The Superhero's Powers (The Superhero's Son Book 4) (16 page)

“Okay, okay,” said Dad. “I'll see if I can get Mimic to use the ship's tractor beam to pull you aboard. Just hang on a moment and I'll have you aboard in a jiffy.”

-

About half an hour later, Mom and I were inside the
Spinner's
cargo hold, which was a lot warmer and drier than the ocean. Dad was here as well, though Mimic—who had apparently survived their fight with Ring Out and Tornadess—was still at the controls and was piloting the
Spinner
away from the scene of the battle.

Dad was way more worried than I had ever seen him before. He asked me if I was all right, checked every inch of my body for any injuries or wounds I might have sustained (though I think I mostly suffered some mega bruises than anything, surprisingly enough), and even hugged me, which was the strangest part of it all because Dad wasn't really into hugs. I almost thought that Mimic might have taken on Dad's appearance and was just playing some kind of weird practical joke on us, at least until I heard Mimic’s voice over the
Spinner
’s intercoms announcing that we were heading to the Compound.

He also did the same to Mom, except he actually kissed her when he saw that she was okay and he hugged her far longer than he hugged me. I always knew that Mom and Dad loved each other, so seeing them hug and kiss like that didn't surprise me, though it made me slightly uncomfortable anyway. I also noticed that Mom had her purse again, which made me assume that she had somehow gotten it back from Graleex during my skirmish with Robert.

“I am so glad that you two are all right,” said Dad, draping an arm over Mom's shoulders. “For a while there, I thought … well, it doesn't matter what I thought. You two are alive and well, but I have no idea how you survived like that.”

“We were captured by a Pokacu named Graleex,” I said. I dropped the helmet for my underwater suit onto the floor and started to press the buttons that would take the suit off me. I could already feel it starting to loosen around my body, which made movement in the dry air of the
Spinner
much easier.

“A Pokacu?” said Dad in astonishment. “That can't be right. We killed all of them during the invasion fifteen years ago and we haven’t seen any others since.”

“He said he was the only survivor,” I said. “Said he had been hiding under the sea for fifteen years. He captured us because he intended to use the escape pod to leave Earth and return to the 'Mother World,' as he called it.”

“Really?” said Dad. He looked at Mom. “Is Kevin telling the truth?”

“Yes,” said Mom, nodding. She shuddered. “That alien was so disgusting and ugly. I'm just glad he's gone.”

“Gone?” I said. “What do you mean? Isn't he still on his ship?”

“Not anymore,” said Mom. “During your battle with Robert, he left the lab and told me to stay there while he did something, though he gave me back my purse because he said he didn't need it. I thought he was going to go help you or something, but when the
Spinner
connected with Graleex's ship and I went to go find him, I found that the escape pod was gone and the hold was filling with water.”

“You mean he escaped?” I said.

“Escaped? To where?” said Dad. “To the surface?”

“No, I don't think so,” said Mom. “I think he left Earth or is in the process of leaving Earth.”

“He must have seen an opportunity to escape while I distracted Robert,” I said. I shook my head. “No surprise there. He was never really much of a friend or ally. I imagine he's probably already forgotten about me.”

“Why does he want to return to his home world?” said Dad. “Did he say why?”

“He wanted to request a new invasion fleet,” I said. “He said that the invasion hadn't 'really' ended and that he was going to share everything he had learned about Earth with his leaders so that the next invasion would go better than the last.”

Dad frowned. “Then we'll have to send a message to the G-Men and NHA and let them know about it. Maybe they will be able to stop Graleex before he leaves orbit.”

“I hope so,” I said. “But maybe he won't get that far. Maybe he'll run out of fuel halfway there and die in the void of space.”

“Maybe, but regardless, there's nothing we can do to stop him at the moment,” said Dad. “I'm just glad that you and your mother are still alive.”

I nodded. “Same here. But what about you and Mimic? What happened to Ring Out and Tornadess?”

“We managed to beat them, but they fled before we could arrest them,” said Dad. “I don't know where they ran off to, but I'm guessing that they didn't see any point in staying around without you there.”

