The Heroes of Little Springs

There was also the option that the culprit heading towards them was Quiver, which Jet had taken into account. As soon as she spun around and aimed an arrow at him, Jet waved several of her other arrows that were previously in her quiver.

"Looks like I wasn't fast enough." He remarked, as his partner still had one arrow at her disposal. He didn't want to steal her arrows away from her, but in this darkness, it was hard to tell who was who. So he was just being on the safe side, in case this was some random archer, or the culprit who could shape-shift, or anything in between.

Before Tyler and Susan began their vicious fight, he handed the arrows back to Quiver. "Hey! Hey! Knock it off you two!" Jet remarked, as he zipped towards them, and held them apart. "If you want to be super heroes, you also need to be partners."

Geez, I can't believe I'm the mature one here.

Quiver relaxed upon realizing it was Jet. She placed her bow and arrow down.

"What are you doing? I almost shot you," she said. She didn't have much time to ask questions as her questions were quickly answered by the sound of the trashcans falling over.

Well, at least he found the kids.

Quiver put her arrows away as she approached them.

"Tyler's ruining our plan," Susan accused. "He nearly got us caught by turning on the flashlight."

"But it's dark," Tyler said.

The flashlight Tyler held began to flicker. He shook it to hopefully bring some more life to it. But it still flickered.

"No way, I just changed those batteries!" Susan said. She took the flashlight from Tyler who was still reluctant to let his precious light source go. She turned the flashlight off and then back on. But even when the flashlight was off, it continued its seemingly endless routine of flickering.

A faint wind was now upon them and, for a moment, Quiver could have sworn everything had gotten darker.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light or perhaps it was just the trick of the mind but Tyler's shadow appeared to grow into the street. It didn't grow very much or for very long but it was enough for something dark to escape. And if someone looked hard enough, they would be able to see it happen.

"You probably just busted the switch, when you were fighting." Jet reasoned, as Susan attempted to fix the flashlight, once she had took it away from Tyler. He calmly grabbed it and slapped it across the palm of his other hand a few times. That normally helped him when some of his electronics weren't working properly.

He really didn't pay any mind to this apparent 'darkness' that Quiver had felt, or the fact that Tyler or all of their shadows were growing too large to be cast properly with the course of the moonlight. Instead he decided to twist off the end cap of the flashlight, so that he could remove the batteries, and place them in differently. That normally worked a few times as well.

Sure it wasn't something that would be getting them any closer to this case, but if the light would calm down Tyler, it was one less thing he had to worry about. With the two batteries in hand, he made sure that he dropped the one that was previously on the top at the bottom and the other one after it.

However, as Jet attempted to remove the battery from the flashlight, it was still flickering. The removal of its power source seemed to mean nothing.

Quiver and Susan both saw the shadow rise from the ground.

"Uhh...Jet," Quiver said.

At first, Jet wasn't sure what to make of the phenomenon with the flashlight. It seemed that there was a faulty switch or a case of bad batteries. Neither of those were the case, since the source of energy was now in his hand. Maybe the flashlight was still retaining some of the juice that it had extracted from the batteries, but then again if that was true it would had only lasted for a second or two. Not for the past ten to fifteen seconds that was going on.

Not wanting to misplace the batteries, even if he was confused by this strangeness, he slipped them back inside the flashlight just before Quiver called out to him. He took notice of the strange morphing shadows on the gritty asphalt. It almost appeared as if a large quantity of water was rushing across and spreading every-which was as it channeled through the crevices. It also appeared to be gaining some kind of shape to it and this wasn't only its two dimensional flat-plane shadow.

It was kind of hard to tell in the darkness, so with the flashlight put back together properly, Jet flicked the switch to the light on again, and aimed it towards whatever it was.

The flickering flashlight shone on the dark mass that was now contorting into a tall shadow. It wasn't just any shadow though, it was the most infamous shadow the superheros had been hearing about all week.

The Thin Man.

His body was the shape of a mans, his head the only white part of his shadow body.

Quiver took out an arrow and aimed it at the creature. But the arrow went right through him, landing on the ground behind.

OOC: Meanwhile, get a load of this. Supernatural had a new episode yesterday and guess what it was about? A Slenderman spoof. Guess what the spoof was called? The Thin Man.

You're my witness Lee, I came up with it first. :p

At first Jet was shocked and intimidated by this merging shadow, which formed into a living abomination. Especially after Quiver's arrow (which apparently hit its target by just aiming :P) went straight through it. Slowly he calmed his composure, and stepped in front of the two kids and his partner.

"Oh come on, that's the oldest trick in the book." Jet remarked, "There's gotta be some kind of projector around, I used to watch Scooby Doo." He waved his hand in front of the apparition, before speeding around to its back in hopes that the light to the projection would block it.

