by Lucas Flint
Table of Contents
Title Page
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CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Other books by Lucas Flint
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About the Author
A SUPERHERO'S ASSAULT
Book 4 of The Legacy Superhero
Lucas Flint
Published by Secret Identity Books. An imprint of Annulus Publishing.
Copyright © Lucas Flint 2018. All rights reserved.
Contact: [email protected]
Cover design by Damonza
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, send an email to the above contact.
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CHAPTER ONE
The first clue I got that someone was following me were the soft footsteps I heard behind me. I stopped walking and looked over my shoulder, but I did not see anyone. The alleyway in which I walked was totally empty. Well, not totally empty. I mean, there were garbage cans and stuff, but I was the only living thing in the alleyway, at least from what I could see. I glanced at the rooftops, but I didn’t see anyone up there following me, either.
Maybe I had just heard my own footsteps echoing off the alley walls, but I didn’t think so, because the footsteps I heard were soft, almost womanly, while mine were louder and heavier. Yet I didn’t see anyone, male or female, in the alleyway with me. It seemed like I was alone, but I was sure that I had heard someone behind me, even if I didn’t know who that ‘someone’ was.
You might have thought I was paranoid, but I didn’t think so. I was on my way to the island base of the secret organization known as Icon to rescue my grandfather. Knowing Icon, they’d probably send someone to take me down before I got even close enough to reach their base.
But again, I saw no one. I wished TW, my AI assistant, was still alive, because he could have scanned the alleyway for any heat signals. Unfortunately, I couldn’t manually use the Trickshot Watch’s scanning capabilities, mostly because TW had not taught me how to do that before he died. I had to rely on my own senses now, which had worked out for me well so far, but at the same time, I knew I was very vulnerable without TW and so I was more sensitive to noise than I normally was.
But I didn’t hear any other sounds, so I decided I’d just heard things and turned around to keep walking. I needed to get back to the hotel room my parents had booked for me so I could get myself ready for my trip to Icon’s base. I still had the coordinates to their base in my Watch and intended to fly across the sea to get there. I’d have to be careful about when I did that, however, because I didn’t want anyone to see and follow me. I had left my hotel room in order to scout out the docks and beach and see if I could find a good, isolated spot to take off from tonight.
This was the first time I’d traveled any significant distance by myself. Sure, I’d gone on field trips and family vacations across the state and even country, but this was the first time I’d ever left Rumsfeld entirely on my own. Dad had insisted on coming with me, but I told him and Mom that they were much safer in Rumsfeld. The closer I got to Icon’s base, the more dangerous it would be for both them and me. Icon had already tried to harm my parents before. I didn’t want to put them in harm’s way again.
I had to admit, though, that I was a bit lonely. The hotel I stayed in was nice, but without any friends or family, I really did feel like I was all on my own. I’d even considered heading back to Rumsfeld, because the idea of assaulting Icon’s island base alone—which I knew practically nothing about—was very overwhelming, even though I knew I needed to do it, because that was where my grandfather and the original Trickshot, Gregory McDonald, was being held prisoner.
Soft footsteps again. This time, there was no mistaking them for anything other than what they were. Someone was following me, like an Icon agent. I wasn’t in costume at the moment, but that didn’t mean I was entirely useless.
I drew three small Trickshot disks out of my pocket and whirled around and threw them behind me. They didn’t fly nearly as well as they did whenever I used my powers, but I did hear someone jump to the side as the disks flew through the air. The disks clattered against the pavement, but that was okay, because I now knew that there was definitely someone here, even though I couldn’t see them.
“I hear you!” I shouted. “Why not just show yourself? Are you scared of a teenager like me?”
No response, but frankly I didn’t expect one anyway. Whoever was following me was obviously smart enough to keep quiet. Looked like I was going to need to make them show themselves.
I dropped my backpack on the ground and hit the TRANSFORMATION button on the Watch. In the next instant, I was covered head to toe in the Trickshot costume, with my cape flowing out behind me and my fists balled.
“I know you’re there, but if you think the fact that you’re invisible means I can’t hit you, then you’re about to be proved wrong,” I said, “in the most painful way possible.”
I rapidly drew twenty Trickshot disks from my pouch and hurled them all against the pavement. All of the disks started bouncing off every conceivable surface in the alleyway, bouncing off the walls and pavement with blinding speed. If the invisible person was here, then at least one of the disks ought to hit him. There were too many disks bouncing off the alleyway too quickly for anyone to dodge. Even I wouldn’t be able to dodge all of them if I tried and I doubted this idiot would be able to, either.
