The Superhero's Son (Book 1): The Superhero's Test (15 page)

“Now,” said Dad, his eyes never leaving mine, “what did you think you were going to do?”

“I thought—”

“Don't answer that question,” said Dad. “It was rhetorical. I know what you thought you were doing. I don't need an answer.”

I bit my lower lip. Dad always seemed to be able to predict what I was going to say before I said it, but that didn't stop me from saying, “I don't see what you're so unhappy about. No one even saw me.”

Dad laughed, a harsh, sarcastic laugh that made me want to shrink. “Kevin, you broke into my Lab, stole some of my equipment, and deceived my personal assistant into helping you attempt to alter the memories of another person, while, I might add, your mother was at the doctor for an illness. What
shouldn't
I be unhappy about?”

Hoping I could calm Dad down, I said, “Look, Dad, I know you're not happy, but that doesn't mean you need to be angry. I mean, I managed to teach myself how to fly … well, hover, really, but—”

“I don't care,” said Dad. “Tell me, what would have happened if you had been seen? Do you really think that Master Chaos would not have been able to put two and two together and realize that you altered the memories of his son in order to protect your own life?”

“Well, it seemed like a—”

“Kevin, if you had done that, Master Chaos would have
known
that you are Bolt,” said Dad. “As I have told you repeatedly, Master Chaos is not an idiot. He is chaotic and unpredictable, but that doesn't mean he's stupid. You, on the other hand, might be, if you thought that stealing my equipment to alter Robert's memories would have convinced Master Chaos to leave us alone.”

It had never occurred to me that Master Chaos would have figured out my secret identity. “But if I had succeeded, no one would have known that I changed Robert's memories.”

“You don't think Master Chaos can put two and two together and read between the lines? That he wouldn't have found it strange that his son was no longer claiming you hurt him?” said Dad. “You're lucky I managed to get you back here before you did anything
really
stupid and unfixable.”

“How'd you get me back here, anyway?” I said. “You didn't have the Teleportation Buckle.”

Dad nodded at the monitors. “All of my inventions are connected. It took me only a second to send a message to my utility belt telling it to come back here. Not very difficult.”

“Oh,” I said. “Is there anything that your inventions
can't
do?”

“Apparently, they can't make you smart,” said Dad.

He let go of my suit. I stepped backwards, not because I thought Dad was going to hit me, but because Dad was so angry that I didn't want to be that close to him.

Dad held out his hand. “Give me the gauntlet and belt. Now.”

I quickly detached the gauntlet from my hand and removed the belt from my waist and handed them both to Dad. Dad took them and then walked over to the glass display where his suit was kept. He put the gauntlet and belt back on the mannequin and then pressed a button that closed the container.

Then Dad turned around to look at me. He still looked angry, almost too angry, which made me wish I could leave, but I didn't, because I felt like his gaze had paralyzed me.

“Look,” I said, holding up my hands. “I didn't do anything wrong. I mean, I know I shouldn't have done that, so maybe I actually did do something wrong, but trust me, I didn't have any bad intentions. I was just trying to help.”

Dad raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Help? How would confirming your identity to Master Chaos 'help'? Or getting caught by hospital security and getting the attention of the government on you?”

“So the government
doesn't
know that I'm Bolt?” I said hopefully.

“To my knowledge, they don't,” said Dad. “Only the NHA's highest members—my closest friends and allies—know. And that's because I did not want them sending anyone down here to attempt to recruit you to the NHA.”

“You mean some people know my secret identity?” I said.

“Only a few, and they are very tight-lipped about it,” said Dad, “as they are about various other secrets I've shared with them over the years. They assured me that they're going to keep the government from trying to recruit you.”

“Why would the government recruit me?” I said. “I'm not that great of a superhero yet.”

“It doesn't matter,” said Dad, shaking his head. “What matters is that you put yourself in needless danger all so you could play the hero.”

“But I wasn't 'playing' the hero,” I said. “I was just trying to keep us safe.”

“I know,” said Dad, “but just because your intentions may have been pure does not mean that you did nothing wrong.”

