by Lucas Flint
I had to admit, though, that I was a bit lonely. The hotel I stayed in was nice, but without any friends or family, I really did feel like I was all on my own. I’d even considered heading back to Rumsfeld, because the idea of assaulting Icon’s island base alone—which I knew practically nothing about—was very overwhelming, even though I knew I needed to do it, because that was where my grandfather and the original Trickshot, Gregory McDonald, was being held prisoner.
Soft footsteps again. This time, there was no mistaking them for anything other than what they were. Someone was following me, like an Icon agent. I wasn’t in costume at the moment, but that didn’t mean I was entirely useless.
I drew three small Trickshot disks out of my pocket and whirled around and threw them behind me. They didn’t fly nearly as well as they did whenever I used my powers, but I did hear someone jump to the side as the disks flew through the air. The disks clattered against the pavement, but that was okay, because I now knew that there was definitely someone here, even though I couldn’t see them.
“I hear you!” I shouted. “Why not just show yourself? Are you scared of a teenager like me?”
No response, but frankly I didn’t expect one anyway. Whoever was following me was obviously smart enough to keep quiet. Looked like I was going to need to make them show themselves.
I dropped my backpack on the ground and hit the TRANSFORMATION button on the Watch. In the next instant, I was covered head to toe in the Trickshot costume, with my cape flowing out behind me and my fists balled.
“I know you’re there, but if you think the fact that you’re invisible means I can’t hit you, then you’re about to be proved wrong,” I said, “in the most painful way possible.”
I rapidly drew twenty Trickshot disks from my pouch and hurled them all against the pavement. All of the disks started bouncing off every conceivable surface in the alleyway, bouncing off the walls and pavement with blinding speed. If the invisible person was here, then at least one of the disks ought to hit him. There were too many disks bouncing off the alleyway too quickly for anyone to dodge. Even I wouldn’t be able to dodge all of them if I tried and I doubted this idiot would be able to, either.
But then I felt something slam into the back of my knees and I fell forward. I broke the fall with my hands, but rolled over onto my back and kicked out. My foot connected with someone’s shin and I heard a cry of pain—which sounded feminine—and then a woman appeared before me.
She was a pretty young woman, barely out of her twenties most likely, but she looked incredibly goth, with pitch black hair, skin as pale as a ghost, and dark clothes to match. Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes as she clutched her shin and bounced backward on her other leg.
“Ow!” the woman said. “That hurt!”
“Kind of the point, lady,” I said.
I jumped to my feet and rushed toward her. Before the woman could react, I’d grabbed her and pinned her against the wall, twisting both of her arms behind her back to make sure she didn’t try anything. She struggled against my grip, but it was obvious that she was not even remotely strong enough to break my iron grip.
“Let me go,” said the woman in a whiny voice. “You’re hurting me.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re the lamest would-be assassin ever, you know that? The last assassin Icon sent against me wasn’t anywhere nearly as whiny as you.”
Confusion flickered across the woman’s face. “Assassin? I’m not an assassin. I’m not even with Icon.”
“And you’re a bad liar, too,” I said. “Seriously, I thought you guys were good at lying. Try something a bit more convincing than—”
Suddenly, someone grabbed my cape and yanked me backwards. I let go of the woman and before I knew it, I was thrown at the wall on the other side of the alley. I slammed into the wall hard enough to leave an imprint shaped like myself and fell down onto the pavement. The crash didn’t really hurt—super durability was a really useful power—but I was nonetheless surprised by the impact of the throw, mostly because I hadn’t been expecting it.
Shaking my head, I sat up and looked over to see who had thrown me and was surprised to see that the woman and I weren’t alone anymore. A large man stood between me and the woman, who wore a full bodysuit similar to mine, except his was brown and gray. He looked like a walking boulder, especially with his huge muscles.
“Okay, now who are you?” I said as I slowly rose to my feet, rubbing my back.
