by Lucas Flint
Not that Shell was going to be running away anytime soon. The door was locked and closed and the window was too high for him to climb out of. Besides, Zanni stood between him and the door and Zanni did not look like he was going to be running anytime soon. Neither did Eli or Sarah, for that matter, although Sarah looked just as terrified about facing Shade as he did. Maybe Sarah knew who Shade was already, or maybe it was the fact that Shade had just destroyed their table in one blow that made her afraid of him.
Eli, on the other hand, looked as impassive as ever, although even he seemed to be eying Shade warily. “So one of Cadmus’s lackeys has decided to pay me a visit.”
“Lackeys?” said Shade. “I’m Director Smith’s second-in-command. That hardly makes me a lackey.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Eli. “I knew that the government was trying to get me, but I didn’t realize that you were so close on my trail. Are you the one responsible for the attack Chip just called me about?”
“Let’s just say that I brought along a couple of volunteers who are giving their time and effort to a noble cause,” said Shade. She pointed at the box in Eli’s hands. “And by ‘noble cause,’ I mean stealing the Call from you.”
Zanni looked at Eli sharply. “I thought you had told me that this meeting would not be interrupted by the government.”
“How was I supposed to know that this woman was following me?” Eli snapped. “Believe me, if I had known that I was being watched this closely, I would have rescheduled this meeting for another time and place.”
“And then I would have just followed you there,” said Shade, shaking her head. “Regardless, it is one thing to have such a dangerous object in your hands. It is quite another to then try to sell that object to a member of a notorious supervillain team that the government wants behind bars. That’s at least fifteen different felonies right off the bat, but I’m sure that our G-Men lawyers will be able to pin more on you once I arrest you.”
“Assuming, that is, that you will be able to capture any of us,” said Eli. “I have no plans to go to jail, either tonight or ever.”
“Most criminals have no plans to go to jail, you know, but somehow they always end up in there anyway,” said Shade. “It’s kind of—Wait, Shell, is that you?”
Shell cringed as soon as Shade looked at him. He had been hoping that Shade might just ignore him and focus on Eli and Zanni, but he supposed he should have known better than to expect to get that lucky. He had hoped also that Shade would fight Eli and Zanni and he would be able to slip away in the middle of the chaos, but now it was obvious that he would not be able to do that.
Shade was not the only one looking at him. Zanni’s attention had also turned to Shell, but whereas Shade simply looked confused, Zanni had a flicker of surprise and anger in his eyes.
“Shell?” Zanni repeated. “As in, the Shell who is a member of the Young Neos?”
“Yeah, that’s him,” said Shade, who Shell wished would just shut up right now. “Shell, what are you doing here? Blizzard didn’t tell me that any of her friends were here.”
“I, uh, er, um,” said Shell, desperately trying to think of a good response. “I’m, uh, not Shell.”
“No, you’re definitely Shell,” said Shade. “You’re hiding your weird shell with your backpack and shirt, but there’s no mistaking you for anyone else. You’re pretty distinctive.”
Shell would have been honored, under ordinary circumstances, to be recognized by a girl as pretty as Shade; however, with every word that came from Shade’s mouth, Shell became more and more convinced that he was going to die young. He looked at Zanni, who no longer looked surprised, but instead coldly angry, as if he had finally realized what Shell’s presence here meant.
Zanni looked at Eli. “Eli, why did you not tell me that this boy is one of the Young Neos? You know how my employer feels about them.”
Eli still didn’t show any sign of fear or worry, but he did look a little bit like a trapped rat now. “Well, I didn’t see it as being necessarily relevant to the negotiations, you have to understand.”
“It seems deeply relevant, to me, given how the Young Neos have given my team so much trouble,” said Zanni. He stepped away. “Perhaps this entire meeting was nothing other than a trick by the Young Neos to find out what we Venetians are doing. They send one of their own to sit in on the middle of an important transaction and learn about things that my employer doesn’t want anyone else outside of the Venetians knowing about.”
