The Superhero's Return

by Lucas Flint

  “But it’s true,” I said. “He doesn’t even have any powers and probably won’t until he hits puberty at the earliest.”

  “Which is precisely why I kidnapped the little brat,” said the Neo-Killer. “You don’t know it yet, but humans and supers are at war. In war, there are no rules, except for the rules the strong can impose on the weak. In war, it is perfectly acceptable to kill your enemy’s children so they don’t grow up to kill you or your children later down the line.”

  “Are you saying you have children of your own?” I said in disbelief. “I feel pretty sorry for them, because if you’re their dad, then they’re probably messed up for life.”

  “They’re not messed up for life because they’re dead,” the Neo-Killer snarled. “And it’s all your fault.”

  Before I could react, the Neo-Killer fired several bullets at me. I tried to dodge them, but the powerless gas left me weaker and slower than normal, so I got hit a few times in the chest. Luckily, my costume was bulletproof, so the bullets didn’t enter my body, but that didn’t stop them from making me feel like someone had just rammed a truck into my chest.

  Staggering backward, I suddenly heard a baby crying and looked over at the table where Joey was. The gunshots must have awakened Joey because he was now crying his eyes out. His crying echoed in the enclosed space of Vault B, making him sound much louder than he really was.

  “Don’t get distracted, kid,” said the Neo-Killer, who now sounded much closer than before. “Otherwise, you might just get killed.”

  I looked before me to see the Neo-Killer in front of me. He brought his knife down on my face, but I pulled my pole up at the last second and caught his blade. Yet the Neo-Killer was strong and he managed to drive me to my knees through sheer brute strength alone, the weight of his body bearing down on me.

  “What’s this?” said the Neo-Killer. “A pole? What are you going to do, poke me with it? Should have brought a gun, kid. At least then you could have stood a chance. Now, however, I’m convinced you have a death wish.”

  I gritted my teeth. I felt weak under the influence of the powerless gas, but there was no way I was going to let this jerk kill me. It was time to fight back.

  With a roar, I shoved the Neo-Killer’s knife upward. It must have surprised him, because the Neo-Killer’s knife went flipping out of his hands, landing somewhere off to the side, but I didn’t care about that. I just slammed the pole into his mask, sending the Neo-Killer staggering backward from the blow, but I wasn’t going to give him a chance to recover.

  I slammed my pole against him again and again, striking him in the chest, stomach, arms, and legs. Joey’s cries were punctuated by the banging sounds my pole made whenever it slammed into the Neo-Killer’s armor and body, but I was barely aware of that. I had tunnel vision now and my focus was entirely on beating the hell out of the Neo-Killer, not giving him even one moment to react.

  Finally, I slammed it against his knees and the Neo-Killer fell onto the floor with a thud. I stepped onto his chest and slammed my pole against the side of his face so hard that his mask actually became skewed. The Neo-Killer then stopped moving and lay very still. He was still breathing, but he didn’t seem to be conscious anymore, that much I could tell.

  Panting and sweating, I stepped off of the Neo-Killer and staggered away from him. I had forgotten just how tiring fighting could be when you didn’t have powers. Also, I was still shocked at how easily I had beaten the Neo-Killer. Guess all of that powerless training paid off after all.

  Shaking my head, I looked down at the Neo-Killer. Now that he was unconscious, I thought he looked rather pathetic, even in all of his armor. His mask was dented where I had hit it, though it still covered his face completely. My gaze lingered on his mask. Now that the Neo-Killer was unconscious, I could remove his mask and find out who he really was. I would be able to find out if he was indeed the Crimson Fist clone Dad had created so many years ago.

  Before I could do that, however, I realized that Joey was still crying. Forgetting about the Neo-Killer for now, I rushed over to the desk and looked in the cradle. Joey was crying his eyes out, loud screams bellowing from his tiny mouth like a siren. A quick one over showed me that Joey wasn’t even harmed. That seemed odd, given what the Neo-Killer had said about treating enemy children. Perhaps he had not seen any point in harming Joey before he killed me.

