by Lucas Flint
I frowned in annoyance. Rubberman had this tendency to come up with theories, but would never share them with me until he had more proof or evidence to support them. I understood not wanting to make hasty accusations which might turn out to be incorrect, but it was still annoying, because sometimes it felt like he expected me to read his mind.
“What we need to worry about is keeping you safe from him,” said Myster. “We know that ZZZ already knows your real identity, because he came after you at your house once. Because he failed to get you this time, I’m willing to bet he’ll come to your house and try again, perhaps even as soon as tonight.”
“Then we need to protect my house,” I said. “Could you guys stand guard around my house tonight? That might discourage ZZZ from attempting to kill me if he sees my house protected by two powerful superheroes.”
“That won’t work,” said Rubberman. “Your house isn’t safe or secure. Besides, that would risk revealing your secret identity to Myster and Cyberkid, which would make you lose your license. It would be better if you stayed here in the Elastic Cave with me.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why here?”
“Because the Elastic Cave is one of the safest and most secure places in the city,” said Rubberman. “ZZZ has never managed to break into here, nor will he ever. I don’t think he even knows where it’s located. If you stay in here, ZZZ will have a much harder time getting you.”
“Dennis is right,” said Myster. “You’d be much safer down here in the Elastic Cave than out there on the surface.”
“But what about my parents?” I said. “I know that ZZZ is after me, but what if he decides to come after my parents anyway?”
“I doubt he will,” said Rubberman. “ZZZ isn’t that kind of assassin. Once he picks a target, he never goes after the target’s friends or family unless they get in the way. Your parents will actually be much safer without you in the house, though if it will make you feel better, I can have Adams go and protect your family for the night.”
“I guess that will work,” I said. “But can I go back to my home for a moment and get my things and tell my parents what we’re going to do first? I don’t want them to worry.”
“Why do you need to go there and tell them in person?” said Rubberman. “It would be easier to simply call them and tell them over the phone about your temporary living arrangements.”
“I know, but I just want to see them one last time before I have to come back down here and get some of my things,” I said. “How long will I have to stay in the Elastic Cave, anyway?”
Rubberman shrugged. “Until ZZZ is no longer a threat, which, I will admit, is something that doesn’t have a particular schedule.”
“What about school?” I said. “I have school tomorrow, you know. It isn’t like I can just skip it.”
“You can still go to school if you want,” said Rubberman. “You’d just have to come back here every day, instead of going back home. School is not as safe as the Elastic Cave, but it is safer and closer than your home, so it shouldn’t be a problem for you to keep going there even with ZZZ looking for you.”
“But I’ve also got a date with Greta for Sunday,” I said. “Will I still be able to go out with her?”
“Probably not,” said Rubberman, shaking his head. “Unless you plan to have a date in the Elastic Cave, you would be safer and wiser to postpone the date for a less dangerous time.”
I bit my lower lip, even though I knew Rubberman had a point. Still, I didn’t want to have to tell Greta that I was going to have to put off our second date. The first date went so well that I knew that Greta was looking forward to our second one. Sure, she may have been acting a bit strangely recently, even keeping secrets from me, but one thing I did know for sure about her was that she really did like me and wanted to keep going out with me. She probably wouldn’t dump me if I told her we had to reschedule, but I didn’t think she’d be very happy to hear that anyway, not after I’d spent so much time putting off our last one.
Yet I didn’t want to put Greta’s life in danger, either, nor did I want to endanger the lives of my parents. I would not be able to explain why I had to do this, at least to her, but hopefully Greta would understand and would not let this create any hard feelings between us.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll call her up and let her know that we’ll need to postpone the date for another time. It won’t be an issue.”
“Wise choice,” said Rubberman. “I know it’s hard to do sometimes, but sometimes superheroes and sidekicks need to make these kinds of sacrifices. Once ZZZ is no longer a threat, your life will be able to go back to normal.”
I know Rubberman was trying to be encouraging, but it was hard for me to believe him, because ZZZ had so far managed to evade capture from us. What if ZZZ was never captured at all? Would I need to spend the rest of my life in the Elastic Cave, stuck in my tiny little room, hoping that ZZZ would never break in and kill me?
Okay, I was being dramatic, but that didn’t change the fact that my life was going to be very different for the foreseeable future. I just hoped that Myster and Cyberkid could stop ZZZ soon so I wouldn’t have to spend the rest of my life down here, but somehow, I doubted they would have much luck in that area.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
After that, Myster and Cyberkid left the Elastic Cave, with Myster promising to let us know if he and Cyberkid found any more clues pointing to ZZZ’s current location. I know he meant well when he said that, but all his promise did was make me even more depressed than before, if only because I wasn’t so sure that they would succeed.
When Myster and Cyberkid left, I also left the Elastic Cave, clocking out as I did so. While it was now obvious that ZZZ was after me, that did not mean it was entirely unsafe to travel back home by myself. It seemed unlikely that ZZZ would attempt to attack me again so soon after his second failed attack. Most likely, it would be at least another day or two before ZZZ struck again, which was more than enough time for me to go home and tell my parents about my temporary change in living arrangements. It helped that Rubberman gave me a tracking device, which he would use to ensure I made it home safely.