“My name doesn’t matter,” said the man. He pointed a large finger at me. “What does matter is that you assaulted my partner. Normally I cannot stand anyone who even so much as threatens a woman, but I especially despise anyone who harms women I care about. Men must never use their power to harm women.”
“She attacked me first,” I said, but shook my head. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll kick your butt just as much as I would anyone else’s.”
But to my dismay, the man had apparently forgotten all about me. He had turned his back to me to focus on the woman, who was rubbing her arms like she was trying to massage the pain out of them.
“Gina, are you okay?” said the man in a tender voice that didn’t fit his hulking form. “Trickshot didn’t break any bones or anything, did he?”
“No, I’m fine,” said the woman, who was apparently named Gina. She sniffled. “But he did hurt me. Nothing permanent, but I’ll feel it for a few days at least.”
“I’ll make sure you get a full body check up after we finish our mission,” said the man. “Your health is of utmost importance to me and I will ensure that you stay in top health at all times.”
“Thanks, Mack,” said Gina, flashing him a smile. “I really appreciate it.”
Ugh. It was obvious that these two were in a relationship. I was over the whole ‘Girls have cooties!’ thing, but I still found these kinds of public displays of affections groan worthy. I even felt uncomfortable when my parents did them.
But Mack had his back to me and seemed to have forgotten about me entirely. Guess he was too distracted by his girlfriend to realize what a terrible mistake he had made. One solid punch to his back and Mack would be the one who would need a check up.
I flew toward Mack and punched him directly in the back.
But instead of breaking Mack’s back, my fist just stopped. It felt like I’d punched a mountain. In fact, I doubted Mack even felt my punch, even though my punch had been fueled by my super strength.
All of a sudden, Mack whirled around and grabbed me with both of his large hands. He closed his huge fingers around my body and squeezed, instantly squeezing the air out of my lungs and making me gasp for breath.
“Foolish boy,” said Mack, with no strain in his voice at all. “Attacking an enemy from behind is not honorable, but even that could have been forgivable if your attack hurt. I barely even felt it, so let me teach you what I do to enemies who fail to beat me. It will be quite painful.”
CHAPTER TWO
Mack immediately began squeezing the life out of me. I gasped for air and tried my best to break free, but his grip was like iron. I had never faced anyone this strong in my life, and I thought I was strong. For the first time since the start of the fight, I thought I was going to die.
All of a sudden, someone shouted, “Mack, put him down! Now!”
Without warning, Mack’s grip on me loosened, but he didn’t quite let me go. He instead looked in the direction the voice had come from and I did as well and was surprised to see who was running toward us.
It was my uncle, Joshua Resnick, or as I always called him, Uncle Josh. I hadn’t seen him in over two months by now, but he looked more or less the same as I remembered. The main difference was that he wore a full-length black shirt that made his surprisingly muscular body stand out very well against the fabric. He also had some kind of utility belt around his waist, though I was a little too busy trying to get my breath back to care about that right now.
“What did you just say, Joshua?” said Mack. “Did you tell
me to put him down?”
Uncle Josh stopped several feet away from us and nodded. “You heard me, Mack. I order you to put him down as the leader of the mission.”
“But he assaulted Gina,” said Mack, nodding with his head toward Gina, who still stood behind him like she was trying to hide from me. “That is unforgivable.”
“I don’t care what he did,” said Uncle Josh. “Trickshot is my nephew, so if you hurt him, I’m not going to be happy. And I know you won’t like me when I’m angry.”
“He’s your nephew?” said Mack, looking at me again. “Seriously?”
“Very,” said Uncle Josh. “Even if he wasn’t, however, you’d still have to let him go. Remember the mission the boss gave us.”
Mack looked like he was just going to ignore Uncle Josh’s commands and squeeze me to death anyway, but then he slowly lowered me to the pavement and took his massive hands off me. I immediately backed several steps away from him, keeping a careful eye on Mack’s huge hands, which I was convinced were actually steel traps meant to crush people to death now.
“Are you okay, Jack?” said Uncle Josh to me.
