Paragon

by Riley Tune

  His gaze lingered on the door she just left out. “As a result, she calls me on my bullshit more than anybody else. Even when I don’t ask her to. She knows my darkest secrets, and fondest memories.” Using his super speed, he darted through the home and the returned with two glasses.

  One was holding a brown liquid, and the other was a clear liquid with bubbles in it. He handed me the clear liquid- filled glass. I sipped it and found soda. My favorite soda actually. What were the odds that he knew my soda of choice? “Come on, follow me,” he said as he turned and lead me through the house. Seconds later I found myself in the kitchen.

  Several cooks all dressed in white were at work in the massive kitchen. I didn’t know what they were cooking but it smelled good. Despite the several cooks in the kitchen, there was a large pizza box on the counter. “Ignore my workers, they are cooking meals for the people of Ebony District that can’t afford to eat. I drop them off myself to several shelters. It’s not much but it all helps.

  He lifted up the pizza box and spun it around, revealing circular, oven baked goodness. “Double pepperoni, extra cheese, mushrooms, and thin crust.” Impervious said. I looked at the pizza and then back to him. That was my favorite food. Nothing odd there, plenty of people loved pizza, but this was my favorite pizza, from my favorite pizza place.

  Now I was worried. Impervious removed his blazer and rolled up his white sleeves. Then he grabbed a slice and devoured it in seconds. “Come on, I know you’re hungry after that burning building.” he said. Right on cue, my growling stomach roared in betrayal. Minutes later I had down three slices, and another cup of soda before I asked the question on my mind.

  “What’s going on here?” I said. “My favorite soda. Favorite pizza.” He avoided my gaze for a second. Then he exhaled. “Follow me,” he said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin and left the kitchen. I grabbed one more slice to eat along the way and then followed him.

  The entire floor of his home seemed to have a sweet smell, and just as with the living room, everything seemed to be professionally designed. The furniture was sleek, the paintings on the wall were vivid splashes of colors, and from what I could see no surface had dust on it.

  We passed through a library, living room, and even walked by a room that seemed to house nothing but shoes from floor to ceiling. “Wait a minute,” I said as I saw a statue down an adjoining hall.

  “Hm?” Impervious said as he looked at me. “What’s this doing here?” I asked him as I walked to the statue. It looked like the statues, heroes received for their deeds, but it was of a young boy. Not an adult. The statue was only a little under five feet tall, and the youths face was smiling at me. “This is my son,” Impervious said as he exhaled. “Was my son,” he followed up slowly.

  “Why do you have a statue of Picasso?” I asked him as I looked at him. To my surprise, his eyes were red. I touched the statue and looked at my finger. A thick layer of dust was there. Clearly this statue didn’t get as much attention as the rest of the house.

  “No,” Impervious said as he blinked slowly. “This is Will. My first born. My son.” “I didn’t know you had another son.” I replied. “Not many do. I lost him in the Battle of Ages. I made the ultimate sacrifice. After all this time, I still miss him every day.” He said as he touched the statue slowly. “I try to avoid the statue to spare myself the pain, but now and again, I find myself looking at it from afar, or even talking to it.”

  I shook my head. “How have I not heard this before? About Will.” “Empath” Impervious replied. “I had his memory erased from the world. The only people who remember him now are Detach and I. It’s easier that way.” He cleared his throat, and continued up the hall.

  The entire world forgot his son even existed. I found that a tad disrespectful to the memory of his son. Judging from the redness in his eyes, and the catch in his voice, I was seeing something for the first time that our fearless leader wasn’t Impervious to. The pain from the loss of a child.

  I stood alone there looking at the statue for a few more minutes, before I left and found my way to his office. Unlike the rest of the house, his office wasn’t modern at all. It was the opposite. There was an older looking sofa against the wall. The large wooden desk looked several years old, and the book shelves had more toys on them than books. Even the walls were unexpected. Several movie posters were framed and covered most of the area.

