The Superhero's Son (Book 6): The Superhero's World Page 19

  “I have liberated and cleansed countless worlds since that time,” said the Mother World. “None of have yet thanked me, but they do not need to, for I know I have done the right thing, whether or not I am thanked for it.”

  “But most worlds aren’t sentient,” I said. “So they couldn’t thank you even if they wanted.”

  “Silence,” the Mother World said. “You don’t understand. That is just your justification for the pillaging of your planet and, as such, I will ignore it.”

  “It’s not a justification,” I said in annoyance. “It’s a fact.”

  “It is a lie,” said the Mother World. “You are awfully stupid to argue with me about this, human. I could easily kill you, because despite all your boasting, your power does not even come close to mine. How does that sound?”

  “It sounds—” I said, but then I felt someone tapping my shoulder and I looked to see that it was Nicknacks. He gave me a look that clearly said Shut up and let me talk to her, which I decided to let him do, since he looked like he had something to say.

  So I nodded and then Nicknacks looked at the Mother World again. “We can presume, then, Mother World, that you intend to destroy the humans this time.”

  “Exactly,” said the Mother World. “They must be cleansed, cleansed and destroyed, so that Earth will be free and clean again. And there is not a thing you can do about it, not this time.”

  “Then why do you have us here?” I said, balling my hands into fists. “Just to gloat about your ‘inevitable’ victory, like some kind of supervillain? Is that it?”

  Nicknacks raised his hands suddenly and said, “Bolt, please be quiet. I am still talking to her.”

  I bit my lip, but nodded. “Okay.”

  Nicknacks turned back to face the Mother World. “Bolt, despite his rashness, does have a good point. Why bring us here when you could just kill us? You never hold an audience with people from the worlds you attack. You simply invade and destroy, often with no warning whatsoever.”

  “Quite true,” said the Mother World. “But I didn’t summon you here to gloat. In all of my years of liberating worlds, I have never been defeated, not once. The only time was at the hands of the masked humans of Earth. And even then, it was because you humans had this traitor to help you.”

  Nicknacks shrugged. “I only gave them advanced warning of the attack, plus what I knew about how the Pokacu army and species work. That they were able to design strategies to beat back your soldiers is a testament to humanity’s ingenuity more than anything.”

  “Ingenuity means nothing in the face of overwhelming force, the kind of overwhelming force that will level every continent on that planet,” said the Mother World. “The reason I summoned you here is because I wanted to see, up close, just what these masked humans are like. Despite my anger, I have to admit that I was impressed by your defeat of my forces the first time.”

  “No,” said Nicknacks suddenly. “That’s not why you spared us. Or why you spared the NHA and the INJ back on Earth.”

  Unless I was mistaken, the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees in an instant. I could sense that even the Pokacu soldiers were taken aback by what Nicknacks just said. Some of them exchanged uneasy looks; maybe it was because they did not know how the Mother World would response to such blatant accusations of lying. It occurred to me that the vast majority of Pokacu likely never questioned the Mother World and so had probably never seen how she reacted whenever anyone accused her of lying. How they understood Nicknacks’ English, though I didn’t know, but maybe they were responding to the Mother World’s own response.

  The Mother World’s face had gone as blank as a piece of paper, yet I still sensed anger in the air, as if her anger was literally radiating from all around us. “Are you accusing me of lying?”

  “Indeed,” said Nicknacks. “One thing I’ve learned from my time on Earth is that liars tend to be braggarts, which they use to hide their lies. It is odd how this can also apply to you, since you are not human, but I suppose liars are liars no matter what species they may be.”

  I was really worried that the Mother World was just going to strike Nicknacks dead there and then, but instead she said, “So you think I’m lying? What do you think my real reason for bringing you here is?”

  “It’s quite obvious,” said Nicknacks. He raised his hands and pointed directly at her. “You are dying.”

