by Lucas Flint
Not only that, but the three G-Men who had been tasked with protecting the school—Black Gold, Iron Horn, and Shade—were called back to Washington the day after. Dad told me that the police had confirmed that Master Chaos was indeed dead, which meant that there was no reason for the G-Men to protect my school anymore, although the police couldn't find Maria Candle and believed she had fled, though they did not know where. Frankly, I wasn't worried, because the G-Men put her on their most wanted list and offered a reward to anyone who could bring her in, so I figured they were going to capture her sooner or later.
Robert Candle's location, however, was perfectly well-known. He was back in school a couple of days later, except he had to rely on crutches to get around. I worried that Robert, who probably knew my secret identity, would tell everyone that I was Bolt, but he never did. That was probably because everyone thought Robert was crazy, a reputation he had gained after 'lying' about me punching him through the cafeteria wall. Still, every now and then Robert would shoot me a death glare, especially whenever anyone mentioned my alternate identity. The police, apparently, were not going to arrest him because they did not believe he had helped Master Chaos, which worried me a little, because Robert still held a grudge against me, and if he developed powers at some point, I had no doubt he'd use them against me somehow.
In any case, the rest of the week was the first time in a long time that I didn't feel stressed out or worried. I just went to school, hung out with Malcolm and Tara, and went home every day. I didn't even put on my super suit. As much as I enjoyed using my powers, my fight with Master Chaos had left me a little worn out with fighting evil for now. I still planned to resume superheroics someday—despite Mom and Dad's disapproval—but for now I decided I'd take things nice and easy and leave the superheroics to the NHA and the G-Men.
But then on Friday afternoon, as I returned home from school, I noticed a large black van in the driveway of our house. At first, I didn't think much of it, thinking that maybe Mom or Dad had invited one of the neighbors over or something, so when I entered the house, I shouted, “Mom! Dad! I'm home! Whose car is that out—”
I stopped speaking when I reached the living room, where I saw four people sitting.
Two of them were Mom and Dad. Mom wore her kitchen apron, looking like she had just been in the middle of cooking dinner (and I could smell spaghetti sauce from the kitchen), and was sitting in one of the recliners. Dad sat in the recliner next to her, his arms still in their splints. He had been sitting there for the last week, recovering from having his arms broken, so I didn't find that strange.
But what I did find strange were the two people sitting on the couch opposite my parents. One was a young woman in her twenties, with pale skin and dark hair and wearing a G-Men uniform. I recognized her as Shade, and she must have recognized me, too, because she smiled and waved at me when she saw me.
Sitting beside her was a man I'd never seen before. His hair was dark, like Shade's, but longer, with a few gray hairs scattered here and there. He also looked older than Shade, probably in his forties at least. He wore an old-fashioned suit, with a G-Men patch on his right shoulder, which meant he was yet another G-Man, though I didn't know which one.
When he looked at me, I felt like he was reading my mind. His eyes looked too old for his face, as old as my Grandpa's eyes, which was weird because this guy was obviously in his forties while Grandpa was in his nineties.
“Hello, Kevin,” said the man. His voice was soft and gravelly. “Nice to meet you.”
I stared at the man for a moment before looking at Mom and Dad. “Who are these people and why are they sitting on our couch?”
Dad sighed. He gestured with his fingers at the two. “Kevin, these two are from the G-Men. The young lady is Shade, who I have been told has already met you, and the second is—”
“Cadmus Smith,” said the man, interrupting Dad. “Director of the Department of Superpowered and Extraterrestrial Beings and leader of the G-Men.”
Cadmus Smith spoke like he was reciting a line he had spent hours rehearsing. Based on the way Shade rolled her eyes, I could tell this wasn't the first time he had introduced himself that way.
“Wait, does that mean you're from the government?” I said, looking at Cadmus. “Why? Is it about Master Chaos? How long have you been here?”
“We arrived half an hour ago,” said Cadmus. He leaned toward me, his gaze never breaking away from mine. “As for why we are here, yes, it is related to the Master Chaos incident, which we understand you were directly involved with.”
I started and looked at Dad. “Dad, do they know—”
“That I'm Genius and you're Bolt?” said Dad. He nodded. “Yes.”
“How?” I said. “I thought no one knew our secret identities.”
