Average Joe and the Extraordinaires (21 page)

Chapter
34

The
Glamour Conference

Joe
couldn’t help but yawn.  He had been up half the night with Liandra and Borland
looking for Melissa, a search which went cold.  They also had no word from
Dahlila, so they had no idea where she even was.  Liandra had refused police
aide, saying that she didn’t trust the police, but Borland had the APB put out
anyway.  Joe had gotten an earful about trust and honesty from the old codger.

It didn’t
take long for Borland to crack him into admitting that they were still working
with Dahlila.  He was furious though when Joe refused to give up her contact
information.  Liandra gave up the contact info, reasoning it wouldn’t hurt at
this stage anyhow.  The old guy admitted that he had a hunch the girls were
staying in the tower, but stayed away because they might have had a good reason
for hiding.  Joe explained why they were in hiding from even Borland, to which
Borland simply said, “I figured it was something like that.”

Both
Borland and Liandra objected to Joe pulling an all-nighter and forced him to go
home early to get some rest.  They promised to double their efforts in his
absence.  It was just as well, he needed to finish his homework before class
that morning.  He couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt however.

He
toughed it out through his school day.  He was glad that he managed to stay
awake through all his classes, even though he only barely managed it.  Sleeping
in his car during lunch hour had helped him greatly.

The last
bell of the day rang out and Joe was ready to leave.  He wanted to continue to
look for Melissa and hopefully break some ground.  For some reason, however,
Patrias was adamant about talking to him today of all days.  He seemed to
always pick the wrong times to interfere with Joe’s life.

Joe
walked into the main office and found it empty.  There weren’t even any
secretaries on the phones.  He chalked it up to them being busy in some other
part of the building.  Joe thought Patrias must’ve heard him walk in, because
the man was standing in front of his office door.

Patrias:
“Come on in, Joseph.  Let’s get this little conference done with.”

Joe
couldn’t see anything at all wrong with that.  He walked over to the
principal’s office and was halted by Patrias in front of his office door.

Patrias:
“Are your friends waiting for you?

Joe:
“No.  I didn’t even tell them about this meeting.  Why?  You want them too?”

The
principal smiled and patted Joe on his shoulder.  Joe noticed a weird scar on
the principal's hand.

Patrias:
“No, not at all.  I just didn’t want to hold you up from any of your social
obligations.  With so much going on in your life, I’m sure you just want to
relax.  Come on now.  This won’t take long.”

Joe:
“That’s strange.  I didn’t even notice that scar on your hand until now.”

The more
Joe looked at it, the more it looked like teeth marks, child-sized teeth marks.

Patrias:
“What scar?  There is no scar on my hand.”

Something
had changed in Patrias’ voice.  Joe thought what he said was weird as well.

Joe: “The
scar on … I—I—I mean no, I’m sorry.  I made a mistake.”

Joe’s
whole train of thought came undone when he looked Patrias in the eye.  It
wasn’t the eye itself, but rather the swollen, bloody, and bruised dark purple
ring that surrounded his left eye.  There was no way Joe could’ve missed that
before, no matter how tired he was.  It set his mind to racing, and only now did
the realization of just how empty the office was and what that possibly meant
occur to him.

He
doubled back to the front office doors as Patrias watched, confused.

Patrias:
“Where are you going?  We haven’t had our meeting.”

Joe:
“Sorry!  Gotta go!  Family emergency!”

Joe
bolted out the door before the principal could object.  He heard the clicking
of Patrias’ shoes as if the man was running after him.  He also heard the
principal calling his name as he ran down the hall, but after a while the only
thing Joe could hear was his own haggard breaths and his own shoes
tap-tap-tapping against the tile, the grass, finally the pavement.  He didn’t
stop until he was at his car.

Once in
his car, he gathered all his wits.  Everything made sense now, but he still
couldn’t believe it.  The small bloody footprints on the floor of the clock
tower were undoubtedly Patrias’.  The teeth marks and the black eye provided
the definitive proof that he was behind the kidnapping of Melissa, and
responsible for harming Dahlila.  The fact that he hid those scars so well
under the veil of some sort of magic bolstered Dahlila’s account of the night. 
Heck, Patrias had even been at the governor’s attempted assassination and may
have played a role in it.  All this time, under his nose the principal of his
own school was plotting all sorts of nasty, deadly maliciousness which probably
included Joe’s own death.

