The Superhero's Clone

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER THREE

Black Blur did not immediately explain what he meant about that. Instead, he told me it would have to wait until we got to the Braindome because first we needed to help the police get into the Showdown City Park and help the people. As much as I disliked Black Blur, I knew he had a point. Between me, him, and Blizzard, we managed to break down all of the concrete walls surrounding the park, as well as work with the police to make sure every bystander got out and search the park itself to make sure that Mixer really was alone. We also fished Mixer out of the pond and handed him over to the police, who were already getting ready to call the G-Men in order to have Mixer transported to Ultimate Max where he belonged.

After that, the three of us returned to the Braindome. More specifically, we went to the conference room, where we found Brains and Vanish already present. Despite how rarely the conference room was used, Vanish had gone ahead and put Christmas decorations up in here, including a string of lights along the ceiling and a mini Christmas tree in the center of the table, although the mood was hardly festive as the five of us sat around the table.

Black Blur, of course, sat at the head of the table, which was where Brains usually did. Can’t say I was surprised, given his ego. Out of all of the members of the Leadership Council—the governing body of the NHA organization as a whole—Black Blur was always my least favorite. For whatever reason, Black Blur had taken an immediate dislike to me almost as soon as we met. I wasn’t sure why, given how the two of us rarely interacted and I didn’t even meet him until he was made a Council member. I guess our personalities just didn’t gel or something.

Still, even if I disliked him, I couldn’t deny that Black Blur was a powerful speedster. I might have been fast, but Black Blur was like a sports car to my Camero. I had never raced him before, but I was pretty sure that if I did, he’d beat me no problem even with my super speed. I was probably stronger than him, but strength didn’t mean much in a race.

“Uh, welcome, Black Blur,” said Brains, who sat opposite me with his arm around Vanish’s shoulders. “I didn’t know you were going to be here today.”

“You mean you didn’t get the email Lady sss sent you?” said Black Blur, looking at Brains curiously.

Brains frowned and pulled out his phone. He tapped the screen a couple of times and then his eyes widened. “Oh, I did. Said I got it at 9:06 PM.”

“Hmmm,” said Black Blur, stroking his chin. “I left Hero Island at 9:04 and got here at 9:05, so perhaps you have a slow Internet connection.”

“Wait, you ran here all the way here from Hero Island?” said Blizzard, staring at Black Blur in absolute astonishment. “Across the water?”

“Of course,” said Black Blur with a snort. “It’s rather easy. One time I even ran across the Atlantic Ocean to get to a Neohero Summit held in Tokyo. Took me the better part of a day to do it, but only because I wasn’t entirely used to my powers at that point and I ran into some trouble in Israel, though I still made it early, of course.”

Blizzard looked legitimately impressed, while I just tried my hardest not to roll my eyes. I forgot how much of a braggart Black Blur could be. And even worse, he could back up his bragging, too.

“Anyway, I’m not here to talk about the limits of my powers,” said Black Blur with a shake of his head. “I am here to discuss a far more important issue: The disappearance of Mecha Knight.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that to me back in the park,” I said. “I didn’t know Mecha Knight disappeared in the first place.”

“Technically, he didn’t,” said Black Blur with a shrug. “His body is still in his room on Hero Island.”

“What do you mean his body?” said Blizzard in a worried tone. “Is he dead? Did someone steal his soul or something?”

Uh oh. I had completely forgotten that Blizzard—and Brains and Vanish, too—had no idea that Mecha Knight was really just a soul in a robot. Though Mecha Knight had at one point been a human, when his body died, he transferred his mind into a new robot body he had built for himself. Very few people knew the truth about Mecha Knight’s body except for me, the Leadership Council, and maybe a few others. It definitely wasn’t public knowledge, that was for sure.

Black Blur sighed like he had realized the same thing as me. “It’s a long story, but Mecha Knight isn’t actually a normal human being. When he died, his mind was downloaded into a robot he made. As a result, the Mecha Knight you know and have spoken to is not actually a flesh-and-blood human being, but he’s still very much Mecha Knight in terms of his mind and spirit.”

Blizzard gaped and looked at me. “Bolt, did you know that?”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Yeah.”

“And you never told me?” said Blizzard indignantly.

“You two can talk about your relationship problems later,” said Black Blur, although I noticed he had a very big smirk on his face when he said that. “Right now, we have far more important matters to discuss.”

I shot Black Blur a silent ‘thank you’ with my eyes, but I knew I wasn’t entirely off the hook yet, based on the way Blizzard frowned. Still, she apparently agreed with Black Blur, because she didn’t bring it up again.

“Can you elaborate on how Mecha Knight disappeared?” said Brains. He looked as shocked to learn about Mecha Knight’s true nature as Blizzard, as did Vanish. “You said his body is still on Hero Island. What about his mind?”

