The Superhero's Son Omnibus Volume 3

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

I instinctively grabbed Wrath’s foot and pushed back, causing him to stagger off me and swing his arms in order to regain his balance. I scrambled to my feet, breathing in as much air as I could, but I didn’t have a chance to do much else before Wrath ran at me again.

Again, I reacted instinctively, raising my hands to catch his fists before they could hit me in the face. But then Wrath headbutted me, which temporarily knocked me off balance, allowing Wrath to lift me above his head and throw me away.

I crashed into several bookshelves, sending books raining down on me, and they were big, heavy books, too. I shoved the books off me and rose to my feet just as Wrath came charging at me.

Instinctively, I flew into the air, dodging Wrath at the last possible moment. Wrath smashed into the bookshelves, knocking off what few books had managed to remain on them, as I landed behind him.

I fired lightning bolts at Wrath’s back, but he rolled out of the way, causing the lightning bolts to strike the bookshelves and make them explode, sending chunks of wood flying everywhere. I aimed at him again, but Wrath grabbed my wrists and yanked my arms upwards, causing my next blast of lightning to strike the ceiling, which made chunks of plaster and wood fall on both of us.

Then Wrath raised me by my arms and slammed me down on the floor. The impact of the crash created a small crater in the floor in which I lay, dazed, before Wrath raised me above his head again and hurled me at the ceiling.

I smashed through the ceiling, hit the ceiling in the room above, and then fell onto the floor again. But I recovered quickly, getting to my feet as Wrath’s huge fingers appeared on the edges of the hole, a sign that Wrath was trying to pull himself up.

“Cadmus, I need backup,” I said, walking backwards from the hole that Wrath was trying to climb through. “Like, right now.”

“The team isn’t listening,” Cadmus said, frustration in his voice. “Alana’s amnesia is keeping them from remembering who I am. Several of them have told me to do rather inappropriate things to myself.”

“Maybe if I beat Alana, their memories will return and they will be able to help me,” I said.

“That’s as good a plan as any,” said Cadmus. “If you can beat her, do so. Otherwise, you’re on your own for now.”

“Gotcha,” I said. “I’ll—”

Wrath’s head broke through the hole in the floor and the Visionist pulled his whole body through it, widening the hole as his bulk pulled up onto the floor. He noticed me immediately and smiled, which looked psychotic and scary on his huge face.

“There you are,” said Wrath. “I’m getting tired of beating you. Why don’t you run?”

Wrath waved one of his hands. All of a sudden, a severe, intense fear shook through my whole body, making me shudder. It felt like I was facing the scariest thing in existence, but I couldn’t even think clearly enough to figure out what was making me so scared.

I took a step backwards, but my rational mind told me to stop. It was incredibly difficult, though, and took all of my willpower to stay, because I was so afraid of Wrath that all I wanted to do was run away and hide under the blankets of my bed.

Through the fear, I recognized that Wrath was just using his powers of emotional manipulation over me. Even so, that didn’t help me fight it. If anything, that just made it even harder, because I knew that as long as Wrath kept using his power, I would never be able to gather the courage to fight back.

“Yes, I can see the fear on your face,” said Wrath. “Let the fear consume you. Let despair make you unable to fight back.”

Wrath ran at me. There was no way I could dodge or block his attacks. All I wanted to do was run and hide, not for any reason other than I was really, really afraid.

All of a sudden, Cadmus shouted in my ear, “Bolt, snap out of it!”

Cadmus’s voice—strong and angry—broke through the fear clouding my mind. It cleared the fear away just long enough for me to think clearly, which was all I needed to do, because Wrath was now upon me and was throwing his fists at me again.

But I moved faster than him. I charged my fist with electricity, sending sparks flying everywhere, and dodged Wrath’s blows. Because I was smaller than him, I was able to move in and punch him hard in the gut, combining my super strength and electricity in the strongest blow I could muster.

When my fist connected with Wrath’s body, I felt electricity drain from my body into his. At the same time, I heard a crack come from somewhere within Wrath’s body and he was sent flying, sent flying so fast that not only did he break through the wall of this room, but also broke through the walls of the next two rooms, until he smashed into what sounded like a glass cabinet full of precious china, which crashed down on him with an earsplitting crash.

I waited for him to get up and resume fighting, but I didn’t even hear him stir. Not only that, but the overwhelming fear that I had felt earlier had completely worn off, making me feel tired and exhausted.

“Bolt, I heard what sounded like an electrical explosion go off,” said Cadmus in my ear suddenly. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” I said. I looked down at my fist, which was no longer sparking. “Wrath is down. Probably not dead, but will probably have to spend the next few months in the hospital.”

“Excellent,” said Cadmus. “Now you need to find Alana.”

“Right,” I said. “She was in the dining room last I saw. I wouldn’t be surprised if she took advantage of our fight to flee, though, but I’m going down just to make sure.”

“Good,” said Cadmus. “Do it quickly, because she is far more of a threat to our operation than Wrath was.”

I nodded and flew through the holes in the ceiling and walls until I returned to the dining room. Landing on the floor, I looked back toward the end of the table, where Alana had been standing, only to see that she was missing.

“She’s gone,” I said. “And I don’t know where she is.”