Joe
started his car and pulled off with no particular destination planned, until a
crazy thought crossed his mind.

Villain
View 5

The
Spotted Tail

Another
failed attempt.  The mannerable man was assailed by every interruption
imaginable.  The boy had been right at his fingertips.  He nearly had him,
until the boy had somehow seen through his glamour and the scars hidden
underneath, scars left by the two girls that the boy had recently allied with. 
Patrias had wanted to chase the boy down when he fled the office and end it all
right there, but he couldn’t with so many eyes, young and old, around the
halls.

He wanted
to finish it cleanly in his office, but that was always a tall order.  This was
a school after all, there were always people around.  He’d thought today would
be an easier day, since he’d given his secretaries half the day off.  He
wouldn’t have that luxury again anytime soon. The phones were already ringing
off the hook.

The
mannerable man decided to cut his losses for the day.  Maybe he could just hire
some sort of real assassin to finish his job.  Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t
acquainted with any.  He could use a crafte to possibly control someone into
doing it, but that was a tall order too.  Not only was that a tough crafte to
keep control of with any sort of precision, but there was also a chance that it
might fail in the boy’s presence as his other craftes seemed to be doing.  He
couldn’t explain why.

He
decided it was time to go home and regroup.  He walked to his Taurus and
started it up.  He drove down the street and smiled at his huge turn of luck. 
He saw the foolish boy’s car, and out the corner of his eye saw that Joseph was
eagerly awaiting something.  The mannerable man knew he was waiting for his
Taurus to pass.  He was filled with scholastic pride, and he definitely didn’t
want to disappoint an eager student.

************

The phone
rang into the mannerable man’s ear.

Patrias:
“Come on … pick up … pick up!”

It
shouldn’t have taken this long for him to pick up, thought the mannerable man. 
Patrias’ annoyance started to build, and behind that came his anger, that
blinding anger which could effortlessly power the right destructive craftes or
render more subtle craftes completely powerless.  He knew he had to keep his
anger in check, but it had become steadily more impossible with each passing
day of stress.

On the
last possible ring, a rough voice lazily traveled through the phone’s speaker
to Patrias’ ear.

Blonsky:
“I thought I told you not to call me unless you had something important to
say.”

Patrias
barely kept his cool.  He was losing himself to the anger he felt.

Patrias:
“It is important!  The boy is following me and I need a place to take care of
him.  Your place, to be precise.”

The rough-talking
man on the other line scoffed.

Blonsky:
“Mine?  You got some set on you, my friend.  What makes you think I’ll let you
take care of your dirty business in my place?”

Patrias:
“What!?  You selfish little… I—I brought you the experiment and got rid of the troublemaker. 
You owe me!”

Blonsky:
“Nobody wanted you getting rid of that firecracker.  We needed her in order to
lure the detective.”

Patrias:
“We’ll get rid of him too!  No need to keep these fools around!  They’re
messing everything up.”

Blonsky
laughed as lazily as he talked.

Blonsky:
“Relax, relax.  I just like to hear you squirm, Billy-boy.  You see, I have no
problem helping you out.  Bring him on by; the more the merrier I always say. 
He can even meet his little friend.”

Patrias
laughed out loud.  It was mostly to relieve his tension.

Patrias:
“You know, at the end of it all, you’re not so bad.”

Blonsky:
“Well, I like makin’ friends.  As a matter of fact, I’m hoping that a certain
superhero stops by tonight to try to save the little boy hero again so we can
all make nice.”

Patrias:
“You’re smarter than you look.  Be there shortly.”

Click.

Chapter
35

The Fun
Zone

Patrias’
green Taurus had finally come to a stop.  Joe tried to stifle another yawn, but
this one was too strong.  Joe’s mouth was agape for the yawns near ten second
duration. It couldn’t be helped, since Patrias had taken Joe on a tour of the
city, from school to his house and around the city.  Liandra and Borland were
still chasing leads elsewhere.  Joe didn’t want to tell everyone about his lead
until he was absolutely sure his principal was responsible for Melissa’s
kidnapping.  He didn’t want them all to lose out on precious time looking for
Melissa if his hunch turned out to be wrong.

The sky
had darkened to dusk.  Patrias had gotten out of his car and disappeared into
the doors of the Fun Zone, a once popular birthday spot for little kids.  It
looked to be closed for repairs, which Joe thought was more than a
coincidence.  He followed behind Patrias as slyly as he possibly could, and
made sure to be quick about it.