  Okay, I’m pretty sure the temperature in the chamber just dropped like a rock as soon as those three words left Nicknacks’ mouth. The Pokacu soldiers actually looked at Nicknacks in shock when he said that, including Captain Arelez, who had been standing there looking quite smug at everything. Even Blizzard and I were taken by surprise by this.

  “Liar,” said Captain Arelez. He stepped forward, reaching for his sword. “The Mother World is not dying. I shall kill you here and now for your baseless accusations.”

  “I noticed that the Mother World did not tell you to do that,” said Nicknacks. “If I am lying, she certainly has not said anything to contradict what I just said.”

  “That is because the Mother World need not descend to your level and respond to your falsehoods,” said Arelez. He drew his sword. “Time to die.”

  Arelez raised his sword, but then the Mother World suddenly said, “Captain, lower your blade.”

  Arelez immediately obeyed, but he was still glaring at Nicknacks with obvious rage. The rest of the soldiers seemed angry as well, but I guess they weren’t going to touch us until the Mother World gave them orders.

  Then the Mother World’s huge eyes narrowed on Nicknacks. “How did you know?”

  “It was something I first noticed years ago, shortly after I first broke away from your control and arrived on Earth, though I didn’t understand it at the time,” said Nicknacks. He tapped his own head. “When the superheros of Earth defeated your soldiers the first time, I thought you were going to be back, if not immediately, then at least within the next couple of years. There was no reason for you not to. I knew that you never gave up, that when you wanted to destroy a world, you always finished the job, no matter what kind of obstacles stood in your way.”

  Nicknacks stepped forward, his eyes never leaving the Mother World’s. “But you did not. For fifteen long years, there was no sign of any Pokacu or Pokacu spaceships on or near Earth. The only exception was Graleex, but you had abandoned him and you never even sent back any scouts to rescue any abandoned soldiers. Those years of relative peace puzzled me, but I assumed that you just didn’t see any real point in trying to ‘liberate’ a world whose inhabitants could fight back.”

  Then Nicknacks lowered his hands. “But that wasn’t it, was it? The reason you didn’t immediately return … the reason you left Earth alone for fifteen years … is because you were not strong enough to take it. Your strength has been waning and you did not have enough confidence to know if you could actually defeat humanity or not, so you went in search of easier targets, and only tried again when Graleex came back with information that helped you to invade the planet again, this time with more success than the first time.”

  The Mother World said nothing in response to that. She might have been thinking about what he was saying or maybe she was so angry at him that she just couldn’t find the words to express it.

  “In fact, you don’t even have the power to actually destroy Earth, do you?” said Nicknacks. “That’s why you had Graleex come up with the forty-eight hour deadline. That gave you enough time to search for a suitable host among the humans, didn’t it?”

  “Host?” said Blizzard. “What do you mean?”

  “That is related to another thing about the Mother World,” said Nicknacks. “Like all living beings, she does not want to die. And in order to ensure that she will survive, she is searching for a host whose body she can transfer her own ‘spirit,’ for want of a better term, to, so that she will continue to exist. Isn’t that right, Mother World?”

  No response, but the Mother World’s expression sai
d it all.

  “I don’t know why you are dying,” said Nicknacks. “Or how long, exactly, you’ve been dying, but you know that your death could be any day. So you decided to take a host from Earth, because Earth was the only planet to beat you, and you wanted to have the body of a winner. Or at least a human you can use until you can transfer your mind to Earth, which, being a much younger planet than you, has a much longer lifespan ahead of it.”

  “Is that why she spared the NHA and INJ?” I said. “Because she wanted to pick a host from among them?”

  “Why not?” said Nicknacks. “It was the NHA and INJ, along with the G-Men, who defeated the Pokacu the first time. No doubt the Mother World remembered that. But I don’t think she chose a host among them, because I believe that she really wants to use the NHA and INJ as the genesis of a new Pokacu army once she takes control of the Earth.”

  “Then who is her host?” I said. “Blizzard? You?” I grimaced and put my hands on my chest. “Me?”

