The Blower File: Part 5

In the air above the street, floated four figures, flying by means of jet packs. They seemed to be young men of about twenty, though it was hard to tell as all four wore face masks. One was dressed in a blue business suit and had his hair combed back and spiked. One wore a brown overcoat, almost like a Mennonite suit, and a tall stovepipe hat. One wore a green chainmail tunic and a hood and had a sword and shield strapped to his back. And one wore blue jeans, a baseball cap, and a blue jacket open over a black undershirt. At his waist hung six balls about the size of a baseball but painted half red and half white.

Though both Sky and Greenshade had keen enough senses to take in the appearance of the four men in an instant as if the scene were an unmoving tableaux, the scene was being far from still. As they reached the scene, Hooded Angel was using his grappling hook to try to get to a vantage point where he could attack. Even as he did, the man in the blue suit threw out his forefinger in a dramatic pose. "Objection! There is a clear contradiction in your strategy!" With a quick flip of his finger, he threw something at Hooded Angel.

Greenshade still seemed a little puzzled by the situation, but without a pause, he shot down and intercepted the projectile. Sky didn't wait to see. He knew it would be a shuriken, made to look like an outstretched hand. It couldn't hurt Greenshade's armor, but it would probably have cut through Hooded Angel's tether if it had reached it.

"Sky! Do you mean to say you know these people?" Hooded Angel's voice came through his comm. Sky nodded. Now they were inside of the communications blockade and there was nothing blocking their signals from one another.

"We've met before, let's put it that way."

"Who are they?"

"The Flying Aces--Ace Lawyer; Ace Professor; Ace Knight; and Ace Trainer. "

Discus had taken a position behind a parked car and now fired one of her discuses at the man in the green tunic--who, moving with unusual speed, unhooked the round shield he wore on his back and with it blocked the weapon.

"Keep trying, Discus. Ace Knight just has the wooden shield and it won't hold for very many attacks." Sky landed on the rooftop next to Hooded Angel. "So let me guess. There was a robbery here and since you were in the area, you tried to investigate and ran into these four."

Hooded Angel grunted. "We can have commentary later. Right now, how do we beat them?"

Sky shrugged (though since he was invisible nobody could see it.) "I wish I knew that myself. Still, now we have Greenshade on our side..."

Meanwhile, the Forester, moving with the agility of a mountain lion, had bounded to a ledge on the edge of the building and was now crawling up the side. The man with the top hat whirled to face him and spoke in a very fake British accent: "You know, your face reminds me of a puzzle." From inside his coat, he produced a gun and fired. But the Forester's reflexes were nearly superhuman, and he was easily able to jump out of the way of the bullets--only they weren't exactly bullets. They were puzzle pieces.

"He shoots puzzle pieces?" Hooded Angel's voice showed his incredulity.

"Ace Professor is mostly the strategist and plans their jobs. He isn't much good in battle unless he's had time to set up some traps, which he didn't this time. And Ace Lawyer is mostly their tech expert. He created the Court Order which prevented you from communicating with us. Did you get any details on the robbery before these guys attacked?"

"Not very much. It was that video game store over there--"

"Of course--"

"And they were babbling something about being attacked by monsters."

"Good. That would be Ace Trainer's doing. Maybe he's already used up all his tricks, meaning the only really dangerous enemy we have is Ace Knight. But he's a pretty serious enemy.”

"I don't get it. Who are these people?"

"Four kids with way too much time and money on their hands."

Ace Knight was getting tired of the barrage of discuses from Discus and now he moved to the offensive. From a pouch at his side, he produced something that looked like an enormous blueberry.

"Discus! Run!" Sky shouted.

For once, Discus didn't stop to argue. She jumped back. The next instant the strange sphere struck the ground where she had been standing and exploded with enough force to knock in the side of the adjacent car.

"A shield? Bombs? What else does he have?"

"Every time I see him, he's added a few new weapons to his arsenal. Fortunately, he can only carry so much at a time. But as it is, he's the biggest threat we have to deal with. Forester!"

The Forester had avoided Ace Professor's attack earlier and had crawled along the edge of a roof until he was almost at a position to jump out and attack one of the flyers. Considering his great personal strength, Sky knew he would win any encounter if he could attack before his prey had a chance to draw a weapon. But before he could move, Ace Knight swiveled in the sky and, in the same motion, produced a bow and arrow and in one fluid movement fired an arrow at the Forester. The Forester bounded into the air and caught it in mid-flight--a rather exceptional feat even for someone of his reflexes. But Ace Knight's reflexes were almost as swift and even while the Forester was leaping, he pulled out a bomb and threw it at the roof beneath the man. The Forester had no time to dodge or find a better place to land, and so he threw himself into the street, avoiding the blast as the bomb detonated.

