Legacy (8 page)

Trained to become the next Raptor.

The alarm clock began to chime, and Lucas let out a moan.

He felt as if he had just gone to bed, after a particularly grueling day that had dragged on into the early hours of morning.

Something has to be wrong
, he thought, lifting his face from his pillow to squint at the clock across the room on his dresser.

5:00 a.m
.

It couldn’t be. How could that even be possible? He’d just closed his eyes what felt like five minutes before.

But he knew it wasn’t wrong; the night had passed so quickly because he’d gone to bed only three hours earlier. Fearing his fate if he ignored the alarm, Lucas rolled onto his back and hauled his tired, aching carcass from the bed.

The one time he’d ignored the alarm and gone back to sleep had been a total nightmare. The training had been three times as grueling and had gone on through the night until the next morning, when it had started all over again.

He didn’t want to chance a repeat of that.

Throwing on some sweats and a T-shirt, he left his room, heading down in the elevator to the gymnasium, in one of Hartwell Manor’s many underground levels.

Lucas wondered what kind of abuse he was going to experience today. His entire body throbbed despite the body-repairing nanites running through his blood. He guessed there was only so much the tiny machines could do.

A growl like some kind of wild animal filled the elevator compartment, and he pressed a hand to his grumbling belly. He was starving again, as he always seemed to be these days, but he couldn’t eat until the first round of training was done.

He wondered what it would be today—something physical, like an aikido refresher, or maybe a quiz on
Shakespeare’s sonnets? He had no idea what Shakespeare had to do with becoming a superhero, but knew it wasn’t wise to ask.

Roll with it
had become his mantra these last few months.

Hartwell was the teacher, and Lucas was the student.

The elevator came to a stop, and the doors silently slid open on the gymnasium floor.

Usually his father would be there, impatiently waiting for him, but this morning only darkness greeted him. Lucas left the elevator, stepping out into the darkened gym, running his hand along the wall until he found the light switches. He flicked the switches up, only to find they didn’t work.

“Huh,” he said as he continued to stupidly push them up and down.

He heard a noise from somewhere across the gym, a door opening with a creak.

“Lights are busted,” Lucas called out, expecting some sort of response.

None came.

“Hello?” he called out. “Are you in here? I said there’s something wrong with the lights. Guess we’re not gonna get to work out today.”

He didn’t hear a verbal response, but he did pick up the sound of heavy breathing from somewhere up ahead.

Lucas squinted, trying to see through the darkness. “Is that you?” he asked, catching sight of a moving shadow. “What’s wrong? Is it silent-but-deadly day today or something?”

A roar like nothing he’d ever heard before filled the air
and was followed by the sound of pounding footfalls heading directly toward him.

Whatever it was, it was big. Lucas could feel the vibrations through the floor, and it was on him before he even had a chance to react.

It was a man—at least he thought it was a man—a big man who moved like a freight train. The figure growled, driving him down with arms the size of steel girders. Lucas took the full brunt of the attack, lifted off his feet and landing in the middle of the gymnasium floor.

Who let a giant gorilla into the building?
he thought as he scrambled to his feet.

The mysterious figure roared again, charging at him through the darkness.

Lucas felt the first waves of panic as his attacker burst out of the shadows with an ear-piercing shriek. The creature snatched him up by the front of his T-shirt and slammed him viciously to the floor. The air exploded from Lucas’s lungs in a wheezing blast, and colored lights blossomed in front of his eyes. He fought to keep from passing out.

As Lucas gasped for air the monster stood above him, lifting a bare foot with a grunt. Lucas knew he was preparing to bring it down and crush him.

He rolled out of the way just as the massive foot fell. The ground shook as it landed where his head had been.

His attacker roared in disapproval as Lucas sprang up.

A gigantic hand surged through the blackness and wrapped around his throat. Lucas gasped as the monster man began to squeeze.

He struggled uselessly to breathe. He felt his life start to slip away.

His attacker began to laugh, a horrible sound. Lucas didn’t want it to be the last thing he heard before he died.

