The Cloak Guard

Real Life Supervillain, Part 2

Travis had to admit, that last line had sounded a little cheesy. He'd been thinking about a superhero name all day. He needed something cool and flashy. He'd thought of things like Comet or Blur or something, to go with his speed, but none of them had felt right. Then, when he'd gotten his electrical powers, it hit him. He moved fast light lightning, but even that didn't feel right. But another word for lightning was Thunderbolt. Now that was a dope name.

All he needed was a good costume to go with it as all he had now was a ski mask he'd managed to pick up. And maybe some catchphrases as well. Cause 'have no fear' did suck.

"Who the hell are you?" the leader of the criminals asked, gun pointed at him.

Travis had watched a lot of action scenes in movies but had never really thought about what it would be like to have an actual gun pointed at him. It took everything he had not to cower down or just run as fast as he could, but he held strong. He had superpowers now. And he had an obligation to use them to save his friends.

"I'm the newest hero in town," he replied, hoping his voice wasn't quivering. "So, unless you want things to get messy, I suggest you surrender now."

Instead of surrendering, as Travis hoped, the leader just sighed. "Great, another one," he said before looking behind Travis to where Franklin was standing in the rubble of the wall he'd busted through. "Another two, I suppose I should say."

"No matter," the masked man said. "They are just wannabe heroes. Not true threats."

"Oh really?" Travis asked, his grin rising. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out several items he had swiftly picked up on his way here.

Duct tape.

"Let's see if you feel the same way after this," he said, stretching out one long strand.

A second later, after zooming all around the room and using all the tape he had, Travis had managed to tie up every bad guy in there, all of them now looking like gray mummies around the middle. He'd even removed their guns, tossing them in the corner.

He clapped his hands together, congratulating himself on a job well done. "That was easy," he said in relief. He'd been a bit worried it would take a bit longer or that something would go wrong, but apparently he was worried for nothing. His super speed made him invincible like this. "So, are you impressed yet?"

"A little," Franklin said.

"Not at all," the masked man told him.

"Oh come on dude, I just tied you and all your little goons up in like, I don't know, less than a second? How is that not impressive?"

A second later, the man was free, his whole body seemingly covered in metallic spikes that ripped the tape apart. As Travis watched, the spikes retracted into some sort of metallic skin that writhed and shifted around him.

"Children today," the man clucked. "So full of themselves. You're granted this small taste of power and think it makes you immortal. I think it's time you got a reality check."

"Oh yeah?" Travis asked, shaking himself off. It didn't matter what weird powers this dude had. He still had his super speed and as long as he had that, there wasn't anything he couldn't pull off. "Let's see."

He started to move, ready to wrap the man up again or maybe just knock him out this time. But he came to a stop right as he began, his feet jolting. He cursed and looked down, gasping at the sight. His feet were encased in that same weird metallic stuff, holding them back. He couldn't move.

"I trapped you while I was distracting you," the man informed him. "Pathetic."

He waved his arms and the metal stuff flew up and around him, twisting in the air towards all the tied up men. In a few short moves, all the tape was cut and the men were free again.