The Heroes of Little Springs

It took Quiver significantly longer to leave the house, change, and then proceed with her next course of action. Originally, she had planned for them to both go to the police station but now due to circumstances, she found herself having to think about what her best course of action would be. Ultimately, she decided the best thing to do would be to see if she could find any sort of new information on this most recent kidnapping. It was fresh and therefore liable to have some sort of clue. At least more so than the others.

The woman raised her eyebrow at Jet as she waited for him to continue. She then sighed. This had been a common occurrence amongst the police station recently.

"We're doing the best we can Sir. I can't release any information other than that," she said. She then took a pamphlet from a stack resting on the far corner of her desk. She slipped it under the glass to him. "This will go through the best ways to keep your nephew safe until the culprit is apprehended.

The pamphlet wasn't very helpful: mostly a series of lectures regarding stranger danger and how you should talk to your child about predators. There were clip art pictures as well as John Walsh appearing on every section telling you what you could do to prevent these crimes from happening much like Smokey the Bear advocating against forest fires. On the back was the police station's contact information.

Jet knew this was going to be a bad idea to begin with, but there was too much police around to do anything. Other then confronting the lady at the desk, his options were limited. There was confidentiality to a degree, and that was the juicy details he needed.

Instead he was handed a pamphlet, which seemed it would be a boring read. He skimmed it quickly and much to his dismay it was. They didn't go over and beyond with the designs, nor the print job. He read free comic books with better quality then this. And of course notable figures like Smokey and McGruff, who kids could easily relate to, weren't present.

He didn't have to play up his disappointment as this concerned uncle, as he clearly had that part taken care of. He had a few more tricks up his sleeve, and he would get the information he needed. "Ah didn't come here tah be handed a piece of paper." Jet replied to the desk-woman's comments and what she had given him.

Angrily he crumpled the pamphlet into a ball and tossed it onto her desk. When her sight was on the wad of information and not him, Jet had left undetected, and further into the station's building. That being where there most current and uncensored information was. Of course he didn't do so with normal human speed, therefore he made it impossible to locate his location or trace.

However, he made a quick stop to a local construction site, for a pair of overalls, a raggedy shirt, some boots, and a bag of tools, before he ventured further into the station. He would be returning these later, when he was finished with them. His next half-baked plan was to enter the station, by playing the role of a plumber, who was fixing a plumbing issue...one that he had deliberately caused.

With his plan thought out to a degree, he set aside his bag of tools, and stared fixedly at the leaky sink and toilet he had just dismantled with super-speed. When his work was done here, he would sneak, or super-speed further into the station and grab the reports he needed. He just hoped he knew where to look.

The woman stared at the crumple piece of paper. When she looked up, Jet was gone. She looked around to see if she could spot him but he was nowhere to be found. The woman shrugged before going back to her business. At least he wasn't the kind that would continue yelling at her.

When Jet reached the bathroom to fix the broken sink, a few police officers walked by here and there. But most paid little to no attention to Jet. A few might have walked in the bathroom, realized there was a problem, and then walked out. That was about as much attention as he received.

"Alright..." Jet's voice trailed off, as he stared at a few pipes he had dismantled from the sink and toilet. So far things seemed to be working in his favor. Or at least he hadn't broken anything yet, which was a good start for him.

The pipes slowly leaked and dripped drained water onto the bathroom's floor. It wasn't by any means a flood, but it also wasn't dry. If one was being too careless and reckless, they might possibly slip and fall. That wasn't something Jet needed either.

Staring fixedly at the sink's J-shaped, or trap pipe, he noticed no light was entering inside. Upon closer inspection, he found the clogged culprit. "Oh hey, I guess there really was a problem!" Before tightening the pipe back onto the sink, he removed the problem. After a few moments of preparation, he would finally fix both the sink and toilet.

With his job done, he wiped 'his' tools, cleaned his hands, and placed everything back where they should go. However he left the tool bag in the bathroom, as he slowly opened the men's door, and peeked through the small opening.

There was a long hallway. One end led to another corridor which led to the main entrance. The other end led to several offices enclosed in glass windows and roomful of desks out in the open.

A few of the offices were empty. The ones that did possessed blinds shielding the offices from outside viewers with the lights turned off. Of course, some of the ones occupied also had the blinds but they had the lights on as well. There was one office that appeared promising as it was clearly unoccupied at the moment and was located right before reaching the roomful of desks. Most of the desks were occupied at the moment.

