Grunt Work

The Man of Steel

'Who's that?' I asked Mr Huggles, tapping the question into my console, and I felt my saddle vibrate as it translated the question into Octopussian. I saw the vague shapes of Mr Huggles' tentacles waving about in the air, but it was difficult to see, on account of the camouflage.

We had snuck into George Town on Grand Caymen during the night and crawled up onto the roof of one of the hotels by the waterfront. It had a blue roof, and because of that, Mr Huggles was blue to match. So was I, for that matter. And my saddle. Don't ask me to explain because, to be honest, I'm not that great with computers, but when Mr Huggles changes colour, we do too, to match. It's pretty awesome. But unfortunately because the roof is blue, and the sky is blue, it does mean I can't really see us, except for when a cloud comes over.

Nope, no clouds.

But because I was on the roof, it did mean I got a pretty good look of the operation going down. Not only that, but I had thought to bring some popcorn and a shake along with me. It was pretty difficult to eat with my gloves and helmet on, but I just had to tip the bucket up over my head and try to catch the popcorn with my mouth, and then try to fish out the bits I miss in my helmet. I didn't get them all, but that's okay. I can save them as a snack for later.

So anyway. Because the sky was clear, I had a pretty good look at Kaptain Kraken's airship as it came in from the sea. Unfortunately, everyone else had a pretty good view of it, too, and I heard a police sirents start their wailing in between the buildings along the shore. George Town isn't like New York or one of these places with loads of skyscrapers or anything like that. All the buildings were fairly low, but they are fairly packed in, so I couldn't see the streets all that well. But I could see the Kaptain's big blimpy looking ship come floating in off the sea and over the city, and I had a good view of the building it had parked itself over. This building, a bank, was the tallest, with a nice creamy paintjob and mint green roofs that made me think of mint chocolate chip ice cream that didn't at all make me feel hungry.

I brought out my binoculars so I could watch the action going down, and I could see some of the other grunts fall down from the airship, though I knew they were on ropes, onto the roof and disappear inside. I turned my attention to the shore, where I could see the waves were getting a bit more choppy and - oh. Oh my god.

Oh my fucking god.

There was an ice cream seller on the beach.

I wondered if he has mint chocolate chip.

I wondered if I can get down there and be back in time.

I shook my head and turned my attention back to the bank. I had to focus.

I needed to focus because there was something exploded in the front of the bank. There was a glimmer of something large and metal, that reflected the sun so brightly that I had to put my binoculars down. The dust settled, the thing landed on the ground with a thud that I could hear even from so far away, then ducked behind a tour bus. It was then that I could see what it was.

Or rather, who it was, for it was a man.

It was the Man of Steel.

Which is odd, because he's usually in New York. I guess he was holiday. Which is fair; the Caymen Islands are definitely pretty beautiful. Nothing on New Zealand's islands, of course. I'm just saying, there's a reason why Lord of the Rings was shot there. But still, it's pretty.

When the Man of Steel went behind the tour bus, and into shadow, I could see that he'd transformed into his steel forme. Head to toe of solid steel, wearing only palm tree patterned shorts. But the thing about the Man of Steel is, he's not just solid steel. He's not just solid at all, but he can turn into liquid metal - which he did. Transforming himself into a giant reflective silver blob, he slinked back over to the side of the cream and mint building, dodging the shots from the grunts on the roof, then latched himself onto the wall and dragged himself, still in liquid forme, up to the roof of the bank. I couldn't see what happened there, but judging by how the guns went silent and how I could see grunts being thrown from the roof, my guess is that it wasn't going well.