Second String

by Tom Howard

Snyder sat tied to the chair and tasted the drug they’d used to knock him out. His hands were tied behind his back too. No numbness. Medical grade knockout drops slipped into his drink. If he saw his captors’ faces, he might have a chance of escape.

Two men entered the room: one, a gray-haired man in an expensive suit, took a seat at the enormous desk, while another muscular one loomed beside Snyder.

“We’re aware of your abilities.” The gray-haired man nodded toward the thug. “As long as we keep an eye on each other, you can’t fool us.”

“What do you want?” Snyder asked. “I need to pee.” If he had been captured by someone he’d scammed in the past, why wasn’t he dead?

“Momentarily.” The man held a control fob. “We’ve placed a cyanide capsule in your neck. Tamper with it, and it will dissolve immediately when I press this. Do you understand?”

Snyder nodded, and Lucas unlocked the handcuffs. Snyder felt the capsule nestled behind his C1 vertebrae. Could he eject it fast enough to keep it from dissolving?

He didn’t stand when Lucas unlocked his feet. “What do you want?” he repeated.

“We need you for a special job, Shifter. May I call you Shifter?”

“Pay me enough, you can call me Aunt Petunia. Why threaten me with poison instead of writing a check?” From the size of the desk, a mighty big check.

The boss stood and pocketed the fob. “We need your team, Shifter. Someone stole plans for our new weapon. We want them back and we cannot go through regular channels.”

Ah, Rossi Technologies. Makers of the world’s top military weapons.

“I have information on the rest of your team,” Rossi said. “Tell me if they are available.”

Snyder didn’t like Rossi knowing the members of his team.

“First is Wraith.” Rossi lowered a screen from the ceiling and pressed buttons on his desk. “Able to turn into vapor. Locks are laughable to her. A good resource for this mission.”

Wraith stared at them from the screen, her hair in disarray, dark circles under her eyes. 

“Crazy as a loon,” Snyder said. “Easily distracted.”

Rossi moved onto an image of a dark-haired man in a black costume. “Shadow Man. Can transport from one shadow to another. Again, handy as doors pose no problem for him.”

“Doing ten years for breaking and entering a government installation.” Snyder crossed his legs. “They keep him in a room with the lights on. No shadows.”

“Vibra, inventor and genius.” A pretty brunette appeared on the screen, smiling in a laboratory smock.

“The background is staged,” Snyder said. “Her lab is a pigpen. Wears a fancy exo-suit.”

“But she can vibrate through things?” Rossi asked.

“Ask the empty safe deposit boxes at First National. She’s fine as long as her suits’ circuits don’t fry when she’s halfway through something.”

 “Micro, the Incredible Shrinking Man.” Rossi started a video showing someone disappearing and crawling out of the pile of clothes as a doll-sized man. “I thought he was a publicity stunt.” 

“He prefers to be called Incredible.” A pain in Snyder’s ass, the miniature man was handy. “Thank God for super-spandex. Awkward being naked whenever you shrink or grow.”

Lucas looked at him. “What do you do with your clothes when you become someone else?”

Snyder changed his attire and wore a clown suit, complete with a white ruffle and oversized shoes. “I never wear clothes. This is my skin.”

“Disgusting,” Lucas said.

“And that leaves you.” Rossi pressed another button. Faces flashed on the screen: young, old, male, female, black, white. “The ringleader.”

“I pick my own associates.” Why he’d been straddled with these losers, he didn’t know. At least the bosses had put him in charge. 

Snyder changed into a blonde woman from a photo on Rossi’s desk.

The man ignored Snyder’s transformation. “I assumed you’d want the best. You may use whomever you wish, but I insist Lucas be included.” He showed a video of Lucas. The tall bodyguard stood alone in a parking lot. He raised his arms, and lightning shot from his hands. The cars around him detonated.

Snyder arched an eyebrow at Lucas. “How long do we have?”

“The capsule dissolves at sundown tomorrow,” Rossi said. “The plans you and your team need to retrieve are in an underground facility.”

Snyder rubbed the sore spot at the back of his neck. “I’ll need to contact my team.”

