by Lucas Flint
“No,” said Fisticuffs. He stepped back, his eyes darting back and forth rapidly. “I have spent a long time looking for this place. I am not going to leave until I find what I am looking for.”
“What?” I said. “We’ve got less than a minute before it blows!”
“I don’t care,” said Fisticuffs. He pointed at Joey’s cradle. “Take Joey and get out of here. I have something else to do.”
Fisticuffs suddenly turned around and ran toward an open alley between two large shipping crates. I yelled at him to come back, but he ignored me as he disappeared from my sight.
I considered chasing after him, but even if I used my super speed, I might waste precious time I could use getting Joey and myself out of here. As much as I hated to say it, Fisticuffs could take care of himself. It wasn’t my responsibility to save him.
Grabbing the handle of Joey’s cradle as firmly as possible, I twisted the Teleportation Buckle. The last thing I saw, before Joey and I teleported away back to the Braindome, was a timer counting down to zero appearing on the remains of the smashed screen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Three days later …
With a heave of my muscles, I ripped open the door to Vault B and tossed it aside. It fell with a loud thunk a few feet away, the noise of it falling sending birds in trees flying away. I barely paid attention to the birds, however. My attention was on the entrance to Vault B, which now stood open like the gaping mouth of a wolf.
“This is it?” said Doyle. He stood behind me, along with three other Braindome workers, all of whom were armed with guns and wearing body armor and masks to help their breathing. “Vault B?”
I looked over my shoulder and nodded. “Yes. I’m not sure how much of it still remains after the self-destruct sequence went off, however, so I’m going in first. You guys can back me up.”
“Is there anyone still down there?” said another man, a guy called Bill, who stood next to Doyle and was eying the entrance to Vault B with uncertainty. “Reminds me of a tomb.”
He wasn’t wrong. The entrance to Vault B looked so dark that I could just imagine a zombie or vampire shambling out to attack us if this was a horror novel of some sort. I could also smell smoke, though from what I could tell, most of the smoke had already dissipated over the last couple of days.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But there were two people down there—the Neo-Killer and Fisticuffs—and we need to confirm if they’re alive or not.”
“Seems like a waste of time,” said Doyle. “Even without going in, I can tell that no one could have survived an explosion like that. Even if either of them did, they probably died sometime between the explosion and the last few days. There aren’t any secret back entrances or exits that someone could use to escape Vault B, right?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. I tapped my earcom. “Val, did Vault B have any emergency exits you are aware of?”
“No,” said Valerie’s voice in my ears. “As far as I am aware, this is the only entrance to Vault B. Remember, Genius didn’t want anyone to get into Vault B, nor did he expect anyone to be down there in the event of the self-destruct sequence activating. Logically, there is no reason why Vault B would have any secret exits or entrances to allow people to escape.”
“So they’re probably dead and we’re probably wasting our time,” said Doyle. He sighed and looked up at the trees above us, the sun’s rays peeking through the branches and leaves. “And upstate New York is so beautiful this time of year, too, far too beautiful to spend traveling underground looking for the dead.”
“It shouldn’t take us long,” I said. “I doubt we’ll need to spend more than a couple of hours down there, tops. We just need to make sure that the Neo-Killer and Fisticuffs are dead and retrieve their bodies, if possible.”
“Right,” said Doyle. He gestured at the entrance. “Ladies first.”
I rolled my eyes at his joke but entered nonetheless. We had decided ahead of time that I should lead the way. We had no idea what kind of condition Vault B was in after the explosion, so I, with my super strength, was considered the best person to go in first and clear the way. The only piece of equipment I had been given was a gas mask to help me breathe the air that was probably contaminated down there. It would also help me avoid accidentally inhaling any powerless gas that might be trapped there. Vault B didn’t have very good ventilation from what I understood, so the air was likely toxic due to a combination of the smoke from the explosion and the powerless gas mingling together.
