No ordinary hero (Keepers of justice # 1) (14 page)

It’s no big deal. I’m going to go over to Dad and lay it out for him. Yeah, my hands are shaking as the guys and I head to the Tower, but that’s okay. We’re all going to be okay, because Dad will know what to do. He always knows what to do. I’ve got to push all the negative thoughts away and focus on the positive. Telling Dad will save his life.

Kale Zenith,
a voice rings in my head.

I stop dead in my tracks. Scar.

Glancing at the guys, I realize that they heard his voice, too.
Scar
? I say in my head.

A few seconds pass before Scar says,
Yes, listen to me very carefully, Kale. Your—

Where are you
? I demand. So many questions and accusations run through my mind and I can’t sort through them fast enough.
Your place was trashed. What’s going on
?

We were forced to relocate immediately. Our home has been compromised. But listen to me—

We didn’t mean to cause any of this,
I say
. Where are you now? In hiding? Can we see you?

Kale, your father has been
abducted.

My mind goes blank, flat like the lines on the EKG when a patient
dies. I don’t think or feel anything until Stretch shifts, bringing me back to the now. To the news I just got.

What
...? is all I manage to say.

I attempted to br
each the telepath’s mind,
Scar explains.
I succeeded a mere glimpse before sensing that he and the other villains were on their way to the sewers. That is why we fled.

I look at the guys to see if they’re getting all of this. They are. I start pacing around, not paying attention to passersby, or when I accidentally step in the gutter. My dad
’s been abducted. My dad’s been abducted. How could things have gotten worse? I was going to tell him. I was going to lay it all down to him.

And now he’s gone. Hell, maybe he’s dead.

Tears are about to surge out of my eyes.

All hope is not lost,
Scar says.
I know where they are holding him
.

My whole body perks up. So does Stretch’s. X stares ahead with his usual emotionless expression.

Scar paints a picture of the building in my head, a warehouse or something, and tells me the address. Then I feel him leave my head.

It’s quiet. All I hear is passing cars, chatter and laughter as all the normies go about their business, not a care in the world.

Stretch is the one to break the silence. “What now?” he says.

“We go after
them,” I say. “After the Blades. We know where they’re keeping my dad. We kill those bastards and get my dad back.”

“You have no powers,” X says. “The only thing I’m good for is easy access to people’s personal lives and Stretch is as useless as a rubber duck.”

“Hey!” Stretch says.

“We can’t do it, Kale,” X continues. “We can’t go up against Lightning and the others.”

I drop down to the curb of the sidewalk and squeeze my face into my palms. My heart rate is beating a million times a minute, full of rage and bloodlust. But my mind is being smart, logical, taking in everything X said. He’s right. I have no powers. Lightning will fry me faster than a potato chip. He’ll do the same to X and Stretch. We can’t do this alone.

But who can I trust? Dad’s
second in command has been secretly plotting to assassinate him behind his back. Who else is on his side? All it takes is a tip to the Blades and they might kill my dad, if they haven’t done so already.

“There has to be something we can do,” Stretch says, dropping down near me.

“There is,” X says, staring out at the traffic. “Risky. It’ll probably get us all killed.”

“Right now, I don’t see why that should hold me back,” I mumble. Life without
Dad is not an option for me. I’ve never been suicidal, and I’m not being like that now. But I can’t imagine being an orphan. How would I live with all those memories of my dad when he was alive, like I do with my mom? The thought itself makes me want to step in front of Lightning, hold my arms out and beg him to strike me dead.

There’s also another thing. How can I leave the League without a leader? Who will keep people with powers safe? My dad
needs
to live.

“Do you know about the Weaponry?” X asks.

Stretch and I look at him. “What?” I ask.

“Your dad has a special room set aside in the basement, called the Weaponry. He keeps all different kinds of weapons there, weapons that are made out of DNA taken from people with powers.”

