by Lucas Flint
I raised an eyebrow. “Cadmus Smith? Did he see a vision, too?”
“No,” said Grandfather, shaking his head. “But I told him about Jane’s vision when I was taken into custody. He became interested in it. Of course, Cadmus didn’t tell me much about why he was interested in it—he’s so secretive and tight-lipped—but I think he must have an idea of who these angels are.”
“He does?” I said. “Why do you think that?”
“Because he mentioned something strange when he was interrogating me,” said Grandfather. “He mentioned how it ‘fit’ with something he had been thinking about, something he called the Apocalypse Switch.”
“What’s that?” I said.
“I have no idea,” said Grandfather with a shrug. “He didn’t elaborate on it; I don’t think he even intended for me to hear it. All I know is that Cadmus thinks it is connected to the angels.”
I stroked my chin, thinking about that. “That is very interesting … very interesting indeed.”
“But if you want my opinion, I think it may be a codename for something else, like Project Neo,” said Grandfather. “It may be that the government has discovered something that they have given the codename Apocalypse Switch to, though I suppose that still doesn’t tell us what it is, exactly.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I wonder if it has anything to do with my doppelganger.”
Grandfather froze, like I had just said something unexpected. “Doppelganger? What are you talking about?”
“Oh, right, you don’t have a TV in here, so you didn’t get to see the news report,” I said. “Earlier, the White House was attacked by someone who looked like me, except with inverted colors. He even had the same powers. No one knows who he is, where he came from, or what he’s trying to do, though; he’s a mystery.”
Grandfather put a hand on his heart. His eyes had widened and he was looking at the floor. He looked like he was having a heart attack, so I stepped forward and said, “Grandfather, what’s the matter? Are you all right?”
Grandfather looked up at me again. “Your doppelganger … I think I may know what he is.”
I frowned. “What he is? I’m more concerned with who he is.”
“I don’t know his identity,” said Grandfather. “But Jane saw him in a vision once. Or someone who looked like him, anyway.”
“What do you mean?” I said. “What vision?”
“It was about eighteen years ago, right before you were born,” said Grandfather. “Jane had a vision, the longest one she’d had yet. It had been on the darkest and stormiest night of my life; she’d screamed all night long and didn’t wake up until the wee hours of the morning.”
Grandfather shuddered. “I thought she was dying, but when she awoke, she told me of a terrible vision she’d had. She didn’t remember all of it, because part of it had been a dream, but she did remember seeing a vision. I thought it was just a nightmare myself, but now … I believe she was having a vision indeed.”
“What did she see?” I said. “Did she tell you?”
“She didn’t remember all of it,” said Grandfather. “But she did remember seeing two identical beings fighting, one white and blue, the other black and red. They had flown over a major city and used their powers to not only attack each other, but to tear the city itself apart. It was horrifying because she said she could hear the screams of innocent people as they were killed during the battle while the two ‘gods,’ as she called them, didn’t even seem to notice.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Gods, huh? Who are they?”
“You and your doppelganger,” said Grandfather simply.
I paused. “But I’m not a god.”
“Not literally, no, but you are a very powerful superhuman,” Grandfather pointed out. “Close to Omega Man in power level, actually. I always did think it odd that you were so powerful, but I never thought much about it until just recently, when I remembered Jane’s vision.”
“So what are you saying?” I said. “Are you saying I’m going to fight my doppelganger at some point?”
“Yes, but I think you will do more than fight him,” said Grandfather. “I believe that you will lose.”
I stared at Grandfather in surprise. “Why?”
“Because of how Jane’s vision ended,” said Grandfather. He smiled, though it was a weak, insincere smile. “She saw the white and blue god collapse a building on the black and red god. And the black and red god did not rise again.”
Okay, Grandfather seemed to be getting a little crazy. His eyes were wider than usual, his hands were balled into fists too tightly, and his tone sounded weird, too. I told myself that Grandfather was lying to me—because he’d lied to me before—but deep down I knew that Grandfather was telling the truth.
“What if it was just a nightmare, like you said?” I said. “Maybe it wasn’t one of Grandmother’s visions.”
Grandfather shook his head. “No. I know the difference between Jane’s visions and nightmares. This wasn’t a simple nightmare. I don’t know exactly when or where your conflict with your doppelganger will happen—I don’t even know who he is—but when it does, you will die.”
Fear started to rise inside me, but I pushed it down and ignored it. “I won’t. I’ll fight him to the end if I have to, but I won’t die.”
Grandfather shrugged again. “You can believe what you will, but Jane’s visions always turn out accurate sooner or later. And, given your doppelganger’s recent appearance, I think it will be sooner this time.”
“How does this tie in with the Apocalypse Switch?” I said. “And why I’m in prison?”
“How am I supposed to know?” said Grandfather. “It may be that all of these things are entirely unrelated. Or it may be that they are all connected, but you just don’t know how yet. Maybe you’re missing the one piece of evidence that will tie it all together.”
I hoped Grandfather was right, because I was now starting to realize that, whatever was really going on here, was far deeper and more complicated than I first believed.
