by Lucas Flint
“Dating might be a distraction, but it’s not a really good one if you ask me,” I said with a sigh.
“Uh oh,” said Kyle. “Your date with Debra didn’t go so well, I take it.”
“You’re absolutely right,” I said.
I filled Kyle in on the details of my date. It felt good to have someone to talk to other than TW. It helped me to see just how ridiculous that entire situation was, even if Kyle didn’t say very much. I just liked having someone listen to what I said.
When I finished telling him my story, Kyle said, “Sorry to hear that, man. You’ve been crushing on Debra so hard for so long but it sounds like you two aren’t going on a second date anytime soon.”
“Or ever,” I said. “But yeah, it was a mess and Debra didn’t seem very interested in going out with me again. Not sure if I should try calling her again or not.”
“Well, do you want to go out with her again?” said Kyle. “I mean, I’m not an expert on relationships and dating or anything like that, but figuring out if you still like her or not seems like an important first step to figuring out what to do next to me.”
“I guess I do,” I said. “I mean, I still think she’s hot, but right now looks alone aren’t really doing it for me. Maybe I’ll just leave her alone for the rest of the summer and focus on something else.”
“Yeah, man, that’s probably the best response,” said Kyle. “Anyway, what about that watch that that Mr. Salt guy was trying to sell to you? Was it legit or not?”
I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should share this information with Kyle, but I decided that Kyle was already deeply involved in my superhero career anyway, so I said, “Yes, it is real, but don’t ask me about it. The story behind it is too long to get into right now.”
“All right,” said Kyle. “I’ll take your word for it. So what are you going to do about it?”
“Going to try to retrieve it somehow,” I said. “A weapon like that shouldn’t be in the hands of anyone but myself. It’s too risky, because it could easily end up in the wrong hands and the last thing I need is for some supervillain or criminal to get their hands on another Trickshot Watch.”
“So you’re going to steal it?” said Kyle. “Real heroic move there, bro.”
“Do you have three thousand dollars I can borrow?” I said. “Because if you do, I promise to pay you back eventually.”
“If I asked my dad for three thousand dollars, he’d just laugh and tell me to come up with better jokes,” said Kyle. “But still, stealing is just going to make you look even worse to the public than you already do.”
“It’s the only option I have at this point,” I said. “I can’t let something like this just float around in public like this. It’s too dangerous. If someone like Holes got his hands on it—”
“Holes?” Kyle interrupted. “Who’s that?”
“Oh, I forgot,” I said. “Holes is a supervillain who just appeared in Rumsfeld earlier. He fought my grandfather ten years ago and was in prison until he somehow broke out recently. Wants to get revenge on Grandfather for taking him out, though since he doesn’t know where Grandfather is, he’s decided to kill me instead.”
“Crazy,” said Kyle. “You know, I seem to remember seeing a news article about some supervillain guy in Texas breaking out of prison in my news feed, but I didn’t pay much attention to it because it didn’t seem important. But maybe I should have.”
“Right,” I said. “Well, I’m just lucky to have survived my fight with that guy. He’s pretty crazy. He can create holes on any surface which he can use to travel from spot to spot. He’s even got them on his body, which makes it impossible to actually punch him anywhere except in a few very specific spots on his body.”
“That’s a cool power, though, you gotta admit,” said Kyle. “If I had superpowers, that’s the power I’d want. I’m no good at fighting or anything like that, so being able to redirect attacks like that would be very helpful.”
“It’s annoying is what it is,” I said in annoyance. “But that’s my own problem. You don’t need to worry about it right now. You should just enjoy your vacation.”
“Okay,” said Kyle. “Oh, and by the way, I just remembered what I was calling you for.”
“To let me know you’re hiding from your parents?”
“No,” said Kyle. “That isn’t what I was calling you about. I was actually calling you about something that happened in Florida recently near the resort my parents and I are staying at.”
“What happened?” I said as I took a bite out of another chocolate chip cookie.
“It’s kind of weird,” said Kyle. “I was walking along the beach earlier when this guy came up to me.”
“A guy?” I said. “Someone you know?”
“No, and even weirder, he was fully clothed, unlike everyone else on the beach,” said Kyle. “Dude wore, like, a gray t-shirt and jeans, but he was completely bald and maybe even hairless entirely, because he didn’t have any hair on his forearms or anything. He actually looked really creepy and out of place like he was from another universe or something.”
“What did the guy say to you?” I said.
“He told me to give ‘Trickshot’ a message,” said Kyle. “I tried to ask him how he knew that I knew you, but he didn’t give me a chance to talk. He just told me to deliver you a very important message from his boss. And don’t ask me who his boss is, either, because he didn’t tell me and he ran away as soon as he gave me the message.”
I frowned. “And what is this message he told you to give me?”
Kyle took a deep breath. “He said that you should watch your back and not involve yourself in things that don’t concern you.”
I snorted. “What a lame message.”
“But that’s not it,” said Kyle. “Or, at least, not all of it. He told me one last thing before he ran away, which is way more disturbing than a warning to stay out of things that don’t concern you.”
“And what would that be?”