I continue to stare at him. I knew there’s a lot about my dad and the League that I don’t know, but I guess there’s
a lot
I don’t know.

“There are guns that use fireballs instead of bullets. Grenades that are much
more effective than regular ones. The government doesn’t know about it. They’d shut us down if they did.”

“So what are you suggesting?” I ask, not getting what this has to do with anything.

“We may not have kickass powers,” X says. “But we can have kickass weapons.”

***

The reason I, and every other kid except for X, doesn’t know about the Weaponry is because the only way to get there is through a secret passageway. It’s behind a large mirror, one my dad told me he bought at an ancient artifact store. Apparently, the thing dates back to the American Revolution. There’s a small lever underneath the mirror’s base, and when I pull it, the mirror shifts back, revealing a long narrow hallway.

X narrows his eyes. “Coast’s clear.”

“Are you sure he’s not in the Tower?” I ask for the hundredth time since we came back from the sewers. X doesn’t seem annoyed; he shakes his head the same way he did the other times.

We walk
through the small hallway and come up to a steel door. There’s a lock.

“Do your thing,”
X tells Stretch.

As he sticks a long, pointy finger into the keyhole, I turn to X and say, “So only a few members know about this Weaponry place. The Elites. My dad must have known that you can see this room.”

“Probably.”

I wonder about that. Did Dad purposely let X know about this room? He could have used another facility to develop these weapons,
like he does with all his other secret operations like Virus Boy. But he kept it here, in the mansion. Maybe as a precaution in case something would happen to him or the Elite members and he needed one other person to know about it?

“Got it,” Stretch says, holding out his finger. It’s in the shape of the key needed to open the lock.

X opens the door, and we walk in. Lights snap on and the door shuts behind us with a thud that echoes down the hallway. The room is huge, bigger than the Sim Room. There are shelves and shelves with glass cases that hold weapons. Small pistols, sniper guns, rifles, machine guns. You name it, it’s here. There are also torpedoes and missiles. Does the League have ships and submarines? I wouldn’t be surprised if we did.

“Holy
crap,” I mutter, scanning all the cases. Terrorists would have a party here. “What’s this?” I ask, pointing to a small object in a case. It looks like a pin.

“Try it,” X says.

I gape at him. “Are you out of your mind? Who knows what this could do to me?”

“Trust me,” X says.

Um? Okay, I guess. I check the case, searching for a way to open it. “How do I get it?”

“Press your thumb on that panel over there.”

I narrow my eyes at X. He seems to know a lot about this stuff. Is there something he should be telling me?

“I’ve watched your dad and the Elites do it
many times,” he says. “Trust me.”

Okay, here goes. I press my right thumb on the small panel on the left. A woman’s robotic voice says, “Scanning. Kale Zenith. Access granted.” And the case clicks open.

I bet my jaw hangs lower than Stretch’s, like that’s even possible. Holy mother of...this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!

“Why is this programmed to accept me?” I ask.

“I think your dad did it in case,” X says. “You’re the only one who has access to it other than the Elite members.”

“
Cool!” Stretch says. “Kale, take the pin.” The excitement is leaping off his body.

I step forward and reach into the case, taking the small pin in my hand. It’s shaped like a circle, gold in color and
is as small as a pea. I guess I’m supposed to put it on? As soon I fasten the clip on my shirt, my entire body gets encased in hard metal.

“No way!” Stretch yells. “It’s armor. I bet the power was taken from Titan to make it.” Titan, short for Titanium, is this thirty-three year old guy who can coat his whole body
in metal.

Coolest. Thing. Ever. I’m a mini Titan.

I walk around, expecting the weight to pull down on me like I’m on Jupiter, but it feels like I’m wearing only boxers. Am I super strong now, or is this just a shield? I walk over to one of the shelves and yank it off the floor. It’s like pulling a feather off my pillow.

