by Lucas Flint
That all changed, though, when one of the prisoners—a guy known as Edge, because he could turn any part of his body into a ridiculously sharp blade—attempted a break out. He pretended to get hurt in a mock fight with a couple of his fellow prisoners, a ‘fight’ that got so vicious that a couple of the guards had to step in to break it up.
But when the guards got close enough, Edge turned his fingers into knives and slit the guards’ throats. Before anyone even realized what happened, Edge stole the keys from the guards and unlocked the shackles around the wrists of him and his friends, thus freeing them.
Then Edge and his two friends ran toward the exit, intending to make a getaway. None of the other prisoners tried to stop them, although a handful did try to get the keys from them, but Edge apparently wasn’t into sharing because he just took the keys with him.
This all happened so fast that Edge and his friends probably would have escaped if Warden Glass hadn’t appeared. The rest of the guards were too surprised by this sudden attack to react, and by the time they recovered, Edge and the others were already at the exit and would have escaped into the halls of Ultimate Max.
But, as I said, that was when Warden Glass appeared. I didn’t recognize him at first, because I hadn’t seen him before. He was a huge man; not fat, just really muscular and ripped, even more so than most of the prisoners who worked out all day. He wore a standard prison guard uniform and was completely bald, which made him look like the other guards so much that I didn’t even realize it was him until Edge and his friends tried to attack him.
That turned out to be a mistake. Despite his size, Glass easily dodged their attacks. He took out the first guy by grabbing his tongue and turning it into glass; it was like magic, watching Glass’s fingers touch the guy’s tongue and instantly transmute it. The guy suffocated and died on the spot.
Then Glass grabbed the second guy by the hair, turned his hair into glass, and then smashed it with one fist. That sent shards of glass cutting into the second guy’s skin, causing him to scream in agony and fall to the ground clutching his now-bleeding skull.
That left only Edge, who apparently thought he could succeed where his friends had miserably failed and went for an all out attack against Glass. But Glass didn’t try to dodge. He actually caught Edge’s blade arms with his bare hands, which were covered in a thick layer of strong glass, and then rapidly turned Edge’s entire body into glass. Edge had maybe a second to scream before his face and head turned into glass.
Once the transformation was complete, Glass just shoved Edge backwards and Edge’s glassy form shattered into pieces against the ground. It all happened pretty quickly, but by the time it was over, none of the other prisoners even tried to fight Glass. Even Rime and Ivan just avoided looking at Glass, like they were afraid that he might turn them into glass if they looked at him in a way he didn’t like.
I now understood why most of the prisoners here had not attempted to escape Ultimate Max. With someone like Warden Glass walking around turning people into glass sculptures if they tried anything, that would put a damper on my desire to escape as well.
And it did … sort of. I had been planning to escape sometime, but I hadn’t factored Warden Glass’s powers into my plans, mostly because I hadn’t seen them in action before. But having now seen them in action, I realized that Glass might be the biggest thing standing between me and freedom.
Because the fact was that I couldn’t just sit around in Ultimate Max waiting for Triplet to figure out the truth or for the G-Men to let me out. At this point, it was pretty obvious that I was the only one who could stop White Lightning, so I would have to break out sooner or later in order to get him out into the open where he could be caught.
And, despite the obvious dangers, I started to plan my escape.
Chapter Seven
Ultimate Max prison was a huge building, located well away from most major cities and towns. Its security was formidable; according to Ivan, it had state of the art high tech security systems, a veritable legion of guards trained in taking down superhumans, and its superhuman warden and chief of security. There was a very good reason, after all, why no one other than Master Chaos had managed to escape from Ultimate Max before, and that was because it was designed to be impossible to escape from.
But it actually wasn’t impossible. I may not have had Master Chaos’s powers, but that didn’t mean that it was literally impossible to escape from it. It might be difficult, but if Master Chaos could do it, then so could I.
In order to escape, though, I would need help. There was no way I would be able to escape on my own. Even with my powers, I would probably be taken down before I could get very far. Besides, I didn’t know the prison and its security systems as well as some of the older prisoners, so I couldn’t plan my escape attempt nearly as effectively as I ordinarily would.
So the day after I made the decision to escape, I took Ivan and Rime into a corner of the prison yard away from the watchful eyes of the guards or the ears of the other prisoners. I tried to make it look as casual as possible so that the guards wouldn’t suspect what we were actually talking about, but I had a feeling that the guards were well aware of these kinds of tricks and were no doubt keeping an eye on all three of us. But I was confident that if we spoke in low voices, the guards would never hear what we’re talking about.
“All right, Kevin,” said Ivan, once we were far enough away from the others that we would not need to worry about them eavesdropping on us. “What do you wish to talk about?”
I looked up at the walls, but there were no guards close enough to hear us. A few guards glanced our way, but it seemed like they didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary. That was good, because I doubted the guards would be happy if they learned what I was going to ask Ivan and Rime to do.
So I looked at Ivan and Rime and said, in a low voice, “I want to be the second prisoner to break out of Ultimate Max.”
