The Superhero's Son (Book 1): The Superhero's Test (25 page)

“Why?” I said curiously. “What's so bad about so many people watching our fight with Chaos?”

Dad shook his head. “I will explain later. For now, we need to get my arms looked at, which means we need to find your mother. And speak with the police, too, once they get here. Come on.”

With that, Dad turned and started walking away from the crate. I scrambled to my feet and followed, feeling relieved that Master Chaos was gone, but also worrying about what was going to happen next. Because if Dad didn't like the fact that our fight with Master Chaos had been witnessed by tons of people all around the world, then I knew it was going to be a problem, even if I wasn't yet sure how.

Chapter Twenty-Two

T
he next week went by like a blur to me, and it wasn't because of my super speed.

First, Dad and I spoke with the officers of the Fallsville City Police Department, who had arrived in front of the warehouse just as we were exiting it. Dad explained to them what happened, although briefly because we needed to get his arms medical attention quickly, and then told them that the NHA and the G-Men would arrive soon to clean up and recover Master Chaos's remains. He also told them that Maria Candle was still inside the warehouse and explained how she had helped Master Chaos. The police, surprisingly enough, actually listened to Dad's story and let us go, probably because Dad was such a famous superhero or maybe because he was working with the G-Men on the case.

Regardless, the officers let us go home. I suggested we fly, but Dad had Seeker One teleport us back with its prototype 'teleportation beam.' It worked similarly to the Teleportation Buckle, except you didn't have to wear it to use it. It felt weird to be teleported back home like that, but when I saw Mom's relieved face in the living room (which was where we reappeared), I forgot all about how weird it felt to teleport and was just happy that we had made it back home together.

When we got home, Dad had Mom work on his arms. Dad said he didn't want to go to the hospital because he didn't want to risk people learning his secret identity. And Mom, apparently, had some experience fixing wounds inflicted from superhero battles, because she removed his gauntlets and went to work bandaging and splinting his arms like she had done it a million times.

While she did that, I told her what happened during our fight with Master Chaos. Mom listened, but didn't say much until the end when I mentioned that Master Chaos was dead. At that point, Mom almost burst into tears of joy, which made me try to calm her down because I was worried that her crying might distract her from helping Dad. I managed to get her to stop crying after a while, though I could tell she was still happy that we were safe. I also thought she was happy that we had avenged Uncle Jake, too, even if she didn't say it.

When Mom finished bandaging Dad's arms, I returned to my room. Mom said I still had school tomorrow and I was too exhausted to argue against that, so when I went to my room, I didn't even take off my super suit. I just fell onto my bed and slept through the entire day and into the morning in my suit. In fact, I was so tired that I almost was late for school, but Mom woke me up and I managed to use my super speed (very slightly, of course) to help me get to school on time.

When I got to school, I was immediately mobbed by the other students. I learned that everyone had seen me on Master Chaos's livestream and they wanted to know how that happened and how I got there. I frankly hadn't been able to come up with an explanation for that, but somehow I convinced them that Master Chaos had kidnapped me from within the school yesterday without anyone noticing. Of course, that made the three G-Men protecting the school look like idiots, but no one seemed to mind that. Everyone just seemed proud of the fact that they knew someone who had been almost murdered by one of the world's worst supervillains, which I guess was better than being treated with derision for being the new kid, at least.

At lunchtime, I learned from Malcolm that the Master Chaos livestream had been seen by millions of people all over the world and now the Bolt Neo Ranks page had hundreds of thousands of views from people trying to find out who I was. My Neo Rank had even gone up, from 1.5 all the way to 7, which was amazing, because very few neoheroes ever made that kind of leap on Neo Ranks. Even Tara seemed impressed by it, although she was more concerned with my health, asking if I was okay after being kidnapped by Master Chaos.

Not only that, but the three G-Men who had been tasked with protecting the school—Black Gold, Iron Horn, and Shade—were called back to Washington the day after. Dad told me that the police had confirmed that Master Chaos was indeed dead, which meant that there was no reason for the G-Men to protect my school anymore, although the police couldn't find Maria Candle and believed she had fled, though they did not know where. Frankly, I wasn't worried, because the G-Men put her on their most wanted list and offered a reward to anyone who could bring her in, so I figured they were going to capture her sooner or later.

