The Superhero's Powers (The Superhero's Son Book 4) (17 page)

“Classified,” said Mimic, lowering his phone and putting it back into his pocket. “But it is easily one of the largest government bases in the world, that much I can tell you.”

“All just for people like us?” I said in surprise.

“Supervillains are unusually dangerous and motivated,” said Mimic. “So normal government compounds or secret facilities are usually not enough to protect innocent people from them. Building a base at the bottom of the ocean floor inside of an underwater mountain, however, is typically enough to discourage most supervillains from trying to get their targets.”

“So Robert couldn't get in here even if he tried?” I said hopefully.

“Probably not, unless someone let him in,” said Mimic. “The Compound has a wide array of security and defense measures, both exterior and interior, that would beat back all but the most determined of supervillains. And even then, the determined supervillain in question would need to be Omega Man level powerful to survive our various defenses.”

“Like what?” I said.

“As I said, classified,” said Mimic. “So long as you and your family stay within the confines of the Compound, you will hopefully never have to see any of them.”

“Can I guess what they are?” I said excitedly. I put a hand on my chin and thought deeply for a moment before snapping my fingers. “I know. Robot sharks with laser guns attached to their heads.”

Mimic looked at me like I had just said something stupid. “What part of 'classified' do you not understand?”

“So there
are
robot sharks with laser guns attached to their heads defending this place?” I said.

Mimic sighed in exasperation, which was all the confirmation of my theory I needed, while Dad said, “I have never been down here before, though I've heard of it. It is far more impressive than I thought.”

“Yes,” said Mimic proudly. “I was not here when it was constructed, but I was one of the first to step inside it when it was finished. It is the pride of the G-Men and practically impenetrable.”

Although Mimic sounded proud of the Compound, I noticed a hint of worry in his voice, so I said, “What's the problem? You seem worried about something.”

“Hmm?” said Mimic. “Oh, it is nothing. I am just thinking that I will need to report Robert Candle's attack to Director Smith after we reach the Control Tower. He will need to know about this immediately.”

I nodded, but before I could ask him more about that, the small motorboat sent to pick us up reached the side of the ship. The four of us climbed into the small boat carefully and then went back across the water to the large lighthouse-like building at the other end, the one that Mimic had called the Control Tower.

Upon reaching the dock, my parents, Mimic, and I climbed out of the boat without delay, bringing our bags and suitcases with us. As we climbed onto the metal deck, a group of men who looked like soldiers approached us. They all wore military-style gear and weapons, so I assumed that none of them were neoheroes.

In the front of the group, however, was a man who was clearly in charge. He was a tall, athletic-looking black man who reminded me of someone, but I had no idea who he reminded me of, although for some reason I was thinking that he looked like someone I had seen back in Silvers. His outfit was a professional-looking military uniform, but I noticed he had a G-Men patch on his right shoulder, so that meant that he was a superhuman, but I couldn't tell what his powers were just by looking at him.

“Agent Mimic,” said the man. Even his voice—commanding and deep—sounded familiar, but I still couldn't place it. He and the four men behind him stopped a few feet from us. “Are these the Guests that Director Smith told us would be staying here for a while?”

“Yes,” said Mimic, nodding. He pointed at each one of us in turn as he said our names. “Kevin Jason, also known as Bolt; Theodore Jason, also known as Genius; and Genius's wife, Ashley Jason, who is not a superhuman.”

The man nodded at each one of us in turn. “Good to meet you all. I am Agent Renaissance, a member of the G-Men and the current Commander of the Compound. I came here to welcome you three to the Compound personally, because I have heard so much about you and your situation with the Thief.”

Renaissance suddenly looked at me. “You, in particular, Bolt, I have heard much about. I wanted to thank you for saving my younger brother, Malcolm, from the Thief a week ago.”

“Wait, you're Malcolm's brother?” I said in surprise.

“Yes,” said Renaissance, though he sounded reluctant to admit it. “But I have been told you and my brother are friends. Has he never told you about me?”

