by Joshua
A few feet away, Al stood in shadows, separate from the group with his arms crossed. A piece of black cloth with two eye holes was tied around his head and he wore a long-sleeved outfit of the same color.
"I don't like that guy," Keen said, glancing at Al.
"Fifteen seconds!" Xavier said. "You're gonna have to get over it, cause Eddy likes the bastard plenty."
"What if he goes apeshit and kills us?" one of the other men asked.
"I'm more worried about Alph—" another started, but his mouth was muffled before the words could come out.
"What are you, a fucking idiot?" Keen asked, staring into the man’s eyes. "You saw what happened last time. You wanna get us killed?"
The man's reply was nothing but a simple "nuh uh" from behind the cupped hand.
"Let’s go!" Xavier said, heading up the sewer ladder. He pushed aside the manhole cover, and crawled out onto the street. He turned back and looked into the hole. "You four stay here. Al, you're with us."
Al didn't even blink at the command. He just climbed the ladder and stared up at the big building before them. It was a massive warehouse surrounded by a tall chain link fence; the top of which was surrounded by menacing barbed wire. The place was lit up by safety lights, leaving few shadows for them to hide in.
"I'll handle this," Al said, holding up his hand, ready to use his powers to take down the fence. Xavier placed his hand on Al's shoulder and shook his head.
"We gotta do this quiet," he said, smiling as he brandished a pair of bolt cutters. He turned to two of the men and said, “I’ll get us through, you two stay here and make the hole bigger. We’ll need to move large pallets through it.” They nodded in agreement as he began cutting.
It took less than two minutes for him to cut a hole big enough for them to duck through. The men at the fence began their job, while the remaining four ran towards the nearest loading dock. Between them and the inside was a thick rotating lock. Xavier checked his watch and said, "Fifteen seconds."
"The alarm is going to go off as soon as we open this door," Xavier said. "Al, your job is to use your mind-shit to grab as many boxes as you can, and pass them off to the others. They will haul them away."
Al nodded, emotionless. The watch beeped and Xavier cut the lock. It fell to the ground with a clank, and they slid the door up. A loud alarm belted out as they ran into the building.
Al saw his objective and got to work. He lifted a pallet of boxes with his mind and carted it out to the fence. The waiting men cut the plastic and started hauling the boxes, one by one, to the sewer hole. He went back to get another pallet and saw Xavier and Keen tussling with an armed guard for his gun. They got the upper hand, and stepped away with the weapon pointed at the uniformed man.
"How many more of you are there?" Xavier yelled over the alarm, gun in hand. The guard, tight lipped, just glared at them both. Xavier took a step closer and cocked the revolver. "I will kill you!"
Al looked at the gun, examining it. His eyes traced the slide, the trigger, and the barrel. Without notice, he removed it from Xavier's hand with no show of effort. It floated in the air, flying off towards the back of the warehouse. "No, you won't," Al said.
"Fuck man!" Xavier said, looking at Al with severe anger. "Don't do that! Just…don't!"
"I will not let you kill this man," he replied.
The guard ran, ducking around some boxes to escape. In the distance, sirens howled and the faint red and blue lights of police cars could be seen.
"Fuck. It's time to go," Xavier said. “We'll finish this later. Hopefully, our boy in town is keeping the hero busy. Al, wait ten minutes, then cause a ruckus."
Al didn't respond. He just watched as the rest of the men disappeared into the sewer.
*****
Alpha Male stood in the middle of the First District Bank, surrounded by the scared bystanders, all huddled against the walls as a young masked man held a gun to the head of a terrified bank teller. The woman, a bleach blonde with her hair in a bun, cried as the steel of the automatic pistol dug into her temple. He didn't speak as he gripped her. He just held her tight, and examined his surroundings.
Outside, a group of police officers held their guns ready, hunched down behind the safety of their cars.
"Let’s talk about this," Alpha said, with both hands up, palms out. "You called me here for a reason, so put down the gun, and we'll talk."
