Death's Trials (An Original Superhero Story)

4•Smokey Gives us a Smackdown•4

Thursday. 5:10 Downtown Ember Valley

•Dani•

I sighed, glaring at the table in front of me. My equipment lay there, unfinished inventions scattered around the room.

"Anything?" I lifted my head to look at the computer screen. Bandit and Viv's faces were both up, separated by a thin black line halfway down the monitor.

"The effects don't seem to be wearing off." Viv spoke. "He's still paralyzed. But there's something weird I noticed."

"And what would that be?"

"He isn't just immobilized, it's more than that. His hair, clothes, and even a chain necklace that was around his neck are frozen too."

"What?" Bandit narrowed his eyes.

"How is that possible?" I frowned. We were missing something.

"Wait a minute.." Bandit turned his attention to something off screen and I could hear his fingers flying against a keyboard. "I ran a check to all those UnderGround. None of them have powers that can paralyze people."

"And?" Viv asked.

"That means whoever did it was either a new Anti, a hero, or-"

"A random civilian." I guessed.

"Bingo." He smirked.

"Okay, how does that help us?! Now we'll never find him." Viv sighed.

"On the contrary, mi amigo-"

"And now he's Spanish-"

"Ember Valley is very small, I went through all people with known powers who live here and I found something interesting." Bandit pressed a button and immediately something began printing out from a slot in my control panel.

"A file?" I raised an eyebrow, opening it.

"Timewarp."

"Who?"

"Isn't he one of the lesser known Supes to have gone missing? I heard the Devils mention him a few days ago." I questioned and Bandit nodded.

"That's right, except he didn't go missing, he announced his retirement. It was his partner that went missing."

"I remember now, those two were the biggest Superheroes after Phoenix." Viv nodded.

"Well, it turns out he might have a kid. I'm not entirely sure who, but there's a good chance he goes to our school-"

"You realize there's also a good chance he doesn't, right? They're only two schools here, it's 50-50."

"Pfft, details." He waved his hand dismissively as he dragged out the 'l'. "Now, as for the papers; it looks like a code. A code in another language. I couldn't decipher it."

"In other words, Google translate was a bust." I crossed my arms.

Bandit smiled sheepishly and looked away, despite him not being able to see me anyway.

"Uh.. Guys?" Viv said hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"I think I might've just found out who this guy is."

My eyes widened and I leaned forward, the components in my hand long forgotten.

"It says here his name is Victor le Marque. His criminal record's packed and he got let out of prison last week." He read what he found out for us.