Normally, I would take my usual route back home, which would require winding through Golden City’s various alleyways and back streets in order to avoid the evening traffic. But this time, I took a different route, one which would take me closer to the suburbs than through the city itself. I partly did that for safety reasons; from my perspective, I figured ZZZ would be far more likely to try to attack me in an isolated alleyway or abandoned back street than in the populated suburbs full of nosy people who didn’t understand the concept of minding their own business.
But this particular route I took would also take me by Greta’s house. While I had originally intended to simply call Greta to reschedule the date, I decided instead that I would just stop by her house for a moment to tell her the news personally. It would take me a little out of the way, but Greta’s house was not that far off my usual path, so it probably wouldn’t take too much time to do.
It wasn’t long before I biked up the driveway to Greta’s house. I saw no cars in the driveway, which would have made me think that no one was home if I hadn’t spotted a light on in one of the second story windows. I didn’t know if that was Greta’s room or not, given how I had never even entered her house before, but I took it as a sign that someone was home and hopefully that someone was Greta, unless she was out with her friends or something like that. It probably wasn’t her dad, because he was out of town today, but maybe he had gotten back early or something like that.
I leaned my bike against their mailbox and walked up to the front door. I knocked on the door a few times and then stepped back, just in case Mr. Hammond appeared in the doorway and told me to leave again.
I expected to wait for a while, because I did not see any other lights on in the house except for the second story one, but to my surprise, the door opened quickly and I found myself face-to-face with Greta, much to
my relief. She was wearing her usual pink t-shirt and jeans, her golden blonde hair done in cute braids, but she looked very worried, like she had been expecting to see something bad outside the door. But she smiled when she saw me, which made my heart flutter. I noticed that she stood with only half of her body visible; the other half was hidden behind the door, though I didn’t care about that because she still looked great.
“Alex?” said Greta. “I didn’t know you were coming by to visit today.”
“Yeah, I didn’t know, either,” I said, rubbing my arm unconsciously. “I was just in the neighborhood and I, uh, thought I would stop by and say hi. Is your father home, by the way?”
Greta shook her head. “No, he’s out of town. He won’t be back for a week, at least. Why do you want to know?”
“Oh, er, no reason,” I said, folding my hands behind my back. “I really just wanted to see you, actually, not your father. I mean, I’ve got nothing against your father, but—”
“Sorry, but this isn’t a good time,” said Greta, shaking her head. “I’d love to hang and chat, but my dad doesn’t want me letting boys into the house while he’s away and I’ve got stuff to do anyway. Why don’t we talk at school tomorrow?”
Greta tried to close the door, but I held out a hand and caught the door before it closed.
“Hey, wait,” I said, slightly straining against the door; Greta was stronger than I thought. “I don’t need to come into the house. I just wanted to talk.”
“Sorry, but no talking to boys, either,” said Greta, who sounded like she was straining herself. “My dad is okay with me talking to boys in school, but not at home, at least when he’s not here. Maybe you can call me later or something?”
“No, I want to talk now,” I said. “It will just … take … a … minute!”
Without warning, I accidentally shoved the door forward. Greta fell backwards onto the floor as the door opened, while I just stood there, arm outright, temporarily shocked at my own strength. I knew I’d gotten stronger since I started working for Rubberman, but I didn’t realize I was strong enough to knock her back like that.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, lowering my hands and looking down at her with concern. “I just don’t know my own strength sometimes. Are you—”
I stopped speaking when I saw her right arm, the one that had been hidden behind the door. Because she was wearing a t-shirt, both of her arms were visible, allowing me to see them both clearly. The left arm was normal; however, the right arm was bandaged heavily, as if it had been cut up or burned badly at some point.
But that wasn’t what really caught my attention. What caught my attention was what it reminded me of: The Robber, who I had managed to shoot with my eye beams before he got away. And I had shot him in exactly that spot.
Greta sat up, rubbing her head and said, “No, it’s fine, Alex, I’m okay, I—”
She stopped speaking almost immediately when she noticed that I was staring at her arm. She tried to hide it behind her back, but it was too late, because I’d already seen it.
“Greta … what happened to your arm?” I asked. My voice was calmer than usual, but that was just to keep down the fear that was starting to rise within me as my mind put two and two together.
“N-Nothing,” said Greta in the most unconvincing tone I’d ever heard in my whole life. “I was just, uh, walking down the street when a dog jumped me and I fell. Scraped my arm against the pavement.”
“You scraped it so badly that your whole arm needed to be bandaged?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Really?”
Greta bit her lower lip. Tears started to appear at the corners of her eyes, like she was about to cry. That made me feel bad, because I didn’t like seeing her sad, but at the same time, I wasn’t about to drop the subject just because she might be upset.
