by Lucas Flint
“Why?” said Fro-Zen. His voice was surprisingly restrained. “Don’t you remember what I told you? Are you that stupid? Or are you just young and naive?”
“Neither,” I said. “I don’t know what happened between you and Rubberman all those years ago. I don’t know where you’ve been or what you’ve done since going into hiding. But I do know that Rubberman has always been a good boss to me and a good superhero to Golden City. There’s a reason the people love him, Edward, and it’s because he’s a real hero. Not like you. You say you care about the people, but then you go and hold children hostage like this. That’s not what a hero, super or otherwise, would do. Real heroes don’t drag innocent people into their personal conflicts like this without their consent. And you are not a real hero.”
Even I didn’t know where all of that came from. It must have been the result of so many days of thinking and reflecting on what Fro-Zen told me and what I’d seen and experienced during my time working for Rubberman. I could sense Rubberman listening to what I said, but I didn’t know if he liked it or not. Not that I cared. I wanted to make it clear to Fro-Zen that I would never join him and why.
Fro-Zen ground his teeth. He put his hands on his head and closed his eyes, as if he was overcome with emotion and he was trying to make sure that he didn’t lose control.
But then he lowered his hands and opened his eyes. They were still glowing blue, but now they looked utterly insane, as if the last vestiges of Fro-Zen’s sanity had finally left his mind. “So that is your answer, Alex. I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Why? Because I’m right?” I said.
“No,” said Fro-Zen, shaking his head. “Because you are wrong. Clearly, Rubberman has indoctrinated you against me already. You’re just a kid; you don’t have enough life experience to make these sorts of decisions or understand the deeper truths about which I talk.”
“You sure seemed to think I could understand your ‘truths’ when there was a chance I could agree with you,” I said. “Funny, that.”
Fro-Zen shrugged. “All revolutions are bloody. I dislike hurting children, but anyone who stands in the way of my mission must be destroyed. And that includes you, Alex. If you will not stand with me, then you must be slain, just like Rubberman and every other superhero on this planet will be very soon.”
All of a sudden, a huge winter storm appeared around Fro-Zen. It focused on him, making what appeared to be a snow barrier around his form that completely obscured him from our vision. But it lasted for only a moment; in the next, it died off, revealing that Fro-Zen was gone.
“What?” I said as Rubberman and I both looked around in alarm. “Where did he go?”
“Up here,” came Fro-Zen’s voice again.
Rubberman and I looked up to see Fro-Zen standing on the roof of the school, his arms crossed over his chest. He was not smirking; instead, his mouth was twisted in an angry frown. He pointed down at us, like a god judging mortals from on high, and said, “I am done talking with both of you. Today is the day that the fall of the superhero industry—and all of the corruption inherent to it—begins!”
Immediately, the snow began to move. Before our startled eyes, creatures made of snow and ice rose from the white stuff on the ground. They were vaguely humanoid in shape, but they were hunched over and had claws made of sharp ice. Dozens and dozens of the creatures rose all around us until both Rubberman and myself were surrounded on all sides by these creatures. Some of them were larger than us, others smaller, but nonetheless, they all had the same glowing blue eyes as Fro-Zen and all appeared equally dangerous.
“It is too bad that you have chosen to die, Alex,” said Fro-Zen from atop the school. “You could have been a real hero, but alas, you will die an ignoble death here. Perhaps your death will serve as a warning to all other sidekicks in the world as to what happens if they oppose me and my righteous mission.” He gestured at us. “Puppets, kill Dennis and Alex. Let them feel the cold embrace of death.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The ice creatures rushed toward us, making no noises aside from the creaking of their frozen joints as they raised their claws to attack us. I immediately began firing laser blasts at them, my eye beams shattering their torsos or slicing off limbs, while Rubberman began throwing his fists every which way, hitting the ice puppets with enough force to shatter them. But for every one we destroyed, another three or four would take its place, and even the ones we destroyed would get reformed by the ice or would crawl along the ground toward us if enough of their body survived. Not only that, but it felt like the temperature in the area had gone down several degrees again, although I was too busy blasting apart ice creatures to pay attention to the current temperature.
