by Lucas Flint
"Doesn't that tail of yours ever run out of juice?" I said. "Seriously, that's like the fifth or sixth acid you've shot at me. Might be time for a refill, fella."
As usual, Lethal Injection didn't say anything. He just jumped off the crate, but rather than running at me, he turned and ran away among the conveyor belts and mechanical arms that stood in the factory.
"Hey, where are you going?" I said. "Get back here!"
I flew after Lethal Injection, but even with my night vision goggles, I couldn't see Lethal Injection. The conveyor belts, mechanical arms, and leftover machine parts meant he had plenty of hiding spots. It annoyed me that a guy in a lime green scorpion costume could somehow hide so effectively among the various black, silver, and dark gray machines, but I guess there's a reason this guy is the Injectors' top assassin.
Stopping in midair, I looked around the factory, trying to spot Lethal Injection, but everything was eerily quiet. I didn't even hear his footsteps.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," I muttered, looking this way and that. "I just want to play."
Again, no answer. Not that I expected him to actually respond, but it still felt like Lethal Injection was mocking me with his silence.
Rotating in midair, I said, "Is this the great Lethal Injection I've heard so much about? Yeah, you're really scary, running and hiding from a kid. I bet your reputation is well-deserved, just as long as no one is looking, eh? Maybe you just think you're too good for me. Wouldn't surprise me, given how arrogant you Injector idiots tend to be."
I heard the shuffling of feet below me and looked down at a crate near one of the conveyor belts. I thought I saw movement behind it, movement that looked like Lethal Injection.
I grinned. "Found you."
I flew straight down toward the crate and lifted it above my head. "Got you!"
But to my surprise, I didn't see Lethal Injection standing there. Instead, I saw a small mouse, which made a frightened squeaking noise and then turned and disappeared into a hole inside the base of another crate of parts.
"What the heck?" I said. "I thought I saw--"
Something sharp and burning suddenly jabbed into my back. I gasped in pain and dropped the crate, which crashed loudly onto the floor. But I paid no attention to that, because I could feel something hot and burning being injected directly into my body.
Gasping for breath, I swung my fist backward, but the sharp needle was pulled out of my back at the last second and my fist hit nothing. Turning around, I saw Lethal Injection standing not more than a few feet away from me, holding up his right arm. The needle on his right wrist was slightly bloody, which I realized, with a lurch of my stomach, was my blood.
"What did you do?" I said, touching the spot where the needle had been jabbed. "What did you ... what did you inject me with ..."
A sudden drowsiness suddenly came over me. I blinked several times, trying to keep myself awake, but it was a losing battle. My innards burned, while my mouth became dry and cotton-like. Even breathing was becoming hard, to the point where I could feel my lungs swelling up inside my body.
"It appears that Lethal Injection must have injected some kind of poison in your body," said TW. "I am currently analyzing it in order to find out what it is and if there is a possible cure, but I cannot actually rid your body of it."
I wanted to tell TW thanks in the most sarcastic way possible, but then my stomach lurched again and I nearly hurled. Lethal Injection suddenly lashed out with a kick, striking me in the stomach and sending me falling to the floor. My head smacked against the concrete floor, leaving me dazed.
Still gasping for air, I looked up at Lethal Injection, who now stood above me with a cold disinterest.
Then he aimed his tail at me and fired.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I rolled away at the last possible second, avoiding the acid that splashed against the concrete where I had been lying mere moments before. I rolled into a crouch and looked up at Lethal Injection. Though his face was unreadable, I thought he was legitimately impressed by the fact that I managed to avoid his attack at such close range. I wasn't sure if that was me or the suit at work, though, but I guess it didn't matter as long as I survived.
But then Lethal Injection just aimed his tail at me again. I tried to stand, but even just standing upright was a herculean task in its own right.
Right before Lethal Injection fired again, however, a voice suddenly rang out in the shadows, "This is the police! Drop your weapons and get down now!"
Half a dozen bright lights suddenly flashed on, nearly blinding me and Lethal Injection. The two of us looked over in the direction of the lights to see several SWAT team members pointing rifles at us, their vision illuminated by the lights on the ends of their rifles. The collective lights hurt my eyes and made my aching head even worse.
"I won't repeat myself!" the lead SWAT team member shouted, nearly screamed. "Get down now!"
Lethal Injection, however, just pointed his tail at them and fired several acid blasts in rapid succession. The SWAT agents scattered, though one of the slower agents got nailed in the chest and fell to the floor screaming in agony. Their lights also scattered, which allowed Lethal Injection to turn and run away, most likely to escape the SWAT team members before they recovered and came after him.
I wanted to chase after Lethal Injection, but I realized that I couldn't chase him and avoid the SWAT members as well, who would probably arrest me in addition to Lethal Injection once they found out I was an illegal superhero. I launched into the air, going as fast as I could even with the poison working its way through my body. I heard SWAT team members shouting at me to get back, even heard some of them shooting at me, but I didn't look back or slow down even slightly.
I smashed straight through the ceiling of the factory and emerged out into the open night sky. I immediately flew in what I thought was north, which would take me back to my parents' house, but the poison must have been messing with my sense of direction, too, because every direction felt the same to me.
