by Lucas Flint
“Holy crap,” said Uncle Josh, staring at the man floating above us. “It really is a ghost.”
“That’s no ghost,” said Christina with a gulp. “That’s Carl.”
I looked at Christina. “Who?”
“Christina!” the ghost bellowed, his voice strangely magnified in this small space. “I see that the rumors of your betrayal were true! I had hoped they were mistaken, but I suppose the Superior is never mistaken! Alas!”
“You know this ghost?” said Gina, looking at Christina in terror.
“He’s not a ghost,” said Christina in annoyance. “He’s a human like you and me. He can just turn intangible and stuff.”
“Indeed I can,” said the man. He put a hand on his chest. “I am Carl Hogarth, though I was better known as Black Ghost when I was a superhero in Detroit. With my powers, I can phase through any physical object and go where I please. Few have ever faced my awe-inspiring might and lived to tell the tale.”
“He’s also a huge pervert,” said Christina. She looked at Carl. “I know you like to use your powers to spy on the female Icon agents in the shower, Carl.”
“Perish the thought,” said Carl. He raised his scythe above his head. “As Black Ghost, I’ve used my powers for good, but as an agent of Icon, I use my powers for the greater good, indeed the greatest of all. Few understand just how wise and intelligent the Superior is in all his ways. And even fewer understand what it is to experience the full wrath of his unforgiving might.”
I didn’t quite know why Carl spoke like he was writing bad poetry. Maybe he was just really full of himself. “What are you doing here? Are you the reason our sub stopped?”
“You are correct, young Trickshot,” said Black Ghost. He gestured at the ceiling. “Whilst you and yours were busy fending off the Superior’s torpedoes, my crew and I aboard our own sub sneaked up on yours and attacked it when you weren’t looking. We’ve used the massive magnet on the outside of our own submarine to connect both vessels together, thus ensuring you shall not escape us.”
“And what are you doing here?” I said. “Just to gloat to us about how screwed we are?”
“There will be time for gloating later, my young friend,” said Black Ghost. His grin became absolutely psychotic. “I’m here to slaughter the Superior’s enemies, as he desires. Your blood will paint the interior of your sub red and become a monument to the arrogance of those who challenge the Superior’s authority, especially traitors like Christina.”
Black Ghost turned physical and dropped onto the floor before us. He swung his scythe at Christina, who ducked to avoid getting her head cut off. I threw a couple of disks at Black Ghost, but then he immediately turned intangible and vanished through the floor before my disks could hit him.
“Damn it,” I said, looking around wildly for him. “He got away. Where’d he go?”
“No clue, but he’s probably going to be back soon,” said Mack. “Josh, is there any way to free the Diver from their sub’s magnet?”
“We’re already operating at near peak speed,” said Uncle Josh. “If we tried to go any faster, we’d blow out the engines.”
“Meaning you can’t go any faster,” I said. “This is not good.”
“You think?” said Mack. He shook his head. “Josh, what should we do? Try to break free of their sub anyway or surrender or what?”
Uncle Josh’s fingers thumbed against the arms of his chair frantically, like he was thinking hard about what to do. I couldn’t blame him, because this was a terrible situation to be in and I couldn’t imagine the stress he was undergoing as he considered all our options.
Finally, Uncle Josh looked at the rest of us. “We’ll need to abandon ship. We can’t save the Diver and also reach Iconia at the same time.”
“Abandon ship?” I said. “But isn’t that the same as surrendering?”
“Hardly,” said Uncle Josh. “We can still complete the mission. The Diver has three escape pods, which can take us and the bomb to Iconia.”
“But there has to be someway to save the sub,” I said. “Isn’t there?”
“No, there isn’t,” said Uncle Josh. “And the sub isn’t important. What matters is completing the mission, no matter what we have to sacrifice. I always suspected something like this might happen, but Chaser has forced our hand. Better all of us get to Iconia, even if we get stranded there, than go down pointless with the Diver.”
