The Superhero's Son Omnibus Volume 1

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

“So you were offered a position on the Young Neos by Incantation herself?” said Malcolm, staring at me in shock. “Get out of here.”

“No, I'm telling the truth,” I said. “You saw our fight with Steel Skin on the news yesterday, didn't you?”

Malcolm and I sat on the front steps of John Smith High School, which was the school I attended. It was Monday and we were having lunch together outside today, instead of at our usual spot in the cafeteria. That was because I wanted to avoid being overheard by the other students or faculty, and because most of them ate lunch in the cafeteria, this was the most logical place in the school to talk in private. There were a few other students nearby, sitting underneath the trees or at some of the picnic tables, but they were far enough away that they couldn't hear us. Besides, the other students were too absorbed in their own conversations or smartphones to notice us and we weren't speaking very loudly, so I felt pretty safe.

“Yeah, I saw the fight at the Plutarch rally, but the news didn't show what happened to you after it,” said Malcolm. “So you just went off together and talked?”

“Pretty much,” I said. “She said she came all the way out to Texas just to talk with me.”

“That's pretty amazing,” said Malcolm. “She must really like you or something.”

Malcolm sounded more than a little jealous, prompting me to say, “Oh, I asked her out, but she rejected me, so I doubt she has any, like, real interest in me or anything. She probably just thought I could be a good member of the team. Nothing romantic.”

Malcolm suddenly looked a lot less jealous. “Yeah, I guess. So what did you say? Did you accept?”

“I told her I wanted to talk about it with my parents first,” I said.

“And what did your parents say?” said Malcolm.

“A big, fat no,” I said with a sigh. “You know what my dad's opinion about superheroics is.”

“Bummer, man,” said Malcolm. “The Young Neos are awesome. Even though they're all really young, they all have really high rankings on Neo Ranks. Incantation is a six, which is pretty high for a younger hero.”

“I know,” I said, shaking my head. Then I paused. “Wait, she's just a six? I'm a seven.”

“Yeah, but that's because you beat Master Chaos,” said Malcolm. “Incantation hasn't fought any major villains like that, at least not that I know of. She's most well-known for helping to defeat Mirakill, but Mirakill is a six, too, so he's not on Master Chaos or Nuclear Winter's level.”

“That must be why she wanted me on the team,” I said. “I'm already higher than her. She'd probably raise the profile of the team quite a bit if she had me on it.”

“Yeah, but who cares?” said Malcolm. “If you joined the Young Neos, it would open even more opportunities for you as a superhero.”

“Assuming my parents will even let me,” I said with a sigh. “They were pretty adamant about not letting me join yesterday.”

“That sucks,” said Malcolm.

“But,” I said, “I didn't throw out the device Incantation gave me, the one I could use to contact her and let her know my decision. It's back home in the drawer of my desk.”

“Why are you keeping it if you aren't allowed to join them?” said Malcolm. “Are you planning to join them anyway, regardless of what your parents say?”

I shrugged. “Well, I mean, I'm almost an adult now. I don't think I need my parents' approval for every little thing. I still haven't gotten back to Incantation about this yet, but that's why I wanted to talk with you. I wanted to get your opinion on it.”

“Well, my opinion is that you should run back home right now, grab that device, and let Incantation know that you want to be on the team,” said Malcolm. “I wouldn't waste even another second talking to me if I were you. You never know how long this offer is going to last, after all. What if you take too long to get back to her and Incantation decides you aren't interested and looks for someone else?”

“I never thought of that,” I said. “I thought the offer would always stand.”

“Eh, I wouldn't be so sure about that,” said Malcolm. “At least if I were her, I wouldn't waste my time waiting for someone to respond to my very generous offer.”

“Good point,” I said. “Maybe when I get home, I'll contact Incantation and talk to her about this. I'm just worried about what my parents will think.”

“They'll be fine, I'm sure,” said Malcolm. “Just because they think it's a bad idea now doesn't mean they always will. I'm sure they'll come around to it.”

