THIRTY-FIVE

Hank hated lying to Katie’s mom. He couldn’t tell Marjorie the truth however. They were searching the house for Katie. Hank would have loved to tell Marjorie her daughter was off with The Athlete, trying to save the city. It felt wrong to disclose Katie was secretly Invulnergirl though. So he had to play along and pretend he was as surprised as Marjorie was that Katie’s wasn’t there.

“I’m really worried,” Marjorie said as she crashed on the couch. “This is nothing like Katie. And with The Red Raider and his goons running amok anything could have happened to her.”

Her husband agreed, “It’s very strange indeed. I’m going to get the car and search the city.”

“Shouldn’t we just call the police?” Hank suggested. He didn’t want Katie’s dad to risk his life in the city with all the supervillains there now.

“They’re too busy fighting The Red Raider,” Marjorie said. “Finding my baby won’t be much of a priority.”

“Isn’t it dangerous to go into the city now?” Hank asked.

Katie’s dad nodded. “Oh, I’m pretty sure it’s very dangerous out there. Exactly the reason I need to head into the city. If my Katie is there, I need to get her away from there.”

“Exactly,” Marjorie said. “I’m going to join you.”

Hank started to understand where Katie had gotten her bravery from.

“All right,” Katie’s dad said. “We should probably gather some weapons. Get some kitchen knives.”

“There’s also a hockey stick and a baseball bat we can use,” Marjorie said.

“Those don’t really sound effective against machine guns and superpowers,” Hank said.

“It’s all we’ve got,” Marjorie said.

They loaded the trunk of the car with their makeshift weapons and drove off. Katie’s dad was driving, Marjorie was sitting next to him. Hank was in the backseat.

Hank wondered where exactly Katie was at the moment. If she only could gave her mom a call and tell them she was okay or something. Now they were heading right into a warzone.

The closer the car came to the city center the louder the sirens were. Flames were coming from some stores. Half of the windows were broken. People were running across the streets like crazy. Some were panicking, others were looting. Armed thugs were stealing the shopkeepers blind. Instinctively Hank ducked when he saw two policemen in a firefight with two bad guys in front of a jewelry.

“It’s even more terrible than I thought,” Marjorie said. “The bad guys are everywhere. At this state there’s no store unrobbed or building left unharmed. It’s a nightmare. Where are the superheroes? Where’s the F.S.H.R.?”

As if on cue a futuristic helicopter flew past them.

“There they are,” Hank said. He could see two armed F.S.H.R. men stand in the doorway of the helicopter, ready to take action.

A loud FWHOOOOOOSH could be heard. Hank spotted one of the Red Raider’s henchmen carrying a rocket launcher in the middle of the street. The rocket he had just fired hit the helicopter. A loud explosion… The helicopter started to spin and came crashing down.

“Watch out!” Hank yelled.

Katie’s dad was just able to steer away from the crashing helicopter. It hit the ground with a loud thud, and exploded. Fragments flew through the air, a big piece of metal crashing through the front windshield. Katie’s dad and Marjorie ducked just in time or else they would have been decapitated. The piece of metal came to a stop when it lodged itself in the backseat, right next to Hank.

Hank wished Invulnergirl was there to help them.