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  I turned around to get the man who had Dad, but Dad was one step ahead of me. He’d used my distraction to his benefit and had taken his captor down. He was on top of him, punching him over and over again, his hands as much of a bloody mess as his captor’s face. Finally Mom pulled him off the man, and the three of us came together in a warm embrace.

  Police sirens sounded in the distance. Better late than never.

  Cold water reached my feet, and I let out a sharp hiss in surprise. The three of us looked to where the leader of the group was sitting in what was left of our kitchen sink, groaning in pain.

  Mom and Dad looked at me with a million questions in their eyes. I knew the answers to none of them.

  “I don’t know,” I said before they could ask. “I just don’t know.”

  The Second Super

  The next day, Dad and I pulled into the parking lot of the hardware store. There were a lot of things we had to get in order to fix the damage done both by the intruders we’d had last night, and by Richter.

  Both Mom and Dad thought it’d be good for us to get right to work on the repairs, in order to take our minds off the events of the day before. Unsurprisingly, I found this very difficult.

  Dad and I got out of the car, and we began walking toward the store. The two of us were deep within our own thoughts. Even during the ride to the store, we didn't speak. We were both so confused and scared. Not just by the fact that our lives had been threatened and the safety of our home destroyed, but the way that I'd taken the intruders out.

  We'd all come to the conclusion that it was some really intense adrenaline. It made sense. Fight or flight. Like how people are able to lift cars to save loved ones trapped beneath them. If adrenaline could allow someone to lift a car that weighed tons, it'd definitely allow an in-shape seventeen-year-old to kick a hundred-and-seventy-five-pound man across a room, especially when the lives of his family were being threatened.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out as Dad opened the door and I walked into the store. A text from Drew was on the screen; it read:

  Dude! You gotta get to the school. There's a news crew here covering the shelter. CAMERAS EVERYWHERE!

  I surprised myself when I smiled and chuckled a little.

  “What is it?” Dad asked as we walked down one of the plumbing aisles.

  I shook my head. “Drew. There's a local station at the high school covering the shelter, and he’s freaking out.”

  Dad shook his head and smiled. “It's a local news station. I don't get what he's freaking out about.”

  “Because it's Drew, and he finds a way to get excited and freak out about everything.”

  “I guess that's not a bad way of looking at life.” Dad stopped in the aisle and turned to look at the water faucets. “You wanna run up there real quick when we're done here?” he asked as he searched for a faucet he thought would satisfy Mom.

  I nodded. “Yeah, that'd be cool. It'd be nice to see Drew and them, plus tell them what went on last night. Wouldn't want them to find out through a newspaper or something.”

  Dad snapped a picture of a faucet with his phone and sent it to Mom for approval. “Alright, sounds good,” he said as we stood there waiting. “I could use the distraction.”

  I wanted to say “me too,” but the words didn't come out. I just grunted and nodded my head. I looked to the ground, trying to contain my excitement at the idea of a distraction.

  Mom approved the faucet, and after another hour or so of shopping, we were loaded up in the car, on our way to the high school.

  When we pulled up, we noticed that for some reason everybody—including the news crew—was looking up.

  “What in the world?” Dad asked as he parked the car and the two of us got out.

  We followed everyone's gaze to see what was going on, and when we saw, I couldn't believe my eyes.

  Hovering ten feet above Ebon High School was Richter, his blue eyes glowing bright in the early afternoon sun.

  I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. Everybody in the parking lot, including Dad and I, stood in awe of him. The sensible thing to do would be to turn and run away, but nobody had it in them. It wasn’t like we’d be able to get away, anyway, so we just stood there, terrified, trying to figure out whether he’d show mercy on us or not.

  He didn’t.

  Without saying a word, he floated down to the edge of the rooftop, and from behind the half-wall that surrounded the edge of the roof, he pulled a young woman up by the back of her neck. She screamed in terror as Richter floated into the air and hovered over the edge of the high school, dangling the woman four stories in the air.

  “Somebody help, please!” she screamed. I might not have been able to recognize her from afar, but that voice combined with the red hair left no doubt in my mind.

  Richter was holding Macy in his clutches, and was about to drop her to her death.

  My stomach twisted and heat flushed through my body. I look around, frantic for something—anything—to help her. But I was helpless.

  The feeling in my gut grew stronger, and I felt a small vibration reverberate through the ground.

  “Kane,” my dad said in a quiet voice. It sounded like he was going to say more, so I turned to look at him. Besides myself, he was the only person not looking at Richter and Macy. Instead, he was looking at the gravel floating inches above the ground around my feet.

  Startled, I jumped back and the rocks fell to the ground. The vibrations stopped, and I met eyes with my dad, neither of us believing what we’d just seen.

  A high-pitched scream pierced the air as everybody gasped in horror. I turned to look, and I screamed in horror too as I saw Macy falling toward the ground.

  Craters appeared in the ground as, without even thinking about it, I launched myself into the air toward Macy’s falling body. My heart fell to my feet. I felt terrified, with no idea what was going on.