Ivan and Rime exchanged surprised looks and then looked at me again.
“Y-You want to break out of this place?” said Rime, his teeth chattering. He shivered and looked around, most likely in case there were guards listening in. “You can’t talk about that. What if the guards overhear us?”
“I know,” I said. “I’m well aware of how dangerous this idea is, but I have to do it.”
“Why?” said Ivan. “I know you are innocent of any crime, but I still see no reason to put your life at risk like this. It would be wiser to wait until you get more information on why you were put behind bars before trying to break out.”
“I’ve already waited a couple of weeks for that,” I said in a voice that was almost a hiss. “And I haven’t heard from the G-Men at all. It’s pretty clear that Cadmus just wants me to rot behind bars for the rest of my life at this point; even if he doesn’t, that doesn’t mean I have to go along with whatever his dumb little plan is.”
“Perhaps, but you saw what Glass did to Edge and those other two,” said Ivan. “If they catch you, you will likely suffer the same fate.”
“I still don’t care,” I said. I jabbed a thumb at my chest. “I need to escape because I’m the only one who can beat White Lightning.”
“What makes you think that?” said Ivan.
“Because I think White Lightning is trying to lure me out so he can fight me,” I said. “It’s why he keeps attacking and running; he’s trying to cause enough damage to draw me out so he can fight me.”
“W-What if it’s a trap?” said Rime. “Maybe he wants to lure you into a trap so he can kill you or something.”
“It might be, especially if Mastermind is somehow involved, but just because it’s a trap doesn’t mean I have to let this guy get away with killing innocent people,” I said. “The G-Men, NHA, and INJ have been unable to even predict his next attack. Someone has to stop him before he kills again. And I have to do it.”
“I understand that, Kevin, but it is still a very risky thing to do,” said Ivan. “What if it fails?”
“Then I’ll be the one to take the full brunt of whatever the consequences are,” I said. “But I can’t do it on my own. I need help. I need your help. That’s why I’m telling you two about this.”
“Our help?” said Ivan. “How can we help?”
“Your knowledge,” I said. I gestured at the prison walls. “You two have been in this prison much longer than me. You know more about it and its guards and the people who run it than I do. By using your knowledge, I will be able to construct an escape plan to get out of here.”
“It’s true, we do know more about Ultimate Max than you,” said Ivan. He scratched his right arm. “And if you knew it, you might be able to escape, but … I am still unsure.”
“Why?” I said. “You two can come with me if you want. I mean, I think supervillains should be in prison, but if the only way I can get you to come with me is to promise you freedom, then I’ll do it.”
“Really?” said Rime. He stroked his chin. “T-That sounds good. I would certainly like to be f-free again.” He lowered his hand. “Okay. I’ll help.”
“Great,” I said. I looked at Ivan. “Ivan, what about you? Don’t you want to be free again?”
Ivan looked troubled. He appeared to be conflicted, but I didn’t understand why. It seemed like every prisoner in this place wanted to be free again. Why wouldn’t Ivan also want to be free? Then again, he had told me that he was content to live here and that he was guilty of the crimes he had committed, but I thought he had merely said that because he didn’t think he could escape on his own.
Ivan folded his arms across his chest. “No, I do not want to be free. I deserve to be in this prison for the rest of my life, however long that may be.”
“Are you sure, Ivan?” I said. “Don’t you think you’ve spent enough time here?”
“I was given a life sentence,” said Ivan with a shrug. “Besides, even if I wasn’t given a life sentence, I would never want to leave this place. The horrific crimes I committed all those years ago … I do not want to repeat them.”
“Then don’t,” I said. “You clearly realize that you did the wrong thing in the past. But the past isn’t a map of the future. What are the chances of you doing the same things you did back then?”
“Not very high, but even just a one percent chance of me falling back into evil is too high for me,” said Ivan. He wiped sweat from his brow. “It may be right and just for you to escape, but not for me. My powers are … too much. If I were to lose control again, I might hurt people I care about.”
“You seem to have great self-control to me,” I said.
“Only because I’ve spent time in this prison separate from the rest of society,” said Ivan. He put his hands on his chest. “I do not know how I would react if, say, I was out on the streets and suddenly jumped by a criminal. If I used my powers, I might lose control and just kill him.”
“So?” I said. “Killing someone in self-defense is perfectly justifiable.”
“But I would lose control,” said Ivan. He put a hand on his head. “I guess I haven’t told you that my power is quite addictive to me. Using nuclear energy to wipe out whole towns and cities, to irradiate my enemies and watch them waste away … it is addicting. And I fear that if I use it again, I will become addicted once more and return to my old villainous ways.”
The way Ivan spoke reminded me of a superhuman girl I once knew named Emma. She had also been worried about her powers to the point where she just wanted to get rid of them outright. I never understood that, but when I thought about it, not every superpower was good. I was now finally starting to understand why some superhumans were so negative about their powers.
Even so, I said, “Can you be sure about that, Ivan? Maybe you have better control over your powers than you think. I sure could use your help in escaping. You might even be able to help me beat White Lightning.”