  “None of us,” said Nicknacks, shaking his head. “Her host is your mother, Ashley Jason.”

  I gaped when Nicknacks said that. “What? No way. That can’t be true.”

  “But it is,” said Nicknacks. “Right, Mother World?”

  Again, the Mother World said nothing, but then I heard something moving in the darkness. Slowly, a large, glass tube, standing on a floating pad, floated out of the shadows and into the light from the green pillar. At first, it was too far away to see what was inside it, but as the tube came closer and closer, I saw a single, solitary figure lying within it, seemingly unconscious:

  It was Mom.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Mom!” I shouted, but she didn’t stir, which I hoped was just because she couldn’t hear me and not because she was … she might be …

  “She’s not dead,” said the Mother World suddenly, causing me to look at her. “She’s not even injured. She can’t be, if she’s going to be my new host.”

  “Why did you choose my mother?” I said. Anger rose within me, anger I wasn’t bothering to hide. “What gave you that right to kidnap her and take her away from Earth?”

  “It was when Graleex returned from his time on Earth,” said the Mother World. “I searched his memories and found memories of the woman you call your mother. She was there with you when you met Graleex. She left an … impression on me. She has no powers of her own, but she gave birth to such a strong young man. That meant she had a strength of her own; not quite as much as mine, but suitable for my purposes.”

  “That’s why the Pokacu kidnapped her,” said Nicknacks. “And why they sent her here.”

  “Precisely,” said the Mother World. “I will transfer my consciousness into her own body in order to live and go to live on Earth, which will be the new base of the Pokacu army. Then I can resume my quest to liberate worlds from creatures like you.”

  “That still doesn’t explain why you’re dying, though,” I said. “I didn’t even know planets could die.”

  “The Core is cooling,” said the Mother World. “For thousands of years, I’ve been drawing energy from my Core day and night to fuel my forces. But I’m … overdrawing, I suppose you would say. The Core is rapidly losing its heat, which is causing my body to cool. Soon, I will be out of energy, which will lead to my death and the death of my army as well.”

  “Then why don’t you stop using up all your energy?” I said. “Why not just take a break?”

  “Because I must liberate the universe,” said the Mother World. “I must. No one else is doing it; no one else can do it. Therefore, it is my responsibility to save the universe, and I cannot do that if I am dead. I would rather be in the body of a puny human than die, if that meant I could still save the universe.”

  “Is it even possible for you to do that?” I said. “Has this ever happened before?”

  “I don’t know,” said the Mother World. “I do not think so. But it does not matter. If I do nothing, I will die; but if I try this, I may live. I have no choice.”

  “What will happen to Mom?” I said. “Will she survive, if you do this?”

  “I doubt it,” said the Mother World. “There is room enough only for one consciousness in a body, and that will be mine. I will extinguish her consciousness like a flame.”

  “Not unless I stop you,” I said.

  “How?” said the Mother World with a laugh. “Look at you. I may be dying, but I am still overwhelmingly stronger than you. I could increase the gravitational force around you and kill you in an instant or cause you to burst into flames and die. But I think I will go for a much simpler method.”

  Before I could ask her what she meant by that, Nicknacks suddenly grabbed at his head. He started groaning, like he was suffering from a really bad headache, and staggered forward before he caught himself.

  “Nick?” I said. “Nick, are you all right?”

  But Nick didn’t even look at me. His face was in his hands, like he was afraid he might throw up if he looked up. Blizzard and I exchanged concerned looks, but since we had no idea what was happening to him, we could only just stand there and wait for him to explain.

  Then—quite abruptly—Nick lowered his hands and turned to look at us. His eyes had a dead look to them now; in fact, I saw nothing of Nick’s normal personality in there. It was like someone had stolen his soul from his body, which actually made me afraid of him.

  “Nick?” I said. “Is that you?”

  “The traitor is no more,” said the Mother World with a chuckle. “I have crushed his rebellious will. He is now under my control, just like every other Pokacu in the universe. He put up a fight, but was ultimately crushed.”

