by Lucas Flint
If this is how superheroes act in Beams’ universe, then I’m glad superheroes aren’t a business in mine, Bolt thought. I’d hate to be a slave to some big mega-corporation that just wants to exploit my ‘brand’ for their own profit at the expense of my freedom.
“Don’t worry,” said Bolt, “I have no intention of telling your boss anything you’ve said. I’m more interested in finding out if you know of a way to dimension-hop.”
“Dimension-hop?” Rubberman repeated. “What’s that?”
“You know, like traveling between alternate universes and stuff,” said Bolt. He mimicked jumping with his right hand. “Simple stuff.”
Rubberman’s frown deepened. “You mean like in science fiction movies? I’m not sure that’s even possible. I mean, I’m more of a businessman than a scientist, but I think that any scientist who discovered something like that would have publicized it already.”
Bolt rubbed his forehead in exasperation. “Meaning you don’t know how to do it.”
“Yep,” said Rubberman, nodding. “Why do you want to know? You aren’t seriously going with your whole ‘superheroes from another universe’ shtick, are you? Because I don’t think that the judge who will see you and your friend in court is going to be particularly persuaded by that defense.”
“One, we actually are from another universe,” said Bolt, holding up a finger. “And two, we’re not going to court because you’re not going to arrest us. Simple as that.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” said Rubberman. “Once your friend here lets me go, I’ll make sure to bring you both to jail, as you deserve.”
Bolt sighed, while Shade said, “Can I kill him now, Bolt? Pretty please? He’s getting on my nerves and he’s just being a huge jerk.”
“Not yet,” said Bolt, waving at Shade to stand her ground. “I still have some questions for him.”
Shade pouted but said nothing as Bolt turned back to Rubberman and said, “Suppose I wanted to find dimension-hopping technology or a place experimenting with it. Where would I go to find such technology?”
“McCoy Robotics,” said Rubberman. “They’re a robotics company with a factory just outside of town to the north of Golden City. They primarily specialize in robotics, but I’ve heard rumors of them experimenting with other forms of technology as well.”
“You think that a robotics company might be experimenting with dimension-hopping tech?” said Bolt.
Rubberman shrugged. “Like I said, I’ve just heard rumors. I’ve only been to the factory a couple of times in connection to crimes I’ve investigated, so I don’t know for sure how many of those rumors are true. They could be—and probably are—all fake.”
Bolt scratched his chin. It seemed a little too convenient that they ended up near a company which might provide exactly the technology they needed to go back and stop the Dread God, but maybe they just got lucky. Of course, it was equally possible that this would all turn out to be a false lead and they would find nothing, but so far it was their only clue and Bolt was not going to ignore it just because it might turn out to be false.
“All right,” said Bolt. “Shade and I will go to that robotics factory outside of town. And you, Rubberman, will take us to it.”
CHAPTER TWO
Beams sat in the back of a large prison van, his wrists and ankles chained together. His head hurt, because the man who had arrested him—who called himself Malcolm Rayner, apparently a soldier in the United States army—had slammed the butt of his gun over the back of Beams’ head when Beams tried to escape him in Central Park earlier. Even with his helmet, the blow had hurt, which was one of the reasons Beams had put up so little resistance when Malcolm ordered him, Hypno, and a girl apparently named Lauren into the back of a heavily armored van.
That had been about half an hour ago. Though the van lacked windows, Beams could feel every vibration and bounce of the van under his seat as the vehicle made its way to who-knows-where. Beams tried to ask Malcolm where he was taking them, but Malcolm had refused to say. He just threatened to shoot Beams if he refused to comply with Malcolm’s orders, which was enough to make Beams shut up and go along with whatever Malcolm told him to do.
It wasn’t that Beams’ powers didn’t work. It was just that Beams was still so disoriented from being banished to another universe by the Dread God that he wasn’t quite ready to use his powers to mount an escape yet. Especially because Hypno and Lauren were both still unconscious. Beams didn’t know why they both had been knocked out almost immediately by the darts while he was still conscious. The only noticeable side effect the dart had on Beams was that he was slightly drowsier than normal but otherwise completely functional.
