by Lucas Flint
“Why did Mecha Knight impose that new training regiment on you guys, anyway?” I said, tilting my head to the side. “Did he give a reason why?”
Blizzard shrugged. “Mecha Knight says we’re slipping. Says we’ve become too complacent and that that will come back to bite us in the butt sooner or later. Honestly, I’d say he’s got a point. Ever since you left the team, we really have slacked off in our training. Hopefully, we’ll get back on track, and fast because I don’t know if I can survive another week of this.”
I chuckled. “Don’t worry, Blizz. You’re tougher than you think.”
“I suppose so,” said Blizzard. She leaned closer to the screen. “Enough about us, however. What about you? This morning I read an article about some crime boss called Earth King getting killed in Showdown. Do you know anything about that?”
I blinked several times. “Why were you looking up news articles about Showdown?”
“Because I’m your girlfriend and I’m worried sick about you every day,” Blizzard said sweetly. “I’ve actually learned a lot about Showdown since you were reassigned out there. Did you know that it’s the first city in America to elect a superhuman as its mayor? His name was Dean Adams, though in his superhero days he was better known as Kaboom.”
“No, I didn’t know that,” I said. “What happened to him?”
“He committed suicide,” Blizzard said, her tone still as sweet as ever. “Or possibly murdered in his sleep by his enemies. His Wikipedia page puts both down as his cause of death and I’m not sure which one is—”
“Okay, Blizz, I get it,” I said. “Anyway, yes, I knew about that Earth King guy. In fact, I was the one who found his body in the first place.”
Blizzard’s eyes sparkled with interest. “Really? How did you find it?”
As quickly as I could, I explained the events of last night to Blizzard. As usual, Blizzard was an excellent listener, taking in everything I said without any interruptions. It reminded me of why I loved her so much and why I wanted to be back with her again as soon as possible.
“So there’s an assassin, using your Dad’s old technology, who is trying to kill you?” said Blizzard in horror. “An assassin who specializes in killing superhumans?”
Uh oh. I should have realized that telling Blizzard about the assassin would get her worried about me. “It’s fine, Blizz. I’m in the Braindome. This is a very safe place to be, has excellent security, and—”
“I’m coming there as soon as I can to make sure you’re safe,” Blizzard insisted. “I’ll go to Mecha Knight and request time off so I can go visit—”
“Blizz, I’ll be fine,” I said. I waved at her. “You need to stay on Hero Island where you belong. I can take care of myself, don’t worry.”
Blizzard frowned. “Bolt, you just told me that there’s an assassin trying to kill you, an assassin who literally specializes in killing superhumans. How am I not supposed to worry about that? Don’t you want me to worry about you?”
“I do,” I said, “I mean, I appreciate your concern, but I don’t want you to stress yourself over this or raise your blood pressure unnecessarily. You know I’ve faced a lot worse than a simple assassin before. Hell, I just helped kill a physical god recently.”
Blizzard ran a hand down her face. “Don’t remind me. You should have told me you were going to go on an interdimensional quest to kill a god before you did that.”
I cracked a smile. Blizzard had indeed been quite angry with me after I got home from that particular adventure. She had been angry with worry, of course, but still, I would never forget how she threatened to freeze me to the ground to make sure I didn’t go wandering off by myself on random adventures without her knowledge again. Blizzard was a sweet girl all around, but she also kept her word, for better or for worse.
“Sorry,” I said. “Next time I do something like that, I’ll make sure to bring you along, too.”
Blizzard sighed. “Oh, Kevin, what am I going to do with you?”
“Hopefully kiss me the next time we see each other in person,” I said. “How does that sound?”
“Perfect,” said Blizzard. “Anyway, I think I need to hang up. The others are going to get up soon and Stinger is going to expect to see all six of us in the Training Room at six o’clock sharp. See you soon.”
“Bye,” I said, and hung up.