As I entered the entrance hall of Vault B, I channeled red electricity through my right hand, giving me enough light by which to see. I slowly led the way forward, taking care not to walk too fast in case the tunnel was unstable. I heard Doyle and the other Braindome recovery workers following closely behind me, not saying a word as we descended deeper into the Vault.
I was surprised at how well the staircase had held up. Although parts of the ceiling had caved in and a few steps were twisted or destroyed outright, it was still possible to walk down it if you were careful where you stepped. Presumably, the staircase must have avoided taking the brunt of the blast, which would explain why it was in such good condition. Even so, I didn’t rush forward heedlessly, partly due to caution, partly due to my fear that the Neo-Killer had somehow survived the explosion and was just waiting in the shadows below to get me when I least expected it. It was an obviously silly thought because there was no way that the Neo-Killer, a normal human, could have survived an explosion that powerful, but I worried about it nonetheless.
As we walked, taking each step one at a time, pausing occasionally to listen to the sounds below, my mind wandered a bit and I found myself reflecting on the events of the last three days. It was amazing how fast time went when you kept busy. And it seemed to be getting faster and faster all the time. Dad used to complain to me about how time seemed to fly, but I never truly understood what he meant by that until recently.
After Joey and I teleported back to the Braindome, Brains had taken Joey directly to the hospital to have the doctors check on him and make sure he was okay. Miraculously, Joey had no major injuries or health problems that they could find, although he did seem slightly sleep-deprived. It was miraculously because I would have thought the Neo-Killer would have roughed up Joey a bit before he killed him. Either Joey was tougher than he looked or the Neo-Killer was slightly—just slightly—less sadistic than I thought.
After we made sure that Joey was okay, I got Brains’ permission to head back down into the remains of Vault B to recover the bodies of the Neo-Killer and Fisticuffs. We couldn’t head out right away, though, because I first needed to tell Brains everything that happened in Vault B, as well as give a report to the Leadership Council via Skype about what happened. That took a lot longer than expected, especially since the Leadership Council asked me a lot of questions about the Neo-Killer. I also needed to take some time to rest and recover from my fight with the Neo-Killer.
I asked the Leadership Council if they knew of any superhero named Fisticuffs. They all seemed confused and told me no, even after they ran a search of the NHA’s membership database. I wasn’t surprised to hear that, however. As I thought about Fisticuffs and his powers over the last few days, I had already come up with my own theory for his identity. Part of the reason I insisted on leading the mission to recover the bodies was to confirm—or falsify—this theory. I hadn’t shared my theory with anyone yet, not even with Valerie, because I wasn’t entirely confident about it yet, but I would soon know one way or another.
We reached the bottom of the stairs a few minutes later. The door to the main area of the Vault had been blown off its hinges, while the spray nozzle which had sprayed me with powerless gas when I first entered was missing. I didn’t see any powerless gas, but I didn’t dare remove my mask, just in case there was even a little bit of powerless gas lingering in the air. Besides, the smoke—which had grown thicker the deeper down we went—was more than enough reason to keep w
earing my mask.
Thinking of the powerless gas reminded me of Blizzard and Vanish. Blizzard had been transported back to Hero Island the day after the explosion, where she was currently being treated by the NHA’s doctors. The Leadership Council assured me that Blizzard would be healed, but for some reason, I didn’t believe them. Maybe it was just how sick she looked like she was dying. Vanish was still at the Braindome receiving medical attention, but unlike Blizzard, she had regained consciousness already and had been relieved to hear that I saved Joey.
Shaking my head, I stepped into the dark Vault and looked around. The chamber was pitch-black, barely illuminated by the lights from my hand and the lights shining off the helmets of the Braindome workers.
“Dang, it’s dark in here,” said Doyle. “Can’t see a thing.”
“Power must be out,” said Bill. “This is going to be fun.”
I tapped my earcom. “Val, can you turn the power back on in here so we can have a little light?”
