The Superhero's Cure Page 14

  Gasping and coughing, I got to my feet just as Fisticuffs walked up to Edge and raised his foot, very clearly intending to smash his boot down on Edge’s skull.

  “No!” I shouted. “Edge!”

  Activating my super speed, I rushed toward Fisticuffs and body-slammed him so hard he was sent flying. Fisticuffs slammed into the ceiling hard enough to leave a dent shaped like his body and he fell down to the floor and lay there for a second, stunned.

  “Bolt?” said Edge, looking up at me with puzzled eyes. “Why did you save me? Why didn’t you go after Seth?”

  “Because your life is more important than catching the bad guy,” I replied. “Now, stay here. Fisticuffs isn’t down yet.”

  I was right. Fisticuffs was already rising to his feet, although slower than before. I guessed that the injuries he had collected so far were starting to add up, but he was still basically a young man in the prime of his life. I had a feeling it would take a lot more time before Fisticuffs went down for good.

  Activating my super strength again, I rushed toward Fisticuffs and began running around him, hitting him in random places on his body so fast he could barely even react. Fisticuffs’ attacks were now wild and without thought or aim. He kept trying to hit me, but I moved too fast for any of his blows to connect. Despite my own injuries, I felt like I could do this forever.

  At least until Fisticuffs stuck out his leg all of a sudden and I tripped over it. I went bowling over head over heels until I crashed into a crate. Dazed from the impact, I nonetheless managed to look up in time to see both of Fisticuffs’ red fists falling down on me.

  Without hesitation, I caught his fists with my hands and held him back as much as I could. I looked Fisticuffs in the eyes, trying to establish some sort of connection, but his blank vision made that almost impossible.

  “Jake!” I said through a strained voice. “Uncle Jake, it’s me, Kevin! Your nephew. You know who I am. You don’t want to kill me. I know you’re just a clone, but surely you have to realize who I am.”

  For a moment, I caught a hint of recognition in Fisticuffs’ eyes. For the briefest second, Fisticuffs was gone and Uncle Jake—the uncle I had never known but heard so much about—appeared, shock and confusion on his face as he looked down on me.

  But then Uncle Jake was gone and Fisticuffs was back. He leaned down on me even harder than before, clearly attempting to overwhelm me through sheer physical strength alone. That was how I knew reason was useless at this point. Whatever Seth did to Uncle Jake left him unable to reason or talk. The only language he spoke was pain … and I was more than prepared to speak fluently to him in that language.

  I charged red electricity through my hands and into Fisticuffs’ fists. Fisticuffs cried out in shock as lightning rushed through him. He tried to let go of me, but I quickly grabbed his hands, channeling more and more electricity from my hands into his body as I could.

  Fisticuffs hung on a good while longer than I expected him to, but then he suddenly stopped screaming and collapsed onto the floor at my feet, his body smoking and his eyes wide with terror and pain.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Breathing hard, I checked Fisticuffs to make sure he wasn’t dead. I felt his chest rising and falling and felt thankful that he had survived. Frankly, I wasn’t sure how he survived having so much electricity pumped into his body. Yes, superhumans were typically made of sterner stuff than normal humans, but I had pumped him with enough electricity to power a small house. His suit must have protected him from the worst of it. It seemed to be made of a material that didn’t conduct electricity very well, although it obviously hadn’t been designed with my electricity in mind.

  With a sigh, I stood up and looked over to where Edge lay, saying, “All right, Edge, Fisticuffs is down. That means it’s safe for us to—”

  I stopped talking as soon as I saw that Edge was missing. I whipped my head this way and that, searching for Edge, but I didn’t see him anywhere in the entire cargo hold. Uh oh. That wasn’t good.

  All of a sudden, I heard a crackling sound in my ears and then Valerie’s familiar monotone voice. “Bolt! I have finally managed to connect to your earcoms. For some reason, I couldn’t connect for a while there and—”

  “Nice to hear you too, Val,” I said, “but I’ve got to go. A kid’s life is in danger, and if I don’t find him quick, there’s no telling what might happen to him.”

