The Superhero's Summit (The Superhero's Son Book 3) (16 page)

“Probably just getting everything ready for the Summit,” I said. I resumed sweeping without looking at Blizzard. “It's not too far away, after all. And because they're in charge, they probably have to deal with all sorts of things that we don't.”

“Yeah, but I wonder if they're looking into that woman,” said Blizzard. She stopped mopping for a moment to look at me. “Or maybe into the INJ. Do you think they've found any evidence to connect her to them?”

“If they did, I'm sure they would have told us by now,” I said as I swept up a pile of dust and feathers and then dumped it into the nearest trashcan. “I say that you shouldn't worry about it. Take it easy.”

“How can I take it easy when I know there's someone out there who wants us dead?” said Blizzard.

“Just do what I do and don't think about it,” I said. “If it makes you feel better, I think you should get some more practice in with your powers. That way, if you end up fighting her, you'll be able to defend yourself.”

“I know,” said Blizzard, “but I think she's too crafty to fight me or anyone else directly. What if she sends another robot after us?”

I stopped sweeping and looked at Blizzard again, but this time with a little bit of annoyance. “We'll be fine, Blizzard. Let's just focus on getting Hero Island ready for the Summit. If we don't, Mecha Knight will probably give us a more grueling job as punishment.”

Blizzard nodded, even though she looked like she still wanted to talk about this. I understood, but I really did believe that we shouldn't focus on it at the moment. There was nothing we could do about it, so why worry? That was my philosophy and I saw no reason to question it.

Just as Blizzard was about to return to mopping, a loud scream—a woman's scream—pierced the air. We both immediately stopped what we were doing and looked around, but it took me a moment to realized that the scream was coming from near the entrance to the Museum.

“What's that?” said Blizzard. “Was someone hurt?”

“I don't know,” I said. I threw my broom to the roof. “Come on. Let's check it out and see what's going on.”

-

Blizzard and I arrived at the front of the Museum just in time to find dozens of tourists being shepherded away, back in the direction of the port where the tourist ship was located. Several of the Museum's security guards were standing on the large front steps of the Museum, talking to each other or into walkie talkies. I even saw a few of the Island's medics wheeling away some injured people, but I had no idea what was happening. But I did see a flash of light on the inside of the Museum, which told me that there was probably someone or something inside that shouldn't be in there.

Blizzard and I ran up to the nearest security guard, a young guy in his late twenties whose name I didn't know, and said, “What's going on here?”

“Ah, Bolt, sir,” said the security guard. He pointed at the entrance to the Museum, which was still blocked by his fellow guards. “There's a fight going on in the Museum.”

“A fight?” I said. “Who's fighting who? Tell me from the start.”

“Okay,” said the security guard. He glanced at the Museum and then said, “A few minutes ago, one of the tour guides was leading the afternoon's tour group through the Villains exhibit and they were suddenly attacked by some kind of strange creature.”

“Strange creature?” I said. “What did it look like?”

“I don't know,” said the security guard in frustration. “It moved too fast. All I know is that it attacked the tour group and harmed several of them, though I don't think anyone died.”

“Is the creature still in there?” I said.

“Yes,” said the security guard, nodding. “And Big Muscle is trying to stop it.”

I knew who that was. Big Muscle was one of the NHA's members. I didn't know him very well, but from what I recalled, Big Muscle had powers similar to mine in that he could increase his physical strength, though I understood that he was capable of redistributing his strength to whichever part of his body he wanted, rather than evenly distributing it like I did. He was also in charge of the security for the Museum, which explained why he was fighting the creature in the Museum.

So I said, “How is Big Muscle's progress?”

“We don't know,” said the security guard. “Big Muscle told us to get all of the tourists and guests out and to close off all the exits so he could catch the creature and stop it before it destroyed anything valuable or escaped. Big Muscle is probably still alive, because the sounds of battle haven't gone down, but we don't know if he's actually winning or not.”

“Blizzard and I can help,” I insisted. “Let us go in and help Big Muscle. It will be easier to defeat the creature if he has help.”

“But he said not to let anyone into the Museum,” said the security guard. “And we have already sent a message to HQ telling them about this. They'll probably send someone else to help him.”

