by Lucas Flint
I marched up to Seth and stood right in front of him, just inches away from his smug face. To his credit, he didn’t show any fear at all. He merely sipped his wine and made a satisfied sigh. “Ah, Italian wine. Reminds me of the canals of Venice, which is where I went on vacation this year. Have you ever been? I think you would enjoy it.”
“I don’t have any positive associations with Venice,” I said flatly. “Let me go. Now.”
Seth chuckled. “So much like your father, I feel like I’ve been transported back in time twenty years.”
“How do you know my dad?” I said. “He never mentioned you to me.”
“He didn’t?” said Seth. “Oh, well. Can’t say I am surprised. Genius did go to great lengths to forget about Project Revival, as well as everyone associated with it. I suppose it doesn’t help that I disappeared for a while, either, although I never did give up the dream, not entirely, anyway.”
I froze. “Project Revival? How do you know about that?”
Seth continued to smile up at me as he sipped his wine. “Because I bankrolled it, of course.”
My eyes widened. “Are you … are you Benefactor?”
Seth nodded. “That’s the alias I went by back then, yes. Nowadays, though, I prefer my given name, Seth Richards. I’m not a superhero like you or your dad, so I don’t need a fancy name.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Benefactor was one of the three key figures involved with Project Revival, which had been a secret project designed to perfect the cloning process. The other figures involved in Project Revival had been Dad and Mecha Knight, but up until today, I hadn’t known who Benefactor was or why he had been involved in Project Revival. I hadn’t even known he was still alive, yet if this man was telling the truth, then he was the infamous Benefactor who I had heard so much about and yet knew almost nothing about.
“You seem surprised,” said Seth. “I take it you don’t believe me?”
“It’s not that,” I said. “It’s just that you’re not what I expected Benefactor to look like.”
Seth raised an eyebrow. “What, were you expecting me to dramatically reveal my true identity to you during our final climactic duel? Despite my immense wealth, I’m a simple man with simple tastes. I like beautiful women, fine wine, and yachts. I don’t need unnecessary drama in my life. Life is dramatic enough as is.”
I put a hand on my forehead. Seth being Benefactor certainly explained a lot of his cryptic talk earlier, but at the same time, it opened up so many other questions I wasn’t sure where to begin.
So I started with the most obvious one: “Why?”
“Because,” said Seth without missing a beat or changing his expression. He sipped his wine. “Next question.”
I shook my head rapidly. “No, I mean, why did you have Red Tide take me prisoner? Why didn’t you have him kill me?”
“Because I’m not a monster,” said Seth, rolling his eyes. “Unlike Red Tide, I don’t see any point in mindlessly murdering everyone who opposes you. Besides, I don’t really hate you. You’re the son of a former colleague of mine, after all. Killing you would be like killing Genius, which is not something I would do if he was alive.”
“What about Fingerprints?”
“What about him?” said Seth sharply. “As I said, all of those G-Men agents can burn in hell for all I care. In my humble opinion, the G-Men are a waste of taxpayer money. People like to say that rich guys like me have all the say in modern politics, but frankly, it’s the bureaucrats who really control everything, including Cadmus and his little team of sociopaths.”
I had to admit, despite my reservations about Seth, I agreed with him on the G-Men. I mean, not that I wanted Fingerprints to die, but the idea that the G-Men were useless and had done more harm than good to America was quite appealing. Perhaps Seth wasn’t as bad as I thought he was.
“That makes two of us,” I said, “but if you don’t want me dead, what’s with locking me up here? And why do you even have a cell made of Indestructonium on your yacht at all? I know you’re rich and all, but it seems like a weird thing to add to a yacht, of all things.”
Seth sipped his wine. “Because I knew I would meet you someday, Bolt, and I wanted to be ready for it. Given everything you’ve been through so far, I didn’t think you would be open to the idea of talking to me, so I wanted to make sure I had you exactly where I wanted you, no more, no less.”