Then I heard a door slam close somewhere and realized it came from the door behind Wrath’s seat. It sounded like Alana, probably trying to find some place to hide, but I wasn’t about to let her get away.

I activated my super speed and burst through the door, busting it completely off its hinges. I found myself in another hallway of the Mansion, with rows upon rows of doors on both sides. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell which door Alana was hiding behind.

“Come out and show yourself, you liar!” I shouted, my voice echoing off the polished wood floor and walls of the hallway. “I’m willing to tear this entire Mansion apart to find you, so don’t think you can hide forever!”

To my surprise, a door at the end of the hallway opened and Alana walked out. She stopped in the center of the hallway and turned to face me, her icy blue eyes just visible underneath her hood. She seemed to be hiding something underneath the sleeves of her cloak, but I couldn’t see what it was.

“There you are,” I said. “I already beat Wrath. So unless you want to get punched through a wall, you should come quietly.”

Alana shook her head. “No. And you will leave me alone, because you don’t even know who I am.”

Immediately, Alana raised one of her hands and balled it into a fist.

A severe pain burned in the back of my head, a pain so severe that it made me cry out. I fell to my knees, my hands grabbing the back of my head, which was starting to feel like it was splitting in half. The pain was almost overwhelming, nearly causing me to black out, but I fought against it, although it was a rapidly losing battle. I could feel my memory starting to fade, but I couldn’t … stop … it …

Abruptly, the pain went away, but now I remembered … nothing. And I mean nothing at all. I couldn’t remember where I was, what I was doing here, why I was on my knees in the first place … heck, I couldn’t even remember my own name. Every time I tried, my head hurt, like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it a few times.

Then I heard footsteps ahead of me and looked up to see a hooded woman walking toward me. I didn’t recognize her, but something about the way she walked and the way she looked at me made me feel very defensive.

“Who are you?” I said. “Where am I? How did I get here? I don’t remember anything. Can you help me?”

“That I can,” said the hooded woman. “You are an old friend of mine who suffered a bad head injury recently. It’s why you lost your memory; you were doing some home repair work for me when a chunk of wood hit you in the back of the head.”

“Oh,” I said. “It must have hit me pretty hard, though, because I can’t even remember my own name. Can you tell me what it is?”

The hooded woman stopped above me. Her right arm—which was hidden under the sleeve of her cloak—moved and something came out of it as the woman said, “You won’t need to know your name where you are going!”

The woman had drawn a pistol and was pointing it directly at my face. Her finger pulled the trigger, but my instincts kicked in and I grabbed her wrist and jerked her arm to the side just as the gun went off. The bullet struck the wall, its sound echoing off the hallway’s walls and floor, while the woman cursed.

But I didn’t stop there. I twisted her arm so much that she dropped the gun and then—like it was the most logical next course of action—slammed my fist against the back of her head with more strength than I realized I had.

The woman instantly collapsed into my arms. As soon as she lost consciousness, the pain in the back of my head vanished and my memories all came rushing back. I gently lowered the woman on the floor, but for safekeeping, I smashed her dropped gun with a single step of my foot, breaking it cleanly in two.

“There,” I said. “Take that.”

“Bolt, is Alana down?” said Cadmus’s voice in my ear. “I heard a gun shot go off.”

“Yeah, she is,” I said. “I knocked her out.”

“That means that both Wrath and Alana are unconscious,” said Cadmus, “which means that the team has probably regained their memories or are in the process of doing so.”

“Yeah,” I said. “You should try contacting them again and see if they remember you or not.”

“Right,” said Cadmus. “But there is also the issue of Thaumaturge and the others going to the facility where Sagan is being kept.”

“Of course,” I said. “Have you hear anything from the guards or employees working there?”

“No,” said Cadmus. “That means that either Wrath was lying about the whereabouts of the others or they managed to take out the facility’s security systems or guards before they could call for help. There were a few agents posted there, but I don’t know what their status is. No one is answering my calls or messages.”

“Then I’ll need to go there fast,” I said. “Sounds like the only way to know is to send someone to check, and I’m the best person for the job.”

“But you need my authorization to go,” said Cadmus. “And you aren’t even a G-Man.”

“I know I’m not, but given how we don’t know if the agents posted at the facility are even still alive, you’ll need to send someone to go check,” I argued. “And considering I am available and have already fought these particular Visionists before, it would make sense to send me there to stop them. I just need your authorization to do it.”

Cadmus went silent for a moment before finally saying, “You make a good point. I give you authorization to enter the facility, but I am still going to send G-Men agents to back you up, too.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “So how do I get there?”

“I’ll send Shade to pick you up,” said Cadmus. “Her shadow travel ability will allow you to get there in an instant.”

“Okay,” I said. “So when will Shade—”

Immediately, Shade stepped out of the shadows of a nearby doorway and said, “Hi, Bolt! Remember me now?”

I jumped when Shade appeared and almost zapped her with a lightning bolt before I caught myself. “Shade, don’t do that, okay?”

Shade smiled mischievously. “You mean you don’t like surprises? You’re way more boring than I thought.”

“That’s not what I—whatever,” I said. “Just take me to the facility where Sagan is being kept. We have to move fast, because for all we know, Thaumaturge and the others might already be in the process of freeing him.”