  “Whoa.” I said as I looked around. “Didn’t expect this.” Impervious laughed a little as he walked behind his desk and sat down. He stretched his hand out for me to sit across him. “So, now you tell me about how I did in regards to the Infinity fight, huh? Our little one on one? I still think we should be out there looking for him.”

  Impervious shook his head as he shuffled through his desk drawer. “Oh, we are. We have several Imperial Lords, and some independent Icons searching every inch of Atlas for him. Even Detach’s clones are on the hunt.” “But why aren’t we?” I asked him sternly. “We have some things to discuss first,” he said as he pulled out what looked like a photo album. He flipped the book open and pulled out a single picture and spun it around to me.

  “Dad?” I said in surprise. I quickly grabbed the picture and looked at it. It was my dad, but, it wasn’t. Yes, it was Donald Monroe, I knew the face and the grin I had seen several times on articles I read over the years about Blue Rush. What was confusing was that the picture wasn’t of dad in his Blue Rush outfit. He was wearing some blue jeans and a plaid shirt. He was also, easily, in his late teens or early twenties.

  “Why?” I stumbled over my words as I looked up to Impervious. “Why do you have this?” He didn’t answer my question. Instead he pulled another photo out. Yet again, it was my dad, and this time he was standing beside another man. His arm was around the man’s neck and they both had beers in their hands. They were smiling. They were happy. I looked at the picture, and then back to Impervious, and then to the picture again. The other man in the photo was him. His hair wasn’t peppered with gray and his face was smooth but it was no doubt, a younger him. He too was in his early twenties. “That picture was taken three years before I joined the Imperial Lords.” He said casually as he adjusted in his chair. “When times were good.”

  He sipped his glass of brown liquid. “When he was good. There was no Mr. Impervious or Blue Rush. Just Davis and Donald Monroe.” His words hit me like a punch from Flex himself. I looked at him, and all he could do was shake his head as he avoided my gaze. Impervious, and my dad?

  I dropped the photo to the on the desk as I frowned at him. “You two were?” “Brothers,” he said as he placed his glass on the desk. He paused as he looked for what to say next. His fingers tapped the desk and then just clasped around each other. “I didn’t know how to,” I stood up quickly from the desk. So fast that I actually nudged it some.

  “No.” I said as I shook my head. “Mr. Reid would have told me. Hell, anybody would have told me. The world wouldn’t just ignore that one it’s most famous heroes had a brother that was a villain.” I found myself breathing hard.

  “I understand the surprise, but it’s not so black and white.” I found his words ironic, seeing as how I prided myself on living in the gray area as much as I could. “Nobody has told you, because nobody remembers.” He said to me. I could feel my brow raise. “What?”

  He let out a long sigh. “Detach. She is the empath that you may have heard mentioned here and there, and the one I told you that made the world forget my son. Mind reading, and memory alterations are her prime abilities. She is, to this day, the strongest empath I’ve ever known. The entire clone thing is simply a secondary power. It’s also why we are so close. I’m the only person immune to her gifts.”

  Impervious leaned on his desk and rubbed his forehead. He was Impervious to mental Icons as well. Damn could nothing hurt this man? I still didn’t follow, though. In fact, none of this was making sense to me. So, Detach had a power she had been hiding all this time? What kind o
f sense did that make? “Who would do that?”

  I had said my thought out loud without meaning to. “Do what?” Impervious asked. I shook my head in return. “Just, start from the beginning. So, my dad and you are brothers. You’re my uncle and Picasso’s my cousin.” He paused for a moment, as if he had to think, then he nodded. “In a way, yes.” In a way? What the hell did that mean? It’s a simple yes or no answer.

  “So why doesn’t anybody know?” I asked. “Detach erased the memory of every person in Atlas City and the surrounding area when I asked her to. After the original Imperial Lords never returned from that mission, I didn’t want anybody to know. Seemed easier seeing as how I was suddenly propelled into leadership.”

  I remembered something Detach had said when I first arrived here with Zeva and Jen. We were in the Hall of Heroes or Hero Hall, I can’t remember what it’s called, but she said Impervious joined because his brother was a well- known Icon. In reality, it was because his brother, my dad, was a villain. The villain!

