The Faceless Man, Part 4
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Welcome to Olympus City, where super-powers, physics-defying tech, and unearthly creatures are all possible now. Human nature, however, remains unchanged.
No one is born a perfect superhero, but a few strive to live up to the ideal anyway.
Previously: Ken ran into his old friend Lance, who’s now using super-speed to pick pockets. But Lance claims to be doing this for a good reason—he also claims to have broken a group of super-powered teens out of jail.
Part 4
A single step took Ken from a city rooftop to a grass field with gorgeous mountain views. The breeze would have felt nice against his face.
“Is that Ken Shield?”
The air fluctuated beside Hailey Blane. The tall, slender woman wiggled her fingers, and the air settled. Her eyes exuded curiosity, just as they had in college—the probing eyes of a would-be attorney who, evidently, never was. A hippie had emerged instead.
“I’m seriously asking,” she said, “because that mask is ridiculous.”
Lance stood beside his girlfriend, stroking his scruffy chin and acting overly dumb. “You know, it was the weirdest thing. I was talking to Ken, but then he disappeared, and this guy with a bag over his head started talking to me. Do you think there could be a connection?”
Conifer trees dotted the landscape, and rustic cabins lined a hilly gravel road that led to a small hotel, complete with a pool. They were at a mountain resort, and nowhere near Olympus.
“You’re looking well, Hailey,” Ken said.
She hugged him. Warm and lingering. “Is there any chance I can talk you into taking the mask off?”
He noticed a couple of faces peering through cabin windows, and he slowly pulled out of the hug.
“A little late for that. And I am here on business.”
“At least you’re not wearing the full costume,” Hailey said, making a face. “The cape is kind of ostentatious, to be honest. But I admire your confidence with the tights.”
“The tights are why I wear the cape.”
Ken didn’t miss either, though. Mr. Amazing’s original costume consisted of this blank mask over a tweed three-piece suit, but he succumbed to the influence of Miranda and Fantastic Man and donned a more traditional superhero look. He was content with his current business casual, or business casual plus an accessory, as it were.
“Mask aside, it’s so nice to see you, Ken.”
Ken eyed the cabins. “You too, but when others are around …”
“He’s Mr. Amazing!” Lance said, deepening his voice for comic effect.
“Your secret is safe with me,” Hailey said, her tone mocking him, “Mr. Amazing. Should I salute or something?”
A hidden smile crept across his face, tugged by thoughts of happier days. “Don’t you dare.” This wasn’t college, though. “I need to see those kids.”
“How about a tour first?” Lance said, his arm around Ken’s shoulders. “We put a lot of work into this place, so we’re obligated to show it off. We call it New Mount Olympus.”
“You own it?”
“We’re more like the administrators,” Lance said. “And speaking of that, I do need to run out and buy some supplies.”
Ken had wanted to forget. “With the money you stole.”
Lance smirked. If any pangs of guilt struck, he had developed formidable resistance. “In the grand Robin Hood tradition.”
“That’s a medieval tradition.”
A shrug. “And history is cyclical.”
Hailey flung her fingers at empty air, and a new portal appeared. Lance kissed her goodbye, then disappeared from the spot. Another wiggle of Hailey’s fingers restored the air to normal.
“I’ll bring you to the kids,” she said, “after you meet some of our other residents. That sound fair?”
Fair wasn’t the issue. But if the teens were neither in danger nor posing any, Ken didn’t see the harm in a brief tour. It was hard to say no to Hailey’s pleading eyes, and he was curious.
“As long as we’re quick,” he said.
“I’m used to quick.” Hailey chuckled. “Lance is always rushing me, ever since—I’m sure Ultra Woman must be similar. Are you and she …?”
“No.”
“Never?”
“Who do you want me to meet?”
She surrendered with a sigh. “Fine. This way … Mr. Amazing!”
Hailey led him along the gravel path, toward the hotel. The cabins were hardly distinguishable from the outside, but the resort seemed like a nice place to spend a vacation. A narrow flower bed occupied the soil beside each front porch; lines of colorful growth perfumed the air.
Except at one cabin, where everything along the strip of soil had wilted and blackened. The surrounding grass fared hardly better. An anemic tree had the barest branches of any in sight.
“What’s going on there?” Ken asked.
“A few of our residents prefer to keep to themselves.” An air of strained diplomacy tinged her words. “It’s for the best.”
Ken peeked at a window, his Mr. Amazing instincts kicking in. The curtains fluttered, then became still. Whoever was watching had withdrawn.
Gravel crunched beneath their feet. “So, if you’re not seeing Ultra Woman,” Hailey said, “is there someone else in your life these days?”
“No, no one.”
“C’mon.” Hailey playfully nudged him with her elbow. “You’ve got to give me more than that.”
One young lady came to mind. A wonderful encounter nearly two years ago. Too wonderful. Too good to be true.
“There was almost someone at one point,” he said.
Pity spread across Hailey’s face. “It didn’t work out?”
“It was a lie.”
“I’m sorry.” She took the hint not to press any further.
A minor racket grew louder as they crossed the grass field next to the hotel. Six adults were playing volleyball, a mix of men and women, all laughing and ribbing each other as they batted the ball back and forth. Disparate voices united into a joyous sound, the sort Ken had never heard around Terrific Hall.
Hailey angled her eyes as if she might peer beneath Ken’s mask. “Brings you back, doesn’t it?”
It did. Their freshman dorm had a volleyball net set up outside, and they often got a group together to play. Ken had enjoyed those games.
He recognized one of the players, a one-time criminal known as Blowfish. The ball sailed over the net, and the scrawny man maneuvered to strike it. Right before contact, his muscles inflated to grotesque proportions, stretching his baggy clothes to their limit and boosting his height by an extra foot. Spikes popped up along his shoulders, through holes that had already been ripped to accommodate them.
