by Lucas Flint
“Something else like this?” said Seth, who appeared behind me suddenly. He held up his hand and a large golden hammer appeared in his hands, which he swung at me like a blacksmith working on an anvil.
Taken by surprise, the hammer struck me in the back and sent me flying. I landed on my feet, however, and looked over at Seth, who held the hammer in his hands like a baseball bat.
“I didn’t know you were a superhuman, Seth,” I said. “Can you teleport or something?”
Seth shook his head. “Not superhuman. The Abaddon Armor—another one of Longworth’s inventions—does, however, allow me to go toe-to-toe with even the strongest superhumans. Short-range teleportation, like the stunt you pulled off earlier, is but one of the many tricks this suit allows me to pull off.”
I opened my mouth to tell him I wasn’t impressed by his toys when I felt two hands grab my ankles and pull. I sank into the floor all of a sudden until I was halfway stuck in it up to my waist. I struggled to free myself, but the concrete floor was too solid for me to make any real progress.
Phaser then popped out of the floor and squatted down, grinning at me like a fool. “Silly brat. You should always watch your feet whenever I’m around.”
Seth walked up to me and raised his hammer above his head. “I believe you called Phaser a whack-a-mole impersonator, Bolt? Let’s see how you handle becoming a whack-a-mole yourself.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
A gunshot suddenly rang out throughout the lab, the sound echoing off the concrete walls of the lab. Phaser slammed his hands over his ears, while Seth actually dropped his hammer (thankfully not on me) and staggered to the side, clutching a gap in his armor where his body was exposed.
“What the …?” said Seth, looking down at the bloody hole in his side. “Who shot me?”
“Sorry,” said a familiar voice from the other side of the room. “You’re a big target.”
I looked over toward the entrance to the maze and was both surprised and delighted to see Triplet standing there. His trademark overcoat and hat were missing, leaving him standing in his barely dry blue button-down shirt and black slacks, but he otherwise looked okay despite having been swept downstream a river the last time I saw him.
“Trip!” I said, waving my arms at him. “You’re alive! I can’t believe it.”
“Nice to see you again as well, kid,” said Triplet, never lowering his gun. “I was a little worried that you might not have made it this far, but I should have known better. You have a knack for surviving things most people can’t.”
“Triplet?” said Phaser, staring at Triplet with a dumbfounded expression. “I thought the turtle-squid killed you!”
Triplet aimed his gun at Phaser. “Dang monster nearly did. Took me forever to get back up here when I reached the spot where the water empties out. Didn’t think I was going to make it at first, but I’ve always prided myself on exceeding expectations, especially the expectations of my enemies.”
Triplet fired again, but Phaser turned intangible and the bullets passed through his body harmlessly.
“Well, it doesn’t matter that you’re still alive,” said Phaser with a snarl. His hands twitched. “I always wanted to kill you myself, anyway.”
Phaser, still intangible, rushed toward Triplet. Triplet lowered his gun and tried to run, but Phaser shoved him against the wall and phased his arm through Triplet’s chest. Triplet gasped as Phaser’s arm interfered with the movements of his heart, which I knew from experience meant he was experiencing absolutely debilitating pain. The only problem was that Triplet was not strong enough to handle the pain, which meant he was probably going to die before anyone could save him.
“I love seeing the look of terror on your face,” said Phaser, whose voice I could still hear quite well despite how far away he was. “It looks like your noir detective act isn’t enough to keep you brave even in the face of death.”
“Suck … on … eggs … you monster,” said Triplet, who sounded like he was in even worse pain than I was.
Phaser chuckled. “Childish insults as your last words? And here I thought you might have some parting words for your young friend here. What a waste of oxygen you are.”
Triplet’s eyes widened, but it looked like he was completely out of breath. He probably only had seconds to live now and there was nothing I could do to save him.
All of a sudden, Phaser shook his head and looked around, a confused expression on his face. “Huh? What? Where am I? Why is everything … spinning?”
