by Lucas Flint
“Don’t worry,” I said, though my voice was flatter than normal. “I’m not a thief. I’d never steal anything from anyone. Ever.”
“Good to hear,” said Mr. Salt. “So, are you interested in purchasing anything else? I have quite a few other items that may interest you and are more within your price range.”
“No, sorry,” I said quickly. “Deb and I need to grab lunch. We don’t have time to look at anything else you have to offer. Goodbye.”
I walked away from the kiosk and Debra, who looked a little stunned at my sudden decision, nonetheless caught up with me and said, “What was that? Don’t you want to see what else he was selling?”
I shook my head without looking at Debra. “No. I’m not really interested in buying anything from him. Besides, I’m really hungry and Ronny’s Pizza Place smells so good. Maybe after lunch, we can go back and talk to him if he’s still there.”
Debra looked offended, as if I had just told her that she was fat, but right now I didn’t care. But I did glance over my shoulder one last time to see Mr. Salt—shaking his head in disappointment—pick up the box with the Watch in it and put it back under the table in his kiosk before he stood up again and called out to another young couple walking nearby if they were interested in owning an item from superhero history.
“TW,” I said in my mind, turning my attention back to the path in front of me, “you have a lot of explaining to do when I get home after this date. And I do mean a lot.”
But, of course, TW did not respond.
CHAPTER SIX
The rest of the date went okay, I guess. Debra still seemed a little sour about the fact that I didn’t spend $3,000 I didn’t have on her, which made the rest of the date rather unpleasant. The pizza at Ronny’s Pizza Place was as good as ever, but it was kind of hard to enjoy it with Debra when she was very clearly still annoyed about not getting the Trickshot Watch.
It didn’t help that I was heavily distracted by the Watch myself. I rapidly became convinced that the Watch which Mr. Salt owned was indeed real. Which meant that there were two Trickshot Watches. One on my wrist and the other in Mr. Salt’s box. And TW, mysteriously, had never bothered to mention this fact to me in the three months I’d known him. It made me wonder if TW had a good reason for not mentioning this to me or if he had deliberately kept me in the dark about it.
But I couldn’t entirely blame TW for this. I’d been taught my whole life that Grandfather only had one Watch. In all of the pictures and videos I’d seen of Grandfather in his prime, he had only ever worn one Trickshot Watch on his wrist. And it was always the same Watch, no matter whether he was beating up drug dealers in an alleyway or clashing with a supervillain downtown or posing with kids for the cameras.
Yet now I had reason to believe that Grandfather had two Watches at one point, one he sent to me, the other somehow ending up out of his possession and into the possession of Mr. Salt. And again, up until now, I’d had no clue at all that this was the case.
As a result, I was glad when Debra told me that she needed to get home. By then, it was late in the afternoon and we were in the Mall Arcade where we alternated between playing the games and watching other people play. We were watching this really fat guy whose name I didn’t know playing this dancing game really well, doing all the correct steps without missing a beat.
“What did you say?” I said, looking at Debra, taking my attention off the loud noises coming from the machine that the fat guy was playing.
“I said I need to go home,” said Debra, raising her voice to be heard above the sounds of the various arcade games being played all around us. She nodded toward the exit. “My dad’s waiting outside to pick me up.”
“Oh, okay,” I said. “Sure. Want to do this again some other time or—?”
Debra shrugged. “I don’t know. I had a good time, but—”
Debra was interrupted by the various other onlookers spontaneously breaking out into applause when the fat guy hit a new high score on the game. She even cringed slightly, but then said, when the applause died down, “Well, I got to go. See you later.”
Debra turned around and left the arcade before I could say anything. I watched her go, feeling like this date had not gone well at all.
“Women can be very strange creatures sometimes,” said TW in my head all of a sudden. “You might want to think about avoiding that one in the future.”
“Oh, so now you decide to talk?” I said aloud.
A couple of people looked at me oddly, which was when I realized I said that aloud. Turning away from them and lowering my voice, I said, “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to talk to you for over an hour.”
“Sorry, Jack,” said TW. “I just didn’t want to get in the way of your important date with Debra, though given how terribly it went, perhaps my efforts were in vain.”
“That’s not the reason you were quiet and you know it,” I said in my mind. “You were quiet during my entire conversation with that Salt guy and outright ignored me when I asked for your help. Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot.”
“Fine, but don’t expect me to treat you like a genius, either,” said TW. “There’s a very good reason I’ve kept my mouth shut since then, but I guess I couldn’t stay silent forever or expect you to simply forget about that other Watch. Let’s find a private place to talk and I’ll answer whatever questions you’ve got.”
Finally. I had expected TW to keep quiet until I got home. I decided to use the arcade’s bathroom, because it required a key to get into, which I retrieved from the arcade owner, who warned me not to spend too much time in there to prevent a line from building.
The arcade bathroom was small but clean, with a urinal, toilet, and sink, but I paid little attention to my surroundings. As soon as I locked the door, TW flashed into existence before me, floating above the tiled floor with a frown on his lips.
“All right,” I said, looking at TW hard. “The Watch. Is it real?”
