The Superhero's Son Omnibus Volume 3

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

I felt stunned. I looked at Rime, but Rime wasn’t looking at me or anyone else. His eyes were on the floor and he looked like he wanted to run away, but he didn’t move, probably because he had nowhere to run to.

“Is … is that true?” I said, looking at Triplet again. “Did he really kill Tara’s dad?”

Triplet nodded. “Yes. That was eleven years ago, when Tara was a little girl. It’s a sad story.”

“But Tara never mentioned the murder of her dad to me,” I said.

“Probably because it devastated her,” said Triplet. “And her mother, too. Remember how I told you that Tara’s mother hired me to solve a crime? Well, that is the crime she wanted me to solve.”

I looked at Rime again. Rime hadn’t said a word, but his entire demeanor was all the evidence I needed to confirm Triplet’s statement.

“What happened?” I said to Triplet. “What is the story?”

Triplet looked at Rime again. “Maybe you should ask him. He knows it.”

I was about to say something about that, but then Rime turned and left without saying a word. I heard him walk down the hall, open a door, and then slam it shut, probably going into his room.

“He clearly doesn’t want to talk about it,” said Ivan. “No surprise there.”

“Did you know this, Ivan?” I said. “That he killed the father of one of my friends?”

Ivan shrugged. “I knew that he murdered a man, but I did not know the exact details. He never shared them with me, but then, most of us prisoners rarely shared the details of our crimes with each other, except to boast or brag about our accomplishments.”

“Do you feel up to telling me, Trip?” I said to Triplet. “Or do you need to rest?”

“No, I can tell you,” Triplet said. “It isn’t a very long story, anyway, though like I said, it is sad.”

“Then start,” I said. “I’m listening.”

“All right,” said Triplet. He brushed back some of his messy hair. “Eleven years ago, there was a superhero and member of the Independent Neoheroes for Justice known as Rime.”

“Wait, Rime was a superhero?” I said in surprise. “I thought he was a supervillain.”

“He was a superhero, yes,” said Triplet. “But he was very brutal and dangerous in his methods and was never truly heroic. He mostly fought supervillains and criminals for the rush it gave him. I don’t think he ever really cared about being a hero.”

“But he doesn’t seem like the kind who likes fighting,” I said. “He seems pretty laid back.”

“Perhaps his years in jail have changed his attitude,” said Triplet. “In any case, what matters is that Rime was a member of the INJ for years, always skirting dangerously close to murdering his enemies, but always pulling back at the last second to avoid going to jail. He was never a very prominent member of the INJ until he murdered George Reynolds.”

“Why did he do that?” I said.

“To explain, I need to tell you who George Reynolds is,” said Triplet. He frowned. “Or was, since he’s dead. George Reynolds was a well-known defender of superhuman rights. He wasn’t superhuman himself, but he thought that we are a good thing for society overall and often encouraged cooperation between superhumans and normal humans.”

“Tara never told me that,” I said.

“Yes, I know, but it is true,” said Triplet. He scratched his chin. “But George didn’t necessarily view superhumans as deserving of complete independence. He was well aware of the damage that superhumans caused and was often critical of the way that the big superhero organizations like the NHA and INJ handled collateral damage. He supported laws that would make superhumans more accountable to the government, even though these laws were and still are very unpopular with the general superhero community.”

“Is that why Rime murdered him?” I said. “Because he disagreed with George about superhuman rights?”

“More or less,” said Triplet. “Once, George criticized the way that Rime defeated a supervillain, which resulted in a lot of death and property destruction. So Rime assassinated George and tried to frame another ice superhero for the crime, which everyone believed, except for George’s wife, Stephanie.”

“That would be Tara’s mom,” I said.

“Right,” said Triplet. “She didn’t believe that the framed guy was responsible for it. So she hired me to find out who had really killed her husband. And, after some investigation, I discovered that Rime had been the murderer and brought the evidence to the government, who then arrested and tried him for the murder of George Reynolds.”

