by Lucas Flint
“Correction: You have missed the school bus,” TW said. “The bus always gets to your house by seven thirty in the morning. Since it is now eight, that means that the bus passed your house half an hour ago, without picking you up.”
I put a hand on my forehead, my eyes widening as the implications of TW’s statement hit. “The school will probably think I’m sick or something, but Mom and Dad won’t. They’ll notice I’m not in my room and will lose their minds.”
“Probably,” said TW. “Unless, perhaps, you can get back home quickly enough.”
“They’re probably already putting up lost posters all over the city,” I said, shaking my head. I punched the mattress. “Damn it. I didn’t mean to be out that long. I was supposed to get back home well before the sun rose. Stupid Lethal Injection and his poison.” I suddenly looked up at TW. “Say, how come the poison didn’t kill me? Did you find a way to cure me after all?”
“Not me,” said TW, shaking his head. He pointed at my costume. “It was the suit. It removed the poison from your body and started the healing process on your wound. The wound should be closed by now, given how long you slept all night.”
I touched my back and did not feel any holes in my costume or body. Indeed, if I hadn’t known that I had been stabbed the night before, I would never have even guessed that I had been stabbed in the first place.
“You said the suit removed the poison from my body,” I said, looking up at TW. “How?”
“It’s one of the suit’s capabilities,” said TW. “Because it is bonded so tightly to your body, it reacts quickly whenever anything foreign and dangerous enters your body. As a result, the suit removed the poison, though it took all night to do it.”
“So this costume also has healing abilities in addition to the other powers it has?” I said. “Cool!”
“Not quite,” said TW. “It can heal small wounds, such as bullet holes or the hole in your back created by Lethal Injection’s stinger, though it usually takes time and rest, and anything deeper or more serious than that will require actual medical attention to heal. The best the suit can do is alleviate some of the pain, but I wouldn’t risk your life unnecessarily on the assumption that your suit will just heal any injuries you take.”
I frowned in disappointment. “Dang. I was hoping you were going to tell me that I had super healing powers, too, but I guess I can’t be that lucky, huh?”
“Quite right,” said TW. “But you should feel lucky nonetheless, because that was an incredibly deadly poison which Lethal injected into you. Had you not been wearing the suit at all, you likely would have died, perhaps even before you flew out of the factory. So I wouldn’t complain about not having miraculous healing capabilities.”
I rubbed my back. “You’re right. I should be more grateful. But where am I and how did I get here? Did you somehow drag me up here, TW?”
“No,” said TW, shaking his head. “As a hologram, I cannot physically interact with the world. As for who saved you, it was—”
TW was interrupted by the door on the other side of the room swinging open, causing TW to instantly vanish before anyone entered, probably so the person who opened the door wouldn’t see him and find out about his existence.
As for me, I just sat up more in order to better see who it was. I suspected they were probably friendly, given they had saved me, but I wanted to put myself in a good position to escape just in case.
Then a person stepped into the room and I could not help but gape.
It was Christina Madison. And she was aiming a gun at me.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Morning, sunshine!” said Christina in a sarcastic voice as she lowered her gun. “Up bright and early, I see. That’s just what I’d expect from the famous Trickshot.”
Disoriented by her sudden appearance, I said, “Wait, why did you enter the room with a gun? Were you going to shoot me?”
“Shoot you?” Christina repeated. She glanced at her gun. “Not unless I had to. I just heard two voices in here and wanted to be safe.” She looked around. “Say, where is the other person I heard?”
It was clear to me that Christina did not know about TW, and I definitely wasn’t going to tell her about him, at least not yet. I didn’t know if I could trust her yet, and I doubted I could, even if she did save me.
“Well, thanks for saving my life,” I said as I hopped out of bed. “I don’t know why you did it, but I guess it doesn’t matter. I really need to leave now, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m out of here.”
I flew into the air, but before I could fly out one of the windows, Christina thrust out her right hand and sent a flying green energy rope at me. The energy rope wrapped around my body and tightened, making me gasp in surprise before Christina yanked down and slammed me onto the floor. I tried to break free of the rope, but it was as solid as steel and even my super strength wasn’t enough to break it.
“There, there, now,” said Christina, holding the energy rope with one hand. “I didn’t drag you all the way up to the second floor of this building just to let you run away like this.”
“What … what is this energy thing?” I said, looking down at the energy wrapped firmly around my body. “How are you able to do this? Do you have a device of some kind that lets you shoot energy or something?”
Christina shook her head. “Nope. I’m a former superhero who took the Superpower drug. I can summon solid energy constructs. Generally, I use it to create bridges and the like to help me cross gaps or fill in holes, but as you can tell, it’s also very good for creating energy ropes and chains which hold down annoying brats like you. And it’s way more efficient than normal rope, because solid energy doesn’t break.”
I looked at Christina in disbelief. “So you’re not only not an actual police detective, but you’re a former superhero, too? What other secrets are you hiding from me?”
Christina smiled. “More than you would ever guess. But it doesn’t matter how many secrets I have. What matters to me is finding out what your secrets are.”
