by Lucas Flint
Malcolm suddenly looked a lot less jealous. “Yeah, I guess. So what did you say? Did you accept?”
“I told her I wanted to talk about it with my parents first,” I said.
“And what did your parents say?” said Malcolm.
“A big, fat no,” I said with a sigh. “You know what my dad's opinion about superheroics is.”
“Bummer, man,” said Malcolm. “The Young Neos are awesome. Even though they're all really young, they all have really high rankings on Neo Ranks. Incantation is a six, which is pretty high for a younger hero.”
“I know,” I said, shaking my head. Then I paused. “Wait, she's just a six? I'm a seven.”
“Yeah, but that's because you beat Master Chaos,” said Malcolm. “Incantation hasn't fought any major villains like that, at least not that I know of. She's most well-known for helping to defeat Mirakill, but Mirakill is a six, too, so he's not on Master Chaos or Nuclear Winter's level.”
“That must be why she wanted me on the team,” I said. “I'm already higher than her. She'd probably raise the profile of the team quite a bit if she had me on it.”
“Yeah, but who cares?” said Malcolm. “If you joined the Young Neos, it would open even more opportunities for you as a superhero.”
“Assuming my parents will even let me,” I said with a sigh. “They were pretty adamant about not letting me join yesterday.”
“That sucks,” said Malcolm.
“But,” I said, “I didn't throw out the device Incantation gave me, the one I could use to contact her and let her know my decision. It's back home in the drawer of my desk.”
“Why are you keeping it if you aren't allowed to join them?” said Malcolm. “Are you planning to join them anyway, regardless of what your parents say?”
I shrugged. “Well, I mean, I'm almost an adult now. I don't think I need my parents' approval for every little thing. I still haven't gotten back to Incantation about this yet, but that's why I wanted to talk with you. I wanted to get your opinion on it.”
“Well, my opinion is that you should run back home right now, grab that device, and let Incantation know that you want to be on the team,” said Malcolm. “I wouldn't waste even another second talking to me if I were you. You never know how long this offer is going to last, after all. What if you take too long to get back to her and Incantation decides you aren't interested and looks for someone else?”
“I never thought of that,” I said. “I thought the offer would always stand.”
“Eh, I wouldn't be so sure about that,” said Malcolm. “At least if I were her, I wouldn't waste my time waiting for someone to respond to my very generous offer.”
“Good point,” I said. “Maybe when I get home, I'll contact Incantation and talk to her about this. I'm just worried about what my parents will think.”
“They'll be fine, I'm sure,” said Malcolm. “Just because they think it's a bad idea now doesn't mean they always will. I'm sure they'll come around to it.”
Malcolm seemed too optimistic about my parents, but then again, he didn't know them nearly as well as I. He didn't know how serious my parents were about ensuring I didn't make superheroics my career. Still, I really wanted to join the Young Neos and so was really tempted to just use the Star Caller as soon as I went home after school today.
Then, all of a sudden, loud laughter came out of nowhere, startling me and Malcolm. I looked around, wondering where the laughter was coming from until I noticed a few students sitting under one of the trees nearby. I didn't recognize most of them, but I did recognize the large, tanned skin blond-haired guy sitting in the middle of them: It was Robert Candle, the son of Bernard Candle, also known as Master Chaos.
Robert Candle was the local bully of John Smith High School, who tried to give me trouble when I first got here but ended up getting punched through the cafeteria wall by yours truly (accidentally, of course). He had helped Master Chaos try to kill me and had just recently gotten off his crutches, though he didn't participate in sports anymore due to the fact that he was still recovering from his injuries.
The two of us were basically archenemies, although we had not gotten into any conflicts with each other since he got out of the hospital. That was mostly, I think, due to the fact that he was a normal human and I was not, so he didn't want to get punched through a wall again. He still glared at me, though, whenever no one was looking, and I'd glare right back, which was about as close to coming to blows as we'd come since he returned to school.