Blowfish bumped the ball with his enlarged hands, sending it soaring straight up. A lithe woman from the opposing team leapt hundreds of feet into the air, glowing purple the whole way up, and she spiked the ball.
A rubber-faced man dove for it, but he was nowhere near close enough—until he stretched his arm to triple its length. His extended fist connected with the ball inches above the dirt and sent the ball shooting right into the net. Retracting his arm, he laughed at his blunder while his teammates razzed him. The glowing woman slowly plunged back to her side and joined the good-natured teasing.
Hailey tracked Ken’s gaze to the convicted felon who was sharing a laugh with friends.
“Behave yourself,” she said. “Webster has been a model resident.”
“Has he?”
Last time Ken saw him, Blowfish—or Webster, apparently—was punching his way into a bank vault. Trying to, anyway. He wasn’t quite that strong, but he injured several people during the attempt.
Webster, still puffed up, locked eyes on their visitor. “It’s you,” he said, marching over, pointing at the blank mask.
The inflated man had wild eyes, the type that could convey happy excitement or angry excitement without much distinction. Ken gambled on which he was seeing now. When those huge, muscly arms wrapped around him and squeezed, he still wasn’t sure he had gambled correctly.
“Hello, Webster,” Ken said, leaning his head away from the sweaty, puffy flesh.
Webster released and turned to his friends, thrusting a thick pointer finger at their visitor.
“This guy right here, he whupped me real good, he and those teammates of his.” Webster sounded proud of his whupping. The wild eyes calmed down as he turned back to Ken. “I was so sorry to hear about Fantastic Man.”
Webster had once thrown a car at Fantastic Man, as Ken recalled. “Thank you. We haven’t given up on him yet.”
The inflated man nodded solemnly. “Good. You find him, and you tell him Blowfish says hello … and thanks.” To his friends, he added with a laugh, “Blowfish. What was I thinking?”
The stretchy guy shot back, “Should’ve been Blowhard!”
Webster took the jab with a laugh. “Got me there.”
Ken watched the camaraderie among the residents as his mask grew stuffy.
Webster deflated to his scrawny self and shook Ken’s hand. “Can’t thank you enough for knocking some sense into me. Want to join us for a game?”
They all turned to Ken, awaiting his response, these strangers who possessed an array of powers, most of which he could only guess, none of which were being used in any meaningful way. But he saw their faces, such open faces indicating that he would indeed be welcome and accepted by all. The glowing woman smiled at him. She was rather pretty, Ken noticed. He wanted to play.
“I can’t. I’m sorry.” He turned to Hailey. “I really need to see those kids.”
“Hold on a second.”
Hailey checked her phone, then opened a portal. Lance raced through, plastic shopping bags hooked along his arms. The players cheered his arrival, or perhaps the arrival of the goods.
“Let me set these down real quick,” Lance said. “Try not to miss me too much.”
He blinked out for a second, then returned carrying an armful of sub sandwiches. He tossed one to each player.
“Hope I got the orders right.”
Webster peeked under the wrapper and savored the scent. “Perfect as always, man.”
Hailey nodded at the hotel. “Why don’t you all head inside and start without us? We’ll catch up soon.”
Ken flinched as Webster slapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks again for that whupping.”
The residents headed into the building, leaving only the three old college friends standing by the net. Lance picked up the ball.
“I hope you’ve kept in shape,” he said.
Lance served the ball over the net, zipped across to hit it, zipped back for the return, and so on until he struck the ball with too much force and sent it flying far afield.
Ken raised a hand, tensing his fingers. The ball obeyed his mental command and floated back into Lance’s grip.
“This isn’t college,” Ken said.
“No. It’s better.” Lance tossed him the ball.
Fingertips pressed against the smooth leather as Ken caught it. A familiar, comfortable sensation.
“Who’s your benefactor?” Ken asked. “Whose property is this?”
Hailey gave a coy smile. “Someone who prefers to remain anonymous.”
“Surely you can appreciate that,” Lance said, flashing a crooked smirk. Such a punchable smirk.
“Where are the kids?” Ken asked.
Lance gestured at the hotel. “We’re not done with the tour yet.”
“Kids first.”
“Ken,” Hailey said, “please keep an open mind.”
“That can go both ways,” Ken said. “Come with me to Terrific Hall. See what you can do with your powers. What’s your range, Hailey? With your help, we could respond to so many more situations. These powers give us a unique opportunity to become something better than we are. I know it’s a lot to take in at first, but we can—”
Lance and Hailey started laughing.
All strength departed Ken’s voice. “What’s funny?”
“I already got that sales pitch a while back,” Lance said. “Fantastic Man caught me running around, practicing my speed, and he gave me this spiel about becoming—what you said—something better than I was. I took a good long look at that cheesy costume of his, listened to his theatrics, and said no thanks. He didn’t see that coming.”
Ken would have remembered Fantastic Man mentioning this. But Fantastic Man never was one for sharing. “How long of a while back?”
Lance and Hailey looked at each other, as if each one’s memory was stored in the other’s head.
“Two years?” Lance said.
“Not quite,” Hailey said. “It was later in the summer, but Mount Olympus Tower was still up.”
Lance wagged a finger in agreement. “Right.” To Ken, he said, “So we got our powers around the same time you started hiding your face.”
Two years. Ken thought about everything he had done with the Terrific Trio during that time—fighting supervillain after supervillain, tussling with all sorts of creatures and machines, pretending not to recognize Miranda for so long, ignoring how uncomfortably sterile Terrific Hall was, nearly dying on multiple occasions, seeing other people die.
Lance went rigid, arms and legs locked into place, and he floated off the ground. Ken enjoyed watching the cockiness slip away from that highly punchable face.