6. Stake-Out

Elliot went home and forced himself to lie down for a while. After being up for nearly forty hours he was exhausted. He allowed himself two hours and was thankful that he actually fell asleep. When he awoke it was ten o’clock, time to don his costume and prove himself innocent.

He wore a black, sleeveless wushu uniform, and a black and yellow mask. He trained in kung fu after he regained control of his legs and decided on his costume as homage to that tradition. It was also practical in use and cost, as well as easy to get a hold of. He had always been confused by super heroes who had extravagant spandex costumes. Who had that kind of budget and that much faith in a spandex tailor?

After eating a quick meal and pounding an energy drink, he headed for the same bank in which he fought with Pronto the night before. He decided that would be the best place for him to look. Pronto could easily blame him for it after all. The previous night he had decided to just wander on foot until he stumbled on to something. Tonight though, he had a goal so he took his black Yamaha R1 motorcycle.

He parked a block away and jumped to the roof of a small store across the street to set up his stake-out. He was grateful that it didn’t take long for something to happen. At first he didn’t think anything of it, just a man walking down the street close to midnight, but when he began approaching the bank’s wall and then suddenly disappeared he knew something was amiss. A moment later he saw a blur and the wall start to collapse. Pronto landed in front of the newly created hole. His smile quickly faded as he saw the first man exiting through his hole with armfuls of cash.

“Hey, that’s my money to steal,” yelled Pronto as the mystery man began running up the street.

“Take it from me then,” replied the newcomer. In a flash Pronto was on him, then stumbled to the ground as he passed through him. Brute Force stood stunned, not knowing how to react to this unfolding scene.

“You must realize that you’ll never be able to out run me, or get away from me,” said Pronto. “Why don’t you just give me a cut and we’ll call it even.”

“What kinda cut?” asked the stranger.

“Sixty for me, forty for you.”

“Why would you get the larger share? I did all the work. Seventy – thirty, me.”

“Because I can lead the police right to you.”

“How about zero – zero?” said Brute Force as he jumped from his hiding place on the roof. He was able to graze Pronto with a kick that sent him stumbling to the wall, but he too passed through the stranger. He turned to see the stranger running up to Pronto.

“Fifty – fifty if you get us outta here without him on our tale,” he said as he helped Pronto up.

Brute Force quickly attacked with another jump kick. He landed with his leg in the wall as they disappeared in a blur. He could still hear Pronto’s last word hanging in the air, “Deal.”