"Guardian Angel? Are you kidding me? They call me Guardian Angel?" I slap the newspaper down on top of the table. Dave glances at the paper briefly and then hands me an ice pack.
"What is this for?" I ask him skeptically. He points to my face, which I know must look like something out of a horror film. Hey, I can't help it I was super-punched in the face three times in a row. "Guardian Angel," I repeat distastefully, pressing the pack to my nose, which is still mending. I can only hope that my healing factor will contribute to the regrowing of the tooth I lost or else I'm destined to look like a crazy forever.
"Angel for short," Dave says, grinning madly. He knows how much I hate this, and he's eating it up. Ollie picks up the paper and scans the front page. That's right. Front page, people. The headline reads: NEW SUPERHERO "GUARDIAN ANGEL" IN TOWN??
"Danny Montraro, the victim of the incident, says, 'She was there for me when everyone else thought I was crazy. She saved me and my family when nobody else would,'" Ollie reads. "Apparently the victim had been approached by Your Highness, but the superhero did nothing except call him schizophrenic."
"Your Highness was not available for comment," Dave finishes, a gleeful smirk plastered on his face. He looks at me, his eyes shining. "You did good, Angel."
"How does your face feel?" Ollie asks me, wincing when I move away the ice pack and reveal the ugly patchwork of bruises underneath.
"Like I got run over by a semi. But other than that, I'm feeling great," I assure him.
"Here, give me that newspaper again so I can inflate my ego a little more," I gesture to Ollie, then place the ice pack back on my nose. The blonde fanboy obliges, and I scan the rest of the article.
She was described as a woman of average height with a grey hoodie, black boots, and short brown hair.
"You used an illusion?" Dave frowns in disapproval, reading over my shoulder. I duck my head.
"Well, it worked, did it not? If you're so worried about me being discovered I think I should wear a mask instead of a hood." I point out. I flip to the next page out curiosity, and my heart freezes.
SHAMED SUPERHERO 'CRIMSON' SKIPS TOWN??
Oh, shit. Is that why her house was dark and nobody was home when we stopped by to drop off the hard drive? Has she really left? I continue to read, not daring to breathe.
Taylor Garcia, the face behind Crimson's mask, was last seen at 11:00 last night wandering the streets with a "shell-shocked" look on her face . The next morning, she left this cryptic note at her doorstep: I'm sorry. I have to go. I promise you, I'll make things right. The note was discovered when her sister, Marie, went to drop off groceries. [picture shown below] Marie says, "I'm really worried for her. Ever since her son's death, she's been a little... unhinged. I hope she doesn't do something rash. She loved Dominic to death. I know you all think that she's the reason he's dead, but she's not. She would've done anything to get her son back." Where is Taylor Garcia now? Has she left Birchwood City behind for good?
"At 11:00 last night... so she had to have seen the hard drive." I sit back, puzzled. My eyes drift to the picture down below. It's of the same chubby woman that was hugging Taylor in the news on TV after Dominic's "death." That woman is Taylor's sister?
"Maybe she went to find Dominic," Dave suggests. "She can fly. Maybe she's going to Idaho." I nod thoughtfully, but whatever reply I was formulating is interrupted by the sound of tapping at the front door.
"Are you expecting a delivery?" I ask cautiously, making my way over to the door. Both Dave and Ollie shake their heads. I open the door a crack but I don't see anybody. I open it further. There's nothing there. Then I look down and see a lumpy manila envelope... and a single, half-curled black feather. Crow... Tate.
I look up and sure enough, I see the little black form of a crow flying up in the watercolor sky. I'll see what I can do. I promise, he had said when he dropped me off Friday night. Maybe he's already making due on that promise.
"Crow left that?" Dave asks, he and Ollie appearing from behind me. He bends down beside me and picks up the envelope, letting the black feather tumble onto the pavement step.
"Why wouldn't he stay?" Ollie asks, and blushes when Dave gives him a disbelieving look. "I'm just wondering," the blonde protests, crossing his arms defensively.
"He doesn't want to get us into trouble, probably," I offer. I take the envelope from Dave and close the front door, walking back over to the kitchen. I upend the envelope and dump its contents onto the table. There's a rolled-up newspaper, a small white envelope that has Read Me! written on it in black Sharpie, a strange black amulet, and a few glossy photographs.
Ollie reaches over to pick up the amulet, but I swat his hand away. When he gives me an injured look, I shrug.
"We don't know what it does yet. Let's read what's in the envelope first before we do anything else. I don't want to be more confused than I already am." I pull a folded piece of paper- a letter addressed to me- out of the envelope and begin to read aloud.
"Hey, Maya. Sorry I couldn't give this to you in person. But I don't want to be attracting anymore attention to you than I might already have. I saw the paper this morning. I'm proud of you.
I'm going to show you a few things that might seem crazy, but I think you handle crazy pretty well. Look at the section I've circled on the newspaper, then look at the photographs.
P.S If you're going to touch the necklace, you might want to put on some gloves. I'm not entirely sure what it can do to human skin.
P.P.S When you're done looking at everything, read what I've written in the next letter. Sorry. This is confusing. But I don't want to give you an information overload. I told you that I would try and help you. And I think this will be particularly... illuminating. Consider this a debt repaid." I grin. "And then he includes a smiley-face. Classy." Dave and Ollie seem intrigued, and I have to say- I'm pretty curious, too.
"Well, let's see what the newspaper tells us," Dave suggests logically. He unwinds the rubber band and rolls it out. I pick up the battered newspaper and look at the date. This is yesterday's paper... for Quenta, Oklahoma. Frowning, I flip through the pages until I find an article with loopy black Sharpie rings around it.
