Chapter 13 - Unfinished Business

Art by SyniaSidhe

The following Friday, instead of heading into the newsroom, I went up to the top floor of the San Urbano Times building to talk to Mr. Russell. I still couldn't quite believe that I was about to speak to the CEO of the San Urbano Times. He was one of the richest men in the city, and I was just a lowly intern. I certainly couldn't explain why he had agreed to this, but nevertheless, I was about to interview him. Vanessa had prepared me well, with a packet of notes and detailed instructions on what to ask him. However, I was still a little nervous as I carefully knocked on the door to his office.

Mr. Russell didn't come to the door. At first, I worried that I had come at the wrong time, but when I checked Vanessa's notes, I saw that I was only five minutes early. I stood back and waited patiently, hoping that Mr. Russell would arrive soon.

The door was slightly ajar, and I heard two voices float into the hallway. I recognized one of them immediately. "I've asked all of the higher-ups at the Academy about this, and none of them have given me a good answer," Declan said. "Sanjana said that you might know."

"Well, I don't work at the Academy," a second voice said. "I only fund them. The President of the Academy gives me only the broadest overview of what's going on there. I doubt that I can help you, Declan, but you can always try."

"I already talked to the President, and his answer was too vague for my taste," Declan said.

"Just cut to the chase," the other man said. "What's your question?"

"Why is the Gadfly my archenemy, Mr. Russell?" Declan asked.

"That's a good question," Mr. Russell said.

"Can't you talk the Academy into giving me a different assignment?" Declan asked. "He's just no fun to fight, and I've faithfully served the Academy ever since my graduation. I feel like they should give me an archenemy who's actually powerful. The Gadfly's not a real threat, not when you have Brightside and Lady Quake and the Bash Brothers..."

"That's where you're wrong," Mr. Russell said. "The Gadfly is a huge threat to the Academy."

"How?" Declan asked. "He only has one measly power, and he refuses to fight. He's barely a supervillain at all."

"Declan, he was kicked out of the Academy only two weeks after he was admitted," Mr. Russell said. "The teachers, some of the most powerful superheroes in the whole country, were afraid of him. Don't you think that says something?"

"You must be confused," Declan said. "That doesn't sound like the Gadfly at all. All he's done recently is cause a traffic jam and taunt me over email."

"He doesn't realize his own strength," Mr. Russell argued. "If the Gadfly knew how powerful he was, then the whole system would be destroyed. San Urbano would be overrun with supervillains, with the scum of the city in charge of it. That's why the Academy is trusting you, Declan. If that ever happens, it will be your responsibility to defeat him."

"I'm still not sure if I believe you," Declan said.

"I know you don't," Mr. Russell said. "There is a chance that I'm wrong, but I've been in contact with the Academy for a long time. I do know how things work there, and I know that the Gadfly is a threat, and you're the right person to be his greatest enemy."

"If he's as bad as you say that he is, then maybe I'm not the right person to do this," Declan said. "I still think that it's a lousy assignment. Couldn't you make the Dastardly Demon my archenemy instead of just a minor enemy? At least he puts up a fight."

I grinned, and although it was a sick thing to take pleasure from, I liked the thought of being a superhero's archenemy. "I don't make those decisions," Mr. Russell reminded Declan. "You know, this reminds me of something Dr. Rosenberg once told me."

"What did he say?" Declan asked.

"He told me about you when you were only his intern, before you received your powers," Mr. Russell said. "Dr. Rosenberg said that you wanted to be a superhero, but you worried that you didn't have the moral integrity for it. This is your chance, Declan. This is your chance to prove that you can be a real superhero."

"Not if the Gadfly refuses to act like a real supervillain," Declan said.

"The Academy thinks that you're the only hero with the willpower to fight a villain with the power to manipulate spoken and written language," Mr. Russell said. "You should consider that to be an honor."

"I give up," Declan said. "I just wish that I had a better archenemy."

"Declan, I hate to kick you out, but I have an appointment at ten o'clock," Mr. Russell said. "I'm probably making that kid wait."

"Thanks for your help, Mr. Russell," Declan said. The office door swung open, and Declan stepped out. "Hi there, Jay. You didn't hear any of that did you?" he said to me.

"I didn't hear anything," I lied.

"Great," Declan said. "I'll see you later then. I think Mr. Russell's ready for you, by the way."

Declan headed down to the end of the hallway, while I opened the door to Mr. Russell's office. Mr. Russell's office, as it turned out, was a spacious but sparse room, with a huge window letting sunlight in. Mr. Russell looked at his watch absentmindedly as he lay back in his chair. The man appeared to be in good health, although his silver hair revealed his advanced age. "Hello there," he said with a smile. I couldn't tell whether it was genuine or not. "You must be Jay."

"And you must be Mr. Russell," I said as I shook his hand.

"I heard that you're writing an article about me," Mr. Russell said. "I have to say that I'm flattered."

"I'm not the one writing the article," I clarified. "My friend Vanessa is writing it."

