by Lucas Flint
“Because my powers don’t work well in this kind of heat,” said Blizzard, feeling slightly irritable. “Besides, I don’t want anyone to notice me using my ice powers in public when I’m not in my super suit. I don’t want to attract that kind of attention from random strangers at the moment.”
Blizzard thought that a reasonable desire. Although there weren’t too many people in Dust Devil Park this early in the morning, Blizzard knew from experience how any superhuman with an even remotely interesting superpower could draw all kinds of attention—both positive and negative—from the citizens of Phoenix. That was because the city had so few superhumans that it was easy for superhumans to stand out in this place even unintentionally.
“Well, let me get you some bottled water or an ice cream cone or something, at least,” said Bolt.
“Okay,” said Blizzard, nodding as she continued to fan herself. “It’s been a long time since I was last here, though, so I don’t know where you might find bottled water.”
“I’ll just go look for a vending machine,” said Bolt. “Be back in a bit.”
Bolt ran off in the direction of the basketball court, although of course he did not use his super speed. Still, he could run pretty fast even without his powers and soon Blizzard was alone. Normally, Blizzard disliked being apart from Bolt, but right now she was too hot to care about that. She closed her eyes, deciding to take this moment to get a little rest, but then she felt a hand tap her shoulder, causing her to yelp, jump to her feet, and whirl around, throwing a punch at whoever had touched her.
But Blizzard’s fist hit nothing but empty air, causing Blizzard to stagger forward slightly from the momentum. She nearly tripped over the bench that she had been sitting on, but caught herself on it and looked around quickly, but she did not see anyone else under the ramada aside from herself. She did see a couple of kids in the skate park, but there was no way that either of them could have come up behind her, touched her shoulder, and then run away out of sight so quickly like that.
Maybe the heat is getting to me, Blizzard thought, her shoulders slumping. Must be making me imagine things.
“You look hot,” said a familiar voice behind her abruptly. “And I mean that in the bad way, of course.”
Blizzard turned around again, although this time more slowly than before due to how tired she was from the heat. She now saw a young woman, probably in her early twenties, standing under the ramada with her; however, the young woman was leaning against one of the ramada’s legs, her arms crossed over her chest like she had been standing there all day, even though Blizzard was certain that the woman had not been there even five seconds ago.
The young woman wore a G-Man patch on her right shoulder and had short, dark hair and pale skin that made her look like a ghost and her dark clothes looked uncomfortable in this heat. If Blizzard hadn’t known who this woman was, she would have dismissed her as some kind of weak, goth girl who was no threat to her, but Blizzard had met this woman before and knew exactly who she worked for and what she was capable of doing.
“Shade,” said Blizzard, not bothering to hide the disgust in her voice. “You look … pale.”
The woman smiled a mocking smile. “Is this how you greet everyone you haven’t seen in a while or am I just special?”
Blizzard’s hands balled into fists. Shade was a member of the G-Men, the only superhero team in the country sponsored by the federal government. While the G-Men generally upheld law and order, Blizzard and the other Young Neos didn’t trust them due to some of their past bad experiences with them. Bolt, in particular, had had a series of negative experiences with the G-Men that made him dislike and distrust them, especially their leader, the enigmatic Cadmus Smith. Blizzard didn’t have quite as many negative experiences with the G-Men as Bolt; however, she remembered well how the G-Men had nearly ruined Bolt’s life before, which was why she didn’t like him that much.
“What do you want?” said Blizzard. “And how did you find me? I’ve never told the government my secret identity.”
“There’s this interesting thing called the Patriot Act that you might have heard of,” said Shade. “A helpful little piece of legislature that lets government officials such as yours truly find out pretty much anything we want about whoever we want. For the greater good, of course.”
Blizzard looked around, but she didn’t see any other G-Men agents in the area. “Did you come alone? I don’t see any other G-Men agents.”