“Yes, I can,” said Valerie. “Vault B has a backup generator. I’ll get it online.”
“You mean it wasn’t destroyed in the explosion?” I said in amazement.
“It’s in a separate room from the rest of the Vault,” Valerie explained. “I am not sure why Genius installed it, given how he never intended to use it. Perhaps he thought it might be necessary at some point in the future.”
“Well, it’s convenient for us,” I said. “Turn it on.”
“Will do.”
A second later, a handful of lights on the walls flickered on. It wasn’t enough to dispel the darkness entirely, but combined with the lights from our own gear, we could at least see our surroundings.
The Vault, based on what little we could see, was an absolute mess. Nearly all of the boxes and crates had been smashed or blown apart, their contents melted or destroyed beyond recognition. A handful of metal containers had mostly survived the explosion, but even they were slightly smoking still and had big holes in them. Much of the ceiling had caved in entirely, with one half of it covering the entire eastern half of the Vault. The walls were busted in, missing metal panels, with electricity from the free wires sparking every now and then. The floor was uneven and dotted with holes, while the big screen upon which Freya used to show her face was completely destroyed.
“Whoa,” said Doyle, looking around in amazement. “I didn’t think there would be anything left. The explosion was supposed to be a big one, right?”
“Right,” I said, “but don’t get too amazed. Most of the Vault’s equipment and inventory is useless, so if you were thinking of taking any of Dad’s old tech for yourself, you’re out of luck.”
“Hey, I don’t believe in robbing the dead,” said Doyle, shaking his head. “I know Genius wasn’t buried here, but it’s still the same thing, wouldn’t you say?”
“When you put it that way, it makes what the Neo-Killer did a lot worse,” I said. “Now, do you see any bodies anywhere?”
The Braindome workers looked around briefly, but then Doyle said, “No. Of course, they could be buried under the debris or possibly even outright vaporized. You said you punched the Neo-Killer into that screen, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t see his body up there. I’ll go and check just to be sure.”
I flew up into the air toward the screen. Stopping in midair, I increased the electricity I channeled through my hand until it was bright enough for me to see inside.
Nothing. I didn’t see the charred remains of the Neo-Killer, as I had hoped. I did see a stain that might have been blood, but I saw no sign of the Neo-Killer, much less where his body might have gone. It was possible his body might have been completely destroyed by the explosion, but somehow I doubted that.
I looked over my shoulder and shouted, “The Neo-Killer’s body is gone! At least, it’s not up here. Everyone should split up and search the whole Vault. His body might have been displaced by the explosion.”
I heard several affirmative grunts and calls from the rest of the team and soon saw four lights making their way through the dimly lit remains of the Vault, each one moving carefully to avoid running into any dangerous traps. As for myself, I turned around in midair and tapped my earcom again.
“Val, can you tell me where the cloning technology that Dad made is?” I said. “You said it was somewhere in the Vault, right?”
“Correct,” said Valerie. “It should be on the west side of the room in a hidden door separate from the rest of the Vault. Do you think the Neo-Killer may have somehow hidden in there?”
I shook my head. “No, but I think someone else may have gotten access to it. I just have a theory about Fisticuffs, a theory I can’t confirm unless I see that room. Shouldn’t take me more than a couple of minutes.”
I zoomed over to the west side of the Vault and landed on the uneven floor. As soon as I landed, I saw a metal door hanging open right in front of me. It looked like someone had forced the door open, but I didn’t jump to any conclusions just yet. I pulled open the door and entered the dark room, but as soon as I entered, the lights flickered on, which I assumed was Valerie reconnecting the generator to this room.
The lights revealed a much smaller room than the rest of the Vault, about the same size as the Braindome’s conference room. Yet it was strangely empty, with nothing except a large, glass tube and a small computer monitor and keyboard set next to it. It was also in surprisingly good shape as if it had somehow avoided the worst of the explosion. Only the floor was partially blackened, and even then, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the floor of the rest of the Vault.