"I see," Mr. Russell said. "Feel free to ask me anything, Jay. I'm always willing to answer questions. By the way, would you like a cookie? My wife just made a batch." He gestured towards the plate of chocolate chip cookies sitting on his desk, and I nodded and took a cookie. It wasn't quite the recipe that I was used to, but the cookie still tasted delicious.

"Thank you," I said.

"So what would you like to ask me?" Mr. Russell asked.

"Do you still fund the Academy?" I asked, sticking with the script that Vanessa had given me.

"I'm still a proud sponsor of the Academy for the Research and Education of Superpowered Individuals," Mr. Russell said. "You wouldn't believe how underfunded they were before I started donating. The government just doesn't allocate enough money to superhuman education."

"Why do you sponsor them?" I asked.

"Jay, have you ever seen a superhuman?" Mr. Russell asked.

I am one, I wanted to tell him, but that would blow my cover. "Only in the San Urbano Times," I answered.

"That means that the Academy is doing its job," Mr. Russell said. "An untrained superhuman is a truly terrifying thing. All of that raw power invested into one person...it's just unnatural. People like you and I need trained superheroes to protect us from supervillains. That's what the Academy does. It keeps us safe from the superhumans."

There were so many things that I wanted to correct him on, but I held myself back. I had to make Mr. Russell think that I was nothing more than an innocent intern. "If the Academy is supposed to train all superhumans, then why are there still supervillains in San Urbano?" I asked.

"Some people will always go astray, no matter what we do," Mr. Russell said. "There are superhumans who manage to evade the Academy's attempts to recruit them, and they almost invariably become supervillains. There have also been a few isolated instances of superhumans escaping from the Academy or getting kicked out, but it's nothing that we need to worry about." He placed his hand on my shoulder and then said, "The Academy works hard to make sure that their superheroes keep us safe."

"I'm sure they do," I said. "How often do you contact the Academy itself?"

"The President of the Academy contacts me a few times per year to update me on what's happening there," Mr. Russell explained. "I don't get a lot of information, but I've been donating to the Academy for a long time, so I have a pretty good idea of how things work there. Occasionally, I'll even get visits from the Academy's superheroes."

"That's so cool," I said, feigning excitement.

"It is pretty cool, but it's also a little scary," Mr. Russell said. "Imagine what would happen if the Academy didn't exist. Any one of those superheroes could destroy us all."

"Do you ever get to influence what happens at the Academy?" I asked.

"Not often," Mr. Russell said. "The Academy officials have most of the power to make decisions, but sometimes I'll intervene if it's a serious issue. Did you know that the Academy once tried to take away ice cream in the cafeterias?"

"No," I lied.

"It's true," Mr. Russell said. "I threatened to withdraw funding if they didn't provide ice cream for the students. I'm not a monster, you know." He chuckled, and then asked, "Do you have any other questions?"

"I think that's all," I said.

"Excellent," Mr. Russell said. "Jay, I just want you to know that you don't need to worry about all of the superhumans in this city. The Academy does an amazing job of taking care of them."

"I know, Mr. Russell," I said.

"Good," Mr. Russell said. "It was nice talking to you, Jay."

"It was nice talking to you too," I said. I left the office and went back downstairs so that I could go back to work. I didn't get a chance to talk to Vanessa during the day, but that night, I went to the castle to tell her about my interview with Mr. Russell.

When I got there, however, I couldn't find her. "Where's Vanessa?" I asked Percy.

"I think she's in the training room," Percy said.

I wandered around the castle for a while until I found the training room. Sure enough, Vanessa was there. She was shooting at moving targets with a crossbow, and as far as I could tell, she was doing a pretty good job. "How did things go with Mr. Russell?" she asked me without looking away from the targets.

"It was kind of strange," I said.

"What happened?" Vanessa asked.

"You can look over my notes later, but Mr. Russell is still funding the Academy," I said.

"Great," Vanessa said. "If we can somehow take him out of the picture, then we could take down the whole Academy."

"I don't know about that," I said. "He seems like such a nice guy."

"'Nice' isn't a word that I would use to describe anyone associated with the Academy," Vanessa said, still firing her crossbow.

"He's afraid of superhumans, and he thinks that the Academy can control us," I explained. "That's the real reason why he's funding them."

"So he's bigoted towards superhumans," Vanessa said. "I think that's just another reason to take him out."

"I think that if we show him that superhumans aren't that bad and that the Academy is causing more harm than good, then maybe he'll stop funding them on his own," I suggested.

Vanessa sighed and said, "Jay, you're getting too close to the enemy. If we have to talk to him again, I'm doing it myself."

"I don't see why we can't at least attempt to reason with him," I said.

"We can't reason with the Academy," Vanessa said. "It doesn't work like that."

"By the way, I overheard Mr. Russell talking to Captain Fedora before I interviewed him," I said.

"He's closer to the Academy than we thought then," Vanessa said. "That's really interesting. I'll have to look into that one. Anyways, I'm going to finish up my training. Are you staying for dinner?"

"I think so," I said.

"Great," Vanessa said. "I'll see you then."

Despite everything that Vanessa had said, I still trusted Mr. Russell. Perhaps there was a way to reason with him. If he could see that superhumans were nothing more than regular people with crazy abilities, then maybe we could come out on top.