I heard a loud crash from within the Museum and said, “Do you know how long it will take for someone to get here? We're here already, so can you just let us in so we can help Muscle?”

The security guard hesitated, but then he nodded and said, “Okay. But please be careful with the exhibits. We don't want any of them to get damaged or destroyed, because nearly all of them are priceless and irreplaceable.”

“Okay,” I said. I looked at Blizzard. “Blizzard, do you feel up to helping fight the creature?”

Blizzard looked over her shoulder like she was thinking of staying, but then she looked at me again and nodded. “Yes. I'll just make sure to keep my power usage down so I don't lose control.”

“Great,” I said.

The two of us ran up the steps to the entrance. The other security guards moved out of the way, allowing us to push through the front doors and into the Museum itself.

I had been in the NHA Museum a few times in the past, but due to my position as the leader of the Young Neos, I never had the time to explore it. So when we entered, I looked around the front lobby and saw that it was almost completely empty. A help desk stood near the front, but the person who sat at it was gone, while the metal detectors that tourists were supposed to walk through appeared to be off. But I could hear the sounds of Big Muscle fighting the creature not far from the lobby, so Blizzard and I ran across the lobby, jumping over the front desk and landing on the other side with a run.

As we ran, we passed dozens of different exhibits and displays, such as the costumes of dead or captured supervillains, weapons or gadgets used by the aforementioned supervillains or ones used by deceased heroes, and even a stuffed Pokacu alien in a glass case. If I was a history geek, I could probably spend all day in here just looking at things, but at the moment I cared more about helping Big Muscle than in staring at the exhibits.

We turned a corner and stopped when we saw the scene playing out before us.

Big Muscle was wrestling a giant lizard-type creature. I had never seen anything like it before; the lizard creature, that is, not Big Muscle, though he looked pretty weird, too.

The lizard was at least as big as Muscle, if not larger, and was trying to claw at him, but he held back its claws from his skin. Still, there were scratches on his face and body and arms where the lizard had obviously already harmed him, though none of them looked lethal or very painful.

Even stranger about the lizard, though, was that it had creepy purple eyes, but I couldn't see much more about it due to how violently its tail thrashed about as it wrestled Muscle.

“Big Muscle!” Blizzard shouted. “It's us, Bolt and Blizzard! We're to help you.”

“What?” said Muscle, glancing at us briefly. “What you kids doing—”

The lizard creature screeched and clamped its teeth around Muscle's neck. I thought for sure it was going to rip his head off, but Muscle just punched it in the throat so hard that it actually flew off him. It landed on the floor, but then immediately vanished before I could get a good look at it.

“Huh?” I said, looking around for the creature. “Where the heck did it go?”

“Turned invisible,” said Muscle as he pushed himself up to his feet and rubbed his neck. He was panting and sweating, even though it wasn't very hot in the Museum. “Don't ask me how. All I know is that it can do that.”

“Do you know what it is?” said Blizzard, who was also looking around for the creature.

“Nope,” said Muscle, shaking his head. “But what are you two doing here? I told Jones not to let anyone in.”

“It's okay,” I said, holding up my hands. “We can defend ourselves. We just thought you'd need some help.”

Muscle grunted and said, “Help? From a couple of kids? I told Jones to call for one of the adults.”

“We're not just a couple of kids,” I said in annoyance. “We have powers, too, you know.”

“But you don't have the experience that adults do,” Muscle pointed out. “Anyway, I guess you're here to stay, so make yourself useful and keep an eye out for that tricky bastard. Dumb beast could be any—Oof!”

Muscle was suddenly knocked off his feet. I tried to help him back up, but then something thick and heavy struck me in the abdomen and I fell to the floor, too. And even with my super strength, the blow took the air out of me, leaving me stunned on the floor for a moment.

Then I heard shattered ice and looked up to see Blizzard's hands glowing and two chunks of ice on the floor. It looked like something had shattered an ice block that Blizzard had summoned and I figured that that something had to be the lizard.

Rising to my feet, I said, “Blizzard, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” said Blizzard, but her voice was much higher like she was afraid. “It tried to attack me, so I summoned an ice block to protect me.”

