Shadow Boy

by R. J. Ross

  It startles a laugh out of some of them.

  “Do you think he’s found them yet?” Vinny asks Century silently, lowering the mic.

  “He’d better have, but just in case, we need to keep these guys occupied.”

  ***

  “I had it all under control,” I hear Shadowman say from a distance. I still feel like I’m choking to death, but consciousness is reluctantly coming back. “I was going to do this DISCREETLY. Now you’ve got a place OWNED by supers surrounded by your idiot brigade!”

  “Were you?” Herold asks. “Were you, really? Because I’m starting to question your loyalty. You could have grabbed the boy at any time, so why wait an entire week?”

  “He was in Cape High,” Shadowman says. I force my eyes to open, trying to focus. I have no idea where we are, which is a very odd sensation for me. Usually I have at least a vague idea, better than that if I’ve been there before. Right now, though, I’m completely lost. It must be because of the collar. “You don’t just waltz into Cape High, Herold. The security there is the best in the world. And even if you DO get in, the teachers are all retired super heroes.”

  “You can walk through shadows, Shadowman, figure something out,” Herold says, walking over to Skye. “So… you told me she was how they got through the wall, but clearly you lied,” he goes on. “This boy, from what I saw of the fight, has abilities remarkably similar to yours.”

  I see a tick appear in Shadowman’s jaw, but he doesn’t say anything.

  “He’s your son, isn’t he?” Herold asks. “That’s why you were so protective. Who would have thought, a cold blooded mercenary suddenly worried about his child being kidnapped.”

  “I brought him to you, didn’t I?” Shadowman growls. “If I really cared, do you think I would have done that?”

  “It’s true, isn’t it,” Herold says. “As long as you’re paid, you’ll do absolutely anything. Mom had you figured out. I had my doubts. Mom was never the best judge of character, but she really had you pegged.”

  Shadowman says nothing, he just stands there, his hands clenching at his sides.

  “I’ll tell you what,” Herold says. “Since he is one of the Cape High kids, and since Technico is so fond of the little brats, prove that you don’t care. Finish him.”

  Shadowman jerks, shock on his face. “That was never part of this deal,” he grits out.

  “Ten million,” Herold throws out, “for one kid.”

  “I refuse.”

  “Fine, I’ll do it myself,” Herold says. Shadowman lunges forward, his hand aimed at Herold’s chest. Herold shoots him with the power negating gun before he takes another step. Shadowman staggers back, looking pale and slightly older—I see wrinkles and his hair has white streaks in it. Is he old enough to turn to dust if he loses his powers? A part of me is praying that he isn’t. I don’t want to see my dad die in front of my eyes, especially when he was trying to—

  He was trying to protect me, I realize in shock, snapping fully back into focus. Herold walks over to me, hauling me to my feet as if I weigh nothing. “Now, Shadowman, since you’ve proved that you have a weakness, tell me what you’ve been keeping from me,” he says casually, holding me up by the hair. “Otherwise your precious son gets it.”

  “If you kill him, Nico will hunt you down,” Shadowman says. “You’ll be thrown into the Cape Cells—or executed.”

  “That’s for me to worry about, don’t you think? Just tell me what you’ve been hiding and I’ll let the boy go, no harm, no foul,” Herold offers. “In fact I’ll make it a two for one, I’ll let Skystep go, as well. What really happened with my mother, Shadowman?” he demands harshly. “Is she really dead?”

  “No,” Shadowman says, turning and looking at me. “She’s… she’s in the Arctic Circle, guarded by Superior and Tatiana.”

  “I see,” Herold says, letting me drop and taking a small breath. “That’s… interesting.”

  “Would you have killed him?” Shadowman asks, already starting to look younger.

  “Of course not,” Herold says. “But far be it for me to let an opportunity pass. Now, before I let them go, how shall I make them keep their mouths shut?” he says thoughtfully, looking at me. “If Mom was here, I’d have her wipe their memories. As it is…”

  “Skystep is still unconscious,” Shadowman says. “We can leave her somewhere and she’ll not know a thing.”

