Seven Steps to Becoming a Superhero

Zack followed Scott up a broad winding staircase. His shoes fell into the plush green carpet, as his hands, still sticky with the spilled beer, gripped the carved oak handles on either side of the staircase.

“What was this place?” Zack asked.

“Didn’t you know?” Scott replied. “This used to be the school library, before they moved to the one in the corner, you know the one.”

Zack felt a slight twinge of shame. He hadn't made it to the school library yet. He used to love to read so much. It was one of the few things he and Dad had in common. Then again, all the books at the library were boring modules on how to land on a rooftop without dirtying one’s cape.

“Why did they move?” Zack asked Scott as they made their way up to the winding staircase.

“Same reason most libraries had to move,” Zack said. “They ran out of room. Sigma Alpha called dibs on it. The stated reason was alumni conferences and we mostly use it to show the sickest of parties, as evidenced below.”

“Yeah, sick is the word,” Zack said, still feeling sticky and drenched in beer after Rachel dumped the contents of her drink on him. He couldn’t believe she did that. He couldn’t believe he said that.

Rachel made him off-balance every time he came too close to her. To think that Zack almost thought about telling Rachel. But now he knew that would be a mistake. He couldn’t think straight when he was around Rachel, and after seeing his father bloodied in his arms, he couldn’t think about anything else.

The sooner he found Dad’s killer, the sooner he would be gone from their lives.

Again.

It really would be the best thing for them. He hadn’t expected to find so many of his friends at this place. Scott. Perry.

Rachel

It tore him up inside to know they still grieved for his abrupt disappearance from their lives, especially Rachel. He had moved around so much as a kid, he hadn’t thought they’d care as much as they did.

But they were on the path towards better lives. Even if Zack remained skeptical of the promises Innshadow University offered, he knew his friends would make the best of whatever they received. They’d be far better off without them, and far safer at any rate.

At least that’s what he kept telling himself.

Everything about the ancient library reminded Zack of all the parts of Innshadow his father hated. Old, dusty, ancient, and built on old money. By all accounts, Jeremiah Innshadow was somewhere between a huckster and a quack. He only found success treating tuberculosis with the supposedly mystical springs found in the region, and his effort floundered when he tried to distribute the spring water throughout the region.

So he built a college the Talented among him instead, growing it into one of the three primary sugar centers.

Lucky him.

***

“Just a bit further,” Scott urged.

“This had better be good,” Zack sighed, hating that he could have gone after Rachel and thoroughly apologized in the time it took to reach the top of the stairs.

“Oh it is,” Scott said. “Just keep your voice down…”

“Because…?” Zack questioned.

“Because?” Scott stopped as he reached the foot of the stairs. Darkness gathered around them. The upper level looked like a museum. Zack could spy several display cases, but he couldn’t tell quite what was in them.

Scott looked slightly uncomfortable as Zack came up behind him. He had a pained expression on his otherwise strong features.

“Why do we have to be quiet?” he asked.

“I’m not exactly allowed to be up here,” Scott said. “You think they let pledges see the good stuff?”

Zack sighed. He really, really didn’t want to get into a tussle with the Sigma Alpha fraternity. He had spied their burly members jogging throughout campus, and Scott’s propensity for getting into trouble certainly hadn’t diminished since high school.

“Just help me find the light switch,” Scott said.

Zack was already looking for the light switch, but he was also looking for the exit. He had almost reached the stairs when the hum of an ancient light bulb illuminated the display case.

He turned to see a hundred years of superhero history spread out before him.

“Holy…crap…” he said as he neared the display case.

Most of the display cases contained supervillains memorabilia, something that surprised Zack a bit. He could see weapons, gadgets and gizmos of every kind.

“Is that…one of Freeze Ray’s ice guns?” Zach said, pointing to a cold chrome ray gun with a round barrel.

“Yeah. I heard he got busted for murder,” Scott said. “But I guess his boy is taking over him.”

“Yeah…I…heard that too,” Zack said, thinking of Icer and wanting nothing more than to change the subject.

Dozens of trinkets lined the display costume, all belonging to supervillains if not a hero or two. Zack spotted a chrome cerulean globe he identified as the villain Amp’s Power Amplifier. He also saw several sharp arrowheads belonging to the assassin Spearhead. And those were just the ones he could identify off-hand. Dozens of more awaited him.

“Holy crap, what is this place?” Zack said. “Is this, like, all the gear the Alphas have busted over the year?”

