by Lucas Flint
“All right, then,” said Adams. “You see the target, correct?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Want me to blow it up now?”
“Not now,” said Adams, shaking his head. “Firstly, I want you to begin building up a charge of energy in your eyes. Don’t unleash it yet, however; just focus on the target and begin building up that power.”
“Okay,” I said.
I focused on the stationary target. As soon as I began focusing on it, my eyes started to heat up and I almost unleashed my eye beams, but I held them in.
“Okay, I’ve got a charge built up,” I said without looking at Adams. “Now what?”
“How does it feel?” said Adams.
“What?”
“I said, how does it feel?” said Adams. “That is, how does it feel to have energy building in your eyes?”
I frowned, not seeing how this was relevant, but I said anyway, “My eyes feel hot, like they’re boiling.”
“Then they are too hot,” said Adams. “Try to lower the temperature. Tell your eyes to be less powerful.”
“How do I do that?”
“Just focus. Pay attention to nothing else but your eyes and their temperature.”
I was dubious that Adams’ advice would work, but I decided to try it out. It couldn’t hurt, could it?
Focusing on my eyes, I tried to get them cooler. Unfortunately, my eyes returned to their original temperature too quickly and as a result I could no longer feel the power building up in them.
“I can’t feel the charge anymore,” I complained, looking at Adams. “I think I turned my powers off.”
“Then turn them back on again,” said Adams, a hint of impatience in his voice. “You control your powers. Your powers do not control you.”
I didn’t like the impatience in Adams’ voice, but I activated my powers again anyway. My eyes began to heat up again, reaching their previous temperature.
“Okay, they’re active again,” I said.
“Now try to control the temperature,” said Adams. “Focus on lowering it without turning off your powers entirely.”
That sounded like an impossible task, but again, I did not object. I just focused more intensely on my eye beams than ever; I wish I knew for sure how they worked, but sadly Mr. Peters’ serum didn’t come with instructions. I had no idea if my powers were connected to my mind or not. Guess I was about to find out.
Finally, I felt the temperature in my eyes begin to go down slightly. It was barely noticeable, but there was a definite drop in temperature for sure.
“My eyes are cooling down,” I said. “But the power is not turning off.”
“Excellent,” said Adams. “Now unleash your eye beams on the target. Let’s see exactly how strong they are.”
I nodded once and fired the eye beams. They exploded from my eyes, refracted through my visor, and struck the target. And then the target exploded, forcing me to cover my face with my arms to avoid getting hit by the flying debris. But the explosion definitely seemed smaller than the first time; not super small, but also not nearly as big as before.
“Good job, Mr. Fry,” said Adams. “I could tell that that laser blast was not as strong as the last. It appears that you are beginning to gain control over the temperature and power of your eye beams, although you will most definitely require more practice in order to gain more complete control over it.”
I was surprised at Adams’ praise, given how he didn’t seem to like me that much. Not that I was going to argue the point, however, because I liked getting praised better than getting criticized.
For the next half hour or so I practiced controlling the temperature and power of my eye beams. It became easier each time, but I still had to focus whenever I wanted to control the power of the blast. Adams told me that I would eventually be able to do it instinctively when I mentioned that problem to him and that for now I should just focus on working on it. That I did, though that didn’t stop me from worrying about controlling my powers in a fight.
After about a half hour of practice, Adams told me to stop and said we could take a break to eat, use the restroom, and rest. I was actually disappointed; now that I was making real progress controlling my powers, all I wanted to do was practice and practice until I got even better. But I was getting hungry, so I followed Adams out of the Rubber Room and back into the main part of the Elastic Cave.
“As you know, we have plenty of food, snacks, and drinks in the fridge,” said Adams, gesturing at the fridge in the kitchen area. “Feel free to eat whatever you like. As for me, I will be in the restroom.”
“You’re leaving me alone again?” I said as I walked over to the kitchen area. “Are you sure about that?”