Robert Candle's location, however, was perfectly well-known. He was back in school a couple of days later, except he had to rely on crutches to get around. I worried that Robert, who probably knew my secret identity, would tell everyone that I was Bolt, but he never did. That was probably because everyone thought Robert was crazy, a reputation he had gained after 'lying' about me punching him through the cafeteria wall. Still, every now and then Robert would shoot me a death glare, especially whenever anyone mentioned my alternate identity. The police, apparently, were not going to arrest him because they did not believe he had helped Master Chaos, which worried me a little, because Robert still held a grudge against me, and if he developed powers at some point, I had no doubt he'd use them against me somehow.

In any case, the rest of the week was the first time in a long time that I didn't feel stressed out or worried. I just went to school, hung out with Malcolm and Tara, and went home every day. I didn't even put on my super suit. As much as I enjoyed using my powers, my fight with Master Chaos had left me a little worn out with fighting evil for now. I still planned to resume superheroics someday—despite Mom and Dad's disapproval—but for now I decided I'd take things nice and easy and leave the superheroics to the NHA and the G-Men.

But then on Friday afternoon, as I returned home from school, I noticed a large black van in the driveway of our house. At first, I didn't think much of it, thinking that maybe Mom or Dad had invited one of the neighbors over or something, so when I entered the house, I shouted, “Mom! Dad! I'm home! Whose car is that out—”

I stopped speaking when I reached the living room, where I saw four people sitting.

Two of them were Mom and Dad. Mom wore her kitchen apron, looking like she had just been in the middle of cooking dinner (and I could smell spaghetti sauce from the kitchen), and was sitting in one of the recliners. Dad sat in the recliner next to her, his arms still in their splints. He had been sitting there for the last week, recovering from having his arms broken, so I didn't find that strange.

But what I did find strange were the two people sitting on the couch opposite my parents. One was a young woman in her twenties, with pale skin and dark hair and wearing a G-Men uniform. I recognized her as Shade, and she must have recognized me, too, because she smiled and waved at me when she saw me.

Sitting beside her was a man I'd never seen before. His hair was dark, like Shade's, but longer, with a few gray hairs scattered here and there. He also looked older than Shade, probably in his forties at least. He wore an old-fashioned suit, with a G-Men patch on his right shoulder, which meant he was yet another G-Man, though I didn't know which one.

When he looked at me, I felt like he was reading my mind. His eyes looked too old for his face, as old as my Grandpa's eyes, which was weird because this guy was obviously in his forties while Grandpa was in his nineties.

“Hello, Kevin,” said the man. His voice was soft and gravelly. “Nice to meet you.”

I stared at the man for a moment before looking at Mom and Dad. “Who are these people and why are they sitting on our couch?”

Dad sighed. He gestured with his fingers at the two. “Kevin, these two are from the G-Men. The young lady is Shade, who I have been told has already met you, and the second is—”

“Cadmus Smith,” said the man, interrupting Dad. “Director of the Department of Superpowered and Extraterrestrial Beings and leader of the G-Men.”

Cadmus Smith spoke like he was reciting a line he had spent hours rehearsing. Based on the way Shade rolled her eyes, I could tell this wasn't the first time he had introduced himself that way.

“Wait, does that mean you're from the government?” I said, looking at Cadmus. “Why? Is it about Master Chaos? How long have you been here?”

“We arrived half an hour ago,” said Cadmus. He leaned toward me, his gaze never breaking away from mine. “As for why we are here, yes, it is related to the Master Chaos incident, which we understand you were directly involved with.”

I started and looked at Dad. “Dad, do they know—”

“That I'm Genius and you're Bolt?” said Dad. He nodded. “Yes.”

“How?” I said. “I thought no one knew our secret identities.”

Cadmus actually chuckled at that. “We in the G-Men have our ways of finding out the secrets of every person in the country when we need to. But don't worry. Due to your bravery, we will not publish your secret identities to the world.”

