by Lucas Flint
“I know, but like I said, what we really need is a dimensional portal of some sort,” said Beams. “Or dimension-hopping tech. I don’t know if your universe has dimension-hopping tech yet, but—”
“Dimension-hopping tech?” Genius repeated. He frowned. “Now that you mention it, I could probably build some kind of interdimensional portal generator if necessary. I can already see the blueprints forming in my mind, though I won’t be able to build it right away.”
“You’ll be able to build a portal generator?” said Beams in surprise. “Have you ever built something like that before?”
“No, but it won’t be that difficult, I think,” said Genius, folding his arms in front of his chest. “My suit-up watch can already access a pocket dimension to store the user’s costume. I’ve always wanted to expand upon the basic tech, but have never had much of a chance due to my duties as one of the leaders of the Dissidents. But I could always build a generator for you and Hypno if you want.”
“That … that would be fantastic,” said Beams, rubbing his hands together eagerly. “When will you start?”
“As soon as Sagan is dead,” said Genius, “which you two will help us to make a reality.”
Beams stopped rubbing his hands. “What?”
“Think of it as an exchange,” said Genius. He gestured at himself. “In exchange for helping us assassinate Sagan, I will build you two a portal generator you can use to go back to wherever you’re from. How does that sound?”
Beams bit his lower lip. He really didn’t want to waste any more time in this universe than he already had, but at the same time, it wasn’t like there was a portal generator on hand that they could use right away. Besides, he knew he would feel guilty if he left this place without trying to help these people who had already rescued him and Hypno once, even though they didn’t have to. It was what Rubberman would have done in his position, after all.
So Beams nodded and said, “All right. We’ll help you assassinate Sagan however we can. But you have to build the portal generator for us in exchange.”
“No problem,” said Genius. “Now, listen closely, everyone, because this is the last time we’re going to go over the plan and I want to make sure everyone understands the role they will play in it because if we fail, we won’t get a do-over.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The purple gas was slowly but surely filling the cage. Bolt pressed as far back against the wall as he could, even sucking in his gut despite know how useless that was. His eyes darted this way and that as he tried to find an exit, but the cage was completely sealed off. He estimated that he had about a minute, maybe a minute and a half, before the purple gas completely filled the chamber and killed him.
His eyes darted over to Shade’s cage. Like him, she was up against the wall of her cage, which was also slowly filling up with the poison gas. Terror shone in her eyes. She looked over at Bolt with pleading eyes, as if to ask him if he had a plan, but he didn’t. He was just praying for a miracle at this point, but he wasn’t sure that they would get one.
He glanced over his shoulder. Sasha, Takeshi, and Rubberman still stood there. Sasha was smirking, Takeshi stood as still as a statue, and Rubberman looked as if he wished he didn’t have to do this. But Rubberman wouldn’t meet Bolt’s eyes, perhaps afraid that if he did, he might turn off the gas, which would get him into trouble with his boss.
What a coward, Bolt thought, hands balling into fists. How can you call yourself a superhero if you just do whatever you boss tells you to, regardless of its morality?
But Bolt had no time to think about that. He turned his attention back to the gas, which had filled up about a third of the cage now. He thought about holding his breath, but decided against it, because it wouldn’t make much of a difference in his survival.
Bolt’s eyes darted to the ceiling above. The ceiling wasn’t made of the same impenetrable glass as the rest of his cage. It appeared to be solid concrete, which Bolt knew he would be able to break if he tried. He might even be able to punch his way to the surface.
Or I might just cause a cave-in and kill us all, Bolt though. Besides, even if it worked, it would mean abandoning Shade. As much as she annoys me, I can’t abandon her like this.
It was times like this that Bolt wished he had brought his Dad’s old Teleportation Buckle with him. He used to wear it all the time, but ever since he became a full-time NHA member, he would leave it in his room because he rarely left Hero Island and found that flying around the Island worked just as well as teleporting. If he had his Dad’s Teleportation Buckle, then he would be able to teleport himself out of here quite easily.
