Fall of Heroes

by Jeramey Kraatz

  “Novo. Go untangle my husband from that overgrown shrub. Titan, help Legion.”

  “But—,” Titan started, dropping Alex.

  “Go,” Shade commanded. Her eyes flashed behind her sunglasses. Photon’s arm shot forward. Titan flew through the air, over the crowd, landing somewhere in the back near Legion and the others.

  Novo hissed at Alex as she passed by, slamming one fist into the back of his head, causing his vision to blur and spark. He stumbled forward. Shade looked at him with consideration.

  “You know,” she said, “if we really wanted to, we could have gotten rid of you at any time. Found out all your secrets. Had you killed. Imprisoned. I could’ve locked you all away and made you live out every nightmare you’ve ever had in your head over and over again. Or slowly rewritten each of your minds like I’m doing to Photon. It would have taken a lot of time and a lot of work, sure, but we’d have had your powers on our side in the end. So I’ve taken it easy on you for the past month, treated you as a potential resource. If you were smart, you would have laid low. I might even have overlooked you. But then you had to go and complicate things.”

  Alex almost laughed at the idea that his mother might ever “overlook” him and his teammates.

  “You can’t keep this up forever, acting as both hero and villain.”

  “Of course not,” Shade said. “Though I’d say you’re hardly one to talk. To be perfectly honest with you, I still haven’t figured out which way things will end. Becoming the Rangers had never been the plan—not until we realized what potential there was in having one of them on our side. At first I thought we’d just expose ourselves as being Cloak once we were in complete control, when it was too late to do anything about it. But it’s so much easier to get what you want when the people think you’ve got their best interests in mind. Maybe we’ll just absorb Cloak into the Rangers. Barrage and Julie will have changes of heart and pledge themselves to us. The public does love a reformed criminal.”

  “You always told us we would rule out of fear,” Alex said. He knew there was no talking sense into his mother, but he could still keep her attention on him, off the others. Besides, he had to admit to himself that he was curious about what she was saying. He couldn’t fit it all into the long speeches and manifestos about Cloak’s superiority he’d grown up listening to. “The Cloak Society is better than normal people, right? Why care about what they think?”

  “I thought the Tutor made you read Machiavelli. To be feared is to have power over someone, true, but it’s always better to be feared and loved. That’s real control. Besides, look how easily they accepted us. They can’t be trusted on their own. The people need us to tell them what they should do.”

  “You won’t get away with this. Even if you stop us, someone else will oppose you. Some other force.”

  “Other force?” Shade asked. “Look at Lone Star and Lux, Alex. They’re the heroes. They’re supposed to be the most powerful beings on earth. And what are they doing? Fighting for their lives. They’re powerless. Nothing.”

  “You’re insane,” Alex said, his mouth hanging open.

  His mother’s face grew dark as she clenched her jaw.

  “That’s not a very nice thing to call your mother.”

  Her eyes flashed silver behind her sunglasses and she took a few steps back. Above her in the air, Photon’s face strained, the veins on his neck popping out. At first Alex couldn’t figure out what the man was trying to do, and hoped that maybe he was waging a war in his head and about to break free from Shade’s control. Then Alex turned and saw the police motorcycle from down the street flying through the air, sailing right toward him. Its speed shocked him so much that for a second he didn’t move. And then it was upon him, closing in, faster and heavier than he could have any chance of stopping with his powers.

  He ducked and weaved at the last possible moment. The back wheel of the motorcycle—still spinning—came within an inch of his nose. It splintered the wooden podium before rolling several times and exploding somewhere atop the ruins of Justice Tower.

  Shade didn’t let up. As Alex tried to make sense of the fact that his mother had just hurled a motorcycle at him, Photon shot straight down, all fists. Alex barely had time to catch him and hold him in midair. Suddenly Julie was on him, too, charging at him from behind. Alex thrust his right hand up, wrapping her with his thoughts, keeping her trapped in the air. She let out a howl and slashed at the empty space in front of her. Spikes jutted out from her shoulders and elbows.

