The Superhero's Summit (The Superhero's Son Book 3) (10 page)

Now we stood inside a massive library. Gigantic shelves towered over us, each one carrying hundreds of books. I wasn't much of a reader myself, but I still found myself in awe at all of the books. The shelves seemed to stretch on forever and there were a lot of tables and chairs to sit on, too, with a few books scattered across them here and there.

“Wow,” I said. My voice echoed when I spoke. “You really do have a lot of books.”

“Yep,” said Strike. “We've got more books than we know what to do with, frankly. And we're always adding more.”

“More?” I said. “Where do you get more?”

“From the INJ,” said Dizzy. “They buy both new and old books and give them to us.”

“Why so many books?” I said.

“Our leaders believe that education is very important,” said Strike. “Self-education, that is. So they give us a lot of books on a variety of subjects in order to make sure we have access to as much information as we need or want for our own educational goals.”

“Can't you just use the Internet to look up anything you need to know?” I said.

“Yes, but they give us books anyway,” said Strike. “I think it's a leftover from the days before the Internet became so widespread. Besides, we don't really want to go through the trouble of throwing out all these books we've already collected. Too much work.”

“I see,” I said.I noticed a thin layer of dust on one of the nearby tables. “So how much time do you guys spend in here every day, anyway?”

Strike scratched the back of his head. “Oh, well, not much. It's not that we hate books, but it can feel kind of claustrophobic in here after a while.”

“Uh huh,” I said. “So—”

I didn't get to ask my next question, because there was a sudden alarm blaring through the halls of the Cavern. In the enclosed space, it was absolutely deafening, making me cover my ears with my hands, but Strike and Dizzy didn't seem phased by it. They just exchanged serious looks, as if they knew what it meant.

“What is that noise?” I shouted, trying to be heard above the alarm. “Are we under attack?”

Strike shook his head. “Not us, but someone is. Come back to the main room. It looks like we have a mission to complete.”

Chapter Nine

W
hen we got back to the main floor, the alarm had shut off, but my ears were still ringing. I wondered how they could still hear if that alarm went off every time they had a mission to complete. Either everyone wore earplugs or they were just used to it by now.

Regardless, when Strike, Dizzy, and I reached the main floor, we found that Slime and the Lightning Triplets were already there. Slime looked tired and annoyed, like the alarm had interrupted his nap, while the Lightning Triplets were bouncing around as if they had too much energy that they didn't know what to do with.

“Slime!” Strike shouted as we ran over to the couches, where Slime and the Lightning Triplets were. “What's the problem? We were in the library with Bolt when we heard the alarm go off.”

Slime pointed up at the big TV screen, which displayed a news report of some crazy guy with a triangle-shaped mask hurling mud at everything. He was standing on top of a building throwing mud at anyone who got too close while laugh maniacally all the while.

“Who's that?” I said, frowning at the scene of the laughing mud man.

“Mudslide,” said Strike. He sighed. “He's not the most powerful or dangerous supervillain, but he can be really annoying and can hurt people and cause a lot of damage if he's not taken down quickly.”

“And I just got a message from HQ saying we need to go to Oakland to stop him, because that's where he is,” said Slime.

“Then let's go,” said Strike. “If we leave now, we should hopefully get to Oakland before Mudslide causes too much damage or kills anyone.”

“Wait, what about me?” I said, gesturing at myself. “Can I come with you guys?”

“Sorry, Bolt, but this is a job for the New Heroes, which you are not a part of,” said Strike. “You'll have to stay here while we head out to Oakland and stop Mudslide.”

I suddenly saw an opportunity to do some independent sleuthing and exploration of the Cavern, an opportunity that might help me find out if the New Heroes had anything to do with that mysterious woman back in New York. “Do you mean I have to stay here by myself?”

“What? No, of course not,” said Strike, shaking his head. “Since you aren't a member of the team, you need supervision to make sure you don't get into trouble or harm yourself or anything.”

My excitement at the thought that I'd get to search the Cavern as much as I pleased deflated instantly. “Oh. So who is going to stay with me?”