I bit my lower lip, but Cadmus seemed to be telling the truth, so I said, “What are you doing here, exactly? Do you want to know more details about Master Chaos's death? Or maybe about Robert or Maria Candle?”

Cadmus shook his head. “No, no. Our forensic analysts already know everything there is to know about Master Chaos's death, probably even more than you do, and we have recovered every Project Neo weapon he stole from our facility, aside from a few whose location we are still searching for. And the Candles aren't our biggest priority at the moment.”

“Then what is?” I said.

Cadmus pointed at me. “You are.”

“No, he isn't,” said Dad, before I could respond. “You know our answer.”

Cadmus folded his hands over each other. “Theodore, I know what you said, but—”

“But what?” I said, looking between Dad and Cadmus in confusion. “What's going on?”

Cadmus looked at me again. “Allow me to explain: We are interested in offering you a position on the G-Men.”

“Me?” I said, pointing at myself. “A G-Man? Why?”

“Because of your battle with Master Chaos,” said Cadmus. “My superiors in the government were impressed with your bravery, skills, and ingenuity in dealing with one of the most dangerous supervillains in the country. With a little training, we believe you would make a great member of the G-Men.”

I was too taken aback by this offer to say anything, but then Dad said, “Kevin is not joining the G-Men.”

“Why not?” I said, looking at Dad in surprise. “Why can't I make this decision on my own?”

“Because you aren't old enough yet,” said Dad. He glared at Cadmus and Shade. “And I trust the G-Men about as much as I trust the rest of our government, which is to say, very little.”

Cadmus sighed and rubbed his temples. “Theodore, please, you know the G-Men have changed since the nineties. Kevin will be perfectly safe with us. We won't ask him to do anything morally questionable. We will only ask him to use his powers to serve his country.”

“That's what you said last time,” said Dad. His tone was angry, angrier than I had heard him in a while, which surprised me. “And I remember well how your people tried to stab us in the back.”

“Wait, what's going on?” I said. “What happened back in the nineties?”

Cadmus shrugged. “History, that's all. Something I had hoped that your father would have been able to forgive and forget, but apparently I was too optimistic.”

“I'm not the only neohero—current or retired—who still hasn't forgiven you for that,” said Dad. He nodded at the door. “Now get out. We don't want your kind here. And
do not
contact us again. Understand?”

For a moment, I thought Cadmus was going to say no and tell Shade to arrest Dad. I was willing to fight him if I had to, even though I didn't know if I could beat Shade in a fight, especially if she had help from Cadmus, whose powers I knew nothing about.

But then Cadmus nodded and said, “Very well. We will leave.” Then he looked at Kevin. “Kevin, if you are interested in joining the G-Men when you turn eighteen, here is my card with my contact information.”

Cadmus pulled a card out of his front pocket and handed it to Shade, who then put it between the cushions on the couch. The card sank into the shadows between the seat cushions and then fell from the ceiling into my hands. I glanced at the card, which read thus:

CADMUS SMITH

DIRECTOR OF DEPARTMENT OF SUPERPOWERED AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL BEINGS

This was followed by his phone number and email, along with the address of his office.

Then I heard movement and looked up to see that Cadmus and Shade standing up. Cadmus nodded one last time at Dad, who only glared at him, before walking toward the door. I stepped out of their way, allowing Cadmus—who didn't look at me—to pass. Shade also passed, but unlike Cadmus, she winked at me, which took me by surprise, so I didn't know how to react until they were both out the door and gone.

A moment later, I heard the doors of their van open and close. Then I saw, through the door window, the van drive down the street away from our house.

Turning to face my parents, I said, “What was that?”

“Another government scam,” said Dad, who sounded just as angry as ever. “Don't take it seriously. The G-Men are always trying to lure young neoheroes like you into their service, but you can't trust them.”

I nodded slowly. “Uh, right. Well, I guess I'll just be going to my room, then. Is dinner ready yet, Mom?”

Mom shook her head. She looked a little shaken by the appearance of Cadmus and Shade, even though neither of them had behaved threateningly. “Not yet, but it will be within the next ten minutes. I need to go back to the kitchen and make sure that the sauce is coming along.”