The man chuckled a bit, and tightened his hold on the woman. She cried out as he did. "I'm not stupid," he said, behind the ski mask.
"No one said you were," Alpha said, taking a step closer. "Let her go, and we can figure out a way to get you out of this with minimal time spent. We both know you're going to jail, one way or another. Let’s not have any blood spilt today."
"That's where you are wrong," he said. "I'm not going to jail."
"You have no other options," Alpha said. "As long as I'm here, you aren't getting away."
The armed man checked his watch, and began to back away, pulling her along with him.
"Ma'am," Alpha said. "I promise you'll get out of this safely. I won't let him hurt you. Do you understand?"
All the poor woman could muster was a simple nod. Alpha began to follow one slow step at a time, when his phone went off. Slowly, he reached down and grabbed it from his belt. It read "Rose" on the display, and he clicked it on.
"Alpha, we've got bigger problems I need you to see to," she said. He turned his head and saw her looking at him from behind one of the police cars. "It's our friend. He's back. You have to stop him."
"God damn it, why now?"
"Just get to the Morrison packaging factory on the south side of town!" She said. "We can handle this asshole."
The robber gave a sarcastic wave as Alpha backed away. The hero didn’t stop until he had stepped through the large double doors that led from the main lobby and out onto the sidewalk. He glared at the criminal standing between the two deposit stations with his frightened hostage. The man was shuffling backwards as Alpha tightened his fist.
Taking off, Alpha soared south, following the large neon sign that read The Island Rag. Within seconds, he could see the plume of dust rising up in the air with the blue lights of the police cars bouncing off of it.
He landed in the parking lot of the demolished warehouse. The building was like road kill, flattened in the middle with its insides pushing out of both ends. He exhaled a deep sigh and approached, passing between flipped police cars. The responding officers stood around, disoriented from a battle that had already passed.
"Where is he?" Alpha asked a nearby officer.
"We don't know," he said, rubbing his arm, wincing from the pain. "The bastard did all this, then ran off about a minute before you got here."
Alpha surveyed the damage, shaking his head in disbelief. The whole area was wrecked. The fence was bent back on itself, the concrete was cracked to pieces, and the power lines hung down, sparking as they touched the ground.
"I'll find you, you piece of shit!" Alpha screamed. "You can't hide forever."
Chapter Twelve.
A big smile came over Reedy’s face as he looked down at his new desk. The small slide-in nameplate read "Reedy" and he gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod in excited agreement. Placing his briefcase down next to his desk, he removed his jacket and hung it over the back of his chair. He sat down and looked at the wooden surface before him. There was a computer monitor, a precinct desktop calendar, a phone, and a mesh cup that was full of blue capped pens.
"Most of us hang our coats on the rack," came a voice from behind him. Reedy turned his head and saw a white man with short blonde hair leaning back in his chair. "Of course, no one's telling you what to do…"
Reedy looked up and saw the coat rack in the corner, a lush tree of grey, black, and blue.
“Well,” he said, putting his arms against the back of his head as he leaned back. “Maybe next time.”
The man ga
ve a quick chuckle and sat up. He spun around, grinning as he offered his hand for a shake. Their grips meet and the man said, “I don’t know why that cracked me up, but it did.”
“I don’t know why that cracked you up either,” Reedy said, with a wide eyed jester's smile.
“I’m Vaughn,” the man said.
“Nice to meet you,” Reedy said.
“I’m gonna show you around.”
“A tour?” Reedy asked.
“Nah, I’m basically your partner for now. Look, we all heard about what happened. That’s some crazy…stuff.”
“Stuff?” Reedy said. “You mean shit?”
“Yeah, shit,” he said, raising an eyebrow. ”My wife, she’s trying to weed that habit out of me. She says I embarrass her when we go out.”
“My wife cusses like a sailor,” Reedy said.
“Hey, Vaughn,” said a short haired man standing over his desk. He tossed a pointing thumb towards Reedy. “This the new guy?”
