“But it’s not true?” Kyle asked warily.
“Only partly,” Lux said. “The myth of the Rangers leaves out an important detail: Bastion had grown up in the Cloak Society. He was a deserter. The Rangers weren’t going all over the place just to rid the country of crime. They were recruiting. Bastion knew if Cloak ever took action, he’d need other superpowers to fight against them. He founded the Rangers to protect the world against Cloak, or any other force like them.”
Alex’s eyes went blank. His lips started to form a series of words all starting with W, but his brain couldn’t figure out which question to ask first. Around him, the others looked dumbfounded. Everyone except for Gage, who narrowed his eyes in contemplation.
“Who knows about this?” Amp asked.
“Only us, now,” Lux said quietly. “Actually, I’m assuming the higher-ups in Cloak know as well. It’s a closely guarded secret. We were just waiting for the right time to tell you.”
“I can see why the High Council would want to keep this from us,” Gage said, nodding. “It doesn’t really bode well for their ideology if their greatest enemies came from their own ranks.”
“It would have been the generation between my mother and grandfather,” Alex said. “No wonder my mother and the others were so eager to go into battle against the Rangers at Victory Park. They were fighting against someone who’d betrayed them.”
As he spoke the words, he realized immediately how well they described him, too. He shuddered.
“It also explains why they moved from the old mansion to the underground base so quickly,” Mallory said, smoothing down her chestnut hair.
“Wait,” Misty said, joining the conversation. “So we’re basically just like the original Rangers, right?”
“Exactly,” Lux said.
“Most people who made a difference in history were rebels or deserters of some kind,” Gage added.
“It’s a good story,” Amp said, “but it doesn’t really change what’s happening now.”
“What do you think they’re doing?” Lux asked.
Alex explained to the others the only updated information they had—who the Guild of Daggers was and that the group was somehow involved. Cloak would be expanding as soon as they’d secured Sterling City. Their retaliation for Phantom’s death would no doubt be swift and extreme.
“I don’t even know where they’d be right now.” Alex sighed. “But the way my mother talked today . . . I think there’s something big coming. Something that threatens everyone, not just the people of Sterling City.” He glanced at Gage. “I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
The back door swung open. Lone Star stood there, grim.
“It’s time for the news,” he said, staring at the television. “I want to know what they say about us.”
Alex and his teammates gathered around the television in Carla’s living room. The news coverage from the groundbreaking played out just as they’d expected. Newscasters praised the return of Lux while condemning the Junior Rangers once again, implying that the Lux and Lone Star “impostors” were in fact agents of the Cloak Society sent to try and destroy the New Rangers from within.
“The Rangers of Justice, in conjunction with the mayor’s office and the city council, have declared martial law in Sterling City,” a newscaster reported. “In addition to the curfew already in effect, a full-scale manhunt is currently underway for any and all persons who can be linked to the Cloak Society. Roadblocks have been set up on all roads leading out of the city, and helicopters are patrolling our borders. Citizens are urged to stay in their homes and follow any directions given to them by the Rangers or Ranger-appointed Deputies. Remember, no matter how well you think you know someone, they may in fact be a highly trained Cloak operative. It’s important that you report any suspicious behavior to the Ranger hotline listed at the bottom of the screen.”
“Great,” Amp said. “Just what those untrained idiots need: absolute authority on the streets.”
“That hotline probably goes directly to Cloak,” Mallory said. “They’re completely bypassing the police.”
“And spreading fear,” Gage added. “That line about not trusting your friends and neighbors—they’re cultivating paranoia.”
“It’s going to be madness,” Lux whispered. “Imagine being able to send Deputies to the doorstep of any person you’d ever been angry at.”
“We could get out if we really wanted to,” Bug said. “Misty could help us, or we could just fight through the roadblocks.”
“They’re not worried about us escaping,” Alex said. “They know we won’t leave the city. This is just an act. They’re showing off how much control they have.”
Onscreen, the newscaster continued.
“The following footage is a taped message from Lux, whose return was announced before the Cloak interference at today’s groundbreaking ceremony.”
In Carla’s living room, the real Lux jumped to her feet as Novo the shape-shifter stepped in front of a microphone. Alex could only imagine what it must have felt like to see not just a copy of yourself, but one that seemed to exude the sort of strength and vitality that had been sucked out of you.
“I am here tonight to inform the villains of this city that no longer will the Rangers sit idly by waiting for your next move. We are coming for you. We will find you. We have help.”
Beside her, Titan appeared, holding a large silver metal case. On the top was a small symbol in black: two daggers laid across one another to form an X.
“The Guild of Daggers,” Alex said. “This must be what my mother was talking about. They’re working together on something. They—”
Alex stopped as Novo pulled a weapon out of the case. It was a sleek, matte-gray rifle with a boxy containment unit on the back. It pulsed with a deep-purple light.
“Impossible,” Gage whispered.
