by Lucas Flint
I looked up at Sagan. “Senator, who is Sarah?”
Sagan didn't meet my gaze. His eyes darted from side to side, like he was looking for an escape route, as he said, “My granddaughter, obviously. Why do you ask?”
I looked at the image of Sarah on his phone again. “Senator … your granddaughter wouldn't happen to be named Sarah Jane Watson, would she?”
Without warning, I heard crashing and screaming sounds in my head. I yelled in pain and staggered backwards, dropping Sagan's phone onto the pavement again. I fell down to my knees, grabbing my head with my hands, trying to make the pain go away, but there was nothing I could do about it.
Then Sagan grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at his face. He no longer looked like the kindly old man I'd known before. Instead, he looked like he was consumed with rage, his eyes popping out behind his glasses and his mouth twisted in an angry scowl.
“S-Senator …” I said, but the screaming and crashing sounds in my head made it almost impossible for me to hear myself. “What …”
“Don't call me 'Senator,' boy,” said Sagan. The kindness in his voice had vanished, replaced by a cold hatred that shocked me. “I never liked that title anyway. So plain. So ordinary. Not fitting for a man of my vision.”
I gasped. “Are you … Visionary?”
Sagan nodded. “Correct, boy. And you are Kevin Jason, son of Theodore Jason, also known as Genius, the famous, retired superhero and one of the Four Founders of the Neohero Alliance.”
“How did you know that?” I said in shock. “I've never told you my secret identity.”
Sagan tapped the side of his head with his finger. “Your mind is an open book to me, boy. I know your every secret, your every desire. I know you and your little detective friend were here to stop me. Too bad you were too late.”
I tried to stand and fight, but the screaming and crashing sounds in my head practically paralyzed me. “But … June …”
Sagan chuckled. “June? She never had any powers. She was just an ordinary woman, always was and always will be. I only told everyone that she was a telepath so they would not suspect me of having powers. And it worked very well, considering how not even the G-Men have ever suspected me of being a superhuman.”
Then Sagan removed his hand from my chin. “But I'm not going to stand here and reveal all my plans and secrets to you and give you a chance to beat me. IBut neither am I going to let you live knowing my identity, not after I spent so many, many years keeping it a secret from the public.”
Suddenly, the pressure in my head increased. I cried out in pain, grabbing my head with my hands, but the pain just got worse and worse. It felt like my head was being squeezed between a huge metal clamp and getting tighter by the second.
“I could just erase your memories of me, as Sarah and I did to Steel Skin and Firespirit when they were caught so no one would know that I had hired them,” said Sagan, his voice sounding far away even though he stood just a few feet in front of me. “But you know too much, even if I erased my identity from you. I will just turn you into a vegetable. No one will ever know, because I will tell everyone that June, using her mental powers, did it in order to protect my life from your murderous rampage. And everyone will believe me, because everyone always believes me.”
I could feel my mind being picked apart bit by bit. I tried to fight against it, but I couldn't. I didn't have any mental powers of my own. I was completely defenseless against Sagan's assault.
I heard my earcom crackle in my ear and then Dad's worried, frantic voice. “Kevin! What's the problem? I just saw on the news that Plutarch was shot at the debate! Are you and Triplet all right? Hello?”
I couldn't answer. It was becoming harder and harder to concentrate. Sagan's mental powers kept hammering away at my mind. Even thinking was becoming a chore. It was almost worse than being stabbed by Nail Gun.
I looked up at Sagan. He was staring down at me with cold eyes. It was like staring into the eyes of a snake. I tried to reach up to him to stop him, but he easily slapped away my hand like it was nothing.
“You have a strong will,” said Sagan. “But I have broken much stronger wills in the past. Sooner or later, everyone breaks. And I will shatter you.”
Thinking … becoming … impossible. I just wanted to lie down and get it over with. I almost stopped fighting, because I figured that it would be easier and much less painful to let him win than to fight a losing battle.