“No, Zanni, you have to understand that I’m not working with the Young Neos by any meaning of the term,” said Eli, who now sounded a little desperate. “Really, it was just poor planning on my part that led to you and Shell being present on the same night. If I had had better foresight, I—”
“And do you really even have the Call?” said Zanni, looking at the box suspiciously. “Perhaps it is just an empty box, which is why you don’t want to show me its contents. It’s quite clear to me now. While you would get a million dollars and vital information about the Starborn, the Young Neos would learn more about our plans and we Venetians would get nothing but cardboard. You really are as clever as your grandfather.”
“This is interesting and all, but also a big waste of time,” said Shade, before Eli could respond. “Both of you can figure out who double-crossed who in the safety of Ultimate Max. For now, I must ask both of you to come forward quietly; as a G-Men agent, I have the authority to arrest both of you for the crimes you’ve committed.”
Zanni chuckled. “Cute girl. You think you can beat me. You don’t even know what I am capable of.”
“Oh, I’m more than just cute,” said Shade, brushing aside a few strands of hair from her face. “I’m also deadly, trained by Cadmus Smith himself. Underestimate me at your own peril.”
Shell glanced at the window, trying to remember exactly how high up he was. If he jumped out the window now and fell on his shell, he might survive; of course, if he was too high up, he might just end up splattered on the street below. But that might be a preferable way to go over whatever Zanni had planned for him; he still didn’t know what Zanni’s powers were, but he knew that if he got caught in a four way fight between Zanni, Eli, Sarah, and Shade, he was probably going to end up looking like he had been smashed into paste anyway.
“Very well, girl,” said Zanni. “First, I will deal with you. Once you are dead, I will destroy Shell, Eli, and Sarah and then take the Call for myself.”
Shade smirked. “You’ve got this all planned out already. Impressive. Unfortunately for you, however, it takes more than a simple plan to deal with me.”
Shade thrust her arm forward. A long, sharp shadow tendril shot toward Zanni, who didn’t even move. Instead, he held up one hand before him, like he was about to catch a baseball. Shell fully expected to see the tendril skewer Zanni.
But when the tendril collided with Zanni’s hand, it suddenly split, heading off in a dozen different direction at once, like it had run into a thick stone wall. And based on Shade’s shocked expression, it was pretty clear that she had not been intending or expecting that to happen.
But Shade recovered quickly. She pulled back her arm, and with it, the tendril, but as soon as the tendril returned to her arm, she spread out both arms. Dark shadow claws emerged from the shadows of the four corners of the room, all of them converging on Zanni, who just looked up at the approaching shadow claws with as much fear as a lion showed toward a mouse. Eli and Sarah had fallen on their hands and knees to stay out of the way of the claws and Shell joined them, even though Shade’s target at the moment was Zanni and not any of them.
The four shadow claws hurtled toward Zanni, but Zanni merely raised a hand and snapped his fingers.
In an instant, the shadow claws … disappeared. They did not evaporate or vaporize or return to the shadowy corners from which they had emerged. It was as though Zanni had simply deleted them from existence. Shell looked around the room, but he did not see where Zanni could have banished
them.
As for Shade, she looked even more shocked than before. There was also a little fear on her face, but the fear was quickly replaced by anger. “What did you do with my claws?”
“I got rid of them,” said Zanni. “Isn’t it obvious? Then again, you G-Men always have been rather slow to understanding what your senses showed you, so I guess I shouldn’t expect you to understand what I mean.”
“You can’t just—never mind,” said Shade. “This is getting ridiculous. You’re clearly far more powerful than I first thought, but that just means I’m going to have to work harder to beat you.”
“Still very cute, but also very ineffective,” said Zanni. “At the same time, you’re amusing enough that I don’t feel like beating you yet.”
“Amusing enough?” Shade repeated indignantly. “Okay, that’s it. You’re going down.”
