The Blower File: Part 10

"O we will walk this world,

Yoked in all exercise of noble end,

And so through those dark gates across the wild

That no man knows.  Indeed I love thee:  come,

Yield thyself up:  my hopes and thine are one...

Lay thy sweet hands in mine and trust to me."

--Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Princess--

At the sound of the command, Ace Trainer's turtle reared back and, like a cannon, fired a spherical object at Heroman. “What on earth--” Heroman caught the object instinctively and glanced at its source--and as he did, the sphere exploded in his hands and he gave a short, sudden gasp of pain.

“Leech Seed!” Ace Trainer shouted. From the back of his turtle, green vines exploded upward, wrapping around Heroman's chest. The man turned pale and seemed to freeze in the sky. The air around him seemed almost to freeze as well and he hung there rigidly as if suspended by some kind of invisible frame.

At the same time, Ace Lawyer landed on the building beside Speeding Bullet. “Objection! I demand that this be stricken from the record!” He produced a large gavel and banged it against the ground. An instant later, Ace Knight had landed there also and, drawing his sword, held it against Speeding Bullet's chest.

“Are all these superhero-type battles this complicated?” asked Fine Print, glancing around. “'Cause if so, I think I'll just stick to gang wars. They're nice and simple.”

“They're doing something to Heroman--” Hooded Angel began.

“It's that green monster,” Sky finished. “You've got to take it out. A fire-type attack should do it.”

“No!” Ace Trainer's voice rang out sharp and sudden like the crack of a whip. “Listen to me before you attack. You can't attack me or any of my monsters--and Speeding Bullet can't use his teleportation power.”

“You can't stop us,” Hooded Angel pointed out. “And especially not Speeding Bullet--I think he's more powerful than any of us, except Heroman. Will your little trick really hold him?”

“No. I'm sure he'll be able to bypass Ace Lawyer's Court Order in a few seconds. But I just needed time to tell you something.” He rose from his place and turned towards Sky who had become visible and was hovering just a few inches above Hood's head. “Do you remember our battle earlier? Ace Knight shot you with nuts from his slingshot. Did you wonder why he used that rather than his bow and arrow?”

Sky had wondered about that. “What does that have to do with anything, AT?”

“That was actually a bomb which automatically attached itself to your exoskeleton. If any of you touch me, or my monsters, or Heroman--or if Speeding Bullet teleports--it will activate the bomb and cause your exoskeleton to explode--and you know what that would mean. The same thing will happen now if you try to take it off.”

“He's got to be bluffing,” said Hood in a low voice.

Ace Trainer was facing Sky directly now. “Sky, after all the times we've fought, you know me rather well. Do you think I'm bluffing?”

Sky stared at the plastic face mask, somehow seeing the face he knew was behind it, the face of his brother. And then he sighed. “No. He's not bluffing. But--why are you doing this?”

“Evening the odds. Rebalancing the game. Nerfing the OP character. We are going to capture Heroman. But first, we are going to defeat the rest of you.”

“What are you doing to Heroman, anyway?” Parkour was standing, staring at Heroman in something like awe. He had hung around the Futureplex enough to see Heroman in action and understand just how powerful he was. And now to see him seemingly helpless--it was a strange thing.

“Heroman gained access to the Heroic Ion because his parents were exposed to radioactive aspartame during an experiment. But for that reason, regular aspartame weakens him. That seed bomb actually contained a solution of pure aspartame. It wasn't enough to weaken him too much, but it left him vulnerable enough for my monster to begin pumping aspartame straight into his body, jamming the Heroic Ion and leaving him helpless. It's a sorta dirty trick, but the only realistic way to capture someone like Heroman. But even if he can't fight, the rest of you can. As I said, Heroman, my monsters, and me are off-limits, but feel free to try to attack the other Aces and our other allies.”

“Other allies?” repeated Greenshade, glancing around.

“Fine Print.”

“Hey, this i'n't what I signed up for. You promised me some good swag and a good scrap--not kidnapping. I don't go along with kidnapping anyone--even a superhero.”

Ace Trainer shrugged. “Well, fight for the good guys, then. I still have the rest of my allies. They should be arriving just about now.”