The right fighting technique came to him in a flash; it was an aikido move.

Lucas brought his hands up, grabbing hold of his attacker’s wrist with one hand while applying just the right amount of pressure to the elbow with the other.

The monster man screamed out in pain as Lucas carried through, using his attacker’s weight and size against him to drive him to the floor. It was as if all he had been taught was lining up inside his head.

The monster didn’t stay down for long, rising to his feet with a growl.

But this time, Lucas was ready for him.

The key was to stay out of the monster’s reach. His opponent was a brute, relying almost totally on strength and savagery If he couldn’t get to Lucas, Lucas couldn’t be hurt.

Using speed and agility, Lucas kept away from the monster’s clutches, zipping in when an opening presented itself to strike at sensitive areas on the monster’s body.

It wasn’t long before the giant was lurching about, his body stiff from multiple blows, and he began to slow down as the fight slowly drained from him.

Lucas couldn’t have felt better.

This was where it all came together, all the long months and hours of training. This was what it was all for!

The monster was hurting, and his attacks became even more savage. Sloppy.

As Lucas circled him, keeping out of reach and deciding where to hit him next, the large man surprised him. Believing he was attacking to the right, Lucas dodged to the left, only to have the beast of a man change his direction suddenly and with a roar, snatch him up off the floor in a powerful bear hug.

The monster man roared with laughter, pleased by his cleverness, as he began to squeeze.

Lucas felt the first of his ribs snap. The pain was incredible. Even with the nanites inside him working overtime, he wasn’t sure how much more of a beating he could take.

Glancing down, he looked into the hate-filled eyes of his attacker, more beast than man. The monster was smiling, his razor-sharp teeth almost glowing in the darkness of the gym.

A rumbling laugh gurgled up as he began to squeeze even tighter.

Lucas squirmed in the monster’s clutches. Suddenly remembering something he’d learned, not from his father but from the occasional brawl at the Hog Trough, he drew back his head and brought it forward with as much force as possible.

The top of his forehead connected with the bridge of the beast man’s wide nose. There was a loud snap, and Lucas’s face was spattered with something warm that had the acrid smell of metal.

And as the monster man cried out in pain, Lucas was able to pull his arms free. Then he threw them back and brought his hands together to savagely box his attacker’s ears.

The monster bellowed, releasing Lucas to grab at the sides of his head.

Lucas delivered a snap kick to one of his enemy’s knees.

His attacker crashed to the gym floor, hands still clutching his large, square head. Now at his level, Lucas drew back his arm, bringing the palm of his hand forward in a snap to the monster’s lower jaw.

His attacker’s head was driven backward, and the momentum carried his entire body to the floor, where he lay unconscious.

Lucas stood still for a moment, attempting to regulate his breathing the way he’d been taught and waiting to see if his adversary would get up again. But the beast man just lay there in a broken heap.

Lucas was aware of his body. It seemed he could actually feel the nanites working inside to heal him, to take away his pain.

His thoughts were in a jumble. He wondered where his father was, and whether this was one of the Raptor’s enemies, who had somehow found his way to the manor to exact revenge. He decided he would find something to tie this monstrosity up, and then he would search for his father.

Starting toward one of the equipment closets, where he’d seen an old jump rope, Lucas suddenly found himself falling to the floor, a gigantic hand crushing his ankle.

The monster man was conscious again.

“Kill you,” he growled, crawling atop Lucas.

Lucas tried to squirm away, but the monster grabbed hold, lifting him up off the floor and slamming him down.

This he repeated, again and again.

Each time Lucas hit the floor, the universe in all its glory
appeared before his eyes, and he thought it would be the last thing he saw before it all went dark.

But Lucas decided he wasn’t too keen on dying, especially today.

He allowed his body to go deceptively limp, flopping like a broken doll in the monster’s clutches, and waited for his opportunity He hoped it would be soon, because he wasn’t sure how much more punishment his skull could take, repeatedly hitting the gym floor.