Shade raised her hands. Shell thought she was going to summon more shadow claws or tendrils, but instead, Shade’s body began to get darker and darker, until soon she looked like nothing more than the walking embodiment of darkness itself. Not only that, but she grew taller and taller until soon her form had to bend over to avoid scraping her head against the ceiling. Her large form no longer even looked human; instead of legs, the lower half of its body disappeared in a morass of shadow, while its hands were clawed monstrosities that looked more like bear claws than hands. But her face was the most terrifying part; it was positively demonic, with dark red eyes, jagged teeth, and a tongue that looked as sharp as a sword. The temperature in the room also seemed to drop several degrees in an instant, causing Shell, Eli, and Sarah to shiver.
Zanni, the other hand, showed no discomfort or fear at all in the face of Shade’s ultimate form. If anything, he looked quite bored and yawned as he looked upon her.
“Oh, what is this?” said Zanni. “You’re no longer cute and amusing. You look rather ugly.”
“Right now, I couldn’t care less about that,” said Shade, her voice much deeper than before. “But focus on that as much as you like. It will make crushing you under my fist so much easier.”
Shade hurled both of her huge, shadowy fists at Zanni. Both fists were as tall as Zanni, but much thicker, and Shell believed that one hit from either fist would likely kill Zanni in one hit, or at least leave him paralyzed for life.
But as before, Zanni showed no fear whatsoever. He didn’t even a raise his hands this time. He just sighed, smiled, and then flicked the feather on his hat in Shade’s general direction.
What happened next was unclear to Shell. He sensed some kind of powerful burst of energy come from Zanni, like a balloon full of helium being let out.
Then, abruptly, Shade’s shadow form vanished, just like the shadow claws. Shade herself still stood on the floor, but she looked completely taken by surprise.
“Huh?” said Shade, looking around in alarm. “What … how …”
“As I said before, I got rid of it,” said Zanni. “It’s that simple. When I want something gone, it goes.” Zanni raised his hand, palm out, toward Shade. “And I want you gone.”
Zanni curled his fingers into a fist.
Before Shell’s frightened eyes, Shade vanished into thin air. She didn’t even get a chance to scream. She just disappeared. It was like she was there one moment and then gone the next, like a file being deleted from a computer. She was nowhere in the room; indeed, it was like she had never been in the room at all.
Zanni brought his fist to his side, his smile never leaving his lips. “There we go. Not very funny or amusing, but I suppose it was practical, like Pantalone always says we should be.”
Shell gulped. He couldn’t believe what he’d just seen. Shade was one of the strongest superhumans he knew, yet Zanni had rendered all of her strongest attacks ineffectual and then got rid of her in a second. Before, he had thought that Zanni was exaggerating his own power, but now Shell was starting to wonder if he had actually been underselling it.
That realization came at the same time that Zanni turned his attention to Shell. Shell, despite his fear, managed to stand up, but he didn’t try to attack Zanni, nor did he try to run. He just stared at the Venetian with terror running through his whole form.
“With that annoying government agent out of the way, I think it’s time I take you out next,” said Zanni. “But don’t worry; I won’t make you disappear like her. No, we’ll have a little fun first, and then you’ll disappear. If it’s funny, I might even take you back to my employer, who I am sure would be delighted to learn that I had captured one of the Young Neos.” He held up a hand. “I can’t guarantee it won’t hurt; I can, however, guarantee that it will be hilarious, at least.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“What is up, my dudette?” said Radicles. “Hold on, don’t answer that yet. Let me get those chains off your wrists.”
Radicles quickly tore the cuffs off of Blizzard’s wrists. Blizzard immediately began rubbing them, even though the cuffs had not been particularly tight on her wrists.
“Thank you for saving me and my sister, Radicles,” said Blizzard, glancing at the unconscious gunman lying nearby, “but, um, why are you wearing sunglasses at night?”
“Because wearing sunglasses at night is totally radical, dudette,” said Radicles. He held out a hand. “Better question is, what are you and your sister doing here putting yourself in such dangerous situations?”
