by Daco
“It is, Boss. Something’s going on down here at the Sugar Express Train Depot.”
“What, you have a flower-planting crisis? Is the bloom off the rose?”
“I’m serious, Mayor. You better get down here right away.”
“What’s going on?”
“I found this giant frozen bubble in the old dry-ice holding tank, and I think something, maybe someone, is inside of it.”
“What were you doing down there? Never mind, I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. I can figure it out myself. I told you to get off the bottle, Zero.”
“No, Boss. I’m stone-cold sober.”
Suddenly, The Mayor began to stammer. “You said there’s something inside a what?”
“A frozen bubble.”
“Are you sure? Can you make anything out? You know that Alexa Manchester has gone missing. Could it be her?”
“I don’t know, Boss. I can’t make it out. But who knows?”
“Turn off the refrigeration system. Now! And don’t tell anyone anything. Stay right there. Guard the door. I’ll be down there as soon as I can.”
“What about the police? Should we call Chief Constable Pete Petaud?”
“No, you fool. It’s just like you said—we’re in this up to our necks. We can’t involve the cops. We have to fix this ourselves.”
• • •
The Mayor came racing into the parking lot of the Sugar Express Train Depot, gravel and rock spitting into the air. He practically leaped from the car—maybe he did leap. The women from WEEDS and the men from CABOOSE hadn’t yet arrived, but they would very soon. He hurried to the old ice cream factory and raced down the stairs, where he found Zero standing at the entrance, shivering.
“In there?” The Mayor asked.
Zero nodded.
“Wait here.” The Mayor entered the room and approached the bubble. The thing was alien, not of this world. He cupped his hands together and tried peering into it. He was certain that something was inside. Then the something moved. He reached out to try to feel for a door or other opening, but the bubble was so cold that he couldn’t touch it.
“Alexa!” he shouted.
More movement. And then there was pounding against the inside wall. It was her! It had to be. Thank God. She wasn’t dead.
“Bring me that metal pipe, Zero,” The Mayor shouted.
Zero complied.
The Mayor banged the metal pipe against the frozen bubble, but the structure held firm. The sound waves from the clatter reverberated against his eardrums.
“What’s that thing made of?” Zero asked.
“It’s certainly not glass,” The Mayor said. “We’ve got to get her out of there, fast.”
“You sure it’s Alexa Manchester?”
“Who else could it be, you moose head?”
“What’s going on here?” Henrietta Hensinger asked. She was decked out in pink and green polka-dot overalls, along with a work hat that featured an arrangement of dried oak leaf hydrangeas spilling from the peak and brim and an assortment of silk butterflies mounted a foot high on the crown and tip. She and her group of WEEDs ladies filed into the room.
The Mayor turned. He hadn’t wanted those meddling ladies to find them, but now that they were here, he could use their help. “Someone is trapped inside of this contraption. I think it’s Alexa Manchester.”
“I found her first,” Zero said, stepping in front of The Mayor. “I did. I phoned The Mayor right away.”
The Mayor continued pounding against the bubble, but it didn’t even splinter. He stepped back and took a giant swing, and when he did so, he unintentionally burped, spewing out tiny flecks of viscous black liquid. Some of it landed on the surface of the bubble, which sizzled like water on a blazing-hot cast-iron skillet. Corrosion—that was it!
The Mayor turned to everyone and held his hands up in warning. “I want everyone out of this room in case this contraption explodes. We don’t know what we’re dealing with. I can’t allow any of you to be endangered.”
“Out, out,” Miss Hensinger said. “You, too, Zachary. You heard The Mayor. Out!”
When they were safely outside the holding unit, Miss Hensinger turned back. “Mayor, are you sure? You’ll be injured if it explodes. You shouldn’t put your own life at risk. Let me call the fire department and the police.”
“There’s no time, Henrietta. We can’t let her die. I’m going to keep working. I’m closing the door. You keep everyone out, Henrietta. Call the authorities. I’m counting on you to keep everyone safe.”