He opened
the doors and cringed as it creaked and whined.  He looked around and saw no
one, not even Patrias.  He was, however, surrounded by childhood revelry. 
There were ghostly arcade machines all around him, creepy giant animatronic
puppets on the stage to his left, and a playscape filled with colorful tubes
that was so large it spanned from the front of the building to its rear.  It
had a ball pit big enough to fit at least four classrooms worth of kids.  It
was surreal and creepy to see a place normally teeming with life so still.  The
only lights that were on were those of the prize counter, and those casted an
eerie glow over most of the Fun Zone.

Joe moved
at a crawl, not entirely sure of what he should look for.  He inched along to
the left towards the prize counter.  He ducked low to avoid the lights.  He
glanced up at the prizes hanging over his head, which ranged from racing cars,
to action figures, to video games, to plastic jewelry, to board games, stuffed
animals.  He spied a huge wooden model of a British Soldier in a spiffy red
jacket from the game Revolutionary Heroes.  He picked it up and found it
heavier than he thought it would be, which made it perfect for self-defense. 
He clutched it tight and continued on quietly and carefully.  He heard
something faintly in the distance.  He ignored it until he heard it again.  As
he approached the stage the sound became louder and it occurred to Joe that it
sounded like a little girl’s voice.  He could hear it clearly now. It was
calling for help.

Joe climbed
onto the stage with the animatronic band that was led by a bucktooth, wide-eyed
squirrel.  He ducked low beneath the animal band and sent a group text to
Dahlila, Borland, and Liandra detailing his current location and what he’d
discovered.  He got up and peeked behind the curtains.  She was close, he could
feel it.

He pushed
through the curtains and snuck down the dim hallway towards the sounds he was
hearing.  At the end of the hallway, he found Melissa.  She smiled when she saw
him.  That relieved him, but he knew that he had to move fast before Patrias
came and found him.

He put
down the wooden toy and reached down to untie the ropes connecting the girl to
the chair.  He was flabbergasted to see his hands pass right through the ropes
and Melissa.  For a moment, he wasn’t sure if he or she was the intangible
one.  He heard a loud click and suddenly Melissa was gone.  There was no trace
of her where she had sat.  Only the chair remained.

Joe:
“What the…”

Loud
flippant laughter came from a corner to the left, breaking up his current
thoughts.  Joe turned towards the noise and saw Patrias approaching him
casually.

Patrias:
“Joseph, Joseph, Joseph … I do feel bad for you and these situations you find
yourself in.”

The man
laughed again, apparently overjoyed at the situation.  Joe looked around for an
opening to run.  His mind was still occupied on thoughts of Melissa, however.

Joe:
“Where’s Melissa?”

Patrias:
“Ah, so you want your friend back?  Here, I’ll give her back to you.”

He lifted
his left hand and pointed a stick—no a wand, at the chair.  Melissa was
suddenly sitting back in the chair in front of Joe and again bound by ropes. 
Joe tried to reach out to her again but once more she was gone in a flash. 
Tears welled in his eyes.

Joe:
“What did you do to her?”

Joe
didn’t recognize his own voice.  It was deeper and lower than he had ever heard
it.

Patrias
laughed loudly and maliciously.  His eyes were filled with condemnation and
ridicule.

Patrias:
“You always were a little slow on the uptake, but frankly this is pathetic. 
You won’t be seeing your friend anytime soon.  You won’t be seeing anyone, as a
matter of fact.”

With
teeth gritted and eyes filled with tears, Joe charged at Patrias feeling a
wrath that he had never felt before.  With all the force that he could muster
he launched his fist at a horrified Patrias’ face.  Patrias was knocked back
and fell to the floor, cursing.

Patrias:
“You!  Stay back!  Stay away from me!”

He
pointed his wand at Joe’s chest but nothing happened.  He yelled a curse and
snapped his fingers.

Patrias:
“Why isn’t anything working?”

Joe
turned and ran down the hall.  He ran for the stage as fast as he could.  When
he went for the door, he was surprised to find it guarded by two men in black
suits.  They stood still as statues and faced straight forward.  They didn’t
seem to notice Joe at all.  He whispered to himself.

Joe:
“Where the heck did they come from?”