“No, he hasn't,” I said, shaking my head. “I mean, he told me he had a brother working for the G-Men, but I didn't know you were a superhuman. What kind of powers do you have?”

I was pretty sure I must have said something wrong, because Renaissance suddenly put on a stone cold face. He just shook his head and said, “Perhaps Malcolm just didn't see any point in telling you about me. As for my powers, you do not need to know what they are right now.”

Uh oh. It seemed like Malcolm and his brother didn't get along too well. I wondered why that was, but apparently Renaissance wasn't going to tell me about it. This probably wasn't the best place to talk about that anyway, though I made a mental note to call Malcolm later and ask him about his older brother.

“Now, then,” said Renaissance. He looked at Mimic. “What took you so long to get here? You are an hour late.”

“I know,” said Mimic, “but we ran into some … complications on the way here. I need access to a computer so I can contact Director Smith and tell him what happened.”

Renaissance nodded. “Of course. You may use the main computer in the Control Tower to report the status of your mission to the Director, but I would like to hear about it as well, because I am interested in hearing about it as well.”

“You won't be showing us to our rooms?” I said, looking up at Renaissance in confusion.

“No,” said Renaissance, shaking his head. He gestured to the armed men behind him. “These four will escort you and your parents to your living quarters. I will come by later, however, after lunch to discuss some important issues with you.”

“What might these important issues be?” said Dad.

“You will know when I come to talk with you about them,” said Renaissance. “Now, please follow these men. I would like to talk with Mimic in private.”

My parents and I followed the four armed men toward the other end of the dock. As we walked, I looked over my shoulder at Mimic and Renaissance. Mimic was talking to Renaissance in a low tone, while Renaissance listened as intently as if Mimic was telling a very interesting story. Based on his serious expression, Renaissance was obviously not pleased at what he was hearing.

I understood that, of course. After all, if Robert had managed to find me at the bottom of the ocean like that, then he might be able to find me here. I still didn't know how he had found us, but perhaps Robert had stolen a tracking power from some poor guy and was using it to locate me. It was the only idea that made sense to me, anyway, because I couldn't think of any other explanation for how Robert had found me.

Anyway, we went through a large metal detector before we could leave the dock, which, according to one of the guards, was just to make sure we weren't taking anything into the Compound that could be dangerous. The only thing that set off any alarms was the Pokacu canister that Graleex had given us, but Dad assured them that the yellow gas was safe and would not be a problem in here. I wondered why Dad didn't let the government confiscate the canister; probably because he still wanted to examine it.

After that, we took a small cart—which had a trunk large enough to carry our luggage—through the Compound to an elevator on the very back wall. This elevator took us down into a long hallway that had doorways to several different rooms. My parents and I were taken to a door at the very end of the hall, which turned out to be a large suite-like room. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room, but none of it was particularly fancy or luxurious. It was mostly plain and boring, but at least there was a bed in my room, which was better than that awful seat I had back on the
Spinner
.

When we got to the suite, one of the guards told us that Renaissance would be here soon, but until then we should stay in the suite and not venture out without the knowledge of the Commander or anyone else in the Compound. I didn't mind that too much, because I was too exhausted to want to do any exploration (but I planned to do some later, because this place was just too big to leave unexplored), though I noticed Dad didn't seem thrilled that we didn't have as much freedom of movement as we'd like.

When the guards left, Mom said that she was going to go and make lunch for us, since she had discovered that the pantries and fridge in the kitchen were full of food and ingredients to make lunch. I was surprised that Mom was feeling good enough to do that after everything we'd been through, but neither Dad nor I objected to the idea of lunch.

Instead, I went to the room that I was given, without talking to my parents, to take a nap, because like I said, I was really tired and needed to sleep. I was also thinking of taking a shower, although I was too tired to do that just yet.

But just as I lay down on the bed, I heard a sudden beeping noise from my suit-up watch. I looked down at it to see who is calling and saw that it was Malcolm. That was a weird coincidence, because I had been intending to call him later after I took a nap myself, but I decided that I had enough energy to talk with him.

