by Lucas Flint
I heard a gunshot, followed by a bullet whizzing past my helmet. I looked over and saw the cowboy vigilante kneeling near the entrance, balancing his gun on his wrist, which he was aiming at me. I prepared to fire another laser, but then the knight vigilante appeared out of nowhere and swung his sword at my neck.
I ducked, causing the knight’s sword to miss, but there was another gunshot and a bullet grazed my right calf. The pain hurt, but I didn’t let myself dwell on it. I knocked out the knight’s leg from underneath, causing him to fall to the floor, his armor clanking the whole time, and I fired a laser blast at the ceiling above the cowboy. When my laser struck the ceiling, plaster and debris crashed down on him, knocking his gun out of his hand and pinning him underneath the plaster and debris.
Without waiting to see whether he would pick up his gun again or not, I rushed toward the cage where the other heroes were. I was faster than usual, thanks to my energy boost still remaining in effect, and so I managed to make it halfway there before Ursa came out of nowhere and tackled me to the floor.
I had known that Ursa was a big guy, but until he tackled me and pinned me to the floor, I hadn’t realized just how heavy he really was. Even with my energy boost still in effect, I couldn’t force his bulk off of me. He practically crushed me under his weight, making me feel like I was trapped under a boulder.
Then his hands found my neck and squeezed, causing me to gasp, but I couldn’t because the air was being squeezed out of his lungs. I looked up into his eyes, which glittered from within his bear mask. A vicious grin was on his lips as he throttled me, the kind of grin that I always thought serial killers wore whenever they were killing their victims.
I tried to shoot my lasers, but Ursa slammed my head against the floor and growled, “No, you don’t, you little brat. You put Iron Angel in jail. We’re going to put you in the grave.”
I said nothing to that, because I was unable to say anything. While my helmet had protected my head from suffering any serious injuries, the impact of being slammed against the floor still left me dazed. Darkness was gathering in the corner of my eyes and I didn’t have the strength to summon even a small laser blast. All I could do was futilely beat against his chest with my fists, though I might as well have been beating a brick wall for all he felt it.
Just before the darkness claimed me, I heard something smash through the boards covering the windows, sending wood and glass flying. Ursa raised his head just in time to get hit right in the forehead by something that looked to be made out of metal. Ursa didn’t even see anything. He just collapsed on top of me, unconscious, though I managed to slip out from underneath him and get into a crouching position. A single glance showed me that Ursa’s mask had been shattered in two, its halves now hanging loosely on his face, though they didn’t hide the fact that a large bruise had developed on his forehead where the metal object had hit him.
Speaking of the metal object, I heard it flying back behind me. So I looked over my shoulder and saw that one of the windows had indeed been smashed, though it was just a small hole that didn’t show me much. But I did catch a glimpse of the object as it fled and thought I knew what it was.
“What the hell?” said Doctor Devil. He was sitting upright, rubbing his chest and staring at the broken window in confusion. “What was that?”
I did, but before I could answer, a loud, keening wail assaulted our ears and the entire window—boards and all—shattered. And when the wail ended, someone jumped through the window and landed before me. At first, I didn’t believe what my eyes showed me, but as the newcomer stood up, I could not help but smile.
“James!” I said, unable to hide the smile on my face. “You came!”
James—who wore his old Lightning Fist costume—smiled right back at me, which was when I noticed the homing boomerang blinking in his hand. “Of course. And I didn’t come by myself, either.”
As James spoke, Cyberkid suddenly flew through the window on his rocket boots. As he entered, his backpack drone, Zip, detached from his back and flew over to the vigilantes, raining lasers down on them and forcing them to flee. Even the Necromantress fled; she ran through the door, shoving aside the startled-looking knight vigilante on her way out.
Cyberkid himself, on the other hand, flew over to the cage full of captured superheroes and sidekicks. He landed in front of the cage, shot off the lock, and threw the door open and ran inside, where he immediately began untying the various captured heroes, though he started with Myster first.