"Then they'll be like, 'And I could've gotten away with it to, if it wasn't for you...meddling kids..."

The fact Jet was now behind the Thin Man made no difference to his appearance. He appeared as solid as ever, as real as ever.

Meanwhile, Tyler had turned around to see what all the fuss was about. Quiver pulled him from behind and closer to herself and Susan as he came face to face with the Thin Man.

Jet's flashlight began to briefly flicker once again. By the time the flashlight had turned back on again, the Thin Man was no longer in front of him.

Instead, he was directly behind him.

Jet cited a well known quote from the equally famous cartoon show, but his coolness and words abruptly came to a halt. He wasn't sure what to make of the very life-like apparition disappearing suddenly. Maybe whoever was behind this plot shut off the projector, or the machine somehow malfunctioned on its own.

Whatever was the case, this thing was not around him anymore. Plus his flashlight finally started working correctly again. The stupid piece of junk was functioning properly, technology at its finest. Never works when you need it, works when you don't.

"Huh...ok." Jet remarked unsure, before aiming the light at Quiver and the kids. "Is everyone alright?"

Quiver pulled Jet forward as soon as she saw he wasn't moving. Or, even bothering to turn around. She took another arrow out, an ice one, and fired. Quiver didn't really care much for the game this thing was in but she knew it enough that once it got close to you, you were gone. And, she really didn't want to wait to find out what happens when the Thin Man actually catches you.

She was half expecting the ice arrow to not work. And judging by the fact the Thin Man didn't try to break free from the ice encasing his feet, she guessed it hadn't. Not fully, anyway.

"Time to go," she said. Susan and Tyler didn't need to be told twice: they immediately ran ahead. And Quiver followed.

Jet wasn't sure what was going on or why everyone had an expression as if they had seen a ghost. When Quiver pulled him away, and possibly saved him from being kidnapped (or not), he immediately noticed where the manifestation had went. It was behind him, just like in the game.

Then it donned on him that the flashlight was flickering and not working properly, which was how the actual game implied that the thin man was approaching the character. Either someone was going out of their way to make some elaborate hoax with this video game, the thin man was a real being, some crazy computer programmer crafted some kind of glitch that manifested into the real world...or something.

Jet wasn't sure, but when Quiver's arrows actually made contact with it this time, he was sure it wasn't a holographic projection or anything of the sort.

He didn't just play and beat the game for nothing, so most of the clues he was picking up on now were a little too late. So he had to delve farther and try to remember what else there was about the game that one shouldn't do if faced with this thing.

The more you look at it, whether it is behind you or not, if it's in your sight, your time is near. He didn't want to see what game over in real life looked like any time soon, so he kept a note to steer clear from looking at any part of the thin man.

The two kids and Quiver on the other hand had already looked at him too much, so they were in danger. At least that's what the game's mechanics were like. The more your character's view was in the sight of the thin man, back, front, whatever, the closer it was to grabbing its target.

The ice wouldn't hold this being for too long, especially if it could transport itself anywhere it wished. "Hey, get them to safety!" Jet remarked loudly, as Quiver was escorting Tyler and Susan away from the streets. "This thing won't stay put for long, I'll hold it off, and then get out of here."

Quiver didn't respond to Jet as she was already on the move. She wanted to tell Jet to follow but she was too far now to go back for him.

The ice surrounding the Thin Man's legs shattered. In an instant, the Thin Man was gone and now a few feet away from Jet, just out of his eyesight.

Jet wasn't surprised by the fact that the thin man was able to get out, of the ice encasing his feet, with relative ease. He did find it odd that the ice had to shatter first, because he was sure that someone who could warp didn't need to do such damage to whatever was impeding it. He was half expecting the body of ice to remove, with the hollow remaining, where its legs once were.

It didn't seem like Quiver and the children were far away yet, so he had to keep the creepy man occupied still. He wasn't sure how he was going to manage that, when he couldn't directly look at them. Then again, he faced a similar problem with that snake lady. So at least he had some experience.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jet remarked, as the thin man was out of sight now. He was sure he was behind him, or somewhere off to the side, because he still felt an uneasy presence. Immediately he spun around, where he stood, which created a powerful gust of winds.

It picked up loose trash and dried leaves within its current, as the powerful winds whipped into anyone nearby. While it wouldn't be throwing anyone off of their feet, it was still strong enough for one to have to cover themselves. If this thing reacted to ice and solid matter, Jet was sure that powerful winds would also do something to them.

Whether or not the Thin Man was harmed by the gust of wind was unknown as by the time Jet got a good look as to where he was, the Thin Man was no longer there.