  No wonder she looked at me funny when she told us the story. She knew. She knew the entire time. What a bitch. A secretive bitch. A secrecy bitch that could wipe minds apparently. “So why tell me now?” I asked. My surprise was fading and was being replaced by rage.

  “After all these years. Why now?” I repeated. He pursed his lips. “It. Felt like the right time. Your age now is when the decision is made. Hero or villain, and I want to see you do good. I want to make sure you do good.”

  I shook my head. “But why now? Why after all these years?” I said as I slammed my fist on the table, causing cracks to come alive in the wood. “I really don’t have an answer for you. Not a good one anyway, and not one that will make any of this less painful.” I slumped back into my chair, and took a deep breath.

  My uncle was Impervious. Davis Scott was my uncle. “Wait. Why is your last name Scott then?” I asked him. My last name, just like dad's, was Monroe. He shrugged. “Wanted to distance myself from your dad as much as possible. People didn’t know we were brothers, but I still knew. Near the end, those final years he went down some dangerous roads. As the eldest brother he made some decisions that I didn’t agree with, nor could I stop.”

  He looked away from me. “You have to understand that; your father was faster than anything or anyone. His speed made mine look slow. For Atlas’ sake, he could cross the globe in less time that I could cross the damned road.”

  “Decisions?” I asked. Impervious nodded.

  “What decisions? You mean to be a villain?” “No.” Impervious replied back. “Some of the worst things he did, the world never even knew of. Blue Rush could move so fast that at times he seemed invisible, and many of his deeds weren’t even attributed to him. Then,” Impervious paused. “He fell for your mother. He loved her, and she loved him. Even though he was bad for her. Following his lead, I found love too.” He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them. “Love was our downfall, and set things in motion that would change the world forever. Love, wasn’t why we were sent here.”

  I could feel my eyes squint. “Sent here?” I repeated. Impervious stood and walked around the desk and found a seat on the couch. “Contrary to what people say, think, or call you, you don’t have four powers because you’re a half breed. It’s because of your heritage.”

  Sent here. My heritage. What in Atlas’s name was he talking about? “Hunter, your dad and I, weren’t born on this planet, or even in this dimension. We, like you, belong to an elite class of a race called Spellborn. While you were born on Earth, your father and I were born on the world of Mo’eizus.

  CHAPTER 22

  SPELLBORN

  “T

  his is why Infinity puzzles me so. He not only seems to know you are a Spellborn, but it is very likely that he is one himself.” I thought it over for a moment. It was a lot to take in. “So, I’m an alien is what you’re saying?” Impervious shook his head and laughed. “No, that would be a little cliché don’t you think?

  Well, on the plus side, at least I wouldn’t be adding alien to the list of names people like to call me. “So, what in the world is a Spellborn?” I asked him. He looked at me and seemed to be trying to figure out his next words. “Maybe we should pause right here,” he said? My mouth gapped open. Pause? As in stop? He must had been crazy if he thought I was going to let this go. “Maybe we can pick this up later. It’s time we focus on Infinity. But later, I’ll tell you more, and you can tell me how things are working out with you and Zeva?”

  He said this last part with a smirk. “Me and Zeva?” I repeated. Impervious shrugged. “It’s clear you like her.” I shook my head. Then thought about it. “Well, maybe a little.” Impervious burst out laughing. “Flex is going to have a field day. His nemesis dating his baby sister.”

  “Nobody is dating anybody,” I said. “Plus, I kind of still have a girlfriend. I think. I mean it’s hard to say at this moment.” “Oh, you mean the villain?” My eyes bulged. Where did he get all this information?

  I could tell he was grasping to talk about anything except what I wanted, but I wasn’t going to let him. He had kept a secret from me, and the world for over a decade. Now, to feel better or to connect with the only ties to his brother he could find, he wanted to tell me the truth. Well, all in. I wanted to know everything, and I wanted to know it now. I had nothing but time, and for the first time I felt the hunt for Infinity could wait.

