

BROTHERS

## Book One of the Young Neos

## Lucas Flint

Published by Secret Identity Books. An imprint of Annulus Publishing.

Copyright © Lucas Flint 2017. All rights reserved.

Contact: luke@lucasflint.com

Cover design by Damonza

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, send an email to the above contact.

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CHAPTER ONE

Kevin Jason—also known as the superhero Bolt, the leader of the famous young superhero team known as the Young Neos—had faced a lot of challenges in his life as a superhero. He had fought dangerous supervillains, saved the world more than once, had faced certain death more times than most teenagers, and had even traveled to other planets and universes. A superhero couldn't go through all of that without developing confidence and learning how to put aside fear to do the right thing, especially if the lives of your friends and other people were on the line. Indeed, Kevin had thought that he was entirely fearless now; after all, if you could blow up a planet and live to tell the tale, everything else seemed pretty simple after that.

But as Kevin sat on a chair in a private room in the House, his hands folded over his lap, he couldn't help but wish he didn't have to be here today, facing the woman sitting across the table from him. The woman was not a dangerous supervillain with dreams of taking over the world or threatening Kevin's friends and family; in fact, she was pretty mousy and small, even shorter than him, despite being in her thirties while he was just eighteen. She was not even wielding a gun or some other weapon, but rather a recorder that she had placed on the center of the table to catch everything that Kevin said. If he had to, Kevin could easily overwhelm her without having to lay one finger on her, although he didn't think he'd need to do that today.

Still, Kevin was beginning to rethink agreeing to this interview. He had never been interviewed by anyone from the press before, even though he'd received several interview requests from the media ever since he rose to stardom after defeating the infamous supervillain Master Chaos last year. His mentor, Mecha Knight, had never allowed him to speak directly with the media, mostly because Mecha Knight did not trust the media for some reason. Then again, Kevin supposed that Mecha Knight and the rest of the Leadership Council wanted to make sure that neither Kevin nor any of his teammates revealed any of the Neohero Alliance's secrets to the media accidentally.

Now I kind of wish that they'd kept that policy, instead of making an exception for this woman, Kevin thought, looking at the reporter who was turning on her recorder and getting her notepad set up so she could easily take notes. I'm so nervous that I don't know if I'll be able to talk.

The reporter sitting across the table from Kevin was a woman named Virginia Gray, from the popular superhero fan website Neo Ranks. Neo Ranks was a website where various neoheroes (and supervillains) were ranked according to their popularity and accomplishments, but it also acted as the news site for everything related to super humans, supervillains, and neoheroes. Kevin himself was on the site, ranked at a solid 7.5 for his popularity and help in saving the world more than a few times. While Kevin didn't waste time obsessing over his rank like some people did, he did wonder why he was not at least an eight; after all, how many superheroes saved Earth from an alien invasion?

He doubted that Virginia would be able to tell him about that. The quiet, mousy lady was well-known on Neo Ranks for her interviews; in fact, she had even interviewed Omega Man, the leader of the Neohero Alliance. Kevin had read a few of her interviews prior to this interview to get a grasp on her style and he had learned that, while respectful of her subjects, she wasn't above asking them hard questions, up to and including the secret identities of her subjects, if they were kept hidden. He had no idea what she was going to ask him about today; she had said that they were going to cover 'Bolt's life, powers, and plans,' but that was pretty vague, so Kevin didn't have any preplanned answers. He wished that his girlfriend and teammate, Blizzard, was here with him; she was usually better at interviews than he was, even though she was shyer than him.

Just keep calm, Kevin thought. Remember what Blizzard said about not letting your nerves get to you. Just answer the questions as truthfully and honestly as you can and don't worry about anything else.

That was easier said than done, though. At least the interview wasn't supposed to be very long; Virginia had told Kevin it would probably take them thirty minutes at most and then she would leave. Kevin wasn't sure he would last thirty minutes.

Finally, Virginia put her recorder back on the table and said, "Okay, Mr. Bolt, are you ready to begin the interview?"

"Yes," said Kevin. He was surprised at how confident he sounded; he thought he'd sound like a blubbering mess of nerves, but his habitual confidence must have been kicking in already, for which he was thankful. Maybe he wouldn't make a fool of himself now.

"Excellent," said Virginia. She took a sip from her water bottle grabbing her pen and resting its tip on her notepad. "All right, then. Let's start with an introduction, even though everyone who is going to read this interview already knows who you are."

"Okay," said Kevin. He cleared his throat and spoke as clearly as he could. "I'm Bolt, the leader of the Young Neos. I've been a superhero for a year as of this month and my super powers include flight, super strength, super speed, and the ability to shoot lightning bolts from my hands."

"Is that why your name is Bolt?" said Virginia.

Kevin shook his head. "No. I got my lightning powers after I chose my superhero name. It's just a coincidence that my name matches with my powers."

"Lucky you," said Virginia as she wrote notes. "According to our research, you didn't develop your lightning powers until you fought Robert Candle, the son of Master Chaos, yes? Do you know why you developed those powers later than the others?"

Kevin bit his lower lip. He wasn't sure how to explain the origin of his powers; it involved a government conspiracy and an ancient alien spacecraft that even he didn't understand entirely. Plus, he was sure that the government would come after him if he let that knowledge be known to the general public. Or at least the government's Department of Superpowered and Extraterrestrial Beings and its enigmatic director, Cadmus Smith; after all, if they weren't above throwing him in prison on false charges, there was no reason to believe that they would let him walk free if he actually did something that could get him in trouble with the government.

Kevin just shrugged and said, "You know how it is with superhumans. We sometimes develop new powers out of nowhere, especially as teenagers. It's just part of my growth as a superhuman, that's all."

"And do you think you will develop any other powers or have you stopped growing?" said Virginia.

That seemed like a stupid question to Kevin, but he said, in a polite voice, "I don't know. I'm eighteen now and most superhumans stop gaining new powers at this age, so in all likelihood, I won't be developing any other superpowers in the future."

"Are there any other powers you'd like to have?" said Virginia.

Kevin frowned. "No, not really. I'm pretty content with the powers I have."

"I see," said Virginia. She finished taking notes and looked at me again. "And your father was the famous superhero Genius, correct?"

"Right," I said, nodding. "That's him."

"He was killed in February of this year by the son of Master Chaos, right?" said Virginia. "Did you see him die yourself?"

Kevin's throat suddenly became swollen with emotion, but he gulped it down and said, "Yes."

"Does his death still affect you?" said Virginia. "What do you think he would say to you if he was still alive today?"

Kevin gulped. Even though Dad's death had been months ago, it still stung whenever he thought about it. He had thought he had managed to mostly get over it, but he had not been expecting Virginia to ask such an emotionally difficult question, nor had he been expecting to feel that surge of emotion that nearly choked him. It made him wonder if he was as over it as he had thought.

"Yes, I still think about Dad sometimes," said Kevin. He sniffled, which surprised even him. "And I think he'd be happy if he was alive now. He always wanted me to do the right thing and I've saved the world more than once, so he'd probably be proud of me, I think."

"Did Genius want you to be a superhero or did he want you to do something else?" said Virginia. "Some superheroes don't want their kids to follow in their footsteps, while others have actually disowned their own children for refusing to succeed them. What was Genius like?"

Kevin bit his lower lip. "He didn't want me to be a superhero at first. He originally retired from superheroics so he could raise me with my mother. He only taught me how to be a superhero when my powers manifested and Master Chaos came after me and that was only so I could defend myself. He eventually accepted my desire to be a superhero before his death, though."

"Interesting," said Virginia. "Speaking of supervillains, you've fought quite a few over the last year; Master Chaos, the Visionary, and Mimic, just to name a few of your most infamous ones. Who would you say was the most difficult to defeat?"

"Boy, that's a tough one," said Kevin, rubbing the back of his neck. "Probably Robert Candle. He stole my powers, which left me unable to fight him for a while there, and he also killed Dad. But like I said, it's difficult to say for sure because they were all powerful and dangerous in their own ways."

"And is there a reason why you allied with Nuclear Winter to break out of Ultimate Max prison a couple of months ago?" said Virginia. "And why were you in Ultimate Max in the first place? What crimes did you commit to make the G-Men arrest and jail you?"

Kevin felt his temper rise, as it always did whenever he thought about this subject, but he said, in a calm voice, "Nothing. It was a misunderstanding. I was totally innocent. That was why President Plutarch pardoned me."

"But you broke out of Ultimate Max with several other prisoners," said Virginia. "And those prisoners—the supervillains Mimic, Firespirit, Steel Skin, Intellect, and Jawtooth—are still free, while Nuclear Winter and Enor are both dead and Rime has been pardoned like you. Why did you team up with those supervillains to break out of prison if you were innocent? Especially since all of them were members of your rogues gallery, aside from Nuclear Winter and Rime."

"Because I had to get out to stop a worse supervillain," said Kevin. "My team and I have been working hard to track down and recapture the villains who escaped with me. Trust me, I want them back in prison just as much as anyone else. I wouldn't have allied with them if circumstances didn't force me to do it."

"And who was this 'worse' supervillain you needed to stop?" said Virginia. "According to my research, it was White Lightning, your long-lost twin brother, wasn't it?"

Kevin rubbed his hands together under the table. He would have to be careful about how he answered this question, because the true story behind the supervillain he needed to stop implicated the federal government and also touched him personally in ways he didn't want the rest of the world to know about. "White Lightning wasn't the villain I was trying to stop. He was just the pawn of the real villain, Mastermind, who was trying to take over the world. But I stopped him and saved White Lightning, which is another reason why President Plutarch pardoned me."

"And White Lightning is currently a member of the Young Neos now, yes?" said Virginia. "Even though, prior to joining the team, he had attacked several towns and cities under the directive of Mastermind?"

"White Lightning was not a supervillain," said Kevin. He tried to keep his tone civil, but it was hard because he didn't like the way Virginia talked about his brother. "He was merely manipulated into working for Mastermind due to his mental condition. He's not a bad guy."

"What mental condition does White Lightning have, exactly?" Virginia asked. "I didn't know he had one."

Kevin bit his lower lip again. The truth about White Lightning was that he had been experimented on by the government ever since he was a baby, which left him a lot of trauma, although he had made a lot of progress over the last two months and was doing much better than he had before, but Kevin couldn't say that. "It's personal. You just need to know that the Neohero Alliance has been giving him all the therapy and help he needs so he won't be a threat to anyone."

That was true. Ever since White Lightning had joined the Young Neos, he had worked with a therapist hired by the NHA to help him deal with his trauma and become a normal human being. In fact, White Lightning was currently in a session with his therapist, which was why he was not here with Kevin.

"I see," said Virginia. She jotted down a few notes before looking back up at Kevin again. "Does White Lightning have powers similar to yours?"

"Yes," said Kevin, nodding. "Our power set is basically the same, although I'm a better fighter than him due to my experience." Kevin didn't mentioned White Lightning's healing factor, mostly because he didn't think that it would be wise to let the world know everything about his twin, especially if any supervillains happened to read this interview once it was published.

"So could you beat White Lightning in a fight, then?" said Virginia.

"That's an odd question," said Kevin.

"It's one of the questions submitted by Neo Ranks readers," said Virginia. "There is a huge argument online over which of the two Lightning Brothers could win in a fight."

"Lightning Brothers?" Kevin repeated.

"Oh, that's just the term that your fans have made to refer to you and your brother," said Virginia matter-of-factly. "Anyway, please answer the question, if you can."

"Well, okay," said Kevin. He didn't know how to feel about his 'fans' making a nickname for him and White Lightning, but he supposed it wasn't bad. "See, that's kind of a funny question to ask, because White Lightning and I have fought before and—"

Kevin was interrupted by the door to the room slamming open abruptly, causing both Kevin and Virginia to look over at it in surprise. Then someone who looked just like Kevin ran into the room. He was practically Kevin's doppelganger, wearing a full-body white and blue costume that contrasted sharply with Kevin's own black and red costume. The doppelganger also had bright green eyes, which were bright with excitement. He came to an abrupt stop and looked directly at Kevin, totally ignoring Virginia like she didn't even exist.

"Brother!" said White Lightning, a big, goofy grin on his face. "There you are! Em told me that you were in here and I came to see you."

Kevin smiled somewhat awkwardly at his brother. 'Em' was what White Lightning called Blizzard, whose real name was Emily Ricker. He didn't know why White Lightning called her that, but Blizzard didn't seem to mind (in fact, she thought it was cute), so Kevin didn't worry about it. "White, what are you doing here? I thought you were in your therapy session."

"We finished early," said White Lightning, clapping his hands together excitedly. "Miss Gee told me that I did good today, so we finished early so I could come see you!"

'Miss Gee' was White Lightning's therapist. Her real name was Gina Asuka, a kindhearted therapist from New York City who came to Hero Island to do White Lightning's therapy sessions. White Lightning always called her 'Miss Gee' for some reason, probably for the same reason he called Blizzard 'Em.'

In any case, Kevin said, "Wow, that's great, White, but I'm kind of busy at the moment. Didn't Blizzard tell you that?"

"Busy?" said White Lightning. For the first time, he noticed Virginia, who was staring at him with a look that Kevin didn't like. "Who are you?"

White Lightning didn't say that threateningly. He sounded like a little child inquiring to the identity of a stranger that his parents were talking to. It was kind of endearing, although Kevin did feel a little embarrassed by the way his brother talked even if he understood why White was so simpleminded.

"I'm Virgina Gray, a reporter from Neo Ranks," said Virginia quickly, before Kevin could say anything. "And I'm interviewing your brother."

"Vir... Virgin..." White Lightning struggled to pronounce her name. "Vir..."

"You can just call me Gray if it's easier for you," Virginia said in a tone that was a little too helpful for Kevin's tastes.

"Gray," said White Lightning. A relieved smile appeared on his face. "I can say that."

"Good," said Virginia. Kevin noticed she subtly turned the recorder in White's direction. "So, White, now that you're here, why don't you sit down and answer a few simple questions with your brother?"

"Okay," said White Lightning. "If Bolt likes you, I do, too."

Kevin, however, jumped out of his chair and said, "Uh, no, actually, White Lightning needs to leave. Right, White?"

"I do?" said White Lightning in a confused voice.

"Yeah," said Kevin as he walked over to his brother, grabbed him by the arm, and led him to the exit. "You need to go and get something to eat in the Meeting Room. It's almost lunchtime."

"Oh, he doesn't need to leave, Bolt," said Virginia. "I can incorporate him into the interview. That won't be a problem."

"No, it's fine," said Kevin. "White gets cranky when he doesn't get his peanut butter sandwiches. Right, bro?"

"Yes," said White, nodding. "That is true. But I still want to be with you."

"I know, but we can eat lunch together after I finish my interview with Virginia," said Kevin. "Once the interview is done, then I'll go and join you in the Meeting Room, okay? I think Stinger is playing video games there, so he might be willing to let you play with him. Wouldn't that be fun?"

White's frown turned into a smile. "Yes. Okay, I go. Thanks!"

White suddenly left the room without Kevin having to show him out. He even closed the door on the way out, whistling a funny little tune that Kevin didn't recognize, leaving Kevin and Virginia alone again.

Kevin rubbed his forehead. He was glad that he managed to get White out of here. While White wasn't a bad person, Kevin didn't trust him to talk with an inquisitive reporter like this. And it wasn't just because White might accidentally reveal classified NHA information to Virginia, although that was a part of it. Kevin just didn't want White to get drawn into celebrity; he was worried that someone might try to take advantage of him due to his naivete and simpleminded nature.

Kevin went back over to his chair and sat down on it. "Now, where did we leave off?"

Virginia looked disappointed by the fact that she wasn't going to get to talk to White, but then she shook her head and said, "Yes, well, let's move on from the White Lightning questions, then. Can you tell me about the new school for superhumans that the Neohero Alliance and Independent Neoheroes for Justice are working together to open?"

Kevin smiled, glad that Virginia wasn't going to ask him about his brother anymore, but at the same time, he found it suspicious that she didn't want to talk about his brother more now that he was not going to answer her questions. But he decided it wasn't worth worrying about; if she was not going to ask him about White anymore, then that was fine by him, whatever her motives were.

"Well, I can't talk about it too much just yet, but I have been helping with its planning, although in an indirect sort of way," said Kevin. "It's going to be called the Theodore Jason Academy for Superhumans and it will have two hundred students once it's open."

"Yes, we know the name from Omega Man's announcement of it earlier this year," said Virginia. "But who is Theodore Jason and why was the school named after him?"

Kevin frowned. He thought everyone knew that Theodore Jason was the real name of Genius. After Kevin had been imprisoned in Ultimate Max a few months back, his own secret identity had been revealed to the public, since Ultimate Max prisoners didn't get to keep their identities secret. It had only taken a few determined hackers to find out who 'Kevin Jason' and, of course, his father was. Cadmus Smith had still not apologized to Kevin for doing that, but Cadmus never apologized to anyone for any reason, so Kevin didn't see any reason to badger him about it.

Some journalist, Kevin thought, but aloud he said, "Theodore Jason was the real name of my father, Genius. The school is named after him because he always loved learning and education, especially the education of young superhumans into how to use their powers responsibly."

"Very interesting," said Virginia. "Will you or any of the other Young Neos be students at the school?"

"No," said Kevin, shaking his head. "We're going to attend the opening ceremony next month, but we're not going to be students. For one, most of us are too old, and for two, we all already know how to use our powers responsibly anyway. Also, classes would get in the way of our duties as members of the Young Neos."

"Of course, of course," said Virginia. "Some critics of the school have expressed concerns that it won't teach youngsters anything else other than how to use their powers. Are there any other subjects that will be covered by the school?"

"You'd have to ask Mecha Knight about that," said Kevin. "He's the one in charge of school curriculum. But I think so; we Young Neos have tutors who make sure we keep up with our studies, so I don't see why the Academy wouldn't."

For some reason, Virginia seemed disappointed by that answer. Did she want Kevin to just come out and say that they weren't going to educate the students? That was a bizarre thought.

"And is tuition free?" said Virginia.

"No, parents have to pay a yearly fee, although I don't know what it is," said Kevin. "I do know, however, that we have scholarships for young superhumans who can't afford the tuition fee, although again I don't know how to get them exactly."

"Do you think that the federal government should open schools for young superhumans?" said Virginia. "There's been some discussion of that recently in modern politics, especially after all of the damage that White Lightning has done. President Plutarch has endorsed the idea, as have several prominent members of Congress from both parties. What are your thoughts on the subject?"

"No," said Kevin bluntly. "That would be a terrible, terrible idea."

"Why not?" said Virginia. "Don't you think that all young superhumans should have a chance to learn how to use their powers responsibly? Don't you think that that would save the country millions, maybe even billions, in property damage often caused by untrained young superhumans losing control of their powers?"

"Well, yes, maybe, but..." Kevin shook his head. "Look, I just think it's a bad idea. Can we move on, please?"

Virginia looked at Kevin suspiciously, but then she nodded and said, "Okay. Let's look at some of the reader submitted questions. I have a list of them here, so let me see if I can find a good one."

While Virginia scrolled through the questions on her phone, Kevin felt relieved that they weren't talking about the schools anymore. The reason he opposed government-run schools for superhumans was because he had seen what the government did to White Lightning and he was afraid that the government might use such schools to experiment on unwitting kids. And maybe not even just kids; after all, the government had run Project Neo for decades, in which they performed all kinds of experiments on adult test subjects. Cadmus Smith had told Kevin that the government had shut down Project Neo two months ago, but that didn't mean that the government was simply going to leave superhumans alone. It wouldn't surprise him if it turned out that the government had other secret projects and programs related to superhumans still active, maybe even worse than Project Neo.

But Kevin didn't want to say that aloud because he didn't want to sound paranoid, even though all of his concerns were well founded. But telling her his concerns would have meant revealing the truth about White and he didn't want to do that at the moment.

"Ah, here's a good question from our readers," said Virginia. She looked up at Kevin. "A reader from Nashville asks if you are going to become an official member of the Neohero Alliance now that you are eighteen, which is the minimum age that a superhuman can join the NHA and, if so, who will succeed you as leader of the Young Neos."

Kevin folded his hands together under the table. He had not expected to be asked such a question, even though it was one that had been on his mind since the defeat of Master Mind two months ago. He didn't sense anything wrong or malicious with the question, however, so he said, "Most likely, although I haven't gone through the initiation process yet. In order for Young Neo members to graduate to full NHA membership, our membership needs to be approved by a majority of the Leadership Council, as written in the NHA's Constitution. The Leadership Council hasn't voted on my membership application yet."

"So you cannot be a member of the Young Neos and the Neohero Alliance at the same time?" said Virginia.

"Correct," said Kevin. "The Constitution forbids it because it would lead to conflicting duties, since the Young Neos and NHA often deal with different threats and have differing responsibilities, despite both being part of the same organization."

"Then who would succeed you as team leader?" said Virginia. "Your brother?"

That was another question Kevin wished Virginia didn't ask, because he quite frankly didn't know the answer. It was up to the departing team leader to pick his successor, unless the team supervisor—Mecha Knight, in this case—decided otherwise. But Mecha Knight had told Kevin that he trusted Kevin to choose a worthy successor, so Kevin had spent a long time thinking about which of his teammates would be a good leader. He was currently torn between Stinger and Blizzard, because they were two of the more experienced and responsible members of team, but he still didn't know for sure yet. White Lightning was not even under consideration; he just wasn't leadership material, in Kevin's opinion.

Aloud, however, Kevin said, "Oh, well, that's a great question, but it's something I want to announce to the public myself once we get everything in order. I'm a pretty private leader and like to keep my cards close to my chest until it makes sense to play them, you know?"

Kevin felt proud of himself for answering that way. He had learned it by watching the way Omega Man dealt with reporters; whenever they asked a sensitive question that pertained to something important that needed to be kept a secret, Omega Man would always answer it in that manner. It always made Omega Man sound like a clever and intelligent leader and reporters—never the sharpest tools in the shed—always bought it. Kevin hoped it would make him look the same way.

Virginia, thankfully, seemed to be like most reporters, because she said, "Oh, I understand completely. It's just that the topic of the identity of your successor has been a big one among the online neo fandom ever since it was confirmed that you were going to apply for full membership in the NHA. Lots of flame wars have erupted on Neo Ranks and neo fan social media groups in recent weeks over this subject."

Kevin grimaced. He never spent much time online among the 'neo fandom,' although he knew that Treehugger, one of his teammates, did. Still, he was vaguely aware of the periodic controversies that would erupt in those groups over the most trivial things, such as when Kevin and Blizzard's relationship became known to the world, which had infuriated all of the 'fans' who had paired Kevin and Blizzard with other people. Blizzard even received death threats from some of Kevin's teenage girl fans about this; that was why Kevin didn't think too much of their 'fans.'

But he said, "Well, you guys will know when you know. Trust me, we won't keep that particular fact a secret once my membership into the NHA is approved by the Council."

"Right," said Virginia. "Well, it looks like we're almost out of time, but we have time for one last question from the fans. Are you ready for it?"

"Of course," said Kevin, feeling relieved that the interview was almost over (although he was surprised at how quickly the time had flown by). "Shoot."

Virginia looked down at the notepad for a moment before looking back up at Kevin and saying, "Are you and Blizzard going to get married?"

Kevin blinked. "What?"

Virginia leaned forward, looking far too eager for Kevin's taste. "Our readers want to know if you and Blizzard intend to take your relationship to the next level. Can we expect a wedding announcement any time soon?"

Kevin scratched the back of his neck. He and Blizzard had been in a relationship for several months now, but they hadn't discussed marriage. Perhaps that was because Kevin was eighteen, while Blizzard was seventeen. Technically, they could get married, but for some reason Kevin had always thought of marriage as something that would happen in the future, when they were older and more experienced. He hadn't realized that Neo Ranks apparently had a lot of readers who were interested in knowing that; even Mom hadn't asked him when he intended to propose to Blizzard. It was especially bizarre that Virginia seemed so interested; creepy, even.

"So?" said Virginia. "What's your answer?"

"Well..." Kevin tried to think of a way to phrase it without saying anything that might get him in trouble with Blizzard. "I know your readers are interested in hearing about this and all, but it's like my decision to name my successor. I like to keep such things to myself until such time as it makes sense to reveal them to the world."

Virginia looked incredibly disappointed by that answer, but it was only for a second. In the next instant, she was writing down notes and turning off her recorder, saying, "Well, Bolt, that was a good interview. You can expect to see it on Neo Ranks' front page sometime next week, after my editor approves of it."

Kevin sighed in relief; he hadn't realized just how tense he had been throughout the whole interview. "Glad that that's—"

Kevin was interrupted by a sudden alarm blaring. It caused him to look up in surprise, while Virginia almost fell out of her chair in shock.

"Bolt!" came the preppy, affable voice of Carl, one of the House's AI systems. "So sorry to interrupt your interview, but there's reports of a new threat in New York City that Mecha Knight needs you and the rest of the team to deal with!"

"Understood," said Kevin. He stood up and gestured at Virginia. "Carl, help Virginia leave the House and Hero Island." He looked at Virginia apologetically. "Sorry I can't see you out, Virginia, but these kinds of threats need our immediate attention. You understand."

"T-That's fine, Bolt," said Virginia, pulling herself back up on the chair. She readjusted her glasses, which had gone askew on her face when she fell. "This was a really great interview and I cannot wait for our readers to read it."

Kevin nodded, but didn't say anything else, because he just took off out the door, already shouting for the rest of the team to gather on the roof to take the Neocopter into the city.

***

CHAPTER TWO

Before the alarm went off...

White Lightning—real name Ronald Jason, although he was unused to that name, so he didn't identify with it—made his way down the hallway to the Meeting Room, humming his favorite song under his breath. He was a little disappointed that Kevin didn't let him talk to the nice lady, but at the same time, he was hungry and he liked eating better than talking to people anyway. Especially peanut butter sandwiches; that was his favorite. He had never had those sandwiches while in the control of the gov—

White shook his head. He didn't like to think about his time in the government. Partially because of the bad feelings he experienced every time he thought about them; what was worse was that he didn't exactly remember what the government did to him. He had a few scattered memories here and there, but nothing definite. To him, it seemed like his life began when Mastermind first freed him from government control several months back. Before that, his memories were blank, but he still had bad feelings associated with them anyway.

But White forgot all about that when he arrived in the Meeting Room. It was his favorite place in the House, aside from his room. It was a fairly wide-open room, with a large meeting table in the center, as well as a recently-installed kitchen area on the left side of the room, which had a lot of snacks and other foods on it, prepared by Carl and Valerie, the House's other AI. On the other side of the Room was the huge entertainment system; a huge flat-screen TV with several video game systems set up underneath it and a large, half-circle sofa set up in front of it, where he spotted two people sitting already.

He had no trouble recognizing his teammates. One of them was Stinger, real name Christopher Greggs, a young man who looked like a giant insect with his large helmet, green and black costume, and long, insect-like wings sticking out of his back. The stingers on his wrists were also visible, although at the moment Stinger was busily playing a video game, but White didn't recognize this one, because he didn't play video games very much (although he loved watching other people play them). White used to be scared of Stinger when he first met him due to his fear of insects, but he knew that Stinger was a nice guy and so didn't fear him quite as much as he used to.

The other person, who sat on the opposite end of the sofa staring at her smart phone, was a teenage girl with the most beautiful blonde hair White had ever seen. In fact, it wasn't just her hair that was beautiful; everything about Talon, whose real name was Jennifer McCullough, was beautiful. Even while wearing her black and gray costume, which she did now, she looked stunning to White; out of the three girls on the team, White thought that Talon was the best-looking, though maybe that was because he hadn't seen many especially beautiful girls during his time in the government (the few female scientists who had worked on him hadn't been very pretty, from what he could remember). He especially liked to watch her fight; with the talons that she could retract from her wrists, she could cut through almost anything.

Neither Stinger nor Talon seemed to notice White enter, but that was okay, because he wanted to get something to eat first. He walked over to the snack area, picked out a fresh-looking peanut butter sandwich and his favorite apple juice pouch, and then made his way over to the sofa where Stinger and Talon sat. He sat down on the other end of the couch and immediately began eating his sandwich, which tasted absolutely delicious as always.

This time, Stinger glanced at White, but didn't say anything, while Talon didn't even glance at him, although White figured that she had to know he was there. He looked at the TV, watching Stinger's character shoot up a bunch of enemy soldiers in some kind of war game.

"Whatcha playing?" said White, looking at Stinger again.

Stinger didn't take his eyes off the TV. "Army Duty Four."

White nodded. "Can I play, too?"

Stinger tensed when White spoke, but then said, in a polite voice, "Sorry, White, but this isn't a multiplayer game. I'm already in the middle of a really grueling single campaign; I can't quit until I beat this mission, so you'll just have to watch for now."

"But when you beat the mission, can I play, too?" said White.

"Maybe," said Stinger.

Shrugging, White just leaned back in the sofa and resumed eating his sandwich, but he didn't really focus on the game. He just found himself not surprised by Stinger's stoic reaction, nor by the way Talon ignored him.

Ever since joining the Young Neos, White had never really felt very accepted by the others. Kevin always went out of his way to be nice to White and try to help him, but the rest of the team treated White like he had some sort of disease. They were never mean or cruel to him, but no one ever seemed to invite him to join in their activities unless they were forced to, and everyone always seemed to stop talking whenever he entered their general vicinity. He was pretty sure that Treehugger, in particular, was genuinely terrified of him; every time he came across her in the hallways of the House, her face would turn pale and she would turn and go the other way or say she was sick and needed to rest in her room (White thought she should go see Healing Touch, Hero Island's resident doctor, given how often she seemed to be sick).

White understood, at least to an extent. Prior to joining the Young Neos, he had been a faithful follower of Mastermind, a man who he had thought was his dad but who he now knew was a true supervillain. He had caused lots of damage during that time and had even clashed with Bolt and Blizzard before Bolt managed to convince him to betray Mastermind. It wasn't as though their fears of him were totally unfounded.

But it had been two months since White had joined the Young Neos and it seemed like the rest of the team's attitude toward him hadn't changed at all. This despite the great advances he had made in his therapy and how he always tried to be as friendly and polite to everyone as he could. He had never had friends before, after all, and so didn't want to lose his teammates because of anything he did.

Sometimes, though, it seems like nothing I do ever helps, White thought. Rest of team still sees me as a threat.

White talked about this with Kevin sometimes. Kevin just told him that it would take a while for the rest of the team to warm up to him, but White wondered exactly how long a 'while' was. He was now beginning to think that it would take years before his teammates accepted him. He couldn't help but feel jealous of the way his teammates looked up to and admired Kevin; he knew that Kevin had been on the team longer than him, but he wished that his teammates would understand that he was at least as good as Kevin and so could be trusted just as much as him. He was especially bothered by how Talon treated him; most of the time, she didn't even acknowledge his existence, as if he was beneath her or something. He considered asking Kevin for advice on girls, but he found the subject awkward to bring up, so he never got around to asking him about it.

Thinking about this stuff always depressed him, and his therapist, Miss Gee, always advised him not to dwell too much on depressing matters, because it brought back the old him, the much more violent and darker version of himself that had been created by the government. White had made good strides in controlling it, but every now and then he would lapse back into his old ways of dealing with problems; namely, blasting them with his lightning or punching them with his fists until they went away. He had been taught that such a method for solving problems worked for some problems, such as fighting supervillains, but it was not useful for others, such as losing in a video game (he was still paying Shell back for blowing up his video game system last month).

So White decided to focus on good things, such as his peanut butter sandwich, but just as he bit down into his sandwich, the House's alarms went off, followed by Carl shouting, "Attention, Young Neos! Mecha Knight has received reports that a supervillain is causing trouble in New York City! Everyone must be present at the Neocopter in five minutes to get ready for takeoff!"

Stinger groaned, probably disappointed that he wasn't going to get to finish his game, before pausing the game and jumping to his feet. Talon also looked rather annoyed at being interrupted from what she was looking at on her phone, but she put her phone away and joined Stinger as they left the room. White just stuffed the rest of his peanut butter sandwich into his mouth and then got off the couch and ran after them, eager to go and fight whoever was attacking NYC. He did feel a little disappointed at having to leave his juice pouch behind, but he'd have it when he got back.

-

Five minutes later, the entire team was on the roof of the House, climbing into the Neocopter, their main method of transportation to and from missions, a large, red and blue helicopter with more than enough room for the whole team. From what White could see, he, Stinger, and Talon were the last to get there; he spotted Treehugger and Shell already strapped into their seats on the inside, while Blizzard was in the process entering. Kevin stood at the entrance, helping Blizzard enter, but when he spotted White and the other two, he waved at them.

"Good to see you guys are here," Kevin said as White, Talon, and Stinger reached the Neocopter. "Hop on in. We don't have time to lose."

Without question, Stinger and Talon climbed into the Neocopter after Blizzard. White was about to join, but then Kevin grabbed his arm and stopped him from climbing in. White looked at Kevin in confusion.

"Brother, what is the problem?" said White. He tugged at Kevin's grip. "I need to get in heli."

That was what White called helicopters. Talking was one of the most difficult things for him to do, mostly because he had never needed to talk much while under the government's control. Like everything else, he'd made a lot of gains over the last two months, but he still found words longer than three syllables a challenge to say.

Kevin bit his lower lip. He didn't meet White's eyes as he said, "Ah, White, I think it's best if one of us stays here to defend the House."

"But the House is protected by Carl and Valie," said White. That was what he called Valerie, the House's second AI. "Why not go?"

"Well, Carl and Val might need some help," said Kevin. "They're not as strong and powerful as you, after all, even with access to the House's security system. Besides, I don't think this threat is large enough to require the whole team. You'd be better off here."

White frowned. Ever since he'd joined the Young Neos, he'd never gotten a real chance to fight many supervillains. Most of the time, the others would leave him behind on Hero Island, either to train, protect it, or for some other reason they'd tell him about. He didn't really understand why, though, because he was at least as good a fighter as the other members of the team. Maybe it had to do with his violent tendencies, but he had gotten good control of them over the last two months and didn't think he was that liable to lose control.

He looked at the others, hoping that someone might speak out in his favor, but the rest of the team was not looking at him or Kevin. The only one who was looking at him was Treehugger, who was smiling somewhat awkwardly and apologetically, an expression he didn't quite understand.

"Okay, brother," said White with a sigh. "I stay."

Kevin smiled, although he looked more relieved than happy. He let go of White's arm and patted him on the shoulder. "Knew you'd understand, buddy. We'll be back before you know it."

White nodded and then walked away from the Neocopter over to the edge of the roof. Once Kevin was strapped in, the Neocopter's blade began spinning and soon the large vehicle was off, heading toward the tall skyscrapers of New York City in the distance.

White watched it go for a while. He considered flying after the Neocopter—he could easily catch up with it if he wanted—but he didn't want to anger Kevin by going against his orders. Still, White didn't like feeling left out of anything. It was a common feeling that he had experienced ever since joining the team. Kevin tried to reassure him that they never intentionally left him out of anything, but whenever the team needed someone to stay behind and protect the House, somehow that duty always fell on White and never on anyone else.

No, White, don't think like that, White told himself. Bitterness bad. Remember what Miss Gee says.

On the bright side, this meant that White would get to finish his juice pouch. Maybe he'd even get to play a game; he'd have the whole Meeting Room to himself. That made him feel better, enough that he forgot about his feelings of alienation for the moment.

Heading back down to the Meeting Room, White took a brief five minute detour to his own room to check his phone for messages before returning to the Meeting Room. He found his juice pouch was where he'd left it on the couch, so he snatched it from the sofa, sat down, stuck the straw inside, and immediately began drinking the apple juice. It was very relaxing and enjoyable, so much so that he was already thinking of getting another juice pouch before he heard a feminine voice behind him say, "White Lightning?"

Startled, White jumped up from the sofa and charged his fist with electric energy, turning around to blast whoever had just said his name. But he paused when he saw that it was just the interviewer from before, Vir... Vir... for some reason he couldn't even remember her first name, but he remembered her last name, Gray, easily.

She stood behind the couch, looking even more startled and terrified than him. She was clutching her notepad and recorder to her chest, as if she thought that that would protect her from one of White's lightning blasts. Seeing as Gray wasn't a threat, White lowered his fist, which ceased crackling with electricity, and felt bad that he had scared her like that.

"Sorry," said White. "I not mean to—I mean, I didn't mean to scare."

"T-That's fine, White Lightning," said Gray, though based on the way she stuttered, it was clear that she was still afraid that White might hurt her. "I shouldn't have sneaked up on you like that."

White nodded, but then frowned. "Why are you still here? Didn't you finish inter... inter..."

"The interview with your brother," Gray finished for him. "Is that what you're asking about?"

White nodded again, grateful that she'd understood him. "Yes."

"Well, I had just remembered that I needed to ask your brother to sign something for me before I published the interview," said Gray. She looked around. "I hoped to catch him before he and the others left, but I guess I was too late."

"Yes, they gone," White agreed. "Don't know when they be back. Want to wait?"

"Oh, no, that's fine," said Gray, shaking her head. "I can have Bolt sign it later if necessary."

"Okay," said White. "I'll tell him about it when he gets back."

"Sure," said Gray. She turned to leave, but then stopped, as if she just remembered something, and turned to face White. "Say, why are you not with the rest of your team? I thought the Young Neos were going to go fight a supervillain."

White shrugged. "Kevin told me to stay here, so I stay. Someone needs to protect House."

"Ah," said Gray. She frowned. "But what if they need your help? I'm no superhero, but I've seen how deadly even relatively harmless supervillains can be if you don't have the right help."

"What mean?" said White in a curious voice.

"I mean, what if this particular supervillain is too strong for your friends?" said Gray. "What if he overpowers them before they can call for help?"

"Then I go and help them," said White. "Simple."

"Yes, but you know, it isn't always that simple," said Gray with a sigh. "I know you are super fast, but are you sure that you're fast enough to rescue them if they are being overwhelmed by a supervillain?"

White folded his arms across his chest. "I'm fast. Even faster than Kevin. I can get to NYC if I have to, before supervillain can kill my teammates."

"I hope so," said Gray. She shrugged. "But hey, it's your decision. I'm just a journalist, so what do I know about fighting supervillains? It's just something you might want to think about." Gray brushed back some loose strands of hair. "Anyway, I really have to go. My editor isn't going to be happy if I don't get the interview to him on time. Hopefully I'll get a chance to interview you sometime. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Yeah," said White. "Bye."

Gray waved at him before turning and leaving the Meeting Room. White could hear Valerie's cool mechanical voice directing Gray out of the House, but he didn't follow her to make sure she left. He just sat back down on the couch and resumed drinking from his juice pouch, but he wasn't really paying attention to the sweet apple taste in his mouth. He was thinking—not an easy thing for him to do, though easier than it had been two months ago—about what Gray had just told him.

Kevin and the others were going to be okay, he knew. They were experienced. If Kevin had truly thought that the supervillain they were going to fight was a threat, he would have asked White to come along. That he hadn't clearly meant that he thought that he didn't need the whole team to take out whoever this villain was.

But... what if Kevin was wrong this time? What if this supervillain was too strong for the team? If he miscalculated, then Kevin might not be able to call White in time to save them. And if Kevin died, then White would have no other family in the world but Mom. He had already lost Dad; he didn't want to lose his only brother, too.

If I go, though, Kevin will be angry, White thought. But better angry than dead.

White stood up. Tossing aside his empty juice pouch, White dashed out of the Meeting Room, hoping that he would get to the sight of the battle in time to provide his teammates with backup.

***

CHAPTER THREE

Kevin was quite sure that neither he nor his teammates had ever faced a supervillain like this before. He wasn't even sure that the thing sucking on the lamp post in the middle of an empty New York City street was even human.

Kevin, along with the rest of the Young Neos, crouched on top of a nearby building, looking down at the creature in the streets below. It looked like a gigantic, overgrown pile of garbage given life, and it had ripped out a lamp post from the street and was sucking on it like a lollipop. The creature stank horribly, which was saying something, given how dirty NYC was, its stench strong even from a distance. It had two thick arms and a vague, simple head with a face that was nothing more than two hollowed out trash cans acting as its eyes, while its mouth was a huge, gaping maw of sharp teeth that looked like they could cut clean through steel. Police had already evacuated the area, so Kevin figured they would not have to worry about casualties; however, property damage was inevitable, because the trash creature left slimy trails of some kind of acidic substance that ate through metal and rock. One of the cars it had slimed over was melted completely in half, while holes in the streets from where its acid had fallen smoked slightly in the air.

Kevin tapped his earcom. "Val, where did this thing come from?"

"According to the report submitted to Mecha Knight, this creature emerged from New York City's sewer systems approximately fifteen minutes ago," said Valerie; her voice could be heard by the others, too, since their earcoms were on the same channel as Kevin's. "Its origin and motives are unknown, but it cannot be harmed with bullets, which the police discovered when they shot it and their bullets were absorbed."

"Good thing none of us carry guns," said Kevin. "Do we know anything else about it?"

"No," said Valerie. "As I said, its origins are unknown, but it appears to be hungry, which may be why it is sucking on that lamp post."

"If its hungry, why not just eat the lamp post outright?" said Stinger. "Yeah, I know, trying to apply logic to a mindless sewer beast probably doesn't make sense, but come on."

"It doesn't matter why it's doing this," said Kevin. "What matters is that we need to take it down before it causes any more trouble or harms anyone else."

"Do we have to?" said Talon. She covered her nose. "If I touch that thing, my claws will be ruined for sure."

"Mecha Knight sent us here to deal with this monster," said Kevin. "Unless you want to explain to Mecha Knight that you didn't want to do your job because you're afraid of getting your claws a little dirty, we're going to have to take it down, yes."

Talon sighed in resignation, but then her claws popped out of her wrists. "Okay, let's just get it over with. But I am going to take a shower as soon as we return to the House after this." She said that as if daring the others to contradict her. No one did, mostly because everyone was probably going to need a shower after dealing with this creature.

"Okay, since we don't know what this thing can do, let's separate and attack it from multiple angles," said Kevin. "Blizzard and I will attack from the front, while Stinger and Talon can block off the manholes so it doesn't try to escape once we attack it."

"What about Shell and I?" said Treehugger. She looked down at the creature with a sick-looking face.

"Stay up here and maintain a bird's eye view of the situation," said Kevin. "If you see something that could be a problem, call us on our earcoms." He looked around at the rest of the team. "Everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded, so Kevin said, "All right, then. Let's go!"

Kevin picked up Blizzard and flew them both off of the roof and toward the streets, while Stinger carried Talon after them. The four of them landed on the streets quickly and then separated, with Kevin and Blizzard running toward the sewage creature while Stinger and Talon went to defend the manholes. The creature still hadn't taken notice of any of them; it was just happily sucking on the lamp post, as if it had no worries or concerns in the world. That meant that Kevin and Blizzard had the element of surprise.