Hindsight is twenty-twenty, I guess, Bolt thought. He sighed internally. Unfortunately.
Then, without warning, the lights on Level Three flickered briefly before going out entirely, plunging the entire floor into darkness.
“What?” said Sasha’s voice from the shadows. “What happened? Why did the lights go out? Rubberman, I demand answers!”
“I don’t know, Miss Munroe,” came Rubberman’s worried voice from the darkness. “I paid the power bill this month, so I don’t think the power company cut us off or anything.”
“Someone cut the power,” came an unfamiliar voice which Bolt assumed belonged to Takeshi. “But who—”
The sound of several thwacks interrupted Takeshi, followed by a couple of dull thuds as people fell to the ground, though Bolt was unable to see who had fallen.
“Sasha, Takeshi!” said Rubberman. “Are you okay? Can you hear me? Who’s there?”
Without warning, the lights turned back on. Bolt looked over his shoulder again and was surprised to see someone new standing in the room outside of his cage.
A teenage girl wearing a gray bodysuit and wielding a long stick stood between Sasha and Takeshi, who both lay on the ground with bumps on their head from where she had hit them. The girl’s suit covered up her completely, save for her blue eyes, which shone out from her mask. She wasn’t very muscular or big, but she looked like she was ready to fight Rubberman, who was the only one of the three still standing.
“What?” said Rubberman. “A girl? Who are you and what are you doing here? And how did you get into the Elastic Cave without me knowing?”
“I’m just here to save those two,” said the girl, nodding her head at Bolt and Shade. “Orders from my boss. As for how I got in, well, I’d love to tell you, but my dad always said you should never reveal your secrets to anyone, especially to a superhero.”
Rubberman shook his head. “It doesn’t matter who you are or how you got in. You should have opened the cages before you attacked Sasha and Takeshi, girl. But you didn’t, so now you will have to deal with me by yourself.”
The girl tilted her head to the side. “Are you so sure about that? Look at the control panel.”
Rubberman snapped his head toward the control panel, as did Bolt. The control panel showed a green, flashing symbol with the word ‘OFF’ written on it in bright yellow.
Realizing what was about to happen, Bolt looked back over at the vent from which the poison gas spewed. The vent had closed and, though the gas was still trapped in here with him, no more gas was emptying into his cage. The same for Shade’s cage.
A second later, a portion of the cage wall flipped open next to Bolt. He peeled himself off the wall and poked his head out of the cage, unable to believe that he was free. Yet he could extend his hand out into the other room with no problem at all. Over at Shade’s cage, Shade had pushed open the door to her cage and poked her head out as well.
“No!” Rubberman shouted. He looked at the girl. “I still don’t know who you are or how you got in here, but I’m going to make sure you don’t leave.”
Rubberman launched one of his hands at the girl, but Bolt activated his super speed and caught Rubberman’s extended arm. A look of surprise appeared over Rubberman’s face before Bolt whirled around and hurled Rubberman against the wall on the other side of the room. Rubberman smashed in
to the wall and fell down to the floor, where he lay as unconscious as Sasha and Takeshi.
Panting from the effort, Bolt looked at the girl and said, “Thanks for saving us.”
“No problem,” said the girl, resting her stick on her shoulder, “but we can talk later. We need to get out of here now before these three wake up again. My boss is waiting for us.”
“Your boss?” Bolt said. “Who is your boss?”
“I’ll tell you later,” said the girl, turning around. “For now, you can call me the Silent Shadow, if you need a name at all. Follow me.”
The Silent Shadow walked up to the elevator and the doors opened before she even pressed the control panel. She entered the elevator and turned around, gesturing for Bolt and Shade to enter with her. The two of them exchanged an uncertain look before going inside with her. The elevator doors closed silently when they entered and the elevator immediately began to ascend.
“Were you two hurt?” asked the Silent Shadow, looking from Bolt to Shade and back again. “You didn’t inhale any of that poison gas, did you?”
