Secret Origins

by James Riley

  Charm’s eyes narrowed. “Wait a second. You didn’t say anything about time travel. And this doesn’t look anything like the future Kiel and I visited.”

  “Different dimensions,” Owen told her, thinking quickly. “This is the past of Gwen’s dimension, and Bethany’s from the future.”

  Charm stared at him for a moment in silence, then shook her head. “Don’t care. It’s not relevant. Are we enhancing you two or not?”

  “She needs something to help her fly,” Bethany said. “And Owen could maybe use some kind of weapon, too.”

  “We covered what I’m going to get already,” Owen said quickly, not looking at Bethany. The last thing he wanted to do was give her the chance to veto his awesome new superpowers. After all, if he had to have a robot heart, the least he could do was also have the ability to move faster than light. It was only fair.

  Bethany gave him a suspicious look, then sighed. “Fine. Charm, what do you need for—”

  “A laboratory,” she said, slamming the quantum physics book shut and tossing it over her shoulder. “We can use mine, if you teleport us back to my dimension. I have everything we need there.”

  “Can I talk to you for a second?” Owen whispered to Bethany as Gwen sat down cross-legged in front of the nearest shelves and began pulling out books one by one. He dragged Bethany aside, just out of Charm’s hearing.

  “I know what you’re doing,” Bethany whispered back. “You can’t have permanent superpowers.”

  “That’s not what this is about,” he said, inwardly cursing. “We can’t let Charm use her Quanterian science to give us powers. Science in Charm’s world works, and that’s the last thing we want.”

  Bethany just stared at him for a moment. “Did you go insane since I left?”

  “We need comic book science for this,” he said. “How do superheroes get their powers? By accident, and almost always in a science experiment gone wrong. But it’s not normal science, not in a comic book world. If a radioactive spider bit us here, or in Charm’s world, it’d just make us sick from radiation. That, or kill us. But in the comic book world, we’d have Spider-Man’s powers and be the star of, like, five movies by now.”

  Bethany gave him an incredulous look. “So let me see if I’m hearing you right. You’re suggesting we go back into Dr. Apathy’s lab, which is filled with shadow monsters by the way, so Charm can use machines she’s never seen before and do crazy things to us which might give us powers if we first cause an accident? That’s what you’re telling me?”

  “Pretty much,” Owen told her, shrugging. “It’s how superheroes get their powers, and if we want to beat the Dark, we’re going to have to play by the same rules he does.”

  Bethany just shook her head, her mouth hanging open. “This might be your worst idea since you saved the Magister.”

  Owen nodded. “Probably. But I’m right about this, and you know it.”

  “I know you’re crazy!” She sighed. “How are we going to get the shadows out of Dr. Apathy’s lab, then?”

  “Well, we don’t have to play by all the rules,” Owen said. “Grab some flash-bangs or something from other books. We’ll toss a few dozen in there, light bomb the shadows, and walk in with no problem.”

  “This is a horrible idea,” Bethany whispered.

  “Yup,” Owen said, nodding. “But we’re doing it to rescue Doc Twilight and see if he’s your father, and I don’t know any other way to do that.”

  “He is my father, you saw the comic,” Bethany said, then paused. “Captain America didn’t get his powers in an accident. He volunteered for them.”

  “He’s the greatest superhero ever,” Owen said. “We can’t all be that awesome.”

  “Fine,” Bethany said. “But don’t blame this on me if you get, like, six arms or turn into a mutant or something.”

  “Like in X-Men!” Owen said, looking off into the distance dreamily. “You know, mutants get their powers around age twelve or thirteen, without having to do anything else. Do you know how many times I tried walking through walls like Kitty Pryde on my last birthday?”

  “Based on what’s left of your brain, I can guess,” she said.

  “Hey!” Owen said, but she had already turned back toward the others.

  “The whole planet collapsed,” Gwen was telling Charm. “The reason’s a bit hazy, since my parents didn’t have time to record it all in my ship’s memory, but something about supervolcanoes?”

