The Superhero's Origin (The Superhero's Son Book 5) (13 page)

“Nice to see you again, Bolt,” said Twinfist, though his tone didn’t sound nearly as pleased as his words. “It will be relaxing to beat the stuffing out of you as payback for our last encounter.”

I snorted. “You’re just pissed off that a teenager beat you.” I looked at Sight. “You know, I don’t really like you, but if I were you, I’d suggest that you don’t associate with losers anymore. Don’t want that losing to rub off on you.”

Twinfist growled like a lion, while Sight just shrugged and said, “He’s my brother. He may not be as strong as me, but I can’t just force him to sit out like this and not get the revenge he deserves.”

“Brother, whose side are you on?” Twinfist snapped. “He’s the enemy. You should be viciously pummeling him into the ground for what he did to me. Avenge your family!”

“Hold on, you two are brothers?” I said. I looked between them, squinting my eyes. “You guys don’t really
look
that similar, though given that Sight is wearing a mask, that kind of makes it hard to see any similarities between you.”

“We do not need to explain anything to you,” said Sight. He pointed his pipe at me. “Echo gave us the job of making sure that no one saves Matthew’s wife. That includes you, by the way.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” I said. “Too scared of a teenager like me to fight?”

“We will rip you apart piece by piece, you bastard,” said Twinfist.

I took a fighting stance, even though I wasn’t sure I could take them both on, when a deep, rumbling voice said, “You two, back off.”

Sight and Twinfist suddenly froze, like someone had stopped time around them. Terror appeared on their faces and they both looked like they wanted to run and I could tell that they weren’t afraid of me.

Before I could ask who had just spoken, someone stepped out of the surrounding forest, someone who I had never seen before but who I instantly recognized as a threat.

He was a huge man, about twice as big as Sight and Twinfist put together. He was almost as tall as the trees themselves; in fact, he was so big that I wondered how I had not noticed him before, because there was no way a guy as big as him could hide even in this forest.

Unlike these two losers, this guy did not wear any sort of costume. Instead, he was shirtless and wore some shredded black pants that matched his equally black skin, which made him look kind of like the Incredible Hulk, if you will. He rolled his shoulders, his small eyes gleaming dully as he stood there, looking like he had just awoken from a nap.

“Who the heck are you?” I said. “Another Test Subject?”

The large man nodded. “Indeed. Call me Cannon. I was also known as Test Subject Zero Zero Five when I was in Project Neo.”

“Cannon, what are you doing up?” said Twinfist. He sounded panicky and afraid, even though I wasn’t sure what he was scared of. “Sight and I have this kid under control.”

“No, you obviously do not,” said Cannon. “This kid has already beaten you once and he gave Sight a run for his money. I had to interrupt my afternoon nap because I knew I would have to to be the one to beat him.”

“But—” said Sight.

“I want to hear no excuses,” said Cannon, raising one hand to silence Sight. “Unlike you two, I have never disappointed Echo. She knows she can depend upon me.”

“Why can’t we all team up on him together?” said Twinfist, folding his arms over his chest and scowling. “Three on one. We’re all strong. He wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“More numbers does not always mean you have the advantage,” said Cannon. “You two will just get in the way. If he somehow does beat me—which I sincerely doubt—then, and only then, will you two have my permission to take him out.”

Neither Sight nor Twinfist looked like they were going to argue against that. No surprise there; Cannon was built like his namesake, to the point where even I didn’t feel comfortable facing him, despite my super strength.

Nonetheless, I took up a fighting stance and said, “All right, Cannon. You and me, then, one-on-one. Let me guess, you can turn into a cannon ball or something, right?”

Cannon smirked. “Why would I ever be so foolish as to tell you my powers before we fight? Unlike some, I do not give away important details to my enemies that could give them an edge over me in a fight.”

I distinctly heard both Sight and Twinfist grumble under their breaths, but I didn’t pay them any attention. I just said to Cannon, “All right, then. Well, I’m still going to beat you anyway, so here we go!”

