The Superhero's Return

by Lucas Flint

  Bolt-

  When we last fought, I told you I wasn’t going to kill you until you felt true despair and hopelessness, the same kind of despair and hopelessness which you supers force on my kind each and every day. I like killing you superhumans and using your blood to write the kind of messages that get into your head, but truthfully, what I really enjoy about this gig is making you feel as powerless as any ‘normal’ human, as you superhumans call us behind our backs. You deserve it.

  But you got me in a bit of a pickle here. I could probably break into the Braindome if I really wanted—I scouted out its defenses, it’s nothing I haven’t broken into before—but that would take more effort than I’m willing to expend. And anyway, I dislike taking the initiative. I’d rather choose our final battleground myself, a place I am more familiar with.

  Therefore, I broke into Brains and Vanish’s house and kidnapped their son, Joey. I don’t like hurting kids, but I also realize that this little kid might grow up to be a superhuman himself someday. That makes him a risk, even though he’s not even two-years-old yet. I really ought to kill him, but you know my real target is you.

  If you want to make sure little Joey gets to grow up to become a genetic monstrosity like his parents, you will meet me at Vault B, in upstate New York, where I should be as you are reading this letter. I know it seems quite a long way off, but I know you’ve been there already and were planning to go back sometime. Now would seem like a good time to stop by for a visit.

  If you want little Joey to live, come to Vault B, and come alone. If you bring anyone—and I do mean anyone—else with you, I will kill Joey and leave. Won’t be that difficult, honestly, because babies aren’t known for their strength, not even the babies of superhumans.

  You have one day to decide if you value your life or the baby’s life more. I think I know which one you will pick, but I’m not going to say because that would ruin the fun.

  Cheers,

  The Neo-Killer

  P.S. When I say come alone, I mean it. Don’t try to bring any backup, not even your stupid AI assistant. I will know and I won’t hesitate to kill Joey if I even suspect you brought help.

  I looked up at Brains. “This can’t be real, can it?”

  Brains—who had been pacing back and forth with a worried expression on his face while I read the letter—stopped and looked at me. “It is. My mom found it in Joey’s crib when she came to wake him from his nap. She said she didn’t see anyone enter the house, but that doesn’t mean very much we know that the Neo-Killer can teleport to pretty much wherever he wants whenever he wants.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. I pounded a fist on top of the letter. “This is all my fault. If I wasn’t here, the Neo-Killer wouldn’t have kidnapped your son to try to lure me out.”

  “It’s not your fault,” said Brains. He trembled with barely suppressed rage. “It’s the Neo-Killer’s fault. He is truly evil. Now more than ever, he must be stopped.”

  “Yeah, but you read the letter,” said Doyle. He ran a hand through his hair. “If anyone other than Bolt comes to Vault B, he will kill Joey. And frankly, I think he’s one hundred percent serious, given his track record in regards to killing superhumans.”

  “I know,” said Brains. His fists shook. “But I still want to go and save Joey. He’s my son. He needs me.”

  “But if you go, then Joey will die,” said Doyle. He looked at me. “Only Bolt can save him now.”

  Doyle was right. If I didn’t accept the Neo-Killer’s offer, Joey would die. And I had 24 hours to decide, which meant I was also on a deadline, which was always fun.

  “It’s obviously a trap,” said Brains. “I don’t know if he intends to kill Joey or not, but I do know that he intends to kill Bolt. He is using Joey as bait to lure Bolt to where he can get him.”

  “Even if it is a trap, do I really have any choice?” I said. “We know that the Neo-Killer is serious about killing superhumans. If I don’t confront him, Joey will die. Your son will die.”

  “I know that, but …” Brains threw his hands up into the air. “I just wish I could go in your place. I don’t want to lose either Joey or you, especially after what happened to Vanish.”

  I rubbed my forehead. “It’s not like I want to die or anything, but like I said, I don’t have much of a choice. Either I die or Joey does. If I go, then there’s at least a small chance that Joey will survive.”

