The Superhero's Son Omnibus Volume 3

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

I flew across the top of the forest surrounding the Hanson Mansion, the wind blowing my hair back as I soared through the sky. It was very dark out now, with the sun beginning to set in the distance, but I could still see clearly and I knew I wouldn’t have any trouble seeing the Hanson Mansion once I got there. And once I did, I would land and meet with the other Visionists, who would think I am still on their side and thus still treat me like one of their own. How wrong they were about to be about that.

I glanced down at the trees every now and then. I didn’t see any of the dozen G-Men agents hiding among them, but I knew that a team of elite G-Men agents had been sent out here by Cadmus yesterday. They had gone ahead of me, to scout ahead and get settled in so the trap would go smoothly, but I didn’t know their exact location. That was intentional; if Sarah read my mind and found out the truth about me, the Visionists would have no idea where the G-Men were hiding. In fact, I didn’t even know who was in the G-Men team, though I guessed that all of them were probably incredibly powerful and experienced superhumans, based on what Cadmus had told me about them.

Yesterday, at around lunch, I had called the Hanson Mansion, where I spoke with Hopper over the phone. I had pretended to have escaped from the government facility in which Cadmus had taken me and had asked for directions to the Hanson Mansion. Hopper had been happy to hear that I had managed to break out, though his happiness had sounded rather forced to me, which was yet more confirmation that neither he nor Incantation or anyone else in Vision truly considered me a friend.

It was still a bitter truth for me to take. Even though I was aware that my memories were false and that none of my friendships with the others were real, it still felt like a punch to the gut. I had truly believed them to be my friends, but thanks to Cadmus, I knew better now.

That bitterness was mixed with anger, though, a righteous, motivating anger that motivated me to take them down. I doubted I’d get a chance to do that, though, because Cadmus had claimed that the G-Men would do most of the work beating them, but that didn’t change the fact that I was going to get my revenge one way or another.

I wished that my friends could be here with me, though. My real friends; Blizzard, Stinger, Shell, Talon, and Treehugger. I had asked Cadmus if they could help on this mission, but Cadmus had said that he only wanted the G-Men to be on this mission, because it was a matter of arresting criminals fleeing the law, not merely defeating them in the middle of a crime. I supposed that was fair, but I thought it would have been easier to defeat Vision if we had more help, even if the help in question wasn’t part of the government.

But I told myself that I would soon be reunited with them. And, most importantly, I would be reunited with Blizzard. My memories of her were still foggy, but I remembered seeing a funny movie with her, going on dates, and had a general warm feeling toward her. That was in contrast to how I felt about Incantation; rather coldly, however beautiful I thought she was.

As I flew, my new earcom—which Cadmus had given me so we could stay in contact—crackled and I heard Cadmus say, “Bolt, how close are you to the Hanson Mansion?”

“Very close,” I said. “Maybe a minute or two away.”

“Good to know,” said Cadmus. “The team I sent out is in position. They are ready to act as soon as I give the say so, but I won’t order them to act until you send me the confirmation message.”

I nodded. Before leaving the base, Cadmus had programmed a message into my suit-up watch that I would send to him once I reunited with the Visionists. We had no particular time for me to send the message, but the idea was that we’d do it as soon as I gathered all of Vision’s members into one room in the Mansion. Then I would send the message to Cadmus, who would then order the G-Men team to invade the Mansion and arrest as many Visionists as they could catch. Their number one target was Thaumaturge, who, as the de facto leader of Vision due to Sagan’s absence, was considered the most dangerous of them. The idea was that if Thaumaturge was arrested, it would undoubtedly cause Vision to collapse as its remaining members vied for leadership, effectively making Vision too impotent to do anything. I didn’t know if it would work out that way or not, but it seemed like a good plan, so I did not voice any objections about it.

Suddenly, I saw the top of the Hanson Mansion peeking out over the treetops, so I said into my earcom, “Cadmus, I see the Mansion. I’m coming in for a landing, so stand by for the message to send in the G-Men.”

“Roger that,” said Cadmus. “Cadmus out.”

With that, I heard a small click in my ear that indicated that Cadmus was done talking with me. That was good, because I was coming in on the Mansion fast and I would need to have my wits about me so I could not be taken by surprise.

Landing on the front lawn of the Mansion, I was not met by anyone. I looked around, but the front lawn was strangely empty. And quiet; only the chirping of birds and the fluttering of tree branches in the wind could be heard, as well as the gurgle of the nearby water fountain. That was ominous.