I ran toward Cannon as fast as a bullet, pulling back my fists as I zoomed toward him. I was going to make this quick; one solid shot to the stomach to send him flying into the forest, where he would hopefully be knocked out for the rest of the fight. Then I’d take out Sight and Twinfist, too, or at least distract them long enough for Emma to get Grandmother out of there.

Cannon didn’t even move as I ran at him. Either he was really arrogant and thought I couldn’t hurt him or he was just too slow to dodge my incoming attack. Either way, he was about to get hurt much worse than me.

I slammed both of my fists against Cannon’s stomach as hard as I could. But instead of sending him flying, Cannon’s stomach suddenly exploded.

Literally. Flames and heat exploded from Cannon’s stomach like a bomb, the impact sending me flying. I crashed into the ground and rolled across the muddy grass for a few feet before I came to a stop, my head spinning and every bone in my body aching.

Shaking my head, I looked up, expecting to see the smoldering remains of Cannon everywhere, but to my surprise, Cannon still stood exactly where he had been standing mere moments ago. He looked completely unharmed by the explosion, except for his skin and pants, which were smoking slightly, as well as the burnt grass all around him.

“What was that?” I said, rubbing the back of my head as I propped myself up on my arm. “Did you just … was that an explosion?”

“It’s my power,” said Cannon, slapping his chest. “I can generate explosions with my body. The best part is that they don’t even harm me; in fact, I find explosions quite relaxing.”

I looked at Twinfist and Sight. Neither of them looked surprised by this, though I noticed they had both retreated a good distance, probably so they wouldn’t be caught in the explosions that Cannon generated. I suppose that meant they really were going to stay out of the fight, but that was hardly a comfort, given how powerful Cannon obviously was.

But I couldn’t run away now. I got back to my feet, which wasn’t as easy as it sounded, because that explosion had hit me as hard as a fist. My body was aching from the impact, but I figured I could end this fight quickly as long as I stayed out of the way of Cannon’s explosions.

Cannon cracked his neck side to side. “What are you going to do now, kid? You can’t even touch me thanks to my explosions. Will you run away and abandon your grandmother like a brat?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m just going to take your advice and use a power I didn’t tell you about.”

I raised my hands and shot twin bolts of red lightning at Cannon. Cannon, however, dodged them easily, jumping to the side as the lightning bolts flashed past him. He then ran toward me fast; not quite as fast as me, obviously, but faster than I expected.

He swung a fist at me, which I dodged by flying into the air. His fist slammed into the earth, creating a large explosion that sent dust, dirt, and grass flying. I managed to fly out of the reach of the explosion, but I still felt the heat as it chased me into the sky.

Once I was sure I was out of the range of the attack, I stopped in midair and looked down. There was now a large dust cloud below, which made it impossible to see Cannon. A quick look around the area showed me that he was still missing, so I figured that he was still inside the dust and smoke even if I couldn’t see him.

Then, without warning, another explosion—much larger than the last—blew the dust away and Cannon came rocketing through the air toward me, smoke rising from his feet. I was so startled by this sudden attack that I didn’t get a chance to move. Cannon just slammed into me with his massive body, which sent me falling back to the earth below.

I crashed into the ground, but managed to roll to the side just in time to avoid Cannon, who also crashed onto the earth right into the crater I had made. His crash, however, caused an actual explosion that forced me to raise my hands to protect my face. I felt the heat and flame wash over me, but then a fist came out of the flames and slammed into my face.

That blow knocked me down again, and before I could get up, Cannon appeared above me and brought both of his fists down on my face.

I raised my hands and caught his fists, but then they exploded, and at such a close range, it was like getting hit by a tornado. My hearing went out and all I could hear was a terrible ringing in my ears, which made it impossible to focus until Cannon grabbed my throat and thew me over his shoulder.

I flew through the air briefly before landing on the ground again, this time hard enough to jar my hearing back. My head spun as I lay there, but I had already heard Cannon striding toward me, so I forced myself to get back up to my feet and take another fighting stance, even though there wasn’t much I could do against him.

“Still willing to fight?” said Cannon in a mocking voice. “I thought you might want to give up after a few explosions.”

I shook my head. “I don’t give up that easily, Cannon. I’ve taken worse blows from people much stronger than you in the past.”

