First Date (Minimum Wage Sidekick Book 2)

by Lucas Flint

  In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how stupid I had been to draw Pyro deeper into the park. I should have tried to keep him back there in the clearing, where Rubberman and Myster would have had a shot at taking him down. Instead, I had accidentally lured him into a situation where I could expect no back up from anyone. Even Cyberkid wouldn’t be able to help me here; not that I expected him to, given how much he hated me, but the fact that he couldn’t help me even if he wanted was a big problem.

  But I couldn’t let myself panic. I looked around carefully, trying to spot Pyro through the smoke and flames, but no matter where I looked, I couldn’t spot the villain anywhere. It was possible that he had decided to leave me alone to allow the flames and smoke to kill me, but that didn’t seem very likely. Most likely, Pyro was prowling around outside of my vision, looking for the right moment to strike.

  All of a sudden, a huge blast of fire burst out of the smoke to my right. Startled, I jumped to the left, just barely avoiding the flames, which came so close that they actually brushed against my suit, blackening a portion of it. Coming to a stop, I looked over at the spot from which the flames had erupted and saw Pyro standing in a gap between the smoke, holding his flamethrower in both hands like a gun.

  “Quick one, aren’t you?” said Pyro, his voice full of madness. “I thought I had you there for a moment, but I guess you’re faster than I thought. Not that it matters, because I have you right where I want you.”

  I was about to ask him what he meant by that, but then Pyro lifted his flamethrower and spewed forth another continuous stream of fire. I unleashed my eye beams at the same time and my beams collided with his fire, creating an explosion that knocked me over. I heard Pyro scream in rage and pain, but I was so stunned by the blast myself that I didn’t pay much attention to his screams. I did, however, scramble back to my feet and looked over at him to see what had happened.

  Pyro’s flamethrower lay at his feet, the exhaust port blown up. He was clutching his right hand, like it had been burned, and was cursing under his breath all sorts of curse words, including a few I’d never heard before. The explosion created by the collision between my beams and his flames must have blown apart his flamethrower, which had probably harmed his hand in the process.

  Because Pyro was so distracted by his own wounded hand, he would probably not be able to dodge any attacks from me, so I was about to shoot him again when a sudden drowsiness came over me. I blinked my eyes rapidly, but I felt so tired. At first, I thought it was because I hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, but my body began to feel heavier and heavier and my eyelids harder and harder to keep open. It was happening too fast, much faster than it should have, and I could feel my consciousness slipping away between my fingers.

  Through my foggy, sleepy mind, I realized when I’d felt this way before: When ZZZ attacked me at my house. That meant that ZZZ was somewhere nearby, using his sleep powers to make me go to sleep.

  Desperately, I looked around for him, but with all of the smoke and flame surrounding me, I could not see ZZZ anywhere. I guess that made sense, because if I could see him, I would be able to stop him, and he definitely didn’t want me to stop him.

  Regardless, I couldn’t fall asleep in here. While my costume protected me from the worst of the flames and smoke, the fact was that falling asleep in a burning forest was still very dangerous. I couldn’t count on Rubberman, Myster, or even Cyberkid coming to my rescue, because none of them had the right equipment to enter this area. I needed to get out of here, and fast, before ZZZ’s sleep spell knocked me out for good.

  I looked over at Pyro, who was now lying on the ground sleeping for some reason. I realized that he must have been affected by ZZZ’s sleep spell as well, perhaps unintentionally, because as far as I knew ZZZ was not trying to kill him. I thought about just abandoning Pyro in the fire and smoke, but at the same time, I didn’t want to leave him to die here, even if he was my enemy. He needed to be brought to justice, like any criminal. Besides, I’d probably get into legal trouble if the police found out I intentionally left this guy to die.

  With a huge yawn, I walked over to Pyro and began tugging him in the direction which seemed least smoky. But it was hard, because Pyro was surprisingly heavy, no doubt due to his heavy fire equipment. It didn’t help that I was not a very strong man myself, but I didn’t drop him. I just kept pulling him, dragging him across the grass and leaves, trying to ignore the flames and smoke which were getting worse and worse by the minute. My eyes kept drooping; it was getting harder and harder to keep them open, and if I didn’t get out of here quickly, I’d fall asleep very soon and be trapped among the burning trees.