However, he was falling from a height of two stories. His reflexes would allow him to land on his feet, but they couldn't keep a fall like that from hurting him. Greenshade shot forward and caught the falling man, blending their momentum in a sideways direction, so that the force wouldn't snap the Forester's neck. Landing a few feet away, he let go of the Forester and then turned and shot up towards Ace Knight. The Forester's close shave had apparently affected Greenshade enough that he was forgoing his normal stealth methodology and was going for a direct attack instead.

Ace Knight swiftly deposited his other weapons and drew the sword from the sheath on his back. Sky started in surprise as he saw the sword. "Uh-oh."

"What!?" asked Hooded Angel.

"The sword's been upgraded too. And if it's as powerful as I'm guessing based on its appearance, we're in big trouble."

Ace Knight held the sword firmly in his left hand. Sunlight gleamed on the yellow gem set in the sword's bird-like crossguard. As Greenshade shot towards him, he made a swipe in the air. The blade grew white for an instant and a sort of visible vibration seemed to pass from it through the air. It struck Greenshade and threw him back nearly thirty feet.

Hooded Angel swore in amazement. "That's no ordinary sword.”

“Unfortunately not. I'd love to know what kind of technology they cooked up to make that possible. I'm afraid even Greenshade might be vulnerable to that thing if it made a direct hit. We've got to try something else."

"What?"

Sky didn't answer. He had just seen something gleam or glow for an instant beneath Ace Lawyer's shirt. Sky guessed that it was probably a magatama and most likely AL was using it to hack into their comms and listen to every word they said. The Futureplex communicators were supposed to be hack-proof, but Sky was too much of a hacker to believe that such a thing was possible. And if anybody could override their security, it would be Ace Lawyer. But if they were going to take out the Flying Aces it would have to be through secrecy.

He flipped off his communicator and began manipulating the controls of the computer wired into his exoskeleton. Their best chance was that Yfi was still encrypted somewhere on his computer. With her help, they had a good chance of defeating the Aces. Otherwise, it would come down to a brute, simple battle. And Sky opposed that idea--especially when pitted against the Flying Aces. But it depended on Yfi's consciousness being stable enough to undertake his mission. And it also required her to want too, and that was something he could never guess about. He wondered if Yfi had been so emotionally unstable and impulsive before or whether that was a by-product of being turned into a digital form.

There she was.

"Yfi, are you there?"

"I'm here. Sorry I was so upset earlier."

Sky was glad to see she was calmer. Of course, being encrypted was the closest she ever got to sleep and the rest would have helped her. Not only that, she would have instantly assessed the present situation as soon as she became active and so knew that Parkour was safe--temporarily, anyway. "We're fighting the Flying Aces."

"I see that." Yfi was the only other one of the group who knew who the Flying Aces were because she actually read through all the Futureplex's archives. That would cut down explanations. "Are we winning?"

"Not really. But we've got some things in our favor. Ace Lawyer and Ace Professor really aren't that big of a threat. Ace Trainer's biggest weakness is his overconfidence--apparently, he has already used up all his tricks in the initial robbery. And even though Ace Knight is strong enough now even to take on Greenshade, we have this on our side--that without all his fancy items, AK is pretty much a wuss. Our best chance is to attack him one-on-one without him suspecting it beforehand. They know too much about Greenshade for him to pull it off. So that leaves Parkour as our one chance to get him. He has the least powers of any of us and he hasn't done much in this battle yet so I don't think they'll expect him to do anything."

"Will it be dangerous?"

"It will take courage," he said. It only sort-of answered the question, but he hoped phrasing it that way would make Yfi more willing to cooperate than just coming out and saying that it would be extremely dangerous.

"Parkour is brave--don't worry about that."

"Good. In order for this to work, we're going to need near-perfect coordination and timing. And I'm pretty sure they're hacking our comms, so the only way to plan this without them knowing is if you coordinate it."

"Got it. What's the plan?"

