by Lucas Flint
Rubberman nodded. “I understand, but I don’t think it will be quite that long before you will be able to sleep in your own bed again. ZZZ won’t be here forever. At some point, either we’ll catch him or he’ll leave because he can’t kill you. Either way, I’m sure you won’t have to stay here forever or even for a very long time, although of course I can’t guarantee when we’ll catch him.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said. I sighed. “But ZZZ has never been caught before, has he? How do we know if we’ll ever capture him?”
“Because we know who he is after,” Rubberman replied. “And Myster and I are both experienced, capable superheroes. It helps that the police are also on the lookout for him. I expect us to find him any day now, actually, because we have so many people on the lookout for him.”
That should have encouraged me, but for some reason it didn’t. Maybe it was because ZZZ wasn’t just an ordinary criminal, but an infamous assassin and thief who had killed people far more important than me before. And, while I trusted the police of Golden City, I wasn’t sure if they were capable of capturing someone like ZZZ. I would just have to trust that Rubberman and Myster knew what they were doing and would take him down before he even got me.
“Anyway,” said Rubberman, “you look pretty tired. You should get some sleep, especially since you have school tomorrow.”
“Right,” I said, nodding. I rose from my seat and yawned. “Yeah, today was crazy. I think I’m going to sleep well tonight.”
I turned and walked toward the door. Just as I put my hand on the doorknob, Rubberman said, “Alex?” and I stopped and looked over my shoulder at him.
“Yes?” I said. “What is it?”
Rubberman looked at me with determination like I had never seen before. “Don’t worry about ZZZ. I promise you that we’ll take him down before he ever even gets close to you. Understand?”
I nodded again. “Yes, I do. Thanks for the reassurance.”
I opened the door and exited the office, but deep down, I couldn’t help but feel—despite Rubberman’s assurances—that things were about to get a lot worse for all of us. I hoped it was just a feeling.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Surprisingly enough, I actually slept well that night. I guess I must have just been very exhausted from the excitement of the previous day. I didn’t even dream; however, when I woke up, my mind immediately returned to my conversation with Greta. It kind of felt like how I did the day after an intense workout or fight; I hurt in places I didn’t even know existed, and a part of me didn’t even want to get up out of bed. I wondered if Adams or Rubberman would accept a broken heart as an excuse not to go to school today or do any work.
But I knew that they wouldn’t be very impressed with my teenage angst, so I dragged myself out of bed, took a shower, and had breakfast. Rubberman was not at breakfast when I got to the kitchen; apparently he was out in response to an early morning robbery that the police needed help dealing with. As a result, it was just me and Adams, although Adams spent most of the time reading the news while I ate my eggs and bacon in silence. I also called my parents to talk to them and let them know that I was okay, although Mom sounded like she was just about ready to pack up and move into the Elastic Cave with me, so I had to talk her down to convince her that she and Dad didn’t need to do anything now that I was safely in the Elastic Cave,
After that, I went to school for the day and got there much earlier than usual due to the Elastic Cave being closer to my school than my home was. Part of me looked forward to seeing Greta, but another part of me didn’t want to see her again, especially so soon after we broke up. I didn’t even want to be in the same classroom as her, but at the same time, I also didn’t want to let her out of my sight. Emotions sure were confusing.
Oddly enough, Greta didn’t show up at school at all today. I asked her friends where she was, but they all just shrugged and told me that they didn’t know where she was, nor had she contacted any of them. The cynical part of me said that Greta was out robbing some rich person’s house somewhere, while the more optimistic part of me said that she might have gotten sick again and had to stay home from school. I did see Charlotte, Myster’s daughter, though, but she mostly ignored me, as she usually did, though I overheard her talking with one of her friends about how Beams had to be one of the school’s football team players, because there was no way a sidekick as ‘hot’ as Beams could be anything else. I had to restrain myself from correcting her on that, although I noticed that the school quarterback, Dean McCoury, flirted with her in a way that seemed to imply that he was Beams, which I found hilarious, if only because I knew what he really wanted from her.