  Brains rubbed his hands together anxiously. “Yes, but—”

  “And aren’t you the one who is always telling me that sometimes there are situations where you can’t win?” I continued. “This is clearly one of those situations, which the Neo-Killer obviously set up to make sure I couldn’t win. Right now, our only option is for me to go and confront the Neo-Killer face to face, even if that means putting my own life at risk. It’s the only way to save Joey.”

  Even I was surprised by what I said. I still feared the Neo-Killer, yet now that we were discussing this issue, I didn’t want to run away and hide. Maybe it was Joey. If Joey’s life hadn’t been threatened, I might feel a lot less brave than I do now. As it is, I felt nothing but cold contempt for the Neo-Killer. He had kidnapped a baby and was using the life of that baby to manipulate me into coming to confront him. It was an evil, cowardly move, and on top of what he did to Blizzard and Vanish, it made me hate him even more.

  Brains seemed to be at a loss for words. He looked down for a moment and then looked up at me again. “Fine. You can go and confront the Neo-Killer if you want. If this is the only way to save Joey, then so be it.”

  “Should we provide him with backup?” asked Doyle doubtfully. He sat up straight and patted a gun holstered against his chest. “That way, if things go south—”

  “No,” I said, looking at Doyle suddenly. “No backup. We can’t risk it. The Neo-Killer is not a joke. He really will kill Joey if he even suspects that I didn’t come alone.”

  “But we can’t just let you go alone,” said Doyle. He leaned forward on his arms, a frown on his face. “You’ll get killed.”

  “I know,” I said. “But I also know that Joey will die if I don’t go. Do you want Joey to die?”

  That seemed to hit Doyle harder than anything else I’d said so far. He sat back again and let his arms hang at his sides, a worried frown on his face. He did not seem to have any sort of response, which was fine by me, because there was nothing he could say to convince me to stay in the Braindome.

  I stood up. “Look, guys, I know that I am a lot younger than either of you. I also know that I haven’t acted as maturely as I should since I got here. But you have to trust me. Trust that I will be able to save Joey, even if that means sacrificing my own life.”

  “By yourself?” said Brains doubtfully.

  I spread my arms. “I don’t have a choice. Either I go in alone or I don’t go at all. If I go, then I have a chance at saving Joey, however, remote it might be. It’s not the best plan, but it is the only plan we have, the only plan with any chance of working. And we don’t have a whole lot of time to debate it.”

  Neither Brains nor Doyle said a word to that. The two of them just exchanged quick, doubtful looks, but again they said nothing.

  Finally, Brains looked at me again and said, “All right, Bolt. You’ve made your point. I want to save Joey more than anything, but I know I can’t. So you can go and save Joey instead. But we won’t provide you with any backup.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I wish you guys could help, but the Neo-Killer is serious about killing Joey. Even if he isn’t, I don’t want to put Joey’s life in danger.”

  “We understand,” said Brains. “We’ll just stay here in the Braindome. Can you give us the coordinates for Vault B, at least? We may not be able to provide you with backup, but we should still know where Vault B is so we can pick you up if you’re successful.”

  I nodded. “All right. I’ll have Val send you the coordinates. And if that’s all you need, I’m going to go grab Dad’s Teleportation Buckle and g
et out of here. The faster I can get to New York, the faster I can save Joey.”

  Even as the words left my mouth, I wanted to add “and the faster I can die,” but I didn’t. I had no plans of dying, but a calmness had come over me which made me wonder if my time really was up.

  If so, I was about to find out.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Half an hour later, I teleported in front of the door to Vault B. It looked pretty much the same as I remembered it: Big and thick, with a thick sheet of rust and dirt covering its metallic surface. Now, however, the door was wide open, no doubt left open by the Neo-Killer, who was awaiting me somewhere below. I half-wondered if he knew I was here already, but a quick glance at the forest around me did not show any cameras that could tell him where I was.