Kevin and Blizzard stopped behind a car, watching the creature. Its stink was even worse up close, but Kevin did his best to ignore it. He tried to see if he could spot the creature's weak point, but its form was so soft and gooey that he couldn't tell where it might be weakest.

"I'm going to freeze it," said Blizzard, holding up a hand. "It looks like it may be made out of sewer water, at least partially, so if I act now—"

Kevin grabbed Blizzard's wrist. "Hold on. That might not be such a good idea."

Blizzard looked at Kevin in confusion. "Why not?"

"Because we don't know what this thing is capable of," said Kevin. "It may be immune to freezing."

"And how do you know that?" said Blizzard in annoyance. "What do you think we should do, try to punch it?"

Kevin had to hold back his temper; he didn't like the way Blizzard spoke to him, but if he shouted at her, the creature would notice them and they would lose the element of surprise. "No, I'm going to throw something at it and see if that helps."

"And what are you going to throw at it?" said Blizzard. She tapped the car. "This car?"

Kevin shook his head and looked around. "No, I'm going to throw... that!"

Kevin pointed at an unoccupied bench. Without waiting for Blizzard's response, Kevin flew toward it, ripped the bench off the side of the street, and then hurled it directly at the sewage creature, which still had not noticed them or their teammates.

The bench struck the creature directly in the chest, but instead of hurting the creature, it merely clung to its skin for a second before sinking into its body. The creature didn't even seem to notice the bench crash into its body. It was still sucking on the lamp post happily, which made Kevin wonder just how good that lamp post tasted.

"Well, that worked," said Blizzard, the sarcasm heavy in her voice. She raised her hand again. "Can I try to freeze it now?"

Scowling, Kevin shook his head. "No. I'll just blow it up with a lightning bolt. Stay back."

Kevin raised his hands and fired a powerful blast of red lightning at the creature. It wasn't the most powerful lightning bolt he'd ever fired; however, he fully expected it to be more than enough to destroy the creature, or at least blow apart a good chunk of its body, if nothing else.

The lightning bolt struck the creature head-on. The creature's whole body flashed red and electricity crackled across its skin for a moment before it returned to its normal, brown and gray color. The creature did not seem harmed at all by Kevin's attack; however, it must have felt it, because it turned to look at Kevin, although it didn't take the lamp post out of its mouth. To Kevin, the creature kind of looked like a little kid sucking on a lollipop turning to look at something that had caught his interest, but he shook his head at such a ridiculous mental image.

"I don't get it," said Kevin, looking down at his hands. "Why didn't my lightning destroy it?"

"Looks like you got its attention, at least," said Blizzard. She stood up and raised her hands. "It must eat electricity or something. That's probably why it's sucking on that lamp post, but I bet it doesn't like the cold."

Blizzard waved her hands. Ice started to form along the creature's skin and for the first time, the creature looked agitated, perhaps even in pain. It stopped sucking on the lamp post and immediately looked over at Blizzard. With a grunt that sounded like popping bubbles, the creature threw the half-melted lamp post directly at Blizzard with surprising speed. Blizzard was too focused on freezing the creature to dodge, so Kevin zoomed over, grabbed her, and pulled her out of the way just as the lamp post smashed into the street.

Stopping on the other side of the street, Kevin let go of Blizzard and said, "Okay, looks like it's finally noticed us, but I don't think it's going to let you freeze it."

Blizzard looked slightly shaken at that close miss, but then she raised her hands again and said, "Too bad. I am going to freeze that thing myself and—"

All of a sudden, the creature surged toward Kevin and Blizzard. Despite its incredible bulk and size, the creature moved across the street as though it was skating on ice. Kevin grabbed Blizzard again and took off into the sky, narrowly avoiding the creature, which slammed into the spot where they had been standing mere moments before. Stopping in the air, Kevin and Blizzard looked down at the creature, which was now looking up at them with what appeared to be hunger on its face.

"Damn, that thing is fast," said Blizzard, brushing aside her long white hair, which had gotten messed up when Kevin flew them up. "But at least it can't get us up here."

As if to prove her wrong, the creature made a strange sucking noise before spitting out a huge ball of sewage and garbage at them with the force of a cannon. It came too fast for Kevin to dodge, but Blizzard conjured a thick ice barrier between them and the sludge bomb. The sludge ball slammed into the ice barrier hard enough to crack it; although it didn't break, the impact nonetheless sent Kevin and Blizzard falling down to the street below. Kevin twisted his body so he could take the brunt of the fall and the two of them crashed into the street. Thankfully, Kevin was strong enough to handle the fall; still, he had smacked his head against the pavement and now felt slightly dizzy, although he looked at Blizzard first and asked, "Blizzard, are you okay?"

Blizzard nodded, but then looked over at the creature and said, "It's coming toward us!"

She was right. The creature was moving toward them again, albeit slower this time, perhaps worried that their fall was part of some kind of trick. Kevin and Blizzard scrambled to their feet and started backing away, mostly because they didn't know what to do now.

"We need to try to freeze it again," said Kevin, keeping his eyes on the approaching monster. "That seemed to work."

"Yeah, but then it will probably just throw a car at us or something," said Blizzard. "I can't freeze it if it's not distracted."

Kevin stroked his chin, a plan forming in his mind. "I've got an idea. I'll distract it while you freeze it."

"Are you sure?" said Blizzard, looking at Kevin with worry. "That thing can eat metal. What if its sludge touches you?"

"I'll be fine," said Kevin, waving off Blizzard's concern. "I'm quick, so it won't even get to touch me. You just worry about freezing it while I worry about myself."

Blizzard was clearly still worried about him, but Kevin knew that Blizzard was always worried about him, so he didn't give it much thought. He just activated his super speed and zoomed toward the creature, which was still advancing toward them, a look of annoyance on its face as if it considered them bothersome pests that needed to be put down.

"Hey, stinky!" Kevin shouted as he ran. "Have something to eat!"

He fired two blasts of lightning at the creature. The blasts struck the creature dead-on, forcing it to come to a stop, but it didn't appeared harmed by the blasts at all and actually grew slightly in size. But the blasts worked in getting its attention; its beady eyes focused on Kevin now, the creature forgetting all about Blizzard as it raised its hands to smash Kevin.

Not that Kevin would let it do that. He jumped, using his flight powers to give him a boost, so he soared straight over the creature's head and landed on the street behind it. He blasted it against with his lightning powers, causing the creature to turn around to face him. The creature's bulk blocked his view of Blizzard, but he figured she was getting ready to freeze the beast. All he had to do was make sure that the creature didn't realize what they were trying to do until it was too late.

The creature started advancing on him, opening its mouth wide like it wanted to eat him. Kevin backed away, the stench from the creature's body almost overwhelming in its intensity, but he did his best to ignore it. As long as the creature didn't pay attention to Blizzard, Kevin could handle it.

"Yeah, that's right," said Kevin, walking backwards as fast as he could, staying as far ahead of the creature as he could. "You like electricity, don't you? I've got plenty for you right here."

Kevin fired a blast of lightning at the creature again. As usual, the blast did not hurt the creature; but to Kevin's surprise, the creature actually grew in size. Granted, it got maybe an inch or two taller, but he hadn't totally realized that the thing actually grew when it was exposed to enough energy. That helped Kevin understand why it had been sucking on the lamp post; clearly, it had been hungry and was trying to grow. That still didn't explain where this thing had come from or who had created it, but Kevin supposed they would figure that out later, once the creature was down.

All of a sudden, the creature grunted in pain and came to a stop. Kevin didn't understand why, though, until he noticed that thick ice had gathered around its 'feet,' for want of a better term. The creature looked down at its lower half in confusion, staring at the ice that was rapidly starting to form over its body. Kevin couldn't help but smile; that meant that the plan was working. Even better, the creature didn't seem to realize that Blizzard was freezing it; instead, it seemed focused on trying to free itself from the ice, but the ice was already up to its waist. Kevin figured that it would just be a couple more seconds before the creature was fully frozen over; then Kevin would call up the NHA and have them move the creature to a safer place where it could be studied by the NHA's scientists.

That was when Kevin heard a familiar voice shout, "Brother! I come to save you from bad guy!"

Kevin whipped his head to the right. White was flying through the air toward them, his hands glowing blue with charged electricity. Kevin could only stare at White in disbelief. "White, what the hell are you—"

He was interrupted when White began firing blast after blast of blue lightning at the garbage creature. The blasts were powerful enough to shatter the ice forming around the creature's body, but the creature itself was unhurt by these blasts. In fact, the blasts actually made it grow larger and larger, although the impact of the blasts forced it back. That must have been why White kept shooting it; even though his attacks were actually helping the beast, rather than stopping it, he seemed to think that his attacks were damaging it. That was the only reason Kevin could think of for why White didn't stop firing at it.

"White!" Kevin shouted above the sounds of White's lightning bolts. "Stop! You're helping it, not harming it!"

Unfortunately, White either didn't hear Kevin or didn't care. He was now floating in place in the air, firing blast after blast of blue lightning. He wore a manic grin on his face, an expression Kevin recognized immediately, because it meant that White wasn't actually thinking. He had lapsed back into his old violent self, which meant that there was only one way to take him down, as much as Kevin didn't like to admit it.

Kevin launched into the air toward White. His brother didn't seem to notice him approaching until Kevin tackled White in the side, sending them both falling through the air toward the street. They landed in the street hard enough to crack it, causing White to groan in pain while Kevin held him down.

"Brother..." White sounded dazed. He looked up at Kevin with uncomprehending eyes. "Why did you attack me?"

Kevin breathed a sigh of relief; it sounded like White had snapped out of his violent self. "Because your attacks weren't hurting the monster. They were actually—"

"Bolt!" Stinger shouted suddenly, causing Kevin to whip his head toward him. "The creature is getting away!"

Stinger was right. The creature—now as big as it had been when Kevin and the team first fought it earlier—had apparently decided that it had gotten enough to eat, because it was now rapidly making its way to the nearest manhole. That manhole happened to be protected by Talon, who held her claws before her like she was warning the creature to stay away. Unfortunately for her, she was very small in comparison to the beast, so when it reached her, it knocked her aside with a single swing of its fist. The blow actually sent her flying and she crashed into the top of a car, where she lay quite still.

But before anyone else could do anything, the creature ripped the manhole cover off and immediately went into the manhole. Despite its bulk, the creature managed to squeeze its body into the manhole, where it soon vanished, leaving behind nothing but a smoking, stinking hole where it had been standing mere moments before.

***

CHAPTER FOUR

Half an hour later, White lay on his bed alone in his room in the House, his arms crossed over his chest. He had been lying here for fifteen minutes and Kevin had still not shown up. Kevin had told White to go back to his room to wait for Kevin to come and talk to him, an order that White had complied with, albeit not very happily. Part of him hoped that maybe Kevin wouldn't come back to talk with him; for the first time in his life, he was dreading having a conversation with his brother. He wished he had something to look at to distract him, but his room was pretty sparse in comparison to the others' rooms, mostly because he didn't have any posters or anything else to put up on the walls, nor had he seen any need to do that.

White had gone over the events of the last half hour over and over again in his mind, because he had nothing else to do. After the strange creature escaped, the Young Neos had rushed Talon back to the House, which had a medical station equipped to deal with the types of injuries that most superheroes got while fighting bad guys. She really needed it; although her costume had prevented most of the sludge from eating away at her skin, Talon had gotten some of it on her face and hair. Carl and Valerie—who operated the House's medical station as well—had immediately gone to work on her wounds. White's heart hurt whenever he thought about how awful Talon had looked; it hurt even more when he realized that he was indirectly responsible for the injuries she'd sustained during the fight.

The ride home on the Neocopter had been bad, too, because the rest of the team treated him with even more cold disdain than usual. Especially Stinger, who had glared at White for much of the ride home, at least when he wasn't trying to comfort Talon and make sure that her wounds didn't get too serious. Only Kevin had treated White with any kindness or politeness, but White was perceptive enough to know that his brother wasn't very happy with him or his actions.

White rolled over onto his side. He told himself that he shouldn't feel so bad, but it was hard to believe that because he knew that it was his fault. If he hadn't attacked the creature, Blizzard might have been able to kill it, and Talon wouldn't have been harmed and in critical condition. White had made many mistakes since joining the Young Neos, but none of his past mistakes had actually put his teammates' lives in danger.

Maybe I should run away, White thought. He felt tears rising in his eyes, but he wiped them away. No. Better to wait for Kevin. Don't want to get him angry.

That was easier said than done. As far as he knew, Kevin was still in the medical station overseeing Talon's operation. He wondered what Kevin would say to him.

He'll probably be angry with me, White thought. He'll shout and scream, maybe even kick me off the team. I'd probably deserve it.

A slight swooshing sound caused White to look over his shoulder. The door to his room had slid open, revealing Kevin standing in the doorway. He looked exhausted, which made White feel even more guilty than before.

But White looked away and curled into a ball. He hoped that maybe Kevin would think he was asleep and would decide to talk with him later. It was a technique that White had picked up during his time as a government experiment; sometimes, the scientists would leave him alone if they thought he was asleep. Of course, sometimes they would 'wake' him up anyway, but sometimes it would work and it would give him respite from their cruel experiments.

"White, I know you aren't asleep," said Kevin. "Turn around and look at me."

Resigning himself to his fate, White turned around to face Kevin. Kevin had closed the door behind him now, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Even though he and White were the same age, White always thought that Kevin looked a lot older than him, maybe because Kevin had more experience in the real world than he did.

"Sorry," said White; his voice was small, but he didn't feel very big right now. "Is Talon okay?"

"She will be," said Kevin. His tone was flat; somehow, that was worse than if it had been angry. "Her suit protected her from the worst of it, but she's tough and has a minor healing factor. Combined with the House's medical care, she will be back up in a week, most likely, although she's going to have to stay hospitalized until then."

White sighed in relief. "Good to hear."

"Right, but I want to talk about what you did today," said Kevin. "Why did you come to New York City when I explicitly ordered you to stay here?"

White looked down at his feet, trying to avoid meeting Kevin's eyes. "I... I wanted to help."

"I know you do, but I also know that you generally obey my orders even when you disagree with them," said Kevin. "You seemed to think we were in trouble. Why?"

White bit his lower lip. "Gray told me."

"Gray?" Kevin repeated. "You mean Virginia Gray? The reporter from Neo Ranks?"

White nodded, still without looking at Kevin. "Yes. Told me you might need my help."

"And you believed her?" said Kevin. "Even though she didn't have any proof?"

White said nothing to that. He just kept his face down, even though he knew it wasn't doing him any good. "Yes. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," said Kevin. That caused White to look up at him in surprise. "I'm more angry at Virginia than you, actually. She was aware that you are naive and yet she told you to defy my orders anyway."

"Not told, but en... encouraged," said White. He carefully enunciated that last word; he always did whenever he spoke such a long word.

"Either way, I can't believe she'd do that," said Kevin. "It's suspicious. Why would she tell you to defy my orders like that? It makes no sense."

"Maybe she want me to help you," said White.

"Doubt it," said Kevin. "And besides, she sounded like she was in a hurry to get back to her editor, yet she apparently had enough time to stick around and talk to you? I don't like it."

White was relieved that most of Kevin's anger was being vented on Gray rather than himself. Still, he said, "Am I being pun... punished still?"

Kevin sighed and looked down. "I don't know. On one hand, you disobeyed my direct orders, made our target stronger and allowed it to get away, and then caused Talon to get hurt on top of all of that. On the other hand, you were obviously manipulated by Virginia; if she hadn't told you to help us, none of this would have happened."

White began to feel a little hopeful. "No punish?"

"For now," said Kevin. "I need to talk with Mecha Knight about this and see what he thinks. After I talk with him, I'll decide what we need to do next."

White nodded. He wished that Kevin would just tell him that he wouldn't be punished, but he supposed this was the best he could hope for right now. He didn't like the fact that Mecha Knight was going to have a say in this, however; White thought Mecha Knight was scary, even though he was the team's supervisor. He also thought that Mecha Knight didn't like him very much, either, although that wasn't saying much, considering how most people still didn't like him, either.

"So I'm going to go and talk with him in his office," said Kevin. "For now, just take the rest of the day off. Rest, eat, train... whatever. Do whatever you want. I'll contact you again after I finish talking with Mecha Knight about this."

"Okay," said White. "Bye."

Kevin waved good bye before turning and leaving the room. Once the door closed behind him, White was all alone again.

He rested his head on his pillow again. Even though he wasn't sick, he certainly felt like he was. He had not intended to cause any harm. He had just wanted to help. He knew that he still had a lot to learn as a superhero, but he was still eager to do the right thing and learn from his mistakes.

Can I learn from my mistakes? White thought. Doesn't seem like it.

White hated lying here thinking about this all by himself. He wished he had someone he could talk to, but outside of the Young Neos, White didn't really have any friends. That was yet another negative part of his time as a government experiment; he had been kept in isolation from other human beings his age. He had only met one person his age during that time, a teenage girl whose name he never knew, who had healed him with her healing powers when he came down with an incurable illness when he was sixteen. It was one of the few memories he still possessed from that time, but even that wasn't as clear as it could have been, which made him doubt it sometimes, and anyway he didn't know the girl's name or how to contact her or if she was even still alive anymore, so even if the memory was real, it was useless to him now.

But then it occurred to White that he did have someone he could talk to. He sat up and immediately tapped the screen of his suit-up watch, scrolling through the list of contacts until he found the one he was looking for: 'MOM.'

He tapped the number and waited for it to connect to Mom's cell phone. A couple of rings later, he heard Mom's voice say, "Hello?"

White immediately relaxed when he heard Mom's voice. Even though he had been separated from his and Kevin's mother early in life, he had quickly grown attached to her when Kevin reintroduced him to Mom two months ago. And Mom had accepted him as her son; that had been a great comfort, especially when he realized just how much he had missed her, despite having never known her before then. Part of him wished he could have met Dad before his death, but considering that White hadn't known either of his parents for his whole life, he figured that one parent was better than no parents.

"Hi, Mom," said White. "It's me, Ron."

"Ron?" said Mom. "Oh, hi, Ron! How are you and Kevin doing? I didn't expect you to call me today."

"Fine," said White. "We're fine. Fought a monster today, but it got away."

"A monster?" said Mom. "Well, I'm glad you and Kevin didn't get hurt. What kind of monster was it?"

"Big one," said White. "Made out of garbage."

"I've never heard of a monster made out of garbage before," said Mom. "How interesting. Was anyone hurt?"

White went silent. He wasn't sure if he should tell Mom about Talon's injury. He didn't want her to think any less of him because of the mistake he'd made today, but at the same time, he didn't feel comfortable with hiding it from her like this.

Mom must have noticed the silence, because she said, "Ron, are you still there? Hello?"

"Yes, Mom, someone hurt," said White. "Talon. She got hurt."

"Talon," Mom repeated. "That's one of your teammates, right? The blonde one with claws?"

"Yes," said White, nodding. "That's her."

"Will she be okay?" said Mom. "Do her parents know about her injuries yet?"

White shrugged before remembering that Mom couldn't see him. "She will be fine. Not sure if her parents know, though."

"They probably do," said Mom. "I remember when your father was still alive, he told me that the Neohero Alliance always calls the parents of its Young Neos members whenever they get harmed like this."

"Yes, sure," said White.

"But Ron, you don't sound very happy," said Mom. "Is it about your teammate? I'm sure she'll be fine."

"It's..." White didn't know how to phrase this and struggled to find the right words. "It's my fault."

"Your fault? What do you mean?"

White explained to her, as best as he could, the circumstances leading up to Talon's injury. Mom listened patiently and even helped him when he couldn't pronounce or say the words that were too long for him. It made White feel better than he had all day and also made him wish that he had known Mom growing up.

Once he finished, Mom said, "I can see why you would think it was your fault. You probably shouldn't have disobeyed Kevin's instructions."

"I know," said White glumly. "And now Talon's injured."

"But it also sounds to me like that reporter woman shouldn't have talked to you," said Mom. "You know, when your father was alive, he never spoke with the press."

"Why?" said White.

"Because they always misrepresented everything he said," said Mom. "I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a strong anti-superhuman bias in the mainstream media. They like to take things that superhumans have said and done totally out of context."

White never watched the news or anything like that; he simply had no interest in it. "I didn't know that."

"Not many people do, unless they've had direct contact with the media," said Mom. "Did you know that I keep getting interview requests from reporters? Everyone knows I'm the wife of Genius and the mother of you and Kevin, which I guess makes me interesting or something. I keep turning down the requests, though, because I remember how the press treated Genius and I don't want to help them with whatever agenda they're trying to push. Plus, I hate doing interviews; I always look and sound awkward, no matter how much prep time I have for them."

White didn't say anything to that because he just liked hearing Mom's voice. But he did say, "Kevin was inter... Gray talked to Kevin."

"She did? Well, I hope she's one of the honest reporters," said Mom. "There are still a few left, although they seem depressingly rare these days."

Not knowing what to say to that, White said, "Mom, I'm scared that Mecha Knight will punish me."

"Mm hmm," said Mom. "I've only met Mecha Knight a few times and that was back when Genius was a member of the NHA. He struck me as a stern but fair man."

"He is," said White. "But he's still scary."

"I know, but I'm sure he won't punish you too severely," said Mom. "He was always one of the superhumans that Genius spoke of with respect, even after he retired. But I can tell that that isn't what you're most worried about, is it?"

White wasn't too surprised that Mom could tell he wasn't telling her everything. Despite having known Mom for only a couple of months, she had already gotten to know him well enough that she could tell when he was not telling her the truth. This despite the fact that White had mostly spoken with her over the phone, although he had gone to see her in person a few times. Only Kevin could match Mom's ability to get him to talk about his real problems, and even then, Kevin still wasn't as good at it as Mom was.

"The rest of the team hates me," said White. He sniffled. "No one spoke to me after mission. They think I'm a freak. Want nothing to do with me."

Saying all of that was incredibly hard for White, mostly because he never spoke so many sentences in rapid succession like that. Still, he had to get it out, if only so Mom could understand what he was experiencing, even if she couldn't give him a solution to his problems.

Mom was silent for a moment, which made White wonder what she was doing until she finally said, "I'm sorry to hear that, White. I remember Kevin telling me that you were having trouble integrating with the team when he first brought you to the house two months ago, but I didn't know you were still having trouble even two months later."

"Only Kevin likes me. The others not mean, but not friendly, either."

"Ah," said Mom. "I'm not very surprised. I mean, they shouldn't treat you that way, but I understand why they might treat you the way they do, given your history."

"I know, but I'm good," said White. He didn't like the helplessness in his voice. "I'm very good. I want to help."

"I know, Ron, and Kevin knows that, too, but the rest of the team doesn't," said Mom. "Winning a person's trust is very difficult. Even when you have the best of intentions, you can't expect to win it overnight. Or even over two months. You have to consistently act in ways that will earn the others' trust over a long period of time."

"How long?" said White.

"I don't know," said Mom. "It will vary from individual to individual. I wouldn't worry about it, though. Just focus on being as trustworthy and helpful as you can and the others will eventually come around. You're a good person, so it shouldn't be long before that happens."

White nodded, but he was now thinking about what Mom said. Acting in a trustworthy way to earn their trust... something clicked in his head. "If I gave them gifts, do you think they'd like me?"

"Probably," said Mom, although she sounded somewhat taken aback by that question. "People usually trust people who give gifts, or at least like them better."

"Yeah," said White, already starting to feel excited. "I could give a gift to Talon. You give gifts to people in hospitals, right?"

"Yeah, sometimes," said Mom.

"What kind of gifts?"

"Oh, usually get well cards, sometimes flowers, things like that," said Mom. "Why?"

He sat up in bed. "I go get cards and flowers for Talon. Thanks, Mom. Talk later."

White immediately hung up and, jumping to his feet, dashed out of his room. He had no idea where he could get cards and flowers for Talon; however, he figured it shouldn't be hard, given how common the practice was. He'd fly to NYC, find a shop that sold cards and flowers, and then return to the House in a flash. He smiled just thinking about how well this plan was going to go; there were no downsides at all, in his view.

***

CHAPTER FIVE

Kevin knocked on the door to Mecha Knight's office, which was at the top of the Tower of Heroes, the main building and headquarters of the Neohero Alliance. He knocked hard and loud because he didn't know if Mecha Knight would be able to hear him from the other side of the door, which was rather thick.

"Come in," came Mecha Knight's cold, monotone voice from the other side of the door. "The door is unlocked."

Kevin frowned. He wondered why Mecha Knight left the door to his office unlocked; then again, Kevin had sent him a message ahead of time regarding the meeting, so perhaps Mecha Knight unlocked it in advance of Kevin's arrival. Regardless, Kevin opened the door and entered, making sure to close it securely behind him so that no one in the hallway outside would be able to hear what he and Mecha Knight were going to discuss.

Turning around, Kevin looked around at Mecha Knight's office. It was a wide-open space, with a large window on the opposite side that afforded a great view of Hero Island, although it appeared to have been darkened for the moment, perhaps to respect Mecha Knight's privacy. Along the walls ran shelves that held books on a variety of subjects, ranging from biology to robotics to philosophy and everything in between, as well as a variety of gadgets, devices, and machines that Kevin still didn't understand the purpose of, despite having visited Mecha Knight's office several times already. In particular, one object puzzled him the most: It looked kind of like a futuristic toaster, but with weird tentacle-like appendages supporting it. When Kevin had asked Mecha Knight about that particular device during one visit, Mecha Knight had merely said it was a 'gift' from Kevin's father before changing the subject abruptly.

The office's temperature was very mild and cool, although definitely warmer than outside. It had no distinct smell; it was very sterile, as if Mecha Knight made sure to scrub the floor, walls, and ceiling with some kind of sanitizer. Kevin wondered how Mecha Knight made sure his room smelled decent; after all, Mecha Knight was technically a robot, or really a human soul in a robot body, and robots couldn't smell anything.

That was when Kevin realized that Mecha Knight wasn't in the room. Mecha Knight's office was vacated, although his laptop was still on. Kevin looked around for a moment before noticing something he'd never seen before: On the left side of the room, a part of the wall had slid to the side, revealing another room that Kevin had never seen before. White light spilled from the room and Kevin could hear what sounded like electricity sparking from within, but he had no idea what was in there until he heard Mecha Knight's voice say from the room, "Bolt, I am in here. You may enter if you wish."

Hesitant, Kevin nonetheless walked over to the room and peered through the doorway. He could not believe what he was looking at.

This second room was much larger than even Mecha Knight's office. It looked more like a laboratory than an office, however, with white metal plating on the floor, walls, and ceiling. And all along the walls, standing like soldiers waiting for orders from their general, were dozens of Mecha Knight suits. They were lined up inside clear glass tubes, probably to protect them from dust and other pathogens in the air, and each one appeared inactive, based on their stillness and lack of light.

In the center of the room, lying on a table flat on his back, was Mecha Knight himself. Or what was left of Mecha Knight, anyway; it looked like his body have been taken apart. His head lay on a small platform a few inches from the neck of his body, the chest of which had been opened, revealing an insanely complex-looking assortment of wiring, motherboards, and other technological stuff like that that made Kevin's brain hurt just to look at. Robotic limbs hanging from the ceiling were testing his limbs, bending the joints, applying oil to any that were squeaky or stiff, replacing missing plating, and fixing loose wiring.

Kevin was so surprised by what he saw that he couldn't help but stare until Mecha Knight's head turned to look at him with its cold blue eyes. "Hello, Bolt. You look surprised."

"I..." Kevin shook his head. "What is going on?"

"Oh, I forgot," said Mecha Knight, his tone still flat. "You have never seen me in this state. You usually see me with all my limbs attached."

"Yeah," said Kevin. He gestured at the room. "What is this place?"

"This is where I keep my extra bodies and where I perform diagnostics and repairs on my body whenever it gets damaged," said Mecha Knight. "My current body hasn't been in any fights recently, but I have to do these weekly checkups to ensure that everything is in working order and to spot any problems before they grow too big. I learned the hard way how small problems, if left unattended, can grow into big ones seemingly overnight."

"Oh," said Kevin, although he still didn't exactly understand what he was looking at. "Okay. Does it... does it hurt?"

"No," said Mecha Knight. "As a robot, I have no pain receptors in my body. Think of it like going to the doctor for a checkup. It is sometimes boring and inconvenient, but as I said, I learned the hard way that if I don't do this regularly, I will suffer in the long run."

"Uh, right," said Kevin. "Is this a bad time to talk, then? I mean, I can come back later if—"

"No, no, this is fine," said Mecha Knight. "But I agree that my current body is not suitable for this kind of discussion. Let me use one of my extras."

Mecha Knight's eyes suddenly turned gray, like his head had just shut off. At the same time, however, one of the Mecha Knight suits in the glass tubes suddenly became active, its eyes turning blue. The front of the tube opened like a door, allowing the now-active suit to walk out of it like it had just been taking a shower.

"There," said Mecha Knight, his voice coming from the suit that had just walked out of the tube. "This is better." He looked up at Kevin. "Now, let's go to my office. We have much to discuss."

A few seconds later, Mecha Knight and Kevin were sitting at his desk. Mecha Knight sat behind his desk, closing his laptop as he sat down, while Kevin took the seat opposite him. The door to Mecha Knight's storage room was closed, but Kevin still couldn't get the image of all of those extra Mecha Knights out of his mind. He had known for a while now that Mecha Knight could change bodies at will, but until today, he had never actually seen Mecha Knight do that. It was kind of disturbing, and that was saying something, because Kevin had seen many disturbing things in his superhero career so far.

Mecha Knight, on the other hand, treated it as no more serious than changing his clothes. He put his hands in his lap and looked at Kevin. "Now, Bolt, you wanted to discuss your brother, White Lightning, yes?"

"Yes," said Kevin. "More specifically, I wanted to talk to you about what happened in New York, when Talon got harmed because of White Lightning's interference."

"Yes, I read about that in the report you sent me," said Mecha Knight. "Why did White Lightning disobey your orders to stay at the base?"

"He said it was because that reporter from Neo Ranks, Virginia Gray, encouraged him to," said Kevin. He shook his head. "I don't know if that's true, but—"

"It most likely is," said Mecha Knight, cutting off Kevin rather abruptly.

"Why do you think that?" asked Kevin in surprise.

"Because I have met Miss Gray before," said Mecha Knight. "She attended the opening ceremony of the Justice Statue several months back and wrote up a rather dishonest article on it, misquoting me and Omega Man several times."

"Wait, so you knew she was dishonest, but let her interview me anyway?" said Kevin. "Why?"

"Because I thought it would be a good way for you to learn about journalists and the ways in which they can and will twist your words," said Mecha Knight. "You would have learned it eventually, but I decided that the sooner, the better. I must admit, however, that I didn't expect her to encourage White Lightning to disobey your orders like that."

"Why would she do that?" said Kevin. He rubbed his forehead. "It doesn't make sense. Didn't she know how many people could have been hurt?"

"I suspect she wanted to create a story that would generate a lot of clicks and views on Neo Ranks," said Mecha Knight. He shook his head. "Regardless of her motives, I will add her to the list of journalists who will never be allowed to come to Hero Island ever again."

"There's a list?"

"A disturbingly long one," said Mecha Knight. "Anyway, even though White Lightning may have been manipulated by Gray, that doesn't change the fact that he directly disobeyed your orders and, in the process, put one of his own teammates into mortal danger. Such an action deserves swift and decisive punishment."

"I know." Kevin sat back in his chair, feeling powerless. "But I don't want to be harsh to him. I came to you for advice about this."

"Yes, I know," said Mecha Knight, "but one thing you need to learn, Kevin, is that, as leader of the Young Neos, you will sometimes have to make harsh decisions, even regarding your own family. These are decisions that all leaders need to make. And an unwillingness to make these decisions is one way to fail as a leader."

"I know," said Kevin, feeling his neck become hot with embarrassment. "I just—"

"But this is just one episode," said Mecha Knight. "I've looked over your reports from the past two months, since White Lightning joined the team, and I've noticed that he has a record of behaving in erratic and unpredictable ways on missions, causing trouble more often than not. I've also received several complaints from other members of the NHA about his behavior, which is one of the reasons he is banned from the Neohero Alliance Museum."

Kevin bit his lip. "He didn't mean to blow up the stuffed Pokacu statue. It was an accident."

"Be that as it may, White Lightning has a history of causing trouble, whether he intends to or not," said Mecha Knight. He leaned forward, his robotic eyes drilling into my own. "And I can tell you that the rest of the Leadership Council is divided on him. We agreed to let him stay on Hero Island and join the Young Neos because he is your brother and we thought you would keep him under control. We also wanted to keep him where we could keep an eye on him; there are many supervillains and other groups in the world who would like to have such a powerful young superhuman on their side."

"But he is getting better," said Kevin. "He can talk almost normally now and he has such a gentle spirit. He just doesn't always know how to control his power or express himself in socially acceptable ways."

"I know that, but the rest of the Leadership Council is rapidly losing their patience with him," said Mecha Knight. "Black Blur, in particular, has been suggesting recently that we just send him to Ultimate Max and be done with him."

Kevin gasped. Black Blur was his least favorite member of the Leadership Council, mostly because Black Blur had supported his own imprisonment in Ultimate Max two months back, but he had never thought that Blur would support jailing his brother. "That's ridiculous. White wouldn't last a day in there. He's too naive, even if he is powerful."

"I know," said Mecha Knight. "I don't support that idea, either, and neither does the rest of the Council. Still, there is a growing discontent among the Council and they do plan to do something about White Lightning if he doesn't start behaving soon."

"That sounds like a threat," said Kevin, his eyes narrowing.

"It's a warning," said Mecha Knight. "I've done my best to defend you and White Lightning before the Council, but even Omega Man is starting to lose his patience with White's actions. And I must admit, I genuinely believed you when you said that you would have him normal and under control quickly when you first presented him to the Council."

Surprisingly, Mecha Knight sounded genuinely disappointed in Kevin. It was the first time Kevin had ever heard emotion in his supervisor's voice and it filled him with shame.

"Look, the government messed him up," said Kevin. "We still don't know what, exactly, they did to him, but it's going to take a long time to fix him completely. It might even take years."

"Do you want me to tell that to the other Council members?" said Mecha Knight. "I can just imagine Black Blur saying that White Lightning should spend those years in prison."

"White already spent a good chunk of his life in a small cage separated from the rest of the world," said Kevin. "He doesn't need to spend God knows how many years in another. He just needs to get used to the real world. That's all."

"I pray that you are right, Bolt," said Mecha Knight, "because if you are not, then the Leadership Council will need to take action. What, exactly, we'll do, I don't know, but I doubt it will be any good."

Kevin nodded. "Understood, sir. I promise that White will never get in trouble again under my watch. How should I discipline him for this?"

"Keep him in his room," Mecha Knight said. "Ground him, essentially, except for his therapy sessions and other duties he can't do in his room. Don't let him come on any missions with you or the rest of the team for a while, perhaps for two weeks or so."

"Gotcha," said Kevin. He rose from his seat. "Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to go back to the House now and see how White is."

But Mecha Knight raised a hand. "Don't leave just yet, Bolt. I have something else I wish to bring to your attention."

Kevin stopped and looked at Mecha Knight with a confused frown. "What is that?"

"It is about the garbage monster that your team failed to defeat in New York earlier," said Mecha Knight. He opened his laptop and scanned the screen for a moment. "We've received a tip from one of our sources in the city about the monster."

"Do they know where it is?" said Kevin. "Because if they do, I can have the team up and ready to go in less than an—"

"No, that's not what the tip is about," said Mecha Knight. "The monster's current location is still unknown; however, our tip says that he spotted someone taking a portion of the sludge left behind by the creature's body. He says that it was a thirty-year-old Hispanic man dressed in a hoodie and jeans."

"Sounds to me like it might have just been a random pedestrian who might have witnessed the fight," said Kevin. "God knows there are freaks out there who like to collect 'souvenirs' from superhero fights. He's probably going to get poisoned."

"Our tipster doesn't think it was just a random pedestrian," said Mecha Knight. "He said that he had seen this same man sitting outside a cafe just before the monster attacked, apparently staring at the manhole from which the monster came. The man was one of the few people not to evacuate the area; instead, he hid somewhere in the cafe and only came out after the monster had left."

"G-Man?" said Kevin, referring to the name of the government-sponsored superhero team that he had tangled with more than a few times over the last year.

"Unlikely," said Mecha Knight. "G-Men agents are always in uniform. Besides, this man didn't look like any active G-Men agent that we know of."

"Do you think that that guy is responsible for the monster?" said Kevin. "Like, maybe he created it?"

"Possibly," said Mecha Knight. "Or he is working for its creator. We don't know. But our informant did snap a picture of him while he wasn't looking. Here it is."

Mecha Knight turned the laptop around. Kevin leaned forward to look at the picture better.

It showed the scene of the battle with the monster in the streets of New York City, although without the monster or the Yong Neos, it looked pretty empty. The only person in the picture was a thirty-year-old Hispanic man wearing a hoodie over his head, which obscured most of his features, except for his chin, which had a small goatee on it. The man was scooping a portion of the sludge into some kind of glass container, although Kevin had never seen anything like it before.

"Huh," said Kevin. He looked at Mecha Knight. "Did the informant try to figure out who he is?"

"He tried to follow the man, but he quickly lost him in the streets," said Mecha Knight. "I have tried to identify him by having the NHA's computers match his photo with our picture database in order to find out if he is a known supervillain or not, but his face is too obscured by his hoodie for his identity to be known. Still, we've put out a notice to our other informants to keep an eye out for a man who looks like him and to report any sightings of him to us."

"I didn't realize we had such a big network of informants," said Kevin, standing upright and rubbing the back of his neck.

"In our world, it would be foolish not to have one," said Mecha Knight. "Of course, I can't give you many details about them, because their identities are meant to be secret, but you understand."

Kevin nodded. "Yeah, I—"

Kevin was interrupted by the sound of his suit-up watch ringing. Looking at the watch's display, Kevin saw that he had a call from Blizzard. Puzzled, he tapped her picture and said, "Blizzard, what's up?"

"Bolt!" came Blizzard's frantic voice. "Oh, I'm so glad you answered! I thought you might still be meeting with Mecha Knight and we might have to send someone to get you, but you answered and—"

"Blizzard, please just cut to the chase," said Kevin. "What happened? You sound extremely worried."

He heard Blizzard take a deep breath on the other end of the line to calm herself and then she said, in a calmer but still shaky voice, "White is gone, Kevin, and we don't know where he is."

***

CHAPTER SIX

White Lightning didn't have much experience in the real world. Oh, sure, his brother had taken him on trips into New York City and other towns nearby, trying to teach him about things like trash cans and watching out for traffic before crossing the street (although White never understood that last one; with his super strength and healing factor, a car hitting him was usually just a minor inconvenience more than anything). Still, White knew enough about the world to have heard of places called flower shops, where flowers were sold. He also had the sneaking suspicion that they sold get well cards, although that was one subject that Kevin had never taught him about for some reason.

Nonetheless, it was easy for White to look up the nearest flower shop on his suit-up watch's Internet search engine and then fly there from Hero Island. He didn't tell anyone where he was going; he wanted it to be a surprise, not just for Talon, but for everyone. If he came back with flowers and cards for Talon, then maybe the rest of the team would forgive him for messing up. That's what he would have done in their situation; but even if they didn't, as long as he got Talon to like him, that was all that mattered. Besides, he didn't think he'd be gone very long, given how flowers and cards were not very big or heavy to carry and, with his super speed and flight, he'd be able to go to the mainland and back even before the House's AIs knew.

The flower shop whose address White had looked up—Domino's Flowers—was located in a town on the coast of New York State called Mountain. White had never even heard of this town before, although given how few towns he had visited, that didn't surprise him much, but apparently its flower shop was one of the best in the state. Since White wanted quality flowers, he decided that it made sense to go to the store that sold the best. Besides, he always liked visiting new places, so this just gave him another excuse to travel.

By flying quickly, White reached the small town of Mountain in five minutes. It was indeed a small town, so small that White almost flew right over it, but the GPS feature on his suit-up watch informed him when he reached his destination, forcing him to come to a stop over some telephone wires and causing a flock of crows that had been sitting on it to fly away in fear. The flower shop was located near the beach and on the edge of town, away from most of the traffic, but that was okay because White disliked big crowds and enclosed places. Up in the sky, the flower shop looked like a tiny white toy house, but the closer he got to it, the more detail he saw.

Domino's Flowers was shaped like a square, with a sloped roof painted bright blue. A small, empty parking lot stretched out in front of it, while a dumpster stood to its side. The name of the shop was written on a huge sign on the front of the building in a font that looked like twisting vines and flowers; in particular, all of the 'o's had been replaced with roses. That made it hard for White to read at first, although reading was a challenging skill for him in general except for very simple words and phrases, because the government hadn't seen any point in teaching him how to read and write when he was being experimented upon by them.

Landing in front of the shop, White looked to the left and to the right, feeling the cool ocean breeze blow onto him. He didn't see anyone else around at the moment, save for a boat out on the ocean in the distance; there wasn't even anyone on the beach. Maybe today was a slow day, although White quickly forgot about that when he saw that the sign on the door said 'OPEN.' He eagerly entered, pushing the door open and looking around when he stepped in.

The first thing he noticed was the smell. It smelled like a whole bunch of different flowers put together; not being a flower person, White couldn't distinguish any of the scents, except for the rose, because that was one of the first flowers he'd smelled when Mastermind had freed him from the government months ago. It also smelled somewhat of dirt and water, a scent that was more refreshing than you'd think.

As for the shop itself, it was rather small and cramped. Flowers of all kinds and colors stood on shelves on the walls or in the center of the room; some even hung from the ceiling by rope. It felt more like walking into a forest than a building and the small space reminded him far too much of his old government cell. That sense of entrapment was almost enough to make White turn and leave, but he forced himself to stay long enough to buy at least a few flowers for Talon, and a card, too, if they sold any. He didn't see any cards, but maybe they had some behind the counter.

Speaking of the counter, White didn't see anyone standing behind it at the moment. That was odd; where was the cashier? The sign on the front door had said 'OPEN,' after all. Had that been a mistake? Or was the flower shop owner somewhere else right now?

Hesitantly, White walked through the shop. Reaching the counter, he peered over the other side, but did not see the owner. Pulling back, he noticed a bell on the counter, an old rusted one by the look of it, and there was a note on it that read 'PLEASE RING FOR ASSISTANCE.'

White grabbed the bell and rang it loudly. A second later, he heard an old man's voice shout, "I'm coming!" and then someone stepped out from behind the door on the other side of the counter. He was an old, old man, maybe the oldest man White had ever laid eyes on. He was bent over almost completely in half, which looked rather painful. He had very little hair left on his head and it was wispy and white. He wore a neat and clean green shirt, along with a brown apron that had the words 'DOMINO's FLOWERS' on it, with the phone number, URL, and address of the store itself. The man also had what looked like gardening tools in the pockets of his apron, which clinked together as the old man made his way over to the counter.

