Superheroes Suck

by Jamie Zakian

  “All right,” Simon said above the soft click of a keyboard in the background. “Shay walked out of your suite ten minutes ago, in her pajamas, and got onto the elevator.”

  Another two seconds of torturous silence passed, which Evie couldn’t handle. “Then what?”

  “Hold on I’m fast forwarding. Shay got off at the lobby and walked out the front door.”

  “In her pajamas?”

  “And bare feet. Oh no.”

  Evie clutched onto her phone tighter. “What?” Her grip turned crushing, and the case of her flimsy cell phone creaked. “You can’t say oh no and then nothing.”

  “Lucius and Cyrus took her.”

  “No.” The ability to take in air left Evie. It was like an invisible hand reached inside her body and squeezed her chest. “Please don’t say that. Please.”

  “Stay put, I’ll be right down.”

  The line went dead and Evie stared at the cell phone’s screen, as if willing it to reveal Shay’s location. Her legs shook, so fiercely it brought her to the floor. A shuddering breath finally burst from her lungs. Now that her airways were clear, a flood of cries felt free to pour from her mouth.

  A distant shout stirred Shay from a dream of Max’s lips brushing against her cheek. She rolled onto her side, forcing her eyes to open. Gray stones blurred into view, a large wall of cracked gray stones. Shay sat up and the back of her head clunked against solid metal.

  “Perfect,” said a deep voice, directly behind Shay.

  Fear ran through her body, inciting every muscle and both her fingers and her bare toes to shake. She could feel bars at her back, see no means to escape the tiny cell surrounding her, and that voice. That wicked voice still ringing in her ears was no stranger.

  “Antiserum.” Shay sat tall in the dark room, despite the terror brewing in her stomach.

  “My, my, how the tables have turned. Do you remember being on the opposite side of the cage? What it felt like? I bet my experience will be a lot better than yours.”

  The man behind Shay was scary, but she’d taken enough crap from scary people these last few days. She hardened her expression and turned on her knees to face the man on the other side of her iron bars.

  It shocked her to see Antiserum without his mask, to see Lucius’s confident face. Aside from the standard villain outfit, complete with an armor chest plate and red cape, he didn’t look like a bad guy. Lucius looked like any other man, especially when he wasn’t trying to wear an evil and ominous glower. His dark eyes now held a gentle edge, and it gave her the strength to yell at him.

  “What do you want?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Do you want Jenna’s soul? Do you want my soul? Do you just want me dead? What is it you really want? Lucius.” Her lips pushed for a smile, but she held them straight.

  Lucius lunged toward Shay, his fists up, and stopped right in front of her cell’s bars. “You’ll find out what I want in about twenty minutes, after I power up my brother’s machine. You like experiments don’t you, Dr. Sinclair?”

  His laughter bounced off the damp walls, even after he walked away. The dim lights in the hallway cut out once Lucius shut the solid metal door.

  In a wide room of cobwebs and small cells, Shay sat alone in total darkness. She pulled her knees to her chest. Every little sound boomed, but none louder than her own breath. Something furry ran across her toes. She kicked her feet, might have screamed a little while scurrying backward on the dirt-covered floor. Her elbow slammed against a jagged stone wall and sharp barbs of pain spread throughout her arm.

  She had to get out of this cell, get help. Someone needed to help her.

  “Calm down,” said a voice, much like her own, from somewhere in the darkness.

  “Who’s there?” Shay called out, curling her fingers into fists.

  “Please. Like you don’t know.”

  “Jenna?”

  An orange glow ignited right in front of Shay’s face, encircling a teenage girl. Even if Shay hadn’t seen pictures, watched old news footage, she’d know it was Jenna. Not for the shine of solar rays, which clung to the girl’s body like a glove, but from the warmth of her very presence.

  “How is this … how are you here, in my cell?”

  “You tell me, you’re the hotshot scientist.”

  Shay blinked, twice, but Jenna still sat in front her looking bored.

  “You’re a figment of my imagination. I must have lost my mind. I’m not talking to you. Go away, figment.”

  Jenna snickered. She flicked her fingers and a tiny ball of energy sailed through the air, then zapped Shay in the chest.