As he spoke, the distant sound of sirens finally made themselves heard and several police cars pulled into the park. A few seconds later, about fifteen of McHenry City's finest had appeared around the circumference of the battlefield, several of them carrying riot shields.

Ace Trainer nodded as he saw them. “You know your places, men.”

“Yes, sir,” answered one of the officers, saluting.

Hooded Angel threw his cape back in amazement. “You have the police working for you?”

“I wasn't sure whether Snow Angel and Big Foot would still be standing by this point or which side they would take if they were. And nobody likes a game with an unimpressive final boss fight. And, go!”

The next instant, the whole area exploded into chaos. Especially as after a few minutes, more police appeared.

Speeding Bullet had stood immovable for a few seconds after the Flying Aces launched their trick, but then without warning, he whirled around and kicked Ace Knight in the shin, where he wore no armor. Ace Knight stumbled backward and fell off his perch, though his jet pack kept him from falling too far. At the same time, Speeding Bullet wrested Ace Lawyer's gavel out of his hands and threw it at him. AL caught it, but in so doing, he also moved off the rooftop where Speeding Bullet stood.

With a nod of his bullet-shaped head, Speeding Bullet pulled a military-grade handgun from somewhere in his cloak and held it steady in his hand. Apparently, he took Ace Trainer's threat seriously and wasn't going to use his teleportation power. Without that, he didn't have any special power and he seemed content to use a conventional weapon to protect his position until something more developed.

At the beginning of the battle, the main group of “good guys” had been clustered in the middle of the park. The police took up positions around them and drew their guns--some of them taking shelter behind riot shields--clearly preparing for some kind of assault.

But they weren't prepared for Caffeine Girl. With a laugh and a streak of green, she passed through their ranks, collecting their guns. “Come on, really, people,” she commented, coming to a stop back at her starting point. “Guns are so old-fashioned. They've been around for hundreds of years. This is the modern era--what other technology do we use these days that's as old as that?”

“The inclined plane?” suggested Brave Eagle, splintering one of the riot shields with his tomahawk.

“We have better weapons,” responded one of the officers. He pushed a button on his belt and from behind them, something like a cannonball shot through the air. It almost struck Hooded Angel who was directly in its path, but the Forester, with his lightning reflexes, was able to pull him out of the way, while Greenshade caught the cannonball which shattered against the surface of his armor. While that was going on, the Bell Ringer had pulled the officer off his feet with his grapnel and, in the next instant, had the controls away from. “That should end that,” he commented.

Discus had taken up a position in a low tree with wide branches (which made almost a natural platform) and was throwing discuses carefully whenever she saw a good opening. Her position was a little vulnerable (and she was no good in a close-range fight) but with Conan standing at the bottom of the tree, punching-out anyone that came within striking distance, it wasn't too vulnerable.

Parkour had some trouble right at the beginning of the battle--getting surrounded by four of the policemen. Parkour had some experience as a vigilante (even though he wasn't one), but he wasn't used to taking on so many skilled enemies at once. But he wasn't giving up without a fight. He jumped unto one of the riot shields, did a 360* in the air, and kicked the officer in the face, throwing him backward. But that left him vulnerable for just an instant and the other three almost mobbed him.

Except that as they moved, one of them flew up into the air. “Somehow I'm fighting the cops and that makes me a good guy,” commented Fine Print, as he plowed into a second one, using some strange twist to knock him over. “Life is really funny, i'n't?”

“Yeah, but I don't think these count as normal police,” answered Parkour.

Ace Trainer remained floating above everything, leaving the bulk of the fighting to his allies. Sky floated at the same level, facing him. “How on earth did you get the police involved in this, AT?”

“Money,” he answered promptly, keeping his hands in his pockets.

“You bribed them? Where did you get that kind of money?”

“Please. You know where I get all my money. And next to building all these fully-functional robots, paying off the entire MCPD was cheap. Most of those guys would sell their soul for a drink. It's not like they get any decent pay from the city or decent treatment from anyone else. What do think is going to happen when you treat men like knaves and then expect them to act like knights?”

“I'm not interested in your political philosophy. I just can't believe you would do something like that.”