There was only one or two officers walking down the hall but they were so busy with whatever it was they were doing, they didn't notice someone peeking out the bathroom door.

"We haven't found them yet sir," one was speaking into his radio.

Jet had absolutely no idea where to start. There were so many different rooms, ones that were occupied, others that were closed or had a barrier of some sort, and then there were the ones with the lights turned on and off scattered about.

The shows he watched made it seem really easy to pinpoint the right location. If only it was as easy in real life as these shows made it out to be. Fortunately there didn't seem to be anyone occupying any of these rooms, at least he assumed that much with the offices where the lights were off. Unless for some reason somebody preferred to work in the dark.

Hearing the one officer talking into the radio, he dismissed what he was saying for the moment. He assumed the officer meant the culprit, because that's what the whole station was up in arms about. Slowly he exited the bathroom and closed the door calmly, so as to not make a noise.

Now that he was outside and exposed in the hall, he had to act now and fast. That wasn't a problem for one as Jet, but he preferred to use his super-speed if absolutely necessary, especially in such a tight and enclosed space with witnesses around.

One room that was unoccupied and didn't have the lights on seemed to be a ideal place to start his investigation. He had no idea what he was looking for anyway, so he would probably just grab a few papers that seemed promising.

Casually walking into the one room, though out of the eyesight and earshot of the officers in the hall, he entered.

The door opened. No one seemed to notice.

Like many of the desks in the main room and all around the police station, this desk had information regarding the kidnappings on top. Whoever this was, they were either an extremely diligent worker or someone that was closer to the case than most of the department. There were notes all over the pages, a map indicating where all the kidnappings had taken place, etc.

The maps indicated that all the kidnappings indeed took place in the same area. There were about three schools this area encompassed. All the children missing were technically teenagers or tweens: aged 12-14. There was a calendar showing that kidnappings had mostly happened between Thursday and Sunday. Today was Friday.

Most of the kids kidnapped were boys. There was only one girl but she had been kidnapped with a boy. The person made sure to point this out.

Like the other officers had done previously, one went to use the bathroom. However, there was no one there. But the tool bag remained. He wasn't sure if he was allowed in. He turned to a fellow officer. "Hey, is the bathroom fixed?"

The officer, who was female, frowned. "How the hell should I know? Christ." She stormed away. The officer had no idea what the matter was with her.

He then looked up and down the hallway. It was then he thought he saw a shadow in the nearby office. His curiosity got the best of him and the officer started to approach the closed office.

After inspecting the office thoroughly, Jet realized that he had walked into a goldmine of information. He didn't need to be a skilled detective to notice this. There were maps with detailed markings, credible information on the kidnappings, even dates.

There was clearly too much information to take with him. Someone would eventually notice that there files they worked very hard on, had magically disappeared. Yet, he needed this information to help Quiver with their next nighttime task. He didn't have a photographic memory by any means.

Patting around for something to use, he then noticed that his 'overalls' had a small pad of paper and a carpenter pencil. There seemed to be enough lead exposed to jot down notes onto the paper. He had to make every stroke count, because he didn't have anything to sharpen this rectangular pencil with, if he was to use too much of the sharpened point, or if it was to break.

With that in mind, he quickly wrote down any piece of information he thought would be useful. Such things as the exact addresses of the kidnappings, the victims, that most were young boys, the dates. It almost looked like whoever the culprit was, was just targeting near schools. Maybe that's where they should go next, to all the different school districts in Little Springs.

But then there were those video game notes. What was that all about? What did that have to do with this? Fortunately or unfortunately for Jet, he didn't have long to ponder on the confusing connections. Someone's footsteps were approaching. It almost looked and sounded like they would be coming into room.

Quickly he reorganized the notes back onto the filing cabinet as best as he could, stowed away his own notes. Grabbing a handful of paper from his notepad, he slapped them between his clasped hands. Quickly he rubbed them, with super-speed, so as to create enough friction to burn them.

Within seconds they combusted, causing a smoke detector and water sprinkler system to turn on. Water began to rain in the office, along with the connected hall. Anyway not expecting this, would be quickly drenched.

With little time to act, Jet super sped out of the room, dashed through the hall, grabbed the tools in the bathroom, made a beeline for the exit, and eventually returned everything he borrowed at the site.

The officers quickly covered their papers, selves, or whatever they deemed valuable as the water poured on top of them. No one seemed to notice or care that the vacant office door had swung open briefly.

