “This can’t be true, can it?”
“It can and it is,” said Cadmus as he put the smartphone back into his pocket. “It was a big news story at the time, easily the biggest one of the year. And it was all thanks to you.”
I looked down at my body. I wanted to say that I had no memory of the events that the article described, but that wasn’t exactly true. I found myself viewing another flash, in which I stood above a man with a twisted arm who looked very much like Sagan. Then I heard a gun cock behind me and moved out of the way just in time to avoid getting shot. Sagan, however, was not so lucky; the bullet entered his head and he fell onto the ground, blood spilling from the bullet hole in his head.
I shook my head and returned to the present. Cadmus had not moved from his spot near me, his hands still in his pockets, an expectant look on his face.
“Well?” said Cadmus. “Do you remember it?”
“I …” I didn’t want to finish the sentence. “I do. Not all of it, but enough. More than enough, actually.”
“I can tell it is causing you immense pain,” said Cadmus. “I don’t know what Vision did to you to repress your memories like that, but it is clear that they had zero intention of letting you remember anything that would make you turn against them.”
This time, I didn’t even try to deny it. Cadmus was right. Vision had lied to me, had repressed nearly all my memories and given me a lot of false ones. That meant that Incantation, Thaumaturge, Hopper, Wrath … all of them had lied to me. They had manipulated me, tried to make me do their dirty work, to rescue their leader, a vile and evil man who I wish I didn’t know. That also meant that Incantation was not even really my girlfriend; she was just a liar and deceiver. She never really loved me at all, unlike my real girlfriend, who was probably somewhere out there extremely worried about me.
I looked up at Cadmus. “Does anyone else know I’m here? Have you told my friends and my girlfriend and my family?”
Cadmus shook his head. “No. I wanted to ensure that we could remove the brainwashing that Vision had put you under first, before I told anyone else. It appears that I was successful in that regard.”
“Then let me talk to my friends,” I said. “Let me talk to my family. I want to see them again.”
Cadmus, however, just shook his head again. “No.”
“No?” I repeated. “What do you mean, ‘no’? You put me through all of this emotional torment, only to deny me the chance to see my friends and family and maybe get more of my memories back?”
“There’s no need to get emotional about it,” said Cadmus. “I haven’t even told you my reasons. Then again, you’ve always been impulsive and irrational, so I shouldn’t be too surprised that you’d jump straight to the most emotional response when I say something you don’t understand.”
I didn’t remember if Cadmus was always this arrogant or if he was just feeling particularly uptight today, but I also realized that he had the power in this situation and I didn’t. “All right, then. Tell me your reasons for keeping me away from my friends and family.”
“Very well,” said Cadmus. “You see, at the moment, Vision does not know that your memories are returning. They are aware that you have been captured by us, but they don’t know that you know the truth about them just yet.”
“So?” I said. “Who cares? I just want to go back to where they’re hiding and beat the snot out of them.”
“Not so fast,” said Cadmus, wagging a finger at me. “Vision is slippery, like a snake. If they suspect that their location has been compromised, they will pack up and leave. And they would know that for certain if I let you go and see your friends and family, news that has a very high likelihood of being leaked in this day and age where news travels at the speed of thought.”
“What are you saying, then?” I said. “Am I never going to see my friends and family again?”
“No,” said Cadmus. “Instead, you will act as a mole for the G-Men. We will send you back to Vision, but you must pretend that you are still one of them. We will make up a story about how you broke out of the facility in which you were kept and made your way back to their base to rejoin Vision.”
“So I can beat them up?” I said.
“Hardly, though you may have to use force at some point,” said Cadmus. “No, instead it will be us G-Men who will take them down. I will send a team of elite G-Men operatives to follow you and infiltrate the base. Once the location is confirmed and the team set, I will send the team inside and they will capture every member of Vision there, including, hopefully, Thaumaturge.”
“So you want to use me as a weapon with which to take down Vision once and for all,” I said. “Is that right?”
“More or less,” said Cadmus.
“I’m not so sure I like being used like that,” I said.
“You should, at least in this scenario,” said Cadmus. “Vision has been an enemy of the American people and government for too long, but more important
ly, it has been an enemy of you. Vision aided Robert Candle in killing your father.”
“They did?” I said.
