by Lucas Flint
“Really? Why?”
“Because most criminals didn’t take superheroes very seriously back in the old days. They looked at the tights and capes and masks and thought the early superheroes were all jokes. Hence why the earliest superheroes had to be tougher than modern ones. Nightbolt told me that when he trained me.”
Suddenly, I understood why Nightbolt’s training was so much more intense than Rubberman’s. Nightbolt was training me the same way he must have been trained when he was younger, although now that I thought about it, Nightbolt must have had to train himself, given how he was one of the first legal superheroes and probably didn’t have any mentor of his own.
“I see,” I said. “Guess they kind of had to back then, didn’t they?”
“Yep,” said Rubberman. He sighed. “Unfortunately, because supervillains and criminals have wised up to just how strong superheroes can be since then, it means they’ve become tougher themselves. But that’s just the way things are. No point in whining about it.”
“Right,” I said. “Nightbolt’s been a pretty good trainer. He’s even helped me understand my powers better.”
“No surprise there,” said Rubberman. “Without Nightbolt’s training, I probably wouldn’t know even half as much about how my powers work as I do now. Despite being powerless, he’s got a real talent for helping empowered humans learn the limits of their own abilities.”
I nodded, but this discussion about Nightbolt’s teaching methods made me think about the Rubber Ball. Rubberman still didn’t know that I knew the origin of his powers. He had probably been intending to tell me it himself sometime, but because Nightbolt told me about it already, I wondered if I should tell Rubberman I knew it or not. He hadn’t mentioned the Rubber Ball himself, of course, but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t.
“I know,” I said. “But I really can’t wait to get back to Golden City. Los Congrejos is pretty boring, to be honest. Not much to do out here except stare at cows all day.”
“Doesn’t sound like much has changed around there since I was last there,” said Rubberman. “Has Nightbolt told you about the aliens yet?”
I almost dropped my phone. “The what?”
“The aliens,” Rubberman repeated. “Or, at least, the rumors of aliens. Haven’t you heard about them?”
“Um, I think so,” I said carefully. “But I’ve been too busy training to pay attention to them.”
“Odd,” said Rubberman. “The alien rumors were one of the first things I learned about when I trained there. It was all anyone could talk about, especially the abduction which happened just before my visit.”
I frowned. “Abduction? What are you talking about? Nightbolt didn’t tell me about any abduction that happened before you visited.”
“I guess it was six years ago, so it’s probably slipped his mind,” said Rubberman. “Nightbolt is what, ninety-six-years-old or something now? He’s probably forgotten more than I’ve learned.”
My frown deepened. Nightbolt had told me that the current alien activities had started about a year ago, which was also the same time that the two government agents arrived, but if Rubberman was telling the truth, then these alien activities had been happening for much longer than I had been led to believe. “Tell me about it, boss. I’m listening.”
“Okay,” said Rubberman. “Six years ago, there was an alien abduction in the town of Los Congrejos. This happened about a week before I arrived, so I didn’t get to witness the early parts, but I did get to see some of the later parts, though the abduction was pretty much over by the time I got there.”
“Did you actually see the aliens themselves?”
“No, though I was told that Nightbolt had. All I saw was the aftermath; even then, it was hard to get information about it from the people because no one wanted to talk about it. There are still a few areas I don’t know much about, but I have a pretty good understanding of what happened, which I slowly pieced together during my stay at Nightbolt’s place.”
“Then get on with the story. I’m listening.”
“All right. As I said, six years ago, one of the inhabitants of Los Congrejos was abducted by aliens. She was supposedly abducted during the night, while she was sleeping on the roof of her house due to how hot it was that night. A handful of people reported seeing a ring-shaped spaceship appear over the house, but most people did not see or hear anything. The abduction seemed to happen without many witnesses.”
“What happened to the woman who got abducted?”
“She was found the next day, wandering around half-naked through the streets of Los Congrejos. She was confused, scared, and babbling about ‘the brain,’ but no one knew what she meant. She also kept alternating between English and Spanish; she was of Mexican descent, but Nightbolt told me it was like the woman was trying to speak both languages at once.”
The brain … I thought about the Rubber Ball and what Xavier Zuluaf had said about it. Was there a connection between this event that happened six years ago and the Rubber Ball?
“I actually saw the woman myself during my training,” said Rubberman. “She seemed mostly sane when I saw her, but she didn’t want to talk about her experiences with the aliens. She wouldn’t even talk to her husband or daughter about it. She kept to her house, never leaving it, although she claimed that the aliens kept trying to break into her house at night. No one else ever saw the aliens, however, so the assumption was that she probably just heard stray cats out her window at night and mistook them for aliens trying to get her.”
“This woman,” I said, “what happened to her? Do you know if she’s still alive?”
Rubberman’s voice became grim. “Ah, no. She committed suicide about a month later. She was found lying in her bed, looking like she’d died from shock. The Los Congrejos police ruled her death a suicide, though as I recall, there was no clue that she’d harmed herself. It was like she had woken up, seen something awful, and died right on the spot. I remember because Nightbolt and I went to her funeral, because the woman’s husband was a good friend of Nightbolt. Quite sad, because her husband was a good man and their daughter was cute, but I suppose things like that happen even to the best of families at times.”
