The Superhero's Son Omnibus Volume 3

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Shade … the name stirred a memory somewhere in the back of my mind. It felt familiar, like I’d said the name myself many times before. I even thought I saw a memory—me standing on top of a school somewhere, facing a woman who looked very much like the woman standing before me—but then my mind went blank and the back of my head burned.

“Ow,” I said, grabbing the back of my head and biting my lower lip. “Headache.”

“Don’t worry,” said Shade. “Once I capture you and your friends, I’ll make sure you get some pain pills for that.”

The pain in the back of my head faded, causing me to lower my hand and glare at the woman. “How did you know we were going to be here? We didn’t tell anyone about our plan.”

“Well, I certainly didn’t know that you, in particular, were going to be here, Bolt, but we knew that Vision was likely to try to break into the White House sometime,” said Shade. “Your friend, Mimic, told us that he’d told you all about the files with Sagan’s location. And, since you disappeared about a week ago, Director Smith figured that Vision was going to try something like this soon, probably with your help. Hence why I was assigned to the White House to protect the Oval Office.”

“I disappeared a week ago?” I said. “What are you talking about? I’ve been with Vision the entire time.”

“Don’t listen to her, Bolt,” said Incantation. “She’s lying. She’s trying to confuse you so you doubt yourself.”

“I’m not trying to confuse anyone this time,” said Shade. “Actually, you’re the one who is trying to confuse poor Bolt, though I’d say it’s more like you’re trying to deceive him than anything. And I can respect that, since sometimes you have to play a little loose with the truth in order to get a guy, but come on, this is pathetic.”

“I don’t know you,” I said, though the words sounded false even as I spoke them. “I’ve never even met you before. And Incantation isn’t deceiving me. We’ve been dating since high school and I trust her with my life.”

Shade raised an eyebrow. “Wow, the brainwashing must have been really thorough. You honestly sound like you believe that crap.”

“I believe it because it is true,” I said. “Incantation and the others would never lie to me.”

Shade laughed. “Bolt, I always knew you were a little bit naïve, but this is a whole new level even for you. I mean, the last time you met Incantation, she tried to—”

“Shut up!” Incantation shouted. “Sarah, take her down!”

Sarah put her fingers on her temples and closed her eyes. Immediately, Shade’s hands flew to her head and she groaned in pain, falling to her knees like she had just been punched in the gut. I realized that Sarah was mentally attacking Shade, which made me feel bad for some reason, but I told myself that Shade was the enemy and that it was better for her to suffer mental damage than for her to stop our mission.

“Break her mind,” said Incantation, her voice full of gleeful malice. “We don’t want her following us or living long enough to tell her superiors what we’ve done.”

Sarah nodded and focused even more on Shade. Shade’s groans became screams of pain and agony, screams so painful and loud that they made me feel terrible for her. I couldn’t help it; even though she was the enemy, I couldn’t find any joy in seeing her in pain like that, almost like I was watching a friend or an ally get beaten than an enemy.

But then, Shade suddenly stopped screaming. She removed her hands from her head and slowly but surely rose back to her full height. Sweat was running down her temples, but Shade ignored that. She just thrust her hand out and a shadow tendril slapped Sarah in the face.

Sarah cried out in pain and fell to the floor, though she was not unconscious. She was, however, whimpering in pain, rubbing the spot on her face where Shade had struck her.

“Sarah!” Incantation said in shock. She looked at Shade with hatred in her eyes. “How did you fight her mental attack?”

“I’ve had plenty of practice warding off mental attacks with Director Smith,” said Shade, panting and wiping away the sweat like she’d just run a marathon. “Just in case I ran into telepaths like your ugly friend. Looks like all of that training in mental self-defense finally paid off.”

Incantation growled. She jabbed her wand out at Shade and a huge box suddenly materialized out of nowhere, a box full of spikes that looked like they could pierce through skin as easily as paper.

Shade had only a second to look surprised before the spiked box slammed shut around her, causing Incantation to say, “Ha! Take that.”

But then a familiar giggle came from the box and shadows began leaking out of the cracks. The shadows then rose and materialized back into Shade, who looked more amused than anything.

“Seriously?” said Shade, rubbing the back of her neck. “I see you’ve forgotten that I’m a shadow person, which means that knives and spikes and the like are basically useless against me. Good try, though. I always love magical tricks.”

“Bolt,” said Incantation, causing me to look at her. “Beat that witch’s head in! We don’t have much time. I bet the Secret Service agents are already on their way here, plus any of her fellow G-Men as well.”

A part of me was reluctant to fight Shade, but when I remembered just how urgent and important our mission was, I nodded and ran at her. I charged my fist with my red electricity—a move I seemed to remember doing somewhere else once before, but I couldn’t recall when or who I had been fighting—and sent it flying at Shade’s face.

But Shade immediately turned into shadow and sank into the floor, causing me to miss her face and go staggering into the closed box. I turned around just in time to feel something crawling up my legs and I looked down to see Shade’s shadows crawling up my legs like snakes.

I tried to pull my legs free, but the shadows’ grip on my legs was as tight as iron. I looked up at Incantation. “Help!”

Incantation immediately pointed her wand at my feet and the wand exploded into light. The light was so bright that it completely blinded me and probably would have caused my eyes serious if not permanent damage if I had not covered my eyes just in the nick of time. But the light faded pretty rapidly, allowing me to look down and see that my feet were free once again.

But Shade wasn’t gone. She had materialized several feet away from me, lying on the floor with a dazed look in her eyes, like she had been knocked silly. She didn’t even look capable of fighting anymore.