TW sighed for a long time before he finally said, “Yes, I can confirm that the Watch which Mr. Salt tried to sell you is genuine, though I didn’t think it was still around.”
“So there is another Trickshot Watch?” I said in surprise. “Did Grandfather have a second one for backup or something?”
TW shook his head. “It’s not that simple. Technically speaking, I am the second Watch and that one was the original.”
“What?” I said in surprise. “Are you telling me you’re not the original TW?”
“I am the original TW,” said TW quickly. He gestured at the Watch on my wrist. “My AI was transferred from the first Watch to the one you’re currently wearing. Think of it like transferring files from one computer to another.”
“Oh,” I said. “So did the first Watch become outdated and Grandfather upgraded? Kind of like buying a new phone?”
TW folded his arms across his chest. “If only that was the reason he did it. No, Gregory got rid of the first Watch because it would have killed him if it didn’t.”
“Killed him?” I repeated. “What are you talking about? How would it have killed him? It’s just a Watch.”
TW sighed again. “Allow me to start from the beginning. You remember what I told you, don’t you, about how Gregory originally received the Trickshot Watch from a mysterious source, who expected him to use it for the greater good?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I remember when you told me that. It was just a few months ago, after all.”
“Right,” said TW. “And indeed, that is the truth. But there is a little bit more to the story than I originally told you. I didn’t see any point in telling you more at the time, but given how circumstances have changed since then, I think it is time I tell you more.”
“You mean since I saw Mr. Salt’s Watch, right?” I said. “Because that was, like, an hour and a half ago. You talk about it like it was months.”
“I’m not talking about that,” said TW. “At least, not that by itself. I’m referring to everything that�
��s happened since then. Your defeat of the Injectors, Baron Glory’s assassination, and, of course, Holes’ return and revenge. It is clear to me that if you are going to be the hero you need to be, then you will have to know far more than I told you during our first meeting.”
“I’ll be honest,” I said, “I didn’t think you had omitted any information to me, but now you’re telling me that you did.”
“My apologies,” said TW. “As I said, I didn’t think it was necessary at the time, but given how everything has developed since then, I figure it is time you knew more.”
“Then go on,” I said. “Tell me what I need to know. I’m all ears.”
TW nodded. “Very well. When Gregory first received the Trickshot Watch, he was not the first superhero to do so.”
“He wasn’t?”
“Not by any means,” said TW, shaking his head. “Remember what I originally told you. The Trickshot Watch’s suit absorbs the powers of the last owner, adding each power to its nature which future users can use when they don the suit. It is how you can fly, have super strength, durability, and, of course, perfect aim, because you can borrow them from the suit itself.”
I glanced at the Watch on my wrist again. “Who owned the Trickshot Watch before Grandfather?”
“A handful of people,” said TW. “Unfortunately, I don’t know their names, because I did not exist until Gregory made me. But anyway, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Gregory was able to take these powers and use them to become a legal superhero, defending Rumsfeld from criminals both great and small until his kidnapping ten years ago.”
“And?” I said. “I know this already. It doesn’t sound like you have any new information for me.”
“I’m getting there, don’t worry,” said TW. “For example, I didn’t tell you about the negative effects of using the suit.”
I frowned. “Negative effects? What do you mean? It seems like a pretty positive thing so far. All ups and no downs.”
TW chuckled. “Ah, but nothing in life is perfect, Jack. Everything pays a price. Everything has its upsides and downsides. And that includes the Trickshot costume housed within the Watch.”
I moved uneasily. “What, exactly, are the downsides of the Trickshot costume?”
“Well, if you use it too much, it can sap you of your life force and kill you,” said TW matter-of-factly, “which nearly happened to Gregory after he used it extensively for a decade.”
“What?” I said. I looked at the Watch again, this time with horror. “You mean I’ve been killing myself this entire time and you didn’t think I needed to know this?”
“Please hear me out,” said TW, holding up a hand. “Let me finish my story before you lose your mind. There is far more to it than what I just said and you need to hear the whole story before you do anything.”
Biting my lower lip, I nodded and said, “Okay, continue, then.”
“All right,” said TW. “As I said, the Trickshot costume can sap its user of their life force. It is how the suit keeps itself alive. It draws upon the life of the host in order to survive. Otherwise, it would starve to death, which is a fate it understandably wants to avoid.”
“So the suit is … alive?” I said. “Like a living creature?”
“Or close to it,” said TW. “It may be more helpful to think of it as a battery that requires charging. When you plug a re-chargable battery into the wall, it naturally charges itself via the electricity it gets from the plug. Your suit does the same thing, except for your life force.”
“Life force,” I repeated. “Does that mean my blood or something?”
“I am not sure,” said TW. “The suit seems to draw upon something in you that isn’t currently quantifiable by modern science. Whatever it is, it plays a vital role in keeping you alive, though the rate at which the suit absorbs your life force is very, very slow, to the point where you usually don’t notice until it’s too late to do anything about it.”
“You said it nearly killed Grandfather,” I said. “Mind elaborating on that?”