But then I remembered what Triplet had said, about how Vision had brainwashed so many young neoheroes over the years. I remembered what would happen if I failed, how such a terrible villain would continue his reign of terror and might even become the President of the United States if I gave up.
That thought alone angered me, angered me so much that I stopped thinking. Sagan's mental attack was still brutal, but I found myself caring less and less about the pain he was inflicting on my mind. All I wanted to do was defeat Sagan, regardless of what price I had to pay to do it.
Gritting my teeth, I started rising to my feet. It was hard and slow, like trying to rise out of quicksand, but I was making some progress nonetheless. The anger flowing through me was giving me the strength I needed to stand.
But then Sagan's shoe came out of nowhere and struck me in the side. The blow knocked me to the pavement, making me gasp in pain.
“Oh, no, you don't,” said Sagan, though I caught a hint of worry in his voice. “You must stay down. Stay down and let me turn your mind into mush.”
Stay down … the words echoed through my mind, or what was left of it. It was a soothing, easy command that made me want to close my eyes and take a long nap. And if I didn't wake up, well, that would be okay.
But then my anger rose again. No, I would not stay down. I started rising again, this time with more success than before. Inch by inch, I pushed myself up, my anger flowing through my body like hot lava, forcing me to keep going even when my mind told me to stay down.
“What?” said Sagan in shock. “Stupid boy. I said stay down.”
I noticed Sagan's fist coming at me from the side. Before Sagan's fist hit me, I caught it and, without another thought, twisted it hard.
A loud crack followed, and then Sagan screamed in pain. Immediately, the screaming and crashing sounds in my head vanished and my thinking suddenly cleared. My mind felt just as clear as it had seconds ago, making me feel refreshed and happy, but I didn't let go of Sagan's arm.
As I rose to my feet, I forced Sagan down, continuing to twist his arm in the most painful way possible. I didn't even have to use my super strength. Sagan was just so weak that he slowly went down to his knees, tears flowing from his eyes as he screamed in pain.
“Let go, damn it, let go!” Sagan screamed. “You're hurting me!”
“Do I look like I care?” I said. “I caught you, Sagan. You're going to jail. And there's not a thing you can do about it. Soon, everyone in the world will know what you did and your entire cult will go down with you.”
Suddenly, Sagan smiled. “Will they, boy?”
I didn't understand what Sagan was talking about, but then I heard the clicking of a gun behind me. Thinking someone was about to shoot me, I activated my super speed and zoomed to the side just as a gun shot rang through the air.
Stopping several feet away from Sagan, I watched as the bullet shot through the air and went through Sagan's skull at an odd angle. Sagan let out one last gasp before he collapsed onto the street, blood leaking out of his head, his arm still twisted at an unnatural angle.
I looked in the direction that the bullet had come from and saw June—her head still bruised from where I'd hit her—standing there, pointing her gun at Sagan. She was staring at Sagan's limp body, her entire form frozen in shock, as if she could not comprehend what she had just done.
“V-Visionary?” said June, her lips trembling. “No … what have I done …”
At that moment, the door to the studio burst open and half a dozen security guards and Secre
t Service agents ran out of it. But June didn't even look at them. She was just staring at Sagan's still body and at the blood pooling around his head as if it was the only thing in the world.
I stepped back as the Secret Service and security guards swarmed June like locusts. They took her gun away and shackled her with handcuffs. June didn't even try to fight back. She seemed too shocked by what she had done to Sagan to even realize what was going on.
One of the Secret Service agents—a tall, well-built man who was much bigger than me—turned to look at me as the other agents and guards took June away. “Who are you and what happened here?”
“I'm Bolt,” I said. I gestured at Sagan. “And Senator Sagan's assistant, June, shot him in an attempt to shoot me.”
A couple of agents were surrounding Sagan, with one of them calling for an ambulance on his phone. The agent standing in front of me was frowning, like he wasn't sure whether to trust me or not. “Well, Bolt, you should come with me into the studio. You need to tell me everything that happened out here after June exited the studio with the Senator.”