  “Can a figment do that?”

  Shay rubbed her chest but the sting didn’t dull. “Maybe. That hurt.”

  “Sissy.” Jenna jumped to her feet and clutched onto the cell’s rusty bars.

  “Get us out of here. If you’re not a figment, you can do that.”

  Jenna slouched back against the bars. “Maybe I am a figment. I’ve been trying to get your attention since you were knee-high to a Smurf, and I just blasted the shit out of Lucius. He didn’t even flinch.”

  “That’s great.” Shay tossed her hands up before they fell back to her lap. “I’m crazy.”

  “I don’t think you’re crazy.”

  “Of course you don’t, you’re my imagination.”

  Jenna knelt in front of Shay. “I’m not your imagination. I got out for a second. You let me out.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “In the lab, with Max. I whispered in your ear, begged you to let me out and you did. Now you can see me and I feel different, stronger.”

  Shay slanted to the side, leaning away from Jenna, and Jenna followed.

  “Let me out, Shay.”

  “No.” Shay would shove Jenna from her face, but she was terrified to touch the maybe figment/possible ghost. “You’re already out, just, go away.”

  “You know what I mean.” Jenna grabbed Shay’s hand, squeezing. “I know you remember doing it, I saw you type it in your journal. Let … me … out.”

  Heat surged from Jenna’s touch. Shay tried to pull back but Jenna’s grip tightened.

  “I’ll save us. Don’t you wanna see Evie again?”

  “Stop.” Shay pulled herself from Jenna’s near crushing grip, and her hand whacked against the pointy stone wall. “If I let you out, you’ll never let me back in. I’m not a superhero. What if I get lost?”

  Jenna smiled. She draped one arm around Shay’s shoulder. “You’ve been my only friend for the last ten years, and you don’t even know it. I’ve gone everywhere with you, seen what you’ve seen, felt your happiness and sorrow. I love you, stupid. I’d never let you get lost.”

  Boots thumped in the distance, closer, louder, then the door to the room squealed open.

  “Do it now, Shay,” Jenna yelled, grabbing onto the sides of Shay’s arms.

  Shay cowered down, but couldn’t escape the dread weighing on her shoulders. “I’m scared.”

  “You should be,” Lucius said, unlocking the gate to Shay’s cell.

  Evie paced in front of a cluttered workbench, her steps echoing throughout the lab. She had no clue how Shay could love this place. It was cold, sterile. Even though crap littered every corner, a hollowness clung to the wide-open space.

  “Try to relax,” Simon said from the doorway. “Max and Lexie should check in any—”

  “We’re here.” Alexie stepped inside the lab while Max lingered in the doorway beside Simon. “We circled the city twice, but we don’t know what to look for.”

  “She’s dead.” Evie covered her mouth before any other irrational thoughts could slip out.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Max stomped in front of Evie. “Pull yourself together, or get out.”

  “Max,” Simon yelled.

  “No.” Evie forced her shaky hands to steady and stood tall. “Max is right. I need to get it together.”


  Catastrophe had always been Evie’s thing. She was no stranger to blood, had seen countless bodies—including her parents—but if the smallest scrape blemished her sister’s skin, she lost the ability to do anything except sob and panic profusely. Well not this time.

  Evie looked at Hetal, whose face lit up with a mixture of terror and excitement. “What would Shay do right now?”

  Hetal hopped off her stool, inching closer to Evie and Alexie. “I’ve always wanted to be a part of an actual superhero strategy convo.”

  The giddy smile on Hetal’s lips only lasted seconds. Then a serious expression gripped her face. “Let me think.” She tapped her chin as she looked around the lab.

  “Dr. Sinclair theorized that people with superpowers emit a different energy frequency than others. Maybe, if we had access to a satellite, I could design a program to track that energy. There’s only two other people with superpowers. It should lead us right to them.”

  “I have three satellites,” Simon said, heading to the nearest computer.

  Max turned on the monitor beside Simon and took a seat at the long desk of computers. “I know code.” He glanced at Hetal between rampant keystrokes. “You work up the sequence on this energy frequency. I’ll write the program.”

