Average Joe (2018)

48

I didn't know how to respond to that. I just reiterated my first question.

"Where are we?"

"Byrne State Forest," answered the man's soft voice.

"New Jersey," I scoffed. "How'd I end up here?"

"I brought you here. You were bleeding out." I looked at the bandages on my stomach. They were almost professional.

"You're not Norman Knight. Norman Knight is dead." The man sipped his canteen.

"That's what Ted, Melinda, and my father think. Along with the rest of the world."

I stared at the man in wonder. I had never seen the face of my deceased uncle. There were photos of him but they all burned up with my grandad's house back in 2005. Could this be the original Norman Knight? Who was also the supposed 'Guardian'?

"But... you, I mean Norman Knight, had cancer. You don't just fake your own death."

"You know the strain of being the child of a superhero, but have you ever thought about the strain of being an actual superhero?"

"I know both."

"Not enough." Outside, the sun started to rise over the night-infected forest.

"After a while," the man continued. "It became too much, and eventually my powers gave me cancer."

"'Powers'?"

"Ever wondered how your father gained his powers? Our mother had similar abilities. She kept it from Ted and Melinda and even our father, but not me. Our mother could go nuclear. Quite literally." Norman reached out his palm and his skin cracked with a familiar light. The light was similar to my father's fire but resembled the light of the sun, whereas my father's light was more of a bonfire type. "I never wanted it. I gave the hero-thing a shot and became quite popular."

"The Guardian," I remembered. "You were a hero for all those years and Dad never knew?" Uncle Norman nodded.

"By the time I got sick with cancer, your father had just started his career as Red Flame. I never knew how to bring it up. My mother's flame was nuclear and in the end it killed her. She passed her abilities onto me and my brother. My powers developed earlier than his. That was because when I was twelve and he was six he had gotten sick."

"Dad told me about that. It was some tumor scare."

"It wasn't a scare. He had a tumor. His powers were starting to develop and it was killing him. By this time, cancer had already killed our mother. I couldn't bear to watch my brother die too."

"You did something."

"The fire me and my mother possessed was nuclear. Dark matter, something which science has consistently denied, is what drives our abilities. The way our flame power works is pure energy. I was able to take away the dark matter that was killing my brother. But it came at a cost, one which I paid years later."

"Cancer?"

"Yes. His dark matter combined with mine started to kill me. I couldn't take it. I was on the verge of dying when one of my enemies found out my greatest secret - my name. Our battle was expensive. In the end, I killed him. I unleashed my energy into him and he evaporated."

"That's how the public thought the Guardian had died," I remembered. "But why did you fake your own death?"

"Like I said... this enemy of mine found out who I was and he passed the information along to other enemies of mine. If Norman Knight stayed alive, they would hunt Melinda and your father and I couldn't have that."

"If flame power runs in the family how come I have electrical powers?"

"Two reasons. First, when I took the dark matter away from your father, the genetic data of his powers changed. The second is probably your mother's powers. If neither of those things was a factor, you'd probably have the same abilities as your father."

A horrifying thought came to me. I thrust my hands out in front of me and activated my powers. No electricity came. No blue light or arcs of electricity. My powers had been drained.

"What's happened to me?"

"Mathew Everdale... his abilities are powerful and unpredictable."

"Abilities?"

"He can capture dark matter. In other words, he can steal powers."

"Permanently?"

"I'm not sure. Most of the time it is. But if all the dark matter is taken from someone with abilities, they not only lose their ability, they lose their lives."

"Well, I'm not dead. That means it's temporary, right?" Uncle Norman wouldn't meet my gaze.

"You were dead. For several minutes. I had to stop the bleeding, perform CPR..."

"But... since I'm back, that means I'll get my powers back... right?" Uncle Norman shook his head.

"As I said, Mathew Everdale's abilities are powerful but unpredictable."

"How...? Why did you come to Shadow Global?"

"...I'm not as powerful as I once was. When Shadow Global was thrown into turmoil, I knew it would be a good moment to strike. I was aware of a chemical drug they perfected. It can enhance the powers of those with dark matter."

"I've seen what that drug does. Trust me, you don't want it." Uncle Norman looked at me as if he knew something I didn't. I scratched my head. Something kept nagging me. "If that drug amplifies people's abilities, what would happen if someone like Mathew Everdale used it?"

"Hypothetically? He'd be able to take every person's dark matter in a one-hundred-mile range."

"In English?"

"Every single human with abilities in New York City would lose their powers, and if he wanted to... he could kill them all."