I couldn't argue with that. I just shrugged and said, “Well, what are you going to do, then? Take away my super suit? Ground me for a week?”

Dad shook his head. “No. Frankly, there's not much I can do to you, since your powers are burgeoning and you are almost an adult yourself. But don't think that you will get off without any punishment.”

“What will it be, then?” I said.

“No more superheroics,” said Dad. “Of any sort. And I will do that by having Valerie keep an eye on you and report your every move to me for a while.”

“What?” I said. “But that's an invasion of my privacy.”

Dad folded his arms across his chest. “Kevin, you've already proven to me that you can't be trusted to do the right thing by yourself. Besides, it won't be forever. I'll only have Valerie keep an eye on you until Master Chaos is no longer a threat to our well-being, after which I will no longer monitor your actions.”

“This is unfair,” I said. “I have a right to privacy.”

“I'm not going to be watching you in the bathroom, if that's what you're assuming,” said Dad. “You will still have
some
privacy. Just not the freedom you're so used to.”

I couldn't believe what Dad was telling me, but I didn't know what to do. It wasn't like I had any authority over him. He had every right to do this, but that didn't mean I had to like it.

“What would Mom say?” I said. “Don't you think Mom would want a say in this?”

“I already discussed this with your mother, actually, before I called you back,” said Dad. “She is fine with it, so you can't appeal to her for help.”

I felt my super strength growing, but I controlled it. I couldn't solve this problem with my fists, which made me all the angrier. I felt so helpless and there was nothing I could do about it.

“I am sorry, Kevin, but I have to do this,” said Dad. “I would prefer not, but sometimes tough punishments are necessary in order to hammer home a point.”

My shoulders slumped. “Does that mean we're not going to continue my training?”

“No,” said Dad. “We'll still do that, because you still need to know how to use your powers. You simply will not have the freedom to go around punching out convenience store robbers or breaking into hospitals for now.”

Dad's mention of hospitals suddenly sparked a memory in my head. “Oh, Dad, I just remembered something. Back in the hospital, Robert's mother visited him and I listened in on their conversation.”

“Yes?” said Dad. “What did they say?”

“Robert's mother said that she was in contact with Master Chaos,” I said. “She said that Master Chaos has already put into motion a plan to destroy us. Not only that, but she said that he is going to use this plan to make his grand reappearance in the world and also protect her and Robert.”

“Did she give any specifics?” said Dad. He sounded more interested than angry now.

“No,” I said. “She seemed paranoid that someone might be listening in.”

“Well, she wasn't wrong,” said Dad. “Did she say how she was keeping in contact with Chaos?”

“No,” I said. “She didn't say. She just said that she's been talking with him.”

Dad looked down and stroked his chin. “We suspected that Master Chaos was likely in contact with Maria Candle, but we didn't know for sure. I will have to tell the NHA about this.”

“And the government?” I said.

“The NHA can tell the government,” said Dad curtly. “What troubles me is that Master Chaos apparently has some sort of plan, if Maria Candle was telling the truth. I just wish I knew what it was.”

“Do you think we'll need some help?” I said. “Like, help from the NHA, maybe?”

Dad shook his head. “No. At the very least, I don't think we'll need the NHA to protect us, although I may have to install some advanced security systems in the house just in case Chaos gets here.”

“Why is Maria Candle even free, anyway?” I said. “If we know that she's the wife of Master Chaos, why wasn't she arrested with him seventeen years ago?”

“Because no one even knew about her until Master Chaos was already behind bars,” said Dad. “There was a big scandal when she first came out to the press as the wife of Master Chaos with Robert as her son, but a DNA test proved that Robert was related to both. The government did investigate to see if Maria had been involved in any of Master Chaos's previous schemes, but they could not find any evidence to suggest that she had been involved in any sort of criminal activity.”

“Well, I think sleeping with Master Chaos ought to count as criminal activity, if you ask me,” I said. I shuddered. “I mean, have you
seen
the pictures of him?”

“Kevin, this is no time for jokes,” said Dad, folding his arms across his chest. “While I am still angry with what you did, I am glad you managed to learn that Master Chaos has been in contact with Maria. This could be vital information that might be able to help us find him before he attacks us.”