“Yep,” said Shade, nodding. “Director Smith says this is a top secret mission, so he sent me by myself. Not that I’m complaining. I’ve never been to Phoenix before, so I see this as a mini-vacation in addition to being part of my work. You’d be surprised at how rarely we G-Men get vacations. Then again, protecting the United States and its interests is not the kind of job you can take a vacation from without something really bad happening.”
“You still haven’t told me what you want,” said Blizzard. She stepped forward, trying to look as intimidating as possible. “Are you spying on Bolt again? Because if so, I want you to leave right now and never, ever come back. Or else.”
“As fun as spying on cute guys is, I am not here to do that today,” said Shade with a shrug. “But I must say that Bolt is such a good boyfriend, going to find some bottled water for you like that. You’re very lucky to have him.”
“Yes, I know,” said Blizzard. “If you aren’t here to spy on him, are you spying on the rest of us, then?”
“Nope,” said Shade, shaking her head. “No spying today. Director Smith sent me to Phoenix for something totally unrelated to you and your friends. I didn’t even know you were here, actually, until I read a news report about Doctor Danger’s attack that mentioned that you and your friends helped Radicles defeat him.”
“All right, then,” said Blizzard. She stood upright and gestured in a random direction. “If your oh-so-important government mission doesn’t have anything to do with us, then you should probably leave right now. As you said, you can’t afford to take a break from ‘protecting’ the United States, now can you?”
“Ooh, did I strike a nerve with you?” said Shade. She smirked. “I’m really not here to try to steal your boyfriend, you know, but it’s cute that you think I am anyway.”
Blizzard’s face went red with embarrassment, because that was exactly why she wanted Shade to leave; nonetheless, Blizzard said, “My point still stands. If your mission is that important, then you’re wasting a ton of time standing around here talking to me about Bolt.”
“Actually, as it turns out, I do need your help after all,” said Shade. “I am technically under orders from Director Smith not to tell anyone outside of the G-Men about my mission, but I can tell you a few details to help you understand why I came to you for help.”
Blizzard folded her arms across her chest and looked at Shade suspiciously. “You need my help, huh? Why should I help you, given what your people have done to Bolt and my friends in the past?”
“Because you’re a good person with the most selfless of intentions, of course,” said Shade. She chuckled. “But really, it’s because I can’t complete this mission on my own and there’s no time to waste waiting for Director Smith to send help from Washington. And if this problem isn’t dealt with immediately, it will harm the whole country in the long run, and in the short run, Phoenix will be destroyed.”
Immediately, Blizzard unfolded her arms, but she didn’t dare step closer to Shade. Instead, she said, “What are you talking about? Tell me everything.”
“So now you’re interested in my mission,” said Shade in a mock offended voice. “All right, I’ll share with you the parts that I am at liberty to disclose to you.” She leaned her head forward, as if she was trying to make sure that no one would be able to overhear what she was going to say to Blizzard next. “Tell me, Blizzard, have you heard of a group of people known as the Unwanted?”
Blizzard shook her head. “No, I haven’t. Who are they?”
“The Un
wanted is a relatively young movement, started last year, dedicated to helping superhumans who have lame or useless powers,” said Shade. “Think of your friend Turtle.”
“Shell,” Blizzard said. “His name is Shell.”
“Whatever,” said Shade. “The point is, the Unwanted help superhumans like him, superhumans whose useless powers make them unattractive to the main superhero organizations and who are isolated from the superhuman community as a result. They try to help them get homes, find employment, that sort of thing.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” said Blizzard. “It sounds like a good movement to me.”
“Ah, but that’s just their public face,” said Shade. “The G-Men have been monitoring the Unwanted for a while now, mostly because of their leader, a man named Eli Corey.”
“Who is he?” said Blizzard. “I’ve never heard that name before.”
“Eli Corey is a superhuman rights activist and a superhuman himself,” said Shade. “We don’t know what his powers are, since he’s been very good about keeping them secret, but they are probably dangerous.”
“Okay, but what is so bad about him?” said Blizzard. She resumed fanning her face, since she was still hot. “Has he ever done anything wrong?”
