by Dee J. Stone
We follow her into the house, down three flights of stairs, through a long hallway, some more stairs until we enter a room that looks like the science lab at our old school. No, that lab was a joke. This is the real deal. I’ve never seen so many tubes, inventions, and machines.
There’s movement, but I can’t see the guy. The machines are so huge it’s easy to get lost in here.
“Charlie,” Chandra says. “They’re here.”
More movement before a guy sticks his head out from behind what looks like a robot. He’s around the same age as his sister, and like her, he looks like he hasn’t slept in years.
I wave. “Hi. I’m—”
“The Blue Masked Hero,” he finishes.
“Nick.”
He nods. “Right. Nick. Is it okay if I call you Blue?” He rushes over to me and examines my face, then my body. “It’s extraordinary how you turned out.” He turns to Maddie. “Both of you.” He takes her hands like they’re gold, and examines them. “Fire comes out of these.”
Maddie pulls her hands away. “I thought you weren’t involved in the experiments.”
He shakes his head. “I wasn’t, but I saw you two every day. I talked to you.”
Maddie and I look at one another, not sure what to say.
“I’m happy you’re safe now,” Charlie says.
“Why didn’t you ever stop the experiments?” Maddie asks. “You knew it was wrong. Why did you let them continue?”
He walks around his lab, banging into a few things. “No one was able to defy Mr. Hiram.”
We know all about that. When Maddie’s mom found out about the experiments, Hiram forced her to give Maddie up to be experimented on. I’m glad the bastard is gone for good.
“What did he threaten you with?” I ask.
“Everything.” He stops walking, stares into space, the continues. “Everyone was terrified of that man.”
Chandra steps forward. “I’m going to go make sure no one is snooping around.” She turns to us. “Sit down and make yourselves comfortable.” She leaves.
I take the place in. There really isn’t anywhere to sit, unless you count the robot’s head, but I’d never sit on that.
Charlie plops down on the floor, and Maddie and I join him. He crosses his legs at the ankles. “So,” he says. “If you’re not here to turn me in, what can I help you with?”
I start, “You know what’s been going on out there. These villains—or maybe he’s one guy, we don’t know—anyway, he’s attacking. He hurt many people yesterday. Maddie and I…well, we couldn’t stop him. He’s way too powerful. So we were, uh, wondering…” I can’t continue.
Maddie seems to have no problem getting right to the point. “We want to know if you’re involved.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “Involved? I left JQ years ago.”
“We know,” I say. “But one of the villains can see invisible things. Melissa told us about your goggles. Did you, uh, give the goggles to anyone? Maybe not knowing it was a villain?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t have any goggles. I destroyed them all. I’m not helping anyone. Not heroes, not villains. No one. If this villain can see invisible things, either he has someone else on his side, or he has the ability to see invisible objects.”
“Uh,” I say. “If you don’t mind my asking…why are you working on all these things if you’re not helping anyone?”
He shrugs. “What else am I supposed to do all day?” His smile is small. “And now with your request, I’ll be busy.”
“What do you mean?” Maddie asks.
“You want me to make the goggles for you so you can defeat the villain.”
Again, Maddie and I exchange a glance. “Can you?” she asks.
“Of course.”
“How much would it cost?”
He shakes his head. “As a favor to Melissa and…” He smiles at Maddie. “…her daughter. I’d do anything.”
Aw, man. Don’t tell me this guy has a crush on Maddie’s mom.
He twists his nose at me. “Consider yourself lucky. If not for Maddie, I wouldn’t help you. Heroes,” he mutters the last bit under his breath.
I didn’t do anything to him, so I don’t know why he hates me. But whatever. I’m just here to get the goggles and take the villain down.
“Nick’s the best hero out there,” Maddie says. “He’s kind and he cares about everyone. You shouldn’t have anything against him.”
I take her hand. “Mads, it’s okay. I don’t care if he doesn’t like me.”
She ignores me. “We’ve been through a lot. All because of JQ. I know you weren’t responsible for that, but you could have stopped the experiments. Or at least you could have helped all the kids who were thrown out as ‘failed experiments’. JQ just tossed them away, not caring what happened to them. I was lucky. I had my mom. Nick was also lucky to find a good family. But many others weren’t.”
Charlie holds her gaze. “Maybe you’re right. I could have done something to help the kids. But I didn’t. You think I don’t regret that every day? You think I don’t think about the kids who died because of the experiments?”
“Why do you hate me?” I ask. “I mean, one minute you’re amazed at how I turned out and now suddenly you don’t like me?”
He waves his hand. “I’m amazed at how you turned out from a scientific view. As for hating you…well, that doesn’t matter.”
“Matters to me,” I say. “Why don’t you like me?”
He says, “Because you had to become the hero. JQ came after me once Blue came to be. They couldn’t find me, so they took my sister. It was only a few weeks ago. But she and I weren’t in contact. She didn’t know where I was hiding and couldn’t tell them what they needed to know. They read her mind, did everything imaginable to learn about my whereabouts. But they couldn’t. They let her go after a few days. Once Hiram was killed and the scientists imprisoned, I reached out to my sister and she’s been hiding me ever since.” He laughs. “The FBI isn’t as brutal as Hiram was, which is why it’s pretty easy for Chandra to hide me.”