But then the old man stopped halfway and stared at White. He looked just as surprised at White as White did to him, but White didn't understand why. White looked down at his costume, but he didn't see anything dirty or out of the ordinary. The way the old man stared at him, it was like he'd seen a ghost.

"Ah," said the old man all of a sudden, whose voice, despite his frail appearance, was strong and deep, "hello, there. Are you a superhero?"

White nodded. "Yes. White Lightning. Member of the Young Neos. N. H. A."

"Interesting," said the old man, stroking his thin chin. "I don't have many superhero customers. Of course, it's hard to know just who is and isn't a superhero sometimes, given how many superheroes tend to keep their true identity a secret."

"Yes," said White, because he didn't know what else to say. "Are you Domi... Domi..."

"Domino?" the old man finished for him. "No, that was the name of my father, who opened this shop fifty years ago. I'm his son, Finn, although I offer the same quality service that he provided to his customers until the day of his death."

"Good," said White. For some reason he found it hard to talk to the old man, even though Finn had not shown any animosity toward him yet. "Uh..."

Finn smiled an understanding smile. "Yes?"

"Flowers," said White. "I need flowers." He couldn't make eye contact with Finn.

"Flowers," Finn repeated. "What kind of flowers? We have all varieties here."

White bit his lower lip. Part of him wished that he'd taken the time to look up the names of the various species of flowers before coming here, but it was too late now. "Good flowers. The best flowers."

"We have the best flowers here," said Finn. "But I can see you're having a little trouble telling me what you want. Why don't you tell me what the flowers are for? Then I might be able to make suggestions that you might like."

Feeling relieved that he wouldn't have to stumble across his own words trying to explain what he wanted, White looked at Finn again and said, "My friend is hurt. I want to get flowers for her."

"Hurt? As in injured?" said Finn. White nodded. "Hmm, I see. Getting flowers for a hospitalized friend is always a good idea. Tell me, is this friend a superhero, too?"

"Yes," said White. "Need flowers."

"Right," said Finn. "I think I know just the kind. Let me show some chrysanthemums that your friend might enjoy."

Finn walked around the counter to the other side of the store. White followed, wondering what a 'chrysanthemum' even was. He doubted he could pronounce the word, although given how big words were usually given to important things, he figured that that must mean that these flowers were very important flowers, maybe even the best flowers.

"Here we are," said Finn, stopping in front of a display of several pretty-looking orange flowers. "Chrysanthemums. They're very popular for hospitalized patients, such as your friend. What do you think?"

White stopped in front of the display next to Finn and looked down at the flowers. He had to admit that they looked pretty good, although given how he had never bought flowers before, he didn't quite know how to judge their quality. Now he was wishing that he'd brought Treehugger with him; she was extremely knowledgeable about plants and would probably have been able to help him decide if these were any good or not. Of course, she would probably have been too afraid of him to speak, but White could have worked with basic physical gestures just as well as words.

"They are okay," said White. He looked at Finn. "How much?"

"Four dollars a stem," said Finn. "How many chrysanthemums do you want?"

White frowned and thought about that for a moment. "How many flowers do people buy for hurt friends?"

"It depends," said Finn. "Lots of people buy bouquets for their loved ones, but sometimes a single flower, in a pretty vase, can do more than an entire bouquet could ever hope to do."

White thought that one flower would probably be easier to carry back to Hero Island than a bouquet, so he said, "Okay. One stem. Also, do you have any get well cards?"

"In fact, we do," said Finn as he picked out one chrysanthemum stem. "But they're behind the counter, because they aren't our best-selling item."

"Okay," said White. "Then show me the—"

White was interrupted by a pecking sound at the door. He looked over at the door and saw a crow sitting on the handle, pecking the glass door. But once White looked at it, the crow stopped and stared at him, as if it expected him to come over and speak to it. White had seen crows before—in fact, they were his favorite bird—but this crow was acting different from most. It was staring at him the same way that a human trying to get his attention would, but that didn't make sense, because crows were just animals and they weren't as smart as humans. Yet he could tell that this particular crow was looking straight at him.

White looked at Finn again. "You see crow?"

"I do," said Finn. He shook his head. "It's nothing worth worrying about. Birds are always trying to get in here because they want the flowers. Just ignore it."

White bit his lower lip and looked over at the crow again. It hadn't moved, nor had it stopped staring at White. If anything, its gaze seemed to be more urgent than ever, as if there was an emergency of some sort and it needed White to come with it right away.

But White still thought that his eyes might just be playing tricks on him or that he might be reading too much into the bird when it quite clearly tilted its head to the side. Even White, who wasn't very good at reading body language, instantly understood that the crow was asking him to leave the store and come outside. And White, despite his concerns, decided to answer its summons.

Turning to Finn, White said, "Please wait. I'll be right back," and then turned and walked toward the door quickly, ignoring Finn's puzzled look. Pushing the door open, White saw the crow flying toward the beach. He somehow knew that the crow wanted him to follow it, so he flew into the air after the crow. The crow led him down the beach toward a rockier part of it that was not visible from the road. It vanished between two large rocks, but the gap was too small for White to follow, so he landed on the hard, sandy ground and ran over to the gap to see if he could find out where the crow had gone.

Reaching the gap, White stared into it, but it was too dark to see anything, so he raised his hand and activated his lightning powers just enough to give him a small blue glow to work by. Raising his glowing hand over the hole, White was dismayed to see that there was nothing in it. Aside from a few feathers and some sand, the hole was empty, like the crow had somehow vanished inside it.

I wanted to pet the bird, White thought, lowering his hand and sighing.

"Hello, Ronald Jason," said a voice behind him. "I am glad to see that you followed Charlie here. I worried that you might not."

White whirled around to see who had spoken. Standing at the other end of the rock beach were two figures that White had never seen before; he hadn't even heard them approach, nor had he seen them from the air when he was following the crow. They seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, although it was possible they could have been hiding among the rocks.

As far as White could tell, both of them were men, but their costumes and masks made it impossible to guess their ages or their appearances. The first man wore a gray flight suit, which, despite not being skintight, nonetheless showed off his large muscles. He stood taller than his companion, his green eyes visible even from a distance through the eye holes of his mask. And his mask was strange and scary; it covered the upper half of his face and his nose. Its forehead was ridged, while its nose was short and hook-like. His chin was exposed, but somehow that made the man look even more frightening to White.

As for the second man, he wore dark brown robes, making him look kind of like a wizard. He was about a head shorter than his friend, but seemed much younger than the other man. His mask, like the first man's, only covered the upper half of his face, his cheeks, and his nose, which was short and blunt in comparison to his friend's nose. He also wore brass knuckles on his fists, which told White that this man was probably not friendly.

"Who are you two?" said White. He looked around. "Where is crow?"

The first man raised his hand and snapped his fingers. White heard a cawing sound and then the crow flew out of nowhere and landed on the first man's shoulder. The first man began stroking the head of the crow, which closed its eyes like it enjoyed the sensation.

"Right here," said the first man; his was the voice that White had heard before. "And he did a good job bringing you here, didn't you, Charlie?"

The crow—which was apparently named Charlie—didn't say anything. It just stood on the first man's shoulder, its eyes closed, though it did open one eye to peek at White before closing it again.

White took a step back. "Are you a super... a superhero? Like me?"

The second man growled. "Superheroes? We're not superheroes. Don't want anything to do with those bastards."

"What my friend here means is that we work for someone else," said the first man. "We're neither superheroes nor supervillains. The world is not so easily divided into white and black, although given your age, you will learn that eventually, I am sure."

"If not heroes or villains, then what are you?" said White.

"You can call us the Venetians," said the first man. He gestured at himself and then at his companion. "I am Pantalone and this is my friend, Arlecchino."

"Panta... Panta..." White struggled to pronounce their names. "Pants and Arle?"

"Pants?" the second man, Arlecchino, repeated, almost shouted. "Wise guy, eh? Maybe I should teach you a lesson in respecting your elders."

Arlecchino stepped forward, but Pantalone put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Now, now, Arlecchino, I am sure the boy doesn't mean any harm. He's been through so much in his young life and is still learning how to talk correctly. Remember, we're only supposed to use force if necessary."

"Insulting us seems plenty necessary to me," said Arlecchino, although he didn't step forward any further. Still, he glared at White, as if he was trying to shoot lasers from his eyes.

"Now, then," said Pantalone, looking at White, "the reason we lured you out here today is because our employer has taken an interest in you."

"Me?" said White. "Who your boss?"

"Our employer's identity is a secret," said Pantalone. "But I can tell you that he is one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the whole world. And he would like to offer you a position in his organization."

"Why?" said White.

"Because our employer is always on the look out for powerful superhumans such as yourself," said Pantalone. "And he can pay very well; trust me when I say that our employer can meet almost any price you demand, no matter how high it may be."

White didn't trust either of the two Venetians, but at the same time, he was curious about who their boss was. "I am already part of a team. I don't need to join more."

"Are you sure?" said Pantalone. "We know how the rest of your team looks at you, Ronald. They see you as a freak at best and a dangerous monster at worst. If you join us, on the other hand, we will accept you just as you are. Doesn't that sound nice?"

White frowned. "How you know how team treats me? I didn't tell you."

"As I said, our employer is powerful," said Pantalone. "Powerful men have their ways of knowing things that most people don't."

White nodded. He liked the idea of being accepted by others, but... "I'm not sure. I need to ask my brother."

"Your brother," Pantalone repeated, although his tone was sarcastic. "Yes, Kevin Jason, also known as Bolt, son of Genius and current leader of the Young Neos. Why do you need to ask his permission?"

"Because he's in charge of me," said White, putting a hand on his chest.

"Even though you are twins?" said Pantalone. "Even though you are equals in terms of your power and age?"

"Yes," said White. He tapped the side of his head. "Brain not working well. Need his help."

"How do you know that for sure?" said Pantalone. "What if your brain is working perfectly well and your brother is merely tricking you into being subordinate to him?"

"Kevin would never trick me," said White. He found the idea so repulsive that he couldn't even think about it. "He's my brother. He cares about me."

Pantalone chuckled. "Ah, brotherly love. Such a beautiful thing, but also something one can so easily take advantage of."

"Kevin takes care of me for now," said White. He felt defensive. "Once I'm better, I will be able to make my own choices."

"How can you ever get better while living under your brother's control?" said Pantalone. "It sounds to me like your brother merely wants to keep your power under his control, or maybe under the control of the NHA, rather than letting you use it in your own way."

"My power is danger," said White. "Needs control."

"And who says that you can't control it yourself?" said Pantalone. "Besides, if you join us, our employer could help you with any problems you have with your powers. And what's more, he will give you the freedom to use your powers as you see fit. You will be able to go where you wish, when you want, without your brother breathing down your neck. Doesn't that sound fun?"

White hesitated. He'd always wanted to travel the world and see more of it, but he had always had to stay on Hero Island where Kevin and the others could keep an eye on him. "Hero Island is safer, though."

"The government facility in which you were kept was also safe, but you are glad to be out of that, aren't you?" said Pantalone. "How is Hero Island and its facilities any less confining?"

White couldn't answer, but at the same time, he still didn't like these two. "What if I leave?"

"If you try to leave now, we will catch you," said Pantalone. "Our employer gave us strict orders to bring you back with us. We would simply prefer it if you came with us voluntarily, but we are more than willing to use force to make you come with us. Right, Arlecchino?"

Arlecchino laughed. "Of course! I've been itching for a fight for a while now. We can take you down faster than you can imagine."

White didn't know whether to believe that, given how he didn't know the powers or fighting capabilities of these two, but he was not in any mood to find out. Everything Pantalone said had disturbed him and he now just wanted to go home, even if that meant leaving behind the flower. He'd find something else to give to Talon when he got back to Hero Island.

"Sorry," said White, taking another step back. "I don't want to go with strangers."

White shot off into the air, but before he could get very far or high, Arlecchino suddenly jumped into the air to meet him. He jumped like his legs were springs, flying up toward White at an amazing speed. He tackled White out of the air and crashed them both down into the sand. White knocked his head against a rock, making his head spin, while Arlecchino—who was surprisingly heavy—held him down with his weight.

"Weren't you just listening to what we were saying?" said Arlecchino in a hiss of a voice. "Our employer wanted you to come voluntarily, but it looks like we're going to have to do things the hard way."

Arlecchino raised one of his bronze knuckles, which White could not dodge or block because the impact of the fall had left him too dizzy to react.

All of a sudden, a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed Arlecchino's raised fist.

"What the hell?" said Arlecchino, looking at who had grabbed him. "Who are you?"

White also looked at who had caught Arlecchino, but unlike the man straddling him, White instantly recognize his savior. "Brother!"

It was indeed Kevin, White's brother. He stood by Arlecchino, gripping the Venetian's fist with an iron grip. A cold anger had spread across his face, an anger that White knew well, although it had been a long time since he'd last seen it.

"So you're Bolt, eh?" said Arlecchino. "Have to admit, you have a strong grip, but I have a stronger—"

Arlecchino didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, because Kevin flipped Arlecchino off White and hurled him all the way across the beach at Pantalone. Pantalone, however, jumped to the side, barely avoiding his partner, who slammed into a huge rock so hard that he smashed straight through it onto the other side. White couldn't see him, but he assumed that Arlecchino was probably not going to get up again any time soon after that.

"White, are you okay?" said Kevin. "Can you stand?"

White rubbed the back of his head, but nodded. "Yes. Need help, though."

Kevin held out a hand, which White took. Kevin pulled White back to his feet and then looked at him in worry. "Where were you? Why did you just up and vanish like that?"

White, feeling embarrassed, shrugged and said, "I... I just..." His voice trailed off, because he was too ashamed to look at Kevin.

But then Kevin said, "Look, you can tell me about this later. Why don't we focus on beating these two guys first?"

White looked up at Kevin with a smile. "Sure. Think we can beat them?"

Kevin nodded. He looked over at Pantalone and frowned. "What's with the opera mask? You look like a freak."

"Oh, shut up," said Pantalone. He scratched the back of his head, a worried look in his eyes. "This is no good. We were only supposed to fight White Lightning, not you. Our employer won't be very happy about that."

"Don't worry," said Kevin, punching his fist into his other hand. "By the time we're done with the two of you, you'll both be sharing a cell in Ultimate Max. Your employer will still be able to yell at you, but trust me, he won't be able to punish you for your failure."

"You are assuming you can beat me and Arlecchino," said Pantalone.

"I just beat your friend," said Kevin. "He's—"

A loud groan came from the boulder that Arlecchino had been thrown into. Abruptly, Arlecchino rose from its remains, shaking his head. His robes were torn and sandy and his mask had a crack in it; however, aside from that, he looked surprisingly good for having been thrown halfway across the beach into a solid boulder. That made White wonder just how strong he was.

"God, that hurt," said Arlecchino, rubbing the back of his head. "I am going to feel this headache for a week. And I hate headaches."

"Complain later," said Pantalone without a shred of sympathy in his voice. "Right now, we need to beat these two before they can call for reinforcements and overwhelm us through sheer numbers."

Pulling himself out of the destroyed boulder, Arlecchino stepped next to Pantalone, although he still rubbed his head. But he also looked angry, breathing so hard that he looked like he was about to explode. "Sure thing, Pantalone. I have no intention of letting a couple of brats knock me around. I'm going to have to let go, though, so watch out."

White didn't know what Arlecchino meant by that, but Pantalone must have, because he sighed and said, "If you must."

"Okay, White," said Kevin, taking a battle stance. "Feel up to taking these two on?"

White nodded and mimicked Kevin's battle stance. "Yeah. Let's do it!"

***

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kevin flew into the air, while White dashed across the sand toward the Venetians. This was a common battle tactic that Kevin and White had developed over the last two months; one of them would fly into the air and rain down lightning bolts from above, while the other would attack from the ground, using a combination of super speed and super strength to land quick but powerful blows on foes. It was a technique that had been mostly developed in the House's Training Room, but they had practiced it a few times in the real world to great success. It worked especially well on enemies like Pantalone and Arlecchino, who couldn't fly at all.

That was why Kevin was shocked when Pantalone grew huge, crow-like wings from his back and, with a single flap, sent himself flying into the air toward Kevin. But Kevin still managed to turn out of the way, just barely avoiding Pantalone's claws as he soared past Kevin. Kevin whirled around to face Pantalone, who had also turned around and was now floating in midair by rapidly flapping his wings. Below, Kevin sensed that White and Arlecchino were exchanging blows, but he couldn't afford to pay attention to that at the moment.

"So you can fly," said Kevin. "Those wings must be pretty inconvenient, though. And they look kind of ugly, too."

"Is that the best banter the great Bolt can say?" said Pantalone with a sneer. "Nonetheless, this isn't my only power. Or even a fraction of what I am really capable of doing."

Kevin was about to ask if Pantalone was going to try to feed him chewed up worms when he heard a huge flapping of wings nearby. Puzzled, Kevin looked around until he spotted a huge black cloud rushing toward him in the distance over the town of Mountains. The cloud was making a bunch of flapping sounds, which made no sense to Kevin at all until the cloud was close enough for him to see that it wasn't actually a cloud at all, but rather an entire murder of crows, their black forms flying so closely together that they looked like a storm cloud from a distance.

But by the time that realization dawned on Kevin, the crows were upon him. The murder came like a storm; in an instant, Kevin was trapped among the hundreds and hundreds of crows. They pecked and clawed at every inch of his body, but especially at his eyes and face, forcing him to put his arms over his face to avoid getting his eyeballs pecked out. But that didn't protect the other parts of his body; even with his protective costume, he could feel their tiny beaks and claws as the crows tried to make holes to expose his skin to their claws and beaks. Even worse, with all of the crows surrounding him on every side, he couldn't see or hear anything other than the flaps of their wings and their constant cawing. And they stank like death, making it hard to breathe.

Desperate to escape, Kevin launched straight up through the air. He burst out of the murder of crows and instantly drank in the cool ocean breeze, which was a lot nicer than the stink of death that emanated from the bodies of all of those crows. But he couldn't stop and rest; the crows were already coming at him again, although this time they looked even more murderous than before.

So Kevin flew away, trying to lose them, but the crows were determined and followed as closely as they could. Kevin tried to fire red lightning bolts at them, but, although his bolts knocked a few fried birds out of the air, that did nothing to discourage the other crows. If anything, it seemed to make them more determined than ever to get him and they were gaining on him every second.

What the hell is going on? Kevin thought, trying not to panic as he flew away from the birds. Where did all these crows come from? Have they finally decided to displace humanity as Earth's dominant species or do I remind them of someone they don't like?

As Kevin flew, he glanced at Pantalone. The weird bird-man was still floating in the air, but he was not joining the crows in attacking Kevin. Instead, he was merely watching the birds chase Kevin with a huge smirk on his face, as if he was watching an entertaining TV show.

That guy must be controlling them somehow, Kevin thought. Must be one of his powers. If I can take him down, then maybe the birds will leave me alone.

But Kevin didn't go after Pantalone directly. Instead, he flew toward the sea, but slower than usual, because he needed the crows to get closer to him for his plan to work. A quick glance over his shoulder showed him that the crows were indeed gaining; perhaps they even thought they could catch him. Too bad they were about to be mistaken.

At the last second, Kevin changed course. He flew abruptly upwards, his body skimming across the surface of the water. It was a tight turn, one he wasn't sure he was going to make, but he did it and was now flying back up into the air. The crows, however, were not nearly as agile as him. Apparently not seeing his course change coming, the crows slammed into the surface of the ocean; and it wasn't just the first ones, either. Because the crows were flying so closely together, the ones in the back pushed the ones in the middle and front straight into the water, until soon the entire murder of crows was splashing and cawing in the water, pecking and clawing at each other in confusion as they tried in vain to get back into the air.

But Kevin didn't pay any attention to them. He just flew toward Pantalone, who now looked genuinely surprised by this course of action.

"My babies!" Pantalone shouted in anger. "You bastard! You got them all wet!"

Kevin didn't respond. He just swung a fist at Pantalone, but the Venetian dodged it easily. He grabbed Kevin's outstretched arm and, using Kevin's own momentum against him, hurled Kevin away. Kevin spun through the air crazily before regaining control of his trajectory. Coming to a stop in midair, Kevin shook his head and looked back over at Pantalone, who was still glaring at Kevin as if Kevin had just insulted his mother.

"See, that's what happens when you rely on birds to do a man's job," said Kevin, gesturing at the crows that were still splashing around uselessly in the ocean. "It just doesn't work."

"I still find your banter wanting," said Pantalone.

"Everyone's a critic," said Kevin with a shrug.

But then he immediately fired a lightning bolt at Pantalone. Unfortunately, Pantalone just dodged it and flew toward Kevin, his claws flashing. He was upon Kevin in seconds, his claws slashing at Kevin's suit.

Kevin, however, managed to dodge Pantalone's claws. And even though Pantalone was fast, Kevin could tell that Pantalone was getting sloppy. His claws wouldn't have hurt much even if the blows landed, so Kevin guessed that Pantalone didn't handle losing very well.

So Kevin caught one of Pantalone's claws and twisted it, causing Pantalone to suddenly cry out in pain. Kevin didn't break it; however, he did put enough pressure on Pantalone's arm that he was sure his opponent was regretting picking a fight with him.

"You don't sound so confident and strong now that I've got your arm," said Kevin. "Let's see what's behind that funny mask you're wearing."

Kevin reached for the mask, but before he could take it off, Kevin heard a caw to his right and a single crow came out of nowhere and began pecking and clawing at his face. Letting go of Pantalone's arm, Kevin tried to punch the crow, but it just got out of his reach before he could even touch it. That was when he realized that the crow had been a distraction, but when he turned to face Pantalone again, the Venetian grabbed him with his claws.

Pantalone's claws sank into Kevin's arms, tearing through his suit and causing him to cry out in pain. But before Kevin could recover, Pantalone hurled him toward the sea below with surprising strength.

Kevin slammed into the ocean's surface and quickly sank like a rock. He gasped involuntarily, drawing sea water into his lungs. He quickly activated his super speed, however, and swam back to the surface as quickly as he could. He burst out of the sea and into the air, which now felt freezing cold on his wet skin. Still, he could breathe now, although it seemed like he coughed up half the sea before he felt a pain on his arms and looked at the wounds Pantalone had made.

His arms looked awful. The claws had left deep, bloody wounds that made Kevin's stomach churn. He'd been stabbed before, but he'd never had a chance to really look at his freshly made stab wounds like he was doing now. The ocean water had washed away most of the blood, but they still look ugly and would most definitely require medical attention to prevent infection.

But Kevin couldn't worry about that right now. He looked up at the sky, expecting to see Pantalone coming toward him, but to his surprise, Pantalone was nowhere to be seen. He looked around wildly for his opponent until he heard a blast of lightning from the beach and looked in that direction.

White was all on his own, using his lightning blasts to beat back a huge, hulking creature that Kevin belatedly recognized as Arlecchino. But Arlecchino didn't look like a normal human; he was at least twice as tall as he had been earlier, with muscles as thick as that boulder he'd been thrown into. Miraculously, his robes and mask still fit, as did his brass knuckles. And, even though White was clearly hitting him with everything he had, the lightning blasts didn't even seem to affect Arlecchino. The huge man just strode forward, taking lightning blast after lightning blast to the face. It reminded Kevin of the garbage monster and how it absorbed their lightning powers, but Arlecchino didn't seem to be absorbing the electricity; instead, he was just ignoring it, as if it was just a light breeze on a nice summer's day.

And Pantalone was flying to join him. Kevin knew that White couldn't beat both Pantalone and Arlecchino on his own, so Kevin shot through the air once more toward them. But then he heard more wings flapping and was once again enveloped by the murder of crows that Pantalone controlled, only this time they smelled wet due to having spent time in the ocean. Their birds and claws came far more ferociously this time, probably trying to get revenge for Kevin nearly drowning them. Regardless, their sudden appearance forced Kevin to stop in midair and protect his face again, but he knew that he didn't have time to waste fighting these birds. Every second he spent here was another second spent not protecting White. At the same time, this murder was too thick for him to simply fly through this time, not helped by their wet feathers getting water in his eyes as well.

Wet feathers...

Without even thinking about it, Kevin drew upon his lightning powers. Instead of firing them off like a lightning bolt, however, Kevin instead forced the electricity to flow through his whole body. He had always known he could channel his power into his fist to give him an electrified punch, but he had never done what he was about to do next, mostly because it had never occurred to him to do it. But he was desperate to try anything now, even if it was untested and had a low chance of working.

Once Kevin felt the power built up within him, he let loose a loud scream and unleashed the lightning. But he didn't unleash it like a normal lightning bolt; instead, it shot out from his body like a force field, like a bomb going off in every direction at once.

The blast struck all of the crows at once, causing them to caw in pain, although their caws were lost over the loud boom that erupted from Kevin's body like a thunder storm. The blast lasted for only a second, however; in the next, Kevin's body was back to normal, although he felt exhausted after such an intense usage of his power.

Still, he was alive, though the same couldn't be said for the crows that had been trying to kill him even just one second ago. The crows fell through the air around him, their still and fried bodies landing in the ocean with loud splashes. It would have been a disturbing sight if Kevin had stayed to look at it, but he was already flying to save his brother, who was now cornered by the Venetians. White was now caught in a fist fight with Arlecchino, while Pantalone was nearly upon them both.

Desperate, Kevin increased his speed, stretching out his hands toward the fight. But even then, he was too slow; as he watched, Pantalone pulled out some kind of device from a pocket on his flight suit, while Arlecchino suddenly grabbed White in a big bear hug. White struggled to break free, although Arlecchino managed to hold firmly in his arms.

Then Pantalone landed next to them and slammed the device on White.

And before Kevin's startled eyes, White, Pantalone, and Arlecchino all vanished into thin air.

***

CHAPTER EIGHT

The last thing White saw before Pantalone slammed the device onto his chest was his brother flying toward him. He wanted to shout at Kevin to help, but when Pantalone landed near him and Arlecchino and slammed the device on his chest, Kevin, the beach, the ocean, and everything else vanished; not only that, but White lost consciousness. He felt the device tighten on his chest, and then felt something injected into his body. It was the last thing he felt before his senses went blank and he forgot everything.

Sometime later, however, White awoke. He lay on his back on concrete floor, staring up at a concrete ceiling. At first, he thought he was there again; that is, the cell in which the government kept him for almost all of his life, the closest place to a home he had known for a long time, where he returned after every government experiment on him. Fear and anxiety rushed through his body and he sat up screaming before he looked around and realized that he wasn't back in the hands of the government again.

The cell in which he lay was larger than his old one, for one, and with white lights on the walls that illuminated the place. It was also cleaner; there were no bloodstains on the walls, nor did it smell very dank. His own body smelled like sand and ocean water, but it was a weak scent, most likely because it had been some time (though how long, he didn't know) since he'd been taken here. There was a toilet in the upper right corner, along with a small cot, although he didn't know why he wasn't lying on the cot. The cell was eerily silent; he only heard his own slowing breath as he began to calm down, although his nerves were still on end because he didn't know where he was or how long he had been knocked out.

Rising to his feet, White suddenly felt extremely weak. He didn't quite collapse, but he did stagger forward, putting his hands on his knees and panting. He felt like he'd run a mile, but he didn't understand why he felt that way when he'd just been lying on the ground moments ago. Maybe the hard floor hadn't been good for his body.

Shaking his head, White looked around, but he couldn't find a door or entrance anywhere. It was like he had been tossed into a box and that box had been sealed shut; that just made him panic even more. His old cell, as dingy as it was, at least had a door through which he could enter or exit. This place didn't even have that much.

White ran over to the nearest wall and began pounding on it. He tried to use his super strength, hoping to make his own exit if his captors wouldn't provide him with one, but for some reason, his blows were just ordinary blows. His fists didn't leave any cracks or dents in the walls; all he succeeded in doing was make his own hands hurt. But he kept punching the walls anyway because he didn't know what else to do.

"Help!" White screamed, his voice echoing off the walls of his cell. "Kevin! Mother! Someone, help!"

All of a sudden, White heard shifting concrete above him. He stopped punching the wall and looked up to see that the ceiling was moving aside, gradually revealing a glass ceiling that allowed him to see a metal ceiling far above him. White tried to fly up to the ceiling, but when he jumped up, he just fell back onto his feet. And since his coordination wasn't the best, he also ended up falling onto his behind, although the short fall didn't hurt him much.

Still, White scrambled back to his feet and shouted at the glass ceiling, "Who there? Let me out!"

Then White heard light footsteps clicking against glass and a figure appeared on the glass ceiling. His first reaction was to assume that the figure was Pantalone or Arlecchino; it wore a mask similar to theirs, as well as a hat and black cape that reminded him of Arlecchino's robes.

But then White realized that this figure was female, unlike Pantalone and Arlecchino, who were both male. Her mask was also different, despite being similar in terms of style; it had a long, curved beak, with crystal glass over each eye hole that was clear enough for him to see her brown eyes, brown eyes that looked familiar to him for some reason. With her mask and hat, he couldn't guess her age, but for some reason he thought that she was very young, probably not much older than himself.

Not that White particularly cared. He shouted, "Who are you? And where is my brother? I want my brother. I want my brother now."

"Your brother isn't here right now, White," said the figure. Her voice was extremely young and feminine, which sounded strange coming from such an unnatural mask. "He is safe, I can assure you of that, but he is not here."

"Then where is he?" said White. "Tell me!"

"I cannot," said the woman. Her voice sounded familiar to him, but he wasn't sure where he'd heard it before. "You are not allowed to know where your brother is. Our employer wants you to stay here."

White tried to fly again, but like before, he could only jump a couple of inches above the floor before falling back down, although this time he managed to retain his balance. "Where am I?"

"Again, that is not something you are allowed to know," said the woman. "But you will soon enough, I imagine."

"What happened to my powers?" said White. He reached out toward the ceiling, but it was too high for him to reach. "Can't fly. Can't break things."

"Powerless gas," said the woman. "Our employer purchased a vast amount of it recovered from the crashed Pokacu ships from the previous invasion. We sprayed you with it before you woke up. And don't think it will go away; look at the lights."

White looked at the lights on the walls. At first, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but then he noticed tubes poking out from underneath the shades. "What those?"

"Tubes that feed powerless gas into your room," said the woman. "They activate every six hours, which is roughly the amount of time it takes for the gas to wear off a target. As a result, you will remain our captive until our employer sees fit to release you."

White looked down at his wrist, intending to call Kevin on his suit-up watch, but then he noticed that it was missing. Whipping his head every which way, White tried to find his watch, but as far as he could tell, it was not in here with him.

"We took away your watch," said the woman, causing White to look up at her again. "And destroyed it, for good measure. That way, your friends won't be able to track you down and you won't be able to call for help."

White's hands balled into fists. "Come down and fight. Not afraid of hitting girls."

"I think I will stay up here," said the woman, folding her arms across her chest. "Unlike the others, my skills don't lie in fighting. I'm more of a healer than a killer."

White frowned. "You... Vene... Vene..."

"I am a Venetian, yes," said the woman, nodding. "My name is Medico Della Peste."

"Medi..." White bit his lower lip; he'd never had to pronounce a name that hard before. "Medi... uh..."

"You can just call me Della for short, if that's easier for you," said the woman in a kinder tone than before.

"Della," White repeated. "Yes. Easy." He shook his head. "But still not happy. Let me out. Now."

"I just said I can't do that," said Della. "I know you want your freedom more than anything, but you have to stay put."

"What will you do to me?" said White. He put his hands on his chest. "You... you harm me?"

Della shook her head. "We won't harm you, nor experiment on you. Instead, we are going to convince you to join us."

"Said no," said White. "Let me go."

"We know what you said, but we think we can still convince you," said Della. "It might take a while, but we can do it."

White wanted to fly up there and beat her up, but without his powers, he was helpless. He just stomped his feet and pouted; he didn't care how that made him look. He just wanted to make sure that Della and her employer knew exactly how angry he was.

"How long have I been out?" said White.

"A few hours," said Della. "Why?"

White shrugged. "Just wanted to know."

Then White walked over to his cot and sat down in it, folding his arms over his chest and not looking up at Della. He could feel her gaze upon him, but he didn't bother to look up at her. He just stared straight ahead, his hopelessness making him angrier and angrier by the minute.

"So that's what you're going to do, then," said Della. "Just sit there and pout. Like an overgrown child."

White glared up at Della. "I am not a kid. I am grown. Go away."

Oddly, however, Della didn't move. She just tilted her head to the side, her brown eyes looking puzzled. "You mean you don't recognize my voice?"

White frowned. "Why would I? Never seen you before."

"Never mind," said Della, although she suddenly sounded offended for some reason. "I just came to check up on you. I'm going to go report to my employer about your awakening. I'll be back soon."

With that, Della turned and walked away, although the concrete ceiling did not return. That allowed White to continue to see through the glass ceiling above, although there was no point in being able to see it, considering how he couldn't break the glass right now. He wondered if the glass ceiling had been left uncovered in order to mock him.

White lay down on his cot, which wasn't very soft or comfortable, although it was much softer than the floor. His anger was now giving away to despair; he had never been without his powers before, not even once in his life. He didn't know how to handle this or if he would even survive. The Venetians might not kill him, but he was starting to feel like he was stuck in the government's control again. He half-expected himself to wake up in his cell back in the government facility, to wake up and discover that everything that had happened over the last two months had been a dream and that the scientists were going to have him experimented upon again.

Brother, please find me, quickly, White thought, glancing at the glass ceiling. I'm scared.

There was no response; and after a while, White fell asleep, because there was nothing else he could do right now.

***

CHAPTER NINE

Kevin stood at the computer in his room, staring at the results on the screen of his recent attempt to locate White: 'NO SIGNAL. LOCATION OF WHITE LIGHTNING UNKNOWN.'

That didn't surprise Kevin very much, but it did make his spirits sink even lower than before. He had had his computer search for White's suit-up watch, which had a tracking feature in it that allowed Kevin to find White everywhere over the world using the NHA's satellites, but every search he did gave that exact same message and he had searched dozens of times over the last few hours. It was like White had simply vanished into thin air or had been taken off Earth entirely. Both options deeply troubled Kevin and left him feeling more hopeless than ever.

When White had vanished with Pantalone and Arlecchino three hours earlier, Kevin had flown up and down and all around the beach, hoping that maybe they had simply teleported somewhere close by. He'd also dashed through the streets of Mountain, even asking some of the citizens if they'd seen anything out of the ordinary, but he could find no trace of White or the two Venetians at all.

So Kevin flew back to Hero Island, where he immediately told Mecha Knight and then his teammates about White's kidnapping. Mecha Knight had immediately put out a call for all NHA members in the field to keep an eye out for White and to report any sightings of him or the Venetians. He had also told Kevin that he was going to speak with the rest of the Leadership Council about this, because they needed to know that one of the most powerful young superhumans on the planet was now in the clutches of a new group of supervillains that they knew nothing about.

And they really were new, because Kevin had looked up Pantalone and Arlecchino in the NHA's database of known supervillains and discovered no results for either of them or their team name, the Venetians. New supervillains weren't exactly rare, but Pantalone and Arlecchino did not strike Kevin as simple criminals who discovered their powers recently and decided to use them for evil. They clearly had experience, experience that they used to beat Kevin and kidnap White. Because Kevin didn't know their real names and identities, he couldn't put that into the database, either.

As for the rest of the team, they had all been horrified to hear about White's kidnapping. Not that there was anything they could do about it, but Kevin was glad, at least, that they had reacted that way, because he had worried that his team's distrust of White might cause them to be less inclined to help find him. Stinger had even offered to go search for White himself, but Kevin had turned that offer down, because he didn't want to put any of his teammates into danger until they figured out what was going on here, where White was, and just who the Venetians were.

Unfortunately, Kevin was starting to think that all of these questions were going to remain unanswered for a long time, because the NHA's satellites couldn't find White's location on Earth. Even Carl and Valerie couldn't locate him, but the two AIs had told Kevin that they were going to scour the Internet for any clues that might help Kevin find White or the Venetians. That made Kevin feel better, but he doubted that they would find anything; given how professional the Venetians were, he doubted they would be dumb enough to leave clues on the Internet that someone could use to track them down.

Kevin's arms suddenly burned with pain, causing him to look down at them. The robotic arms in the House's medical station had managed to clean his wounds and bandage them up before they could grow infected; however, they still hurt, although not as badly as before. Still, the pain in his arms combined with his hopelessness made him turn around, walk over to his bed, and lie down. His suit was dry now after flying through the air, but his hair still had salt in it and he was pretty sure that he had accidentally swallowed some salt water when he'd been plunged into the ocean because he felt rather sick.

I want to do something, Kevin thought. But what? The satellites can't find him, and if they can't find him, then I can't, either.

Kevin heard the door to his room open and he looked up to see who had entered. It was Blizzard. She stood in the doorway, a concerned look on her tanned features. She had pulled her hood back, revealing her beautiful long white hair, which just made her look more radiant than ever to him.

"Kevin, are you okay?" said Blizzard. "You've been in your room for hours. Any luck in finding White?"

Kevin sighed and lowered his head back onto his pillow. "No. The satellites can't track White. It's like he vanished into thin air."

"Oh," said Blizzard. "I'm sorry. Maybe the Venetians took away his watch."

"Probably," said Kevin. He raised his fist and brought it down on his mattress, causing it to shake slightly. "Those guys are good. Better than good, even. Professional. I'm not used to professional."

"Oh, come on," said Blizzard. "You've dealt with far worse supervillains than these before. Remember Mastermind? And Vision?"

"Yeah, but Mastermind was literally my dad," said Kevin. "And Vision was only really dangerous because of Sagan. Without him, it was really just a group of stupid teenagers who got offended by everything."

Blizzard pushed herself off the doorway and walked over to Kevin. She sat down on the bed next to him and began stroking his face. "True. I guess we generally do just deal with smaller threats, don't we?"

"Usually," said Kevin. "But these Venetians felt like the kind of supervillains the adult superheroes deal with. And I failed. I let my brother get kidnapped again."

"Don't beat yourself up," said Blizzard. "You didn't let him get kidnapped. Based on what you told me, you did everything you could to find him. Besides, he technically got himself kidnapped anyway."

Kevin—who had closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of Blizzard's fingers stroking his face—opened his eyes and looked at Blizzard. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he left on his own, didn't he?" said Blizzard with a shrug. "No one told him to go to some random town on the coast of New York to get ambushed by supervillains. We don't even know why he did that in the first place. He was just being foolish and dumb."

Kevin sat up, causing Blizzard to pull her hand away from his face. He looked at her with a hard glare. "Emily, you know that White has problems, problems he didn't ask for. He's still struggling to be a normal person. It's not his fault that he got himself into trouble. I doubt he even knew that these supervillains were after him."

"But you told him to stay in his room, didn't you?" said Blizzard. "Even though I know what he's been through, that doesn't mean he doesn't have free will or that he isn't responsible for his actions. You can't keep making excuses for his bad behavior all the time."

"I'm not making excuses," said Kevin. "I'm just telling you that he isn't like you and me. You have no idea what he's been through."

"Neither do you," Blizzard pointed out. "And in any case, aren't you getting tired of people getting hurt because of his mistakes? First Talon got burned by acid and now your arms were torn open by some guy who can control birds. White hasn't had to suffer any real consequences for his decisions so far, if you ask me."

"Aside from being kidnapped by supervillains who are going to do who-knows-what to him," said Kevin. "But yeah, aside from that, my twin brother who was mentally and physically tortured by the government for eighteen years certainly hasn't suffered any consequences for his decisions, no sir."

Blizzard's eyes narrowed. "There's no need for that sarcasm, Kevin. Why are you acting so defensive about him, anyway? Just because he's your brother?"

"Yeah, maybe I am," said Kevin. "I didn't even know I had a brother until two months ago. And now I've lost him again and you're going on about 'consequences for his decisions' and crap like that."

"I thought we were supposed to be helping him become normal," said Blizzard. She brushed back a few strands of her white hair. "But if you ask me—and the others, but they won't say it—you've been coddling him too much."

"No, I haven't," said Kevin.

"Yes, you have," said Blizzard. "You keep him in the House, you always make these kinds of excuses for his mistakes, and you never listen to the rest of us when we complain. We know you're the team leader, but you sure don't act like one. Or, really, ever since White joined, you've always treated him differently than the rest of us."

"Because he is different," said Kevin. "He's like a child in the way he thinks and talks. He doesn't always understand the connection between actions and results."

"And how will you help him learn that difference if you keep coddling him?" said Blizzard. She put a hand on Kevin's shoulder; it was very cold. "Kevin, I think your relation to White makes it too difficult for you to look at him and his faults in an objective way. I love you, but really, that's the truth of the matter."

"Are you implying that I shouldn't be the team leader anymore?" said Kevin. "Is that it?"

"Implying—? What? No, I wasn't implying that at all," said Blizzard. She shook her head. "You know what, never mind. I'm leaving. I've got homework to finish anyway. You can stay in your room and sulk if you want. Let me know if you find White."

Blizzard removed her hand from Kevin's shoulder, stood up, and left the room. It was only just as she passed through the doorway that Kevin realized his mistake, but before he could call her to come back, the door closed behind her and Kevin was alone in his room once more.

Kevin slumped against the wall and sighed. Great. He had now pissed off his girlfriend, who was closer to him than any of his fellow teammates. Now that he thought about it, this was the first real argument that he and Blizzard had had since starting their relationship together. He hadn't realized just how childish he had been acting until Blizzard left the room, and now he understood that he'd been acting childish because he had been trying to avoid the truth that Blizzard had told him.

White is missing, there's a new supervillain team active, and Blizzard hates me now, Kevin thought. He rubbed his forehead. How could this day get any worse?

As if on cue, his suit-up watch began ringing. Glancing at the screen, he saw that Mecha Knight was calling him. He didn't really want to talk to Mecha Knight, but he knew that Mecha Knight would probably get angry if he didn't answer, so he tapped the screen and said, "Hello, Mecha Knight, got any news about White?"

"Hello, Bolt," said Mecha Knight's cool, monotone voice over the watch. "First, I wanted to know if your satellite search has turned up any results regarding White's location."

Kevin shook his head glumly. "No. The Venetians must be either blocking his watch's signal or they destroyed it. My computer can't find him anywhere."

"I expected as much," said Mecha Knight. "But that is not all I wanted to talk with you about. I also wanted to tell you that one of our informants in New York City has a possible lead on the Venetians that help us find White."

Kevin sat up straight. "Really? What's the lead?"

"I can't tell you here, because that is sensitive information, but our informant has said that he would like to meet with you in New York to discuss it," said Mecha Knight. "He wants to meet you at his office in an hour."

"Uh, okay," said Kevin. "Can I bring the rest of the team?"

"Not yet," said Mecha Knight. "Just go by yourself for now. I'd rather keep our informant's identity to a select few people in order to protect his privacy."

"Okay," said Kevin. "But who is this informant? And where is his office?"

