The Superhero's Clone

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

Eighteen years later …

I will admit it: I really thought that Blizzard and I were finally going to get that night out together that we’d been planning for months.

I shouldn’t have, honestly. After all, I was a superhero. It didn’t matter if I wanted to take a month, a week, or even a day off from my work. Someone or something would happen that would force me back into action, usually against my will. And it was usually in the form of a ‘someone’ who had some kind of grudge against me or was trying to do something bad.

Luckily, I had my girlfriend, who was also a superhero, with me this time, but I could tell even without talking to her that Blizzard was annoyed. She’d been looking forward to this date even more than me and now it was being interrupted by a man made out of concrete.

Flying in the air, I looked down at the supervillain known as Mixer. He was a big guy who looked like he was made entirely out of cement. His skin was rough and gray, but don’t let his bulky, awkward appearance fool you. I’d learned the hard way already that Mixer was a lot more intelligent than he let on. Probably deliberately so, but that didn’t really matter right now when he was trying to destroy an entire park and everyone within it.

“Blizzard,” I said, tapping my earcom to keep in contact with her. “How is the evacuation effort going?”

Blizzard’s slightly harried voice came over my earcom like a pleasant breeze. “Pretty well so far, but it’s been hectic. Lots of people are confused and scared. The big concrete walls that sprung up around the park’s perimeter aren’t helping matters.”

I knew what she was talking about. When Mixer showed up about ten minutes ago, he had also summoned giant concrete walls all around the park’s perimeter, cutting off all avenues of escape. The only part that wasn’t blocked off by a concrete wall was the pond, but it was too deep and wide for most people to swim through. And because it was also the middle of December, the pond was also way too freaking cold for anyone to attempt to swim through, especially while wearing their heavy winter coats. It didn’t help that the park was packed due to everyone wanting to see the Christmas lights one last time before Christmas itself. Then again, that was probably why Mixer chose today to attack the park.

“Hey, kid!” Mixer shouted at me, his voice as harsh as broken concrete. “What are you doing? Too busy talking with your girlfriend to pay attention to little ol’ me?”

“Don’t worry, Mixer,” I said. “I haven’t forgotten about you. I just have a quick call to make and then we can get back to our date.”

“Date?” said Blizzard over my earcom indignantly. “What about our date?”

“It was just a joke, Blizz,” I said quickly. “Anyway, try to figure out how to get everyone past those walls. I’ll keep Mixer distracted. Oh, and if Brains and Vanish show up, tell them Mixer and I are near the center of the Park, close to the statue of William Showdown.”

“All right,” said Blizzard. “But once I get everyone out of here, I am coming back for you, okay? So don’t get yourself killed.”

“Don’t worry, Blizz,” I said. “I have no intention of dying to—”

I was interrupted by a loud ripping noise and looked down just in time to see the metal statue of William Showdown, the founder of Showdown, flying toward me like a frisbee. The statue slammed into me and knocked me out of the air, sending me crashing into a set up of Santa’s reindeer and making their light bulbs pop upon impact.

“Now you’ll pay attention to me,” said Mixer with a growl, stomping over to me with heavy footsteps.

Shaking my head, I lifted the statue off me and shoved it aside. I jumped to my feet and faced Mixer, who was still advancing on me with his hands balled into huge fists.

“Hey, man, that was public property,” I said, gesturing at the fallen statue of William Showdown. “Show some respect for your ancestors.”

“The only person I have respect for is my mama,” Mixer replied. “And she’s dead.”

Mixer smashed his fists onto the ground. Concrete spears shot out of the ground at me, forcing me to use my super speed and dodge them easily. I then rushed up to Mixer and swung a fist at his face, but his head split in half at the last second and my punch missed.

Then Mixer slammed both of his hands over my body and squeezed, lifting me off the ground as I gasped for air. His head reformed back into one, an evil grin on his ugly face.

“Got you right where I want you, kid,” said Mixer. “Let’s see how long it takes for you to pop like a balloon.”

Mixer’s grip was surprisingly strong and crushing, but I had faced worse before. With a grunt, I smashed his right arm with my fist, loosening his grip just enough for me to fly up out of his hands. I landed on the other side of the park, near the Nativity scene set up on the shore of the pond, and looked back over in time to see Mixer’s right arm already reforming thanks to his unique abilities.

“You’re tough, kid, I’ll give you that,” said Mixer as he turned to face me. “But I’m tougher.”

“Sure you are,” I said. “By the way, mind telling me why you’re here? I don’t see any of your Iron Ringer buddies.”

“I quit those losers after they got their butts handed to them by a kid,” Mixer said with a sneer. “I’m what you’d call ‘independent’ now, and I decided that my first action as an independent agent was to get revenge on you for beating me a couple months ago.”

“On Christmas?” I said. I gestured at the Nativity scene. “What would Baby Jesus say about that?”

