by Lucas Flint
Fake Dad sighed. “Yes, I am aware of that. I visited my grave when I first came here, just to see if the articles I read on the Internet were true. I liked the epitaph, by the way. Ignorance is bold and knowledge is reserved … it’s a sentiment I tend to agree with.”
“What do you mean, when you first came here?” I said. “Where are you from? Wait, are you a clone of Dad created by the government? Did the government take some of Dad’s DNA from his corpse and use it to create you?”
Fake Dad chuckled. “Ah, I missed your imagination, Kevin. You were never afraid to voice your ideas even if they were outlandish and silly; it’s something that I never quite learned to do. But no, I am not a clone. I am indeed Theodore Ronald Jason, or, as I am known here, Genius.”
“But …” My brain was starting to hurt from trying to make sense of what Fake Dad said. “You can’t be Dad, because Dad is dead.”
I know I already said that, but at this point it really was all I had left. Because it was true. You couldn’t be dead and alive at the same time. That wasn’t possible, even with superpowers. Something was clearly wrong here, and I was starting to think that it was with me.
“I understand your confusion,” said Fake Dad. “The dead are dead, always and forever, so it’s no surprise you think I’m a clone or something like that. But the truth, as always, is much stranger than fiction.”
“Then tell us,” I said, “who you really are and where you are from.”
Fake Dad steepled his fingers together; his expression was hidden behind his helmet, but I could tell that he was not excited about having to tell us his origin. “Tell me, Kevin, are you familiar with the multiverse theory?”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “That’s the theory that states that our universe is part of a great multiverse.”
“And a new universe is created for every action in this one,” Emma added, causing me to look at her in surprise.
“I didn’t know you knew about the multiverse theory, Emma,” I said.
Emma shrugged. “I like to read about theoretical science in case there are any theories about how to remove a person’s superpowers. It’s nothing.”
“But the multiverse theory is just theoretical, isn’t it?” said Blizzard. “No one has ever been able to prove that it is real; in fact, it may be unprovable.”
“In your universe, maybe,” said Fake Dad. He gestured at himself. “But in my universe, where I am from, the theory has been proven correct.”
“Wait, you’re from another universe?” I said in shock. “How did you get here from there? You have to be pulling my leg.”
“It’s no joke,” said Fake Dad. “And I’ve been here for quite some time, though it is only recently that I’ve become active. That is how I am your father without being a clone; I am just another version of myself, one that has experienced different things and walked a different, perhaps darker, path than your version of me did.”
I put a hand on the back of my head. “I don’t understand it, though. It’s just a theory.”
“Not one without any evidence,” Fake Dad pointed out. “If I recall correctly, Kevin, your suit-up watch stores your suit in a pocket dimension when you are not wearing it, yes? That means that your universe already has dimension-hopping technology, albeit an extremely primitive and barely functional kind.”
I looked down at my suit-up watch. I remembered what Dad had told me about it when I first got my suit-up watch. He had said what Fake Dad said, that it stored my suit in a pocket dimension whenever I wasn’t wearing it. I frankly hadn’t thought about it at all since then, but it did give more credence to Fake Dad’s story.
“My universe developed similar dimension-hopping tech, which I was able to use as a base for larger and more complicated dimension-hopping tech,” said Fake Dad. “That is how I got from my universe to this one. It took me many years of work, but it was well worth it in the end, because now there is no frontier that is off access to me.”
“But why?” I said. “Why would you come here to our universe? Why not just stay in your own universe? Doesn’t your universe need you there?”
Fake Dad chuckled. “Frankly, I think the people of my universe are happy that I’m gone, though I doubt they like the man I left in charge of them while I’m away. He’s rather … brutal toward rebellious subjects.”
“Subjects?” I repeated. “You make it sound like you are the king of that universe.”
“Just of that universe’s Earth,” said Fake Dad. “Expanding my empire beyond planet Earth has proven … difficult, to say the least, though inter-dimensional conquest might be easier, ironically enough.”
“Dad wasn’t a conqueror in this universe,” I said. “He was a hero, the hero named Genius.”
Fake Dad made a sound of disgust. “Genius? I no longer go by that name. I much prefer Mastermind; it’s a far better description of who and what I am.”
“So you’re Mastermind, too?” I said. “No way.”
“It’s true,” said Mastermind. “I’m the same Mastermind that that annoying detective has been investigating. Too bad he never found out the truth.”
“But I thought that Cadmus Smith was Mastermind,” I said. “Isn’t he?”
Mastermind chuckled. “Cadmus Smith? Of course not. He may be an intelligent man, but his intelligence doesn’t dwarf mine. Besides, Cadmus, even in my universe, has never been one to use superhero names, so he would never use the name ‘Mastermind’ even if I wasn’t Mastermind.”
“Then what are you doing here?” I said. “What is the other universe like? Why do you look so different and go by a different name?”
Mastermind leaned back in his chair, keeping his fingers steepled together. “I suppose I should explain that to you. Otherwise you will just stand there with dumb looks on your faces. But it is hard to know where to begin, though I think I know where our universes diverged: With your death.”