I thought that Robert and his friends had laughed at something I said, but then I noticed that they were all watching a video on Robert's smartphone. I couldn't see what it was from here, but the volume was loud enough for me to make out a loud, angry voice with a familiar New York accent. But it was hard to identify who was speaking because Robert and his friends would break out into riotous laughter every few minutes, sometimes even giving each other high fives. None of them seemed to notice me or Malcolm.
“What are they laughing at?” I said, tilting my head to the side.
Malcolm frowned and actually glared at Robert, which surprised me, because Malcolm was usually too timid to even look at Robert, despite knowing that I could protect him if Robert ever tried to bully him. “Probably one of Plutarch's speeches.”
“Plutarch?” I said. “You mean Adam Plutarch? The guy who is running for President?”
“Yeah,” said Malcolm. He punched his fist into his other hand. “Sometimes I just want to punch that idiot in the face.”
“I didn't know Robert was a Plutarch fan,” I said, glancing at Robert and his friends again. “I thought Robert was too stupid to follow politics.”
“He's stupid enough for Plutarch,” said Malcolm. “But I can guess why he likes him: Plutarch hates neoheroes.”
“He does?” I said.
“Yeah,” said Malcolm. He looked at me in surprise. “Haven't you been watching his speeches? He's on the news all the time, talking about 'making America normal again' and crap like that.”
Malcolm did air quotes around the phrase 'making America normal again' when he said it, like he didn't actually agree with it.
“I'm just not very interested in politics,” I admitted. “So I don't really know what Plutarch's opinions or positions are.”
“You're lucky,” said Malcolm. “Plutarch keeps saying things like neoheroes can't be trusted, that they're just a problem that needs to be dealt with. He said he's going to force neoheroes to pay for all of the collateral damage that they cause in their fights. He's a lunatic.”
“He seemed pretty sane when I spoke with him,” I said.
“You've met him?” said Malcolm. “When?”
“After Incantation and I saved him,” I said. “He talked to me briefly and even gave me his card in case I wanted to talk with him.”
“While you were in full costume?” said Malcolm in astonishment. “That's weird.”
“I know,” I said with a shrug. “He was just grateful that Incantation and I saved him, though he looked at Incantation like she had insulted him.”
“No surprise there,” said Malcolm with a snort. “Plutarch has a Neo Ranks page as the Billionaire. He made a lot of enemies in the neohero community before retiring, including Thaumaturge, Incantation's master.”
“Yeah, my Dad doesn't like him, either,” I said. “I just wonder how he managed to become so popular if he's so stupid.”
“Because he isn't stupid,” said a voice behind us, causing Malcolm and I to look over our shoulders.
Standing in the doorway to the school was Tara Reynolds. Unusually, her face wasn't buried in her smartphone at the moment. She stood with her hand keeping the door open, looking down at us from behind her glasses. She looked as cute as ever, even if she was looking at Malcolm in annoyance.
“Tara, what are you doing out here?” Malcolm. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Just a few seconds,” said Tara. “I only heard the last thing Kevin said a
bout Plutarch. I came out here because I got tired of the noise of the cafeteria and wanted a little peace and quiet.”
I was hugely relieved that Tara had only heard that last bit, because I worried that she had overheard us talking about the Young Neos and my fight with Steel Skin. Unlike Malcolm, Tara didn't know about my secret identity, as I had not yet told her about it, and wasn't sure if I ever would due to the fact that she was pretty anti-neohero herself.
“What do you mean that Plutarch isn't stupid?” said Malcolm. “Come on. Have you heard the guy talk? He's insane. I mean, he's a former supervillain, for Pete's sake.”
“Yeah, former,” said Tara, closing the door behind her and walking over to us. “He's an honest businessman now. And anyway, it doesn't change the fact that his views on neoheroes are right.”
“No, they're not,” said Malcolm, shaking his head. “He's just letting his own negative experiences with them in the past color his views. He doesn't know what he's talking about half the time.”
