Redefining Superman Part Eleven

Redefining Superman

Chapter 11

    Solar Eclipse remained hovering in the sky so far above the city that no one without the aid of a high-powered telescope could spot him. Down below, Ozzie Bunso was still slumped over the mailbox, catching his breath after a long, harrowing run. Suddenly the low-brained thug grabbed hold of the mailbox with his hands on either side of it. He pushed the box to his right, the metal feet scraping along the sidewalk it was supposedly bolted onto. Then he pushed the mailbox backwards only slightly and a portion of the sidewalk opened up. The thug leapt within the opening, triggering a switch that caused the sidewalk to close over him and the mailbox to move back into place.

"New development," the airborne hero called out over his communications device to the FBI agents listening. He quickly described what had transpired, but had yet to move from his position in the sky.

"Are you going down after him?" Meredith Montgomery, as liaison between the hero and her agency, inquired.

"Negative. At this point he believes he has successfully thrown off all tails. He has no way of knowing we still have eyes on him and can see him moving along beneath the street in an underground passageway.

"I think the real question here is how this passage came to be under the streets of this city and how this entryway was built without someone in City Engineering knowing about it? Maybe someone can check into this?  It could give us a lead into who this Crime Kingpin actually is and how he operates."

"Good advice," Meredith responded, knowing someone back at FBI HQ at the Federal Building was already busily tracking that information down.

"Hmmm," Eclipse hummed momentarily over the airwaves. "Our Rabbit has entered a spiral staircase and heading deeper into the ground. I think it's time I joined him, otherwise something could happen that I wouldn't be able to prevent in time."

"Go ahead," Meredith gave her approval, knowing her husband would follow his own gut instinct regardless of what anyone else thought, but also knowing having FBI approval would cover his "vigilante ass" in case something went wrong.

On the section of Eastern Drive where the mailbox sat, looking every bit as the normal repository of mail storage it presumably was, two FBI agents were trying in vain to reproduce the effect Bunso had in opening the concealed entrance. Unfortunately no amount of pressure on their part caused the mailbox to move to the side, let alone open the section of sidewalk.

"Condor, are you certain Rabbit pushed the mailbox to the right before pushing it back?" Meredith asked after hearing from the agents that the box was unresponsive to their efforts.

"Exactly as I previously reported," he affirmed, pausing in his descent to peer at the agents with his magni-vision. While he watched the mailbox suddenly exploded, the agents, still holding onto it, were sent hurtling backward, shrapnel imbedded within each one's front, both from the mailbox that was no longer in anything resembling large pieces and the bomb within the box that had been set for such an event.

"What was that?" Meredith had heard the explosion from outside the car she and Robertson were driving within, since they finally were just around the corner on Seventh Street from Eastern.

"That was the mailbox exploding," Eclipse confirmed as he changed directions and sped to the scene of the explosion. "Call an ambulance," he snapped even as he went to work to ensure these agents did not die before the EMTs could arrive on the scene.

Meredith was already dialing 9-1-1 for the ambulance requested as Robertson pulled up as close as he could get to the scene. The explosion had resulted in the traffic on Eastern being impeded as shrapnel spewed outward in all directions, striking people, cars and buildings. Some vehicles parked on the street were shoved by the force of the explosion into the path of oncoming vehicles that were forced to stop, further making it impossible for the FBI agents approaching to get any closer.

Solar Eclipse looked about him at the carnage and realized any ambulance sent out would be too late in getting to these agents in time to save their lives. The assignment he was on was an important one, but he made the snap decision that it wasn't nearly as important as saving the lives of the two FBI agents who had caught the brunt of the blast. Everyone else had been far enough away that they would have received only minor injuries; these two agents were seriously bleeding from internal wounds as well as external. He scooped the two agents up in his arms and shot into the air, heading toward the closest hospital, which he knew he could reach in a matter of seconds.

He dropped down outside the emergency entrance to the hospital and raced through the sliding doors almost faster than they could open. "Two seriously injured men caught in an explosion," he shouted out so everyone in the ER heard him clearly. "Internal and external wounds. Surgery needed stat!"

He relinquished the agents into the care of the hospital personnel who were already implementing every procedure possible to save the lives of these agents and before anyone could ask him anything pertinent to the explosion that had caused the injuries, was back out the door and streaking at sonic-speed back to Eastern Drive.

The first of the ambulances dispatched had just pulled up as close as the clustered traffic would allow and the EMTs were getting the necessary gear out so they could hurry over and find out what was needed in the way of emergency medical treatment.

"Where is Rabbit?" Meredith called out to him as Eclipse landed amidst the debris. "Can you still see him?"

Solar Eclipse stared at the ground, his head seemingly motionless. In reality he was scanning the underground chamber where he had last seen their target. "Negative," he spoke softly, but wasted no time in implementing his next move, which was to stomp on the section of sidewalk that had previously opened for Bunso. The concrete slab shattered under the impact and Eclipse leaped down into the now open cavern. As soon as he hit the ground he sped in the direction Bunso had gone and was at the spiral staircase seconds later.

He knew there was no way to fly down this staircase, not as tightly cramped as it had deliberately been made. Setting his feet onto the first rung Eclipse began descending the metal rungs as quickly as possible. Suddenly the staircase exploded similarly to the mailbox. All about him chunks of metal and concrete fell inward, burying him more than a hundred feet below street level where no one else could possibly get to him.