Sky hoped Hooded Angel wouldn't object to his taking over the leadership of this operation. But he was the one who knew the most about the Flying Aces, so it made sense for him to make the plan. He quickly filled Yfi in on the details of the plan he'd come up with. Then he rose a few inches off the rooftop. He'd have to distract the group for just a few seconds to allow Yfi to have time to set things up. His invisibility was no weapon against the Flying Aces--Ace Lawyer wore a bracelet containing some kind of radar-like tool which allowed him to spot him even with the invisibility shield active and then communicate his location to the other members of the team--but Sky had other weapons which would help him delay things for a minute or two, though he couldn't actually hope to defeat them. For that matter, he might be able to delay them even without using any weapons.

"So you're up to your old tricks," he commented out loud. At the same time, he pivoted just slightly so that his left arm faced Ace Trainer directly. "Doesn't it seem a little unfair, though? The four of you against one little store? Are you trying to get some kind of over-kill bonus or something?"

"Hey, that wasn't just one little store," answered Ace Trainer, who also rose slightly so that he faced Sky directly. "They had decently good security measures, actually. And they even had a guard, too. You wouldn't expect us to run away from a fight like that, would you?"

"Run away from a fight? It's more like you guys ran straight to it. Seriously, AT, isn't that like picking on a weak enemy?"

"They weren't weak until after we fought them. First, you weaken them, then you capture them--or, in this case, steal from them--that's the way the game always works."

Sky squeezed a small switch with his pinky finger. From inside the arm of his exoskeleton, a small object shot out and struck Ace Trainer one the wrist, just above his glove.

"Seriously? You expect to stop us by shooting BBs at us?"

"BBs are made out of metal. That was made of plastic. Totally different."

"Same diff. You really need to get those guys who own you to send you out with decent weapons. As it is, I don't even need any of my little friends to take you down."

Sky didn't answer that. His plan was working. Ace Trainer was paying too much attention to him to either attack the others or lead an escape. Of course, his small air-soft gun was not really a weapon, but merely a way of distracting people.

"Anyway, can you seriously hope to beat a trainer... with eight badges?" Ace Trainer flipped open his jacket to show a number of pins attached to the inside.

"You made those yourself, AT--they don't count."

"Each one represents a genuine achievement, so I think they count."

The momentary distraction had served its purpose. Greenshade had floated out of range after being knocked back by Ace Knight. Now he shot forward and swooped down almost to street level. The Forester, moving with all the agility of a great jungle cat, leaped unto the back of his armor and maintained his balance as he shot back upwards and towards Ace Professor. Ace Professor drew his puzzle-gun, but Greenshade moved upwards in the air and blocked the pieces with his body. The next instant, the Forester sprung and struck Ace Professor squarely in the chest, knocking him backward.

Ace Lawyer would have stepped in with one of his shurikens, but at the same moment, Discus, taking a position behind another car, fired a discus at him. He blocked it with his bracelet (Sky raised his eyebrows--so that thing also acted as a shield?) but it prevented him from doing anything to stop the attack on Ace Professor.

Sky smiled and then fired another pellet at Ace Trainer. Hopefully, he would take it as merely another warning shoot and not pay much attention to it--at first.

The Forester had actually knocked Ace Professor all the way back to a rooftop, where they both landed. Sky wasn't sure if AP's jet-pack had been broken in the impact or whether he just chose to turn it off, but at any rate, he stopped flying. Greenshade, meanwhile, wheeled and then shot towards Ace Knight. AK fired another arc of energy from his sword, but this time Greenshade was prepared and dodged it skillfully.

"Now we can have a real battle," said the Forester, approaching Ace Professor. "Enough of silly games in the sky. The real contest must be hand to hand and man to man."

"Or woman to man," said Discus who, even in the heat of battle, couldn't help trying to correct the Forester's chauvinistic speech-patterns.

Ace Professor backed up and then spoke, still in his fake British accent: "A gentleman never refuses a challenge." He reached down and wrenched a section of pipe away from the rooftop and, holding it like a quarterstaff, waited for the Forester's approach.

Sky was so used to seeing Ace Professor do little except strategizing that he had forgotten his other two skills--improvising and fencing. Still, he really doubted that he could beat the Forester and, even if he could, the fight would still provide the distraction they needed.

Discus was dividing her attention between the three Aces who remained airborne, keeping a sharp lookout in case Ace Knight threw another bomb at her. But he seemed to busy dodging and trying to attack Greenshade. He made another connection with his distance attack and threw Greenshade back, but it didn't hurt Greenshade who immediately returned to the battle.

