The Superhero's Son Omnibus Volume 3

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Ultimate Max prison was a huge building, located well away from most major cities and towns. Its security was formidable; according to Ivan, it had state of the art high tech security systems, a veritable legion of guards trained in taking down superhumans, and its superhuman warden and chief of security. There was a very good reason, after all, why no one other than Master Chaos had managed to escape from Ultimate Max before, and that was because it was designed to be impossible to escape from.

But it actually wasn’t impossible. I may not have had Master Chaos’s powers, but that didn’t mean that it was literally impossible to escape from it. It might be difficult, but if Master Chaos could do it, then so could I.

In order to escape, though, I would need help. There was no way I would be able to escape on my own. Even with my powers, I would probably be taken down before I could get very far. Besides, I didn’t know the prison and its security systems as well as some of the older prisoners, so I couldn’t plan my escape attempt nearly as effectively as I ordinarily would.

So the day after I made the decision to escape, I took Ivan and Rime into a corner of the prison yard away from the watchful eyes of the guards or the ears of the other prisoners. I tried to make it look as casual as possible so that the guards wouldn’t suspect what we were actually talking about, but I had a feeling that the guards were well aware of these kinds of tricks and were no doubt keeping an eye on all three of us. But I was confident that if we spoke in low voices, the guards would never hear what we’re talking about.

“All right, Kevin,” said Ivan, once we were far enough away from the others that we would not need to worry about them eavesdropping on us. “What do you wish to talk about?”

I looked up at the walls, but there were no guards close enough to hear us. A few guards glanced our way, but it seemed like they didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary. That was good, because I doubted the guards would be happy if they learned what I was going to ask Ivan and Rime to do.

So I looked at Ivan and Rime and said, in a low voice, “I want to be the second prisoner to break out of Ultimate Max.”

Ivan and Rime exchanged surprised looks and then looked at me again.

“Y-You want to break out of this place?” said Rime, his teeth chattering. He shivered and looked around, most likely in case there were guards listening in. “You can’t talk about that. What if the guards overhear us?”

“I know,” I said. “I’m well aware of how dangerous this idea is, but I have to do it.”

“Why?” said Ivan. “I know you are innocent of any crime, but I still see no reason to put your life at risk like this. It would be wiser to wait until you get more information on why you were put behind bars before trying to break out.”

“I’ve already waited a couple of weeks for that,” I said in a voice that was almost a hiss. “And I haven’t heard from the G-Men at all. It’s pretty clear that Cadmus just wants me to rot behind bars for the rest of my life at this point; even if he doesn’t, that doesn’t mean I have to go along with whatever his dumb little plan is.”

“Perhaps, but you saw what Glass did to Edge and those other two,” said Ivan. “If they catch you, you will likely suffer the same fate.”

“I still don’t care,” I said. I jabbed a thumb at my chest. “I need to escape because I’m the only one who can beat White Lightning.”

“What makes you think that?” said Ivan.

“Because I think White Lightning is trying to lure me out so he can fight me,” I said. “It’s why he keeps attacking and running; he’s trying to cause enough damage to draw me out so he can fight me.”

“W-What if it’s a trap?” said Rime. “Maybe he wants to lure you into a trap so he can kill you or something.”

“It might be, especially if Mastermind is somehow involved, but just because it’s a trap doesn’t mean I have to let this guy get away with killing innocent people,” I said. “The G-Men, NHA, and INJ have been unable to even predict his next attack. Someone has to stop him before he kills again. And I have to do it.”

“I understand that, Kevin, but it is still a very risky thing to do,” said Ivan. “What if it fails?”

“Then I’ll be the one to take the full brunt of whatever the consequences are,” I said. “But I can’t do it on my own. I need help. I need your help. That’s why I’m telling you two about this.”

“Our help?” said Ivan. “How can we help?”

“Your knowledge,” I said. I gestured at the prison walls. “You two have been in this prison much longer than me. You know more about it and its guards and the people who run it than I do. By using your knowledge, I will be able to construct an escape plan to get out of here.”

“It’s true, we do know more about Ultimate Max than you,” said Ivan. He scratched his right arm. “And if you knew it, you might be able to escape, but … I am still unsure.”