“This is the room, I believe, where Genius, Mecha Knight, and Benefactor performed their cloning during Project Revival,” said Valerie. “As you can see, there isn’t much here.”
I nodded and walked up to the computer monitor. Tapping the keyboard, I was briefly surprised to see the monitor flash on like it had been in sleep mode, which meant it must have been used recently.
“That computer was used to monitor the progress of a clone’s growth,” said Valerie. “Why are you interested in it? All of its memory has been wiped, probably by Genius.”
“I know,” I said, “but …”
Not exactly sure what to do, I tapped a couple of random keys and then a message popped up on the screen:
WELCOME BACK. FILES LAST ACCESSED: THREE DAYS AGO BY USER JAKE JOHNSON.
“What?” said Valerie in surprise. “Jake Johnson wasn’t in the Vault three days ago.”
“Yes, he was,” I said, not taking my eyes off the screen. “He was there, all right, and I saw him.”
“If I recall correctly, Bolt, the only people inside Vault B three days ago were you, the Neo-Killer, Joey, Freya, and Fisticuffs,” said Valerie. “I do not recall you mentioning Jake Johnson.”
“You just mentioned him,” I said. “Twice.”
“I don’t understand—”
“Jake Johnson is Fisticuffs,” I said. “Fisticuffs is the missing Jake Johnson clone we’ve been looking for. He’s still alive. He saved my life. And we don’t know where he is or what he wants.”
-
Read on for more titles by Lucas Flint and a preview chapter of The Superhero’s Glitch, the next book in the series!
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The Superhero's Glitch
Chapter One
You know, I really loved my dad—the legendary late superhero Genius—and to this day I have nothing but respect for his legacy and accomplishments, but there are some days where I wish he hadn’t been a hyper-intelligent inventor who could build almost anything he could imagine. True, I had benefited a lot from his inventions, such as my suit-up watch and earcoms (and, of course, I can’t forget about my Teleportation Buckle, which was useful f
or traveling long distances quickly), but sometimes his inventions could be … erratic.
For example, while I understood why Dad set up security systems in his old Vaults to make sure no one stole any of the cool inventions within, I couldn’t help but wonder if he went a bit overkill with the murder robot that wielded an ax capable of cutting through wood as easily as butter. Or the little rat-shaped drones that clawed and bit at your feet and then exploded if you tried to grab them. Oh, and I wasn’t a big fan of the electrified steel net that fell from the ceiling, either, and attempted to squeeze me to death.
It didn’t help that all three of those things happened at once. Well, I should say were happening, because I was still in the process of trying not to get killed by these things. It was times like this that I wondered if Dad actually was a superhero or if he had actually been a mad scientist in disguise because I could easily imagine a mad scientist making these kinds of machines to kill people who he didn’t want sneaking into his laboratory.
I lay in the entry hall of Vault F, which was located somewhere in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. Because it was October, there wasn’t much snow on the mountains yet, though Valerie, my AI assistant, had informed me that the local weather station predicted a huge snowstorm about to hit the mountains tomorrow. Even if the storm had hit today, however, it wouldn’t have mattered, because I was going to spend that time inside Vault F.
Before Dad died, he had created a series of underground Vaults scattered all across the country. Each Vault contained Dad’s various inventions and prototypes and they were never supposed to be opened. Heck, their entire existence was supposed to be a secret. Recent events, however, had led Valerie and me to start searching them out and checking out each one to see what they hid inside them.
But if I had known how dangerous the security systems were ahead of time, I probably would have stayed home.
When I first opened the door to Vault F, I hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary, nor had Valerie reported sensing anything, either. The most interesting thing about this particular Vault, according to Valerie, was that it was the first and oldest Vault, which meant that some of Dad’s earliest technology and inventions were likely in here. We assumed, therefore, that Vault F’s security systems were more primitive than the security systems of some of the later Vaults, which meant it would be easier to get inside.