Phaser pulled his arm out of Triplet’s chest and stepped backward, his body fully solid once again. He stumbled briefly like a drunk man before regaining his balance at the last second, but he was still pretty tipsy. He looked around drunkenly, scratching the top of his head in complete and utter confusion.
“Phaser, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Seth snapped. “Finish the detective!”
Phaser looked over at Seth suddenly, a bewildered expression on his face. “Finish the what now?”
Triplet—who was leaning against the wall clutching his heart—raised his gun and aimed it directly at Phaser’s chest. “Finish this.”
Triplet pulled the trigger and fired. Phaser gasped, looked down at the bloody hole in his chest, and then immediately collapsed onto the floor, although I couldn’t tell if he was dead or just unconscious.
Triplet lowered his gun to his side, panting hard. “That felt better than it should have, honestly.”
“Brother!” Longworth suddenly screamed. He was still up on the platform, clutching the railing for support, his eyes bugged out behind his glasses. “Brother, no! Don’t be dead. Not again. Not after everything I did. This must be a nightmare, a horrible, vile nightmare.”
“Sorry, Longworth, but this isn’t a nightmare,” I said, looking up at him. I pointed a finger at him. “This is reality. Your brother is dead. You have lost.”
Longworth clutched the railing so tightly his knuckles turned white, but then he turned around and rushed toward the door. I realized he was trying to escape, but neither Triplet nor I were close enough to stop him from escaping.
But then Strike landed in front of him with a three-point landing. Longworth skidded to a stop, but before he could do anything, Strike slammed him in the chin with a powerful-looking uppercut. The blow sent Longworth falling down flat on his back, knocking his head against his computer desk on the way down. He did not get up again.
Strike shook his hand and stood up to his full height, looking down at Longworth with disgust. “That was for me and Dizzy, you jerk.”
Whoa. Remind me to never get on Strike’s bad side or threaten Dizzy.
Then Strike looked up at us and waved. “Hi, guys! If you’re wondering why Phaser looked so confused earlier, it was because of Dizzy. She used her powers on him to confuse him into becoming tangible. You can thank her if you want.”
I looked up at the cage and saw Dizzy’s smiling face poking out from between the bars. She was waving down at us, while the other teenage girls all looked somewhere between horrified and just plain confused at everything going on around them. I guess Dizzy, being a superhero herself, was more used to these kinds of dramatic, tense situations than they were.
“Thanks, Dizzy!” I said, waving up at her. “Now, then …”
I twisted my Teleportation Buckle—which had thankfully not been pulled under the floor with my legs—and teleported back onto the floor. With my legs no longer in the concrete, I was able to stand at my full height and face Seth, who had retreated a few feet away from me, a scowl marring his handsome face.
“And then there was one,” I said. “With both Phaser and Longworth down, I’d say all your plans were just flushed down the toilet.”
Seth looked like he was about to explode, but then he took a deep breath and said, in a much calmer voice than I was expecting, “If you think taking out two of my subordinates is enough to stop me, then you really have no idea who you are dealing with.”
Seth suddenly pulled his helmet back on his head. He held out his hand and his hammer flew back into it like it was magnetized or something.
I readied myself for a fight, but Seth didn’t come rushing at me. Instead, he jumped into the air and swung his hammer at the chains holding up the cage with the girls. The chains shattered upon impact and then the cage—no longer supported—fell directly down on me.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The cage fell too fast for me to catch, with the girls all screaming for their lives inside. I held my arms over my head, but I knew it was going to hurt no matter what I did.
When the cage was just inches above my head, however, it stopped abruptly. Puzzled, I looked up at the cage, wondering why I was not currently being crushed to death under the weight of the cafe, until I heard Strike shout, “Bolt, are you all right?”
