Free Shadow Boy by R.J. Ross

on his face. “That’s a job for the heroes in the business,” he finally says. “We can’t fight it physically, that just puts them in the right. They are the reason we have guys like America’s Son, and Voltdrain, and all the picture perfect heroes that you will never find dirt on—even if you DO look into their personal lives. We turn the job over to the golden boys, let them do their jobs and a bit of baby kissing or whatever it is they do, and focus on the important parts.”
    “They attacked us. They tried to hurt Carla,” I say, my hands clenching for a moment.
    “Carla’s tougher than you are.”
    “In some ways, yeah,” I say, honestly. “Physically she’s tougher than I am, but mentally she’s more vulnerable. Well… maybe,” I admit, thinking of the fight with the shadow dinos. “She insists that the shadow dinos are just hungry and she’s going to make me take her with me to feed them.”
    “Shadow dinos?” he repeats.
    “The monsters in the Shadowlands.”
    He looks away, his shoulders shaking.
    “You can laugh,” I tell him. “I can see the humor in the situation.” He starts laughing loudly. “Personally I think it’s smarter just to toss a few buckets through shadow portals and hope the things don’t figure out how to get out,” I go on.
    “So you WILL feed them?” he asks, still amused.
    “I promised,” I say. “And maybe if they’re not so hungry I’ll have less trouble,” I add, hopefully. “But I’ve got no clue WHAT to feed them, or how I’ll afford it,” I admit.
    “Try the leftovers, maybe it’ll become a good way to get rid of trash,” he says.
    “Good idea.” I look around. “Are we really going to walk all the way to the Hall at this pace?” I finally ask.
    “Nah, we’ll take the shadows sooner or later. I want to see these shadow dinos of yours. But I have one more question for you,” he says. “Why were you willing to give Shadowman a chance?”
    I go silent, staring forward as I shove my hands into my pockets. Why DID I give him a chance? “He seems to actually believe that Herold is out to take out super-kind. That it’s not just a game of heroes versus villains, you know? And Max said he was really old, right? So if he’s that old, and he’s stayed out of the Cape Cells this long, he’s got to have a good feel for how things are going--street sense. I don’t feel any sort of attachment to him, or anything—you know, other than the whole ‘Finally met my dad’ sort of stuff,” I admit, irritated at feeling even that much. “But that doesn’t mean I should underestimate him.”
    “You’re right,” Nico says. “He’s definitely not someone that should be underestimated.”
    “He wanted me to finish Mother off,” I say slowly. “He seems to think I could.”
    “You probably could, in the right circumstances,” Nico says, "especially when you’re older. In an alternate timeline, your father killed my mom.”
    “Oh. Wow,” I say. “So he wasn’t joking about finishing Mother off, huh?”
    “He seems like a weasel, doesn’t he?” Nico asks with amusement. “He’s the first to abandon ship if things go south. He’s willing to work for some seriously nasty people, if they pay right. All of it makes you think he’s a relatively weak cape, right?”
    “He’s not?”
    “Not at all. He’s just…” he goes silent, thinking about it for a moment, "Single minded, I'd say,” he decides. "He doesn’t let his ego get in the way of his profit. In a way, I can almost admire his ‘street sense’ as you call it. Dislike it, sure, but there’s something admirable about being so slick in this game.”
    “It doesn’t fit,” I say finally. “Every hero or villain you see in the news has a massive ego—”
    “Not all supers show up in the news,” Nico says with a shrug. “Your dad is a prime example. Sure, WE know about him, but the world doesn’t—even after they went searching for him thanks to Mother, they