Page 56 of The Not So Super Hero

W hen Bailey’s eyes opened, he couldn’t register a thing.

His head throbbed, potentially from a concussion.

He smacked his dry lips and squirmed his stiff limbs.

Groaning, he realized he couldn’t rub his aching head because he couldn’t move.

He was stuck. He blinked the world into vision to discover someone had strapped him to a cold leather chair.

Bright lights shone above him, resembling those in a hospital room.

Bailey struggled against the restraints, to no avail.

A strap even tightened around his neck, preventing him from sitting up from his lying position.

Remembering what happened caused him to realize the worst; Leona had captured him. He had no idea where he was or what Leona would do to him.

Bailey observed his surroundings. A row of cabinets lined the wall.

They pressed against a slightly crooked desk with a computer.

Nothing out of the ordinary until he gazed to his right.

A low whimper passed between his lips. A silver tray sat atop a movable table containing operating tools not meant to be used on conscious people.

Panic bristled beneath his skin, stretching his nerves to the point of snapping.

Suddenly, he understood how people in movies made such poor decisions in dire situations. He was so pent up that all he could do was lay there, heat screeching in his ears. His limbs shook violently enough to rattle the chair. One minute he couldn’t breathe, the next he breathed too quickly.

There was no hope. When Bailey tried to think up how to set himself free, all he could think was help, please, help me, please help. He wasn’t even sure who or what he was asking for help. Was he asking God? Zane? The universe? Someone, anyone, because Bailey didn’t know what to do.

“Look who finally woke up.” A man with insect-like eyes and ruffled hair entered through a rusted door in a lab coat. Another man with piercing blue eyes followed. Lab-Coat ran to Bailey’s side to lean over him.

“Hello, Bailey, my name is Law. I will take excellent care of you until Zane arrives.” Law had no issues with personal space, seeing as he immediately began acting like a doctor during a checkup.

Bailey wasn’t sure how to respond when the man opened his mouth to inspect his teeth.

Then he checked in Bailey’s ears, and even pressed his hand to Bailey’s chest, feeling the erratic heartbeat.

“Oh my, are you frightened?” Law smiled, eyes sparkling with devious intent. “There’s no need to be scared. I promise we’re not going to kill you!”

That didn’t leave out hurting him, although he kept that to himself to prevent giving them any ideas.

“I thought you were a talker. I’m disappointed that you’re being so quiet.

What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable? Would you like these off?

” Law tugged at the strap around Bailey’s neck.

He didn’t know what to do. He stared at Law like he was a wild animal.

Law certainly felt like one, an appearance that threatened unexpected moves.

“Ah, well, if I want you to talk, then I should make you comfortable first. My apologies. I’ll take the ones around your neck off. How’s that?”

Bailey tried to nod. Law removed the strap.

Bailey took a long breath, although nothing could ease the suffocating atmosphere.

Then Law shoved Bailey’s chair into a sitting position.

His head whipped forward, then slammed against the back of the chair.

Since his head was already pounding, the assault didn’t help.

“That’s more comfortable, isn’t it?” Law’s question felt rhetorical, so Bailey said nothing.

Now sitting up, he caught a look at the second man in the room.

He leaned against the wall, donning a crooked smirk.

Unlike the utterly erratic Law, the stranger had a far more professional aura.

He wore a high end suit fitted perfectly to a tall and toned figure.

His short blonde hair was styled back from his flawless alabaster features and his bright blue eyes likely procured an endless list of compliments.

Something about him was familiar, although it was his eyes that Bailey couldn’t look away from. Something cruel hid in those eyes.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Bailey,” the stranger spoke, voice calm yet frightening. His long legs carried him to Bailey’s side in a few strides. Law retrieved a chair for the stranger to sit. “We’ve had our eyes on you for some time.”

“You mean you’ve had your eyes on Zane,” Bailey whispered, keeping his eyes on the stranger because he somehow felt worse than the twitching man at his side.

Blue Eyes snickered. “Being at Zane’s side, we assumed there was something special about you, but you’re exceedingly ordinary.”

“It was disappointing actually,” Law added, his lips pursing like a child who lost his favorite toy.

If they knew that, that means they ran tests while he was unconscious. His stomach lurched, nausea pouring over him.

“Well, sorry to disappoint,” Bailey grumbled, keeping his gaze lowered to the floor.

“Don’t worry, you’re not a complete disappointment, considering you are going to make excellent bait.”

Bailey figured as much. Why else would he still be alive?

The thought of it was revolting, terrifying, frustrating, so much at once that it made him ill.

What if Zane took the bait? What if he got hurt in the process?

Bailey would never forgive himself if that happened.

All he could do was hope that Zane got help from the others.

Natalia, Nate, and Chris would never allow Zane to jump in headfirst. They would be there with him to help guide him through this dilemma. Hopefully, that was enough.

“If you want to get to Zane so badly, why didn’t you break in with Leona?” Bailey asked, meeting Blue Eyes’ familiar piercing gaze. “Were you scared you’d lose while fighting Zane head on?”

“Breaking into an underground facility heavily guarded with heroes and officers alike is no simple task. There is certainly no guarantee of success either. Why would someone like myself risk that when I have underlings whose lives are far less valuable than my own?”

That response spoke volumes. Anyone with half a brain knew the guy was bad news, and that bad news had Bailey in his grasp with no hope of escaping. Nothing was more frightening than that.

