QuickShot:
"Who are you?" I ask, keeping my bow and arrow trained on the masked man. The masked man, whoever he is, raises his hands. He keeps his hands up as he starts talking.
"My name is SharpShot."
"SharpShot?"
"Sounds like someone had a fan," Ms. Justice says, walking up to me. "Lower the bow, QuickShot. He's on our side. At least, I think he is."
Reaching out, Ms. Justice lowers my bow. As she does, I sigh and take out the arrow. Putting it back in my quiver, I look at the man again.
"Seriously. Who are you?"
"Again. My name is SharpShot, and your friend is right. I am on your side. I was trying to stop them, him, from robbing the store."
"Him," Ms. Justice repeats. "What do you mean by 'him' and not 'them'?"
Before "SharpShot" can answer, we hear screaming and turn around.
"What is going on?" JumpStart shouts, jumping and pointing at the ground. We see the people disappearing, one by one. The unconscious people on the ground, flash and turn into a strange purple silhouette before vanishing completely.
"What did you do!"
I turn around and try to grab SharpShot, but he counters, slapping my hands away before pushing me back. Using his speed, SpeedBlade catches me before I can fall.
"QuickShot!"
SpeedBlade helps me up before turning to SharpShot. Pulling out his sword, SpeedBlade starts walking toward him. SharpShot pulls out his blaster, but it's no use. Using his speed, SpeedBlade grabs SharpShot before he can fire. Pulling him in via his neck collar, SpeedBlade and SharpShot are now face to face.
"Don't," SpeedBlade warns.
"Relax. I wasn't."
SharpShot raises his blaster into the air, showing it to all of us, before dropping the magazine. The magazine hits the ground with a light thud, the noise echoing in my ears. SharpShot then throws his blaster away and puts his hands up again.
"I don't want to fight. I want to help the four of you."
"What?"
SpeedBlade turns to look at me. I look back at him. We turn to JumpStart, but he shrugs. Ms. Justice is the first person to do something.
She walks up to SpeedBlade and SharpShot and pulls them apart. After she does, Ms. Justice then grabs JumpStart and me, and we regroup in front of SharpShot.
"What is happening here?" Ms. Justice asks.
"Weirder thing I have ever seen," SharpShot starts. "At least, so far."
SharpShot then goes on to tell us that when he arrived at the scene, a bunch of people were running out of the store with their arms full of stolen goods. He pulled out his blasters, which had been modified with non-lethal rounds, and told them to stop. That was when it happened.
Apparently, someone nicknamed "Number" by SharpShot placed his hand on the wall and created a bunch of copies of himself. SharpShot tried to fight off the copies, but they overpowered him. That's when we came in.
"What do you mean he places his hand on the wall and 'created copies of himself'?" JumpStart asks.
"I'm telling you what I saw. He places his whole hand on the wall and...and...Wait, wait, wait. That's it!"
Slamming his hand on his head, SharpShot starts jumping. He jumps to the side and looks past us.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"It was the electricity! When Number placed his hand on the wall, the lights flashed on and off. Somehow, Number can create copies of himself by absorbing electricity, and when the copies are defeated, they turn back into electricity. Those copies didn't just vanish into thin air. They turned back into electricity and went into the ground."
"They went into the ground," SpeedBlade repeats.
"Yes. It's called being grounded. It's what happens when excess electricity is redirected into the ground."
Looking around again, SharpShot shakes his head.
"Considering all the copies are gone, and I don't see any more anywhere, the first, or original Number is gone. We have to stop him."
"We?" I repeat. "I'm sorry, but no."
"What?"
"What?" Ms. Justice also asks. "QuickShot, if what SharpShot said is true, then we could use the extra help."
"That's it. If what 'SharpShot' said is true. How do we know what this man said is true?"
"Well, for one." Ms. Justice starts, counting her fingers. "We just saw a whole group of people, all of them looking exactly the same. I mean, you can't get that even if you walk into a hall of mirrors. Two, the same group of people, all of them looking exactly the same, all vanished into the ground. Three, we all saw this man being attacked when we arrived. Four--"
"There's a fourth? No. Justice, no. Whether he's telling the truth or lying, this much I do know. We don't need him. The four of us can handle anything that comes our way."
I look at SharpShot as he lowers his hands.
"Thank you for the information, SharpShot, but I think we can handle the rest from here. Please, go home now."
"Go home? Are you kidding me?"
"I don't kid. Ms. Justice. SpeedBlade. JumpStart. Come on. Let's go and find this Number man."
SpeedBlade and JumpStart gather around me, but for some reason, Ms. Justice doesn't.
"Justice. Come on. Let's go."
Ms. Justice looks at me before turning to SharpShot.
"You guys go without us," Ms. Justice says all of a sudden. "We'll split up and cover more ground."
"Justice?"
Ms. Justice doesn't say anything. Instead, she grabs SharpShot's blaser and gives it to him.
"Come on. We'll head this way and keep an eye out for anything. If we do see anything, I'll give you a call."
Pulling out the walkie-talkie, Justice shakes it before leaving with SharpShot.
"Justice."
I reach out, but I don't grab anything. Instead, I just watch Justice's back as it gets smaller and smaller.
"Fine then. Go with him."
I turn around and walk away with my group. As we head for a sewer entrance, I hear JumpStart.
"Is it just me, or do you feel like something is really, really off here?"
"It's not just you," SpeedBlade answers.
"Okay. Thanks. I feel a little better."
"I can hear you!"
"And now I don't feel better."
SharpShot:
"I guess it's true what they said. Never meet your hero."
Ms. Justice turns to me as we walk over to my motorcycle.
"Never meet your heroes," Ms. Justice repeats. "What are you talking about?"
"I'll tell you some other time. For now, thank you for believing me."
"Don't worry about it. Besides, I know what I saw, and if this Number can really clone himself with electricity, then we're going to need the extra help. We're strong, but even the four of us can't take down four hundred people."
"Hopefully, it doesn't get to four hundred."
Hopping onto my motorcycle, I have to scoot up a little to make room for Ms. Justice.
"I hope you're not afraid of high speed."
"I hope you have a license."
Ms. Justice smiles and climbs on. For some strange reason, when Ms. Justice wraps her arms around my stomach, I feel my head getting hot. Shaking it, I kick off against the ground, and we zoom onto the street.
Number:
Laughing as I place my hand on another wall, I siphon as much electricity as I can from it. The sparks jump from my body before transforming into another me. One by one, I create a dozen new clones.
"Ahh..."
Dropping to one of my knees, my head aching, I shake it off before standing back up.
"That was an excellent test of my new power! Hahaha!"
I turn to my old clones and order them to put the loot down. Dropping all of it, the expensive televisions, computers, and everything else, my old clones mix with my new ones. Together, they begin shooting their arms into the air and cheering me on.
"They may have caught me by surprise," I start, looking at my new army, "But with these numbers, even the OutCasts won't beat me! No one can outnumber me!"
My army burst into applause. They jump, scream, and yell at the top of their lungs. They keep on cheering me until I raise my hand.
"Come, my army, for tonight, we go to the house of the wealthiest man in the whole city, and steal everything he has!"
My army cheers and inspires me.
"Famous painting! Lavish furniture! All within this man's mansion! I will be beyond rich! We will be beyond rich!"
I lead my army out of our warehouse, and altogether, we charge toward Mr. Rami's mansion.