“Oh,” I said. “That’s good.”

“It is now, but back then, it was a huge controversy,” said Triplet. “Remember that INJ member I said I put in jail? That would be Rime. Public opinion turned against the INJ for a couple of years even after the Midnight Menace publicly condemned Rime for it. I even got death threats for helping capture Rime, though thankfully no one ever actually went through with them.”

“So Rime is a fallen superhero,” I said. “I didn’t know that.”

“Few do, at least anymore,” said Triplet. “Despite the controversy at the time, no one really remembers it anymore. Except, I suppose, Tara and Stephanie, and myself.”

I thought about that. I knew Tara had always been anti-superhuman, but it had never occurred to me to ask why. Yet if her father being murdered by an alleged ‘superhero’ was the cause of her distrust and hatred toward superhumans, then her feelings made perfect sense. I wished I had known this before; it would have made it easier for me to understand her. Perhaps next time I saw her—if I ever saw her again—I would tell her I understand.

“Is that all there is to the story?” said Blizzard.

“Pretty much,” said Triplet. “I consider it sad because George was a good man who didn’t deserve to die and Rime was a superhero himself. It is always sad whenever a superhero turns to evil, no matter the reason.”

I nodded, but now I was thinking about Rime himself. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to travel with him anymore. How would Tara feel if she knew that her father’s murderer was free again? She was going to know eventually, because there was no way that the breakout of Ultimate Max would just be ignored by the media. And once she knew, she would also know that Rime helped me to escape. Would she hate me for it? Would she think I’m just a bad guy like Rime and the other escapees?

I didn’t know, but I did know that I would need to clear my name soon. And that meant capturing White Lightning and stopping Mastermind, or I should say Cadmus Smith, if Triplet’s theory was correct. Then I would be able to go and talk to Tara about this.

“Well, I suppose that what is past is past,” said Ivan, causing me to look at him. He put his hands on his knees and looked at me. “I am sorry to hear about the death of your friend’s father, but it seems to me that we will need to leave right away and go to that INJ agent that Blizzard was telling us about.”

“INJ agent?” said Triplet. “What do you mean?”

“Blizzard said that there’s a nearby INJ member who might be able to protect us from the government,” I said. “Our plan is to go to this member and ask her to put us under the INJ’s protection.”

“’Her’?” said Triplet. He put a hand on his forehead. “I think I know who you’re talking about, but I would not suggest going to her.”

“What?” I said. “Why not?”

Triplet opened his mouth to explain, but before even one word came from his mouth, a shattering of glass could be heard from the entrance below. We started when we heard that, causing us all to look toward the door, but none of us went over to see what had caused the shattering sound.

“What was that?” said Blizzard in fear. “It sounded like one of the windows on the first floor was broken.”

Immediately, Rime appeared in the doorway, a harried look on his face. “The G-Men are attacking! They’ve smashed the windows on the floor level and are trying to get in!”

“The G-Men?” Triplet repeated. He swore. “Damn it. I knew they’d get here eventually, but I didn’t expect them to find us so soon.”

“What do we do?” said Blizzard. “Fight?”

I quickly thought about our situation and then shook my head. “Here’s what we’ll do: Ivan and Blizzard, you two carry Triplet through the back, while Rime and I will distract the agents.”

“But I want to stay with you and help you fight,” said Blizzard.

“I know, but Triplet needs your help more than me,” I said. “Besides, Rime is strong. He’ll be helpful in a fight. And I can’t have Ivan fight, either, because his powers are too dangerous and he could cause more harm than good.”

“I agree with Kevin,” said Ivan. “Best if we try to get out of here while Kevin and Rime distract the G-Men.”

Blizzard frowned, clearly still in disagreement with the idea, but then she nodded and said, “Okay. But please be careful, Bolt. If the G-Men did this to Triplet, there’s no telling what they’ll do to you and Rime if you’re not careful.”

“I will be,” I said. I turned to Rime. “Now let’s go, before the G-Men get in and trap us all up here.”