The Perfect Crimes
Chronicles of Shade: Book One
The wind was stronger on top of the the buildings. His dark figure imposed over the the skyline. He looked down at the bustling street. Batman. He stood motionless. Across the street, atop a billboard he stood. An equally imposing figure. Mallace surrounded him, shrouding him in mystery. He smiled.
"Time will come, Time will come."
Metropolis at sunset was beautiful. The blue and red clad figure thundered through the air. A half a mile away a building burst into flames. Superman, The Man of Steel, Last Son of Krypton. He hovered 30 stories in the air before the raging fire.
"Superman!" yelled a fireman.
In an instant Superman was standing before the Fire Chief.
The firman was taken aback, "Uh...Superman-sir. Uh, there is people still inside. The fire, we can't control it! In a few minutes, it'll come down!"
"Right." Superman said looking at the burning skyscraper. With a thundering burst of wind the Kryptonian soared into the air. He rocketed through the building, coming out the other end carrying two women and an elderly man.
"M-my little girl! She's still in there!" screamed a woman fighting to get free of the firemen.
Superman rocketed forward. Inside the blazing building, Superman hovered in the middle of the sixth floor. He strained his super hearing trying to detect the sound of the child. In the middle of the maelstrom of the fire and crumbling structure he detected the smallest whimper above him.
Superman smiled. He shot upwards, breaking through floor after floor heading toward the nearly inaudible sound. Finally he emerged to see a little girl hugging a teddy bear crying in a corner of a room. As soon as she saw Superman land just feet away she gave a huge smile.
"Supama-," before she finished the radiator near her began to explode. In milliseconds The Last Son of Krypton ran forward at super speed. Superman saw the flames slowly expanding leading red hot bits of metal heading toward the near motionless child. He pulled her in close, shielding the girl from the barrage of fire and molten metal.
"Come on!" Superman exclaimed as he carried the girl into the hallway. To their left was an open window.
Superman ran forward toward the window when half of the roof came crashing down. Superman squinted downward. The ruble and floor peeled away to reveal another window on the floor below.
"Hold on," Superman said. His eyes glowed a fiery red. Heat rippled through the air, striking the ground. Superman carved a ring around them, the weakened floor gave way falling into the other floor. Superman and the girl stayed in mid air.
Superman zoomed down through the hole and through the window. He rocketed to the ground, and returned the girl to her mother.
Before she could thank him he soared skyward toward the building. He inhaled, then after a shot pause released a gale-force wind, extinguishing the blaze.
Cheers and praise erupted from the enormous crowd below. Superman breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He smiled and waved.
Four buildings away a lone figure stood in a large open window. Around his feet lay the motionless employees. He held a rocket launcher at the ready, aimed out of the open window.
"Ah, Superman...your time has come," he said smiling.
He peered through the hypertronic scope. The electronic cross hairs turned red, then moved to position right on Superman and turned green. A green circle flashed around The Man of Steel.
The figure smiled. The trigger was pulled and the rocket launcher fired, sending out a small missile laser guided directly at Superman.
The Man of Steel looked at the oncoming projectile. He smiled at the feeble attempt. He fired a blast of heat vision. The tip of the rocket glowed white hot until exploded.
Superman chuckled. A twinge of sickness swept through his body. Before was a shower of small green shards.
"K-kryptonite.." muttered Superman. A cloud of green dust covered Superman. He choked swaying in the air, turning deathly pale. Larger, sharper fragments stabbed into his weakened skin. The weak Superman fell out of the sky.
People screamed as he fell to Earth. Right before he hit the ground the figure appeared out of nowhere, catching him. He had a long tattered trench coat. A hood pulled over his head, masking his face.
The police moved closer, "Hey, buddy, put the hero down."
"Hero?" the figure said laughing, "This man is far inferior than anyone else."
"Ple-pl-," Superman muttered."
"Anyone who follows me dies," he said. In a flash they were gone.
Garfield Logan sat watching T.V
"Days after the terrible abduction of Superman, Batman has allegedly gone missing along with the Green Arrow and Wonder Woman. The question is: Who is stealing the heroes and where have they gone." The reporter said on the T.V.
Garfield leaned in close. "Holy -."