"You mean to tell me that you want me," the police captain pointed at himself with a dumbstruck expression, "to let you – a civilian – in."
"That's the gist of it," Felix agreed.
"And you refuse to identify yourself, claiming some kind of superpower, is that correct?" he asked.
"That's also true, yes," Felix nodded. "Pick a number between one and a million. We agree that if I guess this number correctly, then I've either read your mind or have been through this with you before, yes?"
"Sure."
"Your number is 412,103," Felix guessed completely at random. The police captain started laughing.
"Completely wrong! It was 111,111!"
Felix popped back in time. "Your number is 111,111," Felix stated. As if the captain were moving in slow motion, it was almost comical the speed at which his mouth dropped to form an "o" shape. Felix might have been amused were it not for the fact that Harper and Johnathan were potentially already engaging Blast.
"Please let me through. My friends are already in there trying to salvage this situation without giving that maniac what he wants. Help me help you. Please," Felix begged, standing up from the seat he'd been offered when he first walked into this tent.
The police captain pursed his lips, deep in thought. It took him a minute to buffer, but he reluctantly bobbed his head once in agreement. "There isn't any kind of superhero protocol, so I don't really have any clue as to what I'm supposed to do here," he began. "But given that the city, no, the country doesn't have a plan, I'll let you through. I'm sending an officer with you to keep an eye on you, Rewind."
Felix accepted the man's terms. The police escort was a little tricky, but Felix was barely more physically graced than the average person, and that was solely due to the time he'd spent at the gym and the boxing gym. Maybe he could ditch his bodyguard within the building somewhere.
The captain beckoned over a short woman with sharp features and a piercing look in her eyes. She was razor-focused. "This is Sergeant Welters. She'll make sure to keep you safe until you can do your magic or whatever it is that you do."
"Nice to meet you, Sergeant," Felix held his hand out. The segreant did not take it. Then the captain spoke again.
"How do you plan to get inside? Blast has got to have eyes on the ground entrances. He's somehow detected all of our previous attempts to breach the building."
Oh, that wasn't good. Felix hadn't really come with a plan of his own. He'd hoped that he could just sneak quietly past everyone in the first place. A small seed of an idea was growing in the depths of his mind, however. "On which floor is Blast holding the hostages?"
The captain immediately replied, "fifteen."
"Then we can climb the exterior of the building and smash through some of the windows between the ground floor and the fifteenth floor. Surely, he can't have someone watching every angle of every insignificant floor," Felix suggested, the sudden idea the best he could come up with.
"It's not terrible, but it's not something we can really risk," the police captain said, reclining back in his chair with his lips pursed again. Surprisingly, it was Sergeant Welters – who definitely didn't like Felix – who spoke up.
"What better choice do we have, sir?"
"You're right, Sergeant. Realistically, this is the only one. I can send more guys with the two of you to at least lock down the lower floors," the captain offered. Felix decided to accept the deal, since it would make his own passage up the building that much safer if he didn't have to worry about his back constantly.
An additional twenty minutes were needed to select and debrief all the officers who would be going with the pair of them. Felix's heartrate was only rising as more time passed. He needed to be in the tower already; it was his luck that every single stream showed Blast just staving away boredom. Like the evil, maniacal version of a college student, Blast had consumed copious amounts of coffee, based just on all the paper cup debris around him.
The plan, fortunately, was executed without much incident. Felix was able to break the glass fairly easily with a knife, and he got through the opening he'd made without a single scratch on him. The rest of their ten-person team slowly entered the room, with Sergeant Welters immediately commanding the other eight members of the squad to begin fortifying the position against potential spies or watchers from down below.
"Well? We got you the scaling equipment and the backup you desired. Now, how are we going to get up all the way to the fifteenth floor?" she asked, tapping her feet in impatience.
"The stairs? I don't see many people empathizing with Blast enough to risk their lives for him. He probably left all of his followers on the ground floor to fight an army that will not come." Without waiting for a response, taking the opportunity to rid himself of these burdensome 'teammates," Felix ran off. He'd find Harper and Johnathan, and he'd find them alone. The last thing they needed was a powerless cop to accompany the almost powerless Rewind.
He almost immediately tumbled into someone dressed in an excruciating combination of orange and black. Felix cursed. Aside from the horrendous fashion choice, this was clearly one of Blast's men. Nothing ever went according to plan…