Super Heroes

Chapter 4

Despite being such a big, lively city, the streets were eerily quiet at night. The further Mr. L walked, the quieter everything seemed. It reminded him of a mission he took about a year ago where he had to explore a large, maze-like place underground in search of The Phantom. Honestly, it was somewhat refreshing that The Phantom tried new tactics when it came to trying to take over the city. Bowser would repeat the same thing over and over again, to the point where it got really repetitive and boring. 

He arrived outside the large, abandoned factory. Unfortunately, there weren't any windows to peer through, so he was going to have to take a risk and get inside, (which was slightly nervewracking, but not too big of a deal. He reminded himself that he was good at this kind of thing. What he lacked in hand-to-hand combat, he made up for in stealth.)

There was a front door, but that seemed too obvious. Even the dumbest of villains would set traps around it. He was going to have to find another way inside.

Mr. L placed his fist in front of his mouth in thought, allowing it to rest against his lips. He was starting to notice more and more that he touched his face a lot, which made him slightly uncomfortable because he knew his hands weren't exactly clean (or gloves,) but he couldn't seem to break the habit, so why fight it? He hoped he didn't look comical or anything. He hated when people did cliche things like bringing their hand to their chin when thinking because it didn't seem realistic, but there he was, doing it. Maybe it was realistic.

Maybe he was overanalyzing. 

He did tend to do that a lot. 

He shook his head, trying to bring his focus back to the mission. 

There were fire escapes located on the side of the building. Perfect. He quickly ran over to the closest one. It was almost out of reach, but luckily he was quite the jumper, so he was able to grab onto the slightly rusting bars and pull himself up. 

He never understood why fire escapes didn't go all the way to the ground. He knew there was a reason, but he never bothered actually asking anyone. It was more fun to infer anyway. Perhaps they were so high up to discourage just anyone from using them unless it was an emergency. Still, what if small children needed to escape? A ten-foot fall would surely hurt them, right? 

Eh, who cares. Fires rarely happened anyway, which was shocking considering the fact that both Bowser and Flamethrower lived in the city. Bowser was reckless and destructive, sure, but he didn't set buildings on fire. He aimed to burn people, not property. And Flamethrower was ALWAYS careful.

Mr. L could remember a time when he got burned by Bowser. It hurt. More than being shot or falling. Being burned to death takes a while, too. Most times, when being burned alive, people die first from the lack of breathable air as opposed to the actual burning. Or, something like that. Mr. L never actually checked to see if that was true, he just heard someone random having a conversation about it while passing on the street. The source seemed credible enough. 

As he predicted, there was a hatch on the roof that would lead inside. It was made of metal, so he would have to time it correctly. Open it too fast and it would loudly screech. Open it too slowly and it would creak.

He carefully pulled it open, letting out a sigh of relief when it didn't make any noise and give him away. There was a dark set of stairs. He couldn't see any lights, so it was entirely possible that his predictions were wrong and the place really was abandoned. (He really hoped not, because then this will have all been nothing more than a big waste of time.)

He walked on his toes to keep the sound of his footsteps to a minimum. The stairs weren't made of wood, which was quite lucky. Wooden stairs were the worst. They always gave creepy haunted house vibes. He continued walking until he made it to the bottom, where a sliding door separated the stairwell from the rest of the building. Standing on his toes, he peered through the small sheet of glass that showed the other room.