“Indeed,” said Cadmus. “And they would have most likely killed you, too, after you helped them save Sagan. By taking out Vision once and for all, you will be protecting not just the United States, but also yourself, your family, and your closest friends.”
I bit my lower lip again. I wanted to protect my friends and family. I also wanted to get revenge on Vision. As foolish as I felt about being manipulated, I also felt angry, angry at what Vision did to me and how they lied to me. I wasn’t going to let them get away with it, especially if they helped Robert Candle kill my father, like Cadmus said.
On the other hand, however, even with my memory returning, I wasn’t so sure I trusted Cadmus. Maybe it was just his mysterious way of behaving, but I sure thought he had something up his sleeve. But even if he did, so what? Vision was the bigger threat at the moment. Once they were gone, then I would worry about whatever Cadmus’s agenda or plan might be.
So I nodded and said, “All right, Director. I agree to your plan. When do we get started?”
Chapter Eleven
I flew across the top of the forest surrounding the Hanson Mansion, the wind blowing my hair back as I soared through the sky. It was very dark out now, with the sun beginning to set in the distance, but I could still see clearly and I knew I wouldn’t have any trouble seeing the Hanson Mansion once I got there. And once I did, I would land and meet with the other Visionists, who would think I am still on their side and thus still treat me like one of their own. How wrong they were about to be about that.
I glanced down at the trees every now and then. I didn’t see any of the dozen G-Men agents hiding among them, but I knew that a team of elite G-Men agents had been sent out here by Cadmus yesterday. They had gone ahead of me, to scout ahead and get settled in so the trap would go smoothly, but I didn’t know their exact location. That was intentional; if Sarah read my mind and found out the truth about me, the Visionists would have no idea where the G-Men were hiding. In fact, I didn’t even know who was in the G-Men team, though I guessed that all of them were probably incredibly powerful and experienced superhumans, based on what Cadmus had told me about them.
Yesterday, at around lunch, I had called the Hanson Mansion, where I spoke with Hopper over the phone. I had pretended to have escaped from the government facility in which Cadmus had taken me and had asked for directions to the Hanson Mansion. Hopper had been happy to hear that I had managed to break out, though his happiness had sounded rather forced to me, which was yet more confirmation that neither he nor Incantation or anyone else in Vision truly considered me a friend.
It was still a bitter truth for me to take. Even though I was aware that my memories were false and that none of my friendships with the others were real, it still felt like a punch to the gut. I had truly believed them to be my friends, but thanks to Cadmus, I knew better now.
That bitterness was mixed with anger, though, a righteous, motivating anger that motivated me to take them down. I doubted I’d get a chance to do that, though, because Cadmus had claimed that the G-Men would do most of the work beating them, but that didn’t change the fact that I was going to get my revenge one way or another.
I wished that my friends could be here with me, though. My real friends; Blizzard, Stinger, Shell, Talon, and Treehugger. I had asked Cadmus if they could help on this mission, but Cadmus had said that he only wanted the G-Men to be on this mission, because it was a matter of arresting criminals fleeing the law, not merely defeating them in the middle of a crime. I supposed that was fair, but I thought it would have been easier to defeat Vision if we had more help, even if the help in question wasn’t part of the government.
But I told myself that I would soon be reunited with them. And, most importantly, I would be reunited with Blizzard. My memories of her were still foggy, but I remembered seeing a funny movie with her, going on dates, and had a general warm feeling toward her. That was in contrast to how I felt about Incantation; rather coldly, however beautiful I thought she was.
As I flew, my new earcom—which Cadmus had given me so we could stay in contact—crackled and I heard Cadmus say, “Bolt, how close are you to the Hanson Mansion?”
“Very close,” I said. “Maybe a minute or two away.”
“Good to know,” said Cadmus. “The team I sent out is in position. They are ready to act as soon as I give the say so, but I won’t order them to act until you send me the confirmation message.”
I nodded. Before leaving the base, Cadmus had programmed a message into my suit-up watch that I would send to him once I reunited with the Visionists. We had no particular time for me to send the message, but the idea was that we’d do it as soon as I gathered all of Vision’s members into one room in the Mansion. Then I would send the message to Cadmus, who would then order the G-Men team to invade the Mansion and arrest as many Visionists as they could catch. Their number one target was Thaumaturge, who, as the de facto leader of Vision due to Sagan’s absence, was considered the most dangerous of them. The idea was that if Thaumaturge was arrested, it would undoubtedly cause Vision to collapse as its remaining members vied for leadership, effectively making Vision too impotent to do anything. I didn’t know if it would work out that way or not, but it seemed like a good plan, so I did not voice any objections about it.