  Evie glanced at Alexie, only to receive a scowl.

  “What?” Alexie snapped. “I’m not a computer geek or a lab nerd.”

  “Yeah, me neither.” Evie sat on a stool at Shay’s workbench, fidgeting with strands of colorful wires. “I guess we just wait then.”

  Alexie dragged a stool to the workbench, sitting beside Evie. “Shay’s not dead.”

  “I know. I don’t know why I said that. I’m an idiot.”

  “It’s okay to be afraid.”

  Alexie rubbed Evie’s shoulder, gently, the way a friend would. Except, they weren’t friends. They were co-workers, and it was Alexie’s job to deliver comfort and hope.

  “She’s all I have.” Tears followed Evie’s words, and a lump rose in her throat to cut off her voice.

  “We’ll get her back. I promise.”

  A promise from a superhero, it might’ve meant something a few hours ago when her sister was safe in her clutches.

  Lucius practically crushed Shay’s arm with his large hand as he pushed her down a narrow hallway. Cracked tiles scraped the bottoms of her feet, slicing the soft skin between her toes. The ice-cold floor sent shivers into every limb, at least that’s what she chose to blame it on. Not fear. The monster behind her would probably smell fear and enjoy its scent too much.

  Shay struggled to see down the dark hall behind her, looking for Jenna. Lucius shoved her forward and she fell against the wall.

  “Quite stalling.” Lucius grabbed Shay’s other arm, dragging her down the hallway. “It’ll all be over soon.”

  “What will?”

  “I’m taking care of a problem for a friend, but I’m doing it my way.”

  A low hum crackled through the air, growing louder with every forced step. She’d beg but it wouldn’t help; and reason, that concept didn’t dwell here—wherever here was. By the looks of the broken floors, cracked walls, and cobweb-covered stretchers, she’d guess they stumbled into Satan’s personal hospital.

  “Don’t worry.” Lucius stopped beside a steel door and grinned at Shay. “I have a good feeling about this procedure.”

  He slammed Shay’s side against the door, which flung the metal slab wide open. A tall man turned from a large metal chamber, dodging a burst of steam.

  “I don’t know, brother,” said the man.

  Shay stared at the guy beside the strange, gold machine. His dark hair, light eyes, cleft chin seemed so familiar.

  “I know you,” she said, pointing at the guy whose name she could almost remember.

  “Let’s do it,” the man said to Lucius as he turned back toward the machine.

  Shay wiggled against the grip squeezing her arms. “What are you—”

  Lucius shoved Shay deeper into a small room of cluttered workbenches, and Jenna stepped out of the machine’s wire-lined chamber.

  “You don’t wanna go in there,” Jenna said, gesturing at the thin doorway behind her. “It’s not comfy.”

  “Help.”

  “No one’s coming to help,” Lucius said in a sneer.

  “I can’t help,” Jenna said. “Not unless you let me out.”

  Shay stomped her bare foot, shook her head. “No.”

  Lucius pulled Shay close to his side. “You’ll thank me for this one day.”

  “You’re gonna die, Shay.” Jenna ran in front of Shay, staring into her eyes. “We’ll both disappear forever if you don’t let me out.”

  “I can’t. You’ll never let me come back.”

  Lucius released his tight clutch on Shay’s arm and glanced around the room. “Who are you talking to?”

  “I swear.” Jenna took Shay by the hand, locking their fingers together. “As soon as I save us, I’ll let you back.”

  “Get inside the chamber.” Lucius pushed Shay toward the machine, separating her grip on Jenna.

  Sparks showered from the machine’s entrance, nipping at Shay’s arms. A control panel’s gauges lit up with percentages, a high-pitched whirl filled the room, and her knees quaked.

  “Okay.” Shay yanked her arm from Lucius’s clutch and seized onto Jenna’s hand. “I let you out.”

  Once the ripping tug in her chest dulled to a soft ache and the haze cleared, a giggle skirted from her lips. It was the tingle. Her fingertips, ears, even her bloodied bare feet prickled with life.