Astonished, I looked out the open window. The Mystery could be glimpsed, floating beside the second floor of the building, which was likely where James and Cyberkid had come from in the first place.
“Whoa,” I said. I looked at James. “You guys got here just in the nick of time. Seriously.”
James shrugged. “What can I say? My girlfriends always say I’m late to our dates, but it never seems to bother them.”
I would have rolled my eyes, but at that moment, two more people jumped in through the window. Both of them moved silently; if I hadn’t seen them enter, I would never have even known they were in here at all.
I didn’t recognize them, either. One was a huge, towering giant of a man, who wore dark gray clothes that were almost black. He looked like he could bench press four or five hundred pounds, maybe, yet he was also graceful in his movements, sort of like a ballerina, except he was clearly no ballerina or dancer of any kind. He wore a simple, somewhat ninja-like mask over his head, though there was a slit for his gray eyes to see through.
Standing next to the huge man was a teenage girl who was probably his daughter. Like her father, she wore a solid gray costume, though hers was a lighter shade than his and obviously designed to fit her feminine body better (and boy did it). She was a lot smaller and thinner than her dad, which I figured probably helped her sneak around easier than him.
But I didn’t recognize the girl until I looked at her blue eyes, familiar blue eyes I had seen many times before. There was no mistaking those eyes for the eyes of any other girl, but despite that, I didn’t say her name until she said, “Hi, Alex. Or maybe I should say Beams, given what you’re currently wearing.”
Hearing her kind, soft voice snapped me out of my funk and I said to her, “Hi, Greta. Or maybe, given what you’re currently wearing, I should call you the Golden City Robber and your father, the Silent Shadow. In any case, I’m glad you’re both here, because I’m going to need your help.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Under the circumstances, I probably should have been more surprised than I was. Even though I’d sent James to get Greta and her father, I honestly didn’t expect him to succeed. My plan had involved Greta and her father, otherwise known as the Silent Shadow, helping me beat the Necromantress and the Vigilante Legion, but given how they were both, well, criminals themselves, I had not expected them to listen to James. That they were both here, in the flesh, and obviously ready to help me, should have stunned me into silence.
As it was, however, I just looked at James and asked, “How did you get these two to come with you?”
James shrugged again. “What can I say? I can be rather persuasive when I need to, though I gotta admit, it didn’t take a whole lot of effort to convince these two to help you.”
“It was mostly me,” said Greta suddenly. She stepped forward and put a hand on her chest. “I convinced Father to let me help you. All your brother did was let us know exactly how we could help you.”
I looked up at the Silent Shadow. As usual, I felt intimidated by his presence, even knowing that he was now my ally. “Really? But, why? I thought you didn’t want me dating your daughter anymore.”
“I still don’t,” said the Silent Shadow. His voice was as soft and dangerous as ever, though since his mouth was covered by his mask, it was a little muffled this time. “I don’t want my daughter dating a sidekick or superhero for obvious reasons.”
“Yeah, speaking of that,” said James, looking at me suddenly. “W
hy didn’t you tell me that your girlfriend’s dad is one of the most infamous thieves in the world? Seriously, when I saw him in costume, I almost called the cops.”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “But I still don’t understand. Why—”
“Because I hate the vigilantes more,” said the Silent Shadow, cutting me off. “They have put the life of my daughter in danger before. I dislike all superheroes and sidekicks, regardless of whether they are legal or not, but the vigilantes are far more of a danger to my daughter than you and your boss. Besides, I have a measure of respect for Rubberman and I see this as paying him back.”
“Paying him back?” I repeated. “Did he help you once?”
“Long ago, before I became the Silent Shadow,” said the Silent Shadow. “But it doesn’t matter. What matters now is that we are here to help you and your boss. Where is he?”