So I tapped the screen of my watch and said, “Hi, Mal. What's up?”

“Kev, are you okay?” said Malcolm. His voice sounded hurried and scared for some reason. “You sound okay, but are you really?”

“Um, yes, mostly,” I said. “Why? Did something bad just happen?”

“Someone on Neo Ranks posted a picture of an alien spaceship flying into space and it looked like it was coming from the Atlantic,” said Malcolm. “I remembered that you were going out into the Atlantic Ocean, so I just called you to see if you had been attacked by aliens or not.”

I blinked. “Well, I sort of was, actually.”

“You were?” said Malcolm. “I knew it! How did it happen? Tell me
all
the details.”

“Okay, but first, how did you contact me?” I said. “I'm down in the Compound. I'd think that the G-Men would be blocking all communications coming in and out of the place.”

“Well, your voice does sound kind of weird,” said Malcolm. “Like you're underwater, so maybe your connection isn't all that good. But wasn't your watch designed by your dad? He's a tech genius, after all, so I bet he designed it to get through any communication blockades.”

“That's as good a guess as any,” I said. “Anyway, here's what happened after we left Hero Island earlier.”

I gave Malcolm the rundown of what happened, including my meeting with Graleex and fight with Robert. Because I was so tired, I didn't go into any great detail about any of it, though I tried to answer any of Malcolm's questions as best as I could.

Once I finished, Malcolm said, “So you met an actual Pokacu. Man, Kev, I know you're a superhero and all, but I'm actually getting a little jealous at all of the awesome things you've experienced.”

“It wasn't nearly as awesome as it might sound,” I said. “Graleex probably would have killed me and Mom if Robert hadn't attacked.”

“Yeah, I know, but come on,” said Malcolm. “Most people will never get to meet any sort of alien ever. Did you take any pictures, at least?”

“No, I didn't,” I said. “But it doesn't matter. Graleex is gone and probably won't be back for a good long while. Robert, however, might still be a threat, if he survived.”

“Right,” said Malcolm, though he sounded doubtful. “But I doubt even Robert could have survived the assault that you just told me about. Hit by lasers from an alien spaceship and then buried underneath tons of rock and sand at the bottom of the ocean doesn't seem like the kind of thing that anyone could survive, super human or not.”

“I know, but I think he's probably still alive anyway, though I doubt he's going to escape for a while,” I said. “Maybe he'll go back to the hospital for a few weeks or months, like when I punched him through the cafeteria wall.”

“Heh,” said Malcolm. “But seriously, you sure you're okay? I can't believe you actually fought Robert and survived without your powers.”

“I'm fine,” I said. “Just really tired, but now that I'm in the Compound, I won't have to worry about Robert getting here and killing me. I was told the place has great defenses.”

“Does it have robot sharks with lasers mounted on their heads?” said Malcolm excitedly.

“I asked, but they wouldn't say,” I said. “But I think they do. It's what I'd do if I was in charge of designing the defense systems for this base, anyway.”

“If you see any, take some pictures and send them to me right away,” said Malcolm. “'Cause I really want to see them.”

“Sure,” I said. Then I suddenly remembered something. “Oh, yeah. Why didn't you tell me your brother is a superhuman?”

The silence coming from the suit-up watch immediately evaporated whatever good feelings I was experiencing at the moment.

I almost thought Malcolm had hung up before he said, “So you've met James?”

“Is that his real name?” I said, though I said it somewhat hesitantly. “He told me that his codename is Renaissance.”

“Yeah, that's him all right,” said Malcolm. “I didn't know he was at the Compound, though. He always told us that he lives in Washington.”

“Well, he's apparently the Compound's Commander,” I said. “But anyway, I didn't know your brother had powers. Why didn't you tell me that before?”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” said Malcolm. “I was going to tell you before you left, but … well, I just didn't think it was worth mentioning.”

“Why not?” I said. “I remember when I first revealed my identity to you, that you said I was the first neohero you knew. But if your brother is a superhuman, then doesn't that mean I'm actually the
second
neohero you know?”