“My sister,” said Blizzard in realization. She immediately ran around Radicles over to Rebecca, who was still kneeling on the street with her hands over her head. She didn’t seem to have noticed that the Unwanted threatening her life was lying unconscious nearby; she didn’t even seem to notice Radicles. She had probably covered her head with her hands as soon as the gunman went down and likely had not even heard Radicles appear.
“Rebecca, are you okay?” said Blizzard, stopping in front of her and bending over to check on her. “Are you hurt? Do you have any injuries?”
Rebecca looked up at Blizzard. Her tears had caused her eyeliner to run down her face, making her look awful, but Blizzard didn’t see any injuries on her face, at least. “N-No, I’m okay. Just … scared.”
“It’s okay,” said Blizzard in a soothing voice. She hugged her quickly. “The gunmen are down. You don’t need to be afraid anymore.”
Rebecca sniffled. “O-Okay. But I want to go home now. I shouldn’t have come here.”
“All right,” said Blizzard. “We’ll get you home, but first I need to find Shade. She’s the only one who can get you home quickly and safely.”
“Shade?” said Radicles, who Blizzard had not heard come up behind her. “You mean the G-Men agent?”
Blizzard looked over her shoulder at Radicles. “You know her?”
“Yeah, my dudette,” said Radicles, nodding. “Met her once a while ago. She and I used to be friends.”
“Used to?” Blizzard repeated. “Why aren’t you friends anymore?”
Radicles’ smirk was briefly replaced by a sad frown, but only for a second; in the next, he looked as self-satisfied as he usually did. “Long story, but I didn’t know she was in Phoenix or that you were working with the government. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised; the NHA and INJ are, after all, being secretly controlled by the government behind the scenes.”
Blizzard wanted to roll her eyes, but she didn’t want to get Radicles angry at her, not after he had helped her and Rebecca. Still, she stood up and turned around to face him, a questioning look on her face. “What are you doing here? Shade didn’t mention to me that you were also looking for the Unwanted.”
“The Unwanted?” Radicles repeated. “Nah, I wasn’t looking for them. I was looking for Shell.”
“Shell?” said Blizzard. “He’s back at my parents’ house along with everyone else.”
But Radicles shook his head. “Nope, not true, my dudette. He’s here. I’ve been following him ever since my fight with Doctor Danger.”
“Following him?” said Blizzard. “Why?”
“Because he’s my son,” said Radicles. “I wanted to make sure he was okay. And … I was hoping to talk to him, maybe repair our relationship.”
Radicles sounded rueful when he spoke that last sentence, even a little sheepish, very much unlike his normal confident attitude. It made Blizzard realize that, however Radicles may have acted, he really did want to be a good father to Shell.
But Blizzard was too surprised by the revelation that Shell was here to think about that at the moment. “Why is Shell here? Is he trying to take down the Unwanted?”
“I don’t know,” said Radicles with a shrug. “All I know is that he is inside that building right now.”
“Maybe the Unwanted kidnapped him,” said Blizzard, looking toward the building. “Or they’re holding him against his will somehow.”
“I don’t think so,” said Radicles. “From what I’ve seen, Shell came here of his own free will. Not sure what that means, but he is probably still in trouble.”
Blizzard nodded, but she was disturbed by this revelation, because it meant that Shell had left the house without telling any of the others. If Shell was intentionally deceiving the team, then Blizzard doubted that he had good reasons for sneaking out like that. Of course, maybe Shell had a good reason for sneaking out of the house without letting the others know where he was going, but Blizzard doubted that.
Then again, I sneaked out of the house without telling anyone, too, so maybe I don’t really have any ground on which to criticize him, Blizzard thought, rubbing the back of her head. It’s still concerning, though. What if the Unwanted are harming him even now?
“But I don’t know what you are doing here, my dudette,” said Radicles. His eyes narrowed. “You said you’re working with Shade, which means you’re working with the government. What does the government want with the Unwanted?”
“That’s not any of my business to tell you,” said Blizzard. “All I can tell you is that we’re trying to keep a dangerous object out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have it. It’s for the good of Phoenix.”