Chapter Twelve:
When A Superhero's Dad Gets Shot
Makerboy and Parker swung through Westside Inkopolis, keeping alert for trouble in the streets, and swooped over to a building near a street corner to rest from the web-slinging for a while.
It felt like the two Inklings had been at the spider stuff for hours, and a good recharge was in order.
Just then, Makerboy's senses went off like an alarm bell, again, and loud gunshots carried through the vicinity. Luckily, the green-haired super Inkling and his red-colored friend didn't feel any bullets hit them, but something was still going on.
In the moments after the gunshots, someone shrieked, and the two squids hopped off the roof to investigate what was going on. An Octoling shrieked for an ambulance, and a Jellyfish yelled for someone to get the police, and the two costumed Inklings headed towards the spot where they heard the sound of guns being fired.
Seconds later, an Inkling in a black-colored leather outfit ran past, and Makerboy picked up the smell of smoke emanating from a gun. He and Parker didn't give him any mind, despite the suspicion prompted by the Inkling, his appearance, and his behavior.
Both Spider-Squids hurried their way towards the spot where the sound of gunfire had came from, leading Makerboy and Parker to the parking lot of an Inkopolis grocery store, where the awaiting scene filled the green-haired Spider-Inkling with dread in his pounding heart the moment he saw it;
His father, Alejandro, was on the ground against the side of a car, clutching an inking shoulder wound while Elena, Makerboy's lavender-tentacled mother, eyes filled with terror, comforted her kind husband.
"No, no, NO!" Makerboy exclaimed.
"Dude!" Parker tried to intervene, "It'll be okay, don't blow your cover."
The green Inkling was already moving. He ran up to his father, even without moving the mask, and wound up startling his mother in the process. Elena backed away, staring at her son in the costume, and exclaimed, "Of all the inkiness! I'm capable of comforting him, and superheroes like you shouldn't be distressed seeing someone hurt."
"Sir." Makerboy asked his dad in his best superhero voice, "Who shot you?"
"Right when we got the groceries in the car..." Alejandro groaned, "That Inkling tried to take our vehicle, then he settled on my wallet. I tried to stop him, but... Cod, he had a gun..."
'Wait.' Makerboy thought, and he remembered the black-clad squid from earlier.
Moment by moment, the super-Inkling put the pieces together, and his Spider-Senses went off as they started acting like a criminal tracker while Makerboy's shock and worry for his father turned into anger.
"Wait here..." He told his parents.
"I have to get my husband home!" Elena exclaimed, "Why do we have to wait?!"
"Whoa! Partner! Where are you going?!" Parker yelled as he watched Makerboy get moving.
'I'll chase that bastard to the ends of Inkopolis if I have to.' The young superhero thought to himself as he flicked a web from his wrist.
Despite not being there to see the situation go down, and making an effort to catch the criminal sooner, Makerboy didn't take the idea of someone hurting his family too well. At least his father wasn't killed, but that criminal had to be brought to justice. Messing with the Maker family was never a good idea, given that Makerboy was a very capable fighter.
Even as he heard Parker calling out to him, Makerboy was in flight, leaving the scene of the shooting behind as he swung through the city once again.
The tan green-haired Inkling swooped over the sea of cars, and steered to the right onto an adjacent street while scanning the populace for the sign of Inkling Suspect #1. And, since that crook went for his father's wallet after not getting the car, Makerboy betted he had the wallet on him along with a couple of soup cans.
'He's on Marie Drive.' His Spider-Senses told him, 'Go left.'
And left it was.
Makerboy steered to the west, and flicked his wrist while swinging from a web past a Jellyfish computer office. He spotted someone in black down below on a sidewalk, recognizing from one of the protruding tentacles that it was an Inkling, and his eyes zeroed in.
'Bingo!' Makerboy thought, "HEY!"
Down below, the Inkling criminal turned to see Makerboy, also known as Spider-Inkling, coming after him, and let out a yelp. He dashed over to a parked motorcycle, kicked a Jellyfish off the seat, hopped on the seat, and ignited the engines before tearing across the street like a maniac.
Watching the criminal's desperate attempt to get away, Makerboy's eyes narrowed in a serious fashion. There was just no way that guy was going to escape justice, and not after the Spider-Inkling's father was hurt by him.
He flicked more webs from out of the wrist, spinning more vine-like web-lines and picked up speed, swooping towards the motorcycle just before the crook turned around with his gun, and started firing. The bullets streaked past the green-gray Spider-Inkling, missing him by inches, and people yelped in alarm. The chase was getting hotter by the moment...