They had been slowly rising and now were high enough that, with the battle going on, nobody was likely to hear what they were saying. “Look, Big Bro, I'll spend my half of our inheritance my way, and you spend your half your way.” He pushed his face mask up so they could look each other in the face--nobody else could see them clearly now anyway. “By the way, there's nothing personal in this--in picking you for our hostage. Your exoskeleton just happened to be the perfect set-up, and we figured that no matter what happened, Hooded Angel would never risk your life in a battle. He would look at you more like a civilian in this context since you don't have the powers of a superhero or the training of a vigilante. Anyway--”

“I'm just supposed to be an observer,” Sky finished. “That's what you were going to say, Ashton?”

“Exactly. You were just the obvious choice. And nobody takes a game too personally, right?”

Meanwhile, below them, the battle had taken a new turn. The police, even as many as there were, were no match for the group assembled there. However, with Speeding Bullet apparently inactive, Ace Knight and Ace Lawyer dropped suddenly into the middle of the conflict. Almost without thought, Hooded Angel's forces reformed to deal with this. Parkour, Fine Print, Caffeine Girl, and Brave Eagle kept their attention focused on the police; Greenshade and Hooded Angel faced off against Ace Knight; while the Bell Ringer and the Forester surrounded Ace Lawyer. Discus, protected by Conan, was still keeping out of the main battle, getting in an attack where she could. Yfi was being kept busy hacking police cars and drones to keep them from interfering in the fight.

Ace Knight's sword was keeping all attackers at bay. Greenshade and Hood were both able to dodge the strange beam attack the sword gave off but doing that was making it hard to get close to him. Fortunately, he had come to a position only a few feet off the ground, so he wasn't out of reach for either of them.

“Why are we even fighting?” asked Greenshade in a low voice. “With that bomb planted on Sky, Ace Trainer has us all over a barrel, doesn't he?”

“Yeah. I'm not sure we can save Heroman no matter what we do. But if Heroman is going to be captured, the last thing we want is for the rest of us to get captured or killed too. Anyway, I'm not about to take all this lying down.”

The Bell Ringer and the Forester were having a little more success with Ace Lawyer. He had used his sound attack to drive them back at first, but the Forester was used to dealing with loud sounds and the Bell Ringer had ear-plugs to protect him from sound-based attacks. AL's shurikens weren't much more use since the Bell Ringer wore bullet-proof clothing underneath his trench-coat and the Forester was immune to minor pain, which was all the shurikens could inflict (unless they hit a vital organ, which AL hadn't managed to do yet.) He was using his jet pack to stay out of their way, but without going too high into the air, and with the Forester's speed and the Bell Ringer's grapnel, that wasn't enough. The two had almost reached him--

When suddenly they fell into a pit which somehow had mysteriously appeared in front of them.

“A gentleman should always be observant of his surroundings,” said Ace Professor, tipping his hat to them. “If you had, you might have seen that trap I dug there before the battle.” With the other three Aces in the forefront, everyone had forgotten about Ace Professor, since he hadn't had an active role in the battle up to that point.

The pit wasn't very deep, and under other circumstances, it would have been relatively easy to escape, but before they could do anything, two policemen rushed up, drawing their guns. “All right, you're--”

But the policeman never finished his sentence. His mouth kept moving, but there was no sound of any kind directly around him. And then the gun was wrenched from his grasp by a black-gloved hand. The man barely had time to take in the dark figure of Silence standing over him before a solid punch sent him sprawling.

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” remarked Time's Detective, standing in the background with his hands in the pockets of his trench-coat. “Have you learned anything?”

The second officer was shaking, but he still held his gun--until it was pulled from his hand by a cloud of metal bugs which reformed into Dr. Drone as Silence tackled the now unarmed policeman. “Sorry for the delay,” Dr. Drone commented. “It took longer than I expected for my drones to open that lock on their cage. It was much more intricate than I imagined. Snow Angel has superior tastes when it comes to locks.”

Time's Detective helped the Forester and the Bell Ringer out of the pit, while Silence and Dr. Drone turned their attention towards Ace Professor and Ace Lawyer, who now stood back to back.

Above all this, Sky and Ace Trainer were still facing each other. “How did you get all this set up so quickly, anyway?” asked Sky. “You have to been getting these pieces together for a long time--did you just spring everything when Bone Crusher's crime gave you the opportunity?”