It had baffled Malcolm, too, who wondered why the ‘powerless darts,’ as he called them, didn’t knock out Beams. Beams couldn’t explain it, so Malcolm just assumed that Beams had developed some kind of immunity to the dart’s serum. In any case, it hadn’t stopped Malcolm from slapping on heavy chains on his wrists and ankles and forcing him into the back of the heavily armored van with an unfamiliar logo on its side. Though Beams hadn’t gotten a very good look at the logo before entering the van, he remembered that it looked kind of like the United States government’s bald eagle logo, except with two lines across it, kind of like the equal sign in math.
But odd logos were the least of Beams’ problems. His biggest problem, of course, was finding a way out of this universe so he could go back to Jinkopa. Or at least back to his universe, because he needed to warn Rubberman and the others about the Dread God’s coming. He had no doubt in his mind that the Dread God would be heading to his universe first because that was where the Dread God had originally been killed and was where his brain had spent the last several eons isolated from his followers.
He’s going to destroy my Earth, Beams thought, tugging ineffectually at the chains linking his wrists together. He’s going to kill every man, woman, and child there for revenge. And it’s all my fault.
In particular, Beams was worried about Rubberman. He wondered how the Dread God’s resurrection affected Rubberman’s powers. Destroying the Rubber Ball would have killed Rubberman, but would the Dread God’s resurrection do the same thing? Or was Rubberman still alive because the Rubber Ball was also technically still alive, even if it wasn’t independent of the Dread God anymore?
Lots of questions and no answers, Beams thought in frustration. What a mess.
A moaning sound on the floor made Beams look down. Both Hypno and the girl who Malcolm called Lauren were stirring. Hypno had drooled a little while he was unconscious, leaving a tiny dribble of dried saliva on his chin, while Lauren’s hair was still very messy and all over the place. Both looked equally drowsy and tired, especially Lauren, who didn’t even brush the blonde hair out of her eyes.
“What … what happened?” said Hypno, blinking several times and looking around in confusion. “Where are we? Last I remember was a sharp, stinging pain …”
“You guys got hit by something called ‘powerless’ darts,” said Beams. “Knocked you two right out. Now we’re being transported to … somewhere, I don’t know, a prison maybe, like a bunch of criminals or something.”
Lauren’s eyes widened. “Powerless darts? I thought so. Only powerless darts have enough kick in them to knock out a superhuman in one blow.”
“What are powerless darts?” Beams said.
Lauren looked at Beams as if he had just asked a really stupid question. “They’re specially-designed darts full of distilled powerless gas. When they hit a target, they not only knock out said target, but also render the target powerless if they’re superhuman.”
“I think this girl is telling the truth,” said Hypno with a yawn. “I feel as powerless as I do whenever I get hit with powerless gas from my universe. In other words, I don’t think I can use my hypnotic powers to get us out of this situation.”
Beams frowned. “But my eye beams still work. See?”
Beams’ eyes glowed and he fired a small
, thin beam of energy at the wall on the other side. It didn’t pierce the other side of the van, but it did leave a small, visible smoking hole where the laser hit it.
Lauren’s eyes grew even wider. “But you were hit by the powerless darts, too, weren’t you? How can your powers still work?”
“My powers aren’t genetic,” said Beams with a shrug. “That’s probably why. There must be something in the chemical makeup of the powerless darts’ poison that negates your genetic powers.”
If Lauren’s eyes got any wider, Beams was afraid that they would fall right out of their sockets. “Non-genetic superpowers? No way. Everyone knows that superpowers are genetic. They’re in your DNA. You get them from your parents.”
“I didn’t get my superpowers from anything except a serum my science teacher made,” said Beams, “which I probably shouldn’t have drunk, to be frank, but I’ve never been one to turn down a bet.”
Lauren looked at Hypno. “Is your friend here telling the truth? That his powers aren’t genetic?”
