The Superhero's Origin (The Superhero's Son Book 5) (12 page)

“Emma?” I said. I tensed. “How did you get into my room? And what are you doing here?”

“I’m a ninja,” said Emma, as if that was all the explanation she needed. “Getting in here was easy. But it doesn’t matter how I got in here. What matters is why I am here.”

“To kill me?” I said. I took a step back, intending to fake out running away only to attack her when she let her guard down.

Emma frowned. “Kill you? Why would I do that? You are my employer’s grandson. I would never harm you, not unless you were a threat to my employer, anyway.”

“So why are you really here, then?” I said. I lowered my hand and covered my suit-up watch, pressing the button on it that would allow me to record our conversation without Emma noticing, because I had a feeling that it would be helpful to have a recording of it for later.

“Because I need your help,” said Emma, putting her hands together like she was a beggar. “Actually, I should clarify that: Your grandparents need your help.”

“Why?” I said. “I thought they had run away and didn’t need my help. Has something happened since I last saw them?”

Emma nodded. “Yes. Your grandmother was captured by one of the Test Subjects and they are now holding her hostage. They are demanding that my master give himself up in exchange for your grandmother’s life.”

“What?” I said in shock. “How did they get grandmother? Weren’t you protecting her?”

Emma’s head fell onto her chest. “I tried my hardest to protect her, but the man they sent was too powerful. He managed to find us when we were on our way to our next safe house and he kidnapped your grandmother before we could stop him. He would have killed my master, too, but I managed to fight off the man before he could harm my master. The man fled, but he still managed to take your grandmother with him, despite my best efforts to stop him. That was a couple of days ago.”

“Do you know where he went?” I said. “Where he and the other Test Subjects are hiding?”

“Yes, because I managed to track him down while he was escaping,” said Emma. “But I can’t save your grandmother on my own. The Test Subjects are too powerful. I am a skilled fighter, but I cannot match their sheer strength and I am also outnumbered. They have at least four powerful superhumans on their side, while I’m just on my own.”

I nodded. “I see. I’d love to help, but I need to tell my team and supervisor first. They need to know where I’m going to be.”

“No,” said Emma. “You must not tell anyone where you are going or what you are going to do.”

I paused, my hand on the door. “What? Why not?”

“Because this must be done alone,” Emma insisted. “My master does not want the NHA to know about him or his whereabouts. He only trusts you to help.”

“If you want me to keep this a secret from my team, you’re out of luck,” I said. “You should have gone to Triplet instead. He doesn’t mind keeping secrets from everyone else.”

I was just about to turn and leave, but then something flew past my face and struck the door. It was what looked like some kind of metal clamp, its sharp tips sinking into the door’s surface and also covering my hand, which made it impossible for me to remove it from the door. Well, I probably could have ripped it off the door if I wanted, but the sudden appearance of the clamp had taken me by surprise.

I looked over at Emma again. She was standing now, her hand already reaching for another metal clamp.

“I cannot allow you to do that,” said Emma. Her voice was tense and serious. “I know what my master wants and he does not want anyone else to know about this.”

I thought about just ripping my hand out of the clamp, knocking Emma out in one blow, and then telling Mecha Knight and the team about what Emma wanted me to do. I could do it pretty easily; Emma may have been a ninja, but I was a speedster, and I could probably easily take her out with no problem if I wanted.

On the other hand, it sounded to me like time was of the essence. I knew, from experience, just how brutal the Test Subjects could be towards their enemies. And that was how they treated me and my friends, who were all strong superheroes in our own right; given that Grandmother was likely a frail old lady, even with her own powers, I couldn’t imagine what they’d do to her if we didn’t save her right away.

So I looked over at Emma and said, “Okay, Emma. I’ll go with you. I want to save Grandmother.”

“Finally,” said Emma. “All right. I will tell you where we need to go.”

Chapter Nine

Y
ou didn’t think I was just going to leave without telling my team, did you?