“What do you want?” Bailey asked.

Rebirth was never very open about their true intentions.

All they did was cause chaos and destruction, but why?

For what reasons? Why did they have Raiffel Academy?

Why were they testing on children? And why were they so fixated on Zane?

There were far too many questions. If Bailey had the chance to speak with these two bastards potentially in charge of operations, then maybe he could get some answers. Maybe he could survive to tell them.

“What do we want?” Law repeated, eyes wide with excitement. “We want everything.”

“Power, success, the world, all that villainous garbage,” Blue Eyes chuckled, although the cadence of his voice was sarcastic. “This world we live in with mutations being handed out like free candy. It’s pathetic. Only those who are worthy should have power.”

“And who decides who is worthy?” Bailey asked.

“Rebirth, of course.”

“And by Rebirth what you actually mean is you, right?”

“You’re smarter than you look. I’ll give you that.”

Implying that he thought Bailey was dumb, he wasn’t surprised to hear it. Mr. Ego-Maniac was full of himself.

“And how are you going to decide who is worthy? People are born with mutations. You can’t stop that from happening,” Bailey argued.

Law laughed, the noise echoing in the tiled room. An eerie sound that sounded joyful only to him, twisted and demented. Blue Eyes found amusement in it as well, leaning back into his chair with one leg crossed over the other like some damn king.

“No need for you to worry about that,” he said.

Bailey didn’t like the sounds of that, nor did he fully understand it.

No one had cracked the code to mutations.

While they pinpointed mutations in DNA to determine who possessed one, there was no telling what the mutation would be and definitely no way to get rid of it.

If Rebirth learned how to do that—Bailey was scared not only for himself but also for the world.

“There’s no way you can take away a person’s mutation. It’s not possible,” Bailey countered, looking at the still chuckling Law, then to Blue Eyes.

“And yet so many years ago, the human race thought it was impossible to evolve in the way that they have,” Blue Eyes argued.

“Is that why you’re fixated on Zane? You fear him, his mutation? You want him gone?” Bailey’s voice shook at the implications. If Zane lost his mutation, then how would he defend himself from Rebirth? If Zane didn’t have his mutation, Rebirth would surely kill him.

Zane’s name put a smile on the strangers’ face so blood curdling that Bailey’s breath hitched. The temperature of the room dropped. Even Law’s cackling silenced. Something about those blue eyes staring at Bailey made him completely freeze.

“What kind of father do you take me for? I would never kill my son,” Blue eyes said so flippantly that Bailey thought he heard wrong, but that was it—the familiarity.

Those blue eyes were unmistakably Zane’s, or rather, Zane’s were just like his father’s.

They had the same facial structure, the same height. It was all right there.

“It seems my dear boy has never mentioned me. I’m offended. Since my brat of a boy never told you about me, I better introduce myself. My name is Antoine Vixen.”

Vixen. That was the name Bailey saw in that strange dream. Was that possibly Zane’s memories? The situation didn’t call for a walk down memory lane, though. He had more important matters to attend to, like trying to stay alive.

“You treated your own son like some kind of experiment,” he whispered. He couldn’t wrap his head around a parent doing something so horrendous to their own child. Or maybe it was that Bailey didn’t want to think about everything Zane went through because of his father.

“Treated him like an experiment?” Antoine echoed, lips twitching into that sick smirk “Bailey, he was an experiment. Why else would I have a child?”

Antoine leaned forward, resting his elbows against his knees.

“When I met Zane’s mother, I knew she could give me a child of extraordinary abilities, but imagine if we had control.

Imagine if we could amplify the mutation to the point of God-like power.

The bitch had no idea what my true intentions were.

By the time she discovered the truth, she was already pregnant.

She served her purpose before her death and I had myself a son whose powers continue to grow to this day, so I’d say the experiment was a success, don’t you? ”

Vile tickled the back of Bailey’s throat. The restraints twisted against his shaking limbs, cutting the circulation.

Did Zane know about his mother? Was that why he took her last name? If Bailey made it out alive, he wasn’t certain he had the courage to ask.

“And that damn kid,” Antoine continued on, sitting straight and waving a dismissive hand. “I worked tirelessly to make him strong, and he wastes that talent. This is what happens with kids. They’re so ungrateful towards their parents.”

“You’re no parent,” Bailey spat, meeting Antoine’s narrowed gaze. “You’re some sick fuck who treated his own child like a lab rat. Any dumbass can have a child, but it takes a good person to be a parent, and you sure as hell aren’t a good person. You’re scum.”

“You’re right, I am not a good person,” Antoine said, sickly sweet. Bailey’s fingers curled, aching against the armrest. Antoine stood and, without hesitation or remorse, kicked Bailey’s right knee in.

Bailey shrieked. Law’s laughter grew loud once more. He hopped next to Bailey’s chair, overjoyed by the tears building in Bailey’s eyes. His leg twitched, bent at a wrong angle. The world spun from an immeasurable pain that almost made his vision blacken. He wished he would pass out.

“We were going to talk more, but I think it’s better if we jump right to it.

” Antoine snapped his fingers towards the door.

The door opened for Leona to walk in, carrying a video camera.

Her eyes shimmered as merrily as Law. She pointed the camera at a whimpering Bailey, said whimpers grew when Antoine placed a careful hand on his shoulder.

“We can’t have Zane plotting anything with those annoying hero friends of his, so be useful, Bailey, and scream as loud as you can.”