Ace Trainer laughed. “I can't believe you guys actually fell for that. Ace Professor said it would work, but I really had my doubts.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I figured all of you knew Bone Crusher well enough to realize that for all his angry, tough-guy persona, at heart he's a big softy, at least about his own family. If he's been cruel to his son at all, it's by not giving him enough discipline. That kid is probably going to grow up to be as big a jerk as his old man.”

Sky frowned. “Wait, what are you saying?”

“Oh, there was an actual incident that we used as a basis, but it was a minor thing--you would have been hard-pressed to start a scandal about it ten years ago when people were more uptight about corporal punishment--you definitely couldn't have now. But, through the police, we fed a fairly embellished report to the Futureplex, knowing they would react by putting Bone Crusher into containment. That's why Boris was so upset and surprised by the accusation, by the way--because it was essentially baseless.”

“But what if he hadn't accessed the Heroic Ion and broken out?”

“You're just a naïve as ever, aren't you, Ian? He didn't access the Heroic Ion and break out. We broke him out. The Futureplex had a guilty conscience because they had been experimenting on him, and so they just jumped to the conclusion that he had superpowers.”

“Ashton, how could the four of you set up something like that? How did you even know that the Futureplex had been doing those experiments? None of us knew about that.”

“Do you remember that action figure I gave last year for Christmas? It kinda sorta contained a hacking device. We were able to hack into all your tech and from there into the Futureplex. Fortunately, we got all the data we needed to before Yfi joined the Futureplex, since having her living in their computers made hacking a lot more difficult--and they took steps to prevent her from finding some of their most important data, which also locked us out.”

“Are you serious?”

“Don't I look serious? How else do think we can up with this exact plan for holding Heroman like this? Or got the details for the exact amount of aspartame needed? That was all in the Futureplex's databanks--it's their contingency plan for taking down Heroman if needed.”

Sky shook his head. “So you're saying all of this--all of it from the very beginning--you actually set it all up? You were manipulating everything?”

“Exactly. We figured if we caused enough commotion, sooner or later Heroman would show up. We manipulated Boris into calling in Snow Angel and Big Foot, and then I got Fine Print to come myself--with all that, it would make sense for us to be here too. That way we could set everything up without you people suspecting a thing.”

Even if Ace Trainer was remaining airborne, the other three Aces were on the ground, causing the tide of battle to turn somewhat. What Ace Lawyer and Ace Professor lacked in strength, they made up for in maneuverability. Using their jetpacks, they were able to fly circles around the Forester, the Bell Ringer, and Silence. Time's Detective was standing on the brink of the trap where the Forester and the Bell Ringer had been, staring downward meditatively. It seemed a little eccentric, even for him, but since he wasn't a fighter, nobody was surprised that he wasn't taking an active part in the battle.

Dr. Drone's drones had scattered and reformed by Discus. He also wasn't much a fighter, in general. But he could help her aim her discuses more accurately and also protect her if anyone attacked. With him there, Conan left his position, moving to help the kids, who were dealing with a never-ending supply of police. Fortunately, Caffeine Girl still had seemingly limitless energy, but Parkour, Fine Print, and Brave Eagle seemed to be tiring out a bit.

Greenshade had gotten distracted for a few minutes by taking down a couple police that had gotten past them, but Hooded Angel was still focused on Ace Knight. He had tried a couple of times to get him with his grapnel, but every time, Ace Knight blocked with his sword. Ace Knight was mostly relying on the sword, though he also threw a bomb from time to time. And then, without warning, still holding his sword his left hand, he pulled something from his pouch. Hooded Angel had been in the middle of launching his grapnel and didn't realize the truth until it was too late--that what Ace Knight had was also a grapnel. He fired it, and the two grapnels met in mid-air and became entangled. Ace Knight rose skyward for a few seconds and then threw his grapnel free, causing Hooded Angel to fly off at an angle. He might have been hurt if Greenshade hadn't managed to catch him.

It seemed that Ace Knight's main motivation had been trying to get them out of his way for a few seconds so he could focus on something else. He sheathed his sword and produced a strange-looking item from his pouch--something that was clearly a smartphone with a very ornate case that made it look like some kind of stone steam-punk tech device.

