"No," Zack said, standing firm on his decision.
"Come on, Zack. This is the last place. It's our chance to actually take this guy down," Stella begged over the communicator in his ear.
Zack still refused.
He was small, around 2 inches in height, inside the air vent of the Morningstar Estate. He had agreed to Stella and Kevin's proposal to sneak into Andy Morningstar's home to find any evidence of wrongdoing.
He found nothing.
He checked every single room and found nothing.
Well, almost every room.
All that remained was the basement, which was full of mysterious boxes of various sizes. Stella asked him to check what was inside.
Zack refused over and over.
And kept on doing it.
"Zack, please! Don't blow this! No harm in just checking, y'know?" Kevin asked after realizing Stella wasn't getting through to him.
Zack still didn't budge.
"It was already bad enough you got me to sneak into someone's house, now you want me to go through his private property?"
"Exactly! You're already here, might as well go the extra mile."
Zack scoffed.
"Listen. Maybe you're wrong. Maybe Andy coming to this city at the time he did was just a coincidence. Maybe he isn't doing anything wrong and wants to help the city. Maybe..."
"He's Milten's brother, Zack. Do you really believe that?" Stella asked, her voice more firm than before.
Zack was silent this time. He thought back to Milten.
All the things he did: selling Ivy to the Lost Light, getting Luthor killed, risking the lives of millions for the spotlight against Galan.
If Andy was anything like his brother, then there was no chance in hell Zack would let him become Mayor, no matter how good his intentions were.
"Okay. Fine," Zack said, utterly defeated.
"You're gonna check?"
"If he's anything like Milten, then I have no choice but to make sure he's not up to something."
Stella smirked.
Kevin didn't.
She noticed.
"What's wrong, Kev?"
"Hold that thought, Zack."
"What?"
"Stay in the vent," Kevin warned.
No one uttered a single word after that. Suddenly, they got their answer as to why.
Someone entered the basement.
She was a tall, enigmatic figure sporting purple armor with giant antennae and green, insect-like wings. Her arms were equipped with a pair of giant, technologically advanced gauntlets.
She opened the door wider for her boss.
It was Andy.
Zack nearly gasped at the sight of him.
Zack made sure to gain a few pounds during his training to make himself more intimidating and powerful, causing him to be much larger in frame than he was 6 months ago.
Andy somehow dwarfed that.
He was a 7-foot-tall behemoth of a man who could rival Sergeant Strong in sheer size. Complete with light blond hair and near-emotionless eyes, Zack could see why Stella and Kevin were so scared of him.
The man in the news wasn't the one before him.
As he entered the basement, he spoke with a soft voice that betrayed his large stature.
"I assure you I have no tricks up my sleeve, sir. Believe that," he said with a smirk as another face passed through that door.
A man wearing a white suit with a large red bullseye on his mask.
"Target," Kevin muttered to himself, prompting a response from Zack.
"That's him?"
"Yeah," Kevin answered.
"And the others?" Stella asked.
"Others?"
Soon after Kevin asked his questions, several figures of various shapes and sizes crossed through the door, causing Kevin to gasp as loudly as Zack did.
First was Crusher, a giant man with a disproportionate frame. His arms were twice the size of his legs while his head was as tiny as a toddler's. Judging by the drool leaking out of his mouth and the innocent grin on his face, he wasn't intelligent in the slightest.
Zack could tell he wasn't even following the sentences these people were saying.
Next was a teen girl with green hair wearing a purple spandex suit and a tall Black boy wearing a grey suit with red gloves, goggles, and outlines. These two were Potentia and Cell, respectively.
They were muttering something to each other, prompting a quick shush from their leader.
The Ravenger, a mercenary Stella and Kevin knew all too well. He wore a bright red helmet with no eye holes and a large scar where his left eye would be. He wore black combat armor covered head to toe in weapons of different shapes and sizes.
Swords, spears, guns, grenades: he had them and clearly wasn't afraid to use them.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Kevin muttered to himself.
"Who's he?" Zack asked.
"The Ravenger. Very popular in the underworld. Expert in espionage and assassination. Once had a tango with Radioactive Man when he tried to murder a mayor a while back. Hell, I hear rumors he faced Mr. White and lived to tell the tale," Kevin said, beginning to ramble.
Stella scoffed.
"He's bad news, Zack. Honestly, this whole room is full of bad news. I think it's time to get outta there," Stella warned, shocking Zack.
"And miss our chance to bust these assholes? No way," Zack said, surprising the duo as he pulled a small camera from his backpack and put it behind his ear to record the scene.
"What?! Zack..."
"You were right, Stella. This is my chance to do genuine good for this city. This guy is meeting with a hardened criminal and chatting with him all buddy-buddy, and you expect me to let him run for Mayor in peace? Hell no."
As Stella was about to speak, Target's loud laugh cut her off.
"You're a funny guy, Andy. A funny guy indeed," Target said, belly laughing, the bullseye of his mask glowing a bright red.
"I wasn't joking," Andy said, his voice dry.
Target's posture straightened in an instant.
"Oh... you're serious? You don't wanna work for us?"
"I don't. And I stand on that."
"But you're fine with selling us weapons?"
"Actually, my illegal dealings with y'all would look bad on my rep, especially with my political campaign, so they cease today."
"I knew it..." Stella muttered to herself.
"I see. So that's why you called me here? To cut me off?"
"Yeah, that's about it. I'll give you about 500 million bucks to leave Empire City and never speak of this again."
Target chuckled.
"Something the matter?"
"You don't realize what you're doing, do you? Do you know who I am? Do you know who I work for?"
"Yeah, I do, and that's exactly why I don't want you in my city."