“No, we’re fine,” said Bolt, brushing off his suit. “How did you even know we were down there in the first place?”
“I saw Rubberman take you two down here,” the Silent Shadow replied. “When I told my boss, he told me to rescue you both and bring you back to him.”
“Why did your boss want you to save us?” said Bolt. “We don’t even know him.”
The Silent Shadow shrugged. “I don’t know why. I just sort of do whatever my boss tells me. Normally I try to avoid confronting Rubberman because he’s so strong and experienced, but I got lucky this time thanks to you.”
Bolt cocked his head to the side. “You normally try to avoid confronting Rubberman? You make it sound like you’re some kind of criminal.”
The Silent Shadow did not meet Bolt’s eyes. “I guess you could say I am, but I prefer to think of myself as a hired gun, like my dad before me. Sometimes, I’m hired to do illegal things. But I don’t like it,” she added hastily.
Bolt’s eyes narrowed. “I may not care much for Rubberman, but I’m not much of a fan of criminals, either.”
“What are you going to do to me?” said the Silent Shadow, meeting Bolt’s gaze. “Try to take me to the cops? You’re not much better than me, you know. In the eyes of the law, we’re all criminals here, regardless of what we call ourselves or what we’ve done.”
Bolt bit his lower lip. The Silent Shadow had a point. Still, he didn’t like the idea of working with criminals, even if that criminal saved his life. But he supposed he would just have to worry about it later, once they were safely out of the Elastic Cave and were wherever the Silent Shadow was taking them.
“Do we have to take the elevator?” said Shade, glancing at the slowly changing numbers which seemed to indicate the number of floors that this place had. “It’s boring and slow.”
“It’s how I got here,” said the Silent Shadow, “and since I don’t know any other way out of here, this is the way we’re—”
Abruptly, the elevator came to a stop. Bolt, Shade, and the Silent Shadow looked around suddenly and Bolt said, “Why did the elevator stop?”
A speaker in the upper right corner of the elevator suddenly crackled on and a voice on the other end said, “Hold it, criminals! This is Rubberman speaking. I’ve manually forced the elevator to stop and have called the police, who are already on their way to arrest all three of you. Stay right where you are and do not try to escape.”
“Dang it,” said Bolt, snapping his fingers. “I didn’t expect him to recover so quickly.”
“Guess he must be tougher than he looks,” said Shade. She shrugged. “Oh, well. That means we get to do things my way. Everyone, grab my hand. We’re going to shadow travel.”
“Shadow travel?” the Silent Shadow repeated. “What’s that?”
“Our ticket to freedom, that’s what,” said Shade. She held out hands. “Now, come on. We don’t have much time to lose.”
Bolt took Shade’s hand and, after a moment’s hesitation, the Silent Shadow took Shade’s other. Shade smiled at them both before she stepped into a shadow in the corner of the elevator and dragged the two of them through with her. The Silent Shadow actually yelped in surprise as everything around them became pitch black, but an instant later they appeared on top of a building somewhere in downtown Golden City. Though the night was still quite dark, the lights from the various buildings all around them made it easier to see by.
“Here we are,” said Shade, letting go of Bolt and the Silent Shadow. “Freedom, at long last!”
Letting go of Shade’s hand, Bolt looked around at the building upon which they stood. It was completely devoid of people, aside from the three of them, and the building was tall enough that it was unlikely anyone would see them from the streets below. “Where are we? I don’t remember this place.”
“It was a building I saw when we first got here,” said Shade. “I think it’s a bank, though I’m not sure. It was just the first building to come to mind when I needed to get us out of here. We can go somewhere else if we need to.”
Bolt nodded and looked at the Silent Shadow.”Thanks for saving us, Silent—Silent Shadow?”
The Silent Shadow’s blue eyes were wide and shocked. She looked as if she had just been electrocuted with a buzzer. “What … what happened?”
“Shadow travel,” Shade said promptly. “It’s a power of mine that allows us to travel great distances via shadow.”