I looked over at where Strike stood. He was holding his hands out, a strained look on his face, and I realized he was using his magnetic powers to keep the cage from falling down on and crushing me. It wasn’t as big as the plane he had captured earlier, but I guess he must have been tired from all of the fighting because his face looked strained from the effort.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said. “Thanks for the catch.”
“No problem,” said Strike. “But Seth is getting away!”
I looked over my shoulder and saw Seth rushing toward the door to the maze. Triplet raised his gun to shoot him, but Seth swung his hammer and knocked the gun out of his hand. Triplet immediately split into his Thirds and they scattered, confusing Seth, who looked around as he tried to figure out who he should go after first.
But I wasn’t about to let Seth get away. I activated my super speed and rushed toward him. I body-slammed his back, sending Seth flying into the wall. He slammed into the wall hard and, before he could recover, I grabbed his arms and twisted them behind his back, forcing him to drop his hammer and cry out in pain as I bent his arms nearly to the breaking point.
“Nice try with the cage thing, Seth,” I said, not bothering to hide the hate in my voice now, “but you’re going to have to be faster than that to escape me.”
Seth growled. “Faster? I don’t need to faster than you. I just need to be smarter than you.”
Suddenly, a portion of the back of his armor slid aside and a tiny spray gun poked out of his armor. The spray gun suddenly shot all over my face, spraying me with a disgusting yellow gas that had to be powerless gas. The stinky gas was sprayed all over my eyes, mouth and nose, making my eyes water and causing me to cough, which broke my concentration long enough for Seth to free his arms from my grasp.
Seth whirled around and planted a solid punch to my gut. I gasped in pain and doubled over, but when another punch from Seth came, I caught it with my hands. That normally wouldn’t have been a problem with my super strength, but the powerless gas had taken away my powers for the moment, so it took far more effort to hold his fist back than it normally would have.
That was when a kick came out of nowhere and struck me in the knees, making me fall onto the floor. I expected another kick, but then Seth rushed through the door and slammed it shut behind him.
Triplet ran up to the door and immediately began trying to open it, but then he cursed and said, “No good. He locked it on his way in.”
“He’s gone?” I said, looking up at Triplet.
“Not unless I have anything to say about it,” said Strike behind us.
I looked over my shoulder in time to see Strike—who had lowered the cage onto the floor—walking over to us. He held out a hand toward the door and clenched his hand into a fist.
The metal door snapped off its hinges and was thrown aside. Triplet made a move to enter, but I held up my arm and said, “You two, stay here and take care of the girls and Longworth. It’s too dangerous to go after Seth and someone needs to make sure the girls are kept safe.”
“Are you sure?” said Strike. “Because if you need our help—”
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “And I’ll be back in a flash.”
Without waiting for either of them, I rushed down the stairs into the stairwell after Seth. I expected to find him still somewhere on the stairs, but I didn’t encounter him at all as I ran. There was no room for him to hide in the stairs, either, so he must have run very fast to get ahead of me. But I was faster.
When I reached the generator room, an arm shot out in front of me and I ran into it full force. The blow knocked me off my feet, but I rolled to the side just in time to avoid Seth’s hammer before it smashed down onto the floor where my head had been.
Rising to my feet, I saw Seth, wearing his full suit of Abaddon Armor, standing on the other side of the doorway. With his helmet covering his face, I couldn’t see his expression, but I didn’t need to. If I wanted to see his face, I would just tear his helmet off his head personally.
“Okay, Seth,” I said, holding up my fists. “I see you’ve decided to fight instead of run. That’s a little different from most baddies I deal with, but it’s not going to help you any more than running.”
Seth did not respond. He just rushed toward me, swinging his hammer, but even with his suit enhancing his speed, he was still rather slow and clumsy. I activated my super speed and zoomed around him, easily avoiding his hammer. I then grabbed Seth’s shoulders and threw him across the room at the opposite wall.
Seth crashed into the wall on the other side of the room hard enough to leave a dent in the wall. Despite that, he still tried to stand, but I ran at him and slammed him against the wall, pinning his head against the wall with my hand around his neck.
