by Lucas Flint
Rising to my feet, I ran toward Michael, who was still kicking Dad over and over again. But then Michael stopped kicking him and aimed his acid tail at him, clearly about to finish him off.
I grabbed Michael's tail, causing Michael to look over his shoulder at me in surprise. But I didn't give him a chance to respond. With super strength flowing through my limbs, I whirled around and threw Michael at the cracked windows behind me.
Michael didn't even scream. He just flew through the air, a stunned look on his face as if he could not believe what was happening, and smashed straight through the solid glass window as though it wasn't even there.
Then Michael vanished over the edge of the window ... and seconds later, I heard a faint thunk below to indicate that Michael had hit the ground.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
One week later ...
I climbed aboard the school bus almost as soon as it came to a stop before my house, saying hi to Mr. Smith, the bus driver, who had just recently gotten out of the hospital after a successful surgery that removed the bullets from his body. He just nodded at me politely, the way he did to every student who climbed aboard, and immediately started the bus up again even before I took my seat.
I made my way past Ryan Bond and his girlfriend Steph, who were laughing and talking with Ryan's fellow football teammates, and passed Debra Ackerman, who was chatting away happily with one of her friends whose name I did not know. As I passed them, I overheard Debra mention Trickshot, but I didn't linger to find out why she was talking about my alter ego, though I could guess, given how my alter ego had been the main topic of conversation everywhere I went this week.
Soon, I spotted Kyle, who sat in his usual seat near the back of the bus and was looking at his phone when I plopped down next to him and said, "Hey, what's up?"
Kyle nearly jumped when I sat down next to him before looking at me and saying, "Warning next time, okay? You know how I don't like surprises."
"Sorry," I said. "What were you looking at on your phone?"
"Just the latest news on the Injectors," said Kyle as he put his phone back into his pocket. "Jones is going to court in a few months to decide if he's going to prison or not. There's pretty much no way he won't get at least a life sentence behind bars, though it remains to be seen if his lawyer will be able to get him a lighter sentence."
I frowned. "Has Jones finally awakened from his coma yet? I thought the doctors said he wasn't going to wake up for months."
"Looks like he's already awake," said Kyle. "You--I mean, Trickshot really did a number on him, tossing him out the window like that. Any other human would have died after being thrown through a window and falling six stories onto a car."
I smiled and leaned back in my seat. "Eh, it was probably just costume. That Lethal Injection armor must have protected his body from the worst of the fall."
"I just wish he had died," said Kyle. He shuddered. "As long as he's alive, that means there's always a chance he will be able to come back and, well, you know."
"Yeah, I get what you mean," I said. "But really, you have nothing to worry about. Jones might be conscious again, but I bet he's going to spend the next several months or maybe even years in a full body cast. And even if he doesn't, he doesn't have any friends or allies anymore, what with the Injectors being disbanded and all."
"I sure hope you're right," said Kyle, readjusting his glasses. "I'm just worried he might come after y--I mean, Trickshot."
"He can try, but I don't think he will do any better than he did the first time," I said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, probably," said Kyle. "I just have a hard time accepting that the Injectors are gone. I didn't think they would ever be defeated, but now their boss is on his way to prison and the ones who weren't arrested are scattered like rats."
I nodded. After I threw Michael Jones out the window, I had had Kyle call the police again. This time, Kyle's call actually got through to the police chief, who sent nearly the entire department, as well as the local SWAT team, to surround the Peter Glow Building and arrest as many Injectors as they could find. They didn't get everyone--some of the Injectors had fled, while others hadn't been at the Building at the time--but they did get their hands on Michael Jones, who, as Kyle just said, had been found in a coma on top of a blue van parked in the Building's parking lot.
Although some Injectors were still at large, the organization was considered dead. The police had already confiscated all of the computers and documents found in the various offices used by the Injectors for their fake business, while the FBI had stepped in and confiscated their supply of Power, which had also been kept inside the Building. According to the articles I read, there had been over six million dollars' worth of Power just in the Peter Glow Building alone, which didn't include any stashes they may have had in other parts of the city or state, though the government would probably find all of their stashes soon enough once they finished combing through the Injectors' files. It was satisfying to know that all of their carefully laid plans had come to nothing.
"By the way, how's your dad doing?" said Kyle. "I heard he got beat pretty badly by Michael."
"Better," I said. "He's doing better. He got a few broken bones, but nothing the doctors couldn't fix, though he's had to spend the week at home because he's not in good enough shape to work. He's driving us crazy, because he's not used to having to stay home and doesn't know what to do with himself."