"I've already sent his office's address to your suit-up watch," said Mecha Knight as my watch made a dinging sound and I saw a notification telling me I'd gotten an email from Mecha Knight. "As for who our informant is, you already know him: Mieko Hiro, or, as you know him, Triplet."

***

CHAPTER TEN

White didn't know how much time passed while he lay on his bed, curled up in a ball and feeling useless. There was no clock on the walls for him to look at, nor did he have his trusty watch to look at. All he could do was just lie there, sleeping and waking at various intervals. His sleeping pattern was usually pretty irregular due to his time in the government's control, but it was even worse now. It seemed like every five minutes he'd close his eyes, only for them to snap back open abruptly for no reason he could discern. The cell was very quiet, after all, so there were no noises to awake him; it was probably just the fear and anxiety rolling through him, making it hard for him to relax long enough to get any amount of sleep.

Eventually, he gave up trying to sleep. Instead, White started humming his favorite song again. He didn't know, exactly, where he'd picked up this song. He wasn't even sure that it was an actual song. He might have just made it up on his own to help him cope with his situation in the government. Ever since Mastermind freed him, White had hummed it less and less, but he still liked to hum it whenever his anxiety started creeping up on him again. It helped soothe and calm him in a way that only Mom's voice could, but even Mom's voice was not quite as soothing and calm as his favorite song. He sometimes wished he could remember where he had learned it, but it worked regardless of where it came from.

And it worked. White was starting to relax, although he knew that he couldn't relax entirely in this situation. Still, the Venetians had left him alone for now and he wasn't sure when they were going to be back. He didn't bother trying to come up with an escape plan; with his powers negated by the gas, all he could do was just lie there and hum his song.

Then, sometime later, he heard footsteps above. Looking up, White saw that it was Della again, except this time, she had brought a chair with her. She put the chair on the glass ceiling, sat down in it, and then looked down at White. She still wore that creepy mask, though White didn't look away this time.

"Are you going to let me out?" said White. "Please?"

Della shook her head. "No, I'm not. Instead, you and I are going to have a little conversation."

"I don't want to talk," said White, looking back at his cot. "Go away."

"As stubborn as always, I see," said Della. "But you shouldn't be so rude. I don't want anything. I just want you and me to talk. That's all."

White frowned. He didn't trust Della or the Venetians at all; on the other hand, she sounded very sincere about her desire to have a conversation with him. And White had to admit that the lack of human contact was starting to get to him. He didn't mind being alone, but he did mind being alone in a cell, totally isolated from human contact. And anyway, maybe he could figure out a way to convince her to let him out. He didn't know how he would do that, but he had to give it a shot.

Turning to face Della again, White said, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Your past," said Della. "I know it's a tough subject for you, but I think it could help you get over it."

White almost turned away from Della again, but he didn't. He just looked at her hard. "Why do you want to help me get over it?"

"Because my employer is a kind man and he dislikes seeing people, especially young people, suffer," said Della. She put a hand on her heart. "I am the same. I wanted to be a doctor before I joined the Venetians. I want to heal broken people. And you, White, are very broken, aren't you?"

White licked his lips, which were starting to dry. He rubbed the back of his head. "Yes. Broken. But Kevin and the others help. Miss Gee helps."

"Have they?" said Della. "Given how the rest of your team treats you like a bomb that could go off at any moment, I'm rather skeptical that they are helping."

"I'm better," White said. "Better than before, at least. Not perfect, but making progress."

"But you could make so much more progress even faster if you work with us," said Della. "But anyway, let's move onto the conversation. What is your earliest memory? What is the farthest back you can remember?"

White thought about that. He normally disliked thinking about his time in the government; he'd blocked out most of his memories from that time. He'd even refused to tell Mastermind many details about it. But there was something about Della's soothing, kind voice that made him want to please her. Even if she was one of the Venetians, she seemed nicer than Pantalone or Arlecchino or whoever their employer was. And if she really was nicer than them, then maybe she would be willing to let White out as long as he cooperated with her. It was an encouraging thought.

So White tried to think back to his time in the government; it was difficult, mostly because of the aforementioned mental block he'd created. Slowly, however, he began to remember things. He remembered the feeling of terror that would come over him every time the door to his cell opened, because that was always preceded by a masked scientist coming in to take him away. He remembered being plunged underwater, again and again, as they tried to see if his powers included breathing underwater. He remembered being pushed over the side of a deep pit in an attempt to get his flight powers to activate; he'd always be attached to a bungee cord, which kept him from falling to his death, but that would just allow them to pull him back up and try again and again. The darkness of the pit... White shuddered.

Still, White said, "I... remember... pain. Tossed into pit. Treated like junk. Abused. Every day new pain."

"I see," said Della. She sounded genuinely sympathetic to his problems now. "The government truly is evil. I am glad that you were freed. But do you have any specific memories? That is, any good memories? Surely such a time couldn't have been all bad, could it?"

As much as White didn't want to, he gave that question some thought. Most of his memory from that time was a blur; however, one memory did stand out to him and made him feel better. It was perhaps the only good memory he had from his time in the government's control, except for the memory of Mastermind freeing him, although that memory was tainted by his knowledge of what Mastermind did afterward.

"Yes," said White. "I remember... a girl."

"A girl," said Della. "Who was this girl?"

"Don't know her name," said White. "But she was... kind. Nice. Only nice person I met there."

"How old was she?"

"Same age as me," said White. He stretched his arms and legs, which were starting to get sore from lack of use. "Didn't work for the gov. She was brought in from somewhere else."

"What did she look like?" Della leaned forward slightly.

"Braided black hair. And brown eyes. Very pretty."

"And why did the government bring her in if she was not a government worker? Did she have powers of her own?"

"Yes. Could heal with a touch."

"Very interesting. Were you sick? Is that why they brought her in?"

"Very." White shuddered. "Came down with illness. Scientists couldn't heal me."

"I see. Did she heal you?"

"She did." White smiled. "She told me she would help me, and she did. Only person to be kind to me there. Only person to tell truth to me. Always remembered her, even though I didn't see her again after that."

"What happened to her after she healed you?"

"Don't know. Gov took her away. Maybe she is still out there. Wish I could see her again."

"What if I told you that you could see her again?" said Della. "That she's still alive somewhere?"

White sat up, his eyes never leaving Della's freaky mask. "You can? How? Where is she?"

Della sat up straight. She removed her mask and hat, showing her face for the first time. She was pretty, with long, black braided hair and beautiful brown eyes. She looked a little older than White remembered, but there was no mistaking her for anything else.

"You are the girl," said White in shock. He rubbed his eyes and looked at her again, but her face didn't change. "No way."

Della smiled, although it was a sad smile for some reason. "Yes, White, it's me. I didn't think you'd remember me, but I'm glad to see that you did. I never forgot you, either, though the government forced me not to tell anyone else about you."

"But you're a villain now," said White. He rubbed the back of his neck, which was starting to ache from looking up all the time. "Why?"

"Villain?" said Della. She shook her head slowly. "No, White, you're mistaken. We're not villains. We're the good guys. We're going to save the world."

White blinked. "Huh?"

"I can't give you all the details of our plan, but trust me, we're doing the right thing," said Della. "Our employer has a plan to make the world a better place. And he would like you to be part of that plan."

White recalled how Pantalone had sneered at the idea that the Venetians were supervillains earlier. Della was not sneering now, but he was reminded too much of her teammate to believe her. "Why me?"

"Because of your power," said Della in a sweet voice. "There aren't many young superhumans who share your strength, aside from your brother. And your brother knows this. That's why he's kept you under his control; he wants to be able to control your power the way he wants."

"Kevin cares about me," said White. "Doesn't want to control me."

"Didn't you used to think the same about Mastermind?" said Della. "But then it turned out that he was just using you. Who is to say that Bolt isn't doing the same thing?"

White folded his arms across his chest. He didn't want to admit it, but Della had a point. He did believe, at first, that Mastermind was on his side until Kevin had convinced him about the truth of Mastermind's nature. But the idea that Kevin was also using him... he didn't want to even consider it. He just shook his head again.

"No. He's not using me."

"Are you sure?" said Della. "Bolt is the son of Mastermind, too, you know. The apple does not fall far from the tree; maybe he inherited his father's manipulative tendencies and he's using them to control you. It isn't out of the question, you know."

"How do I know you won't use me?" said White.

Della frowned suddenly, as if White had just offended her. "White, you can trust me. I only want to heal broken people. I don't want to use them. Neither does my employer. We just want to make society a better place for everyone. And we want you to be part of that. I would never use you, not like how Mastermind used you."

Della spoke so passionately and sincerely that White felt guilty just for doubting her good intentions. He couldn't stand seeing her hurt expression; it made him feel like he'd just slapped her in the face. He scratched the back of his neck uncertainly.

But then Della suddenly stood up. She put her hat and mask back on, once more hiding her beautiful face underneath the ugly mask. "I'll let you think about it. Like I said, we don't want to force you to do anything. We just want you to think about our offer."

Della turned to leave, but White suddenly said, "Wait!"

Della, looked over her shoulder at him. "Yes?"

"Will you... will you let me out?" said White. "Please?"

Della shook her head. "No. Not until you agree to join us."

"What if I say no?" said White. "Will you let me out then?"

With her mask on, it was impossible to read Della's expression, but she said, "My employer will decide what to do then."

And then she left, once more leaving White alone in his cell.

With a huge sigh, White lay back down in his cot. On one hand, he was glad that there was at least one person he knew in this place; on the other hand, his plan to convince her to let him out had completely failed. It was now looking like he was going to have to accept her 'offer' of joining the Venetians if he was going to get out of here, but he had no intention of joining such a mysterious and strange group, especially since he didn't even know who their employer was.

Kevin, wherever you are, please hurry, White thought. I don't know how much longer I can hold out.

***

CHAPTER ELEVEN

With a turn of his Teleportation Buckle, Kevin's surroundings vanished. He immediately found himself in a rather dingy hallway in an apartment building somewhere in New York City. At first, he wasn't sure if the peeling wallpaper, cracked ceiling, and foul odor (something like moldy socks) was the right place, but when he looked at the door in front of him and saw what was written on it—TRIPLE EYE INVESTIGATIONS—he knew he was at the right place.

Still, Kevin couldn't believe that Triplet lived in this place. He had always known that Triplet wasn't necessarily the richest or fanciest superhero in the world, but he would never have guessed that Triplet lived in such a decrepit building. It explained Triplet's car, though, a beat-up old station wagon that Kevin had seen once before. And perhaps he shouldn't have been very surprised; Triplet always struck him as someone who didn't care much about appearances, like he only cared about finding the truth and nothing else. That was good, of course, but Kevin made a mental note to not become a private eye, since it didn't seem like an especially lucrative business.

Kevin knocked on the door and then waited for Triplet to answer. While he stood there, he thought about Triplet. Triplet was a good friend of his, having worked with Kevin to defeat several villains in the past. He had also been a close friend and ally of Genius and his detective skills had helped Kevin more than once in the past. Triplet had also been a member of the NHA, although he resigned a long time ago due to problems he saw within the organization. He was on better terms with the NHA now, but Triplet had not reapplied for membership and Kevin doubted that he ever would. Triplet seemed to enjoy his independence too much, although Kevin wondered if it was really worth giving up the nicer, cleaner facilities of the NHA for this dirty apartment.

Then the doorknob turned and the door cracked open. A pair of suspicious eyes peered through the crack. "Who's there?"

"Hi, Trip," said Kevin. He gestured at himself. "It's me, Bolt."

"Bolt?" said Triplet. His voice became less suspicious. "Boy, you got here quick."

"I used my Dad's old Teleportation Buckle," said Kevin, gesturing at the buckle on his belt. "I wanted to get here as quickly as I could."

"You'll have to get me one of those sometime," said Triplet. "Anyway, let me undo the locks and traps."

The door suddenly slammed shut, but Kevin could hear Triplet undoing all sorts of locks on the other side of the door. In the next moment, the door opened completely, revealing a tall, thin Japanese man wearing a large overcoat standing in the doorway. He was about the same height as Kevin, give or take an inch, but he also looked rather paranoid. He stuck his head out the door and looked up and down the hall, like he was looking out for someone, but when he didn't see anyone, he pulled his head back in and, stepping aside, said, "Come on in, Bolt. You weren't followed, were you?"

"I teleported in," said Kevin. "How could anyone follow me?"

"You'd be surprised," said Triplet. "Now come on in, quickly. I don't want any of my neighbors to see you and get curious."

Kevin stepped inside and Triplet closed the door behind him. A glance over his shoulder showed Triplet hastily locking the door again, but Kevin looked around the apartment itself to see what it was like. This was the very first time that he'd ever visited Triplet's office/apartment, so he was curious to see what it was like.

It was a lot cleaner and nicer than the hallway; however, it was nowhere near as good as Hero Island's facilities. While there were no holes in the walls, floor, or ceiling, one of the windows at the back of the main room was busted out and covered with cardboard, while a sofa slumped against a wall to the right, its stuffing poking out of the cushions. One of the sofa's legs was missing, replaced by a cement block that was slightly higher than the other legs, making it uneven. The light from the fan on the ceiling was pretty weak, while the fan's blades were chipped around the corners. The room also smelled like stale coffee for some reason; maybe it was because of the cold cup of coffee on Triplet's desk.

Speaking of the desk, it was right there in the center of the room and it looked messy. It was covered with papers, notes, books, and other things like that, as well as a small laptop that was currently shut off. There were also rolled up balls of paper on the floor, most having come from the overflowing waste basket next to the desk.

"This is your office?" said Kevin, looking at Triplet, who had finished locking the door and had turned around to face Triplet.

"Yep," said Triplet. "And my apartment and my home."

"I thought you told me you were moving to Texas," said Kevin.

"Decided not to," said Triplet. He shrugged. "New York is expensive, but I figured moving to Texas would be even more expensive. Besides, I've already got an established network of clients here and I don't want to have to start over again in a new place."

"I see," said Kevin. "Anyway, what do you know about White?"

"Why don't you sit down first and I'll tell you?" said Triplet. "Let me get you a cup of coffee, too, since you're my guest."

Just as Triplet said that, someone stepped out of the kitchen. It was Triplet; or, rather, one of his Thirds. That was Triplet's power; he could create identical clones of himself that could act independently of him. The Third, carrying a hot mug of coffee in its hand, walked up to me and held the cup out to me. I took it, mostly so I wouldn't look rude, but I couldn't help but stare at Triplet's Third as it walked around me and into him. It literally walked into him; in a flash of blue light, the Third was gone, leaving Triplet all by himself.

"I'm still not used to seeing you walk into yourself like that," said Kevin. He sipped his coffee; it tasted gritty and cheap.

"Most people aren't," said Triplet. "Anyway, please take a seat."

Kevin walked over to a chair on the other side of the desk and sat down. The chair was old and rickety; however, it held Kevin's weight, so he wasn't afraid that it would break. He expected Triplet to sit down, too, but instead the detective stood. He picked up his laptop, opened it, and turned it on. When the light from the screen flashed across Triplet's face, Kevin noticed the bags under his eyes; had Triplet not gotten much sleep recently?

"All right," said Kevin. "I was told you had a lead on the Venetians. Do you know who they are?"

"I've actually been tracking them for quite some time," said Triplet, not taking his eyes off his laptop's screen as he tapped across the keys. "I didn't know their team name, however, at least not until Mecha Knight told me from your report. I imagine the actual people of Venice probably aren't terribly happy about some supervillain team going around using their name."

"So they aren't actually Italian?" said Kevin in surprise.

"Yeah," said Triplet. "At least, I don't think they are. I don't know any of their real identities, but the evidence I've collected so far suggests that they are a racially diverse team. Probably because of affirmative action."

"Why have you been tracking them?" said Kevin. "Even the NHA's supervillain database doesn't have any info on them."

"Part of a job that a client hired me for," said Triplet. "You know the drill. I can't tell you who this client is or why they want me to track the Venetians, but I can share with you what I've found through my own investigation."

Kevin nodded. "I still don't understand how you have been tracking them, though."

"I have contacts in the criminal world that are always happy to tell me about any rumors they've heard," said Triplet. "These Venetians are becoming minor celebrities in the criminal world, mostly because of their weird costumes and powers. They are extremely enigmatic; from what I can tell, the Venetians are not connected to any known active supervillain. They just appeared out of the blue one day, complete with themed costumes, masks, and code names."

"How many Venetians are there?" said Kevin.

"The exact number is unknown, because my contacts tell me that no two Venetians are ever seen together in the field," said Triplet. "What I have learned, however, is that there are at least four."

"I know of two," said Kevin. "Pantalone and Arlecchino. Who are the other two?"

"One is a man who wears a Volto mask," said Triplet, "while the other is a woman wearing a Colombina mask."

"A what and a what?" said Kevin.

Triplet looked away from the computer screen at Kevin. "Volto and Colombina. Don't you know anything about the Carnival of Venice?"

"No, because I don't live in Venice," said Kevin.

Triplet sighed, as though Kevin had just said something stupid. "Kids these days, I swear. The Carnival of Venice is a celebration held in Venice, Italy every year and it's well-known throughout the world for its elaborate masks, such as the plague doctor mask."

"Supervillain teams have themes?" said Kevin. "Come on. You have to be pulling my leg."

"That's actually very common among supervillain teams," said Triplet. "The Ants are another supervillain team with a specific theme, ants in their case. I know it's ridiculous, but most supervillains tend to be ridiculous, and anyway themed supervillain teams are generally more effective and cohesive than diverse ones."

"They are?" said Kevin.

"Sure," said Triplet. "Anyway, this particular theme is weird, but it works. Most of my contacts are scared to death by them; apparently, the Venetians have already gained a reputation as cruel and ruthless villains who will do whatever it takes to win."

"What is their ultimate goal?" said Kevin. "To rule the world or something like that?"

"No one knows, but it probably isn't good," said Triplet. "No one is even sure who their leader is or where they came from. Like I said, they just appeared out of nowhere within the last two months, complete with masks, costumes, and code names. They're well-trained and have good team coordination."

"Professional teams don't just appear out of nowhere one day," said Kevin. "Someone must be bankrolling them, right? And they must have been doing it for a while, probably training them for months if not years."

"Exactly what I was thinking," said Triplet. "It's probable that the Venetians are being bankrolled by a very powerful and rich individual. That's not terribly uncommon among supervillain teams; the most famous example I can think of off the top of my head is President Plutarch financing the Vile Four before he retired from supervillainy. I imagine a similar situation is happening here."

Kevin gulped. "You don't think Plutarch has returned to his supervillain ways, do you?"

"Nah," said Triplet, shaking his head. "Plutarch has actually been pretty tough on supervillains since being sworn into office. But Plutarch isn't the only billionaire in the world who has the money, resources, and motive to finance a team of supervillains. There are more than a few billionaires who might view a supervillain team as a wise investment, depending on their plans."

"Do you know who is financing them?" said Kevin.

"Nothing certain yet, but I've been investigating several likely billionaire suspects," said Triplet. "The most likely candidate is a billionaire from America named John Mann. Ever heard of him?"

Kevin shook his head. "No. Should I?"

"I'd be suspicious if you did," said Triplet. "Even though Mann is one of the richest men on the planet, he's also extremely secretive. He rarely goes out into public or does interviews with the press. My research has shown that he makes his wealth from a variety of business and banking ventures and investments; in fact, he has so many that no one even knows how many he has."

"Okay, but why are you investigating him in particular?" said Kevin. "What connection does he have with the Venetians?"

"Nothing that I've been able to find for sure yet, but he is the son of a Venetian immigrant who came to the United States in nineteen thirty-five and he himself was born in nineteen thirty-six," said Triplet. "From what little information is publicly available about Mann, I've found out that he still feels a connection to Italy, despite having been born and raised in the US, and likes to go to the Carnival of Venice every year. He may have been inspired by the masks he saw at the Carnival to make a supervillain team."

"If that's true, why?" said Kevin. "What possible purpose could Mann have for creating a team of supervillains wearing Venetian masks and have them kidnap White?"

"I don't know," said Triplet. "Mann may not even be behind it, but the evidence keeps leading me back to him. He's at the center of it all, although I don't know how or why yet."

"What's his opinion about superhumans?" said Kevin. "Do you think that might be relevant?"

"I've looked, but I've only been able to find one quote from him on the subject from an old interview he did back in nineteen-ninety when the superhuman community in the US was small," said Triplet. He tapped a few more keys and stared at the screen, perhaps reading the quote he'd found. "In the interview, he says that he likes and trust superhumans, but thinks they should be made to serve US interests. He's pretty vague about what he means about that, though, and the interviewer doesn't bother to ask him to elaborate. He also seems to be sarcastic, which may mean that he's not being honest about his opinion here."

Kevin stroked his chin. "He probably doesn't hate us, then, but that doesn't really explain why he's doing all of this."

"That's why I'm still investigating," said Triplet. "I have some contacts within Mann's main corporation, the Mann Corporation, who are getting me some info on him from the inside, although I likely won't hear back from them for a few days at least."

Kevin's shoulders slumped. "While I appreciate you telling me all of this, Trip, I don't see how this is relevant to White's kidnapping. Just knowing who John Mann is or who the Venetians are doesn't bring me any closer to saving White."

"That's what I was getting to," said Triplet. "I just heard from one of my contacts in the underworld that the guy wearing the Volto mask was seen in New York City recently."

"Really?" said Kevin. "Where?"

"In Brooklyn," said Triplet. "I was told that he was seen entering a seemingly abandoned apartment building earlier today, around the same time White was kidnapped. I was going to investigate it myself, but I decided that you guys needed to know about when I heard the news about White's kidnapping."

Kevin jumped to his feet. "What are we waiting for? Let's go to Brooklyn and take that bastard down and make him tell us where White is."

"Not so fast," said Triplet, holding up one hand. "Thing is, the building is supposed to be abandoned, but my contact says it is actually guarded day and night by private guards. He says he doesn't know who hired them, but they look like homeless people just loitering, although that's a disguise that they use so they don't stand out to the people in the neighborhood."

"Mann must have hired them to make sure that no one tries to break into that place," said Kevin. "I don't see how this changes anything; if anything, it actually makes me even more anxious to get there."

"Because if we just try to barge in, we'll alert the guards and the Venetians might move out before we can get them," said Triplet. "We need stealth. I know stealth isn't exactly your thing, but I'm good at sneaking around without being seen, so just follow my lead and we will be all right."

"Should I call in the rest of the team?" said Kevin.

"Nah," said Triplet, shaking his head. "The fewer people in on this, the better. It's easier for two people to sneak around than six."

"Aren't you technically three people, though?" said Kevin. "Or do your Thirds not count as people?"

Triplet rolled his eyes and closed his laptop. "Enough joking around. Let's head out before Volto goes somewhere else."

***

CHAPTER TWELVE

White got tired of lying in the cot. He tried to get up, but as soon as he did, a sickening yellow gas began to pour from the tubes in the walls. The gas filled the chamber quickly, causing White to cough. He also began to feel weaker again; that was how he knew that this was that powerless gas that Della had mentioned before. White had seen some of the stuff before—the NHA had some canisters of powerless gas salvaged from the fallen ships in the second Pokacu invasion—but he had never been exposed to it. He now understood why Kevin always seemed agitated whenever he looked at the gas; this stuff was terrible.

Thankfully, the vents in the floor caused the gas to leave the room quickly enough, but even when it was all gone, White was still powerless. He hopped off his cot and tried to fly again, but his feet didn't float even one inch above the ground. He tried running across the room in a vain attempt to get his super speed to work, but he didn't run any faster than he naturally could. He came to a stop in front of the walls and slammed his fists against them, but all he succeeded in doing was making his fists ache.

Shaking his aching hands, White stepped away from the walls. He looked up at the glass ceiling again, but Della had not returned, nor had any other Venetians shown up. He didn't think he'd broken his hands, but god did they hurt.

They probably have a secret cam that they're watching me from, White thought. Probably laughing at me right now for hurting myself.

Sighing, White walked back over to his cot and sat down on it. He was thinking about Della again now; he couldn't believe that he would ever see that girl again. He had considered that she might have been lying about her identity, but he'd rejected that idea right away. While most of White's memory of his time in the government wasn't very clear, his memory of that girl was as bright as day, as clear as high definition television. And Della's face was a dead ringer for that girl's, albeit a couple of years older, but he couldn't deny that Della was that girl. And she was as nice as he remembered her being, although she would have been nicer if she had actually let him out of his cell.

She'll never let me out, White thought. Not until I agree to join team. And I won't. I won't, I won't, I won't.

Even though White repeated that thought to himself, he wasn't sure if he actually believed it or not. He found himself musing over Della's words more than he'd like to admit. He didn't think that Kevin was taking advantage of him or manipulating him like Mastermind, but at the same time, he couldn't deny that the other Young Neos didn't really trust him. They hadn't been mean or cruel to him, not like the government scientists, but the Young Neos didn't treat him like one of the team. He wondered if the only reason they even tolerated him was because Kevin was his brother.

Are they even looking for me right now? White thought. Or are they sitting back in the House playing video games?

His head sank into his hands. He hated thinking about depressing things like this, but he had nothing really happy to distract himself with. There was his memory of Della back in the government facility, but even that was not as happy as it could have been, given how she had refused to let him out of here. And, unless he agreed to join the team, White knew that he was going to be stuck down here forever.

Can't even use my powers, White thought, looking at his hands, which still ached from punching the walls. Hands hurt.

Wait... Hands hurt...

A plan clicked in White's head. The plan made him feel uncomfortable, but at the same time, he didn't have any other plan that could get him out of here. It would involve putting himself under a lot of pain and it might not even work, but if he was as valuable to the Venetians as Della made him out to be, then White had to give it a shot.

Jumping off his cot again, White walked up to the nearest wall and tapped it with his fist. The wall felt as solid as a mountain; he had already known that, of course, but he needed to make sure that this wall was strong. He could probably punch it all day and not leave even one scratch on it. If he hit it hard enough, he might even break his hand.

That was the plan, of course. The way White saw it, if he could break his hands, then the Venetians might send someone down to heal him. That would have to be Della, because she had the power to heal with a touch. When they sent her down here, White would capture her and, holding her hostage, use her as a bargaining chip to convince the Venetians to let him go. Because Della was a Venetian, the others would undoubtedly agree to White's demands and then he would be able to leave this place. Even if he was far from Hero Island, he might be able to find someone who would let him use their phone to call for help.

The only problem was that White didn't like pain. He'd endured it during his time as a government experiment, but White told himself that suffering a little pain in the short term was worth it if it would ensure his long term freedom. White wasn't good at thinking long term—his handlers in the government had never taught him how to do that—but this time, even he could understand the benefits of thinking long term, or at least longer than he normally did, anyway.

Balling his hands into fists, White took a deep breath, steeling himself for the pain, and then slammed his fists against the solid wall. Pain raced up his arms; however, his hands didn't break. He pulled back his fists and resumed punching the walls. Each blow hurt more than the last, but White didn't allow himself to stop. Actually, he increased the speed and power of his blows, punching as hard as he could, knowing that the harder he punched, the more likely that his hands would break. He was now thankful that he didn't have his super strength at the moment; if he had, that would have made his plan more difficult to execute, if not downright impossible.

Finally, after what felt like hours of punching, White heard a crack in one of his fists. That was followed by pain; terrible, horrible pain, pain he'd not felt in a long time. His fist suddenly became limp and he stepped backwards, crying out in pain. His fingers were dislocated. His hand burned as if a ton of rock had just crushed it. Memories of his time in the government flashed through his mind as he remembered the various experiments he'd been subjected to that had caused him similar pain as the scientists attempted to make him use his powers. He screamed as loudly as he could; partly to get the Venetians to come to his aid, but also because it genuinely did hurt.

It worked. On the ceiling above, Della suddenly appeared. She looked down at him before pressing buttons on a nearby control panel, which caused a portion of the glass ceiling to slide away. A stone staircase pushed out of the wall underneath the hole in the ceiling, which Della took to get down to White. By this time, White was sitting on the floor, groaning and moaning, holding his broken hand as tenderly as he could. He tried to look as pained as he could in order to avoid arousing any suspicion in Della's mind.

"White, what happened to your hand?" said Della. She bent down next to him and took his hand into her own; her hands were soft, even with the gloves she wore, and she smelled like roses, although the smell seemed to come from the tip of her plague doctor mask. "Is it broken?"

White nodded, tears of pain streaming from his eyes; real tears, because the pain was just that bad. "Y-Yes. Hurts."

"Just sit still for a moment and I will have it all fixed in a moment," said Della. "My specialty is in removing disease; however, I can fix broken bones, although it's not as easy as curing sickness."

Della put both of her hands around White's broken hand. That caused the pain to increase for a moment, but in the next instant, the pain vanished and White's hand felt perfectly normal again.

Without removing her hand from White's, Della looked at him and said, "How does it feel now?"

"Good," said White. "No pain."

Della sighed in relief. "Good to hear. I—"

White didn't give her a chance to finish. He immediately grabbed her arms and twisted them, causing her to cry out in pain. He then forced her back and slammed her down onto the floor on her chest, twisting her arms behind her back to keep her from being able to save herself. White may have lacked his super strength, but he was still in good shape for a man his age, and Della, despite her powers, didn't seem to be much stronger than the typical woman. She clearly didn't lift.

"Ow!" Della whined. "Let me go! Why are you doing this?"

White leaned down to her ear and said, in a low voice, "I will get out of here. You will help me get out."

"Are you going to kill me?" said Della in a panicked voice.

"No," said White, shaking his head. "Hostage."

"You're going to use me as a hostage?" said Della. She seemed even more afraid of that than being killed.

"Yes," said White. "You lead me out of this place. I will then let you go, but not before then. If any of your friends try to help, I will hurt you, but if they stay out of the way, then I will not hurt you."

White was even surprised at himself for speaking so much. He found that the adrenaline was giving him a clarity of thought he normally lacked. Not that he cared very much, however; he was more interested in getting out of here and calling for help. Maybe he'd analyze this situation later on, after he escaped. For now, however, he needed to get out of here and he needed to make sure that Della understood that.

Thankfully, Della must have been too weak to save herself, because she squeaked out, "Okay. Just please don't kill me."

"Very well," said White. "Now, let's go. Don't try to lead me the wrong way, or else I will not be so nice to you anymore."

***

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The apartment building that Triplet's contact had told them about was not too different from most New York City apartment buildings, aside from apparently being abandoned. If Kevin had been walking down the street, he probably wouldn't have looked at it twice. Especially with all of the homeless people lying around; most of them looked less like innocent people down on their luck and more like criminals and drug addicts who'd 'politely' ask you for your wallet from the other side of a gun poking into your chest. Kevin imagined that that was why the Venetians had chosen this place as their base, or at least as one of their bases; most normal, sane people would avoid this kind of place, if they would even come to this part of the city at all.

Kevin and Triplet stood in an alleyway across from the abandoned building, hiding in its shadows, watching the homeless people who milled about it. To the untrained eye, these homeless people looked like normal homeless criminals, but Triplet had already told Kevin about the telltale signs that these 'homeless' were in fact guards. For example, all of them carried deadly-looking guns under their dirty coats and torn shirts; most of the time, these guns were well concealed, but every now and then, one of them would move in a particular way that would cause their gun to be visible for a brief second if you paid attention. Also, most of them were young, muscular men who looked like the sort of men who'd work for a private security firm, and they were all placed strategically in such a way that it would be impossible for anyone to walk up the street to the building without being spotted by at least one guard well before they reached the building's front steps. And finally, there was the fact that they all kept looking around like guards; they did it subtly, of course, but even Kevin noticed how much the 'homeless' people watched the streets like guards defending a fortress.

Now, Kevin was not afraid of any of them. Being a superhuman, he could easily beat any of the guards in a fight. But Triplet had urged caution so far; they didn't want the Venetians to know that they were here until it was too late. If White was being kept here—and there was a good chance that he was—then they had to make themselves known only when it would be impossible for the Venetians to move him out of here to somewhere else.

Even so, Kevin tapped the street with his foot, restlessly glancing out the alleyway at the guards. Triplet, on the other hand, merely leaned against the side of one of the buildings that made up their alleyway, his arms over his chest and his head down. He had sent out two of his Thirds to do recon on the area, just in case there was anything they should be aware of that they couldn't see from here. That was why they were waiting; until Triplet's Thirds returned, it would not be wise to do anything just yet.

Still, Kevin looked at Triplet and asked, "How long will it take for your Thirds to get back?"

"They've only been gone five minutes," Triplet replied. Unlike Kevin, he sounded pretty relaxed. "Just give them time. As long as the Venetians don't know we're here, we can take as much time as we need to figure out the situation and plan our next course of action."

"What if they're torturing White even as we speak?" said Kevin. "What if they're killing him right now?"

"That's unlikely," said Triplet. "The Venetians are cruel, but something tells me that they aren't trying to hurt your brother. Call it a hunch, if you will, but my hunches always turn out to be correct to some extent."

"Do you tell your clients that when you are in the middle of a case or are you just telling me that to calm me down?" said Kevin.

"It doesn't matter," said Triplet with a shrug. He glanced at the building. "Have you seen Volto leave yet?"

Kevin shook his head. "No, I haven't. I haven't seen any of the Venetians enter or exit the building. Why does that matter?"

"Because I'd like to interrogate one of those guys," said Triplet. "The Venetians are very hard to track down, both individually and as a team. If we can catch Volto here and now, then we might also be able to find out where the rest of the team is and then catch them, too."

"Is that what your client wants to do?" said Kevin. "Capture the rest of them?"

"That's between me and my client," said Triplet. "You just focus on getting ready. Something tells me that we're going to be in for the fight of our lives soon enough. Another hunch, if you will."

Kevin was getting rather tired of these 'hunches,' but then he heard footsteps coming down the alley toward them and he looked down the alley to see Triplet's Thirds coming back toward them. The Thirds looked unharmed, which meant they hadn't been spotted. They walked back into Triplet, disappearing into him with a small flash of light each time. Then Triplet raised his head and looked at Kevin, a serious look in his eyes.

"All right," said Triplet. He tapped the side of his head. "I now have the information that my Thirds have found. That's what happens when they fused back with me; I learn everything they saw or learned during our separation."

"Okay, so what did they learn?" said Kevin. "Did they see any traps or anything else that might give us trouble?"

"No," said Triplet. "Both report that the guards pretending to be homeless are the building's only defense. Of course, there might be more on the inside, but at the very least, the building's outer defenses are rather sparse."

"That's weird," said Kevin. "If it's so important to them, why wouldn't they have more exterior defenses?"

"Maybe the guards are more dangerous than they look," said Triplet, stroking his chin. "Quality over quantity, in other words. Or maybe the interior defenses are extremely good. If Mann is their backer, then they can probably afford anything and everything. Best not to rush ahead into possible danger."

"But if those guards are the only known defenses, why shouldn't we just go in now?" said Kevin. He punched his fist into his other hand. "I could take them all down myself. You can just sit back and watch."

Kevin turned to leave, but Triplet grabbed his arm and said, "Hold on. While it's good to know that the place is not as well-defended as it could be, we should still try to sneak in unnoticed. We must have the element of surprise on our side, which we won't have if we just rush out there and take out the guards."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Trip, I think you're so used to working by yourself that you aren't seeing the full spectrum of possibilities that my powers give us. Watch and learn."

Kevin could hear Triplet start to argue again, but Kevin ignored him. He ripped his arm out of Triplet's grasp and then, activating his super speed, dashed through the streets toward the guards. He moved so fast that none of the guards even noticed him. He went from guard to guard, knocking each one down with a super-powered punch, until all twelve of the 'homeless' guards were lying on the street unconscious. He had taken them all down in less than a minute.

Then Kevin zoomed back over to Triplet and stopped. Triplet was looking at Kevin with a mixture of surprise and annoyance, which made Kevin feel pretty proud of himself.

"See?" said Kevin, gesturing at the unconscious guards that now lay scattered across the street like broken toys. "Easy peasy."

Triplet rubbed his forehead in exasperation, but he apparently didn't have any criticisms for Kevin, because he just said, "Fine. Let's go inside before the guards wake up or someone on the inside notices they're down."

Kevin and Triplet ran across the street to the front steps of the apartment building. They reached the top of the steps quickly and found that the front door was unlocked. Kevin decided to go in first, since he had the strength to deal with any possible traps that lay on the inside. Triplet, on the other hand, just drew a gun from inside his coat and held it close to his chest, although Kevin hoped that Triplet wouldn't need to use it.

Opening the door, Kevin peered inside the apartment building. The hallway was about what you'd expect from an abandoned building; dusty and grimy, with holes in the carpeting and peeling wallpaper on the walls. The lights on the ceiling still worked surprisingly well, which was about the only hint that anyone was still using this place, because Kevin did not see anyone else in here aside from himself and Triplet. He certainly didn't spot White or Volto, but he knew better than to let down his guard. He didn't hear anything, either; the building was pretty quiet, although he thought he heard the heating system blowing hot air into the hallway, which explained why it was much warmer in here than outside.

Stepping inside, Kevin and Triplet closed the door behind them. There was a staircase ahead of them leading to the second story, while another hallway went underneath the staircase, and two entrances on either side of the hallway opened into other rooms. Again, the place seemed empty, although if Triplet's contact was correct, Volto was still in here somewhere.

"This place is bigger than I thought," Triplet muttered. "Volto could be hiding anywhere."

"Where should we check first?" Kevin replied; he also spoke in a low mutter, just in case there was anyone listening.

"Don't know," said Triplet. "If they're holding White prisoner here, then they might have him in the basement. It's as good a place to check as any."

"Right," said Kevin. "That hallway underneath the stairs seems to slope downward. That's probably where the basement is, so let's go and check it out. I'll go ahead, but keep your wits about yourself. Never know what these guys might have in store for us."

Triplet nodded and the two of them began to advance slowly down the hallway. They peered through the entrances on either side as they walked, but they didn't see anyone in the rooms. One of the rooms appeared to be the main office of the apartment building's owner, based on the desk and papers, while the other one looked like an abandoned kitchen area that had not been used in years. In either case, there was no hint that anyone had been here for a while. That made Kevin wonder just where the heck Volto was.

As Kevin had suspected, the hallway under the stairs ended in front of the door to the basement. Unlike the front door, the basement door was locked; however, Kevin smashed the lock off with a simple punch and forced the door open. And he had to force it, because it had clearly been a long time since this particular door had been opened and its hinges were rather old and rusted.

The basement was pitch black, prompting Kevin to feel along the wall for a light switch. Eventually, he found one, which he then flipped on. It took a second for the lights to actually turn on, however, perhaps because of how old the wiring was. Nonetheless, the lights were bright enough for Kevin to see by.

The basement was a fairly wide open room, full of unmarked boxes and old furniture covered in white sheets. It was also incredibly cold; it clearly was not connected to the rest of the building's central heating system. In fact, the basement seemed much older than the rest of the building; the floor, walls, and ceiling were made of brick, rather than the wood of the rest of the place. It felt like Kevin and Triplet had stepped backwards in time to an earlier era, a feeling that made Kevin unsettled for some reason.

But like the rest of the building, the basement appeared entirely abandoned. Kevin entered, though he indicated for Triplet to stay in the hall in case there was a trap. Kevin did not see White in here, but he found it weird that this room would be abandoned and forgotten like this; maybe he would find an entrance to a secret room connected to the basement. He listened closely, but the basement, like the rest of the building, was silent aside from his own breath and footsteps.

Kevin checked on several of the boxes, opening up their contents to find a variety of old things. Mostly, they were extremely old books, most written in Italian, although he found books in English, too. He also found some old children's toys, too; toy soldiers and wooden ducks, the kind of toys that had been popular over a century ago. These seemed like the possessions of a family that had moved out of here long ago, but had not been able to bring all of their possessions with them. None of it helped him find out where White was, though.

But Kevin did find something interesting in one of the last boxes near the back of the room. It was an old, dusty family photo album, unmarked, but when he flipped open its cracked cover, he found an old black-and-white photo of an Italian family from the 1930s, based on the date scribbled in the margin. It showed a tall and handsome man with a striking mustache, standing with a pretty dark-haired young woman carrying a small baby boy in her arms. Below the photo was a caption that read, in English, 'MANN FAMILY PHOTO, 1937.'

Kevin gasped. He realized that this had to be a photo album of John Mann's family and that the baby in the photo was Mann himself. This, he realized, was the proof that Triplet needed to prove that Mann was the Venetians' backer; why else would they have John Mann's family photo album here?

But then Kevin heard the door close and he looked up to see that Triplet had entered the room and closed the door behind him. Triplet's head was down; it was like he had fallen asleep, but the way he held his gun at his side told Kevin that he was still quite awake.

"Trip?" said Kevin. "What's the problem? Did you see someone out there?"

Triplet raised his head. His irises were a deep purple now, rather than their natural black. And when he spoke, his voice sounded strange, as if someone else was speaking through him. "I am sorry, Bolt, but there are some things that people are not allowed to know."

Triplet raised his gun and fired.

***

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

White forced Della up the steps. Della had stopped struggling almost as soon as White pulled her up; apparently, she didn't have a very strong will. She just obliged with his movements, going up the steps one at a time with him, although he could tell that she was very angry with herself for letting White take advantage of her like this. Not that White cared. He was just glad that his plan had worked and that he would soon be out of this place, wherever they were.

When they emerged from White's cell, White did a quick look around the room they had entered. It was much larger than his cell and shaped like a dome, with metal panels on the walls and ceiling. Other than that, however, it was completely devoid of furniture or people, but White did notice a door on the other side of the room that seemed to be the exit. He forced Della over to the door, only to discover that it was locked. A panel with buttons was built into the wall next to it, which White guessed must have been the password-protected lock.

"How to unlock door?" said White into Della's ear. He twisted her arm. "Tell me now. Or else."

"Needs a p-password," said Della, her voice slightly stuttering. "I know it and can enter if it you want."

White initially considered just rejecting her offer and punching the door open, but then he remembered that the powerless gas had still left him without his powers and would not wear off for several hours at least. "Okay. Enter it quickly. And no tricks."

Della nodded quickly. White let go of one of her arms, but as soon as he did, she tried to grab him. But he grabbed her arm before she could grab him and he twisted, earning another groan from her. "I said, no tricks. Tell me password and I enter it."

"Okay," said Della, her voice strained from the pain. "Password is zero five two nine one six."

White input the password and a second later the door slid open. Without thanking Della, White forced her through the door and then looked at where they had emerged.

They were in a hallway, one which resembled the room they'd just been in moments before, but White didn't see anyone here. There were doors along the walls, but he had no idea where they led or how to get out of here.

"Where is the exit?" said White. "Tell me where to go."

"Keep going right," said Della. "We'll run into an elevator eventually, which will take us to the surface."

Underground. White shuddered. He hated being underground. He had spent most of his life in an underground government facility. Knowing that the Venetians had taken him underground as well just made him hate them all the more. He would remember to come back here later, after he regained the use of his powers, and destroy the entire place himself.