“Yep, this is Reedy,” Vaughn said. Reedy leaned up in his seat to shake the man's hand.
“Nice to meet you,” Reedy said, as they shook.
“You too,” the man said.
“Oh shit, sorry,” Vaughn said. “This is Phillips.”
"I brought you guys a present, straight from the boss’s desk," Phillips said, holding up a cream colored folder. He tossed it down on Reedy’s desk and Vaughn got up to watch as Reedy flipped it open. The first page was a photograph of himself in the hospital bed. Tubes and wires twisted and snaked in and out of his mouth and nose. He had to force himself not to look away.
"Yeah," Reedy said with an intent glare and small angry eyes. "Tell the boss I said thanks."
"She says you can't confront him," Phillips said. "None of us can. If you find him, you call Alpha Male direct. His number is in the back of the folder. You two got some reading to do."
*****
Rose looked down at the growing crowd of protesters and inhaled deep. The thick smoke from her cigarette bit the back of her throat as it went into her lungs and she closed her eyes to enjoy it.
“Maybe I need a new costume,” Alpha said with a slight smile. He was leaning against the railing looking at her.
“You’re sense of humor sucks,” she said, exhaling again, almost chewing the smoke as it came out. “It’s not your costume. People are just scared.”
“You’d think they’d take comfort that I’m here!” He said.
“They are looking for someone to blame, and right now it’s you,” she said, stamping out the last of her cigarette before turning to him.
“I didn’t see this coming,” he said, turning his attention down. “When he showed up, I figured it would be a lot different than this. That maybe they would remember why they loved me before.”
“Look, you’re the only super person they’ve known, and now this guy has shown up out of nowhere. They see that connection and now it’s your fault he’s here. We see this shit all the time with the police force. There’s always some anti-fucker trying to preach his police state bullshit as we drag him into a cell. You just need to thicken that invulnerable skin of yours.”
“Do you ever watch the Alpha channel?” he asked, still looking down.
“Uh, yeah,” she said. “That damn cartoon is ridiculous. People don’t talk like that.”
"The people that do that channel told me they have higher ratings than any other station. By a large number at that," he said.
"What's your point?"
"I think I've just grown used to that," he said. "You know?"
"Yeah, I know," she said. I can't imagine what it's like to be you. I'm ashamed to admit that I watch that damn channel often. Let’s be honest though, so many people are watching your shit, the other channels don't really have much good stuff on anymore. It's like they stopped trying."
"If things stay like this, there might be plenty of things to watch soon," he said.
"Catch this guy and they're yours again," she said. "It's as simple as that. Be their hero again, and they will be swooning over you in no time."
"Yeah, until they find something else to hate me for. So, what happened last night? After I left."
"I don't want to talk about it," she said, sparking another cigarette. She turned to him with angry eyes. "Fuck. Sometimes, I hate you. Things used to be simple. Easy, almost. That fucking…asshole got away. There was an old grate in the basement. He dragged her down there and got away with two bags of money. About a hundred thousand in cash. The bank manager chewed me out for it. Said we shouldn't have let you leave. Like somehow that insured cash was more important than a god damn supervillain."
"I wish you wouldn't call him that."
"What else are we gonna call him? You can't be a superhero and not call him a damned supervillain."
*****
Eddy chuckled with glee as he examined all the money in the bags before him. The duffels had been unzipped, and the over packed contents were now spilling out onto the floor. He grabbed a stack of bills and flipped through it, his eyes growing wider. Placing the money beneath his nose, he inhaled deep.
"Jon, you did a great job," he said turning to the boy behind him. Jon didn't move, but grinned at the compliment.
"I couldn't have done it without your plan," he said, both hands behind his back.
Eddy walked over and hugged the boy, patting his shoulder. Xavier and Keen stood behind Jon. Both were smiling as Eddy brought them both in for a big group hug. He kissed them both on the cheek, and pulled away, wiggling with excitement.
