Chapter Five
April 18th, 9:25 PM
Inside the paint factory, it smelled like paint. It was a big, open space, much of its equipment looted thanks to years of abandonment, but the omnipresent acrid odor meant you couldn't mistake the building for any other. Simply walking around its broken conveyor belts, dusty consoles, and turned over tables made Erin lightheaded. Well, the paint smell, and thinking about Margot.
"What has gotten into her?" Erin thought, creeping through the open aisles, her eyes darting up and down. "Why does she want to be a superheroine so much?"
Erin knew her own answer to that question, of course: being a superheroine was a blast. But it was only fun if you were good at it. And while Margot had steadily improved her fighting skills in the past half year, she still had yet to possess a quarter of Erin's ability. Which meant, in short, that she wasn't superheroine material. Not yet, anyway.
She had been walking around for nearly five minutes when it hit Erin that she had yet to see or hear a single person.
"Probably in some back office, somewhere," Erin thought. She was practically certain that Hammerson had been sending a message with that press release. It was unmistakable: she wanted her here, tonight. And Erin was looking forward to meeting him. But where the hell was he?
The phone she kept in her utility belt pocket buzzed.
"That's odd," Erin thought, ducking behind an ancient computer and fishing the device out. "I guess Margot wants to rant at me some more."
She pressed a button, put the phone to her ear, and whispered, "Hey."
"Blue Lynx!"
It wasn't Margot. It was a male voice. A loud, cocky, familiar voice.
Oh God.
"Hammerson!" Erin said.
"Oh yeah," Hammerson replied. "It's me, alright. My phone died. Your partner was kind enough to lend me hers."
Erin could feel her heart thumping. None of this made sense. What was Hammerson doing? How did he get Margot's phone? What was happening? She felt dizzy. She couldn't speak.
"Here, I'll let her talk," Hammerson continued. Erin heard a scuffle on the other end, a loud ripping sound, and then, in the loud, unmistakable voice of her friend:
"Blue Lynx! I'm sorry!"
"Black Bobcat!" Erin yelled. She didn't want to use Margot's name. Though if they had captured her, they could almost certainly find that information out on their own. The thought made Erin shudder: did this mean they knew her name, too? Margot designed both phones to be used only by their owners: they both were currently in "Blue Lynx Mode." But would that be enough to protect Erin's secret?
"That's right. The Black Bobcat." Hammerson's voice again. "Cute name. I had forgotten it."
"Hammerson," Erin growled. "If you hurt her..."
"Oh, don't worry, Blue Lynx," Hammerson said. "Your sidekick will be just fine. Providing you play along, of course."
It had been a trap. All of this. The "message" to the Blue Lynx. The paint factory. They had wanted Margot alone, so they could nab her. And now that they had her, Erin was at their mercy.
"You bastard," Erin sneered. She was pacing around, now, clutching the phone, swinging her other arm angrily. "I swear, you will pay for this."
"Listen to me, superheroine," Hammerson said. "I know you're in the factory now. I know this because of your partner's tracker."
The comment froze Erin. Of course he knew. But knowing that he knew-- that he had access to all of Margot's technology-- was a terrifying thought.
"I hope you can reverse engineer that thing," Hammerson continued. "Because if you don't come to the next stage in twenty-five minutes, we'll make a pelt out of your Bobcat friend."
"Twenty-five minutes? Next stage?" Erin yelled. "What are you talking about?"
"You'd better figure it out quick, Blue Lynx," Hammerson laughed. "The clock starts now."
Erin began to run to the front of the factory. "Hammerson! Stop!"
"Now, let's have a look at all of the Black Bobcat's wonderful little toys."
The phone erupted in laughter, and Hammerson hung up.
Erin, still sprinting, punched the touchpad of her phone. She scrolled through the menus and found the "Bobcat Tracker" that Margot had installed for situations like these. A red dot popped up on her screen. It was just a couple hundred yards away.
"They're still here!" Erin thought. "They're in the parking lot!"
Just as Erin accelerated, the red dot took off, forcing the tracker to zoom out. In seconds, it was a quarter mile away. And then a half mile. A mile.
"Dammit!" Erin yelled. "Dammit!"
She had come to the large open area where she first walked in. But where before it had been empty, there were now four men, gangly, muscular young guys in jeans and tank tops, standing awkwardly between Erin and the door.
"Get out of the way!" Erin yelled, still running at top speed, pocketing her phone.
"There she is!" one of the guys shouted.
"Get her!" another yelled.
Erin didn't stop.
"I guess this is Hammerson's first stage," she thought. "Fine by me."
The men had formed into a line, like they were playing Red Rover, like this was all a game. They held their fists out in front of them, some more confidently than others. They looked athletic, vigorous, solid.
Erin wasn't concerned one bit.
She stuck her hand in the pocket and quickly removed it, flinging a handful of Lynx Darts. They flew through the air and then stopped, some digging into arm and legs, others hitting the back wall. The men screamed in pain and Erin pounced, clotheslining her closest opponent, then ducking, sliding, and tripping the next nearest. She sprang to her feet and then jumped in the air, bringing her knee against the underside of the third man's chin, and then dropping to the floor, crouching down, and driving her elbow into the fourth man's stomach. She watched the two men fall, and turned to the door to leave.
"Nice try, boys," she said, waving her hand behind her.
But a hand clamped on her shoulder. She felt her body spin around, and then felt a fist sink into her abdomen. She wheezed, bringing her hands to her lower body. She looked up and saw the second man seize her throat with ten fingers. He smiled as he pushed her forward, forcing her back against a wall.
"Who said you could leave?" the man cackled, staring Erin in the eyes.
She coughed. Her hands gripped at her attacker's, but she couldn't peel his fingers off.
"Mr. Hammerson said if we caught you, we could do anything we wanted to you," the man said. His eyes had dropped to Erin's chest. She could feel them burning into her bare flesh, running over the contours of her costume, savoring the sight of her struggling lower body.
The other men had been picking themselves up, one at a time, wincing as they pulled out Lynx Darts.
"So what do you think we should do, guys?" the man said, looking back at his friends.
The third man was holding his chin. "Right now, I just want to punch that bitch in the face."
The fourth man shook his head. "No, no, no," he said. "Not before I sock her in the stomach real hard."
"Well I say we take off her mask," the first man said. "See why she's so damn secretive."
This comment elicited chuckles from all of the men. Erin gritted her teeth.
"We can do all of that," the second man said, his fingers still locked around Erin's neck. "And a whole lot more." His eyes had dropped to Erin's crotch, and Erin could practically hear him licking his lips.
"Well, you know what I say?," Erin said, her voice racked with small coughs.
"What's that, Blue Lynx?" the second man said. The other three had gathered around them now, were all gawking at Erin, all grinning with anticipation.
"I say," Erin muttered. "I don't have time for this shit."
She pressed her back against the wall and kicked her boots up, catching the second man in the groin. He shrieked, immediately bringing his hands down, and Erin pushed forward, barreling into the four guys. She spun into a series of roundhouse kicks, catching each of the men up high, sending them all to the floor, two of the men unfortunate enough to land back on Lynx Darts.
They moaned and groaned and screamed as Erin fixed her hair.
"You almost had me, boys," she said, pulling her phone from her utility belt. "But this date is over. And I'm not joking this time."
She gave the men one final smile, and then dashed out the front door.
On to Chapter Six
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