That was all I needed to hear. A few seconds later, we were dashing down one of the connecting corridors.
As before, Mouse dictated our course, using his tablet to guide us through the maze of passageways. After about a minute, however, he slowed his pace – then abruptly came to a halt.
“What’s the problem?” I asked.
“The power source should be just up ahead,” he said, pointing towards the end of the hallway we now found ourselves in. “But according to the readings I’m getting…it’s nuclear.”
I frowned. “Nuclear? As in ‘nuclear bomb’?”
“Exactly,” Mouse replied, then tapped a few keys on his tablet, which then began making a light, staticky sound.
“What’s going on?” I asked, pointing at the tablet with my chin. “Some kind of interference?”
Mouse shook his head. “No. I’ve modified the tablet to act as a Geiger counter. It’s reading the level of radiation down here.”
I didn’t need to hear any more. The fact that the Geiger counter was making any noise at all was an indication that we were currently being exposed to radiation of some sort.
“Are we in danger?” I asked.
“Not at the moment,” Mouse answered. “Plus, our uniforms provide us with some level of protection. As long as the level of radioactivity doesn’t get much higher and we don’t experience prolonged exposure, we should be fine.”
“Okay, but that means we need to find this power source fast.”
“Agreed.”
“Alright,” I said, coming to a decision. “Hang back for a second.”
Without waiting for Mouse to reply, I shifted into super speed and went zipping down the hallway. My assumption was that, as a speedster, I could swiftly check out the area and report back, while encountering only a miniscule amount of radiation (if any at all) in the process. That would hopefully keep my mentor out of danger, as well as make up, to some extent, for my blunder with the subway train.
As I zoomed down the corridor, I didn’t see anything unusual initially, but towards the end of the passageway (which terminated in a dead end), I noticed that the walls on both sides gave way to what appeared to be jail cells – two on each side – with bars at the front.
Thinking that one of them might contain Dream Machine’s power generator, I peeked into each. All of them, however, were completely barren except the last one on the left, which contained someone that I took to be a homeless man from his appearance.
His hair looked like it hadn’t been combed in some time, and he had a shaggy, unkempt beard. Lying on the floor, he appeared to be asleep, and my read of his emotional state gave the same indication. All around him were empty liquor bottles, and from the way he smelled, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that he probably took his breakfast, lunch, and dinner in liquid form.
Leaving him there, I quickly ran back to Mouse.
“There’s nothing down there,” I said. “No machines, equipment, or anything that struck me as capable of generating power.”
“So it’s completely empty?”
“Well, there is a guy down there,” I admitted. “Some wino. I was going to teleport him to a shelter or something, but thought you might want to check him first to see if he’s been exposed to radiation.”
“Show me,” Mouse practically demanded. Without hesitating, I teleported us down the hallway.
We popped up directly in front of the homeless man’s cell. The Geiger counter on Mouse’s tablet immediately became louder, producing infinitely more static.
“Where is he?” Mouse asked, not realizing that he was actually facing the wrong way.
“Over here,” I said, tapping him on the shoulder to get him to turn around. The fellow in the cell, now awake, was in the process of putting one of the empty liquor bottles up to his mouth. “As I said, it’s just some wino.”
Mouse took one look at the guy and drew in a harsh breath. “That’s not just some wino – it’s Atomic Bum!”
“What?!” I exclaimed, eyes wide in surprise.
Atomic Bum was a homeless man discovered in the middle of a huge, smoking, radioactive crater a few years back, following an explosion in a heavily forested area. In addition to Atomic Bum himself, investigators also discovered evidence that someone had been snatching homeless people off the street and experimenting on them – often with gruesome, horrifying results. After a few attempts at questioning him, it became obvious to investigators that the man they had found was mentally addled, but he provided enough information to make it clear that he had been one of those abducted.
It also became evident that he was a super, with a power set that seemed to mimic nuclear reactions. However, it was unknown whether this ability was something he possessed prior to being kidnapped or the result of an experiment after he was taken. One thing was sure, though: whoever had taken him ultimately found out that they had bitten off more than they could chew.
Because he didn’t seem to have a name or permanent address – and grew agitated when he went too long without alcohol – the media nicknamed him Atomic Bum. He was generally considered to be harmless, but when upset or flustered, his powers would activate.
Looking at him in the cell now, as he set down the first bottle and tried to drink from another, a lot of things suddenly became clear. First and foremost was that this was Dream Machine’s power supply – a living, nuclear power plant.
“What do we do now?” I asked as Atomic Bum tried to drink from yet a third empty bottle.
“Give me a sec,” Mouse said, as he appeared to examine the exterior of the cell.
The sound of glass shattering drew my attention back to Atomic Bum. Apparently frustrated at not having anything alcoholic available, he had thrown the last empty bottle forcefully against the back wall of the cell.
“Where’s my bottle?!” he shouted angrily. All of a sudden, his
