Super Secret | Half Hero Book 2 [ON HOLD]

Chapter 9: Funny Story

With the elevator headed for its destination, I pried the next set of doors open and climbed inside the shaft. The murky fog tinted everything a sickly green color, but there was a thin ladder (for maintenance and implausible escapes probably.) With a spritely leap, I grasped the first rung my fingers closed on.

Ignoring the cloud of hazardous smog choking my view, I climbed upward through the mechanical gizzards.

I must have gone about twenty feet before a dangerous rush of wind swirled from below and a discordant chorus of shrieking metal filled my ears. The swath of cables in the center of the towering cube began to move, fast.

"Oh, that can't be good," I sighed wearily, lowering my chin into my neck to peek between my legs.

My eyes swelled in panic as the high-speed elevator hurled upward. Fear overtook logic and I scrambled trying to escape getting squished like a bug on a windshield.

I slipped and slammed face-first into the unforgiving ladder. 

Dangling by my fingers I watched the elevator fly like a short-range missile. The spike in my adrenaline triggered the flow of energy I'd temporarily forgotten I could wield, and my lips curled into a knowing grin at my dangerous azure glow.

With my supernatural gift illuminating the way, I let go of the ladder to drop like a bolt of lightning. The massive shiny object hurling in my direction looked insurmountable, but I'd survived worse.

Within seconds I collided with the roaring elevator, sinking my bare heels into the metal casing as dazzling fireworks overtook the entire sluice. At least, that's what the billions of sparks looked like when they came spewing from all sides. 

The electricity transferring through my outstretched palms was seizing the computerized motor to a juddering halt, scraping metal and grinding cables all the way.

Trapped inside the live Faraday cage and howling like a bunch of deranged wolves, some moron thought it would be a good idea to shoot their way out of trouble. The metal floor burst apart next to my toes, sending a concentrated beam of bluish-green energy up the shaft. I dodged to avoid the blast, grabbing ahold of the ladder once more to scurry away from the splinters of the industrial-sized cable snapping apart.

The group screamed bloody murder as the elevator dropped several feet to dangle by the last few towlines. From my hazardous roost, I could see into the gaping hole they'd torn through the ceiling. Four of them were clad in the same hooded mime getup as the guys I'd met earlier. One man, however, was not. Cowering in the corner was a tan suit attached to brownish hair that was difficult to make out through my visor.

The wall next to the hanging elevator split apart sucking the gas out of the vacuous elevator shaft. Someone had managed to pry open a set of doors to escape, and they made the mistake of pushing their suited friend out first. I hopped off the ledge, aiming for the hole in the top of the elevator.

Cutting through the gouged metal like a reed through water, I had the good fortune of landing on the shoulders of someone big and sturdy. The gentleman I'd startled, bawled like a fitful toddler, and clawed at my torso with his gloved hands.

Before his buddies could jump in to help, he accidentally fired his gun, slicing through their bodies and the metal walls. The explosion shook the car mercilessly, sending more flashes into the hazardous atmosphere. What was left of the smoldering frame was moaning as if it might give at any second.

"Sweet!" I exclaimed through my filter while punching his ear. "Two birds with one bonehead!"

I reached my hand into the slit of his mask and pushed off his meaty shoulders to rip it in half with my fall. He tore at his scruffy face, but his eyes rolled into the back of his skull before he could argue with the sudden negative turn of events.