"I see," Target said boldly, raising his hand to an approaching Ravenger, causing him to stop.
"Zack... I think that's enough. We gotta get out of here," Stella said with a shaky voice.
"No, I wanna see how this plays out," Zack whispered.
"Stella's right, Zack," Kevin added. "Seems we're in the middle of something crazy. We don't want you getting caught."
"I'll be fine. I..."
"Still, they could find you out. If they do, I don't know how you're making it out of there," Stella interrupted, her voice cracking.
"Stella, I'm the size of a bee. There's no way..."
Suddenly, the girl in the insect armor turned.
Zack instantly stayed still.
"What is it, Sting?" Andy said, holding her shoulder.
"Some kind of distraction, Andy?" Target said playfully.
"Not at all. I think we're being watched."
"Oh, really?" Target asked, his voice even more playful.
"Isn't that right, Sting?" Andy asked, holding her close.
She pointed at a nearby air vent.
The exact vent Zack was hiding in.
"You heard something?"
She nodded.
"Well then, go check it out," he said with a smile, and like that, she started walking towards it.
Meanwhile, Zack got out of there as fast as he could.
In mere moments, he flung himself out of a gutter, landing in a small pond in Andy's backyard.
"Fuck!" Zack shouted, wiping mud and dirty water off himself.
"That was way too close," Stella said, wiping her brow.
"Yeah. How the hell did she see us? Or hear us?"
"Must be that armor she's wearing. Seems like some of Milten's tech. Anti-surveillance type shit," Kevin explained.
"This is bad. You gotta get the hell outta there, Zack."
"Wait, maybe I can find another vent. Give her the slip."
"Now!"
"Wait, you're the one who put me up to this. Told me to go the extra mile. I think I can if..."
"Zack, she's right! Look!"
Zack then turned to see Sting flying high above him, coming out of a nearby window. She looked down with an inhuman movement of her neck, and Zack could tell from the green glow of her bug-like eyes...
She saw him.
"Zack, run!"
Zack followed Stella's orders in an instant, running even faster than before and trying to make his way out of the estate.
Sting saw him move, and Zack heard a strange buzzing noise coming out of her helmet. Soon after, she aimed her gauntlet at him and fired a barrage of small stingers at his location.
Zack was quick to see them and jumped onto the nearest blade of grass, using it to propel himself across the backyard.
Ricocheting off multiple different blades, he managed to dodge the stingers and make it close to the fence, only for his path to be blocked by Sting herself.
"Fly out of there!" Kevin shouted.
"Can't! I can't fly when I'm small!" Zack shouted back.
"What the fuck?! Why?!"
"I can't..."
Suddenly, he was cut short when Sting grabbed him with inhuman speed. He tried to grow out of her hands, but he couldn't.
Her hands were covered in some kind of neurotoxin, causing his consciousness to fade in seconds.
All he saw was a blinding light appear once she opened her arm, and another arm pointing right at him.
Just when she was about to unleash another barrage of stingers point-blank, the basement exploded.
"What the..."
Zack used the momentary distraction to escape her grasp and disappear behind the fence. Sting stared at him for a moment and headed back inside.
Right after, Zack fell to the ground; he had trouble processing what happened. Not only did he fail to avoid her grasp, but he felt his mind go numb as she held onto him. Were her gloves poisonous? Did they affect his thinking? Did they...
"Zack! Now's your chance! Go!"
Stella's frantic shouting brought him back to reality just in time for him to leave the estate with no issues.
As he ricocheted off a small forest of trees leading to the gate, his mind tried to reassess what happened, only to be interrupted by Kevin again.
"What the hell was that?" he asked, holding his steering wheel tight.
"Seems we stumbled on some insane gold. Hopefully, Zack's micro camera recorded all that. All we'd need to do then is hand that shit over to the police and Andy's career is over," Stella answered with a grin.
"No, I mean, what the hell happened? She was holding Zack in one second, then some explosion happened and she let him go. Was Target betraying Andy?"
"Who gives a shit? Whether he lives or dies, we still got a story to tell. Good riddance, I'd say. This city needs less scum running around, even if it's other scum getting rid of them," Stella said, her voice cold enough to warrant a wide-eyed look from Kevin.
"Don't give me that look, Kev. Now come on. All we need to do is make sure he isn't a martyr. Speaking of which, why isn't Zack here by now? It took him just a few seconds to get in those vents from here, so how come..."
Zack had stopped. She was right. If he kept going, he would've gotten to them by then.
"Zack? Why are you just standing there? Come on!"
"I can't do that," Zack said, his voice quiet as he removed his mask.
"What are you talking about?"
"I can't let him die. Not like this. Not without facing justice for his crimes."
"What do you mean? He is facing justice! He worked with criminals and he's getting betrayed by them. You play with fire..."
"What about the people? Seems he was gonna sell them out to that scumbag. What about them? What about their justice?" Zack argued, pulling out something from his backpack.
"Wait, what are you gonna do, Zack? Don't tell me you're..."
"Gonna save him? Of course," Zack said, pulling out his green goggles.
"No, that's insane! You can't just..."
He turned off his communicator.
Stella punched her seat and window multiple times as Kevin tried to restrain her. She nearly punched him, too, but he was strong enough to prevent it.
"Let me go, Kev!"
"So what? You can wreck my car? Come on, Stella. Let him go."
"He's gonna get himself killed! That's Ravenger in there, with a whole team of mumans!" she added, her voice shaking.
Kevin looked out the window and smirked lightly.
"What the hell?! Are you smiling?"
"Can't help it. I don't know why, but... I think Zack's gonna be all right."
Stella stared at him with her head tilted and turned back to the window, realizing all of this was probably a mistake...
To be continued...