“Now is time for the final verdict,” remarked Ace Lawyer, glancing over. “What Ace Knight has there is enough to defeat you all.”

“Only if it's still in his power,” said Yfi's voice, coming from the device.

And from his pouch, Ace Knight produced a bottle, dropped the phone into it and squeezed a cap on top, and then put the whole thing back in his pouch.

“That bottle blocks wireless signals, you see,” Ace Professor explained, still in his fake British accent. “Without any sort of connection to the internet, Yfi is trapped in there.”

“Meaning we now have captured two heroes,” added Ace Lawyer. “Just a few more and our case will be complete.”

Parkour stopped dead still in the middle of the battle. “Yfi?” he called into his earpiece.

His momentary distraction could have put him out of the battle if Conan hadn't been behind him. He was glowing slightly. “Keep your head, kid,” he warned in a low voice, as he punched his fist through a police drone which (without Yfi to prevent them) were flying in low over the battlefield. “It's natural to be upset, but you're not going to be any help to anyone if you let it get to you.”

With Yfi captured, more and more police seemed to appear all over the place, with more and more assorted kinds of tech threatening the group on the ground.

Even though he was some distance above the battle, Sky could still tell what was going on. He looked down, shook his head, and then turned back to Ace Trainer. “So, all of this--this is all your doing, Ashton? You and your friends? Just to capture Heroman with that aspartame trap? But--but why? I just don't get it.”

“Don't you? Really, Ian? By this time, I thought it would be obvious.”

“What do you mean?”

Ace Trainer threw his head back and laughed: “'Gotta catch 'em all!' Our earlier thefts were just preparation--just a little level-grinding, you might say. Now it's time to rack up a high score with a real challenge.”

Sky rose a few inches so that he could confront his brother directly. “Really? All of this? This is just some kind of game to you?”

“Yes.” Ace Trainer nodded and there was a sober look in his eyes. “Just a game--like everything else in life. I thought we went over that already. Of course, we all say it differently. If I was one of you Futureplex types, I'd say something about heroism and trying to save the world, but new textures don't change the essence of the game. You can't judge one game against another, Big Bro--you only play your game the best you can and hope for a high score. And if you fail, well, it is only a game, after all.”

“Ashton, this isn't a game. Don't you see what you've done and what you're doing? Innocent people have been and are going to be hurt because of what's happening here. If you can manage to hold Heroman and any of the rest of us, that could mean even worse things for the world. And worst of all, you've corrupted people. Not that Boris and the MCPD were all that innocent to begin with, but you've made them worse. That's--that's wrong.”

“Right and wrong are only constructs of the game.”

“Do you really believe that?”

Ace Trainer folded his arms. “We are alive now. Someday we will be dead. Those are the only two facts that I believe. And one other thing--that for all of your talk, you're not all that different. Are you really going to tell me that all your work for the Futureplex is any different from what we're doing? That you actually believe any of their rhetoric?”

“This isn't about the Futureplex any more. This is about right or wrong.”

“Tomayto, tomahto. You're just avoiding the question because you know the answer. That's why I felt safe about planting the bomb on you. I know, hero or not, you don't really believe in all that enough to consciously and deliberately sacrifice your own life for no reason.”

Sky laughed, a strange, faraway laugh. “'All it means is bringing people to the point of decision.' That's what this is all about, isn't it?”

“You could say that, I guess. And I know what decision you'll make.”

Sky closed his eyes. His mind was racing with everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours, but even more with everything he had heard and everything he had thought--and as he hung there in the sky, facing his brother, he knew. He knew what he had to do. “You would have been right yesterday, Ashton. But not today.”

“What?” For the first time, Ace Trainer looked taken aback.

“God help me.” Sky spoke in a low, clear voice, with a strange, serious note.

“Y-you're really going to--” Ace Trainer's face was suddenly wiped clean by shock and horror. “Ian--I wasn't bluffing. If you--”

Sky smiled. “Little Bro, with everything else that's happened today--it's great to know you still care.” And he lunged forward, slamming his entire body into Ace Trainer and knocking him backward in the air about two yards. He could feel the warmth of electricity in the chest of his exoskeleton--his attack had caused the bomb to activate. He was going to die.