“M-My secrets?” I said. “I don’t have any.”
“Yes, you do,” said Christina. She pointed at my face. “Like what your real identity is, for one. I know you’re not the original Trickshot. You’re way too young, but I still don’t know exactly who you are, though I have my suspicions.”
“If you’re so curious to find out who I am, why didn’t you just unmask me when I was unconscious on that bed?” I said, nodding at the bed that lay just a few feet away from me. “I was completely defenseless for an entire night and you obviously had access to me.”
“I tried,” said Christina, “but unfortunately the mask seems to be stuck to your head. It wouldn’t come off no matter how hard I pulled at it. It felt more like another layer of skin than a costume.”
Interesting. I had not known that my mask could not be removed. That was yet another one of the suit’s abilities that TW had failed to mention. Then again, it was hard to see how knowing that would help me, given how I had no intention of letting anyone rip off my mask against my will.
“So I decided to wait until you were awake and I could interrogate you myself,” said Christina. “And I will make you talk. I’ve got a lot of experience making people tell me what they don’t want to tell me and you’re not going to be any different.”
“Why do you want to know who I am?” I said, turning awkwardly on my side to look at her better. “Why are you even after me in the first place? I don’t know you. I’ve never even met you before. You’re a complete stranger to me.”
“It’s nothing personal,” said Christina. “My boss just sent me after you for his own reasons. Well, technically, I’m not after you, per se, but your watch.”
I glanced down at the Trickshot Watch, which was still attached firmly to my wrist. “Why do you want my watch?”
“Because it’s not supposed to be out in the wild like this,” said Christina. “It’s supposed to be kept away from the public. It’s too dangerous
to be allowed to be used without supervision the way you’ve used it.”
“And just who, may I ask, is your boss?” I said. “You’re not working with the Injectors, are you?”
Christina snorted. “Those losers? Nah. I work for a higher power, one that doesn’t make most of its money from selling illegal drugs to stupid kids. My organization is actually affecting real change in the world, change for the positive. Unfortunately, that change might be disrupted if we continue to let that watch of yours float around in public like it has been recently.”
“You’re acting like I’ve just been letting other people borrow it,” I said. “I haven’t. I’ve had it for … for a while now and haven’t even told anyone else about it yet.”
I almost told Christina that I had almost had the Watch for a week, but had switched out the words at the last minute in order to avoid giving her that kind of information. The less information Christina had, the less she had to work with.
“So what?” said Christina. “As long as you have the Watch, there’s always the chance that it could be stolen and used by the wrong people. So I’m going to ask you nicely to give me the Watch. If you do that, I’ll let you go without any further fuss and you can go back to living your normal life, whatever it is.”
I bit my lower lip. Even if Christina wasn’t working for the Injectors, that didn’t mean I could trust her. Given how she had already lied to me once about her true nature, I didn’t trust her claims about her organization working for the greater good. Likely they were just as criminal as the Injectors, just in more refined or less obvious ways.
“She’s with Icon,” said TW in my head.
“What?” I said aloud.
Christina frowned. “What?”
“Uh, nothing,” I said quickly. “Just thought I heard you say something.”
“She’s with Icon,” TW said again. “That’s who she’s working for.”
“Icon?” I said in my mind. “You mean the organization that is holding Grandfather prisoner?”
“The one and the same,” said TW. “I recognize her. She looks different from the last time I saw her … longer hair, for one … but I remember seeing an Icon agent with the same face as her when Gregory broke out of their prison. They probably sent her to get the Trickshot Watch back.”
“Great,” I said sarcastically. “What should I do about her?”
“Not give her the Watch, for one thing,” said TW. “She may think that Icon is working for the greater good, but in truth, Icon’s motives are far from pure. I don’t know for sure what they’re trying to do, but I do know that Gregory risked his life to send out the Watch in order to stop them.”
“I suspected as much,” I said. “Still, it’s not like I can free myself. She’s got me in a pretty tight bind at the moment, one that even my super strength can’t break. Unless you’ve got a plan, it doesn’t matter why Icon wants the Trickshot Watch back.”
“I’ve got a plan, but it will require that you get close to her,” said TW. “I’ll let you figure out how to do that.”
I tried to ask TW what his plan was, but he wouldn’t respond to anything I said. It annoyed me that TW was not letting me in on his plan, but I decided to trust him for now and see if I could get Christina to pull me closer to her. After that, I would just have to trust TW to have a plan to escape from her that would actually work.
“Fine,” I said to Christina. “You can have the Trickshot Watch back if you want.”
For the first time since I’d seen her, Christina looked genuinely surprised. “What? Really?”
“Really,” I said. I shrugged. “You’ve clearly got me in a bind here. I can’t free myself and you are not going to let me go just because I asked nicely. It would be a waste of time for me to fight you, so you might as well take the Watch and leave.”
Christina eyed me suspiciously. “That’s a rather abrupt change of attitude from the defiant kid you were earlier.”
“I may be cocky, but I’m also smart,” I said. “I know when I can win and when I can lose, and I will definitely lose if I keep fighting you.”