“What happened to her?” I said.

“Light,” said Incantation. She smirked at the dazed-looking Shade. “I figured that since she was darkness, she probably wouldn’t react well to a huge, sudden burst of light.”

“Good job,” I said. I held up the folder. “Now, let’s get out of here before her allies come to back her up.”

“Not yet,” said Incantation. She pointed at Shade sharply. “Kill that woman while we have the chance.”

I frowned. “Incantation, she isn’t a threat anymore. Killing her would be a waste of time.”

“Do you want her to come after us again?” said Incantation. “Because if she stays alive, then she will keep searching for us. The only way to ensure that she doesn’t come after us is to kill her outright.”

“But—”

“Don’t you love me?” said Incantation. Her voice suddenly became hurt. “Do you want that woman to live long enough to harm me again? If you truly loved me, you’d kill that woman and make sure she can never harm me or any other Visionist ever again.”

I hesitated. I did love Incantation, but at the same time, I really didn’t see the point in killing Shade. Shade may have been one of the enemies, but right now she was too dazed to even stand, much less fight or chase us. Besides, I didn’t know how much time we had left before Shade’s allies arrived to help her. I thought it would be more practical if we just left right away, even if that meant allowing Shade to live again to see another day.

But then, Incantation had a point. The whole world was against us. Why should I leave this woman alive? After all, our enemies had put our leader into a coma and were currently holding him hostage, doing who-knows-what to him. Besides, I was strong enough to kill her quickly; a simple lightning bolt to the head should suffice.

So I raised my hand and aimed it at Shade’s forehead. Shade was still too out of it to move. Red lightning crackled across my fingertips, illuminating Incantation’s triumphant and savage smirk as I steadied my aim.

But right before I could shoot, the door to the Oval Office burst open and half a dozen Secret Service agents stumbled in. The lead agent instantly pointed a gun at us and shouted, “Don’t move!”

Surprised, I just stood there, unsure what to do, before Incantation jerked her wand forward. The agent’s gun instantly turned into a dove, which flew out of his hands, but then the other agents immediately aimed their guns at us.

By this time, however, I had recovered from the shock. I lowered my hand and, activating my super speed, ran over and picked up both Incantation and Sarah just as the Secret Service agents began shooting at us. I dodged the bullets and jumped toward the window, smashing through it as a bullet whistled past my ear.

Landing on the front lawn of the Oval Office, we were suddenly bathed in a huge, bright white light that caused me to look up to the sky. A military helicopter was flying above us, the source of the light, and I could already see a sniper aiming his gun at us.

A second later, one of Hopper’s portals exploded into existence in front of us. Without thinking, I ran into the portal just as the sniper shot his gun, but I managed to dodge the bullet, although I heard it hit something that I didn’t see.

In the next instant, Incantation, Sarah, and I were back on the front lawn of the mansion, which looked exactly the same as it had when we left. The portal closed behind us as I fell to my knees, dropping Sarah and Incantation next to me as the adrenaline pumped through my veins.

Instantly, Wrath, Hopper, and Thaumaturge were above us. Hopper grabbed my shoulders and said, “Bolt, what happened? Did you get the files?”

I nodded and held up the folder. “Yes. This folder has the location of the Visionary’s prison. Mission accomplished.”

Thaumaturge snatched the folder from me and flipped through it. His old features turned into a smirk that looked far too twisted to me. “Excellent work, Bolt, very excellent. Did you run into any problems while there?”

“Yes,” I said. “There was a G-Man agent named—”

A sudden wail of pain interrupted me, causing us to look at Sarah. She was lying on the ground where I had dropped her and was wailing in pain, which was the most high-pitched and annoying sound in the world.

But I forgot all about how I felt about her shrieks of pain when I saw that she was gripping her right shoulder, which was stained with blood.

“What’s the problem, girl?” said Wrath, bending down next to her. “Why’s your shoulder bleeding?”

“I …” Sarah gulped, tears streaming from her eyes. “I was shot.”

I cursed. I remembered the sniper getting off one shot, but I had thought none of us had gotten hit. Considering I’d been using my super speed to enter the portal, I found myself both annoyed and impressed with the sniper’s skills.

“Get Sarah to the mansion,” said Thaumaturge. “We have the expertise and supplies necessary to heal her wound, but only if we get her inside fast, before it becomes infected.”

“Gotcha,” said Wrath.

He scooped up Sarah in his arms—who was now just whimpering in pain—and ran up the lawn to the mansion’s front steps, with Hopper and Incantation following close behind with concerned expressions on their faces.

I was about to go and follow, too, but before I could, Thaumaturge put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Wait.”

I looked over my shoulder at Thaumaturge in disbelief. “Wait? What for? Sarah’s one of my friends. I need to make sure she’s going to be okay.”

“She’ll be fine,” said Thaumaturge. “It’s just a gun shot.”

“Gun shot?” I said incredulously. “You make it sound like a flesh wound.”

“Once we’re done with it, it won’t even be that,” said Thaumaturge. “But I wanted to tell you to come to my office, along with Hopper, Incantation, and Technical, so you can give me a report on what happened in the Oval Office once Sarah is healed.”

I frowned, but nodded. “Sure. Now can I go and make sure that my friend is going to be okay?”

Thaumaturge removed his hand from my shoulder. “Certainly.”

I turned and ran up the lawn, not looking over my shoulder back at Thaumaturge. I didn’t hear the old man following me, but I didn’t care if he did. I didn’t want Sarah to die from her wound because despite Thaumaturge’s assurances, I was still very worried about her health and chances of survival.