  All I wanted to do was go … to … sleep …

  The sound of wood cracking above woke me up and made me look up in time to see another branch falling toward me. I let go of Pyro and tried to dodge, but I was extremely sluggish and could not get out of the way in time. The branch crashed on top of me, knocking me to the ground and leaving me trapped under its weight. The branch was not too heavy for me to lift; however, with the breath knocked out of my lungs and my body feeling so sleepy, I couldn’t muster the strength necessary to push it off. The branch was also really hot, which I could feel through my costume’s fabric.

  Nonetheless, I tried to push myself up, but even that simple gesture was too much for me in my tired state. I fell onto the ground again, my eyes heavier than ever. I realized that this was the end. I was going to die and there was nothing I could do about it. At least I would die asleep; that way, I wouldn’t have to feel the fire eat away at my flesh.

  Bu then something burst out of the nearby flames and smoke. Through my heavy-lidded eyes, I saw that it was Cyberkid, but he looked a little different. He wore a mask over the lower half of his mouth that seemed to resemble Pyro’s gas mask, which was probably how he was breathing in this heavy smoke. He immediately spotted me and, running over to me, kicked the heavy branch off my body.

  “Cyberkid,” I said in a weak voice. “You need to get out of here. You can’t save us both.”

  Cyberkid snorted. “Not everyone is as weak as you, you know.”

  Cyberkid hauled me over his shoulder with surprising strength and grabbed Pyro by the collar of his costume. With a roar of his rocket boots, Cyberkid flew straight up into the air, still holding firmly onto me and Pyro. We passed through the burning treetops and branches and leaves until we burst out into the open sky above, though we were still surrounded on all sides by smoke.

  Not that that bothered Cyberkid, who flew through the smoke in a random direction until we emerged from it into the cool, clear air of the city. At the same time, my drowsiness suddenly vanished and I felt wide awake again, although the lower half of my body still hurt from where I’d been crushed by the branch.

  Cyberkid flew me and Pyro over to a clearing well away from the burning trees, toward a gazebo where Rubberman and Myster stood looking anxious. The two superheroes looked up at us as we approached and I saw a relieved smile appear on Rubberman’s lips, while Myster also looked relieved. I heard police sirens and firefighter sirens somewhere nearby, but I couldn’t see them at the moment. I just hoped that the firefighters would be able to put out the flames before they caused too much destruction.

  When Cyberkid landed on the ground, he dropped me and Pyro unceremoniously.

  “Ow!” I said, sitting up and rubbing my back. I looked up at Cyberkid. “You could have put me down a bit more gently, you know.”

  Cyberkid shrugged. “You seem fine to me.”

  I opened my mouth to argue that point, but Rubberman said, “Beams, I’m so glad you’re safe. I thought you might be a goner in there, but then Cyberkid went in and saved you without either Myster or me even telling him to.”

  “Someone had to,” said Cyberkid. He gestured at the unconscious Pyro. “Also, I got the villain. He seems to be asleep.”

  “He is,” I said as I rose to my feet. I glanced at my costume, frowning at th
e blackened spots on it that were created by the fire. “And I almost fell asleep, too, but thankfully Cyberkid saved me just in the nick of time.”

  “Why did you almost fall asleep?” said Rubberman. “How can you fall asleep in the middle of a burning forest?”

  “That’s not it,” I said. “I think ZZZ is somewhere in the park. He must have used his powers to try to make me fall asleep. He was probably hoping I would fall asleep in the fire and get burned to death.”

  “ZZZ is here?” said Myster, looking around wildly. “Where is he? I don’t see him.”

  “I don’t know where he is, exactly,” I said. “He might not even be here anymore. If the police are around, I bet he’s already long gone, hiding wherever he’s hiding.”

  “Not necessarily,” said Myster. He gestured at the park. “This is a pretty big park, which means that there’s a good chance that ZZZ is still somewhere nearby. Cyberkid and I will search the area for him.”

