Shadow Boy (14 page)

“So their grades are dependent on this?” the dispatcher asks.

“YES,” at least three males say over the line.

“I see,” the dispatcher says.

“Mr. Dispatcher! I’ve got another one for you!” Carla says. The dispatcher goes back to work, silently wondering if there’s any way the cops could get her instead of the Hall.

***

There’s a protest going on outside the White House. It’s the first thing I see—but of course it is, I mean, it’s filling the entire area. People are literally packed in like sardines, shouting about the riots and the banks going down. Even if they know it’s Herold that caused this, they still blame the government. I bet there are rioters outside the Hall buildings, as well. But the question is—why is Herold here, of all places?

I look up, seeing him come down from above. Several of the soldiers guarding turn their guns on him, but he ignores them. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I understand why you’re so angry—”

“YOU DID THIS!” they scream, jumping and futilely trying to get to him. “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!”

“It is,” Herold says. “And I’m also the one that can fix it.”

“WE DON’T WANT YOUR FIXES!” someone screams.

“Wait, wait, let’s listen to the man,” someone else says. “If he broke the banks, he can obviously fix them, right? What do you expect in return?” Several others chime in, agreeing with him, and those that were protesting seem to hesitate.

I fight the urge to speak up, to tell them that it’s stupid trying to make a deal with a guy like that. I can’t, though, because it would alert him to the fact we know where he—

I almost jump out of my skin as a hand lands on my shoulder. “We need to wait,” Shadowman says silently, right next to my ear. “Once he has his back to a shadow, we’ll take him out.”

“Wh—what?” I ask, shocked.

“I thought you were smart enough to catch on, boy,” Shadowman says, pulling me back into the Shadowlands. “We aren’t the strongest, or the fastest, or even the smartest, but we are one thing that the others have a hard time being. We’re sneaky and deadly.”

“I’m not deadly,” I declare. “I’m never going to be deadly—you might have murderous tendencies, or whatever, but I’m going to be a hero!”

“You just debuted as a villain,” he says dryly.

“Well I’m going to be a heroic villain,” I declare. “And right now, I’m going to call Nico and tell him what Herold’s doing. I can’t believe they were stupid enough to think they can negotiate with him,” I mutter as I tap on my com bracelet. “Nico, and anyone else interested, I’ve found Herold—he’s talking to the rioters at the White House. They think they can negotiate with him to get him to fix things like the bank systems.”

“I see,” Nico says. “Makes sense. He can’t win the presidency, but he can use this to his advantage.”

“HOW can they let him get away with it?” I demand. “Are they stupid? Because I really think they have to be!”

“Not everyone’s going to let him get away with it, son,” Century says. “I, for one, don’t plan on it.”

“Rocco—” Nico starts out.

“Nico, Shadowman is here—he—” I stop, looking around as I realize Shadowman isn’t standing near me, anymore. “He’s gone. Crap! He’s going to kill him!”

There’s a lingering moment of silence from the other end of the com. I glare at it when I realize what’s implied. “I’m going to stop him,” I tell them.

“Of course, right,” Century says, clearing his throat. “We can’t allow that to happen.”

“Sure, that’s what you were thinking,” I drawl, starting to run through the Shadowlands in search for my father. I see him watching through a shadow and head for him, wondering if he’s already done it. I hope not. It’s one thing taking the guy’s powers away, it’s another completely to kill him, right? I race forward, tackling Shadowman to the ground. “You can’t kill him,” I say, pinning him to the ground.

“Sure I can,” Shadowman says, throwing me off of him as if I weigh nothing. “Do you really think I’m going to give up this opportunity just because you say I have to?” He gets to his feet, heading for the portal again, only to curse. “They’re here,” he complains. “You just had to go and alert the big names, didn’t you? This could have been cleaned up by now!”

“No it couldn’t!” I say. “All you’d have done is kill him—there’d still be a mess everywhere else. But you don’t care, do you? You’d probably run off to someplace that wasn’t affected and be perfectly happy, wouldn’t you?”