And while they were so occupied, Hooded Angel leaped off his rooftop. He glided downward, then used his grappling hook to give him upward momentum so that for an instant he actually flew--flew straight towards Ace Lawyer. The man already seemed a little unnerved by Discus's attack and he couldn't manage to throw a shuriken before Hood plowed into him.

"Hey!" Ace Trainer had turned as if to go to the aid of his allies, but suddenly he turned back to where Sky floated. "What did you do to my arm?"

"It stings a little, doesn't it?"

"'Burns' is how I'd describe it."

"You said I should have better weapons. Well, that was one of them."

"Really? Did you just use a poison type attack?"

"You could call it that. Nothing permanent, of course. Just wash your arm for about a minute with warm water and soap and you should be fine. But it makes it a little hard to focus on a battle, doesn't it?"

"I don't know whether to be mad at you for trying a dirty trick like that or to be happy that you're actually giving us a fight for once--there's no glory in beating an easy opponent or somebody who won't fight."

Sky was keeping an eye on the other aspects of the battle. Greenshade and Ace Knight were still in a stalemate. Ace Professor was holding the Forester back with his staff, moving with almost the same speed and agility as the Forester--but it was only a matter of time. Hooded Angel and Ace Lawyer were wrestling in the air. Air was the Flying Aces' element, but AL was definitely no match for Hood in any kind of fight.

"Time to use my secret weapon," commented Ace Lawyer. "Chords of Steel!" And then he shouted, "I'm Ace Lawyer, and I'm fine!" A device of some kind implanted in his mask magnified his voice like an amplifier. The shock of such a loud shout so close to him made Hooded Angel lose his grip for a moment. Since they were high off the ground, this could have been disastrous--but Hood hadn't lasted so long as a vigilante by accident. His reflexes weren't as sharp as the Forester's, but they were good enough. Even as he fell, he grabbed AL's ankles and used his momentum to swing on them, giving him enough force to fly up and grab the man's arms. The man gave a sharp exclamation of pain. Having someone swing on your ankles had to hurt, thought Sky.

"Ace Knight!" Ace Trainer ordered. "Forget Greenshade and give me an assist with Sky."

Ace Knight shot another arc of energy at Greenshade and then, moving like lightning, he sheathed his sword and drew another object from his pouch. A... slingshot? Sky frowned in puzzlement. Ace Knight had a bow and arrow and yet he was still using the slingshot? He braced for impact as the man fired something at him--something which looked like a small cluster of nuts. Sky's exoskeleton gave him very little protection, but even so, the projectile had no effect on him, striking his chest harmlessly. Was AK getting flustered by battle or was the point to distract him?

Maybe he intended to follow up with a more serious attack--but at that moment, it happened. Sky had been watching Parkour out of one corner of his eye. The Aces had been ignoring him, pressed as they were on all sides by the others. But Sky had watched as he had vanished among the buildings, then appeared in the distance climbing up a wall, and finally had ended up on a projecting beam, several yards above where Ace Knight floated. And now, without a second glance around, he jumped off the beam and fell straight down, making a complete 360* in the air as he fell. Sky felt a pang of fear for a moment--but he realized he should have trusted Parkour's skills. The boy landed directly on Ace Knight's shoulders, wrapping his legs around the man's neck. The force of the impact knocked him almost all the way down to ground level.

At the same instant, Greenshade (now free of Ace Knight), shot across the street, bodily plucked Ace Lawyer and Hooded Angel from the air and threw them down beside the Forester and Ace Professor. Ace Professor paused for one second, stunned by the sudden change of events--and that second was enough. The Forester wrenched the pipe out of his hand, threw it aside, and then advanced, his fists raised, a smile on his face.

Ace Knight and Parkour almost reached the ground before the jet pack adjusted automatically for the extra weight and shot them back up again. But in that instant, Discus had managed to score a direct hit on the target, now that it was so close. She had used a discus not charged with electricity (AK was protected by his chainmail and the attack would have only hurt Parkour), but the mere force of it--though it couldn't hurt him--did help to stun him. As they shot upwards again to their original height, just above roof level, Parkour tightened his grip with his legs and then leaned over and punched Ace Knight in the face with his right fist.