Suddenly, I saw the top of the Hanson Mansion peeking out over the treetops, so I said into my earcom, “Cadmus, I see the Mansion. I’m coming in for a landing, so stand by for the message to send in the G-Men.”
“Roger that,” said Cadmus. “Cadmus out.”
With that, I heard a small click in my ear that indicated that Cadmus was done talking with me. That was good, because I was coming in on the Mansion fast and I would need to have my wits about me so I could not be taken by surprise.
Landing on the front lawn of the Mansion, I was not met by anyone. I looked around, but the front lawn was strangely empty. And quiet; only the chirping of birds and the fluttering of tree branches in the wind could be heard, as well as the gurgle of the nearby water fountain. That was ominous.
“Hello?” I called out, looking this way and that for the others. “Is anyone here? I’m back! I escaped from the G-Men. Hello?”
No answer. A robin flew by overhead, but the windows of the Mansion remained dark and empty. That was when I noticed that all of the curtains had been drawn, as if to hide the interior of the Mansion from outside onlookers.
I frowned. “Incantation? Hopper? Sarah? Thaumaturge? Hello?”
My earcom crackled and Cadmus’s voice came from within. “Bolt, I have received a message from the team that you have not been greeted by the Visionists on the front lawn of the Mansion. Do you know where they are?”
“I have no idea,” I said. “Maybe they’re asleep.”
“I should send in the team now,” said Cadmus. “I don’t like this.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Not yet. Let me go inside and begin looking for them. It’s possible they’re busy with something else and just haven’t realized I’m here. Remember, we don’t want to give them time to escape.”
“You’re right,” said Cadmus. “Still, this situation strikes me as … risky. Although I am not there, my instincts are telling me that this is a trap.”
“Maybe, but the only way to find out is for me to enter the Mansion and see if I can find anyone,” I said. “I’ll keep my earcom on, however, so you can hear what’s going on around me and react to any traps I might run into.”
“Very well,” said Cadmus. “If I even suspect anything is amiss, I will immediately send in the team.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’m going in.”
I ran up to the front steps of the Mansion and pushed open the huge double doors, which opened with ominous creaking. I peeked my head inside the dark Mansion; all of the lights had been turned off and I didn’t hear any voices or movement in the place.
“Hello?” I said, my voice echoing off the Mansion’s open hallways. “Is anyone there?”
All I heard was the echoes of my own voice. The Mansion felt abandoned, as though no one had ever lived here in the first place. I stepped inside, but did not close the doors behind me, because I wanted a way to flee if necessary. I again looked around and listened, but the place felt as empty as a graveyard.
I decided to go to the dining room; it was late enough in the evening that I figured there had to be at least a few people having dinner right now. I had to admit, though, that I was hesitant about heading in any deeper, because the Mansion felt haunted, like there were ghosts hiding just out of sight that were waiting for me to let my guard down long enough for them to pounce on me.
Nonetheless, I walked deeper into the Mansion, heading in the direction of the dining room. But I moved carefully, occasionally stopping to listen for any sounds that weren’t mine, but as always, the Mansion was silent. I stopped to look into various rooms on my way there, hoping to spot someone, but every room I checked was empty. I thought about going back to my room, but decided against it, because that would be an unnecessary detour. Besides, it wasn’t really my room anyway; it was just a room given to me to make me feel like I was one of the Visionists. Just another part of their lies.
Soon, I arrived at the entrance to the dining room, but stopped before I entered and listened closely for any sounds on the other side of the doors. I didn’t hear anyone, but I did notice light streaming out from under the cracks of the door. Either someone left a light on or there was someone in the room right now, though who, I couldn’t guess for sure.
The only way to find out was to enter, so I pushed open the doors and entered the dining room, ready for whatever trap the Visionists might have set for me.
The dining room looked about the same as it always had, even complete with plates and silverware. The chandelier was on, which was the source of the light, and it caused the shiny, expensive silverware to sparkle. But most of the chairs were empty … except for the one at the far end of the table, away from me.