Although she wasn't that far, Quiver halted the group. She knew running was pointless at this point. Even if someone ran (or, tried to) the fact of the matter was once you saw the Thin Man, you couldn't outrun him. So she took the chance of being given at least a few precious free minutes.

It wasn't like she had much of a choice: Tyler and Susan stopped running even before she had. They panted violently, out of breath. Susan backed away from Tyler.

"You--you," she tried to get out but she was too tired.

"Tyler," Quiver said, "Tyler, how do we stop the Thin Man?"

"Can't," Tyler managed to let out.

The Thin Man's new location, as Jet would see, was by a tree lined against the sidewalk. However, it was a bit farther away from Jet than it had been previously. It was also now closer to where Quiver, Susan, and Tyler were.

Without warning, the thin man was gone. At the very least, Jet had stalled him momentarily, which he hoped was enough for Quiver and the kids to get away. Still it didn't seem to be interested in him at all.

Which probably meant it didn't want Quiver either. It was probably easier to kidnap kids then it was to do so to adults. Where did the missing kids even go anyway? Did the thin man warp to some dimension x, which was super dark and dank?

Then he noticed it was near a tree, which Jet wasn't sure if that was significant or not. His gut feeling wanted to tell him that it had something to do with that big creepy tree in the game, where a note would be. There were no notes on this tree though.

He didn't have the time to think if the game could help him beat this entity, which was a ludicrous thought as it was. Instead he needed to focus on keeping the kids, and maybe Quiver away from this thing.

With super speed he rushed towards a garbage can lined with the sidewalk. Maybe it was trash day tomorrow, as it was filled to the brim. He grabbed as much of the refuse as he could, empty tin cans, fruit rinds/peels, crumpled paper, and whatever.

"Hey suits!" Jet shouted to get the thin man's attention, "I'm not done with you!" Speeding and twirling, he mimicked a tornado, which quickly headed towards the man. Here and there, a piece of trash was lobbed out of the yellowish twister, before hitting the thin man.

As the tornado came towards him, The Thin Man moved back by disappearing and then reappearing in various locations when Jet wasn't looking. However, in doing so, he was also moving even closer to Quiver, Tyler, and Susan.

The streetlights were on, giving very little light as they flickered. However, with each passing retreat, the Thin Man still appeared to be assembling in the darkest corners of the street. He never once stepped into or near the light.

"Tyler, listen to me," Quiver said as she put her hands on his shoulders. "The Thin Man isn't real."

"But we saw him," Susan interjected. "He's right over there!" She pointed towards the tornado and dark shadow down the street. Tyler looked confusingly between the two.

"He's only really because you think he's real Tyler."

Jet continued his super speed and twisting, as every piece of garbage flew every where. A few pieces missed the thin man completely, as it was difficult to aim, throw, and spin, all the while in inhuman speed.

However the majority of the trash hit its initial target. Or at least Jet thought so, but it was hard to tell by the speed he was going. Slowly his pace lessened, until his tornado speed was all but gone. This time he managed to notice that a very rotten tomato phased through the apparition, before splattering across the asphalt.

Whether or not the other fruit rinds, papers, eggshells, or other trash was able to hit and or soil the thin man, the tomato didn't. "Aw man, I got garbage juice all over my hands for nothing!" Jet bemoaned, as he shook the excess liquid off of his arms.

"Well then, the garbageman is going to hate me tomorrow..." He added, as he noticed all of the different trash pieces littered across the street. And of course Quiver hadn't gotten the children to safety at all. Those risky stunts he had pulled were for nothing.

If this thing couldn't be touched by ice or solid projectiles, he wasn't sure what could phase it. It didn't help that the three were just staying put now. He wasn't sure what they were concocting, but they needed to get away for now.

Immediately he sped towards Quiver and the kids and didn't really give them the time to assess what had just happened. "Too late, we're getting out of here." He lifted Tyler and Susan with a separate arm each, before looking at Quiver. "Hurry! Grab on!"

Just as Tyler looked somewhat convinced, or at least, was considering what Quiver had to say, Quiver felt a gust of wind from behind.

"Grab on to what?" Quiver asked, annoyed that her conversation was being interrupted and just by the fact she was going to be supersped by Jet. Normally, she'd be okay with this but the fact that the only available spot she noticed was to get a piggyback ride only irritated her even more. What was this, Twilight?

For a split second, she actually contemplated getting kidnapped by the Thin Man as opposed to this option. But then she realized she had no way of knowing exactly what Jet knew of the situation, if he had the same pieces to the puzzle she had. Considering his last few comments before they had separated, she guessed not.

With a groan, Quiver grabbed on.

"I don't know!...my back?" Jet remarked, as he was seriously reconsidering just leaving her behind now. Especially since the longer she waited to comply, the closer the freak-show had the chance to get to them. Whatever this thing was, he didn't want to stay around and see what it was truly capable of.

