Fall of Heroes (8 page)

“It's okay,” she mouthed. Alex grimaced, but nodded.

“Hi,” Lone Star said into the receiver. “It's me.” He paused for a few seconds before whispering, “It's Victor.”

There was a voice on the other end of the phone, but Alex couldn't make out any of the words.

“Yeah, I'm okay. It's a long story. No, no, the phone is secure. Listen, I know this is a lot to take in and short notice, but I need you to do me a favor.”

He finished his conversation in whispers, Alex only able to pick out a few words. Then the leader of the Rangers of Justice turned back to them.

“There's going to be a press conference tomorrow afternoon,” he said solemnly. “The . . .
impostors
are breaking ground on their new headquarters. Where Justice Tower stood. It's not public knowledge yet, but it's happening.”

“That was fast,” Bug said quietly. Zip twitched on his shoulder.

“This is perfect,” Lone Star said. “There'll be cameras, a crowd—all we have to do is show up. The citizens of Sterling City may be under the spell of these tyrants, but we're Lone Star and Lux. If we show up and explain what's happened, the people will listen.”

Something didn't sit well with Alex. His mother knew the Rangers were out but was carrying on with the press conference anyway. What did she know that they didn't? What was her plan?

“Gage and I have been working on exploring new uses for my powers,” Amp said eagerly. “I can do more than just shoot bolts of sound now. I can be one big speaker for you. Broadcast your voice to the crowd.”

“He's really very good at it,” Gage said.

“Excellent,” Lone Star said. “There's no need for us to engage in any sort of combat. If Shade and Volt make a move, our priority will be to protect any bystanders, then to subdue the enemy.”

“Don't you think they'll be expecting us?” Mallory asked.

“It'll take more than cunning to keep their charade going when we're standing in front of everyone in the flesh,” Lone Star said, his voice resonating throughout the room. “This
isn't
up for discussion.”

“That's a lot of civilians,” Kirbie said. “I mean, if fighting breaks out, and I assume it will . . .”

“We do this peacefully,” Lone Star said. “When the public sees us—when we
explain
what's happened—they'll be cheering us on. I know how the people of this city work. They're
good
people. This is our plan. It's what we're going to do. If you don't like it, you can stay here. Otherwise, rest up for the next few hours.”

“Who was that on the phone?” Kyle asked. “Where's the info coming from?”

“That's classified. The fewer people who know, the less likely it is that the information leaks should we run into Shade along the way. All I can tell you is that it's from a trusted source.”

“You won't tell us where this intel is coming from?” Alex asked, trying to restrain his growing annoyance. “We've been planning things together up here for a month now and—”

“And we're very grateful,” Lone Star said. “But now we're back. Trust me. I'm the leader of the Rangers of Justice. This is what I do.”

Alex started to argue but kept his mouth shut. He could see that he wasn't going to change the man's mind.

“One more thing,” Lone Star said, his voice calmer now. “I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but when it comes time to talk to the crowd, I think it would be best for you and the other former Cloak members to stay back. It will be quite a shock to the public to see us, I'm sure, and the less we have to explain the better.”

“Lone Star,” Kirbie said, her voice hesitant. Alex could tell she wasn't used to disagreeing with him. “We're a team now.”

“It's only for tomorrow. I'm sure they understand. Don't you, Alex?”

“Of course,” Alex said obediently. He bit the insides of his cheek in frustration. It felt like he was being fed the same kind of unquestionable orders the High Council used to force on the Betas.

Lone Star yawned, glancing out the window where the sun was setting in the distance.

“Everyone get some sleep. We'll regroup in the morning. Kyle, you've studied this area thoroughly. I want you to walk me through all possible routes and methods of transportation from here to the south side of the city. Downstairs. I'm going to try to find coffee somewhere in this place.”

“Of course, sir,” Kyle said, jumping to his feet. He followed Lux and Lone Star downstairs, leaving Alex and the others alone in the Rec Room.

“Well,
he
definitely took over quickly,” Misty said.

“I can see why he became the leader after everything happened in Victory Park,” Gage said.

“I guess we can get used to taking orders again.” Misty's face scrunched up a little.

“I don't like this.” Mallory's usually stoic expression was twisted. “I feel like we're walking into a trap.”

“Lone Star and Lux are idols to this city,” Amp said, rising to his feet. “You just have to put your faith in them. Trust them. Everything is going to be fine now that they're here. Everything will be okay.”