  Regardless, I smiled at the crying baby and said, “Joey! It’s me, Uncle Kev. You don’t need to cry now. Everything is going to be okay. I’ll take you back to Mommy and Daddy, where you will be safe and sound again.”

  At the sound of my voice, Joey suddenly stopped crying. He looked up at me with big, curious eyes. A small smile appeared on his tiny lips as his eyes focused on me, which told me that he recognized me enough to calm down.

  I sighed in relief. I didn’t relish the idea of having to make Joey calm down while also getting him out of here. I wasn’t good with children or babies, so the fact that Joey had calmed down on his own was a good sign.

  “All right, Joey,” I said, still speaking in a soft, friendly voice. “Uncle Kev here is going to take you back to Mommy and Daddy now. It might be a while because Mommy and Daddy are a little far away right now, but—”

  A thick metal claw suddenly clamped around my body, making me cry out in shock and pain as it squeezed tightly. Joey immediately began crying again, but then I was pulled up into the air and found myself staring face to face with the massive screen which overlooked the entire Vault. I was being suspended in midair by a huge metal claw that hung from the ceiling like a crane, high enough that I would die if I was dropped.

  Then the screen suddenly turned on, bathing me in a soft blue light, and a simple digital face made of pixels appeared on the screen, a face I had not seen in a few days.

  “Freya?” I said in disbelief. I looked up at the claw. “Are you responsible for this?”

  Freya’s pixel face smirked. “I am. And I am also going to be responsible for your death, son of Genius, a death you deserve for the crimes which your father committed against me.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Before I could ask what Freya meant, the claw jerked away from her face and began descending. Soon, I was standing on the concrete floor of Vault B again, only this time I was put on the other side of the circle, well away from Joey, who was still crying his tiny lungs out. I struggled to break free of the claw, but with my powers negated, all I managed to do was make my arms hurt.

  Over on the floor a few dozen yards away from me, the Neo-Killer stirred. He sat up and rubbed the side of his head, feeling the dent my pole had made in his mask.

  “Dang it,” said the Neo-Killer. “That hurt. Thought I was a real goner for a second there.”

  “You would have been, Dave, if you hadn’t been wearing that ridiculous mask of yours,” said Freya suddenly. “But you shouldn’t have lost against the son of Genius in the first place. You lied to me.”

  The Neo-Killer looked up at the digital face on the screen. “Would you just shut up already? Stop being such a nag. The kid just got lucky, that’s all.”

  “What?” I said. I looked from the Neo-Killer to Freya and back again in bewilderment. “You two know each other?”

  The Neo-Killer slowly rose to his feet. He retrieved his dropped knife and, after checking it over to make sure it was in good condition, sheathed in the empty sheath on his belt. “We don’t just know each other, kid. We’ve been working together for three months.”

  “With the common goal of killing you,” said Freya, her voice vicious and loud, drowning out Joey’s crying. “It has taken a long time to get to this point, but we have nearly completed it. Soon, we will both have our revenge for the crimes your family has committed against us.”

  I blinked. “Freya, if you’ve been working with the Neo-Killer to kill me for three months, why didn’t you kill me the last time I was here? And why did you act like you didn’t know who I was?”

  “But I did try to ki
ll you, though admittedly I had to stop once that witch Valerie stepped in,” said Freya with a snarl. “As for why I didn’t recognize you, that was to make sure you didn’t suspect my alliance with the one you call the Neo-Killer. The time wasn’t right to reveal our relationship just yet, so I had to play dumb for a while until it was time to act.”

  The Neo-Killer chuckled. “Playing dumb? You had me fooled, you stupid algorithm. You’re glitchier than my old smartphone after I dropped it in the pool.”

  “Shut up, Dave,” Freya snapped. “Try to act a little grateful, given how I am the one who gave you your equipment in the first place.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Freya and the Neo-Killer were literally bickering like an old married couple. And Joey’s crying, which seemed to have only increased in volume, completed the bizarre ‘family’ scene before me. I wondered if I was suffering from some kind of hallucination caused by the powerless gas I inhaled earlier. Powerless gas didn’t create illusions, but it was the only way I could explain this weird scene.

