by Lucas Flint
“Yes, Ivan, sir,” said Firespirit hastily. “We would never think to stab you in the back when you weren’t looking, no sir.”
“Yeah,” said Enor, nodding. “I definitely wasn’t planning to turn huge and stomp you and Bolt into pancakes at the nearest opportunity, and, if I was, I blame Mimic for giving me that idea. He’s a bad influence on us all.”
“What?” said Mimic, looking at Enor indignantly. “Why are you blaming all your problems on me?”
“Because no one likes you,” said Intellect with a snide chuckle.
Mimic looked like he was about to get into a shouting match with Intellect, but Ivan raised a hand and said, “Stop bickering. My god, you act less like supervillains and more like spoiled brats. I mean, I expect that from Mimic, but not from the rest of you.”
“Ivan’s right,” I said, before Mimic could protest. “No time for arguing. The prison’s security systems are likely about to come back online soon, so we should leave before we get boxed in or more guards try to capture us.”
“Fine,” said Mimic. “But the next time someone makes me the butt of their joke, I’m gone.”
“You say that like it is a bad thing,” said Enor.
“Let’s just go already,” I said in exasperation.
-
We burst out of the prison’s front doors. The area between the prison and the gates was pretty much empty; no guards whatsoever. But all of a sudden, lights from the watchtowers focused on us, nearly blinding us, followed by voices on loudspeakers shouting at us to stop, but Firespirit shot fire bolts at the watchtowers, instantly setting them aflame and causing the guards to jump out of them with cries of fear and surprise.
We all ran up to the gates. I was the first to reach them, but when I tried to open them, I found that they were locked tight. Evidently, the gates had not been unlocked with the rest of the prison’s security and, because my powers still hadn’t returned, there wasn’t anything I could do to smash them open myself.
I turned around to face the others. “Guys! We’re stuck. I can’t open the gates.”
“Leave it to us,” said Enor.
Enor, Steel Skin, and Jawtooth walked up to the gates, pushing me aside. I staggered back away from them, rejoining the others as we watched Enor, Steel Skin, and Jawtooth stop in front of the gates.
Immediately, Enor grew into his massive size, causing his jumpsuit to rip around him. Soon, he was as tall as the gates, big enough that he was at eye level with the burning watchtowers. Steel Skin and Jawtooth stood near his feet and then the three of them slammed into the gates with their shoulders at the same time.
The gates trembled under their combined attack, but they still stood and didn’t show any signs of bending under their assault.
“Damn it,” said Mimic, running a hand through his hair. “The gates are made of Indestructonium, too. That means you guys can’t break it open.”
“Then how are we supposed to escape?” said Rime.
“Enor,” Ivan shouted, causing the giant to look down at him. “Can you lift us all over the walls and drop us on the other side? I think that would be quicker than knocking down the gates.”
“Okay,” said Enor. “But we will have to be quick about it. The guards are already starting to mobilize.”
Enor was right. By the light of the burning watchtowers, I saw the guards starting to regroup on the walls, taking aim with their weapons at Enor, who was the biggest target in our group. It was pretty obvious that the guards would soon be mobilized enough to stop us, which we meant we had to leave quick.
So Enor bent over and rested his huge hands on the ground. Ivan, Rime, and I climbed onto his right hand, while Mimic, Steel Skin, Jawtooth, and Intellect jumped onto his left.
But just as Enor rose again, I noticed a guard with a sniper rifle aiming for Enor’s head, so I shouted, “Enor, watch out!”
Turns out I didn’t need to say that, because Firespirit immediately spotted the sniper and threw a fire dart at him. The fire dart hit the sniper in the throat, causing him to gasp in pain and tumble off the wall onto the ground, where he landed with a sickening crack and didn’t rise again.
“You all, go!” Firespirit shouted up at us. “I will distract the guards so they can’t shoot Enor!”
I nodded as Enor raised us over the gate until we were over on the other side. Then Rime—whose powers must have returned already—jabbed his hands at the ground, creating two ice slides that connected Enor’s hands to the ground.
