The Superhero's World

Chapter One-1

Chapter One

I sat in a chair on a large, outdoor stage, my hands in my lap. The sun was bright and shining today—which was pretty rare for New York—allowing me to see all of the hundreds and hundreds of superheroes gathered in the area below the stage. The crowd was comprised of members from the Neohero Alliance and the Independent Neoheroes for Justice, which was pretty rare, since the two organizations don’t usually hang out together. But it wasn’t surprising; ever since the Neohero Summit earlier this year, the NHA and INJ had been working more closely together to deal with crime and villains than ever.

I wasn’t the only superhero on the stage, however. Sitting to my right was Blizzard, my girlfriend and one of my teammates; Treehugger, who had put a large yellow flower in her hair for this occasion; Stinger, who looked as bored and uncomfortable as me with all this sitting around; and Shell, who was reading some kind of book on quantum physics or something on his phone, which I couldn’t see due to how far away he sat from me.

Sitting directly in front of us were the members of the Neohero Alliance Leadership Council: the powerful Mr. Miner, the strong Lady sss, the quick High Fly, the mysterious Beyond Man, my own mentor Mecha Knight, and the alien Nicknacks. Only Omega Man was missing, but that was because he was back in his room in the NHA headquarters preparing for the speech that he was going to give to open the ceremony today.

The ceremony was about the unveiling of a new attraction on Hero Island: The Justice Statue. I glanced over my shoulder at the statue, which was a huge behemoth made out of marble that towered over every other neohero in the area. It depicted Omega Man and the Midnight Menace—the leaders of the NHA and the INJ—clasping their hands together in friendship, a symbol of the new alliance between the two organizations. The Statue itself had been under construction for a couple of months now, ever since the end of the last Neohero Summit, and today was its official unveiling to the public at large. There were even cameras set up to livestream the opening ceremony to the world, though there weren’t any actual members of the press present due to security concerns.

But the Statue had not actually been unveiled. It was covered in a huge, thick blue shroud, fluttering in the wind every now and then. I only knew what it looked like because I’d seen the initial plans for it when it had been first proposed, but I had yet to see the finished Statue. According to Mecha Knight, who had been one of the supervisors of the building project, it was one of the most impressive statues he’d ever seen, but I guess I’d see that for myself soon, after Omega Man opened the ceremony.

I had to admit, though, that I was wondering why we were doing this. Mecha Knight had told me that the ceremony was supposed to be the place where the alliance between the NHA and the INJ would be officially announced to the world. The two organizations weren’t merging; however, we were now going to be officially allied and working together for the common good. I’d even heard rumors that Omega Man was going to announce the creation of a new team consisting of members from both organizations, though Mecha Knight had refused to tell me what the Leadership Council had discussed with the INJ’s leadership.

Speaking of the INJ’s leadership, I saw their leaders sitting on the left side of the platform, parallel to us. The Midnight Menace, tall, shadowy, and menacing, was instantly recognizable, but he looked a bit out of place in the bright light of the sun. The other members of the INJ leadership looked less jarringly out of place and were even talking among each other, though due to all of the noise from the crowd I couldn’t hear what they were talking about.

I wondered if they were just as bored as I was. I mean, sure, I understood that this ceremony was hugely important in the superhero community, given that it was going to change the dynamics of the superhero community in ways that weren’t quite understood completely yet, but I still wondered why I should be here. I was more concerned about supervillains taking this time to commit crimes and cause trouble, though Mecha Knight had pointed out to me that any supervillain in New York who’d tried to cause trouble now would be insane, given that the combined might of the two largest superhero organizations in the country were here today. Still, this felt like a useless formality to me; I would have much preferred to be back in the House (which was the base for my team) training than sitting here waiting for Omega Man to show up and unveil a giant statue to the world.

My thoughts were interrupted when a familiar voice shouted, “Bolt!” and caused me to look up to see a tall, handsome guy of about my age walking toward me. He wore a costume that looked kind of like mine, except his was blue and yellow and he wore a long, flowing cape that even I had to admit looked cool.

“Strike?” I said, rising from my seat as the leader of the New Heroes—the INJ’s equivalent of the Young Neos—approached. “What took you so long? You told me you were coming, but I didn’t see you when the INJ arrived earlier today.”

Strike flashed a large, far too shiny smile at me as he stopped in front of me and shook my hand. “Ah, sorry about that. The Lightning Triplets just wanted to go and see the Museum, so we went there ahead of time to make sure we got to see it before the unveiling of the Justice Statue. Sorry for not telling you.”

“The whole team is here?” I said. “Where is everyone?”

“Over there,” said Strike, jerking a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of the INJ’s leaders. “See? We just got here.”

I looked over Strike’s shoulder and saw five other teenagers sitting in seats behind the INJ’s leaders. One of them was a girl about a year or two younger in a pink costume, who I recognized as Dizzy, while the guy with the green, slimy skin was Slime, and the three bouncing and chattering fourteen-year-olds were the Lightning Triplets: Volt, Watt, and Lumen.