  “A supervolcano wouldn’t collapse a planet,” Charm pointed out, sketching plans in midair now. Apparently she didn’t even need a desk. “It might kill all life, but the planet would still be there.”

  “So you think my Earth might still be out there?” Gwen said, her eyes widening. “I always had hoped, but—”

  “Don’t answer her!” Bethany said quickly, trying to keep Gwen from spoiling the rest of her series for herself. As EarthGirl’s face fell, Bethany put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, but it’s time travel. You shouldn’t find out too much. That includes hearing from people who really don’t have any idea what they’re talking about.”

  “Is that right?” Charm said, raising an eyebrow. “Then how about we talk about you, mystery girl? Because according to my instruments, you’re giving off some strange readings—”

  “She always gives off the strangest readings,” Owen said quickly as he rejoined them. “So we have a different laboratory for you, Charm. It’s actually perfect for our needs. Does that work for you?”

  “Fine, whatever,” Charm said. “Let’s just get this over with.”

  “First, you need to know what we’re walking into,” Bethany said. “Jupiter City is the home to people with strange and wonderful powers, and not all of them use those powers for good. There’s a man—”

  “Or monster,” Owen supplied.

  “Named the Dark that somehow controls shadows,” Bethany said, pointing at her own shadow on the wall. “He—”

  “So we shoot them,” Charm said, pulling a ray gun out and aiming it at Bethany’s shadow.

  “No!” Bethany yelled, jumping forward and shoving the ray gun down. Charm just glared at her. “Not the shadows here, just in Jupiter City. I’ll tell you when to start worrying, okay?”

  “Make up your mind,” Charm said, pushing her ray gun back into her hip.

  “That’s so cool!” Gwen whispered to Charm.

  “These shadows can take any shape,” Bethany continued. “And they seem to have the power to infect your mind. We met a woman who looked like she was controlled by them somehow, and her eyes were covered in blackness.”

  “It was so creepy,” Owen said. “Also, she was cranky!”

  Bethany nodded. “They got close to me, and I could feel them taking over, making me furious.” She paused and unclenched her fists, not even realizing she’d done that. “Doesn’t matter. Just stay away from them if you can.”

  “Or destroy them,” Charm said. “We’re not here to run, after all. So is that it?”

  “The Dark has my father,” Bethany said. “That’s who we’re there for. No matter what, we’re bringing him home. Anything other than that doesn’t matter.”

  Owen frowned. “What about Jupiter City? We can’t just leave it under the Dark’s control.”

  Bethany shook her head. “My dad is all that matters, Owen. We’re not heroes here. This is only a rescue mission. So don’t do anything crazy and heroic. Get in, grab my father, and get out. Got it?”

  Owen looked over at Gwen, who also seemed concerned. Charm, though, just sighed. “I’ve saved two planets in less time than you’ve been talking. How about we just get to the ray-gunning part?”

  CHAPTER 18

  Owen opened the door to Doc Twilight’s house slowly, bracing for a shadow attack, just in case the creatures had found a way up through the manhole cover.

  The house was dark, but none of the shadows seemed to be moving, so that was good. The Dark must not have been able to get through . . . yet. Whatever
those chains were doing, Owen hoped they kept it up. Given how thin they were, maybe they were made of superhero metal or had been magicked or something.

  Bethany pushed past him and flipped on the lights to the basement, and Gwen led the way down the stairs, then went completely silent in awe at the costumes. She ran a hand along the glass cases reverently, then turned back to them, her eyes wide. “These are the vestments of my people?” she said, pointing at the one labeled Night Star and the costume’s flashy cape. “I’ve been doing it all wrong, haven’t I?”

  Bethany shook her head. “Trust me, you’re doing fine. Ignore these. They’re more like a museum piece than anything.”

  “You’re kidding me,” Charm asked, pointing at the chains covering the manhole cover. “This is the level of technology you people are reduced to? You’re worse than Magisterians. I’d feel pity, if my heart still existed.”

  Owen laughed loudly at this, and the others all turned to look at him. His face exploded with redness, and he quickly moved over to the smaller costume case with the boy’s costume in it and opened it. “Hold on one second.”