Malcolm seemed too optimistic about my parents, but then again, he didn't know them nearly as well as I. He didn't know how serious my parents were about ensuring I didn't make superheroics my career. Still, I really wanted to join the Young Neos and so was really tempted to just use the Star Caller as soon as I went home after school today.

Then, all of a sudden, loud laughter came out of nowhere, startling me and Malcolm. I looked around, wondering where the laughter was coming from until I noticed a few students sitting under one of the trees nearby. I didn't recognize most of them, but I did recognize the large, tanned skin blond-haired guy sitting in the middle of them: It was Robert Candle, the son of Bernard Candle, also known as Master Chaos.

Robert Candle was the local bully of John Smith High School, who tried to give me trouble when I first got here but ended up getting punched through the cafeteria wall by yours truly (accidentally, of course). He had helped Master Chaos try to kill me and had just recently gotten off his crutches, though he didn't participate in sports anymore due to the fact that he was still recovering from his injuries.

The two of us were basically archenemies, although we had not gotten into any conflicts with each other since he got out of the hospital. That was mostly, I think, due to the fact that he was a normal human and I was not, so he didn't want to get punched through a wall again. He still glared at me, though, whenever no one was looking, and I'd glare right back, which was about as close to coming to blows as we'd come since he returned to school.

I thought that Robert and his friends had laughed at something I said, but then I noticed that they were all watching a video on Robert's smartphone. I couldn't see what it was from here, but the volume was loud enough for me to make out a loud, angry voice with a familiar New York accent. But it was hard to identify who was speaking because Robert and his friends would break out into riotous laughter every few minutes, sometimes even giving each other high fives. None of them seemed to notice me or Malcolm.

“What are they laughing at?” I said, tilting my head to the side.

Malcolm frowned and actually glared at Robert, which surprised me, because Malcolm was usually too timid to even look at Robert, despite knowing that I could protect him if Robert ever tried to bully him. “Probably one of Plutarch's speeches.”

“Plutarch?” I said. “You mean Adam Plutarch? The guy who is running for President?”

“Yeah,” said Malcolm. He punched his fist into his other hand. “Sometimes I just want to punch that i***t in the face.”

“I didn't know Robert was a Plutarch fan,” I said, glancing at Robert and his friends again. “I thought Robert was too stupid to follow politics.”

“He's stupid enough for Plutarch,” said Malcolm. “But I can guess why he likes him: Plutarch hates neoheroes.”

“He does?” I said.

“Yeah,” said Malcolm. He looked at me in surprise. “Haven't you been watching his speeches? He's on the news all the time, talking about 'making America normal again' and crap like that.”

Malcolm did air quotes around the phrase 'making America normal again' when he said it, like he didn't actually agree with it.

“I'm just not very interested in politics,” I admitted. “So I don't really know what Plutarch's opinions or positions are.”

“You're lucky,” said Malcolm. “Plutarch keeps saying things like neoheroes can't be trusted, that they're just a problem that needs to be dealt with. He said he's going to force neoheroes to pay for all of the collateral damage that they cause in their fights. He's a lunatic.”

“He seemed pretty sane when I spoke with him,” I said.

“You've met him?” said Malcolm. “When?”

“After Incantation and I saved him,” I said. “He talked to me briefly and even gave me his card in case I wanted to talk with him.”

“While you were in full costume?” said Malcolm in astonishment. “That's weird.”

“I know,” I said with a shrug. “He was just grateful that Incantation and I saved him, though he looked at Incantation like she had insulted him.”

“No surprise there,” said Malcolm with a snort. “Plutarch has a Neo Ranks page as the Billionaire. He made a lot of enemies in the neohero community before retiring, including Thaumaturge, Incantation's master.”

“Yeah, my Dad doesn't like him, either,” I said. “I just wonder how he managed to become so popular if he's so stupid.”

“Because he isn't stupid,” said a voice behind us, causing Malcolm and I to look over our shoulders.

Standing in the doorway to the school was Tara Reynolds. Unusually, her face wasn't buried in her smartphone at the moment. She stood with her hand keeping the door open, looking down at us from behind her glasses. She looked as cute as ever, even if she was looking at Malcolm in annoyance.