“Trust me, Mr. Fry, you will be totally safe,” said Adams. “We identified the flaws in the Cave’s defenses and fixed them, so it is unlikely that there will be a repeat of the ninja episode. Plus, the ninja likely already stole what his employer had sent him to steal, meaning that it is unlikely that he or anyone else will make a second trip down here just to harm you.”
“If you say so,” I said.
Adams simply rolled his eyes like he was exasperated with how kids these days were before disappearing down the hall and into the bathroom. I went over to the fridge, opened it, and picked out a banana and some crackers, which I began to munch on when I sat down at the table.
As I sat there, I couldn’t help but wonder about Rubberman’s health. All Adams had said was that Rubberman was in ‘serious’ condition, but that didn’t help me. I couldn’t just go to the hospital and visit him, either, so I would probably have to wait until the hospital released Rubberman before I would get to see him again.
Then a thought occurred to me as I sat there. Superhero/supervillain fights always made the news because they were always interesting to people. And considering that Rubberman was a local celebrity, that would make it even more likely that a news station had covered the fight. If I looked it up online, maybe I would find a report with more details about the injuries that Rubberman suffered.
Whipping out my phone, I searched for a news report on the fight. The first result on my search engine was an article from the Golden City Journal, the city’s biggest newspaper. It showed a picture at the top of what looked like the city park, half-covered in snow and ice like it had just snowed recently, even though we weren’t supposed to get any snow for the next few weeks.
At the top of the article, the headline read LOCAL SUPERHERO NOW IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER CLASH WITH SUPERVILLAIN.
The article read thus:
GOLDEN CITY, TEXAS—A recent clash between a local superhero and supervillain earlier today ended with the superhero in critical condition and the supervillain fleeing police, the Golden City Police Department told reporters.
At approximately 7:50 AM this morning, local superhero Dennis ‘Rubberman’ Pullman clashed with supervillain Edward ‘Fro-Zen’ Bend in Golden City Park. Police from the Golden City Department provided backup, but most of the fighting was done by Rubberman as he attempted to stop Fro-Zen from freezing over the park.
The clash ended when Fro-Zen froze half of Rubberman’s body, although the supervillain was forced to flee after the police began firing on him. After that, Rubberman was rushed to the Golden City General Hospital, where he is currently in critical condition from overexposure to ice. Doctors who spoke to our reporters said that Rubberman is expected to survive.
Fro-Zen’s current location is unknown, but the police have put out notices on social media asking anyone who knows of the supervillain’s location to come forward with information. It is currently thought that Fro-Zen is hiding somewhere in Golden City, but police warn that he is dangerous and should be avoided by normal citizens at all costs, even though he is believed to be suffering from serious injuries due to being shot several times in the back when he fled. Below is a picture of the supervillain provided by the police.
No casualties were reported by the police. The park was empty a
t the time of the attack.
The picture looked like a mugshot, as if Fro-Zen (or ‘Edward Bend,’ as his real name appeared to be) had been arrested before. He looked pretty young, probably only a few years older than me, with an angry look in his eyes that made me glad it was just a picture of him. Just below the picture was a caption, which I read once, but stopped and read it again to make sure I didn’t misread it. I stared at the caption for a few seconds, wondering if I was reading this right. It didn’t make sense.
But I couldn’t pretend that the caption said anything than what was written under the picture, which said this:
Pictured: The mugshot of Edward ‘Fro-Zen’ Bend from his last time in prison after murdering the superhero Slinger. Bend was also the first sidekick of Dennis ‘Rubberman’ Pullman, though a falling out between the two four years ago led to him quitting his job and taking up a life of crime instead.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I just sat there, half-eaten banana in my other hand, staring at the caption underneath Fro-Zen’s mugshot. Part of me believed that I was experiencing some kind of hallucination; how could Fro-Zen be Rubberman’s former sidekick? It made no sense.
But then, what did I know about Rubberman’s first sidekick? All I knew was that his first sidekick had quit working for him about four years ago. I had been meaning to research Rubberman’s first sidekick, but I had been so busy and distracted over the last few days that I hadn’t had time to do it. Now I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to know what led Fro-Zen to go from being a hero to being a murderer who targeted superheroes.