  “Let me down and fight me, you idiot!” she shouted.

  “Tell me, Julie,” Alex said as he poured everything he had into his powers, “how mad are you that your brother got picked to be on the Ranger team while you’re still stuck underground?”

  Julie’s lips drew back in an angry sneer. “My role in all this is very important.”

  Alex started to sweat. His breathing grew labored. He slowly turned his head back to his mother.

  “Is this it, then?” Alex asked through gritted teeth. “Are you going to make an example of me here on the stage?”

  Shade shook her head slowly.

  “For a while I wasn’t sure what to do with you,” she said. “If it came down to it, how would I end my only son? Could I? But the answer was simple. I don’t destroy you. I make you watch as we triumph, knowing that you can’t stop us. We’re gathering arms, Alex. Gathering comrades. While you were breaking into the underground base to help rescue your useless Rangers, we were visiting the Guild of Daggers in New York. In exchange for leaving the Northeast to their control, they’re making all sorts of fun things for us.” She raised a hand, as if to stop him from speaking. “Don’t worry. The Guild will eventually kneel to us once they’ve served their purpose. With Gage’s notes and drawings and Photon’s brilliant mind, you can’t imagine the surprises we’ve designed.”

  Alex’s head spun.

  “You mean weapons,” he said.

  Shade shrugged. “We’ll really only need to make an example of one or two major cities before the rest of the country does whatever we ask of them. Scare them into trusting us or scare them into fearing us.”

  “The rest of the country?” Alex asked. His mind raced. Photon was inching closer to him. He couldn’t think straight. “What are you talking about?”

  Shade’s face lit up with laughter, as if this were the silliest question she’d ever been asked.

  “My dear Alexander. You didn’t think we were going to stop with Sterling City, did you? This is just the first step. And look how easy it was.”

  “Impossible. You’ll never be able to—”

  “But you’re going to see it, Alexander! All of it! And when you break, I’ll know your thoughts. I’ll know all your secrets. And then I’ll rewrite you. I’ll rewrite all of you. And in the end you’ll look at me with nothing but unshakable love and respect.”

  Suddenly his mind was clear. Her threats had struck a nerve. For the first time Alex understood that Shade was a villain first and a mother second. She had always told him that Cloak was to be put before everything in life—that it was priority above all else. Up until recently, that had included Alex. He realized that somewhere deep down he’d been hoping that her love for the Society would carry over to him even if he wasn’t a part of it. But it didn’t. He was a means to an end. And that hurt.

  Alex began to tremble. His hair and clothing started to billow, as if he were underwater. Power welled up inside him like he hadn’t felt in weeks—since he’d faced off against the Cloak Society in that very spot. He started to rise up off the stage, until he floated several yards in the air. There were flashes where he was sure that the others could see his energy, like crackling light wrapped around Julie and Photon. A radiant blue poured out of his eyes as he stared down at his mother. Shade took a few steps back. There was the slightest twitch of worry on her face.

  I have to do something, Alex thought. I have the power. I’m in control. I have to do something and then g
et us all out of here.

  “That’s it,” Shade whispered. “Burn out. Put on your big show and then end up cowering on the floor. I’m going to lock you down in the depths of the underground base and make you watch as I reprogram every one of your new friends.”

  Alex’s eyes shot across the street in front of him. Kirbie was pinned down by Phantom’s energy. He couldn’t find Misty or Mallory anywhere among the panicked crowds of Deputies and onlookers. Amp held out against combatants but looked exhausted.

  And then there was Gage. Titan held him up in the air by his throat. The inventor’s hands shot to his white lab-coat pockets, where Alex was sure he had a stash of Gassers or some kind of weapon. But Titan caught his arm—he’d fallen for that once already, when they’d stolen the Umbra Gun from the underground base. Titan grinned, and his eyes turned to Alex, onstage. He let go of Gage’s neck and swung him out to one side, holding the boy in the air.

  Then Titan squeezed his fist tight around Gage’s forearm.