“Why?” I said. “You two can come with me if you want. I mean, I think supervillains should be in prison, but if the only way I can get you to come with me is to promise you freedom, then I’ll do it.”

“Really?” said Rime. He stroked his chin. “T-That sounds good. I would certainly like to be f-free again.” He lowered his hand. “Okay. I’ll help.”

“Great,” I said. I looked at Ivan. “Ivan, what about you? Don’t you want to be free again?”

Ivan looked troubled. He appeared to be conflicted, but I didn’t understand why. It seemed like every prisoner in this place wanted to be free again. Why wouldn’t Ivan also want to be free? Then again, he had told me that he was content to live here and that he was guilty of the crimes he had committed, but I thought he had merely said that because he didn’t think he could escape on his own.

Ivan folded his arms across his chest. “No, I do not want to be free. I deserve to be in this prison for the rest of my life, however long that may be.”

“Are you sure, Ivan?” I said. “Don’t you think you’ve spent enough time here?”

“I was given a life sentence,” said Ivan with a shrug. “Besides, even if I wasn’t given a life sentence, I would never want to leave this place. The horrific crimes I committed all those years ago … I do not want to repeat them.”

“Then don’t,” I said. “You clearly realize that you did the wrong thing in the past. But the past isn’t a map of the future. What are the chances of you doing the same things you did back then?”

“Not very high, but even just a one percent chance of me falling back into evil is too high for me,” said Ivan. He wiped sweat from his brow. “It may be right and just for you to escape, but not for me. My powers are … too much. If I were to lose control again, I might hurt people I care about.”

“You seem to have great self-control to me,” I said.

“Only because I’ve spent time in this prison separate from the rest of society,” said Ivan. He put his hands on his chest. “I do not know how I would react if, say, I was out on the streets and suddenly jumped by a criminal. If I used my powers, I might lose control and just kill him.”

“So?” I said. “Killing someone in self-defense is perfectly justifiable.”

“But I would lose control,” said Ivan. He put a hand on his head. “I guess I haven’t told you that my power is quite addictive to me. Using nuclear energy to wipe out whole towns and cities, to irradiate my enemies and watch them waste away … it is addicting. And I fear that if I use it again, I will become addicted once more and return to my old villainous ways.”

The way Ivan spoke reminded me of a superhuman girl I once knew named Emma. She had also been worried about her powers to the point where she just wanted to get rid of them outright. I never understood that, but when I thought about it, not every superpower was good. I was now finally starting to understand why some superhumans were so negative about their powers.

Even so, I said, “Can you be sure about that, Ivan? Maybe you have better control over your powers than you think. I sure could use your help in escaping. You might even be able to help me beat White Lightning.”

“Just because I am not going with you doesn’t mean I can’t help you,” said Ivan. “I can still tell you everything I know about Ultimate Max’s security systems. It’s just that I won’t be coming with you and Rime. That’s all.”

I frowned. “Really?”

“Really,” said Ivan. He looked up at the sky. “Besides, perhaps this is how I can redeem myself. I killed many innocent people and am now going to help a superhero save innocent lives. What’s even more ironic is that you are the son of one of the superheroes who originally beat me; I never thought I’d ever help Genius’s son.”

“Okay,” I said. “You seem pretty convinced that you want to stay here, so I won’t convince you to come with me. But if you ever change your mind, just let me know.”

Ivan looked down at me again gratefully. “Thank you. Like I said, I will give you whatever information you need to make your escape. And I do hope that your escape plan goes well; I would be quite disappointed if you suffer the same fate as Edge and his friends did.”

“No problem,” I said. “I wish I could help you, though, because I still don’t think you deserve to be in here anymore.”

“What you think I ‘deserve’ is irrelevant,” said Ivan. “All that matters is that I fulfill my life sentence.”

It seemed like a depressing way of living to me, but at the same time, I knew better than to argue the point with Ivan. I had more important things to do than waste time trying to convince him to do something that he clearly wasn’t interested in being convinced to do.

So I said, “All right, then. Now I need to know everything that you two know about Ultimate Max; its security systems, how many guards it has, their rotation schedules, and so on. But later; the guards are starting to look at us suspiciously and I don’t want them to suspect what we’re up to.”