But for now, White forced Della to move to the right. The two of them walked along until a question occurred to White. "Is there anyone else here?"

"I'm the only one in here," said Della. "The others are out doing other things. I was left to keep an eye on you."

"Just you?" said White.

"Yes, just me."

White frowned. He didn't know if Della was lying or not, but given how no one had yet to come and try to stop them, he had to assume that she was telling the truth. He was thankful for that; he didn't want to run into Pantalone or Arlecchino in his current powerless state.

They eventually reached the elevator at the end of the hall and White pressed the 'UP' button on the wall next to the elevator doors. He and Della waited patiently for the elevator to come, although he did glance at a staircase at the end of the hall that appeared to lead upwards. But when he heard a ding and saw the elevator doors open, White forced Della inside. The elevator car was small, but not cramped. White peered at the control panel, trying to decide which button would take them to the top.

"Press the top button," said Della. "It will take us directly to the ground level, where you will be able to escape."

Since Della had been truthful with him so far, White did as she instructed. He punched the topmost button and the elevator doors closed shut. A second later, White felt the elevator rising, going higher and higher, although it was not going at a particularly fast pace. And, even though they were the only people in this place, White wished it would go faster. He wanted to get out of this place as fast as he could and never, ever come back, at least not until he got his powers back and could destroy this place. Della was quiet for the entire ride; White didn't know for sure, but maybe she'd finally given up on escaping his grasp. White had no intention of letting her go; he was going to drag her all the way back to Hero Island himself if he had to. He didn't just want to be free. He wanted to defeat the Venetians, too, and he knew that Della likely knew a whole bunch of stuff about her teammates and their goals, information that would be useful for the NHA and the Young Neos. That way, the Venetians would never be a threat to him or anyone else White knew ever again.

All of a sudden, the elevator car came to an abrupt halt. White frowned and looked at the level number at the top of the door. According to the display, they were currently at the third level, which meant they were still underground, but for some reason the elevator wasn't going up any further. That made White's anxiety start up again, but Della didn't seem even remotely surprised by this.

"What is going on?" said White. He put more pressure on her arms, getting a small choking sound from her in the process. "Tell me, or say bye to your arms."

"Must be a malfunction," said Della, although even White could tell that she was lying. "Just your luck, isn't it?"

"Fix it," said White. "Now."

"How?" said Della. "For one, you've got my arms; and for two, I'm not an elevator technician, so I couldn't fix it even if I wanted. We're both stuck."

"No, we're not," said White. "This was planned. Who is helping you?"

At that moment, the doors suddenly opened by themselves, revealing a hallway similar to the one they'd just left. Before White could comprehend what was going on, Della smashed her boot into his foot. White cried out in pain, loosening his grip on her arms and allowing her to break free of his grasp. She ran out into the hallway and White, his foot still hurting, tried to follow her, but the doors closed shut before him and the elevator started moving again. Only now it was moving downward; as White watched, the number on the display was getting higher and higher, from three to four to five and then, finally, to six before the elevator car came to an abrupt halt, causing White to stagger against the back wall. Panting, White realized that they were one level below the level that he'd been kept on, but for some reason the elevator doors hadn't opened.

"Hello?" White called out. "Is anyone there? Hello?"

All of a sudden, a voice came from the speaker above the elevator control panel. "Kid, stay where you are. This is Arlecchino speaking."

So Della had lied about being the only one in here after all, but White would get angry about that later. "Let me out."

"I don't think so, kid," said Arlecchino. "I saw your little trick on the security cameras. Pretty clever, I must admit, taking advantage of Della's kindness like that, but your little escape attempt stops here."

"Am I going back into my cell?" said White.

Arlecchino's laughter was distorted through the speaker. "Back into your cell? Of course not. Instead, you'll get to play with a little friend of mine. He's been rather lonely, especially since I don't get to play with him as much as I used to. He'll be very happy to have a new playmate, especially one as tough as you."

"Playmate?" White repeated. "What—"

He was interrupted by the sound of something ramming against the doors. It sounded huge, whatever it was, and it left two huge dents in the doors, but they hadn't been punched in just yet. White, however, backed up against the wall, even though he didn't have anywhere to go.

"Ah, that must be him," said Arlecchino. "He's always so eager to say hi. You and him will get along great, kid, although I can't guarantee that you will leave with all your limbs intact."

"What does that mean?" said White.

"Means you're about to experience real pain for the first time in your life, kid," said Arlecchino. "Ciao!"

The speaker clicked off. As soon as it did, the pounding on the elevator doors resumed. White had no idea what to do; he couldn't fight the creature, whatever it was, at least not without his powers. But the elevator was closed and he had no way of escaping except through the doors. But if he went through the doors, then he would have to fight the creature, whatever it was, and he wasn't sure that he would be able to beat it in a fight. White wished that he still had his powers, but he supposed there was nothing he could do about that at the moment. He just had to hope that the doors would hold long enough for him to figure out a way out of here.

White looked around desperately, but he couldn't see a way to escape from this place. He wished that Kevin was here, because he knew that Kevin would be able to help him, but right now, he was all on his own, which meant that he'd have to save himself without Kevin's help, too.

That was when White looked at the ceiling. It was covered with thin, lightweight-looking panels. White didn't know much about elevators; however, he did see a movie once with Kevin and the other Young Neos that had a scene where the main characters escaped from a locked elevator by removing a panel on the ceiling and climbing out through the hole into the shaft. White didn't know if the same would work for him here; however, he had to try it, if only because the alternative was to get killed by whatever creature was trying to beat down the doors.

Unfortunately, the ceiling was just outside of White's reach, but he managed to figure that out by standing on the side railings of the elevator. He pushed against one of the panels, only to discover that they were attached too tightly for him to move. He kept shoving upwards, however, trying to loosen it, all the while listening to the creature's pounding on the doors. A cold sweat broke over White's forehead, but he didn't stop. He just put more and more effort into pushing against the panel, praying and hoping that he'd get lucky.

Suddenly, the panel snapped off, allowing White to push it off. Excited, White grabbed the edge of the hole he'd made and managed to pull himself up just as the metal doors of the elevator gave way. White, however, didn't look over his shoulder at the creature; he just pulled himself out into the elevator shaft and rolled to the side away from the hole. But then two huge claws grabbed onto the sides of the hole, allowing something to pull itself up about halfway.

It looked kind of like a monkey crossed with a tiger. It had the hands and upper body of a monkey, but with the face, teeth, and claws of a tiger. White had never seen anything like it before in his life, but he didn't stop to think about it, because the creature was trying to pull itself through the hole after him. He grabbed the panel that he'd taken apart and slammed it as hard as he could on the creature's head.

Without his super strength, White's blows were pretty weak; however, he was still a fairly strong young man and the creature clearly didn't expect the blow to happen, because as soon as he smacked it on the head, the creature crashed back into the elevator car below, causing the car to tremble momentarily from the impact of its fall. White immediately placed the panel back on the hole; it wouldn't do much to slow down the tiger monkey once it recovered, but it would hopefully give White a few extra seconds of time in which to escape.

Looking around at his surroundings, White saw that he was stuck in the elevator shaft. Above, the elevator's cables went up into the darkness out of sight; however, there was a ladder built into the walls of the shaft not far above him, perhaps for maintenance workers to climb up and down the shaft easily. White immediately began climbing the ladder, even though he wasn't sure where it would take him. All he cared about was getting out of here.

When White was several rungs up the ladder, he heard a crash and looked over his shoulder to see that the tiger monkey had smashed the panel off and was trying to pull itself through the hole again. Although the tiger monkey was much larger than White, he knew it wouldn't be long before it pulled itself through and started climbing after him again. He looked up again and started climbing even faster than before, although, in his haste, to escape he would occasionally miss a rung. Still, White managed to more than double his distance before a roar echoed from below and he looked down again.

The tiger monkey was climbing after him now, its claws sinking into the metal walls of the elevator, rather than the rungs. Despite its size, it was making excellent progress; it would be upon him soon, unless White could slow it down, but he couldn't, so he focused his energies on climbing even faster. His powers still hadn't returned, but he didn't care. Survival was all that mattered to him at the moment.

That was when White saw it. Up ahead, in between the last rung of this ladder and the rung of the next ladder, was a small grate that looked like it could be opened and closed. White realized it must have been a maintenance tunnel of some sort, perhaps a way for workers to enter and exit the shaft. It looked big enough for him to crawl through, so White increased his speed even more, hoping he could get to it before the tiger monkey did.

But then a large hand with thick claws enclosed his foot, causing him to come to an abrupt stop. White looked down hurriedly and saw that the tiger monkey had finally caught up with him. It had wrapped its claws around his ankle. It hadn't drawn any blood, but it was holding him steadily enough that he wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, and it was growling and snarling at him, loudly. The tiger monkey tried to pull him down, but White tightened his grip on the rungs. He tried to shake his leg free, but the tiger monkey didn't let him go. It did, however, pull on his leg again, nearly causing White to fall down before he redoubled his grip on the rungs.

Desperately, White looked around, but he did not have anything on him that he could use to get the creature to let go of his leg. Even worse, his grip was starting to loosen; it would take just one more good jerk from the tiger monkey to make him fall, likely to his death. And if he didn't die upon impact, the tiger monkey would probably come down to finish him off.

All of a sudden, the elevator cables near White jerked to life and began going upwards. The sudden start of the elevator cables startled the tiger monkey, which didn't fall, but it did loosen its grip on White's leg, enough that he managed to yank his leg out of the tiger monkey's grasp. But the tiger monkey lunged forward, opening its mouth wide to bite his leg off, but White lashed out with a kick and struck it in the chin. The blow knocked the tiger monkey off the ladder and it fell into the darkness below; a moment later, a loud thunk could be heard, indicating that the tiger monkey had fallen on top of the rising elevator car.

But White didn't care. He climbed the last few rungs, reached the grating, and pulled it open. He pulled himself inside the small tunnel and closed the grating behind him just as the elevator car went soaring past him. He caught a glimpse of the tiger monkey, still lying on top of the elevator car with a dazed look on its face, before the elevator car rose out of sight.

White, however, did not stop to see if it was coming back. Turning around, he began crawling through the tunnel as quickly as he could, trusting that wherever it took him, it would be better than where he had been.

***

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The bullet slammed into Kevin's chest. His costume was made of bulletproof material, so the bullet thankfully didn't enter his body; however, the impact of the bullet was enough to make Kevin fall flat on his back, the photo album falling to the floor somewhere nearby. The blow knocked the air out of Kevin's lungs, leaving him temporarily dazed.

But he could already hear Triplet aiming his gun at him again, and this time, he knew Triplet would kill him. So Kevin rolled to the side, just barely avoiding another bullet, and jumped to his feet. His chest still hurt from the first gun shot, but he would have to worry about that later; first, he had to take down Triplet, who was already aiming his gun at Kevin again.

Activating his super speed, Kevin rushed toward Triplet, dodging another couple of shots, before he got close enough to slap the gun out of Triplet's hands. Triplet cried out in shock at Kevin's sudden move, but Kevin quickly grabbed Triplet and twisted his arms behind his back, forcing Triplet down to his knees.

"Trip, what's the matter with you?" said Kevin, panting slightly. "Why did you shoot me? We're on the same side!"

Triplet, however, just grunted. His body flashed a blue light and one of his Thirds stepped out of his body. Unlike Triplet, the Third was not stuck with his arms pulled behind his back, so it punched Kevin in the face, causing him to let go of Triplet's arms. The punch barely hurt Kevin; he was just so surprised at this sudden move that he had been unprepared for it. Kevin staggered backwards, while Triplet and his Third ran and hid among the boxes and furniture scattered around them. Triplet also grabbed his gun before he hid, leaving Kevin to look this way and that for Triplet and his Third.

"Trip, where are you?" said Kevin. "Stop hiding. I don't want to fight you. Let's talk like men."

There was no response. Of course. Triplet and his Third were probably trying to make Kevin come and look for them. At least, that was what Kevin would have done if he was them. Kevin carefully took a step forward, looking around carefully, trying to find them, but it was like Triplet and his Third had managed to vanish into thin air.

But then Triplet rose from behind a high-backed chair and fired his gun at Kevin. Kevin dodged the bullet, but before he could go after Triplet, one of his Thirds popped out from behind a shrouded sofa and fired at him as well. Without expecting that, Kevin couldn't dodge it; as a result, the bullet struck him in the right arm, causing him to grunt in pain. Again, his costume protected him from a bullet wound, but at the same time, the bullet still hurt when it struck and it temporarily distracted him from his surroundings.

But Kevin heard movement again and looked around again to see that Triplet and his Third had vanished once more. Kevin bit his lower lip; he'd never fought Triplet before, so he didn't know if this was a typical tactic that the detective employed in his fights or not. Not that it was relevant either way; Kevin just needed to find and beat the original Triplet, although that would be difficult to do, given that Triplet and his Third were almost exactly identical in appearance.

Rubbing his arm where the bullet had hit it, Kevin looked around again. He couldn't check each and every piece of furniture, so he stayed still and listened. Kevin had good hearing, so he reasoned that if he could keep quiet, then he might be able to hear Triplet and his Third's movements. He stood as still as possible, even keeping his breathing low, straining his ears for any sounds that would give away Triplet or his Third's position away.

Then Kevin heard the scuffing of a shoe. It was coming from behind an empty bookcase, so Kevin pointed his hand at the bookcase and fired a small but focused lightning bolt. The bolt struck the bookcase and made it explode in an instant, sending chunks of wood and cloth flying everywhere, but the sound of the explosion wasn't nearly loud enough to cover the shout of pain from whoever he'd managed to hit. Through the smoke from the explosion, Kevin caught a glimpse of Triplet—or his Third, it was impossible to tell at this distance—on his knees, gripping his wrist, which was bleeding from where the wooden chunks of the blown up bookcase had flown into it. Kevin activated his super speed and zipped over to Triplet, who had just enough time to look up at Kevin in surprise before Kevin's fist slammed into the side of his head, causing him to collapse on the floor instantly into unconsciousness.

Lowering his fist, Kevin looked down at the unconscious man lying at his feet. As far as he could tell, this was Triplet's Third; he could tell because the gun it carried was different from Triplet's. Kevin cursed under his breath, because he knew that if he could take down the original Triplet, the Third would have gone down with him. As it was, Kevin would just have to keep looking.

But then Kevin heard footsteps rushing toward him and he whirled around just in time to see a gun flying toward his face. The gun slapped across his face, the metal cold and hard, and before Kevin could react, Triplet shoved the barrel into his chest and fired. Again, Kevin's costume protected him; however, the impact of the bullet still knocked the breath out of him. And a kick from Triplet knocked Kevin flat on his back onto the floor. The back of his head smacked against the concrete, temporarily leaving his senses in disarray.

In the next instant, Triplet's gun was aimed directly at his face, the one part of Kevin's body that was exposed. Kevin knew that if Triplet shot him, the bullet would kill him instantly.

Without thinking about it, Kevin pointed a finger at the gun. At the same time that Triplet pulled the trigger, Kevin fired a lightning bolt. It struck Triplet's gun just as the bullet flew out of the barrel, causing the gun to explode in Triplet's hands. Triplet screamed in pain, grabbing his burned and cut hand, but Kevin jumped to his feet and socked Triplet in the face before grabbing the detective, spinning him around, and then slamming him onto the floor, pinning him there by twisting his arms behind him and placing a hand on the back of his neck to hold his head down. Oddly enough, Triplet stopped struggling; it was as though he knew that he had been defeated.

Nonetheless, Kevin shouted, "Don't move! Or I'll make sure you can't move."

Triplet blinked. One moment, his eyes were that strange purple; the next, they were back to their normal black color, and they looked extremely confused. "Bolt? What is going on?"

"What do you mean, what's going on?" said Kevin. "You were just trying to kill me earlier."

"I was?" said Triplet. "I don't remember that."

"How could you not remember trying to kill me?" said Kevin. "You and one of your Thirds were shooting at me. You even hit me multiple times."

"My aim is pretty good, but I still don't remember me or one of my Thirds trying to shoot you," said Triplet. He grimaced. "You can ease up on my arms. It's not like I'm going to try to kill you, you know."

"How can I know you're telling the truth?" said Kevin. "What if you're just trying to make me lower my guard?"

"Bolt, when have I ever deceived you about anything?" said Triplet. "Besides, without a gun, there's not much I can do to actually hurt you. I may be older and more experienced than you, but you can throw around cars like toys, so I know better than to pick a fight with you."

Kevin frowned. None of this made the slightest bit of sense to him. How could Triplet go from trying to murder Kevin in cold blood one moment to acting like he had no idea what Kevin was talking about the next? Either Triplet was lying in an attempt to get Kevin to free him or something really weird was going on here.

"What do you remember?" said Kevin.

"What do you mean?" said Triplet. "I remember a lot of things."

"I mean, what was the last thing you remember before waking up in this position?" said Kevin.

Triplet furrowed his brows. "My memory is pretty hazy, but I remember feeling very strange, like I'd just come down with an illness. I thought I was going to lose consciousness. Then, in the next moment, I wake up with you holding me down like this threatening to beat me up if I moved."

Kevin gulped. "You don't have a split personality, do you?"

Triplet chuckled. "No, of course not. I may be able to split into Thirds, but they all still have my personality. Something else must have happened; if I had to guess, Volto is probably behind it."

"Your eyes did become purple when you started attacking me," said Kevin. "And you didn't really act like you normally do at all. It was like someone else had taken over your mind. Mind control?"

Triplet shook his head, or as much as he could with Kevin holding down his neck, anyway. "No. I've experienced mind control before. Usually, you still remember everything you did while under someone else's control even after they let you go. That I can't remember anything between the time I fell unconscious and now tells me that we're dealing with something entirely different."

"And what would that be?" said Kevin. "If it isn't mind control, then what is it?"

"Now wouldn't you like to know, boy?" said a voice with a Cuban accent from somewhere nearby.

Kevin raised his head and looked around. As far as he could tell, there was no one else in the basement aside from himself, Triplet, and the Third. His eyes passed over another box of books, a chair with a clown doll slouched in it, and an old piano, but he didn't see anyone who could have spoken at that moment.

"Who's there?" said Kevin. He let go of Triplet and stood up; at the same time, Triplet sat up, rubbing the back of his neck and stretching his arms. "Show yourself, you coward."

"Can't you see me?" said the voice. "I'm not hiding. I'm in plain sight."

"I'm not blind," said Kevin.

"That's not what I—oh, never mind," said the voice with a sigh. "Look at the chair with the clown doll on it."

Frowning, Kevin looked at the clown doll. It was slouched over, like it had been left behind by some kid years ago, and like everything else in the room, it didn't seem to have been touched in years. Despite that, the clown's suit was very colorful; red, white, and blue, with huge green lips and big purple eyes that were kind of creepy. Its clothing and limbs were stitched in several places, a clear sign that that doll had been well loved by the kid who owned it.

"I see the doll," said Kevin. "But—"

"Then you see me," said the doll, the Cuban-accented voice coming from its cartoonishly large lips. "I guess you aren't as blind as you look."

The doll's mouth opened and closed when it spoke, but its eyes didn't change, nor did the rest of its body move. It was kind of like a puppet, except that Kevin didn't see any puppeteer to control it.

"A talking doll?" said Triplet, rising to his feet and dusting off his coat. "Man, I've seen everything."

"I'm not a doll," said the clown doll in annoyance. "This is just the form I am currently using to communicate to you. I am Volto, the leader of the Venetians."

"Really?" said Kevin. "You're the real Volto?"

"The one and only," said Volto. "And you are Bolt, the son of Genius, correct?"

"That's right," said Kevin. "I see you already know me."

"Everyone knows you, Bolt," said Volto. "Ever since you saved the Earth from the second Pokacu invasion, your name and face are known to everyone on the planet. And your defeat of Mastermind was also noteworthy. From one superhuman to another, I must tell you how much I admire you."

Then the clown doll turned its head to look at Triplet; it was incredibly creepy seeing it move independently of any humans. "And you are Triplet, the famous superhero detective who put the super serial killer Poison Stream behind bars ten years ago, among other supervillains and criminals whose plans you've foiled over the years."

"I don't brag about my accomplishments, but yes, that's me," said Triplet. "I'm surprised you know me, though. I thought I'd made sure that none of you Venetians knew I was investigating you."

"Oh, my dear detective, we've been aware of your investigation into us for a long time now," said Volto. "Our employer expects nothing more than the absolute best from us, after all, and that includes knowing when we're being investigated."

"So you're just a bunch of hired guns, huh?" said Triplet. "Figured as much."

"Money is the last reason I follow our employer," said Volto. "My reasons for being a Venetian are... personal, to put it lightly. And irrelevant. What matters is that our employer would be displeased to learn that you two are here, in the house in which he grew up, going through his personal possessions like junk at a garage sale."

"Is your employer John Mann?" said Kevin. He stepped forward. "Tell us or I'll wipe that stupid grin off your face myself."

"Abuse the doll as much as you like, it won't hurt me in the slightest," said Volto. "Good threat, however. I see why so many supervillains tremble at your name."

"You avoided the question," said Triplet. "Is John Mann your employer or not?"

"Perhaps he is," said Volto. "Or perhaps he isn't. Neither of you will live long enough to figure that out anyway."

"What are you talking about?" said Kevin. "Are you going to throw pies in our face or something?"

"I will do much worse than that, Bolt," said Volto. "Much worse. And then I will do the same to your dear twin brother."

Kevin's heart started beating faster. "You mean White? Where is he?"

"Not here," said Volto. "That much I can tell you. His exact location... well, that's information you are not allowed to know. He's still alive, but beyond that, I'm not going to tell you anything else."

Kevin ran over to the doll, grabbed it by the neck, and lifted it off the chair above his head. He glared up at the doll, which continued to smile down at him in a way he found intensely annoying. "Tell me where White is or else."

"Did you forget what I said about how abusing the doll won't hurt me?" said Volto. "Just like when you punched Triplet; it didn't hurt me, even though I was possessing him at the time. For all your fame, you don't seem very bright."

Kevin's grip on the doll's neck tightened, but he said, "Then I'll just find your original body and make you tell me. It's probably somewhere in this building."

"It is actually being transported out even as we speak," said Volto. "As a result, I am going to vacate this doll soon, and then you will be back at square one."

"Coward," said Kevin. "You're just going to run away, rather than stay and fight us like a man?"

"Just because I don't want to fight you doesn't mean I'm a coward," said Volto. "Besides, I've left you and Triplet a little gift to play with. Whether you will survive it, however, I can't guarantee." Suddenly, the doll's eyes glowed brightly. "Good bye."

And just as Volto said that, explosions on either side of the basement went off.

***

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

White crawled through the narrow, cold maintenance tunnel for several minutes. He had no idea how long it went or where it would eventually end. It just seemed to go on forever and ever. Not that he minded. All he wanted to do was get as far away from the Venetians as possible, even if that meant crawling through such an uncomfortable space for a long time.

But the events of the last ten minutes left him exhausted, so after a while, White stopped and laid his face down on the cold metal floor of the tunnel. He was content to just lie here and sleep; the adrenaline rush from before was starting to wear off and his exhaustion was starting to catch up with him. White knew he couldn't sleep forever, because the Venetians would likely track him down at some point, but for the moment, he would rest for a few minutes before continuing on.

His powers had yet to return. White rolled onto his back and held up his hand. He focused on making it glow with electric energy, but nothing happened. He felt nothing in his body. It was like his powers had been taken away completely. That made him feel sick; he had never been without his powers before. Kevin had told him that powerless gas didn't last forever, but even the knowledge that his powers would return in several hours wasn't nearly as comforting to him as it could have been. There was no guarantee that White would survive the next several hours, especially once the Venetians found him; there was actually a good chance that he might get killed, unless the Venetians still wanted him for some reason. But he doubted they would spare him now; if they were going to sacrifice him to that tiger monkey like that, then White was convinced that they were done trying to convince him to join them and had decided to kill him now. He doubted that even Della would spare him if he ran into her again.

Kevin, I need your help, White thought. I miss my brother. I hate being alone. I want to go home.

White sighed. He wondered again if the rest of the Young Neos were looking for him. He didn't see why they wouldn't. After all, Kevin was the team leader, and Kevin cared about him. There was no way that Kevin would not be looking for him; and if Kevin was looking for him, then so were the others.

But what if they weren't? White knew how much the rest of the team distrusted him. Maybe they were even glad that White had been kidnapped. And even if White survived this and was reunited with the team, would it really be a good thing? Would the others continue to treat White the same way they always did? He wondered if Della had a point about how the others would never accept him. Maybe they would never see White as one of them. He might always be an outsider to the rest of the team, perhaps even a monster that they couldn't trust.

White punched the floor. He hated thinking about this stuff. It always upset him. But now, White wasn't sure he could just ignore it. White wasn't much of a long term thinker, but he was starting to think that maybe he would have to rethink his membership in the Young Neos. He thought about how Stinger and Talon barely paid any attention to him earlier; he thought about how disappointed and frustrated everyone had looked when he had interrupted their fight with the monster in New York and messed it up; and he thought about how Talon had almost gotten killed, again thanks to his own stupidity.

Such thoughts left him feeling more depressed than ever. He stewed in them for a few minutes before deciding that he was done resting. Rolling over onto his stomach, White resumed crawling through the tunnel, not caring where it would take him. He just wanted to get out of this dark place. He just wanted to see his brother again.

-

It seemed like forever before White saw light up ahead. At first, it was small and weak, but the closer he got to the light, the more he saw that it was another grate. It looked similar to the one that he'd used to enter the tunnel in the first place; maybe it was the exit. The thought that he wouldn't have to crawl on his hands and knees for much longer was enough to make him crawl even faster until he reached the grate. He peered through the grate's gaps, however, just to make sure that there was no one waiting for him on the other side. It was difficult to see much through the grating, but he could see enough to confirm that the next room had no people in it.

So White pushed the grating open and crawled out. Once he was out, White stood up and stretched his limbs, feeling grateful that he was no longer in such a cramped space. He also took this moment to look around the room he had emerged in, because he had not been able to see much of it through the grating itself.

The room was much smaller than his cell had been. It seemed to be some sort of storage room, based on the closed unmarked boxes everywhere. To his right was a shelf that had cleaning supplies on it, with a broom and a mop leaning against it; as a result, the room smelled kind of like bleach, although it was a pretty faint smell. White figured he was probably still on the sixth level of the base; at least, he hadn't felt the exit incline upwards. If so, then he would need to figure out how to get to the higher levels. Maybe there was a staircase outside of the room that he would be able to use to get out of here.

White walked over to the door, cracked it open an inch, and then peered through the gap. The hall outside was empty; perhaps the Venetians didn't know where he was at the moment. He pushed the door open a little bit more and stuck his head out. Looking up and down the hall, White did not see anyone else. It was also very quiet, practically silent. He couldn't believe his luck. He was sure that the Venetians would have been patrolling the halls on every floor, trying desperately to find him, but apparently they were not. Of course, if what Della said was true, then there were probably only a handful of them in this place. Given how big this base was, White figured they probably did not have the manpower necessary to patrol every floor. And if White got even luckier, then maybe he would be able to sneak out of here without ever being seen once.

Pushing the door open, White stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind him silently. He looked up and down the hallway, but he had no idea which way would lead him out of here. If he made the wrong choice, he might end up wandering the halls of this place for a long time or maybe he would run into one of the Venetians on patrol. He decided that it was safe to assume that the layout of each floor was the same, so if he just kept going right, eventually he would reach the end of the hallway and find a staircase that would take him to the upper floors. His powers had not yet returned; however, he did feel a little stronger than earlier. The effects of the powerless gas were starting to wear off; White just hoped that they would wear off in time for him to defend himself in case he ran into one of the Venetians.

Balling his hands into fists, White began walking to the right, his footsteps soft against the floor. He was tempted to just run, but at the same time, he didn't want to make any unnecessary noise. He did not see any security cameras on the walls, which seemed odd to him; why wouldn't the Venetians have security cameras set up everywhere in their base? Whatever the reason, White was thankful for it, because that meant that the Venetians had no real way of finding him.

After only a few minutes of walking, White saw a door at the end of the hallway. It didn't look like the other doors; for one, it had a small window in it, showing a darker room that he could not see much of from his current position. That had to be the stairwell, so White increased his speed until he reached the door and pushed it open. The room he entered was dark, however, until he flipped on a switch, causing lights to turn on with a flash that briefly left him blind until his eyes adjusted.

As White had suspected, this was the stairwell. A glance at the number painted on the wall next to him showed him that he was on the fifth floor. The stairs went both up and down out of sight, but White didn't want to go down. He began climbing up the steps, pleased that the stairs were empty. He had worried that the Venetians might anticipate him trying to use the stairs and might have set someone to guard them, but like the hallways below, the place was empty. That made White wonder what, exactly, this base was made for; it seemed too large for the small amount of people who ran it. Add his cell and the weird tiger monkey creature and it all added up to some very strange questions that White had no real answer to. But at the moment, White didn't care that he didn't have an answer. All he wanted to do was get out of here and find his brother again. That was all he wanted, and he would be happy if he got that and that alone.

After several more minutes of walking, White finally reached the top floor. He briefly peered through the door's window, but did not see anyone in the hall outside. Still, he was well aware of the dangers of walking into a hallway like that unprepared, so he braced himself for a fight, pushed open the door, and exited the stairwell.

This floor was different from the previous ones. Although it had similar metal plating on the floors, walls, and ceiling, the air felt fresher, as if it was closer to the surface than the other floors. There were also more doors on each side of the hall, including the entrance to the elevator, although White had no interest in getting back inside the elevator. Again, the hallway was empty; there weren't even any security cameras. White took a moment to listen, just in case he could hear the Venetians looking for him, but no matter how hard he listened, he did not hear anything to indicate that the Venetians were nearby. Feeling luckier than he should, White resumed walking down the hall. This hall wasn't very long; it turned to the right and White soon found himself standing in a large, open room that appeared to be the base's lobby.

Like the rest of the base, it was devoid of people; for that matter, it had no furniture, either. The floor and walls were totally bare, perhaps because people were not supposed to spend much time in here. On the other side of the room was a door that had to be the exit. It wasn't labeled 'exit,' but White knew that he was on the ground floor, which meant that that door would take him out of here if he'd just go through it. He didn't pay attention to anything else as he walked across the lobby, his eyes focused solely on the exit.

But when White reached the center of the lobby, he walked into something thin around his ankles. He almost tripped, but caught himself before he fell, and looked down to see what he had tripped over. It was a long, thin white string, practically invisible against the white floor, noticeable only because White's ankle was still caught on it. He didn't understand why it was there, though; was it supposed to stop him? It seemed like a pretty pathetic way to catch an escapee. He didn't even need his super strength to snap the string and resume walking toward the exit.

Then he heard something huge falling toward him from above. White looked up just in time to see a large metal cage falling toward him. It came too fast for him to dodge. It slammed down on the floor around him, effectively capturing him behind its bars. He ran up to the bars, but they were stuck too closely together for him to slip through. The most he could do was stick his arms through them, but he was too far away from the exit to open it. All he could do was futilely reach toward it, his hands waving up and down before he looked around to see if the cage had an exit of some sort. He spotted the door immediately, because it was just to his right, but he also realized that it was locked tightly. He shook the door, but it didn't even budge. If he had his super strength, he would probably have been able to smash the door off its hinges; however, his powers were still gone.

"Got you," said a familiar voice behind him, causing White to look over his shoulder to see who had spoken.

Arlecchino and Della were walking toward his cage. Arlecchino looked quite pleased with himself, his eyes bright with satisfaction at White's predicament. Della looked less pleased than Arlecchino, but even she was probably happy that White had been captured.

Arlecchino reached the cage first, his mouth twisted in a crazy grin. "Look what we've got here, Della. A rat."

White ran over to the other side of the cage and grabbed the bars. He shook them, trying to make them come loose, but the bars were too firm for him to shake. Arlecchino just chuckled.

"The powerless gas is still affecting him, I see," said Della, stopping beside Arlecchino and folding her arms over her chest. "Lucky us. If the gas had worn off you, we would never have been able to capture you again."

White growled. "Let me out now."

"Nope," said Arlecchino, shaking his head. "Did you really think we would go through all of this trouble just to let you go? We knew you'd make your way here eventually, so we set up this neat little trap to catch you. Much more efficient than searching every room on every floor of this huge base, you understand."

"I must admit, Arlecchino, I was skeptical about your plan at first, but it obviously worked," said Della. "I should have been less doubtful."

"My plans always work," said Arlecchino, puffing out his chest with pride. "But White, I want to let you know that your escaping into the elevator's maintenance tunnels was unexpected. I didn't even know those existed until you found them. You're obviously smarter than you look, which is saying something, because you look like an idiot."

White's grip on the bars tightened. He wanted to punch his way through the bars and teach Arlecchino a lesson. "Your pet sucks."

"The tiger monkey?" said Arlecchino. He shook his head again. "I thought it would kill you, but I guess I underestimated you. I tried to get the elevator to smash you to bits against the shaft's ceiling after you broke out of the shaft, but unfortunately, the tiger monkey suffered that fate instead of you. That's how I figured out you managed to get out of the shaft, but now we've got you and you won't be going anywhere else ever again."

"Our employer isn't going to be happy once he learns that you tried to kill White," Della said. "You remember what he said: We are supposed to keep him alive."

"We'll just tell the big man that we had to try to kill him in self-defense," said Arlecchino. "God knows that this kid is a psycho. The big man wouldn't suspect a thing if we told him that."

"Perhaps," said Della. "In any case, we need to move White back into his cell. We should probably also use anesthetic to knock him out until we get new orders from our employer; if we let him remain conscious, he might try to escape again."

White bit his lower lip. He looked over his shoulder at the exit, thinking that this might be the last time he'd ever get a chance to get out of here. He knew what anesthetic did, and he knew that if he was knocked unconscious, then he would not be able to plan or execute another escape attempt. But how was he supposed to get out of this cage when neither Della nor Arlecchino would let him out?

That was when White realized that Arlecchino was standing just within White's reach. Arlecchino didn't seem to notice; he was now talking with Della about how they were going to transport White back to his cell. The two Venetians were so absorbed in their conversations that they did not seem to be paying any attention whatsoever to White right now.

White bit his lower lip. He took his hands off the bars and then lunged his arms through the gaps. He grabbed Arlecchino by the back of his robes and slammed him against the cage. He also quickly put his other arm around Arlecchino's neck, quickly cutting off Arlecchino's air supply and making him choke.

"Arlecchino!" Della said, jumping backwards in surprise. She glared at White. "Let him go now!"

"No," said White. "Only if you promise to let me leave this place."

Arlecchino was still struggling, but White increased the pressure on his neck, causing Arlecchino's struggles to stop as he choked again. "Or I'll make him suffer more."

Della's hands balled into fists, but she seemed to understand that White was in charge of this situation, because she nodded and said, "Fine. I will let you go. Just wait a moment while I let you out."

"Della, what are you doing?" said Arlecchino, his voice somewhat strained from the pressure that White was putting on his neck. "If you let him go, the big man will be extremely upset!"

But Della, apparently, wasn't listening to Arlecchino, because she was already walking to the other side of the cage. When she reached the cage's door, she pulled out a key and inserted it into the door. A second later, White heard a 'click' and Della opened the door. She stood to the side, giving White room to leave, and said, "All right. I've opened the door. You can leave."

White didn't leave just yet, however. He didn't want to let go of Arlecchino and let the Venetian try to stop him from escaping, but he couldn't leave while still holding Arlecchino, either. So White slammed his forearm against Arlecchino's neck hard before shoving him to the ground. Even before Arlecchino hit the floor, White was already running out of the cage. He expected Della to try to stop him as he left, but to his surprise, she kept her hands by her side and didn't even bother to pursue White to the door. As a result, White became convinced that he was going to escape after all.

He burst through the exit, crying out in joy, but he skid to a halt the next instant.

That was lucky, because if White had not stopped, he would have gone straight over the edge of a cliff. A cliff overlooking a forest he did not recognize, with a large lake not too far away. White looked this way and that, but he didn't see any towns or cities or any other signs of civilization for miles in every direction.

That was when a hand fell on White's shoulder. He looked over his shoulder to see that Della had placed a hand on his shoulder, a soft, feminine hand that was as light as a feather.

Then Della squeezed his shoulder. It didn't hurt; however, a sudden dizziness came over White. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach and he shuddered, a sudden chill coming over his body. An instant later, he lost all consciousness, although his last thought before he did was to cry out for Kevin to help him, even though he knew that his brother couldn't hear his thoughts.

***

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Kevin dropped the clown doll, which hit the ground lifelessly at his feet, as flames exploded from both sides of the basement. Flame quickly spread across the ceiling and the covered furniture, instantly setting ablaze anything that it touched. Even worse, the flames began smoking; although the smoke wasn't very much at the moment, Kevin knew that the smoke alone would kill Triplet and him if they didn't escape quickly enough.

Turning around, Kevin saw that Triplet had already reabsorbed his Third, but he was still kneeling on the floor clutching his hand that had been damaged by the exploding gun. Kevin rushed over to Triplet and said, "Trip, can you walk? We need to get out of here before the fire—"

Kevin was interrupted by the sound of the roof collapsing above them. He looked up just in time to see one of the ceiling's support beams falling down toward him and Triplet. Without thinking, he kicked Triplet away and caught the beam with his arms and shoulders, but the sudden and unexpected weight forced him down onto his knees; not only that, but the beam was on fire and the heat flowed across his back. His costume may have been fireproof, but he could still feel the heat from the flames. Additionally, burning chunks of plaster and wood fell all around him, crashing into the floor and making it hotter, making it harder to concentrate on keeping the weight from the support beam from crushing him.

Looking up, Kevin saw that Triplet had managed to avoid getting crushed by the beam; however, he was still kneeling on the floor, clutching his wrist. He nonetheless got to his feet, but when Kevin looked around, he saw that the fire had already encircled them, leaving only a small gap through which to escape.

"Go!" Kevin shouted, his voice strained under the weight of the beam and debris that he supported. "Get out of here before the whole building collapses!"

Triplet, however, shook his head. "And leave you to die? Genius would never forgive me, even if he is dead."

"You can't help me," said Kevin. He coughed and hacked when he inhaled some smoke. "If we die here, the Venetians win!"

Triplet hesitated, but then nodded and said, "Okay, I'll leave. But I'll get help as soon as I can!"

Triplet turned and ran. He escaped through a gap in the flames, quickly vanishing into the surrounding fire. Kevin hoped that the door to the basement was unlocked; if it wasn't, then there was no way that Triplet would be able to get out of here alive. Neither was there any way for Kevin to escape, either, but that would be true even if the door was unlocked. Because Kevin was now beginning to realize that he wasn't just supporting a single support beam on his shoulders; it seemed like the entirety of the upper floor or at least the room directly above the basement was trying to crush him. It occurred to him that Volto had likely set off bombs in the upper floors as well, which meant that Volto was trying to make sure that neither Kevin nor Triplet survived and that there would not be any evidence linking John Mann to the Venetians, either.

But Kevin immediately forgot about that when the weight of the beam on his shoulders suddenly increased, followed by a new rain of burning plaster and wood. A chunk of this plaster glanced off his face, burning his skin and causing him to gasp in pain. The sudden pain from the fire made him lower even further to the ground, which caused even more of the ceiling to collapse on top of him. The fire was roaring in his ears now and the smoke was thicker than ever; he tried not to breathe it in, but it was becoming increasingly harder to find clean air to breathe. Sooner or later, he would have to start inhaling the smoke, and once he did, his life would be over, because even his hardy body couldn't survive inhaling so much smoke.

Must... get... free, Kevin thought, grunting under the weight. But it's too heavy...

Even with his super strength, Kevin found it nearly impossible to support the collapsed ceiling, and it was growing heavier with each passing second. The surrounding fire and smoke didn't help matters. He was now convinced that he was going to end up getting buried underneath the collapsing building, and all without finding any clues leading to White's location. The thought that he might die before rescuing his brother was almost enough to break him, but at the same time, it also created a sense of anger in his soul. He didn't want to let John Mann or the Venetians get away with hurting his family or his team. Kevin could tolerate a lot of things, but he couldn't tolerate the idea of his family and teammates being in danger.

With anger now flowing through his body, Kevin began to push up. It was hard to do, even with his super strength, but he rose inch by inch, until, with a mighty yell, he threw the collapsed ceiling off of him and stood up straight. That caused more burning debris to fall down around him, but Kevin didn't care. He coughed and hacked at the smoke, but immediately began moving forward; he didn't know where the exit was, but he knew his chances of finding it would increase dramatically if he just kept moving. He hoped that Triplet had managed to find the exit by now; if not, then Kevin figured this was going to be the end for both of them.

All of a sudden, Kevin heard a cracking sound and looked to his right to see an old grandfather clock—its base burned away by the fire—falling toward him. Kevin immediately leaped forward, but he was too late, because the grandfather clock crashed onto his legs. Kevin grunted in pain; the weight of the grandfather clock hadn't broken his legs, but it had pinned his legs to the floor. It didn't help that the clock, like everything else in the basement, was burning; he could feel the heat on his legs, although his costume kept his skin from getting burned.

Still, Kevin yanked his legs out from under the clock, scrambled to his feet, and resumed walking. But in the time he'd spent on the floor, the smoke and fire had become so thick that it was like he had stepped directly into the very pit of hell itself. Kevin couldn't see, hear, or smell anything other than fire and smoke; he covered his mouth and nose with one of his hands, but he still coughed anyway. The smoke made his eyes water, while the flames kept licking at his feet. His sense of direction was messed up by the fire and smoke; every direction looked identical to him.

This is it, Kevin thought, coughing hard as he stumbled over a chunk of the ceiling that had fallen in his path. Can't go forward anymore. Can't.

Kevin suddenly tripped over something on the floor and fell on his hands and knees. As a result, he inhaled more smoke and began coughing and hacking so much that he couldn't get up or do anything else. He just lay there, his lungs burning and his eyes watering, while fire raged all around him. Kevin hoped that his remains would at least be identifiable as him after the fires were put out; he wanted his face to be recognizable at his funeral.

But then, all of a sudden, someone burst out of the fire and smoke. All of the smoke made it too hard to see who it was; however, they were strong, because they immediately picked Kevin up and then turned and ran through the flames and smoke as if none of it existed at all. In Kevin's dazed state of mind, the best he could tell was that this person was wearing some kind of protective suit that filtered out the smoke in the air, which was probably why they weren't hacking and coughing, but he still didn't know who this was or why they were saving him.

They abruptly passed through the smoke into the far less smoky hallway outside of the basement; however, it was only a little better out here. As Kevin had suspected, Volto had set off bombs all over the place; the walls were burnt black and the ceiling of the hallway was burning and there was even more smoke in here than in the basement. But the rescuer, like before, didn't pay any attention to that. He just ran down the hallway, seemingly unafraid of the falling chunks of debris all around them. Perhaps his protective suit kept him safe from the harm, but Kevin could still be hurt, and indeed he did get hit on the head a few times by falling debris, but not nearly as much as he could have, because the man was so agile that he managed to avoid most of the falling debris.