“And Lucas?” Rossi asked.

Snyder decided. “He’ll do if he can follow orders.”

“He will,” Rossi said. “Tell him where to meet the others.”

#

Vibra held an open metal bracelet and worked on the circuitry inside. Her hand blurred. “Are you insane? The big boys will skin us alive.”

She was correct, but Snyder had no time to go through proper channels. He should have been one of the big shots, and not baby-sitting these second stringers. “Lucas will arrive within the hour. I want to have a plan before he gets here.”

“But we’re not supposed to actually do heists,” Ghost Girl standing nearby said. “We’re pretending to be bad guys to snag people who employ us. We’re heroes.” Her pale hair shimmered in the dim light of their warehouse headquarters. “I can’t remove the capsule.”

Snyder suspected as much. From a magical dimension, only half of her survived the journey. She became solid by concentrating but generally remained in her wispy out of phase condition. Another loser.

The Incredible Shrinking Man, six inches tall, perched on the corner of the table. “Are these the only floor plans?”

Snyder studied the sheets of paper spread on the table. “Yes. I’m guessing Mr. Rossi paid dearly for them. The underground facility looks unusual.”

“It resembles a submarine,” Vibra said. “It has hatches and double walls.”

“Will Lucas be helpful?” Incredibly asked.

“Not with infiltration,” Snyder said. “His electric powers will be useful if we run into heavy opposition.” He described the video he’d seen in Rossi’s office. “The fact I didn’t wear clothes freaked him out.”

“So say we all.” Vibra’s hand reappeared. She closed her bracelet and returned her tiny tools to her belt.

“Oh, no,” Ghost Girl moaned. “This means I’m wearing that awful Wraith face. It makes me look terrible.”

“Sorry,” Snyder said. She had the ability to rearrange her ectoplasmic features temporarily. “We must be meaner to one another. No helping comrades where Lucas can see. We’re supposed to be hardened criminals.”

“He’s early,” Vibra said. “He’s triggered the silent alarms.”

Incredible stepped onto the map. “All this trouble for a weapon? I don’t believe it.”

 “You’re here to follow orders and get the job done,” Snyder said. Ordering people around was not his style, but he wanted Lucas to hear him.

Lucas entered the warehouse, wearing a black shirt and black pants. Snyder made introductions. Ghost Girl wore her Wraith face, Vibra scowled, and Incredible bowed.

“I’m not here to interfere,” Lucas said. “Tell me what you want me to do.”

Snyder doubted that, but he explained their plan to break in at night through a secondary tunnel.

“Do you have a codename?” Snyder the Shifter asked the large bodyguard. “Or do we call you Electrifying Lucas?”

“Lucas will be fine. I’ll disable the alarms and take out security. There will be more adversaries this time.”

Snyder caught that. “This time? You’ve been inside before?”

When Lucas hesitated to answer, Wraith looked at him. “You lost people, didn’t you?”

Lucas frowned. “We don’t need to discuss it. These plans show what we discovered the last two times we tried reaching the target.”

“Two times!” Snyder stood. “Nice of Rossi to tell us. What is so important he wasted lives to obtain it? Surely, not plans for a tank or fighter.”

Lucas ignored Snyder’s inquiry. “Do you have questions about the underground facility?” 

“Why does it have bulkheads and hatches?” Vibra asked. “Is it a bunker?”

“I don’t know,” Lucas said. “We tried the secondary entrance without success. They have superhuman protectors, fast and strong. They tore us apart.”

“Damn Rossi!” Not difficult to act like a bad guy if the man who hired them hadn’t told them the potential dangers.

“Any good news, handsome?” Incredible asked Lucas.

He shook his head. “I don’t have Snyder’s fob. I’m carrying my own capsule.”

Wraith zoomed behind Lucas and stuck her face inside his neck. “He’s correct. Same configuration. What kind of employment contract do you have?”

“I do what he says, and I don’t die. That’s the contract.”

“Plan B,” Snyder said. “We’ll make our own entrance. There’s an underground river beneath the facility. We’ll enter the structure from underneath.”