Once someone had managed to turn off the sprinkler system, the officer heading for the office instead headed for the bathroom.
________

Quiver inspected the area in which the last kidnapping had occurred. Whatever physical evidence there was had already been swiped clean, no doubt in police custody.

Still, Quiver looked around. The area for the most part was open and there didn't seem to be any signs of a struggle. Normally, this would lead to someone suspecting the victim knew their kidnapper. Quiver knew this was a stretch for various reasons but she still kept this idea in the back of her mind.

One question Quiver had was where this kid was coming from. A friend's house? After school activity? Or somewhere else.

As she started to branch out, she noticed a few Thin Man signs hanging around. Most were small and on post-it notes stuck to benches or the wall or railings. She also noticed a few that were written with marker in similar locations. But while looking at these notes, she noticed something odd. Not all the notes were exactly the same as the ones in the game.

Now that Quiver thought about it, the notes the kidnapper was leaving behind didn't always match those in the game either.

Quiver came to a halt. There was a small post-it note hanging on a lonely tree. This one was identical to one of the notes found at the scene. "He's watching you."

Just as she took the note from the tree, Quiver heard a snickering nearby. There was a boy just up ahead writing something on the wall. Vandalizing. And in broad daylight. This kid had some...

"Hey!" Quiver called as she stormed towards him. The kid turned around. He didn't seem threatened by her in the slightest.

"Yeah?" he sneered. He looked to be 13 or 14. Maybe even 12 for all she knew.

"That's--that's vandalizing," Quiver replied, taken aback by his attitude. She was immediately thinking about wiping that smirk off his face with her usual fear tactics. But then she remembered she wasn't in costume. As she came to this realization, the kid merely laughed, gave her a 'whatever' and then continued to write on the wall. Upon closer inspection, she realized he was drawing a Thin Man. "Hey, let me ask you something. You know any of the kids that've been going missing around here?"

The kid stopped his drawing. "Like I'd tell you."

"How about you tell me and I don't drag your ass back to school. I'm thinking recommending a suspension on account of the way you've been decorating the neighborhood." Quiver could see the kid looked as though he was going to make a run for it. "How does that sound Dave?" The flicker in his ceased. He was surprised and he tried not to show it. Quiver thought it was best not to look at the wall with his drawing on it anymore where the name 'Dave' was written underneath.

"I knew Johnny. He was a prick." Quiver must have given a look due to his foul language because he added, "I mean, I'm no saint. I've taken the fourth grader's lunch money. But he beats the sh--snot out of some of them sometimes."

"I see."

"I heard that kid from the Preppy School was worse."

"Are you all just a bunch of delinquents?"

"Hell if I know." The kid's body language suddenly changed. He went from the cocky teenager with his back straight, his feet planted firm on the ground, to a kid that was shifting uncomfortably and about ready to run. At first, Quiver thought he was trying to hide something, some vital piece of information. But then she noticed he was looking past her. She turned and saw a police car coming by. When she looked back, the kid was running for an alley.

"Hey wait!" Quiver called. But he was long gone.

_______

The day continued in a similar fashion. Quiver tried to see if she could find anything else but she pretty much came up empty handed. At least she figured she'd have time to get some school work done while she waited for night to fall.
 
The school bell also eventually rang much to Tyler’s delight. However, that delight was short lived as Zach wrapped his arm around Tyler’s shoulder.

“Hey, wanna play the Thin Man tonight?” Zach asked.

“But we played it yesterday,” Tyler answered.

“Yeah and we almost beat it!” Zach replied. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Don’t tell me you’re scared.”

“I don’t know….”

Yet, despite Tyler’s protesting, it was pretty clear to him that he was going to be forced to play the game whether he wanted to or not. And, based on Zach’s enthusiasm, he could only imagine just how long this night was going to be.
 
Night eventually swept across Little Springs and Quiver was glad to be in her costume again. But she was also worried about what the night may bring. She waited by the latest crime scene for her partner to arrive.

Having rightfully returned everything he borrowed, and doing minimal damage in the station, Jet dried himself thoroughly from the sprinkler system that had also sprayed him. While he had super-speed on his side, that still didn't stop water from hitting him.

He took the rest of the day off, enjoying a variety of different snacks and food, along with a large lunch and dinner. Once he was done his third meal of the day, the sun was beginning to set, and night was coming. Quiver never really gave a time to meet up, so he assumed first sight of darkness would be his cue.

