Louis, now painfully aware of the fact that Riley had caught him in a lie, found himself tongue-tied.
"So you see," Riley said offscreen. "I don't have time for lies. Tell me where he is, and be honest!"
"I am being honest!" Louis protested. "He really isn't here, and I don't know where he's going. Please, just don't hurt her. I'll call him!"
The camera focused back on Riley. He looked a little more satisfied.
"See that you do," he ordered. "And put him on speakerphone."
Louis dashed up to Alex's bedroom and broke open the safe. With the power out, everything was accessible. He dug out his phone and on the way back to the basement, he started dialing Alex.
"It's ringing," he said breathlessly as he came back up to the monitor. He was holding his phone up to his ear. "Give it-"
"Hi, this is Alex," said Alex's voicemail. "Sorry I can't take your call right now, please leave a message after the beep."
[SFX: voicemail beep]
Louis looked sheepishly up at Riley.
"Hey Alex," he said to the voicemail. "Kind of an emergency. Call me back, okay?"
He hung up.
"Again," Riley ordered. "Keep calling until he answers!"
Heart racing, with weak knees and sweaty palms, Louis dialed Alex's number again.
"Hi, this is Alex," said the voicemail. "Sorry I-"
Louis didn't take his eyes away from the monitor. He just kept calling. He noticed that his battery was at 50%. What happened when it ran out?
*******
Alex never thought that he would be riding a superspeed soldier stallion on the way to his rival's house, but here he was. They were through the woods and into Baltimore in a matter of minutes. The wind chopped through Alex's hair, and the chill braced him. It was magnificent. He felt like a hero from a fairytale, dashing off on his mighty steed to rescue a damsel in distress.
Only, there were no damsels to rescue. Not yet, at least.
He braced himself as Gary reared back on his hind legs, preparing to launch himself across a main road. Gay jumped across the road, clearing several cars and trucks and just about everybody who was driving past. A few cars screeched to a halt to watch after them, trying to confirm what they had just seen. .
They landed on a grassy knoll on the other side of the road, and Alex stroked the stallion's neck. Thick muscles bulged out around the neck and shoulders. What surprised Alex was that the horse simply wasn't sweating. It was impressive, and also a little concerning. He didn't want to push Gary too hard.
He looked out at the road, just watching the traffic go by.
There was a lot of traffic today. Alex checked his watch. He had a missed call and voicemail from Louis. Whatever he was calling about, it could wait. The time was early morning, so people were on their way to work. He spotted a couple of Naysmith Pharmaceutical vans driving down the main road.
"Any chance you could take a dump on them?" he asked the stallion, not expecting an answer.
Instead, Gary turned his head and gave him a knowing look. That made Alex uncomfortable. As incredibly cool as this horse was, something was just off about it. Gary had clearly been given the super soldier serum to be turned into a super strong, super speedy, super soldier stallion. Alex wondered if the increase in strength meant an increase in intelligence.
And then Gary turned his head back to the grass, flicked his tail, and started munching on the grass. He whinnied a few times, and Alex stroked him on the shoulder.
"You're safe now," he reminded the horse. "Everything's okay. Once we kick Riley to the curb, you're going to be free forever. We find any others like you, we free them as well. Sound like a deal?"
Gary flicked his tail and neighed, then ate a little more grass.
Eventually, Alex heeled him and the two trotted on toward Baltimore. They kept an even pace with most of the cars as they rode through. Many people stopped to stare at the incredibly ripped horse, and even take photos with Alex. Alex shied away from the photo opportunities. As much as he loved a good photo op, his mind was on more important things. He had to find Riley's sister.
What was her name again? He thought. In all the madness, he was surprised he could remember his own name.
While he was in the midst of thought, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. It was followed by a terrified scream.
[SFX: gunfire, breaking glass]
Alex turned Gary the super strong, super speedy stallion in the direction of the sound. A local bank, one used by the average person, was being robbed! He heeled Gary into gear and barrelled through the traffic and pedestrians. Several tires screeched and people cried out in protest.
Gary skidded to a halt in front of the bank and Alex leapt off, landing on his feet. The bank's front window had been shot through. Glass had flown everywhere inside. He leapt through the open window. At the counter, two people wearing all black clothes with ski masks were holding up guns.
"This is a stick up!" One of them, a man, was shouting.
The other one, who was much shorter, held up a large burlap sack.
"Put all your money," she said to the tellers. "in this bag. All of it! Even the change!"
She tossed the burlap sack over the counter at a confused teller, who grabbed it in fumbling hands and started to fill it with cash.
"No funny business!" said the first robber, pointing his gun in all directions. "No-" his unmasked eyes landed on Alex, and he went on the defensive. "Who the hell are you?"
Alex cast his gaze around the room, taking in the scenery. Everybody was on the floor, covering their heads. They were trembling with fear. These were ordinary people who had ordinary lives to be getting on with. Some of them looked up, having seen Alex enter through the window. No one had said anything. They were too scared.
Alex looked up at the robbers, who were staring at him, confused. He balls his hands into fists and said, loudly, "My name is Alexander Ambrose, and I am here to kick your -"
He didn't finish that sentence. A huge burst of power was flowing through him, turning him into a bright, blazing beacon in the middle of the bank. Everybody shielded their vision from the bright, blaring light, and Alex tilted his head toward the two robbers.
"You don't scare us," the woman sneered. "Come at us!"
A lot of things happened at once.
Alex drew on even more of his power and clapped his hands together, directing a beam of pure energy at the woman. She filled up with it so much that she glowed from the outside in. She threw her head backwards, mouth open in a terrified cry. She collapsed to the floor and Alex pushed her away. She flew with such velocity that she broke a hold in the wall.