“Tara, what are you doing out here?” Malcolm. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Just a few seconds,” said Tara. “I only heard the last thing Kevin said about Plutarch. I came out here because I got tired of the noise of the cafeteria and wanted a little peace and quiet.”

I was hugely relieved that Tara had only heard that last bit, because I worried that she had overheard us talking about the Young Neos and my fight with Steel Skin. Unlike Malcolm, Tara didn't know about my secret identity, as I had not yet told her about it, and wasn't sure if I ever would due to the fact that she was pretty anti-neohero herself.

“What do you mean that Plutarch isn't stupid?” said Malcolm. “Come on. Have you heard the guy talk? He's insane. I mean, he's a former supervillain, for Pete's sake.”

“Yeah, former,” said Tara, closing the door behind her and walking over to us. “He's an honest businessman now. And anyway, it doesn't change the fact that his views on neoheroes are right.”

“No, they're not,” said Malcolm, shaking his head. “He's just letting his own negative experiences with them in the past color his views. He doesn't know what he's talking about half the time.”

Tara rolled her eyes. “And your friend Barney does?”

“Barney?” I said, looking between Malcolm and Tara in confusion. “Is Barney the Dinosaur running for President now?”

“She's talking about Barnabas Sagan,” said Malcolm, who seemed annoyed at Tara's nickname for Sagan. “He's Plutarch's rival in the election, the candidate for the other party.”

“What's so great about him?” I said.

“Unlike Plutarch, Sagan was never a supervillain,” said Malcolm. “He's a Senator from some northeastern state, been in the Senate for years. He's nowhere near as rich as Plutarch, but if you ask me, he's a lot more honest and much friendlier to neoheroes than Plutarch could ever be.”

“Because he's an old loon who has a rosy-eyed view of superhumans,” Tara said, shaking her head. “His home state doesn't have as many neoheroes as others, which is probably why he doesn't see them as the threat they are.”

“You're wrong,” said Malcolm, standing up and staring Tara in the eye. “He knows more about neoheroes than Plutarch. He just knows that they are our friends and we shouldn't burden them with unnecessary fees.”

“You mean force them to take responsibility for their actions?” said Tara, not backing down. “Are you telling me that the powerful shouldn't be held accountable when they destroy things?”

“I'm saying that neoheroes shouldn't be taxed out of existence,” said Malcolm. “Because that's what Plutarch wants to do. He just wants to bankrupt the NHA and the INJ and every other neohero organization out there so that the G-Men are the only functioning neohero organization in the country. He wants the government to have more control over the superhuman community.”

Tara looked like she was about to start yelling at Malcolm, so I stood up and, raising my hands, said, “Hey, guys, we don't need to fight about this. It's just politics, I mean, we're not even old enough to vote yet. Who cares whether you support Plutarch or Sagan or someone else?”

“Stay out of this, Kevin,” said Tara. “You don't know anything, so your opinions just come across as ignorant.”

“Ignorant?” said Malcolm. “Is that what we're doing now? Insulting each other because we don't meet your arbitrary standards of informativeness?”

“Guys,” I said, “this really isn't a big deal. I'm not offended or anything. I'm just saying that we should all just calm down and be friends. Isn't that what we are?”

For a moment, I feared that Malcolm and Tara really were going to fight. I mean, I could stop them pretty easily with only the slightest application of my powers if I had to, but I really didn't want to.

Then Tara shook her head and said, “Lunch is almost over. I'm heading to class now. Bye.”

With that, Tara turned away and marched right back into the school. She yanked the door open and stomped inside without even looking over her shoulder at us.

I looked at Malcolm, who didn't look very happy at the moment. “Are you all right, Mal?”

“I'm fine,” said Malcolm. “Tara is just being her usual obnoxious self. I'm going back to class, too.”

Malcolm lifted his backpack off the steps and went back into the school without even waiting for me to go with him. I just stood there, unsure if I had just witnessed the end of a friendship. I hoped I hadn't.