“Okay, I lied,” said Greta. She wiped away her tears. “I actually cut my arm on a knife when I was in the kitchen. I—”
“Greta, I know you’re still lying to me,” I said, interrupting her. “You didn’t cut your arm at all, did you?”
The tears were now streaming down Greta’s cheeks like water down a waterfall. She said, in a small voice, “Okay, you’re right. I lied.”
I nodded. “Tell me the truth, then. How did you actually harm your arm?”
“Will you promise not to tell anyone?” said Greta. “Please?”
If Greta had harmed her arm the way I thought she did, there was no way I could make such a promise in good faith; however, I nodded once anyway, mostly because I needed to have my fears confirmed.
Greta took a deep, shuddering breath, and then said, “I’m the infamous Robber and I harmed my arm while fighting Beams, the sidekick of Rubberman.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Even though I’d suspected that Greta was the Robber, actually hearing the admission come from her own lips was unreal. I wanted to tell myself that I was dreaming, but I knew for a fact that I was still quite awake and conscious. Besides, there was no way I could ever dream of Greta crying the way she was now; such a thought hurt my heart too much to even think about.
“I’m sorry,” said Greta, sniffling. “I’m so sorry for not telling you. I just—”
“Why?” I said. “I mean, how long have you been the Robber? Does your father know?”
Greta nodded shakily. “Yes. Actually … he’s the reason I’m the Robber in the first place.”
I stepped into the house and closed the door behind me; I didn’t want any of her neighbors possibly overhearing this conversation. “I don’t understand. Are you telling me that your father is a criminal and that he’s made you one as well?”
“It’s not like that,” said Greta. “It’s more complicated. It’s—”
Greta suddenly burst into tears and put her face into her hands. This sudden outburst of emotion startled and confused me, but I moved over to her and patted her on the shoulder awkwardly, mostly because I didn’t know what else to do to make her feel better.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said in a soothing a voice as I could. “There’s no need to cry. I’m not going to—”
“Not going to what, report me to the police?” said Greta, looking up at me again, her eyes watery. “And become my accomplice in the process? Yeah, right.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, Greta,” I said. “But I do know that you should tell me what is going on with you and your dad. I know it might be hard, even scary, but I really do want to understand why you did what you did. I don’t want you or your dad to go to jail, not if I can help it.”
Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have said that. As a sidekick, I was required by law to report any and all criminals to the police; actually, I had a legal obligation to stop any criminals in the area in which Rubberman operated. Because Greta’s home was located in the suburbs of Golden City, that meant I technically had the right to arrest her and take her to the police like any other criminal.
Yet I couldn’t do that, at least not when Greta was so depressed and miserable. I didn’t think she was a bad person, necessarily, and there seemed to be more going on than met the eye. Besides, arresting Greta would reveal my secret identity to the world and I couldn’t afford to lose my license. By the time we were done talking, I’d know what to do.
Greta sniffled and wiped away more of her tears. “O-Okay. We can sit down in my living room and talk.”
Greta got up and walked into the living room adjacent to the entryway and I followed. I didn’t pay much attention to the living room except to note that it was a lot fancier than the living room of my home. Greta sat down on the plush sofa, while I took a seat in a recliner opposite her. I wanted to sit next to her, but on the other hand, I also wanted to keep my distance, because I didn’t know if I could trust her anymore and I wasn’t sure what she was going to tell me.
Greta pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. She sniffled for a moment, and then said, “All right. Do you remember what I told you about my dad,
how he goes out of town on business and how he works for an important man?”
I nodded. “Yes, I remember that. What does he actually do?”
Greta cringed, as if I’d just slapped her, but then she said, “Well, that was a lie, too. The truth is that my dad doesn’t go out of town for business reasons, and the man he works for … well, he’s not a good man, I can say that much.”
I didn’t say anything, partly because I’d already suspected that much on my own, but partly because I wanted Greta to be able to talk without interruption. I didn’t want to interrupt her chain of thought or make her forget any important details.
“I’ll just get straight to the point,” said Greta with a slight sniffle. “My dad is a thief, who you may know as the Silent Shadow.”
I frowned. “The Silent Shadow? I’ve never heard of him.”
“Few have, because my dad is so good at stealing that most of his thefts have never been traced back to him,” said Greta. “He knows how to break into almost any building in the world. No matter how good your security is, my dad can get in and out without anyone even being aware of his presence. He’s that good.”
“How long has your dad been the Silent Shadow?”
“I don’t know,” said Greta. She wiped her eyes. “He’s pretty secretive about his past, but I think he got started when he was my age. He told me about a thieves’ guild he belonged to, but I don’t know whether that guild even still exists or if it ever actually existed. My dad doesn’t always tell me the truth. I guess that’s where I got my own talent for lying from.”
I bit my lower lip, because a lot of things were starting to make sense now. “And now he’s training you to follow in his footsteps.”
Greta nodded. “Yes. He’s taught me everything he knows. He wants me to become a great thief like him and he says I’m already better than he was when I was his age. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do know that I am pretty good at it.”