  I flew above the crowd of people whose eyes were still fixed on Macy and Richter. I reached Macy in seconds and wrapped my arms around her. I didn’t know how, but I slowed the two of us down and floated to the ground.

  I looked at Macy, who had passed out in my arms, then looked around for somewhere to put her and realized that every single person in the parking lot was staring at me. Cameras were broadcasting my image to millions—possibly billions—around the world. I could see reflected in the lenses that my eyes were shining a bright, bright white, obscuring my identity from the world.

  The sound of my shoes scraping the gravel broke the pin-drop quiet as I walked over to a lady in her early thirties. She looked at me, her eyes filled with terror and confusion. It was a look I imagined everyone would see in my own eyes, if they could see them at all.

  I held Macy’s unconscious body out to her, but the lady just stared at me, paralyzed with confusion. Not wanting to speak, so as to not give away my identity, I held out Macy a little further, indicating that I wanted the lady to take her.

  She held out both her arms, realizing what I was asking of her, and I gently placed Macy across them.

  I turned my attention back toward Richter, who was still floating in the air. Even though his eyes were glowing a bright blue, I could still tell by the look on his face that he was as shocked and confused as I—and everyone else watching—was.

  Deep craters formed and a deafening boom sounded as I shot through the air, aiming directly for Richter. The world around me seemed to slow as I flew closer to him, and the thought that no one had ever been as close to Richter as I and lived crossed my mind.

  My fist connected with the bottom of his jaw, and a booming sound like a loud crack of thunder echoed in the air. Richter flew upwards through the air from the force of my punch, which should have broken every bone in my body. I reached out to try to grab him and slam him into the ground, but I could only grip the black V-neck he was wearing. The shirt ripped off him like it was made of nothing. Richter regained his composure and took one good look a
t me before turning around and flying off as fast as he could, leaving nothing but a sonic boom in his wake.

  I looked down and saw that everyone was still looking at me. There was nothing but complete silence as they all stared, trying to process what they had just seen. My mind was trying to process it as well, but I wouldn’t let it. I had all the world’s attention, including Richter’s, and I needed to send a message before I even tried thinking about what the hell was going on.

  I floated over to the edge of the high school and stood on the roof, thankful for my feet to be on something solid.

  Then one person started clapping. Then another. And another.

  Soon, the crowd of hundreds of people began clapping, shouting—cheering—for me. The sound was deafening.

  I lifted the hand that held Richter’s shirt into the air above my head, and that was when the crowd really went nuts. They were going crazy, screaming at the top of their lungs, jumping up and down in joy. They finally had hope once again.

  I pumped the shirt up and down in the air and shouted myself. I looked across the crowd, and my glowing eyes met with my father’s. His mouth was wide open in shock, but when he saw I was looking at him, he smiled. He gave me a thumbs-up, and my heart soared.

  I looked back across the crowd and began floating in the air once again. They were still going wild as I floated closer to the ground. I looked directly into the news camera and smiled. Then I flew through the air, away from the crowd, shouting and whooping for joy, the crowd still cheering in the background.

  Richter was no longer the only superhuman on Earth. There was now a second superhuman, and I couldn’t get over the fact that the second Super was me.

  The Aftermath

  So much adrenaline flowed through my body that I couldn’t sit down. I paced across the living room floor, feeling lightheaded and as if I was going to throw up.

  Mom was sitting on the couch, her elbows on her knees and her hands on her face. She stared at the wooden floor, searching it as if the reason for my sudden development of superpowers was somehow hidden in the cracks between the planks. Dad was standing close to the television, watching the news report that contained the same footage that was showing on every channel.

  “Bystanders watched in horror as Richter dropped seventeen-year-old Macy Westling over four stories at Ebon High School in Ebon, Indiana,” news reporter Jane Tanner said, her red lips quivering in excitement. “That is, until another superhuman appeared out of nowhere and caught her.”

  The footage showed me flying out of nowhere, catching Macy, slowing our descent, and touching down on the ground. Even though I was standing in my living room, terrified, I still couldn’t help but feel my heart skip with excitement as I watched what happened next in the footage for the hundredth time.

  I turned from handing off Macy and shot off screen. I hadn’t even realized how fast I was going until I saw the footage. The cameraman was unable to keep up with me, and by the time he zoomed out and got me back in frame, Richter was flying through the air, righting himself, and giving me one last look before flying off.

  “Who is this new superhuman, and will he bring us the same troubles as Richter?” the news reporter asked. “To help answer that question, we have joining us Tom Lance, former head of Homeland Security, and Roland Peterson, host of the number one talk show across America and self-proclaimed ‘superhuman expert.’ Gentlemen,” the reporter said, giving a slight nod as the two video streams appeared on either side of her head.

  Even though they were going to say the same things I’d heard them say all night, I stopped pacing and gave the television my full attention.

  “Let’s start with you, Tom,” Jane began. “You’re saying that this complicates things more than helps. How so?”

