The Superhero's Origin (The Superhero's Son Book 5) (16 page)

“But they’re down three people now, right?” I said. “Surely they can’t be that big of a threat anymore.”

“They will just get more desperate now,” said Emma. “Especially since they still have Mrs. Jason. I worry what Echo may be doing to her right now even as we speak.”

“I bet Grandmother is still alive, at least,” I said. “After all, she wouldn’t be much good to them dead, right?”

“Right, but that doesn’t mean they won’t torture or harm her in some way,” Emma said. She sighed and looked down at her lap. “I failed. I am not even sure I can show my face to Mr. Jason anymore. He gave me one mission, the most important mission he’s ever given me, and I messed up.”

Emma sounded genuinely heartbroken and sad. In fact, she sounded so heartbroken and sad that I actually felt sorry for her. I could tell that she genuinely felt bad about failing to save Grandmother.

“It’s all right,” I said. “Just because you failed doesn’t mean that Grandfather doesn’t want to see you again. I’m sure that he will understand and forgive you.”

“Maybe, but I still can’t show my face to him,” said Emma. She punched her blankets futilely. “He will probably fire me. And then I’ll be stuck like
this
forever.”

I frowned. “This? What do you mean?”

Emma still didn’t look up at me, but she said, “My powers. I will still have these awful powers.”

“Why do you want to get rid of them?” I said. “I think that camouflage and silencing yourself are great powers to have.”

“Because they make me into a freak,” said Emma. She looked up at me with anger in her eyes. “But you, of course, wouldn’t understand that, now would you? No, you’re here on Hero Island, in this neat little House, where everyone likes their powers and accepts other people with powers. You don’t know what it’s like to live in the real world, among the billions of people who
don’t
have powers.”

Emma was starting to get too emotional, so I raised my hands and said, “Hey, now, let’s calm down a bit. What do you mean by all of this?”

Emma looked down again, like she was trying to hide her tears. “Before I met Mr. Jason, I lived in poverty in a small town in the Midwest. I was the first person in my family to manifest superpowers, and I manifested them even earlier than most, but it wasn’t a good thing, because my family hated superhumans.”

“Hated?” I said. “Why?”

“Because we’re freaks,” said Emma. “That’s why. Freaks against nature, whose powers cause more harm than good. I was shunned by my family, forcing me to run away at a young age. I was on my own for a few years before I met Mr. Jason at a club in a city far from here.”

“What did Grandfather offer you?” I said.

“He listened to me,” said Emma. She brushed away the tears under her eyes, which were now so obvious that I was surprised that she was even trying to hide them anymore. “He listened to my story and sympathized with me greatly. He offered me a job as his bodyguard, telling me that if I served him, he would eventually find a way to take my powers away and make me normal.”

I frowned. “I thought Grandfather had given that up after Project Neo.”

“No, he never did, I guess,” said Emma. She looked up at me again, though she still looked angry. “He took me in, treated me more like a granddaughter than a bodyguard. He told me it might be a long time before he found a way to cure me, but I didn’t care, because he was the first and only person who promised to help me.”

Emma sniffled. “And I promised to protect him and his wife, but … but I failed. How can I ever go back to him? He’ll just reject me and replace me with someone better.”

I bit my lower lip, not exactly sure what to say. The Grandfather she described certainly didn’t sound like the Grandfather Dad described in that video. Or the Grandfather I had met last week. Something was off here and I wasn’t sure what, though I was sure I was going to get to the bottom of it one way or another.

“I’m sure he’ll understand,” I said. “You didn’t intentionally lose her, after all. Once you explain it to him, I’m sure he won’t fire you and replace you with someone else.”

Emma shook her head. “No. He was very clear about our deal. I can’t go back to him in shame, not like this.”

I put my hands on my hips, starting to feel a little exasperated with her. “I’m not sure what to say, Emma. Staying here won’t help and Grandfather will have to know about what happened to Grandmother at some point. The longer he goes without knowing, the more likely it is that he will get angry with you and maybe fire you for nor telling him. If you don’t delay, however, he might be less angry with you.”