With that time coming soon, he decided he still had enough time for a mixture of different ice-creams, or what he liked to call ice cream surprise. When his bowl was finished...he still had time for seconds. He could be across one side of the town to the other in minutes, or even seconds, so time wasn't really an issue.

Eventually he met up with Quiver, speeding behind her, and allowing only a sudden gust of wind to indicate his arrival. "Hey, how's it going." Is how he greeted Quiver, with his third bowl of ice cream in hand.

Quiver didn't seem to acknowledge the sudden gust of wind, the appearance of Jet, or even the ice cream in his hand. But she did answer him: "Well, I hope you had better luck than I did."

Before he replied, Jet took one large bite out of his ice cream, savoring the mixture of flavors. "I guess you can say that." Jet remarked, with a smug expression which clearly meant he was holding something back. "But let me hear what you found first." It was as if he was still taking this task of theirs as a challenge as some sort, like he had with apprehending the delinquents last night, the races to destinations, which wasn't too fair on Quiver's part, or the video game they had previously played.

Quiver placed her hands on her hips. So, they were really going there.

"I found out that the notes the kidnapper is leaving behind don't always match the ones from the game," Quiver started, "and instead match ones that are found all over the area."

Here, Quiver showed Jet the post-it note she had found stuck on a tree.

"I also spoke with some of the promising youth of tomorrow and found out that at least two of the victims were bullies. I wouldn't be surprised if they all are."

"That makes sense." Jet remarked to the lack of similarity of the real post-it notes and those found in the game. "Would explain why the note we found last night didn't quite match the in game one." Nonchalantly he grabbed the note and observed the crude writings and drawings. It sure enough had the same style, so someone was mimicking the game.

Jet then listened to Quiver's theory of the missing victims being all bullies. It sounded farfetched, but the one officer on the case, where he had stolen their information, clarified that most of the missing kids were boys. When he was a kid in school, he really didn't come across many girl bullies, they were mostly boys. Not that he was bullied himself, but as a kid you still take notice to that kind of stuff.

"So what? Someone finally snapped under the pressure of bullies and is retaliating?" Jet asked, although he wasn't very convinced. "That's a little hard to chew..." However, he stopped his pondering long enough to pull out his series of notes. "I managed to swipe most of this from the station."

Immediately he handed it over to Quiver, so that she could read all the details he had acquired ranging from the dates, the victims, the locations, and so forth. Not only that, but he wanted to reap in the reward of winning their little game, that only he was betting and playing on.

"I don't know but I don't think it's a coincidence," Quiver stated. She then looked at the information Jet recovered. Some of it seemed to confirm her bully theory or, at least, support it. "So the kidnapper so far has only been kidnapping towards the end of the week..."

She didn't really have any suggestion as to why this might be but thinking aloud usually helped. She also felt that maybe if she said something, Jet would stop smirking over his little victory
________

In a house nearby, there was a room that was devoid of all light except for that emitting from the computer screen.

"Aw come on we were so close!" Zach exclaimed, as the screen went black. The Thin Man's starting home screen came up once again.

"Umm...it's getting kind of late..." Tyler said as he saw Zach dragging the mouse to the "Play Again" button. "maybe we should try again tomorrow." Zach rolled his eyes.

"When Spiderman had to go save Gwen, he didn't say 'it's kind of late maybe I'll go save her tomorrow'." 

"But Spiderman's in high school. And my mom's going to kick you out anyway with all the yelling." Tyler silently prayed that his mom would do as she usually did right about now: remember that Zach was there and tell him it was time to go home. Luckily, his prayers were answered as they both heard his mom from down the hall.  Zach groaned and closed the game screen.

"Okay, we'll play tomorrow. See you."

"Hey, my mom said she should drive you home," Tyler said as Zach went to leave. Zach merely grinned.

"And miss a chance to see The Thin Man? I don't think so." He opened the door. "Don't tell your mom I'm leaving. If I'm right, I should get at least five minutes before she knows I'm gone." 

Zach didn't wait for Tyler to say anything and left him in the dark. Alone.

"In other words, today." Jet calmly remarked to Quiver's deduction. What was the best day of the entire week for any child or teen still in school? That answer was clearly Friday, especially any time after the last bell for school rang. Saturday was great too, but it was normally Friday night that brought the most energy. It was the first night of the weekend and there was enough time and possibilities to do whatever the kids and teens might fancy. Sunday's were alright, it was another day off, but the nights weren't as energetic, because the first day back to school was always around the corner. So there was less time at night for an all-nighter sleepover, a marathon of games or movies, or anything else.

