The Superhero's Origin (The Superhero's Son Book 5) (23 page)

“Was Emma in on all of this, then?” I said. “Was she on your side?”

“Emma? No,” said Grandmother. “That silly girl genuinely believed we could help her and was only ever really loyal to Matthew. She didn’t like me as much. I only kept her around because she was useful and didn’t ask too many questions. She was never intended to be part of this. In fact, I wouldn’t have even kept her around if Matthew had not insisted that she could be helpful.”

“Then why did you want me here?” I said. “What role do I play in all of this?”

“An important one, I can tell you that much,” said Grandmother. She ran her dried, wrinkly fingers over my face, which made me shudder at her touch. “In order to rejuvenate my body, I need a youthful body to draw power from. And I have chosen your youthful body to be the object from which I will draw that power.”

“What?” I said. “Why me? Why not someone else?”

“Because you are related to me by blood, Kevin,” said Grandmother. “The Rejuvenator works best when connected to people who are related. Indeed, I’ve always intended to take your own youth away from you, even from the moment you were born. Theodore never knew that, but he always suspected we’d try to do something to you that he didn’t approve, so he kept us from you. What an awful son.”

“Awful son, maybe, but a good father,” I said. I struggled against the clamps again, but still found no luck in breaking them, though they did seem to be giving away slightly. “And what the heck is the Rejuvenator, anyway?”

“One of Theodore’s inventions,” said Grandmother. “Or, rather, one of the many blueprints he designed when he was a child and still living with us. It took only a few minor modifications from Matthew to make the design into a reality. It will allow me to transfer your youth into my body, which will make me young and whole again.”

“What will happen to me?” I said. “Will I die?”

“No,” said Grandmother. “You will probably become very old, however, just like me. You will still have the mind of a seventeen-year-old, but the body of an old man.”

“You’re willing to do that to your own grandson?” I said in shock. “Are you serious?”

“Very,” said Grandmother. “I wish I didn’t have to do this to you, but this is the only way to ensure that I will ready for the angels. I did not see you in my vision, so it is fine if I did this to you. Besides, you won’t die; you’ll just be very old and unable to do much.”

“That’s not very reassuring,” I said. “Like, at all.”

“Who cares?” said Grandmother with a shrug. “Besides, you aren’t the only one who is going to be used to restore my youth. Have you ever heard of a girl named Savannah Jones?”

I nodded. “That’s the girl whose disappearance Triplet is investigating. Or, rather, the disappearance of her soul.”

“Indeed,” said Grandmother. “As it turns out, that annoying detective was right to try to investigate us, because we do have her soul.”

“You do?” I said. “How did you get it? Does Grandfather really have soul-stealing powers, like I thought?”

“No, he doesn’t,” said Grandmother. “Instead, he used a device capable of stealing souls from other beings. I will not tell you where he got it, but all you need to know is that it is not of this Earth, and I mean that in more ways than one.”

That sounded incredibly ominous to me, but I didn’t really care where Grandfather had gotten that device at the moment. “Why? Why did you steal Savannah’s soul?”

“I need her soul in order to gain more strength,” said Grandmother. “Even in my prime, I was always a weak and mousy little girl. If I absorb Savannah’s soul, then that will give me more strength and youth. It will also increase my lifespan, allowing me to live for decades longer than I normally would, which should be more than enough time for me to prepare against the angels.”

“How do you know that will work?” I said. “I’ve never heard of anyone absorbing someone else’s soul before.”

“There is no guarantee, perhaps, but it is possible,” said Grandmother. “There was a supervillain some years back named the Reaper who could do such a thing. He stole souls and used them to make himself younger and stronger. I believe the same can apply to me, so I am going to have Savannah’s soul pumped into my body via the Rejuvenator. With her soul and your youth, I should be in even better shape than I was in my own youth.”

“Why Savannah?” I said. “Why not someone else?”

“I didn’t choose Savannah for any particular reason,” said Grandmother. “I just needed the soul of a young, healthy teenage girl, and she happened to fit the bill. Plus, her powers to project her own soul made it easy to steal her soul, though I should have expected her parents to hire someone to find her. At least that foolish detective never managed to prove we stole her soul.”