All throughout the school day, I kept expecting ZZZ to show up and attack me during class. Every time I felt tired or sleepy, fear would rush through me and I would look around in alarm, trying to spot ZZZ, but I never did see him, nor did my tiredness or sleepiness ever last for very long. It didn’t seem likely that ZZZ would show up at my school to kill me; on the other hand, it hadn’t seemed likely that he would follow me to my house and attempt to kill me in my own backyard, either, so I felt justified in keeping my eyes and ears open for ZZZ. You never knew what he might try to do, especially if he was getting desperate, which I felt he must be, given how he had failed to kill me twice so far, which didn’t reflect very well on a man who is supposedly one of the world’s greatest assassins.
When the bell rang, I felt both relieved and yet more anxious than ever, because now I would get to go back to the Elastic Cave and start work there. That would require biking back to the Cave, which meant leaving myself open to possible attack from ZZZ. But I had no choice. It wasn’t like I could call up Rubberman and ask him to give me a ride back in the Rubbermobile, after all. After saying good bye to Frank, I hopped on my bike and made my way back to the Elastic Cave as fast as I could.
Thankfully, I made the journey back to the Elastic Cave without being attacked or running into any other issues. Granted, I almost ran over a homeless person, who I thought was ZZZ until I noticed that she was a woman, but other than that, the ride back was smooth. In fact, it was so smooth that I got back to the Elastic Cave about ten minutes earlier than usual. I didn’t relax entirely, however, until I was on the elevator going down to Level One. At that point, I allowed myself to relax, because I knew that I was safe in here.
When the elevator reached Level One and the doors opened, I stepped out of the elevator and found Adams sitting at Mission Control, apparently monitoring the news. I remembered that Adams had taken to monitoring the news for any reports of ZZZ’s presence in Golden City, though so far none of the local news channels or websites had mentioned any sightings of ZZZ. Still, Rubberman had thought it would be a good idea to have someone monitoring the news for information about ZZZ, and because Adams was in the Cave almost all the time, he had volunteered to do this.
“Hi, Adams,” I said as the elevator doors closed behind me. “Any news on ZZZ yet?”
Adams glanced over his shoulder before returning his focus to the monitors before him. “Not yet, Mr. Fry. There was a report about the presence of a dangerous assassin in Golden City, but it was mostly just a warning to anyone watching not to approach ZZZ if they see him in public and to report him to the police or Rubberman if they see him. None of the local news stations seem to know where ZZZ could possibly be. How was your trip back from school, by the way?”
“Safe,” I said with a shrug. “I didn’t get killed by ZZZ, at least. I didn’t even see him. Maybe he gave up and went back home.”
Adams snorted. “ZZZ never gives up a job, no matter how hard it is. Most likely, he’s just biding his time, waiting for the right moment to strike. In any event, you need to get dressed and clocked in to start your work day.”
I nodded and turned to leave, but a question occurred to me suddenly and I stopped and looked at Adams again. “Where is Rubberman? Is he in his office?”
Adams sighed. “That earlier robbery that forced
Mr. Pullman to leave the Cave earlier this morning? Well, it turned out to have been orchestrated by the supervillain known as Fireworks as a way to lure Rubberman out of the Elastic Cave. Ever heard of him?”
I shook my head. “No. Was he in this year’s fourth of July parade?”
“Of course not,” said Adams. “Fireworks is a supervillain who can make explosions with his hands, who Mr. Pullman has had some unpleasant experiences with in the past. He ambushed Mr. Pullman when he showed up to foil the robbery and, while Mr. Pullman managed to defeat him and his minions, the injuries Mr. Pullman sustained forced him to go to the hospital.”
“Is he okay?”
“According to the doctor, Mr. Pullman should recover, but they want him to stay in the Golden City General Hospital overnight,” said Adams. “Based on how the doctor described the injuries, I imagine that Mr. Pullman’s healing factor will deal with most of the damage, so he should be fine by tomorrow morning.”