“Okay, but how did you and Mimic find us?” I said. “Even we didn't know where we were or where we were going.”

“The
Spinner
can track the location of its escape pods,” Dad explained. “So when Ring Out and Tornadess left, Mimic used the ship's tracking feature to find you. And when we saw Robert, well, we shot him without hesitation.”

“Yeah, I remember,” I said. I frowned. “Is Robert dead?”

“I don't know,” said Dad. “Those laser blasts and the resulting avalanche should have been enough to kill almost anyone, but Robert's powers could easily have saved him, though I doubt he'll be able to dig his way out of there for a while.”

“Why don't we go back and check?” I said. “Why are we just leaving him behind like that?”

“Because Mimic told me that the
Spinner
lacks any sort of digging equipment,” said Dad. “Besides, if it turns out Robert is alive, we don't want to help him out and give him a chance to kill us all. Remember, we're supposed to be at the Compound, not going toe-to-toe with Robert or any of his friends or allies.”

“Okay,” I said in disappointment. “But how will we know if Robert escapes?”

“Mimic left a probe that is keeping an eye on the spot where Robert was buried,” said Dad. “It also acts as a beacon for the G-Men to use to locate the cliff underneath which Robert was buried. He said that he has already sent a message back to Washington about Robert, so they will probably send someone down here to make sure he’s dead or capture him if he isn’t.”

“That's good to hear,” I said with a sigh. “I was worried for a while that Robert might come after us again.”

“If the avalanche didn't kill him, he probably will,” said Dad. “Luckily, however, we will be long gone and in a secret location before Robert returns, a location that Robert will likely never find.”

“I hope so,” I said. “At least we're all back together again.”

“Yes,” said Dad, squeezing Mom tighter by his side. “And that's what matters in the end, that we all survived and are together.”

“Yeah,” I said. “So when will we reach the Compound?”

“I don't know,” said Dad, stroking his chin. “Let me go ask Mimic. He should know.”

Dad let go of Mom and walked toward the exit. Mom and I followed him, but then Mom suddenly looked at me and said, “Oh, Kevin, I almost forgot. Graleex wanted me to give you something.”

I stopped and looked at Mom in confusion as she dug through her purse. “Wait, are you saying that Graleex asked you to give me a gift? From him?”

“Yes,” said Mom. “Hold on … here it is.”

Mom pulled out a small canister from her purse and handed it to me. Puzzled, I took the metal tube and looked it over. It was about as tall as your average thermos, made of a dull gray metal with strange Pokacu letters and numbers written on its surface. It had a clear glass surface that showed its contents, which appeared to be some kind of mustard yellow gas that looked very toxic.

“What is this?” I said, looking at Mom. “What did Graleex say it is supposed to do?”

“He didn't tell me,” said Mom. “Before he left, he told me that you might be able to use it against Robert, though he didn't say exactly how it would help. He just said that it was his way of showing his appreciation for us returning with a functioning escape pod he could use to return to the Mother World.”

“Weird,” I said, turning the canister over to see if there was any English on it that might tell me what its contents did. “I thought he hated us, but I guess even he believes in showing gratitude toward those who help him.”

“It sure looks that way,” said Mom. “Perhaps you should show it to your father. He might know what it is, seeing as he has fought the Pokacu before.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said. “But later, when we reach the Compound. Dad probably doesn't have the necessary equipment to tell what it is here. And besides, I don't want to have him open this and kill us all because it turned out to be toxic.”

“Well, for what it's worth, I didn't think Graleex was trying to trick me,” said Mom. “He seemed very sincere when he told me that that canister would be useful for stopping Robert. I think the only reason he didn't tell me what it did was because he was in a hurry to escape Earth.”

I nodded and put the canister in one of the pockets of the underwater suit. “Yeah. Now let's go back to the control room and see if this ship has any beds on it. I'm really tired from everything that's happened so far today and am up for a nap.”

Mom also nodded and soon we were leaving the hold, though I wondered if I would ever see Graleex again. I didn't think I would, seeing as it would probably take him years to reach the 'Mother World' even if his escape pod was flying at the speed of light, and it would take just as much time to get back to Earth even if he got a new fleet, but I still felt just as uneasy about Graleex's escape as I did about Robert's fate, whatever it was.

