Ashley Jason

6. CHAPTER THREE

What did you call me?” Parasite snapped. He glared at the old man with so much intensity that he looked like he was trying to shoot lasers from his eyes.

“I called you a fake, kid,” said the old man. “Because that’s what you are: A fraud. You aren’t the son of Robert Candle, much less the grandson of Master Chaos. You’re just a lonely orphan looking for meaning. That’s all you are, Rodrigo, and all you ever will be.”

Parasite scowled. “You act like you know me. You don’t.”

“Actually, I do,” said the old man, “though I don’t blame you for not recognizing me. We didn’t interact very much when you were younger, although I’m the one responsible for getting you kicked out of the Academy in the first place.”

Parasite’s eyes bugged out when the old man said that. “You! Now I remember you. You’re the man who ruined my life, the man who made everyone hate me.”

“I didn’t ruin your life, Rodrigo,” said the old man. “You did it yourself when you took the lives of those three students.”

Frankly, I had no idea what was going on here. I mean, I knew that Parasite had been a student at the Academy about seven years ago and had murdered three students before being caught, but I didn’t know how this man played into it or how he was related to the Academy Murders. The way Parasite spoke to him, though, made it sound like the old man had been the one to solve them himself.

“I didn’t do it,” Parasite snapped. “I didn’t kill those kids. How many times do I have to repeat that before you stop accusing me of doing something I didn’t do?”

The old man shook his head. “The evidence was conclusive, Parasite, but lie all you want. Perhaps the judge will believe you and let you and your boyfriend off scot free, though I doubt it.”

Parasite snarled. “You are assuming I even intend to see the inside of a courtroom, old man. Which I don’t.”

With a yell, Parasite rushed toward the old man, swinging his sword arms wildly. The old man, however, fired his g*n twice, but Parasite deflected both bullets with his blades.

The old man took aim again, but Parasite got to him first and slashed the g*n out of his hand. Parasite’s sword arm cut into the old man’s hand, causing him to fall to the ground, clutching his bleeding hand.

“No!” I shouted. I struggled to free myself from the quicksand, but of course I failed. “Leave that man alone!”

Parasite, however, paid no attention to me. He just raised his sword arms above his head, ready to bring them down on the old man’s head.

But then a couple more gunshots rang out through the park and a couple of bullet holes appeared in Parasite’s back. The bullet holes made Parasite stagger forward, causing the old man to jump up and slam his shoulder into Parasite’s midsection. The blow sent Parasite staggering backward, causing him to fall flat on his back on the ground, the blood from his bullet holes staining the grass underneath him red.

“What the—?” said Parasite, raising his head weakly. He looked at the bullet holes in his stomach, where the bullets had exited. “Back-up …?”

“You could say that,” said the old man as he rose to his feet, still clutching his bleeding hand, “but I prefer to think of it as working with the one man I trust more than any other: Myself.”

Puzzled, I was about to ask the old man what he meant when I heard two sets of footsteps coming from two directions behind me. I looked back to see who the old man’s allies were, but did a double-take when I saw exactly who it was.

Walking toward me, guns in hand, were two identical copies of the old man. They looked exactly the same as him, down to the tiniest detail. The only difference was that the copies didn’t have bleeding hands, but even their guns looked exactly the same as his.

“Huh?” I said, staring at the copies. “Am I going crazy or am I seeing double?”

“Triple,” said one of the copies as they walked past me, though one of them stopped before me and knelt down to get on my level. “But yes, your eyes are working just fine.”

I blinked. “Are you guys, like, triplets or something?”

“Not exactly,” said the copy standing in front of me, shaking his head. “More like clones, though I prefer to call us Thirds.”

“What?” said Parasite, looking over at us. “Clones? Just what the heck are you, old man?”

The old man smiled. “You can call me Triplet. And I am going to put you and Gentleman behind jail for a very long time.”

Parasite scowled. He rose to his feet, though the action clearly caused him a lot of pain, probably due to the bullet holes in his body. “Bah. So what if you can divide yourself? I’m still stronger. I’ll just kill your clones, too. Or did you not know about my healing factor?”

As Parasite spoke, the bullet holes in his body started to close before our startled eyes. That just annoyed me. So Parasite apparently also had a healing power of some sort. Just wonderful.

“True, I could never beat you and Gentleman on my own,” said Triplet, shaking his head. “But my Thirds aren’t the only help I brought.”

A shadow suddenly swooped by overhead. I looked up, but not quickly enough to help me see what had just flown by. Maybe a bird? Or possibly even a plane?

Parasite suddenly cried in shock, causing me to look at him once again.

Omega Man—the most powerful superhero in the world—now stood directly behind Parasite, his arms wrapped firmly around Parasite’s chest. Parasite was struggling to free himself from Omega Man’s huge arms, but it was clear that even his super-strength was no match for Omega Man’s.

“What the hell?” said Parasite. “Omega Man? I thought you were on Hero island. What are you doing out here?”

Omega Man smiled grimly. “Doing something I haven’t gotten to do in a very long time: Capture supervillains like you.”

Parasite scowled and turned his chest transparent. Apparently not expecting that, Omega Man let go of Parasite, who jumped out of his arms and backed away. At the same time, the Thirds pointed their guns at Parasite, who now found himself trapped between Triplet and Omega Man.