I wished I could call Triplet right now and tell him that he had been right to suspect my grandparents, but unfortunately I couldn’t reach my earcom or watch at the moment. All I could do was just lie there and try to free myself, though I doubted I would be able to do that before Grandmother used the Rejuvenator to steal my youth.

“Anyway, all of the pieces of the plan are now in play,” said Grandmother. “Soon, the Rejuvenation process will begin and I will be young and ready to fight the angels again.”

“Grandmother, there is no reason to do this,” I said. “If these angels are as much of a threat as you make them out to be, then you can just tell the NHA, INJ, and G-Men about them and we can work together to prepare for their arrival. There’s no reason to do all of this stuff.”

“But my vision didn’t show those organizations fighting the angels,” said Grandmother. “My vision showed only ten warriors fighting the angels, along with myself. And my visions are never wrong, so I see no reason to reach out to these organizations for help. Especially the G-Men, who would just as quickly arrest me as help me.”

“Who cares if your visions are right or not?” I said. “I could vouch for you and Grandfather. I could convince the G-Men to let you two go.”

“Thank you for the thought, Kevin, but that is unnecessary,” said Grandmother. “I have already made my decision and I am going to go through with it. You may not understand why, but that is fine. All I require of you is your youth; the rest of you, I can do without.”

With that, Grandmother suddenly started coughing again, causing Echo to say, “Mistress, you sound sick. You must sit down again. You’ve been standing and talking for far too long.”

Then Echo appeared at Grandmother’s side and gradually helped her sit back down in her wheelchair. I heard the wheelchair move away from the table where I lay, so I tried to break out of my clamps. They were still too thick and strong, however, so I gave up pretty quickly. I thought about having Valerie send for help, but then I realized that I could not feel my earcom in my ear, which meant that it had probably been taken away by Echo.

Still, I managed to twist my head enough to allow me to see Echo helping Grandmother onto a nearby table that looked very similar to the one I was lying on. Unlike mine, however, Grandmother’s table didn’t have any steel clamps; then again, Grandmother probably wasn’t going to try to run away.

Once Grandmother was resting safely on the table’s smooth surface, Echo grabbed a weird-looking metal helmet hanging from the ceiling and then strapped it gently to Grandmother’s small and fragile head. Once it was secured, Echo walked over to my table and pulled down a similar helmet, only instead of gently strapping it to my head, she slammed it over my skull and roughly did the straps around my chin. This limited my movement even further, forcing me to look up at the ceiling as I listened to Echo walking around.

“All right,” said Echo from somewhere behind me. “Mistress, the Rejuvenator is ready to go. Tell me when you are set and I will active it without delay.”

“I am as ready as I will ever be, Echo,” said Grandmother, her voice firm and resolute. “Activate the machine. And ensure the process is completed from beginning to end. This is not the time to let the chips fall where they may.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Echo.

Immediately, I heard the rumblings of a loud machine, almost like a car engine starting, except it was louder than any normal engine. I tried to break free of my clamps, but I knew I would not be able to free myself before the Rejuvenator did its job. All I could do was lie there as I felt the Rejuvenator begin to suck the youth out of me, unable to save myself.

Chapter Eighteen

T
he lights above suddenly flickered. It was just for a brief moment, so brief I didn’t think it was anything other than an example of the house’s poor electrical wiring at work, but then they flickered again and suddenly turned off, plunging the room into darkness. At the same time, the Rejuvenator suddenly went silent.

“Echo, what happened?” said Grandmother in annoyance. “Why did the power go off?”

“I-I don’t know, mistress,” said Echo’s frustrated voice in the darkness. “Perhaps a fuse was blown? The Rejuvenator does use a lot of power, after all.”

A long, annoyed sigh came from Grandmother’s mouth. “Matthew, go and check the fuses. If any of them are off, turn them back on again, pronto.”

“Yes, dear,” said Grandfather meekly. “I will go and check.”

“And be quick about it,” Grandmother added. “I have waited too long for this day to have to wait for it due to—”

Without warning, a door at the top of the main staircase burst open, causing light from the outside hallway to come spilling into here. But the light was blocked when someone stepped into the doorway and shouted, “Bolt, are you down there?”

