by Lucas Flint
The snapping of rubber above made me look up in time to see Rubberman falling toward us. He landed on the floor and bounced a couple of times. Literally bounced, like a bouncy ball, before he came to a stop and walked over to us, though there seemed to be a small bounce in his step nonetheless.
“It’s my fault, Armando,” said Rubberman in an apologetic tone. “I was in such a hurry to leave this morning that I forgot to tell you or Beams about the other.”
“Eh, it’s fine, Dennis,” said Armando as he picked up his dropped bandanna and stuffed it into his right pocket. “I understand. The kid didn’t even really get in the way of my work. I just finished fixing up the interior part of the Rubbermobile anyway, although I’ve got to admit that I didn’t know a broom could hurt so badly.”
“Great,” said Rubberman as he stopped near us; I stepped closer to him, away from Armando, because I didn’t want Armando to hit me. “Will it run?”
“Of course it will,” said Armando, patting the hood of the car. “I managed to stop the smoking. At this point, all I need to do is fix the dents and it will be as good as new.”
“Wonderful,” said Rubberman. “Are you going to work on the dents today?”
Armando shook his head. “Nah. I spent all day working on that other stuff and, ‘cause I’m not as young as I used to be, I think it’s time I called it a day. Although I could have worked a little longer, perhaps, if Broom Boy here hadn’t tried to break my face.”
Armando cast a glare in my direction when he said that. I just bit my lower lip and said nothing, although I lowered the broom to my side in what was probably a lame attempt to hide it.
“Right,” said Rubberman. “Well, thanks for your help, Armando. Excellent work as always.”
“No problem,” said Armando, shaking his head. “Anyway, I’m heading out. The wife said she’s cooking spaghetti tonight and I don’t want to miss it. I’ll be back tomorrow morning to knock out the dents and add in that new feature you wanted me to add. See you then.”
Armando picked up his toolbox and walked up the stairs without looking at me or Rubberman. He climbed the stairs quickly for a man his size and soon disappeared into the elevator which, based on the sounds it made, sounded like it was ascending to the grocery store entrance.
Rubberman suddenly sighed and looked at the Rubbermobile. “I was hoping that he might finish today, but oh well. At least I don’t have to worry about the engine exploding as soon as I turn on the ignition, anyway.”
“So, uh, that was the Rubbermobile mechanic you told me about before?” I said, looking at Rubberman curiously.
Rubberman nodded. “Yes. I’ve known Mr. Jameson ever since I was your age. He was friends with my father and used to own a successful auto repair shop until he sold it and retired. Nowadays, the only auto repair work he does is on the Rubbermobile at my request.”
“Did he build it himself?”
“No,” said Rubberman, shaking his head. “But he’s the best auto mechanic I know and one of the few people who has seen the original blueprints for the Rubbermobile. He’s probably the only person in the world who can fix the Rubbermobile, which is why I pay him well for the few occasions on which his help is needed.”
“Wow,” I said. “So he just comes and works on the Rubbermobile whenever it needs it?”
“Yes,” said Rubberman. “He’s a little rough sometimes, but he’s also one of the most reliable and trustworthy men I know. The things I’ve asked him to do …” Rubberman trailed off, as if he was reliving old memories. “Ah, never mind. You don’t need to know about that.”
I have to admit that I was curious about what Rubberman had asked Armando to do in the past, but since I didn’t want to get into more trouble, I said, “Well, how did your interrogation of the Three Fingers go? I was under the impression that you weren’t going to be back until later.”
“What?” said Rubberman, snapping out of his reminiscing and looking at me. “Oh, right. Well, I got done earlier than I thought; in fact, that’s precisely why I came down here. I wanted to tell you what I found out and Adams told me you had gone down here to fetch the broom.”
“Yeah, I did,” I said, nodding. “I was going to sweep Level One.”
“You can do that later,” said Rubberman. “Right now, you need to know what I learned about the Three Fingers.”
“What did you learn about them?” I said. “Did you learn where their leader is?”
“No, but the police did find this,” said Rubberman.
He held up a folded-up piece of paper. It looked rather unremarkable to me, if a bit dog-eared, though based on Rubberman’s expression, it must have been more important than it looked.
“What is it?” I said. “It looks like just an ordinary piece of paper to me.”
“It’s not,” said Rubberman. “This is actually a letter, written to the Three Fingers member it was found on. Its contents aren’t that important, except for the fact that they detail an agreement between the Three Fingers and someone else about the crime we foiled.”
“Wait, you mean someone hired the Three Fingers to rob the bank?” I said. “Who?”
Rubberman smiled grimly. “A man named Takeshi. And there’s good reason to believe he’s connected with Munroe Acquisitions, Inc.”
CHAPTER SIX
“Munroe Acquisitions?” I repeated. “You mean someone from that company hired the Three Fingers to rob the bank?”
Rubberman nodded. “That’s what it appears. The letter is actually a printed out email and, although it does not say that the person in question is a Munroe Acquisitions employee, there are several hints that this individual, who merely goes by the name Takeshi, works for the company.”
“Like what?”
