Justin flew through the cold night air of New Gold City as quickly as he could, weaving in and out of buildings and skyscrapers on his way home. The chilly wind would have been extremely uncomfortable if not for the Blue Gate, which gave him a significant degree of cold resistance.
That was good.
Because Justin needed to get home before his father did. Otherwise, he was absolutely sure this would be his last adventure as the superhero known as Paradigm.
In his defense, Justin had chosen the name because of how cool it sounded. He had also chosen it because it represented what he believed was a paradigm shift in New Gold City. Even his battles with the Anomalies at the manufacturing plant had all but confirmed to Justin that the Gate System was indeed the weapon that would save the city.
But first, Justin needed to get home.
And maybe get his broken hand and open chest wound healed, too. That would be nice.
So Justin flew. He flew over the houses of his neighbors, flew over their sprawling gardens and front yards, even spooking a few birds slumbering in their trees. But he didn’t care because he needed to get home as fast as he could.
Soon, Justin’s house—a massive, two-story mansion that sprawled across several acres of land—loomed out of the shadows directly ahead of him. With its wrought iron gate and meandering driveway, the Wright Mansion, as it was known to the public, looked like something straight out of the Victorian era. That was because it had been built by Justin’s great-great-grandfather, Jedidiah Justice Wright, over 100 years ago and had been in the family ever since.
But Justin didn’t go directly to the mansion itself. He veered off to the left, heading toward the waterfall on the other side of the estate. This waterfall was a natural phenomenon, as the Wright Mansion had been built along Lake Miller, which transformed into a waterfall at one point before resuming its path south.
What most people didn’t know, however, was that the waterfall concealed a series of caves behind it. These caves had originally been home to several Native American tribes in the area before European settlers moved in. The caves were then lost to time until Justin’s grandfather, Jeremiah Justice Wright, rediscovered them about fifty years ago. Grandfather had then donated the many Native American artifacts found in the caves to various museums and universities throughout Texas to preserve their history, as none of the tribes they belonged to existed anymore.
But it wasn’t until Justin’s father realized their potential that the caves were transformed into an elaborate underground superhero base.
Justin flew into the hidden entrance, passing through the waterfall. Gallons of water pounded against his back as he pushed through, but he broke through the torrent quickly. That was good. He had hated leaving the Brain Cave through the waterfall earlier that night, so he was relieved to make it back in even less time.
As Justin emerged from the other side of the waterfall, Val’s voice crackled in his left earcom. “The Gate System landing pad is functional and ready, Justin. You should be able to land without any issues.”
Justin didn’t even respond. He flew straight toward the large black-and-white target painted on the floor and landed heavily on his feet. He staggered slightly but managed to stay upright, breathing hard as he reached for the dial on his utility belt to turn off the Blue Gate.
Before he could, the Blue Gate abruptly flickered and died. His costume shimmered as the blue and white were replaced by black and white, and the snowflake emblem on his chest morphed into a stylized capital ‘P.’ Only the hole in the chest area remained, evidence of Justin’s chest injury.
In seconds, the effects of the Blue Gate had completely dissipated, leaving Justin in his default Paradigm costume—and leaving him even more exhausted. Without the super strength and endurance provided by the Blue Gate, the full weight of his fatigue and pain hit him like a truck.
Breathing hard, Justin removed the goggles and headset of the Paradigm costume, which had started to feel unbearably heavy now that he was no longer supported by the Gate System, and lowered them onto his neck. “Val, what happened to the Gate System?”
There was an apologetic tone in Val’s voice that Justin had never heard before. “It appears I overestimated the remaining Super Energy reserves of the Gate System earlier. It is now completely out of power and will need to recharge for the next twelve hours before it can be used again.”
Justin gulped. “Meaning that if I had been even a minute slower, the Gate System would have completely given out and I would’ve crashed somewhere in the city?”
“That is indeed the likeliest outcome if you hadn’t made it back to the Brain Cave in time,” said Val. “But look on the bright side, Justin—you made it back alive, if not exactly whole.”
Justin shuddered. He couldn’t believe how many times he had come close to dying tonight—first against the Level Five Anomaly, and then again when the Gate System had nearly run out of power and dropped him to his death on his way home.
The fact was, Justin didn’t have natural superpowers like some heroes. All his abilities came from the Gate System. While convenient, it left him entirely at the mercy of his suit. If the Gate System had run out of power before Justin made it back home, that he would have simply fallen to his death somewhere in New Gold City and that would have been the end of his short, sixteen-year-old life.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
When Justin thought about it, he now realized why his father had been so adamant about keeping the Gate System under wraps, away from anyone who might get their hands on it. It was far more dangerous than it seemed.
At the same time, however, Justin couldn’t deny how thrilling it had been to finally be a real superhero. He had even managed to save a girl’s life—a girl who, now that he thought about it, was a lot cuter than he had realized. And, as fate would have it, she happened to attend the same school, Alexander Fry High, as he did.
He just hoped Alanna wouldn’t recognize him at school tomorrow morning. Otherwise, things could get very awkward very quickly.