And he was surprisingly all right with that.

But then a bug zipped past him and landed on his chest. “Got it. Now, Brave Eagle--right here--” Dr. Drone's voice echoed both from this drone and the rest which were still down on the battlefield.

“Parkour, give me a lift,” Brave Eagle called out, running at the other boy.

Parkour had recovered from his shock at Yfi's capture and as Brave Eagle came at him, he leaned down. Brave Eagle jumped and landed on his hands. Parkour jumped and did a 180*, in the process throwing Brave Eagle upward. As he rose, the boy touched his medallion and shouted: “Henshin!” In his firebird form, he flew straight towards Sky and passed right through him (a very odd and somewhat awkward sensation). This caused the bomb to separate from Sky's exoskeleton and drop. It detonated a second later, throwing Sky backward, but it wasn't close enough to actually hurt him now and, besides, Brave Eagle had borne the brunt of the explosion--somehow seeming to absorb it. At least, the firebird became a little bigger and brighter. He shot straight forward, through Ace Trainer, somehow destroying his jet pack in the process, causing him to plummet towards the ground. Still going, Brave Eagle wheeled in the sky and landed on one of the buildings beside the park, where the police had set up and were preparing to fire some kind of mortar. His fire vanished and he turned back to normal and used his tomahawk and staff to destroy the mortar and stun the police working on it simultaneously. Then he jumped again, transforming, and taking out about seven police drones.

Conan looked up. “I see you've finally gotten it--finally figured out how to control your power. That makes me happy, kid.”

“They've made him happy,” said Parkour, glancing at Caffeine Girl.

“You really don't want to make him happy,” Caffeine Girl added in explanation, glancing at Fine Print.

Conan's whole body glowed and a burst of white light shot out, knocking police every direction.

At the same moment that the bomb detonated, the Bell Ringer pulled a grenade from his pocket and threw it at Ace Trainer's turtle. It exploded with a burst of fire, causing the creature's vines to falter and fall away from Heroman. Speeding Bullet nodded and then vanished from his position. For just an instant, he reappeared beside Heroman and then both men disappeared.

Ace Trainer was upset, but he wasn't incoherent. As he fell, he pulled his mask back on with one hand and threw one of the balls from his belt with the other. From inside, his orange dragon appeared, catching Ace Trainer as he fell. Still, without his jetpack, he seemed to think he was safer on the ground, and he and his creature landed right in the middle of the battlefield. Sky, turning invisible, dropped also, remaining directly across from him.

With Conan and Brave Eagle (now on the ground again), handling the police, that left Caffeine Girl, Parkour, and Fine Print free. With a glance at each other, the two boys headed for Ace Knight. He had drawn his sword again, but for a second, he didn't seem to consider the boys to be a serious threat. They were almost on top of him before he made a slash in the air, launching a beam attack which struck Parkour. But the boy rolled with the attack and landed on his feet and sprung forward again. He might have been hurt but not enough to take him out of the battle. Meanwhile, Fine Print had kept pressing on and was now within actual range of the sword itself. Ace Knight made a pass at him, but Fine Print almost seemed to melt out of the way. And then Parkour was also within range.

And that was when Ace Knight reached down to get something out of his pouch--only to realize that it was no longer there. Caffeine Girl had taken advantage of his distraction and rushed in and removed it. Pulling out the bottle, she uncorked it. The next instant, Yfi's voice sounded from every single speaker in the park. “Oh, it feels so good to be out. I never liked tight places.”

The failure of his plan caused Ace Knight to hesitate for a moment--and in that moment, Fine Print had pulled his sword out of his hand and thrown it wide. The next second, Parkour had reached him and ripped off his face-mask. “If anything had gone wrong--you could have killed her with that stunt.”

“Oh, not the girl-in-the-refrigerator trope,” commented Caffeine Girl, who was halfway across the field, untangling Hooded Angel from Ace Knight's grapnel. “That's so blasé.”

With an uncharacteristically angry motion, Parkour punched Ace Knight in the face. He staggered backward and tripped over Fine Print, who had demurely stuck his foot behind him. Badly stunned, he was in no position to object when Caffeine Girl reappeared and in a blink tied him up with his own grapnel.