That was true, but I was actually acting much stronger than I really felt. My body felt like it had been smashed against a running train. I didn’t know how many more of Cannon’s explosions I could take head on like that before I collapsed, but that was why I had to figure out how to finish this fight quickly.

The only question was, how? I couldn’t hit Cannon, not unless I wanted to get my hands blown off my arms. Nor could I shoot him with my lightning bolts; he moved too fast to be hit. I had to think of something fast, however, because I hadn’t even hit him once, while he had already landed several intense blows on me. He looked like he could fight all day, while I was starting to get tired from all of the fighting.

Then an idea occurred to me, one I wasn’t sure would work, but which was my only chance at survival at the moment. I would have to give it a shot, because if I didn’t … well, I couldn’t.

So I shot into the air, flying as fast as I could, while Cannon shouted at me to come back. But I wasn’t going to come back, at least not yet.

Once I was high enough, I stopped and looked down at Cannon, Twinfist, and Sight, who were all now looking up at me in confusion and anger. Cannon, in particular, looked annoyed at how I had just gotten out of his reach.

“Get down here, boy,” said Cannon. “Or else I’m coming up there to take you down myself.”

“Then why
don’t
you come up here?” I said. “Come on. It’s not like I have anything else to do at the moment.”

Cannon growled, probably annoyed by my mocking tone, and then squatted. Immediately, the ground underneath him exploded and he was sent flying straight through the air toward me. He was coming as fast as, well, a cannon ball, which meant that he probably couldn’t control his trajectory.

Raising my hands, I immediately began unleashing red lightning bolt after red lightning bolt at him. Cannon’s face twisted into horror as my lightning bolts hit him, striking him in the stomach and chest again and again. Because the trajectory of his explosion had sent him flying, he was unable to dodge any of my attacks.

The combined impact of the lightning bolts sent Cannon crashing down into the earth. Only this time, he didn’t explode and I didn’t give him a chance to recover. I just hit him over and over again with as many lightning bolts as I could shoot, which was the most I had ever shot since getting the power. The lightning blasts sent dust and dirt flying everywhere, obscuring my view of Cannon, but I didn’t need to see him in order to hit him.

Eventually, however, I began to feel my power weakening. My lightning bolts were becoming smaller and weaker; in fact, it felt like the lightning within me was draining. It was like I had reached my own limits, which surprised me, because I had not known that my lightning powers even
had
limits.

As a result, my lightning powers slowly diminished, until eventually I was unable to even shoot sparks from my fingertips. I shook my hands, trying to make them shoot more, but it seemed like I had used up my energy reserves entirely. And I had no idea if they would ever recover or not.

Regardless, I looked down at the dust and dirt cloud below me, trying to see if I could spot Cannon. A strong gust of wind blew through just then, revealing Cannon lying on his back in a burning crater. He looked surprisingly good, despite having taken such a terrible beating from my powers, and even seemed to still be alive, based on the way his chest rose and fell. But I could tell that he was out cold, which meant that I had won the fight.

Sighing in relief, I slowly lowered back down to the ground. Exhaustion was starting to catch up to me, which made me want to lie down and rest, although I remembered that Emma was still trying to save Grandmother. I wondered how well that was—

A boxing glove came out of nowhere and smashed into my face. The blow knocked me over flat on my back, and before I could get up, a foot came down on my chest, causing me to gasp in pain.

Looking up, I saw Twinfist and Sight standing above me. Unlike me, they looked as fresh and ready to fight as ever, particularly Twinfist, who punched his fists together with a large, maniacal grin on his face.

“You beat Cannon,” said Twinfist. “I honestly didn’t think you could do it, since he’s one of the strongest among us, but that’s fine. We’ll just finish what he started, just like we said before.”

“Indeed,” said Sight. “And we’ll make it quick, too, so we can report to Echo about our victory.”

I couldn’t get back up to fight because I was so exhausted from using up all of my energy. In fact, it felt like the lightning had actually drained me of my energy in general, rather than just the energy I had used for the lightning bolts. I could probably still use my super strength if I needed to, but it was much harder to access than before.