  “And the boy?” Herold asks.

  “He’s a villain—no one will believe him—”

  “I think we’ll keep him,” Herold decides.

  “You said you’d let him go,” Shadowman says.

  “I did,” Herold says. “But like you constantly enjoy pointing out—I’m a politician. I’m good at lying.”

  “I can’t go to the arctic circle with this collar on,” I say. “I’ll freeze to death. If you take the collar off I’ll—I’ll promise to not tell any of the norms what happened here.”

  “A reasonable offer,” Herold says. “But I want you to swear not to tell anyone, norm or super. Otherwise the collar stays.”

  “Fine,” I say, fighting the urge to tug on it. It falls off with a wave of Herold’s hand. “I won’t have to—Superior’s going to notice you,” I add as I look at Shadowman. He’s almost completely back to normal. His recovery rate is astonishing. I figure in ten or twenty years, though, that would kill him. Herold seems to have figured it out as well, because he aims the gun at Shadowman.

  “I suggest you think more positively,” he says to me. “I’m sure we can all work together to accomplish what needs to be done. Think of it like politics, Shadowboy, you compromise a little, I compromise a little, and we can come to an agreement that changes the world. Now we’re going to put Skystep somewhere safe, so lead the way. I suggest you pick someplace discreet.” He picks Skye up, slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and motioning me forward with the power negating gun. “Lead the way,” he says.

  “I have to—um, we have to be touching,” I say, reluctantly reaching out. Shadowman takes my hand before Herold can, and grabs Herold’s wrist. I step through the shadow on the wall and into the Shadowlands. “We just need to find somewhere safe to leave her,” I say, leading the way through the eerie land. I look around, wondering.

  “Here will work,” Shadowman says, letting go of Herold’s arm and hauling me through the shadow right next to us. I hear a trigger pulled behind us, but it’s too late, we’re already in the real world.

  “You just left them?” I ask, turning on Shadowman with shock. “I can understand leaving Herold, but he was HOLDING SKYSTEP!” I bellow, starting for the shadow again. He grabs me, hauling me away from it.

  “Skystep will survive,” he says. “She’s one of us.” He pulls out his phone, speed-dialing someone. “Technico,” he says. “We’ve caught Herold.”

  “Where are you?” Nico demands over the phone. “Never mind, I’ve got your coordinates.”

  “Nico—he left Skye—” I start out, only to have Shadowman hang up before I can finish. I tap on my com bracelet, trying to get a response. “What happened to my com?” I demand when nothing happens. I dig out my phone as I wait for an explanation. It’s dead, too, I realize with a groan. “He killed my gear,” I mutter, pulling up my hood just to prove it. The thin display on the inside is black. “He killed my gear and kidnapped my aunt! I honestly prefer MOTHER at the moment!” I say, kicking at a rock and sending it flying. “At least she pretended to like people.”

  “She should have been taken out,” Shadowman says coldly.

  “How? By leaving her in the Shadowlands like you did our ONE other relative?” I demand. “What if Carla had been caught with her, would you have left her, too? No, wait, I don’t want to know the answer to that,” I say, holding up a hand to stop him. “You’ve thrown her under the bus once before.”

  “I didn’t throw you under the bus,” he says.

  “Out of some misguided guilt! Don’t think this makes me like you, bec
ause it doesn’t. It might have, if you’d grabbed Skye—”

  “Wake up and smell the sulfur, kid! Herold has the same powers as Technico, and the same power stripping gun. He could have killed both of us in SECONDS,” Shadowman yells in my face. “I was risking everyone’s life just taking YOU with me!”

  “One, that’s a lie—if I’d stayed, he would have had a way out and you know it. TWO, you’re risking Skye’s life right this instant!” I say, my hands clenching tightly as I fight the urge to—no, I’m not going to fight this. He TOTALLY deserves to be punched, so I punch him. He stands there, taking the punch without reacting for a moment.