“Wait, is this supposed to be making me feel guilty? Because, seriously, all it’s doing is giving me a good idea,” he says. “I like it. But you forgot the part about getting drunk,” he says. “Now I don’t have time for this—the moment they slam him into something, I’m going to finish it,” he says, heading for the nearest portal to watch the fight outside.

“I can’t let you do that,” I say, realizing just what it will mean. “If you do that, you’ll make either Nico or Century look like a murderer.” I race forward, tackling him again, but this time grabbing on—

And we slam right through the portal, into the fight. Well… it was supposed to be a fight, right?

***

Century, Nico, and Herold float over the White House, two on one side, one on the other. “Do you really think you have a chance right now? Give up now and we might go easy on you!” Century says after a long moment.

“You underestimate me,” Herold says. “Sure you have your picture perfect technopath beside you, but there’s one thing I have that he doesn’t,” he says.

“And what would that be?” Century asks, his hand in the air, posed to stop time.

“A long history with both military and government careers,” Herold says. All around them large structures shoot out of the ground. They spread out, almost killing several people standing in the wrong places. Nico lets out a curse and shoots straight up, leaving Century to try and stop time. Half of the structures are stopped—but half is all that Herold needs in this case.

The structures let out a bright flash of light, blinding the time stopper hero. It hits him straight on, and he plummets to the earth, his body shrinking and aging rapidly as his powers are stripped. The huge wave of power blocking electric wavelengths is enough to strip ALL of his powers, unlike the little gun version.

Herold starts laughing, still floating within a glowing orb of light. “No super will be able to come within four hundred miles of this place,” he says, tapping into their precious com-link with a wave of his hand. “Just try and I’ll strip your powers, just like I did Century’s,” he says, “and Technico’s.”

The world jerks back into motion as Century’s power is cut off. The rest of the machines shoot up and light up the skies. The norms scream, covering their eyes from the light and cringing, as if it’ll do something. When the light doesn’t disappear they wave their arms blindly, running into one another. The only ones that seem to be affected more than blindness are the two familiar faces on the ground.

Herold goes down, standing over Shadowman and his son. “How convenient,” he says, leaning down and picking them both up by whatever machines they’re wearing. Shadowman floats strangely, held up by the cellphone in his pocket. He looks ancient, almost dead, and Herold lets him stay that way for a few more seconds before drawing him into the protective shield. “I can’t have you dying just yet,” he says. “I still need you.”

The boy looks much the same as he did before losing his powers—in fact he’s already stripping off all of his technology and ripping some sort of thin panels out of his hoodie. He drops to the ground, running away at a pathetically slow speed. Herold lets the boy go, his mind going to the largest problem in the area. There’s a chance that Technico got far enough away to keep his powers. It’s a slim chance—but he hasn’t seen the man plummet to his death just yet.

If Technico still has his powers, he has a problem. There’s one way to find out, he thinks, heading high into the air. He reaches out, finding the one spot Technico would guard with his life.

The Cape Cells go completely dark and half a dozen villains jerk as their collars spark and die.

***

I’m not running away, I’m making a tactical retreat. I don’t do well with bright lights, okay? But there’s something way more important in my mind—Century is down here somewhere and unlike me, he could probably die from having his powers stripped. I just need to wait until Herold’s gone and—I tug my hoodie forward, hiding from the light and looking down as I search for the fallen hero. There, I think, seeing the ancient looking man lying on the ground, dressed in uniform. I head over and pick him up, grunting with the weight. He’s lost a lot of weight in the change, but I’ve lost a lot of strength, too. I pull his arm over my shoulders and start walking. At any moment Herold is going to notice us, I think, trying to go faster. Century is barely moving—but he IS moving, which is a good sign. He’s still alive, just ancient.

“You should leave me,” he says in a raspy voice.

“Not a chance,” I say. “I need Hall Leaders to owe me—I’m a distance traveler. Being stuck in just one territory would suck.”