“Actually, yes,” said Shade, nodding. “You see, Eli stole something from the G-Men a long time ago, something … important. We’ve been searching for him for over a decade, but it wasn’t until last year that we found him. And it took us another year to track him down to Phoenix, Arizona.”
“What’s he doing in Phoenix?” said Blizzard.
“Allegedly, he is merely trying to spread the message of the Unwanted,” said Shade. “But our spies within the Unwanted movement have told us that he is going to be meeting with someone tonight at midnight. Who, exactly, we don’t know, but our spies have informed us that the person he is meeting with is important and that there will be some kind of exchange.”
“Let me guess, you think Eli is going to sell the object he stole from you to this person, right?” said Blizzard.
“Correct,” said Shade. “You know, you’re much smarter than you look. You’d make a great G-Man agent, although you’d have to ditch the hood and cape; that’s not really our style.”
“I’d only join the G-Men if I was forced to at gunpoint,” Blizzard said. “And even then, I might not do it.” She shook her head. “But never mind that. Continue.”
“So Director Smith sent me here to steal the object back from Eli and capture Eli himself, too, though getting the object back is the more important objective of the two,” said Shade. “Not a very difficult mission, to be frank. I’ve done this before. My shadow powers make it easy for me to kidnap anyone anywhere.”
“If it’s so easy, then why are you asking me for help?” said Blizzard.
“That’s because it actually isn’t as easy as it first appears,” said Shade. “For one, Eli is incredibly paranoid. He reportedly carries a canister of powerless gas on his person at all times—”
“How did he get powerless gas?” said Blizzard in astonishment. “I thought that only the government had access to it.”
“Ever since the failure of the second Pokacu invasion earlier this year, powerless gas has appeared on the black market,” said Shade. “Remember, tons of Pokacu spaceships crashed into major cities all over the world after you and Bolt blew up the Mother World. And not all of these ships were secured by the governments of these governments before criminals got their hands on it. In particular, the Mexican drug cartels are said to have the largest supply of powerless gas outside of any government in the world and they’re selling it off to the highest bidder, at least when they’re not using it on superheroes and G-Men agents who are trying to stop them from illegally smuggling drugs across the southern border.”
“I see,” said Blizzard. “What else does he have?”
“Bodyguards,” said Shade. “Mostly his fellow Unwanted and each one of them also carries a canister of powerless gas on them, too. Not to mention that the building in which Eli will meet the other guy is going to have tight security; not as good as what the government has, but it’s still another obstacle to get past.”
“So you can’t just use your shadow powers to get in on your own?” said Blizzard.
“Oh, I could, but it would be too risky,” said Shade. “If I had some help—a distraction of some sort—it would be easier.”
“Earlier, you said that if I didn’t help you, Phoenix could be destroyed” said Blizzard. She wiped some sweat off her forehead. “What did you mean by that?”
“Let’s just say that the object which Eli stole is not something you want in the hands of a supervillain and leave it at that,” said Shade. “We don’t know, of course, what Eli’s buyer wants with the object, but it is simply too dangerous for us to allow it to fall into the wrong hands and this may be our last chance to get it before someone else does.” Shade put her hands on her hips. “So? What do you say? Want to help me or not?”
Blizzard looked around the park, but did not see Bolt or any of her other teammates nearby. “What about my teammates? Can I bring Bolt and the others along, assuming I choose to help you?”
“Sorry, but this is the kind of mission where having too many people involved could ruin it,” said Shade. “I would have asked Bolt to help, but he doesn’t like me or the G-Men much, so I figured he would just say no. You, on the other hand, are a lot less hostile toward us. We even worked together once over the summer, remember?”
“I remember,” said Blizzard with a grimace. “But the only reason we worked together back then was because circumstances forced us to. Suppose I don’t want to help you now.”
Shade shrugged. “I can’t force you to help me. I only thought you would help me because Phoenix is your hometown and I didn’t think you’d want to see it destroyed, but hey, it’s your choice.”