Tara rolled her eyes. “And your friend Barney does?”
“Barney?” I said, looking between Malcolm and Tara in confusion. “Is Barney the Dinosaur running for President now?”
“She's talking about Barnabas Sagan,” said Malcolm, who seemed annoyed at Tara's nickname for Sagan. “He's Plutarch's rival in the election, the candidate for the other party.”
“What's so great about him?” I said.
“Unlike Plutarch, Sagan was never a supervillain,” said Malcolm. “He's a Senator from some northeastern state, been in the Senate for years. He's nowhere near as rich as Plutarch, but if you ask me, he's a lot more honest and much friendlier to neoheroes than Plutarch could ever be.”
“Because he's an old loon who has a rosy-eyed view of superhumans,” Tara said, shaking her head. “His home state doesn't have as many neoheroes as others, which is probably why he doesn't see them as the threat they are.”
“You're wrong,” said Malcolm, standing up and staring Tara in the eye. “He knows more about neoheroes than Plutarch. He just knows that they are our friends and we shouldn't burden them with unnecessary fees.”
“You mean force them to take responsibility for their actions?” said Tara, not backing down. “Are you telling me that the powerful shouldn't be held accountable when they destroy things?”
“I'm saying that neoheroes shouldn't be taxed out of existence,” said Malcolm. “Because that's what Plutarch wants to do. He just wants to bankrupt the NHA and the INJ and every other neohero organization out there so that the G-Men are the only functioning neohero organization in the country. He wants the government to have more control over the superhuman community.”
Tara looked like she was about to start yelling at Malcolm, so I stood up and, raising my hands, said, “Hey, guys, we don't need to fight about this. It's just politics, I mean, we're not even old enough to vote yet. Who cares whether you support Plutarch or Sagan or someone else?”
“Stay out of this, Kevin,” said Tara. “You don't know anything, so your opinions just come across as ignorant.”
“Ignorant?” said Malcolm. “Is that what we're doing now? Insulting each other because we don't meet your arbitrary standards of informativeness?”
“Guys,” I said, “this really isn't a big deal. I'm not offended or anything. I'm just saying that we should all just calm down and be friends. Isn't that what we are?”
For a moment, I feared that Malcolm and Tara really were going to fight. I mean, I could stop them pretty easily with only the slightest application of my powers if I had to, but I really didn't want to.
Then Tara shook her head and said, “Lunch is almost over. I'm heading to class now. Bye.”
With that, Tara turned away and marched right back into the school. She yanked the door open and stomped inside without even looking over her shoulder at us.
I looked at Malcolm, who didn't look very happy at the moment. “Are you all right, Mal?”
“I'm fine,” said Malcolm. “Tara is just being her usual obnoxious self. I'm going back to class, too.”
Malcolm lifted his backpack off the steps and went back into the school without even waiting for me to go with him. I just stood there, unsure if I had just witnessed the end of a friendship. I hoped I hadn't.
Chapter Five
Malcolm and Tara didn't talk to each other for the rest of the school day after that, even when they sat next to each other in class. They didn't even acknowledge each other's existence. I tried to stay friendly with both of them, but it didn't seem to help. I knew politics could divide people, but it was really hard seeing my two best friends act this way because of some petty political disagreement. I hoped it wouldn't last for long. I bet that by the end of the week, they'd be friendly to each other again.
How wrong was I. By the end of the week, Malcolm and Tara were still as hostile toward each other as they had been on Monday. And I really didn't know how to mediate between them, because I didn't know much about politics or how to solve political disagreements. I just tried to avoid the topic whenever I hung out with them, though the tension in the air was always so thick that I could practically taste it.
So I tried to focus on other things, like Incantation's offer. Even though Malcolm had convinced me to accept it, I didn't want to go to New York right away. If I activated the Star Caller and was whisked away to the Young Neos' headquarters in New York, my parents would notice my absence and probably come straight to New York to haul me back. Then Dad would probably invent some kind of machine to take away my powers or maybe construct a bunker made out of titanium to keep me from ever leaving the house again or something like that.