Sky knew that Ace Knight could probably get the best of the encounter if he thought rationally and coolly. He was still airborne, and the air was his element. And though he couldn't use his sword which was sheathed on his back, he could still access whatever weapons he had in his pack. A distance weapon like the slingshot would be no good against an opponent so close, but an arrow could be used as a dagger for a close attack. But he was counting on Ace Knight not thinking coolly and rationally. Despite his persona, he wasn't really a warrior, and the sudden attack would be enough to startle anyone--just a little bit.

As the Forester and Greenshade approached, Ace Lawyer rose into the air and caught up Ace Professor, whose jetpack had been damaged and seemed to be only functioning at about a third of its ordinary capacity. They were flying, but not as well as they should have been and they wouldn't have the speed or agility to match Greenshade.

Ace Knight was struggling in the air, trying to throw Parkour off, but he seemed to be getting nowhere--and Parkour, still holding on tightly with his legs, continued pummeling AK in the face. Parkour wasn't as much of a fighter as Hooded Angel or the Forester and Ace Knight's face mask would protect him from much of the strengths of the blows. The battle was much more psychological than physical. If AK just "took it," he would probably be able to find a time when Parkour was let up his guard for a moment and then throw him off. Then it would be up to Greenshade or Sky to catch him before he hit the ground. Hopefully. But Sky was counting on Ace Knight not doing things that way.

Greenshade was circling Ace Lawyer and Ace Professor, waiting for them to make a move. But with AP's jet pack injured, they were in no shape to do much of anything. And Ace Trainer was busy dodging Discus's attacks. He seemed to be ignoring manfully the pain in his arm caused by Sky irritant pellet. Sky had figured he would. Whatever else Ace Trainer was, he was no coward.

"Hey! Stop that!" shouted Ace Knight suddenly, as, with another convulsive movement, he tried to throw Parkour off. "That hurts!"

"I think that was the idea," said Sky calmly, as he turned back to Ace Trainer. Ace Knight never talked in battle. If he had spoken out loud, that meant he had completely broken with his persona. He was no longer thinking or acting as Ace Knight but as--well--whoever he was behind that mask. "Well?" he said, looking at Ace Trainer. "Are you going to give back that cartridge you stole now?"

"I really like the way you guys used teamwork to beat us." Ace Trainer had been floating with his hands in his pockets, but now he casually withdrew his right hand and let it rest on his hip. "But teamwork isn't really the same thing as friendship, is it? I mean, you're fighting together for a common end, but is there really any deeper bond than that?"

Sky narrowed his eyes. He suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.

"You'll never be able to defeat us as long as we have friends." Ace Trainer's hand darted to one of the red and white balls hanging on his belt. "You didn't think I'd used all my friends already, did you?"

He had fallen right into AT's trap. He had assumed that he was more brash and impulsive than he was.

Ace Trainer spun the ball with his fingers so that it flew into the center of the area and snapped open, releasing a cloud of luminous smoke. "I chose you!" he shouted.

Sky knew from experience what was happening. The instant the ball opened, the rush of air reacted with the special gas sealed inside the ball, causing a unique chemical reaction, which caused the contents of the sphere to expand rapidly in size.

"What is that!" exclaimed Hooded Angel, his shock causing him to break comm-silence for the first time since Sky had taken charge of the battle.

As the smoke cleared, they could clearly see what had emerged from the sphere. What they saw was a large, lizard-like creature, with a body the size of a man, pale orange in color with a white belly. It had short and stubby arms and legs, but a long neck and tail, at the end of which a small flame was burning. From just behind its arms spread out bat-like wings. For just an instant, one could believe it was a living creature, but a closer examination revealed that it was made entirely out of some kind of metal.

"Flamethrower!" shouted Ace Trainer.

The creature opened its mouth and shot out a blast of fire. It was aimed at Greenshade, but he moved quickly enough to avoid it. However, the blast charred the wall behind where he had been.

"A giant flying robot dragon?" asked Hooded Angel in blank astonishment, barely getting the words out.

“Not exactly, but I guess that's close enough.” Sky tried to speak calmly, but he was worried. Ace Trainer had upgraded his monsters as well. That thing was going to be difficult to beat. "Fortunately, it can't hurt Greenshade while he's in his armor, but if he keeps attacking like that, he may hurt someone else."

"Still--" Greenshade began.

Sky shook his head. "No. There's got to be a better way."

"I hate to spam one move, but it's hard to find a better one than that," commented Ace Trainer. "What's say, buddy? Shall we try Flamethrower again?"