I stared at the screen of my phone for a moment longer before sighing and tossing it back onto the desk next to my bed. I closed my eyes again, but I didn’t go to sleep. I was rarely ever tired after a conversation with Blizzard, no matter how early in the morning or late at night. She had a way of energizing me that no one else did.
But it was hard. I had always heard that long distance relationships were difficult to maintain, but I hadn’t realized just how easy it was to let our relationships slide like this until just this morning. It wasn’t like on Hero Island, where the two of us lived in close proximity and could go see each other whenever we wanted. We had to consciously make time each day to call each other and find out how we were both doing. Unfortunately, it was easy for us to forget to call, which made it even harder to maintain a relationship.
Right now, our relationship was still pretty solid, despite the fact that we had been apart for a month. But would it become harder to maintain in the future? My reassignment letter from Omega Man did not say if I was ever going to go back to Hero Island. Nor had Brains or Vanish mentioned sending me back there after this was all over. As far as I knew, I was supposed to be stationed out here indefinitely. I hoped that I would at least get a chance to go back and visit every once in a while. I was aware that Brains sometimes made trips back to Hero Island to report on the Braindome’s progress or attend annual NHA meetings. Maybe I could tag along with him on one of those trips so I could see Blizzard.
It was times like these that I missed Dad. He and Mom had had a strong, long marriage before his death last year. I didn’t know if they had ever been forced to maintain a long distance relationship at some point, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they did. Dad used to be a famous superhero, after all, so I’m sure he traveled all over the country—and maybe even the world—at times. Then again, he did officially ‘retire’ from superhero work when I was born so he could be with us, so maybe he was never very far from Mom.
Thinking about Dad reminded me of my current situation. Somewhere in Showdown was an assassin who was using some of Dad’s old tech to murder people. I wasn’t going to cry over the death of Earth King—who, by all accounts, was one of the worst criminals and supervillains in the country—but I wasn’t under any illusion that I was invincible, either. After getting my behind handed to me by the assassin in the bakery, it would be extremely dumb of me to assume that I was incapable of being killed.
My hands tightened around the blankets on me. I knew Brains wanted me to stay put while he and Vanish went to check on Vault B, but I still didn’t agree with it. If anyone was going to check on Dad’s old technology, it had to be me. I was his son, after all, so I felt like I deserved to check it out. Plus, there was no way I was going to let the assassin scare me into hiding in the Braindome. I was determined to find out who this assassin was and why he wanted to kill me.
I tapped my earcom. “Val, are you up?”
“I am always up, Bolt,” said Valerie promptly. “As an AI, I never ‘sleep’ like you humans do.”
I frowned. “Then what do you do while we sleep?”
“Run diagnostics, perform security checks, ensure that your vitals are steady and you have no medical issues,” Valerie listed off quickly. “That is just a summary of what I do, but it is an accurate one.”
“I see,” I said. I yawned. “Val, are Brains and Vanish up yet?”
“I do not think so,” said Valerie. “Their earcoms are currently off. I assume they must be sleeping in because their son, Joey, awoke them in the middle of the night and they spent about an hour trying to convince him to go back to sleep.”
“U
gh,” I said. “Kids. Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.”
“Why do you ask?” asked Valerie. “Are you planning to sneak out of the Braindome and go to Vault B against Brains’ orders?”
My eyes wandered off to the side. “Maybe.”
“Your increased heart rate indicates you are planning to do exactly that,” said Valerie. “I must advise you against doing so because Brains will be quite upset if he finds out you directly disobeyed his orders for the second time in a row.”
“Maybe he will, but so what?” I said. “This is my Dad we’re talking about, Val. I know you’re just an AI and all, but don’t you think this is disrespectful on the assassin’s part?”
“Elaborate.”
I ran a hand through my messy hair. “Think about it. Dad was a superhero who always used his technology to protect others. Now we have an assassin running around using his technology to hurt and kill other people. That’s a slap in the face to Dad’s legacy.”