  “No,” I said, though my voice shook when I said that. “No way. He’s still in there somewhere.”

  “Not anymore,” said the Mother World. “The traitor you know is dead. Now he is back under my control and will do whatever I ask of him. Arelez? Remove his bonds and give him your sword.”

  Arelez walked over to Nicknacks, poured red liquid on Nick’s blue glue bonds, and then held out his sword’s handle to him. Nicknacks took the sword and then held it in front of him, his expression as blank as ever.

  “Now, soldiers, force the humans to their knees,” said the Mother World.

  Suddenly, the soldiers began pushing me and Blizzard to our knees. Unable to fight back, we went down onto the ground and felt their weapons aiming at us to ensure we wouldn’t be able to escape. Then we looked up to see Nicknacks standing above us, the huge sword still in his hands.

  “Nick, what are you doing?” I said. “Can you hear me, Nick?”

  “He can’t,” said the Mother World. “As I have said, he is dead. And soon, you will be as well, once he beheads both of you with that sword. Once you two are dead, I will take the body of this human woman and resume my liberation of the universe.”

  My fists shook. It seemed like the Mother World wasn’t lying. Nick had indeed fallen under her control again. I remembered what Nick had asked me to do before we left Earth—to kill him if he should fall under her control again—but I was so shook by this sudden betrayal that I couldn’t get up and do it. I just looked up at Nick as he raised the sword above his head, ready to bring its blade down on our necks and kill us both.

  But then Nick’s expression changed. He winked at us briefly, so briefly that I almost thought I’d imagined it.

  Then, without warning, Nick whirled around. Instead of bringing the sword down on our necks, he slashed Arelez, beheading the Pokacu Captain in one smooth stroke.

  Arelez’s headless corpse fell to the ground as the other Pokacu soldiers cried out in shock, but Nick didn’t give them time to respond. He jumped at them, slashing and stabbing, his sword sending Pokacu blood flying everywhere with every attack. The surprised soldiers had no time to respond or fight back; in seconds, all of the Pokacu soldiers lay dead on the around us, the blood from their bleeding bodies congealing together and creating one of the worst smells I’d ever had the d
ispleasure of inhaling.

  Only Nick remained standing now, but he wasn’t just standing around doing nothing. He thrust his hand into one of the compartments from his armor and withdrew two vials of the red liquid that could dissolve the blue glue. He immediately poured the liquid onto our bonds, immediately freeing our hands.

  “Nick?” I said in surprise as Blizzard and I rose to our feet, rubbing our wrists and looking at our alien friend in shock. “What … how …”

  “I found the vials on the ship we used to get here,” said Nick. He sounded normal now, like his old self had returned. “I thought they might be useful in case any of us got hit with blue glue. It looks like I was correct.”

  “That’s not what I want to know,” I said. “How did you break free of the Mother World’s control again?”

  “Easy,” said Nick. “I did not give her back control over me. I merely allowed her to think that she had made me part of the collective again. Since I had once been under her control, I know how my people think, so I merely faked having a blank mind that she could control. It helps that she is weaker than she normally is, so I was able to fight off what little power she still has.”

  “You deceitful, traitorous little boy!” the Mother World suddenly shouted, causing all of us to look at her. Her face was twisted in the scariest, angriest expression I had yet seen. “Do you honestly believe that you can get away with fooling me? You have only postponed your own deaths by a few minutes at most. I don’t need soldiers to kill you!”

  Immediately, holes opened up in the ground beneath our feet. Blizzard yelped, but I grabbed both her and Nick and flew up into the air, avoiding falling into the endless black hole underneath.

  “It’s no use, Mother World,” Nick shouted. “It’s over and you know it.”

  “Over?” the Mother World repeated. “What are you babbling about? I still have the power. I may be dying, but this is still my world and my body. None of you will leave this world, much less this chamber, alive.”