  I frowned and looked over at the burning trees; I noticed that the fire was dying down, because it was being sprayed by water from the Golden City Fire Department’s trucks. “Are you sure about that? With the park on fire, it might be wise to wait until the fire department has the flames under control before searching for anyone.”

  “I understand your concerns, but the flames might be slowing down ZZZ’s progress, if he’s still here,” said Myster. “If Cyberkid and I move fast, we might still be able to catch him before he escapes. You two, on the other hand, should go back to the Elastic Cave, especially you, Beams, given how you were stuck in the middle of all that fire.”

  Before I could say anything to that, Myster flew into the air, flying toward the other side of the park. Cyberkid followed him on his rocket boots, although he flew somewhat slower than Myster. Soon, the two were out of sight, leaving Rubberman and I standing alone, watching the firefighters doing their best to put out Pyro’s fires.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  After handing over the unconscious Pyro to the police, Rubberman and I returned to the Elastic Cave, where Adams inspected my costume and my body to ensure that I hadn’t suffered any severe burns. Luckily, my costume had protected my body from the worst of the flames and none of the smoke had gotten into my lungs; however, my costume had been blackened and even nearly burned away in a few places, which meant that it would need to be replaced. Rubberman gave me an extra suit; apparently he had ordered at least a dozen extra suits for me when I first started working for him, which was a common practice in the superhero industry, because it was normal for your costume to get damaged beyond repair in this industry. Rubberman had several dozen extra suits for himself, too, though since his costume wasn’t damaged like mine, he didn’t have to replace his today.

  I spent the rest of my work day with Rubberman in the Elastic Cave, training in the Rubber Room, watching news reports on various superhero-related news around the country, and checking out the new box of merchandise that had just arrived in the mail today. It included another prototype of my figure from the upcoming Real Sidekicks line, except this one had more accurate colors than the last one. It also came with a stand that you could pose the figure on, which was pretty cool, I have to admit.

  But I didn’t pay as much attention to that as I normally would have, because I was too busy wondering whether Myster and Cyberkid had caught ZZZ yet. Neither I nor Rubberman had heard any news from those two yet. That either meant they were closely on ZZZ’s trail or they were having no luck whatsoever in catching him. There was also the possibility that they had been killed by ZZZ, but I tried not to think about that, because it didn’t help my mood.

  Finally, a couple of hours later, just as I was getting ready to clock out and go home for the day, Myster sent Rubberman a message notifying him that he and Cyberkid were on their way to the Elastic Cave with news about ZZZ. So Rubberman had Adams open the secret vehicle entrance for the Rubbermobile and, a few minutes later, Myster and Cyberkid came motoring down the tunnel that connected Level Two to the surface. They rode on Myster’s motorcycle, which was loud and noisy in the enclosed space, but it didn’t take away from how cool Myster’s motorcycle looked.

  Rubberman and I stood near the Rubbermobile, watching as Myster and Cyberkid approached us. The two looked normal at a distance, but as they got closer, I noticed that Myster looked rather exhausted, while Cyberkid was rubbing his neck like he had hurt it somehow. That did not seem like a very good sign to me, and the fact that they had not told us that they captured ZZZ made me think that their mission must have been a failure. But that didn’t explain why they had returned on their mission, if all they wanted to do was tell us they had failed.

  When Myster’s motorcycle came to a stop next to the Rubbermobile, Rubberman stepped forward and said, “Mark, welcome back. How did your mission go?”

  “Not so well, unfortunately,” said Myster as he took off his helmet and placed it on the handlebar of his bike. “We searched all over the park, even recruited a few police officers to help, but we couldn’t find ZZZ. He seemed to have vanished into thin air.”

  “Dang it,” I said. “I was hoping you guys might finally capture him, but I guess today wasn’t our day, huh?”

  “Yes,” said Myster, nodding. He rubbed his forehead. “But our search wasn’t entirely fruitless. Cyberkid, show them what you found.”

  Rubberman and I looked at Cyberkid, who sat in the side car attached to Myster’s motorcycle. Cyberkid pulled out something from between his feet and said, “Here’s what we found.”

