Capes & Masks

5. CHAPTER TWO

Perhaps I should have been surprised that ZZZ recognized me even without my costume, but I didn’t think so. ZZZ was one of the few supervillains who knew my real identity. I wasn’t sure why he had never told anyone my real identity before, but based on the surprised reactions of his fellow Dark Collectivists, I could tell that even they hadn’t known who I was until ZZZ called me by my sidekick name.

“That kid is Beams?” said the skinny thug called Ronny. “But he’s so scrawny and wears glasses.”

“Appearances can be deceiving, Ronny,” said ZZZ. He gestured at his face. “Look at me, for example. I look like I just got out of bed when in fact I’m wide awake, unlike everyone else, who has apparently decided that it’s nap time now.”

I knew ZZZ was being sarcastic. What made ZZZ—pronounced tripled Z—so dangerous was that he emitted some sort of sleepy aura that made people sleepy and tired even if they were well-rested. Before ZZZ’s first arrest, he had used his powers to rob banks, assassinate individuals, and commit all sorts of other crimes. Although ZZZ was not a physical threat, his powers made him a force to be reckoned with because it was hard to resist them once he targeted you. I should have known he was behind this, especially after the Breakout.

“Maybe you guys should take a nap, too,” I suggested, stifling a yawn to avoid showing weakness. I lowered my phone and put it back in my pocket, though not before sending Rubberman a quick text letting him know about my situation. “The police won’t be here for a while, after all, so you have plenty of time to catch up on your sleep.”

ZZZ glared at me. “Very funny, but I will have you know that we are all perfectly well-rested. I am curious, though, about how you are resisting the effects of my powers. Usually, teenagers like you are the first to fall asleep.”

I waved Jennifer’s empty coffee cup. “Had two full cups of coffee today. I feel like I can do anything.”

ZZZ gritted his teeth. “Caffeine. Of course. If I ever become the President of the United States, first thing I will do is make caffeine illegal. A worse d**g than meth, c***k, and m*******a put together if you ask me.”

I grinned. “Only because it lets me resist your powers, right?”

ZZZ shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Caffeine won’t keep you awake forever. Sooner or later, you will fall asleep. And that will be sooner.”

ZZZ held out a hand toward me and I suddenly felt even more tired than before. The caffeine in my system still kept me awake, but it was like trying to hold an increasingly heavy weight over my head.

Clutching my head, I said, “Is this what the Dark Collective has been reduced to? Robbing banks like common crooks?”

“We need the money,” said ZZZ. “And robbing banks just happens to be one of my specialties.”

Blinking hard, I said, “Not afraid of Rubberman or the police coming to stop you?”

ZZZ laughed. “Why would I? The Dark Collective is far stronger than the police. Besides, we planned this bank robbery very carefully. By the time Rubberman shows up, this place’s vaults will be cleaned and your boss’ reputation will be even more in the gutter than it already is.”

I gritted my teeth, but couldn’t argue against what ZZZ said. Ever since the Breakout, the Dark Collective, led by Johnny ‘Three Fingers’ Diamond, had been a huge pain for me, Rubberman, and the police. They had apparently made it their mission to commit every kind of crime at once and even the GCPD was struggling to keep up with their crimes. It didn’t help that we had no idea where the Dark Collective was located. They seemed to appear and disappear at will, which made it that much harder for us to arrest their members and put them back in jail where they belonged.

But that was irrelevant right now. I took a step forward and said, “If you want to rob this bank, you’ll have to go through me first.”

ZZZ rolled his eyes. “I keep forgetting how delusional you supers are. But that’s fine. I’ll just kill you myself.”

I blinked again. ZZZ’s pressure was becoming harder to ignore. I felt like I could barely keep my eyes open, despite the caffeine in my system. “But I thought Three Fingers said—”

“Who cares what Three Fingers thinks?” said ZZZ with a dismissive wave of his hand. “He might be the leader, but I’m as important to the organization as he is. I’ll just tell him that you tried to stop us and I was forced to kill you to complete the mission. He won’t know any different. Right, guys?”