Why didn’t Rubberman tell me this when I first started working here? Maybe he didn’t think it was relevant because Fro-Zen had not been in Golden City until recently. Still, it seemed like an awfully important fact to leave out to prospective job applicants. ‘Welcome aboard, Alex! You’re going to have a great time as my sidekick. The last guy went evil and murdered another superhero, but don’t worry, I doubt that will happen to you.’
Now I knew why Rubberman wanted Adams to train me. Fro-Zen was clearly after Rubberman. Rubberman must have thought that Fro-Zen would come after me if he knew of my existence, so he was having me trained so I could defend myself. It made a lot more sense now, but I still had a lot of questions, such as where Fro-Zen came from, why he became evil, and why he had decided to come back and kill Rubberman now rather than at some other time.
I decided to do another Internet search. I typed in Fro-Zen’s name on my favorite search engine. The first result was the article I just read; however, just below it was another article, this one from four years ago, with a headline reading ‘MEET RUBBERMAN’S NEW SIDEKICK, FRO-ZEN.’
I clicked the link and saw that the article was on Golden City Journal’s website, dated four years ago, even written by the same guy who wrote the article I just read. At the top of the article was a picture of Rubberman and Fro-Zen, except Fro-Zen looked much younger, probably no older than me, and they stood together in the picture smiling like they were best friends. I began reading it:
GOLDEN CITY, TEXAS—Upcoming superhero super star Dennis ‘Rubberman’ Pullman is pleased to introduce his first and newest sidekick, Fro-Zen, a young, eager kid who can make it snow, among other icy powers.
Ever since Rubberman’s rise to stardom after defeating the supervillain Volcano late last year, rumors have swirled in the superhero business that Rubberman was seeking a sidekick. Some famous sidekicks, such as Enigma Boy, have even claimed that Rubberman has approached them for work, although none of these rumors have ever been confirmed by Rubberman himself.
But all of these rumors were put to rest when Rubberman introduced young Fro-Zen (pictured above) to the world at a recent press conference in Golden City, Texas. Rubberman says that, although he has only been a superhero for a year, he is a long-term thinker and began looking for a possible successor to his business shortly after defeating Volcano.
“I interviewed dozens of intelligent and capable young men and women, but Fro-Zen was the only one who really impressed me,” Rubberman told reporters at the press conference he held today. “He has a passion and drive for saving innocent people and fighting supervillains that most kids his age lack. It helps that he’s already very business savvy and has a power set that could make him even stronger than me someday.”
At the conference, Fro-Zen answered only a few questions from reporters. He answered few questions from his past, but did say that he was honored to have been chosen by Rubberman to be his sidekick and that he could not wait to begin fighting supervillains and criminals alongside his employer/mentor.
At the end of the conference, Rubberman and Fro-Zen drove off to the Elastic Cave in the Rubbermobile, though not before Rubberman revealed that he had already struck a deal with a t-shirt company to have Rubberman and Fro-Zen branded t-shirts out before the end of the year. Additionally, Rubberman hinted that Fro-Zen would be getting some of his own merchandise, although he gave no specifics as to what that would entail.
That was the end of the article. It sure made Rubberman and Fro-Zen sound like BFFs, but obviously something happened at some point to make them enemies. The question is, what?
Luckily for me, the bottom of the article had a section labeled ‘RELATED ARTICLES,’ which included one such article with the headline ‘FORMER RUBBERMAN SIDEKICK ARRESTED BY POLICE FOR MURDER OF SUPERHERO SLINGER.’
Clicking the link, I noticed that the article was dated a year after the last one. I immediately began reading:
Golden City, Texas—After a week of searching, the Golden City Police have finally arrested former Rubberman sidekick Edward ‘Fro-Zen’ Bend, Police Chief Williams announced yesterday.
