stuff up and down Vintage."
"Did anything weird happen at that street I told you about? You know, with Mom freaking out over nothing?"
"Yeah, Freddie went undercover to scope out the area, and he found nothing strange, though he almost got picked up by some sleazy john."
"Huh?"
"Um...Freddie decided to blend in with the crowd, sort of, and transformed into a hooker.” Peter coughed. I could actually hear his skin turn red over the phone. “I thought he was going to turn himself into a homeless guy, but I guess he was feeling a little, uh, adventurous that night."
"And you guys let him do that?"
"Hey, we didn't know what he was up to till he buzzed us after taking down this drunk and nearly breaking the guy's arm for groping him. Frankly, I think he kicks ass in his female masks, but that's just me. Ahem."
I needed some time for all of that stuff to sink in, so I urged Peter to continue while I rubbed my temple and grimaced. He said, “Wade volunteered to keep an eye on the place, too, and she came up with nothing.” Peter fell silent for a moment. “It is kind of bizarre that you've been getting all kinds of bad vibes about different places. That says something, even though we haven't found anything yet."
I watched myself play around with the phone chord once the throbbing in my temple faded. “Well, I guess it's something like a building up of tension, you know? I talked about it with my family before, and since the last big attack at the mall, nothing's happened yet, but that's only because whoever was responsible is just waiting for the right time to make his next move."
"It's kind of overdue, isn't it?” Peter replied. Then he drew in a sharp breath. “God, I just gave myself goosebumps."
"I guess we just need to keep our eyes and ears open."
"Hmm. I thought that you guys had super sense or something like that. At least, I wondered about it when I watched Althea uncover those stolen computers in Beck Street."
"No, we don't have that. Like Spidey Sense or something? Nah. Althea just happened to hook herself up to the computers in that apartment because it was the closest source she found. She didn't realize they were stolen till the moment she took over them."
I remembered yesterday's incident with the redheaded kid and asked, “By the way, did Trent say anything about the two bullies he picked up?” I gave him a quick run-down on the incident in case Trent hadn't been able to update the other heroes on his part in keeping the city cleaned up. That had to be one of the funner aspects of being involved with a superhero. I got to be in on all the gossip and little behind-the-scenes things, which I thought was always cool.
Peter chuckled and said yeah, Trent had. As Magnifiman, he took those two punks to some youth club at the far end of the city and actually stayed around while they grudgingly signed up for a weekend of community service work. I'd absolutely no idea what that community service work was all about, but I couldn't help but laugh whenever I thought about Tweedledee and Tweedledum trying to do something productive for underprivileged kids. Or cleaning Vintage City's streets, literally. Maybe they'd be given latrine work or something like that—you know, cleaning out all the porta-potties up and down the city and public park. There you go.
* * * *
It was once again time for—guess what! Superhero practice! This time, instead of the Trill's old subterranean hideout, we were in one of the old warehouses that the mayor had handed over to the superheroes. This one was an old warehouse that was about to be converted into lofts, except that the company had gone belly-up after a major scandal involving stolen money and other things that slimy, white-collar crooks usually did. So the place was abandoned to graffiti artists, time, stray animals, and the weather, till it was nothing more than a rotting shell of a partially finished luxury complex.
I've already mentioned that the place was a
"Did anything weird happen at that street I told you about? You know, with Mom freaking out over nothing?"
"Yeah, Freddie went undercover to scope out the area, and he found nothing strange, though he almost got picked up by some sleazy john."
"Huh?"
"Um...Freddie decided to blend in with the crowd, sort of, and transformed into a hooker.” Peter coughed. I could actually hear his skin turn red over the phone. “I thought he was going to turn himself into a homeless guy, but I guess he was feeling a little, uh, adventurous that night."
"And you guys let him do that?"
"Hey, we didn't know what he was up to till he buzzed us after taking down this drunk and nearly breaking the guy's arm for groping him. Frankly, I think he kicks ass in his female masks, but that's just me. Ahem."
I needed some time for all of that stuff to sink in, so I urged Peter to continue while I rubbed my temple and grimaced. He said, “Wade volunteered to keep an eye on the place, too, and she came up with nothing.” Peter fell silent for a moment. “It is kind of bizarre that you've been getting all kinds of bad vibes about different places. That says something, even though we haven't found anything yet."
I watched myself play around with the phone chord once the throbbing in my temple faded. “Well, I guess it's something like a building up of tension, you know? I talked about it with my family before, and since the last big attack at the mall, nothing's happened yet, but that's only because whoever was responsible is just waiting for the right time to make his next move."
"It's kind of overdue, isn't it?” Peter replied. Then he drew in a sharp breath. “God, I just gave myself goosebumps."
"I guess we just need to keep our eyes and ears open."
"Hmm. I thought that you guys had super sense or something like that. At least, I wondered about it when I watched Althea uncover those stolen computers in Beck Street."
"No, we don't have that. Like Spidey Sense or something? Nah. Althea just happened to hook herself up to the computers in that apartment because it was the closest source she found. She didn't realize they were stolen till the moment she took over them."
I remembered yesterday's incident with the redheaded kid and asked, “By the way, did Trent say anything about the two bullies he picked up?” I gave him a quick run-down on the incident in case Trent hadn't been able to update the other heroes on his part in keeping the city cleaned up. That had to be one of the funner aspects of being involved with a superhero. I got to be in on all the gossip and little behind-the-scenes things, which I thought was always cool.
Peter chuckled and said yeah, Trent had. As Magnifiman, he took those two punks to some youth club at the far end of the city and actually stayed around while they grudgingly signed up for a weekend of community service work. I'd absolutely no idea what that community service work was all about, but I couldn't help but laugh whenever I thought about Tweedledee and Tweedledum trying to do something productive for underprivileged kids. Or cleaning Vintage City's streets, literally. Maybe they'd be given latrine work or something like that—you know, cleaning out all the porta-potties up and down the city and public park. There you go.
* * * *
It was once again time for—guess what! Superhero practice! This time, instead of the Trill's old subterranean hideout, we were in one of the old warehouses that the mayor had handed over to the superheroes. This one was an old warehouse that was about to be converted into lofts, except that the company had gone belly-up after a major scandal involving stolen money and other things that slimy, white-collar crooks usually did. So the place was abandoned to graffiti artists, time, stray animals, and the weather, till it was nothing more than a rotting shell of a partially finished luxury complex.
I've already mentioned that the place was a
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