Scott’s face lit up. “Oh it’s even more epic than that. All of this gear has been taken by one guy.”

“One guy?” Zack looked confused. “How is that even possible?”

His father had been a supe for a while before Zack was born. He wasn’t much for trophies though. If he liked a piece of tech, he’d usually swipe it off of a villain’s gear and incorporate it into the Knightbrand armor. It drove his rogue’s gallery crazy. Zack remembered his dad telling him stories about Thrillian complaining about how Knightbrand copied his nitro system. He wouldn’t stop accusing Knightbrand of copyright violation all the way to jail.

Zack turned away from his bittersweet stroll down memory lane. His father had a decent-sized collection of regular baddies he did battle with, Thrillian and Freeze Ray among them. But this guy, whoever he was, must have fought damn near everyone to afford a trophy case this big. He started to turn to Scott.

“One guy did all of this?” Zack asked. “Who…?”

“Hey!” barked a loud voice. Zack realized his answer would have to wait as several large bodies entered the room. They were led by a large man in his mid-twenties, with buzz-cut green hair and bulging muscles along with a protruding Adam’s Apple.

“What do you think you’re doing here, pledgie?” the man barked. Scott started to stammer something.

“It’s my fault. I begged him to take me up here,” Zack said.

The man didn’t give Zack a second look. Instead he focused all his fury on Scott.

“The bathroom’s ain’t clean, plegie,” the man said.

“I’m sorry, Mister Kaine, I am, but I spent all night doing them before the party,” Scott said.

All night? When Zack first met Scott, he was running errands for the frat. Now he admitted he spent all night doing the bathroom?

This was one of those kinds of frats, isn’t it?

“Well, I just dropped a big deuce in the bathroom, so it’s needing your attention, if you catch my drift,” Kaine laughed. His two buddies followed suit, laughing like a pair of hyenas.

“I’m sorry, Mister Kaine…I’ll get-” Scott started, but Zack intervened.

“That’s not fair. Scott’s only here because I put him up to it,” Zack said.

“Well, let this be a lesson not to do whatever your drunk-ass boyfriend tells you,” Kaine said with a sneer.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Scott corrected.

“And I’m not that drunk,” Zack said, though he was coated in beer from head to toe.

“Really?” Kaine said and then he was gone.

Suddenly Zack felt himself getting slammed from the side. Kaine was shoulder-checking him from the other side. How did he…

He’s a teleporter.

Cute.

Teleporters made great assassins, and Zack tussled with more than a few during the hunt for his father’s killer. Teleporters could be a real pain in the neck. Someone’s Kaine’s size could do some real damage, even if he was strictly close-range. The problem with most teleporters, as his dad always told him, was they were predictable.

Zack could feel Kaine’s breath on the back of his neck. Kaine had proved him right. He clenched his fist and pushed his forearm back, elbowing Kaine directly into his neck. Kaine gasped in pain before doubling over.

“Zack!” Scott said, his eyes glaring over.

His two buddies immediately went to Kaine.

“What the hell was that?” Scott said.

“He was attacking us,” Zack said. “And he was treating you like crap.”

“I need this, Zack,” Scott said. “And no one asked you to help. I’ve been getting along fine without for two years-”

“You done it now!” one of his no-neck buddies stood up and prepared to advance on him.

“What’s the meaning of this?” came a voice from above.

Zack looked up to see a third level of the building, near where they had come in through the attic. There, a lanky man with curly dark hair regarded him. He looked to be in his early thirties.

Both Scott and Kaine’s no-neck buddies seemed to pale.

“N-nothing, Mr. Mann,” no-neck one. “Mr. Kaine has fallen.”

“Never could hold his liquor. Probably why they booted him out of the Marines,” the man said. “Why don’t you and your friend help him down. It’s this other one I’m interested in. What’s your name, son?”

“Scott. Scott Steph-” Scott started.

“Not you. You!” the man pointed, and Zack realized he was pointing at him.

“Zack. Zack Keltser,” Zack answered.

“Hot damn! I knew it was you! Come up for a drink!” the man said. “We got a lot to discuss.”

Zack looked around confused, but No Neck #1 and #2 had already carried off Kaine. He looked to see Scott already halfway down the stairs, walking away from him. He never once met his gaze.

Confused and frustrated, Zack started up the second set of stairs, towards the unknown figure who seemed to know him so well.