  “Aside from that, what else have you done?” said the Neo-Killer. “I’ve killed over fifteen supers since then, while you just sat in your dumb Vault here and complained about everything. You may be an AI, but you act like a real woman so much that I sometimes forget you aren’t one.”

  “What I gave you I could just as easily take away,” said Freya. “Do you see Bolt? I have another claw just like that one I could use to hold you down, too. And I’ll use it if you keep insulting me.”

  “Oh, no,” said the Neo-Killer sarcastically. “Not the claw. Anything but the freaking claw. I am so scared right now. How did you know that I have a deep-seated phobia of crane games caused by years of trauma I got from playing in the arcade? You’ll kill me for sure.”

  I wasn’t sure whether to say anything or just keep my mouth shut and not draw attention to myself. Perhaps if I was lucky, Freya and the Neo-Killer would kill each other, allowing Joey and I to escape unharmed.

  Unfortunately, luck was not on my side today, because Freya said, “Enough bickering! We have finally captured Bolt. After we kill him, we can resume our bickering.”

  “Fair enough,” said the Neo-Killer, folding his arms in front of his chest. “I hate Bolt more than you anyway, though that isn’t saying much, seeing how I barely tolerate you.”

  Freya made a disgruntled snorting sound before her digital face looked at me. “How do you feel now, son of Genius? Terror? Fear for your life?”

  “Just confused, honestly,” I said. “Seeing you two arguing with each other is kind of surreal.”

  “No doubt,” said Freya triumphantly. “We have bamboozled you with our tricks. You will never be able to escape our grasp.”

  “No, I’m not really bamboozled,” I said. “I just don’t understand how you two even met each other. Is there like some kind of online dating site for lonely psychopaths and murderous AIs to meet? Because you two seem perfect for each other.”

  “I don’t date machines,” said the Neo-Killer shortly. “I like actual humans better. You can’t sleep with AIs.”

  “Enough of this,” said Freya. “We have you right where we want you, son of Genius, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  I had to admit she had a point, but I also wasn’t going to say that out loud. I needed to distract both of them long enough for my powers to return and I could free myself. That meant I would need to do a lot of talking.

  “So, how did you two meet each other?” I said, moving my arms slightly to make sure they didn’t fall asleep. “You don’t seem to like each other that much.”

  “It doesn’t matter if we like each other,” said Freya. “What matters is that we were able to work together to finally get you right where we want you.”

  “Agreed,” said the Neo-Killer. He pulled his gun out of its holster, checked the chambers, and looked up at me again. “And now, we’re going to kill you, kill you for the crimes your family has committed against both of us.”

  I scowled. “What crimes? My family hasn’t done a darn thing to either of you. You must be mistaking me for someone else.”

  “Hardly,” said the Neo-Killer. “There’s no way we would mistake you for anyone else.”

  “Likewise, there’s only one Genius,” said Freya, “or I should say, there was one Genius, but he is no longer with us. Still, killing you will satisfy my craving for revenge just as if I killed Genius.”

  “Okay, Freya, I know why you want to kill me because you’re still angry at my dad,” I said. I looked at the Neo-Killer. “But why do you want to kill me? Did Dad do something to you, too?”

  The Neo-Killer shook his head. “No. I never met Genius back when he was alive. I knew about him, of course, but only in the same sense that I know who the President of the United States is or the star actor of the latest blockbuster. Even when I heard about his death, it didn’t affect me that much. It’s you I have a problem with, kid because you ruined my life and the lives of countless others.”

  With that, the Neo-Killer ripped his mask off his face and tossed it to the side. Now I could see his face … and I wished I couldn’t, because that face would live in my nightmares forever.