“Hello?” I called out, looking this way and that for the others. “Is anyone here? I’m back! I escaped from the G-Men. Hello?”

No answer. A robin flew by overhead, but the windows of the Mansion remained dark and empty. That was when I noticed that all of the curtains had been drawn, as if to hide the interior of the Mansion from outside onlookers.

I frowned. “Incantation? Hopper? Sarah? Thaumaturge? Hello?”

My earcom crackled and Cadmus’s voice came from within. “Bolt, I have received a message from the team that you have not been greeted by the Visionists on the front lawn of the Mansion. Do you know where they are?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “Maybe they’re asleep.”

“I should send in the team now,” said Cadmus. “I don’t like this.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Not yet. Let me go inside and begin looking for them. It’s possible they’re busy with something else and just haven’t realized I’m here. Remember, we don’t want to give them time to escape.”

“You’re right,” said Cadmus. “Still, this situation strikes me as … risky. Although I am not there, my instincts are telling me that this is a trap.”

“Maybe, but the only way to find out is for me to enter the Mansion and see if I can find anyone,” I said. “I’ll keep my earcom on, however, so you can hear what’s going on around me and react to any traps I might run into.”

“Very well,” said Cadmus. “If I even suspect anything is amiss, I will immediately send in the team.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m going in.”

I ran up to the front steps of the Mansion and pushed open the huge double doors, which opened with ominous creaking. I peeked my head inside the dark Mansion; all of the lights had been turned off and I didn’t hear any voices or movement in the place.

“Hello?” I said, my voice echoing off the Mansion’s open hallways. “Is anyone there?”

All I heard was the echoes of my own voice. The Mansion felt abandoned, as though no one had ever lived here in the first place. I stepped inside, but did not close the doors behind me, because I wanted a way to flee if necessary. I again looked around and listened, but the place felt as empty as a graveyard.

I decided to go to the dining room; it was late enough in the evening that I figured there had to be at least a few people having dinner right now. I had to admit, though, that I was hesitant about heading in any deeper, because the Mansion felt haunted, like there were ghosts hiding just out of sight that were waiting for me to let my guard down long enough for them to pounce on me.

Nonetheless, I walked deeper into the Mansion, heading in the direction of the dining room. But I moved carefully, occasionally stopping to listen for any sounds that weren’t mine, but as always, the Mansion was silent. I stopped to look into various rooms on my way there, hoping to spot someone, but every room I checked was empty. I thought about going back to my room, but decided against it, because that would be an unnecessary detour. Besides, it wasn’t really my room anyway; it was just a room given to me to make me feel like I was one of the Visionists. Just another part of their lies.

Soon, I arrived at the entrance to the dining room, but stopped before I entered and listened closely for any sounds on the other side of the doors. I didn’t hear anyone, but I did notice light streaming out from under the cracks of the door. Either someone left a light on or there was someone in the room right now, though who, I couldn’t guess for sure.

The only way to find out was to enter, so I pushed open the doors and entered the dining room, ready for whatever trap the Visionists might have set for me.

The dining room looked about the same as it always had, even complete with plates and silverware. The chandelier was on, which was the source of the light, and it caused the shiny, expensive silverware to sparkle. But most of the chairs were empty … except for the one at the far end of the table, away from me.

Wrath sat in it, a smile on his face as he took a bite from a half-eaten apple. He wasn’t alone. Standing behind his right shoulder was a woman in dark robes, who I recognized from my memories as the woman who had altered my memories. I still didn’t know her name, but just the sight of her was enough to make my blood boil.

“Bolt,” said Wrath through a mouthful of apple. He swallowed and smiled. “You’re back, just as Hopper said you would be. How was captivity? I’ve heard that the G-Men can be rather … ruthless in their enhanced interrogation techniques.”

“Where is everyone else?” I said.

“Gone,” said Wrath. He tossed the apple from hand to hand before taking another bite from it. “Left hours ago. They left me and Alana here to welcome you home.”

“Left?” I said in shock. “Where did they go?”

“To save our mighty leader, naturally enough,” said Wrath. “A task, I might add, that you failed at. Of course, Cadmus Smith tried to trick us with that empty van, but he’s nowhere near as clever as he thinks he is.”

“But how?” I said. “When I was captured by the G-Men, I was told that only Cadmus Smith knew of the Visionary’s location.”

