Chapter 10: Knock-Knock

Hot Ice:

“Where are they,” I think, flipping my left hand and forming a fireball. Throwing the fireball, I set a shopping cart on fire. As the people run, some accidentally step onto the ice and slide around. A man screams as he slides right into the cashier’s counter.

“They’re coming,” the boss replies, speaking through the earpiece he gave me. “Be ready, and remember the plan. To retrieve the flash drive Nitro lost.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I say, flipping my right hand and forming an ice ball. Throwing the ice ball, it hits and breaks a t.v screen.

Shooting out my hands, I unleash streams of both fire and ice. While fire rains down on one half of the store, it starts to snow on the other half. On the verge of melting some more t.v and freezing some people, something hits and knocks me to the floor.

“What in the world,” I yell, holding the back of my head as I push myself up. Looking around, I see a girl with yellow hair and g****e on them. She’s wearing a sleeves-less white shirt with red pants. Also, in her hand is a blue, red, and white shield.

“Let’s me guess,” I say, back on my feet. “Ms. Justice. Where are your friends?”

“Behind you,” someone answers, and I turn around. Standing behind me is a knight in a red suit of armor and an elf with a black shirt and grey pants.

“Weird,” I thought, “Aren't there supposed to be four of you?”

“Give it up, buddy,” Ms. Justice says, lowering herself as she prepares to throw her shield. “You’re outnumbered. Three to one.”

“That’s true,” I say, smiling as I flip my hands, “But in this case, this one guy can more than handle the three of you!”

Ms. Justice:

Even before SpeedBlade can stop him, 'Fire Ice Man', fires at him and forces SpeedBlade back. JumpStart charges toward him but he freezes the floor and causes JumpStart to slip.

While JumpStart screams as he slides, SpeedBlade screams because he’s starting to smoke! Smokes raising from his armor, he quickly runs to the other half of the store and jumps into the snow.

Yelling as I charge toward 'Fire Ice Man', he turns around and fires an ice beam. Jumping and flipping over it, I hit his hand with my shield and knock it down. With the ice beam stopping, I punch him across the face and knock him back.

Silent:

I watch as Hot Ice and the OutCasts battle each other in the store. Ms. Justice hits Hot Ice, he stumbles back and raises his left hand. Shooting a stream of fire, Ms. Justice blocks it.

“Strange,” I think. “Ms. Justice, JumpStart, SpeedBlade, but no QuickShot. Where is QuickShot? Hmm.”

I conclude that since QuickShot is not here, she must be in the OutPost. I take a minute to reevaluate my plan. Turning away, I walk down the stairs and down my lair’s hallways. As I walk, I pass Unstoppable and my servant-bot.

“Master,” my servant-bot asks.

“Remind here for now,” I command, “I have an errand to run.”

Moving in and out of the shadow as I make my way through the city, I stop at a manhole cover located in the center of the city. Grabbing and pulling the cover off, I jump down into the sewer. As I run through the sewer, I ignore the water splashes while wiping a few droplets off my mask.

Finally, after making my way through the sewer, I stop at a brick wall.

“Knock knock”, I say, stepping on the button.

QuickShot:

Yawning as I rub my eyes, I push myself up and look around. I feel a bit more energetic now so I decide to get out of bed. Leaving my room, and stepping into the living room, I’m surprised to see it empty.

“Where is everyone?"

The base is completely empty. No one is here. JumpStart. SpeedBlade. Not even Ms. Justice. They’re all gone.

As I wonder where they could have gone, I look over to OutPost’s computer.

“There must be trouble in the city,” I think, running over to the computer.  “I may not have JumpStart’s skill but that doesn’t mean I also can’t hack into surveillance cameras. Yes!”

The screen changes and I see Ms. Justice, SpeedBlade, and JumpStart fighting someone half-blue and half-orange. I watch as JumpStart tries to attack the man from behind but he must have heard JumpStart.

He jumps out of the way and swings his left hand. As he does, a wave of what I can only guess are flames shoot out and knock JumpStart back.

“I have to help,” I say, running back to my room. Grabbing my bow and quiver, I run to the OutPost’s door. About to push down the button, the wall splits open by itself.

“What,” I say, watching as the wall fully opens. “Who opens the door?”

While looking at the open door, I’m caught off guard when someone in a white mask with red eyes runs in. Even before I can load my bow, the man uppercuts me.

Screaming as I fly into the air, I only stop after dropping onto the floor. Rubbing my chin as I push myself up, I look at the man.

It’s just one man, blocking the exit. He seems to be wearing some sort of orange and black armor, and he had some sort of belt with a dozen components attached to it.

"Hello QuickShot," the man says as he steps into the OutPost. "Don't worry about your friends. For what it is worth, I'm more than positive they can handle Hot Ice."

"Well thanks for your vote of confidence," I say, quickly getting back on my feet. As I stand up, I look around for my bow. It's only a few feet from me. Looking at the man, I jump and roll. Grabbing my bow along the way, I load an arrow while landing on a knee.

"By the way," I say, pulling back the bowstring. "Who are you? How did you get in here? How do you know my name? How do you know my friends' names? Who are you?"

The man stays completely silent. He only looks around.

"The flash drive," he says after a few minutes. "The one you took from Nitro. Where is it?"

"The flash drive," I repeat. "What are you talking about? We didn't take a flash drive from Nitro--JumpStart!"

Looking over at JumpStart's room, I look back at the masked man. He must have seen me looking at JumpStart's room because now he's looking at the room too.

"Thank you," he says, taking off with almost unmatched speed. Running toward JumpStart's room, I aim my bow at him.

"Stop," I yell, shooting my arrow. As my arrow flies toward the masked man, he stops and grabs my arrow with his bare hand.

"What," I stutter, not believing my own eyes. "He, he caught my arrow. In mid-flight."

Breaking the arrow with his one hand, he throws the two pieces to the floor before running toward me.

Screaming as he jumps into the air, the masked man pulls back his fist. I barely have enough time to jump back as the masked man punches the floor.

Despite missing me, he raises his foot and kicks me. Falling to the floor, I ignore the pain in my head and reach for my quiver. Pulling out an explosive arrow, I place it in my bow.

"Let's see you catch this," I yell, shooting the explosive arrow.

I watch as the masked man quickly pushes himself up onto his feet. With my explosive arrow flying toward him, the masked man must know what it is.

He didn't try to catch it. Instead, he grabs one of our living room chairs and throws it. The chair hits my arrow, it bursts into a fireball that swallows everything in the living room.

"Nnooo," I cry, watching as the flames quickly eat our sofa and chairs. "I like that chair. I was just getting used to sitting on the string."

Pushing myself up, I look around for the masked man. As I scan the OutPost, I see him winding up. I barely have time to bring up my bow and block the masked man's roundhouse kick!

The kick is so strong, that it nearly breaks my bow. Pushing me back, the masked man turns around and grabs my bow. Now, the two of us are struggling for my bow.

Thinking fast, I try punching the masked man in the chest but instead, I hurt myself. The masked man doesn't even seem bothered. Before I know it, the masked man grabs my fist with both his hands. Stepping back, he tosses me over him.

I land in the living room, surrounded by our burning chairs and sofa. I try to get up to defend myself but I don't even have time to raise my head before the masked man stomps on it and forces it back down.

Looking up, the last thing I see is the bottom of the man's boot before it hits my face.