Sky tried to facepalm again. The solution to his problem had struck him suddenly. "This should be easy, actually." He switched off his comm. "Yfi, are you still there?"

"Here." Yfi sounded breathless and excited. "What's our next move, Sky?"

"Do any of the buildings around here have a fire suppression system that you can hack? I know you can't go too far out while the Court Order is still active--are there any you can reach that are digital in nature?"

"Sure. What do you need?"

"We've got to hit that thing with water; with lots and lots of water."

"On it. Just give me a nanosec. And, go--"

One of the two cars still in shape after the battle roared suddenly to life and struck a fire hydrant. At the same instant, an automated vacuum shot out of one of the buildings, striking the fire hydrant and directing the stream of water which had been released when the car hit it. At the same time, four streams of water shot out of the windows of surrounding buildings. All of them converged on the dragon.

"Hydro Pump! It's super effective!" shouted Sky. And then under his breath, he added, "Seriously, that girl is beginning to scare me."

Ace Trainer glanced at the monster, which was being battered with water. He was faltering in the sky as if he was about to fall. The flame on his tail was almost doused.

Sky turned back to Ace Trainer. "Your creature is too exhausted to fight. Unless you happen to have a Max Potion on you, which I doubt, you can't fight with him anymore without risk to him. And what kind of trainer risks the 'life' of his friend in order to win a battle?" Both because of his persona as Ace Trainer and also because of the value of the monster, Sky felt sure that AT wouldn't risk anything happening to it. And he wouldn't be able to compress it and return it to its sphere safely while in the middle of battle--the process was too complicated.

For just a moment, Ace Trainer paused, as if pondering his next move. And then he shouted: “Ace Knight! It's time!”

Parkour had temporarily become distracted, seeing Yfi using her powers. And before he could regain his concentration, Ace Knight made another convulsive effort and threw him off. Greenshade caught him as he fell, but that gave Ace Knight the breathing space he needed. He reached into his pack and pulled out a small baton. Holding it in his left hand, he began waving the baton like a conductor.

Sky had never seen Ace Knight use this weapon before, but knowing how the Flying Aces thought, he could almost guarantee what it would do. "Drop! Everyone, drop!"

Greenshade, holding Parkour under one arm, dropped to the rooftop beside the Forester. All three fell to crouching positions. At the same time, Ace Lawyer, helping Ace Professor, rose skyward to join the other two Aces and the dragon. Sky landed on the rooftop beside Hooded Angel. Discus was hidden behind the one remaining car. And all the while, Ace Knight was conducting with his baton. And suddenly, without warning, a sudden wind came up; a wind strong enough to shake the trees along the road. And when it had stopped blowing, all four of the Aces and the monster were gone.

For a long moment, nobody said anything. And then Yfi shouted, "Yeah! We won!"

"Well, that's one way of looking at it," said Hooded Angel, standing up. "Is everyone all right?"

"What do you plan to do if we aren't?" asked Discus, brushing off her robe.

"That was actually a lot of fun," said Parkour. Greenshade had let go of him now. He turned a backward flip off the side of the building, grabbed a ledge on the wall with his hands, made a 180* in the air and landed feet first on the ground beside Discus. "But you're really pushing yourself too far, Yfi."

"You worry too much, Parkour," said Yfi, speaking from his earpiece. "I think I'm finally getting the hang of this."

"We are uninjured," said the Forester, joining the others on the street. "But those villains escaped with their ill-gotten goods."

Hooded Angel glided to the street, while Greenshade and Sky flew down.

"Well, we're still alive, then," said Hooded Angel, straightening his cape. "And even though those four escaped, we weren't really here for them, anyway. We've got to get back to looking Bone Crusher."

Sky flipped off his invisibility shield. "I think it's time we faced the truth, Hood." His voice rose in irritation. "We're out of our league, here. We almost got whipped by the Flying Aces, who are just four rich kids with really fancy toys. What on earth do you think is going to happen when we go up against a super-powered Bone Crusher?"

Hood had been growing more and more grumpy all day, and Sky had rather expected he would become even more annoyed at this. But instead, he glanced over at him curiously. "Are you all right, Sky?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you sound mad--and I've never actually seen you mad before. Did that battle upset you that much?"

Sky couldn't help but smile. No matter how long and how much Hood worked as a vigilante, his training as a counselor was still primary.

