Searching for Super

by Marion Jensen

  Dad must have seen something in October’s eyes. He took off his helmet and stepped back in line.

  One by one, the superheroes took off their helmets. The Joneses already knew our secret identity, but it became apparent what they had planned. Thimon walked around to each Bailey and Johnson, touching each of them on the forehead.

  He was making mental connections. He’d told Benny and me that he could only give powers to the two of us at once, but apparently he’d been lying about that, too.

  Thimon touched my forehead. I scowled at him. Sweat trickled down my neck.

  After Thimon was done, October put his hands behind his back, and walked in front of the superheroes. He spoke like a drill sergeant speaking to new recruits.

  “All right, this is what we’re going to do. Any deviations, and bad things will happen to Benny, am I understood?”

  I heard a faint buzzing. It took me a minute to realize that somebody was calling me on the radio.

  I took a chance and, as soon as October and Thimon were turned, put my helmet back on.

  “Rafter, are you there? Rafter, come in.”

  It was Rodney.

  “What is it?” I whispered the words so that only Rodney could hear. October was talking and waving his hands in the air.

  “Rafter, it worked.” Rodney’s voice was filled with excitement. No, not just with excitement—with exuberance. It sounded like he might be dancing with pure joy. Except that he couldn’t be dancing, because it sounded like he was driving. I could hear an engine in the background, and the noise of cars driving past him.

  “What worked?” I whispered.

  “The flash drive,” Rodney said. “It worked just like you thought. It infiltrated the Joneses’ computer system and sent everything to me back at home. I have it all, Rafter. I have everything.”

  “I’m very happy for you.” I didn’t bother hiding my despair. “But have you been listening to the radio? October has us all captured. It doesn’t matter if we get our money back. He’s won.”

  “Money?” Rodney said. “What are you talking about?”

  “The money October stole from us,” I whispered. “You said it worked. Did you get it back?”

  “Oh, that,” Rodney said. “I didn’t even try to get our money back. I mean, I guess I can later, but that isn’t what I was after.”

  “Rodney,” I said. “I’m a little busy, can you get to the point?” He reminded me of the old Rodney. The one who was so incredibly smart, but didn’t understand how to say what he meant. Sometimes it was so bad that—

  I stopped in midthought. It couldn’t be. It was too much to hope for.

  “I stole their code,” Rodney said. “I plugged it into the device, and it worked. The device worked. I have my powers back.”

  I took a sharp breath, and when Rodney spoke again, they were the words I wanted to hear.

  “If you can hang tight for a few minutes, I can give you back your power. I can give everybody back their powers.”

  27

  OR 20.3 KILOMETERS, IF YOU PREFER METRIC

  October Jones had stopped his little speech. I hadn’t heard a word he’d said, but I knew what I had to do next.

  I had to stall.

  October Jones strode back in my direction. He’d said earlier that we were more valuable alive than dead, but I didn’t like the look on his face.

  I had a thousand questions for Rodney, but one question was more important than any other right then.

  “How much longer till you get here?” I whispered.

  “Oh, I don’t have to actually be there,” Rodney said. “I just have to be within a certain range. Specifically, twelve-point-six miles. Or twenty-point-three kilometers, if you prefer metric.”

  I managed not to scream at Rodney. Barely.

  “I’m already on my way. By my estimations, I’ll be there in six minutes and fourteen seconds. If the Burlington Avenue light is green, I can shave off eighteen seconds. I’m certain on that time. Man, it’s great to have my ability back. All this brainpower!”

  “What are you doing, Rafter Hans Bailey?”

  October stood before me. He had one of the jet injectors in his hand.

  “Oh, nothing,” I said, scrambling to take off my helmet before he figured out what I’d done. I hoped that Rodney had the good sense to stop talking. I counted down in my head: six minutes left.

  October held the injector out to me, and I took it from him.

  “Ummm . . . ,” I said. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

  October’s face darkened. “Have you not listened to a single word I’ve said?” he screamed.

  I thought about zapping October with the jet injector, but he likely had superspeed.

  October leaned in until I could see the thin bloodlines in his eyes. His voice was quiet and icy and smelled of cheese. “You humiliated me the last time we met, Rafter. I told you that I wouldn’t forget. This is the first of a hundred different ways I’m going to get my revenge. I need your family unconscious so that we can shave their heads and perform a little brain surgery on them. You, my dear boy, are going to help me.”

  Five minutes left.

  Stall.

  “What if I refuse?” I asked October.

  “Well, I could hurt you,” October said. “And believe me, that would bring me great pleasure. But right now it would be more effective if I hurt somebody you care about.”

  October reached out a hand. Benny moved away from the window a few feet, and then slammed against it. The window held, but a large crack spiderwebbed out from the center.

  That scared me. For a moment I thought about abandoning my plan to stall. To yell for Rodney to stay away. Anything to keep Benny safe.

  Benny shook his head, a defiant look on his face.

  I remembered Benny’s words. I’m afraid of being a nobody. Benny wasn’t afraid of October, so I wouldn’t be either.