So if this creep was going to strike, a bully or not, they were going to do it tonight. It was their best chance, as everyone still in school planned most of their nights out on Fridays.

"Right," Quiver confirmed.

As Zach walked down the streets of the neighborhood, there seemed to be a wind picking up. He didn't seem to notice as he kept his eyes focused on the dark streets for any sign of the legendary creature. While there were some street lights to guide his way back home, he mostly looked towards the dark, hoping he would somehow be provided with night vision like a cat and be able to catch just a glimpse of the Thin Man.

But what he didn't think to do was look behind him as a shadow silently loomed from above.

It wasn't long after Quiver's comment that a faint scream was heard.

Quiver really didn't give Jet any evidence he hadn't already known, only an agreement to their conclusions. So when a high-pitched scream of distress was heard, there wasn't really any reason for him to stick around. Someone needed his help and there wasn't time to see if she could catch up, anytime for chit-chat, or tomfoolery.

One second wasted could be one second used to help whoever is or was in danger. Without warning and immediately after the scream was heard, he super-sped into the general direction. He only hoped he wasn't too late.

As soon as Quiver heard the scream, she only had a chance to glance at Jet before she fled towards the screaming. As she pursued whoever was in danger, she felt a small gust of wind rush passed her. She didn't try to stop it and only hoped Jet would get there in time.

Quiver traveled the fastest way she could. But even then, she knew at best she'd be able to get to the crime scene before the cops did. If there was a crime scene. Or she'd get there as Jet was apprehending whoever the criminal was. Or fighting the criminal. Whatever.

Below the streets, Quiver saw a police car speeding down the street.

When Jet arrived on the scene, he would find nothing but a flickering streetlight and a note with a crude stick figure that read "You Found Me".

As soon as Jet rushed to the crime scene, or whatever it was deemed at this point, he found nothing. In fact, his speeding almost blew away the loose paper note left behind by the culprit. He immediately grabbed it with his quick reflexes, before it had the chance to blow away into the darkness.

His gut feeling already told him what it would be, another one of the creepy man notes, and it was. He wasn't too happy with this finding. It really didn't give him any new clues or material to go by. In fact, he felt like this whole situation was just a wild goose chase he was going circles in.

What did they really do so far? Play a video game for notes that aren't similar to the culprits? Apprehend some hooligans? Steal police information that wasn't very useful? He squeezed the note at this annoyance, he was getting tired of this game of chase.

"Found you?" Jet remarked irritably. "Yeah that's good one...you'd know if I'd find you." As soon as he was done inspecting the scene, since there was so little to inspect, Jet left the note where he found it. The police car, with its siren and flashing lights, was soon to be on its way.

He didn't know anything about this crime scene, not who was kidnapped, nothing. He would just leave the note for the police to find and document, and do their thing. With that in mind, he sped away from the sidewalk, but did not leave the development.

Quiver arrived at the scene before the police car managed to come by. In fact, the sirens now appeared to be going in a different direction.

She stood where the note was and picked it up. But she only briefly glanced at it.

"Jet," she called in a hoarse whisper. She figured he was still around the area. Or, at least, she hoped he was.

Maybe the night wasn't a total waste just yet, as the police car flew by the crime scene. In fact, it went the opposite direction. As Quiver now inspected the note he had previously read, Jet broke off a tree branch. Tiptoeing behind her, he towered the stick over her, and allowed it to brush against her shoulder and back.

Just another attempt to play one of his shenanigans, which would either totally backfire, or give him a good laugh.

As soon as Quiver felt something on her shoulder, she gasped before spinning around while equipping an arrow. She was just about to fire when she realized who it was.

Quiver lowered her weapon and frowned.

"You're really going to do this right now?"

"What?" Jet remarked, after smiling that his prank had worked. Even if she had attacked, his quick speed and reflexes would save him from too much disaster. "It's not like we can do much else." Is how Jet replied, after tossing the broken stick to the side of the lawn. "We're fresh out of clues."

"Yeah...about that..." Quiver remarked.

As Quiver spoke, from down the street emerged a man wearing a trench coat (or a similar variation, it was hard to tell in the dark). His face was worn and unshaven with bags under his eyes. In one hand was a cup of coffee.
With his free hand, he removed something that looked to be his wallet. However, when it opened, a badge was clearly visible.

"Detective Hendricks," he explained.

Meanwhile, the sirens of the police car could be heard once again, as it circled back around to arrive at the crime scene.