"The Flying Aces are my arch enemies. Do you know the most important part of having an arch enemy?"

"No."

"You always win. Your enemy may escape, but you still beat them. Well, I've never actually beaten the Flying Aces. I've never even managed to get any of their loot back."

"Well, considering how well they nearly thrashed all seven of us, I wouldn't let that bother you. I mean, you're really not supposed to be personally engaging with bad guys in the first place. You're just an observer."

"I know that. But they're my enemy; they're my problem. I feel responsible for defeating them. And I've never been able to get to first base with that."

Greenshade shook his head. "I just can't believe the Futureplex hasn't sent you any reinforcements for fighting them. I've never even heard of them until today."

"Well, it's all recorded in the Futureplex's database. But for all their powers, they're not considered a major threat. I mean, they've never tried to overthrow the government--they've never even killed anybody. Basically, all they do is steal stuff--and even though the things they steal are valuable, it's stuff that doesn't even show up on the radar if you're not part of the geek-verse."

"Any criminal that powerful is a threat, no matter how they use their powers," said the Forester.

"Though, to be technical, they've never been this powerful before. They've been doing some upgrading. They must have gotten some serious XP somewhere along the line."

"I still can't believe that as powerful as that mechanical monster is, it was destroyed by water," remarked Hooded Angel.

"Fire-types are weak to water-based attacks. They wouldn't mess up the type-matching. They're criminals, not heresiarchs.”

Hooded Angel shook his head. "Sky, sometimes I think that--just between the two of us--one of us is out of your mind."

Greenshade had floated a few inches off the ground. "Well, you were definitely right about the pattern, Sky."

"What pattern?" asked Hood.

Greenshade quickly explained about the appearance of Fine Print, and Sky's observation about arch enemies.

"Interesting."

Sky drew his legs up under himself. "That Snow Angel would join up with Bone Crusher makes sense. Big Foot and the Bell Ringer make a little less sense. But for the others--of course, the Flying Aces usually target video game stores like that one, but there's no reason for them to chose this particular time and place for a robbery. And there's no logical reason why a small-time enforcer like Fine Print would travel so far from home to pull a job even if he was going to become a bank robber. And it certainly has to mean something that they showed up today of all days."

"But what kind of insidious scheme is afoot?" asked the Forester.

Hooded Angel shook his head. "Hard to say. Maybe Bone Crusher brought them all together?"

"Sure, that's an easy trick. Gather all our enemies together--they're sure to weaken us, even if they don't beat us." Sky tapped his fingers against his control rods. "But it doesn't make sense. If Bone Crusher has the Heroic Ion, he shouldn't need to resort to tricks like that. If he really is behind this, then we've got a larger problem than we've suspected so far. If Blower just wanted to kill us, he could easily. He--or the Bell Ringer or Snow Angel or whoever is planning all this--is after more than we think. But what? We've got to figure that out."

"Of course," said Hood after a slight pause, "it could be something else. It could be some kind of trick by Conners' men--either to distract us or to take down Bone Crusher--assuming that they do know everything by now, which I would suspect they do."

"Do you think Conners would really do something like that?" asked Greenshade.

"Well, remember, Conners is president of the United States. He doesn't have time personally to direct his agents all the time. The actual field-work is directed by Speeding Bullet--or by Kassim Smith--assuming Kassim Smith isn't Speeding Bullet, which I've sometimes sort of thought."

Sky was accessing some records in his exoskeleton's computer. "Fortunately, I think we've seen the worst of things so far as arch-enemies are concerned. According to my sources, M.I.N.D. and his wife are still in Europe, and I don't think we have much to fear from the Drop-Out, Torpedo, or the Fat Lady even if they show up."

Hooded Angel threw his head back in amazement. "Wait, wait, wait--what? The--"

"The Fat Lady; Silence's arch-enemy--a failed opera singer who turned to crime to make a living. Her primary power is a keen sense of dramatic timing. Also has a gang of husky ex-stage hands who do her dirty work."

"Wow. I really need to read more of the archives in the database." Hooded Angel adjusted his cape again and then glanced around. "First things first. We need to move. Sooner or later, the police are going to show up and we want to avoid them for the time being."

"Also the people who owned all those cars that got blown up may be a little annoyed about it." Sky snapped his fingers. "By the way--Yfi, how on earth did you manage to control that car? I mean, not any ordinary car would have the capacity of remote control, even by you."

"It was an undercover police car."