“My death?” I repeated. I put my hands on my chest, feeling my heart beating. “But—”
“Yes, I know, you are still alive and all that,” Mastermind interrupted me, just the same way Dad used to interrupt me when he was still alive. “But in my universe, you are dead and have been for some time.”
“How and when did I die?” I said.
“In my universe, you died ten years ago,” said Mastermind. “Time moves faster in my universe; ten months in your universe is ten in mine. In any case, it is the year twenty twenty-six where I am from, rather than twenty seventeen, as it is here.”
“Okay, but how did I die?” I said. “Who killed me?”
“Master Chaos, naturally,” said Mastermind. “After he broke out of Ultimate Max, he reached our home, where he killed you right in front of my very eyes.”
Mastermind’s voice became emotional when he said that and he glanced away, like he was trying to regain his composure. I guessed that Mastermind still hadn’t gotten over my death, which was a really weird thing to think because I was still alive here.
“And before you ask, your mother and my wife, Ashley, died, too,” said Mastermind. “He killed her when she tried to protect you. And he laughed while doing it.”
“How did you react?” I said.
“I killed him.” Mastermind said it in a very plain and simple way, but the anger and grief in his voice was still quite obvious. “I killed him there and then, just as cruelly as he killed you and Ashley. He deserved it.”
“Then how did you go from that to ruling the world?” I said. “And why did you decide to take over the world?”
“Simple,” said Mastermind. “Even after killing Master Chaos, I was stricken with grief. I looked around me and noticed how many other people were suffering because of the actions of superpowered freaks, whether ‘heroes,’ ‘villains,’ or otherwise. The world, it seemed to me, was suffering, not in the least because the governments of the world had no real power over superhumans. I decided to change that, especially after I discovered Graleex’s ship under the sea and the p
owerless gas canister within it.”
Mastermind took his fingers apart and raised his right gauntlet, which showed powerless gas swirling within it. “Using the powerless gas I recovered from Graleex’s ship, I created an army of robots designed to shoot it at superhumans and also figured out how to mass produce it for that purpose. I toppled the governments of the various countries around the world and de-powered and killed any superhumans who got in my way. That took me about two years to do.”
“It took you just two years to conquer the entire planet?” I said in shock.
“Yes,” said Mastermind. “It wasn’t very difficult. My super intelligence allowed me to see the most efficient way to do it. And because I did not allow myself to be weighed down by ideas like mercy or kindness, I did things that most other people would never think of doing. It helps that the various governments around the world were too stupid to stop me, even after I conquered America and Europe.”
Mastermind spoke about his conquest of the world like it was an interesting game. I just couldn’t help but think about all of the people he had to kill to accomplish it.
“The various superhumans around the world tried to stop me,” said Mastermind. “The Neohero Alliance and its international branches, the Independent Neoheroes for Justice, and others in foreign countries … but the powerless gas was sufficient enough to make them as weak as any normal human. They died just as easily, too.”
“Does that mean you killed all of the superhumans in your universe, then?” I said.
“Not all of them,” said Mastermind. “Most, yes, but I kept a few alive who pledged their loyalty to me, plus a handful I am keeping prisoner for my own reasons. There are also a handful among the Resistance, but they, too, will be crushed sooner or later, once my machines find and de-power them. I would estimate that the entire population of superhumans on my Earth is less than one hundred by now, down from the ten thousand it was after you died.”
“But most of those people were your friends, right?” I said. “Omega Man, Mecha Knight, Triplet, and the others … you knew them all, didn’t you? How could you kill the people who you had fought beside in the past?”
“When I realized they were a threat,” said Mastermind. “When I realized that none of them would agree with me about the dangers that our kind showed to the world. Like most superhumans, they were too selfish to understand the greater good; in fact, I don’t think they even realized that there is such a thing as the greater good. Little minds rarely do.”
Mastermind spoke so contemptuously of his old friends that I had to say, “I can’t believe I’m hearing this from my Dad. Dad never spoke of his friends this way, even if he sometimes disagreed with them. He never called anyone a ‘little mind.’”
“My alternate self was a fool,” said Mastermind. “He didn’t understand what was needed to save the world because he was too closeminded. Your death is what opened my eyes to the reality of the situation. That is why I did what I did, because it was the only way to ensure world peace.”
“Peace? You mean oppression,” I said. “It sounds to me like you rule your world with an iron fist.”
“How I rule my world is none of your business,” said Mastermind. “And frankly, I’m not surprised you don’t understand. You were never as smart as me, though I am happy to see that you are the same as you were back in my world, if a bit more naïve.”
“What about the Pokacu?” I said. “You said that you found Graleex’s ship. Did he escape Earth? How did you handle the second invasion?”
“It never happened,” said Mastermind. “I killed Graleex when I found his ship, which is how I got access to his supply of powerless gas. In any case, San Francisco was never destroyed in my universe, though I did nuke Washington in order to take out the United States government.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The Dad I knew would never kill his friends just because they disagreed with him. Nor would he ever take over the world and become an oppressive tyrant (though he might nuke Washington; when he was alive, Dad never hesitated to complain about our politicians).