Hooded Angel had been temporarily out of the battle, because of being mixed up with Ace Knight's grapnel. And Greenshade had vanished. But everyone else was still standing.

The Bell Ringer and the Forester were still fighting Ace Lawyer and Ace Professor, though not with much success. And then, at almost the same moment that Ace Trainer landed and that Parkour and Fine Print launched their attack on Ace Knight, Time's Detective raised his head and called out: “Attack the professor's left ankle. Based on what I see, he hurt it digging this trap earlier.”

“Thanks,” answered the Bell Ringer in a low voice. And he threw his grapnel at Ace Professor's left ankle. Ace Lawyer tried to intercept the shot, but the Forester slammed into him, knocking him back.

Ace Professor gave a scream that sounded neither British nor professor-ish and dropped to his knees. It might have been a minor injury to begin with but after having a grapnel slam into it, it didn't feel very minor. And the next instant, both the Bell Ringer and the Forester were on top of him and had managed to pull off his jet pack.

“Oh, you're doing good, all right,” said Ace Trainer, almost with his old tone, “and maybe you rescued Heroman. But he's not here, and with my monster, I still can--”

“Silence! Now!” Sky called out.

Silence leaped unto the back of the beast behind Ace Trainer. And as he did, Ace Trainer's voice died out, being drowned in silence.

“Without being able to talk, you can't command your creatures,” said Sky quietly. “And without that, you don't have any powers.” And with a flick of his control rod, he shot forward and struck Ace Trainer squarely in the chest, sending him backward off his monster's back. There was a shimmer of green, and the next instant, Greenshade was holding him securely in his armored hands.

Conan leaped forward, glowing blindingly white. “The better this battle goes, the happier I get,” he commented, looking at Ace Lawyer, the only one of the Aces still standing. “And the happier I get, the angrier I get to think what could have happened and what you were trying to do. And the angrier I get, the more relieved I am that things didn't go wrong. And the more relieved I get--well--you get the picture?”

Ace Lawyer was already unnerved by seeing his three companions taken down, but he might have tried to fly, except that at that moment, Discus stunned him with discus. “O-objection?” was all he could manage.

“Overruled,” answered Conan, and the next instant the man lay unconscious on the ground.

“There's still the police to consider,” said Hooded Angel, glancing around. The police had been driven back but they were moving forward again, though perhaps rather uncertainly, given that Ace Trainer was now captive.

And then, once again, there was a swirl of gray in the sky, and Heroman and Speeding Bullet reappeared.

“All right, let's try this again,” said Heroman, who seemed completely recovered. “This battle is over. Right?” He glanced around him.

There was a collective sigh from the police and then they all put up their hands. They knew the proper procedure, of course--and they all knew enough not to try to fight Heroman.


About an hour later, the mess in the park had mostly been cleaned up. Heroman, Speeding Bullet, Sky, Hooded Angel, and Greenshade stood talking in the middle of the park, while the other players in the drama were engaged in putting the finishing touches of order on the scene of the battle.

“Well, I think that takes care of that,” remarked Heroman, glancing around him. “Now we just have to figure out the legal logistics of what to do with all these people we've caught. And then sit down and have a looong talk with the leaders of the Futureplex.”

“I suspect President Conners would be very interested in hearing all the particulars of their activity regarding this case,” said Speeding Bullet in an even, impersonal voice.

Heroman glanced at his friend. “Him and me both, brother.” He looked back at Sky, who still wore his exoskeleton but was perfectly visible. “I want to thank you. You took a big risk for my sake and I appreciate it.”

“It was the least I could do under the circumstances,” said Sky, a little absently. “I'm sorry, but this has been a sort of rough day and I'm not in the mood for making speeches.”

The others nodded. “I can't pretend to understand how you feel, Sky,” said Hooded Angel. “But you have my sympathy and my respect.”

“Thanks. I-I just want to go home, now.”

“If you want to talk, just call me.”

“I appreciate the thought, Hood. But, actually, I think I need to talk to Greenshade.”

Greenshade took a step back and showed as much surprise as someone wearing full-body armor can show. “To me?”