I couldn’t believe it myself. First this Triplet guy showed up, and then Omega Man himself? I half-expected Lady sss or one of the other First Generation heroes to show up and join the party, too.

Omega Man, however, glared at Parasite. “So you are Parasite, the alleged grandson of Master Chaos. I’ve heard much about you since my return, but I do believe this is the first time we’ve met in-person. You’ve killed many supers.”

“Nice to meet you, too, cape,” said Parasite, “and of course I’ve killed many supers. That’s what I’m all about. Even you can’t stop me, although I wouldn’t mind getting a taste of that super strength of yours.”

Omega Man punched his fist into his other hand. “I can believe you are Master Chaos’ grandson. You sound just like him.”

“It’s genetic,” said Parasite. He raised his sword arms. “You’re not Bolt, but I know you got in Master Chaos’ way a lot, too, when you were younger, so I’ll kill you as well as Ashley. And steal both of your powers while I’m at it.”

Omega Man shook his head. “I might not be as young as I used to be, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to put kids like you in your place.”

Omega Man rushed forward and swung a fist at Parasite. Parasite, however, dodged the attack easily, jumping to the side and slashing his swords at Omega Man’s sides as he passed.

But Omega Man, showing surprising dexterity, stopped and grabbed Parasite’s sword arms. A shocked look appeared across Parasite’s face as Omega Man held his sword arms tightly, but he didn’t get a chance to speak before Omega Man shattered his blades.

Parasite yowled in pain as his sword arms shattered. He staggered backward, looking at the stumps that had once been his arms, a bewildered look on his face.

“Now …” said Omega Man, tossing aside the broken remains of Parasite’s sword arms, “what were you saying about killing both of us?”

Parasite gulped, but his arms shifted and returned to normal. I’d forgotten that Parasite’s sword arms were somehow not his real arms and therefore didn’t kill him when they were broken. Even so, I could tell that Parasite was afraid of Omega Man, taking a step back away from him.

That was when I heard a loud bark and then Sammy—Parasite’s golden retriever—came out of nowhere and tackled Triplet to the ground. Triplet immediately began fighting against Sammy, doing his best to hold the dog back. His Thirds quickly came to his aid, grabbing the dog and trying to tear it off him, but Sammy apparently wouldn’t budge.

Sammy’s sudden appearance even caught Omega Man off-guard, who looked at the dog in confusion. “What the—? A dog?”

As soon as Omega Man looked away from Parasite, however, Parasite immediately ran toward the bleeding Gentleman, causing me to shout, “Omega Man, Parasite is getting away!”

Unfortunately, by the time I shouted that warning, Parasite had already reached Gentleman. Kneeling beside his wounded friend, Parasite grabbed Gentleman’s shoulder and pulled out what looked like a Teleportation Disk. He immediately slammed it against his chest, and in an instant, both Parasite and Gentleman vanished into thin air.

As soon as Parasite and Gentleman disappeared, Sammy leaped off of Triplet, startling his Thirds, and ran off toward the bushes. Sammy disappeared into the bushes without hesitation, the sound of his paws beating against the ground rapidly disappearing as well.

When Parasite disappeared, I suddenly felt a force underneath me push me up. The ground itself practically spat me onto the grass as the quicksand turned back into normal earth, although my clothes were still stained with quicksand. I couldn’t complain, though. At least I was free.

A shadow fell over me suddenly, causing me to look up at Omega Man, who was staring down at me with a concerned expression on his face.

“Are you okay, Ashley?” asked Omega Man. “Did Parasite harm you?”

“A little,” I said with a gasp, sitting upright and rubbing the back of my head. Then I started and said, “Barrett …”

Rising unsteadily to my feet, I rushed over to Barrett, who still lay on the ground with his b****y shoulder. There was a lot more blood around him than before and it was impossible to tell if he was conscious or not.

Falling by his side, I put my hands on Barrett and said, “Barrett, Barrett, can you hear me? Barrett? Hello?”

Barrett groaned suddenly. His eyes flickered open and he looked at me weakly. “Ashley? Is that you? Where are—”

“Parasite and Gentleman fled,” I said. “They used a Teleportation Disk to escape. I don’t know where they are now.”

Barrett groaned again. “Dang it. They were right here. We could have—”

“You couldn’t have,” said Omega Man as he and Triplet walked up to us. “Parasite and Gentleman took you by surprise. If we hadn’t shown up when we did, you two definitely would have died. Don’t beat yourself up.”

“And don’t worry about those two,” said Triplet in a gruff voice. “I sent my Thirds to search the park. Teleportation Disks can vary in how far they can take you, but most only let you teleport about a mile or so.” Triplet raised his phone. “As well, I’ve called 911, so an ambulance should be on the way to pick up Barrett soon.”

I sighed in relief. “Thank you, Triplet. I don’t know how I can ever repay you for helping us.”

“No need,” said Triplet, shaking his head. “I’m already working for someone else.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

Triplet smiled mysteriously. “Why, the Academy, of course.”

“The Academy?” I said. “But how did the Academy know that Parasite and Gentleman were going to attack us?”

“They didn’t,” said Triplet. “Honestly, I didn’t know, either. I came to you because of an investigation I’m involved in, one that I think you could help me with.”

“Me?” I said, putting a hand on my chest. “What investigation would that be?”

Triplet folded his arms behind his back. “The true ancestry of Parasite … which, I can already tell you, has nothing to do with Master Chaos or Robert Candle.”