I nodded and followed the agent back to the studio, but not without looking over my shoulder at Sagan's still and unmoving body, feeling grateful that I had not suffered that fate.
Chapter Seventeen
According to the agent—whose name was Tom Silence—no one was killed or seriously wounded in the smoke bomb attack, except for Plutarch, but even he was going to be okay, because the agents had managed to staunch his wound before it bled out too much and were going to transport him to the same hospital that Sagan was going to be taken to. Agent Silence expected Plutarch to recover, however, because June had not shot him in a vital area and he was definitely going to receive the medical attention he needed very soon.
I told Agent Silence everything that had happened after I pursued June out of the building. He expressed doubts about Sagan being the leader of a cult dedicated to brainwashing young heroes, but I insisted that it was true and that he should interrogate June, who would be able to confirm it. Silence told me that he would do that as soon as possible, because June obviously knew a bit more about the situation than I did.
Because that was all Agent Silence needed to know from me, he allowed me to go, especially since I wasn't involved in any other part of the attack. And I didn't hesitate to leave, because I didn't want Silence to remember some law or something that required that he bring in someone like me for further interrogation.
But before I left, I did do a quick search of the building for Triplet, but was unable to find him. That worried me until I heard a small beep on my suit-up watch, which displayed a message from Triplet saying, 'LEFT BUILDING. WILL MEET YOU AT YOUR PARENTS' HOUSE SOON WITH MORE INFO.'
Feeling relieved that Triplet was okay, I flew back home through the dark night sky, which took a couple of hours due to how far away Silvers was from Austin. Because it was so dark when I got back to Silvers, I was able to just land in the backyard of our house without being seen by our sleeping neighbors and enter the house through the back door.
There I was greeted by Mom, who was sitting at the kitchen table, apparently waiting for me to return. She quickly called Dad out of the Lab, and once they were both here, I told them everything that happened at the debate. They listened very closely and anxiously and were shocked when I told them who Visionary was.
“Impossible,” said Dad, who was sitting at the end of the kitchen table. He took his glasses off his eyes and rubbed his tired eyes. “How can Sagan be Visionary? It doesn't make sense. He's supposed to be pro-neohero.”
“I know it's hard to believe, but he told me so himself,” I said. “And he backed it up, too, when he tried to turn me into a vegetable with his mental powers.”
“So Plutarch really isn't trying to takeover the United States after all?” said Dad, sounding disappointed as he put his glasses back on.
“I guess not,” I said. “I know it sounds kind of weird, but it's true.”
“Well, I'm just glad you're okay,” said Mom. She suddenly looked around. “But wasn't Triplet with you? Where is he?”
“I don't know,” I said. “He sent me a message telling me that he was going to be here soon with 'new info,' but I don't know what that means or when, exactly, he'll be here.”
“It means I'll be here right now,” said a voice behind me.
We looked over at the door to the kitchen, which stood open. Triplet stood in the doorway, looking as tired as if he had run a mile. His right eye was swollen shut, but other than that he seemed okay. He carried a laptop under his arm, a laptop I had never seen him carrying before. I wondered if it was his.
“Mieko?” said Dad as Triplet closed the door and walked over to the table in a tired way. “How did you get here so quickly? We didn't hear your car pull up to the house.”
Triplet pulled something out of his coat pocket and tossed it onto the table. It was a small, metal disk, but I didn't know what it was until Dad said, “Hey, that's one of the teleportation disks I gave you during your first visit. Is that what you used to get back here?”
Triplet nodded. “Yes, but that's not important. What is important is this laptop.”
Triplet pulled the laptop from under his arms and placed it on the table. Curious, Mom, Dad, and I looked at it closely, but it looked like a pretty ordinary laptop to me.
“What's so special about this laptop?” I said, looking at Triplet in confusion.