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

  I checked the jet injector to make sure it was loaded. I clicked the safety on, and then off. Anything to stall for time without looking like I was stalling for time.

  I started in the back row. A Johnson stood before me, his gaze steady. He didn’t look afraid.

  “I’m sorry about this.” I winked. I held the gun to his neck, tilted it just a little, and pulled the trigger. I saw a spritz of moisture fly out behind the man’s neck.

  For a moment the Johnson did nothing. He stood there looking confused, and I worried that everything would be ruined. Then I saw understanding in his eyes. The Johnson crumpled to my feet and sprawled out on the floor.

  I took a breath and stepped to the next superhero.

  I looked over my shoulder. “You won’t get away with this,” I said to October. Then I repeated the same procedure with the next superhero. I pretended to inject her, and she collapsed to the ground.

  October laughed. “Oh, I won’t? And tell me, Rafter, who is going to stop me? You? By this time tomorrow, you’ll have a metal hat, and I’ll have your power. You’ll be like a regular citizen, only worse. You’ll be a failed superhero.”

  I pretended to zap the next hero, and the next. Each of them fell to the ground. All it would take was one hero to miss the fact that they should be pretending, and October would realize what I was doing.

  Two minutes, thirty seconds.

  “Speed it up, Bailey.” October called from the front of the room. “Finish the job or your little brother will be checking out of this hotel permanently.” Benny bumped lightly against the glass.

  When I got to Juanita, she gave me a nod. She looked ready for a fight, but pretended like the others, falling to the floor.

  I stepped toward Dad. He’d seen what I was doing. He looked nervous. None of the others knew that Rodney was on his way. That in a few moments, they would have their powers.

  It’s okay, I mouthed.

  Before I could inject Dad, he spoke up. “October Jones, you’re a horrible human being. You don’
t hold children hostage.”

  I went through the motions and Dad fell to the floor, but October laughed. “A horrible human being? Humans are alive today because they are good at surviving. By bending the world to their will. Controlling those around them. If anything gets in our way, we push it aside, or enslave it, or destroy it. Humans are masters of control and strength and destruction. That makes me better at being human than anyone else in this room.”

  October stopped talking. He looked over at me, waiting for me to continue. I was too close. Almost all the superheroes were on the ground, and those left standing were directly in front of October. He would see I wasn’t injecting them.

  Forty-five seconds.

  I took a breath.

  “You’re wrong.”

  October glared at me. He raised a glowing blue fist to remind me that he was still in control. “What did you say, little boy?”

  “I said you’re wrong.” I took a step toward October. “Humans are good at a lot of things. Control. Enslavement. The ability to hurt and kill. We’re good at all of those things.”

  I dropped the jet injector and took another step. “But humans are good at other things too. Hope. Love. Helping those who have fallen.”

  I took another step. October looked at me with disdain, but said nothing. I was close enough to touch him.

  I heard sirens in the distance. I hoped Rodney had called the police. If October noticed, he didn’t show it. But he was listening. I saw Benny lower to the ground.

  “There are two kinds of humans,” I said. “Those who hurt and destroy, and those who help and build. When people like you commit your ugly acts, a thousand others step in and show the world what it really means to be human.”

  I felt anger grow inside of me. I didn’t care what October thought. I looked him right in the eye.

  “And you forgot one crucial thing.”

  “What’s that?” October sneered.

  “There are more of us than there are of you.”

  I felt a surge of energy, and my true superpower surged through my bones.

  28

  HE’S GOING TO ESCAPE

  Strength flowed through muscle and bone. I felt the familiar sense of gaining a power and knowing everything about it.

  I stepped back, jamming my helmet back on, flexing my hands into fists.

  I grinned at October Jones. I was ready for a fight.

  Benny’s eyes went wide. I nodded, and then he was gone. There was a burst of air and he was by my side. I heard the clanking of metal and the hiss of hydraulics as a company of superheroes—fire on the tips of their fingers, lightning crackling between fists—stood and faced October Jones.

  Baileys. Johnsons. All of us together.

  October’s eyes went wide, then became narrow slits.

  I imagined what must have been going through his head. He could fight. He might even have a shot at surviving—he was, after all, a Super-super. Each of us only had one power, and he could find our weaknesses and destroy us, one by one.

  But he didn’t want to destroy us. He wanted our powers.

  And together we were mighty.

  Fury crossed October’s face. He looked at the superheroes behind me, and then his eyes rested on mine.

  I knew I’d never forget that look.

  He opened his mouth and made a sound. A primal cry of anger, frustration, and defeat. The cry became a bellow and he raised his hand. A wall of flame burst toward me. I bent over, covering my face, shielding myself from the heat.

  “Thimon, deal with this!”

  The flash was a distraction. When I looked up, October had disappeared.

  Invisibility.

  At that precise moment, the room erupted.

  The door burst open, and Joneses in supersuits came rushing through. Water, wind, fire, lava, and lightning blasted from outstretched hands. Several Joneses flew through the air, another smashed through the wall, opening another entrance for a second wave of supervillains.