“Uncle, don’t say my real name out loud,” I said, glancing at Mack and Gina. “These two might hear and—”
“Oh, we already know your name,” said Gina sweetly. “Jack Roger McDonald, right? Son of Walter and Mary McDonald. Age sixteen. Still in high school. Grandson of Gregory McDonald.”
My eyes widened. “How do you know so much about me when I just met you?”
“Pinnacle keeps a close tab on all superheroes,” said Mack, folding his massive arms in front of his chest, “but especially illegal ones like yourself.”
I looked at Uncle Josh. “Did you tell them all of my information?”
Uncle Josh shrugged sheepishly. “I told them some of it, but honestly, they learned a lot of it on their own. Pinnacle keeps detailed files on all superheroes in the country. They could probably figure out your favorite flavor of ice cream without you knowing.”
“It’s chocolate, by the way,” Gina added in a tone that made it clear she thought she was helping. “But sometimes strawberry, too.”
I didn’t like this obvious informational imbalance where they knew pretty much everything about me but I knew virtually nothing about them. “So these two aren’t Icon agents sent to kill me before I can get to their base?”
“Of course not,” said Uncle Josh, shaking his head. “They’re agents of Pinnacle, just like me.”
Uncle Josh gestured at Mack. “The big guy here is Mack ‘Bulldozer’ Krasinski. He used to be a superhero of Chicago before Pinnacle recruited him. His powers include super strength and the ability to manipulate the earth to follow his commands.”
Mack nodded at me solemnly. “Apologies for nearly crushing you to death earlier. I was simply so enraged at the sight of Gina being harmed that I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“And this young lady here is Virgina ‘Hide-and-Seek’ Williams,” said Uncle Josh, pointing at Gina. “She was a superhero from Arizona prior to joining Pinnacle. As you probably figured out, she can turn invisible at will for as long as she wants.”
Gina waved at me. “Hi! Sorry for sneaking up on you like that. I was going to introduce myself, but then you attacked me, so I had to defend myself.”
“Ah,” I said. “Uncle Josh, what are you and your friends doing here in Port Donald? Why was Gina following me?”
“Because we were looking for you,” said Uncle Josh. “Right, guys?”
“Right,” said Mack. “We’re under orders from the boss to help you get to Iconia, which is the name of Icon’s island base.”
“What, really?” I said in surprise. “I didn’t know you guys were going to help me, especially Uncle Josh. I thought you had to go back to Pinnacle’s headquarters to deliver the Atlas Glove.”
“I did that already,” said Uncle Josh. “But when I told our boss that you were planning to assault Icon’s base, he told me to grab these two and help you.”
“Your boss ordered you to help me?” I said. “Why? I’ve never even met the guy.”
“Because we hate Icon as much as you,” said Mack. He frowned deeply. “For too long, Icon has been a blight upon the world. We’re going to bring an end to their operations once and for all by taking out their base.”
“Just the four of us?” I said in a quizzical voice.
“Four is all we need,” said Uncle Josh. “Besides, you’re not one to talk, given how you were intending to assault their entire island base by yourself. Which, by the way, is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of dumb ideas in my time.”
“It’s not that dumb,” I said, trying my best not to sound defensive. “I’m strong. I can take care of myself.”
“There’s more to fighting an enemy force than mere strength,” said Uncle Josh. “Besides, you’re assuming Icon would fight you out in the open. That’s not how they work. They have security systems they’ll use to take you down well before you even see their island, assuming you could even get past their cloaking system.”
“It’s quite an advanced one, too,” said Mack. “You could fly directly above it and not see the island anywhere.”
“I had a plan,” I said, though in reality I didn’t.
“Oh?” said Uncle Josh. “And what would that plan be?”
I bit my lower lip, but decided to change the subject, so I said, “It doesn’t matter now, because I’m going to hang out with you guys apparently.”