Shade turned around, perhaps to leave, but Blizzard quickly said, “Wait!”
Shade stopped and looked over her shoulder at Blizzard. “What is it?”
Blizzard put her hands together, trying not to look so anxious. “This object that Eli has … are you sure it could destroy Phoenix?”
“Or any major American city, but yeah, it could,” said Shade. “Normally, I love screwing around with you, but this is serious. And time is ticking; once Eli sells it to his buyer, it will be very difficult to track it down again and we might not be able to find it again before the buyer uses it to destroy a city or two.”
Blizzard rubbed her hands together. She didn’t like Shade or the G-Men very much; however, the idea that there was an object powerful enough to destroy Phoenix somewhere in the city was dreadful. If Eli’s buyer was a supervillain who wanted to use the object to destroy Phoenix, then the lives of her family were at risk. She was sure that Shade was not telling her everything, but refusing to help Shade just because she didn’t trust her one hundred percent seemed like a foolish thing to do, especially if even half of Shade’s story turned out to be true.
“All right,” said Blizzard. “I’ll help you. When is the meeting?”
“Tonight at midnight,” said Shade. She smiled again. “I’ll meet you outside your house and we’ll travel to the location of the meeting together. But don’t tell your teammates about where you’re going.”
“Not even Bolt?” said Blizzard.
“Not even Bolt,” said Shade. “As I said, this mission is supposed to be secret. Technically, I’m not even supposed to be telling you about it at all, but I’m sure Director Smith will understand that the situation was so urgent that I needed to recruit some extra-governmental help. I don’t think, however, that he would understand if it the entirety of the Young Neos knew about my secret mission. Understood?”
Blizzard nodded, albeit reluctantly. “I understand. But—”
“Emily!” Bolt’s voice suddenly rang out. “I got ice cream!”
Blizzard suddenly looked over her shoulder just in time to see Bo
lt, carrying two large rapidly-melting chocolate ice cream cones in his hands, walking toward the ramada under which she stood. Blizzard turned around to see him just as Bolt reached the ramada and held out one of the cones to her.
“Here you go,” said Bolt. “Chocolate, your favorite. But damn it took a long time to find the ice cream vendor and then he would only accept cash, so I had to find an ATM, which was pretty difficult, but—”
“Thanks, Kevin,” Blizzard said, taking the ice cream cone, although the cone itself was somewhat sticky already due to it having partially melted. “It looks great.”
“You’re welcome,” said Bolt. “But who were you talking to just now? I heard you speaking.”
“I was talking to—” Blizzard stopped speaking when she looked back at where Shade had been standing, only to see that Shade was nowhere to be seen. Blizzard looked in every direction, but the G-Men agent appeared to have vanished into thin air.
“Talking to …?” said Bolt.
Blizzard shook her head. “No one. I think the heat is getting to me. Good thing you found this ice cream, eh?”
Bolt looked puzzled for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, definitely.”
Thankful that Bolt had not seen through her lame excuse, Blizzard began licking her ice cream, but she couldn’t help but feel dread about tonight. She told herself that lying to Bolt was for the greater good, but at the same time, she felt really bad about it. She decided she would let Bolt know about her alliance with Shade tomorrow morning, after the mission was over. By then, the object, whatever it was, would be out of the hands of the wrong hands and Phoenix would be safe.
At least, that was what Blizzard told herself, anyway.
CHAPTER SIX
Shell stood by himself under a street lamp at a street corner in Phoenix, his hands gripping the straps of his backpack as he looked up and down the street occasionally. Every now and then, he’d look at his suit-up watch, just to make sure that he was not late, but it seemed like the numbers on the digital display of his watch changed far more slowly than they should have, as if one minute had been stretched into five. Shell wasn’t exactly afraid to be outside by himself at night; however, he still felt awkward and nervous, mostly because he rarely went out to any city at night, but especially cities that he was not very familiar with.