Tyler and Susan didn't particularly take a liking to being handled like luggage either, but at least they didn't put up much of a fight. Besides even if they did, they were kids, and he was the stronger of the two. Quiver on the other hand would be more difficult to deal with.

Jet would had just grabbed Quiver and sped off, but he realized he would have difficulty juggling either of the three with his two arms. They were already occupied as they were. As soon as she grabbed on, he took off. He was so fast to speed away, that she might not even had the chance to properly latch on correctly, as far as he knew.

The fallen leaves and left over trash flew around in a frenzy, before settling once the storm had passed them.

The Thin Man stood alone in the dark as he watched Jet speed away with the group, un-phased by his surroundings.

A ways away stood a warehouse currently undergoing construction. The building was practically down to its bare bones with little room for anything to hide or remain unnoticed. Large, heavy duty lights were spread sporadically throughout the building, all resting near outlets just waiting to be plugged in.

The outside of the building was, in essence, a dump. Large piles of construction material, dumpsters, dead trees, amongst other things surrounded the area. It was practically pitch dark and what little light was provided from nearby buildings and an occasional street light cast multiple dark shadows throughout.

Jet was going so fast, that the autumn chills, falling leaves, and blowing trash constantly brushed against him and the others. To the children, this super speed was almost as if they were witnessing hyper-drive or warp-speed from one of their favorite sci-fi series, or at least heard about. Their surroundings were going by so fast, that at times they were blurred.

Once Jet arrived at what appeared to be a safe location, he slowly halted near a construction site. Most of the building still needed to be worked on, and for now it was a mostly framework. Either the crew decided to leave their equipment in place, abandoned it for some reason, or forgot to pack everything away after a long day of work.

Whichever was the case, there were construction lights, power cords snaking to each light and outlet, and a few generators so they could be kept running. Jet calmly placed Susan and Tyler down, where they could regain their bearings. As he stopped, Quiver would also be able to safely come down, if she was fortunate enough to not fall off in mid-speed.

So that everyone was safe and in light, he stopped at one of the streetlights which was nearby. The construction site was still a little ways off, but the place was dark and desolate. "Hey if we could get the power running, we could probably bait that thing in a trap."

Susan and Tyler walked awkwardly forward as they tried to regain their bearings.

"My head's spinning," Susan said shortly before bumping into Tyler. She took a few steps away from him. And it wasn't because she was avoiding another collision. Tyler noticed her behavior but he didn't know how to handle her avoidance.

Quiver looked at the building.

"What's your plan?" she asked.

"I don't know." Jet remarked with a shrug. "I just thought we'd all jump in and brainstorm. Maybe all the construction lights would blind it. All monsters in the dark hate the light."

At least those terrible movies he used to watch as kid would play out like this. It was worth a try at least, as the thin man didn't seem to want to go anywhere near the streetlights during their first and only encounter. Besides there was a lot of heavy machinery around also. With super-speed he could switch them all on and probably distort the apparition even more with the loud noise.

"Let's go see what we have to work with," Quiver said as she started to walk towards the building. After all, they had no idea how many lights were in the building, where they were located, etc. While it was true it would have been easier (and probably smarter) for Jet to scout the area while they stay in the light, the fact of the matter was, Quiver wasn't entirely sure Jet had seen the shadow come out of Tyler. And, if Tyler was connected to all this like she suspected, it might be better to have him not know the entire plan.

Quiver let Tyler and Susan walk in front of her, mostly so that she could keep and eye on them.

"The Thin Man came out of Tyler's shadow," Quiver said lowly to Jet when Tyler and Susan were far enough ahead.

"I know, that's why if we light him up bright enough, it'll do...something." Jet remarked, and by the sound of it, he had bulletproof plan. Or at least until the end, where it seemed he wasn't too sure of it himself.

The construction site was very muddy, most of the ground had been torn by machine or vehicle, as a majority of it was being used as a dumping ground for excess dirt, stone, and material trash. This proved difficult to walk through, as it had been a wet week due to plenty of rainy days.

As Jet mucked through the torn ground, the building was a few feet away. There were wooden and metal studs, a few plywood and drywall boards nailed, and the first stage of the roof over top. The windows and doors had yet to be added, or any of the interior pieces, which would finish this to be a completed building.

"Keep an eye on them." Jet remarked, as he supersped towards all the different constructions lights and cords which were plugged in. If they weren't, he made sure they were before he zipped off towards another  spot. All in all, the lights were positioned all at one spot, which they could turn on, and maybe blind the Thin Man.

It would be just like one of those Scooby Doo episodes. Now all he needed to do was find some poor sap to bait the Thin Man out.