Suspected Kidnapping in Washington County on Saturday
Witnesses say a "tall" man with "neatly trimmed facial hair" wearing "nice white clothes" was seen dragging a struggling boy "aged around six years" and "of Latino race" into his silver Chevy Malibu on Saturday near the Yates Post Office at around 3 pm. The plates weren't identifiable. No boys have been reported missing matching his description, and nobody has come forward claiming to know the victim or the perpetrator. If you have any information about the man or the boy, please call the number below.
I frown, not understanding. Dave picks up the paper, too, reading it over.
"Dominic was kidnapped? But how did anybody find him in the first place? Maybe he's one of Reggie's goons," Ollie suggests.
"Let's look at the photographs," Dave advises. He looks over his shoulder at me, and frowns in concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I say quickly. "Let's just look at those photos. Crow must be trying to tell us something." Ollie hands them to me and I rifle through them. I don't get it. They're all pictures of Ivory, this super-villain obsessed with the color white. He's also the guy Taylor had an affair with which makes him... Dominic's father. Wait a minute.
I pick up the newspaper and re-read the description of Dominic's kidnapper. Tall, neatly trimmed facial hair, with nice white clothes. Then I look at the photographs and feel a chill run up my spine. The broad description on the newspaper matches the photos of Ivory perfectly. He's got a smug face with impeccable facial hair, a white tuxedo, and he's got to be at least 5'11". The best (or the worst) part is that Ivory's a teleporter- the most talented there is. And it's rumored that once you perfect your power as much as Ivory has perfected his, you can sort of sense when someone with the same power as you is nearby. If the rumor is true, that must be how he found Dominic. And that he's alive in the first place.
But why would he come out of hiding now to kidnap his own son? Is he working for Reggie? That doesn't seem right. Ivory is/was an incredibly egoistical villain and I can't see him working for someone as controlling as Reggie. So this must be part of Ivory's own agenda. Maybe he saw Dominic's fake death on TV and connected the dots between his affair with Taylor and the fact that Taylor has a son that she's kept secret all these years.
Great. Now we just have to find the world's most talented teleporter, who also happens to be a powerful super-villain who has been faking his death for all these years.
"This is insane," I gulp, studying the photos again. "Ivory's alive?" I grab the Read Me! envelope and pull out Tate's second letter.
"Have you figured it out? Ivory's alive. And he just kidnapped his son. If there's still some doubt in your mind, I have evidence right in front of you. That amulet belonged to Ivory when he was in his super-villain prime. He wore it all of the time. It's been rumored that it contains some sort of dark power source instead the stone, but it could just be a bunch of baloney. Either way, I only touched it with my little bird feet.
I found it after I first heard about the kidnapping a few hours after it happened- thanks to an anonymous source. I went over to the scene of the crime and I just saw the amulet laying there.
If you look closely in the pictures of Ivory I sent you, you should see that he's wearing the amulet in all of them. I don't know what it means for him now that he's lost it, but I'm sure he'll be looking for it once he realizes it's gone. If you want to drop it in the river or something, I can't blame you. I have no doubt it's the sort of thing that will attract trouble right to you. But hey- you're a superhero now, right? Maybe a little trouble is what you were looking for." After I finish reading the letter, I study the amulet a little closer. It's a just a black cord, simple enough, but the pendant hanging from it is anything but. It's a black stone inset in metal with threads of white writhing inside. I'm serious. Those wisps of white are actually moving. How disturbing.
"So if I wore it, I could get like, some dark powers or whatever?" Ollie whispers, looking more fascinated about the amulet than he is about the fact that a powerful super-villain has risen from the grave and recently kidnapped his son.
"No. Your body would either crumble into ash or you would become possessed. But it's your funeral," I tell him dryly. I examine every single thing Tate sent me once again before stuffing them all back into the envelope. I leave the amulet just laying there.
"Great. Now there's a 'dark power source' sitting on my kitchen table," Dave complains. He eyes the stone distrustfully.
"Are you guys seriously not worried about the fact that Ivory is alive? And he's kidnapped Dominic, for God's sake!" My voice comes out a little sharper than I intended it to, and Dave looks at me with a guilty expression on his face.
"He wouldn't try to kill his own son. He's probably just going to try and fulfill some midlife crisis fantasy he has about going to baseball games with his little mini-me," Ollie reasons.
"Great, Ollie. I'll just go to every single baseball stadium in the world looking for a creepy teleporter guy in a white tuxedo and his son. Who can also teleport. And can be tracked by his own father," I say through gritted teeth. I get up, grab a pair of oven mitts from underneath the stove, and walk over.
"What are you doing?" Dave asks nervously as I shove my hands through both oven mitts and lean over the creepy amulet.
"If this thing is anything like a horcrux from Harry Potter, that means if I destroy it then Ivory will get weaker, right?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Yeah, and whoever tries to destroy a horcrux usually ends up dying a slow and painful death unless they happen to have a basilisk fang or the Sword of Gryffindor to destroy it, which you definitely do not have because sadly we don't actually live in the Harry Potter books. Good luck there," Ollie laughs.
"Ok, fine. Whatever. Nerd. Do you guys own, like, a safe or something?" I ask, irritated. Dave nods slowly, looking worried.
"And now we'll have a 'dark power source' in our bedroom closet," Ollie mutters, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Yay. This will end well."
"Oh, hush. I have an idea. Dave, can you grab the safe for me? And Ollie, make yourself useful and get me a shovel."
YOU ARE READING
Super?
Adventure"Stop pretending to be an idiot, idiot." Ouch. It burns. "You're starting to sound like a dear old friend of mine," she adds, her tone implying that her "friend" isn't so much of a "friend" as a mortal enemy who she probably also dragged into an all...