“Not this time, Seth,” I said through gritted teeth. “You’re not going anywhere except a prison cell in Ultimate Max with your name on it.”
Still, Seth didn’t say anything. He was clearly trying to throw me off him, but I was too strong for him to do anything except wriggle awkwardly underneath me.
“Got nothing to say?” I said. “Or is your helmet making it hard for you to speak? Here, let me help you with that.”
I reached over and grabbed Seth’s helmet with my free hand. With a grunt, I ripped the helmet off his head and tossed it aside, but I was shocked by what I found underneath it:
It was the face of a robot. Two glowing red optics, plus a simple line that was apparently supposed to be the mouth. Blocky and shaped like thumb, it was most definitely not Seth’s face, not unless Seth was actually a robot on top of being a clone of himself, anyway.
“What the—?” I said. “How—”
“Surprised?” Seth’s voice came from the robot’s mouth, but it sounded like he was talking over the phone. “I knew you would be. You were expecting to catch me, but what you failed to realize is that I am prepared for every contingency. Knowing I might end up in this situation, I created this robot to wear the Abaddon Armor for when I cannot. One of the advantages of the Abaddon Armor is how easy is to put on and take off, which I took advantage of to trick you.”
“Where are you?” I said. “Tell me now.”
“Somewhere you can’t get me,” Seth replied. “But don’t worry. I can assure you that this won’t be the last time we meet. Destiny has not yet decided to separate us. We will meet again, but next time, I will win.”
Abruptly, the robot began making a weird beeping noise, almost like a countdown timer. Then a robotic voice that sounded nothing like Seth’s voice began to say, “Ten … nine … eight … seven … six … five … four … three …”
Realizing what was about to happen, I let go of the robot, but I didn’t have time to escape. The robot suddenly exploded, the impact sending me flying head over heels until I hit the floor hard enough to crack my skull and knock me unconscious.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
My head spun and I dipped in and out of consciousness every now and then. Sometimes, I would see bright lights around me and hear people talking—voices I couldn’t understand or recognize—only for the lights and voices to fade out and be replaced by the darknes
s of unconsciousness. Whenever I got close to consciousness, I would struggle to get up, but just as often I would also just lie there, hoping the pain would go away and that I would be able to simply sleep forever. Sometimes I would also feel people, hands, touching me, moving me around or shaking me, but like the voices, I couldn’t tell who was touching me or why.
Eventually, however, the periods of darkness grew shorter and shorter, while the periods of light became longer and longer. The voices I heard every now and then would become much more distinct and I would even be able to catch a few words, but it still took a while before I could identify the sources of the voices themselves. Even the pain started to subside until eventually, I felt stiff and tired, but not painful.
Then, like someone flipped a switch, consciousness returned to me and my eyes snapped open. I suddenly sat up, breathing and sweating hard.
The first thing I noticed was that I wasn’t wearing my costume, but rather a blue patient’s gown. The second thing I noticed was that I was sitting in a hospital bed, which made me wonder if I was in the hospital. If so, I didn’t remember going here. All I remembered was having the robotic Abaddon explode in my face. The explosion must have knocked me out. Not surprising, honestly, given how powerful it had been. It didn’t help that I’d been very tired from all of the fighting I did. It was amazing I wasn’t dead, to be honest.
Rubbing the back of my head, I looked around and realized I wasn’t in a hospital at all. I was actually sitting on a bed in the Braindome’s medical room, where Braindome workers and dwellers stayed whenever they got harmed in battle. It wasn’t as well-equipped or big as a real hospital, but it was sufficient for most of our needs and we could always transfer our members to the St. Francisco’s if we absolutely had to.
I was also the only person in the room, though I noticed my earcom lying on the bedside table beside me. Snatching the earcom off the table, I inserted it into my ear and, tapping it once, said, “Valerie, are you there? Can you hear me?”