“Right,” said Uncle Josh. “Well, I’m glad we’re all on the same page now, because that will make it easier for us to break into Icon. I just need you to come with me, Mack, and Gina back to our base.”
“Your base?” I said. “You mean we aren’t going to leave for Iconia right now?”
“Not yet,” said Uncle Josh, shaking his head. “We still have a few preparations to finish before we go anywhere. Plus, because you just joined us, that means we’ll need to get you up to speed on our plan of attack.”
“All right,” I said, though I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that we were not heading out to Iconia right away. Still, I suppose it made sense to get everything ready before we did anything. TW would probably agree if he was still around, because it was exactly the sort of thing he would advise doing if he was still alive. “Then let’s go.”
CHAPTER THREE
The Pinnacle agents’ base in Port Don was located on the top floor of the Bright Light Hotel, one of the fanciest hotels in the city. According to Uncle Josh, Pinnacle was paying their expenses for this entire mission, which included the fancy hotel room—more like a suite, really—and all of their accommodations. I asked Uncle Josh just how much money Pinnacle had and he said that that was classified information but that the budget for their current mission was on the lower end of mission budgets.
The hotel room itself was big and clean, with sparkling clean windows, ceiling, and walls. The floor was soft dark blue carpeting, while I caught a glimpse of a large bathroom through a cracked door on the other side of the room. A large wide-screen TV was mounted on the wall opposite the two queen-sized beds, while a small kitchen area off to the right looked as if it had just been recently used, based on the clean dishes in the drying rack. The room also smelled of roses, even though I didn’t see any. It was definitely the nicest hotel room I’d ever stayed in and I felt a twinge of regret that I wouldn’t be able to stay and enjoy all of its amenities because of the nature of my mission. But maybe I would be able to convince Mom and Dad to take me here on a family vacation at some point in the future, though given how fancy it looked, I thought it might be too expensive for my family.
“Wow,” I said, looking around at the room as Uncle Josh closed the door behind me, “this is pretty fancy.”
“I’ve seen fancier,” said Gina casually. “They don’t even have a valet service, which means we have to drive our car ourselves.”
I looked at Gina. “Fancier? Wh
at do you mean?”
“Oh, I forgot you don’t know anything about me,” said Gina. “I come from a pretty well off family and we used to go on vacations all over the world to tons of different hotels. This is practically bourgeois in comparison to places I’ve stayed in.”
Maybe it was because I came from a somewhat lower middle class background, but I had a hard time imagining how you could get better than this. Maybe if they had a balcony of some sort to overlook the sea or something, though based on Gina’s comments, I doubt even that would impress her.
“We can discuss hotel rooms later,” said Uncle Josh. “For now, we need to sit down and go over the plan.”
“Again?” said Mack, frowning. “But Gina and I already know the plan.”
“You two might, but Jack here doesn’t,” said Uncle Josh, jerking a thumb at me. “And because he’s going to be helping us, he needs to know the plan as well.”
“Oh, right,” said Mack. “I almost forgot.”
“You guys can talk without me,” said Gina. She nodded toward the bathroom. “I need to take a shower after our little scuffle. Getting manhandled like that was really stressful and dirty.”
I opened my mouth to point out that I only ‘manhandled’ her because she attacked me, but Gina closed the bathroom door behind her before even one word could leave my mouth. A second later, I heard the sound of the shower turning on coming from the other side of the door, slightly muffled due to the door being closed.
“Does she need to be here for the meeting?” I said, looking at Uncle Josh.
Uncle Josh shook his head. “Nope, though it would be helpful if she was more of a team player. These types of meetings are most successful when everyone attends them.”
“You know how much Gina values her appearance,” said Mack. “Besides, she already knows the plan, so she doesn’t have to be here. Nor do I, for that matter.”
“Unless you have somewhere better to be, then yes, you do have to be here,” said Uncle Josh. “But it doesn’t matter. Let’s just sit down and talk. We’re supposed to leave for Iconia this evening and we don’t have a whole lot of time left before our sub leaves.”