“Slime will,” said Strike, nodding at Slime, who was still sitting on the couch. “Me, Dizzy, and the Lightning Triplets are more than enough for Mudslide. Right, Slime?”

“Right,” said Slime, giving Strike the thumbs up. Then he yawned. “Besides, I want to catch up on my sleep.”

“No sleeping while we have a guest over,” said Strike. “Once we deal with Mudslide and get back from Oakland, then you can go back to sleep.”

Slime didn't look pleased about that, but he nodded anyway and said, “Okay. I'll keep an eye on Bolt while you're away.”

“Good to know,” said Strike. He looked at me apologetically. “Sorry, Bolt, but you understand. When a villain strikes, we have to stop him.”

“Oh, no, I get it,” I said. “You guys should leave right away before Mudslide kills anyone. Stopping supervillains is way more important than giving me a tour of your base.”

Of course, the real reason I wanted the New Heroes to leave was because I wanted to have the freedom to search the Cavern without their knowledge. Yeah, I wouldn't be alone, considering that Slime was here, but I figured it would be much easier to do some independent exploration with only one other person in the Cavern than with six.

“Well, okay,” said Strike. “We'll be back as soon as we defeat Mudslide. And Slime, if anything happens while we're away—anything at all—just give me a call, okay?”

“Sure thing, boss,” said Slime.

“All right,” said Strike. He looked at Dizzy and the Lightning Triplets. “Come on, you guys. Let's go. We have no time to lose.”

Strike, Dizzy, and the Lightning Triplets ran over to the lift, which they entered as soon as the doors banged open. Once they were inside, the doors closed again and the clanging of the lift hinted that they were on their way up and would soon be gone. I just stood there for a moment, listening to the lift's clanging until it faded from my hearing range.

As soon as the rest of the New Heroes were gone, Slime stood up, stretched, and said, “Okay, Bolt. I'm going to take a nap.”

“What?” I said, looking at Slime in surprise. “Didn't Strike just tell you to stay up and watch me while they're off fighting Mudslide?”

Slime nodded as he walked around the couch, scratching his back as he did so. “Yeah, but you're a good guy, aren't you? I know you won't do anything bad or try to destroy the Cavern or cause trouble. You can just sit here and play some video games or watch TV or something. Or just go to the library and read a book.”

“You mean you aren't afraid of me accidentally wandering around and entering places I'm not supposed to enter?” I said.

“Nope,” said Slime, who was making his way to the hall that led to the library. Then he stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. “But wake me up when Strike and the others get back. I don't want them to know that I was sleeping while they were away, okay? 'Cause then I'd get into trouble and I don't want to get into trouble.”

“Sure, sure,” I said, hardly believing my own luck but daring not to question it. “You just go back to your room and get that nap. I promise I won't do anything I'm not supposed to. In fact, I'll be so quiet that it will be like I'm not even here.”

Slime smiled a sleepy smile. “Good. I knew I could count on you. But remember, you
have
to wake me up. I'm a heavy sleeper and can't just wake myself up on command like Strike can.”

“Of course,” I said. “I'll remember to do that.”

Slime gave me the thumbs up before slouching down the hall. He opened one of the doors, which seemed to lead to his room, and then closed the door behind him quietly when he entered. I stood still for a second, listening hard, before I heard a mattress creak, followed by a loud snoring that was muted by the door to Slime's room.

Sighing in relief, I suddenly felt awake and excited. I was now essentially alone in the Cavern. I didn't see any security cameras watching me, which meant that I had complete freedom to do what I wanted. Such as search for any clues to the identity of the mysterious woman, for example.

But where to start? I didn't know the layout of the Cavern at all. And, though Strike had said he couldn't tell me how large the Cavern was, I had a feeling that it was huge and probably went very deep down into the earth. I could probably get lost pretty easily without a map or guide, but I wasn't going to let that possibility keep me from doing what I came here to do.

I decided to start by going down into the 'classified' lower levels. If the mysterious woman was a secret agent, they probably had any information on her hidden in the places that visitors didn't have easy access to.