“Amp . . . ,” Kirbie said. She seemed unsure of how to continue. “Do you want to talk about anything? I mean, what happened—”

“You heard what Lone Star said. We should get some sleep.”

And then he was gone, up into the little finished attic room that his father had once claimed as his own a long time ago when the safe house had just been Amp's family's lake house. Alex listened for footsteps or pacing, but there was no noise filtering down through the ceiling.

Everyone turned to look at Kirbie. Her eyes darted away from theirs.

“I guess we've gotten used to running things ourselves,” she said. “In chaos. This will be good. It'll get things back in order.” The more she spoke, the less she sounded like she believed it. Her eyes met with Alex's. “He'll warm up. I mean, he's been stuck in the Gloom for a month. He's just a little . . .”

She struggled to find the right word.

“Cranky?” Misty asked.

“Full of himself?” Alex suggested.

“Of
course
his real name is Victor,” Gage said flatly.

“You guys—” Kirbie sighed. “—this isn't going to work if you don't
try
.”

Alex shrugged. She was right. Powers or not, this might be their only shot. This
could
work. And he had to admit Lone Star definitely seemed like the kind of person who could get things done. Besides, Alex had bigger things to worry about. After weeks of trying to stay off Cloak's radar, he was about to confront them head on for the second day in a row. Tomorrow, he'd be facing his parents again.

8
GROUNDBREAKING

A
lex stood in the center of the Rec Room alone. It was morning, but not yet light outside. He assumed the rest of the house was still in bed, exhausted from the previous day, but he'd awoken early and couldn't go back to sleep. There was a nagging thought in the back of his mind—they were missing something. Cloak was going to subvert them in some way. He just didn't know how. And so he'd returned to the place where all their information was noted and filed and sketched out in the hopes that something would suddenly make sense to him. He focused. Around the room, maps and blueprints floated in the air above the tables they'd been sitting on.

He let one newspaper clipping drift in front of his face. The New Rangers smiled back at him from thin, ink-smudged paper.

What is it, Mother?
he asked himself.
What trick are you going to spring on us? I'm your son. I should be able to figure it out.

Of course, he knew deep down that this wasn't actually true. He'd spent almost his entire life trying to guess what his parents wanted from him—what would make them proud. And then he'd gone and done the exact opposite. He didn't know what his parents might be up to now because he'd failed to become like them, to live up to the family's standards.

A photo drifted in front of his face. The Beta Team, one of the other pictures he's taken with him from the underground base. He took it in his hands, staring at it as he'd done countless times in the past few weeks. He wondered if he'd end up seeing Julie today. If so, it meant that they'd be fighting the entire Cloak Society. He hoped it didn't come to that. He wanted to trust in Lone Star's plan. “Subdue the enemy,” were the Ranger's instructions if a fight broke out, which Alex could only assume was inevitable. Even if fighting led to Cloak's defeat and somehow Phantom was unable to whisk them away, what would “subduing” his parents look like? How was that even possible? What would his father say to him from behind bars? How would his mother's face look as she was dragged away by the Rangers?

“You beat me to it,” Amp said from behind him. Alex jumped, lost in his thoughts, and the hovering notes and blueprints trembled in the air. “Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just coming in to stare at all this stuff until everyone woke up.”

“Couldn't sleep?”

“Bad dreams.”

Amp's tone was smooth and quiet, which was unusual for the boy who had to focus on keeping his voice from rising half the time on account of his powers. There was something else different about him, too—something vacant in his brown eyes. His mind was obviously somewhere else. Alex couldn't imagine what Amp must have been going through, and he didn't know the words to even begin to ask him. Suddenly his own thoughts about his parents seemed selfish, though he wasn't sure what was worse: a mother and father wasting away in a dark world or parents actively trying to destroy you in the real one.

“Yeah,” Alex said, “I'm sure the Gloom will do that to you.” He stood there, very aware of how awkward he felt.

“You're looking at me like I'm an alien,” Amp said, sitting on the couch near Alex.

“Sorry. You all right?”

“Kind of tired of people asking me that, but yeah.”

“Sorry.”

“Quit saying that, too.” Amp gave him a small smile. “I mean, you're fighting against your family and stuff all the time now. For us. The last thing I should be doing is feeling bad about mine.”

“Well, it's kind of a really different situation,” Alex said.

