The Superhero's Son Omnibus Volume 3

Chapter Nine-1

Chapter Nine

Walking through the hallways of the mansion, my hair still damp from my shower, I made my way to the dining room as fast as I could without using my super speed. But at the same time, I did walk more hesitantly and found myself avoiding dark corners. There was something about these hallways that made me feel … strange and afraid, like I was afraid that I might get attacked or something.

The feeling intensified when I walked by the door to Thaumaturge’s office, which was closed shut. I had no idea why. Maybe it had to do with that nightmare that I could remember. If so, I just had to ignore these feelings, and the best way to ignore them was to walk as fast as I could until I reached the dining room where everyone else was. Yeah. That would work.

Thankfully, I arrived in the dining room without being attacked. But I wasn’t the first to arrive; Incantation, Hopper, and Technical were there, along with Thaumaturge and Wrath. I didn’t see Sarah, but I imagined that she was probably still recovering from the bullet wound she’d received during last night’s mission. I hoped she was doing better, though I also found that I wouldn’t mind too much if she didn’t recover from it.

But then I noticed someone new sitting at the table. Unlike the rest of us, this guy looked pretty normal, more or less, and by ‘normal’ I mean he didn’t have a superhero costume. He wore a fancy white business suit, which contrasted sharply with his dark skin. He was also incredibly large, almost obese, and had a number of flashy golden rings on his fingers that told me that this guy was rich. He sat near the end of the table, close to Thaumaturge, and apparently had been deep in discussion with him before Thaumaturge looked up to see that I had arrived.

“Ah, Bolt,” said Thaumaturge, though he didn’t smile when he said my name. “Good to see you finally came, though you’re slightly late.”

“Sorry,” I said as I took a seat by Incantation, who also didn’t smile at me. “I just had a really bad nightmare last night and I didn’t hear the alarm I set on my watch to wake me up.”

“It’s fine, but please remember to be more prompt next time,” said Thaumaturge. “This mission is the most important mission you will ever go on and we are working under a strict time limit which, if we miss, might make it impossible for us to save him ever again.”

“So this is the famous Bolt, eh?” said the large black man in the white suit, causing me to look at him abruptly. He had a deep, gravelly voice that made him sound even more authoritative than Thaumaturge. “You’re a scrawny one, you are, but then, all of you kids are nowadays. Except for our leader’s granddaughter; she eats too much.”

I blinked and looked down at my body. I was no bodybuilder, sure, but I was fairly fit, and so were the others. Except for Sarah, obviously, but I was shocked at this guy’s bluntness, because I didn’t know we could be so blunt about Sarah’s weight like that. Though, given that Incantation, Hopper, and Technical all looked totally shocked by the guy’s words, maybe we couldn’t.

Thaumaturge just rubbed his forehead in exasperation, while Wrath smirked and even chuckled at the joke. The large man smiled a big smile himself, as if his own joke had amused him greatly.

“Um, sorry, but I don’t know you,” I said to the large man. “Of course, that might be due to my amnesia, so—”

“No, you’ve never actually met this man before,” said Thaumaturge. “So allow me to introduce you to Joseph Hanson, the owner of this mansion and a fellow Visionist.”

“Wait, you’re the same Joseph Hanson who owns this mansion?” I said. “Well, then I would like to apologize in advance for—”

Incantation elbowed me and gave me a look that said, Not right now, so I just kept my mouth shut, since I was pretty sure that Incantation was going to turn me into a rabbit if I kept talking.

“Indeed,” said Hanson with a chuckle. “I am a devoted follower of the Visionary’s dream and am currently the largest benefactor of Vision in general. It is truly … tragic how our leader has been in the hands of our enemies for so long, isn’t it?”

I nodded, but I noticed an undercurrent of hostility under Hanson’s jovial words, which made me wonder what Hanson was upset about. Maybe he was just annoyed by the fact that the Visionary was imprisoned. “Yes, it is. By the way, what are your powers?”

“The only one that counts,” said Hanson. He pulled out a wad of cash from his front right pocket and waved it at me. “Money.”

“Money?” I said. “Is your superhero name … Moneyman?”

Hanson laughed. “No, you misunderstand. I don’t have any powers of my own. I’m just a very rich man who can afford many of life’s greatest pleasures, though there is no pleasure greater than saving our leader from the hands of our enemies, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, nodding. “How long have you been a Visionist?”

“I was one of the first,” said Hanson. “Joined twenty years ago, after I donated a few million dollars to Sagan’s first senatorial campaign. Our leader told me of his vision in a private meeting and I could not help but fall in love with it. I am willing to spend anything to support the vision and fully realize it, even if that means opposing the government.”

“Yes, yes, we know,” said Thaumaturge impatiently. “If you are wondering why Joseph is here, it is because he heard about your mission to the White House last night and wanted to congratulate you on it.”

“Indeed I do,” said Hanson. “But more importantly, I want to be here when the Visionary is rescued so I can be one of the first to see him again. That should happen today, shouldn’t it, Edward?”

Thaumaturge stiffened. “It’s Thaumaturge.”

Hanson shook his head. “I still don’t understand all this superhero name business. Why not just call yourself Edward and be done with it?”

“If you had powers of your own, Hanson, you would understand,” said Thaumaturge, still as stiff as ever, like he was trying to keep himself from doing something he might regret.