  “A kid?” said Valerie in confusion. “What has happened since we last spoke? Should I call for back up from the NHA?”

  My hands balled into fists. “No, not yet, but be on standby. I might need it.”

  Leaving Fisticuffs where he was, I activated my super speed and rushed out of the hold, smashing the door off its hinges with one punch and rushing up through the lower decks to the upper deck. It didn’t take me long to reach the top deck, where I came to an abrupt halt and rotated on the spot, desperately searching for Seth and Edge.

  “Edge!” I shouted, putting my hands around my mouth. “Edge, where are you? Are you still here? Edge!”

  I heard the click of a gun and looked at the door to the stateroom. It was open now, but it was too dark to see who stood within it until two figures stepped out of the shadows and into the lights on the yacht’s deck.

  It was Seth and Edge. Seth stood next to Edge, a gun pointed at Edge’s head. Edge stood very still with fear on his face. He looked at me with terrified, pleading eyes, more closely resembling the scared kid he was now than the vigilante he pretended to be. Seeing his face like that filled me with rage I couldn’t explain, but I didn’t rush at Seth just yet.

  “So you defeated Fisticuffs, I presume?” said Seth. “I heard his screams of pain from all the way up here. His death must have been quite painful.”

  “He’s not dead,” I said flatly. “Just unconscious.”

  “You should have killed him,” said Seth. “That’s a mistake you supers make. In this world, if you show mercy to your enemies, then you will not live long enough to regret it.”

  “Spoken like a real villain there, Seth,” I said. “Let Edge go. He’s just a kid.”

  “A kid who tried to kill me,” said Seth. His smile was chilly. “I think that entitles me to self-defense, does it not? Besides, he came after me, alone. I guess he still thinks he’s an actual superhero or something like that.”

  Edge gulped, but said nothing. I could tell he wanted to talk, but was probably afraid Seth would blow his brains out if he did. I couldn’t blame him. I had powers and even I found Seth’s expression and demeanor somewhat frightening. I was just glad he hadn’t sprayed me with any powerless gas, although I kept a close eye on him just to make sure he didn’t have any hidden traps waiting to spring on me.

  “He’s not just a kid,” I said. “He’s your grandson. Doesn’t that make a difference?”

  Seth’s unchanging facial expression made what he said next so much worse. “As I said before, I don’t have a grandson.”

  I wish I understood the weird family dynamic between Seth and Edge, but there was no time to figure it out, so instead, I said, “I noticed you haven’t shot him yet. Is it because you want something from me?”

  “Of course,” said Seth. He pressed the barrel of the gun against Edge more firmly than before. “I’m not a killer. I dislike taking innocent blood. I simply need you to agree to join me. Then I will let the boy go. I will even personally drop him off at the nearest port so he can arrange transportation back to his home, wherever that is.”

  I hesitated. I was trying to tell if Seth was serious about that offer or not, but his facial expression was almost impossible to read. He could have been telling the truth or he could have been lying to my face. I wondered if Seth had practiced the art of hiding his thoughts like that or if it just came naturally to him. Either way, it was starting to look to me like I didn’t have much of a choice now.

  I didn’t want to accept his offer, but I knew that even with my super speed, I wouldn’t be able to save Edge
from a point-blank gunshot. I might not be able to read Seth’s face very well, but one thing I could read was his body language, which showed that he was serious about shooting Edge if I didn’t do what he wanted. But I also didn’t want to join Seth, whose plans, I felt, were probably not entirely benign, despite what he told me earlier about hating corrupt governments.

  Yet what else was I supposed to do? Seth had me. I didn’t want to admit it, but he did. I guess I could lie and then take Seth out when he didn’t expect it, but he seemed too smart to fall for such an obvious trick. If he suspected I was trying to trick him, he would probably just go ahead and shoot Edge. Then again, if he did that, it would leave him with no leverage over me. On the other hand, it would also result in Edge dying, which was the very thing I was trying to avoid.

