A True Hero

by M. R. Anglin

  “He thought this through, didn’t he?” Nicole pulled her knees to her chest. “The greatest Hero in ASH, my foot.”

  “Then what does it make me?” Junior Justice wrapped his arms around his knees. “ASH’s rising star . . . protégé to the great Captain Justice . . . does this mean I’m nothing but a fraud?”

  “You’re a great Hero, JJ.” Nicole lifted her eyes to him. “I’ve looked up to you forever. You rush into the fray without hesitation, take names, and defend everyone. I don’t think you’ve ever caused any collateral damage. You’re amazing!”

  A smile tugged at Junior Justice’s lips. “It means a lot coming from you.”

  “You don’t even know me.”

  “I’ve been following your career for a while now. I’m impressed with you, Refraction.” Junior Justice gave her a shy smile. “I . . . I may even . . . have a crush on you.”

  Nicole picked her head up. “Really?”

  Junior Justice nodded. “Which became awkward when you revealed your secret identity.”

  “Why?”

  Junior Justice smiled at her. “BT-X, suit off.” His costume faded, revealing a teenaged boy with skin the color of a latte and brown eyes.

  Nicole gaped at him. “Justin?”

  Justin shrugged.

  “You’re Junior Justice?” Nicole paused for a moment. “Eww! I have a crush on you!”

  Justin chuckled. “Thanks a lot.”

  “Aw, come on! Don’t tell me you didn’t feel the same way when you found out I was Refraction.” Nicole shuddered. “All that time I was fawning over you.”

  “I did, but I couldn’t react.” Junior Justice activated his costume again. “Gotta stay professional in the mask.”

  “If you’re Junior Justice, why have you been so hard on Stephanie? Calling her a Villain and telling her you’ll take her in?”

  Junior Justice shrugged. “Have to keep up my persona. Junior Justice cares about justice. I do too, but . . . I don’t know. I’m not sure what we’re going to do about Stephanie after this is all done.”

  “Me neither.”

  “The most important thing is getting out of this.” Junior Justice rested his hand on his knee. “You’re my best friend, Nikki. I can’t stand the thought I’m the reason you’re in this mess.”

  “Beatrix is the reason we’re in this mess.” Nicole pressed her lips together. “I don’t understand any of this. Why did she kidnap Dad? And Starlight? And Brody? She would have gone after Stephanie if Brody hadn’t hidden her. Yet she didn’t touch you. It’s like . . . she was telling the truth. Maybe she is trying to protect them.”

  “She did it to bait you. She—” Junior Justice paused as the door opened. “We’ll have to ponder this another time.” He got to his feet as Captain Justice appeared.

  Captain Justice smirked as he approached. “Hello, there, kids. I require the help of the young lady.”

  “I’ll never help you.” Nicole jumped to her feet.

  “You don’t have a choice.” Captain Justice opened the cell.

  As soon as he did, Junior Justice dove into him. The bubble slammed into Captain Justice, smacking him to the side. “Let’s go, Refraction!” He rolled the bubble out.

  Following his lead, Nicole pushed against the bubble and started rolling it like a hamster in a plastic ball.

  Captain Justice snarled, got to his feet and drew a gun to point it at Junior Justice. With a gasp, Nicole launched herself into Captain Justice. This time he dodged, swung around, and kicked her bubble into the wall. Nicole pivoted, and used the momentum to bounce off the wall and launch herself down the hall.

  “JJ, run! He’s got a gun!” Nicole shouted as she whizzed past Junior.

  Captain Justice shot at them.

  Spinning around, Junior Justice twirled his staff to deflect the bullets that went through the containment bubble with no resistance. He swung around to keep launching himself down the hall. He skidded around the corner and into an open elevator. Nicole slipped in behind him.

  “Come on, come on, come on!” Junior Justice bumped himself into the door close button repeatedly. The door shut as Captain Justice approached.

  “Okay, top floor.” Junior Justice bumped himself into the button for the top floor.