“Do you know where it went?” I said, looking around again as Muscle got back to his feet, rubbing the spot where the lizard had attacked him.

“No,” said Blizzard. “It could be anywhere.”

I stopped and listened, trying to see if I could hear the lizard's movement. That was when I heard claws clicking across the floor, and based on their position from me, it sounded like they were right behind Big Muscle, who must not have heard it because he was still rubbing his aching head.

So I zoomed around Muscle and punched at where I thought the lizard was. My fist connected with something soft and alive and the lizard immediately reappeared, only now it was really angry. It swiped at me with its claws, striking me in the chest and knocking me flat off my feet. Then it jumped on me, its weight making me gasp, but then I heard Blizzard shout, “Get off him!” and a chunk of ice flew out of nowhere and struck the lizard in the face.

The lizard staggered off me, but before it could recover, Big Muscle ran up to it and brought both of his fists down on its head. The creature crashed into the floor with a roar, but then Muscle smashed his foot onto its head and said, “How do you like
them
apples, you stupid beast?”

The lizard was trying to get Muscle's foot off its head, but he was keeping it down with no effort at all. I got back to my feet and backed away from the lizard, trying to get out of its reach in case it attacked again.

“Blizzard, freeze this thing to the floor so it can't escape,” said Muscle, looking over at her with an impatient look. “I cannot—”

Something whistled through the air past my ear and a second later a dart was embedded in Muscle's left shoulder. It was small and red, standing out against Muscle's skin. He immediately covered it with his hand, like a bug bite, and said, “What the heck is this?”

But then Muscle's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell over onto the floor like someone had punched him out. And without anyone standing on its head, the lizard creature reared up and opened its mouth, like it was about to start chowing down on the unconscious Muscle.

So I jumped into action, landing between the lizard and Muscle and catching its open mouth with my hands. The lizard was stronger, much stronger than I anticipated, but my super strength allowed me to hold it back, although I got to smell its bad breath right up close. It smelled like rotten eggs, but I didn't give up.

“Blizzard!” I shouted as I struggled to hold back the lizard. “Get it now while we still have a chance!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Blizzard hesitate. “But what if I accidentally freeze you, too?”

“I'll be fine,” I said. “Just do it!”

But then the lizard lashed out with its tongue, which slapped me in the face. The unexpected blow caused me to lose my foot, allowing the lizard to knock me to the floor. The blow wasn't the worst I'd received, but it did take me by surprise and leave me defenseless for a moment.

Then the lizard snapped its teeth around my body. My costume was made of tough material, which kept the lizard's teeth from piercing it, but the pressure from its jaw was still painful. I raised my fist to punch it, but then the lizard lifted me and threw me away like a rag doll.

I flew through the air before I smashed into a display of some sort, sending glass shards everywhere. Dazed, I shook my head and looked to see that I had crashed into the costume of some supervillain, but I didn't recognize it. It was made out of green spandex and had fake dragon-like wings sprouting from the back, but then I heard Blizzard scream and I looked up to see that the lizard was crawling toward her menacingly. She was firing ice at it, but oddly the ice didn't seem to hurt it.

I immediately stood up and flew toward the lizard. I landed on its back, but then it shook its body and threw me off, though this time I caught myself in midair and flew toward it again.

The lizard's tail came at me this time, but instead of dodging it, I grabbed it just before it hit me and then landed hard on the floor, hard enough to create cracks where I landed. The lizard looked over its shoulder at me in surprise, but I wasn't going to give it the chance to respond.

Instead, I shouted, “Freeze it, Blizzard!”

Blizzard thrust her glowing hands out and the lizard immediately started to freeze over so rapidly that even I had a hard time following it. The lizard tried to free itself, but I held its tail tightly and didn't let it get away.

Then, when the lizard was about halfway frozen, I lifted it up above my head by the tail even as it thrashed about. Once the lizard was high above my head, I turned around and smashed it directly on the floor of the Museum. Immediately, the frozen lizard exploded into chunks of ice and lizard meat, which scattered across the floor like ice cubes.