“How am I supposed to know?” said Hypno. “I barely know the guy. We don’t even work together.”
Lauren’s eyes darted to the G-Men patch on Hypno’s shoulder. “Are you two with the G-Men? I know the G-Men are supposed to be involved in all kinds of weird experiments, but—”
“I am, but he’s not,” said Hypno. “It’s complicated.”
“Very,” said Beams deadpan. “By the way, who are you and why was this Malcolm guy hunting you down like a rabbit?”
Lauren sat up. She brushed back her hair and Beams thought she looked very beautiful, even with the obvious fear on her face. “I guess it won’t hurt to tell you that. My name is Lauren Brooks. I’m a member of the Dissidents and I’m a superhuman. My powers are the ability to disintegrate anything with a touch.”
“Interesting,” said Beams. “Who are the ‘Dissidents,’ by the way?”
“Yes, please elaborate,” said Hypno, who was also sitting up now. “I’ve never heard of them.”
Lauren again looked at Hypno with an odd look. “You say you’re with the G-Men, but you don’t know what the Dissidents are? We’re always worried that you guys are going to infiltrate our groups and turn us over to the government.”
“It’s complicated,” said Hypno. “But you can trust that Beams and I will not turn you over to the government or anyone else. Not that we could even if we wanted, given how all three of us are stuck in the same boat here.”
“Okay,” said Lauren, though Beams sensed that she was a lot less eager to share her story with them than before. “Well, the Dissidents are a rebellion group that formed shortly after President Sagan dissolved Legislative and Judicial branches of the government and turned the United States into his own dictatorship.”
That took Beams by surprise, but Hypno seemed even more surprised than Beams because he leaned forward and said, “Did you say, President Sagan? As in, Barnabas Sagan, from Vermont?”
Lauren nodded. “Yeah. Didn’t you know? He was originally a fairly obscure Senator from Vermont before he won the 2016 presidential election in a landslide, beating his rival Adam Lucius Plutarch, although that was because Sagan hired an assassin to take out Plutarch without anyone knowing it was him. Still, Sagan won the presidency and was sworn into office in January the following year.”
“Interesting,” said Hypno. “Very interesting.”
Based on Hypno’s response, Beams guessed that the 2016 presidential election had ended quite differently in Hypno’s universe. Beams, on the other hand, didn’t get what was so significant about it. He barely paid attention to politics himself and was only aware of the guy who won the 2016 presidential election in his universe because Dad had stayed up all night to see the results and practically threw a party when the guy he voted for won. Beams also vaguely recalled there being something about riots in the streets and something to do with Russia, but he didn’t care one way or the other.
“So Sagan became President of the United States and a rebellion group was formed against him?” said Hypno.
Lauren shook her head. “Not immediately. At first, no one really understood how dangerous Sagan was. It wasn’t until near the end of his second term that he revealed his true colors when he declared himself President for Life and abolished the other two branches of the government.”
“And no one resisted?” said Hypno in confusion. “Not the G-Men or the NHA or even the INJ?”
“Sagan was subtle, at least at first,” said Lauren. She brushed some sweat off her forehead due to how hot it was in the back of the van. “He didn’t just infiltrate the government. He also had his followers, who called themselves Visionists, infiltrate all of the major superhero organizations in the country. They already had the Academy, so it was easy for the Visionists to infiltrate the NHA, INJ, and the G-Men. They killed, fired, or blackmailed senior members in those organizations and now every last one of them is filled with fanatical Sagan loyalists who would never even think of betraying Sagan for any reason.”
“What about Director Smith?” said Hypno. “I mean, Cadmus Smith? The Director of the G-Men?”
Lauren shifted uncomfortably on the floor. “He’s dead. He died about a week after Sagan took office. His death was blamed on the supervillain Tsunami because he was found drowned in his own bathtub, but he was actually murdered by a G-Man Visionist known as Mimic. We didn’t find that out until later, though, and most people still believe Cadmus was killed by a random supervillain, rather than being deliberately assassinated by Sagan in order to replace him with someone else.”