Although the figure in the doorway was silhouetted, I instantly recognized the voice. “Triplet, is that you?”

Before Triplet could respond, a loud, ear-piercing shriek echoed through the basement, made even louder by the confined space of the basement. I saw Triplet move out of the way just in time to avoid the sound blast, which shattered the door frame and the door itself upon impact.

“Damn it,” Grandmother said. “How did he get in here? Echo, kill that damn detective.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Echo.

Echo ran around my table, huffing and puffing. I decided to take advantage of this moment to try to break free again. The clamps were still very tight, but I could feel them starting to give way. As long as Triplet kept Echo occupied, I might be able to free myself.

I saw Echo run up the stairs, but when she was about halfway there, I saw something fly through the doorway and strike her in the face. The blow sent her stumbling back down the stairs until she hit the floor, where she lay very still, but I couldn’t tell if she was unconscious or just stunned.

Then Triplet reappeared in the doorway, saying, “Hold on, kid, I’m coming!”

Triplet got only a few feet down the stairs, however, before Echo sat up and screamed at him again. This time, Triplet ducked, which allowed him to avoid Echo’s sound blast. He then ran down the steps and started fighting Echo, punching and kicking at her. Echo, to her credit, was a surprisingly good fighter, keeping up with Triplet despite the weight and height differences between the two.

I heard Grandmother growl in frustration somewhere nearby. “Matthew, get me out of here! We must flee and try again somewhere else. It is obvious that our base has been compromised.”

“Yes, dear, right away, dear,” said Grandfather’s voice, which sounded very small in comparison to the sounds of fighting between Triplet and Echo.

Then I heard Grandfather run over to Grandmother’s table. I couldn’t let them escape, so I struggled even harder to break free. The clamps were indeed starting to give way, but they were just too thick to break.

Then I heard Grandmother urging Grandfather to help her off the table and into her wheelchair, followed by the squeaks of her wheelchair’s wheels as they escaped and Grandmother reminding Grandfather to take Savannah’s soul with them. I had no idea where they were going—maybe the house had a secret basement escape route—but I knew that if I didn’t stop them here, they would just try again somewhere else.

Finally, after several more seconds of struggle, I freed my right arm from its clamps. Then I ripped off the clamps on my left arm and neck, allowing me to sit up and tear off the clamps around my legs. My body felt stiff and uncomfortable from having to lie in that position for so long, but it felt great to be free at last.

Shaking my head, I jumped off the table and said, “Triplet! I’m going after my grandparents. You stay here and keep Echo distracted, okay?”

“All right,” said Triplet as he dodged a punch from Echo. “But you’d better hurry. I just saw them go through that door. They’ll probably be out on the street within minutes, if they aren’t already.”

‘That door’ turned out to be a wooden door built into the back wall of the basement. It was left open, no doubt by Grandfather, who had been in a hurry to leave. I ran through the open doorway, dashing into the dark, narrow, hallway. I didn’t hear Grandfather or Grandmother inside it, but I knew that they were somewhere up ahead.

After a couple of twists and turns, I finally reached the end, which was yet another wooden door. This one, however, was closed, and even locked, but a single punch was enough to break the lock, allowing me to kick open the door and run out onto the street.

I had emerged onto a back street behind the old house, which, like the rest of the area, was totally abandoned. Except, of course, for my grandparents, who I immediately noticed going down the street to my right. Grandfather was hurriedly pushing Grandmother along, while Grandmother berated Grandfather to push faster and to keep going.

“Hey!” I shouted. “You two, stop!”

That actually worked, much to my surprise. Grandfather stopped and looked over his shoulder in shock and horror. His aged face turned even paler than usual, making him look just as sick as Grandmother, if not more so.

“Matthew, what are you doing?” said Grandmother. She slapped his hands. “Keep pushing. Don’t let our foolish grandson slow us down.”

“No,” I said. “You two aren’t going anywhere. You know you can’t escape me. Don’t run.”

“Ignore him, Matthew!” Grandmother shrieked. “Keep pushing!”