But then I felt something slam into the back of my knees and I fell forward. I broke the fall with my hands, but rolled over onto my back and kicked out. My foot connected with someone’s shin and I heard a cry of pain—which sounded feminine—and then a woman appeared before me.
She was a pretty young woman, barely out of her twenties most likely, but she looked incredibly goth, with pitch black hair, skin as pale as a ghost, and dark clothe
s to match. Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes as she clutched her shin and bounced backward on her other leg.
“Ow!” the woman said. “That hurt!”
“Kind of the point, lady,” I said.
I jumped to my feet and rushed toward her. Before the woman could react, I’d grabbed her and pinned her against the wall, twisting both of her arms behind her back to make sure she didn’t try anything. She struggled against my grip, but it was obvious that she was not even remotely strong enough to break my iron grip.
“Let me go,” said the woman in a whiny voice. “You’re hurting me.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re the lamest would-be assassin ever, you know that? The last assassin Icon sent against me wasn’t anywhere nearly as whiny as you.”
Confusion flickered across the woman’s face. “Assassin? I’m not an assassin. I’m not even with Icon.”
“And you’re a bad liar, too,” I said. “Seriously, I thought you guys were good at lying. Try something a bit more convincing than—”
Suddenly, someone grabbed my cape and yanked me backwards. I let go of the woman and before I knew it, I was thrown at the wall on the other side of the alley. I slammed into the wall hard enough to leave an imprint shaped like myself and fell down onto the pavement. The crash didn’t really hurt—super durability was a really useful power—but I was nonetheless surprised by the impact of the throw, mostly because I hadn’t been expecting it.
Shaking my head, I sat up and looked over to see who had thrown me and was surprised to see that the woman and I weren’t alone anymore. A large man stood between me and the woman, who wore a full bodysuit similar to mine, except his was brown and gray. He looked like a walking boulder, especially with his huge muscles.
“Okay, now who are you?” I said as I slowly rose to my feet, rubbing my back.
“My name doesn’t matter,” said the man. He pointed a large finger at me. “What does matter is that you assaulted my partner. Normally I cannot stand anyone who even so much as threatens a woman, but I especially despise anyone who harms women I care about. Men must never use their power to harm women.”
“She attacked me first,” I said, but shook my head. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll kick your butt just as much as I would anyone else’s.”
But to my dismay, the man had apparently forgotten all about me. He had turned his back to me to focus on the woman, who was rubbing her arms like she was trying to massage the pain out of them.
“Gina, are you okay?” said the man in a tender voice that didn’t fit his hulking form. “Trickshot didn’t break any bones or anything, did he?”
“No, I’m fine,” said the woman, who was apparently named Gina. She sniffled. “But he did hurt me. Nothing permanent, but I’ll feel it for a few days at least.”
“I’ll make sure you get a full body check up after we finish our mission,” said the man. “Your health is of utmost importance to me and I will ensure that you stay in top health at all times.”
“Thanks, Mack,” said Gina, flashing him a smile. “I really appreciate it.”
Ugh. It was obvious that these two were in a relationship. I was over the whole ‘Girls have cooties!’ thing, but I still found these kinds of public displays of affections groan worthy. I even felt uncomfortable when my parents did them.
But Mack had his back to me and seemed to have forgotten about me entirely. Guess he was too distracted by his girlfriend to realize what a terrible mistake he had made. One solid punch to his back and Mack would be the one who would need a check up.
I flew toward Mack and punched him directly in the back.
But instead of breaking Mack’s back, my fist just stopped. It felt like I’d punched a mountain. In fact, I doubted Mack even felt my punch, even though my punch had been fueled by my super strength.
All of a sudden, Mack whirled around and grabbed me with both of his large hands. He closed his huge fingers around my body and squeezed, instantly squeezing the air out of my lungs and making me gasp for breath.
“Foolish boy,” said Mack, with no strain in his voice at all. “Attacking an enemy from behind is not honorable, but even that could have been forgivable if your attack hurt. I barely even felt it, so let me teach you what I do to enemies who fail to beat me. It will be quite painful.”
CHAPTER TWO
Mack immediately began squeezing the life out of me. I gasped for air and tried my best to break free, but his grip was like iron. I had never faced anyone this strong in my life, and I thought I was strong. For the first time since the start of the fight, I thought I was going to die.
All of a sudden, someone shouted, “Mack, put him down! Now!”
Without warning, Mack’s grip on me loosened, but he didn’t quite let me go. He instead looked in the direction the voice had come from and I did as well and was surprised to see who was running toward us.