“How?” Vibra asked. “None of us can breathe underwater or tunnel through rock.”

Snyder grew gills, and his hands elongated into claws. “I’ll tow the rest of you through the water and dig us a new entrance. Find me the shortest route.”

The others, including Lucas, suggested points of access, some with less water to traverse and several with less earth. Selecting a spot, Snyder assigned positions. “Inside, Wraith will go first with Vibra and Lucas behind her. Incredible, full-sized and armed, will help me guard the rear.”

“Casualties, boss?” Incredible asked.

“Only as many as necessary,” Snyder said. “Our goal is to get in and out with the plans. I’ll crack the safe.” He expanded his right ear to demonstrate.

“I’ll create a sack to tow us through the water.” Vibra scowled at Snyder. “It better not turn into a body bag.”

He scowled back. “Afraid of water?”

“No. Of dying.”

Lucas frowned and sat for the first time. 

Wraith patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. You won’t lose this team.”

“How long do you need for the tow sack, Vibra?” Snyder asked. “It need only hold three. Wraith can come with me.”

“Give me an hour in my workshop,” Vibra said.

“Good,” Snyder said. “Incredible, show Lucas the armory. He’ll know which weapons would be most useful against their security.”

Lucas stood. “Do you have crosses and holy water?”

#

They entered the river several miles upriver. Floating in the current with Wraith beside him, Snyder towed Vibra, Lucas, and miniaturized Incredible to the point they’d selected. Vibra’s transparent bag held oxygen masks and energy pistols.

Extending eight arms to grip the rock above him, Snyder signaled for Wraith to see what awaited. He found a wide crack and clouded the water when he shoveled the dirt away. He encountered a metal plate overhead.

Snyder removed a silent explosive charge from his belt and placed it where Wraith indicated. He sank into the water alongside the others, and a flash turned the water orange.

Using the lip of the sack as a plug, he pulled Vibra, Lucas, and Incredible into a storage closet in the facility basement.

“Excellent, Wraith,” Snyder said. “Is everyone okay?”

They all nodded and checked their gear.

“Lucas, where are we?” Snyder asked.

“I don’t know. We didn’t come this way.” He reached into the sack and withdrew several wooden stakes he’d fashioned in Vibra’s workshop. He tucked them into his belt.

“Do you think we’ll need those?” Incredible returned to his normal size and took a stake along with a pistol.

“Wraith,” Snyder said, “find us a control room or vault, somewhere they’re likely to keep stolen plans. We’ll follow.”

Wraith nodded and floated through the door. Vibra opened it.

The walls of the corridor were gray with a slight shimmer to them. A strip of overhead lights led to an open hatch at the end of the corridor.

“Nothing ahead,” Wraith’s voice said. “I’m going to the left.”

The corridor split after the hatch, but no one suggested they separate. Snyder signaled them left.

Wraith swooped toward them, wispy tatters trailing her half-formed figure. “Someone’s coming. Have the stakes ready.”

Snyder’s squad stopped in surprise at the sight of the three figures. The strangers were tall, pale, and fanged. Their gray outfits shimmered like the walls.

“Vampires are real?” Snyder asked.

One stumbled with his head enshrouded in fog as Wraith attacked. Vibra placed her hand on the next man, and he collapsed. Lucas grabbed the third one. The man shook with an electric charge and fell to the floor. 

Snyder and Incredible stunned the ones still conscious, and Wraith solidified. Maybe they weren’t all losers.

“They’re not vampires.” Vibra scanned them with one of her devices. “They’re aliens.”

“And this facility,” Wraith added, “is their ship.”

Snyder pointed his pistol at Lucas. “What is going on? We’re not here to retrieve plans for a tank, are we?”

“No. Rossi wants the ship. He captured one of the aliens and learned about it. They’re invaders.”

“This is not what we signed up for.” Snyder and the others jumped when a siren cut through the ship. The sound of running feet filled the corridor. “Back out the way we came.”

“We’re cut off,” Wraith said. “Take the corridor to the right.”

Snyder led the way down an empty hallway. The overhead lights flashed green. He tried to recall the schematics of the facility but couldn’t place their location on the map.