“You can count on me, Mayor,” Zero said. “I found her first.”
The Mayor pushed the door shut and moved a heavy drum against it so no one could come in. Then he focused his attention back on the frozen bubble. He had to do this. He knew he could do it. It wasn’t a dream. He wasn’t delusional. He was—The Grasshopper. In a flash, The Mayor transformed into The Grasshopper by grunting and forcing himself to begin to regurgitate large wads of Black Tobacco juice. As much as he wanted to deny what had happened to him, he couldn’t. He also couldn’t let the citizens of Kensington City learn of his transformation.
The more Black Tobacco that he spat at the bubble, the more the substance corroded. Before long, the integrity of the structure had been fully compromised, and large cracks began to develop. There was a loud clatter, the sound of shattering china magnified by orders of magnitude, and then an explosion. The force of the blast threw him against the wall. He lost consciousness for a brief moment. When he awoke, to his great relief, he’d been transformed back into his human form. His shirt was in tatters, but the rest of him was intact.
He glanced up to find Alexa Manchester and the WEEDs ladies standing over him, looking deeply concerned.
Chief Constable Pete Petaud rushed inside the room, “Where is she?”
“I’m here, Constable Petaud,” Alexa said. “The Mayor saved me.”
“And I found her,” Zero said. “It was me. I found her.”
“Yes, and Zachary Zero found her,” Miss Hensinger said.
“What happened in here?” Mr. Corn asked, coming through the door with his league of CABOOSE engineers.
“I was captured by a man named Bigelow Bitterman,” Alexa said. “Momo, the head of The Momaxita, was behind it. They sealed me inside this frozen bubble. They wanted to kill me or hold me for ransom ... I don’t know. I thought I was going to die.”
“Why did they leave you here, I wonder?” Chief Petaud asked.
“It was only until they could move me. They must’ve thought that no one would think to look in an old abandoned dry-ice storage room. They were going to dump me in a hole under a frozen lake.” Alexa’s eyes brimmed with tears. “It was awful. You can’t imagine.”
The Mayor got to his feet, somewhat wobbly. “You’re okay now, Alexa.”
“Thanks to you, Bobby,” she said.
Alexa turned to Chief Petaud. “We have to keep this quiet so we have a chance to catch Momo without him knowing I’ve escaped. He’ll find out soon enough, when they come looking for me.”
“And we’ll be ready and waiting for them,” Chief Petaud said.
“Mayor Baumgartner, you need to get to the hospital,” Chief Petaud said. “You, too, Ms. Manchester.”
“No, not me. I’ll be fine,” The Mayor said. “I’ve had enough of that hospital.”
• • •
After checking out of the hospital emergency room—she had to play the helpless victim to the hilt to do what she needed to—Alexa agreed to let The Mayor drive her home. All the while, she planned her next move. She had the element of surprise going for her.
“Alexa, will you ever forgive me?” The Mayor asked. “I had no idea what Bitterman was up to. He forced me at gunpoint to call you and lure you to the Sugar Express Train Depot. I had no choice. Then he forced me into a corn silo. I thought I was done for. When I got out, I did everything I could to find you. Zachary Zero, of all people, came through for once.”
>
“I forgive you, Bobby. Everything has been so crazy. You were very brave.”
“About our engagement,” The Mayor said. “I was wondering if you could give me another chance.”
“I’m so sorry, Bobby. I don’t love you. My heart belongs to another.” She paused. “But you saved my life. I’ll be eternally grateful. And thank heavens for Zero. Now, the only thing I want to do is go home.” But in truth, the only thing she wanted to do now was to find Momo’s hideout. Perhaps he’d already taken up residence in the Manchester mansion, playacting as the kind, concerned Uncle Montgomery. She hoped so. That would make her job easier.
“Just think about it some more,” The Mayor said. “I truly would make you a fine husband. I’d do everything to make you happy. No more flirting with other women, no more chauvinist thinking. Before, I didn’t see who you were. I just saw you as the perfect woman to advance my political career. None of that matters anymore. I see you now. I would love and cherish you. And if you need time, I’m a patient man.”