  “What is a Spellborn? I asked once more. Impervious sighed, leaned back on his couch and crossed his legs, as he clasped his finger. “Well the better question is who. As I mentioned, since you refuse to learn about your heritage in baby steps, Spellborn are a race of beings from another dimension. A race you partially belong to, and inside that race our family is considered to be elite.” “Elite?” I repeated as I tried to understand.

  “Yes, elite. It’s just a word. Here we prefer to use terms like royal, or noble. Well on our home world, we use the term Elite. Elite families do tend to be more powerful that other Spellborn, though. In many ways we are very much like humans and Icons. It’s even long believed by some that we even share a common ancestor.”

  Just at that moment, Prism flickered into existence. “Sir, Flex would like a word. He needs help with his speech for his statue ceremony.” Impervious nodded, and Prism flickered away. “Well, duty calls. Looks like we will have to pick this up later after all. His ceremony is later today and he needs to be ready. He always gets nervous at these things.”

  Impervious stood up and began to fix his clothes. He tucked in his shirt tight, and rolled his sleeves down. “So, you’re going to go help him? What about Infinity?” I said. Impervious shook his head. “Oh, no. I’m not helping him at all. He’s got to do these things for himself. He’ll either do great, or crash and burn. Either will be good for him as he progresses. Plus, as you mentioned, Infinity is priority. There are some questions I want to ask him before he meets justice.”

  Meets justice? Surely, they didn’t intend on trying to capture Infinity alive? Where would they put him.? Even the jails made for the worst villains likely couldn’t hold him. “Well, nephew, you are welcome to look around some if you want. You can even go and find your cousin to connect. He is aware of his heritage, but not of you. So, go easy.”

  Using his super speed, he was gone in an instant. Then in another burst of speed he was back. “Think about this until our next talk. It will give you and Picasso something to talk about.” He smirked at me, and muttered three words. “Magic is real.” I could feel my face frown. “Not only is it real but it is the source of a Spellborn’s power.” He smiled at me once more, and then was gone again.

  Magic is real? Surely, he wasn’t suggesting that what he could do was magic- based. IF he was, then that meant that this magic, or at least some of it, was passed down by my father. I decided to make a mental list of questions to ask, but didn’t know if I could wait that long. What I needed was a person who would know some answers. A pers
on who would have been able to avoid or dodge the mind- altering abilities that Detach apparently possessed.

  Then the answer came to me so fast that I was actually surprised. The Honor Hand. If anybody knew, their leader would. I returned back to my room, grabbed a shower because I could still smell smoke on me from my mission earlier, and then got dressed.

  I hadn’t been to see the Honor Hand in about a year, but last time I was there, I was told I was always welcomed. Grabbing my phone, I opened my door and almost jumped from shock. “Hey,” Zeva said as she stood in my doorway.

  “Hey?” I repeated. “Why are you lurking around my door?” Even now I could smell her sweetness. She had changed clothes, too. She now had on some shorts and a button up shirt that had a few buttons opened on the top.

  “I’m not lurking. I actually came by to talk. I wanted to ask you something.” My heart skipped. Was she about to ask me out? Or if I liked her? In theory it sounded good, but what would I do, if she did ask me?

  “Right now? I have some place I need to be.” She bit her lip some, and then nodded her head. Her eyes looked away as her shoulders dropped . Idiot I thought to myself. “What was it?” I asked her. “Never mind. I just need to clear my head I guess. Too much on my mind. Can I come with you? Partners stick together you know.” she said with a grin.

  “Sure.” Zeva followed me out of the base and in no time, we were in the air in my force field above Diamond District. Holding her hand, we zoomed around buildings, punched through clouds, and even flew outside of the domes that encased both districts.

  As we hovered in the air, above the domes, I told her everything Impervious had told me. At first, she was quiet. Then she was a little surprised that Impervious had done so much to keep a secret. “Makes you wonder what else the heroes will hide.” She said. Then she admitted that it was kind of cool. In her eyes I belonged to some super race of alien- like beings, and that even weird Picasso, was a little cooler now.