  “You’re incredible! See? You are a great Hero.” Nicole clapped. “I would have never thought about using the bubbles as weapons.”

  “All those tests with my staff proved it could work.” Junior Justice crossed his arms as he watched the floor number increase.

  “So you weren’t just hitting yourself over and over.” Nicole heaved a sigh. “I could learn a lot from you.”

  Junior Justice shrugged but a smile lingered on his face.

  “So where are we going?”

  “Top floor. It’s where Beatrix is. Captain Justice taught me never to infiltrate a Villain’s hideout without having a good idea where everything is.” Junior Justice started to tap his staff on the ground. “I studied the schematics back at the Justice Cave.”

  “Guess Captain Justice never expected you to use his knowledge against him.”

  “I guess not.” Junior Justice smirked. “He really should stop underestimating me.”

  CHAPTER 72

  “SHADOWMAN’S LAIR.” Starlight gaped the space Beatrix had dropped her. “The heart of the storm.”

  “Looks more like a storage room to me.” John ran his fingers through the dirt on an old car with a large “M” on the side. Boxes filled in the seats. “This Shadowman fellow has a lot of junk.”

  “I’ve never been down here before, but I know his place.” Brody shuddered. “I spent months trapped in the Villain’s Lair.”

  “Why would Beatrix send us here?” Starlight lifted her cuff for her BT-X to scan the area. “I’m getting no signal. Can’t call for help.”

  “Not sure.” John picked up something from among the boxes in the car. “But look at this.”

  Starlight crossed over to John and took the thing—a framed photo of a Hero standing in front of a statue that had been erected in front of ASH HQ. “Captain Justice?” She raised an eyebrow. “Why would there be a picture of him here?”

  “It’s not Captain Justice. Take a closer look.” John stepped back so Brody could get a good look at the photo. “Don’t you remember? Before they had a statue of the Captain at ASH’s HQ, they had one of—”

  “Maximus!” Brody snatched the picture from Starlight. “I’d never forget that smug face!”

  “Exactly.” John motioned around. “We seemed to have stumbled upon where Maximus stored his things after Beatrix took his power.”

  “Wait . . .” Starlight swung around to John. “You don’t suppose Shadowman is Maximus?”

  “No way.” The frame slipped from Brody’s hands and crashed onto the floor. “That would mean . . . I’ve been working for my parents’ murderers this whole time!”

  John rested a hand on Brody’s shoulder. “That may very well be.”

  Brody clenched his teeth so hard they squeaked. He erupted in a scream that echoed off the walls. “That cretinous wretch! Next time I see him, I’ll banish him to the surface of the sun!” He kicked the car over and over again until a sizeable dent appeared.

  “If you can get your powers back,” Starlight said.

  “Wait! Hush!” John stiffened, glancing around the room. “Do you hear that?”

  Starlight held herself still, straining to hear. At the very edge of her hearing, he heard a muffled voice say, “Where are you?”

  “Stephie!” Brody rushed to the two-way mirror. John and Starlight followed.

  On the other side of the mirror, they saw Stephanie in a wig and mask, peeking around the empty room.

  “What’s she doing here?” John asked.

  “Who cares? She can get us out! Stephie! Stephie!” Brody banged on the window. “Stephie!”

  John and Starlight joined in, all hoping beyond hope that Stephanie would hear their cries.

  CHA
PTER 73

  WHEN STEPHANIE APPEARED in the receiving teleporter, she darted out of the machine and hid behind some equipment. It was a risk jumping into the teleport—if Captain Justice had hesitated at all, he would have seen her appear. But she had to take the risk. She needed to know where he was taking her friends.

  Glancing around, she spotted Captain Justice walking out of the room, taking her friends in their containment bubbles with him. Stalking him at a fair distance, she watched him take them to an underground room with lines of barred cells. He tossed them in one such cell and exited. She had to duck around the corner as he passed.

  Biting her lips together she considered her situation. When Stephanie had seen Captain Justice put his hand through Nicole’s bubble to snatch her gem, it dawned on her: if the bubbles contained Heroes by using their power against them, she—as a person with no powers—should have no problem pushing through. So she did.