"We are in business now," Eddy said, holding the money up above his head. "Where is Al?"
"He's down in his room, resting," Xavier said. "That thing he does really takes it out of him. I think Ivy is down there taking care of him."
"Yeah, I think she's got a bit of a crush on him," Keen replied, with a smirk.
"Good. Maybe she'll be able to help us keep in him line," Eddy said.
Jon’s lips began to curve into a frown, but he caught himself. "I don't trust him," he said.
"None of us do," Eddy said. "But he's our best weapon against those assholes up there!"
*****
Ivy knocked on the hard iron door that lead into the small storage locker where Al had made his home. The sound of her knuckles hitting the metal was dulled, but Al's voice came from within.
"I want to be left alone," he said. She peeked in the room and saw him lying on a cot, his arm draped over his eyes.
"It's me, Ivy," she said.
"Oh, hey," he said, looking at her. "Come in, I guess."
She stepped over the raised threshold. Inside was the cot and some bare metal shelves. Circular lights covered in hard metal mesh lit the room with a dull yellow light.
"I brought you some stew," she said, placing the bowl on the ground next to him. "It's not very good, but it's alright."
"Thanks," he said, staring at the ceiling.
"You OK?" she asked.
"No, I don't think I am," he said.
"It's your friend isn't it? Larry, right?"
"I killed him," Al said, turning towards her.
"You can't blame yourself," she said. "These powers…Who knows where they came from. It's not your fault you can't control them."
“I…just leave me alone, OK?” he said and rolled over on his cot to face the wall. She lingered for a moment, unable to find the words, then left; storming out of the small room.
Chapter Thirteen.
"You know, now that I've had time to think, I can't figure out why she gave me this case," Reedy said, and took a sip of his coffee. He reached across the table and grabbed two sugar packets from their holder.
"They didn't give you the case," Vaughn said, before a large bite of his mayonnaise filled patty melt. "They gave me you, and gave us the case."
“Can you not talk with your mouth full?” Reedy asked, blocking the view with his hand. “All that
mayonnaise in there is giving me the creeps.” Vaughn smiled large, exposing his food covered teeth. He swallowed it with a swig of his coffee.
“Look,” Vaughn said. “I’m pretty good at this stuff. I’ve never been given a supervillain case before, but I know what I’m doing. If there’s a lead to find, we will find it.”
"I don't know if I want to find it. I almost died the last time I found that asshole." Reedy took another drink of coffee and held it in his hands as he stared out the window for a moment. "My wife, she's ready for me to retire, but what else am I going to do?"
"I've lost one wife to this job already, and the other threatens it quite often" Vaughn said with his mouth full. "Problem is, I still love both of them. You sure you don't want to eat anything? It'll help you out in a few hours when there's only stale donuts to eat."
"Yeah, that's a good point," Reedy said, picking up the menu. "Jesus, can you believe this shit? The Alpha Meal? It’s nothing but a patty melt with extra mayo…” Reedy looked up at Vaughn who was stuffing the last bit of his breakfast into his mouth, and shook his head
“What? It’s good,” Vaughn said. “Don’t act like you’re too good.”
“You know, it’s not that,” Reedy said. “It’s just all this Alpha Male shit. People fucking worship that guy! I mean literally. Have you been down to that church on Miller Street?”
“That place is the worst,” Vaughn said, wiping his mouth. “All those people in ceremonial masks. It’s amazing what passes for a tax exemption these days.” With a casual glance, he signaled the waitress who was at a nearby table. Vaughn took his finger and pointed towards Reedy.
The waitress walked up to the table sporting her small notepad and pen. The hard life she had lived was written on her face in the deep lines that gathered at the edges of her mouth and eyes. Her age was masked by the sad expression that deepened her eyes with puffy bags and sagged her lips into a permanent frown.
“You change your mind honey?” she asked, staring at Reedy.
“Yeah, I’ll take what he’s got,” Reedy said.
