Despite his best attempt to investigate the Omniglue situation, the hero had not found anything that suggested a larger plot. It was greatly frustrating, especially when he still needed to speak with Commission’s contact, and had nothing to show for the past two weeks. At least Harris had provided some solid reports on organized crime movements in the city, or else there would be little point in even having a meeting.

  By the time the hero arrived at the meeting place and lowered himself to the ground, he could also tell which bystander Commission had empowered for the meeting. The rumbling of an engine echoed through the quiet dockyard, and before long, a glowing white muscle car with shining wheels pulled into a parking space. Smoking off of the tires was golden dust and steam, trailing all the way up to the windows before dissipating. The blacked out windows themselves were impossible to see through, with starlight sparkling through them.

  The door clicked open, and the driver waved to the hero as he stepped out. “Fencer, good to see you again. How are the Sword-Breakers doing?”

  “Things are operating as usual, the city is mostly peaceful. How is Commission?” Fencer knew the other man wouldn’t tell him anything about the entity he called a boss, but he also knew that they were always listening. It was basic courtesy to include them.

  The driver was a tall, thin man with red hair, his eyes hidden by a pair of sunglasses. He wore a black leather jacket with a glowing trim on the inside, light escaping from underneath the outer layer. Above his head was a floating ring of light, the halo doubling as a weapon in combat. On the back of his jacket was a single word: Wheelman.

  As far as Fencer knew, people granted powers by Commission usually came in one of three types: Single Timers, Public, and Wheelman. The first were people empowered a single time and then never again, often because they didn’t want to continue being a hero consistently. The second were people Commission empowered but wanted to keep being heroes. They usually end up becoming a part of their benefactor’s usual roster of picks during a crisis.

  The third was Wheelman, who always was willing to help when called, but practically vanished the moment he was no longer needed. Even Fencer didn’t know his real identity.

  Wheelman chuckled. “Commission is well. Because of how quiet things have been lately, the rest of us empowered heroes haven’t been as active. I’m just glad to have some free time.” He tilted his head, glancing around for any sign of prying eyes. “But enough about us. I’m guessing you’ve got your reports? I heard you’ve been busy with that video that came out.”

  Fencer frowned, resisting the urge to grumble at his lack of useful information as he passed a document to Wheelman. “You could say that, my lack of progress is frustrating, especially when Omniglue is apparently going to be on a news broadcast tomorrow.”

  “You’d think someone who’d been a supervillain for nearly five years would have more dirt on them, but I guess anything he’s been involved with is already public information you can just look up on the internet.” Wheelman glanced away with an expression Fencer had come to recognize as the one he made during mental communication. Commission must be chiming in. “Plus, its not like he hid his past in the video. What else do we know about him?”

  Fencer pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed. “Too much and too little. He was last captured when he attempted to rob a bank. By sheer misfortune, Noble was there as well. Dumb luck, he just picked the wrong bank. Beyond that, he has some siblings who live on the west coast, seemingly none of which have close contact with him.”

  “What about his criminal records? He’s gotta have contacts or friends still out in the wild.” Wheelman was reading through the document Fencer had given him, looking for anything that stuck out to him while they talked. “They say he used to do jobs for Manager Mayhem, but so do half of the D-Listers in the city.”

  Fencer nodded. “Yes, we also know Omniglue is close allies with the criminal Skull-Mania, both of them primarily doing jobs as backup for larger villains. They even shared a cell at Lighthouse.” He paused. “Although, from what I could learn, Skull-Mania is cooperating with some active investigations and likely will have his sentence reduced if his consultation proves useful.”

  He scoffed, still annoyed by the whole situation. “I wish I’d found something sooner, but Omniglue is basically an open book.” It was infuriating, to be honest. Who knew what kind of plans he had for the interview, especially when he had so may people wanting to hear the story from him directly. “I dread what tomorrow will look like.”

  “Hey, don’t worry so much, if he commits or incites any kind of villain activity, he just goes back to prison. And I’m sure he’s smart enough to know that.” He paused, looking at the sky. “Still, you should probably have someone there, just in case. Who knows, maybe he’ll have a glue-themed death ray or something.” He laughed lightly. Fencer did not.

  Still, there was truth to his words, and Wheelman was nothing if not careful. Even if his jokes were sometimes flat.

  Fencer tried to ignore his poor attempt at humor. “I’ll see if any of the heroes who used to deal with Omniglue are available, they’ll know him best.” He frowned, remembering something. “Speaking of which, do we have any more leads on Carbon Knight’s whereabouts?”

  Wheelman sobered fairly quickly. He shook his head with a sigh. “Wish I could say yes, but no. Not even Commission could find them when they went AWOL, which means CK is either able to avoid the boss’ powers, has left the city, or…”

  “Or that they’re innocent of the charges, making it impossible for Commission to track them.” Fencer finished the thought, lamenting the fact that Wheelman’s employer lacked basically any ability to track people outside of active crime scenes. They were one of the most powerful heroes on Earth, but couldn’t find a villain unless they were actively about to commit a crime.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  That said, the idea that Carbon Knight could somehow evade Commission’s powers outright was even more terrifying.

  Wheelman put a hand on Fencer’s shoulder. “We’ll just have to keep looking. And hey, maybe all this Omniglue business will draw them out?” He smiled. “Have some hope, friend.”

  They said their goodbyes soon after. Fencer needed to organize for heroes to be present at the interview tomorrow, and Wheelman’s time was precious. The angel of the road drove off, vanishing around the corner and into the night.