“What did JQ want from you?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I’d assume they thought I would try to contact you. They knew I didn’t like them and they must have worried we’d try to work together to take them down. Just like we’re working together now, eh?”
I wouldn’t call it working together, but I’m not going to tell him that. Instead, I ask, “Any idea who the villain—or villains—is? I think they’re our age—at least the one at the restaurant was. Maddie thinks it might be the powered kids who go to school with us. What do you think?”
He rubs his chin. “It’s highly likely the villains were part of the group of kids who were experimented on with you.”
“You mean the first batch. The ones they thought were failures.”
Charlie nods. “If what you’re saying about these villains is true, then they’re more powerful than you can imagine.”
I look at Maddie and she looks at me. “If we were all experimented on at the same time, shouldn’t we all be equally powerful?” I ask.
His eyes move from me to her. “You don’t know how powerful you are?”
We give him clueless looks. He leans against the robot behind him. “It is possible for some kids to be more powerful than others, but the first group—the failures—are the most powerful of all. I didn’t know this until I saw the two of you in action. Blue’s healing powers are amazing, as well as Maddie’s fire. The same with the telekinesis.”
Maddie says, “Why does Nick have more powers than me?” She shrugs. “It’s something I’ve been wondering for a while.”
“That depends on the child. How he or she reacts to the experiments.”
I hold up my hand. “Could it be we’re only dealing with one villain and not a few? It didn’t seem like there were more than one. I swept the entire area with my hands. No one was there, other than the villain who somehow hid himself.”
Charlie’s eyebrow
s knit. “How does he look like? Or did you not catch his features?”
“He was invisible in the park, so no one was able to see him,” I answer. “But Maddie and I saw him at the restaurant. He’s around our age and he has short blond hair and brown eyes. Oh, and he also has a scar on his forehead, like he was cut with a knife. Does that help?”
Charlie’s quiet as he stares into space. He gets this weird look on his face, like he’s seen a ghost. His face is whiter than snow.
“What is it?” Maddie asks.
He’s still staring at nothing. “It can’t be,” he says to himself. “Can it?”
“What?” Maddie and I ask.
He blinks. Gets to his feet and walks around, not caring when he bangs into different things and they tumble to the floor.
“Charlie,” I say. “What’s going on?”
He turns around. “It’s one villain. And I know who it is.”
“Who?” Maddie and I ask.
He takes a few minutes to breathe deeply before saying, “Mr. Hiram’s son.”
Chapter Fourteen
Maddie and I gape at Charlie. “Hiram’s son?” Maddie asks.
Returning to his seat, Charlie nods. “Mr. Hiram had a son who had been experimented on. Same years as you were.”
I’ve got no clue what to say. Maddie doesn’t seem to know, either. We just stare at one another. Charlie sits there, his eyes unfocused like he’s thinking about something. Maybe the past.
“What does he want?” I ask after a few minutes.
Charlie blinks. “I’m not sure.” He rubs his chin. “Everyone thought he died during the experiments.”
Again, Maddie and I look at each other. She says, “Why would he make an appearance now?”
He shrugs like he has no clue. “Mr. Hiram must have not known he was alive. Or maybe he hid the information from the rest of us.”
“Why?”
“Perhaps to use his son as a secret weapon.”
“If he’s as powerful as you say, why didn’t Hiram use him to destroy Maddie and me? Heck, why didn’t he use his son to battle us to ‘see who was stronger?’ Why force Maddie and me to fight?”
Charlie’s gaze snaps to me. “He forced you to battle one another?”
Maddie and I nod. I say, “He was looking to see which of us was more powerful. So we could work for him.”
“Hmm…”
“What?” both of us ask.
“If that was the case, he didn’t know his son was alive. Unless he was looking to form an army of powerful soldiers.”
Maddie and I exchange a glance. “Army of powered soldiers?” she says.
“No need to be afraid. Mr. Hiram is dead and your fellow powered kids are being well taken care of.” His eyes get serious. “All you need to focus on is stopping Hiram’s son.”
Easier said than done. “What’s his name?” I ask.
“Jeremy.”
“How are you so sure it’s him? Because he’s powerful?”
Charlie tilts his head to the side. “Jeremy had that scar you mentioned when he was a child. Most likely due to the experiments. He was also able to see invisible objects. Before he died, he displayed signs of power. A whole bunch of powers, including telekinesis, invisibility, and fire. Now I realize he didn’t actually die. Unless he resurrected himself.”
Maddie and I look at one another again. Her eyes widen a bit. If this guy can resurrect himself, does that mean he’s pretty much undefeatable?
“We don’t have scars,” Maddie says.
“Like I said, everyone was different and reacted differently to the experiments.” Charlie turns his head from me to Maddie. “I’m afraid I don’t have much to tell you. The boy ‘died’ when he was about four years old and I hadn’t seen him since. I can’t help you take him down.”
“Yes, you can,” Maddie says. “By making us those goggles.”
Charlie nods slowly. “I can, but it will take a while. A week perhaps.”