But just as the two of them exited the hall, a loud roaring sound above was followed by half the ceiling collapsing in front of the door. It completely blocked off their escape route, but the man carrying Kevin didn't seem to care. He just rushed toward the huge pile of burning wood and plaster as if the door was still unblocked. Kevin would have pointed that out to him, but his lungs were still burning from the smoke. And besides, they were going too fast to stop now, so Kevin just braced myself for a crash.

Instead of crashing into the debris, however, the man held out a hand and a hole appeared in the debris. It was like someone had just poked a hole through the debris, a hole that they ran through as easily as if it had always been there. As soon as they passed through the hole, however, it vanished, leaving behind the untouched burning chunk of debris that had almost halted their progress.

Not that that mattered, because they burst through the front door and out onto the front lawn of the building. Immediately, Kevin was able to breathe fresh air, or as fresh as New York City air could be, anyway. At least it wasn't smoky; that alone made all the difference in the world between being able to breathe normally and practically dying from smoke poisoning.

Also, the street was busy. Although Kevin didn't see any signs of the homeless guards (perhaps they fled with Volto), there were fire trucks in the street, along with police cars, and even some civilians from the nearby buildings staring at the burning apartment building in shock. Kevin immediately spotted Triplet, who was sitting on the other side of the street while a paramedic put bandages around his hand.

Kevin's rescuer took him over to Triplet, who looked up as they approached. The female paramedic also looked up to see Kevin, while his rescuer just stopped and then lowered Kevin onto the street before the paramedic.

"Oh my gosh!" the paramedic said, putting a hand over her mouth. "He looks terrible! Was there anyone else in the building?"

"Don't know," came the slightly muffled voice from the helmet of Kevin's rescuer. "But I'm going in to find out. You just treat this kid's wounds. I'll be back as soon as possible."

The suited man turned and dashed back toward the building, ignoring the firemen and police officers who appeared to be trying to evacuate the street while setting up the fire trucks to shoot water onto the flames. The paramedic immediately began checking Kevin's body, saying, "Young man, how do you feel?"

"Awful," Kevin said. And his voice sounded like it; he sounded at least twenty years older than he was. "But my suit protected me from the worst of it."

"Yes, I can tell," said the paramedic, looking over his body. "These NHA costumes are made of very good materials, but it sounds like you inhaled a lot of smoke."

"I know," Kevin croaked. He coughed and hacked. "But I think I'll be okay. You should go and see the other injured people. They probably need your help more than I do."

The paramedic, however, shook her head. "No. There aren't any other victims, for one, and for two, just because you think you'll be okay doesn't mean you will be."

"Actually, Bolt is pretty strong," said Triplet. "His physiology probably allows him to handle these sorts of things better than most—"

"Quiet, you," the paramedic snapped. "You're not in much better condition, so keep quiet while I work on your friend here."

Much to Kevin's surprise, Triplet actually shut up. Either the paramedic had a superpower of her own or she was just that tough. In any case, Kevin just lay there, allowing the paramedic to bandage his face and wounds. He didn't have the energy to get up and do anything else anyway; still, he looked over at the burning apartment building, which was covered in flames, although the flames seemed to be dying down already. At least, that was what Kevin thought before a firefighter shouted, "Look out!"

As soon as the firefighter shouted that, the entire building collapsed. It was like someone had just taken out the foundation without bothering to replace it; one moment, it stood straight and tall; the next, each floor fell directly into the next until, with a huge boom, the entire building was nothing more than a burning pile of wood, plaster, wiring, and stone. A dog was barking somewhere from one of the buildings nearby, but Kevin didn't pay attention to that. He just looked over at the paramedic, who was now staring at the collapsed building with horror in her eyes.

"Bill!" she shouted. "Bill!"

Kevin had no idea who 'Bill' was, but he must have been close to her, based on how terrified she looked. Kevin half-expected her to get up and run over to the ruined building herself, but she remained kneeling beside Kevin, her hands on her face, looking as if she had just lost her first born child.

But then a hole opened in the burning remains of the building, a hole similar to the one from earlier, and then Kevin's rescuer burst out. He ran across the burning front lawn and then out onto the street, running faster than someone with that kind of suit should have been able to. The other firefighters immediately began spraying water from their trucks onto the burning mess, but just as they did that, the burning remains of the apartment building exploded again, sending even more debris flying, although everyone was well outside of the building's range. Still, Kevin felt the heat even from a distance, like he was sitting in front of a burning fireplace, although the heat was going down as the firefighters put out the fire.

The man in the suit reached Kevin, Triplet, and the paramedic quickly. His suit was blackened in a few areas, but aside from that, he looked okay. He came to a stop in front of them and put his hands on his knees, probably exhausted from having to run for his life.

"Bill, are you okay?" said the paramedic. "We thought you were a goner there for a second!"

Bill shook his head. "I'm fine, Diana. The explosion took me by surprise, but I was close to the entrance anyway, so it wasn't hard for me to escape. My suit got a little burned, but my body is okay."

"Are you a superhero?" said Kevin, looking up at Bill in surprise.

Bill looked down at Kevin. His face was hidden behind his helmet's visor, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking, but Kevin got the feeling that Bill wasn't exactly pleased to be asked that. "No. I'm a firefighter. I'm the guy who cleans up after idiots like you."

Kevin scratched his forehead. "But you could make holes in objects. Normal humans can't do that."

"I'm a superhuman, but not a superhero," said Bill. "There's a big difference, you know."

"And you work for the New York City Fire Department?" said Kevin. "I didn't know that there were any superhumans working for the city."

"Not everyone is a member of your little team," said Bill. He glanced over his shoulder at the smoking remains of the apartment building. "Some of us don't want anything to do with your kind."

"Bill," said the paramedic, Diana, who sounded like she was going to reprimand him for his impolite comments, but then Bill stood up straight, dusted soot off his suit, and said, "I need to go and report back to the chief about what I found. Diana, you just stay here and make sure these two idiots don't die, okay?"

Then Bill turned around and walked away toward a group of police cars gathered at one end of the street. Kevin watched him go, unsure what to make of what Bill had said. He looked at Diana, who was also watching Bill go, but with some regret, as if Bill did this all the time but she didn't approve of it.

"Is he always like that or is this just how he treats people like, well, us?" said Kevin, gesturing at himself and Triplet.

Diana sighed. "Bill is a good person and he really does care for other people, but he does have a low opinion of the Neohero Alliance and superheroes in general."

"Why?" said Kevin. "What did the NHA do to him?"

"That's not important right now," said Diana. "What's important is making sure that you and your friend are okay and won't be suffering from any long-term damage. You'll also need to talk with the police chief; he'll want to know what you two were doing here and what happened."

Kevin nodded. "Okay. I think I can talk to the police chief now. Could you go get him, please?"

"Sure," said Diana. She stood up. "You two stay here. I'll be back in a moment."

Diana walked away from Kevin and Triplet. Kevin rested his head on the concrete and coughed and hacked suddenly; although he was no longer breathing in smoke, his lungs still burned. He looked at Triplet, who was leaning against the base of the street lamp next to them, holding his burned hand gingerly.

"Well," said Triplet, after a moment of silence, "I can't say that's the first time I've ever been stuck in a burning building, but I can certainly say that it was the first time I was possessed by a ghost. Gonna have to update my case files on the Venetians with that little fact; could be useful if I ever run into that bastard again."

Kevin didn't respond. He just closed his eyes, partly because he was exhausted from the recent events, but also because he was disappointed at how he and Triplet had completely failed to find any clues leading to White's location. He felt like a failure and was convinced that he would never see White alive again now because of his own failure.

Volto got away, White is still missing, and I might get lung cancer, Kevin thought. This day couldn't possibly get any worse.

All of a sudden, Kevin's suit-up watch started ringing. The sudden sound caused him to start, but he immediately went still again, because the sudden movement made his head pound. He did, however, raise his watch up to his face to see that Blizzard was trying to call him. Although his lungs still hurt, Kevin thought that Blizzard should be the first to know about what just happened here, so he tapped her picture and said, in a croaky voice, "Hello?"

"Bolt!" came Blizzard's worried voice on the other end. "Are you okay? We're getting reports that there was an explosion in New York and some people are saying you and Triplet were caught in it."

"We're fine," said Kevin. He coughed. "Didn't find any clues to White's location, but we're fine. I'll tell you about what we learned later when I get back to Hero Island."

"Your voice sounds horrible," said Blizzard. "You know what? I'm coming to your location right now to get you myself."

"No, that won't be necessary," said Kevin, trying—and failing—to make his voice sound normal. "I'll just teleport back home. You stay put. Okay?"

"Okay," said Blizzard, although she didn't sound very happy about that. "Mecha Knight also wants to know what happened, by the way. He's really worried."

"Tell him I'll tell him when I get home," said Kevin. "No need to worry. I'm perfectly fine and I'll be back on Hero Island soon."

"All right," said Blizzard. "By the way, did you know that your interview with that Virginia Gray lady is on Neo Ranks?"

Kevin coughed and hacked for a moment before saying, "What? Already? I thought it wouldn't be up for weeks."

"I know," said Blizzard. "Guess they must work fast. Anyway, I was just reading it and I found your answers kind of weird."

"Weird?" said Kevin. "What do you mean?"

"Like your answer to her question about government superhuman schools," said Blizzard. "The way you answered, it makes you sound like you are advocating for a superhuman revolt or something."

Kevin's eyes narrowed. "Blizzard, hold on. I'm coming home right now so I can read the interview for myself."

"Okay," said Blizzard. "But don't rush yourself. You don't want to make your voice even worse."

"Weren't you the one earlier just saying you were going to rush over here?" said Kevin. "Anyway, love you, bye."

Kevin tapped the screen of his watch, ending the call, but he didn't leave right away. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach that his day was, indeed, about to get worse.

***

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

White blinked. His heart was beating wildly; it was like he had just been chased through a dark forest by some kind of monster that wanted to eat him. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe, even with his costume absorbing most of the moisture. He tried to sit up, but found himself strapped down on a metal table with thick leather straps. He probably could have snapped the straps himself with his super strength, but when he tried to use his super strength, he found that he still couldn't use it. The powerless gas, he realized, was still in effect, which meant that White was as powerless as before.

White looked around at his surroundings, or as much as he could, given how limited and restricted his movement was. He was in some kind of laboratory; at least, that was what he assumed. All around him stood tables with glass tubes, computers, microscopes, and loads of other scientific equipment that he couldn't even guess the purpose of. Light washed down on him from above, making him feel warm, if not overheated, which was probably why he was sweating. He squinted at the light, but didn't look directly into it in order to avoid blinding himself. He was also ravenously hungry and thirsty, but in his current position, he had no way of feeding himself or sating his thirst.

"You are awake," said a Cuban-accented voice that he didn't recognize. "Excellent. I thought that Della's disease might have actually killed you. You must be tougher than you look."

All of a sudden, a face appeared over White. Or really, a mask; another Venetian, by the look of it, although this one he did not recognize. It resembled a human face, except extremely pale, with a strange golden pattern on the forehead and nose. It had a mouth, but it was closed, making it impossible to see the wearer's real mouth, although he did see the wearer's brown eyes, which looked down upon him with disdain.

"Who... you?" said White. His voice was weaker than ever. "How long have I been out?"

"Less than an hour," said the man. "As for me, I am Volto, the leader of the Venetians. We haven't met, although you've met some of my teammates."

White blinked. He found it hard to look up at Volto while avoiding the lights, which made his eyes water whenever he stared at them for too long. "Volto. Where am I?"

"Still in the base," said Volto. "Della already told me about your little escapade. It actually surprised me when I heard about it; I had been led to believe that you have the mind of a simple, naive young child, but executing such a plan while evading two of my teammates right until the very end is not something a naive young child can do. Nor will I let Arlecchino ever forget it."

Volto said that in an amused voice. White could imagine that Volto was smirking underneath his mask, even though he had no idea how Volto's real face looked.

Regardless, White said, "Let me go. I want freedom now."

"We're not going to let you go," said Volto, shaking his head. "Life isn't as simple as you."

White struggled against his straps. "My brother will free me. You'll see."

"Your brother?" said Volto. "Interesting you should mention him. I just saw him not too long ago."

White stopped struggling and looked up at Volto in surprise. "You did? Where is he?"

"Buried underneath a huge, burning pile of wood and plaster somewhere in New York City," said Volto. "That is to say, he's dead."

White gasped. "Kevin... dead?"

"Yes," said Volto, nodding. "Very dead."

"No," said White. "Kevin is strongest. He can't be dead."

"Even Samson died when he brought down the temple on himself," said Volto. "Strength doesn't guarantee you anything except the power to rule over others and protect your loved ones. And sometimes, not even then. Trust me, White, your brother is dead. He won't be coming to save you."

Volto's words echoed through White's mind. He won't be coming to save you... won't be coming to save you... "You're lying. He'll save me."

"I never lie," said Volto. "But believe what you want. It won't make much of a difference in the long run, especially given how you cannot even save yourself."

White couldn't believe it. Kevin couldn't be dead. That didn't make any sense. He knew that Kevin was not immortal, of course, but he had always seen Kevin as being smarter, faster, and more experienced than him. But at the same time, White felt like Volto might be telling the truth. That thought filled him with a sense of dread, to the point where he was too depressed to say anything else. All of his hope was slipping through his fingers like sand.

"Now," said Volto, "I assume you're wondering where you are?"

White snapped out of his depressing thoughts and looked at Volto again. "Still in the base?"

"You misunderstood the question," said Volto. He tapped the straps holding White down. "I mean, you are wondering what room you are in, yes? This isn't your cell, you know."

"I know," said White. "Where am I?"

"The base's laboratory," said Volto, gesturing all around. "This is where we run a variety of experiments, where we make our monsters, such as the tiger monkey, for example."

"Monsters?" said White. "You make... monsters?"

"Through gene-splicing, yes," said Volto, nodding. "All part of our employer's grand plan."

"What is that plan?" said White.

"You'll see eventually," said Volto. "For now, I suggest that you prepare yourself for what is about to come. It won't be very pleasant."

Volto raised a large needle out of nowhere. Through the needle's glass shaft, White could see some kind of green liquid sloshing around inside. The sight of the needle made White's stomach twist; he hated needles, a hatred he had developed from his years as a government experiment. He wanted to roll off the table and run away, but his straps kept him down.

"Our employer still wishes you to join us, but he has given us permission to... experiment upon you," said Volto. "You see, White, you and your brother are unique. Did you know that?"

White didn't nod, because his eyes were transfixed on the needle, which looked very painful. "What... what do you mean?"

"I mean that, in a world full of people who can do fantastic things, you are unique even among them," said Volto. "The Ciphers that give you and your brother your powers... they tie back into the very origin of superhumans, don't they?"

Again, White didn't nod, but he knew that Volto was right. Kevin had explained to White that they had things called 'Ciphers' in them. These Ciphers were the keys to an ancient alien machine known as the Apocalypse Switch, which had crash-landed on Earth thousands of years ago and whose crew had experimented on early humans, who were the ancestors of modern superhumans. The Switch no longer existed, since it had been destroyed by one of Kevin's friends a couple of months ago; however, the Ciphers were still inside Kevin and White. White, however, had not thought very much about his Cipher since then; it just didn't seem relevant, especially with how busy he was trying to catch up on everything he'd missed while being a government experiment.

Still, White asked, "So what? Cipher doesn't matter."

"That, my friend, is where you are wrong," said Volto. He leaned down closer, his face now only inches away from White's. "Our employer wants your Cipher. He had hoped that you might voluntarily give it over once we kidnapped you and offered you a position on the Venetians; however, it is plain that you will never join us. Therefore, we will simply remove the Cipher from your body by force."

White gulped. "How? My Cipher is in me. Can't give it up even if I wanted."

"That's why we're going to experiment upon you," said Volto. "Isn't it obvious? We have a wide variety of tools and methods at our disposal for taking things from the human body. We'll just keep trying until we find something that works. Of course, it shouldn't take us long, because our employer has a very broad knowledge of superhuman biology. I can't, however, guarantee that it won't be painful."

White looked at the needle again. "What is in the needle?"

"This?" said Volto. He shook the needle. "This is a serum created by one of our employer's scientists, based on information provided to us by our employer about you and your brother. Once injected into your bloodstream, it should force your Cipher out."

"Has it ever... ever been tested before?" White said.

Volto shook his head. "No. We've never had a Cipher carrier to test it out on. It may not work; it may even kill you. But our employer gave me direct orders to try it out now. And if you die... well, that will just make it easier for us to get the Cipher."

"Please don't hurt me," said White. "Let me go. Please."

"Begging will not get you anywhere with us," said Volto. He raised the needle. "Now, time to finish what we started."

White closed his eyes. He knew it wouldn't make the needle any less painful once it was stabbed into his neck, but he didn't want to see it anyway.

All of a sudden, a ringing sound could be heard. White opened his eyes to see that Volto had paused, still holding the needle over White. It took White a moment to realize that the ringing sound was coming from Volto's pocket. Volto must have realized that, too, because he stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a smartphone. White couldn't see who was calling, but based on Volto's annoyed eyes, White guessed that it must not have been someone Volto cared much for.

Still, Volto tapped the screen and held the phone against his ear. He turned around, perhaps because he didn't want White to see his eyes, but White could still hear him talking to whoever was on the other end.

"Yes?" said Volto. "What is it? I'm busy."

A low voice spoke over the phone, too low for White to hear. He wished he could see Volto's face; then he might be able to guess whether Volto was listening to good news or bad news. As it was, Volto simply stood very still, listening to the phone without moving an inch. He had lowered the needle to his side now, but White was worried that Volto would jab it into his body as soon as he finished talking with whoever had called.

"What?" said Volto. "He's still alive? Both of them survived?"

White looked at Volto's back in shock. Could he be talking about Kevin? If so, then maybe things were going to look up for White after all. Still, even if Kevin was alive, Kevin would need to find him, although that didn't seem nearly as difficult a task as White originally thought.

"How did he—" Volto shook his head. "Never mind. Where are they now? Gone, I see. Do we know what their next moves will be?"

The voice spoke again, although it sounded a little hurried now, as if the speaker didn't have much more time to talk.

"I see," said Volto again. "Yes, that does complicate things. But your plan could work. In fact, it's better than what I had planned. You're assuming they will act the way you think they will; can you give me any assurance that they won't do something different and force us to change our plans?"

The voice spoke once more, this time sounding rather offended, as if the speaker had been offended by Volto's question.

"Okay, okay, I believe you," said Volto. "Yes, I will get everything ready. Don't worry. Tell our employer about it. He likes to remain informed on these types of things."

The voice said one last thing in an affirmative tone before Volto hung up. Depositing the phone back into the pockets of his robes, Volto turned around to face White again. This time, however, Volto did not raise the needle. He instead put it aside on a nearby table before looking down at White again.

"Well, White, it looks like you are going to get to see your brother again after all," said Volto. "How does that make you feel?"

White couldn't help but smile. "Happy. Very happy."

"It should," said Volto. He suddenly put a hand on White's mouth. "Although I wouldn't get too happy if I were you, because the circumstances under which you'll meet your brother will be... less than ideal, let's say. For you, anyway."

White wanted to ask what that meant, but with Volto's hand over his mouth, he couldn't. All he could do was stare up at Volto, who was now calling Arlecchino to come and help him move White. White wondered where they were going to move him, but he didn't care about that right now. If Kevin was still alive, then he might be able to save White after all. That thought filled him with happiness, even in his current state and even while he didn't know what the Venetians were planning. He was sure that Kevin would be able to handle it.

***

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Kevin stood behind Blizzard's chair in the House's Meeting Room, staring down at her tablet, which was on the table before them. Blizzard sat in her chair, her hands folded over her lap, though Kevin wasn't paying attention to her. He was reading the interview that Virginia Gray had done with him earlier; the tablet was opened to Neo Ranks' website and every now and then he'd gesture for Blizzard to swipe down so he could read more of the interview. He was aware that the rest of the team—including a healed Talon—were also sitting around the table, but he barely paid attention to them. His eyes were focused on the interview, but his answers on it were so different from what he remembered giving her earlier that it felt like he was reading an interview with an entirely different person who just happened to share his name.

In particular, this part stood out to him:

VG (Virginia Gray): Do you think that the federal government should open schools for young superhumans? There's been some discussion of that idea recently in politics, especially after the damage that White Lightning caused during his time under Mastermind's control. President Plutarch has endorsed the idea, as have several prominent members of Congress from both parties. What are your thoughts on the subject?

BOLT: I don't trust the government, so no. If the government had control over the education of young superhumans, they would effectively have a powerful army of superhumans at their disposal. That would make it much harder to defeat the government in the event it became tyrannical. Normal governments are already very difficult to defeat; a superhuman-backed one would be practically impossible.

VG: But don't you think that all young superhumans deserve equal opportunities to learn how to use their powers and get a good education?

BOLT: No. We can train them ourselves, if necessary. That way, they won't become slaves of the government.

VG: Are you implying that the government would make them into slaves?

BOLT: All I'm saying is that I' m not a big fan of the government and I wouldn't mind if it was replaced. That would be kind of hard to do if all superhumans were loyal to it, wouldn't you say?

The rest of the interview went on in that vein for several hundred words, but Kevin stopped reading there. He looked at the rest of his team sitting around the table. They had all been pretty quiet, no doubt waiting for his response.

"This is the biggest load of crock I've ever had the displeasure of reading in my life," said Kevin. He walked over to his chair, which was next to Blizzard's, and then sat down, where he coughed for a moment before continuing. "I didn't say any of that. She totally put words in my mouth."

"We figured as much," said Stinger, who sat on the right side of the table. He was tossing a tennis ball between his hands, like he was bored. "You're usually not that candid about how you feel about the government."

"I don't want to lead a superhuman coup of the government and make a superhuman-dominated country or whatever," said Kevin flatly. "As much as I distrust the government, I don't want to do that. Cadmus Smith would probably kill me if I tried anyway."

"I guess that means that the bit about you and Blizzard was also fake?" said Shell, who sat on the opposite side of the table from Stinger. He pushed up his glasses as he looked down at his phone, apparently reading the interview there. "It says here you have no real intention of marrying Blizzard anytime soon and that you want to 'find yourself' before you settle down with someone who might want to 'restrict' your freedom."

"I didn't say anything like that," said Kevin with a scowl. He looked at Blizzard worriedly. "You know I wouldn't say anything like that, right?"

"I know," said Blizzard, although she looked even more angry. "That's how I knew that interview was bunk, because I know you well enough to know that you'd never do or say anything like that about me. Can't believe that harpy made that up."

"But why would she do that?" said Treehugger. She was sitting next to Shell, a worried and confused look on her face. "Why would she just go and lie about what you said to her?"

"Because I clearly didn't give her 'juicy' enough answers," said Kevin. He shook his head. "She was probably disappointed by the answers I gave her and decided to 'spice' them up a bit to make the interview more 'interesting' or maybe her editor made those changes."

"That's why my mother is always very particular about her media interviews," said Talon. She sat next to Stinger, although she had a bandage around her stomach from where the garbage monster had harmed her. "Even though she's a famous fashion designer, she's been misquoted enough times that she rarely grants interviews anymore except to reporters who she trusts. I could have told you to have the same policy ahead of time."

"Why didn't you?" said Kevin.

Talon shrugged. "You didn't ask."

Kevin wiped his face in frustration. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, however, so he could collect his thoughts. He rubbed his forehead, which was starting to hurt. That was probably from the flames; even though he was nowhere near the smoldering remains of the apartment building anymore, his lungs still hurt. The paramedic, Diana, had confirmed to Kevin that his lungs wouldn't suffer any long-term damage, but she did tell him to rest and have Hero Island's doctors take a look anyway just to be sure. Not that Kevin had done that yet; after his call with Blizzard, he had gone straight home via Teleportation Buckle. He'd offered to teleport Triplet back to his office, but Triplet had said he'd just get a taxi and told Kevin not to worry about him. And when Kevin had gotten back, he'd told Mecha Knight and his teammates about what he and Triplet had learned, although given how little he knew about the building, that didn't take very long to do.

"I shouldn't let this get to me," said Kevin, looking up at the others again. "The most important thing that we need to do now is find White."

"How?" said Blizzard. "Didn't you say that you and Triplet didn't find any clues leading to his location?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we should give up," said Kevin. "He's my brother and a member of the team. We can't just leave him behind, especially since we don't know what the Venetians are doing to him."

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that we literally have no idea where he is," said Stinger. "He could be on the moon for all we know."

"We'll find him," said Kevin. "I don't know how, but we will."

"The only way we could find him is if we captured one of the Venetians and made them tell us where he is," said Shell. "But we don't know where the Venetians are, either, and even if we did find one, we probably wouldn't be able to capture them, since they're pretty powerful and smart."

"Maybe they took him to Venice," Stinger suggested. "After all, they call themselves Venetians, right? Why wouldn't they take him to Venice?"

"Because, Stinger, they actually aren't real Venetians," said Kevin, rolling his eyes. "That's just their team name. Volto is Cuban, for Pete's sake. I don't think Cuba is part of Italy."

"It was just a joke, Bolt," said Stinger with a shrug. "Just trying to lighten things up a bit around here."

"I know," Kevin snapped. "And I don't care. I'll never be able to relax fully until we find White. He's my brother. I can't let him remain in the hands of villains who are doing God knows what to him right now."

Stinger just shrugged again, a gesture Kevin found annoying. He felt like he was the only one in the room taking this situation seriously.

"Shell is still right, though," said Blizzard. "Unless we catch a Venetian and force them to tell us where White is being held, I doubt we'll ever find him again."

"Who says it has to be a Venetian?" said Treehugger. "What if we can find someone associated with them or with their employer? Kevin, you said John Mann is financing them, right? So maybe we just need to find someone working for John Mann who might be able to tell us where White is."

"Do any of us know anyone who works for him?" said Stinger, looking around the table at everyone. "'Cause I sure don't."

Kevin fell into thought as the others batted around ideas for how they were going to find White. He agreed with Treehugger's idea of finding someone who worked for John Mann, although the problem was that he didn't know anyone who did. And that was a problem, a problem that, if unsolved, would ensure that Kevin would never see White again.

And all this started, if you think about it, because White tried to help us fight that garbage monster in New York, Kevin thought. And he wouldn't have done that if Virginia Gray had not... encouraged him to do that...

Suddenly, everything clicked in Kevin's mind. He stood up abruptly, catching the attention of the other Young Neos immediately, but he wasn't really paying attention to them. He now understood who could help them find White.

"Bolt?" said Blizzard. "What's the matter? Did you see something?"

"No," said Kevin, shaking his head. He gestured at everyone. "Everyone, we're heading out. Now."

"Now?" said Treehugger in surprise. "Why? Where are we going?"

"To visit a certain reporter who could tell us where White is," said Kevin. "All of us are going to need to go, just to be safe."

"A certain reporter?" Shell repeated. "Who would that be?"

"You'll see," said Kevin. "We're going to the Neo Ranks offices and we are going there now. We have no time to lose."

-

Kevin was surprised when he called up the Neo Ranks office and was told that he and his team were more than welcome to come and visit if they wanted. When he mentioned that he wanted to see Virgina Gray, however, the woman he spoke to—a peppy young black woman who called herself Nancy—said that Virginia had gone home early due to suddenly feeling ill for some reason. Kevin lied and told Nancy that he wanted to thank Virginia for such a 'great' interview and that he wanted to visit her personally to give her a gift for doing such a good job. Nancy apparently wasn't very smart, because she gave him the address to Virginia's apartment, which he copied down and thanked her for. She did ask him if he and the Young Neos ever planned to come visit the Neo Ranks offices, but Kevin gave her a very vague and noncommittal answer before hanging up; he felt that if Neo Ranks hired reporters as factually-challenged as Virginia, then he probably wasn't going to go visit their offices anytime soon.

Kevin doubted that Virginia was going to pose much of a threat to him; however, if his theory about her was correct, then he would need to be careful about how he approached her. That was why he chose to take Blizzard with him alone, rather than the other teammates; he figured that Virginia might be more willing to talk to just two of them rather than the whole team. But he did give the others orders to come in as backup if Blizzard and he got in some kind of trouble; he would have them hide somewhere nearby where they would not be seen.

Once those plans were in place, Kevin teleported himself, Blizzard, and the others to Virginia's apartment building. They immediately appeared in the hallway just outside her apartment; in sharp contrast to the hallway of Triplet's apartment building, this one was much nicer, with dark, hardwood floors, beautiful shining white walls, and even chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Even the door to Virginia's room looked fancy, with her name and room number written on it in gold lettering. That all but confirmed Kevin's theory about who her true employer was; there was no way that someone living on a reporter's salary in New York City could afford to live in such a lavish apartment building.

Before he knocked on the door, however, Kevin gestured for Shell, Stinger, Treehugger, and Talon to hide. The four of them went inside the stairwell right next to Virginia's room; they were effectively out of sight now, although they were also close enough to come to his and Blizzard's aid in the event that they needed it.

Kevin knocked sharply on Virginia's door and said in a loud voice, "Hello, Virginia! It's me, Bolt. Can you hear me?"

No response. Kevin at first thought that she might not be in her apartment—maybe she went to her doctor for that cold—but then Blizzard put a hand around her ear and said, "I hear movement. She's still in there."

Kevin understood the implication behind Blizzard's words. If Virginia was still here, but not answering the door, then she was obviously hiding something important, something that Kevin would force out of her if necessary.

So Kevin grabbed the doorknob and, using his super strength, twisted it hard enough to break the lock. He forced the door open and entered, with Blizzard following closely behind, her hands glowing white with cold energy in case they were attacked.

But they weren't attacked. Virginia's apartment was even more lavish than the hallway. The windows had beautiful white cotton drapes, while a huge flat-screen TV stood against the opposite wall, with an large, plush couch seated in front of it. A copy of the Mona Lisa hung on the wall to their right, next to the entrance to the bathroom, a bathroom that had expensive-looking marble tile and porcelain. That confirmed Kevin's theory that Virginia was being paid off by someone even more, but oddly enough, he did not see Virginia herself anywhere. She didn't even seem to be in the stainless steel kitchen.

"Virginia?" said Kevin, although his voice was lower now. "Virginia, where are you?"

Still no answer, so Kevin walked deeper into the apartment, with Blizzard by his side. Just as he passed the door, however, he heard movement behind him and looked around just in time to see Virginia rushing toward him with what looked like a thick fire poker in her hands. She swung the poker at his face; however, Kevin caught it with one hand, ripped it out of her hands, and then bent it in half before throwing it away. Virginia—who was dressed in pink silk pajamas—immediately backed away, making for the exit, but Blizzard got in her path and closed the door before she could leave, thus trapping her between Blizzard and Kevin.

Virginia apparently realized that, because she turned around to face Kevin again, except this time with a pleading look on her face. "Oh, hello, Bolt! I am so sorry for attacking you like that. I thought you were—"

"I don't care what you thought," said Kevin. He pointed at her, causing her to flinch, even though he hadn't even touched her. "You knew that I was going to come after you and you tried to knock me out, maybe even kill me."

"Listen, I know you're pissed off about the interview, but please, please don't kill me," said Virginia, falling to her knees and clasping her hands together like she was praying to God. "Journalists do this sort of thing all the time, you understand, to make our interviews interesting for our readers and—"

"I don't give a damn about your stupid interview," said Kevin, interrupting Virginia like she hadn't even said a word. "I want to know where White is being kept."

"White?" Virginia repeated, as if she didn't know who he was talking about. "Do you mean White Lightning, your brother? Why would I know where he is?"

"Because you're being paid off by the same man who is financing the Venetians in order to push his agenda," said Kevin. "I don't know how closely you work alongside those freaks, nor do I know what your plan is, but I'm guessing you work closely enough with them to achieve the same goal."

"Me? Paid off by John Mann?" said Virginia. "Why, I would never do that! I am a journalist who is not corrupted by things like money. If a billionaire tried to bribe me with money to push a narrative, why, I would be so offended! I have ethics, you know, journalistic ethics, the highest kind of ethics, and if you think so lowly of me that I would ever take a bribe—"

"Kevin never said that John Mann was financing the Venetians," Blizzard interrupted. "Methinks you doth protest too much."

Virginia's pale face became even paler, as if the last vestiges of blood had just drained from her face. "I... well, uh... so what if I take a little money from him? It's not like he's a bad man. He's a generous philanthropist who just wants to make the world a better place. And really, John Mann financing the Venetians? How silly."

"Then why did you use his name when I accused you of being funded by the same man who funds the Venetians?" said Kevin. "Come on, Virginia. We may not be journalists, but that doesn't mean we're stupid."

Virginia bit her lower lip. She now looked like a cornered rat, her eyes darting to the left and to the right like she was trying to figure out how to get out of this situation, but between Kevin and Blizzard, she was effectively trapped.

Finally, she hung her head in shame. "Okay, fine. I have taken money from John Mann. And it isn't just a little money, either, but a lot. How else do you think I'm able to afford such a fabulous apartment?"

"I figured as much," said Kevin. "Do you know where White is being kept?"

"Not... exactly," said Virginia. "It isn't like I work directly with the Venetians; I've never even met any of them. Having said that, however, I do know of a place where they might have taken him." She looked up at Kevin. "Have you heard of the Genesis Institute?"

"No," said Kevin, shaking his head. "What is that?"

"It's a scientific lab that John Mann built," said Virginia. "He supposedly has scientists employed there who try to make new scientific and technological breakthroughs to advance both his personal fortune and humanity's progress in general. But it's a very private institution, located in the forests of upstate New York, well away from most towns and cities. And he doesn't let just anyone visit or work there; you need to be personally invited by Mann himself, so I have never been there myself."

"Let me guess, it's real purpose is different from its public purpose, right?" said Kevin.

Virginia shrugged. "I don't know. Like I said, I've never been there, but I've heard... rumors that all kinds of horrific experiments on humans and even animals are practiced there. It's the only place I can think of where a superhuman like your brother might be kept. Mann might be interested in experimenting on him for some reason."

"I see," said Kevin. Kevin looked over Virginia's head at Blizzard. "Blizzard, have you found the Genesis Institute's address online?"

Blizzard—who had been busily scrolling through the search results on her suit-up watch's screen—nodded and said, "Yes. I'm sending it to you right now so we can teleport there right away."

"Good job," said Kevin, giving her the thumbs up. He looked down at Virginia again. "As for you, we'll let you off this time. But I highly suggest that you stop taking money from corrupt billionaires with hidden agendas; otherwise, you might piss off the wrong superhuman and learn why some of us are called supervillains."

Virginia's eyes just rolled into the back of her head and she fainted onto the floor. That surprised Kevin; he didn't realize that she was so fragile. Her nerves must have been completely frayed if she fell unconscious because he happened to say some mean words to her.

Shaking his head, Kevin walked around the unconscious Virginia and stepped into the hallway with Blizzard. Stinger, Shell, Treehugger, and Talon were already there, perhaps because they heard Kevin and Blizzard exiting the apartment.

"Bolt, Blizzard," said Stinger as the four of them stopped in front of Kevin and Blizzard. "Did you guys figure out where White is?"

Kevin nodded. "Yes. We have his location and we're heading there right away. Is everyone ready to go?"

The whole team nodded, so Kevin said, "Okay. Everyone, grab hands, because we're going to teleport there now and I want to make sure that we all make it."

***

CHAPTER TWENTY

In another instant, the opulent hallway of Virginia Gray's apartment building vanished. In the next, Kevin and the Young Neos stood on top of a tall cliff overlooking a huge forest that stretched on for miles in every direction. The wind was strong up here, causing Blizzard's, Treehugger's, and Talon's long hair to whip about; it was also very cold, making Kevin shiver, despite the fact that his body produced enough electrical energy to warm him.

Standing before them was a huge, metallic structure: The Genesis Institute. It towered above them, shaped somewhat like a ball, although it had no windows for them to look through. Its doors were closed, apparently locked, and when Kevin looked around, he did not see anyone else in the immediate area aside from himself and his teammates. There were a few cars sitting in a nearby parking lot, but the entire place felt empty and abandoned. Given Kevin's previous experience with places that 'felt' empty and abandoned, however, he knew better than to assume they were alone or that the Institute was abandoned.

He looked at the others. "Everyone ready? We have no idea what's in there or what the Venetians might have in store for us, so we need to be ready for anything."

"Don't you think we should tell Mecha Knight and the other NHA members about this?" said Treehugger, hugging her body, probably because of the cold wind. "They would like to know where White is, wouldn't they?"

"We have no time to wait for the Leadership Council to come to a decision on this matter," said Kevin. "This is my brother's life at stake here. If we're wrong, then we'll deal with the consequences; besides, I already had Valerie send Mecha Knight a message about what we're going to do and where we're going. He'll probably send backup soon enough, although by the time they get here, I am sure White will be safe and sound."

Then Kevin turned to face the Genesis Institute. "Now, less talking and more doing."

Kevin marched up to the front doors of the Institute, the rest of his teammates following closely behind. When they reached the doors, Kevin pulled his fists back and punched the doors with super strength. Although the doors appeared to be made of the same metal as the rest of the Institute, they immediately snapped off their hinges like cheap plastic and hurtled into the Institute's lobby, where they crashed into the wall on the other side a second later. Kevin gestured for the others to follow and then they all entered the building, ready to fight.

In contrast to the cold and windy weather outside, the Institute's interior was warm, although it was a sterile kind of warm. The lobby was rather bare; aside from the broken doors on the other end, it was entirely empty of people or furniture. A hallway extended beyond the wall on the other end, a hallway with doors on each side. Kevin figured that that hallway would probably take them to whichever room that White was being held hostage in, although he had no idea how big this place was. Not that he cared; if the Institute had 500 floors and White was at the bottommost one, he would fight through each and every one if that was what he had to do in order to save him.

"This is boring," said Stinger, though he was looking around cautiously nonetheless. "I thought we were going to have to do some kind of epic team battle against the Venetians as soon we entered. Guess we must have taken them by surprise."

"Oh, kid, you've surprised no one," said a familiar harsh voice from the ceiling. "You're not that clever, although you brats are annoying."

A portion of the ceiling slid away, revealing a dark hole from which two figures dropped. They landed on the floor on the other side of the room and stood up, revealing that they were Pantalone and Arlecchino. The two Venetians didn't look much different from earlier in the day, when Kevin and White had fought them on the beach, but Kevin remembered well how difficult these two were in battle, so he was not going to underestimate them now.

Raising his fists, Kevin said, "Pantalone and Arlecchino. Why am I not surprised to see you two chuckleheads here?"

"Because it would be rather boring if we didn't try to thwart your heroic rescue," Pantalone replied. His pet crow was glaring at them as well. "Trust me, Arlecchino and I would rather do anything else right now than play with a bunch of kids like you."

"A bunch of kids who are gonna kick your asses," said Kevin. "Where's White? Wait, let me guess. You're going to refuse to tell me, so we're going to have to beat the crap out of you to make you talk."

"Kids these days are so vulgar, aren't they, Arlecchino?" said Pantalone with a sigh.

"Yep," said Arlecchino. "But that doesn't matter. What matters, Bolt, is that you are wrong." He pointed at the floor upon which he stood. "Your brother is located on the fifth floor of the Institute, which you can get into by taking the elevator down the hallway behind us. He's being held inside a huge cell. He's still alive and unharmed, although he's not very happy."

"Why are you telling us this?" said Kevin.

"Are you just going to let us go past you without having to fight you?" said Treehugger in a hopeful voice.

Arlecchino laughed. "Ha! Of course not. We just like to play fair, that's all. Where is the fun in keeping secrets from you? It's not like you wouldn't have figured it out on your own anyway. Right, Pantalone?"

"Indeed," said Pantalone. "Of course, by the time you did, you would have probably destroyed the entire Institute and our employer would be rather angry at us if he learned that we let a bunch of spoiled brats run rampant in one of his expensive buildings. Best to let you know where to look ahead of time to avoid all of that nonsense."

"How do we know you aren't lying?" said Kevin. "Maybe you've already moved White out of here and put him somewhere else."

"I can guarantee you that your brother is still here," said Pantalone. "And if you can get past us, then you will be able to save him."

"Maybe we don't want to fight you," said Kevin. He raised a hand. "If he's below us, then I can just blast a hole through each floor with my lightning powers until we reach the fifth floor. Or use my super strength to tear through the ground to get to him. Would be a lot quicker than fighting a couple of freaks like you."

"You're assuming we will even allow you to do that," said Pantalone. "Just because we are playing fair doesn't mean we're not playing at all. Right, Arlecchino?"

"Right on, Pantalone," said Arlecchino. "Our employer would be very displeased with us if we just let you kids get past us without a fight."

"Fine," said Kevin. He punched his fist into his other hand. "We'll kick your asses and then take the elevator. Shouldn't take more than five minutes."

Kevin looked at his friends, however, and said, "Ready? These two are tough, but I think if we all work together, we should be able to beat them."

"The power of teamwork, eh?" said Arlecchino in a mocking voice. "Ha! You kids are even dumber than I thought. Pantalone, do you happen to believe in the power of teamwork, too?"

"I believe in the power of pragmatism, myself," said Pantalone. "That is about the only higher power I recognize."

Kevin just rolled his eyes, but then said to the others, "Okay, guys, let's do this!"

Kevin activated his flight powers and launched into the air toward Pantalone and Arlecchino. Stinger joined him, flying fast enough to keep up with him, while Blizzard, Talon, Treehugger, and Shell ran to meet Arlecchino on the floor. Arlecchino showed no fear at all; if anything, he looked rather amused at the four teenagers running toward them. As for Pantalone, however, he took off into the air, flapping his wings as he soared toward Kevin and Stinger, his pet crow cawing as he flew.

Kevin fired a lightning bolt at Pantalone. But Pantalone dodged it easily, although Stinger shot forward and tried to sting him with his stingers. Pantalone, however, grabbed Stinger's wrists and hurled him away toward the wall with surprising strength. Stinger slammed into the wall and fell to the floor, although he looked more stunned than unconscious.

But Kevin took this moment to launch toward Pantalone. He tried to punch the flying Venetian, but then Pantalone's crow came out of nowhere and started pecking at Kevin's face, forcing Kevin to come to a halt and cover his face with his arms to avoid losing his sight. That was why he was unable to dodge Pantalone when the latter rammed into him. Even though Pantalone wasn't a very huge guy, the impact of his attack still sent Kevin hurtling backwards through the air toward the wall.

Luckily, Kevin recovered his senses just in time to avoid crashing into the wall. Instead, he rode the momentum of his hurtle and landed on the wall with both feet before pushing himself off with a super speed boost, sending him flying uncontrollably fast through the air toward Pantalone. Pantalone tried to get out of the way, but Kevin came too fast and he slammed into Pantalone's gut with enough force to smash Pantalone into the wall on the opposite side of the room. Kevin and Pantalone crashed into the wall so hard, in fact, that they broke some of the metal plating, leaving a small crater where they had crashed.