Then, Alex turned down the dial on his power, holding only about half of what he had before. He turned his attention to the man. The man hefted his massive machine gun and started firing rounds at Alex. Alex deflected them with a simple wave of his hand. The bullets flew past him and embedded themselves in the walls.
The man dropped his now empty gun, and Alex took a step forward. He landed a punch square in the man's throat, snapping the spinal cord. But Alex wasn' done. He heaved the man's limp body and pushed off the ground, soaring through the bank's many upper floors until they were outside, high in the sky. Alex then let the man go, and he plummeted to his death.
Alex then noticed all the onlookers, and floated down to Gary's side.
"Sorry about that," he said, petting the horse. "Come on, we have a sister to find!"
He mounted Gary, getting used to the horse's enormous girth, and trotted away, leaving a trail of awestruck civilians in his wake.
Some time later, as Alex was entering a neighborhood that looked familiar, it was Gary who noticed that something was off. They were in a nice neighborhood. The houses here cost several million dollars, the cheapest being just a few dollars short of a million. Alex owned several rental properties in this neighborhood.
Gary had stopped in the middle of the road, his head turned to the left, eyes fixated on something in the distance.
"What is it, boy?" he asked, leaning in close to the horse's ear. He was feeling a little drained from having used his powers earlier.
Gary's left ear flickered and he lowered his head, nickering.
"You're right," Alex said, not sure if he had understood Gary, or if he was projecting his own suspicions onto a horse, "we should check it out."
Gary slowly walked towards whatever he was staring at. They found themselves approaching a small alleyway, where two shadows were fighting. One shadow, a man, was big and bulky, wearing a trench coat and holding a massive Bowie knife. The smaller shadow, a woman, was slight and submissive, unable to scream because the other one was preventing her from screaming.
"Not on my watch," Alex whispered. He leapt off the horse and barrelled into the alleyway.
He grabbed the man by the neck and tossed him to the floor, sending the Bowie knife skittering across the floor. He helped the woman, a pretty young thing with big curious blue eyes, up to her feet. She recoiled at first, but seeing that he was friendly, she took his hand and allowed him to lead her out of the alleyway.
"Run," Alex told her. "You have to run. He's stunned, but that won't last for long!"
Just as he said it, he felt a sharp kick to the small of his back. The woman, wasting no time, made a run for it. She disappeared into the horizon.
Alex landed on his face and rolled onto his back. Gary reared up onto his hind legs and kicked the would-be murderer in his face. The murderer had regained the Bowie knife and was slashing it in all directions. He caught Gary on the forelock. A little blood spilled out, but the wound closed up as quickly as it had been made. Gary didn't even seem to notice.
Alex summoned some of his power into his right hand and pulled the knife toward him. It came free of the would-be murderer's grip and landed in Alex's hands. He started slashing toward the would-be murderer, who started crab-walking backwards. He backed up to a wall, and Alex held the tip of the Bowie knife against his throat, pressing into the skin.
"Do you know who I am?" Alex asked, feeling far too calm.
"No?" the man said.
"Alex Ambrose," he said. "I own half his neighborhood. Get the hell out. If you ever step foot here again, you're going to regret it. I won't have my clean streets stained with blood. Not even yours. Go!"
He pulled the knife away and the man shot to his feet, running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.
Alex dropped the knife into a nearby trash can and went back to Gary, who nickered softly. He nibbled Alex's ear playfully, and Alex pulled away.
"I appreciate it, buddy," he said, meaning it. "You've been such a great friend the last couple of days. I think that's enough drama. Come on, we need to find Riley's sister."
They were getting close when they found the nature reserve. Sounds of exotic birds and animals rang out across the street as Alex trotted up to a gigantic mansion with massive iron gates. He immediately noticed the security system. Barbed wire ran along the top of the fence, and Alex could sense a faint electrical current that ran across the entire perimeter.
"Oh, boy!" Alex said, sliding off of Gary. "This is going to be so easy! Wait here, Gar Bear!"
He trotted away from Gary, who looked on with disbelief.
There was a panel on the front of the entrance for maintenance workers. This sort of security system was effective, and they were almost impossible to penetrate unless you know who to circumvent certain protocols.
Fortunately, Alex didn't need to circumnavigate any protocols. He simply rested his hand on the control panel, and sent a surge of power through the circuitry. The entire system shut down immediately.
[SFX: power down]
The gates swung open noiselessly, and Alex ran back to Gary. He hopped back onto the super strong, super speedy, super stallion's back, and together they entered onto Riley's sister's property.
It didn't take too long to find her. All they had to do was follow the sound of the radio playing. It was playing some generic pop song which Alex didn't know. Probably one of the Top 100 songs Debbie insisted that he needed to listen to.
They turned a corner around the house, and Gary stopped. Alex stumbled on top of Gary, stunned by the natural beauty he saw lounging on a deck chair by the pool.
It was then that he saw her: Kylie. Kylie Naysmith.
She did not look at all like her brother, and for that Alex was eternally thankful.
She was beautiful. She had a sweet face, long hair that cascaded down her shoulders and curved over her grapefruit-size breasts. She wore a pair of designer sunglasses that easily cost over $400. Her skimpy pink bikini left little to the imagination, and she had several small tattoos across her toned abdomen. Her arms were lean but strong, and she was reclining in a pose that made Alex think of a Renaissance painting.
Alex drew a deep breath, and tried to clear his throat, but nothing happened. He found himself fixated on her legs. His eyes traveled up them, tracing every curve of her body. She had a deep bronze tan from hours spent in the sun, or on a tanning bed, and a naturally clear complexion which made Alex a little jealous.
She appeared to be napping in the sun, and Alex wondered if he should come back later. Then she turned her head, moaning a little in her sleep. Alex found that he liked that sound.
Just as he was about to turn around, she sat up.