“Oh, Bobby ...”
“Just let me prove it to you.”
“Right now, my only focus is on finding Momo.”
“The police will do it. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“The police are powerless against him.”
“And you can fight him?”
“I know people who can.”
He glanced over at her with a puzzled expression. Just as he was about to pull into the driveway of the mansion, she cried, “Wait!”
“What is it?”
“After all that’s happened, I can’t go in the front door. I don’t know what to expect. I’ll go in the back door. Surprise anyone who might be waiting.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No, but thank you. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”
He frowned. “What can I do to win you back, Alexa?”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you. But you’ll be fine. There’s plenty of time before the election to find a suitable bride. Women flock at your feet. Dani Dowdy would marry you today.”
“I don’t want her. I want you.”
Alexa felt a twinge of guilt, but it was impossible. “I have to go, Bobby.”
Before she could get out of the car, The Mayor blurted out, “I know where Momo is hiding out.”
“What? How? I ...” A shiver went down her spine. Was he making this up just to be a hero, just to win her back?
“Zero followed Bitterman, Momo’s henchman. I just learned that fact moments before Bitterman held me at gunpoint. Biggie is a dangerous man. He doesn’t look it—heck, the guy’s barely five feet tall—but he is.”
“Why would Zachary Zero follow Biggie Bitterman?”
“Oh, something about a lawsuit that Zero wants to bring because of a car accident. Bitterman was driving.”
Alexa studied The Mayor’s face. She’d seen some odd occurrences as he was freeing her from the inside the old dry-ice holding tank. Though everything had been blurry and her mind had been fuzzy, his body seemed to have changed shape. It looked as if he’d grown taller, had even sprouted wings. She suspected that he wasn’t telling her everything. She’d worry about that later. At the moment, all she cared about was finding Momo’s headquarters.
“Who else knows?” Alexa asked.
“Only Zero and me.”
“Where is Momo, Bobby?”
He pulled a crumpled-up piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. When she saw that it had the location of Momo’s hideout, she kissed his cheek in gratitude.
Alexa got out of the car and waited for the Lamborghini to drive away. Then she transformed into Electromancer and flew over the grounds and through the mansion. There was no sign of Uncle Montgomery’s henchmen. Too bad. She would’ve liked to confront them on her home turf.
She transformed back and entered Gladys’s workroom. Gladys was sitting on a chair, staring at nothing. When she saw Alexa, she startled and then burst into tears. After they embraced, Gladys asked, “What happened to you, my dear?”
“It was Momo. I have no time to explain. But my uncle and Momo—they’re one and the same.”
Gladys put a hand over her heart and fell back into the chair.
“Have you seen him?” Alexa asked.
She shook her head. “Not since that news conference he gave. He came and he went. He seemed so concerned about you. I can’t believe ... And I helped him ...”
“It’s all right,” Alexa said. “He fooled all of us.” She inhaled deeply. “Sigfred?”
“No sign of him.”
The words chilled her to the core more than the frozen nitrogen had.
“Nothing has been right since you left, dear,” Gladys said. “I’m so sorry.”
“What else?”
“Miss Marbletop disappeared. I’m sorry, I let her out the door. I never expected her to disappear. She’s never run away before.”
Alexa drew in a labored breath, but there was nothing to say about another loss. “I have to go. If Uncle Montgomery shows up, get out. Don’t talk to him, don’t call the police, just get out. I have to go. Good-bye, Gladys.”
“Come back safely, dear.”
Alexa nodded, though she couldn’t possibly guarantee that she would return. In fact, the odds were against it, unless she found a way to vanquish Red Web. She’d be able to do that much more effectively if Sigfred—if Blue Arrow—were with her. Where had he gone? Was he all right?
Chapter 26
Straightaway ...