“It's Sagan's personal laptop,” said Triplet, a little annoyance in his voice. He tapped the laptop's surface. “I stole it after you stopped Sagan. I broke into his changing room and took it because I believed it would have information pertaining to Vision. That's why I left without telling you; I didn't want the Secret Service or security finding me and taking the laptop before I could get a chance to look at it.”
“Won't you need to return it to them at some point?” I said. “I mean, once they find out about Sagan's real identity, won't you get in trouble with the law if you don't give them what is probably a very important piece of evidence?”
“I don't trust the government with this information,” said Triplet. “Besides, June will probably tell them everything they need to know and more, because without Sagan to protect her, she's a very weak woman. If they do find out that the laptop is missing, then they will probably assume that someone else stole it during the confusion of the attack.”
“Why don't you trust the government with this information?” I said.
“Because I've never trusted the government,” said Triplet, shaking his head. “And I suspect that Vision may have infiltrated the government, though perhaps not to the same extent as the NHA.”
“Why do you think that?” I said.
“Because some of the documents on this laptop indicate as much,” said Triplet. “It doesn't name any names—Sagan was smart about that—but there is a paragraph in one of the documents saying that a member of Vision has been successfully installed in the government. I imagine that this member would do everything in his or her power to 'accidentally' destroy this laptop if the government had possession of it.”
“Well, what has the laptop told you about Vision so far?” said Dad.
“Not too much yet, but enough for now,” said Triplet. He opened the laptop and got it out of its screen saver, displaying a desktop that had hundreds of icons on it. “I had to dig a bit, since most of the files are either labeled misleadingly or are related only to Sagan's campaign, but I eventually found Sagan's personal journal.”
“What did it say?” I said.
Triplet pulled out one of the chairs at the kitchen table and sat on it, a tired look on his face. “From what I've read, I learned that Sagan discovered his mental powers in nineteen eighty-six.”
“You mean back when the first superhumans were discovered?” said Dad.
“Exactly,” said Triplet. “Apparently, though, he didn't tell anyone about his powers. He was terrified that the government might capture him and
experiment on him to figure out how his powers worked, which was why he worked hard to keep it a secret from everyone, including his own family aside from his granddaughter Sarah.”
“Not exactly an unreasonable fear, given how much bigotry and ignorance against superhumans existed back then,” said Dad. “I remember it all too well.”
“Yeah,” said Triplet, nodding. “Anyway, I learned from the journal that Sagan eventually became convinced that the inequalities between superhumans and normal humans needed to be corrected. While organizations such as the NHA existed to help keep the superhuman community in check, Sagan was certain that the superhumans would eventually attempt to exterminate all normal humans with their immense power.”
“Why would he think that?” I said.
“He was mostly looking at villains like Nuclear Winter and Master Chaos,” said Triplet. “You know, the crazy guys who weren't above killing innocent people if it furthered their goals and agendas. Sagan believed that the superhuman community needed one, just one, charismatic leader who hated normal humans to rally behind to convince them that it was their destiny to eliminate all non-powered people.”
“So what did Sagan do to stop that?” I said.
“I am still reading through most of his journals, but his first attempt to fix the problem was supporting the Vigilante Criminalization Act of 1996,” said Triplet.
“The what?” I said.
“It was a law that was killed before you were born,” said Dad, causing me to look at him. He was frowning again. “Long story short, the law was supposed to outlaw all superheroics except for government-approved heroes like the G-Men. Then it turned out that the supervillain Judgment was behind it, which is why it was killed before it could be passed.”
“Who is Judgment?” I said.
“I'll tell you later,” said Dad in a short tone that told me that Dad wasn't looking forward to talking about it. “Mieko, please continue.”
“Okay,” said Triplet. He put his hand on the laptop's touch pad and tapped it, opening a document that was full of dense paragraphs. “So when that law failed, Sagan finally lost it. He realized that the law could not stop or control superhumans, nor could it even out the inequalities he witnessed. I'm not entirely sure what happened after that, because Sagan's writings became really incoherent at this point, but he eventually decided to weaken the superhuman community from within.”