“Yeah, I see them,” I said. I looked at Strike again. “It’s been a long time since we last spoke. How have things been in California?”

“Just the usual,” said Strike with a shrug. “Fighting supervillains and criminals, helping with certain super secret projects that Midnight Menace would kill me for if I told you about them … you know, just the basic things.”

“Right,” I said. “Are you guys still based in the Cavern?”

“Yep,” said Strike, nodding. “But we’re finally expanding. We’re going through the lowest levels and cleaning out all the junk and modernizing it. Your visit convinced the Midnight Menace that that place needed to be updated and modernized and made safer for the team and visitors.”

“Cool,” I said. “I’ll have to come by again sometime and bring the whole team with me this time.”

“Sure,” said Strike. “I’ll talk with Menace about it, though I’m sure he won’t object.” Then Strike hesitated, and added, “And I’m sorry about your father, Bolt. I know I said this at the funeral, but—”

“It’s fine,” I interrupted him. “I’m over it. But thanks for the condolences. I appreciate them anyway.”

Strike nodded, but I could tell he was obviously uncomfortable. But I really was over Dad’s death … well, okay, not entirely, since I don’t think you ever truly get over the death of a loved one, but I didn’t think about it as much as I’d used to. I had come to accept it and didn’t really want to think about it anymore; I was more interested in focusing on the future, though I still visited Dad’s grave every now and then when I felt like it.

“Okay,” said Strike. “Well, I’m going back to sit down with the others. It’s almost noon, which is when Omega Man is supposed to deliver the opening remarks, so I should get back to my seat before Menace notices and scolds me for talking to you.”

“Sure,” I said. “We can talk again after the unveiling of the Statue, okay? Catch up and stuff, have our teams mingle.”

Statue nodded and then turned and ran back over to the seats where his own team was situated. As for me, I just sat back down on my chair and crossed my legs again, ready to wait for Omega Man’s arrival, although I didn’t see him anywhere in the sky when I looked up.

As soon as I sat down, however, Treehugger leaned across Blizzard and said, “Bolt, was that Strike?”

I looked at Treehugger. “Yeah. The whole New Heroes are here, actually, so we’re going to hang out with them after the ceremony.”

“Uh, right,” said Treehugger. “But, um, can you get Strike’s autograph for me? Please?”

I tilted my head to the side. “You want his autograph? Why don’t you get it yourself? He’s a pretty nice guy.”

Treehugger’s eyes widened like I’d just suggested that she climb Mount Everest naked. “Get it myself? Bolt, he’s too … too handsome. I can’t just ask him myself.”

I glanced at Strike, who was now talking with Dizzy about something, and then looked at Treehugger again. “He’s not that good-looking. Sure, he’s not butt ugly, but I think you’re overreacting. Don’t you agree, Blizzard?”

Blizzard brushed back a few strands of her snow white hair and said, “Oh, I don’t know. Strike is pretty cute, but not as cute as you, of course.”

“But hard to talk to?” I said. “I mean, maybe it’s because I’m a guy, but I really don’t see what’s so scary about him. Sure, he’s got magnetic powers and can shoot lasers from his eyes, but so what? I can shoot lightning from my hands and you’re not afraid of me.”

“You don’t understand,” said Treehugger. She covertly glanced at Strike. “I just … can’t, okay?”

I was about to say that I really didn’t understand when suddenly I heard a whooshing sound in the air and looked up in time to see Omega Man coming in for a landing. He looked as regal and heroic as ever, his cape fluttering behind him as he lowered down onto the stage.

Omega Man’s mere presence was enough to silence all of the gathered heroes in the crowd below and he hadn’t even said anything yet. Of course, Omega Man was basically a living legend, being one of the first modern superheroes and having been actively fighting crime longer than almost anyone here. His back was to me now, but I could imagine his square jaw and chiseled features well enough.

Omega Man adjusted the microphone on the podium in front of him and then looked around at the crowd below before saying, “Welcome, one and all, to the unveiling of the Justice Statue, a project that I have been personally helping to build ever since the end of the last Neohero Summit. I want to especially welcome the INJ members and leaders who came here for the unveiling, because we know that California is quite a way from New York and that it is not an easy journey to make, even for superhumans like us.”

I leaned back in my chair, my arms folded over my chest, while the rest of my team looked more alert than they had before. Omega Man had that effect on people. Although he never spoke very loudly, he had a way of attracting attention to himself whenever he was giving a speech. Sometimes I even thought that Omega Man had some sort of hypnotic power in addition to his other ones, though as far as I knew Omega Man’s power set was similar to mine, except stronger.

“Many of you have been looking forward to this day,” said Omega Man. “We all have, I think, not only to see the Statue, but also to learn of the concrete, practical ways in which our two organizations will work together in the future. We have a particular announcement that will be of great interest not only to everyone here in person, but to everyone watching at home from the livestreams as well, particularly our younger viewers.”

I wondered if that was the team I’d heard rumors about. I looked over at the New Heroes and saw that they looked just as interested in hearing about this new announcement as I was. I guessed that the Midnight Menace and the other INJ leaders had not told them about it, either.