As the battle progressed, it became rapidly clear that the puppets weren’t just trying to kill us. They were also trying to keep us from getting closer to the school, where Fro-Zen was. That made sense, of course, because Fro-Zen was controlling them and if we defeated him, then the puppets would stop being a threat. Not that that realization really helped us; we were too busy fighting the puppets to get closer to Fro-Zen.
Still, I shouted to Rubberman above the sounds of shattered ice and loud winds, “We need to get to Fro-Zen!”
Rubberman smashed apart a nearby ice puppet and shouted back, “I know! Can you hit him from here?”
I blasted apart a particularly thick ice puppet before shaking my head. “No! My aim isn’t good at such long distances.”
“Then we need to get you up there,” said Rubberman, ducking to avoid a slash from one of the ice creatures and then slamming it with his foot, again shattering it into pieces. “We can’t fight forever! Fro-Zen will freeze us sooner or later, assuming that his puppets don’t get us first.”
I was about to respond to that, but then I slipped on the ice and fell on my bottom. That was actually a lucky move for me, because it allowed me to dodge the claws of an ice puppet that I hadn’t noticed sneaking up on me. I immediately blasted its face off, however, and scrambled back to my feet as more puppets kept coming. “How? Only way onto the roof is through the school, but we can’t get inside thanks to the puppets!”
Rubberman swung his outstretched arms in a circle, knocking down a dozen ice puppets in one go. “Who says we need to use the stairs?”
Before I could ask what he meant, Rubberman grabbed me by the arm and dragged me toward the nearest car. The ice puppets tried to get in our way, but Rubberman’s fists and my eye beams tore through them like butter. Rubberman jumped on top of the nearest car—which I realized was Mr. Peters’ silver Dodge—and pulled me up on top with him. The ice puppets, which had stayed away from us while we ran, began to converge on the car, although Rubberman quickly struck them down with his outstretched fists, blocking the paths of their fellow puppets with their destroyed bodies and briefly leaving them unable to advance toward us.
“Okay, Alex, I’m going to get you up there,” said Rubberman.
“How?” I said, glancing at the roof of the school, where Fro-Zen still stood, watching us as if we were his personal entertainment. “It’s too far and high for me to climb.”
“I’m going to throw you,” said Rubberman. “Duh.”
“Throw me?” I said. “How?”
“It’s a technique I used to use with Fro-Zen when he was my sidekick,” said Rubberman. “Essentially, I use my body as a giant slingshot. It’s very powerful and should be able to get you up there, although the landing probably won’t be very soft.”
“That’s a stupid idea,” I said. “Are you serious?”
“It’s either that or we let his puppets kill us,” said Rubberman. “Do you have any better ideas?”
I bit my lower lip, but nodded and said, “Okay. We’ll go with your slingshot idea.”
“Good,” said Rubberman. “Let me get into position.”
With practiced ease, Rubberman jumped down between two of the cars and stretched out his arms to grab the front ends of the cars. Then he walked backwa
rds, stretching himself back further and further until his arms were stretched to what appeared to be their limit. He stopped and looked up at me. “Get in now! I can’t hold this position forever, especially in this cold weather.”
Reluctantly, I jumped down and sat down against Rubberman’s body. I felt kind of silly, but at the same time, I said, “Okay, now what?”
“Tuck in your arms and legs and keep them tucked in when I shoot you,” Rubberman said, his voice strained. “That way, you will be able to fly through the air like a cannon ball.”
I tucked in my arms and legs so I looked like a ball. “Okay, what else—”
Without warning, Rubberman raised his feet off the ground and his body suddenly snapped forward. I screamed as I flew through the air, the wind roaring in my ears. I was sure that I was just going to crash through one of the windows or maybe splat against the walls of the school; however, Rubberman’s aim must have been better than mine, because I instead found myself flying straight toward Fro-Zen. I caught a brief glimpse of the shocked look on Fro-Zen’s face as I flew toward him and for a moment I was genuinely convinced that Rubberman’s plan had been to just throw me at Fro-Zen and knock him out with my body.