  I looked more closely at the object in Cyberkid’s hands. It was a wallet of some sort, slightly blackened like it had been exposed to flame, but otherwise in good condition.

  “It’s a wallet,” said Rubberman. He looked at Myster. “Is it ZZZ’s wallet?”

  “We think so,” said Myster. “We found it near the scene of the battle with Pyro. It clearly wasn’t dropped by one of us, so we assume that ZZZ must have dropped it accidentally when he ran away, perhaps too scared by the fire to notice or stop to pick it up.”

  “Interesting,” said Rubberman. “Does it have any identifying information in it that we could use to locate him?”

  “That’s the problem,” said Cyberkid. He opened the wallet and turned it upside down. “It’s empty. No money, no credit cards, no driver’s license or anything else. It is just an empty wallet.”

  “Then what was the point of bringing it here in the first place?” I asked. “If there isn’t anything in that wallet that could help us find ZZZ, you might as well have left it at the park for all the good it will do for us.”

  “Because it wasn’t entirely empty,” said Myster. “We also found this inside it.”

  Myster held up a piece of paper. Like the wallet, the paper was slightly burnt around the edges, but the words on it were still easy to read: INVOICE FOR PYRO’S SERVICES.

  “Pyro’s services?” I repeated. “What does that mean?”

  “It’s quite obvious,” said Rubberman, stroking his chin. “ZZZ must have hired Pyro to attack the park. He knew that would draw us out into the open, where he could use his powers to try to kill me. Pyro must have dropped it at some point during the battle. Right, Mark?”

  “Close, Dennis, but not quite on target,” said Myster. He lowered the invoice. “The invoice doesn’t even mention you at all.”

  “What?” said Rubberman. “But I thought ZZZ was hired by someone to kill me.”

  “Maybe he is, but this invoice doesn’t name you at all,” said Myster. “Instead, it names your sidekick, Beams.”

  “Me?” I said, putting my hands on my chest. “Why am I on it?”

  Myster looked straight at me, his expression grim. “Because you’re ZZZ’s target, not Rubberman, as we originally thought.”

  A sense of horror washed over me. My hands became sweaty and I felt cold. “You mean … someone hired ZZZ to kill me?”

  Myster nodded. “Yes. That’s the conclusion I’ve arrived at since Cyberkid and I
came to Golden City.”

  I rubbed my arm nervously. “But when you first came here, you said that ZZZ was trying to kill Rubberman.”

  “That’s what we thought when we first learned about ZZZ’s presence in Golden City,” said Myster. He glanced at the invoice. “But this invoice disproves that theory. ZZZ was never after Rubberman. He was after you the whole time.”

  “But how can you possibly know this?” I said. “That invoice isn’t definitive proof, you know.”

  “It isn’t just the invoice,” said Myster. “Think about everything that’s happened recently. First, ZZZ has never tried to attack Rubberman, not in the Elastic Cave or out on the streets. Yet he’s tried to kill you at least two times, including once in your own home. He’s displayed next to no interest in attacking Rubberman, but has taken advantage of nearly every opportunity to take you out.”

  I had to admit that Myster had a point, but I still couldn’t accept the idea that one of the deadliest assassins in the world was trying to kill me. “It still doesn’t make sense. Who would hire ZZZ to kill me? I don’t have any enemies. Well, there was Fro-Zen, but he’s dead, so—”

  “It doesn’t matter who hired him,” said Rubberman. “I think that Myster is right. I’ve been wondering why ZZZ has never even come close to me, yet he’s come after you twice. It is logical to conclude that you are ZZZ’s target, not me.”

  “But I still want to know who hired him,” I said. “Do either of you two have any idea who might have done it?”

  Rubberman and Myster exchanged knowing looks, looks I didn’t like one bit. They clearly had their theories about who would hire an assassin to kill a teenager, but they didn’t want to share it with me for some reason.

  “Until we get more proof, it’s best not to make any hasty accusations,” said Rubberman. “I’d rather not accuse anyone of committing a crime until I have more evidence to back it up.”