I hesitated. “Well, if all you wanted to do was talk, I would have been more than happy to speak to you. I’ve been curious about you ever since I learned about Project Revival. You didn’t need to have a pirate capture me to convince me to talk with you.”
“Janet is always telling me I make things more complex than they need to be,” said Seth with a shrug. “But hey, it worked, didn’t it? We’re now standing face to face and talking to each other like true men. What could be better than that?”
I folded my arms in front of my chest. “So, what did you want to talk about, exactly? Project Revival?”
Seth shook his head. “No, nothing like that. That’s old news. Happened a long time ago. No, I want to talk to you for a bit about something more recent: Your girlfriend’s disease.”
“Blizzard?” I said. “What do you know about her sickness?”
Seth lowered his wine and looked me straight in the eyes. “I can cure her, but only if you will do something for me first.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“You can heal Blizzard?” I said, staring at Seth dumbfounded. “For real?”
“For real,” Seth confirmed.
I just stared at Seth for a second or two, unsure what to say. “Uh, the G-Men have already promised to give me a cure for her if I helped them, so—”
“And you trust them?” Seth said, interrupting me as if I hadn’t said anything. “Where is your father’s skepticism? Genius never trusted the G-Men, you know. He knew they were liars at heart, each and every one of them. I am surprised you allowed them to use you like this.”
My hands balled into fists. “I know they’re not to be trusted, but you don’t understand. Blizzard is going to die in a week. Less than a week now, actually, unless we can cure her disease in time. The G-Men have something called Miracle that can cure any disease or injury. It’s my only hope.”
“I see,” said Seth. “But it’s still foolish to trust those liars to do anything. Still, I understand where you’re coming from now, but my medical resources are much bigger than theirs. I could have my scientists whip up a serum that could not only cure Blizzard of her illness but make her better than ever.”
I looked at Seth doubtfully. “Are you sure about that?”
“Positive,” said Seth. “As you might have noticed, I am a man of wealth. You might even say money is my superpower, in the same way that super strength is yours. With a word, I can have the serum created and shipped to Hero Island tomorrow at no charge to yourself.”
“Wow,” I said. “Are you serious?”
“One hundred percent,” said Seth. “Normally, I don’t offer my services so freely, but since you’re Genius’ son and I still have a lot of respect for him, I decided to do this favor for you. How does that sound?”
“Fantastic,” I said. “Almost too good to be true.”
Seth chuckled. “’Too good to be true’ … ah, I love that phrase, even though it’s used pretty negatively most of the time. But I like to make people feel that way about my work. It’s how I’ve managed to get so wealthy over the years, by providing people with services they say are too good to be true. It’s how you dominate in business and life in general.”
I nodded but then paused. “There has to be some catch I’m not aware of. Maybe you’re not making me pay for it, but surely you expect something from me.”
Seth sipped his wine again, but this time a little bit more slowly than before. “Ah. Perhaps you inherited some of your father’s intelligence after all.”
I grinned. “Strings can be hard to see, but they’re
always there.”
“Quite true,” said Seth with a nod. “I could never get anything past Genius and it seems like you are the same. I do have something I would like you to do in exchange for the cure. It’s a small thing, really, shouldn’t take you very long to do at all.”
I folded my arms in front of my chest. “Then go on. I’m listening.”
Seth lowered his wine glass and his smile—normally calm and cool—seemed to take on a more sinister appearance. “I need you to kill Cadmus Smith.”
I paused. “Wait, what?”
“You heard me,” said Seth. His tone was as light and easy as ever. “Cadmus Smith, the Director of the Department of Extraterrestrial & Superpowered Beings, needs to die.”
My mind raced. “Why? I mean, I don’t like Cadmus anymore than you do, but killing him—”
“Because he’s evil,” said Seth simply. “Tell me, what, exactly, do you know about Cadmus?”
I paused. “He’s the leader of the G-Men. He can read minds. And he’s old. Really old. Maybe old enough to be my grandfather, but he doesn’t look it thanks to his powers. Oh, and he’s also a lying jerk who is really good at manipulating people.”