“Everyone, go down the slides!” Rime shouted.
But just as he shouted that, I noticed another guard on the walls, this one wearing pure black that allowed him to fit in with the night. He took aim with his gun and fired a bullet before I could shout at Enor to watch out.
The bullet struck Enor in the shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain. His hands shook, shattering the ice slides and sending us all falling to the ground below. Rime tried to form some snow below us to break the fall, but he succeeded in making only a very light powder before we all hit the ground at once. I cracked my skull against the pavement, making me feel some blood leaking from my head, but I recovered quickly enough, rising to my feet and then looking back at the gates.
Enor was stomping around the prison’s perimeter, roaring in pain from the bullet that had been lodged into his shoulder. He swept his massive hands, striking the guard who had shot him and sending the guard falling to his death, while Firespirit nimbly jumped around, avoiding being accidentally squashed by Enor’s massive feet.
“Enor!” I shouted. “Come on! You and Firespirit need to get out of there, too!”
Just as I said that, there was a loud roaring of engines and several armored prison vans zoomed out from around the corner of the prison’s walls. They immediately set up a blockade, keeping us stuck between the exterior of the prison’s walls and the vehicles themselves. Then the guards poured out of the vehicles, each one armed to the teeth, until soon we were outnumbered four to one at least.
But Steel Skin and Jawtooth didn’t seem to think those were bad odds, because they both roared and ran at the guards. They tore through the guards like paper, while the guards futilely tried—and failed—to hit them with bullets. I was amazed at how brutal those two were, but then, they were supervillains, after all.
But not all of the guards were distracted by Steel Skin and Jawtooth. One guard broke away from the rest and ran toward us. He aimed his gun at me and fired, forcing me to duck, but he had clearly only used that as a feint, because he was soon upon me and began throwing punches and kicks at me.
This guy was good. His attacks came fast and swift and every blow he landed on me hit like lead. Ivan and Rime, however, quickly joined, but even with their help, this guard managed to keep us on defense. I couldn’t see his face through his helmet, but whoever he was, he was probably the most competent guard in the entire place.
Then a vicious punch came from his gloved fist and knocked me flat on my back. Rime tried to punch him, but the guard grabbed Rime and threw him into Ivan, instantly knocking them both down in one swift blow.
Then the guard, without missing a beat, walked over to me and pulled out a pistol, which he aimed at my forehead. His finger rested on the trigger and I knew that I was about to die.
But then Mimic came out of nowhere from behind and slammed the butt of a stolen rifle over the guard’s head. Despite his helmet, the guard collapsed instantly, dropping to the ground in a heap.
“Thanks,” I said as I rose to my feet, rubbing my chest, which still burned from where Burn Shot had hit it.
“Don’t get used to it,” Mimic growled as he lowered the rifle. “I just attacked him because I knew he’d come after me after he killed you. And I want to kill you myself, anyway.”
I was about to tell him thanks anyway, but then I heard the sound of doors bursting open, followed by a loud, angry voice shouting, “No one will leave this prison alive tonight!”
I whirled around to see, th
rough the gaps in the gate’s bars, that Glass had burst out onto the front steps of the prison. He still looked as terrible as he did when Firespirit’s fireball had hit him, but he seemed to be ignoring the burn marks on his skin. His eyes were wide and crazy, almost like a cornered animal, which made me wonder what he was going to do.
“He’s still alive?” said Mimic in disgust. “I thought Firespirit killed him.”
“Guess not,” I said.
I looked over my shoulder at the other guards and saw that Steel Skin and Jawtooth had defeated or killed them all. The two hulking villains now stood among the defeated guards and even gave each other a high five, but that didn’t matter to me, because now the way to escape was now open.
“Enor, Firespirit!” I shouted. “You two get over here! We’re going to take one of their vans and get the hell out of here!”
Enor—who had been going around stomping on guards or knocking them off the walls—nodded and began making his way back to the gate, while Firespirit followed him, though he kept shooting fire bolts at any guards who tried to take them down from a distance.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Glass roared. “Take this!”