“This is a fully functional prototype for what we’re calling ‘the Umbra.’ It’s an ingenious crime-fighting tool developed by our resident weapons expert, Shade. This device does not shoot bullets or lasers, but a synthesized, nonlethal energy bolt that immediately transports anything—or anyone—it touches to a state-of-the-art prison facility designed to house superpowered criminals. For security reasons, we are not currently at liberty to say where this facility is located. While the use of this weapon is a last resort, if the villains of the Cloak Society do not turn themselves in, we have no choice but to use drastic measures. At an accelerated manufacturing speed, we will be able to arm our ever-growing squad of Deputies with these weapons in the near future.”
She paused for a moment, as if waiting for an unseen audience to take in this information. In the living room, there was barely the sound of breath.
“No, no, no . . . ,” Lone Star repeated. His hands were shaking.
The camera zoomed out as Novo aimed the gun at a mannequin onscreen. She fired. There was a low, resounding electronic sound. An inky black splotch grew over the mannequin’s chest, until it covered the figure completely. Then, suddenly, it was gone—melted away.
Alex just stared at the television. Again, it was a performance meant only for them. To show them they’d been outsmarted. If Cloak and the Guild of Daggers had managed to synthesize Phantom’s energy—and from the demonstration it seemed that was exactly what they’d done—what would keep them from creating countless weapons? They wouldn’t even have to stop at Umbra Guns. They could have bombs, missiles—weapons that could send entire cities into the Gloom.
Novo stared straight into the camera.
“Turn yourselves in, and we will show you the mercy of justice. But if you force us to hunt you down—if you endanger the lives of countless civilians in your selfish attempts to defeat us, we promise you that you will know true fear.” She paused, and Alex was sure he could detect a twitch of a smile as she added, “And gloom.”
12
OVERHEARD
“Carla, Lux,” Lone Star said, “we need to speak in private. Th
e rest of the team stays up here for now.”
“There’s the office over here,” Carla said. Then, after thinking about it for a beat: “Or we can go down to the basement. It might be a bit more private.”
“No offense, sir,” Alex said, “but you can’t call us your teammates if you’re going to shut us out of whatever you’re planning to do next.”
“I understand your concerns.”
“If you really understood, we wouldn’t have shown up to the groundbreaking like we did today,” Mallory said.
“They did try to warn us, Star,” Lux said.
“We did what we thought was best. You know that, Lux.”
Carla raised an eyebrow and turned to her brother. Lux frowned, but nodded. She turned to Alex and Kirbie and the others. “Just give us ten minutes to talk and we’ll be back. We won’t do anything without consulting with you all first.”
And with that, the three adults were gone.
“This is ridiculous,” Mallory said. “They’ve only been out of the Gloom for a day. There are months—years of background they need to know.”
“Lone Star said to trust him and—,” Kyle said.
“No,” Amp said, getting to his feet. “Mallory’s right. They may look at us as their junior team still, but we know way more about what’s happening right now than they do.” He made a beeline for the basement door in the hallway.
“They’re not going to be happy if they find out we’ve been spying on them.”
“We shouldn’t have to be spying,” Alex countered as the others followed Amp down the hall.
“Shhhh,” Amp said. “Everyone just shut up and let me do my thing. I need to concentrate.”
He placed his left hand on the door to the basement and held his right palm out toward the others. Voices from downstairs started to pour out of him, amplified.
“How bad is this, really?” Lone Star asked. “How are things looking from inside the government? Isn’t there anyone opposing the Rangers’ growing control?”
“In your entire tenure as a Ranger, did anyone ever come out and say they didn’t want you protecting the city?” Carla asked. “There are people against giving the Rangers so much power, sure, but they’re in the minority. And it’s not exactly an open topic of conversation. You get around enough people who are die-hard in favor of every suggestion and decree the Rangers are making and you start to feel like maybe they’re right.”
“It’s herd mentality,” Lux said. “They’ve got enough implants in the system to sway anyone who might be on the fence.”
“Wait . . . who heard what?” Misty asked on the first floor.
“No, herd,” Alex said. “Like you’d herd sheep or cows or something.”
“Cloak’s like a virus,” Kyle whispered. “It just keeps spreading.”
Carla started talking again.
“What’s their end goal? To take over the city? The country? World domination?”
“All of the above,” Lone Star said. “Maybe even more.”
“Don’t you have other superhero friends or something you can call in as backup?” Carla asked.
“No one who could take on Cloak. And I wouldn’t be surprised if half the ‘heroes’ we know about are now running around the city as Deputies. We don’t want to risk giving ourselves away.”
“Ah. Now there’s something that’s not going in their favor. All these ‘Deputies of Justice’ suddenly have rank over the actual police. I’ve been in contact with the commissioner. We haven’t spoken directly about the situation, but I can tell he’s not pleased with the way things are going. Neither are his men. If we had to, we could probably get some sort of police presence to back you.”
“That’s something that could totally help us,” Kyle said.
“It would certainly look good if we had the police on our side,” Gage agreed, adjusting his sling with a scowl. “We could use some kind of government agency backing us.”
Alex nodded. He didn’t want to put the police in harm’s way actually fighting Cloak, but there was surely some way that they could help him and the others out. If they could get the police on their side.