Opening an unlocked hatch, he slipped inside and gestured for the others to follow. The cabin was empty except for columns of light extending from the floor to the ceiling. Inside each pillar of light was an alien figure.

Vibra moved forward. “What is this? A morgue?”

Wraith floated through the room, examining each column’s occupant. “It appears to be. They look so solemn.”

“Are these fatalities from your earlier attempts?” Snyder asked Lucas. “How many of their crew did you kill?”

“I’m not sure. They have twice the strength of a human. They didn’t need weapons. They ripped us apart with their bare hands.”

“And you slaughtered them,” Vibra said. “The aliens we’ve encountered weren’t armed.”

Lucas scowled. “We had orders to shoot on sight.”

“What was your real target?” Snyder asked.

“The control room.” Lucas looked around. “This isn’t it.”

“Let’s go,” Snyder said. “Wraith, lead the way.”

She took them down a corridor to a large chamber. When they entered what appeared to be engineering, they found a half-dozen aliens working on a massive piece of equipment, dismantling sections of blackened machinery.

The aliens clustered together as Snyder and the others raised their weapons.

“Wait!” Vibra studied the machinery the aliens worked on. “They’re not invading. They’re shipwrecked. This looks like their main drive.”

“That is correct,” an alien said. “We want to return home, but our engines were damaged and many of our people were killed when our power source exploded.”

“An artificial sun is your power source?” Vibra walked to the machine and examined it. “Dangerous stuff. Far beyond our technology.” 

She was smart, thought Shifter. What was she doing in this group of under-achievers? She could have been a headliner.

“We hoped your scientists would help us, but when we approached someone, they tried to steal our technology.”

“Rossi,” Lucas said.

“There are other power sources,” Vibra said. “We can help you return home.”

“How?” the man asked.

“Our friends are powerful. They will provide alternatives,” Snyder said. He had no idea how he’d explain this to the bosses, the world’s greatest superheroes, but they were responsible for alien contact. His undercover espionage squad was out of their depth.

“No,” the alien said. “We have studied your society. You eliminate those who are different.”

Snyder smiled and extended four arms, Vibra blurred her entire body, and Incredible grew to his normal height. 

“Everyone here is different,” Snyder said. “We will help you.”

Vibra returned to her solid form. “We’ll move your ship into orbit and provide an alternate power source.”

“You speak for your planet?”

Snyder absorbed his extra arms. “Yes. And we’ll deal with the man who tried to steal your technology.”

The alien bowed. “We are grateful.”

“Let me make a call,” Snyder said and reached for his phone.

“You’re not criminals!” Lucas lifted his blaster. “This is a setup.”

Snyder smiled. “We’re the good guys. You and your boss are going to be cellmates.”

He spouted a canine nose and sniffed Lucas. “Did you know dogs have 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses?”

“What has that to do with anything?”

“My nose detects the presence of the almond scent of cyanide in the capsule in my neck.”

“So?”

“I don’t smell cyanide in your capsule.”

Lucas scowled. “This weapon is not set on stun.”

Vibra laughed. “Go ahead. Shoot him. I designed these weapons. They are useless against my friends and me.” She raised her own weapon, and Lucas pulled the trigger once.

It didn’t fire, and he raised his hand to launch a lightning bolt at Vibra.

She shot him in the chest, and Lucas dropped unconscious to the floor. “However, our weapons work fine on you.” 

Snyder finished his call with the big guys and reported to the others. “The first string is on their way. I don’t think they could have done a better job. Anyone besides me need to visit our medical center before sundown?”

“No.” Wraith expanded into a gray fog. When the cloud condensed, Ghost Girl stood on the deck.

“You are different,” the alien said.

Snyder smiled at his teammates. “You have no idea.”   

THE END

Tom Howard

Tom Howard is a science fiction and fantasy short story writer living in Little Rock, Arkansas. This story is part of his Superworld series (available on Amazon) based on tales he told his four children when they were young. Shifter and his unlikely gang of heroes exist on a planet where most people are super, and they’re proud to be on the B-list. Always fun to write about the underdog.