“Did you honestly believe him when he said that?” said Wrath with a laugh. “Cadmus Smith is a known liar and manipulator. The truth is, the true location of our leader was on Cadmus Smith’s computer, which Technical managed to hack into while you were captured. As a result, we managed to learn where he is and the others left to go save him.”

I didn’t know if there was any truth to Wrath’s words. Given how Vision had lied to me about everything already, I had a feeling that this was yet another lie on top of everything else they had told me.

On the other hand, it did explain the others’ absence. And with Cadmus listening through my earcom, I bet he was already sending someone to go and check on the Visionary’s actual location to ensure that Vision had not broken into the place.

“Well, isn’t that great?” I said. “I mean, our dear leader is about to be saved. I think that’s wonderful.”

Wrath tilted his head to the side, an unimpressed look on his face. “You’re not a very good liar, you know. I can tell that you aren’t exactly happy about it.”

“What do you mean?” I said. “I’m not lying.”

“Yes, you are,” said Wrath. “In fact, not only are you lying, but you also betrayed us. You turned to the G-Men and are working with them to arrest all of us. Right, Alana?”

The hooded woman standing behind Wrat nodded. “Yes. I can sense that his true memories have already started to return. He no doubt knows the truth by now.”

“See?” said Wrath. “So there’s really no need to pretend like you’re one of us anymore, Bolt. You’re not fooling anyone.”

I bit my lower lip. “All right. You got me. I know the truth, having learned it from Cadmus Smith, and most of my memories are already back. And yes, I am working with the G-Men; in fact, there’s a team of G-Men waiting in the woods around this Mansion right now for the moment to strike.”

“Thaumaturge, as usual, was correct to worry about this,” said Wrath. “I really will have to tell him about it later, after Alana and I finish with you.”

I looked at the hooded woman. “Her name is Alana? Who is she?”

“Just another member of Vision,” said Wrath. “She specializes in altering or suppressing the memories of other people. Right, Alana?”

“Correct,” said Alana, her voice monotone. “I can manipulate the memories of anyone around me, though the effects are usually not permanent unless I make a concerted effort over a long period of time. There was always a possibility that you would recover your old memories, which is why I am not surprised to learn that you have, since you were outside of the range of my abilities for too long.”

“Why?” I said. “Why would you manipulate me like this in the first place?”

“It was Thaumaturge’s idea,” said Wrath. He took another bite out of his apple, chewed, and swallowed quickly. “You’ve always been a thorn in the side of Vision, so when Alana joined and we learned what her powers were, Thaumaturge thought that it would be much sweeter to turn you over to our side and to use your powers and strength for our own uses, rather than kill you outright.”

“Well, that failed,” I said. “After all, we failed to save Sagan and now I remember everything. Soon, you and your friends will all be in jail.”

Wrath’s smirk grew even broader. “Oh, saving our leader was just one of our goals. An important one, yes, but not the only one. Alana, show him the article, would you?”

Alana—who I now noticed was carrying a laptop in her arms—placed a laptop on the table, opened its screen, clicked a few times, and then turned it around for me to see that it was a Neo Ranks article, with the headline reading ‘YOUNG NEOS LEADER SEEN AIDING KNOWN VISIONISTS IN ASSAULT ON WHITE HOUSE,’ with an image just below it of me, Incantation, and Sarah racing through the portal back to the Hanson Mansion.

I looked at Wrath again. “I don’t understand. It’s just a news report.”

“Just a news report?” Wrath repeated. He chuckled. “How naïve. Then again, you haven’t been watching the news over the last few days, have you?”

“Why should I?” I said. “I don’t really care what the news says.”

“You should,” said Wrath. “The current narrative in the news media today is that you have apparently turned into a supervillain. All over the Internet, there are arguments between your supporters and your enemies about whether or not you are even still a hero anymore or whether you have truly turned to the ‘dark side,’ as they call it.”

“So what?” I said. “Let people have their opinions. Once the truth comes out—that you guys were manipulating my memories to make me do bad things—then all of these arguments will go away.”

“Will they?” said Wrath. “People aren’t rational. A growing number of people—including people in the superhero community itself—are starting to believe you are voluntarily working with us. It doesn’t matter whether it is true or not; what matters is that the entire world has been allowed to believe this for the last few days, with nothing concrete to counter that notion, meaning that it will soon be considered an unquestionable truth, on par with the idea that the Earth is round, within the next couple of days.”

“At that point,” said Alana, causing me to look at her, “your reputation will be ruined. People will be calling for your arrest. Or your head.”

“President Plutarch will pardon me,” I said. “He’ll know I wasn’t myself when that happened.”