I gulped. “If Rubberman is staying in the hospital tonight, doesn’t that leave the Elastic Cave undefended? I mean, yes, you and me are here, but we’re not as strong as Rubberman. If ZZZ—”
“Relax,” said Adams. He turned his chair around, putting the tips of his fingers together. “The Elastic Cave is equipped with the best state-of-the-art defenses systems that money can buy. Even if ZZZ managed to break in, the Cave’s security systems would make short work of him before we even knew he got inside.”
“I know, but I still don’t feel very safe,” I said. “ZZZ has a reputation for always killing his target. I bet he could find a way around the Cave’s security systems if he wanted.”
“Perhaps, but it is highly unlikely that he could,” said Adams. He smiled a wolfish grin. “Besides, it’s been a long time since I’ve gotten a chance to beat up a louse like him. I’d be more than happy to put these old muscles to use teaching him a thing or two about threatening the lives of innocent teenagers.”
Even though I knew that Adams had been in the military and was a great fighter, that didn’t mean much to me, because I knew that the right powers could nullify even the widest gulf in physical strength. On the other hand, it was comforting to know that Adams was willing to protect my life, and a little surprising, too, because I’d been under the impression that Adams didn’t care much for me, at least not as much as he cared for Rubberman, anyway.
But I didn’t feel like talking to Adams further, so I just went to my room, threw on my costume, and left. I finished clocking in for the day when I heard the elevator descending, causing both me and Adams to look toward it uncertainly.
“Are we expecting any visitors today?” I said, looking at Adams.
Adams shook his head. “No. And I should know that, because I am in charge of scheduling Mr. Pullman’s guests. I can’t imagine who could be here.”
An ominous feeling ran down my spine. “Do you think it could be … well, you know who?”
Adams rose from his chair, which was when I noticed a gun holstered at his hip. “Unlikely, but you never know. I will stand to the right of the door and you on the left. As soon as our unannounced visitor steps out, we’ll jump him and try to overpower him before he can do anything. And let me turn off the lights, too, just to make sure they can’t see us.”
The plan seemed solid enough, but if our ‘visitor’ was ZZZ, there was a good chance it might not work out exactly the way we wanted. Still, I went and stood on the left side of the elevator doors, while Adams stood opposite me on the right side. We both stood in such a way that it would be impossible for whoever was in the elevator to see us unless they walked out, and by the time they did that, Adams and I would spring our trap and take them down. Especially when Adams turned off the lights, which would hopefully leave the intruder too disoriented to fight back.
Finally, there was a ding from the elevator and the doors opened. Someone stepped out of the elevator, but I didn’t wait to see who it was before I tackled them from behind, knocking them to the floor and causing them to yelp in surprise. The intruder struggled underneath me, but I stayed on top of them the whole time. I grabbed onto everything I could and, oddly enough, felt some kind of strange, metal mask over the person’s head, which I did not remember ZZZ wearing, but he could have just been wearing a helmet for his own safety. I found his neck and began squeezing, intending to choke the air out of him to knock him out.
“Hey, what’s going on?” said the person under me, their voice instantly recognizable. “Get off me!”
I stopped trying to choke the life out of the person, because I recognized his voice. “Cyberkid, is that you? What are you doing here?”
“Yes, it’s me, you idiot” said Cyberkid in an annoyed voice. “Now stop choking me and turn on the lights. Can’t see a damn thing in here.”
Abruptly, the lights turned on and I found myself straddling Cyberkid with my hands around his neck. Cyberkid’s hands were on my arms, futilely trying to pull my hands off his neck, but I let go of his neck, stood up, and stepped off his body. Cyberkid sat up, rubbing his neck and grumbling indistinctly under his breath.
“Sorry, man,” I said. “We thought you were ZZZ.” I held out a hand. “Need a hand up?”
Cyberkid just glared at me and stood up himself. “Why would you think I was ZZZ? Do I look like a sleepy homeless person to you?”
“We couldn’t see who it was,” I said. “The lights were off, in case you didn’t notice, because we wanted to have the advantage of surprise in case you were ZZZ.”