“Just because I am not going with you doesn’t mean I can’t help you,” said Ivan. “I can still tell you everything I know about Ultimate Max’s security systems. It’s just that I won’t be coming with you and Rime. That’s all.”
I frowned. “Really?”
“Really,” said Ivan. He looked up at the sky. “Besides, perhaps this is how I can redeem myself. I killed many innocent people and am now going to help a superhero save innocent lives. What’s even more ironic is that you are the son of one of the superheroes who originally beat me; I never thought I’d ever help Genius’s son.”
“Okay,” I said. “You seem pretty convinced that you want to stay here, so I won’t convince you to come with me. But if you ever change your mind, just let me know.”
Ivan looked down at me again gratefully. “Thank you. Like I said, I will give you whatever information you need to make your escape. And I do hope that your escape plan goes well; I would be quite disappointed if you suffer the same fate as Edge and his friends did.”
“No problem,” I said. “I wish I could help you, though, because I still don’t think you deserve to be in here anymore.”
“What you think I ‘deserve’ is irrelevant,” said Ivan. “All that matters is that I fulfill my life sentence.”
It seemed like a depressing way of living to me, but at the same time, I knew better than to argue the point with Ivan. I had more important things to do than waste time trying to convince him to do something that he clearly wasn’t interested in being convinced to do.
So I said, “All right, then. Now I need to know everything that you two know about Ultimate Max; its security systems, how many guards it has, their rotation schedules, and so on. But later; the guards are starting to look at us suspiciously and I don’t want them to suspect what we’re up to.”
Chapter Eight
It took about a week for us to gather the necessary information for the escape plan. That didn’t sound like a long time, but I couldn’t get all of the information from Ivan and Rime that I wanted in one go, because the guards suddenly started to separate any groups of prisoners who stood around talking with each other for what they considered to be too long. Thus, the three of us could only share information in small, bite-sized pieces every now and then; a fact here, a fact there, a warning about this particular security system here, and so on. It didn’t help that I had to memorize all of it, because the guards didn’t provide us with pen and paper or anything else we could use to write. Ivan told me that the reason writing utensils were not given to prisoners was because of an incident about ten years ago when a particularly cunning prisoner somehow crafted a razor-sharp knife out of his pen and used it to slit the throats of several guards before finally being stopped by Warden Glass.
But I guess I didn’t need to use pen and paper, because I did manage to memorize everything I was told. I found that weird at first until I remembered something from what seemed like eons ago, when Dad had me learn what my superpowers were. He had said that one of my superpowers was perfect memory, which had seemed false at the time, since my memory didn’t really feel all that perfect, but now I wondered if Dad had been right all along. Maybe my perfect memory just took longer to develop than my other powers.
Regardless, the guards didn’t seem to know about my plan to escape. Yeah, they treated me with the same level of contempt that they treated everyone, but they never seemed to focus on me to the exclusion of the others. Still, a part of me worried that the guards were under orders from Cadmus to keep a close eye on me; I don’t know why I thought that, since as far as I know the guards didn’t listen to anyone other than Warden Glass, but that thought still occurred to me from time to time. It just made me even more careful about when and where I spoke with Ivan and Rime.
It wasn’t just the guards I had to watch out for, however. I also had to watch out for my fellow prisoners; in particular, Mimic and the other guys who I had put behind bars. I had originally considered bringing more prisoners into the plan, since I thought that the more people helping the easier it would be to escape, but Ivan told me that the main reason
why so many escape plans had failed in the past was because too many people would be involved in the plan. Always, one would break ranks and squeal on the others to the guards; in fact, Ivan informed me that the guards had spies among the prisoners whose job was to become aware of any escape plans and then report them to the guards, who would then ruin or counter the plans before they could even get started. Apparently, the spies were usually rewarded for their efforts, often by shortening their sentences or giving them access to certain luxuries like flat screen TVs or nicer food than what we normally got.
The identities of the spies were usually revealed after the initial plan was foiled, which usually led to the spies being beaten up by their fellow prisoners for ruining the chances of the others of escaping. That’s why new spies were regularly chosen from among the prison population so that you never knew just who you could trust. The cellmate who you tell your escape plans about might just be relaying all of that information back to the guards and you wouldn’t know it until it was too late.
That made me hesitate about working with Ivan and Rime when I was told that, but they both assured me that they would not rat me out to the guards. And I believed them, because Ivan had so far shown himself to be a trustworthy guy, while Rime seemed to genuinely want to be free again. Plus, neither of them ever spoke very kindly of the guards, so I doubted either would ever feel tempted to ruin my escape plan.
But I couldn’t say the same about the other prisoners, especially my enemies. While Mimic and the others did have powers and abilities that would be useful for a break out, I chose to exclude them from my plotting because I didn’t want to risk one or more of them from sharing my plans with the guards. Besides, I didn’t want any of these guys back on the streets where they could cause trouble; they deserved to be behind bars because, unlike me, they had actually committed a lot of crimes and were a true threat to society.