  “So what DID you do with Skye?” Nico asks from above us.

  “NOW we can go get her back,” Shadowman says to me. “Was that really that big of a deal?”

  “You just said he could have killed us in seconds,” I snap.

  “But we’re not Skye,” he says. “Technico, we need to go into the Shadowlands.”

  “Is that where you trapped him?” Nico asks.

  “Along with Skye,” I say irritably.

  “I see.” He walks over, dropping a hand on my shoulder. My gear lights up with that single touch, much to my relief. It’s good to be back online. “Let’s go get her back,” he says. I nod and head for the nearest shadow, taking one step forward. Before I can blink, my leg is grabbed and I’m hauled into the Shadowlands as Herold hauls himself out past me. I stagger forward, looking around the Shadowlands blankly.

  “You just LEFT me!” Skye says, appearing right in front of me. “That was mean!”

  “You’re awake?” I ask.

  “Oh, that uptight guy woke me up, thinking I could get us out,” she says, waving a hand before glaring at me again. “It really stinks in here!”

  “Sorry—I mean, I’m really sorry,” I say, hauling her into a hug. I hold on as tightly as I can. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  “Nah, I’m fine, but I had some very strong words for him for what he did to Doris!” she declares. “He just froze her in time for like, forever! She still doesn’t know how to use a microwave! That is NOT right!”

  I abruptly realize that Nico hadn’t come with me. “Nico’s probably dealing with him, now,” I say, grabbing her hand and heading out through the shadow.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “You can’t stop me,” Herold says, floating far above the planet. Technico is standing right in front of him, but neither of them has made a move yet.

  “You’re stopping yourself,” Nico says. “The whole world will find out that you’re a super, now. Do you really think they’re going to vote a cape into office? Especially a cape that’s been telling them just how dangerous we are?” he asks.

  “And how are they going to find that out?” Herold asks.

  “I'm a technopath, Herold. I have built-in access to TV stations,” Nico says. “The entire world is watching you live, Herold. Why don’t you say hi? You’re so big on speaking publicly that I’m sure you can come up with something.”

  “You—” Herold snarls, only to stop a second later and start to laugh. “You’re right!” he says. “I’m sure my polls are dropping like a rock right now, but do you know, I don’t NEED to become president to take over. This world is ridiculous, did you know that? Everywhere you go, they’re holding their technology. They can’t LIVE without their cell phones and their tablets—even the little ones! And do you want to know the worst part?” he asks with a maniacal grin, “The entire society is based on technology. Finances, security documents, prisons, war machines—and I’ve seen ALL of it grow. I can destroy this country with a snap of my fingers,” he says, holding up a hand.

  “You wouldn’t,” Nico says.

  “I’ve hated supers for most of my life, Technico,” Herold says. “I watched my father grow older and older while my mother stayed young and beautiful. I watched as he grew more and more afraid—afraid of losing her, afraid OF her. Do you know how sickening that is? When they went out in public, people assumed she was his daughter. When Mom corrected them, they looked at him as if he were robbing the cradle. My father was a GOOD man. He never deserved that. She should have grown old with him. And how do you think I felt, knowing that if I ever got married, I’d be just the same as she was? And then there were her powers. She was a freak—but she’s not dead, is she?” he says.

  “You’re monologuing, you know,” Nico says casually. “And worst of all, you’ve gotten off topic. When you’re doing a villain monologue you need to explain how you’re going to pull off your grand destructive scheme, not complain about your mother. I’m not your therapist, you know. I’ve got a schedule to keep.”

  “Now, son, why don’t we let him go on?” Century says, making both technopaths look up. The super hero is floating behind them, as if he’d been there all along. “I’d like to hear about his grand tragedy.”

  “No, he’s right,” Herold says, snapping his finger. The world below them goes dark and Nico lets out a curse. “I’ve got a schedule to keep as well.” He races away, leaving them with a choice to make.

  The sounds of cars crashing and people screaming fill the other two’s ears and they stay there for all of a second before Century looks at Nico. “Fix it, I’ll save the norms—Texas drivers are crazy enough when their stop signs are working,” he says, heading down.