  Before I entered the Vault, I checked my body just to make sure I didn’t forget anything. My practice pole was folded up and attached to my belt, which I felt I would need if the Neo-Killer de-powered me and left me defenseless. My Teleportation Buckle was also attached securely to my belt, which would be useful for making a quick escape. I wondered how useful the Buckle would be in a fight, but decided I would rather not try it out yet, because I hadn’t trained with my Buckle in combat before and I didn’t want to make any mistakes that could get me killed.

  Satisfied that I was prepared, I reached up to tap my earcom to talk to Valerie, but then pause when I felt my empty ear. I was so used to wearing my earcoms that I had forgotten I had removed them before leaving the Braindome. I left them behind because the Neo-Killer said he would kill Joey if I brought Valerie with me. I decided it wasn’t worth risking Joey’s life over that, so I left my earcom back in my room in the Braindome. Assuming I survived this, I could always get them back later.

  But I still felt lonely, lonelier than I had in a while. Although Valerie was a disembodied AI, having her around always made me feel less lonely. Without Valerie’s calming voice in my ears, I felt like I was well and truly alone for the first time in a very long time. In fact, I couldn’t even remember the last time I was this alone. Most of the time, I was with another person or Valerie, and only by myself on rare occasions.

  Today, however, it was going to be just me and the Neo-Killer. Well, Joey would be there, too, but he was a baby, so he didn’t really count. I would just have to pray that my powerless training with Vanish would pay off, because I sensed a fight coming and I would need every trick in the book to survive, much less win.

  Taking a deep breath, I rolled back my shoulders and marched inside the Vault. As soon as I crossed the threshold, however, the Vault door suddenly swung closed behind me with an earthshaking boom, causing me to jump and almost fall onto the floor. I caught myself at the last second, however, and leaned against the wall, looking over my shoulder in surprise.

  But I couldn’t see the Vault door anymore, because as soon as the door closed, the Vault was plunged into darkness. The pitch black darkness reminded me heavily of the Shadowlands, a pocket dimension covered in perpetual darkness. I half-expected to see the red eyes of the Midnight Menace peer out of the shadows at me, but I knew I was alone in here.

  Pushing myself off the wall, I reached out into the shadows and felt the firm surface of the Vault’s door. It was definitely shut closed, but I wasn’t worried. A good, solid punch, powered by my super strength, ought to be more than enough to smash it open if I had to. Even so, a chill did run down my spine, because I realized that the Neo-Killer must have programmed the door to close as soon as I entered. I had no idea how he could have done that, but the Neo-Killer could do a lot of things I didn’t understand. Best not to underestimate him.

  Shaking my head, I held up my hand and channeled electricity through it. A soft red glow emitted from my fist, allowing me to see a few feet in front of me. I expected to see the light reflect off the Neo-Killer’s mask, but all it showed me was that I was indeed by myself in here. The Neo-Killer must have been somewhere below, deeper inside the Vault itself. No doubt he was patiently waiting for me to show up so he could kill me.

  A heavy fear fell on my chest at the thought of the Neo-Killer hiding somewhere in the shadows up ahead, but I swallowed my fear and moved forward. I soon reached the staircase, which I began walking down one step at a time. I walked far more carefully than usual because I didn’t want to rush into any traps the Neo-Killer might have set up for me. I would stop every two or three steps to listen, but Vault B was eerily quiet, much more than it ought to be. I wondered why I hadn’t heard from Freya yet. Had the Neo-Killer somehow turned her off? Given the skills the Neo-Killer had shown already, I couldn’t rule that out.

  Nonetheless, I kept walking until I soon reached the bottom of the steps, where I found the metal door to the main part of the Vault. A quick look around the door showed me no traps that I could see, so I grabbed the doorknob and turned, pulling the door open.

  As soon as I pulled open the door, however, the lights on the other side turned on, which briefly blinded me after I had been wandering in the darkness for so long. At the same time, I was blasted in the face with some kind of gas.

  I gasped and coughed, holding up my hands to protect my face. But nothing could stop me from inhaling the gas, which I belatedly realized was powerless gas. I coughed and hacked, clutching my chest as the powerless gas spread through my body, making me weaker and taking away my powers. I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker by the second, so I rushed into the room on the other side of the door to escape the cloud of powerless gas.