"TW!" I shouted as I flew. My vision was starting to darken around the edges, making it harder than ever to see where I was going. "Am I going in the right direction? Is this the direction home?"
"It doesn't matter," said TW. "The poison Lethal Injection put into your body is killing you even as we speak. You need to find someplace safe and land right now, otherwise the poison will accelerate and kill you."
I was going to ask TW how landing would help me, but my mouth was too dry to form sentences now. I increased the speed of my flight, heading in what I hoped against hope was the direction home.
But the darkness was gathering around the edges of my vision, to the point where I could no longer make out the individual buildings below me. It all looked like a bunch of pretty lights shining against the darkness of the night, kind of like how lights looked reflected against a lake.
And then unconsciousness claimed me and I fell.
-
"Wake up, Jack," said TW's familiar voice in my head, urgent and quick. "I said, wake up. Can you hear me at all?"
I could, and I wanted to tell him that I did, but my consciousness was slowly returning bit by bit. It was kind of like turning on an old computer that hadn't been used in forever. Everything seemed to have a hard time coming back online quickly or in anything but a piecemeal fashion, and right now talking was one of the functions that just wasn't available yet (though it probably would be after an update, assuming it didn't crash the rest of my system in the process).
What I first became aware of was my body. It no longer burned or felt sluggish the way it did when Lethal Injection poisoned me. It was stiff, true, but it didn't hurt anymore.
Next, I became aware that I was lying on a bed of some sort. At first, I thought it was my own bed back in my room, but then I realized that the mattress was lumpier than mine, as if it was old and hadn't been replaced in a long time. Still, it was superior to the concrete floor of the factory, though not as good as m
y own bed.
I also became aware that I was still in my Trickshot costume. I couldn't quite describe how I knew. It was like knowing that I still had my skin on, if that made any sense. I didn't really think about it, but I had no reason to doubt it unless something happened to it. And as far as I could tell, the costume was perfectly unharmed, though for some reason I had a feeling that it shouldn't be.
Then my eyes opened, slowly but surely, until I found myself staring up at the grimy, dirty ceiling of an apartment I didn't recognize. Looking around, I saw that I was in an apartment, but not one I had ever been in before. The windows were boarded up and closed, while the walls were cracked and full of holes, including a few that looked like gunshot holes. The room smelled of alcohol and drugs, which made me wince, because it was a very strong smell, even though there wasn't anyone in this room aside from me.
Suddenly, TW flashed beside me. "You're awake! I thought you would never wake up. You looked quite nearly dead."
I blinked several times and yawned. "Dead? Why would I be dead? How did I get here? What happened?"
"You lost consciousness when you were flying away from the factory last night," said TW. "You ended up crashing in the streets not far away from the car factory. You're lucky you landed on a pile of garbage bags, because they cushioned your fall, which would have really injured you otherwise."
"Last night?" I said, sitting up and rubbing the back of my head. "How long have I been out?"
"Eight hours," said TW. "That means it is now eight o'clock in the morning, Central Time."
I almost started. "Eight in the morning? Damn it, I'm going to miss the school bus."
"Correction: You have missed the school bus," TW said. "The bus always gets to your house by seven thirty in the morning. Since it is now eight, that means that the bus passed your house half an hour ago, without picking you up."
I put a hand on my forehead, my eyes widening as the implications of TW's statement hit. "The school will probably think I'm sick or something, but Mom and Dad won't. They'll notice I'm not in my room and will lose their minds."
"Probably," said TW. "Unless, perhaps, you can get back home quickly enough."
"They're probably already putting up lost posters all over the city," I said, shaking my head. I punched the mattress. "Damn it. I didn't mean to be out that long. I was supposed to get back home well before the sun rose. Stupid Lethal Injection and his poison." I suddenly looked up at TW. "Say, how come the poison didn't kill me? Did you find a way to cure me after all?"
"Not me," said TW, shaking his head. He pointed at my costume. "It was the suit. It removed the poison from your body and started the healing process on your wound. The wound should be closed by now, given how long you slept all night."
I touched my back and did not feel any holes in my costume or body. Indeed, if I hadn't known that I had been stabbed the night before, I would never have even guessed that I had been stabbed in the first place.
"You said the suit removed the poison from my body," I said, looking up at TW. "How?"
"It's one of the suit's capabilities," said TW. "Because it is bonded so tightly to your body, it reacts quickly whenever anything foreign and dangerous enters your body. As a result, the suit removed the poison, though it took all night to do it."
"So this costume also has healing abilities in addition to the other powers it has?" I said. "Cool!"
"Not quite," said TW. "It can heal small wounds, such as bullet holes or the hole in your back created by Lethal Injection's stinger, though it usually takes time and rest, and anything deeper or more serious than that will require actual medical attention to heal. The best the suit can do is alleviate some of the pain, but I wouldn't risk your life unnecessarily on the assumption that your suit will just heal any injuries you take."
I frowned in disappointment. "Dang. I was hoping you were going to tell me that I had super healing powers, too, but I guess I can't be that lucky, huh?"