But then Fro-Zen ducked and I missed him completely. I slammed into the school’s roof and rolled halfway across it before I came to a halt. The impact of the crash—although not as bad as it could have been thanks to my helmet and costume—still left me dizzy and confused, my head spinning and my body aching. I made a mental note to never listen to any of Rubberman’s ideas again after this, but then I heard boots crunching in the snow and I looked up to see Fro-Zen walking toward me.
Scrambling to my feet, I immediately fired a full blast of energy at him, but Fro-Zen turned into a snow cloud that my energy blast harmlessly blasted through. Then he solidified again, an angry scowl on his face.
“So Dennis sent his untrained sidekick to take down the big, bad villain,” said Fro-Zen, his voice full of hate. “I shouldn’t be so surprised. Dennis clearly didn’t want to put his own life in danger, not when there’s still money to be made and merchandise to be licensed to greedy corporations.”
I backed away from Fro-Zen, beginning to regret agreeing to Rubberman’s plan. “That’s because my powers can beat yours. Heat melts ice.”
“It doesn’t matter how powerful you are if you can’t hit me,” said Fro-Zen. “Or have you forgotten that I am the storm and blizzard?”
Unfortunately, Fro-Zen had a point. It appeared that he could turn his body into snow at will, meaning he was effectively untouchable. Yeah, getting me onto the rooftop to confront Rubberman personally was definitely a dumb idea.
But I couldn’t give up now. I kept firing laser blast after laser blast at Fro-Zen, each one at full power, but none of my attacks ever landed. He kept turning parts of his body into snow or ice, letting the blasts pass harmlessly through his body. That just made me panic more and fire more lasers than ever, even though I was well aware of how useless it was by now.
Then my foot couldn’t find something solid and I almost fell off, but I managed to catch myself and look over my shoulder. I had reached the edge of the roof, meaning I couldn’t go back any further or I’d fall, probably to my death given how high up I was. I looked back at Fro-Zen, who had stopped about two dozen feet away from me, his smirk wider than ever.
“Fro-Zen, my man,” I said, trying to buy as much time as I could to think of a way to beat him. “I know what you’ve been through, but you don’t need to do this. If you give up now, you could potentially get a shorter prison sentence than you would otherwise. I’ll even throw in a good word for you. How does that sound?”
“You’re assuming that I will be arrested,” said Fro-Zen. He shook his head. “I’m no fool. I am not going to turn myself in. Even if I did, there is not a prison in the world that could hold me for long. A storm is coming, Alex, a blizzard, really, and you and Dennis will be caught in it, along with every other superhero who continues to engage in the corruption endemic to this industry.”
“What if you’re wrong?” I said. “What if we stop you?”
“Even if you did, you couldn’t stop the blizzard,” said Fro-Zen. He spread his arms. “Forces of history much greater than any of us are coming. A period of change is upon us and only those who accept it will be able to ride out the storm.” He pointed at me. “And you will not be one of those.”
Fro-Zen lowered his arms. “You know, Alex, I deeply regret having to kill you. Sidekicks, in my opinion, are the biggest victims of this corrupt business. They are young kids who get sucked into this business with promises of money and fame, but then get used up and fired like any minimum wage employee once their boss no longer requires their services. Or they end up just as corrupted as their bosses.”
“Meanwhile, you just want to kill me,” I said. “Yeah, that’s so much better than being used up and fired.”
“At least I’m honest about what I want to do to you,” said Fro-Zen. He tilted his head to the side. “Do you honestly think that Dennis will treat you fairly? That he won’t fire you as soon as you become a drag on his business? Because he will. Once he no longer has need of you, he will toss you aside like so much trash and replace you with someone else. But enough talking. I know you won’t listen to reason, so I will simply make you an example for all sidekicks who continue to support this vile industry.”