I nodded. “This woman, what was her name? Do you remember?”
“Hold on, let me think, because it’s been a while since I thought about her,” said Rubberman. “Ah, I remember now. Yes, her name was Maria Gonzales. Her husband was named Jose and their daughter, who was about ten at the time, was Teresa.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I said nothing, mostly because I realized that Rubberman was talking about the Gonzales family. The woman who had been abducted by the aliens was Teresa’s mom. I had wondered where Teresa’s mother was, but I guess I now knew it.
Still, I was surprised to hear about this story. It threw the events of the last two weeks into a completely different light. There was a lot more stuff going on than I originally thought, it seemed, and I was now starting to believe there was a connection between the Rubber Ball and the aliens, although right now the thought was still pretty vague and insubstantial.
“Beams?” said Rubberman, snapping me out of my reverie. “Are you still there? Hello?”
“Yes, boss, I’m still here,” I said. “Sorry. I was just thinking about how sad this story was.”
“Very sad, I agree,” said Rubberman. “It put a damper on things for a while. Nightbolt, in particular, seemed very moody, probably because he’s close with the Gonzales family, so losing Maria was like losing a daughter to him. But there were no more alien abductions or activities after that, at least none that I ever heard about. The rest of my time in Los Congrejos was spent training and learning how to use my powers.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, nodding, though I wasn’t paying strict attention to him. “The Rubber Ball and all that.”
“The what?” said Rubberman, his tone suddenly sharp.
I realized too late that I’d said something I shouldn’t; nonetheless,
I said, in an attempt at damage control, “Oh, it was nothing, I—”
“You mentioned the Rubber Ball,” said Rubberman. It was a statement, not a question. “Did Nightbolt show it to you? Did he tell you about it?”
“N-No,” I said, my voice shaking despite myself. “I mean, I saw it, but he didn’t specifically take me down to the Basement to show it to me. I just saw it by accident.”
“But you know that it gave me my powers,” said Rubberman. “Right?”
“Uh …” I gulped. “Yes.”
Rubberman was silent for a short time, although it felt like an eternity to me, and then he suddenly said, “I guess you know how I got my powers, then.”
“Yes, I do,” I said. “Sorry. I was just so curious—”
“It’s not a problem,” said Rubberman. “I was planning to tell you at some point anyway. I wish Nightbolt would not have told you, but what’s done is done, so no point in crying over spilled milk.”
“Yeah, I agree,” I said. “Not like I can stop knowing about it or anything, right?”
“Right,” said Rubberman, though he didn’t sound very pleased. “Then you know not to touch it, right?”
“Uh,” I said, “I may have touched it once.”
“Once?”
“But I know better now,” I said quickly. “I feel no desire to touch it again. I’m content to let it stay in its display case in the Basement forever.”
That wasn’t exactly true. The Rubber Ball still called out to me. True, its call wasn’t as strong as it could have been, but I couldn’t deny that it was still there and that it was stronger at some times than others. But I didn’t want Rubberman to worry about me, not on top of all of the other things he had to worry about.
“Good,” said Rubberman, who did not seem to have noticed I lied. “It should be destroyed, but … well, I’m sure Nightbolt already explained why we can’t do that.”
“He did,” I said. “And you don’t have to worry about it, either, because it is still down in its display case in the Basement. Absolutely no one will be able to get their hands on it.”
“Excellent,” said Rubberman. “Anyway, I need to end this call. My nurse is going to change my bandages and after that I’ll probably take a nap. You stay safe, okay?”
“Sure thing, boss,” I said.
“But before I hang up, I have one last thing to tell you,” said Rubberman. “Don’t let your guard down around the Rubber Ball. Maybe you don’t feel compelled to touch it again, but it is very sneaky. It won’t attack you directly. It will work on you slowly, surely, and subtly, so be careful and vigilant.”
“I will, boss, I will.”
“Good,” said Rubberman. “Good bye, then, and tell the old man hi for me.”
With that, Rubberman hung up. I lowered my phone to my side, but I did not leave my room to talk to Nightbolt, because I was still thinking about what Rubberman told me about the aliens.
There had been an alien abduction six years ago, well before any of the current ones. The victim had been Maria Gonzales, the wife of Jose and the mother of Teresa, who were still suffering from alien abductions even now. Not only that, but Maria had mentioned something about ‘the brain’ when she was found, and Xavier Zuluaf had said that the Rubber Ball was the brain of a dead alien god in Antarctica. That alien that had attacked the house had been near the Arena, where the Rubber Ball was kept.
Things were starting to become clearer to me now, but at the same time, I still didn’t quite understand how it all fit. Most importantly, I wondered why Nightbolt had neglected to mention that first abduction to me and why the Gonzales family was apparently still being targeted by the same aliens even six years later. Either Nightbolt had not seen it as important enough to share with me or he had a deeper reason for not telling me about that abduction. I doubted it was anything sinister, but I still worried that it might not exactly be noble, either.