“Then why did you come here?” said Emma in a harsh voice. I noticed she was hiding some of her stars behind her back, probably to make sure that Mastermind couldn’t see them. “Why didn’t you just stay in your universe and be content to rule your world?”
“A good question,” said Mastermind. “Indeed, I could have done just that, but once you conquer one world, you tend to want to conquer more. Or, rather, I turned my focus to creating new and better technology, until I finally perfected dimension-hopping tech that was strong enough to allow me to go to other universes. It opened up whole new horizons to me; I realized that I could make not only my world, but all worlds, perfect.”
“Perfect?” I said. “There’s nothing ‘perfect’ about becoming an oppressive tyrant who kills anyone who stands against his rule.”
“I am well aware of my own imperfections, Kevin, but you don’t need to be perfect to save the world,” said Mastermind. He was starting to sound delusional now, and I mean more so than usual. “But I didn’t act immediately. Instead, I acted through intermediaries; for example, I was the one who provided Maria Candle with that lizard creature that attacked the Neohero Museum.”
“You mean you were working with her?” I said in surprise. “Why?”
“Because, even though I hated Maria Candle from my own universe, I was hoping that she might be able to manipulate the NHA and INJ into fighting against each other,” said Mastermind. “That would have made it easier for me to conquer this world, but alas, you and your friends foiled that plan of mine. So then I gave my parents—your grandparents—a soul-stealing device I had created. I didn’t tell them, of course, who I was, and I don’t think they ever knew my true identity, but it doesn’t matter because they wasted that device and were defeated, again by you.”
“So we’ve already foiled a couple of your plans, then, without even knowing you were behind them,” I said. I smirked. “Not so smart anymore, are you?”
“I am still as intelligent as ever,” said Mastermind. “It’s just that I made the mistake of relying upon others to carry out one’s plans. Rule number one of trying to take over the world: Do your own dirty work and don’t rely on useless minions to do it for you.”
“Let me guess,” I said, “after that, you finally decided to take matters into your own hands?”
“Precisely,” said Mastermind. “I made the decision to handle things myself. And I am pleased to report that everything is going exactly according to plan, aside from a few unexpected bumps here and there, such as you being thrown into prison, though now that you escaped that means I won’t have to bust you out on my own.”
“Then what is your great master plan?” I said. “What are you trying to do?”
“Destroy this world, obviously,” said Mastermind. “But I’m not going to spell out each step of my plan to you, because I don’t want you to foil it. If you don’t know what my plan is, after all, then you can’t stop it, yes?”
I punched my fist into my other hand. “Unless we stop you here and now and expose your plans to the world. We may not know every last detail of your great and amazing plan for world destruction, but I assume you play an important part in it, so all we need to do is beat you and your plan will be derailed. And we can do it, too, because if you are just like the Dad I knew, then that means that you aren’t strong enough to take us all on in a fight.”
Mastermind smiled. “When did I ever say I would fight you?”
All of a sudden, there was a crackling of electricity in the air, but I didn’t understand where it was coming from until a deafening boom suddenly exploded in the room, followed by a bright white light that nearly blinded me. It was so loud that Blizzard and Emma were actually driven to their knees, clasping their hands over their ears to protect their hearing. I also covered my ears, but managed to stay upright, though my ears continued to ring from the explosion anyway. Not that it was of
much help; the white light was still obscuring my vision.
Then someone’s hand grabbed my throat and squeezed, causing me to gasp in pain and lower my hands from my ears. At the same time, the blinding white light was finally starting to fade, allowing me to see who was holding me:
It was White Lightning. And he was grinning crazily, his eyes sparking with electricity.
“Kevin,” said Mastermind behind White Lightning, “may I introduce you to White Lightning? You know him … or should, anyway, since he’s your long-lost brother.”
Chapter Twenty
This was the first time I had ever seen White Lightning up close and in person like this. He was about my height, but his hair was lightning white in contrast to my own brown. His skin was darker, probably from the heat from his electricity, while his eyes were nothing more than sparking pools of energy. He wore a costume that looked just like mine, except white and blue, and his grip on my neck was surprisingly strong, though not enough to cut off my breathing entirely. I smelled burning ozone around him.
But I paid very little attention to any of that. I looked over White Lightning’s shoulder at Mastermind in confusion. “Brother? But I don’t have a—”
White Lightning immediately slammed me onto the floor hard enough to make me gasp in pain. He then pinned me to the floor with one foot, his maniacal grin never leaving his face that looked way too much like mine.
“Bolt!” Blizzard said. “No!”
Before I could tell her to stay back, Blizzard raised her hands and unleashed a blast of ice at White Lightning. But White Lightning just unleashed an electrical blast that shattered the ice and hit Blizzard hard enough to send her flying into the back wall. She slammed against the wall and immediately fell onto the floor, where she lay very still, like she was dead.
“Blizzard!” I shouted. “Are you okay?”
Blizzard didn’t respond, but I did see her chest rising and falling, so I knew that she was just unconscious, rather than dead.
I looked up at White Lightning again. He was chuckling to himself now, as if attacking people was his hobby. Well, considering how many people he’d killed already, maybe it was.