Fall of Heroes (3 page)

“We're getting closer,” Gage said, staring down at his screen, and then taking a moment to look over his shoulder. Nothing came out of the pass between the cliffs. Nothing had followed them. At least, nothing they had seen. But the shadows around them were moving of their own accord, roiling and bubbling and yawning and stretching. The two strangers in the Gloom continued to run, Gage leading them around ponds full of impossibly dark pools and black columns that rose from the ground with seemingly no purpose.

“I hear something behind us,” Amp said through heavy breaths. “It's faint. I don't know what it is. But it's definitely getting closer. I can hear it breathing.”

It was as if by admitting this, the thing behind them allowed itself to make noise, and they could both hear something scrambling to catch up with them, and again a sound like screeching metal.

And then another noise, right in front of them.
Bang.
Gage and Amp stopped dead in their tracks. Amp shot his hand forward, concentrating all the sound energy the Gloom hadn't sucked out of him, readying for attack. Gage froze, his tracking device in hand, a yellow blip pinging on the screen.

The new sound had come from a long piece of wood brought down against the top of a craggy shadow above them. It was sharpened on one end, like a spear. A man was holding it, staring down at them. He had a square jaw with a dimpled chin set beneath a straight nose. The skin around his eyes was dark and creased and stood out against his pallid skin. His hair was greasy and askew, slanting off to the right like a ramp.

His blue-and-white uniform was full of rips and tears, the entire right sleeve missing. Hanging from one shoulder was the smallest scrap of gold, which complemented the starburst on his chest perfectly.

“Who are you?” he asked, his voice a cracked baritone. “Where did you come from?”

Amp slowly lowered his hand.

“Lone Star,” he whispered.

The man's expression contorted in confusion. Amp ripped off his goggles and took off his hood, exposing his face. Lone Star stood completely still, stunned for several moments, before dropping to his knees. He looked as though he might be sick, or burst into tears. Or both.

“Amp,” he said, his voice now soft and fragile. “Not you, too.”

“You misunderstand, sir,” Gage said, stepping forward. “We're here to rescue you.”

Lone Star stared back at him, shaking his head slightly.

“We have a way out.” Amp's voice practically boomed with excitement as he climbed the craggy shadow to be at his mentor's side. “We're here to take you back home.”

Lone Star seemed unable to process anything that was happening.

“But how? How did you get here? Are the others safe?”

“Where's Lux?” Gage asked, looking over his shoulder. “We need to get out of here. Fast. We think we've picked up a tail.”

“Amp, I . . . ,” Lone Star started, and then trailed off. His eyes stared into Amp's, but there was something distant about them, as if he wasn't sure he was seeing the boy at all. “How long have we been in here?”

Amp crouched down beside the Ranger. He spoke softly.

“About a month. But we can get you out. You and Lux. She's here, too, right? We just need to return to the portal, and we'll bring you back into the real world. Everything will be back to normal.”

“My powers. I haven't been able to use them in I don't know how long. Lux's too. We can't figure out what to do.”

“It's okay,” Amp said. “We just have to get you out of here. As soon as you're back in the real world, you'll feel like yourself again. You'll burst with energy. You
have
to. We need Lone Star back. The
city
needs you.”

Lone Star didn't move at first. Then his face began to harden, and he nodded. Suddenly he was on his feet, his chest puffed out. He looked at Amp with a faint smile.

“I never hoped you would do something so reckless as to try to rescue us.” His voice was bolder now, more theatrically heroic. “But now that you're here, I couldn't be prouder of you.”

Somewhere behind them came a sound like that of falling rocks, only like everything else in the Gloom, it seemed murky and ill-defined. Lone Star's eyes widened.

“It's not safe out here,” he said. “A monster lurks in the shadows. Follow me. We need to get back to our shelter. We can collect Lux and the others and get out of here.”

“Others?” Amp asked.

But Gage and Lone Star were already hurrying away.

3
FAMILY REUNION

T
itan cracked his knuckles. The metallic sound echoed through the outdoor area. Alex shuddered slightly. The noise was a reminder of Titan's strength and near invulnerability thanks to a layer of metal beneath his skin, and was something Alex had grown to hate in the past when the two had still been living in the underground base together as teammates.

Titan stood a few yards away from Alex and the others—the decoy team. Surrounded by high fences, the Stonehenge lawn felt like a boxing ring.

“Well, well, well,” Titan sneered. “Looks like somebody finally stopped being chicken and came out to play. Hey, Mallory. Long time no see. I can feel your chill from all the way over here.”

“Maybe you're just getting flashbacks of when I froze you solid the last time I saw you,” Mallory said, shrugging.

“Don't be like that.” Titan pretended to be hurt. “It wasn't long ago we were breaking through vault doors together, Temptress.”

Mallory didn't respond, but Alex could feel the heat radiating off her at the mention of the code name Titan had tried to give her countless times in the past. Titan smirked. He was already gloating.
Good,
Alex thought. The longer they talked, the less time they'd need to spend fighting. He silently hoped that everything was going well for Gage and the others.

