The Superhero's Son Omnibus Volume 2

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

“What?” I said. “Did you say that Robert is holding Tara hostage?”

“Yes,” said Dad. “The police and the G-Men are currently surrounding the building, but Robert is threatening to kill her if anyone but you enters, so they’re powerless at the moment.”

“When did this happen?” I said. “How come no one saw him enter the city with Tara?”

“I don’t know,” said Dad. “Based on what I’ve been told, it sounds like Robert might have been hiding inside the warehouse this entire time, waiting for the right moment to announce his presence. But regardless, we know that Robert has already harmed Tara, because he’s posted pictures online showing her tied up and bruised.”

Anger rushed through me and I almost pulled the trigger of my gun, but I didn’t. “And Robert will kill her if I don’t show?”

“Exactly,” said Dad. “But I don’t know if it would be wise for you to face him, because you are still powerless.”

I glanced at the box containing the serum on the floor. “Maybe not forever, Dad. Professor Hernandez made a serum that might be able to give me back my powers.”

“Really?” said Dad. “Well, then, why don’t you take it and get to the warehouse?”

“Things got a little complicated in here,” I said, glancing at Mimic, who had not yet moved from his position. “By ‘complicated,’ I mean Mimic.”

“Mimic?” Dad said in annoyance. “What is Mimic doing? Being an ass again?”

“Worse than that,” I said. “Turns out that Mimic is a loyal Visionist. He tried to kill me and Hernandez, but right now I’m aiming a gun at his head and he doesn’t look very happy about that.”

“Mimic is a Visionist?” said Dad in disbelief. “And you have a gun? Kevin, you’ve never used a gun before. What if you hurt yourself?”

“Dad, you’re starting to sound a lot like Mom,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Anyway, just send some G-Men up here to get him. Once Mimic is arrested, I’ll be down at the warehouse in a—”

“Bolt, watch out!” Hernandez suddenly shouted.

I looked at Mimic, who had drawn his pistol from his side and was aiming it at me. Before I could dodge, Mimic pulled the trigger and a bullet struck me in the chest.

Thanks to my bullet-proof costume, the blow just knocked me back and didn’t actually enter my body, but it still felt like I had been punched by a boxer. I fell to the floor with a gasp, while Dad shouted in my ear, “Kevin! What’s that? I thought I heard a gun shot!”

I didn’t answer, because Mimic was already aiming his gun at me again and this time he was aiming for the exposed bits of my face.

So I raised the gun I’d stolen from Mimic and fired at him. My aim wasn’t very good, but I still managed to hit Mimic in the shoulder, causing him to yell in pain and drop his gun to the floor. But that didn’t stop him from making a mad rush for the serum in the box on the floor.

Without thinking, I tossed the gun aside and lunged across the floor toward the box and grabbed it at the same time as Mimic. We struggled with each other briefly, trying to rip the box from each other’s hands, but Mimic had a steel grip despite the pain in his bleeding shoulder, which made it harder to get the box from him than it should have been.

Then, all of a sudden, Hernandez appeared behind Mimic, another paperweight in hand, and smashed it into the back of Mimic’s skull. Mimic immediately let go of the box and collapsed onto the floor, blood still leaking from his shoulder, while I staggered backwards with the box in my hands. I almost dropped it, but thankfully didn’t.

Standing upright, I looked at Hernandez, who was panting and even sweating a little, probably because he was so unused to any kind of physical movement. “Thanks, Professor.”

“You are welcome, Bolt,” said Hernandez, though his voice was a little shaky. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his sweaty forehead with it. “I cannot believe that worked. I was worried that he might notice and shoot me before I could take him down.”

I looked at Mimic, who looked pretty dead, but I could hear his shallow breathing, so I figured that he was just unconscious. I hoped he wouldn’t awake anytime soon.

“Kevin?” came Dad’s voice in my ear. “Kevin, are you still there? What happened?”

“It’s nothing, Dad,” I said. “I just got into a fight with Mimic, but he’s down. Please send someone up to Professor Hernandez’s office to get him before he wakes up and escapes.”

“Yes, of course, I will do that right away,” said Dad. “But what about the serum you mentioned? Do you still have it?”

“Yeah,” I said. “And I’m going to drink it right away and then head over to the warehouse.”

“Okay,” said Dad. “But please be careful. I have never heard of a serum that can restore a superhuman’s powers and I am skeptical that Professor Hernandez’s serum will work.”

“Hernandez did say that it could have negative side effects, but it’s the only way I can beat Robert, so I’m going through with it regardless of the consequences,” I said. “Anyway, Robert has never been very patient, so I’m going to drink it now and will call you again when I’m on my way to the warehouse.”

“All right,” said Dad. “Talk to you later, then.”

With that, I pulled the tiny glass vial of green liquid from the box. I removed the lid and smelled the serum, which smelled awful, like dried seaweed, but I didn’t hesitate to gulp it all down in one go. It tasted even worse, like crap, and I almost choked on it, but I forced every last drop down despite its foul taste.

Lowering the vial, I looked at Professor Hernandez, who was watching me with curious eyes.

“Bolt, how do you feel?” said Hernandez. “Do you feel any different yet?”