He kept
low, avoiding the door and quickly looked for some place to hide, eventually
settling near the labyrinthine tubes of the playscape.  Patrias wasn’t too far
behind him.  He emerged from the stage curtains, rubbing his cheek and jaw.  He
looked to be in no particular hurry to find Joe as he strolled around the
arcade.

Patrias:
“You’ve certainly made a muck of things, Joseph, but I’ve figured it out.  I
know how to stop you now.  I guess you knocked some sense into me back there. 
I could kill myself over how simple the solution is, but I’d rather kill you.”

Joe
watched as the man playfully sauntered to the prize counter.  Joe’s watch ended
when he somehow tripped over a small plastic ball, not entirely sure of where
it had come from.  His stomach lurched as he thought of all the noise he made
crashing into the ball pit.

He clawed
his way through the pit, but didn’t seem to be making any progress.  For a long
time he felt like he was swimming, until suddenly it felt like he was
drowning.  He struggled and panicked, to no avail.  When nothing worked, he
screamed and fell deeper into the pit until he felt his back against the cold
floor.  He thought he would die, until suddenly the pressure on top of him
lifted.  He wasted no time in pulling his way through and standing up.  The
balls came to just above his knee, but when he had been under it had felt like
he was in the deep end of the pool.

He was
surprised when he didn’t see Patrias around.  He was even more surprised when
he saw Dahlila crouched down near the ball pit.

Joe: “D—”

She put
her hand over his mouth and shushed him.  She led him to the other side of the
tubes.  She looked at him for a second and halted him.

Dahlila:
“Where’s your necklace?”

Joe
touched around his neck and his chest. Normally, he hid it under his shirt. 
When he felt nothing he shrugged.

Joe: “I
probably lost it in the ball pit.”

She
tapped his forehead.

Dahlila:
“The worst place for it.  I’ll have to go in there and get it.  I hate to ask,
but I need you to distract Patrias so I can look for the thing uninterrupted. 
Don’t do anything stupid.  Just throw something and hide.  Make sure he doesn’t
see you.”

Joe:
“Don’t worry. His magic can’t hurt me.”

Dahlila:
“I wouldn’t count on that.  Now just do it like I told you.”

Joe:
“Forget the necklace.  I think Melissa’s here.”

Dahlila:
“Don’t worry we’ll get her.  Now get moving, he’s probably looking for me by
now.  I need to be quick about this.”

Joe
didn’t know why she was so adamant about that stupid owl necklace, but he
followed her orders anyway.  She walked back to the pit and carefully tossed
him one of the balls.  Joe went to his knees and crawled against a low wall. 
He peeked around to see if he could spot Patrias.

Patrias was
thrashing about, tossing over tables and knocking things from other tables. 
Joe crawled over to another corner behind a pillar, where he was sure Patrias
wouldn’t see him.  It was a good choice.  Patrias was soon at the wall where
Joe had stood before.  Joe ducked down lower so he wouldn’t be seen.

Joe
realized, too late, that Patrias was walking towards the play area.  He was there
before Joe could react.  He heard a loud rumbling, and soon after saw a shadow
flying through the air.  He couldn’t see where the shadow had went, but he
heard it crash against something in the distance.  He then heard Patrias
laughing playfully like he was playing some kind of game.

Patrias:
“Unfortunately for you, you don’t have any protection against me.  That looked
like it might have killed you.”

The
shadow, it must have been Dahlila,
Joe thought.

Patrias:
“I can’t say that you didn’t deserve it.  You should’ve just stayed quiet and
kept yourself out of this.  Now it’s over for you.”

Quick as
he could, Joe rushed and dived at Patrias, tackling him into the ball pit. 
Patrias didn’t see it coming and had trouble in the struggle to free himself. 
Joe held him down for as long as he could, until Patrias caught him in the face
with an elbow and pushed him away.  Joe was dazed and could only see darkness
and odd geometric shapes in his field of vision.  After a while he could feel only
himself moving in the ball pit.  After that, he couldn’t move any part of his
body.  The rainbow-colored plastic balls had tightened around him, almost
crushing him.  He could barely hear Patrias saying something.

Patrias:
“Finally!  It’s been too long.  Goodbye, Joseph.”

Joe felt
motion all around him like he was on a roller coaster.  His body wasn’t what
was moving though, it was the balls.  He felt them speeding up around him until
suddenly—