Christina smiled. “Well, I guess you’re smarter than I thought after all. Very well. I’ll just bring you closer to me so I don’t have to walk over there and get the Watch myself.”
The energy rope began retracting toward Christina, dragging me across the grimy wood floor at a surprisingly fast speed. I kept a neutral look on my face, hoping to avoid tipping Christina off to the fact that not all was what it seemed. Luckily, Christina seemed to be so eager to get the Trickshot Watch from me that she didn’t even seem to consider that this was all a trap.
As soon as I was close enough to her, Christina reached down toward my wrist with a triumphant look on her face. Just as her fingers brushed against the surface of the Watch, TW suddenly said, “Surprise!”
A bright flash of light exploded from the Watch. My goggles protected my vision, keeping me from going blind, but Christina shouted in surprise and stumbled backwards. The sudden bright light must have shattered her concentration as well, because the energy rope dissipated as soon as she shouted. I jumped to my feet and immediately flew toward the boarded up windows, intending to smash directly through them in order to escape.
But just before I could smash through them, I felt two ropes wrap around my ankles and stopped in midair. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that Christina had fired two energy ropes at me, which were wrapped firmly around my ankles. Even though I was pulling with all of my might, Christina was somehow not budging even one inch from where she stood.
“Nice trick with the flash there,” said Christina, blinking rapidly, probably to get rid of the tears in her eyes. “But I’m not going to let you get away that easily.”
Christina yanked her ropes back. I fell back a few feet, but still strained to fly forward. But as long as Christina held onto these ropes, I was not going anywhere. It was only a matter of time before I either ran out of energy and gave up or Christina did, but given how determined Christina was to get me, I might give up before she did.
But if Christina wanted me, then she could have me.
I immediately turned around and flew toward Christina, rather than away from her. A shocked look appeared on Christina’s face, but she was too slow to dodge my attacks. I slammed into her with my shoulder, sending Christina flying backwards into the back wall, where she smacked into it and fell onto the floor, where she lay unconscious.
As soon as Christina lost consciousness, the energy ropes around my ankles disappeared and I turned and flew away toward the window. I didn’t even hesitate to smash through the window and out into the city itself, flying in a random direction away from Christina’s apartment as fast as I could.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“See?” said TW in my head as I flew away from Christina’s apartment. “I told you that Icon was after you. I was right.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t,” I said as I flew. “No need to brag.”
“I know, but I still felt like doing it anyway,” said TW. “One of life’s greatest pleasures is to brag when one is right about something. At least, that’s what I learned from my time with your grandfather, anyway.”
“You should have learned another lesson,” I replied. “Anyway, I need to land and get my bearings because I have no idea where I am.”
I landed on top of a nearby apartment building and quickly hid behind the large air conditioning units on the roof. I didn’t think Christina was going to come after me anytime soon, but the last thing I needed was to be spotted by someone, even if that person wasn’t associated with either the Injectors or Icon, because that would be a good way to get both of those organizations’ attention on me.
“All right, TW,” I said, glancing at the Watch. “How far away am I from my parents’ house?”
TW flashed into existence next to me. That was when I noticed that he was even fuzzier around the edges than before, which worried me, because I remembered what TW originally
told me about how he didn’t have much time left.
“We are about five miles south of your parents’ house,” said TW. He pointed north. “If you go directly north, you should reach your parents’ house in less than five minutes, especially if you fly at top speed.”
“Thanks, TW,” I said. “I can’t even imagine what must be going through their heads right now. They haven’t heard from me since last night. I bet they have every cop in the city looking for me. Hell, they’re probably leading the search themselves. I wouldn’t put it past them.”
“Then why did you decide to stop on this roof?” said TW curiously. “Wouldn’t it be better to fly straight home to show them that you are okay?”
I leaned against one of the air conditioning units and sighed. “Yeah, but I can’t do that without telling them that I’m Trickshot, and I still don’t feel like telling them that yet. I need to come up with a good excuse for why I went missing, one that they won’t question.”
“The longer you stay missing, the more worried your parents will become,” said TW. “And the harder it will be to convince not just them, but the police, of whatever story you come up with, because I guarantee you that the police will want to talk to you, especially if your parents have called them to let them know that you’re missing.”
I groaned. “Yeah, I know. You wouldn’t happen to have a believable cover story, would you?”
“I was about to suggest that you tell them that you were kidnapped by Christina Madison, but then I decided that that might raise more questions than answers,” said TW.
“No, that’s actually a good suggestion,” I said. “My parents and the police already know that Christina is not actually a detective. If I tell them that she also kidnapped me and held me hostage in that apartment back there, the police will be on her trail, which will make it harder for her to come after me. It’s even technically true.”
“Well, I’m glad you appreciate one of my suggestions,” said TW. “But I am doubtful that it will stop Christina entirely. Icon agents are incredibly ruthless and determined. If you put up a wall in their path, they’ll blow it up and use its remains to bash you over the head to make it easier to kidnap you.”