The Silent Shadow blinked several more times. “You mean we literally traveled through shadow? Actual shadow?”
“Yep,” said Shade. “Why do you ask?”
“I …” the Silent Shadow seemed to be struggling to find the words to describe her thoughts. “I didn’t know that was possible.”
“It’s not possible for everyone,” said Shade. “Just me.”
The Silent Shadow stared at Shade. “Are you an empowered human or something? Because I’ve heard of those, though they’re kind of rare.”
“We’re superhumans,” said Bolt. He shook his head. “But it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we’re free and alive and it’s thanks in large part to your efforts. If you hadn’t saved us, we would both be dead.”
“No problem,” said the Silent Shadow. Though Bolt couldn’t see her face, he imagined she was smiling sheepishly anyway, as if she wasn’t used to getting so much praise. “I don’t like Sasha Munroe much anyway. The public thinks she’s an honest businesswoman who is trying to protect the city, but I’ve known for a long time, thanks to my boss, that she’s pretty much the exact opposite of that.”
“Your boss,” Bolt repeated. “You still haven’t told us who he is.”
The Silent Shadow folded her hands behind her back and looked down at her feet. “I suppose it’s safe to tell you now because Rubberman probably doesn’t know where we are or that we’ve even escaped the Elastic Cave yet. My boss is a man named Albert Monsoon. Have you heard about him?”
“No,” said Bolt, shaking his head. “Who is he?”
“He’s the CEO of McCoy Robotics,” said the Silent Shadow, looking up at Bolt again. “He’s the richest man in Golden City, though he usually doesn’t spend much time here. I generally do whatever work he asks of me, like stealing rare and valuable artifacts from around the world. He pays well.”
“So did your boss order you to save us because he’s such a good guy?” said Shade. “Color me skeptical.”
“Like I said, I don’t know for sure,” said the Silent Shadow. “All I know is that Mr. Monsoon wants to meet both of you at his mansion on the other side of town tonight.”
Bolt looked at Shade. “What do you think, Shade? Should we go with her?”
Shade shrugged. “I don’t know. I’d rather run, but I’m sure Rubberman will sic the police on us, which will make it that much harder for us to hide in the city.”
“You can stay at Mr. Monsoon’s mansion,” said the Silent Shadow
. “It has ten bedrooms and twelve bathrooms. I’m sure Mr. Monsoon will let you stay at least the night, maybe longer depending on what he wants with you. And trust me, he won’t hand you over to the police or anything like that. He doesn’t care much for the police or superheroes, to be honest.”
“Very well,” said Bolt. “You can take us to your boss’ mansion and we’ll hear what your boss has to offer us. But no guarantees we’ll work for him or anything, all right?”
“All right,” said the Silent Shadow. “Now, follow me. I know a shortcut to Mr. Monsoon’s mansion from here, so if we leave now, we should get there fast.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Beams had always wanted to visit New York City. Back in his universe, he had never done much traveling, having spent most of his life in Golden City. Sure, there was that one trip out to that small town in West Texas where he trained with Nightbolt, but Beams hardly considered that ‘travel,’ even if Texas was one of the biggest states in the Union.
He’d always wanted to visit New York City because it was the central hub of superheroes in his universe. It was headquarters of the Heroes United hiring agency, for one, and had the most superheroes of any city in North America. He especially wanted to see it after his older brother James had gone there on a school field trip once when he was in high school and raved about how great it was.
But now, Beams wasn’t so sure that he wanted to visit New York City anymore. He stood with the throngs of people—more people than he had ever seen gathered in one spot in his life—in Times Square, doing his best to avoid getting walked into or squashed between the seemingly endless amount of people who had gathered to see the unveiling of President Sagan’s new statue. The streets were packed with shouting people and honking cars, making it hard for Beams to focus on any one thing. The air had an odd smell of human sweat and gas from the car exhausts, which was a sharp contrast to the much cleaner air of Golden City. It didn’t help that it was hot and sunny today, too, which was probably why everyone was sweating so much.