Seth nodded. “You only know the basic facts about Cadmus. Not surprising. Cadmus has always been a very secretive man. He knows better than most that knowledge is power and that the most powerful man in the world is the man who has the most knowledge. He’s nearly as intelligent as Genius, I would wager, but he lacks Genius’ inherent sense of justice and righteousness.”
“So is there something about Cadmus I don’t know?” I said. “Everything you’ve told me about him is something I already knew about Cadmus.”
“Then let me tell you something Cadmus doesn’t want you to know,” said Seth. He leaned forward, still holding his wine in his hands. “He’s not the patriot he likes to make himself out to be. He’s the real power in the government, not the President, Congress, the House, or even the Supreme Court. His longevity in the government—first in the military, and then in the bureaucracy—has given him too much power. That is why he needs to die.”
“You think he’s corrupt, then,” I said. “A corrupt bureaucrat.”
“Oh, he’s so much more than that,” said Seth as he sat upright again. “Most bureaucrats aren’t immortal. Knowledge is power, but longevity is a power all on its own, for knowing and understanding history is itself power.”
Seth put his wine glass down. “Let me make something clear, Bolt: I hate corruption. Especially government corruption. I wish to see government corruption rooted out like the weed it is. And Cadmus is not merely a weed, but a malignant tumor that should be utterly eradicated without mercy.”
Even though I was way stronger than Seth, I had to take a step back. The intensity in his voice and the light in his eyes struck me as the kind you might see in the eyes of those Middle Eastern terrorists declaring their loyalty to Allah. It was a sharp contrast to the cool, rational rich guy I had been speaking to just moments before. And it was kind of unnerving, to be honest.
“Cadmus may be immortal, but he’s not unkillable,” said Seth. “Admittedly, he is hard to kill, but only because he’s survived so many assassination attempts that it’s very hard to take him by surprise. But I think you could do it. You have the power to get rid of him, or anyone else you wish, for that matter.”
“I know, but …” I shifted my weight from foot to foot. “Killing Cadmus would definitely get me branded a criminal from the government. Last time that happened, I just barely got pardoned. I’m not interested in going back to Ultimate Max or getting hunted down by the G-Men again.”
“You don’t need to,” said Seth. “I will protect you. Join me and I will make sure that both you and your girlfriend are safe from whatever consequences may result from this. The government can’t reach me.”
I wondered what Seth meant by that, but I had a feeling that he wasn’t lying. He spoke too confidently to be lying to me. I got the feeling that he really would protect me from the government if I went ahead and killed Cadmus. Yet that didn’t make me feel any better about what he was asking me to do. If anything, it made me feel worse, because I didn’t know how he could possibly protect me from the full might of the United States federal government.
“Think of it this way,” said Seth. “You told me that your girlfriend, Blizzard, has less than a week to live. Killing Cadmus might get you branded a criminal, but wouldn’t you rather have your reputation in tatters if it meant Blizzard would live? Doesn’t that sound like an acceptable trade-off to you?”
I hesitated. In my head, I saw Blizzard lying down prone on her hospital bed in the Hero Island Hospital, her skin gray and her heart monitor barely beeping.
But at the same time, I saw something else in my head as well. I saw Shade standing on top of the Hero Island Hospital, telling me the exact same thing that Seth was. Using my desire to save Blizzard to do what she wanted me to do, rather than what I wanted to do.
And wasn’t that it? Everyone, it seemed, was using, or trying to use, me to achieve their ends, rather than my own. They didn’t give a damn about me or Blizzard. Even Seth, who claimed to care, probably didn’t, not really. Behind those fanatical eyes that burned for justice, I could sense something far more sinister. And I wasn’t sure I wanted anything to do with it.
“I don’t know,” I said. “What you’re asking of me is a lot, maybe more than I am willing to sacrifice.”
To my surprise, Seth nodded. “I understand. I’ll give you time to think about it. Anytime you want to talk, simply say my name and I will appear.”
