Chapter 12 - Long Time No See

"Not at all Claire. In fact I insist"

Claire reels back. What does she do? She's never seen this man before in her life. What are the odds he just knows who she is?

"On second thought, I'm supposed to be meeting someone in 5 minutes, at the entrance to the park. I better get going."

She goes to turn around and leave, but before she can take a step.

"I don't think Matt would be happy to know that his daughter turned out to be a liar. Where is he anyway?" The next words he uttered would come out so softly, but send a chill down Claire's spine at the same time. "Our mutual friend Sheerforce?"

Claire stopped. So many thoughts raced through her head. He knows about Dad. He knows about her. Does he know about her Mother? Who was he?

"Now why don't you come and sit down for a minute or two. I'm afraid in this instance, your friend is just going to have to wait." The man gestures over to Claire's shoulder, and then she sees it.

It's small, but she knows exactly what this is. A bomb. The timer is counting down from 10 minutes.

"Come Claire. Sit. It's active now, and the only way it'll stop is with this detonator."

"So what if I just take it from you. You don't look all that strong."

"Ahh Claire. Do you really think I'm the only one here. I didn't put that bomb on you. Now sit. Your powers might save you, but not the regular people. That bomb is strong enough to take this entire park with it."

Reluctantly, Claire moves towards the bench, and sits at the opposite end to this man.

"What do you want from me? I didn't ask for any of this."

"Shhhh. Don't worry Claire, I don't want anything from you. I want to send a message to that asshole of a Father you have."

The soft voice the man had been using suddenly drops, and Claire can feel it in her bones. This man wants to hurt her. No not just her, everyone. But it doesn't come from a place of anger. It comes from sadness. Who hurt him?

"Tell him I know which of his little pocket hideouts, his wife is in. I'm assuming that's why you're here anyway."

Claire looks at him confused. He wants to help?

"You want to help us?"

"Don't get me wrong I don't want to help him in the slightest. I'm doing this for you and Sara."

"How do you know where she is? Have you taken her?"

"Hahahaha. God no. I have spoken to her though. You know, since she teleported away from you. She'll be glad to know you're both OK."

Claire feels a sense of relief.

"You spoke to Mom? Where is she?"

"In time Claire. First I need something from the two of you."

"What is it? Anything."

"I'm glad you said that Claire. Because that bomb isn't coming off. I've stopped the timer, but I can activate it at any second. And contrary to what I said before, it will kill you. Powers or no powers."

"What? Why? You were helping us a second ago."

"Oh don't worry I will help you. But nothing in this thing we call life is free. Lets call it 'equivalent exchange'. Show your Dad the bomb. He'll know what to do."

"Who are you?"

"Oh don't worry, you'll find out soon enough. Now run, Claire run."

Claire jumps off of the bench, and starts running out of the park, and back towards the Sheerforce museum.

------------------

I've been at this for a good 45 minutes now. This was always the part of the super-heroism that I didn't like. The research. Show me a bad guy, and let me punch him, and I'm your man, but this was so far out of my skill set. The highlights of working with Razer back in the day. He had information on everything. but like all good things that partnership came to an end, albeit it wasn't enforced by the incident. Just two people moving in very different directions.

I pull up some records on The Man on Fire from before the incident, and there's not much, he was a fairly new hero, and got involved for the money and the fame. His original hero name was Blazer. That name could use some work to say the least.

I get an alert pop up on the screen. A proximity alarm. Someone with powers approaching at speed.

I switch to the surveillance monitors and see Claire running into the building. She's on her way back here, what could've happened in the time she's been gone. In 45 minutes she can't have gone too far.

I quickly activate the doorway and usher her inside.

"Kiddo, what happened?"

Out of breath she tries to say. "Not sure..... Man..... Bomb..... Shoulder..."

"A bomb? Who was he?"

"I don't know Dad. He said you would know if you look at the bomb. It's on my shoulder."

I take a look at Claire's shoulder and can't see anything.

"Are you sure there's a bomb I can't see anything."

"Microscopic vision. It's tiny"

I look again this time using my powers, and there's still nothing. No bomb. Nothing.

"Kiddo, I think he was lying to you."

"He wasn't Dad. He knew me. He knew you. And he knew where Mom was."

"What did you just say? He knows where your Mother is?"

"Yeah. He's spoken to her since she teleported."

"No. Not him."

I try to hide it, but I can see in Claire's face that I haven't hidden my fear well.

"Dad what's up? Who is it?"

A disembodied voice chimes in "Yeah Matt. Who is it?"

I look around. I know who it is. The bomb that wasn't there. The familiar voice.

"Micron. I know it's you. Show yourself."

A man suddenly appears as if from nowhere in front of Claire.

"Hey Matt. Long time no see." He pulls a communicator out of his pocket, and tries to speak into it, but I use my heat vision to melt it and he instantly drops it to the floor.

"I won't let you bring him here. Don't you remember what he did?"

"What he did? Goddamn it Matt. You were there too, you're just as guilty for not stopping him, and that's what you're really mad about."

This flips a switch inside me, and I grab him by the throat, and hold him up against the wall.

"Doesn't.... Matter..... Gate..... Online..."

No. He did it before he enlarged. He's on his way here. And then I see it. A purple light forming in the middle of the room. A doorway similar in nature to the one that lets us into this pocket dimension. A man steps through. I see Claire recognize him from the other side of the room. This is the man she met earlier.

"Hey Matt. Good to see you." The man utters with a forced smile.

I'm that angry all I can say back is one thing. His name. But I don't say it, I snarl it filled with hate.

"Razer."