Of course I didn’t. I mean, sure, Emma and I managed to sneak out of the House without being seen or noticed, but before we left, I had tapped a button on my suit-up watch that sent a message to Carl containing the audio file of my conversation with Emma that I’d recorded. I then sent it to Carl when Emma wasn’t looking, complete with a small message telling him to tell Mecha Knight and the team about where I was going.

Did that mean I was lying to Emma? I suppose you could see it that way, but honestly, after watching that video from Dad, I didn’t think it was very prudent to trust anyone associated with Grandfather. Emma seemed to be telling the truth about Grandmother’s kidnapping, but it was equally possible that Emma was hiding some important information from me. I wished that I could read minds like Cadmus Smith; then I could determine whether or not she had left out any important facts in her story. And anyway, if it was a trap, I was strong and fast enough to protect myself.

But whether or not Emma was trying to manipulate me, what mattered was saving Grandmother. Yeah, maybe Grandmother was better off without Grandfather, but I doubted the Test Subjects would treat her any better than Grandfather. If anything, given how Grandfather had kept Grandmother alive for so long, the Test Subjects might even treat her worse. It was kind of like taking your hand out of a burning fire and instead sticking it into a garbage disposal; yeah, your hand isn’t on fire anymore, but it’s probably going to get shredded now.

Anyway, when Emma and I left the House, I asked her whether we were going to fly to the Test Subjects’ location or not. She told me that we were not going to fly, mostly because Emma hated flying; instead, we were going to take a teleportation ring that Emma apparently had.

I asked her where she got the ring and she told me that it was based off something that Dad had designed in his teenage years, shortly after he gained his super intelligence. She said that Dad had thrown away the blueprints because he hadn’t been able to make it work at the time, but Grandfather had saved them and kept them until he found someone who could make it work. According to Emma, Grandfather had a lot of tech like this and had given her some of it so she could better protect Grandfather and Grandmother. I wondered why she couldn’t just use it to teleport into the Test Subjects’ base and save Grandmother by herself, but she told me that it couldn’t teleport through solid objects, which was why she needed my help.

I was actually really surprised when I heard that, because I hadn’t known that Grandfather was using technology designed by Dad. Then again, it made sense, given that Dad had been Grandfather’s son and had been designing advanced technology since a young age. I wondered if Dad had known about it, though, and whether he approved of it or not. I doubted that he did.

Anyway, when we teleported from Hero Island, we ended up in the middle of a dark forest that Emma told me was somewhere in upstate New York. My watch’s GPS feature confirmed that for me, so I believed her.

Like I said, the forest was dark, thanks to the thick trees overhead that obscured the sun, letting in only a few weak rays. Birds chirped and squirrels could be heard overhead, though with how thick the branches were, it was almost impossible to actually see any of the birds or squirrels. Aside from that, however, it was very quiet and calm and there was no one else here besides us. It was also damp and wet, like it had just rained recently, and the ground was muddy as well.

“Okay, Emma,” I said, looking around the area to get an idea of our surroundings. “Where is the Test Subjects’ base? Do they have a tree house or something?”

Emma looked at me in annoyance. “No. Their base is near here, but we will have to walk for a little bit. I teleported us away from it so they would not notice our arrival. They still believe that no one knows where they are, so we must have the element of surprise on our side if we are to successfully challenge and defeat them.”

“So we’re going to try to sneak up on them, then?” I said. “You know, I
could
just use my super speed to break into the base, take them all out, and save Grandmother at the same time.”

Emma snorted. “They aren’t that stupid. You have already fought two of them, so they already know your powers and the extent of your abilities. They most likely have set up defenses to counter your powers; at the very least, if you fight them, your chances of victory are a lot lower than they should be.”

“All right,” I said. “Then lead the way. I don’t know where they are, so I can’t go and save Grandmother if you don’t show me where they are.”

Emma nodded and then immediately started walking forward. I followed her, doing my best to walk as silently as I could, but I wasn’t nearly as graceful as her. Then again, one of Emma’s superpowers was the ability to walk without making a sound, so it wasn’t that surprising that she was better at it than me.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being the crunching of twigs beneath our feet and the sound of branches brushing against our bodies. But it wasn’t long before I caught a glimpse of a building just beyond the trees, and then it was only a few seconds later that we emerged from the trees and brush into a much more open area.