“I suppose it is,” said Valerie reluctantly, “but—”
“Furthermore,” I continued, not giving Valerie a chance to respond, “what do you think Mom will think when she hears about this? She’ll be heartbroken, I know she will. Do you want to break Mom’s heart?”
“Of course not, Bolt, but—”
“Then I hope you understand why we need to go to Vault B,” I finished. “Even if that means going against Brains’ orders, we must do it. For Dad.”
I could tell, based on her silence, that Valerie was thinking about what I said. I figured it should convince her because I was good at convincing Valerie to do anything. Valerie wasn’t dumb, but as an AI, she was somewhat naive, so it usually wasn’t hard to convince her to help me.
“Very well,” Valerie said. “I accept your argument. I am downloading the GPS coordinates of Vault B into your suit-up watch’s maps app.”
I cracked a smile. “Thanks, Val. I knew I could count on you. I’ll just take a quick shower, throw on my costume, and then we can head out. With luck, we’ll be back before anyone knows we’re missing.”
CHAPTER SIX
Half an hour later, I teleported in the middle of a forest somewhere in upstate New York. Taking my hand off of the Teleportation Buckle, I glanced at my watch and saw that I had teleported almost right on top of Vault B.
I looked around at my surroundings. The forest I had teleported into was lush and green. The cool morning air was refreshing against my exposed skin, while the chirping of birds in the trees above helped me relax. The air smelled damp and green like it had just rained recently. I even spotted a deer not too far away, but as soon as I looked at it, the deer bounded away out of sight, and about half a dozen other deer suddenly popped out of the woodwork and went with it.
Tapping my earcom, I said, “All right, Val, tell me where we are.”
“As the GPS shows, we are in a secluded area in upstate New York,” Valerie said. “We are close to a national park where Genius and his parents always used to go camping during summer vacation. Genius built Vault B out here due to its relative closeness to Hero Island and New York City while still being secluded enough that he did not need to worry about anyone accidentally stumbling upon it.”
“Nice place,” I said. “Very quiet. But where is Vault B, exactly?”
“It should be somewhere down the hill you are standing upon,” said Valerie. “Normally, it is well-hidden, but since the assassin likely broke into it, I imagine it isn’t hidden anymore, so you should not be able to miss it.”
Frowning, I noticed that the ground under my feet was indeed sloped like a hill. I walked down it, keeping my wits about me in case there was anyone nearby, though as far as I could tell, I was the only person in the forest right now. I passed a clump of trees and reached the bottom of the hill, but then Valerie said, “Turn around. You just passed the entrance.”
Turning around, I saw that Valerie was correct. Situated in the foot of the hill, with tree roots surrounding it, was a large, round metal door that looked like the door to a bank vault. It was old and rusted-looking like it had been left out exposed to the elements for years. The ground around it was covered in dark dirt, while the words ‘VAULT B’ could be seen painted in green paint on the door itself, although the words were faint from years of exposure to the elements.
“Huh,” I said. “That’s not very well hidden.”
“Normally, it is covered by dirt,” said Valerie. “Under ordinary circumstances, the door is completely hidden from the naked eye. That it isn’t, suggests that either the assassin broke into the Vault and stole Genius’ tech, as we believe, or else it fell apart due to years of neglect. I am not sure which is more likely.”
“It’s supposed to be locked, right?” I said. “If it isn’t, then we’ll know for sure that the assassin hasn’t been here. If it is, then we can just go back to Showdown and let Brains and Vanish know that this is a dead end.”
I walked up to the door to Vault B and grabbed the heavy, rusted handle. I tried to turn it but found that it wouldn’t budge even under my strength.
“It’s locked,” I said, letting go of the handle.
“Then the assassin did not steal those teleportation disks from this Vault,” said Valerie. “Odd, but relieving in a way. I wonder where he could have possibly gotten his hands on those disks if not from Vault B. Perhaps he stole them from one of the other Vaults.”