As the helicopter overhead descended, a black rope uncoiled from its open door. Volt slid down it, jumping off at the end and landing beside Titan. Both of them were dressed in the new Ranger uniforms.

It was the first time Alex had seen his father since the man had been sucked into the Gloom the night that Justice Tower had fallen. In his Ranger uniform, the man looked heroic. Even regal. Alex's mouth parted slightly as he stared at Volt. He tried to pretend that there wasn't part of him that was happy to see his father in person after so long.

“Hello, son,” Volt said. He let the last word hang in the air for a few moments. He looked down over the tip of his nose at his child, but his eyebrows were scrunched together. Alex recognized the expression. It was the look Volt used to give in training sessions when he questioned if Shade was pushing their son just a little too hard. “I see you've brought quite a party with you.”

“Father,” Alex said, his voice cracking slightly. He steeled himself, curling his fingers into fists at his sides. “I see you brought your metal ape.”

Titan started forward. A crackle of Volt's purple electricity landed at his feet, holding him back.

“Patience,” Volt said. “You know my wife would hate to miss anything.”

Above them, Shade and Photon descended from the sky. Alex had never seen the true Ranger up close. His skin was a deep olive, his hair dark and wavy. And his eyes, which stared straight ahead, were a curious mix of amber and green.

He carried Shade. Or, Alex thought, it would have been more accurate to say that his mother was lounging in Photon's arms, as if he were a very comfortable piece of furniture. Her legs draped lazily over one of his forearms, while the other supported her back. She smiled beneath her oversized black sunglasses and leaped gracefully off her transportation once they were close to the ground. The helicopter, which must have been waiting for them to land, flew away.

Alex's family was reunited. Father and mother and son. His pulse thumped in his head. He felt like years had passed since he'd seen his parents, but at the same time, like it had been yesterday.

“My, my,” Shade said, smiling. “If I'd known that all we had to do was become Rangers to get you to come out of hiding, I would have arranged it sooner.”

“You are
not
Rangers,” Kyle spat.

There was a flippancy to his mother that Alex had never seen before, even with all of them standing there facing her, ready to fight her. She acted as though she didn't have a care in the world—that she had everything figured out.

It made Alex nervous, as her happiness tended to do. He grimaced.

“My darling boy,” she said, ignoring Kyle. “Why do you look so sad? Could it be that you're not as glad to see me as I am to see you?”

Shade smiled. It was an altogether different smile from the one he'd seen in the poster of her not fifteen minutes earlier. There was something scary about this one. Alex had seen a few movies and read a few books about families who were reunited after long periods apart. They were always sobbing and hugging, professing their love and happiness to one another. Months ago, he might have thought such displays were signs of weakness, but now he felt angry that this wasn't the case for him and his family. Angry, and sad.

“The last time I saw you,” Alex said slowly, “you left me and my friends in a crumbling building to die.”

“But you
didn't
,” Shade said. “And in my defense, it was
your
telekinetic blast that brought down Justice Tower. What I can't figure out is what you're doing here now. If you're hoping to have some sort of revelation for the media about what's
really
going on around here, I'm afraid we've got all that covered. You're all wanted criminals, after all. As we speak, half of our Deputies are surrounding the front of the building.”

“Aren't those untrained idiots the kind of people you always told us we should never think twice about?” Mallory asked.

“Everyone serves a purpose,” Shade said. “Everyone can be used for—”

“For the glory,” Alex said, finishing her sentence. “Yeah, we've all heard it.”

“Photon,” Kyle shouted. The man turned to stare at Kyle. There was a brief moment of confusion on his face, and then Shade's eyes went silver and the man stood upright, ready for her command.

“Oh, I see,” Shade said. “You thought that if he saw you, he might turn against me. I can assure you that's not how this works. Photon's my little magnetic puppet for the foreseeable future. Until we don't need him anymore.” She shifted her gaze between Kyle and Kirbie, and lowered her voice. “Just between you and me, I can see the allure of this hero stuff. All the fawning and worship. But then, we'll have plenty of that once Cloak takes over as well.”

“They only follow you because they don't know who you really are,” Kirbie said.

“That's the trick to all celebrity, isn't it? That's
power
, little girl.” Shade narrowed her eyes. “And that's all that matters.”

“Take them alive,” Volt said flatly.

Everyone moved at once.

Titan barreled toward Alex, but the roots of the nearby tree shot up from the ground, tripping him. Before the metal boy could pick himself back up, the tree was growing and bending, and its branches wrapped around him and held him high in the air. Titan thrashed, but off the ground he had no leverage, and every snapped piece of wood was replaced by two sturdier branches, like some sort of Hydra. At Kyle's command, the tree slammed Titan back and forth from the ground to the nearby brick wall.

Mallory ran and began firing off icy blasts at Volt. Kirbie leaped from stone to stone, taking swipes at Photon. It was a tricky situation—they needed to fight the man, to keep him busy, but they didn't really want to
injure
him. He was a Ranger, and his actions were not his own. Using his control over magnetic and electromagnetic waves, Photon darted through the air. With a wave of his hand, a metal bench flew toward Mallory, wrapping itself around her and trapping her near Stonehenge. She grunted, pouring subzero temperatures into the restraints, then rammed herself into one of the stones that made up the exhibit. The metal fell to the ground.