I thought I knew what was going on here, but with this new information, I felt like I was back at square one. I considered asking Nightbolt about this, but given how he had not mentioned it even once since I started training with him, I doubted I would get a straight answer from him. I’d need to find someone else who might be willing to give me more information about this abduction, because I felt like if I could figure it out, I would understand everything that went on around here.
But who? I couldn’t go to Agents Camel and Jake. From what Rubberman said, it sounded like those two had not been involved in this abduction; and besides, I didn’t trust them. Camel was too friendly and amicable, while Jake was too quiet. Likely they’d just lie to me or try to use me to further their own agendas.
But I knew of no one else in the area who might be able to fill me in on the details of this first abduction other than Nightbolt and the agents. Perhaps I’d never learn the truth at all, or maybe I would need to run an Internet search. Nightbolt’s Internet connection wasn’t very strong out here, true, but I had to make it work. I already knew some keywords that could help me find any news stories about this; for example, I could use Maria Gonzales’ name.
Wait a minute. Maria Gonzales … of course. Maybe I couldn’t talk to Nightbolt or the agents about this, but there were two people who would know more about this abduction than anyone else, and at least one of them would be willing to talk to me:
Jose and Teresa Gonzales, Maria’s surviving husband and daughter. If anyone knew facts about this abduction that weren’t available to the general public, it would have to be them.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
But I didn’t get a chance to go to the Gonzales ranch that day. For one, Nightbolt wanted me to stay at the house while Agents Camel and Jake searched the property, because he didn’t want either of them to suspect that we had done anything wrong. For another, Jose didn’t like superheroes or sidekicks very much, so even if Nightbolt had allowed me to leave, it didn’t seem likely that Jose would allow me to visit him.
I didn’t need to visit Jose, however, to find out what I wanted to know about the abduction. I wanted to talk to Teresa. Jose may not have cared much for sidekicks or superheroes, but Teresa seemed to like me all right. I hadn’t spoken to her since the incident in the Basement, but I figured that she might still be willing to talk to me. It wasn’t like I was going to ask her to go back into the Basement again. I just wanted to know a few facts about something that happened to her mother a while ago.
Of course, actually contacting Teresa to set up a time and place to meet was a challenge, because when my third week of training with Nightbolt began, I once again found myself thrown into a crazy schedule of non-stop training. This week, we trained in the Arena again, where we did a combination of martial arts training and power training. We’d train my physical combat abilities in the morning, my powers in the afternoon, and then a combination of both in the evening. As a result, I learned more than a few new skills which would be helpful in fighting supervillains.
Unfortunately, I was still exhausted by the end of each day. I never had time to go out and visit Teresa, but I was still determined to talk to her. So on the second day of the week, early in the morning before Nightbolt got up, I looked up the Gonzales family in Nightbolt’s phone book (which was amazing, because it had been years since I last saw a real life yellow pages and it took me a while to figure out how to use it) and found their number. I had to wait until night to actually call Teresa, however, because I didn’t think she’d be up as early in the morning as I was.
When I actually did call Teresa, she was actually happy to hear me and agreed to meet me on my day off at the end of the week. She said I could come to the Gonzales ranch and that she would tell her dad that I was coming over to check the ranch for any clues about the aliens. That wasn’t the real reason I was coming, of course, but Teresa thought it would be the only way Jose would let me visit due to his distrust of sidekicks. I told Nightbolt much the same thing when I spoke to him about it the same day, because I still didn’t want him to know I kn
ew about the first abduction until I had spoken to Teresa about it. Nightbolt did not object to me going to visit Teresa, much to my surprise. He even thought it was a good thing, because it would get me out of the house for a while and give him some much needed privacy.
Thus, when the last day of the week came, Nightbolt and I drove in his truck to the Gonzales ranch. Nightbolt actually let me drive it personally, because I told him that I was still trying to get my driver’s license and needed as much driving experience as I could get. Driving Nightbolt’s old truck was a completely different experience from driving my dad’s car, but I managed to get us to the Gonzales ranch without much trouble. Teresa met us at the gate, which was where Nightbolt dropped me off.
When Nightbolt left, I turned to Teresa and said, “Okay, Teresa, where should we talk?”
“The barn,” Teresa replied. She gestured over her shoulder at the old barn near the ranch house. “Dad is in town right now getting some groceries, so it will just be you and me for now.”
She sounded very pleased about that, though I couldn’t imagine why.
In any case, I said, “Good. The more privacy we have, the better.”
Teresa’s smile suddenly vanished. “You aren’t going to ask me to go down to that Basement again, are you?”
I shook my head. “No, no, don’t worry about that. But we’ll be talking about aliens for sure.”
Teresa sighed in relief. “Oh, good. I’ve had nightmares about that Rubber Ball all week. I could live with not seeing it again, that’s for sure.”
“And hopefully, you won’t,” I said. “But our conversation may have something to do with the Rubber Ball, depending on how everything fits together.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll explain on the way there,” I said. “Let’s go. I don’t see anyone around but a few cows, but I still don’t want to risk anyone listening in on us.”