I was under the impression, based on the way Thaumaturge looked at and spoke with Hanson, that they had had this conversation before. Considering how old they were, I figured that they must have known each other for a long time. And based on how Wrath was just smiling and chuckling, I guess Wrath must have known them for a while as well.

“Come on, you two,” said Wrath, clapping his hands together. “No need to fight. It’s entertaining as hell, sure, but don’t we have more important things to talk about? Like saving our leader, for example?”

“Anthony is spot on, as usual,” said Hanson. “Saving our leader is more important than any petty disagreements we may have.”

“Anthony is Wrath’s real name?” I said.

“It is, but that is irrelevant,” said Thaumaturge, waving off the point. “What matters more is giving you all an update about our leader’s status since last night.”

“All right,” I said. “We’re listening.”

“As I suspected, the G-Men are moving our leader out of Facility Fifty-Two and into a new location, though we don’t know where yet,” said Thaumaturge. “Last night, I had one of our loyal members in Arizona head out to Facility Fifty-Two’s location and place a tracking device on the vehicle that is transporting our leader to his new location. Technical has been tracking the vehicle’s movements on her computer.”

Technical nodded. “Yes. So far, the vehicle is still going through the desert in a northerly direction, but we don’t know its exact destination yet.”

“Good,” said Thaumaturge. “As long as we can track it, we shall save our leader no matter what its final destination may be.”

“Great,” I said. “So what’s the plan?”

“It’s very simple,” said Thaumaturge. “You, Hopper, and Incantation will intercept the vehicle. You will be transported approximately five miles down the road the vehicle is traveling upon in a spot where you will be able to see every vehicle that goes up and down the road. Once the vehicle is close enough, you three will ambush the vehicle, defeat its guards, and take our leader back to the Hanson Mansion via one of Hopper’s portals.”

“That’s it?” I said. “We’re that close to saving our leader?”

“Correct,” said Thaumaturge. “Granted, the vehicle is an armored van that is likely well-protected, but with your powers combined, you should have little trouble taking down its guards and saving our leader.”

“What do we know about the van’s defenses?” I said. “Are there any G-Men on it, for example?”

“There are at least two, according to what our scout in the field saw when he placed the tracking device on the van,” said Thaumaturge. “One is Iron Horn, a huge man with a giant horn growing out of his skull covered in metal, while the other is known as Blood Boil, whose powers are unknown to us, since he appears to be a new member of the G-Men. But he is probably powerful, given that he is part of our leader’s security detail, so do not underestimate him if you fight him.”

“Iron Horn …” I repeated that name. It sounded very familiar to me, even though I was sure I hadn’t met this Iron Horn guy before. “All right. When do we leave?”

“As soon as possible,” said Thaumaturge. “The vehicle has been driving all night and has not stopped once since leaving Facility Fifty-Two. If we don’t stop it soon, it will likely reach its destination, which will make it impossible for us to rescue our leader.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m ready to go.”

“But first, you should have a quick breakfast,” said Thaumaturge. “There is no need to leave hungry. If you don’t eat, your hunger will affect your thinking, which will make it difficult for you to rescue our leader.”

My stomach growled when Thaumaturge said that, even though I hadn’t been hungry before, so I said, “Sure. Let’s eat, but let’s eat as fast as possible. I don’t want to delay this mission anymore than we already have.”

-

After breakfast, Hopper, Incantation, and I went out onto the front lawn of Hanson’s mansion, where we were met by Thaumaturge and Wrath, who wished us luck and told us that they would be monitoring our actions in the mission from Technical’s computer in the mansion. And, as usual, Wrath was going to be our backup, though I doubted we’d need his help, because I figured we’d be able to rescue our leader without too much trouble, since the vehicle was only protected by two guys.

Once we were ready to go, Hopper opened a portal, which all three of us entered. Soon, we found ourselves standing in a high pass in a hot, dusty desert somewhere in Arizona. Even though it was still fairly early in the morning, the sun in the sky above was already hot enough to make me sweat, though my costume managed to keep me cool. Incantation and Hopper, however, weren’t so lucky with their costumes and were sweating a lot even though we had only been here for less than five minutes.

Wiping the sweat off my brow, I looked down at the road below, but did not see any vehicles on it. “I don’t see the van. Where is it?”

“I teleported us a few miles ahead of it,” Hopper explained. “That way, we would be ready to ambush it when it arrived.”

“All right,” I said. I pointed to the other side of the pass, at a group of rocks that looked like they could hide us from view. “You two should go over there and wait behind those rocks. I’ll go down below and wait for the van to come. Once it arrives, I’ll stop it in the middle of the road and you guys can attack.”

Incantation and Hopper nodded and soon were on the other side of the pass, hiding behind the rocks that I had pointed out. I flew down to the base of the pass and then hid behind another boulder, crouching low so that I would not be seen by the van before I wanted to be seen.

We waited for only five minutes, listening intently, but it felt like forever, probably because of the heat of the desert. I had never been to Arizona before, but even though I’d heard all about how hot it was, none of the descriptions came close to accurately describing the intense heat pouring down on us. And this was just in the morning; I shuddered to think about how hot it would get in the afternoon.

But soon I heard the sounds of a large vehicle rumbling down the road. A quick peek around the side of the boulder showed me that a large armored military vehicle was coming through the pass. It looked like the one that our leader was being transported in. Due to the distance, I couldn’t see who the driver was, but I didn’t need to in order to save my leader.