Pursuit

“Frankie.” The big sister gasped for air as they ran for their lives.

“Uh- uh huh?” She panted, wondering if they were being chased yet.

“If- if Arsene’s captured… then- then won’t we not get paid?”

“M-Mhm.” Frankie murmured, too afraid of the situation at hand to feel the full sting of the loss.

“So what- what do we do?”

“We- we get out of here, Katie. Doesn’t- doesn’t matter.”

Katie shook it off, nodded, and tried running just a little bit faster.

“Shit! Which way was it to the carousel again?”

“Left, man, left! Keep moving!”

Four stray legionaries took to the alleyways, trying to find their way back into a crowded area before Bozo caught up to them. They were caught off guard when they turned a corner to see the slower of the two pursers was already in front of them.

“What the-“

“Fun’s over. Surrender and I’ll at least let you go on the train ride on your way to the slammer.”

“Like hell!”

Moments later, Anti left to find his next target, leaving behind four black-and-blue criminals.

Meanwhile, Bozo could feel his brain melting.

It was cool enough, the breeze whipping past him while he flew towards the fleeing culprits. But the winter heat wasn’t all that was weighing on his weakened mind. The knowledge that his park was done for, that no matter what he did or how many or the perpetrators he caught- his dream was already over, that drove him mad. Other than the boiling pot of vengeance spoiling inside him, he had no cause to go after these wicked brats. It was literally pointless.

Then he wondered…

What would Missile Man do?

What made a hero like that so lovable was how he’d do the right thing even when it didn’t matter. Eveh when it didn’t benefit him.Even when nobody was watching.

But someone was always watching.

Missile Man was a fictional character. And unlike Bozo’s, people actually read his comic. When he did the “right thing” he was really just letting the writers show off to a million obsessed readers.

Then he got it.

If he just did that, even without any audience…

Wouldn't that make him like, the real version Missile Man? Wouldn’t he be even better?

Damn right he would.

He swung his second first forward midair and went at top speed to find a villain or two to crush.

From behind them, more and more screams were cropping up. First they were far off into the distance- then they were just around the corners they’d ran past. The sisters felt the hope dying all around them, despair closing in as they soon came to the terrifying realization that everything but the hurried footsteps of their escape had gone silent.

All the others escaped, or were caught. Otherwise… they were the only ones left.

He swooped down again to greet them.

Bozo, furious as he was, put on a smug grin in front of the two masked ladies. He was alone, his sidekick nowhere to be found- but that was hardly an improvement when the man himself only had the two of them to focus his judgement on, without a single ally to stand beside them and defend their lives- their freedom. If their old selves stood in their place, even the ones from moments before this, they would’ve accepted that everything was over. They’d have gotten arrested, never accomplished any of their dreams, and their parents would probably be sorely dissapointed, to say the least.

But in this instant- this one very second- the girls were braver than that.

Both undaunted with the promise of their far-off dreams, they looked down at the older man and saw nothing more than another boss to conquer. Just like their shitty old job, he too could be escaped- they just had to fight.

“Will you resist this time?” He asked, not forgetting Frankie’s affronts to him.

“You haven’t learned anything from this group, have you?” Her tone was practiced at this point. Katie thought it a talent of hers now- Frankie seemed to find herself talking down to bigger bullies almost every day of their lives at this point.

“You all scurried like rats at the loss of your alpha. You seem cowardly enough to me.”

“We survive. We’re smart, not cowards. Are you gonna fight me or not, old man?”

“Fight?”

He laughed.

“I’m gonna destroy you.”