I still didn’t like the idea of running, but I had to admit that Uncle Josh’s reasoning was sound. “All right. But we can’t just let them have the Diver.”
Uncle Josh grinned evilly. “When did I say we were just going to let them have it?”
Uncle Josh turned back to the controls and flipped open a covered switch I had not noticed before. Loud alarms suddenly began blaring throughout the sub while all of the lights on the control panel suddenly shut off.
“What did you just do?” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the blaring sirens.
“Activated the self-destruct sequence!” Uncle Josh shouted. “In about ten minutes, the Diver will blow up and destroy everything aboard. Should give us enough time to get out of here using the escape pods!”
“Self-destruct sequence?” I said incredulously. “You really are prepared for everything, aren’t you?”
“We’re Pinnacle,” said Uncle Josh. “We’re prepared for the apocalypse and everything that happens afterward.” He rose from his chair. “Now we need to get the hell out of here. The self-destruct sequence locks all controls, meaning once it’s activated, it can’t be shut off. We have to get out of here now, before—”
Black Ghost suddenly launched through the front of the sub. His arms materialized and he swung his scythe at Uncle Josh’s head. I pulled Uncle Josh down at the last second, causing the scythe to fly harmlessly above his head.
“Quick reflexes there, young Trickshot,” said Black Ghost, his psychotic grin crazier than ever. “But you can’t dodge my scythe forever. Like death, when I lay my eyes on a target, I always get it, no matter what.”
Black Ghost’s presence would make it hard for us to escape, because I doubted he was going to just sit back and let us get off the sub using our escape pods. Unless …
“Uncle Josh,” I said. “Get everyone to the escape pods. I’ll stay back here and distract Black Ghost.”
“But the self-destruct sequence,” said Uncle Josh. “If you don’t come with us—”
“I’ll be fine,” I said. I pointed behind me. “Now go! The mission depends on your success.”
Uncle Josh looked like he was going to continue to argue with me, but then Christina appeared next to him and said, “You heard the kid, uncle. We’ve got to vamoose.”
Christina shot an energy rope around Uncle Josh’s forearm and practically dragged him with her away from me. Mack and Gina followed, though Gina cast a glance in my direction with worry in her eyes. I just smiled to show that I was okay before I turned around to face Black Ghost again, who was now halfway between the outside of the sub and the control panel, a look of smug satisfaction on his face.
“So I get to play with the cub instead of the bear,” said Black Ghost. “Just like Christina. She’s always been the kind of woman to get others to do her dirty work for her.”
“I’m not Christina’s lapdog,” I said. I punched my fist into my other hand. “I’m just really sick of you Icon guys trying to ruin my life.”
I threw a punch at Black Ghost’s face, but Black Ghost pulled himself back through the wall at the last minute. My fist smashed into the radar screen, completely shattering it, before I pulled my fist back and rotated on the spot, looking for Black Ghost. All the while, I was aware that time was rapidly ticking away and that I didn’t have much time to play with this jerk before the sub exploded.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I said. “I’d still like to play.”
“Then play with this!” said Black Ghost.
He shot up through the floor and mate
rialized in front of me long enough to kick me in the gut. The blow, which took me by surprise, sent me staggering backward. I hit against the back of the pilot’s seat, but dropped to the floor just in time to avoid Black Ghost’s scythe, which cut neatly through the top of the seat as if it was butter.
“Again, good reflexes,” said Black Ghost, twirling his scythe in his hands. “A pity I need to kill you. You would have made an excellent agent of Icon under other circumstances. The world which we are building could use men like you to lead it.”
“I’m not interested in leading whatever world you’re trying to build,” I said. “If anything, I’d like to tear it down.”
I jumped toward Black Ghost, but he turned intangible at the last second and I flew through his body. I landed behind him just as Black Ghost rematerialized and slashed his scythe at me. Again I managed to dodge it, but the edge of the scythe still glanced off my right cheek, cutting through my skin and making me grunt in pain. I took several steps backward and felt the cut on my cheek, which was bleeding terribly, but it didn’t feel very deep, at least.
