Page 57 of The Not So Super Hero

A ntoine stood behind a bloodied Bailey with a crooked smile.

His hand rested beneath Bailey’s chin, pushing the boy's head up so his tearful gaze met the camera.

His eyes rolled into the back of his head, lips set apart to gasp shaking breaths.

A gruesome bruise consumed the left side of his face, swelling his eyes shut.

Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth.

His right leg had its knee pushed in, bent terribly.

His bloodied and bruised fingers twitched, the restraints so tight that his skin blared red.

Law came in and out of the shot in the back of the room, laughter echoing.

“If you watched through all this, I’m sure you picked up on the clues to our location,” Antoine spoke calmly.

His fingers curled into Bailey’s hair. He yanked, so that Bailey released a whimpered groan that made Zane’s teeth grind.

“I expect to see you here within the hour. If not, we will send a piece of Bailey every hour. You can put him back together like a puzzle if it makes you feel better. Send any other officers or heroes and I will send Bailey’s head as the first piece. I expect to see you soon, my son.”

The recording ended.

The darkened room shimmered with shadows.

An icy chill bit at Zane’s cheeks. Beside him, Natalia stared at the floor, having looked away the moment Bailey came on screen.

Her arm held tight to Nate’s shoulder, whose eyes flickered with rage.

Chris kept a straight face, though his arms were crossed, fingers gripping tight enough to bruise.

Zane was stone cold, but that was far more terrifying than any scowl or glare. His eyes went black long ago, skin pale and fingers twitching impatiently at his sides. He was pissed. He was scared. He was frustrated. He was so much all at once that he couldn’t pinpoint one feeling.

Zane expected the video even if he had hoped it wouldn’t be so bad. He knew Rebirth. He knew his father, what they were capable of, and what they will do. It was why he panicked; it was why he never wanted Bailey involved, and it was why his heart pounded so ferociously.

What if, by the time they arrived, there wouldn’t be anything left of Bailey to save? After this ordeal, would he be himself?

The others in the room were the dumb asses who ran the facility, the guards that were meant to help stop this from happening. Part of Zane wanted to break every one of them, to blame someone even if the truth of the matter was; Rebirth always got what they wanted.

“It will take us almost an hour to get them,” Nate finally spoke. Natalia raised her head, nodding.

“He did it on purpose. He doesn’t want to give us the time to come up with a plan,” she said, voice slightly hoarse.

“If he wanted you there so quickly, why bother taking Bailey in the first place? They broke in. They could have fought you here,” one officer muttered from the back of the room.

“Because this is our turf,” Chris answered. “This is our facility with our people and our equipment. There are heroes all throughout the city and nearby. By making us go to them it says they have prepared for this. They are confident enough that they’ll win this fight because they’re ready for it.”

“I hate to say it, but you can’t go,” a man called David said.

Zane saw him from time to time, speaking with Nate or Natalia.

David approached the front of the room to stand in front of them.

David was in charge, the commanding officer.

When a villain attacked the city, he was the one who picked the heroes to respond.

He gave out the orders, and he was saying they couldn’t leave.

If that were the case, they likely wouldn’t get any help from anyone either, none wanting to risk losing their job.

“What do you mean we can’t go?” Natalia hissed, clenching her fists that smoked. “Regardless of Bailey being our friend, they have a civilian hostage. We can’t sit back and let him die!”

“And I can’t allow them to get their hands on the one person they obviously want so badly.” David pointed accusingly at Zane. “I’m no fool. I saw his medical records, and I am well aware why you lied about it, Chris.”

Chris averted his attention to the floor.

“You don’t have control over Zane. He isn’t some object that you own. You can tell us we can’t ask for your help, but there is no way you can stop us from leaving!” Nate hollered, walking right up into David’s face before shoving the man.

“My job is to protect everyone from people like Rebirth. If that means detaining one mutant who could wipe out the whole damn city, then I will!” David shouted.

He looked between the twins and Chris like he was shocked they didn’t understand his reasoning.

Upon seeing the three of them still looking just as reluctant to listen, he pointed accusingly at Zane.