Standing in front of us was what looked like a large, abandoned barn. Its exterior had chipped red paint, while its doors—which were closed—seemed like they were just barely hanging on. A strong scent of manure and hay entered my nostrils, even when Emma and I knelt behind some bushes to keep us from being seen.

“Is that it?” I whispered, gesturing at the barn. “Is that their base?”

Emma nodded. “Yes. It isn’t much, but the Test Subjects are not exactly a powerful supervillain organization. Like my master, they move locations often, so I imagine they’ve had other bases before this one.”

“Right,” I said. “So how many people are in there? Do you know?”

“I do not, but I suspect that most of the Test Subjects are in there,” said Emma. “That means Echo, Twinfist, Sight Unseen, and the man who kidnapped your grandmother, at the very least.”

“So we have a minimum of four superhumans, then,” I said. “And each one of them is a formidable challenge in themselves.”

“Yes,” said Emma. “Thus, we will have to be very careful about how we go about saving your grandmother. If they see us before we rescue her, they will probably kill her. Trust me, the Test Subjects are not kind people.”

“I know,” I said. “What’s the plan, then? Have you already scouted the place out?”

“I have,” said Emma. “I know how to get in and out without being seen. It is not a very secure location. The real problem is getting your grandmother out; I am not very strong, even by normal human standards, so I will have a hard time carrying her out by myself. It will make me slow, slow enough that the Test Subjects might see me and take me out before I can get very far.”

“I see,” I said. “So you want me to go in with you and then carry Grandmother out, right?”

But Emma shook her head. “No, no. You are supposed to distract them while I sneak in and get Grandmother.”

“Distract them?” I said. “How?”

“However you can,” Emma said. “Twinfist and Sight probably remember how you beat them, so I doubt they will waste any time trying to get you. Knowing Echo, she will probably send that other man out as well, which would leave her alone in the barn with your grandmother.”

“You talk like you’ve met them before,” I said. “Have you?”

“No, but my master knew them in Project Neo and told me about their character and personalities,” said Emma. “By using this information, we can exploit the weaknesses in their character and crush them like eggs.”

I wasn’t sure about the ‘crush them like eggs’ part, but I nodded anyway and said, “Okay, when do we start the plan?”

“Now,” said Emma.

Without warning, Emma shoved me out of the bushes with surprising strength. I rolled across the ground briefly before I stopped and lay on the ground, feeling dizzy from the roll. But I soon shook my head and looked over my shoulder back at the bushes, but I could not see her. I hoped that she could see my glare, though, because I was annoyed at being shoved like that.

Still, I knew it would not be very smart to be in such a vulnerable position, so I scrambled to my feet and shouted, “Hey, losers! Guess who wants his grandma back!”

No response. Huh. Either I wasn’t shouting loudly enough or they’re ignoring me. I bet they’re ignoring me, because they don’t seem to have a very high opinion of me from what I’ve seen of them. I supposed I’d have to go in and force them to fight me, whether they wanted to or not.

I took only one step forward, however, before I heard the sound of rushing wind, a sound that brought back bad memories. Instinctively, I ducked and felt something fly over my head. I lashed out with a fist, but missed whatever was rushing by me, though I still heard it moving behind me.

Turning around, I saw Sight Unseen materialize seemingly out of thin air. He was as tall and lean as always, with his pipe at his side. His eyes were burning with anger.

“Bolt,” said Sight, saying my name like it was an insult. “Here to save your grandmother, I assume. I won’t ask how you found out about her kidnapping or how you figured that out, because that would be boring. Instead, I’m just going to pick up where we left off in the streets of New York City a few days ago. Beating on arrogant kids is a great way to relieve stress.”

“Mind if I join, brother?” came a voice above.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Twinfist standing on the roof of the barn. He jumped down when I saw him and landed on the ground behind me, blocking me in front of the barn’s doors, and slammed his fists together a few times.