Sky blinked. "Huh. I think after we clear up this mystery, we'd better investigate the MCPD--I really want to know why they have so much automated tech lying around."

Hooded Angel was frowning in concentration. "We've got to move more quickly. We don't know what Blower and his allies are doing, but every minute that passes they get more of it done."

"We're assuming they do, in fact, have a plan of some kind and aren't just sitting around somewhere trying to figure out their next move?"

Hood shook out his cape. "You don't know Snow Angel, Sky. She never does anything without a plan. Even if the others don't have a plan, she'll have one. And there's another thing--if I understand the science of all this, Blower will get more powerful by the second as the Heroic Ion continues to activate. That means every second we waste decreases our chance of beating him by that much." He frowned thoughtfully. "But we still don't have any sort of lead at all about where they are or what they're doing. You haven't found anything, have you, Sky?"

Sky had been doing research steadily on his computer. "Nothing that I would describe as spectacularly helpful, no."

"Then we'll have to try something else. There are five of us now--seven if you count Yfi and Parkour."

"And why wouldn't you count us?" asked Yfi.

"Because Parkour isn't technically a vigilante at all and you're not physically present--and what I was about to say was that we should split up. For fighting Bone Crusher, we're going to need all the manpower we can muster--"

"Manpower?" interrupted Discus.

"You know what I mean." Hood was getting grumpy again. "We're going to need everyone we can get to fight Bone Crusher and his allies--but right now all we need to do is find him. And for that, I think we have the best chance if we split up. We're all superheroes and vigilantes, so we should all have plenty of practice in tracking down criminals."

The Forester bowed. "I would be honored to lend my efforts in such a plan. And when one of us locates the foul villains?"

"Contact the rest of us and we'll come running."

Sky had reactivated his invisibility shield and, safe within it, he shook his head. The plan wasn't bad exactly, but it certainly wasn't good. Still, as things stood, he couldn't suggest a better one.

"Parkour, I want you to stick with me," Hooded Angel continued, turning to the boy. "And Yfi, you can keep searching for anything through the digital world."

"If you're sure you're up to it," added Parkour, anxiously. "You've been putting yourself through a lot of stress today. Maybe--"

"No, I can do this."

"All right then. Sky, can you map out a general division for us?"

"On it." Sky had figured that Hood was going to ask for this. "We're operating under the assumption that Bone Crusher and company are still here in McHenry City?"

"Yes."

"All right then. I've divided the city into sections. I'll feed the specific coordinates into everybody's comms."


A few minutes later, the group had split up, each one heading for a specific part of the city to search for Bone Crusher and his friends. Sky, floating invisibly above the city, was still frowning. Of course, if Bone Crusher were following his ordinary methodology, this would be the way to locate him. Bone Crusher had never been a big believer in stealth and had always aimed at visibility and making a splash with his actions. But Sky felt fairly confident that Bone Crusher was no longer following this kind of MO. Either the Heroic Ion had altered his mind or somebody else was planning everything. They had figured that before, but Sky was even more confident of it now. And that meant that Hood's plan was probably going to come to nothing. Of course, all of them had some degree of skill in tracking down people, a necessary skill for either a vigilante or a superhero. But that took time. None of them had any special skill in it except the Forester, and Sky doubted how much help his sharpened senses would be in a city this size. They might track down their target eventually, but it could be a matter of days. And by that time, Bone Crusher would probably have come out and done--whatever it was that he was going to do.

For half an hour, Sky followed the route he had mapped out, finding nothing of interest. As he reached the end of his route, his frown deepened. He had been doing a lot of research and some judicious hacking earlier. And while, as he told Hood, he hadn't found anything spectacularly helpful, he had found something. He had considered this when mapping our the search-patterns for all the heroes. His own ended at the largest and most lavish of all the hotels in the city--at the exact moment when, by his calculations, all the others would be about at the farthest possible point from it.

As he approached he deactivated the computer in the exoskeleton, flying the last part of the trip on instinct and dead reckoning. He had already turned off his cell phone and all other digital technology on his person. That meant there was no way Yfi could spy on him. Hopefully.

He dropped into an inconspicuous ally behind the hotel's parking lot. As he hit the ground, his exoskeleton began to collapse until, in a matter of seconds, he was able to stick into his pocket. In that moment, Sky vanished, and it was Ian Lake who walked nonchalantly around the building and in through the front doors of the hotel.