Somewhat dazed by the attack, Kevin nonetheless managed to push himself off Pantalone and fly a few feet away from him. He was surprised to see that Pantalone was still conscious; the Venetian's mask was cracked slightly and his wings appeared bent, but other than that, Pantalone appeared to be all right. That made Kevin wonder what the heck Pantalone was made out of. At least Pantalone wasn't going to be flying any time soon.

Of course, Pantalone had to go and disprove that by pushing himself off the wall and flapping out of the crater. But each flap of his wings looked incredibly painful, which made sense, given how hard the impact had been. Kevin was just surprised that Pantalone's wings hadn't broken entirely; he figured that Pantalone's wings should have shattered upon impact. Perhaps Pantalone was made of sterner stuff than he thought.

"Very... very good, boy," said Pantalone, his voice weaker than before. "I underestimated you, although I think that Arlecchino didn't quite make the same mistake with your friends."

Puzzled, Kevin looked down at the floor. Arlecchino was still fighting his friends, but Shell and Treehugger had already been knocked out, leaving only Blizzard and Talon to fight him. And even they were having trouble keeping up; it looked like Arlecchino's muscles had expanded beyond their natural size, making him look like some kind of hulking beast. He even snorted and growled like a beast, as if he had lost all rationality in favor of brute strength. And it seemed to have been a good trade-off, given how easily and effortlessly he was dodging Blizzard and Talon's attacks while responding with devastating punches and kicks that would have been enough to knock them out if Blizzard and Talon were not such nimble fighters. Arlecchino did have chunks of ice on his body, like Blizzard had tried to freeze him at some point, but he didn't seem to notice it or give it much thought.

But then Kevin heard a flapping of wings and, remembering that he was still fighting Pantalone, looked up in time to see the Venetian's claws coming at his face. Pantalone's claws wrapped around Kevin's neck, but they didn't fall. Pantalone just held onto Kevin's neck tightly, his claws digging through the material of Kevin's costume and starting to pierce his skin.

"Dumb boy," said Pantalone, his voice heavy and angry, "the number one rule of battle is to never turn your back on your enemy. And it is the number one rule because those who violate it never live long enough to correct that mistake."

Kevin couldn't breathe. Pantalone's grip was death-like and he was too close for Kevin to get enough power to punch him back.

But then Pantalone's green eyes suddenly widened and he gasped in pain before his body went rigid, rigid enough that Kevin was able to push him off his body. Pantalone then fell to the floor below and crashed into it hard, but he did not get up or even move. Kevin didn't understand why, however, until he looked up and saw Stinger hovering in front of him, the stingers on his wrists held out. Kevin had completely forgotten about Stinger during the ensuing drama; however, he smiled anyway, even though his neck still ached from where Pantalone had dug his claws into him.

"T-Thanks," said Kevin, rubbing his neck. "I was almost a goner there."

"Don't mention it," said Stinger, waving off Kevin's gratitude. "I wanted to pay him back for throwing me into that wall. It really hurt. He'll probably be down for the next couple of hours, since that's usually how long my body's venom lasts."

"Good," said Kevin. "That will be more than enough time to save White. But first, we need to help Blizzard and Talon take down Arlecchino."

Kevin almost flew down, but then Stinger grabbed his arm and said, "Wait, I've got a better idea."

Kevin looked at Stinger in annoyance. "What better idea? Blizzard and Talon need our help."

"Yeah, but why not take advantage of this opportunity to go on ahead and save White?" Stinger suggested. "I'll help Blizzard and Talon distract Arlecchino, while you can use the elevator to go down to the fifth floor where White is."

Kevin bit his lower lip. "Yes, that's a good idea, but I'm the leader. I should be helping my teammates."

"Isn't White one of the team?" said Stinger. "And he's your brother, to boot. Not to mention how he could be a big help beating Arlecchino; if you can get him up here, Arlecchino won't stand a chance."

Kevin didn't like the idea of leaving Blizzard, Talon, and Stinger alone to deal with Arlecchino; however, he had to admit that Stinger's plan was good, much better than his own. "Okay. But I won't be gone long. Five minutes, tops."

"Sounds good," said Stinger, giving Kevin the thumbs up. "Good luck, leader."

Kevin nodded once and then flew across the length of the lobby to the hallway, ignoring the sounds of battle between Arlecchino and his teammates as much as he could. He entered the hallway and flew down it for a short ways before coming upon what appeared to be the elevator. He landed on the floor and pressed the down arrow. He expected the elevator to take some time getting up here; much to his surprise, however, he heard the small 'ding' almost immediately and the doors opened. He hesitated to enter at first, because he wasn't sure if it was a trap, but then he remembered that every moment he spent standing in hesitation was another moment that White was in his enemy's hands. So Kevin entered the elevator and pressed the '5' button and the doors closed and the elevator began to descend.

To Kevin, the elevator seemed to take forever to descend. He stood there, his arms folded over his chest, ready to fight if necessary. He kept expecting something to happen; maybe the elevator car would come to a stop and he would be stranded here, maybe the elevator's cables would be snapped and he would fall to his death, or maybe a poisonous gas would be leaked into the car and he would die in here all alone. But nothing like that happened at all; the elevator car simply descended deeper and deeper into the Institute, just like a normal elevator. Kevin wondered why the Venetians weren't controlling the elevator; then again, perhaps they didn't have control over it. Regardless, Kevin didn't let his guard down. He had been in enough situations like this to know that if things were going too smoothly for you, that meant you were probably walking straight into a trap, even if you didn't know what the trap was or who had set it for you.

After several more seconds, Kevin heard a small 'ding' and the elevator doors opened again. Kevin stepped out of the elevator and looked around the hallway he had entered. He walked to the left down the hallway, since he figured that was where he would find White, before finding a door that was open, which he decided to check to see if it was where White was. Upon entering the room, he looked around at his surroundings to see what it was like. It was a large, dome-shaped room, similar to the lobby, except the floor was made out of glass, except for the perimeter, which was made of the same metal as the rest of the place. A control panel stood near the glass floor, but Kevin paid no attention to it. He just walked to the edge of the glass floor and then looked down through the glass to see what was under there.

It was a cell of some sort, although the walls and floor were concrete rather than metal. And lying on a cot on the other side of the cell, his back to Kevin, was White Lightning himself. He was curled in a ball, seemingly asleep, but there was no mistaking that blue and white costume for anyone else.

"White!" Kevin shouted. "White, it's me, Kevin! Can you hear me?"

White didn't move. He just continued to lie on his cot, not moving or making any sounds. Kevin wondered if the Venetians had injected him with some sort of anesthetic to keep him asleep or perhaps the glass floor was too thick for Kevin's voice to make it through. White stirred every now and then, which told Kevin that he was alive, at least.

Kevin considered just smashing through the glass with his super strength, but he realized that would likely harm White. So he ran over to the control panel, which had a single red button on it, and he pressed the button, causing a portion of the glass floor to slide away, as well as a staircase to come out of the cell's wall that led down into the cell itself. Kevin immediately ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time because he was in such a hurry. When he reached the cell itself, he ran over to White, who again had not looked over to see what was making the noise or done anything else to indicate that he had heard someone enter his cell.

"White!" said Kevin, stopping before White's cot. "White, it's me. Are you awake?"

Still White did not move, so Kevin reached out to shake White awake. As soon as his hand brushed against White's shoulder, White stirred. Kevin pulled his hand away as White sat up, shaking his head, although he didn't turn around to look at Kevin. Still, Kevin was happy that White had finally woken up.

"White, you're awake," said Kevin. "I am so glad to see that you're all right. The others are distracting Arlecchino, so if you come with me now, we should be able to get out of here before the Venetians get reinforcements."

White did not say anything. Instead, he slowly turned to face Kevin, more like a robot than a human. His eyes were closed, but then they snapped open. They were no longer their natural green, however; instead, White's irises were a frightening—and familiar—purple.

"White?" said Kevin. "What happened to your—"

Kevin heard the sound of stone grinding against stone and looked over his shoulder. The staircase he had used to get down here was retracting into the wall, while the glass ceiling was closing again. And through the glass ceiling, he saw a woman wearing a plague doctor mask standing at the controls, a woman he didn't recognize, but who he realized had to be another one of the Venetians.

"Who the hell are you?" said Kevin, turning around to look at her. "Another damn Venetian?"

"That I am," said the woman, who sounded very young. "I am Medico Della Peste, though you can just call me Della for short. But I recommend not turning your back on your enemies; it's usually the kind of mistake you aren't allowed to make twice."

"Enemy?" said Kevin. "You're not behind me. You're—"

Immediately, Kevin felt a needle jammed into his back. He gasped in pain before looking over his shoulder to see that White—his irises still purple—had jabbed a needle into his back. Not only that, but some kind of weird green substance was being injected into his body, which was starting to make him feel woozy just looking at it.

"Should have listened to the woman, Bolt," said White, although his voice didn't sound quite normal; it sounded more like Volto's voice. "Too bad you won't live long enough to regret this mistake."

***

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

White floated in darkness. He didn't know where he was. All he could see was deep, empty blackness all around him everywhere he looked. He couldn't see, hear, smell, taste, or feel anything. He had never quite experienced anything like this before, although it did remind him of his time in the government facility in which he had spent much of his life. The last thing he remembered was being thrown back into his cell in the Venetians' base; after that, everything was blank.

White was sure that he had not been transported anywhere out of the Venetians' base, but that didn't help explain where he was or what happened. Had the Venetians knocked him out? White had been unconscious before, but this was nothing like his previous times being unconscious. For one, he was aware of his own unconsciousness; usually, he wasn't. Therefore, the Venetians had done something else to him, but he didn't know what.

Maybe they killed me, White thought. Maybe this is what death is like.

That didn't make sense, either, though. The Venetians had not wanted to kill him. They wanted his Cipher, sure, but they hadn't wanted to kill him. Well, maybe Arlecchino wanted him dead, but White was sure that if they were going to kill him, they would have said so. No, they had done something else to him as part of their plan to get Kevin. That much he knew.

Speaking of Kevin, he hoped that his brother was safe. The Venetians were deceptive and tricky. Kevin was very smart and clever, but there was no way for Kevin to know ahead of time what the Venetians had in store for him. Granted, White didn't know, either, but he suspected it had something to do with stealing Kevin's Cipher. That was what he gathered based on what he remembered Volto saying to that person on the phone. White wondered why they didn't just take his Cipher while they had him; maybe they wanted to try and get both his and Kevin's Cipher in one go?

Regardless, White had not felt this powerless since his days in the government. He could only guess at what was going on in the outside world. He wanted to be awake to see his brother again, but as long as he was in this strange darkness, White would never be able to do anything.

That was when White noticed a change in his surroundings. Unless his eyes were mistaken, it seemed like the darkness was getting lighter and lighter. He also began to notice the outlines of objects in the darkness around him. Additionally, he started to sense temperature; it was a medium warm temperature, though it leaned toward the warmer end of the spectrum. Gradually, his vision cleared, until soon he was looking up at an old, hardwood ceiling. He was lying on a soft, white mattress, which was how he realized that he wasn't in his cell anymore. Instead, he was somewhere else entirely.

Sitting up, White looked around at the room he had woken up in. The walls were made of the same hardwood as the ceiling, as was the floor, giving the place a very cabin-like feel. On the opposite side of the room from his bed was an open window, from which he heard birds chirping as warm sunlight streamed in and onto his body. A ceiling fan was attached to the ceiling, although it was currently off, as were the lights, probably because the sunlight from outside was providing enough light. A large chest of drawers stood next to his bed, while at the other end of the room, there was a single wooden door that appeared to be locked. A whiff of grass and rain came in from outdoors, making White breathe it in deeply.

White recognized this place. He had been taken to this cabin by Mastermind after the former had freed him from the government. This was a secluded cabin, deep in the woods, a sharp contrast to the dull and dark government facility that he had been freed from. Mastermind had told him that this cabin was in the Jason family and that he always used to spend summers in it as a kid, which was why he had brought White there. It was the first place where White had truly felt at peace.

But White didn't understand what he was doing here now. There was no way that the Venetians could have taken him here; they probably didn't even know this place existed. They wanted to keep him where they could keep a watch on him, after all, and the base was a good place to do that. Besides, he felt stronger than usual, as if the powerless gas had finally worn off, and he knew that the Venetians would never allow him to regain his powers, no matter what. Yet he was still here, still sitting in the bed that he remembered, even though it had been months since he'd last stepped foot in this place.

All of a sudden, the door at the end of the cabin began to open. Then a strikingly familiar figure stepped into the cabin, closing the door behind himself as he did so.

"No way..." said White, staring at the figure who had just entered. "Mastermind?"

Mastermind stood tall in his purple and gray armor, his helmet obscuring his features. He wore the same utility belt and his armor was even scratched and pitted in the same areas it had been when he'd been alive. But that didn't make any sense; Kevin had told White that Mastermind had blown himself up two months ago. The only part of Mastermind that had survived the explosion had been his helmet, but even that had been twisted and partially melted. Kevin had told White that not a single part of Mastermind's body had survived the explosion; White had believed him, especially after the Apocalypse Switch and the spaceship it had been on got nuked.

But here Mastermind was, looking like he hadn't been blown to bits. Mastermind folded his arms over his chest, seemingly unimpressed with White. "Hello, son. It's been a while."

White moved back against the wall that his bed stood against. Even though he was stronger than Mastermind, Mastermind was way smarter than him. He knew from experience that Mastermind didn't need physical strength to be a threat.

"You are dead," said White. "You blew yourself up."

"I did," said Mastermind. He tapped the side of his head. "But I'm not real. This is all in your head."

White blinked. "What?"

"Your soul has been displaced," said Mastermind. "A malicious spirit has taken over your body. This is how your soul is dealing with it. I am just the embodiment of your subconscious, sent to try to rouse you to wake up and retake your body."

"Um..." White didn't understand what Mastermind meant. "You're not real?"

"Correct," said Mastermind. "The real Mastermind is still dead. I know it is somewhat complicated to explain, but trust me when I say that I am not the Mastermind you knew, but rather the Mastermind you wish you had known, created by your subconscious to aid you. If I was the real Mastermind, we would be having a very different conversation now."

White supposed that made sense, but he still didn't really grasp what was going on here. "Am I dead?"

"No," said Mastermind. "You are very much alive. It's just that your soul is currently not in control of your body. Volto's soul has taken control of your body in order to use it to lay a trap for your brother."

"Lay a trap for Kevin?" said White. "How do I save him?"

"By retaking control of your body," said Mastermind. "And to do that, you must force Volto's soul out of his body."

White rubbed his head. "How do I do that?"

"That is what I am here to tell you about," said Mastermind. He spread his arms. "You must assert your right to control your body. This body is not Volto's. It is yours. Demand it like it is your birthright."

"Demand it..." White repeated. "I don't know how."

"Come on," said Mastermind. "What has your brother been teaching you? Hasn't he taught you how to assert your rights and to demand nothing less than what you deserve?"

"No," said White, shaking his head. "He hasn't."

Mastermind sighed. "Very well. It isn't very hard, but you must do it. Your brother's life depends on it."

"My brother's life?" said White. "Kevin is in danger?"

"Very real danger," said Mastermind. He pointed at White. "And you are the only one who can save him. You just need to regain control of your body before it is too late."

White looked away. "But I mess up all the time. If I tried to help Kevin, I might make the situation worse."

"Only if you continue to abide in your self-pitying nonsense," said Mastermind in a sharp voice. "Stop sitting around and whining. Get up and act."

"But—"

"Act!" Mastermind shouted. "Your brother's life depends on it!"

White gulped. He nonetheless jumped off his bed, but then looked around in confusion. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Retake control of your body," said Mastermind. "Defeat Volto. It is the only way."

"Still don't know how to do that," said White with a shrug. "Don't think I can."

Mastermind sighed again. "Foolish boy. At the moment, Volto is too focused on catching your brother to take notice of you. This is the perfect time to strike." He turned around. "Come and follow me."

Mastermind pulled open the door and exited, leaving the door open for White. After a moment's hesitation, White followed, because he knew that Mastermind was telling the truth about the danger that Kevin was in. How he knew that for sure, he didn't know, but he could sense it.

When White passed through the doorway, he did not find himself outside in the surrounding woods. Instead, he was now in a city street, a street he did not recognize at first, although it seemed to be somewhere in New York City. With a start, he realized that he was back on that street where the Young Neos had fought that garbage monster, although there was something surreal and dreamlike about it. There was no one else in the street aside from himself.

But then Mastermind appeared next to White and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look, my son. Volto is over there."

White blinked and he suddenly saw Volto. The Venetian stood in the center of the street, holding a needle in his hand that he was stabbing into Kevin's back. Kevin was gasping in pain, seemingly paralyzed by the needle, while Volto kept digging the needle deeper and deeper into Kevin's back. Neither Volto nor Kevin seemed to notice White and Mastermind; it was though they didn't even exist.

Mastermind patted White's shoulder. "Now, White, go and attack Volto. Quickly, before he senses you have awoken."

White again hesitated, but only for a moment, because now that he saw Volto actually harming Kevin—his only brother in the world—he forgot all about holding back. He activated his super speed and rushed toward Volto, screaming at the top of his lungs, pulling his fists back.

Volto must have heard him, because he yanked the needle out of Kevin's back and turned around to face him. Shock appeared in Volto's eyes when he saw White coming toward him, but he did not get a chance to do anything else, because White slammed his fist directly into Volto's mask.

When White's fist connected with Volto's face, it didn't feel like a normal punch. Instead, it felt like White was punching a mountain, while his fist felt like a bomb. The blow sent Volto flying. Volto's body turned into a bluish glow before it vanished into the side of a nearby building. As soon as it vanished, White felt a heaviness lift off of him that he hadn't noticed before; a sign, he sensed, that Volto's soul had finally been removed from his body.

But White didn't pay attention to that, because he now noticed that Kevin was falling toward the street. He moved to try to grab Kevin, but he was too slow, and when Kevin hit the street, his body turned into a red glow that disappeared before his eyes.

Then White heard clapping behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Mastermind standing only a few feet away. Mastermind seemed to be proud of White for what he did; although his clapping was slow and measured, it was also very sincere.

"Good job, White, good job," said Mastermind. "You have successfully retaken control of your body, but it's not over yet. You and your brother are still in danger. Once you reawaken in the physical world, I won't be here to guide or protect you anymore."

White frowned. "Why?"

"Because I am not real," said Mastermind. "You will understand this later, when you are older. For now, good luck and save your brother. Even as we speak, your enemies are moving to fix the errors they have made. Time is of the essence."

All of a sudden, Mastermind vanished, but Mastermind was not the only thing that vanished. As White watched, the world around him began to fade, but not into darkness, but into whiteness. Yet that thought did not fill him with fear; instead, it just made him all the more ready to deal with the Venetians once and for all, especially for hurting his brother.

***

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The pain from the needle jabbed into his spine was the least of Kevin's troubles. As Volto—who Kevin belatedly realized was possessing White's body—pumped more of that liquid into his body, Kevin began to feel like he was dying. He could feel the liquid burning through his veins, reaching into his inmost being, making him gasp in pain, but for some reason he couldn't move. It was like the liquid had paralyzed his body, making it impossible for him to do anything except stand there and feel pain. He also felt something be taken out of him, although he was in such pain that he couldn't even begin to identify what he was losing.

Behind him, Volto chuckled in his ear. "I don't know how you survived that burning building, but it doesn't matter. Once we're done with you here, you will wish that—"

Volto suddenly stopped speaking. He gasped for air, as if he was choking, and then he leaned away from Kevin, yanking the needle out of Kevin's back. With a gasp of his own, Kevin fell forward onto the floor, landing on his hands and knees. He no longer felt paralyzed; however, he did feel extremely exhausted, his body shaking as he breathed in and out very hard. But he also looked over his shoulder, wondering what had caused Volt to pull the needle out of his back.

Volto was lying on the cot again, having dropped the needle on the floor, which was now glowing red like Kevin's lightning powers. Volto had put his hands on his face and was groaning and moaning like he was in great pain, which was strange because Kevin hadn't even touched Volto. All he could do was watch as Volto gasped and groaned and then, all of a sudden, Volto screamed.

His scream was so loud that it almost made Kevin jump, but the scream lasted for only a second before Volto became unnaturally quiet. Kevin continued to stare at Volto in fear, unsure what was going on. He wondered if this was all part of some greater master plan on Volto's part to mess with Kevin's mind one last time before he finished him off.

Then Volto shook, like his body was electrocuted, and he lowered his hands to look at Kevin. His eyes, however, were no longer purple; instead, they were their normal green again.

"White?" said Kevin in surprise. "Is that you?"

White blinked several times before his eyes locked on Kevin and he said, with a huge smile, "Brother!"

White launched off his cot and hugged Kevin hard enough to squeeze the air out of his lungs. "Brother, I missed you so! I thought you were going to die."

"White," said Kevin in a tight voice. "Please let me go. You're crushing me."

White let go of Kevin and stepped back, although he was still smiling at Kevin. "Sorry. Just missed you a lot."

Kevin nodded and tried to stand up, but his back ached when he did it and he fell back to the floor. "Ugh. My back..."

"I help you up," said White.

He grabbed Kevin's arm and pulled him up. The pain in Kevin's back fired up when he was pulled up; however, White put an arm around his shoulders to help him stand.

"Thanks, bro," said Kevin, although his voice was tight due to the pain. "God, what happened? How did you beat Volto?"

"I asserted my will," said White proudly. "Just like Dad said."

"What?" said Kevin. He shook his head. "Never mind. Why did Volto stab me with that needle?"

White bit his lower lip, like he was trying to think of how to explain it. "Uh... they want the Ciphers."

"Ciphers?" said Kevin. "You mean the keys to the Apocalypse Switch? Why?"

"Don't know," said White. "Part of their plan."

Kevin looked over his shoulder. The needle still lay on the bed, but it was now glowing a bright red. Worried, Kevin raised his hand and tried to summon a ball of red electricity. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he focused on it, he couldn't feel the electricity inside him anymore.

"Damn it," said Kevin. "I think Volto sapped the Cipher from my body. I can't even feel the electricity anymore."

"Not good," said White. He glanced at the needle. "I know. I will take needle and we will figure out how to put the Cipher back into your body."

"Good idea," said Kevin. "But I think I still have my other powers, so we should be able to get out of here anyway. Come on."

White nodded and grabbed the needle, but before they could move, Kevin heard movement above and he looked up at the glass ceiling to see the female Venetian—Della, she called herself—still standing there staring at them in shock. Her hand was on one of the buttons on the control panel, Kevin didn't understand why until he noticed a huge stone slab starting to cover the glass ceiling. He realized that Della was trying to trap him and White in here by covering the glass ceiling. He watched as Della turned and ran, most likely to leave the room, but Kevin would worry about her later.

A second later, however, yellow gas shot out of the tubes on the walls underneath the lamps, which Kevin recognized as powerless gas. He looked at White, who was looking at the powerless gas in alarm too and said, "White, we have to get out of here before the powerless gas takes away our powers!"

"Sure," said White. "Hold this."

White handed Kevin the needle with the Cipher in it, which Kevin took in one hand. Then White pointed his free hand at the glass ceiling and unleashed a blast of blue lightning, which shattered a huge hole in the ceiling and sent glass flying everywhere above. Then White redoubled his grip on Kevin and flew him out through the hole just before the gas could reach them, although Kevin inhaled a little bit anyway on their way out, making him cough as they flew toward the elevator. Della was nowhere to be seen, but Kevin didn't care.

When they flew out of the cell and into the rest of the room, they found that the doors were closed shut. White quickly input a password into the control panel next to the doors, but an error message appeared on the display.

"Damn it," said Kevin. "Della must have locked the doors on her way out. Any other ways out of here?"

White shook his head. "No. Only one way in and out."

Kevin cursed under his breath before glancing over his shoulder. The powerless gas had already filled White's cell and was starting to rise through the hole White had made for them to escape through. It would likely be a couple of minutes before it would reach them, but with the doors locked, they didn't really have a couple of minutes to wait.

"I know what to do," said White. "Hold on."

White let go of Kevin, who leaned against the wall next to the doors. White cracked his knuckles before grabbing the doors and pushing them open. At first, Kevin feared that even White's super strength would not be enough to force the doors open, but then he heard the sound of metal bending and cracking and then, with a roar from White, the doors were shoved open, revealing the hallway beyond.

"Come," said White, gesturing for Kevin to follow. "Can you fly?"

Kevin nodded. "I think so."

"Then come on," said White. "Let's fly."

White flew up into the empty hallway. Kevin followed quickly, although he couldn't fly as fast as he normally did due to how much pain he was in. Still, he kept right behind White, the needle containing the Cipher held firmly in both hands as they flew through the hallway. When they reached the elevator doors, White smashed them open and the two of them flew through the empty elevator shaft as fast as they could.

That was when Kevin heard something falling from up ahead. At first, Kevin did not know what it was, but then he saw it by the lights shining from the shaft walls: The elevator car. It was falling toward them at a shockingly fast speed, as if its cables had been snapped. It fell so fast that there was no time for Kevin or White to dodge it, if they even could in the narrow shaft.

But White pointed his hands at it and unleashed a huge blast of blue lightning that tore a hole straight through the bottom of the shaft and into the roof. White flew through the hole, as did Kevin, and the elevator car was soon out of sight behind them. A second later, Kevin heard the car crash into the bottom of the shaft below, but he didn't look down to see it. He just kept following White, feeling thankful that his brother had thought fast enough to make that hole for them to go through.

In a few more seconds, they reached the ground floor, although the doors were shut tight. Not that that was a problem for White; he just punched them open and then shot out into the hallway, again with Kevin following as closely behind as he could. They soon emerged into the lobby of the Institute, where they found a heartening sight: Pantalone and Arlecchino were defeated, while the rest of the Young Neos were busy tying them up with some thick vines that Treehugger had created.

As soon as Kevin and White landed, however, Blizzard looked in their direction and said, "Bolt! White! You're both alive!"

Kevin nodded as he and White walked over to the other side of the lobby, where the rest of the team had put Pantalone and Arlecchino. Pantalone and Arlecchino were both set up against the wall, their arms and legs tied up with vines, both of them barely conscious. Kevin didn't see Pantalone's pet crow anywhere, but he didn't care about that right now.

"How is everyone else?" said Kevin, looking at his teammates, who were now walking over from the defeated Venetians to greet him and White. "Was anyone hurt?"

"Treehugger and I got knocked out," said Shell, who was rubbing the back of his head like he was suffering from a very bad headache. "Other than that, though, we're all okay. Stinger's poison was really helpful in taking down Arlecchino."

"Super strength powered rage isn't very useful when your body is paralyzed," said Stinger. "How's White? And what's with that needle?"

"White is fine," said Kevin. "As for the needle, I'll explain later. Have you heard from Mecha Knight yet?"

"Yes," said Blizzard, nodding. "He just sent me a message telling me that NHA reinforcements are on the way to get Pantalone and Arlecchino."

"They're not the only Venetians still active, though," said Kevin. He held up two fingers. "There are at least two more, Volto and a woman named Della. Have you seen either of them since we left?"

"No," said Blizzard, shaking her head. "No one has come up from that elevator since you went down to rescue White."

"Then that means that Volto and Della are likely still in here somewhere," said Kevin, glancing over his shoulder back toward the hallway from which they had emerged. "We'll have to hunt them down before they can escape."

"Who said anything about us escaping?" came Volto's voice, which Kevin realized was coming from the ceiling, although it didn't sound natural. "It would be wiser if you seven tried to escape, rather than standing around and talking."

Suddenly, a portion of the lobby's ceiling slid away, the same portion from which Pantalone and Arlecchino had come before, revealing a large, dark hole. A putrid stench came from the hole, which stank like the sewers of New York City. Then something large, green, and sticky began to pour out of the hole, splashing against the floor, but it stayed in one area, rather than splash everywhere. As Kevin and the others watched, the thing became bigger and bigger, until soon a creature whose head nearly touched the ceiling stood before them, a familiar creature that Kevin hadn't thought he'd see again, much less here.

"Oh my god," said Talon, putting a hand over her mouth. "It's the garbage monster from before! What's it doing here?"

The garbage monster's eyes opened, but they no longer looked as mindless as before. Now they had an evil intelligence to them and glowed purple, a purple that Kevin was far too familiar with by now.

"That's no monster," said Kevin. "That's Volto!"

"But Volto looks different," said White.

"He's possessing it," said Kevin.

The garbage monster's mouth twisted in a vile grin. "Yes I am. And I am going to make sure that none of you leave this place alive."

All of a sudden, the doors behind them slammed shut. Shell immediately tried to pull them open, but he gave up and said, "The doors are locked!"

Kevin rubbed the back of his head, thinking fast. "Okay, you guys try to force the doors open while White and I will distract Volto. But first... "

Kevin raised the needle and, yanking out its back, drank the Cipher. It went into his body and made him shudder, but he could already feel his electric powers returning. His whole body began to glow with red energy again, giving him a much needed shot of energy that made him become wide awake. Volto just growled in anger, no doubt disappointed that Kevin had put the Cipher back into his body, which made Kevin smile.

He flew toward Volto, with White flying by his side, while Blizzard and the others started working on breaking down the doors. Volto tried to punch Kevin and White out of the air, but the two of them dodged his fists easily and went in two different directions, causing Volto to look from one to the other as he tried to decide who to go after. Apparently, he decided to go after White, because he turned to face White and then shot one of his fists at him, but White ducked, narrowly avoiding it, and then fired a blast of blue lightning at Volto before Kevin could tell him not to.

The blue lightning hit Volto head on, causing him to stagger back slightly, but instead of being hurt, Volto's body glowed blue for a brief second before it returned to normal and then grew in size.

"White!" Kevin shouted. "Don't shoot him! Remember, the garbage monster feeds on electricity!"

"Sorry!" White shouted back. "Forgot! How do we hit him, then?"

Before Kevin could answer, Volto immediately whirled around and hurled another blast of gunk at him. Alarmed, Kevin ducked, barely avoiding getting blasted in the face, and shouted, "No idea! Just distract him!"

White nodded. He ripped a panel off the wall and then threw it at Volto, but when the panel hit, it sank into Volto's body out of sight.

Volto chuckled. "Don't you two realize what you're dealing with here? You can't harm me no matter what you do. This body is practically invincible, although the same, I am afraid, can't be said for yours."

Kevin bit his lower lip out of frustration. He knew that Volto had a point. So long as Volto was in that body, it would be impossible for Kevin or White to actually hurt him. Volto, on the other hand, was perfectly capable of hurting them and Volto's body clearly had more endurance than theirs. Kevin knew that backup from the NHA was on the way, but he had no idea when they were going to get there and anyway Volto might kill him and his teammates before the reinforcements arrived.

Looking over at the doors, Kevin noticed that Talon had managed to tear them open with her claws and he could see the cliff and trees beyond. All of a sudden, a plan occurred to him, but he would need to put it into action quickly before Volto realized what was happening.

"Blizzard, freeze the floor leading to the doors and the ground outside!" Kevin shouted. "Everyone else, get away from the doors!"

Thankfully, Blizzard didn't ask what his plan was. She just immediately turned the floor in front of the doors into ice, as well as the ground outside leading all the way out to the edge of the cliff itself. Shell, Stinger, Talon, and Treehugger got out of the way, while Volto looked at the frozen floor with a confused expression.

"What are you doing?" said Volto. "Freezing the floor? Are you planning to make me trip?"

Kevin, however, did not answer. He gestured for White to follow him and the two of them flew over and landed on the floor behind Volto. Volto turned to face him, but before he could do anything, Kevin shouted, "Hit him hard!"

Kevin and White immediately began firing blast after blast of lightning at Volto. Each blow did not hurt Volto; actually, they made him bigger. But they did force him backwards from the impact of the blows, back closer and closer to the doors. Volto growled, but under the onslaught from Kevin and White, he was unable to defend himself or hit back. All he could do was put his arms in front of his misshapen face to protect it, but that didn't help him stop his progression to the doors. And thankfully, Volto still did not yet seem to understand what Kevin was trying to do.

Finally, Volto's hideous form touched the icy floor and began sliding backwards. Volto swung his arms through the air, like he was trying to maintain his balance, but that just helped Kevin and White blast him backwards even more. He hit the doorway, which was too small for him to fit through, but several more powerful blasts from Kevin and White forced his glob form through the doorway and out onto the cliff outside.

And that was where Kevin and White could stop, because the impact from that final blast of lightning sent Volto sliding uncontrollably across the ice toward the edge of the cliff. Volto finally seemed to realize what was happening, because just as he went over the edge of the cliff, he screamed in anger and fear, but his scream immediately cut off when his huge, disgusting body disappeared over the edge. A few seconds later, the sound of something sticky smashing against the ground could be heard from over the side of the cliff, indicating that the monster was dead.

***

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Panting, White lowered his hands and looked at Kevin, who seemed even more tired than him. But White's own exhaustion was already giving way to excitement and he said, "Brother! Did you see that? We—"

Kevin, however, didn't look at White. He soared through the doorway until he reached the edge of the cliff and then he stopped in midair, looking down at the bottom of the cliff like he was searching for something. Then he nodded and flew back inside, landing on the floor next to White. He immediately winced and rubbed his back in the spot where he had been stabbed by the needle; nonetheless, he held up a hand and White high-fived him.

"Is it really dead, Kevin?" said Blizzard. She and the other members of the team had already gathered around White and Kevin. "Did the fall kill it?"

"Yes," said Kevin, nodding. "It was a pretty long fall and it looks like even more of a formless glob than before."

"Does that mean that that Volto guy is dead, too?" said Stinger.

Kevin shook his head. "No. Volto has the ability to project his soul into another being and possess them. My guess is that he abandoned the creature's body as soon as it went over the cliff or maybe the death of the creature forced his soul out of its body. In any case, we don't need to worry about the creature ever again, although Volto is probably still somewhere in here."

"We should search for him," said Stinger. He gestured over his shoulder. "We've already got two of his teammates, after all, so why don't we go ahead and—"

"No, you don't," said White, causing Stinger to look at him in surprise and annoyance.

"What do you mean?" said Stinger. "Of course we got Pantalone and Arlecchino. They're—"

Stinger immediately stopped speaking when he looked over at the wall where the two Venetians had been propped against. They were nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell?" said Stinger, looking around wildly. "Where did they go?"

"They must have somehow gotten away while Volto distracted us," said Kevin. He rubbed his forehead. "Did anyone see where they went?"

The rest of the team shook their heads, while White looked around, curious. He didn't see where Pantalone and Arlecchino could have gone, but then he started and said, "Four!"

"Four?" said Stinger, in a slightly annoyed voice. "What do you mean?"

"Four Vennies," White said.

"Venny?" Blizzard repeated. She looked at Kevin. "Translation?"

"I think he means the Venetians," said Kevin. "White, do you mean there are four Venetians, not just the three we fought?"

"Yes," said White. "A woman. Della. You saw her earlier."

"I did," said Kevin, nodding.

"A woman?" said Stinger. "Is she hot?"

"She's a supervillain," said Kevin.

"So she's hot, then," said Stinger. "Hey, I'm just saying that supervillainesses have a tendency to be really hot."

Kevin sighed heavily. "Whatever. Look, White is correct that there are four Venetians here. We need to track them down before—"

The floor suddenly shook under their feet, nearly knocking them all off their feet, although the only one to actually fall was Shell, who fell on his shell-like back and couldn't get up.

"What was that?" said Treehugger, hugging herself. "An earthquake?"

"I don't know," said Kevin, "but it can't be any good, whatever it was."

Just as Kevin said that, a chunk of the ceiling fell down toward them. White immediately flew up and smashed it apart with a well-placed punch, but the building began shaking again. This time, it didn't stop; the shaking just got worse and worse and cracks began to appear in the walls, floor, and ceiling.

White didn't understand what that meant, however, until Kevin suddenly shouted, "Everyone, get out! The place is going to collapse!"

No one wasted any time in going through the open doorway, although White had to drag Shell behind him due to the fact that he had fallen on his back. And even when they got out, they had to go down the path from the Institute in order to get far away from the building before it collapsed.

They got out just in time; by the time they reached the parking lot, the entire building just collapsed on itself. It was incredibly loud; it sounded like someone had dropped a bomb in the foundations of the building. Huge clouds of dust and wind blew over them, while chunks of debris flew across the sky in every direction, although they were far enough away from the site of the collapse to avoid getting harmed.

Once the collapse finished, there was not one wall of the Institute standing up anymore.

***

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

One week later...

Kevin sat in Mecha Knight's office, sitting in front of his supervisor's desk. Mecha Knight himself was not here yet; however, Kevin heard the sounds of Mecha Knight's body undergoing its normal maintenance in the secret lab next door to the office. Mecha Knight had told Kevin that he would be out in a few minutes, although Kevin was already getting impatient at having to wait. He did, after all, have a date with Blizzard in an hour; he hoped that his meeting with Mecha Knight wouldn't take very long.

As Kevin sat there, he couldn't help but think about the events of the last week since the destruction of the Genesis Institute and the defeat of the Venetians. As always, he found himself amazed at how fast time went whenever he was busy; sometimes, it felt like he had the ability to make time go quicker than normal just by staying busy.

After the Genesis Institute collapsed, the NHA reinforcements arrived, although since the Institute was destroyed, there wasn't much for them to do aside from checking on the Young Neos to make sure that they weren't hurt. The NHA agents also dug through the remains of the Institute, but were unable to find the bodies of the Venetians, nor any clues as to where or how they might have escaped. That meant that the Venetians were still out there somewhere, most likely planning their revenge; at least, that's what Kevin assumed they were doing. Of course, the NHA had put out notices to all members in the field to keep an eye out for any of the four known Venetians, so it was unlikely that the Venetians would try to get their revenge again anytime soon.

After that, Kevin and the rest of the team had returned to Hero Island. They had gotten their injuries treated, although they were currently on a break from crime-fighting while they rested. They were also getting ready for the opening of the Academy, which was going to be in a month according to what Kevin had heard from Valerie. Kevin was looking forward to it; even though he hadn't been a student at the previous Academy before it was shut down, he still thought this school was going to be good. The more instruction young superhumans received in how to use their powers for good, the better, in his opinion.

Beyond that, life had been pretty slow. Triplet had contacted Kevin after learning of the Institute's destruction, asking for information about the Venetians. Kevin gave him all the information he could remember, which Triplet said would help him in his own investigation of the Venetians. Kevin had asked if Triplet had taken any precautions to keep himself safe from the Venetians, but Triplet had informed Kevin that he had a lot of experience dealing with supervillains and criminals who wanted to get revenge on him for interfering with their plans and that Kevin didn't have to worry about him. Triplet had also told Kevin that he had found a new lead that might help him prove John Mann's connection to the Venetians, although he remained vague about it on the phone in case anyone was listening in.

In any case, Kevin had decided to take Blizzard on a date today, mostly because they hadn't gone out in a pretty long while, perhaps since Mastermind's death two months ago. He also hoped to patch things up between them; she didn't seem as annoyed at him for their past argument about White, but Kevin could tell that she was still rather miffed about the way he treated her and he figured a good dinner date would be enough to make her feel better.

Speaking of White, he was doing fine and apparently had not suffered any lasting injuries from his time as a captive of the Venetians. Even better, the rest of the team seemed to be more accepting of him now; perhaps it was because he had helped defeat Volto in their final fight back in the Institute. Even more surprising, White had given Talon a flower that he bought from a flower shop in Mountain, which was something that even Kevin had never expected him to do; he thought that White was too simple-minded to do something like that for a girl he liked. Perhaps White was starting to grow up after all.

Kevin's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of clinking armor and then Mecha Knight stepped out of the lab. The bookcase closed over the entrance as Mecha Knight walked across the room and sat down in his chair behind the desk. He took a moment to readjust his seat before looking at Kevin.

"My apologies for being so late, Bolt," said Mecha Knight. "My maintenance arms discovered a problem more complicated than a cut wire or dented shoulder piece, but it is fixed and should not be a problem again anytime soon."

"Sounds good," said Kevin, although he couldn't hide the impatience in his voice. "What did you want to talk about? And can we make it quick? I've got a date with Blizzard and you know how she gets whenever I'm late for a date."

"There's no need to rush," said Mecha Knight. "You are young, but someday you will learn the virtues of patience."

"Sure, yeah, whatever," said Kevin. "Can we just get to the point?"

"Very well," said Mecha Knight. "I wanted to give you an update on the Genesis Institute."

Kevin leaned forward eagerly. "Did you find any clues to the whereabouts of the Venetians? Or maybe proof connecting them to John Mann? Or at least found out what the Genesis Institute was built for?"

Mecha Knight shook his head. "No. We don't even have access to the site anymore."

"What?" said Kevin. "What do you mean?"

"The G-Men came a day after the building collapsed and told us that the federal government had taken the land," said Mecha Knight. "They kicked all of our agents off the site and threatened to arrest anyone from our organization who tries to come back."

Kevin gritted his teeth. He knew all about the G-Men, the government's superhero team, although calling them 'heroes' was a bit of a stretch. They worked under the supervision of Cadmus Smith, the Director of the Department of Superpowered and Extraterrestrial Beings, the government department that was tasked with overseeing the activities of superhumans and similar beings in the United States. "They can't do that, can they?"

"They can under eminent domain," said Mecha Knight. "I have been trying to contact Cadmus about it, but he has been ignoring all of my calls. Not that I am surprised; the G-Men have always seen themselves as superior to the rest of us."

"Why would they do that?" said Kevin. "Are they also trying to catch the Venetians, at least?"

"Who knows?" said Mecha Knight. "Even though I've known Cadmus for decades, I still don't always understand why he does some things. He may have seized it in order to get information that will lead to the arrest of the Venetians so he can take credit for their capture. Or perhaps it was just to spite us."

"Maybe I should teleport to DC and say hello," said Kevin. "I'm sure Cadmus would be willing to rethink this decision after a conversation with me."

"Cadmus isn't afraid of you," Mecha Knight pointed out. "Besides, we shouldn't go around picking fights with the G-Men. Unless, of course, you'd like to go back to Ultimate Max."

Kevin shuddered. "Never mind, then. This still sucks, though."

"Agreed, but there's nothing we can do about it at the moment," said Mecha Knight with a shrug. "We're still tracking down the Venetians, although it is difficult to find them due to their habit of vanishing off the face of the earth whenever they don't want to be found."

"What about John Mann?" said Kevin. "Have we found any evidence proving that he is financing the Venetians?"

"None so far," said Mecha Knight. "Triplet has told me his theory and I believe it, but until we find proof, we can't accuse him of funding the Venetians."

"Why not?" said Kevin. "Maybe if we went to the media, a reporter might start to investigate him and find something incriminating."