Glass slammed his hands onto the steps. Immediately, the steps began to turn to glass, but it wasn’t just the steps. It was like Glass had unleashed a wave of transmutation, because the glass started coming toward Firespirit and Enor, who were still not at the gates, transforming every inch of the ground it touched into glass.
I had no idea what would happen to Firespirit and Enor if they got caught in Glass’s wave, but I didn’t want to find out. “Guys, watch out behind you! Move faster!”
Enor glanced over his shoulder, his huge eyes widening in alarm. He immediately bent over, grabbed Firespirit, and threw him over the top of the walls. Firespirit screamed for a moment before he was caught by Steel Skin, who then dropped him rather unceremoniously on the ground after making sure he was okay.
As for Enor, he reached the gates and started trying to climb over them. He gripped the gates with both hands and began pulling himself up, but he was just too heavy. And the glass wave was still coming after him and would be upon him in seconds.
“Enor!” I shouted again. “No!”
But it was too late. The glass wave reached Enor’s feet, rapidly turning them into glass. With his feet suddenly transformed, Enor yelled in pain and fell onto the ground as the glassifying effect made its way up his huge body.
I moved forward to help, but Ivan grabbed my shoulder and said, “Kevin, no! Leave him. There’s nothing you or any of us can do for poor Enor now.”
I was about to tell him to let me go, but then I noticed that Glass was running across the glassy ground toward us. He ran past Enor and slammed into the gates, but was already stretching his arms through them like he was trying to reach for us.
“Get back here!” Glass shouted. “I will kill all of you, yes, even you, boy! I don’t care what Cadmus says anymore. No one escapes this prison alive under my watch!”
That was when I noticed that the glassifying effect was moving under the gates toward us. Ivan immediately grabbed my arm and dragged me away, with Rime running at our side. We ran toward one of the vans, which Mimic was driving. Steel Skin, Firespirit, Jawtooth, and Intellect were already sitting in the back of the van. Ivan tossed me into the back of the van with the others and he and Rime jumped in.
“Mimic, floor it!” Ivan said.
Mimic slammed his foot on the gas and the van roared away from the prison. We didn’t close the doors of the back of the van behind us, however, and so we could still see the glassifying effect making its way toward us, even going over the guards we defeated earlier and turning them into glass.
In fact, the glassifying effect was getting faster and I knew that it would be upon us in seconds. I could see Glass’s twisted grin of triumph as he also realized that same fact.
But then Enor rose behind Glass, his shadow falling over the Warden. Enor looked awful; he was now about halfway between glass and flesh, the light of the fire from the burning watchtowers reflecting off the portions of his skin that were glass. I didn’t know how he was still moving, but I guessed the glassifying effect must not have reached any of his vital organs just yet.
Regardless, Glass’s grin turned into a frown as he looked over his shoulder. That was the last thing he did, however, before Enor brought his massive fist directly down on Glass’s head.
Glass shattered under Enor’s fist, exploding into pieces without even getting a chance to shout. As soon as he shattered, the glassifying effect—which had been mere inches away from the bumper of our van—suddenly stopped, allowing us to speed away from it.
As for Enor, we could only watch as he was suddenly shot by dozens of guards. He had only enough time to wave us one last goodbye before bullets rained down on his body, shattering the glassy parts of his skin or piercing the fleshly parts. He immediately fell onto the ground, but I didn’t get to see much more of what happened to him because Ivan and Jawtooth finally slammed shut the doors of the van as our vehicle zoomed away from the prison as fast as possible.
Chapter Eleven
After the excitement of the last fifteen minutes, the ride to our rendezvous with Blizzard was incredibly quiet. We all sat on the seats against the walls, each one of us tired from the escape. At least, everyone looked tired, which wasn’t surprising, because I could already feel the adrenaline starting to fade from my body. My powers, however, were starting to return; already, I could feel my super strength coming back, but it would probably be another couple of hours or so before they came back fully.