  But now, what to do? She had no idea how to get the other two out. Unless . . . Captain Justice would have to have a way to reverse this bubble, right? All she had to do was find the right gadget. But where could she find something like that? Nothing for it, she’d have to search this entire building for something that could work.

  “I’ll be right back, you guys.” Stephanie whispered to herself as she darted away.

  Keeping to the shadows Stephanie peeked into every room she came across, keeping herself hidden from any henchmen. Mostly the rooms were filled with equipment or computer systems, but some were dorm rooms for minions. There was even a lounge. Mostly Stephanie would peek into each room and move on. But as reached the floor above, she found a space which piqued her interest. There, on a workstation, in a dozen different pieces, rested a curious device.

  “My second teleporter prototype.” Stephanie glanced around to make sure she was alone and pulled a small, metal ball from her belt. The ball was a video jammer. Tossing it inside, she counted to five before darting in. She had a few moments before the jammer wore off—designed to keep security guards from thinking the disruption to their video feed was more than a glitch. The workstation had all the tools she need to put the teleporter back together. She examined each part as she did, making sure Captain Justice/Shadowman didn’t make any changes to her design. It seemed he hadn’t, and judging by the notebook beside the workstation, he had been in the process of studying how it had been made—and developing additions to it.

  While reassembling her teleporter, Stephanie found the damage Brody had complained about earlier. The stabilizer’s chips had overloaded and melted—the same sort of damage which would come from an EM pulse.

  “Wow!” Stephanie removed one of the melted chips. “Nikki did a number on this. I wonder how much power she has.” She set it aside and scanned the work desk for a suitable replacement.

  Shadowman didn’t have any chips displayed—it seemed like he had been just examining the device, so Stephanie had to jury-rig it. It wasn’t the best job but enough for a few teleports at least. Luckily, the part of the device powering the actual teleporting function was pristine, barely used. Probably because Brody had his own teleporting capabilities.

  By the time Stephanie had put her teleporter back together, her small jammer started beeping. 30 second warning.

  No matter. Now that her second prototype was back together, she had the means to rescue Nicole and Junior Justice. She’d just teleport them out—that is, if a teleport would work within the confines of those bubbles. Only one way to find out. She teleported herself back to the area where her friends had been locked away.

  The cells were empty.

  “Oh, no!” Stephanie collapsed against the wall. “Where’d they go? He must have come back to get them. What am I supposed to do?” Hanging her head, she fell into silence as she thought of her best course of action.

  A muffled scream shattered the silence followed by rhythmic banging. She froze for a second before biting her lips and creeping off to follow the sound of the banging down a long, quiet hallway. She knew it was stupid to do it, but that scream sounded an awful lot like Brody.

  There was a single room at the end of the hall, with brick walls that echoed any sound she made. Easing the door open, she peeked in. It was an empty room with a mirror on one side and scorch marks all over the padded walls. Though she searched the room, Stephanie saw nothing and no one to have made that noise. Worse, the banging seemed to have stopped.

  Biting her lips together, she took a risk she knew she shouldn’t make. She took a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Brody, where are you?”

  Silence followed. Of course it did. Why would Brody be in here? Probably better to make herself scarce in case the residents of this island heard her and came to investigate.

  Muffled voices shouting at her, along with a faint banging, made her freeze in her tracks. She surveyed the room again, and her eyes fell on the mirror. It dawned on her. It had to be a two way mirror. She’d heard about them before—from one side it was reflective but from the other people could see her. She darted to the mirror and spread her hands on the glass. “Brody? Are you in there?” She squinted in the mirror but couldn’t see anything beyond her own reflection.

  Suddenly, a light came on from the other side of the mirror. A figure held up a laptop to the mirror, and the extra light allowed Stephanie to see the silhouettes of three shapes.

  One of them was . . .

