by Lucas Flint
All of a sudden, the image switched again, back to Graleex’s face. Only this time, his face was a lot bigger and closer, which showed way more detail than we needed, like the camera had zoomed in on him.
“What happened to that city is what will happen to every major city in the world if your world’s leaders do not immediately surrender to the Pokacu,” said Graleex. “And trust me, that bomb was one of our weaker ones. We have bombs in our arsenal so powerful that they make your nuclear weapons look like firecrackers. And we are not afraid to use them.”
A timer displaying 48 hours suddenly appeared at the bottom of the screen as Graleex said, “Your forty-eight hours begin now. If you refuse to surrender by then or make any attacks against our soldiers or weapons during this period, we will destroy every living thing on this planet without mercy.”
With that, Graleex’s image on the screen vanished, replaced by the news talk show from before, only now the talking heads were frantically discussing the destruction of San Francisco and Graleex’s dark message.
Chapter Eight
As soon as the video message ended, Cadmus immediately stood up and said, “Mr. Apollo, Wind, follow me. President Plutarch will no doubt call a conference to discuss this with us. Shade, take Strike and Bolt back to their teams.”
“What?” I said, looking up at Cadmus in alarm. “Why? What are we going to do? Are we going after them or—”
“Stop asking pointless questions,” Cadmus snapped. “Time is of the essence, so we have no time to waste explaining things to you two.”
Cadmus immediately walked around the table, with Mr. Apollo and Wind hastily following him. The three of them were gone in an instant, but we didn’t stay here long, either. Shade—who looked far more serious than she normally did—shooed me and Strike out of the meeting room and took us to the suite where our teams were, which happened to be just a couple of corridors down from the meeting room.
The suite was nice, but not as nice as our rooms back in the House. There was a large table, probably for meals, plus a TV on the wall which showed the same talking heads from the meeting room still discussing the message and what the responses of President Plutarch and the rest of the world leaders would be to this tragic and sudden development. Our teams were sitting on or standing near the couches set around the TV, their eyes locked on the screen like they couldn’t believe what they’d just saw.
But as soon as Strike and I entered, their attention turned toward us. All of our teammates looked incredibly lost and confused and even scared, which was how I felt at the moment, too.
“Bolt? Strike?” said Blizzard. She rose from the couch, where she had been sitting next to Stinger and Dizzy, worry in her beautiful dark eyes. “Did you guys see what happened? San Francisco …”
I nodded. “We did. We saw the whole message. Right, Strike?”
Strike, however, didn’t seem to hear me. He just walked over to the couch where his teammates were sitting and sat down next to Dizzy. That was when I noticed that Dizzy had removed her helmet, which allowed me to see that she had long black hair, but I couldn’t see her face because she was sobbing into her hands. Strike put an arm around her shoulders and spoke softly to her, while Slime and the Lightning Triplets stood or sat nearby, perhaps trying to provide moral support to Dizzy.
“What’s the matter with Dizzy?” I whispered to Blizzard, who had walked over to me.
“Her parents,” Blizzard whispered back to me. “Apparently, they live in San Francisco. Or … lived, anyway.”
I glanced at Dizzy in horror before looking at Blizzard again. “Are they dead?”
“She doesn’t know,” Blizzard said. “She tried to contact them, but no one answered their phone. And the spot where that bomb dropped … she said that was the general area where her parents lived.”
I could not even imagine what kind of pain Dizzy was going through right now. I mean, I’d lost my Dad, true, but I’d at least got to see him when he died and got some last words with him, but Dizzy, apparently, had not been granted the same privilege with her parents. I wished there was something I could say to help her, but I didn’t know Dizzy well enough to know what to say. At least she had her teammates to comfort her; otherwise, I wouldn’t have known what to do.
“What are we going to do now?” said Treehugger. She was hugging one of the couch’s throw pillows against her chest, looking from me to the TV anxiously. “Did Cadmus Smith say?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Cadmus just told me and Strike to stay here with you guys. He was going to call the President and discuss this with him, but—”
“You mean President Plutarch?” said Stinger with a snort. “That guy’s crazy.”
“But he’s also the President, like it or not,” said Shell. He gestured at the TV. “They said he’s going to give an address to the nation on the issue in a few minutes.”
“Who cares?” said Talon. She grabbed her perfectly done hair and pulled it down in agony. “In forty-eight hours, there is a good chance that we will all die. And it won’t matter if we surrender or not; those monsters will just destroy us no matter what. I’m sure of it.”
“Did you see Omega Man?” said Treehugger. She shuddered. “He looked awful, the worst I’ve ever seen him. He might as well be dead.”
“At least we know Omega Man is still alive,” I said. I punched my fist into my other hand in frustration. “We still don’t know if Mecha Knight is alive or not.”
Just as I said that, my suit-up watch suddenly beeped. Hoping it was Mecha Knight, I looked down to see the number of Malcolm Rayner, my friend back in Silvers, Texas.
“Who is it?” said Blizzard, leaning forward to take a look at my watch. “Mecha Knight?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Just a friend. Hold on. I’ll take this call outside.”