“Maybe. But you still lost them.” He frowned. “I didn't mean for that to sound like it did. I'm just trying to say . . . you know.”

“We've all got some serious parent problems.” Alex nodded.

“It's weird. I barely remember mine. Even the memories I do have of them are so hazy that they might not be real. I used to imagine everything I'd say and ask if I ever got the chance to see them. But that's not how it was in the Gloom. I don't think I actually believed they were really my parents until the very end, when they were dragging Ghost back into the portal. And then it clicked. Of course they were my parents. They were the Guardian and the Sentry, Rangers of Justice. They were heroes until the end.”

Alex listened and bobbed his head in agreement while Amp spoke. The Junior Ranger never looked at him, just stared ahead at nothing. Alex didn't know what to say, but Amp seemed just fine with that.

“I'm back to where I started before we ever went into the Gloom. Not knowing for sure if they're alive or dead in there. Except now I know what that place is like.”

“When all this is over—when we've defeated Cloak and Lone Star and Lux are back to full strength and the Rangers of Justice are
the Rangers of Justice
again—we'll figure out what we can do for your parents. I mean, Gage basically punched a hole in reality. You were standing in another plane of existence yesterday. Figuring out a way for your parents to come back into our world should be a piece of cake, right?”

“Yeah,” Amp said quietly. “I guess so.”

“Say it like you mean it,” Alex said. “You're the one who has always told me that if we're going to do something, we have to
believe
it can be done.”

Amp let out a small laugh.

“You're right,” he said. “Lone Star will get us out of this. We're smooth sailing now.”

Alex forced a smile and walked away, putting all the floating notes and newspaper clippings back in their proper place. He was back in his room before he realized he was still holding the photo of the Beta Team. Instead of taking it back, he slipped it into his inner coat pocket, with the picture of his family. It was one of the few mementos he had of his past, and there was a possibility that he might not be back to the lake house after this afternoon.

We're going to do this,
he thought.
Lone Star is going to lead us against Cloak. This is what we've been working toward. This is the end.

 

Alex had worried that blending into the crowd would be easier said than done, even with hoodies and sunglasses and beanies obscuring their faces. Once they got near the former site of Justice Tower from the underground exit in Victory Park, all those fears vanished. He hadn't been prepared for such a mass of people, and from the shocked expressions of his teammates, he guessed they hadn't been expecting them either. Crowds littered the wide street for over a block, getting more congested the closer they got to the stage set up in front of a chain-link fence surrounding the leveled ground that had once been the Rangers' headquarters.

“How do we get through all these people?” Kyle asked as they reached the back of the crowd.

“We'll force our way forward,” Lone Star said. “Once people realize who we are, everyone will part.”

Long, dark-blue flags with golden starbursts hung all around from the tops of buildings and lampposts, the metallic symbols gleaming in the sunlight. Dozens of them, everywhere Alex looked. People carried signs, homemade posters, and banners singing the praises of the Rangers. At several stations, volunteers were painting golden starbursts on the cheeks of children.

Not far from them, a Deputy and a policeman argued about something near the officer's motorcycle, which was stopped at a traffic barrier. Alex strained to hear their conversation over all the other noise. Amp noticed.

“They're fighting about who's in charge of managing the crowd,” Amp said, using his powers to isolate their voices. “It sounds like the Rangers wanted to use their own Deputies for this, not actual cops. The cop's not happy about it. He says they're obstructing law and order.”

From somewhere in the crowd, another Deputy appeared, joining the argument. It took only a few words before the two figures with silver starbursts on their chests were accosting the officer, brandishing weapons. They used his own handcuffs to secure him before pushing him down the street, toward some unknown location. Amp stepped forward, but Alex reached out and grabbed his shoulder with his thoughts.

“We've got bigger problems right now,” he said as he nodded to the front of the crowds.

The New Rangers began to climb onto the stage, accompanied by the whoops and joyous shouts of everyone in the audience except for Alex and his group. For a single moment, Lone Star looked taken aback by the crowd's reaction, but he recovered quickly.

“Thank you, good citizens,” Shade said into the microphone. As usual, oversized black sunglasses hid her eyes. Titan, Volt, and Photon stood smiling at her sides. “It means so much to us that you've come to support the Rangers of Justice as we break ground on the site of our future headquarters . . .”

“This is it,” Lone Star said.