Shaking his head, Justin tapped his earcom with his good hand and asked Val, “Is the healing tank ready yet?”
“It is currently booting up as we speak,” Val replied. “I have adjusted the healing fluids to match your body temperature and mass. You should only need to spend about an hour in the tank before both injuries are fully healed.”
Justin cringed. “An hour? What if Dad notices I’m in here or that the healing tank is active? You know how he likes to keep track of that stuff.”
“No need to worry about that, Justin,” said a familiar male voice from behind him, making his blood freeze. “I already know about your joyride.”
Justin froze in place. If there was one thing scarier than a Level Five Anomaly—or even the thought of the Gate System giving out and dropping him to his death in the middle of the city—it was his father’s wrath.
And right now, his father did not sound pleased at all.
Justin knew he couldn’t ignore him, so he turned around to face the music, silently praying for at least a painless death.
His father hovered several feet away in his hover chair, fingers steepled together in front of his face. Though Dad wore his signature lab coat, he wasn’t wearing the high-tech helmet that had made him famous as the tech superhero Brainstorm. No doubt he had ditched the mask so Justin could see exactly how disappointed—and angry—he was.
It didn’t help that Dad and Justin looked very similar, though Dad obviously looked much older.
None of that mattered to Justin right now, who suddenly found the warmth of the Brain Cave and the ever-present scent of plastic and metal intolerable. The courage and defiance that had helped him stand up to the Level Five Anomaly evaporated in the face of his father’s anger and disappointment, leaving Justin feeling less like a sixteen-year-old and more like a six-year-old about to get a big spanking.
Justin gulped. “Dad, I can explain—”
Dad held up a silencing hand. “No need. I saw the stream on the Lane Investigations Show. Val, bring it up on a holo-screen, will you?”
A holographic screen blinked into view between Justin and his father. It showed a recording of the livestream, beginning with Justin facing off against the weaker two Anomalies and leading up to his confrontation with the Level Five Anomaly at the Destiny Corporation manufacturing plant. Everything unfolded exactly as Justin remembered it, though he hadn’t realized that Alanna had been providing constant commentary during the fight.
She mostly encouraged her viewers to subscribe to her channel, like her content, and share the stream. She even promised a special follow-up stream to go into greater detail about the events of the night.
The stream ended abruptly when the Level Five Anomaly looked directly at Nancy and said in his unnervingly creepy voice, “Shut down.”
The holographic screen went blank, leaving Justin and his father staring at an empty white screen.
For the longest time, Justin kept his gaze fixed on the blank screen, too afraid to look at his father. Not only had he taken Dad’s experimental Gate System and nearly gotten himself killed, but he had also inadvertently exposed its existence to the world on Alanna’s livestream.
Justin couldn’t imagine a worse offense, short of outright murdering someone. Even then, Dad might have been less upset—depending on who Justin murdered.
“As of approximately fifteen minutes ago, the recording of the stream has over fifty-thousand views and thousands of shares across multiple social media platforms,” Dad continued, his voice deadly calm. “It has also been mirrored and backed up on dozens of channels and websites, making it virtually impossible to remove from the Internet. Not to mention the thousands of clip channels that will undoubtedly edit and highlight the best parts, exposing the events of tonight to an even broader audience that doesn’t sit through hour-long streams. In short, you’ve gone viral, Justin—along with the Gate System.”
Justin hadn’t known all the gritty details about the viral stream, but they didn’t make him feel any better. He doubted any of those 50,000 viewers would come to his defense—even if they knew he was about to be grounded for the rest of his life.
Still, Justin knew he couldn’t avoid facing his father forever. Maybe if he looked Dad in the eye and came clean, Dad would only ground him until he was sixty-years-old rather than the rest of his life.
Taking a deep breath, Justin tore his gaze away from the blank holo-screen and looked at his father.
As expected, Dad didn’t look pleased. His hover chair landed softly on the floor, and he stood, walking toward Justin. Each of his footsteps echoed against the marble flooring, the sounds echoing ominously off the walls of the Brain Cave. It reminded Justin of why some people on the Internet had said that his father would have made a great supervillain under different circumstances.
Justin had always assumed that kind of thing was just hyperbole spouted by terminally online losers on the Internet, but seeing his angry father striding toward him in near full costume certainly made Justin rethink those assumptions.
Dad stopped directly in front of Justin and looked down at him. Even though Dad was only an inch or two taller than Justin, he somehow seemed like a giant at that moment.
Especially when he put both of his surprisingly strong hands on Justin's shoulders and stared at him directly in the eyes.
“Justin, in all the sixteen long years I’ve known and raised you, with all the sacrifices your mom and I have made to give you and your siblings a wonderful life, with the countless hours I’ve put into both of my careers, the uncountable amount of times I risked my life again and again, not just for New Gold City or Earth as a whole, but for you and your siblings specifically … I have never—no, not even once—felt this … this … this … this …”
Here it was. The end of Justin’s life.
“… proud of you before.”