  Gasping for breath, I looked over my shoulder. A small sprayer had been installed directly over the doorway, which was clearly designed to activate as soon as the door was opened. I cursed myself. I should have seen that coming. Of course, the Neo-Killer would make sure to de-power me before I got in here. If I had my powers, I could kick his butt without even thinking about it.

  Oh, well. That’s why I brought my pole, which the Neo-Killer did not know of. I just had to hope that it would be enough.

  Still coughing slightly, I looked around at my surroundings The rows upon rows of boxes and crates containing all of Dad’s old stuff were still where they were the last time I was here. I did not see the Neo-Killer immediately, but that didn’t mean anything. There were lots of places he could be hiding, but somehow I sensed that he wasn’t hiding at all. He was waiting, certainly, but not hiding.

  I began walking down the narrow aisle between the boxes and crates, my eyes darting all over the place as I tried to keep my eyes on everything at once. I kept expecting the Neo-Killer to jump out from between a couple of crates or appear on top of a nearby box and start shooting at me. If he attacked me now, I would have plenty of room to run and hide until I could figure out a plan to beat him, but again, I sensed that wouldn’t be necessary.

  Finally, I arrived at the center of the room, which opened into a much wider circle than the rest of the Vault. I didn’t remember this part from my last visit. As far as I could tell, the boxes and crates which had once stood here appeared to have been shoved off to the sides, leaving a fairly wide open circle with plenty of room to move. The only piece of furniture was one of Dad’s old desks, which had been cleared completely to make room for a small basket in which a brown-haired baby boy slept.

  It was Joey, the son of Brains and Vanish. He was wrapped in white swaddling, his eyes closed. He made tiny snoring sounds as he slept, which was how I knew he was still alive. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I saw Joey because a part of me had feared that the Neo-Killer might have killed him already. That Joey was alive and well was a good sign.

  But where was the Neo-Killer?

  A whistling sound behind me made me look over my shoulder just in time to see a fist flying at my face. I leaped forward, narrowly avoiding the fist, and then whirled around and yanked my pole off my belt. Unfolding my pole with a single snap, I held my pole before me defensively.

  It was the Neo-Killer. He nearly lost his balance after his missed punch, but then he drew a
gun and aimed it at me, but he didn’t fire it just yet. He cocked his head to the side, his face obscured by his blank mask.

  “Fast reflexes for a superhuman who was just sprayed with powerless gas,” said the Neo-Killer. “Perhaps you’re not as dull as I thought.”

  My grip on my pole tightened so much that it hurt my fingers. “Or maybe you’re just underestimating me.”

  “I never underestimate my enemies, kid,” said the Neo-Killer, his grip on his gun never wavering. “One thing I’ve learned in my life is that the second you underestimate your enemies, you’re dead, especially if they’re supers. It’s a lesson you clearly haven’t learned yet, because if you had, you would have brought a gas mask to protect yourself from my trap. What an idiot.”

  I scowled, but I could tell he was trying to provoke me to attack him. I wasn’t sure how much powerless gas I had inhaled, but it couldn’t have been a lot. If I could delay and distract the Neo-Killer as long as possible, I might be able to get my powers back in time to stop him. Once I got my powers back, the Neo-Killer would be toast. I would just need to survive long enough for the gas to wear off.

  “Let Joey go,” I said. I nodded at Joey in his cradle on the desk. “He’s just a kid. He’s not a threat to anybody.”

  The Neo-Killer chuckled, but soon, his chuckle turned into full-on laughter. He laughed so long and so hard that I worried he might be losing it. Then again, anyone who thought kidnapping a baby to use as bait was moral had to be crazy already. Joey stirred in his cradle but oddly did not awake.

  “Ha!” said the Neo-Killer, still chuckling every now and then. “’He’s just a kid. He’s not a threat to anybody.’ What sentimental crud.”