Before I could say anything else, Seth—and his wineglass—vanished into thin air. It didn’t look like teleportation, however, but like someone had shut off a projector or something. Had Seth spoken to me through some kind of 3D hologram system or something?
I didn’t know. All I knew was that Seth had said nothing about letting me go if I said no. Or ever, for that matter.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Without hesitation, I immediately tapped my earcom to call Valerie, but I heard nothing but static in my ears. A glance at my watch showed that I didn’t have Internet in here. Figured. I bet Seth’s yacht was jamming all signals in and out of my cell. No doubt he didn’t want me calling for help or even letting people know where I was at all.
So I began walking around the length of the room, searching for a way out. I tried opening the door again, but it was locked tight and even with my super strength, I couldn’t break the lock, which must have been made out of Indestructonium like the rest of the room. It didn’t take me long to walk around the room a few times, carefully checking every corner, but I didn’t see any way out. Aside from the door, the only thing connecting me to the outside world was the vent in the ceiling, but it was too narrow for me to even consider climbing through. I half-wondered what would happen if I shot a lightning bolt through it, but something told me that wouldn’t do anything except make things more difficult.
With a sigh, I sat down on my cot. I wish I had brought my Teleportation Buckle along because then I could have teleported out. Unfortunately, I had chosen not to bring it along this time, because I didn’t have anywhere to hide it on my person and it wouldn’t fit in the suit-up watch with the rest of my costume. And yeah, I also didn’t think this mission would take very long to do. Now, however, it was starting to look like I was going to be here for a while, perhaps long enough for Blizzard to die.
That was my real concern. Frankly, I didn’t care much for my own well-being. Part and parcel of being as close to invincible as a superhero can get. I was, however, concerned for my friends and family. If Blizzard died because of my failure, then it was going to be all my fault. I didn’t think I could even live with the knowledge that Blizzard died because of me.
Maybe I should accept Seth’s offer. What did I care about Cadmus, really? He was the biggest jerk I knew. More than once I had fantasized about punching his smug face out. It wouldn’t even
be that difficult to do. Cadmus might have had an intellect second only to Dad’s, but brains didn’t make very useful helmets. One well-placed superpowered punch and bye bye Cadmus. I bet even a lot of the G-Men didn’t like him, though I had no idea how they actually felt about their leader.
But however much I hated Cadmus, I wasn’t sure Seth was any better. I still didn’t know what he wanted that weapon for. For that matter, the fact that he was willing to hire a pirate as bloodthirsty as Red Tide showed me that maybe he wasn’t as pure as he liked to make himself appear. Whether Seth was really disgusted with the corruption in the government or he just said that to get on my side, I didn’t trust anyone who willingly worked with supervillains like Red Tide. I didn’t even care that he had known Dad. In fact, it bothered me that Dad and Mecha Knight had apparently worked willingly with Seth so many years ago.
Mecha Knight had explained the purpose of Project Revival to me, but I still felt like I was missing something important. Seth might know the true purpose of it—maybe even know who unleashed the clone of my uncle Jake—but he didn’t strike me as the type to tell me that. I wondered if the government weapon was related to that, or what Seth’s game really was.
I shook my head and stood up. I hated sitting around thinking. Some people might be okay with that, but for me, I couldn’t stand it. I needed to act, to move around and do stuff. But what was I supposed to do in here? I was trapped like a rat in a cage, as much as I hated to admit it. This was actually even worse than the time I was in Ultimate Max because at least there I had managed to make some of the prisoners my allies.
Here, however, I was literally alone. Fingerprints was a captive of the Red Tide Pirates, and probably dead or dying by now. I couldn’t contact Valerie or anyone else. In fact, the only person who knew I had gone anywhere, Brains, didn’t even actually know where I was. Brains would probably only start looking for me once a week passed and I didn’t return, but who knows what kind of condition I would be by then? I might not even be alive at that point, and no, it wasn’t because I thought the G-Men would kill me for taking out Cadmus.