I sensed that, while that may have been the Silent Shadow’s reasons for helping me, Greta had her own reasons for helping me. All I had to do was look into her eyes once and see that, whatever her father’s orders, she still loved me as much ever and was helping me because she cared about me. And maybe her father liked me a bit more than he let on, as well, though I didn’t want to push my luck with him right now.
“He’s not here,” I said. I gestured at the cage, where Cyberkid had already freed about half of the Heroes United members, who were now fighting Doctor Devil and the other remaining vigilantes. “He was never here. This entire thing was just a trap set by the Legion to get me.”
“Then where the heck is he?” asked James.
I pointed out the window behind Greta and the Silent Shadow, at the Munroe Acquisitions headquarters that was just visible beyond the main mast of The Mystery. “At the Munroe Acquisitions headquarters. Sasha Munroe is holding him prisoner.”
“Sasha Munroe?” Greta repeated. “You mean that rich lady who owns like half the city?”
“The same,” I said, nodding. “The Necromantress is working for her, which is how she got Rubberman, though I don’t know what Rubberman’s current status is. He might already be …” I trailed off, because I didn’t even want to finish the thought.
Though both Greta and James looked surprised by this revelation, the Silent Shadow merely nodded once. “I see. Sasha has always been a morally questionable businesswoman. I can’t say I am surprised that she would hire a literal supervillain to do her dirty work.”
“That’s why we have to stop her,” I said. “We need to go to the Munroe Acquisitions headquarters and we need to go there now.”
“What about the Legion?” said James, glancing in the direction of the battle between the freed Heroes United members and the vigilantes. “Shouldn’t we—”
“Heroes United has them covered,” I cut him off. “We need to break into the Munroe Acquisitions headquarters and find Rubberman. And we have to hurry, because I don’t know if he’s even still alive.”
The Silent Shadow nodded. “Understood. Greta and I will help you break into there. We have some experience breaking into places, don’t we, Greta?”
“Then what are we waiting for?” I said. “Let’s use The Mystery and get over there. We have no time to lose.”
-
Due to the fact that the Munroe Acquisitions building was literally just across the street, The Mystery (which was currently on autopilot due to the fact that Cyberkid was helping Myster fight the vigilantes) did not have to fly very far to reach it. But we didn’t enter at ground level. Instead, we flew up to the very top of the building, where we all jumped off onto the roof of the headquarters. The Silent Shadow led the way into the headquarters itself by disabling the locked door which separated the top floor from the roof and then entering without hesitation, with James, Greta, and I following close behind.
We were running down the hallway of the top floor. It was a little different from my last trip here a few days ago, but that was probably because we didn’t take the elevator. We instead came down from the roof’s maintenance hatch, which was on the opposite end of the long hallway I had walked down not long ago.
But that wasn’t the main reason for the difference. Most of the lights were off, as though all of the employees who normally worked here were not working today, even though this entire floor should have been full of office workers hustling and bustling. We heard no sounds from any of the office doors as we passed them. In fact, we heard no sounds, period, aside from our own footsteps on the tiled floor and our own breaths as we walked. Even the pictures of the superhero brands owned by the company looked more sinister than before.
I almost believed that we had completely miscalculated and that Rubberman might have been on one of the lower floors or maybe even in the building’s basement (if it had one) before we came upon the polished oak doors to Sasha’s office. Light streamed from underneath the doors, the only office with light, which meant that Sasha, at least, was still here. And if she was here, then perhaps Rubberman was, too.
Without hesitation, the Silent Shadow shoved the doors open with enough force to make them both slam against the walls hard enough to rattle in their hinges. I rushed past him into the office and shouted, “Sasha! I’m here to rescue Rubberman and I’m—”
I stopped talking as soon as my eyes fell onto Sasha’s desk, which stood at the back of the room. Two figures sat at the desk. On the back side of the desk sat Sasha, wearing the same blue pantsuit that she always wore. When we burst into her office, she’d looked up at us with irritation, as if we were a bunch of kids interrupting her usual business day, though her irritation was quickly replaced by the worst smirk I’d seen in my life.