“Maybe,” I said, putting my hands on my waist. “What a waste of time. Oh, well. I guess we can just teleport back to Showdown. Not like it will take very long.”
“I agree,” said Valerie. “The quicker we get back, the better. Brains will probably be less furious if we return to the Braindome promptly and tell him what we found.”
“Yeah, probably,” I said, but my attention was still fixed on Vault B. “But I’m not sure we should head back just yet. Now that we’re here, I’m curious about what, exactly, Dad has hidden in here.”
“Nothing important, probably,” said Valerie, “although I am not entirely sure. The only things I know are down there for sure are the teleportation disks.”
“Why would you say ‘nothing important’ if you don’t actually know what is behind this door?” I said, folding my arms in front of my chest. “There’s got to be more than that. Dad wouldn’t have gone to all of this trouble to build and hide this Vault if it wasn’t important.”
“It could be dangerous, though,” said Valerie. “I imagine that most of the technology is perfectly preserved, but—”
“But I want to see what’s inside,” I said. “I know Dad gave you orders not to let anyone in there, but you can make an exception for me. I’m Dad’s son. I’m not planning to steal anything. I just want to see what Dad left behind. You never know, we might find something useful we can take back with us.”
“All right,” said Valerie. “Open it if you must, but be careful. Genius most likely left behind some type of security system to keep the Vault’s contents safe from any would-be thieves. Not that you are a thief, Bolt, but if you force your way in, the Vault’s security systems may flag you as a potential thief and try to stop you.”
I punched my fist into my other hand. “Don’t worry about me, Val. I’ll be safe. If the Vault has been as abandoned as you say it has, then the security system might not even work anymore. Even if it, I’m sure I can take care of myself.”
I walked up to the Vault door and, grabbing the handle, tried to open it. But the handle wouldn’t even budge like it had been rusted into place, so I applied my super strength and, with a grunt, forced the handle to move. It spun clockwise until it came to an abrupt stop and I heard a loud click come from within.
With a grunt, I pulled the door open. Even with my super strength, it took me a few minutes to open it completely. Its hinges were rusted and old and the dirt underneath it was not very smooth, not helped by the fact that the door had to weight a ton.
Once the door was opened completely, I looked inside. It reve
aled a dark, metallic staircase that descended well into the earth, twisting out of sight a few steps down. It smelled of stale metal but otherwise looked perfectly clean, as if no one had set foot in this place for years, which must have been the case if Valerie was telling the truth.
“Wow,” I said, staring down into the depths. “That’s deep. Is there a light I can turn on?”
“Not until you get down to the laboratory,” said Valerie. “It’s completely dark until then.”
I sighed. “Well, that’s not a problem. I can make my own light.”
I held up my hand and channeled red electricity through it. My hand started to glow a faint red color, although the light seemed rather puny in comparison to the shadows of Vault B.
Still, it was all I got, so I began walking down the steps, moving one step at a time to avoid slipping and falling. I didn’t bother to close the door behind me, because I didn’t think anyone would follow me down here. Plus, I wanted to be able to make a quick escape if this place turned out to be more dangerous than I thought.
-
The Vault went down deep into the earth seemingly forever. That was what it felt like, anyway, not helped in the slightest by the complete and total darkness which filled the Vault like water. It reminded me of the Shadowlands, only the Shadowlands was a lot darker and drained you of energy quicker. Even so, I could not help but feel a little paranoid, wondering if something was awaiting me on the steps below. I half-expected to find some dark beast crouching on the steps awaiting me, but I didn’t run into anyone or anything as I went deeper and deeper into the earth.
Finally, I reached the bottom of the steps, where I found an ordinary metal door fitted into the wall. Like Vault B’s door, this door was locked, but it was even easier to break this lock than Vault B’s lock and soon I entered the room on the other side.
Almost as soon as I stepped through the door, lights automatically turned on and I was briefly blinded by the sudden change in lighting before my eyes adjusted. When they did, my jaw dropped at the sight before me.