Mixer growled and charged toward me. He swung his heavy fists at me, but I ducked and punched him in the abdomen before jumping away out of his reach.

“Gonna have to try harder than that to get me,” I said, waving at him mockingly. “Maybe lose a few pounds and you’ll be able to catch up with me.”

“I don’t need to catch up with you, kid,” said Mixer as he turned to face me again. “Just outlast you. I can already tell you’re starting to wear out and you can’t kill me, either.”

As much as I hated to admit it, Mixer had a point. I had good endurance, but this fight had been going for maybe ten minutes now. Mixer’s unique body makeup meant he could keep going almost indefinitely as long as he had some concrete to absorb, while I was still just a fleshy human who got tired and weak whenever I went too long without food and water. It didn’t help that Mixer could reform his body every time I broke something, while I didn’t have any such healing powers. In fact, even as I watched, his cracked abdomen repaired itself where I had punched him, leaving a smooth concrete surface that looked like it had been freshly poured just today.

If Blizzard was with me, things would be different, but Blizzard was currently rounding up the park-goers and getting them to safety. Brains and Vanish were back at the Braindome, but with the thick concrete walls surrounding the place, I wasn’t sure even Vanish’s teleportation powers would allow her to get here in time. That meant I was on my own, as usual.

“Bolt!” said Blizzard’s voice in my earcom all of a sudden. “Something’s coming your way?’

“What?” I said, putting my hand over my earcom. “What’s coming my way?”

“Not sure,” said Blizzard, raising her voice to be heard above what sounded like people yelling in the background. “I was building a staircase made of ice for the people to use to walk over the walls when something just flat out zoomed over the walls and destroyed my stairs.”

“Zoomed?” I said. “Like it was running?”

“Yeah,” said Blizzard. “Oh, and it knocked me down, too. Extremely rude.”

“And it’s coming my way, you said?”

“Sure looked like it,” said Blizzard. “Moved too fast for me to stop. Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I said, lowering my hand from my earcom. “It’s not your fault. He’s not exactly known for his politeness.”

“Who is?” said Blizzard in confusion.

Before I could answer Blizzard’s question, the concrete underneath my feet suddenly covered my feet like mud and hardened. Surprised, I tried to pull myself free, but found myself unable to move.

“Stop ignoring me,” said Mixer, who I had not noticed walk up to me. “Stay right there. You can talk to your girlfriend later … at your funeral.”

Mixer raised his right arm, which transformed into a giant hammer made out of concrete. I held up my hands to block the attack, but as it turned out, I didn’t need to.

A black blur came out of nowhere and slammed into Mixer. Shocked, Mixer staggered backward, but before he could do anything else, the blur hit him again, each blow sending him closer and closer to the pond. Mixer tried to fight back, but he was too slow and the blur was too fast, striking him so many times that bits and pieces of concrete flew off his form.

“What the hell?” said Mixer, his head whipping back and forth as he tried to keep up with his mysterious assailant. “Who the hell are you? Stop moving so fast for one goddamn second, you stupid—”

Mixer didn’t get to finish his sentence because his attacker kicked his mouth off of his head. Mixer’s eyes widened in shock, but then the blur slammed into his chest so hard that Mixer staggered back several steps. He tripped over the Baby Jesus display of the Nativity scene, his arms swinging, and fell backward into the pond with a loud splash. He tried to get up, but it was obvious to me that, between his heavy concrete body sinking and the wet mud making it impossible for him to find any footing, he was not going anywhere anytime soon.

But my attention wasn’t on Mixer anymore. Instead, I was focused on the black-clad superhero who stood before me now. He was a tall man with a lean, athletic body, his black bodysuit blending in well with his dark skin. Two harsh eyes peered out from under his mask as he eyed me with a very unimpressed look on his face.

“Really, Bolt?” said the man, putting his hands on his hips. “Letting yourself get caught by an i***t like this? I thought you were better than that.”

With a grunt, I yanked my feet out of their cement prisons and stepped forward. “He sneaked up on me, something I’m sure you have a lot of experience with, Black Blur.”

Black Blur didn’t smile. “Well, at least he’s down, although I’m a bit disappointed I had to be the one to do it. Brains’ reports back to HQ have been very complimentary of your work, but I wonder if maybe he’s simply being his usual nice self in his reports.”

I scowled. “Speaking of which, why are you here? Shouldn’t you be back on Hero Island getting ready for your reelection campaign on the Leadership Council?”

Black Blur apparently didn’t notice my jab, because he said, “I’m glad you asked. I’m here because I’m trying to solve a mystery, which I hope you can help me solve.”

“A mystery?” I said. “What mystery?”

Black Blur looked at me more directly than before. “The disappearance of Mecha Knight. Because you were the last one see him, you are the one person most likely to know exactly where he is.”