But more importantly was the man sitting opposite her, with his back facing us. The man turned around to look at us, a pen in hand and a frown on his face.
It was Rubberman; there was no mistaking that black hair or that blue and white suit for anyone else. He had a bruise on his right cheek and he looked a little exhausted, but other than that, he looked fairly normal. He was not tied to the chair or chained up like a prisoner. By all appearances, he was as free as he always was. If he wanted, he could have reached across the desk and strangled Sasha, yet instead he sat there as if he had just concluded an important business arrangement with Sasha.
“Hi, Alex,” said Rubberman in a strangely weak voice. “I didn’t expect to see you today.”
“Boss?” I said. “Rubberman? What happened? I was told you were being held prisoner here, but you don’t look like a prisoner at all.”
“Oh, he’s not,” said Sasha, nodding. “He and I were simply concluding some rather important business negotiations, weren’t we, Dennis?”
Rubberman’s face was as blank as a rock. “Yes, we were.”
“Business negotiations?” I repeated. “What business negotiations? Rubberman always told me that he didn’t want to do business with you.”
Sasha’s smirk became even larger. “You mean Dennis Pullman, the former owner of Rubberman, Inc., didn’t want to do business with me. It is rather silly to state that a brand wouldn’t want to do business with me, yes?”
“Former owner?” I said. “What are you—”
Sasha suddenly held up a piece of paper off the desk, I couldn’t read it from a distance, but even without being able to read what was written on it, I already knew what it was, because I could make out Rubberman’s signature on the bottom. And I immediately understood why Rubberman had been sitting there at the desk with that pen in hand and what he had been using the pen for.
“This is what I’m talking about,” said Sasha simply. “According to this contract—which Dennis here helpfully signed—Rubberman, Inc., and all its properties, assets, and employees, are now under the ownership of Munroe Acquisitions, Inc.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Life suddenly did not seem real. Even though I heard every word Sasha said loud and clear, I tried to tell myself that I had misheard it, that somehow Sasha had not just said what I thought she said. Yet I couldn’t co
nvince myself of that, no matter how much I denied the facts.
Still, I said aloud anyway, “You’re lying.”
“She’s not,” said Rubberman in a heavy voice. He sighed. “I just sold the business to her. I no longer own it, the Elastic Cave, the Rubbermobile, or anything associated with the business. Even you and Adams are now employees of Munroe Acquisitions, Inc., instead of me.”
I looked at Sasha, who was now smiling as if she had just achieved all of her life’s dreams. “This is impossible.”
“No, it’s certainly possible,” said Sasha. “You can read the contract yourself if you like. Even a non-lawyer like myself can understand it, so you shouldn’t have any problem understanding it, either.”
I put my hands on my helmet. My head was starting to hurt and it wasn’t because it had been bashed against the floor recently, either. “No, no, no. This doesn’t make sense.”
“It actually does,” said Sasha. “But perhaps you need some time to let the news sink in. I’ll let you do that outside of my office. I’ll have Takeshi escort you four out.”
Takeshi suddenly dropped down from the ceiling and then stood up. He was dressed in his usual black ninja garb, his cold blue eyes looking at me with triumph. James, Greta, and the Silent Shadow started when he fell, but I waved a hand to make them calm down, because I didn’t think violence was going to get us out of this situation.
I looked back at Sasha, who was still holding up the contract like it was a magical talisman of some sort. “The Necromantress told me that Rubberman was being held prisoner over here. I thought you might have been torturing him or killing him or something even worse.”
“If I tortured or killed him, he wouldn’t be in any position to sell me his business,” said Sasha. “You wouldn’t honestly expect me to ruin my best chance at getting his business, would you? I’m a businesswoman first and foremost, not a supervillain who likes to kill for cheap thrills.”