ZZZ said that while glaring at the thugs standing around him, all of whom nodded fervently or said things like, “Yeah, boss!” and “Sure thing!”

Which wasn’t good for me. The last time I’d seen Three Fingers, he had spared Rubberman and me despite having the power to kill us. I guess ZZZ lacked Three Fingers’ honor, which meant I was probably going to die unless I did something fast.

Desperate, I fired my lasers at ZZZ. Unfortunately, my aim was off due to my sleepiness and my lasers just struck the floor in front of ZZZ, leaving a small smoking crater right in front of him. ZZZ didn’t even blink.

“Keep shooting at me all you like, brat,” said ZZZ. “Sleepy people don’t have good aim.”

ZZZ was right. Already darkness was starting to tug at the corners of my eyes. It was becoming harder and harder for me to stay conscious. My only hope at this point was that Rubberman would get here in time, but given how carefully ZZZ had planned this bank robbery, Rubberman might only get here in time to find my body.

I tried taking a step forward only to yawn and fall onto my hands and knees. A shadow fell over me and I looked up in time to see ZZZ standing over me, pointing a g*n directly at my forehead.

“If you think I’m just going to wait until you fall asleep before I kill, you’ve got another thing coming, kid,” said ZZZ, his finger resting on the trigger. “I’ve been dreaming of killing you while you’re awake for well over a year now. I want to see the fear and terror in your eyes as you realize that your short little life is about to—”

I never got to hear the end of ZZZ’s sentence because something smashed through the ceiling above, sending chunks of plaster, wood, and debris falling onto the floor. When the thing struck the floor, it caused the whole building to shudder from the impact, making ZZZ stagger to the side and making me fall on my stomach. The thugs on the other side of the room staggered and stumbled, cursing loudly in shock at this sudden interruption.

“What the—?” said ZZZ, looking at the thick cloud of dust in the middle of the room. “What the hell was that?”

Blinking repeatedly, I looked into the dust cloud as well. The silhouette of a large, muscular man could be seen within, his huge muscles obvious even without being able to see his actual form.

“No way …” I said in a low voice. “Prime Man? Is that you?”

“Freaking Prime Man?” said ZZZ in alarm. “Crap. This wasn’t part of the plan.”

Loud, booming laughter exploded from the dust cloud. “Prime Man? I am mightier than Prime Man! A force for good and justice in a world full of supervillain and criminal scum! Allow me to introduce myself!”

A powerful burst of wind caused the dust cloud to scatter, revealing a new superhero who I had never seen before.

He was built similarly to Prime Man—large muscles, huge chest, and the physique of a god—but he was a bit slimmer and shorter than Prime Man. He also didn’t have a cape and his costume was brown and tan rather than purple and blue. He stood with his back to us, but when he turned around to face us, he was wearing a mask on his face that left his chiseled jaw exposed, while his eyes were hidden behind thick goggles that made him look kind of like an owl. On his chest, the letters ‘MM’ were stitched into his costume, although I’d never seen that particular logo before. Despite that, however, I felt like I’d seen him somewhere before, though I wasn’t sure where.

“Who are you?” said ZZZ in bewilderment. “Another superhero? Doesn’t this city have enough superheroes?”

“Justice can never have enough defenders!” said the superhero, thrusting his finger into the sky. “Evil is like vermin and must be exterminated as such!”

“Oh, wow,” said ZZZ sarcastically, “comparing supervillains to vermin. Never heard that one before. Guess cleverness must be one of your powers.”

The superhero pointed a finger at ZZZ. “A quick wit is but one of the many benefits that Justice has blessed me with! Yet I do not need a quick wit to put an end to the crimes of villains such as you, ZZZ!”

“Uh-huh,” said ZZZ. “Just who are you, anyway? Never seen you before.”

“Then allow me to introduce myself!” said the superhero. He put his hands on his hips, thrust his chest out, and said, “Let evildoers and criminals such as yourself tremble before the might of Mighty Man, the strongest superhero in the world!”