In less time than it takes for a hummingbird to flap its wings, Electromancer traveled to her father’s laboratory at The Mick, transformed back to Alexa, and put on a lab coat and boots. She was about to sneak into an official crime scene, but as her Uncle Montgomery so aptly put it, this was Manchester property. She had a right to be there. It was about the only useful thing that Momo had to say.
She knew with absolute certainty that if there was a way to fight Red Web—nothing more than electromagnetic energy gone tsunamic—she’d discover it in her father’s research journals. He’d known more about generators of electricity than any person on the planet, and that meant he must’ve researched methods of reducing electromagnetic energy, which, if left unchecked, posed a health hazard to humans.
As Alexa was unlocking the lab door, she heard footsteps behind her.
“You can’t go in there, Ms. Manchester,” Dr. Charles Chin said. “You know the rules.”
She turned the key in the lock and opened the door. “It’s my company, Charlie.”
“Constable Petaud said no one goes in—especially you. I agree. You’re already implicated in all this. Unfairly, I know. Still, it’s for your own good.”
“I have to get to my father’s journals. To stop all this. To stop Momo.”
“I know nothing about that, ma’am.” He shook his head and looked at her as if she were delusional. “How would you manage something like that, Ms. Manchester?”
For a moment Alexa considered answering that question by transforming into Electromancer, but she stopped herself. Charles Chin didn’t need to know who she was. And there was something about him that she had to confirm.
“How would Lord Wintersworth have managed it, Charlie? Or MI-8? You were involved in their research along with my father, were you not?”
He didn’t even blink, just stared at her. Because of that, she had her answer—only a trained agent could’ve conveyed such icy indifference. “I don’t know what you’re taking about, Ms. Manchester,” he said.
“I’m talking about Project Chiron, among other things, Dr. Chin. Or should I say Agent Chin?”
He went slack jawed, the spy’s composure gone. “It hasn’t been the latter for a long time. But how did you know? Your father would never have revealed this.”
“It doesn’t matter how I know. What you should realize is that neither of us is who the other thinks we are. I do believe that we’re on the same side, that we want to stop Momo and find a way to neutr
alize his Red Web. Are we truly on the same side, Charlie?” Her voice was the closest it had ever been to the way she spoke as Electromancer.
Chin gave her a hard stare, clearly appraising her. Then he nodded. “I think I understand, Ms. Manchester. Life is, indeed, full of surprises. Follow me.” He led her down several corridors to a vault on the other side of the plant. Inside, she found row upon row of secured filing cabinets. Chin took her to the cabinet marked E through G and pulled out several files.
Alexa began poring through the documents, and at first she had to look away, because the sight of her father’s distinctive handwriting—flamboyant, yet eminently readable—was too painful. Then she focused on the substance, trying to make sense of her father’s work. Mickey had trained her in math and engineering, but what he’d done here was far beyond her ken—too many numbers, too many indecipherable equations, too many unknown chemical symbols. She handed the file back to Chin.
“Help me, Charlie. Or is this beyond you, too?”
“Your father hired me for a reason. So did Lord Wintersworth.” He quickly thumbed through the file. “To defuse Red Web’s magnetic energy, you’ve got to realign the electron orbit. You need a diamagnetic material to disrupt the normal effect of the field. From what I’ve seen and heard, there’s nothing normal about Red Wed’s electromagnetic field. I’ve never seen such a force, ever.” He took a deep breath. “Not even Electromancer can generate power enough to disrupt Red Web. As we’ve witnessed.”
“How would you do it if we were only talking about a nominal field of energy?”
He thought for a moment. “I’d create a magnetic shield using something like gold, silver, or copper.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Here’s an example. When we construct electric power transformers here at the plant, we use mu-metal—it’s a soft magnetic alloy that’s highly permeable—in the shell to prevent nearby circuitry from being affected by the electromagnetic waves.”
“So why can’t we do something similar with Red Web?”
Chin shook his head. “Its energy is probably too strong by orders of magnitude.”
“Probably?”
“Ms. Manchester, I wasn’t just your father’s employee, I was his close friend. If anything happened to you, I could never live with myself.”