TW nodded again. “Sure. You see, ten years after Gregory started his superhero career, he was close to death’s door. He originally thought he was sick, even though every doctor he went to was unable to find anything wrong with his body. He eventually found out, on his own, that the suit was slowly but surely killing him, which meant he had two choices: Either keep using the suit and eventually die from its effects or get rid of the Trickshot Watch and quit his superhero career entirely before it was too late.”
“What did Grandfather decide to do?” I said.
“He got rid of the Trickshot Watch,” said TW. “He didn’t give up his license, at least not yet, but he did take a break from superheroics for a while. He worked hard to figure out a way to counteract the negative effects that the suit was having on him, studying the Trickshot Watch late into the night in an effort to understand how it worked. I think he put more effort into understanding the Trickshot Watch than anyone before or since.”
“What were his results?”
“Me,” said TW. He put a hand on his chest. “Gregory designed the second Trickshot Watch—the one you’re wearing now—with me built into it. You see, my presence in the Watch is what keeps the suit from killing you.”
I looked down at the Trickshot Watch again in surprise. “Wait, what?”
“It’s true,” said TW. He scratched the back of his neck. “You see, Gregory realized that the suit would keep draining him of his life no matter what he did. He knew that the suit needed another source to drain, so he created me for the purpose of distracting the Trickshot suit. Instead of taking Gregory’s life force, it drains my energy, at roughly the same rate as Gregory’s life force. That is the primary reason I exist.”
“Really?” I said. “Is that why Grandfather made this Watch, then? To contain you?”
“Yes,” said TW, nodding. “He couldn’t put me in the original, so he made an entirely new one from scratch, using materials he obtained from the government group which controls the alien spaceship that the tech for the Watch originally came from. He then copied the suit and put it inside the new Watch, along with my AI. Thus, I was born.”
“Oh,” I said. “What did he do with the actual original Watch, then?”
“He tried to destroy it,” said TW. “You see, just because he copied the suit and put it in the new Watch didn’t mean that the old Watch stopped working. It very much still does and it isn’t even weaker than yours, either. He didn’t want the old Watch to fall into evil hands, so he took it out to the ocean and threw it out there where no one would find it.”
“And yet Mr. Salt has it,” I said. “And it isn’t a fake or a duplicate or anything like that.”
“Right,” said TW. “It is indeed the original Watch. I recognized it because it looks just like mine. I can’t tell you how he obtained it or whether he’s even aware of the full extent of its powers, but I can confirm that it does work.”
I folded my arms in front of my chest. “Then we need to get it before someone else does. The Trickshot Watch is too important a weapon to allow to be in the hands of someone like Mr. Salt, because if he keeps hawking it in front of every dude or girl who walks up to his kiosk, eventually he’s going to try to sell it to the wrong guy and all hell will break loose.”
“Agreed, but there’s one last thing I should tell you before you try anything,” said TW. “It’s very important, something you should know before you get too close to the Watch.”
“And what is that?” I said.
TW leaned toward me and said, in a low voice as if he was afraid someone might eavesdrop on us, “The Watch might not want to be saved.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“What are you talking about?” I said. “Might not want to be saved? What does that even mean?”
TW leaned back, a troubled look on his face. “The suit, as I said, resembles a living being in the way it acts and behaves. There’s a good chance that if you retrieve the origi
nal Watch, the suit within may not appreciate your help, assuming it believes that it has been wronged by Gregory.”
“Come on,” I said. “I think you’re anthropomorphizing it too much, buddy. It’s just a suit, albeit one of alien origin that can turn you into a literal superhero.”
“I know,” said TW with a frown. “But it’s still dangerous and I would advise heavy caution if you choose to steal it.”
“Retrieve it.”
“Same difference,” said TW with a shrug. “You yourself said that you don’t have three thousand dollars lying around with which to purchase it, so—”
“Whatever,” I said. “You and I agree that the old Watch needs to be retrieved before it lands into the hands of anyone who might want to use its powers for evil. Therefore, I need to find some way to swipe it from Mr. Salt without him knowing.”
TW nodded. “That’s true, but it is easier said than done, given how we don’t know where Mr. Salt even lives.”
I cracked a smile. “That’s where you come in, TW. Use your fantastic detective skills to scout the Internet for Mr. Salt’s information, which you can then give me so I can use it to find out where he lives and where he keeps his stuff.”
TW hesitated. “Does that not count as ‘doxing’? That is, the act of releasing someone’s private information on the Internet?”
“I’m not going to post his social security number and other private information on Twitter like some loser,” I said, waving off TW’s concern. “I’m just going to use it for private purposes. Besides, you don’t get to lecture me on the legality of searching his private information when I’m already operating outside the law anyway. If I get busted, what would finding out someone’s private information add to my prison sentence? Maybe a few years?”
TW shrugged again. “You make a good point. I’ll begin my search, starting with any social media accounts Mr. Salt may have and moving from there. I doubt it will take me long to do, given how Mr. Salt doesn’t strike me as a particularly tech-savvy individual, but it will take time nonetheless. In the meantime, what are you going to do?”