Emma wiped away some of the tears from her eyes. I thought she was going to cry anyway, but then she slowly nodded and said, “You’re right. Someone has to tell him and it has to be me. I can’t just run away, not when his wife is still out there. I just wish that I could have come back to him in victory, though, rather than failure.”

“I know,” I said. “But like I said, I doubt Grandfather would be very happy if you delayed reporting back to him. I know I wouldn’t, at least.”

Emma nodded again. “Yes, you have a good point. You know, you do remind me of Mr. Jason, though younger, of course.”

I almost said thanks, but then I remembered what Dad had said about what Grandfather had done to Grandmother and I caught myself.

Instead, I said, “Okay. Do you feel good enough to leave now or not?”

“Not yet,” said Emma. She gestured at her chest. “I’m still recovering from being beaten. But I will leave probably tomorrow, since the injuries are already healing well and I don’t want to delay returning to Mr. Jason more than I need to.”

“Will you need help getting there?” I said. “We can fly you to Grandfather’s location if necessary.”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” said Emma, shaking her head. “I’ll be fine. You just focus on doing what you need to do.”

“Okay,” I said. I hesitated just briefly, however, before I said, “Are you absolutely sure you don’t want your powers anymore?”

Emma frowned. “Yes. I am more sure of it than anything else. Why do you ask?”

“Because I was just thinking that maybe you don’t need to get rid of them,” I suggested. “Having powers isn’t such a bad thing, you know.”

Emma snorted. “Easy for you to say. You’ve never faced the kind of abuse that I have for having these powers. Out in the real world, most people aren’t so kind to those with powers, like us.”

“I know that,” I said. “I mean, I’ve been aware of it, at least. But that doesn’t mean you need to get rid of your powers, does it?”

“If it means being accepted as a human being, then yes, I will do it, and I won’t look back,” said Emma. “I know that may be hard for you to understand, since everyone loves you and you are so popular and everything, but not all of us can be the son of a famous superhero or become the leader of the Young Neos.”

I could not help but feel a little annoyed at Emma’s tone. “You’re acting like I haven’t faced some pretty serious challenges of my own, Emma. Just because I haven’t faced your problems doesn’t mean I don’t have any of my own.”

“What do I care?” said Emma. “I doubt you’ve ever had to spend nights sleeping under a bridge or trying to get a ride to the nearest town from strangers who might harm you or wondering where your next meal will come from. You’ve never had to fear that other people will kill you if you tell them that you have powers, that you’re … that you’re a freak.”

Emma sounded like she was about to start crying again, so I said, “Maybe I haven’t had to deal with any of that, but I still don’t think the solution to all of your problems is to get rid of your powers. They’re a part of who you are. You may not like them, and I’m not saying you should, but—”

“Go away,” Emma interrupted me. She laid back down against her pillows, not even looking at me now. “I’m tired and I want to rest. Let’s just agree to disagree on this.”

As much as I wanted to keep arguing with her, I realized that she had a point. Emma was pretty clearly convinced that she had to get rid of her powers no matter the cost and no amount of reasoning or arguing would sway her.

So I said, “All right, then. If you need any help or anything, don’t be afraid to ask Carl. He can provide you with whatever you need.”

With that, I turned and left the room, though not without thinking about what Emma said. It was true that I didn’t really know too much about what life was like for superhumans who didn’t have supportive parents or weren’t members of a superhero organization like the NHA. I had never really met any of them, so I didn’t know much about what their lives were like. If Emma was any clue, though, I figured their lives were not all that great.

But how was I supposed to help them? How was I supposed to do anything about them? I didn’t know. I just knew that I hoped that Grandmother was okay and that we’d be able to find her and Echo soon, or at least that Emma and Grandfather would be able to, anyway.

Chapter Thirteen

T
hree days later, Blizzard and I walked along the streets of New York City, heading to the movie theater as part of our date. Yes, our date was actually happening; there were no sudden changes in schedule that forced us to postpone it or anything like that. Even Mecha Knight told us to enjoy ourselves, which had seemed kind of weird to me, given his usual emotionless attitude, and had also said that they would try to handle whatever problems came up without interrupting our date. That sounded nice, but I had to admit that I was still a little worried that something might come up that would force us to cancel our date and help them anyway.