Now I get how the Decoy House works! The elevator that transports me from the house to the Tower must have been taken from Regina’s DNA. Regina, an Elite member, is a teleport, so I guess when the elevator doors close after I get inside, I’m teleported to the basement of the Tower. Cool!

When I undo the pin, I’m back to my normal self.

“We all need one of those,” Stretch says, his green eyes shining the brightest I’ve ever seen. I do the same protocol to two other cases and get pins for the guys. I didn’t know how ridiculous I looked in the Titan armor until I see them. Like robots.

“Grab
whatever you think we’ll need,” X says, inspecting the cases, probably checking out the interior of the weapons to see what’s inside. “Take those. They release gases that knock you out cold. And don’t forget the grenades and those fireball guns.”

Stretch makes a pocket out of his body and tucks the weapons inside. Then, after taking a deep breath and going over the plan one more time, we head to the
garage to steal a car and drive to the building where my dad is being held.

We get into the jeep. None of us has a license, but I’m pretty sure that’s the least of our problems right now.
We don’t say much—we all seem to be deep in our thoughts. But after a few minutes, Stretch breaks the silence by asking again what the plan is. I can tell he’s scared—heck, I’m about to puke. But we all know we’re the only ones who can save my dad, save the future of our people. And with this Titan armor and kickass weapons, we’re sure to take Lightning and the Blades down.

We’re around the corner of the building. Stretch hands each of us two weapons—one with the fireb
alls and one with the gases—and a grenade. X gives me and Stretch a nod and gets out of the car. We get out, too, and follow him toward the entrance of the warehouse.

When
we’re a foot away, X suddenly collapses. A second later, Stretch follows, his weapons clattering to the ground. And before I could say a word, I feel a sharp pain in my leg, and I fall to the ground. My vision goes black.

My head throbs
. I hurt all over—my chest, legs, arms. It feels like someone took a hammer and pounded my body. No, like I got run over by a train. Like the wheels crushed me and smashed me until there was nothing left but broken bones.

Someone moans near me. Something whacks my forehead. A hand, I think. I open my eyes and see Stretch lying next to me, eyes shut. His body is curled into a ball.
Inspecting my surroundings, I realize we’re in a prison or dungeon. What the hell happened?

Oh, yeah. I remember now. Scar’s place getting trashed, Scar telling us Dad’s in trouble, X’s idea to surprise the
Blades with an attack, collapsing in front of the building.

We failed. Somehow we got captured. All our weapons and armor are gone. “
Crap,” I mutter, scanning the place. It’s dark. The only light shines in from the small window at the top of the door. It reeks like mold and smoke and waste.

X is leaning against the wal
l, arms crossed over his chest.

“What happened?” I ask.

“We screwed up.”

“How the—”

“Well, well, well,” a familiar voice says. “Look who we have here.” I get up and peer through the window. Lightning stares back at me, a smug smile on his face. He’s got on a uniform I’ve never seen before—must be his villain one, all black and red. His face is uncovered.

“Where’s my dad?” I demand.

“Daddy will be here shortly, dear Kale.”

My fists clench at my sides. I wish I
could shove my hand through the window and grab his neck. “If you so much as touch—”

“Now, now. No need to be upset.” Lightning snickers.

“Where is he? I want to see him.”

Lightning laughs, so hard I can feel it sliding up from his stomach
and out his mouth. “He’s in Washington D.C., I believe. In a meeting.”

I turn to
X. He’s as confused as me. “But Scar said—”

Lightning’s laughter magnifies by a million. Stretch stirs and sits up, rubbing his eyes.
When he notices where we are, his body stretches from one end of the prison to the other. “What’s going on?” He trembles.

I want to reassure him that everything is going to be okay, but how
can I? Nothing’s going to be okay. Did Scar betray us? Is he with the Blades?