  [Break]

  It was only a few minutes into Wheelman’s drive through town before his radio sparked to life, and a distorted voice tried to speak. Without taking his eyes off the road he reached over and dialed in the sound. “Let me guess, we’ve got more work to do besides meet up with our Sword-Breaker friend?”

  The voice came through clean this time, as empowered car’s radio stabilized. “That would be correct. There is a team of twelve men about to break into Oliver National on Father’s Street.” That caught the hero’s attention.

  “That bank has been closed for weeks, there isn’t any money left there.”

  The light chuckle from the radio was the first response. “Perhaps, but they won’t know that until after they’ve broken in, gotten caught, and are in a holding cell.”

  It made sense to a degree. Commission didn’t have the raw power to catch every trespasser they detected, but a team of experience criminals probably planning on taking hostages and smashing up banks? That was more than enough to draw the entity’s attention.

  Wheelman smiled as he reached for the clutch. “Well then, I guess they’re gonna need someone to give them a lift to the station.” Without another word, he put his foot down and rocketed into the night like a comet.

  [Break]

  By the time he had arrived, he could see them filing back into their escape vehicle. One of the crooks spotted him speeding towards them, shouted out, and hoped into the back of the truck as they pulled up their gun.

  “Now the real chase begins. Lets see if you guys can keep up.”

  The truck picked up speed as those in the back opened fire, bullets flying through the air and past Wheelman’s car. He made slight adjustments, weaving in and out of gunfire as he dodged parked cars. As both vehicles made it around a corner, one of the criminals threw down a road trap.

  Barely registering that it was there, the superhero flicked a switch on his radio once more. The car launched into the air and over the strip of spikes before coming down. Wheelman swerved upon reestablishing contact with the pavement, more gunfire filling the space he previously occupied. They didn’t have infinite ammunition. He could do this all day.

  “The stray bullets could hurt someone. I need to draw them away from a populated street.”

  The hero launched forward with a burst of speed, knocking the back of the truck forward

  and around a corner. They pulled away as he readjusted his course, taking a route that he knew would lead to the highway. They wouldn’t be able to lose him on the long stretches, even if they didn’t know it yet.

  Wheelman flipped another switch. Out of his car’s rims came spinning rings of light shooting towards the truck. They swerved out of the way of one and into the other, tearing one of the back doors off. He could see the faces of the criminals as they turned onto the freeway. The crooks threw out another road trap, but Wheelman was ready. As the car got closer it practically dispersed into a beam of light before reforming at the other side.

  The hum of Commission’s power flowed through the car, reminding Wheelman of the benefactor’s presence. In this moment, the empowered hero was the fasted person to ever sit behind a wheel. It was time to prove it. In a burst of light, Wheelman passed the truck and spun around to face them. Another volley of energy rings fired away, knocking out the mirror and one of the tires of truck. The driver slowed down and tried to regain control, even as Wheelman spun back into place to lock them down for the arrest.

  The truck slowed down to a halt. Wheelman opened the door and pulled his halo down from above his head, in case they tried anything violent before the police arrived. “Alright, show’s over guys. Let’s get this over with.” He paused as he felt his benefactor establish a connection.

  “Wheelman, they have backup coming. Move back!”

  The hero barely had time to roll away as a blast of heat melted the spot he’d been occupying. Looking up, he saw a man in a lab coat floating down to the ground, his chest area exposed by a heart shaped hole in his under-suit. It was hard to look directly at him before the light from his chest faded.

  The man’s eyes regarded him with a deranged grin. “Ah! The enigmatic Wheelman is it? I wasn’t aware Commission had you on patrol right now.” He frowned slightly as he winced from some kind of pain. “I suggest you step back. I...don’t want to fry you.”

  “Heartburn, AKA Lucian Baxter. He used to be a researcher for Novikov Enterprises’ energy branch, but was fused with his reactor by a villain. Its…not been good for him, and they were treating him at the Aquarium facility as far as I was aware. He supposedly generates infinite energy, but the radiation is poisoning him.” There was a pause from Wheelman’s benefactor. “One more thing, those beams will kill you at close range.”

  Wheelman gave the man a sad look, even as he prepared to dodge. “Mr. Baxter, you’re not feeling well, I can see it! You shouldn’t have left, they can help you there.” He nearly leapt away when the villain’s eyes locked onto him with wild intensity. “We don’t have to do this, especially when your allies here didn’t even get away with any money to pay you with!”

  Heartburn frowned as he tilted his head back to the truck as it started back up. “I needed a job. They needed some muscle. I was payed enough in advance…” He winces again, the light in his chest igniting once more. “I need to find the doc. He’ll help me again. I just need to show him where to find me.” His body was wreathed in light in the same instant. Wheelman jumped back as another bolt turns the pavement to molten rock.

  Wheelman knew this was bad. Even empowered by Commission, Heartburn apparently had enough power to kill him. He didn’t know how many shots it would take, but he was guessing it was instant. He needed to play this safe.

  When the villain next winced, he pinged his phone to let other heroes know where he was. Then, he fell into a stance, his halo held in front like a shield. “Alright then. If you want a fight, you’re gonna get one.”

  Heartburn’s grip on his head loosened, his face split by a massive grin. “That’s the spirit. Alright then; Lights, Camera, Action!”

  The hero and villain rushed towards each other as the freeway was consumed in a brilliant flash.