Black Blur folded his arms in front of his chest. “That’s the thing. His body has been inactive for three months now, and we are worried something may have happened to him in the Vaultwork.”

“The what?” said Blizzard.

I snapped my fingers. “Oh, now I get it. The Vaultwork is the Internet-like communication system that ties all of Dad’s Vaults together. It also doubles as a full-immersion massively multiplayer virtual reality role-playing game.”

“Say that five times fast,” Brains muttered under his breath.

Blizzard looked at me in confusion. “How do you know what it is? Is that another secret you kept from me?”

I bit my lower lip, trying not to lose my temper at her little jab. “While you were unconscious suffering from that incurable illness the Neo-Killer inflicted on you, I went to one of Dad’s Vaults, where I discovered the Vaultwork was a thing. I even played in it to defeat a virus that would have destroyed the Internet if she got free. Had help from Bait, Switch, and Mecha Knight to do it.”

“I remember you telling us that Mecha Knight helped,” said Brains. He looked over at Black Blur. “Has Mecha Knight not returned?”

“Correct,” said Black Blur. “He warned us it might be a while before he returned, but that was three months ago and we haven’t heard even one peep from him since. The Leadership Council understands that the last three people Mecha Knight spoke to before his disappearance were you, Bait, and Switch.”

“Is that why you’re here?” I said, scratching my chin. “Because you think I might know what happened to him?”

“Yes,” said Black Blur, nodding. “I already interviewed Bait and Switch about it. Both of them told me they have no idea what happened to him, but told me you might know. Do you?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Blur, but I don’t, either. I haven’t been anywhere near the Vaultwork since I left it three months ago.”

“What did Mecha Knight last tell you before you left?” said Black Blur.

I thought about it for a second. “He said he and Vault F’s AI, Olga, were going to continue searching the Vaultwork for threats like Holly.”

“So he told you the same thing he told us,” said Black Blur. His shoulders slumped. “Something must have happened to him, then. There’s no way he would remain missing for that long, not without telling us why.”

“What could have happened to him, though?” I said. “Mecha Knight was one of the most powerful characters in the game. No way he could have been killed by some in-game threat.”

“Who said it had to be an in-game enemy?” said Brains. “What if someone from outside the Vaultwork hacked in and got him?”

“But who could do that?” asked Vanish with a frown. “The Vaultwork isn’t accessible to the outside, right, Bolt?”

I opened my mouth to confirm that, but then paused and thought about it. Mecha Knight had said that there were other ways into the Vaultwork that most people didn’t know about. And there was at least one man I knew of who might very well have access to the Vaultwork: Seth Richards. He was still out there somewhere, after all, even though the G-Men had been searching for him ever since the Longworth incident last month.

“I would like to think so,” I said, “but I’m not ruling it out as a possibility.”

“What should we do?” said Blizzard. “Should we go back into the Vaultwork to look for him?”

“If that’s where he was last seen, then I would say so,” said Black Blur. “Unfortunately, I’ve never entered the Vaultwork myself, so I wouldn’t know where to start looking for him.”

I held up a hand. “I’ll do it. I’ve been there before. All of my character information should still be available as well so I will be able to defend myself from in-game threats if necessary.”

“Are you sure, Bolt?” said Brains, looking at me in concern. “We could really use your help around here, you know.”

“I’m sure,” I said. “Mecha Knight is my friend and mentor. I’m just as worried about him as you guys are. And besides, I’m the only one here who has any experience in the Vaultwork, so I’m the most logical choice to go in and find him.”

Black Blur pursed his lips. “I admit I can’t find any problems with your logic. You know where Vault F is, right?”

“Of course,” I said. “I could go there right now if I—”

Blizzard suddenly interrupted me with a loud cough. I looked at her in confusion and said, “Blizz, are you okay? That cough sounded nasty.”

Blizzard looked at me as if I was an i***t. “Can we talk first before we go running away on another adventure? Just you and me?”

Uh oh. I could tell she was angry, but I also didn’t dare tell her we couldn’t, so I said, “Sure, Blizz. Whatever you want to talk about.”

“Okay,” said Blizzard. She gestured at the door. “Let’s stand outside the conference room for some privacy.” She looked at Black Blur, Brains, and Vanish. “Don’t worry. We won’t be long.”

Blizzard stood up, grabbed my wrist, and practically dragged me out of my seat. As we walked to the door, I looked back over my shoulder at the others with a pleading expression on my face, but Black Blur just smirked, while Brains shrugged his shoulders and Vanish looked like she was praying for my life. I guess even they didn’t want to get in the way of an annoyed Blizzard, though I couldn’t blame them given how powerful she was.