Lone Star and the other Rangers weaved their way toward the stage, leaving Bug and the Cloak defects behind. Gage lowered his goggles, tapping on the sides to zoom in.

“Anything goes wrong and we send Misty to pull them out of there,” Alex said.

“Lone Star won't be too happy about that.” Mallory squinted at the stage.

“He's no good to us dead. Or under my mother's control.”

“. . . a place Sterling City can look to and know that we are watching.” Shade continued to speak to the crowd.

When Lone Star got to the line of Deputies in Ranger-inspired fatigues, there was a small commotion. And then Lone Star's hood fell back. Even pale and weathered, there was no mistaking that it was him. Lux followed suit, as did the Junior Rangers. The crowds around them erupted and backed away.

“We will build our new stronghold atop a place of tragedy and—” Shade stopped midsentence and stared down at the five people gathered at the bottom of the stage. There was a beat before anyone spoke, and in the moment, Alex's mother simply cocked her head slightly to one side. She gave no hint of emotion, be it surprise or anger.

“Not good,” Alex murmured.

“You are no Ranger,” Lone Star said, thrusting a finger forward and pointing it at Shade. When he spoke, his baritone voice was a bellow of sound projected through Amp's body. Kirbie's features were hinting at transformation. A tree growing from a sidewalk planter near them began to sway as Kyle held his hands out.

Lone Star turned back to the crowd. “I am Lone Star, leader of the Rangers of Justice. These are my teammates, Lux and the Junior Rangers. The woman who stands before you is no hero. Neither is Volt nor Titan. They are villainous members of the Cloak Society who have brainwashed Dr. Photon and are using him to gain power over this city.” He turned his attention back to Shade, who regarded him with what Alex could only describe as a look of boredom. “In the name of justice, I demand that you surrender and turn yourselves in.”

There was a snapping of photos as the crowd began to murmur. Shade let a long sigh out into the microphone. No one else on the stage moved, which worried Alex. In fact, he was surprised that they'd even let the Ranger talk for so long. What game were they playing?

His mother leaned in to the microphone.

“Citizens of Sterling City, this is not the first false Ranger to come forward claiming to be Lone Star, or Lux—though these appear to be in the company of the Junior Rangers, who, as recent investigations have confirmed, were working in league with the Cloak Society to plot the terrible attack on Justice Tower.”

“Photon,” Lux said, stepping forward. “I know you're in there somewhere. Help us. We're here now. Break free.”

Photon took a few steps forward, staring down at his former teammates on the ground below. He clenched his teeth, and his body began to shake. While everyone's attention was on Photon, Alex watched his mother, whose eyes were shining silver so brightly that her sunglasses did little to hide the effect. She turned away from the podium. Photon walked rigidly to the microphone.

“We were going to wait until the end of the ceremony to share the good news,” he said, “but I guess now is as good a time as any. Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the actions of these delusional impostors. What they're saying is simply impossible.”

“No,” Amp said, stepping forward, his voice echoing through the crowd. “Look! This is Lone Star and Lux! These are your protectors. Your
heroes
!”

“But how can that be when Lux is right here?” Photon asked.

It took a moment for Alex to figure out what Photon was talking about, but then he couldn't miss her. Floating down from the roof of a nearby building was Lux. Or at least, it was someone who looked exactly like every photo of Lux Alex had ever seen. Her hair was splayed about around her head, beautiful and luminous, as if producing a light of its own. Her eyes were bright and vibrant. On the ground in front of the stage, the other Lux reached out and gripped Lone Star's arm. She already looked tired and weary from the Gloom, but all the blood had now drained from her face. It wasn't that the two women looked drastically different, but there was no denying that the woman slowly drifting to the stage and waving to the shouting crowds
looked
more like a superhero.

“What's going on?” Alex asked. “Wait, we do have the real Lux, right?”

“Look,” Gage said, as his goggles whirred. “Did you see that? A slight ripple across the new one's face.”

“Novo,” Mallory spat.

“She's put herself back together,” Bug whispered, his eyes glinting metallic.

Dread sent Alex's heart plummeting into his stomach.

“But how is she flying? And her hair . . . those aren't her powers.”

“The hair's a trick of the lighting,” Gage said. “If she can fake any material with her powers, she can produce highly reflective strands of hair. And she's not flying. Photon's doing it. Look at the belts and emblems on the new Ranger uniforms. They're all metal. He's using his powers to create the illusion that she's flying.”