That was why I had brought along my suit-up watch, which none of the people passing us by seemed to pay any special attention to, mostly because it looked like a normal smart watch. Because Blizzard and I were going on a date together today, I had taken off my super suit and replaced it with a red shirt and blue jeans and sneakers. Pretty bland outfit, I suppose, but Blizzard didn’t seem to mind it, and it didn’t draw any attention to us.

No, she wasn’t Blizzard right now. She was her real identity, Emily Ricker, and she had her hair done in braids, rather than letting it flow out like normal. In contrast to her usual white hood, she wore a white and blue shirt with a skirt to match. I was so used to seeing her in costume that I had a hard time believing she was the same Blizzard I had known; then again, she probably thought the same about me. And anyway, I thought she looked pretty nice today, regardless of how she dressed or did her hair.

Speaking of our date, we were going to see a new comedy called
Here We Go Again!
. I wasn’t sure what it was about exactly—something to do with time travel and living the same day over and over or whatever—but it didn’t really matter. We thought about going to see a superhero movie, but given that we kind of lived that life already, we didn’t see any need to watch that. Besides, most superhero movies don’t really accurately show what it is like to be a superhero, so I doubt either of us could have sat through the latest superhero blockbuster without constantly nitpicking the details.

But even if we had gone to see the next superhero movie, I wouldn’t have minded, because what mattered today was that I was going to be with Emily. Even better, we had the whole day for ourselves in New York City. And without our costumes on, the chances of anyone actually recognizing us was extremely low.

Of course, as we made our way toward the theater, trying to get past all of the hundreds of people who walked through the streets of New York City each day, I found myself thinking about Emma for some reason. Probably because I was also thinking of my grandparents.

The day after Emma arrived on Hero Island, Carl deemed her well enough to leave. She certainly hadn’t wasted any time in leaving, from what I remembered, despite being reluctant to face Grandfather again. I guess my little talk with her must have encouraged her to report back to him with an update. Emma had left without telling me if or when she was going to contact me again, but I made her promise to tell me if they managed to find and save Grandmother. I was worried that Grandmother might be doing even worse than when she was in Grandfather’s mansion, because if she really was as sick as Grandfather said, then she probably wasn’t getting the medical care that she needed in order to survive.

But I pushed such thoughts out of my head. While Emily didn’t seem to mind Emma that much, I had a feeling she wouldn’t have been very happy to learn that I was thinking about some other girl—even non-romantically—while I was on a date with her. Emily didn’t seem like the clingy jealous type to me, but I’ve always noticed how some women can go from perfectly rational, understanding human beings to glowing green monsters of envy even faster than I can run. Best not to provoke that kind of reaction from her, especially if she decides to ‘cool’ me down a little with her ice powers.

I looked at Emily as we walked. She seemed to be in a pretty good mood today, based on the way she walked. She was probably happy about the fact that we were on a date together, a feeling I shared with her. She didn’t seem nearly as timid as she normally was, but then, I’d noticed that she had been acting more confident recently, ever since she gained better control of her powers. I liked it a lot.

“Isn’t this great?” I said as we drew closer to the ticket booth, though there was a small line that we had to stop at the back of. “No supervillains, no crime-fighting, nothing. Just you and me together today to watch a funny movie together.”

Emily nodded, but said, “Yeah, but I thought you liked being a superhero. You don’t sound like you miss it.”

“I do like being a superhero,” I said. “But I also like taking days off every now and then to have a little fun. Fighting supervillains can be pretty stressful sometimes, you know?”

“I know,” said Emily. “I’m just surprised that you, of all people, are excited to have a day off. Seems out of character for you.”

I shrugged. “Does it really matter? It’s just been a long time since I’ve been able to enjoy a day off like this and I really want to make it last.”

“All right,” said Emily. “Yes, I agree. No more superheroics for the day. In fact, let’s not even talk about this stuff. Let’s just focus on other things for the day, okay?”