The monster had just pulled him close to see if he was still conscious when Lucas made his move.

He jammed a thumb into the monstrosity’s eye, raking it from left to right.

His attacker cried out, releasing Lucas as he groped at his injured face.

Lucas didn’t waste any time, climbing to his feet and quickly positioning himself behind his foe. He wrapped his arm around the beast’s neck and started to pull back. The monster thrashed, attempting to get to his feet, but Lucas exerted every iota of his strength, forcing the monster to remain on his knees, while closing the grip on his throat.

Everything, no matter how big and strong, needed to breathe.

He felt his enemy’s struggle grow weaker and knew that victory was only moments away. Lucas had to last.

The monster man struggled and gasped, but Lucas held on, tightening his grip.

The lights of the gymnasium suddenly came on, startling him, and he saw his father standing a few feet away, watching.

“That’s it, Lucas,” his father said, cheering him on. “Use what I’ve taught you.”

His blood rushed in his ears, the thrumming of his heart like the roar of a powerful engine. The monster’s struggles became pathetic, dwindling to practically nothing, and he knew he had won.

“His fate is in your hands now, boy,” his father said to him. “It’s up to you. Let him live, and the chance that he’ll be back on the streets in no time, putting the lives of innocents at stake, is dropped squarely in your lap. Or you can tighten your grip for just a bit longer and …”

Lucas let the monster go, his large body dropping limply to the hardwood floor.

Breathing heavily, Lucas stared at his father. Hartwell was nodding, accepting his decision.

“The choice is yours,” Hartwell said.

But Lucas could tell by the expression on his father’s face that it wasn’t the choice he would have made.

“What’s going on?”

“You did quite well,” Hartwell praised him. “A little slow at first, but then you started to utilize what you’ve been taught.”

“That thing could have killed me,” Lucas said, pointing to the unconscious behemoth lying on the floor.

“You’re probably right,” Hartwell said. “Something you should always be aware of when going into battle.”

“Who the hell is he?”

“His name is Jackson Meeves. On the street they call him Bestial. He’s a low-level supervillain with more strength
than brains. The Raptor captured him the other night as he tried to knock over an all-night convenience store.”

“You caught him and brought him here?” Lucas asked, confused.

Hartwell nodded. “I thought he’d be the perfect final exam.”

“This was a
test
?” Lucas cried, pointing at the beast man.

“A final test before your real education begins,” Hartwell replied. Lucas noticed that the older man had something slung over his shoulder. He tossed it to the boy.

“What do you mean by my ‘real education’?” Lucas asked, catching what was thrown at him. It was a piece of clothing of some kind, and he held it up by the shoulders.

“It’s time you understood what you’re going to be fighting for,” his father said.

It took a moment for Lucas to realize what he was looking at.

A costume.

“I feel like a dork,” Lucas said, gazing down at himself in the dark, body-hugging outfit. He had yet to put on the mask.

“Do I look like a dork?” Hartwell asked. He was dressed in his own costume. They were in the back of a van, parked in the shadows of an alley in one of the worst sections of Seraph City. City dwellers referred to it as the War Zone. Here the popping sound of gunfire was as common as the roar of car engines and the screech of brakes.

“No,” Lucas answered his father, watching as the older man slipped the Raptor’s cowl over his head. “You actually look kind of scary.”

“And that’s how it’s supposed to be,” Hartwell stated.

Lucas looked down at himself, observing how the all-black
outfit clung tightly to his every part. “I think the only person I’m going to be scaring is myself.”

His father laughed as he stood and pushed open the van’s back doors.

“You’ll get used to it,” the Raptor said, leaping from the back of the vehicle.

“I can’t believe you’re just going to leave this van here,” Lucas said. He slipped his own mask over his head and joined his father. “Remember, this is the War Zone.”

The Raptor stood in the darkness, looking toward the end of the alleyway, but Lucas sensed he was really looking at something else.

“It wasn’t always this way,” the older man said cryptically.

Then he seemed to snap out of his reverie and quickly turned to close the van doors.