Chapter Fifteen

T
he rest of the journey to the Compound was very uneventful. We didn't run into any other supervillains or sunken alien spaceships or even sea monsters. It was an entirely undersea journey, however, because the Compound was apparently underwater somewhere, so Mimic had seen no point in taking to the air again, especially if there was a chance that Tornadess and Ring Out were still in the sky somewhere looking for us.

I showed Dad the Pokacu canister, but to my disappointment, Dad didn't know what it was or what was inside it. But he seemed very interested in it, taking it from my hands and scanning it with the scanner built into his gauntlet and said he would love to look at it in more detail later. Dad didn't exactly tell me, but I could tell that he had a theory about what the canister was even if he wouldn't tell me what it was just yet.

I slept for most of the rest of the journey because I was utterly exhausted from my fight with Robert. Though my underwater suit had kept me from suffering injuries that were too serious or life-threatening, the fact was that you couldn't just jump back from being pummeled by a superhuman at the bottom of the ocean floor instantly like that. Maybe if I had still had my superpowers, I wouldn't be so tired, but I didn't and so I was normal again and had to suffer the same consequences that all normal people suffered whenever they went through those kinds of experiences.

But it felt like I didn't get a whole lot of sleep before Dad was shaking me awake and telling me that we were just about to land in the Compound and to get ready to disembark the ship. I rolled my shoulders and yawned, then looked toward the front where Mimic was still piloting the ship. I looked out the windshield and saw that we were approaching what looked like a huge, underwater mountain, but I didn't see any buildings or anything on its surface to indicate that that was our location.

Rubbing my eyes, I said, “Mimic, are you sure that that's the Compound?”

“Of course,” said Mimic. “It may look like an underwater mountain, but trust me that this is our destination.”

I was about to ask if we were going to have to become underwater mountaineers when Mimic suddenly pressed a button and said, “Pilot to base! This is Agent Frances Martin, codenamed Mimic, coming in with the Guests. Please open the main gates so we can enter.”

“Affirmative, Agent Martin,” said a voice from within a speaker on the dashboard that I didn't recognize. “Opening the main gates now.”

Then I noticed movement outside the ship. On the face of the mountain, right between its peak and its foot, a portion of the surface was rising. Dirt tumbled down in droves as a portion of the mountain's surface opened wide enough for the
Spinner
to enter.

“Please hold onto your seats,” said Mimic, glancing over his shoulder at us as we approached the mountain. “Though I am an excellent and skilled pilot, landing in the Compound can be a little rough sometimes. Just a heads up.”

I nodded and double-checked my straps to make sure I was secured, while Mom and Dad did the same as the
Spinner
entered the mountain.

Now we were going through what looked like a dark metal tunnel that seemed to stretch on for a while. But we were inside it for only a moment; in a second, we passed out into a much larger and more open area that looked kind of like a swimming pool. The
Spinner
came to a halt before it started to ascend and soon it broke the surface, water rolling down its exterior as it came to a halt.

“Here we are,” said Mimic. “The Compound. You can't see much from here, however, so why don't we step onto the roof and await the boat that will take us to the rest of the Compound?”

-

It wasn't long before all four of us were standing on the wet and slightly slippery surface of the
Spinner
, with our bags and suitcases at our feet. While Mimic called for someone to send a boat out to us, I took a good look at the Compound and was impressed by what I saw.

The area we had emerged inside was gigantic. It reminded me kind of like a massive indoor swimming pool and even smelled kind of like bleach mixed with seawater. Slapping water echoed off the walls, while bright lights in the ceiling illuminated every corner of the place. Ahead of us was an artificial bay with a building that looked like a lighthouse, although it appeared to be a control tower rather than a lighthouse. It was too far away for me to see who was inside it, but I could see movement in the top, as well as a few people climbing into the boat at its foot that appeared to be government agents.

“Wow,” I said, looking around the Compound with my mouth hanging open. “This place is amazing. How big is it?”