Chapter Five
I spent my first night in Ultimate Max trying (and failing) to sleep in the top bunk of our bunk bed in our cell. Ivan had no trouble falling asleep; the minute he laid his head on his pillow, he started snoring so loudly that the frame of our bunk actually rattled. Which was part of the reason I had so much trouble actually falling to sleep, but that wasn’t the whole or even main reason why I was having a hard time sleeping.
What the heck was going on here? The Apocalypse Switch, my doppelganger, the angels, Grandmother’s visions … somehow, it all tied together, like Grandfather said. Of course, maybe none of it did; maybe it was all completely unrelated. But I didn’t think so. There was clearly something going on here, and Cadmus Smith knew.
I figured he had to be the key to it all. Cadmus was the one who put me in jail. He was the one who had mentioned the Apocalypse Switch to Grandfather. Maybe Cadmus didn’t know everything that was going on, but he probably had a better understanding of what was happening than I did, at least.
But why hadn’t Cadmus talked to me about it? Why did he have to trick me? How long had Cadmus had this all planned out? Or did he have a plan? Maybe he was just making it up as he went, just reacting to things as they happened. I didn’t know.
But more importantly, I was thinking about what my friends and family thought. It felt like it had been forever since I last saw them. What had they been told about me being thrown in jail? What did they think about my doppelganger? I wish I knew, but I didn’t have any way of contacting anyone outside the walls of this cursed prison. I found myself feeling some sympathy for the supervillains I’d put behind bars; maybe they deserved it, but being unable to communicate with the outside world or get your freedom really did suck.
Yet things seemed to begin looking up a little, because early in the morning, after breakfast (which was mostly just slop and water, hardly filling), I was told that I had a couple of visitors today. That was odd, becaus
e I didn’t expect to have any visitors anytime soon. The guard who came to get me didn’t tell me who my visitors were, just that a couple of people wanted to see me.
So, with my hands cuffed together and two guards escorting me, I was taken to the part of the prison where inmates could go see their visitors.
According to the guards, Ultimate Max inmates like myself were only allowed to meet a couple of visitors once a week for only an hour, and under extremely controlled circumstances. Visitors were not allowed to give inmates anything, not even a stick of gum, at least without the gift first having to go through the prison’s security, who would scan it to make sure there wasn’t anything in the gift that could be used by the prisoner to escape. Conversations were monitored and, if there was any hint of a break out being planned, then the visitors would be escorted out of the prison while the prisoner would be taken back to his or her cell.
Those rules seemed too strict to me, but when I thought about how Ultimate Max was home to people who could freeze things, generate nuclear radiation, and become giants, I decided that there was some logic to them. Still, it made me think that my visit with my visitors, whoever they were, probably wasn’t going to be all that informative.
The guards and I arrived in the room where I would meet with my guests. It was a private room (for certain uses of that word; at least I didn’t have to worry about other prisoners and their visitors listening in on our conversations, though I would have to worry about the guards listening) that was nicer than my prison cell, but just as bare. A solid glass wall—probably bulletproof—separated the wall in two right down the middle, with a table stuck in it. Small voice transmitters were connected to both sides of the wall to allow me and my visitors to talk to each other, though with that wall in the way, we wouldn’t be able to touch each other or exchange any objects.
I finally got to see my visitors, who were sitting on the opposite side of the glass. The first I quickly recognized: Mieko Hiro, or, as I knew him, Triplet, a former member of the NHA and the owner of Triple Eye Investigations. He was a superhero detective and had helped me a few times in the past. He looked about the same as always, wearing a large overcoat over his tall and thin body, but I noticed dark bags under his eyes, like he hadn’t gotten much sleep recently.
The girl sitting to his right I also recognized: Blizzard, my girlfriend and fellow member of the Young Neos. But she wasn’t in her Blizzard costume today; she was dressed in normal clothes, a bright blue dress and a white blouse, which made her darker skin stand out, especially with her white hair done in a ponytail. My heart started beating faster when I saw her and I desperately wanted to reach out and hug her, but the glass wall prevented me from even touching her fingers. When she looked up to see me, I saw that she felt the same way, but was just as powerless as I was at the moment.
The guards marched me over to the table, where they sat me down. Then they linked my cuffs to the table and tied my feet down to the floor, which I guessed were extra measures to ensure I wouldn’t try to escape. These extra chains seemed to be made out of the same Indestructonium that the rest of this damn prison was, so I doubted I would be able to escape here.
“All right,” said one of the guards. “You have one hour to talk with your visitors. If we even suspect that you or your visitors are planning something, however, we will cut your meeting with them short. Understand?”
I nodded. “Yes, I do.”
The guard nodded in return, but still looked at me like he didn’t exactly believe me. He and the other guard then retreated a good distance away, but were still close enough that they could shoot me with their powerless pellets if I tried anything.
But I didn’t care about the guards anymore. I looked at Triplet and Blizzard and said, “I am so relieved to see you guys. I didn’t think I’d see you ever again.”
