The Superhero's Son Omnibus Volume 2

Chapter Seven-2

But that was irrelevant. I just stood there and watched the video as intently as possible, wondering what it could be about.

“Valerie?” said Dad. He sounded a little tired, as if he had been up all night, and the bags under his eyes seemed to prove that. “Is the video recording now?”

“Yes, Genius,” came Valerie’s usual calm voice on the video. “You may start speaking any second now. I will be automatically adjusting the audio and video output to ensure that the recording is as high quality as possible so that Kevin will be able to view this video without any problem once he sees it.”

“If he sees it, you mean,” Dad corrected grimly. “I hope he never does, but thanks anyway.”

Dad then suddenly looked at the camera. I felt my throat constrict when Dad looked at the camera, because it felt like he was looking directly at me, even though this video was obviously from some point in the past. I guess I still hadn’t gotten over Dad’s death entirely just yet.

“Hi, Kevin,” said Dad. He adjusted his seat, though it seemed to do less with trying to be more comfortable and more to do with being uncomfortable with whatever he was going to talk about. “If you are watching this, then I’m probably dead. I don’t know how or when I died, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you are most likely wondering why I left you this message.”

I nodded, but caught myself and stopped, because I had almost forgotten that Dad was dead and this was just a recorded video of him and not the real thing.

“I would have told you about this before I died, but …” Dad trailed off and then shook his head. “But it is a hard subject for me to talk about. Besides, I didn’t think it’d ever be relevant, since I did not know for sure if you would ever become a superhero. But now that you’ve gotten your powers, well, I had to do something with this information I’m about to share.”

Dad seemed to be rambling, which was rather out of character for him, because Dad usually spoke pretty plainly and directly. Whatever he was going to tell me about must have been really personal or something.

“All right,” said Dad. He took a deep breath. “I wanted to tell you about my parents, Matthew and Jane Jason. If you don’t recognize their names, that isn’t surprising, because I kept them away from our family and did not want them interacting with you in any way.”

I knew that already, because Mom had told me as much, but I continued to watch the video, because Dad obviously had something more to say than just that.

“You might be wondering why I did that,” said Dad. “The reason is simple: Your grandfather is an awful, awful man.”

I blinked. Grandfather was awful? What did that mean? Grandfather didn’t seem that bad when I first met him earlier today. I listened closer, not wanting to miss a second of this video.

Dad pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “I should probably be more specific about what I mean. Your grandfather does not accept people with powers. He did not accept my own powers when I was growing up, nor did he ever accept the powers of other superhumans. Like most people back when I was a kid, he didn’t have much tolerance for superhumans, not even his own son.”

Dad stopped. He looked like he was having a hard time talking about this, which made me wonder what kind of abuse Dad had experienced at the hand of his own father. Well, okay, he didn’t say he was abused, but Grandfather had obviously done something to him, though what, I didn’t know.

“He believed in using science to take away the powers of superhumans,” said Dad. “He thought that superhumans were inherently miserable people due to the presence of our powers and that we’d be happier if we didn’t have them. He thought he was doing the right thing, but … well, he didn’t really understand what he was doing.”

Dad bit his lower lip, but then continued speaking as if he had not just paused. “He never harmed me, but his ideas about superhumans were toxic. I saw what he did to my mom and it …”

Dad almost broke down there. He just looked away for a moment, like he was taking a moment to recover, and then looked back at the camera.

“My mother—your grandmother—is not a normal human,” said Dad. “Like me and you, she is a superhuman. Or was; I don’t know if she’s still alive or not. In any case, I think that I inherited my own powers from her, though mine are different from hers, obviously.”

I almost gasped out loud when I heard that. Grandmother was a superhuman? How come Grandfather hadn’t mentioned that when we talked earlier?

“She had only one, very simple power,” said Dad. “She could see the future. Not that she had any control over it; remember, she discovered it decades before the NHA, INJ, or G-Men even existed. She was always terrified of it and never liked to talk about it, not even when I discovered my own powers.”

I almost asked what kind of visions of the future she got, but then I remembered that this was just a recording of Dad, not an actual video feed of him. So I held my tongue and continued to listen.

“Because of her reluctance to talk about her powers, I was never sure about the full extent or detail of her visions,” Dad continued. “All I know is that she was never really surprised by anything, though she always lived in a constant state of dread, particularly whenever a catastrophe was going to happen somewhere in the world. In fact, I only learned about her powers by accident.

“It was when my father was away on a work trip, leaving me and your grandmother alone in the house. Around midnight, I awoke because I heard my mother screaming. I jumped out of bed to see what the problem was, but when I got to her room, my mother was unharmed, but she looked like she had seen a ghost.”

Dad rubbed his forehead, like the mere memory of what he’d seen was exhausting. “I asked my mother if she had seen something—maybe an animal outside the window of her bedroom—but she told me that she had seen ‘the end of the world.’ She tried to describe it to me, but she was so terrified that none of it made sense. She described fiery ‘angels’ falling from the heavens and wreaking havoc against humanity, laying waste to whole cities, but I thought she had just had a bad nightmare and managed to help her go back to sleep after a while.

“When my father returned, I told him about it, which was when he informed me that my mother could see the future. I was shocked to hear that and didn’t really believe him at first, but when my mother herself confirmed it, I had no choice but to accept it.”

I wondered if Dad was going to explain that vision Grandmother told him about, but it didn’t seem like it. I tried to think of any event in the last thirty years or so that might fit the description of that vision, but I couldn’t, so maybe it hadn’t actually happened yet.