  “What are you doing?” Bethany asked him, slamming the case closed again.

  “We’re going to need costumes for this, Bethany,” Owen said, not looking her in the eye, just in case she could see how much he really, really wanted to be wearing a real live superhero costume. “We need to follow the rules, remember?” He lowered his voice. “And more importantly, we need to cover our faces, in case people reading this comic might recognize us.”

  “I told you, I don’t care about that. Not anymore. And you’re not wearing that.”

  “Don’t you trust me?” Owen said as he opened the case and pulled out a Twilight throwing star, which he immediately dropped on his foot, cutting a small hole in the tip of his shoe. He looked up to find her glaring at him. “Hey, it’s not like I hit a toe or something!”

  Bethany gritted her teeth, then whirled around as Charm ripped the chains off of the manhole with her crazy robotic strength. “What are you doing?!”

  “Getting on with things?” Charm said. “I’m sorry, did you want me to hold everything up while you opened your lock from ancient times? I can put them back if you want.” She dropped the chains loudly back on the manhole cover, then crossed her arms, waiting.

  “We’re going to need to lock this again when we come back out!” Bethany shouted. “How are we going to do that if you rip up the chains?”

  “I’m sure we can figure something out,” Gwen said, stepping between them. “It’ll be fine.”

  “Or I could actually just lock it for real,” Charm pointed out. “You know, using actual science instead of a toddler’s toy.”

  “How do I look?” Owen said, and the three turned to stare at Owen, in his normal clothes, but now wearing the boy costume’s mask, cape, and utility belt. He whirled around once, making the cape fly out majestically, only it wrapped around his shoulders and he had to fight to get out of it.

  “What did I say?” Bethany shouted.

  “Okay, I’m going home,” Charm said.

  “I love it, Owen,” Gwen said. “It’s maybe the most amazing thing I’ve seen in my whole life.”

  “Thank you,” Owen said. “Look at all the cool things in this belt!” He opened a pouch and pulled out three pellets. “What do you think these are?”

  It took a few minutes for the smoke to dissipate, and when it did, Owen realized his utility belt was gone. “Hey!”

  “You’re not keeping this,” Bethany told him, strapping it on herself. She rummaged through the pouches, making sure there was nothing that was going to explode, then dropped the collection of flash-bangs she’d brought from other books into some pouches. “I hope this is going to be enough. And take those other things off.”

  “It should be fine,” Owen told her as he reluctantly pulled off the cape and mask. “I dropped your mom’s belt in before, and that had a lot less than you have now.”

  Bethany’s eyes widened, and she slowly turned to look at the last two glass cases. “My mom’s belt?” she said quietly.

  Had she not realized that? “I mean, I don’t know for sure,” Owen said quickly, “but it seems like that would be what it was. I just kind of assumed your mom would go back into your dad’s world with him, at least at the beginning, and they’d fight crime together. Who wouldn’t want to do that?”

  Bethany slowly opened the glass case with the woman’s costume in it and put her hand on the star symbol. She didn’t say anything for so long that Owen started to get nervous. “Are you okay?” he asked her quietly.

  Bethany didn’t turn around. “Nope.”

  Uh-oh. Owen looked around for a change of subject, and tapped the one glass case with a mannequin of a younger girl. “Hey. This one looks like it might have been meant for you. How cool is that?”

  Bethany turned, and Owen noticed that she had tears in her eyes. She glanced at the mannequin of a girl in the glass case, then wiped her hands over her eyes and shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Let’s just get this over with. I don’t want to leave my dad with the Dark one more minute.”

  “Are we finally ready?” Charm said with a heavy sigh, her hand on the manhole. “Or does everyone need to have another moment first?”

  Gwen giggled, and Charm smirked. “These people, huh?”

  “I’ve literally never been this happy,” Gwen said, and Charm groaned.

  “Everyone be prepared for what’s on the other side,” Bethany said, her voice a bit choked up as she stepped over to the manhole next to Charm. “There could be anything, up to and including either the Dark himself, or just a whole host of his shadow creatures. If anything’s in there, we throw a bunch of flash-bangs in, close the manhole, then wait for the light to fade. Agreed?”