“Same here,” said Blizzard. She put her hands on the glass, which kept her from grabbing my hand. “I can’t even put into words how scary this last week has been. So much has happened and we don’t even know about half of it.”
“It has indeed been a crazy week,” said Triplet, shaking his head. “But it’s also good to see that you’re still alive, Bolt, or at least not critically injured. It’s a well-known fact that superheroes who end up in Ultimate Max usually have a much shorter lifespan than supervillains locked up here.”
“I made some … friends,” I said, though I didn’t really want to talk about Rime or Ivan right now. “But how did you guys even know I was here?”
“What do you mean?” said Blizzard. “It was all over the news. Cadmus Smith even called a press conference about it.”
“What do you mean?” I said. “What are you talking about? I’ve been out of the loop recently.”
“Cadmus Smith held a press conference yesterday in which he confirmed that you were arrested for helping Vision break into the White House and several other government facilities,” said Triplet. “He said that you had also murdered Barnabas Sagan and that you were going to remain in Ultimate Max for the foreseeable future.”
“What?” I said, almost shouted, but then I heard the guards move behind me and I calmed down, because I didn’t want to give them any excuse to think I was losing it. “What? That liar. I’m not a Visionist. I’ll never be a Visionist.”
“We thought as much,” said Triplet. “His story made no sense. Of course, the media ate it up. The media always loves a fallen hero story. You should have seen the talking heads last night; bunch of idiots, as always.”
“No one even questioned it?” I said. “At all?”
“Why would they?” said Triplet. “The media loves sensational stories. And what’s more sensational than a rising star in the superhero community actually turning out to be a supervillain who wants to destroy America?”
“It’s still bull,” I said. “What does everyone else think?”
“The rest of the team doesn’t believe it at all,” said Blizzard. “We know you’d never side with Vision. We know you’re still a hero. Mecha Knight agrees, too, as does most of the NHA.”
“Most?” I repeated. “What do you mean by ‘most’?”
“Well, there is a teensy tiny minority of NHA members who believe it,” said Blizzard, somewhat apologetically. “But they’re totally tiny and powerless.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Are any Leadership Council members part of this ‘teensy tiny minority’?”
Blizzard smiled sheepishly. “Well, the newest member—Black Blur, who was elected after Nicknacks left Earth to search for those free Pokacu he told us about—is the leader of that minority, and now he’s demanding that the NHA officially condemn you and formally kick you out of the Young Neos.”
I knew who the Black Blur was, though I didn’t know him as well as some superheroes. He was a speedster and a loyal member of the NHA. I’d interacted with him a few times, but he never came across to me as someone who would believe media lies so easily like that. “How successful is his campaign?”
“Not very, so far,” said Blizzard, “but people are starting to believe that you’ve turned. And I worry that the longer you stay in jail, the more likely people will start to believe the government’s lies.”
“What about the INJ?” I said. “What do they think?”
“We’re not sure,” said Blizzard. “Right now, they’re too busy helping in the rebuilding of San Francisco to talk with the rest of us. But I did contact Dizzy and she said that the New Heroes still support you.”
I sighed in relief. “Good to hear. What about my mom? Do you know if she’s safe?”
“She is,” said Triplet. “I spoke with her. She’s sick with worry about you. So are your friends, Malcolm and Tara.”
“But what really happened?” said Blizzard, leaning forward in her chair. “After we were ambushed by Vision and you went missing, what happened? We still don’t know.”
I gave Blizzard and Triplet a quick rundown of my time as a brainwashed Visionist. I hated talking about it,
because I hated to think about hanging out with Vision and supporting that vile cult, but I had to tell them so they would know what happened, so they would know the truth, rather than whatever wild story Cadmus and the media had come up with.
Once I finished, Blizzard and Triplet both looked troubled by my story. No shocker there; I was just as troubled as them, if not more so.
“It’s good to hear that Vision is no more,” said Blizzard, “but what Shade did to you … that’s not right.”
“But hardly surprising,” said Triplet. “I’ve always known you couldn’t trust the government. The G-Men have always have a rocky relationship with the superhero community, particularly after the Vigilante Criminalization Act of 1996 was defeated. Surprised it took them this long to betray you, though.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “But this seems strange even for the G-Men. No one has told me why I’m here. It seems like they just threw me into prison for no reason.”
“No,” said Triplet. “They have a reason. Or Cadmus Smith does, anyway. He’s not the kind of person to act without reason. I don’t know what that reason is, but it’s probably part of a greater plan, I’m sure.”
“What greater plan?” I said.
“Not sure,” said Triplet. “It probably won’t be good for anyone but the government, though, because Cadmus is a good, obedient dog of the government.”
“No doubt,” I said grimly. “Anyway, I’m glad to see you both, but Triplet, did you come just to see me?”
“Actually, I came because of a case I’m involved in,” said Triplet. “The clues I’ve been following have led me here, to Ultimate Max, to talk to you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You mean I’m somehow connected to yet another one of your cases?”
“Yeah,” said Triplet. “Weird, but that’s the way it goes.”
“All right,” I said. “What is this case? What do I have to do with it?”