My mouth drops. “A week? He can do a lot of damage by then.”
“I am aware of that. You’re going to have to try to do your best.” He stands. “Now if you don’t mind, I need you to leave. You’re putting myself and my sister at risk by being here.”
Man. So much for being hospitable.
We get to our feet and Charlie leads us to the door. “My sister will contact your mother when the goggles are ready. Until then, this meeting never happened.”
He shuts the door in our faces. We walk down the hall, up the stairs, until we’re in the main house. Chandra’s in the living room, reading a book. The book’s upside down, which makes me think she was listening in on our conversation with her brother.
“Hey,” I say.
Her head snaps up. “Hello. Did you get what you needed?”
“Yeah,” Maddie says. “Thanks.”
Chandra gives us a small smile. “That’s good. Now can you please leave my house and tell no one you were here?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I reassure her. “We were never here and we’ll never come back until you or your brother tells us to. And you have our word that we won’t tell the cops.”
A grateful look washes over her face. “Thank you. You know, my brother doesn’t like heroes. But I have always been a fan.” She grins at Maddie. “Especially you, Maddie. Keep doing what you’re doing. Your mother is very proud of you.”
“Really? You talk to her often?”
She smiles sadly. “Not often at all. This is the first time we’ve spoken in years. She only knew I was living here because we used to sneak in here during our college years when this place was under construction.”
“You know,” I say. “Maybe the FBI won’t arrest your brother. He wasn’t actually part of the experiments. Maybe you guys won’t have to hide anymore.”
She shakes her head. “He was still part of the organization. I won’t take the chance.”
It sucks that they have to live like this, but we can’t do anything about that.
“Send regards to your mother, Maddie,” Chandra says once we’re at the door.
“I will. Thanks for your help, and thank your brother, too.”
She nods before closing the door. Maddie and I fly off the property and make our way to school. It’s early, and classes should still be going on. Seems stupid to go to school after learning all this, but I guess we’ve got to continue living our lives.
“Okay, we need to talk,” Maddie says, stopping at a tree and climbing on one of the branches. I follow her. We stay hidden in the tree. “What do we do about this guy?”
“Not sure. We can’t just wait for the goggles. We need to come up with some sort of plan.”
She plays with one of the branches. “Like what? You heard Charlie. Jeremy is more powerful than us.”
I shake my head. “We were all experimented on at the same time. That means we’re equally as powerful. Hiram said so.” An idea pops into my head. “That’s what he meant! The reason he was so sure we were more powerful than the younger kids is because we were experimented on at the same time his son was.”
She lifts an eyebrow. “How can that make sense? They had to have used the same equipment or whatever you call it. Why would our group be more powerful than the second group?”
She’s got a point there. “Maybe they did something different. They thought we were failures, right? So they had to adjust the experiments based on us, since many of our group died. Maybe they eased up a little on the experiments. But really, all along, we were successes.”
She ponders it over for a few seconds. “I guess that makes sense. They thought they were too rough on us, so they toned down the torturing a bit.”
I nod. “And maybe his son is more powerful because he went all out with him.”
She shakes her head in disbelief. “Experimenting on his own son? That guy was a monster, and I’m glad he’s gone. I don’t care if that makes me sound like a rotten person. I’m glad he’s gone.”
I pu
ll her to my chest, resting my chin on hers. “Me, too. It doesn’t make you a rotten person. It makes you a caring person who wants to keep everyone safe.”
Our watches beep simultaneously. Don’t tell me he’s at it again…
I glance at my watch. A robbery at a nearby supermarket. The gunmen have taken hostages. “Let’s go,” I say. Maddie and I shoot in the air and head in the direction.
***
Maddie and I have just returned to school from dealing with the hostage situation at the supermarket. It wasn’t Hiram’s son. It was a disgruntled former employee who wanted revenge on his boss. Luckily Maddie and I, along with the cops, managed to help him see reason. No one was injured.
We tell Maddie’s mom what we learned from Charlie. She’s too flabbergasted to speak.
“Mom?” Maddie asks. “Did you hear anything we just told you?”
She nods, but her mind isn’t here.
Maddie puts her hand on her mom’s. “Are you okay?”
Her mom finally snaps back in. “We can’t tell the government about any of this. No one can know about it. At least not yet.” She looks from me to Maddie. “The government wants to control the way you train the students. They feel like there’s no need to be so…intense. But now I see that you do need to up the training. By a lot. But the government won’t see it that way. They’ll mess it all up. They mean well, and I appreciate their input and their help, but…”
“They’ll want to do it their way,” I say. “Not ours.”
Maddie says, “But they already suspect something. I mean, everyone saw what happened in Central Park yesterday. They know there’s a powerful villain out there.”
Her mom nods. “Yes, they do. But they expect just the two of you to handle it. They don’t want the powered children to be released to the public. Their words, not mine.”
I’m on my feet. “That’s BS. We need the powered kids. Maddie and I can’t do it on our own. He’s too powerful.”
“I know. But if we go against their wishes, we lose the school and the children will most likely be locked up.” She pauses. “There is the option of telling them just how powerful this villain is, but we don’t need the news getting out. We don’t need to cause everyone panic.”