“Oh?” said Wrath. “I wouldn’t be so happy about that. Most of these people will see it as you gaming the system. They’ll think that you have escaped justice just because you are on friendly terms with the President. That will just make more people believe that you are evil and lead to more people demanding your arrest.”

“Then those people will be wrong,” I said. “The facts are the facts, regardless of what other people think about them.”

“But perception often matters more than facts,” said Wrath. “And if the public perceives that you are a traitorous criminal who can get away with anything by virtue of having friends in high places … well, I wouldn’t be surprised if that idea trickles into the general superhero community, maybe even causing the NHA to fire you and make your friends hate and distrust you.”

“My friends would never believe that,” I said. “They know I would never become a villain or commit any crimes.”

“Do they?” said Wrath. “I don’t know. They might keep believing in you, or maybe there will be a seed, a tiny seed, of doubt. After all, you were friendly with Incantation and the others before you found out their true nature as Visionists; they might think you never truly hated us.”

My hands balled into fists. “You don’t know them. You don’t know my friends at all.”

“However true that may be, the fact is that the rest of society won’t be quite as understanding as your friends,” said Wrath. “Whether you beat us or not, the truth is that your reputation will be permanently smeared. And that is victory for Vision, regardless of what else happens.”

“I don’t care,” I said. I pointed at Wrath. “I’m going to beat you two. And not only that, but the G-Men will help. There are twelve elite G-Men agents surrounding the Mansion, so you’re screwed no matter what.”

“Are we?” said Wrath. He looked at Alana. “Do you agree with that, girl?”

Alana shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

“What does it matter whether you agree or not?” I said in exasperation. “I’m just stating a fact.”

“I disagree with it because I’ve already beaten them,” said Alana.

I stared at Alan in shock. “Already beaten them? What are you talking about?”

“I altered their memories,” said Alana, gesturing toward the window. “People don’t need to be within my vision for me to affect their memories. When I sensed them arrive, I changed their memories so they would forget that they are G-Men. That way, even if you send them a message for help, they won’t obey the order because they won’t understand it.”

“Cadmus, is that true?” I said into my earcom.

“It appears so,” said Cadmus in an annoyed voice. “I tried to contact the leader of the team, but she said she doesn’t know who I am or what I’m talking about and told me to stop calling her.”

I looked at Wrath and Alana again. “You bastards.”

“I did it for the Vision,” said Alana. “And it won’t last forever; it is much harder to suppress the memories of a dozen people rather than one person for a long period of time. But by the time they remember what they’re here to do, you will be dead and we will be long gone.”

“So you’re going to kill me?” I said. “Not try to manipulate me to join your side?”

“Of course not,” said Wrath. “You’ve done everything we need you to do. Keeping you alive, even under our control, would mean that there will always be a chance you will rebel against us and defeat us at some point in the future, and that is a risk that not even I am willing to take.”

“How are you going to kill me?” I said. “You do know that I could run over and smash both of your heads in without even thinking about it, right?”

“Just because our powers lean more toward abstraction doesn’t mean that they are useless in battle,” said Wrath. He tossed his apple aside and stood up. “For that matter, you’re assuming that you already know all of our powers, which you don’t.”

Wrath’s hands balled into fists and his chest started heaving in and out. His eyes bulged, a guttural growl emitted from his mouth, and his body and muscles started to grow. Alana stepped back as Wrath grew larger and larger, until he soon stood a head above me and Alana. His robes ripped around his massive body, until he was left only in a pair of stretching shorts that he apparently wore underneath his robes.

“What the heck?” I said. “Did you just hulk out?”

Wrath flexed his huge muscles and said, “It’s one of my powers and why I am named Wrath: Anger gives me power and allows my body to grow in size and strength. I now have enough strength to turn you into paste.”

“Not unless I turn you into paste first,” I said.

I launched through the air toward Wrath, pulling back my fists to punch him. But Wrath raised his fist and punched me solidly in the jaw, the blow sending me flying off course.

I crashed through a wall and rolled across the floor until I slammed into a sofa. My senses dazed, I shook my head in time to see Wrath flying through the hole in the wall toward me.

He landed on top of me, his huge weight squeezing the air out of me, and then stomped his foot on my chest, making me gasp for air again.

“Hanson will probably be pissed when he sees the hole in the wall of his Mansion, but once I finish you, I’m sure he won’t give me any crap about it,” said Wrath. He pulled back his fist. “But, of course, you will not live long enough to see that.”