I shook my head. “No. Aside from the horrible aftertaste, I—”

Immediately, I felt something shift inside my stomach. I dropped the vial, which shattered against the floor upon impact, and grasped my stomach. I fell to my knees, heaving, even though it didn’t feel like anything was going to come up. My throat burned and my eyes watered, like I had just eaten the hottest chili in the world, which made it almost impossible to see or speak.

“Bolt, are you all right?” said Hernandez in alarm. “You look awful.”

“I’m … fine,” I breathed, my voice sounding weak. “Serum must be kicking—”

I gasped again as my body grew as hot as flames. It felt like lava was boiling inside my body, flowing through my veins and heating up my bones. My brain felt like it was turning to mush and for a moment I thought I was going to die here and now and Robert would win. I wanted to scream, but I didn’t because I didn’t want to scare Hernandez.

In a second, however, the intense heat faded, like an oven being turned off abruptly. My body started to return to its normal temperature, except for my brain. My brain felt like it was growing, like it was trying to escape the confines of my skull. I grasped my head with both hands, even though there was nothing I could do about it.

Right before my head exploded, my brain suddenly stopped growing. One blink later, my brain felt normal again, as if it had returned to its normal size. Of course, I didn’t know if my brain had, in fact, been growing or if that had just been my imagination, but regardless, I still felt better than I had mere seconds ago and that was all that mattered to me.

“Ow …” I said, rubbing my head. “That sucked.”

“You survived,” said Hernandez, who sounded honestly shocked by that. “Tell me, how do you feel now? Can you stand? Can you use your powers again?”

I shuddered, but managed to push myself to my feet. I patted my body, but I didn’t feel all that different. “I’m okay. I don’t feel like I’m about to burn up on the inside anymore.”

“Good,” said Hernandez. “But your powers … can you use them? That’s the most important part.”

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on using my super strength. I remembered my training with Dad last year, when he first taught me how to use my powers. He had had me lift a heavy metal block to train my super strength, so I pictured myself lifting that heavy metal block again, imagining myself using my super strength.

Then I felt it. Strength flowed through my muscles, making me feel more powerful than ever. It was like taking a hot shower after a long day of doing work outside, making me feel energized and stronger than ever.

I ran over to Hernandez’s desk and started trying to lift it above my head, because it was the heaviest thing in the room. At first, I couldn’t even budge it, but then the desk suddenly felt weightless in my hands and I raised it above my head, almost brushing it against the ceiling of Hernandez’s office.

With a smile, I turned around to face Hernandez, saying, “Professor, it worked! I can’t believe it! My powers are back and—Professor?”

Hernandez was staring at me like I had just mutated into some kind of strange monster. His face was glowing red now for some reason, too.

“Um, Professor?” I said. “Why is your face red?”

“My face—?” Hernandez said, touching his face. Then he suddenly pointed at me. “No, Bolt, my face isn’t red. Your body is glowing.”

Surprised, I looked down at my body and Hernandez was right: My entire body was glowing red. It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. It was like someone had dropped a small red sun in there. The light somehow managed to shine through my costume, illuminating its red lines and the lightning bolt design on the chest. It actually looked really awesome, but also kind of creepy and bizarre.

“Is this one of your old powers manifesting itself again?” said Hernandez.

I shook my head. “No. I’ve never been able to glow like this before. I don’t know what it could—”

I suddenly shuddered and dropped Hernandez’s desk behind me. It crashed to the floor while I staggered forward, slamming my hands over my eyes as I tried to remain standing. But my hands felt like they were on fire, so I ripped them off my face and aimed them at Hernandez’s window, because it felt like something was going to shoot out of them.

Without warning, two red lightning bolts shot out from my hands and smashed through the window, sending glass exploding everywhere. Hernandez immediately covered his head with his arms and cowered close to the floor while I stood there, shock on my face, as red energy danced along my fingers.

“What …” said Hernandez, staring at me in horror. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” I said, turning my hands over. “I’ve never experienced anything like this before, not even before Robert took away my powers. Is this the result of the serum?”

Hernandez lowered his arms from his head and stood up slowly, looking at me with interest rather than fear now. “Perhaps. The serum was, after all, designed to give normal humans powers. Maybe, because you already have the proper genetic makeup for powers, it went the extra mile and gave you an extra power.”

I shuddered, not because of anything Hernandez said, but because it felt like a snake was slithering through my body. “But I didn’t think it was possible for a superhuman to gain more powers if they aren’t named Robert Candle.”

“It is a well-known fact that young superhumans can still sometimes spontaneously manifest new superpowers into their early twenties,” said Hernandez. “Maybe this red energy was always there and it just took the serum to ‘wake it up,’ so to speak.”

“Maybe,” I said. “Prof, we can talk about this later. Robert is probably going to get bored soon and whenever Robert gets bored people usually get hurt. And Dad’s sending someone to get Mimic, but just to be safe, take this.”

I zoomed over to Mimic’s discarded pistol (which felt great after going so long without my powers) and then zoomed back to Hernandez, putting the gun in his hand. “Don’t be afraid to shoot the bastard if he wakes up and tries to kill you.”

To my surprise, Hernandez immediately aimed the pistol at Mimic as if he handled guns every day. “Sure. Now you should go, quickly, before Robert harms that friend of yours.”

I nodded and then, feeling the power of flight flowing through me, shot out the broken window of Hernandez’s office. I flew in the direction of the warehouse, ready for whatever Robert had in store for me.