It was my uncle, Joshua Resnick, or as I always called him, Uncle Josh. I hadn’t seen him in over two months by now, but he looked more or less the same as I remembered. The main difference was that he wore a full-length black shirt that made his surprisingly muscular body stand out very well against the fabric. He also had some kind of utility belt around his waist, though I was a little too busy trying to get my breath back to care about that right now.
“What did you just say, Joshua?” said Mack. “Did you tell me to put him down?”
Uncle Josh stopped several feet away from us and nodded. “You heard me, Mack. I order you to put him down as the leader of the mission.”
“But he assaulted Gina,” said Mack, nodding with his head toward Gina, who still stood behind him like she was trying to hide from me. “That is unforgivable.”
“I don’t care what he did,” said Uncle Josh. “Trickshot is my nephew, so if you hurt him, I’m not going to be happy. And I know you won’t like me when I’m angry.”
“He’s your nephew?” said Mack, looking at me again. “Seriously?”
“Very,” said Uncle Josh. “Even if he wasn’t, however, you’d still have to let him go. Remember the mission the boss gave us.”
Mack looked like he was just going to ignore Uncle Josh’s commands and squeeze me to death anyway, but then he slowly lowered me to the pavement and took his massive hands off me. I immediately backed several steps away from him, keeping a careful eye on Mack’s huge hands, which I was convinced were actually steel traps meant to crush people to death now.
“Are you okay, Jack?” said Uncle Josh to me.
“Uncle, don’t say my real name out loud,” I said, glancing at Mack and Gina. “These two might hear and—”
“Oh, we already know your name,” said Gina sweetly. “Jack Roger McDonald, right? Son of Walter and Mary McDonald. Age sixteen. Still in high school. Grandson of Gregory McDonald.”
My eyes widened. “How do you know so much about me when I just met you?”
“Pinnacle keeps a close tab on all superheroes,” said Mack, folding his massive arms in front of his chest, “but especially illegal ones like yourself.”
I looked at Uncle Josh. “Did you tell them all of my information?”
Uncle Josh shrugged sheepishly. “I told them some of it, but honestly, they learned a lot of it on their own. Pinnacle keeps detailed files on all superheroes in the country. They could probably figure out your favorite flavor of ice cream without you knowing.”
“It’s chocolate, by the way,” Gina added in a tone that made it clear she thought she was helping. “But sometimes strawberry, too.”
I didn’t like this obvious informational imbalance where they knew pretty much everything about me but I knew virtually nothing about them. “So these two aren’t Icon agents sent to kill me before I can get to their base?”
“Of course not,” said Uncle Josh, shaking his head. “They’re agents of Pinnacle, just like me.”
Uncle Josh gestured at Mack. “The big guy here is Mack ‘Bulldozer’ Krasinski. He used to be a superhero of Chicago before Pinna
cle recruited him. His powers include super strength and the ability to manipulate the earth to follow his commands.”
Mack nodded at me solemnly. “Apologies for nearly crushing you to death earlier. I was simply so enraged at the sight of Gina being harmed that I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“And this young lady here is Virgina ‘Hide-and-Seek’ Williams,” said Uncle Josh, pointing at Gina. “She was a superhero from Arizona prior to joining Pinnacle. As you probably figured out, she can turn invisible at will for as long as she wants.”
Gina waved at me. “Hi! Sorry for sneaking up on you like that. I was going to introduce myself, but then you attacked me, so I had to defend myself.”
“Ah,” I said. “Uncle Josh, what are you and your friends doing here in Port Donald? Why was Gina following me?”
“Because we were looking for you,” said Uncle Josh. “Right, guys?”
“Right,” said Mack. “We’re under orders from the boss to help you get to Iconia, which is the name of Icon’s island base.”
“What, really?” I said in surprise. “I didn’t know you guys were going to help me, especially Uncle Josh. I thought you had to go back to Pinnacle’s headquarters to deliver the Atlas Glove.”
“I did that already,” said Uncle Josh. “But when I told our boss that you were planning to assault Icon’s base, he told me to grab these two and help you.”
“Your boss ordered you to help me?” I said. “Why? I’ve never even met the guy.”
“Because we hate Icon as much as you,” said Mack. He frowned deeply. “For too long, Icon has been a blight upon the world. We’re going to bring an end to their operations once and for all by taking out their base.”
“Just the four of us?” I said in a quizzical voice.
“Four is all we need,” said Uncle Josh. “Besides, you’re not one to talk, given how you were intending to assault their entire island base by yourself. Which, by the way, is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of dumb ideas in my time.”
“It’s not that dumb,” I said, trying my best not to sound defensive. “I’m strong. I can take care of myself.”