Cadmus actually chuckled at that. “We in the G-Men have our ways of finding out the secrets of every person in the country when we need to. But don't worry. Due to your bravery, we will not publish your secret identities to the world.”
I bit my lower lip, but Cadmus seemed to be telling the truth, so I said, “What are you doing here, exactly? Do you want to know more details about Master Chaos's death? Or maybe about Robert or Maria Candle?”
Cadmus shook his head. “No, no. Our forensic analysts already know everything there is to know about Master Chaos's death, probably even more than you do, and we have recovered every Project Neo weapon he stole from our facility, aside from a few whose location we are still searching for. And the Candles aren't our biggest priority at the moment.”
“Then what is?” I said.
Cadmus pointed at me. “You are.”
“No, he isn't,” said Dad, before I could respond. “You know our answer.”
Cadmus folded his hands over each other. “Theodore, I know what you said, but—”
“But what?” I said, looking between Dad and Cadmus in confusion. “What's going on?”
Cadmus looked at me again. “Allow me to explain: We are interested in offering you a position on the G-Men.”
“Me?” I said, pointing at myself. “A G-Man? Why?”
“Because of your battle with Master Chaos,” said Cadmus. “My superiors in the government were impressed with your bravery, skills, and ingenuity in dealing with one of the most dangerous supervillains in the country. With a little training, we believe you would make a great member of the G-Men.”
I was too taken aback by this offer to say anything, but then Dad said, “Kevin is not joining the G-Men.”
“Why not?” I said, looking at Dad in surprise. “Why can't I make this decision on my own?”
“Because you aren't old enough yet,” said Dad. He glared at Cadmus and Shade. “And I trust the G-Men about as much as I trust the rest of our government, which is to say, very little.”
Cadmus sighed and rubbed his temples. “Theodore, please, you know the G-Men have changed since the nineties. Kevin will be perfectly safe with us. We won't ask him to do anything morally questionable. We will only ask him to use his powers to serve his country.”
“That's what you said last time,” said Dad. His tone was angry, angrier than I had heard him in a while, which surprised me. “And I remember well how your people tried to stab us in the back.”
“Wait, what's going on?” I said. “What happened back in the nineties?”
Cadmus shrugged. “History, that's all. Something I had hoped that your father would have been able to forgive and forget, but apparently I was too optimistic.”
“I'm not the only neohero—current or retired—who still hasn't forgiven you for that,” said Dad. He nodded at the door. “Now get out. We don't want your kind here. And do not contact us again. Understand?”
For a moment, I thought Cadmus was going to say no and tell Shade to arrest Dad. I was willing to fight him if I had to, even though I didn't know if I could beat Shade in a fight, especially if she had help from Cadmus, whose powers I knew nothing about.
But then Cadmus nodde
d and said, “Very well. We will leave.” Then he looked at Kevin. “Kevin, if you are interested in joining the G-Men when you turn eighteen, here is my card with my contact information.”
Cadmus pulled a card out of his front pocket and handed it to Shade, who then put it between the cushions on the couch. The card sank into the shadows between the seat cushions and then fell from the ceiling into my hands. I glanced at the card, which read thus:
CADMUS SMITH
DIRECTOR OF DEPARTMENT OF SUPERPOWERED AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL BEINGS
This was followed by his phone number and email, along with the address of his office.
Then I heard movement and looked up to see that Cadmus and Shade standing up. Cadmus nodded one last time at Dad, who only glared at him, before walking toward the door. I stepped out of their way, allowing Cadmus—who didn't look at me—to pass. Shade also passed, but unlike Cadmus, she winked at me, which took me by surprise, so I didn't know how to react until they were both out the door and gone.
A moment later, I heard the doors of their van open and close. Then I saw, through the door window, the van drive down the street away from our house.
Turning to face my parents, I said, “What was that?”
“Another government scam,” said Dad, who sounded just as angry as ever. “Don't take it seriously. The G-Men are always trying to lure young neoheroes like you into their service, but you can't trust them.”
I nodded slowly. “Uh, right. Well, I guess I'll just be going to my room, then. Is dinner ready yet, Mom?”
Mom shook her head. She looked a little shaken by the appearance of Cadmus and Shade, even though neither of them had behaved threateningly. “Not yet, but it will be within the next ten minutes. I need to go back to the kitchen and make sure that the sauce is coming along.”
