Heroes

Chapter 38: never a shadow on the strip

Finally the Karlnap dare everyone wanted, and some DNF too.
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George POV.

The man who stepped out of the truck was greeting everyone in a friendly manner, it seemed as if he had already known these people for several years. They were catching up on lives and he would ask them or talk to them about minor details like ‘how is your wife?’ or ‘it’s great that you managed to get out of prison, glad the cops haven’t caught you again’. Stuff like that.

I just stood back and watched as all of them talked to each other for a few minutes, with Dream even acting quite friendly towards him. In fact I think this was the most I’ve seen him talk to anyone in the past week. I just tried to quietly observe what was happening and remember what was being said or done so I could tell Philza and the other heroes later.

After a while Dream seemed to notice me standing there, and he walked over, before wrapping an arm around my waist. “Would you like me to introduce you?” He offered, beckoning over at the brunette that was continuing to mingle with the other criminals. I shook my head, deciding to approach him and possibly figure out any weaknesses when there weren’t others around.

“Would you like to go out somewhere?” Dream asked, and I looked at him confused, wondering why he was offering me this. After a moment he continued. “I could really use a drink after what I did today, it was tiring.”
“Oh, okay then.” I muttered, and Dream seemed to smile as he walked me out of the room.

I was led through to the garage, where the armoured mail van was still parked, although now it had been forgotten. Dream and I walked over to the sports car he drove almost everywhere and he opened the door for me. I gave him a smile of thanks as he moved to the driver's seat opposite me.

The two of us fell into a content silence, and I watched as he drove the car out of the warehouse and through the foggy night, with the bright headlights slicing through the darkness of the early evening.

Karl POV.

This reminded me of sneaking out as a teenager, when I’d climb out of my window or tiptoe down the stairs to avoid being caught by my parents and be grounded for however long they seemed fit. It was a lot different obviously. Firstly there were no windows, and the only stairs were leading to the entrance at street level. Thankfully teleporting made this easier.

I didn’t care what Techno, and Bad, and Phil tried to warn me about. I would be fine going to investigate Sapnap, after all George might not get enough information to put all three of the criminals in jail, so whatever I find out could help increase his prison sentence.

The only thing is, I wasn’t told where I was going to meet him, just to ‘start walking’, so I just did that, heading towards where I had run into the arsonist earlier, by the city council. Being out at this time I was the only one around, most of the shopping streets were deserted by now since crime rates spike during the night.

Only one part of the city had a lot of people hanging around after dark was the strip. It was always brightly lit from the streetlights and the tons of neon signs hung everywhere. There are no alleyways or dark parts in the strip, just filled with the dizzying wonder of dozens of hotels, casinos, restaurants, and other entertainment venues.

That was where the local expression ‘there is never a shadow on the strip’ comes from. It is always bright and full of happy people who pretended that the more dangerous parts of the city were gone. In their minds while they were here, they were in a completely different place, Atlantic city perhaps, or maybe Las Vegas.

So I changed my mind and decided that was my first place to look. I had decided to walk since I figured I might miss him if I teleported there immediately. Trying to be quick and not draw too much attention to myself I scurried across town square, and down several streets until the strip was in sight.

A smile appeared on my face as neon lights of green, pink, and blue bathed me in colour. There was the excited chatter of people that was always present and I felt certain that Sapnap was lurking around there somewhere looking for me.

Before I reached the street though, a firm hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back and threw me against a wall in an alleyway. I was face to face with a pair of masked thugs, wearing some ski masks like standard criminals do. A gun was pressed to my forehead, but I didn’t look fazed.

“Give us all of your money you rich slob!” One of the pair stated. He was holding a bag for me to put my stuff in while his accomplice was holding the gun which I was being threatened with.
“What?” I questioned, “why do you think I would give you money?”

I heard the click as they loaded the gun, and saw a finger putting more tension on the trigger, and my eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Maybe if you were to leave me alone I wouldn’t deal with you. After all, I am in a rush at the moment. I have a date.”
“I don’t care if you have a date. You or them couldn't do anything against us, you lazy slob.”

They continued to threaten me and I rolled my eyes, about to teleport behind the pair and kick their asses, but before I got the chance someone cleared their throat from behind the pair. I let out an annoyed grumble as the pair turned around.

“Do you two have a problem? My date and I have a reservation for a nice restaurant.” The pair's eyes widened when they saw the ravenette leaning against the other wall of the alleyway.
“Wait…” one of the pair began. “You’re… you’re Sapnap… the arsonist…”

Sapnap chuckled before nodding. “I am,” he confirmed. “Now what were you doing with my date?” He went on to ask. I didn’t give them an opportunity to answer as I roundhouse kicked the shorter man in the back, sending him falling to the ground and groaning in pain.

His accomplice turned around and lifted the gun to shoot me but before he could a gunshot rang out. I looked to see Sapnap holding a gun in the direction of the man in a ski mask. “Did you have to do that? I could have handled myself.” I told the ravenette, stepping over the body and walking over to him while ignoring the other man who seemed terrified.

“Sorry darling.” He muttered, “I just didn’t like seeing them treat you like that. They could have hurt you.” Sapnap’s hand moved to wrap around my waist as he spoke.
“I would have been fine, you should know that. Plus now you killed someone. What happened to you not doing anything illegal?”

I sighed as I tried to think about what to do. Part of me wanted to arrest Sapnap right now, but then me sneaking out would be for nothing. “Let’s just go to dinner now. If anyone finds out about this I will be in trouble.”
“What about these two? Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dead?” The arsonist questioned.

After a moment of hesitation I said my answer without even realising. “Leave them.” I said quickly before I could second guess myself.
Sapnap seemed surprised that I said that and a smirk appeared on his face. “And I thought your friends were all uptight. This night might be more entertaining than I thought.” He cooed.
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1334 words