“Like the mention that they were going to meet with Johnny Diamond himself at the dumpster behind Munroe Acquisitions’ headquarters,” said Rubberman. “Or that they would provide the Three Fingers with any financial ‘assistance’ they might need to pull off their crime, financial assistance that Munroe Acquisitions could certainly provide the Three Fingers with very easily. The email address of the sender is partially blanked out, but it looks like a Munroe Acquisitions email address based on what little is still visible.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t sound like definitive proof of the company’s involvement in this crime, Rubberman. Maybe they planned to meet Johnny Diamond behind at the dumpster behind Munroe Acquisitions’ headquarters because it is well-hidden or out of the way or something.”
“Doubt it,” said Rubberman. “The Munroe Acquisition headquarters is hardly what I’d call ‘out of the way.’ Everyone knows where it is. It doesn’t make sense to make that place the location of the meeting unless the person who sent the email worked for the company. Otherwise, they would risk being discovered or reported to the police.”
“Maybe, but offering ‘financial assistance’ doesn’t mean anything,” I said. “There are lots of rich people out there who could fund a criminal gang for their own purposes. Doesn’t necessarily have to be Sasha Munroe.”
“You’re right, but in connection with what we’ve already discussed, I think it is likely that the person is someone high up in the company, high up enough that they could afford to give money to a gang like the Three Fingers without being discovered,” said Rubberman. “It might not be Sasha, but I know of no one else in Golden City who it could be.”
“That’s a pretty serious accusation to make without proof,” I said. “If Sasha hired a bunch of criminals to rob a bank, that would mean she broke the law, which would mean that she’s a criminal herself. Besides, why would she even hire the Three Fingers to rob a bank for her? She’s rich enough already, isn’t she?”
“I don’t know why,” said Rubberman. “But I wouldn’t put it past her. I know her well enough to know that she would do anything if she thought she could gain from it. It’s the main reason why I avoid talking to or doing business with her. I don’t trust her one bit.”
&n
bsp; “Why?” I said. “Is it because she’s annoying? Because you don’t like her? Seriously, I think you’re taking your dislike of her too far by accusing her of committing a crime like this.”
“This has nothing to do with my dislike of Sasha,” said Rubberman. “It comes from my past experience with her.”
“You mean she’s committed crimes before?”
Rubberman folded his arms in front of his chest. “None that I can prove. I just know her character well enough to know that she would try something like this if she thought it would benefit her somehow.”
“Are you sure about that?” I said. “What has she done before that makes you think she would do something like this?”
“It was about four years ago, shortly after I defeated Fro-Zen,” said Rubberman. “My business was in a lot of trouble because of the fact that my sidekick had gone rogue and caused so much trouble, including killing another superhero. My publicity had taken a pretty big hit and I was losing money fast, despite the fact that I’d had nothing to do with Fro-Zen’s betrayal. It was the lowest point my business has ever been in, hopefully the lowest it will ever be.”
“How did you get out of that situation?” I said.
“I’ll get to that,” said Rubberman. “What you need to know is that that is when I met Sasha Munroe. She invited me to Munroe Acquisitions to discuss selling my business to her.”
“Wait, you mean you almost sold your superhero business to her?”
Rubberman nodded. “I was desperate. Like I said, I was losing money and I couldn’t see any silver linings. The whole world seemed to be against me. The city government was close to ending my contract, companies stopped calling me to make licensing deals, and it seemed like no one stood by me. Even my wife left me.”
“You were married?”
Rubberman averted his gaze. “I was, yes, but we divorced. I managed to get out of that divorce mostly unscathed—we didn’t have any children—but it still took a chunk out of my cash reserves and added a whole bunch of stress that I could have lived without. The only person who stood by me at that time was Adams, even though there was no good reason for him to stick with a failing business. Adams just has a strong sense of loyalty, a trait of his I’ve learned never to take for granted.” He looked at me. “Loyalty is rare nowadays, Beams. You don’t want to take it for granted, regardless of where it comes from.”
For some reason I was surprised when Rubberman said that, although I probably shouldn’t have been. Adams had always struck me as loyal to Rubberman, more loyal than your average butler or employee was to their employer. It increased my respect for Adams, though I wondered what Rubberman had done to earn Adams’ loyalty that way.
“Sasha was one of the few friendly faces I saw during that time,” said Rubberman. “I accepted her invitation and had lunch with her in her office. She was really sympathetic to my plight and offered to buy the Rubberman brand from me for quite a bit of money. It would have been enough money to deal with all of my debts and legal expenses, with enough left over that I could have retired early and not have to worry about money for several decades at least.”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s generous of her. Why didn’t you accept the offer?”
Rubberman sighed. “Because I realized that she was trying to cheat me out of my business. She didn’t really care about me. She was merely preying on me in a moment of weakness and, although her offer was generous, it would have been far less than what I could have earned.”
“But wasn’t your business failing at the time? What made you think it would ever recover?”
“Nothing.” Rubberman put his hands on his hips and looked away. “Beams, do you know why I got into this business in the first place?”
I shook my head. “Um, because you’re an entrepreneur and you saw it as a good way to make money?”