  Tom, a man in his sixties, cleared his throat, the loose skin beneath it shaking back and forth as he did so. “Now,” he said, “first of all, I’m not saying that this new development isn’t good at all. Clearly that’s not the case; just ask Ms. Westling. However, it does complicate things a whole lot more. What are we going to do, let this new Super and Richter turn the world into their battlefield?”

  “Tom,” Roland interrupted, “the world is already Richter’s playground. At least if it’s a battlefield, that means there’s a chance of us winning!”

  Tom nodded. “Yes, that’s possible; however, we don’t know if this new Super is even capable of defeating Richter. And even if he is, who’s to say that he won’t become the next Richter, huh?”

  “Regardless of what this new Super is going to be, we are going to all be dead if nobody stops Richter. Right now some guy in Indiana is more capable of doing that than all the world’s militaries, and so I’m going to side with that dude. The only person, I might add, who has ever been able to get close to Richter and survive, much less deal an amazingly powerful uppercut that sent Richter packing.”

  I smirked at that part, but did my best to contain a chuckle. Mom and Dad were freaking out, so if they saw I wasn’t taking this as seriously as they were, they might get a little upset. But I was taking it as seriously—no, more seriously than they were. I mean, it was me who was on every television, phone, and computer screen around the world. I was the most popular person on the planet at the moment, and the second most-sought-after one, second only to Richter himself. The attention I was receiving alone terrified me, let alone not knowing what was actually going on inside my body. I wasn’t totally afraid I was going to die; Richter seemed to be just fine. Still, there was a chance that if my body went on doing whatever the hell it was doing, it would eventually explode or something. Plus, I had no idea how I was going to use my powers, both literally and figuratively. Or whether or not by being around me, my parents would get some sort of radiation poisoning, or something like that, and die.

  There were so many unknowns, yet everyone had an idea that they knew exactly what was going to happen next. I would be a knight in shining armor, come to the aid of the world, and defeat Richter, restoring peace and order. Me, on the other hand,... I had a feeling I’d just gotten lucky and had caught Richter off guard. I had no idea how I was going to take him on again.

  Still, despite all of that, I couldn’t help but try not to laugh every time I heard someone mention my “killer uppercut.”

  MOM, DAD, AND I SAT around the dinner table, picking at our food. We were all processing what was happening. All I could think about was the things that had happened to Richter’s family after the world found out his identity.

  As is obvious to most, Richter was always very open about his powers, even from the very beginning. He had no problem with letting people know who he was, because he thought he was invincible. And he was, until I came along. The one thing he didn’t take into account was his family.

  Family members and friends of some people Richter had killed during his escapades decided to take revenge on Richter and hurt him the same way he had hurt them. They found his parents and younger sister and killed all three of them in their home. Furious, Richter tracked down the people who had killed his family and slaughtered all of them. There weren’t even any bodies left intact.

  People were terrified of me because they didn’t know if I’d be a Richter 2.0. If they knew who I was, they’d act preemptively and foolishly. I was terrified that somehow someone would figure out who I was and come find my family. I’d already saved my parents from intruders once, and it wasn’t exactly an experience that I wanted to go through again.

  “Listen, Kane,” my dad said, breaking the silence.

  I found it hard to look him in the eye. For some reason, I was terrified of what he might say.

  “I think we should lie low for a while. You shouldn’t be using any of your...” He searched for the word. “Abilities, at least not right now. There’s about to be a lot of attention focused on Ebon. We don’t know who could be watching.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I understand.”

  “I don’t want you going to the shelter, either,
” Mom said. “Someone might recognize you.”

  I slumped back in my chair and let out a sigh, obvious in my disappointment.

  “Is that really a good idea, Heather?” Dad asked.

  “Yeah, Mom,” I said. “I just...” I paused, trying to think of the right words to say. “I just think I’d go crazy being locked in the house. I need to see my friends. Try to feel normal, you know? Stay in the loop so I can try to figure out when it’s safe for me to start training.”

  Mom and Dad looked at me, shocked. Mom almost dropped her fork as she let her mouth hang open. “Training?” she exclaimed.

  “What do you mean by that?” Dad asked.

  I chose my next few words very carefully. “Well, I mean Richter isn’t going to stop until everybody on Earth is dead. He’s just toying with us right now, having his fun because no one was a threat. Eventually, though, you can bet that pretty much everyone will be dead. But now...” I looked off to the corner of the room, trying to best articulate what I was thinking. “I’ve complicated things for him. Now there’s a threat, and I’m it. I have a feeling he’s going to accelerate his plans a little. He’s going to be looking for me, and I have to be able to stop him.”

  Dad stared at his plate of food and nodded. “You’re right, Kane. As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right.”

  Mom pursed her lips and shook her head. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.”

  “Do I really have a choice?” I asked, looking her in the eye. “People are dying, Mom. I’m the only one who can stop Richter.”

  “Maybe the government is working on something that can stop him,” Mom said, frantic for an answer other than me, her baby, being put in harm’s way.