"Great to hear," said Kyle. He hesitated before saying, "Do your parents know--?"
I shook my head. "No. Not yet. Some day, I'll tell them, but not today."
I glanced at the Trickshot Watch on my wrist, which was currently in the form of a normal watch that would not draw unwanted attention to itself. But I could feel the power within it now, the power that would turned me into the superhero Trickshot at the word go. It made me feel safe, even though I was safe at the moment.
After I threw Michael Jones out the window, I had stayed with my parents long enough to make sure they would be found by the police. I had considered telling them my identity there and then, but they had seemed so confused and scared that I didn't dare tell them anything else that might make them even more upset than normal. So I just told them that I was a superhero trying to keep them safe, which they seemed to buy at the time, at least.
As soon as the police arrived, however, I flew back to the house, where I quickly took off my costume and awaited the phone call I knew would inevitably come through my phone. When the police called me to let me know about my parents, I had to pretend to be as confused and frightened as they were, though as the days went on, I became more and more confident as I helped take care of Dad and do a lot of the chores he normally did. It helped that the costume managed to rid my body of the poison even faster than before. According to TW, because I had already been injected with that poison once, the costume had developed immunities against it, which was how it managed to heal me quicker than normal.
I still planned to tell my parents about my true identity someday, but for now, I didn't think they were ready for it. I had learned so much about the Trickshot Watch and the costume and its powers over the last two weeks, but there was still a lot I didn't know, a lot I needed to master. TW told me as much the day after the fight at the Peter Glow Building, informing me that while I had done a good job against Michael, the threat which Grandfather had warned would attack Rumsfeld was still out there and I still needed to prepare for the day of its arrival.
"Hey, what happened to that Christina lady?" Kyle said, interrupting my thoughts. "You know, the one who impersonated that detective that died ten years ago?"
I had almost forgotten about Christina. "I don't know. When the police got there, they didn't find her body in the office, even though that's where Trickshot left it."
That was the truth. Even though I had knocked out Christina and left her body there for the police to find, the police hadn't found any trace of her when they entered the office a few minutes later. None
of the workers in the Building had reported seeing a woman like Christina exit the Building at any time, either. It seemed like Christina had disappeared, though I doubted this was the last time I would see her--or her employer, Icon--ever again.
"Wherever she is, I bet she's not going to show her face in Rumsfeld for a long time," I said, folding my hands behind my head. "Every police officer in town is looking for her, plus Bug Bite. If she's smart, she'll stay away from the city forever."
"I just find it creepy how she impersonated a dead woman like that," said Kyle. "Who does that? Was she an Injector too or something?"
I thought about what Christina said about working for Icon and shook my head. "No, Kyle, she was worse. Much worse."
Kyle looked a little anxious when I said that, but I didn't bother to elaborate. I just got comfortable in my seat and closed my eyes, hoping to catch some quick shut eye before we got to school, because I had trained late last night and didn't get as much sleep as I normally did.
I had no idea what the future held in store for me. I still didn't know where Grandfather was or how to rescue him or whether I would ever live up to his legacy. There was still a lot I didn't know about the Trickshot Watch and the costume, or even about TW. And, of course, there was the ever present threat of Icon, that mysterious organization, and its leader, Chaser, whoever he was.
But one thing I did know: This was not the end of my adventures as the superhero Trickshot.
-
TRICKSHOT WILL RETURN IN 'A SUPERHERO'S DEATH,' COMING APRIL 2018.
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About the Author
Under the pen name Lucas Flint, Timothy L. Cerepaka writes superhero fiction. He is the author of The Superhero's Son, The Young Neos, Minimum Wage Sidekick, and The Supervillain's Kids.
Find links to books, social media, updates on newest releases, and more by going to his website here. You can also sign up to be the first to learn about his newest releases by subscribing to his mailing list here.
Other books by Lucas Flint
The Superhero's Son:
The Superhero's Test
The Superhero's Team
The Superhero's Summit
The Superhero's Powers
The Superhero's Origin
The Superhero's World
The Superhero's Vision
The Superhero's Prison
The Superhero's End
The Young Neos:
Brothers
Powers
Counterparts
Dimensions
Heroes
Minimum Wage Sidekick:
First Job
First Date
First Offer
First Magic
First Mentor
First War
The Supervillain's Kids:
Bait & Switch
Tag Team
Blood Gems
Prison Break