“What about the National Guard or FBI?” Lux asked. “Where are they?”
“They were here after Justice Tower fell,” Carla said. “Everyone was here. But when Dr. Photon showed up with his new teammates, suddenly all the agencies backed off. I think they thought it was a lucky break. No one was sure whose jurisdiction the Rangers and Cloak fell under to begin with. It’s not like any of them were trained to deal with supervillains. That’s always been your job.”
Alex could imagine the High Council congratulating one another upon hearing this statement. Their theories had been right. The Rangers had made the city weak in some ways. With them out of the equation, it had been so easy for Cloak to swoop in and take over.
Carla continued.
“Give it to me straight: if it came down to a fight, would you two be able to defeat Cloak and the New Rangers together?”
“Just the two of us against all of Cloak?” Lone Star asked. “There’s no way we could take them on. Not like we are now.”
“But we’ve got the Junior Rangers and the Cloak defects on our side, too,” Lux offered.
“They’re children,” Carla said. “I have two of my own their age. I don’t care what kind of powers they have or what they’ve been through to get here. They shouldn’t be put in danger. I’ve never approved of your use of children as soldiers.”
“They’re our teammates,” Lone Star said.
“I’m surprised they made it this far alive. In fact, I can’t believe someone didn’t step in and stop you the first time you unveiled Amp as your sidekick, much less formed an entire team of underage superheroes.”
“Their actions have saved countless lives.”
“And the others? The ones who were trained to murder and become, what, twelve-year-old dictators? You do realize that one of them killed their former teammate today. I imagine you won’t be so quick to defend them when it’s you they’ve turned on.”
Misty and Mallory shifted on their feet uncomfortably. Alex didn’t breathe. He felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. Kirbie looked at him and shook her head to try to dispel the words from sinking in, but it was too late.
“We kind of saved her brother’s life,” Misty whispered. “Starla should be thanking us.”
“I trust them,” Lone Star said. “Every one of them. If you had any idea what they’ve been through the last month, you would too.”
“STOP IT!” Lux shouted. “Both of you. There’s a group of psychopaths posing as both the good guys and the bad guys right now. They’ve got the city in a vise. They have at least one Umbra Gun and claim to be able to make more. Now what are we going to do about it?”
There was silence for a few moments. In the first-floor hallway, everyone was growing restless.
Lone Star’s voice started to drift out of Amp’s hand again.
“The city has turned on us. We don’t have any powers. Maybe . . . maybe it’s time we start thinking about turning ourselves in.”
“What?” Lux asked.
“Victor . . . ,” Carla said.
“Maybe they’ll even just take me,” he continued. “Then they’ll have a full set of Rangers. I’m powerless. It’s not like I’ll do them much good other than speaking engagements and propaganda. It could buy you all some time.”
“He’s lost it,” Kirbie whispered.
But Alex didn’t think that was the case. It wasn’t so much giving up as it was desperation. He’d wondered plenty of times if handing himself over to his parents might help to save his friends and teammates. There was something very familiar to him about Lone Star’s hopelessness.
“There has to be another way,” Lux said.
“We can’t fight them,” Lone Star said. “I won’t watch any of those kids get banished to the Gloom. Or killed. I don’t even know which is worse. You heard what Novo said. You know
what’s coming next, right? They’ll wage a fake war between Cloak and the Rangers. They’ll tear down this city to find us. This might be the only way we can protect people from being harmed.”
Huddled in the hallway, Alex and his teammates listened grimly. None of them spoke, but Kirbie walked away, back into the living room, where she paced back and forth. She disappeared for a few moments before returning, holding Alex’s trench coat.
“The Gloom Key was at the lake house, right?” she asked.
“It was,” Gage said. “I can’t say if it still is.”
“We need that device. If they have a real Umbra Gun, we need a way into the Gloom.”
“But Phantom’s energy left our bodies,” Mallory said. “Does the key even work anymore?”
“Gage, is there a chance the Gloom Key still works?” Kirbie asked.
“Of course,” Gage said. “There’s always a chance.”
Kirbie turned to Alex. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do,” Alex said, without having to think about the question at all.
“Good. Then let’s go.”
“My mother knows we’re a threat now. She’ll probably torture Photon until she’s pulled every secret from his head. Cloak might already know about the lake house.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” Kirbie asked.
“No,” Alex said. “I just want you to know what we’re getting into.”
“Kirbie, no,” Kyle said.
“Lone Star might have given up, but I haven’t.” Kirbie headed toward the back door. “It’s night, the city’s under lockdown, and Misty can’t travel to and from the lake house in one trip. I can carry Alex. We’ll grab the Gloom Key and get out of there.”
Before anyone could talk her out of it, Kirbie was in the backyard, with her eyes to the sky.
“There’s even plenty of cloud cover.”
“This could be a trap,” Kyle said as he and the others followed her outside. “They could be waiting for you there.”
“I doubt it,” Alex said. “Cloak’s furious. They’ll want action. Even if they’ve already found the place, they wouldn’t sit around waiting for us. They wouldn’t even know how recently we used it as a base. We could have moved on weeks ago.”