  “How do I know you won’t just kill Edge even if I say yes?” I said.

  “I’m not an idiot,” said Seth. “I am aware that if I kill the boy anyway, then you won’t hesitate to kill me in response. I am, after all, but a powerless old man. I couldn’t beat you in a fight, which is why I needed Fisticuffs.”

  I didn’t want to admit it, but Seth had me. So long as he had Edge, the only real option left to me was accepting his offer and becoming his minion. I hated the very thought of that idea, but what other choice did I have, realistically-speaking?

  My eyes met Edge’s. Despite the fear in his eyes, I could see that Edge was just as angry about this situation as I was. No doubt he wanted me to save him and stop letting Seth control the situation, but I tried to tell him through my eyes that I was stuck. The only way this situation could be worse is if Seth sprayed me with powerless gas.

  Then, abruptly, Seth looked over my head and frowned. “What is that?”

  I didn’t trust Seth, but the genuine confusion in his voice made me look over my shoulder into the dark sea around us.

  At first, I didn’t see anything until I noticed what looked like a large sailing ship making its way toward us through the darkness. It sailed silently and smoothly through the dark ocean waters, making no noise as it drew closer and closer to us.

  “No way,” said Seth in disbelief. “What are they doing back here? I paid them their fee. Why did they come back?”

  Seth was right. That wasn’t any old sailing ship. That was the Red Tide, the personal ship of Captain Red Tide and the Red Tide Pirates. Even though it had left over half an hour ago now, they had apparently turned it around at some point and come back.

  “Think they forgot their booty?” I said, glancing at Seth, who still held the gun to Edge’s head.

  Seth shook his head. “As I said, I already paid them. I cannot imagine why they would come back … unless …”

  Suddenly, the Red Tide drifted off to the left. Doors opened along the side, but I didn’t see what was poking out of them until a glowing red laser blazed through the darkness like the sun.

  It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at: The Red Tide’s laser cannons.

  That realization hit me perhaps one second after the laser cannon fired and struck the yacht.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  The impact of the laser sent all three of us falling onto the deck. Seth had to let go of Edge in order to fall on his side, while Edge just took that moment to roll away several feet away from him, but he didn’t get up because the Red Tide fired yet another laser, which directly hit the hull and made even more noise. Smoke from the yacht’s engine started filling the air and the yacht itself started to keel and sink as the holes blasted into its hull began taking on water.

  “What the hell do those idiots think they’re doing?” Seth yelled, propping himself up on his elbows to look out over the ocean at the Red Tide. “Are they drunk already?”

  I was just as confused by this turn of events as Seth, but unlike him, I acted. I fired a small lightning bolt at his gun, blasting it out of his hands and sending it flying somewhere into the darkness around us. Seth groaned and pulled his hand close to his chest, but I wasn’t done yet. I got to my feet and rushed over to Seth, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and slamming him against the door to the stateroom. Seth gasped in pain and looked at me with fear in his eyes for the first time.

  “Got you, jerk,” I said, not bothering to hide the hatred in my voice. “Suddenly, threatening to kill an innocent kid doesn’t seem like such a bright idea, now does it?”

  I expected Seth to start pleading for mercy, but to my surprise, he simply smiled. “Perhaps it wasn’t my greatest idea, but I always learn from my mistakes.”

  All of a sudden, the yacht shook like an earthquake when another laser blast from the Red Tide hit it. The sudden shaking threw me off balance, allowing Seth to push me off him. I staggered backward as Seth opened the door to the stateroom behind him and slammed it shut. Not wanting him to get away, I ran up to the door and yanked on it, but it was locked.

  Right before I could use my super strength to rip the door open, however, I felt someone tap my shoulder and looked over it to see Edge standing before me. His eyes were wide with fear and worry and he looked like he was about to have a panic attack.

  “What are you doing?” said Edge in alarm. He pointed to the Red Tide. “Those pirate guys are trying to kill us! The yacht is taking on too much water too quickly. If we stay here any longer, we’ll go down with the ship.”

