A Call to Darkness (Book 1 of Calling All Heroes)

Dr Hayden Falk

Warning: Mention of electroshock therapy

—

Remy and Logan walked into the base, both in full hero costume. The latter of the two sat at the table in the little kitchen and just stared blankly at the surface. This was the first day in a month that anyone had been able to get him away from Roman's bedside. Despite the heroes Logic and Shadow being MIA, the city had not fallen into total ruin. That was the only thing giving the two hope that wherever Deceit was he was safe.

"H, I brought him," the detective called into the other room.

The greying scientist made his way into the kitchen and sat at the table with the other two men. "How is The Prince?"

"Stable. He still hasn't waken up, but he's still stable," Logan's voice was cold and emotionless.

"I promise I'll find a way to wake him up, Lo."

"Please... D-don't call me that."

"Sorry..."

Hayden cleared his throat and folded his hands on the table. "I think we can save your friends. The ones that Bedrag has. I can recreate the machine that he used to corrupt them."

"How," Logan's head shot up and his eyes fixed on the other man.

"I built it in the first place," the older man let out a small sigh and removed his glasses. "Deceit told you everything he knew of his capture and his he creation of Bedrag. Correct?" Logan nodded his head and frowned slightly. "I was the scientist that created the machine. I didn't know that using it on him would have created Bedrag. I didn't even know that he was not human. We'd had success on humans with powers before. I had no reason to believe that it wouldn't work on him."

"How does your machine work?"

"It is not much different than electroshock therapy. It alters the firing of neurons within the brain. The thing is, brains like yours and Shadow's are different from mine. Physically different. With my machine I am able to see the brain and target the area to send the shock to. This makes sure that a vital system isn't shut down unintentionally."

Logan nodded in understanding. "That doesn't explain how Deceit was split into two different people."

"I have two theories on that. Both work on the theory that Deceit's body had a way of regenerating itself. The first is that the trauma of the treatment caused his body to split as a way of preserving itself. The second is that the misfiring triggered a latent power within him that cause him to split and create two copies."

"What happened to the lab?"

"Bedrag awoke first. He killed my assistants. Had Shadow's predecessor not have been there I would have died as well."

"Shadow's predecessor?" Logan looked from the scientist to the hero.

"I wasn't the first hero to take on the name Shadow. I inherited the mantel from the hero I trained under. He had the ability to alter memories. Not very useful in a fight, but great at cleanup."

"Physically he was more than capable of holding his own in a fight. He was also an excellent marksman. He shot an electo bullet at Bedrag, the jolt was low voltage, but it did well to render him unconscious. When Deceit woke up we tried to convince him to kill Bedrag, but he said he couldn't. He regressed them both. Shadow did his best to alter their memories. But, because of the fact that they are not human it did not hold. We gave them each a new name and helped them shift their forms so that they had human features. We then took them to separate orphanages in Norway. Deceit was adopted by a doctor and her husband from America. Bedrag switched foster homes numerous times and aged out of the system."

"No one wants to raise a sociopath, babe."

"He was a child. He could have changed. Deceit was no longer the monster we took into custody."

"I have to agree with Dr Falk, Shadow. If they were identical it could be theorized that they would both react the same to the treatment."

Shadow rolled his eyes and remained quiet for a moment. "So you made another machine. How are we going to get Night Storm and The Duke to sit in the chair and let us fry their brains?"

"That's where I come in, Shadow."

The three men turned to look at the woman who walked in.