“So does that mean you are not going to punish me?” I said hopefully.

Dad shook his head. “Of course not. You're still getting the punishment you deserve. And yes, we will resume your training on Saturday, so don't make any plans with your friends for the weekend.”

Friends? What friends? I suppose there was Malcolm and Tara, but Dad didn't know about them. He must have assumed that I had already made some friends in this small town, even though most of the kids at the school still seemed to think I was a freak.

Nonetheless, I said, “Okay. Can I go back to my room?”

Dad nodded. “Yes. But please take off your super suit. There's no need to wear it around the house.”

I sighed, but pressed the button on my suit-up watch and in a second I was standing in my normal clothes again. Then I turned and walked up the steps back to the rest of the house, but slowly and without any happiness, because I knew that this next week was going to suck.

Chapter Thirteen

L
ike I thought, this week really did suck, mostly because I knew that Dad was watching me. I didn't know how, because I never saw any drones or anything else that he could use to watch my movements, but I didn't risk using my super powers or trying to suit up again. I just went to school and back home every day, taking the same route without fail.

It was a really boring week at school, mostly because the other kids were starting to see me less as the 'new kid' and more just like the other students. That didn't mean I became more popular, though, or got more friends. I still ate with Malcolm and Tara every day and didn't hang out with or talk to anyone else.

Malcolm kept speculating about the identity of Bolt every time we sat down to talk. He seemed obsessed with my superhero identity, probably because the idea that there was a neohero living somewhere in Silvers blew his mind. One time he even suggested that we hire a private detective to figure out Bolt's identity and I wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

For what it was worth, I just listened, mostly because I worried that if I said too much, then Malcolm would be able to figure out my secret identity. I never had to worry about that with Tara, though, because she never talked about Bolt or any other neoheroes. I didn't really know what she liked, actually, except for her phone. Nor did I gather the courage to ask her out, mostly because I knew how much she hated neoheroes.

I also paid attention to my ranking on Neo Ranks. Because I had only had one public appearance so far, I was still very low, but apparently I moved up to a 1.5 at some point. The reasoning, according to the page's administrator, for the upgrade was that super strength was obviously superior to other 1 powers like having an enormous big toe, but not quite enough to raise my overall Rank to a 2 just yet. That was kind of depressing, but better than being a 1, I supposed.

But I was curious to see what Dad's ranking was. Ranks had a way of going down over the years, mostly if a neohero retired or was killed. After all, you can't gain ranks if you were dead or simply no longer fighting crime. I figured that Dad's had probably gone down quite a bit since he retired sixteen years ago.

So at lunch on Wednesday, I looked up 'Genius' on Neo Ranks only to find out that he was a 9. I gaped when I saw that, prompting Malcolm—who was sitting across from me at our lunch table rambling on about setting a trap to capture Bolt so we could unmask him—to say, “What?”

I shook my head and looked up at him. “Did you see Genius's rank? It's still a nine, even though he retired sixteen years ago.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Malcolm, nodding. “Well, Genius was really popular in his days, didn't you know? And he's still popular. I see discussions all the time on Neo Ranks about people wondering how Genius would handle guys like Conjurer or Hybrid. There was even a petition a while back to get him back into crime-fighting.”

“Really?” I said in surprise. “Where did the petition go?”

“It was submitted to the Neohero Alliance, because they're the only people who know Genius's real identity and how to contact him,” said Malcolm. “Over one hundred thousand people signed it. You can still find it online if you search.”

“One hundred thousand?” I said. “I didn't know Genius was so popular.”

“Yeah,” said Malcolm. “I just don't get why anyone would retire with that much fame. If I was as popular as Genius, I would be a superhero for as long as I lived.”

I nodded, but I was thinking about Dad. I hadn't realized just how much he had given up to raise me with Mom. If over one hundred thousand people wanted him back, I bet that was only a fraction of his real fan base. I had a hard time imagining my stern, almost emotionless Dad having any real 'fans,' but I guess he did.