"Quite right," said TW. "But you should feel lucky nonetheless, because that was an incredibly deadly poison which Lethal injected into you. Had you not been wearing the suit at all, you likely would have died, perhaps even before you flew out of the factory. So I wouldn't complain about not having miraculous healing capabilities."
I rubbed my back. "You're right. I should be more grateful. But where am I and how did I get here? Did you somehow drag me up here, TW?"
"No," said TW, shaking his head. "As a hologram, I cannot physically interact with the world. As for who saved you, it was--"
TW was interrupted by the door on the other side of the room swinging open, causing TW to instantly vanish before anyone entered, probably so the person who opened the door wouldn't see him and find out about his existence.
As for me, I just sat up more in order to better see who it was. I suspected they were probably friendly, given they had saved me, but I wanted to put myself in a good position to escape just in case.
Then a person stepped into the room and I could not help but gape.
It was Christina Madison. And she was aiming a gun at me.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"Morning, sunshine!" said Christina in a sarcastic voice as she lowered her gun. "Up bright and early, I see. That's just what I'd expect from the famous Trickshot."
Disoriented by her sudden appearance, I said, "Wait, why did you enter the room with a gun? Were you going to shoot me?"
"Shoot you?" Christina repeated. She glanced at her gun. "Not unless I had to. I just heard two voices in here and wanted to be safe." She looked around. "Say, where is the other person I heard?"
It was clear to me that Christina did not know about TW, and I definitely wasn't going to tell her about him, at least not yet. I didn't know if I could trust her yet, and I doubted I could, even if she did save me.
"Well, thanks for saving my life," I said as I hopped out of bed. "I don't know why you did it, but I guess it doesn't matter. I really need to leave now, so if you'll excuse me, I'm out of here."
I flew into the air, but before I could fly out one of the windows, Christina thrust out her right hand and sent a flying green energy rope at me. The energy rope wrapped around my body and tightened, making me gasp in surprise before Christina yanked down and slammed me onto the floor. I tried to break free of the rope, but it was as solid as steel and even my super strength wasn't enough to break it.
"There, there, now," said Christina, holding the energy rope with one hand. "I didn't drag you all the way up to the second floor of this building just to let you run away like this."
"What ... what is this energy thing?" I said, looking down at the energy wrapped firmly around my body. "How are you able to do this? Do you have a device of some kind that lets you shoot energy or something?"
Christina shook her head. "Nope. I'm a former superhero who took the Superpower drug. I can summon solid energy constructs. Generally, I use it to create bridges and the like to help me cross gaps or fill in holes, but as you can tell, it's also very good for creating energy ropes and chains which hold down annoying brats like you. And it's way more efficient than normal rope, because solid energy doesn't break."
I looked at Christina in disbelief. "So you're not only not an actual police detective, but you're a former superhero, too? What other secrets are you hiding from me?"
Christina smiled. "More than you would ever guess. But it doesn't matter how many secrets I have. What matters to me is finding out what your secrets are."
"M-My secrets?" I said. "I don't have any."
"Yes, you do," said Christina. She pointed at my face. "Like what your real identity is, for one. I know you're not the original Trickshot. You're way too young, but I still don't know exactly who you are, though I have my suspicions."
"If you're so curious to find out who I am, why didn't you just unmask me when I was unconscious on that bed?" I said, nodding at the bed that lay just a few feet away from me. "I was completely defenseless for an entire night and you obviously had ac
cess to me."
"I tried," said Christina, "but unfortunately the mask seems to be stuck to your head. It wouldn't come off no matter how hard I pulled at it. It felt more like another layer of skin than a costume."
Interesting. I had not known that my mask could not be removed. That was yet another one of the suit's abilities that TW had failed to mention. Then again, it was hard to see how knowing that would help me, given how I had no intention of letting anyone rip off my mask against my will.
"So I decided to wait until you were awake and I could interrogate you myself," said Christina. "And I will make you talk. I've got a lot of experience making people tell me what they don't want to tell me and you're not going to be any different."
"Why do you want to know who I am?" I said, turning awkwardly on my side to look at her better. "Why are you even after me in the first place? I don't know you. I've never even met you before. You're a complete stranger to me."
"It's nothing personal," said Christina. "My boss just sent me after you for his own reasons. Well, technically, I'm not after you, per se, but your watch."
I glanced down at the Trickshot Watch, which was still attached firmly to my wrist. "Why do you want my watch?"
"Because it's not supposed to be out in the wild like this," said Christina. "It's supposed to be kept away from the public. It's too dangerous to be allowed to be used without supervision the way you've used it."
"And just who, may I ask, is your boss?" I said. "You're not working with the Injectors, are you?"
Christina snorted. "Those losers? Nah. I work for a higher power, one that doesn't make most of its money from selling illegal drugs to stupid kids. My organization is actually affecting real change in the world, change for the positive. Unfortunately, that change might be disrupted if we continue to let that watch of yours float around in public like it has been recently."
"You're acting like I've just been letting other people borrow it," I said. "I haven't. I've had it for ... for a while now and haven't even told anyone else about it yet."