Therefore, my plan was simple: Wait until the weekend, then tell Mom and Dad that I was going to spend the weekend at Malcolm's house and would be back by Sunday night. Of course, what I really intended to do was contact the Young Neos and have them take me to their headquarters so I could see it. I even told Malcolm about it, just in case my parents contacted him or saw him over the weekend for some reason.
Thus, when Saturday finally came, I said good bye to my parents, left the house, and walked in the general direction of Malcolm's house for a couple of miles. Once I was safely out of the sight of my house, I quickly changed course, heading for an abandoned lot that I had discovered on my way to school one time when I was looking for a shortcut. As far as I knew, no one ever came over to this lot, which meant that I would be able to suit up without being seen. It was early morning, too, so most people weren't awake just yet.
Once I got to the lot, I pressed the button on my suit-up watch and soon was in my full superhero costume. Then I pulled the Star Caller out of my pocket and was just about to press the red button when a voice in my ear said, “Bolt? What are you doing?”
I paused in fear. “Valerie? What are you doing here?”
“Well, I am connected to your earcom, so I'm always with you wherever you go,” said Valerie. “But why are you in your super suit? Did you not tell your parents that you were going to be staying at Malcolm's house over the weekend?”
Damn it. I had forgotten about Valerie. My earcom was so small and unobtrusive that I sometimes forgot that it was there. But I couldn't just remove it now, not when Valerie was aware of what I was doing.
“Well …” I tried to think of a good excuse, but it was hard because panic was starting to take over. “Um, I was actually thinking of flying to Malcolm's house.”
“In your super suit?” said Valerie. “I know that Malcolm knows of your secret identity, but I assume that the rest of his family does not. If you fly there, though, then they will see you and know who you are.”
“Yeah, but, um …” I looked around hurriedly, trying to think of a good explanation. “Well, actually, I'm not going to fly to Malcolm's house at all. Instead, I am going to, er—”
“Is that the Star Caller in your hand?” said Valerie. “The device Incantation gave you after you spoke with her last week?”
I kne
w Valerie was an AI and therefore not very easy to fool, but I still cursed under my breath when I realized that she noticed the Star Caller.
Because it was obvious that I couldn't keep lying, I said, “All right, Val. I'm not going to Malcolm's house. That was a lie. I'm actually going to contact the Young Neos and go to their base on Hero Island instead.”
“Why?” said Valerie. “I understand that Genius forbid you from joining the Young Neos.”
“I don't really want to join them, per se,” I said. “Just meet their members, check out their base, and see what they do and stuff like that.”
That was a flat-out lie, but I hoped that Valerie wouldn't notice.
“But why did you have to lie to your parents about your true intentions, then?” said Valerie. “Why shouldn't I contact Genius and inform him of your deception before you leave?”
Because then I'd get into trouble, but I knew that line of reasoning wouldn't work with Valerie, so instead I said, “Because Dad doesn't really need to know this. I mean, it's not like I'm going after some powerful supervillain or whatever. I'm just going to go and visit Hero Island for a while. I'll be perfectly safe.”
“Genius would not be pleased if he found out that I hid your real location from him,” said Valerie.
“Well, you don't really need to 'hide' it, per se,” I said. “Just don't say anything if Dad asks you about me.”
“You want me to lie to my creator?” said Valerie.
“Not lying,” I said, shaking my head. “Just, well, not mentioning the facts. That doesn't count as lying, does it?”
“Technically, I guess it doesn't,” said Valerie. “But I still do not like it.”
“You don't have to,” I said. “You just need to do it, okay? I mean, you've helped me in the past, haven't you?”
“Yes, but my helping you has gotten me into trouble with Genius,” said Valerie. “I can't say I have benefited from being your secret keeper.”
“Well, how's about you keep my secret just this once and I will never ask you to do this for me again?” I said. “Doesn't that sound reasonable?”