“Level 10? He’s nowhere near it. He’s off the charts.

We can’t even pinpoint his powers. I bet he doesn’t know what he’s capable of.

I cannot allow him to go running into the hands of the one organization that could use that to their advantage.

No way in hell, if you three want to risk your lives, go ahead, but Zane is staying. ”

David never finished his sentence because he plummeted to the floor, releasing a horrifying scream that could shatter glass.

“Stop!” David clutched his head. His eyes fluttered closed, breath labored and body trembling.

The officers ran to his aid. One guard reached for her taser. She barely got it in her grasp when Zane turned on her. Her guttural scream followed, grabbing her head and screaming about spiders.

“Get them off, get them off, get them off!” She repeated, proceeding to scratch until she bled.

“Zane, stop this!” Chris ordered.

Zane didn’t pay him any mind. He watched the remaining officers, practically challenging them to come forward. His message had been made clear, though. None dared to meet his eyes.

Chris clutched Zane’s arm when he repeated, “Stop this.”

The moment his concentration broke, David and the other officer were released. Both took deep breaths, although they remained sweating and tired on the ground.

“We need to leave now if we want to get there in time,” Zane said, storming towards the exit

“Wait, we need to talk about this!” Natalia shouted. Her footsteps followed him. Chris and Nate were swift to join them.

“There’s nothing to talk about. We get there. Find Bailey. Kill everyone.”

“You say that like it’s easy.”

“After what they did to him, it will be easy.”

“They know we’re coming. You know what they’re like!” Nate shouted, catching up to Zane’s side.

“Yes, I do. You are acting like we don’t know what we’re up against, but we do. We were locked up like wild animals because of them. We know their tactics and we know what they’re like, so they’re at a disadvantage as well,” Zane argued, turning into the bunker where the vehicles were.

After the attack, there weren’t many left, but as everything settled, officers found what they could.

A couple of cars sat in the loading area.

When Zane attempted to get in the driver’s side, Natalia pushed him away.

She gave him a once over before saying, “Get in the passenger seat. You’re not driving. ”

“I want to drive!” Nate shouted, but Natalia was already in the driver’s seat. Huffing, he shimmied into the back with Chris.

“I understand that you’re worked up,” Chris said, leaning between the seats so that he could look at Zane. Zane wouldn’t meet his eyes, staring out the window at the road that felt far too long.

“We’re all scared and we’re all worried,” Chris added while grasping Zane’s shoulder. “But I know Bailey wouldn’t want us, especially you, running in there without a plan. We all want to get out of this alive, so take a breath and let’s talk about this.”

“If you think you can come up with a plan in an hour by all means, go ahead,” Zane hissed, ruffling his hair in frustration, then yanking his hair into a ponytail. His foot tapped impatiently. He wasn’t sure if he would survive the hour's drive.

“Antoine will be with Bailey. There’s no way he’d risk leaving him alone.

Leona will be the first person to meet us and Law, who the fuck knows what that crazy bastard has up his sleeve,” Natalia hissed, driving them out of the bunker.

If anyone was given orders to stop them, they weren’t listening.

“We’re going to have to split up,” Nate said, his words hanging heavy. “They’re going to want us to. We’re less of a threat, but we can’t risk staying in a group. If we don’t get to Bailey in time…” Nate chose not to finish that sentence for Zane’s sake, but the message was clear.

“And we have no idea who they recruited,” Chris added.

While Rebirth was at its prime, the government had files upon files of information on who was in on it. However, after their fall, members died or slipped into hiding. Rebirth rebuilt itself far beneath the surface, meaning there would be new members with unknown abilities.

“There was that girl with Law before, Luna, I think,” Nate mentioned. “She’ll be a pain against Zane. If she shows up, one of us will have to handle her.”

“Law has new toys too, so that should be fun,” Zane growled, remembering that bastard harnessed Luna’s light into a damn flashlight. It pissed him off that a fucking flashlight messed with him, but leave it to Law to make annoying contraptions from typical objects.

“Honestly, if we can avoid Law, then let’s make sure to do it,” Chris said. “He has far too much information on all of us. If you see him, try to keep out of his way.”