“That’s part of it, but not the whole or even the most important part,” said Rubberman. He looked at me again, his expression serious. “I wanted to become a hero. I wanted to save lives and make the world a better place. I wanted to be like my personal hero, Iron Angel. Ever heard of him?”
“His name sounds familiar,” I said. “I think he was a hero when my mom was a kid, but she said he retired.”
“Your mom probably was a little girl when Iron Angel first appeared on the scene,” said Rubberman, nodding again. “Iron Angel was one of the greatest superheroes of all time. He singlehandedly saved the whole world from a meteor that would have destroyed the planet, as well as defeating the Dark Collective and preventing the assassination of the President of the United States.”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s a pretty impressive list of accomplishments.”
“It is,” Rubberman agreed. “But that’s not why I wanted to be like him. He was a true hero, with perhaps the purest understanding of what it means to be a hero than anyone else in the industry. While he dealt with huge, world-ending threats like that meteor, he never let it get to his head. He always treated the average people with respect and would spend just as much time cleaning up crime-ridden neighborhoods and towns as he spent fighting supervillains who wanted to take over the world. He didn’t see any crime as beneath him. If someone needed his help, even if that person was poor and unable to afford his services, he’d always find some way to help them.”
“That’s really cool.”
“He was,” said Rubberman. “It’s unfortunate that he didn’t care much for the business side of things. He only ever struck a few licensing deals during his career, and those, I think, only because he needed the money. Other superheroes mocked him for it, but he always said that he thought superheroes should focus on saving lives and protecting the innocent, not on increasing their bottom lines. Not that he ignored his profits, but he never put it above being a hero to the people.”
“Did you ever get to meet him?”
“Yes, but only once when I was a kid,” said Rubberman. “By the time I started my business, he had already retired. I tried to locate him, but oddly enough, he vanished off the face of the earth shortly after he retired. I’ve looked for him, but no one knows where he is. A few sources say he moved to Mexico after retirement, but I still haven’t been able to find any evidence to back up that theory.” He hung his head. “It’s disappointing, because he was my hero and I really wanted to meet him. But I understand. Some retired heroes just like to have their peace and quiet and dislike it whenever fans or the media try to contact them for any reason.”
But then Rubberman raised his head and looked at me again. “But that’s why I’m a hero. I want to be just like Iron Angel. I don’t know if I will ever be as great as him, but he’s the standard by which I judge myself and my career. And that’s why I had to turn down Sasha’s offer to sell my business, because I knew that Sasha would not use my business to help people, but merely to increase her own profits.” He chuckled. “It’s funny, because right after that, business took a sudden upturn after I saved the city from a major threat. So many heroes think that fighting crime and doing business are separate, but in my experience, the two often go hand in hand.”
I had to admit that Rubberman’s story surprised me. I remember when Adams told me about why Rubberman had never sold his business to Sasha. He had said it had to do with the fact that Rubberman was a savvy businessman who knew he could make more money himself than by selling his business, but it was clear to me that that was not the whole story. Rubberman was a real hero through and through, not just a businessman looking to make a quick buck.
“How did Sasha react to that?” I said.
“Not very well,” said Rubberman. “She practically snapped. I mean, she pretended to be as nice as she always is, but I could tell that I’d earned a place on her list of enemies she would never forgive. She still wants my business, especially now that it is doing so well, but there’s no way I would ever sell it to her even if I was thinking of retiring, which I am not.”
“Do you think she hired the Three Finger ga
ng as part of some elaborate plan to get your business?”
“I don’t know,” said Rubberman. “That may be, but Sasha can be a hard to read lady sometimes. But it wouldn’t surprise me if she did it for that reason. She doesn’t handle rejection very well.”
I tapped the chip of my helmet. “Well, what are we going to do about all of this, then? Should we try to confront her and make her fess up?”
Rubberman shook his head again. “No. For one, we have no proof to link Sasha to anything. Publicly confronting her would be a PR disaster for us and a win for her. Sasha has excellent PR experts working for her. She could spin anything any way she likes and there would be no way we could counter it.”
“Then what should we do?” I said. “If Sasha is behind the Three Fingers, then we need to find proof that we can give to the police so they can stop her.”
“Easier said than done,” said Rubberman. He waved the printed out email. “Even this email isn’t sufficient enough to prove anything. And knowing Sasha, she would not leave any evidence that could be used against her in a court of law, at least none where people could see it.”
My shoulders slumped. “So there’s nothing we can do about it, then.”
“Not quite,” said Rubberman. “I think I know of a way to get the evidence we’ll need to prove that Sasha is behind this. It won’t be easy, however, but it could work.”
“Really?” I said. “What is it?”
“Simple,” said Rubberman. “We infiltrate the Munroe Acquisitions headquarters. And I know just the way to do it.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
A couple of days later, Rubberman and I pulled up in the Rubbermobile to the front of the Munroe Acquisitions headquarters in downtown Golden City at around three thirty in the afternoon. As Rubberman put the Rubbermobile into parking, I looked out the passenger’s window at the tall building which served as the headquarters for one of the largest superhero acquisitions companies in the world.