Just For One Day

15

      I stared in disbelief at my phone. I had forgotten to take it off of vibrate mode last night, which I usually put it on when I step out to fight crime, and so had missed a call. I heard it vibrate a little later when it registered that I had a voice message. 'Replay voicemail?' it said in a little textbox. I clicked yes for the third time, just to confirm that I wasn't dreaming.

     "Hey there, champ." It was Meteor, but he sounded different somehow. Kind of like all his energy had been drained. I wondered if he had gotten any sleep. "This will probably be the last phone call I ever have, and I'm glad it's with you." Here he took a breath. I began to feel a little scared. "For the past four years, you've been my stalwart companion, and a great friend as well. You've been the yin to my yang. The knife to my fork. The mashed potatoes to my fried chicken. And we were a force to be reckoned with! Together we fought our way through more villains than I could keep track of, and we did grander things than I could have ever done on my own. I know in my heart that someday we would have made the big leagues.

     I'm about to do something crazy dangerous, chum, and I've got to do it alone. There's more afoot here than I thought, and it means that everything is at stake. Knowing the man whose name DeLuge said last night...I do mean everything. I can't let you risk it all. I've never come up against a single other villain who is as ambitious, motivated, and downright despicable as Ranvier. Every time we've clashed in the past, his schemes had escalated; become more twistedly brilliant. Well, okay, there was this one time with ebola mosquitoes, and that wasn't such a great plan...but that's beside the point. I don't know how he got out of prison, but I do know one thing: he'll be coming for me, and he's had years to plan his attack. I won't lie to you...I probably won't make it out alive. But I won't have a chance if I don't take the fight to him. If you don't hear from me, you'll know what happened. And in that event...well, I'll be looking down on you from the mighty halls of Valhalla, saying 'that's my partner! That's my hero'." There was a pause. "I'm proud of you, Jake. Go be the hero that I know you are."

     My legs suddenly felt very weak and I stumbled backward. The backs of my knees hit a chair and I sat down heavily, too stunned to speak. I lost track of how long I sat staring at the floor, unsure of what to do. I felt like my head was stuffed with cotton, blocking all of my thoughts.

     This must have something to do with what DeLuge said last night. There was something that Meteor wasn't telling me, and whatever it was, it was enough to make him think the situation was dire. And if Meteor thought the situation was dire, then it was seriously bad news. I had to do something. I couldn't just let my best friend go to his doom without giving everything that I've got to help him. But what could I do? I had no idea where he was going or what he planned to do once he got there. I knew nothing about Ranvier, or Meteor's past, or even how to be a superhero on my own. Planning the escapades had always been Meteor's job. How was I supposed to do this without him?

     How was I supposed to do this at all?

     I needed to stop panicking and think. There must be something that I could do; some lead that I could follow to figure out Meteor's plan and show him that I wasn't afraid to take some lumps in the name of justice.

     Think, think...

     Meteor talked about how he and Ranvier had fought in the past. The way he said it made it sound like they were archenemies. Anyone who had been active long enough to make a constant enemy out of Meteor would have to have some headlines, so the best place to start would be the internet.

     I booted up my laptop. It was a new model; one that I couldn't really afford, but my hand was forced as my old laptop hadn't survived what I now thought of as 'the frisbee incident'. Pulling up a search engine, I typed in 'Ranvier supervillain'.