Fro-Zen raised his hand, but before he could freeze me, we heard the sound of someone running. Fro-Zen whirled around and I saw around him that Rubberman—who had somehow gotten on the roof at some point—was running toward him, and very fast, despite how cold it was. Before Fro-Zen could do anything, Rubberman launched himself toward us. His whole body stretched as he flew through the air until he looked like a bunch of tied together snakes flying. He slammed into Fro-Zen and immediately wrapped his body and limbs around the supervillain, tying him up like a snake.
“Gotcha!” Rubberman shouted.
Rubberman immediately began to squeeze, causing Fro-Zen to gasp in pain. Fro-Zen even began making choking noises; it was pretty clear that Rubberman was trying to knock him out by squeezing the air out of him. All I could do was just stand there and watch, because I couldn’t shoot Fro-Zen without hitting Rubberman, too. Not that that was a problem, really, given how Rubberman seemed to have Fro-Zen under control.
But then Fro-Zen stopped choking and his whole body turned into snow, which collapsed onto the roof in an instant. Rubberman also fell onto the roof, looking like a pile of ropes before body and limbs snapped back together and his proportions returned to normal. Rubberman jumped back to his feet and twisted his head this way and that, obviously searching for the missing Fro-Zen.
I also looked around for Fro-Zen, but it seemed like he had completely vanished. “Damn it, where did he go?”
“I don’t know,” said Rubberman. “But be careful. Fro-Zen is a dangerous lunatic who will use every advantage to kill us, so don’t let your guard down.”
I nodded, but then I felt something cold wrap around my ankle and I was yanked backwards off the edge of the roof. Startled, I nonetheless managed to grab onto the edge of the roof, holding on for dear life as I looked over my shoulder to see what had tried to pull me down to my doom.
It was one of Fro-Zen’s ice puppets, still gripping my ankle and tugging at it in an attempt to drag me down. And it wasn’t alone; dozens of ice puppets stood on the ground below, their sharp claws shining in the growing rays of the sun that were starting to peep over the curved walls. I immediately blasted the ice puppet with my eye beams, blasting apart its face and sending it falling to the ground below, where it shattered into a million pieces upon impact and even took out a couple of its fellow puppets in the process.
But that didn’t help me get back up. I tried to pull myself back up, but the roof was slippery and I couldn’t find any footholds to help me up. I could feel my grip slipping and I was just about to let go and fall before Rubberman’s hand wrappe
d around my wrist. Rubberman’s head appeared over the edge of the roof, a look of worry on his face. “Alex, are you okay? Let me pull you up.”
I was about to thank him in relief, but before I could say anything, a pillar of snow rose above and behind Rubberman silently. It quickly turned into Fro-Zen, who was now wielding a sword made out of ice, complete with jagged edges that looked capable of cutting through flesh like butter.
“Rubberman, behind you!” I shouted.
Rubberman had just enough time to turn around before Fro-Zen stabbed him in the gut with the sword. Rubberman’s hand let go of my wrist, although I was able to redouble my grip to keep myself from falling off. Still, I couldn’t help but stare up at Rubberman, too shocked to even speak, as Fro-Zen yanked the now-bloody blade out of Rubberman’s stomach. Rubberman immediately collapsed, his wound rapidly bleeding onto the snow and ice of the rooftop.
“Rubberman, no!” I shouted. “No!”
Fro-Zen, on the other hand, looked happier than I’d ever seen him. He stood over Rubberman, the blood on his blade dripping off its tip, a delusional grin spreading across his lips as he looked down upon his former boss.
“Dennis, Dennis, Dennis,” said Fro-Zen, his voice strangely low, although that just made it even creepier. “Your age is starting to catch up to you. You would have been able to dodge that if you were younger, but I guess age slows all of us eventually, eh, my old friend?” He raised the blade above his head, clearly to finish off Rubberman.
My fear instantly turned into rage when I saw him do that. The temperature of my eyes shot up, hotter than ever before; in fact, my eyes actually started crackling with energy. They had never done that before, but I didn’t care. I just screamed Fro-Zen’s name and unleashed the most powerful laser blasts I’d ever fired in my whole life at him. It was so powerful that the heat actually washed over me and melted some of the ice and snow off the building.