So I ran over to the lift and pressed a button. In a few minutes, the rambling, banging old lift came to a halt, allowing me to step on it. I looked at the row of buttons on the wall and saw that they were labeled with different words and numbers: HANGER, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and BOTTOM.

Wow. So there were at least seven floors if you count HANGER and BOTTOM. I decided to start from the bottom, so I pressed that button and the lift's doors closed and, a second later, the lift itself started descending with a clang slowly but surely.

-

Ten minutes later, the lift came to an abrupt halt. I looked at the buttons and saw that the word 'BOTTOM' was glowing bright green, which I took as a sign that the lift had finally reached the bottom floor.

Then the doors opened and I stepped out from the lift and looked around at my surroundings.

Unlike the main floor, this one was very dark, dank, and abandoned. I felt along the walls for a light switch, found it, and flipped it, but when the lights came on, they were incredibly weak and illuminated very little. They showed a narrow hallway that twisted out of sight ten feet ahead, which made me feel like I was about to enter an underground maze.

I listened closely for anyone who might be down here, but the bottom floor was silent. It was so silent, in fact, that I heard only my own breath and heartbeat. It was actually kind of creepy, because even though I was sure I was alone, I kept expecting a zombie or something to come shambling out of the shadows toward me craving my brains.

But I put my fear behind me and started walking forward, though I prepared my super strength in case there was anything down here that tried to attack me. I didn't walk very loudly, but my steps echoed off the walls anyway, which just made me even more nervous.

You know how I said it felt like an underground maze? Well, I'm pretty sure it actually
is
a maze. The hall twisted and turned in weird ways, split off at forks which forced me to choose which path to take, and even had arrows and markings on the floor that pointed in certain directions. I passed a lot of empty rooms, too, that looked like they might have been the offices of government employees and officials who worked here before the government abandoned it. I checked each one, but like I said, they were completely empty and wiped totally clean of any evidence that might have suggested what they were working on. And it didn't seem like the INJ was using them, either; if anything, this place felt condemned.

Every now and then I thought I heard someone following me, but whenever I looked over my shoulder, I never saw anyone. There weren't even any mice down here. It felt like the old Jones House back in Silvers, which was said to be haunted by the ghosts of the family killed there. It was like something bad had happened, something that had forced the people working here to leave in a hurry.

What I found strangest of all was how empty this place was. I could understand the government taking everything with them so that no one would find out what they were up to, but it looked like it hadn't even been touched since the INJ took it over. Either the New Heroes just didn't have any need to use it or there was something down here that prevented them from putting it to use.

I found it hard to keep track of time down here, even with my suit-up watch telling me the time. Maybe it was because I was aware of just how deep underground I was. I kept expecting the ceiling to give way to thousands of pounds of dirt and rock and bury me alive, but it thankfully did not even budge.

I soon concluded that this place really was abandoned. There were no secrets here, nothing to tie the INJ to that mysterious woman or anything else. For whatever reason, this place really was condemned and abandoned. I decided to go to the next floor and try my luck there.

But then I noticed something written on the door of one of the abandoned offices. Turning to face it, I peered closely at the words. Unlike the other doors, the words on this one did not appear to have faded from age, but instead looked like they had been hastily scrubbed away by someone who didn't want them read. In the low light, they were incredibly hard to read, but I managed to make out this much:

PROJECT NEO RECORDS

OFFICE OF DIRECTOR JOHN SMITH

Project Neo … there was that name again. The name that referred to either a super secret government program meant to design the next generation of high-tech weaponry or a program meant to help the government figure out how to fight and defeat neoheroes. Could this have anything to do with the mysterious woman? It seemed unlikely, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out and see what was in there.

Then I discovered that the door was locked. Now my interest was really piqued. All of the other office doors I'd found so far had been unlocked. Why was this one locked? Had it been locked by this 'Director John Smith' guy or had it been locked by someone from the INJ?

Regardless, it was easy for me to smash the doorknob off with one swipe of my fist. The knob fell to the ground with a clatter, which echoed in the empty hallway, but I didn't care because there was no one down here anyway.