  Gage’s face twisted in anguish. Even over the commotion, Alex could hear the inventor’s scream, primal and filled with pain. Titan dropped the boy to the ground, kicking him out of the way like trash. Gage’s arm swung loosely, awkwardly in the air. Broken.

  Instinct took over for Alex. His friends. They were being hurt. They would continue to be hurt. Unless he acted. Somewhere in the back of his mind, his mother’s voice was shouting. Not telepathically this time—it was the memory of something she’d once taught him. Don’t be afraid to strike. Protect yourself and your team, for you are one and the same. Show your enemy how powerful you are. Make them fear you.

  And so he did.

  All the energy that burned up inside him burst outward in an explosion of blue light. Waves of Deputies fell to the ground as the stage pitched and collapsed beneath him. His mother flew back, tumbling into the chain-link fence behind them. Photon’s body was pushed to the ground, where he landed in the crowd, taking out a handful of opponents swarming Amp. And with a little guidance from Alex, Julie slammed into Phantom, freeing Kirbie.

  Alex hovered in the air for a few seconds and then dropped straight to the ground, landing hard on his knees. He struggled to catch his breath. His powers had knocked the wind out of him.

  “No, no, no!” Julie shouted. “Somebody, help. Dad! Shade! Anybody. Somebody do something.”

  Beside the girl, Phantom was on her knees. There was a look of disbelief on her face, her dark lips forming a loose O. She slipped one hand underneath her trench, over her heart. Alex could see her pale white skin through a hole in the coat. When she brought her fingers back out, they were stained a deep red.

  “My spikes.” Julie was nearing hysterics now. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know she was in the way.”

  “No . . . ,” Shade whispered as she climbed to her feet.

  Phantom fell onto her back. Shade was by her side in an instant. Phantom sputtered, but Shade shook her head, her eyes shining silver. Everyone stood frozen, unsure of what to do. Except for Julie.

  “It’s Alex’s fault!” She was shouting now. “Alex did this.”

  Before Alex could begin to process what was happening, Phantom took a ragged gasp and then went very still. He’d never imagined her skin could go any paler than it already was, but somehow that was happening right before his eyes. Then, slowly, her body began to melt away. There was no portal, no inky tendril pulling her into the Gloom like when she used her powers. Her body simply turned into darkness, until it was only a shadow, and finally, nothing at all.

  There was a sudden burn in Alex’s right palm. He looked down at it, the mark of Cloak staring back at him. The oily black skull began to dissipate. Phantom’s energy left Alex’s hand, floating up into the air in front of him before fading away completely.

  “No,” Alex started. “I didn’t mean to—I mean, I never wanted her to . . .”

  Shade raised her head and stared at her son, her eyes normal, human, so that he could see every ounce of anger and hate in them. Without opening her mouth, she let out a psychic scream unlike anything Alex had ever felt before, an animal wail that echoed through his thoughts. All around her, people fell to their knees, clutching their heads.

  The next few moments were a blur. Alex’s brain felt fried from the energy it had taken to fight off his opponents and from his mother’s scream. Someone—Amp—was dragging him off the stage, past Titan, who sprinted by them and toward Shade. Amp was asking him something, but Alex’s head was ringing so loud he couldn’t understand what Amp was saying. And then Misty was there, and he was no longer whole, just floating over the wall and through the city and the park. It was hard to piece thoughts together when he was like this, under Misty’s power. Hard to make the right connections. Everything was a haze of thoughts and memories blending into one another. He saw his mother at the dinner table, eyes wet and severe, telling him and the other Betas what it was like to survive Victory Park and the horror of hearing her teammates’ last thoughts shouting in her mind. Another memory, this time both of his parents, calling him the greatest weapon Cloak would ever know.

  And finally, something almost completely forgotten. A Thursday outing from before his powers had ever developed. Misty was there, five or six years old. Phantom was in charge of them. They were at a carnival, or fair—he couldn’t remember the details. Only that he was very happy. Misty had her hand in her aunt Phantom’s. And when Alex had wanted to get his fortune read, Phantom had simply smiled at him and told him that he was destined for great things.