Black Ghost, however, was not done yet. He advanced toward me, swinging his scythe back and forth rapidly. I backed away as fast as I could, but then hit the wall and realized that I was cornered.
“Nowhere left to run now, boy,” said Black Ghost, still swinging his scythe every which way. “Once I’m done with you, I will go after the traitor Christina and the Pinnacle agents. Then I will present their blood to Chaser and he shall bless me for my righteous deeds!”
I had no witty retort, because I was probably about to get beheaded any second now and there was nothing I could do about it. I could only watch as Black Ghost’s scythe came closer and closer to my face and I realized that Black Ghost’s own crazy grin was the last human face I would ever see in my life.
CHAPTER TWELVE
All of a sudden, an energy rope came out of nowhere and yanked the scythe out of Black Ghost’s hands.
“What?” said Black Ghost, looking over in the direction the rope had come from. “Who did that?”
Standing in the doorway, the scythe lying at her feet, was none other than Christina. She wasn’t grinning, however. She was glaring at Black Ghost with hatred in her eyes, as if Black Ghost had personally offended her somehow. Then again, given her previous comments about Black Ghost being a pervert, maybe this was just revenge for all the times he peeped on her.
“Sorry, Carl,” said Christina, “but I don’t think you’ll be needing this scythe anymore. You’re not conscious.”
“Not conscious?” said Black Ghost. “What are you—”
Seeing my chance, I rushed over to Black Ghost and punched him in the face. The blow sent Black Ghost flying backwards until he crashed into the wall on the other side of the cockpit and fell flat onto the floor. Blood leaked out of his nose and mouth, but it was hard to tell if I killed him or just knocked him out. Either way, I didn’t think he was going to be a problem for us again anytime soon.
Shaking my hand, I looked at Christina and said, “Christina, why did you come back to save me?”
“Because you’re my best friend in the whole world,” said Christina sarcastically. “No, actually, because I couldn’t stand the thought of Black Ghost not getting punched in the face. He’s such an obnoxious, self-righteous asshole. I hope your punch didn’t kill him, because I want him to stay alive long enough to die when this sub goes boom.”
I suddenly remembered the self-destruct sequence and looked at the monitor which displayed it. It showed we had exactly one minute left before the submarine blew up.
“Come on!” I said. “We have to get out of here!”
I ran toward Christina and scooped her into my arms. She yelped in surprise as I ran down the hallway with her in my arms, heading straight for an open escape pod hatch.
“Where are Uncle Josh and the others?” I said, glancing at Christina as we approached the escape pod.
“They left already,” said Christina. “Well, I shoved your uncle into the escape pod with the other two so they wouldn’t try to stop me from saving you, but there are still two pods left we can use to get out of here.”
I said nothing in response to that. I just threw Christina into the open pod and jumped inside, slamming the hatch shut myself. As soon as I did, I felt the floor underneath our feet move and then heard the sound of an engine starting up somewhere before the escape pod shot out from the sub and sent us hurtling into the unknown.
“Ow,” said Christina, rubbing her behind as she stood up, using one of the escape pod’s seats for support. “Watch where you throw people. This steel floor isn’t exactly silky, you know.”
“Come on,” I said in annoyance. “It’s better than getting blown up, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” said Christina. “But—”
She was interrupted by a sudden, loud explosion somewhere outside the escape pod. Without warning, the pod was struck with some kind of force and it tilted forward. I stumbled forward and fell on my hands and knees, while Christina just fell back into her seat and clutched the railings for dear life. But the explosion ended quickly, and soon the pod righted itself, though both of us shook from the enormity of the blast.
“Was that the Diver?” said Christina. She gripped the seat’s railings so hard that her knuckles were as white as snow.
“Had to be,” I said, slowly rising to my feet and glancing over my shoulder. “Unless we somehow ended up in a US nuclear testing site, that is.”
Christina smirked. “Serves Carl right. I wish I could have been there to see him wake up and realize just how screwed he was. Oh, well. At least there’s now one less creepy pervert in the world.”