Kyle was silent for a moment, like he was afraid of saying what he was going to say next, but then he finally said, “He said you should watch your next step if you don’t want to lose your soul.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“My soul?” I repeated in confusion. “Are you sure that’s what he said?”
“Positive,” said Kyle. “It’s as weird as it sounds, trust me, but I’m not lying. I’m just repeating to you exactly what he told me, nothing more, nothing less.”
“Weird,” I said. “And creepy. Did he elaborate on any of that or—”
“No,” said Kyle. “Like I said, he ran away as soon as he told me that message. And he just seemed to … vanish. I thought I might have been hallucinating him or something, but that experience was way too real for my mind to make up, plus my parents told me they saw him, too. It’s as creepy as all get out.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” I said. “But thanks for the message. I’ll definitely think it over.”
“Well, I hope you figure it out, because I can’t,” said Kyle. “Anyway, I hear Mom is calling me for lunch, so I’ve got to go. Talk to you later. Bye.”
Kyle ended the call and I lowered my phone to my side and looked down at the plate of cookies. As much as I loved Mom’s homemade chocolate chip cookies, I had to admit that they no longer looked nearly as appetizing as they did before. It seemed like I was getting bad news all the time from every direction, and sadly it was probably going to get worse from here, if that message from the mystery man meant anything.
“TW?” I said. “Do you have any thoughts on this?”
TW flashed into existence before me, but of course his form was flashing in and out of existence rapidly. “I-I think th-that it is very s-strange, but that y-you should k-keep an eye out for any suspicious characters. You n-never know who may be trying to get you.”
“TW, you look worse than ever,” I said. “You should probably go back into the Watch. You’re glitching out like Dad’s old de
sktop.”
“I-I am f-fine, Jack,” said TW. “Hold on a s-second.”
TW closed his eyes and put on an expression of pure determination. A couple of seconds later, his form stopped flickering and he looked as solid as he usually did.
“My apologies,” said TW, opening his eyes again and looking down at his body. “It seems that my degradation is getting worse and worse. My memory and personality are in tact, but the rest of my form is suffering greatly. I am not sure how much longer I have left.”
“We need to find a way to get this Watch fixed,” I said, raising the Watch and waving it back and forth at him. “I don’t want you glitching out on me like back during my fight with Aeolus and Holes.”
“I know, but there’s nothing you can do to help me,” said TW with a shrug. “Gregory built me himself. He could repair me, but, of course, you and I both know that Gregory is not available at the moment, so it doesn’t make sense to worry about him.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure I could find someone else to fix you,” I said. “Maybe I could have Kyle look you over for a while when he and his family get back from vacation. He’s a pretty techy guy. I’m sure he would be thrilled to work on an AI like you.”
“Thrilled, maybe, but perhaps not qualified to fix me,” said TW. He put his hands on his chest. “My AI is too advanced for a high school student like him to repair. Kyle has a higher chance of accidentally deleting my AI entirely rather than fix it. I would rather not put my life into the hands of a high school student, even if it is one you trust.”
“But there’s got to be someone who can fix you,” I said. “I know Rumsfeld isn’t exactly Silicon Valley, but a lot of tech guys have been moving to here from California recently because of how cheap it is, guys who work for the big tech companies. Maybe one of them would be willing to help.”
“I would not go up to some complete stranger and ask if they would like to mess with a very advanced piece of alien technology,” said TW. “That would be a great way to accidentally reveal your identity to someone who would probably report it to the police.”
“You know what I mean,” I said. I sighed. “I wish I knew someone who could help, but I don’t know a lot of tech guys other than Kyle. He’s really the only one I know who would be willing to help at all.”
TW hesitated. He looked like he was going to say something, but then thought better of it and kept his mouth shut.
But if he thought I didn’t notice him do that, he was sorely mistaken.
Leaning forward, I said, “TW, you looked like you were about to say something. Do you happen to know someone who might be able to repair you?”
TW tapped the tips of his fingers together uncertainly. “I do, but I’m not sure it would be wise to see him, even though I am fairly certain that the man I am thinking of would have no trouble whatsoever fixing me.”
“Why would it be unwise to see him?” I said. “Is it because he’s really far away and it would take a long time to go see him?”
“Not quite,” said TW. “He isn’t particularly far away. He lives in Rumsfeld’s city limits. You could take the bus to his apartment if you wanted. He’s not hiding or anything like that.”
“Then what is the problem?” I said. I ate another cookie and swallowed. “Let me put away these cookies and we can go see him right away.”
I was about to pull the plastic wrap over the cookies again before TW said, “The problem is that he hates superheroes.”
I paused and looked at TW. “Hates superheroes? What do you mean?”
TW folded his arms in front of his chest. “Exactly what I said. The man I am thinking of is no superhero fan. And he especially hates Trickshot.”
“Then why would you bring him up at all?” I said. “Seems kind of pointless if you ask me.”
“He just popped into my head,” said TW. “And he didn’t always hate superheroes. He helped Gregory several times with tech-related crimes over the years, but then the two of them had a falling out and now I’m not sure he would be happy to see you or anyone else wearing the Trickshot costume, for that matter.”