“Yeah, I definitely didn’t notice the lights were off when I stepped out of the elevator,” said Cyberkid, rolling his eyes. “It isn’t like I told you to turn them on or anything like that.”
I was about to respond in kind, but then two large, firm hands fell on our shoulders and we looked up at Adams. Even though he was just an ordinary man, he was still much taller than us and his grip was like steel.
“Enough bickering, you two,” said Adams in a calm but firm tone. “It was just a big misunderstanding. There’s no need to tear each other’s heads off over something as minor and insignificant as this.”
Cyberkid scowled, but he just shrugged. “Whatever. At least you guys didn’t kill me, which I guess counts for something.”
Adams pursed his lips, clearly not approving of Cyberkid’s sarcastic attitude, but he said, “Apologies, Cyberkid. We did not know you were coming to visit today.” He looked back toward the elevator. “Speaking of visitors, is Mr. Simpson with you? I did not see him in the elevator.”
“No, he’s not,” said Cyberkid in a grim voice. “And that’s why I’m here. Is Rubberman here, too?”
“No, he’s in the hospital,” said Adams, looking back at Cyberkid again. “He was injured in a fight with a supervillain earlier today.”
“Damn it,” said Cyberkid. He looked at me with resignation. “Looks like it’s just you and me, Visor Face.”
“It’s Beams,” I said in annoyance, “and what do you mean, ‘looks like it’s just you and me’? What happened to Myster? Why are you here?”
“We don’t have much time, so I might as well get straight to the point,” said Cyberkid. “ZZZ has kidnapped Myster’s daughter, Charlotte, and he’s threatening to kill her and another girl if you don’t meet him.”
“What?” I said in shock. “Who is this other girl?”
“I don’t know her personally, but I think she’s a student at Harold Golden High, one of Charlotte’s classmates,” said Cyberkid. “Her name is Greta Hammond and she’s currently being held hostage with Charlotte. And, unless we act quickly, they’ll both die.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Greta is—?” I caught myself before I said any more and gave away my identity. “When did this happen?”
Cyberkid folded his arms across his chest. “Less than an hour ago, I think, though I don’t know for sure because I wasn’t there when it happened.”
“You mean to say that ZZZ has kidnapped two innocent girls and is holding
them hostage?” said Adams in astonishment. “What is your boss doing about this?”
“Let me start from the beginning,” said Cyberkid. “You may or may not know this, but Charlotte Simpson has been attending Harold Golden High since we moved to Golden City. Because she’s not a sidekick, she is still in school and that’s where she spends most of the day, unlike me, because I’m tutored by a teacher my parents hired.”
I didn’t nod, because I didn’t want Cyberkid to suspect that I went to that school as well. I remembered seeing Charlotte in class, though I’d rarely spoken to her because she didn’t pay any attention to me. “Continue.”
“When school ended, I was waiting at our temporary base in the city for her return,” said Cyberkid. “Normally, Charlotte takes the bus and usually gets back home in ten minutes. Myster tries to be there to greet her, but since he’s often busy dealing with criminals or working out licensing deals with companies, I’m usually the one to greet her at the door.” He frowned. “But not today.”
“Not today?” I said. “What do you mean?”
“She never came back home,” said Cyberkid. “At first, I thought that maybe the bus was running late, but when I saw the school bus go by our base without stopping, I realized that something must have happened to her. I called her cell phone to see if she’d answer, but instead of hearing Charlotte’s voice, I spoke to ZZZ.”
My eyes widened. “What did he say?”
“What I just told you,” said Cyberkid. “He told me that he had kidnapped Charlotte and Greta and that he would kill them both unless you showed up at his base. He specifically named you and warned me not to come by myself or with Myster, because if I did, he would execute both girls on the spot. He wasn’t bluffing. I overheard Charlotte crying on the other end and then he hit her with what sounded like a pipe. Not that I think an assassin like him would bluff about something like killing people, but you know what I mean.”