Thingamabob checked the readouts from his gadget once more. They had decided to
go after the most powerful of the targets on their list first. If they couldn’t take down
this girl, they probably couldn’t handle the rest of the targets either.
He didn’t want to report a failure to the boss. The man was not know for his forgiving
attitude.
“Everybody ready?,” Bob asked his radio. A chorus of affirmations came back. He
hoped they weren’t taking this lightly. His crew had some problems. He didn’t need
them cropping up in the middle of a mission.
“We need to attract her attention.” Bob hated this part of the plan. If things took too
long, other variables might crop up. “Go with Clown Girl.”
Clown Girl cartwheeled out in traffic, causing a collision between two cars. Others
piled on, unable to stop in time. She seemed to have vanished under the pileup.
“Target is powering up,” Gaze reported. “She’s coming in at three o’clock high.”
The reading on Bob’s instrument echoed the statement. The target would pass his post
in a few seconds. He hoped the power nullifier worked. Otherwise it was going to
come down to brute force.
He hated to use that option, but the target had to be taken. If the nullifier didn’t work,
his guys would have to earn their money.
“I’m going to try to neutralize the target,” said Bob. He took aim at the halo of light
approaching. “If it doesn’t work, Troop and Puff are to move in and distract the target
until a plan b can be put in place.”
“Ready,” said Puff. Subvocalizations played over the radio as he talked to himself.
Bob commanded the nullifier to fire. The beam sliced across the sky. It hit the halo.
The light went out as the girl generating it turned and used the last vestiges of her
power to crash into a window. The glass broke inward as she hit the floor inside the
office she had crashed into.
“She hit the twenty fifth floor,” said Gaze. “Power is out. It looks like she can’t do
anything.”
“That won’t last long.” Bob checked his tool. It still had most of its charge. “Go,
Troop and Puff. Take her out.”
“I’m already theeeeerrrreee!,” said Puff. Smoke blasted into existence across the
street from where Bob stood.
Troop formed a living ladder to cross the space. He resembled a gorilla stuffed in a
suit of camo, and boots. He drew all of his duplicates together on the other side. He
vanished in the darkness inside the office.
“Emergency responders are on the way, Bob,” said Gaze. “We don’t have a lot of
time.”
“We need you, Clown Girl,” said Bob. He gave her the address of the building.
“Hurry it up.”
“I’m going in, Gaze,” said Bob. “Keep an eye on things. If the police get close to the
building, let me know.”
“All right,” said Gaze. “This girl is still strong and fast, Bob. She’s heading for the
stairs.”
“Got it.” Bob pressed a button on his belt. He sprang across the space between his
lookout and the smashed window on a trail of air. He landed lightly and took stock.
The layout was a two room suite. The boss sat in the office with the window. The
secretary sat outside. The boss’s office had been partially destroyed by the flying
target.
He hastened out of the office. He still had a job to do.
Bob stepped out in a bullpen of desks. Some of those desks and the furniture that
went with them had been used as weapons, and shields. He couldn’t expect Puff or
Troop to keep things in hand. They were brute force incarnate. He heard noises across
the bullpen through a hole where the door to the hall should have been.
He jogged across the battlefield. They had to take care of this fast. He didn’t want to
have deal with cops on top of this woman too.
He pushed open the door to the stairs cautiously. He didn’t want his own guys to take
him out. He shook his head. Troop had gathered his duplicates together because of
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.the space restriction in the stairwell. Puff was nowhere in sight. The woman was
trying to strangle the simian-like villain with her bare hands. He considered his next
move after the pause in disbelief.
Puff appeared in a cloud of smoke with Clown Girl. His dark purple suit and coat
swirled around him as he flung his colleague down the stairwell.
Clown Girl bounced off a railing in her baggy pants and striped shirt. It was hard to
tell if she was really smiling under the makeup smile on her face. She wrapped her
legs around the target’s neck and spun around. The woman lost her grip on Troop and
went down.
Bob pointed his gadget and commanded it to fire. A small dart hit the target in the
arm. Electricity surrounded her for a brief second. She collapsed.
“Police are at the front door of your building,” reported Gaze. “You guys might want
to exfiltrate from the scene.”
“Take the girl, Puff.” Bob pointed at the target. “Make sure Mercer’s boys lock her
down. We don’t want her coming to, and we don’t want her coming to and trying to
shake off the nullifier’s effect and powering back up.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Puff slung the girl over his shoulder. He muttered
about taking a few punches as he went up in smoke.