“Who is the current director, then?” said Hypno.
“Frances Martin,” said Lauren. “Or, as he is known in the superhero world, Mimic, the guy who killed Cadmus in the first place. He was appointed to the position of Director of the G-Men after Cadmus’ death. He then purged the Department of anyone who was insufficiently loyal to Sagan or who might have been loyal to Cadmus. I wasn’t there when it happened, but—”
“What about Shade?” Hypno interrupted. “Shouldn’t she have succeeded Cadmus as the Director of the G-Men?”
“Shade resigned the day after Cadmus’ death,” said Lauren. She gulped. “She was actually the one who told the Dissidents the truth, though she was on her own for a while there because she didn’t have any allies and was being closely watched by Sagan’s spies. She did join us eventually, which is how we found out what really happened to Cadmus.”
Hypno sighed. “I suppose it is reassuring to know that no matter what universe Mimic may be from, he is a cowardly traitor in every single one. Perhaps it’s one of those universal constants that scientists theorize alternate universes have.”
Lauren frowned. “Why are you talking about alternate universes? They’re just science fiction.”
Beams and Hypno shared a quick look. Beams shook his head slightly. He wasn’t entirely sure it would be wise to tell Lauren about where they were from just yet. It would be better to wait a while until they got their bearings and learned more about Lauren herself before they told her any potentially sensitive information.
“Never mind,” said Beams, shaking his head. “Anyway, just who these ‘Dissidents’ you keep mentioning?”
“The Dissidents Against the Sagan Administration, or DASA for short, is a resistance group against the Sagan administration,” said Lauren. “The Sagan administration’s FBI has declared the Dissidents terrorists, but we’re actually freedom fighters trying to restore our country to its original greatness. The group was founded shortly after Sagan’s election by its two founding members, Genius and Triplet, though it’s grown exponentially since then and has various cells all across the country.”
“Why was it founded?” said Hypno. “Did they already know that Sagan was going to be a dangerous enemy?”
Lauren nodded. “Yeah. Genius and Triplet had already discovered Sagan’s true nature prior to the election. They even tried to save Plutarch, but unfortunately, their plan failed and it res
ulted in the death of Genius’ son, Bolt, who was painted by Sagan’s friends in the media as a would-be assassin who was just barely stopped from killing Sagan at the last second.”
“Bolt is dead?” Beams repeated.
“Yeah,” said Lauren. “You sound like you knew him.”
“In a way,” said Beams, deciding that it would take too much time to explain everything to her. “But go on. What happened after Bolt’s death?”
“Both Genius and Triplet were branded terrorists by the government,” said Lauren, “so they went on the run together and founded the Dissidents, whose goal is to oppose and overthrow the Sagan administration. But it wasn’t until the last couple of years, when Sagan’s rule became really bad, that the Dissidents have started to grow.”
“How bad has Sagan’s rule been?” said Hypno.
“Extremely bad,” said Lauren. “It’s illegal to criticize Sagan, for one, or any members of his administration. You aren’t allowed to own guns and all superhumans have to have their powers registered with the government. All superhumans are considered reservists who can be called upon to ‘protect their country’ at any time, which usually means whenever Sagan needs soldiers to wipe out an enemy state he doesn’t like. Additionally, all young superhumans have to go through the Barnabas Sagan Academy for Talented Teenagers for the ‘greater good,’ though it’s really just a way to indoctrinate them into Sagan’s cult, where you are taught that superpowers are a social construct and have no genetic basis whatsoever.”
“Good grief,” said Hypno. “Sagan is a madman.”
“He thinks he’s a god,” said Lauren bitterly. “That’s why we oppose him. Why I oppose him.”
There was something personal behind Lauren’s words as if she opposed Sagan for more than just the reasons she listed above. Beams was about to ask her why when the van came to a screeching halt. Hypno and Lauren fell backward, while Beams lurched forward onto the floor, breaking his fall with his hands.