  “How big is your reach?” Nico asks, only to see the city below go still. “I see,” he says. He doesn’t have time to discuss this, he thinks as he heads up higher. He’s got too much of a mess to clean up. He stops once he can see the whole North and South America, and holds out his hands, concentrating. After a second of searching he lets out a curse and calls his daughter.

  “Zoe? Take to the sky, I’m going to need your help. He must have been setting this up for decades.”

  “On it, Dad,” she says.

  “Seriously, maybe Dad’s right about having more kids,” Nico mutters as he gets to work. “Wait—you froze my kids!” he yells after the already-gone cape. “He really needs to learn a new trick,” he complains irritably.

  ***

  The instant Century showed up, Dad—I mean Shadowman—dragged me and Skye into the Shadowlands, cursing under his breath. “He’s going to stop time,” he explains, heading through the area. “I hate having my time stopped. It gives you jet lag.”

  “So where are we going?” I demand.

  “To the Arctic Circle,” Shadowman says. “The guy’s so obsessed with Mother that he’ll head there sooner or later. When he does, we’ll catch him off guard.”

  “And do what?”

  “Hi, dinos!” Skye says, waving at them as she follows along behind us. I think she’s forgotten that she was abandoned down here a few moments ago.

  “He just took out an entire continent with a snap of his fingers, Rocco,” Shadowman says. “Do you really think the Cape Cells would hold a guy like that?”

  “It held Nico!” I say.

  “Nico’s always played somewhat by the rules—that guy just threw out the entire rule book.”

  “Yeah… Why?” I ask. “I mean, he’s a lot older than Nico, right? And he’s gone through all this time without breaking the rules—”

  “That we know of,” Shadowman says.

  “Actually that’s a lie,” Nico says from my com bracelet. I jerk, looking at it. “Yeah, I can reach your tech there, so don’t be surprised. I’ve got a few theories about your Shadowlands, but now’s not the time. Herold’s been planting computer worms since before the norms even knew computers existed. Why? I’ve got no clue—probably for a day like this one. They were inert, made to look like simple bloated code until he activated them—when I did notice them I thought it was just norm error and wrote it off. I don’t tend to spend much time studying what’s not broken. Looks like it backfired on me today. But you can’t go to the Arctic Circle—I need all the capes I can get helping.”

  “Helping?” Shadowman asks.

  “Yeah. All of America is falling apart,
just like he said it would. I need all three of you to do something I swore I wouldn’t do.”

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  “Hunt down all the healers on the continent. Take them to the hospitals. People are dying right now, and I’m not going to let it be at the hands of a technopath.”

  “They’re hidden for a reason, you know,” Shadowman says as we look at each other. “The ones I’ve met are all chickens—the adults, that is. They couldn’t care less about people dying.”

  “I don’t believe that,” I say. “We’ve got healers at our school—none of them would back down. They just need to SEE what’s happening.”

  “You haven’t met the adults—”

  “I’ll do it,” Skye says. “But we can’t trust Shadowman to do anything, he’s useless,” she adds in a taunting voice.

  “If he doesn’t at least try, I’m going to account every dead patient to his record,” Nico says coldly. “So you’d better help or run very, very far, Shadowman, because I’m a lot younger than you are and I will hunt you down for as long as it takes.”

  I look at Shadowman and I see him turn pale. “I’ll help,” he says.

  “Go for the strongest ones first,” Nico says.

  We agree and look at each other. To my surprise, Skye wraps her arms around me, hugging me tightly. “We might be villains, but we can do this and it won’t ruin our reputations,” she tells me, as if that had been what was bothering me. “Now, let’s go!” she says, letting go only to jump on my back piggy-back style. “Time to save the world! You know, so we can mess it up, later!”

  I start laughing and head through the nearest shadow. Once we’re outside on a street somewhere in Kansas City, she drops off my back. “Time to do the searching dance!” she declares cheerfully.