First Movie

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER THREE

Mighty Man … now I knew where I’d seen him before. Mighty Man was the superhero name that my science teacher, Mr. Peters, had been planning to use in his failed superhero career. In fact, now that I looked more closely at him, Mighty Man heavily resembled the concept drawings that Mr. Peters once showed me of the costume he’d been planning to wear. It was like Mighty Man had jumped straight out of the drawings into the real world, yet that made no sense. Mr. Peters didn’t have any powers and he certainly wasn’t a big, muscle-bound, justice-obsessed ham like Mighty Man.

So who was this guy, really, and where did he come from?

“Excuse me?” said Ronny behind Mighty Man. “Prime Man’s the strongest super in the world, ain’t he?”

“That he was!” said Mighty Man without changing his pose. “But I am even stronger! I can lift ten billion tons on my back and balance a skyscraper on my pinkie!”

“Ten billion tons?” said ZZZ incredulously. “Do you even know how much that is or are you just throwing out big numbers to make yourself sound cooler than you are?”

Mighty Man punched his fist into his other hand. “I speak nothing but the truth, villain! For I stand not just for justice, but for truth as well!”

“And the American way as well?” said ZZZ. “Anyway, Mr. Mighty Man, perhaps you should get out of here. Aside from the fact that Golden City already has a superhero, this situation really is none of your business.”

“Justice is always my business!” Mighty Man yelled, his voice so loud that one of the windows cracked. “I don’t need to be paid to defeat criminals like you!”

“Expected as much,” said ZZZ idly. He raised a hand. “Well, you might be able to lift ten gajillion tons, but you’re probably sleep-deprived like most people nowadays. Why don’t you take a nap?”

Crap. I had no idea if Mighty Man was as strong as he said he was, but I knew that no matter how strong Mighty Man might be, ZZZ’s powers would put him to sleep in no time. If that happened, then I was definitely screwed.

A few tense seconds passed as ZZZ and Mighty Man stared each other down. I paid close attention to Mighty Man, waiting for the moment when he would collapse onto the floor, leaving me to fend for myself against ZZZ and his men. I looked for any signs of sleepiness or fatigue in Mighty Man, but he didn’t look even remotely tired. If anything, he seemed oddly energetic.

Finally, Mighty Man laughed and said, “What are you trying, villain? Do you think that a brave defender of justice and truth is afraid of a hand?”

“You’re supposed to fall asleep,” said ZZZ. He waved his hand harder. “Go to sleep. Take a nap. Get some shut-eye. Rest those weary eyes of yours. Count sheep.”

“Why should I?” said Mighty Man. He puffed his chest out even more if that was possible. “Justice never sleeps and neither do I!”

ZZZ’s face went pale. It occurred to me that ZZZ had probably never run into someone who was immune to his powers. That was a first.

Then Mighty Man punched his fist into his other hand again and said, “Now it’s my turn, you piece of criminal scum! Let’s see how you like a hot heaping platter of justice bacon and truth eggs!”

Mighty Man rushed forward and grabbed ZZZ by the throat, lifting him off his feet with one hand. ZZZ gasped and dropped his g*n. He desperately kicked at Mighty Man, but his legs merely bounced off of Mighty Man’s huge chest like feathers.

“Not so brave now that your powers don’t work on me, are you, villain?” said Mighty Man. “Fear not! I shall not kill you! But you may have trouble breathing without the aid of a machine once I am done with—”

Mighty Man was interrupted by a gunshot. Multiple gunshots, in fact, all from ZZZ’s fellow Dark Collective Collectivists. They had taken advantage of Mighty Man’s distraction to shoot him in the back. The loud gunshots forced me to lower my head and put my hands on my head, while around me the other customers and bank tellers starting to stir from their sleep.

Mighty Man dropped ZZZ onto the floor, yet didn’t move at all as the Dark Collective Collectivists loaded rounds into his back. They were firing so many bullets so quickly that I couldn’t even look directly at Mighty Man. I just kept my head down the entire time, hoping that the collective gunfire would be over soon and that maybe they would run out of ammo and I could make a run for it before they noticed I was gone.

After a minute or two of firing, the gunfire ceased. Lowering my hands from my head, I looked up to see the results of their gunfire.

It looked like they had run out of ammo because they lowered their guns and looked at Mighty Man expectantly. I also looked at Mighty Man, expecting to see his back riddled with b****y bullet holes and for Mighty Man himself to be in horrendous pain, if not outright dead. No way someone could survive something like that.

To my shock, however, Mighty Man still stood tall and strong. His back was smoking slightly, but that was it. There were no bullet holes in his back. His costume wasn’t even torn. Empty bullets were scattered everywhere around him, but Mighty Man himself showed no signs of pain or injury.

“Impossible,” said Ronny in disbelief. “We nailed him with everything we got.”

Mighty Man laughed a deep, bellowing laugh that even made me wince. He turned around to face the criminals, a triumphant grin on his face.

“Did you honestly believe that mere bullets could harm Mighty Man?” asked Mighty Man in an amused voice. He wagged a finger at them. “Not so! For Justice herself protects me from pathetic villains like you! But if it’s a fight you want, then it’s a fight you get!”

Mighty Man rushed toward the thugs and slammed into them like bowling pins. The thugs tried to run, but Mighty Man was fast, punching and kicking them with shockingly fast reflexes. He looked almost like a living tornado and the few hits that the thugs managed to get on him didn’t slow him down at all.