The arrest of the young sidekick is the culmination of a week dubbed ‘Super Slaughter Week’ by some observers. It began on Monday when the body of the famous superhero Andrew ‘Slinger’ Lee—known for exposing the corruption of former mayor Carlos Peligro and for his hit TV show ‘Slinger’s World’—was found frozen on the banks of the Golden City River early that morning. The discovery of Slinger’s body sparked a citywide manhunt for the killer, with the prime suspect being young Edward ‘Fro-Zen’ Bend, who had quit his job as sidekick to Dennis ‘Rubberman’ Pullman the week before.
Fro-Zen was arrested early this morning after being tracked down by police inside an elementary school in south Golden City. Fro-Zen locked himself in one of the classrooms, along with all of the students inside, and froze the doors and windows with ice so thick that even bullets couldn’t pierce them. Fro-Zen threatened to kill every student in the classroom if police did not allow him to leave the campus grounds unmolested.
The standoff lasted for hours before Rubberman showed up and lured Fro-Zen out of the school and into a trap set by the police. Police reports indicate that Fro-Zen was knocked out during the scuffle, but is still alive and is expected to recover while in police custody. Some of the students held hostage by Fro-Zen suffer from minor frostbite, but none have died and the injured are expected to recover quickly.
Motives for Fro-Zen’s murder of Slinger are still unknown. Police currently believe that Fro-Zen is suffering from a nervous breakdown, although there is no evidence to confirm Fro-Zen’s motives at the moment. Rubberman did not answer any of the calls that Golden City Journal made to him on this matter, although he did release a public statement last Tuesday expressing his regret for Fro-Zen’s actions and vowing to work day and night until Fro-Zen was brought to justice for his crimes.
I frowned. So they didn’t know his motives, but they published the police speculation about them anyway. Guess I shouldn’t expect much in the way of honesty from reporters.
But that was unimportant. What was important was what happened to Fro-Zen. Something had caused Fro-Zen to become a villain; what, I didn’t know. I found it interesting that he quit working for Rubberman before he killed Slinger. That indicated that there must have been some sort of falling out between the two, but I couldn’t even fathom what must hav
e caused it. Did all of the fame get to his head? Did they have differing philosophies on what being a superhero meant? And why did Fro-Zen apparently think it was a smart idea to murder another superhero and then hold a classroom of elementary kids hostage when the police tracked him down?
I was about to do another Internet search to see if I could find more articles about Fro-Zen’s trial and imprisonment, but just then I heard a toilet flushing and I looked up to see Adams step out of the bathroom, a look of relief on his face.
“Sorry for taking so long,” said Adams. “I had tacos for lunch today, even though I am well-aware of what they do to my bowels. Are you ready to resume training?”
I immediately shoved my phone back into my pocket. I would do another Internet search later, maybe when I got home from work. I considered asking Adams about Fro-Zen, but decided that it wouldn’t be wise to tell him that I’d been snooping into Rubberman’s past without his knowledge. Something told me that Adams would not be pleased to learn that I knew all about Fro-Zen now.
“Sure,” I said. “Just let me finish my banana and we can get started again.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The rest of the training session went by pretty smoothly. I blew up a ton of targets, and by the end of it, I could already lower the power and temperature of my eye beams by half. Adams was genuinely pleased by my progress and even told me that he was proud of how quick a learner I was. I was surprised by my speed, too, and it made me think that I was going to learn how to control my powers faster than I thought, which meant that it wouldn’t be long before I was ready to fight crime on the street alongside Rubberman himself. I could already see my face and name in news articles on the Internet and across the country in real life newspapers (even though I’m not sure that anyone other than my old grandpa actually reads them anymore).
It helped that I had to stay focused so I wouldn’t blow up the base. As a result, I didn’t think too much about what I’d learned about Fro-Zen on the Internet. Of course, whenever we took a five minute break or whenever Adams had to leave for a moment to check on something, my mind would immediately return to thinking about Fro-Zen. In particular, I wondered what could have caused Fro-Zen to go from being a celebrated sidekick with a bright future ahead of him to a psychotic criminal who was willing to endanger the lives of innocent children or why he was going after Rubberman. I wondered if there was any info on their falling out online; I doubted it, though, because Rubberman didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would let this kind of private and personal information just be freely distributed over the Internet for all to see.