Mom stood up and walked into the kitchen, while I walked down the hall to my room, but not before I glanced over my shoulder and saw Dad still sitting in his recliner. He was scowling fiercely, like he was reliving some bad memories that he didn't want to remember. I had no idea what Dad's history with Cadmus or the G-Men was, but I decided that now was probably not the time to ask.
When I shut the door to my room, I sat down on my bed and looked at the card with Cadmus Smith's contact information on it. I wasn't really interested in joining the G-Men, mostly because I figured that if Dad distrusted them, then so should I. Still, Cadmus Smith was an important person, so I figured it would be useful to have his contact information on hand. So I slipped the card into my backpack so I wouldn't lose it.
Then I placed my backpack on the floor and started to get ready for dinner. As I took off my shoes and socks, I thought about the future. I didn't know what the future held for me and my family or how the G-Men or the NHA would play into it, but I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this was not going to be my last adventure as Bolt.
-
BOLT WILL RETURN IN The Superhero's Team, COMING JULY 2016.
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Excerpt:
"Miss Marathon: Earth's First Superhero"
by Joseph Bradshire
Hello, readers!
I hope you enjoyed The Superhero’s Test and have subscribed to my mailing list so you can be the first to know about the release of the sequel, The Superhero’s Team. Unfortunately, I don’t expect to have The Superhero’s Team out until July 2016 and this is the only book I have written under the Lucas Flint pen name, which means I can’t direct you to any other Lucas Flint books while you await the release of The Superhero’s Team.
I can, however, recommend another superhero novel you might enjoy: Miss Marathon: Earth’s First Superhero, by Joseph Bradshire, who is a friend of mine and also writes superhero novels just like me. It is a fun and interesting superhero novel that is a little bit different from The Superhero’s Test but still a good novel to read nonetheless while you await the next book from me.
Contine on to read a short excerpt from Miss Marathon: Earth’s First Superhero:
Maggie groaned and wheeled herself back, out of the way.
“Okay dude. I’m reactivated? That means I outrank you, since you aren’t even wearing rank. So I’m commanding you to go fuck yourself.” Cannon crossed his arms just in time to be hit with tazer darts from Specimen’s side arm.
Cannon looked confused for a moment. Specimen held down the shock stud, face devoid of expression. The tazer darts caught up in Cannon’s hospital gown but could not pierce his flesh. Within moments his gown was burning. These were not low voltage darts.
Cannon laughed and tore off his gown, showing his totally crystalized chest and torso, “Those don’t work on me son, what else you got?”
With that Specimen tossed away his tazer and launched himself at Cannon. Cannon was ready for it, sidestepped and slapped Specimen aside, hard. Specimen hit the wall near the corner Maggie had backed herself into. He struggled to recover, trying to pull himself up, leaning on the wall.
Specimen was not yet to his feet when four more men in similar uniforms rushed the room, the first fired his tazer at Cannon, it bounced off his forearm. The other three closed and used their tazers hand to hand, pressing their electrodes straight into his body, no need for dart punctures.
Cannon put one down with a diamond hard fist. The wet crack sound it made on the side of the man’s head was disturbing. But it was a brief victory, Cannon was soon on the ground. He was strong, but still unstable standing up. He was held down, overwhelmed, screaming from the shocks.
Maggie did not recall standing up, nor did she recall kicking one of the assailants over the bed and through the closet doors, but there she was standing over Cannon trying to help him up. Soon she was down face first on the hospital floor, in more pain than she thought she would ever feel in her life. She was tazed over and over by one of the soldiers.
She was blacking out but coming back to consciousness after every burst, still kicking her legs and screaming. A total loss of control over her body. At some point it felt like maybe two or three tazers were at play, but she couldn’t be sure. Her world had turned into a cycle of pain, blackness, pain, blackness.
Specimen finally recovered and called off his men, “Stop! Those tazers are overcharged, meant for this diamond freak. You are going to kill her.”
Specimen reached down and checked her vitals, pulling out the tazer darts. She saw him through a haze. He pressed the emergency call button on the wall, and that was all she remembered.
-
Click HERE to buy Miss Marathon: Earth’s First Superhero. I hope you enjoy it!
About the Author
Lucas Flint is the pen name that Timothy L. Cerepaka writes superhero novels under. You can find out more by visiting his website here.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
> Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Excerpt: "Miss Marathon: Earth's First Superhero" by Joseph Bradshire
About the Author