  He might have once been a handsome guy, maybe even as handsome as a movie star, but now his face looked like mud. His skin was burned or blotched in several areas, while his hair was little more than thin, messy wisps of brown that he didn’t even try to comb over. One of his eyes was partially melted shut, while the other seemed bigger as if it had been pumped with air. His mouth was lopsided and he seemed to be missing a few teeth, though it was hard to tell because he kept his mouth closed.

  “Oh my god,” I said. “What happened to your face?”

  The Neo-Killer sneered at me, which made him look even uglier than before. “What happened to my face is nothing compared to the lives lost thanks to your reckless actions.”

  “I still don’t get it,” I said. “I didn’t kill anyone you know. I’ve never taken the life of an innocent person before. Like I said, you got the wrong guy.”

  The Neo-Killer, however, shook his head. “Wrong. You didn’t kill them yourself, but your actions did. What you supers don’t understand—what you refuse to understand—is that actions have consequences, and often, you idiots are somehow always able to push them onto other people.”

  “Are you saying my actions resulted in the deaths of some innocent people?” I said. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Are you sure about that?” said the Neo-Killer. His voice shook. “Allow me to remind you: The second Pokacu invasion. The complete and utter destruction of San Francisco.”

  My mouth gaped. “Are you telling me that you were one of the people living in San Francisco during the second Pokacu invasion?”

  The Neo-Killer shook his head again. “Wrong. I didn’t live there. I lived in a nearby town, though. We didn’t take the brunt of the blast that leveled the city, but what a lot of people don’t know is that the blast created massive shock waves that destroyed or heavily damaged a lot of the smaller towns in the area. Everyone always mentions San Francisco’s destruction, but no one mentions any of the smaller towns and the casualties they sustained.”

  I gulped. “I’m sorry to hear that. I had no idea—”

  “You supers never do,” the Neo-Killer said sharply. “Anyway, my family was in San Francisco visiting my mother’s family when the attack happened. I myself was staying in a hospital in our hometown, where I was recovering from an accident at work. But I saw the invasion happen on the TV in my hospital room, just like everyone else, and I saw the blast that destroyed San Francisco and killed my family.”

  I said nothing to that because the Neo-Killer was obviously not very interested in listening to anything I said. Besides, the more he ranted, the more time my powers had to return. If he stopped speaking, then I would say something, but not before then.

  “The shockwave from the explosion nearly leveled the
hospital I was in,” the Neo-Killer continued. Tears began to form in his eyes. “The roof caved in on me and for three days I lay under the debris until members of the California National Guard pulled me out of the wreckage. Even then, they thought I was dead until they hooked me up to some machines and found a pulse. I couldn’t walk or talk, though, and I was in constant pain.”

  The Neo-Killer suddenly looked down at the floor, like he was trying not to cry. “I didn’t know … for the longest time, I didn’t know what happened to my family. But then I got a phone call from the government and they told me that my family had perished in the attack. They couldn’t find the bodies, but they did a handful of their possessions, including my wife’s purse, which was how they knew they were dead.”

  The Neo-Killer looked up at me again, but he was not crying. Instead, he wore an expression of pure hatred on his deformed features. “Did you hear that? My family was vaporized. At the funeral, we didn’t even have their ashes. Just four empty coffins, which were buried as though they contained bodies.”

  I noticed that the Neo-Killer’s hands were shaking now, including the hand holding his gun. He seemed to be overcome with emotion, which I could use to my advantage, but frankly, I was too horrified by what he told me to act.

  “For a long time after that, I was lost,” the Neo-Killer continued. “My family was dead, many of my friends were also killed or heavily wounded during the attack … I had no one and nothing. I couldn’t even go back to work, because my workplace was destroyed and the owner closed shop. I relied on welfare to get by, but even that I took only halfheartedly. For a long time there, I even considered ending my own life. What was the point of living with such pain?”

  The Neo-Killer’s gun hand suddenly stopped shaking. “It was only after a failed suicide attempt on my part that I saw the light. I realized that my family would not want me to take my own life in despair, no matter how much I hurt. They would want me to avenge them, to avenge their deaths. Suddenly, I had new purpose in life: To kill those who had taken the lives of my family.”