“Back to the window.” Bob turned and jogged across the wrecked office area. A little
collateral damage was to be expected, but this was much more than he thought
possible when someone’s powers went away.
“Troop, take Clown Girl across,” said Bob. “I’ll be right behind you.”
He noticed how the duplicator rubbed his neck. How strong was their target? Could
they have taken her in a straight up fight? Did he really want to know that answer?
He decided that someone manhandling Troop with her bare hands was someone he
didn’t want to meet in a dark alley.
Troop threw himself across the gap between buildings. He grabbed Clown Girl and
yanked himself over to the other side. He placed Clown Girl on the roof of the other
building as he pulled himself together.
“We’re bugging out, Gaze,” said Bob. “Go ahead and head back to base.”
“I’m heading out right now,” Gaze said. His channel turned to static as he cut his
radio.
Bob leaped across the space between the buildings with his belt jets. He landed
lightly. He walked after his comrades, scanning for enemies. With his lookout gone,
he had to be extra vigilant until they were clear of the police activity.
“Transport One to Procure One,” said Mercer. “Ready to move.”
“Take the material home.” Bob smiled. The job was done. If anything happened now,
it would be on Mercer’s head. “We are moving to the next target area to set up.”
“Understood,” said Mercer. “Transport One out.”
Bob jogged after Troop and Clown Girl. He hated running, but he didn’t want to have
to face the cops and draw the attention of some mask who thought he could take them
on.
No one wanted to draw the attention of the Mark. A sighting was rare, but no one
took him on and won.
The fact that he had buried two of his enemies under a mountain on Mars, threw
another one into the Sun was not lost on Bob. And the fact that the nullifier might not
work on him did not encourage Bob to experiment and find out what would happen
if his team took on the World’s Strongest Man.
Being ripped limb from limb was not something he wanted to try out in person.
“Where are you, Puff?,” Bob said into his radio.
“Riding with Mercer,” said Puff ten times. “I am ready if the girl wakes up.”
“Head to the next target as soon as the target is secured,” said Bob. “Got me?”
“I will be there,” said Puff.
Bob caught up with Troop and Clown Girl as they waited to jump across to the next
building. From there they could run to the next building in line, or cross the street to
the block of buildings on the other side.
“We have to get away from here,” said Bob. “Puff is riding with Mercer and his boys.
I sent Gaze ahead. We need to escape any cordon and catch up with Gaze.”
“No problem, Bob-a-roony,” said Clown Girl. “We can jump across the street, and
head down to street level so we can use a car to drive away.”
“Really?,” said Bob. “What do you think, Troop?”
The simian pointed across the street.
“Let’s go,” said Bob. “The faster we get away from here, the better I’ll like it.”
Troop hurled himself across the gap on one of his living bridges. Clown Girl ran
across the bridge as lightly as if she were on the ground. It was a good thing they
made her give up the oversized shoes. Bob just jumped across. Troop pulled himself
together and they headed down a fire escape to get away from the sirens and lightbars
converging on the chaos they had caused.
Bob didn’t glance back as they reached an alley and walked out on the sidewalk. He
pointed his gadget at a nearby car. The engine turned on and the doors unlocked.
They had a long drive back to their base at the Quality Inn. Then they had to fly out
to where their next target lived and get started rounding it up.
The file said it was some kind of machine. His gadget should shut it down pretty
easily. The last target should be just as easy. The file said that target was a martial
artist. Troop could wrap that up by himself.
Not many normal people could stand up to his gorilla-like strength.
Bob got behind the wheel. He waited for the others to get in before driving away. The
car would be left at the hotel for the police to find. By that time, they would be
packed up and long gone.
He debated splitting up the team to take out the next two targets. He decided against
it as he drove along. Corona had been almost naturally strong enough to take on
Troop with her bare hands. If these others had hidden resources, they would need the
full team to take care of business.
He definitely didn’t want to get caught flatfooted and lose because he had
underestimated the people he was chasing. Overkill was better than having to face his
boss with one win out of three.
Letting the masked community know they existed would be the same as losing in the
opinion of his boss. The targets had to vanish with no clue left behind. Heroes who
became interested in their business was trouble one way or the other.
And if things escalated enough, that would attract the attention of the Mark. And no
villain wanted that.