It startles a laugh out of him. I keep pulling him along, dreading the moment that Herold notices us. Did Nico escape? I hope so. I don’t think anyone else can deal with this guy if he didn’t. I know I can’t. “I hate to say this,” I tell Century, dodging a group of blind norms, “but maybe Shadowman had a good idea.”

“We try to avoid those ideas,” Century says. We can’t walk four hundred miles with him like this, I realize abruptly. He’ll die long before we get out. My eyes scan the crowd of blinded norms—and fall on a car parked on the street. That couldn’t have killed machines, right? If it had, the machines putting out the light would be off. I head for the car, cursing as the doors remain locked. “Okay, we can find another—surely someone left their doors unlocked and… and their keys in the car, right?” I say, my hope dying even as I speak. “I should have taken Skye up on her driving lessons,” I mutter, leaning Century against the car and running to the next, and the next. I finally come to a news van, swinging the back door open and looking inside—where a large man is hunched over a console.

“Thank GOD, man!” I say. “Do you want to be a hero?”

He looks up blankly, slowly tugging his headphone off. “What?”

“I’ve got to get Century four hundred miles from here—can you help us out?”

“Century?” he repeats, his eyes widening. “But why—” I’m running away before he can finish that, a long few minutes later I come back, practically carrying the fallen hero.

“Meet Century,” I say, helping Century up into the van. “And he’s going to die if we stick around here, so hit it.”

“But—oh wow, you look terrible,” he says to Century, stumbling slightly as he heads to the driver seat. Before I know it, we’re careening into the street, racing around other cars. “I’ve got tinted windows,” he says over his shoulder. “I’m pretty proud of them, you know? Hey, did you see a reporter from Channel 11 out there?” he asks. “I’m probably going to get fired for leaving her here.”

“We’ll get you a job with the Hall,” I say, crouching over Century to keep him from being tossed around. “Let’s just hope he didn’t notice,” I add, daring to glance at the back door. There aren’t any windows here, and I am extremely thankful for that fact.

“If I don’t make it,” Century says, making me look at him again, “Voltdrain will take over the South Branch. Flame will be second in command. Make sure they get Vinny and his team, as well.”

“You’re going to make it,” I say, grabbing his hand and holding it tightly. “We just need to go four hundred miles—at this speed it shouldn’t take any time at all,” I promise, looking him in the eyes.

“Tanks!” the driver says. “We’ve got tanks coming down the road! The military is coming to save us!”

I look at him. “Herold’s a technopath,” I say. “Whatever weapons they bring in, he’ll put to his own use.”

“Oh. Wow. That really sucks, doesn’t it?” he says after a long second. “We should tell them, right? Do we have time to tell them?”

“They’ll figure it out soon enough,” I say grimly. “Besides, if we’re lucky and they bombard him, maybe one of those stupid machines will get taken out.”

“Shouldn’t that Technico guy be taking care of this?” the driver asks me. “He’s a technopath, right?”

“Yeah, but he might have been caught in the light,” I say. “Except… Zoe wasn’t. Century, do you still have a com-link?” I ask. He smiles a bit, his eyes slightly faded.

“He didn’t think I was worth robbing,” he says. “Probably thinks I’m dead already—here,” he says, pulling it from his ear. “Maybe he hasn’t checked the dispatcher’s channel,” he says.

I slip it in my ear. “Zoe, we need your help. And has anyone heard from Technico?”

***

“We screwed up,” Nico says to himself as he starts falling to the ground almost four hundred miles away. If there are any heroes around, maybe they’ll hear him, although he doubts there is anyone left. He’d almost managed, he thinks. He should have just crushed the machines, but he’d thought Century could stop time in time—hah. That sentence was ridiculous. He ignores that, his mind feeling extremely sluggish. “I’m going to die, I think,” he adds as he realizes that the fall is getting faster and faster. His powers are gone. He’d almost made it, he thinks darkly again. He was just a little too slow—