I walked out of the room and stepped into the hall, closing the door behind me before I tapped the screen and said, “Hey, Mal, what’s—”
“Kevin!” Malcolm shouted, his voice so loud that I actually cringed, particularly when my watch’s speaker crackled. “Are you still alive? Do the Pokacu have you?”
“I’m fine,” I said, rubbing my ears. “I’m in hiding with the rest of my team at the moment, but still alive and kicking.”
“Oh, good,” said Malcolm with a sigh. “I just saw that message from that Pokacu guy and I thought he might have gotten you, too, but I didn’t see you in the footage of all those captured heroes, so—”
“It’s fine,” I said. “Just calm down, okay? I managed to escape Hero Island, though just barely. There’s no need to panic.”
“That’s what James said,” said Malcolm, referring to his older brother, who was a G-Man named Renaissance. “He called us up after the message was delivered and told us not to worry about him, since he’s still in the Compound, which hasn’t been attacked yet. But man, that bomb being dropped on San Francisco … that’s even worse than nine-eleven, if you ask me.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I know.”
“And only forty-eight hours?” said Malcolm. “These guys aren’t taking any—”
Malcolm was suddenly interrupted by another beep from my watch, causing me to look at the notification and see that Mom was trying to call me.
“Hold on, Mal,” I said. “My Mom’s on the other line. Just let me talk to her and I’ll be back with you in a moment.”
I switched over to Mom’s line before Mal could respond, but then Mom said, “Kevin, are you all right? I saw—”
“The video of Graleex,” I finished for her. “Yeah, I did, too, and yes, my friends and I are okay. We’re in a G-Men facility far away from Hero Island, so we’re safe from them.”
“Oh, thank god,” said Mom. “I thought you and your friends … well, I just couldn’t stand the possibility of losing you in addition to—”
This time, Mom was interrupted by another beeping noise. Again I checked who was calling and was shocked to see that it was Tara Reynolds,
another non-superhuman friend of mine from Texas.
“Mom, Tara’s on the other line, just let me say hi to her for a moment, okay?” I said, before switching over to Tara before Mom could react. “Hi, Tara, I—”
“Kevin, what happened?” came Tara’s annoyed, but concerned voice over the watch. “What was that thing on TV? It looked hideous. And it’s going to destroy the world in forty-eight hours? Are you in its custody or something?”
“No, I’m fine,” I said. “But thanks for calling to check on me. Can you call me back later, though? I’ve got at least two other people on the line and I don’t have a lot of time to talk right now.”
“Okay, but what are you going to do about that alien?” said Tara. She sounded incredibly worried. “Is he really going to destroy the world in forty-eight hours?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I’ll call you again later, all right?”
“All right,” said Tara. “But stay safe, okay?”
“I will,” I said.
I ended my call with Tara and went back to Mom and said, “Mom, are you still there?”
“Yes, I am, Kevin,” said Mom. “What is Graleex doing back on Earth? I thought he was in space.”
“He must have somehow gotten back to the Pokacu home world and gotten reinforcements,” I said. “I don’t know. Where are you?”
“I’m at our home in Silvers,” said Mom. “I don’t see any Pokacu spacecraft or soldiers anywhere, but I’m afraid they might try to nuke Austin or Houston or even Dallas. They said they were going to attack multiple major cities, after all.”
“Yeah, I know, but with luck we’ll stop them before they can harm anyone else or blow up any other city,” I said.
“’We’? Kevin, are you going to fight those things?” said Mom in fear. “They defeated all of those other superheroes. Are you sure you can do it?”
“Yes,” I said. “I have to. Me and my team. I need to save Omega Man and the others. We’re the only ones who can.”
“What about that powerless gas, though?” said Mom. “I saw that yellow gas in the air and it looked like the stuff that Graleex had given to us before he left.”
“We’ll figure that out, too,” I said. “Just stay where you are, okay? Maybe check with the neighbors and make sure you know where everyone is. We’ll have this situation figured out soon, don’t worry.”
“I hope so,” said Mom. “But I’m a little surprised that Graleex is doing this. I thought he might have had some goodness somewhere in his soul, since he gave us that powerless gas that helped us defeat Robert, but I guess it didn’t really mean anything, did it?”
I nodded. “No, it did not. Anyway, Mom, I’ll call you later. Malcolm’s on the other line and he’s been waiting long enough.”
“Okay,” said Mom. “Just stay safe, okay? Don’t get yourself killed.”
“Of course,” I said. “And you stay safe, too. I’ll call you again later. Bye.”
I ended my call with Mom and then switched over to Malcolm. And before I could say anything, Malcolm shouted, “Kevin! You still there?”
“Yeah, I’m still here,” I said. “I just had a bunch of other calls I had to take at the same time.”
“Good to hear, but damn those Pokacu are scary,” said Malcolm. “How are you guys gonna beat them?”
“I don’t know yet,” I said. I balled my hand into a fist. “I got hit with some of that powerless gas, so I can’t use my powers. They’re coming back, but it is pretty slowly so far and I don’t know if they’ll come back in time for me to use them to fight the Pokacu.”
“I hope they do,” said Malcolm. “But damn, I’m having flashbacks to Robert. Except even worse, because at least Robert didn’t blow up an entire city just for the heck of it.”