Someone steps toward Lightning. I press my head on the window to get a good look at him.
I mean her, I think, since there’s long, white hair spilling out from the back of her mask. It’s not old-people white hair, but young and rich, and oddly, very pretty. Her uniform is bright red and orange, like what I imagine hell fire would look like. “Your little sewer rat thought he was so clever, didn’t he?” the woman says. “To protect your precious little heads from danger. Little did he know that his block was only on your
minds
. Knocking you unconscious was effortless on our part.”

“Who the hell are you?” X asks, his eyes the darkest I’ve ever seen.

“Vlayne, daughter of Vladimir Amador.”

She’s
the daughter of the villain who the League took down four years ago? X was right. He left a successor.

“What do you want from us?” X asks.

Vlayne starts walking around. I can’t see her, but I hear her well. “The day my father was murdered, I swore to have my revenge. Thus I gathered an army. Those loyal to my father who wanted Samson dead as much as I did.”

“Shut up!” I yell.

Vlayne laughs. “Lightning was my father’s best man. His inside man. No one knew he existed. That is why it was simple to have Lightning infiltrate your precious league. Samson didn’t know his real identity.”

I don’t know what to say. I mean, I can’t talk even if I wanted to. My throat’s clogged with lumps.

“I had Vlayne protect my thoughts,” Lightning tells us. “That nosy kid, Robert, was going to spoil everything had he read my thoughts. You see, Vlayne is a telepath.”

The telepath Scar told us about.

“Everything was quite effortless.” Vlayne snorts. “I had Lightning get close to Samson, earn his trust over the years. Soon enough, Samson promoted Lightning as his second in command. Lightning would go everywhere Samson went. Meetings and such. He would have access to the Tower’s security.” She laughs a hard laugh. “So simple.”

I can’t stand here listening to this. I need to pummel their faces.

“Everything was going well,” Vlayne continues. “I kept an eye on Lightning, monitored his progress. When Robert grew suspicious, I invaded his thoughts and controlled his brain. As I did with your dear mother. So weak, that woman. A poor excuse of a telepath.”

“You bi—”

“Weak as she was, she would have discovered the truth of Lightning’s identity. It was not long before her mind became mine.”

My throat constricts. I won’t cry. Won’t give them the satisfaction.

“Stop talking,” Stretch says. He must sense how much this bothers me.

“Why ever would I do that? Wouldn’t you like to hear our plans?”

“No,” Stretch says in a mousy voice, slinking back against the wall.

“
It was amazing how well everything was coming together,” Vlayne says, and I bet she’s got a proud smile on her face. Girl or no girl, I want to punch the crap out of her. “There was one problem,” she continues. “A little sewer rat invaded my thoughts. I thought I had placed a strong fortress on my thoughts. I suppose I was mistaken. As the rat glimpsed into my mind, I glimpsed into his. I learned that you three sought out his help. I knew instantly that he would inform you of our whereabouts. It doesn’t take a genius to realize we were to have three visitors.” She holds out the weapons and pins. “Useless items when one has surveillance cameras and tranquilizers.”

We didn’t think this through enough.
Yeah our minds were totally safe, but there were others ways to take us down. The Blades must have seen us on their property long before we even reached the front gate.

I look at X. He looks at me.

Vlayne laughs again. I swear if she laughs one more time, I’m going to tear her eyes out. “You boys don’t understand what a great service you have done for me tonight. You see, Samson is a great man. Too great. He is not taken down easily. Now with his precious son in my possession, he is sure to give himself up. A noble thing, isn’t it?”

My hands ball into fists. This is all our fault. If we wouldn’t have come here, they wouldn’t blackmail Dad. Why did Scar
tell us my father’s been kidnapped?

I swallow. “Does my dad know we’re here?”

“I will call him shortly. He is still in Washington. We don’t want to alarm anyone.”

I guess Vlayne’s done with her story, because she turns away and tells this twenty-something guy to stand guard. Lightning follows
her out with that damn smug smirk on his face.

All three of us look at each other. Stretch whimpers again.

“Oh, man,” I say. “This isn’t good.”