  “Brody!” Stephanie jerked her head around for a door. She spotted one hidden in the darkness. Tugging on it, she found it was locked. “Of course.” She returned to the mirror. “Don’t worry, Brody. I can get you out!” She backed away and lifted her teleporter.

  CHAPTER 74

  WITH THEIR COMBINED yelling and banging, John and his fellow prisoners had successfully gotten Stephanie’s attention. John watched her approach the mirror and squint, trying to see inside. That’s when he remembered two-way mirrors only worked if the room without the reflective surface was in darkness. The lights must be too dim for her to see, but with a little more . . .

  He grabbed his laptop and opened it to shine the light at the window.

  Stephanie must have seen them for she seemed to get excited. She jumped up and down, ran to one side of the room, returned to the mirror, and held up a device.

  “What’s she doing?” John said. And then she disappeared.

  Only to reappear in the room beside them.

  “Whoa!” John jumped when she appeared out of nowhere.

  “Brody!” Stephanie launched herself into her brother’s arms.

  “Stephie!” Brody swung her around. “I’m so glad you’re okay. What are you doing here?”

  “I followed Captain Justice!”

  “Captain Justice is here?” Starlight placed a hand on her heart. “What a relief. I may not like the guy, but he knows how to kick Villain butt.”

  “A relief? He’s evil!” Stephanie clenched her fists. “He got Nicole and Junior Justice and Bee. He’s the one, Brody. The same guy who burned you.” She halted. “Wait! I thought he burned you.”

  “Stephie, focus!” Brody grabbed Stephanie’s shoulders. “Are you saying that Shadowman is Captain Justice?”

  Stephanie nodded.

  John felt the heat rush from his face. “Then where’s Nicole?”

  “I don’t know,” Stephanie said. “He locked her and Junior Justice in a cell, but they’re not there anymore.”

  “Oh, no!” John dropped to his knees. “Pumpkin . . .”

  “John, hold it together.” Starlight gripped his shoulder and pulled him to her feet. “She’s a Hero. She can handle herself.”

  John took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He had to believe in his daughter—believe she was Hero enough to stay alive in this dangerous situation.

  “Now, Stephanie, I want you to think.” Starlight looked into her eyes. “Is there anything you heard Captain Justice say that can help us?”

  “Um . . .” Stephanie’s eyes drifted to the ceil
ing in thought. “Captain Justice said he needed Nicole for something.”

  “Anything else?” Starlight said.

  Stephanie bit her lips in thought. “Oh! Bee said she holds half of what Beatrix needs. Captain Justice took her too. Does that help?”

  “No! It doesn’t make any sense!” John slammed his fist into the wall. “Beatrix is a self-sufficient unit. What would she need Bee for?”

  “Maybe it would help to come at the question some other way.” Starlight tapped her chin while pacing in a circle. “If ASH has been wrong about Jess this whole time, then she’s not a traitor. According to Beatrix she wanted to create accountability for Heroes.”

  “She didn’t want what happened to Stephanie and Brody’s parents to happen to anyone ever again,” John said.

  “Then it would be pretty short-sighted to take powers without having a way to give them back. For example, what if a person reformed, or there was a mistake or . . .” Starlight’s eyes widened. “Oh, no!” She let her hands drop to her side. “I get it.”

  “Get what?” John said.

  “Nicole! Her power set. She can control and manipulate energies.” Starlight smacked her forehead. “The Sapphire is a conduit that allows Beatrix to codify Heroes’ powers and store them in a database. What if Bee can do the opposite—recompile and restore the Heroes’ powers.”

  “Then what would he need Nicole for?” Stephanie said.

  “Because there is no Sapphire for her.” Starlight pressed her heel into her forehead. “The Sapphire absorbs all energies; Beatrix needs it to steal powers. Bee must need Nicole’s power to be able to restore them.”

  “That’s bad!” Brody, who had been silently listening to the conversation, stepped a bit closer. “Shadowman—or Captain Justice or whatever—is Maximus, who had the most power of any Hero ever. What if he gets his powers back?”