I sat between Ivan and Rime. Rime’s body radiated cold air; not as much as it used to, but enough that I could tell that his powers were nearly back as well. As for Ivan, he was resting his head in his hands, like he was suffering from a really bad headache.
None of us mentioned or talked about Enor’s sacrifice. I had to admit that I really didn’t expect him to do that. I thought that Enor, like all supervillains, was just a selfish bastard who only looked out for himself. Yet he sacrificed himself in order to ensure that we would escape. Of course, he might have only killed Glass because he wanted revenge, but his motives didn’t really matter. All that mattered was the fact that we were now free.
Or almost. I expected the guards, once they put out the fires and figured out who was alive and who wasn’t, to organize a search team to hunt us down. Or they would contact the G-Men and tell them about us, but even so, I figured it would be hours before they did any of that. By then, we would be long gone and hopefully off their radar.
We drove in silence for hours until Mimic directed the vehicle down a side road that would take us off the main highway. Our van trundled down an obscure, overgrown country road, tree branches scraping against the vehicle’s sides as we went deeper and deeper into the countryside. In fact, I actually fell asleep at some point, or must have, because soon Ivan was shaking my shoulder and saying, “Kevin, wake up. We’ve arrived at the spot where we are supposed to rendezvous with your girlfriend.”
I opened my eyes. The van had come to a stop at some point and the back doors were open, with the other escapees already climbing out of the van and stretching their limbs.
Despite my exhaustion, I followed Ivan out of the van. We were now in a forest, which was very dark due to the fact that it was now in the early hours of the morning. We were miles away from any town or city, but that did not mean we were going to camp out for the night, assuming we were where we were supposed to be.
Then, all of a sudden, I heard someone shout joyfully, “Bolt!” and Blizzard practically tackled me. I staggered a couple of feet as Blizzard hugged the life out of me, while the other escapees just watched with a mixture of disgust and surprise on their faces.
“Oh, Bolt, I’m so glad you escaped,” said Blizzard, her grip tightening on me so much that I thought I felt one of my ribs crack. “I was worried that you might not escape or that you might get kill
ed or … or …”
“I’m fine,” I said in a strained voice. “Can you please let go of me now? I can’t breathe.”
Blizzard loosened her grip on me considerably, but didn’t take her arms off me entirely. “Sorry. I was just so worried. No one has ever escaped from Ultimate Max before, aside from Master Chaos, so I was worried about whether your plan would work or not.”
“I understand,” I said. I hugged her back briefly. “But you really shouldn’t have worried. No prison can hold me for very long.”
A noise of disgust caused us to look at Mimic, who was leaning against a nearby tree. He had a look of sheer disgust on his features, like he’d just seen someone disemboweling a cat.
“Teenage love,” said Mimic in a dismissive voice. “I feel like I’m watching a stupid teenage romantic comedy or something.”
Blizzard immediately tensed by my side. “Mimic? What the heck is he doing here?” Then she looked around at the others and started when she saw Jawtooth and Intellect. “And these guys, too?”
“Hey, you’re the girl who helped put us behind bars in the first place,” said Intellect, his eyes squinting. “The ice girl. I didn’t know we were going to be meeting you.”
“Can I eat her?” said Jawtooth, looking down at Intellect as if waiting for orders. “I didn’t have dinner last night.”
“No,” I said, putting an arm around Blizzard’s shoulders and pulling her closer to me. “If you want to hurt her, you’ll have to go through me first.”
Jawtooth snarled, but then Ivan stepped in between us and said, “Stop fighting. We have all had a very long night. If we fight, we will make noise, noise that someone might hear, which they might report to the police. Do you want the police to know we are out here?”
Jawtooth stopped snarling, but I could tell that he still wanted to kill Blizzard. Intellect didn’t say anything, either, but he was probably thinking of a way to get Blizzard (and me, too, I bet) as soon as Ivan wasn’t around.
“Then what are we supposed to do?” said Steel Skin. He scratched the back of his neck and looked around the dark forest with a troubled expression. “Are we going to sleep out in the forest tonight? Because I hate camping and don’t want to do that.”