“He probably would if he was still alive,” I said. “But anyway, you’re right. This is extremely serious.”
“Way too serious to me, man,” said Malcolm. “I’ve been on Neo Ranks all day and there’s all this wild speculation about what’s gonna happen and what’s going on, but no one knows anything for sure.”
“You should probably just stay off Neo Ranks for now,” I said. “The situation is stressful enough as is. There’s no need to get even more worried by fake rumors.”
“Yeah, I know, but still,” said Malcolm. “I was, like, just a kid when the first invasion happened. I don’t even remember if the first invasion was this tense or not.”
“Same here,” I said. “Anyway, I need to be with my team right now. You and your family stay safe, okay? And call me if anything happens or you get attacked.”
“Okay,” said Malcolm. “But you stay safe, too, pal. And try to save the world while you’re at it.”
I could not help but crack a smile when Malcolm said that. “Sure thing, buddy. Bye.”
I ended my call with Malcolm and turned to enter the room again before someone said, “Must be nice to have so many people who care about you like that.”
I stopped when I heard the voice and looked over my shoulder to see Shade leaning against the opposite wall. I had not noticed her leaning there before; in fact, I was pretty sure that there hadn’t been anyone in the hall but me just moments ago. Maybe she had been hiding in the shadows or something; if so, I found that creepy and wondered how long she had been listening.
But I didn’t show any surprise. I just said, “Don’t you have any family or friends that are concerned about you?”
Shade just shook her head. “No. My parents died before I was born and I’ve been an orphan my whole life. The G-Men are basically the only family I’ve ever known.”
“Huh,” I said. “I didn’t know that.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” said Shade in an uncharacteristically serious voice. Then her tone brightened. “But anyway, it’s good you have family and friends who are worried about you. Gives you something to fight for, eh?”
“It does,” I said. “But why are you bringing this up? I thought you had gone to talk to Cadmus.”
“I did, but he told me to get you and Strike,” said Shade. “President Plutarch wants to talk to both of you about the Pokacu invasion and discuss plans for dealing with it.”
“Um, okay,” I said. “Where are we going to talk?”
“You’ll see,” said Shade. “Just get Strike so you two can follow me. I’ll show you the way.”
Chapter Nine
President Adam Lucius Plutarch—the current President of the United States of America and formerly known as the supervillain the Billionaire—looked worried. And that was worth mentioning, because Plutarch was usually brimming with self-confidence (perhaps a bit too much self-confidence sometimes) and charisma. That he looked worried spoke to the gravity of this situation, which just made me more worried myself, though I tried not to obsess over it too much and focus on the present. He had looked more confident during the brief speech he had given to the nation five minutes ago in which he claimed that the US would figure out how to deal with this new threat, though even then, I’d seen some worry on his face.
We were back in the meeting room from before; me, Strike, Shade, and Cadmus. I did not see Wind or Mr. Apollo anywhere, and neither Cadmus nor Shade even bothered to mention where those two might have been. Given what Cadmus had told me about their specialties, though, I suspected that they were probably gathering some intel on the Pokacu at the moment.
As for Plutarch, his huge face was on the TV screen that the message from Graleex had played on. Of course, his face only looked huge because he was leaning in toward the camera.
“Director Smith,” said Plutarch. He sounded harried, like he had just woke up and was not in a mood to mess around or get off topic. “How the hell did this happen under our watch?”
“I don’t know, sir,” said Cadmus, his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the table. “The Pokacu moved quickly and without warning. They have obviously been planning this for a while.”
“I’ll say,” sa
id Plutarch. Then he looked at me and smiled. “Bolt! What’s up? It’s been a long time since we last talked. Heard about your father. Sorry about that, even though he was always a thorn in my side during my supervillain days.”
I nodded. For whatever reason, Plutarch had taken a liking to me, even before I saved him from the Visionist assassin who had tried to take him out prior to his election as the President. “Thanks.”
“But back to business,” said Plutarch. “Director Smith, what is the situation on Hero Island like?”
“Uncertain,” said Cadmus. “From what Bolt and Strike told us, it appears that the entire island is now under the control of the Pokacu. Hero Island appears to be the base of operations for the Pokacu invasion, so if we are going to stop it, then we will need to strike there.”
“Good idea,” said Plutarch, but I noticed a hint of doubt in his voice. “We’re not going to let those losers boss us around, not after we kicked their asses the last time. We’re Americans. We always win.”
“But perhaps not this time, Mr. President,” said a voice behind us.
We all looked over our shoulders back to the door, where we saw Nicknacks, now sitting in a wheelchair, enter the room. He looked much better than he had earlier, but his legs were in casts and his voice sounded weaker. Still, at least he was alive.
“Nicknacks?” I said. “Are you okay? Are you sure you should be here?”
“I am fine, Bolt,” said Nicknacks as he rolled toward us on his wheelchair. “As a Pokacu myself, I heal much faster than humans. It shouldn’t be long before my legs are normal and I am back to my normal strength, but I had to get out of bed because I have some important information that you—and everyone else—need to know about my people.”