  “But Seth is still here,” I said, looking at the door. “And he’s trapped himself in the stateroom. If I can open this door—”

  Another laser blast and the yacht shook again. This time, it actually sank a foot or two, and it was sinking further still.

  “Who cares?” said Edge. “I want to kill him just as much as you, but let him go down with his ship. I don’t want to go down with him. I’ve still got too much to live for.”

  I hesitated but realized that Edge was right. At the rate at which the yacht was sinking, both of us would just end up trapped on it if sank any further. Especially if we entered the stateroom, which could easily become an underwater tomb for us if we weren’t careful.

  Sighing, I said, “You’re right. I’ll grab you and fly both of us out—”

  I paused when I suddenly realized that someone was missing. “Uncle Jake.”

  “Fisticuffs?” said Edge. “What about him?”

  I put my hands on Edge’s shoulders. “You stay here. I’m going back down to the hold to pick up Uncle Jake and take him with us. I’ll be back in a flash.”

  Before Edge could voice his objections, I activated my super speed and zoomed back down the stairs leading down to the lower decks of the yacht. I quickly discovered that the lower decks were flooding fast, which made me fear that Uncle Jake might have been killed in one of the blasts already or maybe got pulled out to sea through one of the holes blasted into the ship’s hull. That just made me run even faster until I reached the door to the hold, which I slammed open with a single punch from my fists.

  Water immediately washed over me, causing me to cough when some of it got into my lungs. But the water only went up to my waist, which meant I couldn’t run, but I just waded into the flooded, darkened cargo hold anyway, looking this way and that as I searched for Uncle Jake’s unconscious body.

  “Uncle Jake!” I called. “Fisticuffs! Are you there? Hello? Can you hear me?”

  A body bumped against me in the water and I looked over at it, hoping it was Uncle Jake, but to my disgust and horror, it was Janet’s bloody corpse. It was thankfully floating on its stomach so I wouldn’t have to see her face, but it was still a disgusting sight that left me feeling even less optimistic about Uncle Jake’s chances of survival than I had before. I whipped my head this way and that, but the darkness of the hold was too deep for me to see much and I didn’t dare use my electric powers for fear of accidentally electrocuting myself.

  But then I saw something bobbing in the water nearby and I half-walked, half-swam over to it because the water was almost up to my waist now and rising higher still. Picking up the object, I d
iscovered that it was Uncle Jake’s Fisticuffs helmet, which seemed to be the only part of him that was still down here.

  “Bolt,” said Valerie in my ears all of a sudden. “Sensors indicate that the yacht’s cargo hold is rapidly filling with water. I would advise leaving now before it gets up to your mouth and nose.”

  “Val,” I said, still looking around, “can your sensors pick up any life other than me down here? Any life at all?”

  For a second that seemed to last an eternity, Valerie was silent, until she abruptly said, “No. Sensors indicate that you are the only living thing down here. Why do you ask?”

  A mixture of anger and worry rose up in me when Valerie said that, but I couldn’t afford to let myself get too emotional, not when Edge was still alive and needed my help, at least. “Never mind. I’m getting out of here now. Talk to you later.”

  I tapped my earcom and silenced it instantly, then looked up at the ceiling. I activated all three of my powers at once, giving me super strength, super speed, and flight, which allowed me to fly straight up toward the ceiling and smash through it like it was paper. I smashed through deck after deck until I burst through the surface of the top deck, making Edge jump when he saw me.

  But I didn’t stop flying. I grabbed Edge as I flew up and flew us out toward the sea as far away from both the yacht and the Dread Fish as I could, doing my best to stay out of the range of the laser cannons, even though the cannons were no longer pummeling the yacht anymore.

  Once we were far away enough, I stopped in midair, holding Edge in my arms, and then turned around so we could both see the remains of the yacht.

  There wasn’t much left to see. Between the fires that had broken out all over, the gaping holes in the hull that were rapidly filling with water, and the hole I made on my way out, the yacht looked more like a ghost ship than a personal yacht owned by a powerful billionaire.