The extent of Alex and his new teammates' training in the prior weeks was unmistakable. Alex wondered if his mother noticed this, and if so, if she was proud despite the situation.

His target was his mother. After all, he was the only one who knew how to fight off her attacks. He kept his mind wrapped in telekinetic energy. There were flashes of silver behind Shade's sunglasses as her thoughts pushed against his shield. She looked at him with a mixture of disappointment and curiosity, as if she couldn't quite figure out how to approach him.

Without warning, Shade pulled a pistol from her belt holster and fired. The bolt of energy that shot out came within a few inches of Alex's chest before his thoughts batted it away. It landed on the ground, scorching a small bit of grass. With a single sharp thought the gun flew from her hands, slamming against one of the sandstone slabs.

“Just checking,” his mother said casually. “I'm happy to see you've been honing all the skills I taught you.”

Technically things were going well: if his mother was focused on him
and
keeping Photon on the field, she would learn none of their secrets. He was suddenly thankful for her powers. Telepathy was an incredibly useful and dangerous skill to have, but Alex had perfected his defense against it. Shade could fire all the weapons she wanted at him, but she had trained him too well against such attacks. If she wanted to fight him, she'd have to use someone else or get in close. As long as he could keep her at a distance, he would be fine. He could use his own powers to keep her at bay.

He wouldn't have to worry about actually attacking his mother.

“I've thought of this moment many times, Alexander.” She walked slowly, circling him. “Have dreamed of it, even. Though I have to admit that in my dreams you're usually on your knees, begging me to allow you back into our ranks.”

“That's never going to happen,” Alex said. He thought about when he'd met Novo in the alleyway. She had taken his mother's form, offering him a place back with Cloak that he had rejected. In a strange way, it had prepared him for this moment. He wondered if his mother knew about that incident. If she had been changed by knowing what his response had been that day.

“So, why are you here, then?” Shade asked. She stopped circling. Alex's back was to the museum building. He could see the others fighting, doing an admirable job of keeping Photon and Titan and Volt in check. Titan shouted in the tree. Kirbie leaped from one of the taller stones and dragged Volt to the ground, catching him by surprise.

Shade continued. “Do you want to bargain for the city? Or is it just a fight you want? To see if you're really ready to take on dear old Mom and Dad?”

“The way I see it, I've already won.” He had to keep her talking, to keep her focused on him.

“Oh? Please explain that to me.”

“I beat you,” Alex said. “I was supposed to be your biggest victory, and look at me now. I got away from you. I didn't turn into your weapon. And you know how strong my powers are. I could crush you. Right here. Right now.”

“But you won't, will you?” Shade asked, shaking her head. “All that power is trumped by your weaknesses. Don't you see, Alex? The very reason you
think
you've beaten me is why I will continue to prevail.”

“You're telling me that
not
killing you is a weakness.”

“I'm saying that you're only prolonging this little conflict by not taking out your enemy. Look around you. You could use my own weapon against me or silence me with one giant stone from this idiotic exhibit. You could take care of me right here and now, but you won't, will you? Because of some moral code you've adopted. I'd rather have a victorious traitor for a son than an incompetent coward.”

“Stop playing mind games with me, Mother,” Alex said. He knew what she was doing. These were the kinds of things she'd whispered into his head in power training sessions anytime he felt like giving up or failed to meet her expectations. She was pushing his buttons. It made his blood boil.

“And what are you going to do to stop me?” she asked.

His thoughts shot out, pushing her to the ground. He immediately started forward, to attack, and then stopped, unsure of how to continue.

Shade began to laugh, low and quiet.

“Poor Alexander. Is that all? Another test failed.” Her eyes turned a cold silver behind her sunglasses. “Oh, well. Let's get this over with, then.”

Behind her, Photon suddenly snapped into action, using his powers to pull a lamppost from the ground. It sparked as it flew through the air, slamming into Kirbie's wolf form and sending her flying. She collapsed in a heap at Alex's feet. Before Alex could react, Photon focused on Titan—in particular, the boy's metal under-skin. He ripped the Beta out of the tree and sent him hurtling through the sandstone blocks where Kyle and Mallory stood, shattering some and knocking others over, sending up a cloud of dust.

Then, as if someone had turned him off, Photon floated silently over Shade's head. In a matter of seconds she'd used him to turn the course of battle.

Kirbie slowly got to her feet.

“You—” Alex didn't know where to begin. “You just used your own teammate as a human wrecking ball.”

“Like I said, everyone serves a purpose.” Shade pulled a black spike from her belt and tossed it toward them as she walked away. It landed at their feet, embedded in the grass. “Titan will be fine. He will be
happy
to have been of use. You two, on the other hand—well, I can't say for sure how things will end up. I'm a telepath, not a fortune-teller.”

She smiled a shark-like smile.

“Well,” she said. “A telepath,
and
a weapons expert.”

She slid behind one of the remaining rocks that made up the Stonehenge replica just as the spike let out a beep.

“Get dow—,” Alex started.

Then there was nothing but the sound of an explosion.