  All three nodded, even if Charm did so in annoyance. “Okay,” Bethany said. “Open it up.”

  Charm ripped the manhole cover up and tossed it aside with a heavy clang, then bent down eagerly to see what awaited.

  The hole immediately exploded with darkness, filling the room before any of them could move.

  CHAPTER 19

  A terrible mixture of fear and rage filled Bethany’s mind, and she felt her vision going black again. Rescuing her father, protecting her friends, all of that disappeared in a flood of anger. All she wanted to do was attack.

  “I’ll destroy you all!” she screamed at the shadows, then tossed her flash-bangs to the ground as hard as she could, covering her face with her other arm.

  Even through the cover, the bright explosion still almost blinded her. The awful anger and fear instantly faded, though, and she took a deep breath to try to calm herself. She dropped her arm and blinked, at least able to see this time, even if there were some spots of light still imprinted on her eyes. “Is . . . everyone okay?”

  “I thought you were exaggerating,” Charm said, staring down into the manhole. “This really is some magic garbage again, isn’t it?” She seemed calm enough, but Bethany noticed her hands were shaking. “Better see if there are more of them,” she said, then leaped into the blue flame portal.

  “Wait!” Owen shouted, and jumped in right after her.

  “What is everyone doing?!” Bethany said, grabbing Gwen before she could follow. “Hold on! We don’t know what’s in there!”

  “Yes we do,” Gwen told her, somehow completely unshaken by the shadows’ attack. “Our friends, and they need our help. Coming?” She held out a hand, and Bethany took it, shaking her head as they leaped through the hole together.

  The two of them shot out of the blue-fire portal just as quickly as they’d fallen, skidding across the floor. Or at least Bethany assumed it was the floor, because she couldn’t see anything. Though this time, it wasn’t because of the shadows or blindness from flash-bangs.

  “What is this?” she started to ask, but ended up coughing too hard to say anything.

  “Smoke . . . bomb!” Owen said from somewhere nearby, coughing as
well. “I think I . . . landed on your mom’s . . . utility belt. A bunch of things went off.”

  “Interestingly, the shadows aren’t approaching,” Charm said. She didn’t seem to have any trouble breathing. Being half robot apparently had some advantages. “The smoke must not let them pass through it, I suppose. Hold on.” Something metallic clicked, and then Bethany heard an electronic whine. “Now let’s see how these things like a little science!”

  As the smoke began to dissipate, the angry feelings began to seep in, and Bethany realized Charm had been right: The shadows had held back. But now they were on the attack again, and she was out of flash-bangs. Before she could move, though, a bright white light shot through the smoke just inches from her face, and she almost fell over in surprise.

  “Ha!” Charm shouted. “You like that, shadow thing?”

  “Whoa, it exploded!” Owen said from somewhere over by Charm. “How did you do that?”

  “Light can be either a wave or a particle,” Charm said, shooting a few more times. “I just modified my ray guns to send out waves that become particles as soon as they hit one of these things. Basically they’re light bullets. It’s like elementary school stuff.”

  “How can you see?” Bethany said, struggling not to cough in the smoke.

  “Infrared in the eyes,” the half-robotic girl said. “Why, do you not have that yet?”

  Bethany started to say something but was yanked backward instead, then slammed to the ground by a shadow. As its rage and fear filled her mind again, she tried desperately to get free, but the creature’s hand covered her face, and the darkness began to seep into her mouth.

  “Bethany?” Gwen said from what sounded like many miles away.

  The shadow pulled her away from the others, but Bethany barely noticed as anger and terror began spinning around and around in her brain. She thought she could see the darkness moving as more of the creatures grabbed for her, but then a larger wave of hatred and fear hit her like a punch to the face. She gasped at the intense feelings, then began thrashing around violently. Who did these creatures think they were, scaring her like this? She’d destroy them, wipe them off the face of the Earth along with anything else that thought it knew better than her, thought it could scare her. She’d make the world safe by burning it to the ground if she had to!