  Alex and Misty reassembled outside a long white van with blocked-out windows. They were somewhere a few streets away from the groundbreaking catastrophe. Before he could ask questions, Lux pulled him inside the van, where his other teammates were waiting. Gage was in the seat beside him, his teeth gritted together, clutching his useless right arm as Mallory waved a cold palm over it.

  “That’s the last of us,” Misty said, almost collapsing into the backseat.

  “Get in already!” someone shouted from the driver’s seat as Amp climbed into the back and slid the door shut.

  “Who . . . ?” Alex mumbled, unable to finish his thought. He felt so tired all of a sudden.

  The woman in the driver’s seat looked at Alex in the rearview mirror, and then nodded toward Lone Star, who sat in the passenger seat.

  “I’m the cavalry,” she said.

  “It can’t be like this,” Lone Star murmured to himself. “How could the people of Sterling City turn on us like that? This can’t be right. This can’t be right.”

  As they sped through the streets, he continued to chant these words over and over again, as if by saying them enough times, he could convince himself and everyone else in the van that they were true. Alex fought to keep his eyes open, to figure out what was going on, but the world faded to black around him.

  10

  PAPER ANIMALS

  When Alex woke up, he was on an unfamiliar couch in a room he’d never been in before. His forehead was freezing. The first thing he saw was a framed poster of Lone Star hanging over him. It was old, and torn in the corners—the kind of decoration that had probably moved around from wall to wall and room to room until someone finally put it behind glass to protect it. Lone Star was younger in it, his suit slightly different—a gold starburst over his heart. Alex stared at the poster, blinking, trying to make any sense of where he was or how he’d gotten there.

  Phantom. The image of Shade cradling her and screaming into the sky flashed through his mind, the memories of the botched mission flooding in. His head throbbed. Around him, the couch and side table and lamp trembled.

  “You’re awake,” Mallory exclaimed, rushing over to him. Behind her Misty was lying unconscious on a bed. Gage watched over the girl. His right arm was in a sling.

  Words started to pour out of Alex’s mouth, a gush of half-formed questions and worries and confusion. When he sat up, a cold, damp towel fell from his head, landing on his lap.

 
“You were sweaty and gross,” Mallory said. “Gage thinks you overheated or something. I was trying to cool you down a little.” She nodded to the towel.

  “Misty?” Alex asked.

  “Just sleeping,” Gage said. “You both exerted an enormous amount of power today. It makes sense that you’re both exhausted. You’ve been out for half a day.”

  “Gage . . . your arm.”

  “Broken, I’m afraid,” Gage said. “Carla managed to get me in a cast before Deputies were sent out to hospitals or anything like that. But I can still type and fire a weapon with my other one.”

  Alex’s eyes darted around as more questions tumbled from his lips. They were in a bedroom somewhere. But where? And who was Carla?

  “Lone Star’s sister,” Mallory said, recognizing his confusion. “This is her house. She’s his secret contact in the city. Really secret. I don’t even think Lux knew she existed until Lone Star was directing us to the van. He was afraid that Phantom or someone might be able to track us if we went to the tunnel. . . .”

  The mention of Phantom’s name derailed the sentence, and Mallory trailed off, unsure of what to say. Alex’s breath got heavy and fast.

  “Where’s everyone else?” he asked.

  “Downstairs,” Gage said.

  “Is anyone else hurt?”

  “Not physically. But I think Lone Star’s ego is more than a little bruised.”

  “We’re on the far east side of the city,” Mallory said. “Suburbia. We managed to slip out unnoticed. With all the chaos, no one was able to follow us.”

  “The cut on your face opened up again,” Gage said. “We’ll need to clean it.”

  Alex raised a hand to his cheek. “I don’t feel it.”

  “You’re in shock, Alex.”

  The word “shock” only made Alex think of his father’s purple electricity, then the High Council, then the now-vacant seat at the head of the table where Phantom always liked to sit in the War Room of the underground base. He shivered as a chill ran up and down his body.