“A falling out?” I said. “What happened between Grandfather and this guy?”
“It’s a long story,” said TW, “one you don’t really need to know, given how we are not going to see this man in the first place.”
“Hey, I didn’t agree to that,” I said. “If this guy might be able to fix you, then we should at least check him out. You never know, he might change his mind if we ask nicely.”
“You would have to have very good persuasion skills in order to convince him to help you,” said TW. “As I said, he’s not a fan of superheroes or Trickshot. Even if you don’t show up in costume, he’ll recognize the Trickshot Watch for what it is and refuse to help us.”
“You don’t know that for sure, though,” I said. “And the only other alternative is just waiting for the Watch to give out and your AI to become completely inactive. You don’t want to die, do you?”
“I guess not,” said TW, “especially because the threat Gregory spoke of is still yet to come.”
“Then it’s settled,” I said. “You will tell me who this guy is and where’s he living and we’ll go and ask him if he wants to fix you. If he says no, we’ll just go home and figure out something else. How does that sound?”
TW looked extremely uncomfortable, but he nodded slowly and said, “Very well. I suppose it won’t hurt to try, though I doubt it will help, either.”
I smiled. “We’ll see about that, TW. We’ll see about that.”
CHAPTER NINE
A day later, I walked through the streets of West Rumsfeld, following the directions that TW had given me that, according to him, would take me directly to the apartment of Jim ‘Techno’ Albert. I rarely ever went to West Rumsfeld. I mostly hung out in East and South Rumsfeld, where my house and my school were, respectively. West Rumsfeld was known for being slightly higher class than the rest of the city, meaning you had to have a lot of money if you wanted to rent or live in one of the various apartments or houses that dotted the place. Dad had built a few houses out here, but he told me that most West Rumsfeldians were not very good people and that most of them were rich, stuck up jerks.
I’d asked TW, before I left the house, if Jim was also a rich stuck up jerk, but TW told me that Jim was one of the poorer people in West Rumsfeld and that the only reason he lived here at all was because he had made some intelligent decisions in the stock market that allowed him to retire early. TW would not tell me how much money Jim had, exactly, mostly because TW himself did not know, but based on his comments, it sure sounded to me like Jim was a millionaire of some sort, which made TW’s comment about him being one of the ‘poorer’ people in West Rumsfeld rather questionable.
In any case, West Rumsfeld was definitely nicer than East Rumsfeld. The sidewalk I walked upon was so clean that it was practically shiny, while the lampposts that stood at regular intervals looked more like steel watchtowers than normal lampposts. The houses were all bigger and nicer than the ones back in my neighborhood, each one having its own fence and gate to protect its inhabitants from unwanted guests. Even the girls were hotter than the ones back in my neighborhood. I saw a couple of girls my age driving around in a really nice BMW and they looked more like college students than high school students, though sadly they didn’t pay me any attention as they zipped down the street past me.
It made me wish I had come here sooner, but I guess there wasn’t any way I was supposed to know that all of the hot girls were hiding here. Maybe one of them would make a better girlfriend than Debra, assuming any of these girls would be interested in dating a low class male like myself.
“How much farther do I have to walk until I get to Jim’s place, TW?” I said in my head as I walked.
“Not much farther now,” said TW. “Keep going and I’ll tell you when to stop.”
I hoped it was soon, because although I wore a light blue t-shirt and gym shorts, the sun was blazin
g hot today and I was looking forward to entering Jim’s undoubtedly air-conditioned apartment. I was sweating like crazy, forcing me to drink a lot of water from my water bottle. I thought this cold water bottle I took from the fridge would be enough to keep me hydrated, but I had underestimated how long I would have to walk from the bus station to Jim’s apartment and was starting to wish that I had chosen to lug an entire gallon of water with me, rather than just one bottle.
All of a sudden, TW said, “There it is, straight ahead.”
Raising my head, I saw a large apartment building coming up not too far ahead of me. It was about three or four stories, and looked even fancier than many of the houses I’d already walked past. It looked like it was made entirely out of glass, though I knew that it was just covered in windows and that the actual building was made out of more than just glass. Still, it was an impressive sight, one I would have stopped to admire if I had not been on an urgent mission.
“That’s it?” I said. “Looks awfully fancy.”
“According to the information I found, yes, that’s where he should be,” said TW. “I don’t know if he’s actually home or not, though when Gregory knew him, he wasn’t exactly much of a socialite and I doubt he’s become more extroverted over the years.”
I walked through the front door of the apartment building and found myself in a lavish foyer that looked more like the foyer of a bank than the foyer of an apartment building. I made my way up the stairs to the third floor, where Jim’s apartment was supposed to be. I didn’t take the elevator because it was already in use by the time I tried to use it and I was in such a hurry that I didn’t bother to wait for it to come back down. Besides, the air conditioning of the building’s foyer cooled me down a lot, so I didn’t find the flight of stairs that imposing to climb.
It wasn’t long before I found myself in front of the door to Apartment 217, which was also Jim’s residence according to TW’s research. I would not have known that if I hadn’t been looking, because the door was unmarked save for the numbers 217 etched in it in bright silver lettering.