“Not to Greenshade but your other identity.”

“Right. Call me anytime. You know my number. Or drop by. Or I could come by your place--then I could count it on my report as a pastoral call.”

“Thanks.” Sky nodded and vanished.

Hooded Angel shook his head. “I just hope he's all right. Everything he went through today--that's a lot of stress. He was almost acting--did you notice it?--almost like a different person. Like he wasn't himself.”

“Maybe he was a different person,” answered Greenshade softly. “Maybe for the first time he was himself.”

*

Some time later, Heroman and Speeding Bullet talked over the battle in Speeding Bullet's secret bunker, which he used as the base for his work as a superhero.

“So,” he commented, glancing at Heroman, “does it bother you to know that the Futureplex had a plan in place to take you down if necessary?”

“Of course not. Who do you think gave it to them?” Heroman was sitting at the table, eating a large piece of tiramisu. “I've never felt it was right for one man to exist so much more powerful than everyone else. For my own sanity, I have to know there is someone out there who can defeat me if necessary. That's not what bothers me. What bothers me is that four sub-par wannabe super-villains managed to steal it. Even granting that they took advantage of Ace Trainer's relationship to Sky, they never should have been able to steal that information.” He laid down his fork. “But even that's not the main thing. The Flying Aces may have manipulated things, but that doesn't change the fact that the Futureplex did attempt to give Bone Crusher access to the Heroic Ion--even if it didn't work. And then they covered up the fact--if they had just contacted me to begin with, that whole battle would never have happened. I just wonder now what other secrets they're keeping from me.”

“You know, I've never fully approved of the Futureplex.”

“Well, we set out to do great things--to work for progress, perhaps even for glory. But maybe that's not enough.”

“It's not. Adventure, progress, and glory are all very well in their way, but they're not good enough to be the final goal and explanation for our work. Not when it's just the glory of man, anyway.”

Heroman shook his head. “Well, I'll have to shake things up and see what I can come up with.” Then he laughed, a little somberly. “But that shakeup is going to be nothing compared to McHenry City getting three-fourths of its police department arrested. If it can survive long enough, maybe they'll actually be able to get an honest police force out of this.”

Speeding Bullet sighed and shook his head. “You are the most powerful man in the history of the world, but you are completely hopeless when it comes to understanding politics.”

*

Greenshade dropped down through the shadows to the back door of his parsonage. (He had accepted Yfi's offer of flying home in a Futureplex Coaster.) Hidden in the shadows, he shed his armor, and it was a rather tired and somewhat sweaty Kobe Time who walked through the door into the silent house.

He poured himself a glass of sweet tea from the pitcher in the fridge and sat down at the kitchen table for a few minutes, staring into space. So much had happened that he still had trouble taking it in.

Sky and his brother took up a lot of his thoughts. He knew from past experience what it was like to feel betrayed by someone close to you, but he couldn't imagine having your blood brother try to kill you--even if Ashton had never thought that Sky would actually die.

But though his thoughts were mostly with Sky, he also couldn't get Ashton out of his mind--for another reason. He had never felt entirely comfortable working with the Futureplex, even though he had made friends with some of their agents--really, come to think of it, he felt more as if he were friends with them after today then he ever had before. But how far could the Futureplex really be trusted? In his own private war, Ashton had ripped the covering off some Futureplex secrets which made him rather uncomfortable.

He shook his head. There was no point in worrying about that now. And he needed to think about more pressing things. There was Sky's promise to call him sometime. And then there was Fine Print. Once the Futureplex and the government got done sorting through the debacle, Fine Print would probably be transferred back to this town, since this was where his main criminal activity had been. Kobe made a mental note to find out if and when that happened and go to see him. The boy might be willing to listen to him now.

And then he drained his sweet tea and went to bed.

*

It was much later when Sky finally got back to his house and, taking off his exoskeleton, sat down in a chair in his lounge.

It had been a long day. For most of it, he had been in danger and working to save the world. His body and mind were exhausted. His own brother had betrayed him and was now in custody for criminal activity. He had come within seconds of dying.

And yet, for some reason he would have been hard-pressed to explain in brief prose, he felt perfectly at peace.