“That vision was the last straw for your grandfather,” said Dad. “He didn’t like the fact that your grandmother was losing sleep over her visions. So he decided to put an end to her visions once and for all: He cut out her eyes.”

My hand flew to my mouth and I actually said, “What?” out loud.

“I know you’re probably shocked by that, but it’s true,” said Dad. “He thought that your grandmother’s power came from her eyes, so he knocked her out and then took out her eyes. I didn’t see it, because I was at a friend’s house when it happened, but when I got back, your grandfather told me that someone had tried to break into the house while I was away and they attacked your grandmother, cutting out her eyes before he managed to chase the assailant off.”

Dad shuddered. “And I almost believed it, especially since your grandmother did not contradict him. But then I found your grandmother’s eyes in the trash can under the bathroom sink, which was how I figured out the truth. I also noticed some blood on my father’s shirt, which he claimed was from when he beat off the attacker, but even back then I was smart enough to put two and two together and figure out what actually happened. I sometimes wish I hadn’t.

“It didn’t even stop Mom’s ability. She still saw visions, even though she never described them to me. In fact, once she even told me that her visions became even more vivid and frightening without her eyes, though they did not become any clearer or easier for her to understand.”

I shook my head. I was almost tempted to close the video and just go to bed, because I couldn’t stand hearing any of this, but I forced myself to keep watching, because if Dad thought this was important enough to record for me, then it was important enough for me to watch.

“Your grandfather never admitted it, obviously, but I knew it happened anyway,” Dad continued. “That is why I left home as soon as I could. I didn’t want to lose my eyes or whatever it was that my father planned to do to me to ‘fix’ my powers. The only reason I even allowed your grandparents to see you when you were born is because they showed up when I wasn’t around and tricked Ashley into thinking I had invited them, even though I had never even mentioned them to her before. I managed to get them to leave, but I was worried that they had come to kidnap you and try to ‘save’ you from your own powers.

“After that, I never saw them again. I made it clear to them that they could never see you or me or Ashley ever again. I’m actually surprised that they respected my decision; I thought for sure that they would not, but I guess that they knew just how serious I was about making sure that they didn’t have any influence over you.”

Dad paused, like he was thinking of what else he wanted to say, and then said, “In any case, I hope you do not meet your grandfather. I would have preferred not to tell you about him at all, but I know how curious you can be and I know that you will no doubt go look for your grandparents regardless of what I say. Still, I hope you understand why you should leave them alone. You do not need people like that in your life.”

I folded my arms across my chest, but said nothing, because I knew Dad couldn’t hear me.

“But there is one last thing I want to tell you, Kevin, before I finish recording,” said Dad. “Although your grandfather is an awful man, you must not let him die. Do you understand?”

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Why was Dad telling me that Grandfather had to live? How was I supposed to ensure that I’m not supposed to meet him while also saving his life?

“You might be puzzled by the seeming contradiction in what I just said,” said Dad. “In an ideal world, you would never meet your grandparents; however, the world we live in is not ideal, as you no doubt know by now. The fact is that your grandfather knows some important facts about neogenetics, facts that some people would rather see buried than known. If your grandfather is killed before he can share this information with the world, then our knowledge of neogenetics will be set back by many decades.”

Dad leaned back in his chair, looking troubled. “As much as I hate the old man, I know I can’t let my personal dislike of him color the fact that he is very important. That is why I told Ashley to give you my parents’ last address after I died, so you can find and protect them from those who would want to harm them.”

I wondered what Grandfather knew that was so important. Maybe I’d ask him the next time I saw him, if I ever did.

“I hope, then, that you do not let your grandparents leave without you knowing their location,” said Dad. “They might not even be alive at this point anymore, I don’t know, since I haven’t spoken to or even seen them since your birth. Nonetheless, it is now your duty to find and protect them from their enemies, who are fairly numerous.”

“The Test Subjects?” I muttered, though, of course, there was no response from the video.

“Anyway, that’s all,” said Dad. “If you need more information, ask Valerie. Give her the password ‘MATTHEW.’ She will be able to tell you what you need to know. Good bye.”

The video ended there and the screen went black. I stood there for a moment, hoping that maybe there was more, but the longer I stood there, the more obvious it became that the video was indeed finished.

I shook my head and, tapping my earcom, said, “Val? Are you there?”

“Yes, Kevin, I am present,” said Valerie. “What do you wish to know?”

“The video Dad gave me said that if I told you the password MATTHEW, I would learn the information I needed to know about my grandfather,” I said. “Do you know what that means?”

“Hmm,” said Valerie. “I think I do, but it has been a long time since I heard that password. Please allow me to search for the necessary files that the password is programmed to unlock.”

“You have to search for them?” I said. “You mean you can’t just find them instantly?”

“The files in question are very private and located in a remote server that Genius built prior to his death,” said Valerie. “It will not be easy or quick for me to gain access to the files, though I suspect that I should have it done in a few days at most. It doesn’t help that Genius wiped my memory of that recording you just watched, which will make it harder for me to locate the server in question.”

“Well, I hope you are quick about it,” I said, “because Dad made it sound urgent that we get those files.”

“I will not delay, though I will not be available to talk to you because I will have to put all of my focus into locating the server in question,” said Valerie. “Genius had set up many private servers in his life for security reasons and this is one of them.”

“Okay,” I said. “But just tell me about it as soon as you find it, okay?”

“Yes, sir,” said Valerie.

With that, I heard a click in my ear that indicated that my earcom had gone off and that Valerie had left. I hoped that she would be able to find and access the server quickly, because the situation with Grandfather and the Test Subjects was starting to look a lot more complicated than I thought.