  Jenna stared at the two men who crept toward her. Seeing their dumb faces and apish stances reminded her of old times, and it brought a smile to her lips.

  “Cyrus, Lucius. It’s been a while.”

  Lucius grabbed Jenna by the throat and she rammed her knee into his nuts. She stepped aside as he dropped to his side on the ground. Cyrus swung his wide fist at her face, and she ducked it quite easily.

  “You always lead with a right hook.”

  “Jenna?” Cyrus circled Jenna, his fists clenched. “Is that you in there?”

  Jenna grabbed a pipe from the floor.

  “Wait,” Cyrus shouted, lifting his hands. “Let me help you. Put the pipe down and maybe we can figure out how to get you to stay, permanently.”

  Jenna’s shoulders loosened, her arm lowering. Cyrus smiled, walking toward her and she swung the pipe at the side of his head. She didn’t want help from a man who stood back and watched his brother kill people.

  As Cyrus thumped to the ground beside Lucius, Jenna sprinted out the door. Her shoulder hit the wall, shooting prickles down her arm. Pain, even pain felt awesome.

  Jenna ran as fast as Shay’s beanpole body would allow, which wasn’t very.

  “Screw this.”

  With a skip and a jump, Jenna … fell flat to her face.

  “I can’t fly!”

  She slammed her fists against the hard floor and pushed herself to her feet. “Whatevs. I’m enjoying this too much anyway.”

  After climbing rickety stairs and running down endless hallways, she found more dark and twisty hallways. Jenna took a step, catching her reflection in a window. The stringy golden hair and dull brown eyes shocked her still. Then she remembered, not her body.

  Since she wouldn’t have to deal with scratches and scrapes later, she drove her elbow through the window. Shards of glass rained down, carving thin red lines on her arm.

  The sting circulated through her body, igniting every nerve in the most delicious way. It was a sensation Shay could never appreciate, having lived inside skin all her life.

  A cool breeze grazed Jenna’s cheek and she stuck her head outside, inhaling deeply. Dead fish and salt water filled her lungs. The stench clung to her nose, ruining any chance to get a whiff of sweet city air.

  “I will get one,” she said in a grumble as she leapt from the window. Her b
are feet slapped pavement, tiny pebbles ripping her tender skin.

  Without looking back, Jenna ran. Her legs throbbed, feet slick with blood, but she ran past wooden docks and empty streets. Villains could’ve lurked on every corner and she wouldn’t have seen it. Her gaze was locked on the tall, wide building that gleamed brighter than all the others it towered over.

  Shay’s voice screamed in Jenna’s mind. Shay was frightened. She wanted to escape the cold gray place where Jenna lived, wanted to come back to the colorful world that Jenna now walked in, but Jenna wasn’t ready to swap places yet.

  “I will let you back. Just … shut up.” Jenna stopped in the middle of the street, looking at herself in a car’s window. An escaped mental patient. That’s what she saw when glimpsing this hideous reflection, ugly pink pajamas to boot.

  “Aw, hell no. We’ll get arrested running around like this.” Jenna glanced around then reached for the car’s handle. After a quick prayer, she pulled and it opened.

  Like the ghost she was, Jenna slipped inside the car. “Yes, Shay. I am gonna steal this car.” She felt underneath the seat, found a wad of gum, but no car keys.

  “Tell me how to hotwire a car?” she asked Shay, who now haunted the rearview mirror.

  The Shay in the mirror shook her head, and Jenna groaned.

  “Very nice, real hero like.” In a last ditch effort, Jenna flipped down the sun visor and keys tumbled into her lap. “Ha. Looks like I don’t need your help.”

  Shay shouted protests within Jenna’s mind, but Jenna ignored them and started the car. “Be quiet. I have to drive.”

  Max pushed past Evie, ran out the lobby of Ling Enterprises, and stopped on the sidewalk. His knees bent, eyes on the sky. Just as flames ignited beneath his boots, tires screeched and a car skid to a stop beside him.

  He jumped back from the curb as the car’s door flung open. A scratched up, bloody Shay climbed from the driver’s seat and both relief and rage flooded his chest.

  “Shay,” Evie cried out.