I rubbed the back of my neck and sat down on another seat built into the walls of the pod. “And one less Icon agent to get in our way. But something tells me Chaser won’t be exactly happy once he finds out about it.”
“Oh, he definitely won’t,” said Christina. “You don’t know Chaser like I do. He hates losing, hates mistakes, and isn’t very forgiving of either. Frankly, Carl got lucky when the ship blew up. If he had survived, he would have had to face Chaser’s wrath … and that is something you really don’t want to face.”
“Yeah, I figured,” I said. “Most bad guys like Chaser aren’t the nicest or most forgiving guys around. I bet he’s even more vicious toward his enemies, though.”
“You would think so, but in my experience, Chaser is harsher to us than to his enemies,” said Christina. “He holds us to higher standards than them, so naturally he is very disappointed whenever we don’t meet them. But really, he’s a complete psychopath. I’m going to be really glad when he’s dead and just a distant memory.”
I nodded, but my curiosity overcame me and I said, “What do you know about Chaser, exactly? Everyone I’ve ever asked said they know nothing about him because he’s very secretive and good at protecting his privacy.”
Christina loosened her grip on the railings on her seat, frowning slightly. “About as much as you do, really. Chaser isn’t very personable. Often, he only tells us exactly what we need to know to complete whatever mission he’s assigned to us and nothing more. I’ve only ever interacted with him from behind a computer screen. Sometimes I’m not even sure he’s a real person, but Atticus—”
“Who?” I said.
“Oh, that’s right,” said Christina. She brushed back a few strands of hair. “I forget you never met the brave and daring Atticus Frederick. He’s Chaser’s second-in-command, his right hand man, and probably the only agent in the entire organization who Chaser actually trusts. He founded Icon alongside Chaser and actually has seen Chaser in real life, though he’s never answered any of our questions about Chaser’s appearance or true identity. He’s a little more personable than Chaser, but not by much.”
“Atticus Frederick,” I repeated. “Does he have any powers or anything?”
“Not that I know of, but I barely know more about Atticus than I do about Chaser,
” said Christina. “All I know is that Atticus is from the same town you are.”
“Rumsfeld?” I said. “You mean Rumsfeld, Texas?”
Christina nodded. “Yeah. He let it slip once when he assigned me to Rumsfeld all those months back. I didn’t even ask him about it and I haven’t really thought about it since then.”
I stroked my chin, thinking deeply about what Christina said. “Well, if this Atticus guy was from Rumsfeld and he’s known Chaser for a long time, then could Chaser also be from Rumsfeld?”
“Anything’s possible with him,” said Christina. “I’ve heard all sorts of crazy rumors and theories from the other guys about Chaser’s origins. Some say that Chaser is a rogue CIA or FBI agent who broke away from the government to form his own spy organization for his own purposes, while others say that Chaser is just a criminal mastermind who cares about nothing more than money and power. The craziest one I heard is that Chaser doesn’t actually exist and that he’s just a computer program that Atticus made to fool the rest of us into thinking he isn’t in charge of the organization.”
“That is crazy,” I said. “What do you think?”
“Me?” said Christina. She shrugged. “I think I’d like nothing more than to end Chaser’s miserable little life. Whether that means slitting a human being’s throat or crushing a computer chip under the heel of my shoe, it’s all the same to me.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Well, I guess you’re right. Either way, we’re about to find out, aren’t we?”
“Assuming we don’t get killed by other agents Chaser sends after us,” said Christina. “And if you think Scourge and Black Ghost were the worst Icon has, then you’re dead wrong. Now that we’ve killed two of their agents, Chaser is probably going to go all out against us.”
“What would ‘go all out against us’ look like?” I said.
“I don’t know,” said Christina. “Chaser can be hard to predict because of how secretive he is, but one thing I do know is that he doesn’t like losing at all. It’s not that he cares about the lives of his agents so much that he invests his ego into the success of certain missions and treats it like an insult when things don’t go his way.”