A groan behind me caused me to look up. Jennifer, the bank teller who had been processing my check, was now waking up. I saw her head appear over the counter, a confused look on her face.

“What the—?” said Jennifer with a yawn. “What happened? Why is there a hole in the ceiling? What is going on here?”

Jennifer wasn’t the only person waking up. All around the lobby, the customers and bank tellers who ZZZ had knocked out were starting to wake up. Most of them looked confused, but a few were watching Mighty Man fighting the thugs with the same puzzled expression as Jennifer. It looked like ZZZ’s sleep effect was wearing off, probably thanks to Mighty Man’s attack. Even I felt more awake than I did a few minutes ago, rising to my feet now that it was safe to stand.

“Who is that guy?” said Jennifer to me, pointing at Mighty Man. “Prime Man?”

I shook my head. “No. He calls himself Mighty Man, but—”

“Hey!” another bank teller shouted. “ZZZ is getting away!”

Startled, I looked over to the other side of the lobby and saw ZZZ rushing up the stairs to the next floor of the bank. Coward. Taking advantage of Mighty Man beating on his own men to save himself. Not surprising, but still disgusting nonetheless.

And I also wasn’t going to let him get away.

Looking at Jennifer, I said, “Call the police. I’ll go after ZZZ.”

“You?” said Jennifer in bewilderment. “But—”

I didn’t stop to listen to her. I just rushed across the lobby and barreled up the steps after ZZZ. I didn’t see him, however, until I got to the second floor of the bank and saw him running full speed down the hallway toward a window at the end of the hall.

I fired my lasers at ZZZ, but he jumped at the last minute and avoided my lasers. Landing on his feet, ZZZ whirled around and fired his g*n at me, forcing me to dive behind one of the hallway’s marble columns to avoid getting shot. Bullets struck the marble column, chipping off pieces of marble as I crouched low to protect myself.

“I’m not going to let you get away!” I shouted from behind the marble column.

“You should if you know what’s good for you, brat!” ZZZ shouted. “Which you clearly don’t, seeing as you are trying to catch me!”

Taking a deep breath, I peered around the side of the marble column but pulled my head back just as ZZZ fired his g*n again. A bullet whizzed by and struck the wall opposite me, causing cracks to form in its formation.

“This is my job, ZZZ!” I shouted. “Even if today is my day off, I’m still going to arrest you!”

“Why don’t you be a normal teenager and sleep in when you don’t have school or work?” said ZZZ in exasperation.

I gritted my teeth, but leaped out from behind the column and fired another laser at ZZZ. ZZZ, however, dodged it and fired his g*n again, but I was already rolling behind the next column, putting me a little closer to ZZZ.

Rolling to my feet, I stood up and fired another laster blast at him again. This time, my laser struck his chest, sending him staggering backward from the impact. But rather than drop his g*n, ZZZ fired his weapon again, forcing myself to hide behind the marble column again to avoid getting shot.

This was getting ridiculous. I needed to end this fight now so I could get home in time for my date with Nancy. ZZZ would run out of bullets eventually, but I needed to end this fight long before then.

Closing my eyes, I gave myself an adrenaline boost. Then I jumped into the air from behind the column, flying toward ZZZ faster than his eyes could follow. He raised his g*n in the air, but I smashed my foot into my jaw, sending ZZZ staggering backward from the blow. Landing on the floor, I lashed out with another kick, hitting him in the abdomen and finally making him drop his g*n.

Gasping in pain, ZZZ staggered backward against the window at the end of the hallway, clutching his stomach. He glared at me with his bloodshot, baggy eyes, but without a weapon, he was pretty much harmless.

“Give up now, ZZZ,” I said as I kicked his g*n away. “It’s over. You can’t beat me and you know it.”

“Fool,” said ZZZ. “If you think I’m going to give up because you managed to break one of my toys, then you’ve got another thing com—”

ZZZ was interrupted when the floor under our feet broke apart and Mighty Man shot up through the hole. He landed on the floor to my right and then stood to his full height, his hands on his hips.

“There you are, villain!” said Mighty Man. “I thought I saw you trying to make an escape! I have already beaten all of your fellow thugs into unconsciousness! I will do the same to you if you refuse to surrender!”

I looked at ZZZ and grinned. “You heard the man. Now, who do you want to fight: Me or the guy who can take an entire arsenal worth of bullets to the back and not even get tickled?”

ZZZ scowled, but then chuckled and said, “Sorry, but my ride should be here any second now. Perhaps we can have lunch later.”

With that, ZZZ pulled another g*n out of his pocket. Mighty Man and I braced ourselves for another fight, but ZZZ instead whirled around and fired three shots into the window behind him. The window shattered into pieces and then ZZZ, tossing his g*n to the side, ran and jumped out through the window while laughing maniacally.

Startled, Mighty Man and I rushed toward the window. We looked out just in time to see what looked like a giant bat—ridden by the Necromantress—swoop up into the air away from the bank, with ZZZ sitting on it behind the Necromantress. ZZZ waved at us condescendingly, a triumphant grin on his sleep-deprived face.

They moved too fast for me to shoot them out of the air. All Mighty Man and I could do was watch as ZZZ and the Necromantress, seated on their giant bat, disappeared into the skyscrapers and buildings of Golden City, vanishing from our sight.