  The wall of windows shattered behind us. Joneses on ropes swung into the room. Helicopter blades tore through the night, and spotlights shone in through the shattered windows.

  It was absolute chaos.

  Everybody started shouting at once. Grandpa tried barking orders through the radio but they were hard to hear and there was no time to group up. With the flame and water and lightning arcing through the air, it was all anybody could do just to stay on their feet.

  In a matter of seconds, full-scale battle raged through the room.

  My heart raced. I felt a moment of panic and looked around to see who needed help.

  All around me, the fighting had become immediately intense. Grandpa took on three villains at once. My dad was flying through the air, picking up villains and tossing them to the side of the room. My mom’s hands glowed blue as she pushed villains around with her power.

  Baileys and Johnsons were jumping, diving, throwing punches, kicking the feet out from under the villains. Everywhere we were winning. Nobody was getting hurt. Nobody was losing. And yet more villains poured in through the doors and the windows, as if there was an endless supply.

  The fighting was amazing. The battle epic. It was unbelievable.

  Because it was all fake.

  Thimon had touched each of us on the forehead. He had made a connection, and right now, we were all fighting our imaginations.

  “This isn’t real!” I shouted into the radio. “This isn’t real. The villains aren’t real!”

  No one heard me. There was too much going on—too many people shouting over the radio—for anyone to pause.

  Besides, they were all living their dreams. They were being super. They were beating the villains and nobody was getting hurt. They were doing something they thought was important.

  I focused on a villain. I swung my arms, willing him to be gone, just as I’d willed the moon out of the sky and the dam and forest to be gone.

  The villain vanished. I focused, and tore through the fake battle, banishing the imaginary scene from my mind. Villains began to disappear. The windows became whole again. The warehouse suddenly became quieter. The villains disappeared. I watched my relatives and friends dance and lurch around the room, still fighting imaginary foes.

  I found Benny. He was thrashing around in a small area. It looked like he was fighting a half dozen Joneses. He moved with closed eyes.

  I opened up a direct communication with him over the radio. “Benny,” I said. “Benny, can you hear me?”

  “Yes!” he replied. “Isn’t this amazing? Isn’t it . . .” Benny stopped moving. “Carn sarn it. This isn’t real, is it?”

  “No,” I said. “It’s not. Can you break free from Thimon’s control? Remember the goats.”

  It took Benny a moment, but then he had his eyes open. He looked around the room, his face angry. “That’s twice he’s tricked me. Where is that guy? I’m doing a lot more than conking him on the head.”

  I hadn’t thought to look for Thimon, but he either had invisibility, or he could control us at a distance. Both he and October were gone.

  We found Juanita against the wall by the windows. She was attempting to take down imaginary helicopters, trying to stop the rush of villains into the room.

  It took us a good three minutes to explain what was going on, and then walk Juanita through breaking the connection on her own. Benny and I had already done it once, so it was easier. Juanita finally opened her eyes.

  She was as angry as Benny.

  I turned back to the room where the rest of the superheroes fought imaginary foes. “We’re going to have to help each one of them break the spell, one by one.”

  Juanita shook her head. “We can’t,” she said. “Either October is trying to get away, or he’s getting ready for another attack. We need to find him. Now.”

  “It will be easier if we have help,” I said.

  “But by the time we break the connection, October will be gone.”

  “We don’t even know where
he went,” I said. “How do we—”

  “There!” Benny pointed.

  A helicopter careened into view, about four blocks away. It was headed straight for us.

  “It’s another fake,” I said. “Thimon is still trying to get into our minds.”

  I willed the helicopter out of the sky. I tore at it with my hands.

  Nothing happened.

  “The roof!” Benny and Juanita said at the same time. They both turned and ran toward the door.

  I took one last look at my family, still trapped in the grip of Thimon’s power. I didn’t want to leave them, but Juanita was right. We had to stop October, no matter what he was planning.

  I turned and followed them.

  “Rodney!” I cried into the radio. “The device worked! How much longer till you get here?”

  “There are three variables in my route,” Rodney said. “The light at Riverside and Fielding, the merge at Hammond Street, and then there is the whole pedestrian situation at—”

  “An estimate!” I shouted. “All I need is an estimate!” I caught up with Benny and Juanita just as the elevator doors opened. I stepped around the unconscious Joneses and got in the elevator.

  “Two minutes, twenty-eight seconds, plus or minus forty-two seconds.”

  Benny pushed the button for the roof. The doors closed and we began to rise.

  “Everybody is still under Thimon’s control. You’ll have to break them out of it. Talk to them, explain it’s not real, and they can break the connection.”

  “Roger that,” Rodney said. “Where are the rest of the Joneses?”

  “You don’t need to worry about them.”

  “Wrong, little brother,” Rodney said. “That’s exactly where we need to focus. October doesn’t have our powers anymore, but he still has his family’s. If some of our Shockers can short-circuit all the metal plates, October Jones will be powerless.”

  The elevator seemed to take forever.

  Benny started hopping from one foot to the other, like he had to use the restroom really bad.

  “He’s going to escape!” he said. “We can’t let him, not this time.”