"Bolt, I am surprised you suggest we go to the media about this," said Mecha Knight. "After all, you were the one who told me that Virginia Gray, the reporter from Neo Ranks, was paid off by John Mann to spin that story about you, didn't you? Don't you think it is likely that even more reporters—perhaps entire news organizations—are under John Mann's control? We know that at least one of the major news organizations is owned by him, but I wouldn't be surprised if he has paid-off reporters everywhere."

"What does that mean?" said Kevin.

"It means if we accuse John Mann of financing supervillains, the media would mercilessly attack and discredit us," said Mecha Knight. He steepled his fingers together. "And a media attack is, unfortunately, something we can't fight off with super strength or lightning bolts."

"Do you mean we're just going to let Mann get away with this?" said Kevin. "You've got to be joking."

"No," said Mecha Knight. "We'll stop him, one way or another, but we need proof first. If we can find proof, the media will be unable to ignore it and the government will have a basis to investigate him. Until then, we need to avoid making any unsubstantiated accusations that the media will twist to fit whatever narrative they happen to be preaching this week."

Kevin hit the arms of his chair. "Damn it. I thought we had him."

"Defeating a man as rich and powerful as Mann is not as easy as fighting a normal supervillain," said Mecha Knight. "That is another lesson you need to learn: Some of the worst villains in the world have no powers at all."

Kevin's shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm sure Triplet will find something eventually; he's good at what he does."

"Indeed," said Mecha Knight. "Anyway, I would also like to talk about White Lightning."

Kevin felt his heart sink into his stomach, dreading what Mecha Knight was going to say. "Yes?"

"This entire mess happened because your brother sneaked out of the House without anyone noticing or stopping him," said Mecha Knight. "The rest of the Leadership Council is, as you might have guessed, furious at this. I've had to calm them down, telling them that I would talk to you about this, but it took me hours to convince them that kicking you and White off Hero Island would not be a very wise idea."

"It wasn't my fault," said Kevin. "I—"

"I know," Mecha Knight interrupted. "Your brother has a mind and will of his own and you can't always control that. Still, this was exactly the sort of thing we were worried about happening. We are lucky that you managed to rescue him before the Venetians took away his Cipher or brainwashed him to join them. We do not want a repeat of Mastermind's actions."

"I know," said Kevin. "And White knows now, too. He told me that he's not going to wander off like this again without telling us."

"When my nephew was young and he'd do something wrong, he'd often promise to me that he wouldn't do that again, either," said Mecha Knight. "Of course, being a little kid, he was usually back to doing it that week and it took him a long time before he was able to back up his words with his actions."

"And what's your point?" said Kevin.

"My point, Bolt, is that White is still very childish in his ways of thinking," said Mecha Knight. "He may mean his promise today, but what about tomorrow? A week from now? A month? A year? How can you guarantee that he won't put himself in needless danger again?"

Kevin crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I... I can't. But that doesn't mean we should kick him off Hero Island or put him in Ultimate Max. He's still a good person at heart. He just needs more help."

"I know," said Mecha Knight. "I don't want him in Ultimate Max, either, but I have to admit that it is getting harder and harder for me to assuage the worries of the other Council members. Black Blur, in particular, threatened to take White to Ultimate Max himself if you didn't rein him in."

"Black Blur can go jump off a cliff," said Kevin. "I know he's a member of the Council, but that doesn't mean I need to treat him with respect."

"Actually, it does," said Mecha Knight. "But I'll let that comment slide for now, since he isn't here. Still, I can't help but agree with him that we need to make sure that White doesn't sneak out like that again, especially because the Venetians probably still want him, and you, too, for that matter."

"I'll keep a closer eye on him from now on," said Kevin. "Even better, I'll make sure that he understands not to wander off like this again. I mean, I think he already does, because he told me that he doesn't want to get caught by the Venetians again, but I will ensure that this sort of thing doesn't happen again."

"I hope you do," said Mecha Knight. "The Leadership Council is watching you very carefully, Bolt, especially since you are old enough to join the NHA."

"When will you guys vote on my membership application, by the way?" said Kevin. "Haven't heard anything about it since I submitted it to you last month."

"Probably in a couple of months," said Mecha Knight. "Right now, the Leadership Council's focus has been on getting the school ready to open next month. So we won't be voting on it until after the school opens, at the earliest."

"Oh," said Kevin. "I see. Do you know how the vote will go?"

"I imagine we'll approve it," said Mecha Knight. "Despite how critical they are of your handling of your brother, I'd say most of the Leadership Council members would be fine with you graduating to full-time membership in the NHA. Even Black Blur hasn't voiced any real opposition to that idea."

Kevin sighed in relief. "Well, that's one good thing to hear, at least."

"Have you decided who will succeed you as team leader of the Young Neos yet?" said Mecha Knight. "I notice you haven't talked with me about it since you submitted your application."

Kevin folded his arms across his chest. "Either Stinger or Blizzard. I don't know who yet."

"Well, I suggest you figure it out soon, because once we approve your membership, we'll need to know who your successor will be," said Mecha Knight. "Understood?"

"Yes, sir," said Kevin. "Is that all?"

"Yes," said Mecha Knight, nodding. "You may leave to get to your date with Blizzard now, if you wish."

Kevin jumped to his feet. "Thanks, Mecha Knight! I'll get back to you sometime with my choice for my successor. Let me know if you need anything else."

Kevin turned and ran toward the door, but just as he put his hand on the doorknob, he heard Mecha Knight say behind him, "Kevin, wait one moment."

Pausing in front of the door, Kevin looked over his shoulder at Mecha Knight. "Yes? What is it?"

Mecha Knight was silent for a moment; it was like he was carefully thinking over what he wanted to say. "Your Cipher. You still have it, yes?"

Kevin frowned, but nodded. "Yes. I put it back in my body. I feel totally normal now. Why?"

"Just wanted to make sure," said Mecha Knight. He waved toward the door. "Go on and leave. I doubt Blizzard will be very happy if you are late for your date."

Kevin could tell that Mecha Knight had a deeper reason for asking that question, but Kevin was in too much of a hurry to care about the motives behind that question. He just nodded again, opened the door, and dashed out, hoping that Blizzard wasn't getting too impatient waiting for him in front of the House, where they were supposed to meet before they went on their date. He also hoped that White would not try to wander out of the House again while they were away, although given how White seemed interested in Talon, he doubted that White would be going anywhere anytime soon.

-

Read on for more titles by Lucas Flint and a preview chapter of Powers, the next book in the series!

I hope you enjoyed my little tale. Please don't forget to give this book a quick review wherever you bought it. Even just a two-word, "Liked it" or "Hated it" review helps so much. Positive or negative, I am grateful for all feedback from my readers.

***

### PREVIEW:

### Powers

Chapter One

Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Blizzard remembered why she had been so eager to leave Arizona nearly a year ago now, when she had been offered a spot on the Young Neos by Mecha Knight. Even with the air conditioner in the car on full blast, Blizzard felt too hot. She took a swig from her large thermos of ice water, which helped cool her down a little, but not nearly as much as it should have. Even her body's naturally generated ice energy did little to make her feel as cold as she should have. Thinking about it, she was quite surprised that she had not melted at some point since she and the others had arrived in Phoenix a couple of hours ago.

Thankfully, we're almost to our destination, Blizzard thought, glancing out the window at the tall buildings they passed. I hope.

"Blizzard?" said Bolt, her boyfriend, who was sitting in the driver's seat where he drove the car. She looked at him; he had taken his eyes off the road briefly to look at her. "Are you okay? You look hot. And not in the good way, either."

Bolt's hands were firmly on the steering wheel, a concerned look on his face. He was not in his usual superhero costume; instead, he wore a red t-shirt and black jeans, along with a thick set of sunglasses to protect his eyes from the sun's glare. Indeed, he looked like a normal teenager, with the only indication that he was a superhero being the smart watch on his right wrist, which contained his super suit.

Blizzard wasn't wearing her costume, either. She instead wore a blue and white blouse with dark blue jeans, although like Bolt, she had a suit-up watch on her wrist just in case. And frankly, Blizzard was thankful to be in normal clothes for once; while her superhero costume was designed to regulate her body temperature in a reasonable way, she thought it might be too warm for Arizona's heat. It made her wonder how other superheroes operated in Arizona; she supposed they survived the same way that anyone living in Arizona did.

Shaking her head, Blizzard smiled and said, "I'm fine, Bolt. Just a little hot is all."

Suddenly, the head of a teenage boy of about sixteen, with a thick mop of brown hair, leaned forward, a mischievous grin on his face. "Are you sure you aren't going to, like, melt or something? Because I brought along a towel to mop you up with if that happens."

"Shut up, Stinger," said Bolt, before Blizzard could respond. "Or I'll swat you like an insect."

Stinger—another one of Blizzard's teammates in the Young Neos—pulled back, sitting upright in the back seat, though his grin didn't fade. Like Bolt and Blizzard, he was not wearing his super suit; instead, he wore a gray t-shirt and cargo shorts, his wings somehow hidden inside his shirt. "Hey, just joking around. No need to get so upset."

"Yeah, it's fine, Bolt," said Blizzard, though she couldn't help but smile at how he had defended her. "There's a reason I haven't been back to Arizona for a while. I haven't been able to handle extreme heat since I gained my powers."

Bolt huffed. "Okay, but I just don't want you to feel uncomfortable, that's all."

"What about the rest of us?" said Stinger.

"You guys can take care of yourselves," said Bolt, without looking over his shoulder. "You're fine."

Stinger rolled his eyes, while Blizzard looked over her shoulder at the rest of the team sitting in the back seats of the suburban they had rented for this trip. Stinger sat in the first row of seats next to a blonde teenage girl known as Talon, who, even in her simple yellow dress and her long hair, somehow managed to look more fabulous than the rest of the team put together. In the next row of seats, a young man who looked almost exactly like Bolt, except with blue eyes, sat next to a girl with brown braided hair, his eyes stuck to the windows while the girl anxiously glanced at him every now and then like she was worried that he might snap and attack her. They were White Lightning and Treehugger, who Blizzard felt a little bad about seating together knowing Treehugger's fear of White, but White had behaved pretty well through the plane ride from New York to Arizona and so far seemed to be handling Arizona pretty well, even excited about it, probably because White had never visited Arizona before.

But it took Blizzard a moment to find the last member of the team. For a moment, she almost thought that they must have forgotten Shell at the airport because she didn't see him at first, at least until he sat upright on his seat in the back row of the car. Shell was the shortest and quietest member of the team, which sometimes made it hard to see him when he was sitting down. Like White, he was staring out the windows, but he seemed less interested in the city of Phoenix and more like he was distracted by something. His frown even made him look depressed.

Blizzard turned to look back at the road, but she couldn't help but think about Shell. He was usually the quietest and most introverted member of the team, but it seemed like in recent months he had become moodier and more introverted than ever. She wasn't sure if he was depressed, necessarily, but he never seemed quite as involved in the team as everyone else was. Blizzard had brought up these concerns with Bolt a lot, but he always brushed her concerns off as if they were irrelevant because of Shell's normal introverted nature. That didn't stop her from worrying about Shell, though, mostly because she was a worrier by nature.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Talon suddenly said, "How much longer until we reach your parents' place, Blizzard?"

"Not much longer now," said Bolt, answering for her. "According to the GPS, we should be at their house in five minutes."

"Is it a big house?" said White, his head appearing between Stinger and Talon's headrests, an eager grin on his face.

"Yeah, it's kind of big," said Blizzard. "My parents are pretty wealthy, so they're able to afford a large house."

"How did your parents become so wealthy?" said Stinger. "Did they start a big business or something?"

"My dad was an executive at a huge oil company a while back," said Blizzard. "He wasn't one of the founders, but he was brought into the company pretty early and reaped huge profits when the shale boom started in North Dakota. He invested the money in a lot of different companies and now we're pretty well off."

"So none of your parents are superhumans, then?" said Bolt, glancing at Blizzard.

Blizzard shook her head. "Nope. I'm the only superhuman in my family. Took my family by surprise when I first manifested my powers."

"How is that possible?" said Stinger. "I thought that superhuman powers are genetic. How can a normal human give birth to a superhuman?"

"Maybe you have a superhuman somewhere in your family tree, Blizzard," Talon suggested. "I've heard of the neogene skipping generations before."

Blizzard shrugged. "I have no idea. All I know is that Arizona has the lowest superhuman populations in the US, so that makes me even more unusual."

"Are there any famous superheroes from Arizona, besides yourself?" said Bolt with a frown. "Any NHA or INJ members you can think of?"

"Only one I can think of is that weird Radicles guy, though he doesn't belong to any superhero organization that I know of," said Stinger. He chuckled. "Not that he's an entirely great representative of Arizona's superhumans, I'm sure."

Blizzard scowled. "Don't bring up that idiot. I wish the media wouldn't talk about him whenever they talk about Arizona superheroes. He makes the rest of us look bad."

"Who is Radicles?" said Bolt as their car turned down a street. "Never heard of him."

"Oh, he's hilarious," said Stinger. "He likes to run around without a shirt on beating up drug dealers. Always takes the time to deliver some really cheesy message about not doing drugs just in case kids are watching and talks like a surfer dude. There's this really funny meme about him that I'll have to show you about sometime."

Blizzard folded her arms in front of her chest. "Every time I tell someone I'm from Arizona, the first thing they ask me about is that guy. I don't know why everyone thinks I know him just because we are both from the same state."

"Also, he thinks that the NHA and INJ are being controlled by the government," said Stinger. "Says that the first invasion was just a false flag event to make humanity ignore the 'true' threat of government-controlled superhero organizations. He even has a regular podcast where he rants about the various conspiracies of the day, among other things."

"Okay, that is pretty crazy," said Bolt as their car came to a stop before a stop light. "And kind of hilarious. I'll have to listen to his podcast later."

"You should listen to the one where he has a 'Pokacu specialist' on who explained how President Plutarch is actually a Pokacu in disguise," said Stinger. He suddenly looked over his shoulder to the back of the car and said, "Remember that one, Shell? It was hilarious, wasn't it?"

Shell glanced at Stinger before returning his attention to the window. "Yeah, I guess so."

Blizzard frowned. She found Shell's monotone response rather weird, but she decided not to think about it. She didn't want to think about Radicles anyway; he was such an embarrassment to superheroes and to Arizona that she generally preferred to pretend that he didn't exist.

Instead, Blizzard turned her attention to the road just as the stop light turned green and the car started moving again. She was thinking about her parents. This was going to be the first time that Blizzard had visited her parents since joining the Young Neos nearly a year ago now; this was also going to be the first time she introduced Bolt and her friends to them. Initially, Blizzard had just wanted to visit her parents with Bolt alone so he would get to meet them, but Bolt had decided to make the trip to Arizona a team vacation and brought everyone else along as well. Mecha Knight, the team's supervisor in the NHA, had approved of their vacation and so they were now going to spend a week in Arizona.

And, while Blizzard didn't complain about it, she had to admit that she didn't like that Bolt had decided to turn this into a team vacation. She had fantasized about spending a week in Arizona alone with Bolt; she thought it would be very romantic, especially since she and Bolt didn't get to spend nearly as much time alone as she'd like. The presence of the other Young Neos ruined those fantasies for her, but she supposed there was nothing she could do about it right now. She hoped that she and Bolt could still get some alone time just the same; maybe she could get the others to go sightseeing around Phoenix while she and Bolt spent some time alone in the hotel. It was nice to fantasize about, anyway.

Just hope that my sister will be polite to them, at least, Blizzard thought, though Rebecca should be in school right now, so hopefully she won't be around to give me any trouble.

It was about a minute later that Bolt pulled up in front of a gated house. A huge, thick iron fence surrounded a large two-story house, while a swimming pool full of clear, cool water stood in the front yard. A large white SUV was parked in front of the garage, while tall palm trees stood around the pool, providing some shade from the Arizona sun, though not too much.

When they stopped in front of the gates, Bolt lowered the window and pressed the button of a speaker in front of the gates. As soon as he pressed the button, a gravelly voice blared from the speaker, saying, "Who is there?"

"Uh—" said Bolt, but Blizzard leaned across his lap and said, "Hi, Ralph! It's Emily. I'm here with my friends to visit my parents!"

"Emily!" came the voice from the speaker, now sounding far more delighted than before. "Oh, it is so wonderful to hear your chipper voice again! Yes, your father did tell me to expect you today, so let me just open the gates for your vehicle. Please wait a moment."

The speaker clicked off, prompting Bolt to ask Blizzard, "Who is Ralph?"

"My family's butler," Blizzard replied. "He's worked for us for five years. He's a great guy. I'm sure you guys will love him when you meet him."

A few seconds later, the gates slowly opened inwards, allowing Bolt to drive the car through the front gates and up the driveway to the front of the house. After stopping the car, Blizzard, Bolt, and the rest of the team poured out of the car and walked up to the front doors of the house. Blizzard was in the lead, with Bolt by her side. She was looking forward to seeing her parents so much that she could barely contain her excitement. She glanced over her shoulder at the rest of the team, just to make sure that they were all presentable, before turning her attention to the front doors again.

But Blizzard didn't even have to knock on the door before it swung open, revealing a middle-aged man standing in the doorway who wore a button-down blue shirt and had a large gray mustache.

"Ralph!" said Blizzard, smiling when she saw him. "Long time, no see."

"Welcome home, Emily," said Ralph. "I am so glad to see that you are well. Your parents and I have been anxiously watching the news about your superhero exploits, but you appear to be well despite all of the danger you've been in."

"Well, I have a lot of help," said Blizzard. She gestured at Bolt and the others. "Ralph, these are my friends and teammates from the Young Neos, including my boyfriend, Kevin Jason, or as you might know him, Bolt."

"Bolt?" Ralph repeated, looking at Bolt more closely than before. "Ah, yes. Your father told me that you were dating Bolt. He's the son of Genius, isn't he?"

"You knew my father?" said Bolt in surprise.

"No, but I knew of him," said Ralph. "He was quite famous, you know, before he retired. Anyway, it is incredibly hot today, so allow me to lead you to the living room where your parents are."

"All right," said Blizzard, smiling in relief; she could already feel the air conditioning blowing from the open door and was eager to get inside. But then she frowned and said, in a slightly hesitant voice, "Is Rebecca here, too?"

Ralph paused. "Ah, Rebecca... she is in her room. I will let her know that you are here, but after I tell your parents."

Blizzard nodded, but deep down, she was relieved. She didn't want Bolt or any of her friends to meet Rebecca, at least not yet. Her twin sister would probably just make the visit awkward, although based on how curious Bolt looked, she knew that she was going to have to introduce him to Rebecca eventually.

Maybe I'll get lucky and Rebecca will become stricken with some kind of terrible disease that will force her to stay in her bedroom for the entirety of the visit, Blizzard thought. Or maybe she'll become so swamped with homework that she won't be able to hang out with us much.

Blizzard knew that those thoughts weren't exactly the most appropriate or kind thoughts a sister should have toward her sibling, but she couldn't help it. She just didn't want this visit to be messed up and Rebecca had a terrible tendency to ruin things for Blizzard, sometimes deliberately so.

Regardless, Blizzard followed Ralph into the house, as did the rest of her team. Stepping through the doorway, Blizzard sighed in relief as she was hit with the full blast of the house's air conditioning system. She also looked around at the entryway, because it had been so long since she had last visited here that she wanted to see if everything was still as she'd remembered it.

The mudroom of the house was open and bright, mostly thanks to the light streaming from the windows reflecting off the white paint on the walls. The floor was also a clean and shiny hardwood, while a set of stairs leading up to the second floor stood to their right. To their left was a shoe rack, which had a few sets of shoes on it, mostly Dad's shoes from what she could see. The entryway smelled fresh and clean, too; no doubt Ralph had cleaned it recently, perhaps in anticipation of Blizzard's arrival.

"Wow, this is nice," said Stinger, looking around at the mudroom. "This whole room is almost as big as my Papa's entire house."

"It's nice, I suppose," said Talon, brushing aside some of her blonde hair as she looked around the place. "My mother's mansion is much fancier, though, but I suppose this is what you would call middle class."

Blizzard rolled her eyes. Talon was always hard to impress thanks to her upper class upbringing, so Blizzard probably shouldn't have been surprised at Talon's initial reaction. Still, she sometimes wished that Talon would keep her comments to herself, especially when they weren't asked for.

That was when Blizzard caught a glimpse of black moving at the top of the steps. She looked up just in time to see a small black cat staring down at them with big blue eyes. The cat looked like it was trying to decide if the people who had just entered the house were friends or foes, but Blizzard recognized the cat immediately. It was Rebecca's black cat, Tom, and, while Tom had never been as close to Blizzard as he had been to Rebecca, he was usually a pretty friendly cat.

Unfortunately, before Blizzard could call Tom down, the cat quickly vanished down the hallway out of sight. She wondered if he was going to tell Rebecca what he saw.

What am I thinking? Blizzard thought, following Ralph across the entryway to the living room on the other side. He's just a cat. He can't talk. He can't tell anyone anything.

"Mister and Missus Ricker," said Ralph as he passed through the entrance to the living room, "Emily has finally arrived, along with her friend."

Excited to see her parents again, Blizzard looked around Ralph to see both of her parents sitting on the main sofa in the living room. Despite being in his early forties, Dad looked more like he was in his early thirties, primarily thanks to his muscular arms and his red polo shirt, which displayed his muscles quite well, which told Blizzard that Dad was still working out. And Mom was as beautiful as ever, her long white hair flowing down her back like water, while her light blue sun dress accentuated her figure quite well. The two of them appeared to have been watching the news, which was talking about President Plutarch's upcoming visit to Phoenix, but Blizzard paid no attention to that.

She just ran over to her parents, who rose from the sofa as she ran over to them. Blizzard ran into Dad's arms and hugged him tightly, saying, "I missed you guys so much!"

"Wonderful to see you again, Emily," said Dad, his voice as deep and reassuring as ever. He hugged her even tighter than she hugged him before letting go and saying, "We are so glad that you came to visit. Ever since you went off to join the Young Neos, it has been rather quiet around the house, even with Rebecca and Tom."

"Yes, we've been so worried about you," said Mom. She hugged Blizzard briefly and said, "And is it me or have you grown up while you were away? You look so much older than when you left."

Blizzard just smiled. "Oh, you know how it is. Fighting supervillains and saving the world is pretty stressful."

"Yes, but it is also highly rewarding work, is it not?" said Dad. He put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "Emily, your mother and I are proud of you and everything you've done. We've always wanted our daughters to make the world a better place, although I will admit that even I didn't think that would include one of you becoming a superhero."

Blizzard smiled sheepishly. She never handled praise very well, even from her own parents, but thankfully she didn't have to say anything, because Mom suddenly looked at her friends and said, "And are these your friends? The other Young Neos?"

Before Blizzard could introduce them, Bolt suddenly stepped forward, holding out a hand toward Dad. "Hi, Mr. Ricker. I'm Bolt."

Dad took his hand off Blizzard's shoulder and shook Bolt's hand. "Nice to meet you, but I don't believe you're actually a superhero." His voice suddenly became serious and his grip on Bolt's hand tightened, like he did not want Bolt escape. "I think you're a supervillain, and the worst kind, too."

Even though Bolt had super strength, he didn't seem capable of breaking Dad's grip. He leaned back slightly, an alarmed look on his face. "What... what do you mean I'm a supervillain? I've never done anything evil in my life. Well, never intentionally evil, but—"

"Because you stole my daughter's heart," said Dad, his voice and face as dead serious as ever.

He looked at Bolt for a full second with that same serious expression. But then his face broke into a smile and he laughed, a deep, booming sound that made the rest of the team jump in alarm. Not Blizzard, however. She just groaned. She had expected Dad to do something like that, but she'd hoped he would keep his embarrassing side a secret for at least a little while longer.

Bolt, on the other hand, just looked confused, but relieved as he let go of Dad's hand. "Um..."

"It was just a joke," said Dad, patting Bolt on the shoulder. "You seem like a fine young man and certainly a good boyfriend to my daughter. I approve."

"Yes, he's a very handsome young man," said Mom. She gestured at the sofa. "But please, everyone have a seat. You shouldn't all be standing around like this; we have plenty of chairs for everyone."

Mom was right. Although there had only been a handful of chairs in the room when Blizzard and the others first entered, there were now seven wooden chairs with comfy seats situated in a neat way before the sofa, while the TV had been muted, although it still showed the news. Blizzard realized that Ralph must have been taking chairs into the living room while they spoke with her parents, which was confirmed to her when she saw Ralph place the final chair near where Shell stood.

"Yes, everyone take a seat," said Dad, gesturing at the chairs. "And Ralph, please get nine tall glasses of lemonade for everyone and make sure they have plenty of ice."

"Yes, of course, sir," said Ralph with a bow before he hurried out of the living room to the kitchen, which was adjacent to the living room.

When Ralph left, Blizzard and the others all took seats in the chairs, which were even comfier than they looked. Even Talon appeared impressed by how soft the chairs were, while both Stinger and Shell practically melted into their seats. Even Blizzard was a little surprised, despite having sat on these chairs before.

"Now that we're all seated," said Dad, putting his hands on his knees, "why don't we introduce ourselves? I'm Martin Ricker and this is my wife, Carrie Ricker."

"Nice to meet you," said Bolt. "You know who I am already. Let me introduce the others—"

"You mean Talon, Stinger, Shell, Treehugger, and, of course, White Lightning, your twin brother?" Mom finished for him, pointing at each member of the team in turn as she said their names, correctly identifying each one.

"How did you know who everyone is?" said Bolt in astonishment. "We haven't even introduced them to you guys yet." He glanced over his shoulder at the rest of his teammates, who all looked just as surprised by Mom's comments as he was.

"We're big fans of superheroes in general," said Dad. "That's why we were so excited when Mecha Knight came by to recruit Emily to the Young Neos. We made sure to identify every member of the team when you made your public debut earlier this year and we've been closely following your adventures ever since, or as closely as we can based on news reports we've seen on TV and read online."

Blizzard scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. She looked at the others, who looked rather surprised, and realized that she had forgotten to tell the rest of the team about how avid fans her parents were of them.

As for Bolt, he said, "Um, okay. Guess that saves us a lot of time."

"It does," said Dad. He spread his arms. "And can I just say how honored I am to have you all here? You are true heroes, having saved the world multiple times over the last year. It is a grand honor to have heroes like you visit us. Even if you are not full members of the Neohero Alliance yet, both Carrie and I are humbled that you came here and that you are friends with our daughter."

Bolt now looked like a deer caught in headlights, as did the rest of the team. That wasn't too surprising; the Young Neos, in general, were not used to this kind of effusive praise from random people they just met, even if it was completely sincere. And Blizzard knew that it was. All her life, she'd heard her parents gush about superhumans who used their powers to make the world a better place. She well remembered how ecstatic they had been when her powers first manifested last year, probably because they considered having a superhuman in the family a great honor.

"Er, you're welcome, Mr. Ricker," said Bolt, rubbing the back of his neck. "But really, we're not that special. We're just kids who happen to have superpowers."

"And you are so modest, too!" Mom gushed. "That makes you even better! Emily, you certainly hit the jackpot, didn't you?"

"Mom, come on," said Blizzard. "You're embarrassing me in front of my—"

Blizzard was interrupted when she heard light footsteps from the doorway. She looked over toward it, wondering who it was, but as soon as she saw who the person standing in the doorway was, she immediately wished that she had not looked.

The person standing in the living room doorway was a teenage girl the same age as Blizzard. She even had similar hair to Blizzard, although hers was more of a blonde color than white, while her skin was infinitely paler and she wore old, baggy clothes that made her look more like a homeless person than the daughter of a well-to-do family. Her brilliant blue eyes had bags underneath them, like she never got enough sleep, and she carried a small black cat in her arms which was purring contentedly, although it was also watching Blizzard and the other Young Neos warily as if it didn't trust them.

"Oh, Rebecca," said Dad. He no longer sounded as confident and happy as before; now he sounded a little awkward. "We didn't hear you come down from your room."

"That's fine, Dad," said Rebecca. Her voice was similar to Blizzard's, although there was a definite edge to it. "I didn't know you were all down here. I thought that Emily and her friends weren't going to arrive for another few hours."

Rebecca spoke in a flat, monotone voice. She also pointedly avoided looking at Blizzard or the others; she wasn't even looking directly at Mom or Dad. That just added to the awkwardness of the situation, but Blizzard didn't know what to do to alleviate the feeling.

"Well, they got here early, as it turned out," said Dad. He smiled, although it looked forced. "Why don't you come in and introduce yourself? Ralph can get another chair for you and Tom."

But Rebecca shook her head. "Nah. I'll just go back to my room. I need to finish up my original music composition for the recital at my school next week."

With that, Rebecca turned and left the living room without another word. But she did cast one quick glare at Blizzard before she left, although Blizzard didn't know how to respond except by watching her sister leave.

But then Blizzard felt someone shake her shoulder and she looked at Bolt. He was looking at Blizzard with a deeply confused frown on his face, an expression shared by the rest of the team.

"Um, Blizzard?" said Bolt. "Is there something, um, wrong with your sister?"

"Oh, she's perfectly normal," Mom interrupted, before Blizzard could answer. "She just isn't very social. A true blue introvert. Hard to believe, I know, considering how both Martin and I are such big extroverts, but it's just one of those funny things that happens to people sometimes, you know? Like how we had a superhuman daughter despite not being superhumans ourselves."

"Yeah, Mom's right," said Blizzard, shrugging off Bolt's hand. "It's nothing. Rebecca's always been like that. Nothing to worry about."

Bolt looked from Mom to Blizzard and back again with a deeply skeptical expression, but Blizzard hoped he wouldn't ask. She wasn't ready to delve into her personal relationship with her sister at the moment. It would just be too awkward, especially having to explain it to not just Bolt, but also the rest of the team.

"Well, okay," said Bolt, although the look he shot at Blizzard told her that he expected her to explain it later. "I guess I can meet her later."

"Yes, of course," said Mom, sounding just as relieved as Blizzard felt at the change of subject. "Anyway, why don't you tell us a bit about—"

"Hold on, what's that on the news?" said Dad suddenly.

Blizzard and Bolt looked over their shoulders at the TV. Although still muted, the TV showed footage from what appeared to be somewhere in Phoenix. It showed a ruined street, along with several smashed cars and burning trees, which made Blizzard wonder what the heck happened until the camera turned upwards to show a man standing on top of a building laughing maniacally. The man wore a long, flowing black cape and he kept shooting some kind of green fire from his hands. There didn't seem to be any people in the street, but Blizzard had no idea who the man was or what was even happening until Dad unmuted the TV just as the scene switched to a news reporter describing the scene.

"...officers have blocked off the street and warned all citizens to stay away from the area while Doctor Danger is out," the reporter said in a serious tone. "It is believed that Doctor Danger may have hostages, but the police do not know for sure. It is also unknown what Doctor Danger wants, but police are already gathering from all over the city to save civilians and take him down."

"Doctor Danger?" Bolt repeated. "Who is that?"

"A local Phoenix supervillain," said Dad with a grim sigh. "We don't have too many supervillains here, but the ones we do are crazy. You should forget about him. The police will take care of him."

"But according to the news report, Doctor Danger's attack isn't far from here," said Bolt. "If we left now—"

"The police will take care of him," Dad repeated, this time in a firmer voice. "You kids don't need to put yourself in danger. This is supposed to be a relaxing visit."

"What about Phoenix's superheroes?" said Bolt. "You know that the police won't be able to beat a man like him, right?"

"Phoenix... doesn't really have very many superheroes," said Dad, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sometimes the government will call in NHA members to deal with supervillain threats, but very few actually live here."

"Then that's even more reason for us to go out and deal with this freak," said Bolt. He stood up. "Don't worry; we'll be back in time for dinner."

"But—" said Dad, before Blizzard interrupted him, saying, "Dad, it's fine. We've beaten supervillains before. We know what we're doing. And like Bolt said, we'll take him out quickly; he won't be able to stop all seven of us working together, especially since he doesn't even know we're here."

Dad and Mom looked like they didn't agree with this decision, but Dad finally nodded and said, "Fine. I trust you know what you're doing, Emily, but please be safe." Dad looked at Bolt sharply. "And you, young man, make sure that she doesn't put herself in needless danger. If she gets harmed, or, God forbid, even killed—"

"Again, don't worry, Mr. Ricker, I will keep Blizzard safe," said Bolt. "Now, everyone, let's go before this Doctor Danger guy hurts or kills too many people."

-

Read the rest of Powers HERE!

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Other books by Lucas Flint

The Superhero's Son:

The Superhero's Test

The Superhero's Team

The Superhero's Summit

The Superhero's Powers

The Superhero's Origin

The Superhero's World

The Superhero's Vision

The Superhero's Prison

The Superhero's End

The Young Neos:

Brothers

Powers

Counterparts

Dimensions

Heroes

Minimum Wage Sidekick:

First Job

First Date

First Offer

First Magic

First Mentor

First War

The Supervillain's Kids:

Bait & Switch

Tag Team

Blood Gems

Prison Break

The Legacy Superhero:

A Superhero's Legacy

A Superhero's Death

A Superhero's Revenge

A Superhero's Assault

Dimension Heroes:

Crossover

Team Up

Amalgamation

Lightning Bolt:

The Superhero's Return

The Superhero's Glitch

The Superhero's Cure

The Superhero's Strike

The Superhero's Clone

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Glossary

Kevin Jason (Bolt). Young superhero and leader of the Young Neos, the son of the famous superhero Genius and twin brother of White Lightning. He was the protagonist of the previous series, The Superhero's Son. Powers: Flight, super strength, super speed, and electricity. First appearance: The Superhero's Test.

Ronald Jason (White Lightning). Young superhero and member of the Young Neos, the son of the famous superhero Genius and twin brother of Bolt. Was kidnapped by the government as a baby and experimented upon for years until he was freed by Mastermind (see Genius). Powers: Flight, super strength, super speed, electricity, and minor healing factor. First appearance: The Superhero's Prison.

Emily Ricker (Blizzard). Young superhero and member of the Young Neos. She is Bolt's girlfriend and essentially plays the role of Team Mom on the Young Neos. Powers: Can control ice and all things cold. First appearance: The Superhero's Summit.

Lawrence Homer (Shell). Young superhero and member of the Young Neos. He is the youngest member of the team. Powers: Has a thick, impenetrable shell-like growth on his back, although since he is young, it remains to be seen whether he will develop other powers. First appearance: The Superhero's Summit.

Christopher Greggs (Stinger). Young superhero and member of the Young Neos. Often acts as Bolt's deputy on the team. Powers: Has insect-like wings that allow him to fly and stingers on his wrists that can inject a paralyzing venom into his targets. First appearance: The Superhero's Summit.

Jennifer McCullough (Talon). Young superhero and member of the Young Neos. The most beautiful member of the team and the one with the most fan boys. Powers: Has a minor healing factor and can create sharp claws that sprout from her wrists. First appearance: The Superhero's Summit.

Alicia Simpson (Treehugger). Young superhero and member of the Young Neos. Loves plants. Powers: Can control plant life. First appearance: The Superhero's Summit.

The Young Neos. The oldest and most well-known young superhero team in the United States. Its lineup changes frequently due to members growing up or resigning. It is under the supervision of the Neohero Alliance and, more specifically, Mecha Knight, a member of the NHA Leadership Council. Current lineup is Bolt, White Lightning, Blizzard, Shell, Stinger, Talon, and Treehugger.

Theodore Ronald Jason (Genius). A legendary and famous superhero, one of the founders of the Neohero Alliance and also the father of Bolt and White Lightning. Originally retiring from superheroism in order to raise Kevin with his wife, Genius nonetheless acted as Kevin's mentor early on in his superhero career, teaching him how to use his powers and how to fight. Was killed by Robert Candle. Powers: Had super intelligence and could build almost any device imaginable, even one beyond current technological limits. First appearance: The Superhero's Test.

Mastermind. An evil alternate universe counterpart of Genius and tyrant of the Earth from his universe. In his universe, his wife and Bolt were killed by Master Chaos, causing him to lose his mind and take over the world, killing off the vast majority of superhumans in his universe in order to ensure that no one would ever have to suffer what he did. He came to this universe in order to conquer it, but was ultimately defeated by Bolt and then killed himself in order to avoid justice. Powers: See Genius. First appearance: The Superhero's Prison.

The Venetians. A mysterious supervillain team financed by the Italian-American billionaire John Mann. Their known members are Volto, Della, Arlecchino, Pantalone, and Colombina. First appearance: Brothers.

Volto. Leader and member of the Venetians. Powers: Can project his soul from his body and can possess people or inanimate objects. First appearance: Brothers.

Medico Della Peste. Youngest member of the Venetians. Powers: Can heal any sickness with a touch, but can also inflict sickness with a touch. First appearance: Brothers.

Arlecchino. A member of the Venetians. Powers: Can increase his size and strength with his anger, but ends up sacrificing his rational thinking skills and cannot control who he attacks. First appearance: Brothers.

Pantalone. A member of the Venetians. Powers: Has crow-like wings that allow him to fly, as well as crow-like talons, and can control crows. First appearance: Brothers.

Neohero Alliance (NHA). The largest superhero organization in the United States, founded in 1987 by Genius, Lady Amazon, Omega Man, and Beyond Man. Also the sponsor of the Young Neos. Based in Hero Island, which is just off the coast of the State of New York. Led by the Leadership Council.

Independent Neoheroes for Justice (INJ). The second largest superhero organization in the United States, founded in 1991 by the Midnight Menace after breaking away from the NHA. Based in California, although the exact location of its base is unknown. Also the sponsor of the New Heroes.

G-Men. A superhero team sponsored by the federal government of the United States. It is under the leadership of Cadmus Smith, the Director of the Department of Superpowered and Extraterrestrial Beings, and typically handles superhuman, spiritual, or extraterrestrial threats that normal government agencies cannot. Members are recruited from the military.

Cadmus Smith. The Director of the Department of Superpowered and Extraterrestrial Beings. Powers: Ages extremely slowly and can read minds. First appearance: The Superhero's Test.

Mieko Hiro. A superhero detective and former member of the NHA. Powers: Can generate clones that he calls 'Thirds,' which he can reabsorb into his body to gain their memories and knowledge. First appearance: The Superhero's Team.

Ashley Jason. Kevin and White's mother and wife of the late Genius. Powers: None. First appearance: The Superhero's Test.

Mecha Knight (Jack Ruger). A member of the Neohero Alliance Leadership Council and the supervisor of the Young Neos. He also acts as a mentor to Bolt and sometimes the other members of the Young Neos as well. Used to have a human body before transferring his mind into a robotic body he built. Powers: Minor technopathy. First appearance: The Superhero's Team.

The Leadership Council. The leaders of the Neohero Alliance. There are seven members of the Council who are elected by the general NHA membership for terms of five years, although Council members can resign or be impeached under the terms of the NHA's Constitution. The current Leadership Council members are Omega Man, Lady Amazon, Beyond Man, Mr. Miner, High Fly, Mecha Knight, and Black Blur.

Neogenetics. A relatively new field of science that arose in the late 1980s, dedicated to study of superhuman genetics and uncovering the genetic origins of superhuman powers. Scientists who work in this field are known as neogeneticists.

Neogene. Originally believed to be the origin of superhuman powers during the early days of the neogenetics field, supposedly activated by radiation that Haley's Comet rained on Earth while passing over the planet in 1986. Current research indicates that superhuman powers come from different brain functions operating in a yet-to-be-understood manner that produces superhuman powers in certain individuals, so the neogene is no longer treated as scientific fact.

Pokacu. A hive-like alien race that invaded Earth twice, once in 2002 and once again in 2017, failing both times thanks to the efforts of Earth's superheroes. Controlled by the Mother World, the Pokacu conquered hundreds of worlds all across the universe before the Mother World was blown up by Bolt, which killed all Pokacu connected to the Mother World. Only two Pokacu are known to have survived the Mother World's destruction: Nicknacks, a member of the Neohero Alliance, and Graalix, a Pokacu soldier who was also the only survivor of the first invasion of Earth.

Shade (Sarah Bradford). A member of the G-Men and Cadmus Smith's right-hand woman. Powers: Can control and travel through shadow. First appearance: The Superhero's Test.

Adam Lucius Plutarch (formerly known as the Billionaire). Current President of the United States and former supervillain. Is on good terms with Bolt. First appearance: The Superhero's Team.

Ultimate Max. The world's largest and best supervillain prison, located south of New York City. It is maintained by the government and has only suffered two breakouts since being built.

Master Chaos (Bernard Candle). A powerful supervillain who was defeated by Bolt's father, Genius, seventeen years ago. He broke out of Ultimate Max to avenge his son, but ultimately ended up dying after a fight with Bolt and Genius. Powers: Super strength and the ability to cause situations to become chaotic without confusing him. First appearance: The Superhero's Test.

Robert Candle. The son of Master Chaos and a former bully of Bolt. Originally had no powers, but eventually developed the ability to copy and negate the powers of others. Was killed by Bolt, though not before mortally wounding Genius in the process. Powers: The ability to copy and negate the powers of other superhumans with a touch. First appearance: The Superhero's Test.

Ashley Jason. The mother of Bolt and the wife of Genius. Is a normal human, but loves her son and husband and supports them both. First appearance: The Superhero's Test.

The New Heroes. The INJ's version of the Young Neos. It's current lineup includes Strike, Dizzy, Slime, and the Lightning Triplets, Watt, Volt, and Lumen.

Vision. A secretive cult founded by Senator Barnabas Sagan with the purpose of establishing equality between superhumans and normal humans. In truth, however, it was really meant to destabilize the superhuman community in order to make it too weak to stop Sagan from taking over the world. After Sagan's death, the cult is essentially dead, with only a few members in hiding who still believe in its ideals.

Visionary (Barnabas Sagan). A senator from Vermont who pretended to be a normal superhuman until the revelation of his true identity during the 2016 US presidential election. He was killed by Bolt. First appearance: The Superhero's Team.

Hero Island. The headquarters of the Neohero Alliance, located off the shore of New York. It was artificially created by Mr. Miner in 1991 to act as the NHA's base.

The House. The main base and living quarters of the Young Neos. Has a Meeting Room and a Training Room, among other amenities and features.

Valerie. An advanced AI developed by Genius to act as his assistant, she eventually became Bolt's assistant and aided him many times in his adventures.She is currently sharing the role of House AI with Carl (see 'Carl' below). First appearance: The Superhero's Test.

Carl. The House's AI, also developed by Genius.

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About the Author

Lucas Flint writes superhero fiction. He is the author of The Superhero's Son, The Young Neos, Minimum Wage Sidekick, The Supervillain's Kids, The Legacy Superhero, Dimension Heroes, and Lightning Bolt.

Find links to books, social media, updates on newest releases, and more by going to his website here. You can also sign up to be the first to learn about his newest releases by subscribing to his mailing list here.

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