Fools, Cluez & Boom

In City A of Alpha

"What's taking them so long?! I'm ready to open up my big surprises. Did the clues I gave them hinder their progress that much?"

"Hmm, it's probably because of some pesky Dancer that got involved."

A big red magnifying glass popped into view of one hostage, a young boy stripped to only his underwear and tied up together with some other hostages.

"What is wrong with the police force these days? They don't have to look for clues, yet they've taken their time to find me."

Cluez complained and groaned with each passing moment. It was hard to contain his brilliant imagination when people were so ineffective.

"I wonder if that clue was so vague?"

He remembered the clues he'd sent the officers; they were certainly nice ones considering his history of giving clues. It went like this:

"To find me, don't forget to check your engine."

The man's powers weren't simple in the slightest, and though he had a few screws loose, his application of the strange Awakening earned him the infamy he'd never wanted but one that he deserved.

"I know something would definitely bust their engines after reading that clue out, but it shouldn't take so much time to consider an alternative."

The mad man stroked his mask and tried to think of reasons the police were late and why his script was falling apart, but apart from a few long shots, he got nothing.

"It doesn't matter to me anyway, I have a backup plan for everything!"

He soon realized that the police might know his location already, and staying there like salted fish wouldn't help him.

He left the skyscraper where he held the kids hostage and moved on to one of his backup locations. Since he was on the first floor (not the ground floor, mind you) of the skyscraper, there wasn't much attention to call.

Cluez took the children right through the front door and walked towards his "not-suspicious" black hover van. It was as if he didn't realize or didn't care about what people saw.

"Hey, can any of you drive?" The mad man questioned the children who were gagged and confused.

"Ah, f*ck it! I'll just wing it,"

After much effort, he threw the kids into the back of the van and made his way over to the front seat. Upon seeing the plethora of buttons, his mind went into auto-pilot and he pressed on the gas pedal immediately.

Nothing happened, making him wonder whether he accidentally 'clued' his own vehicle.

"Oops, I forgot to push the start button. Silly me!"

The villain pushed the button and laughed at his own goofiness. The next moment, the car thrashed around violently, crashing into buildings and vehicles alike.

Before he got a hang of it, his 'driving' had destroyed most of the hover vehicles and buildings in the area. Not long after, people came out to watch the drama unfold.

It was like his ordinary antics had become a comedy show on their own.

'Phew, luckily I bought the tinted glass one. I wonder why I bought this back then, I didn't even know how to drive. I still don't know how to drive.'

"Hey does anyone know who the driver is?"

"Some people only said they saw a suspicious-looking guy wearing a black and red mask enter the truck, they also said he dressed like Sherlock Holmes and was grabbing a few kids by a rope!"

"Bro, nobody asked for that much detail. But we should try to stop him, he might be some sort of slave trader!"

But before the observers could enact action, the clumsy villain had already found his way out of the demolished area before the police could catch up with him.

'Aw dammit, now I'm being hunted on two different ends. I don't hate it though.'

His driving was smooth, minus the times he crashed into things; some were not unintentional. He'd also receive the occasional, "Hey, watch it buddy!" or more rude things like, "Go f*ck yourself!", but those were only in situations he caused intentionally.

Most of the time, Cluez just sat at home plotting, he never knew how much fun running people off the road could be. This would for sure become one of his newest past times.

"I remember my old pal, Judgement. He was fun, a pity that he didn't like my actions and I always kept going to jail. But man, was he a spoilsport!"

Cluez continued his monologue with a smile hidden under his mask. But anyone that saw him would know there was a smile hidden just from his body language.

He reached the closest backup location fast (a warehouse, so innovative!); albeit much longer because of his detours, "Whoop, we're here kids. Come on, let's go,"

The children stared at him with wide eyes, unable to comprehend why he would do such cruel things. They were also too weak to move anymore; the combination of malnutrition and bad driving made them sick and nauseous.

"Hey, are you hungry? What do you want? A Big Nac, soda, a Koke? Name it, I'll order some right away."

The kids didn't dare speak and couldn't even speak in the first place, so they would go hungry that day.

"Come on, why so mute? I'm not some vicious or bloodthirsty criminal, I only want to leave a final mark before getting out of this city,"

"Don't worry, I'll definitely treat you guys to something good as soon as we get into the building," The coaxing was ineffective at first, but along with some extra promises and the occasional threat, all twelve of the hostages were in his hideout.

"I'll keep my promise and get you some food, maybe even some for myself. Chinese sounds lovely for such a day,"

He pulled out his communicator and opened some foodservice interfaces.

"Okay, two lime sodas, cause it's the best kind of soda there is and a three Big Nac; you guys will have to share though." He placed his orders and then turned to another interface featuring a vast selection of Chinese food.

"And for myself, I'll have a small bowl of rice and a touch of vegetable sauce. You guys don't mind, right? I always figured that you children liked junk food."

"But putting that aside, let's talk while we wait for the food," It was only then that he thought to remove the gags.

A boy yelled out as soon as Cluez removed the gag, "Why are you doing all this mister?!"

"Eh? What are you saying, should there be a reason for all this? If humans did everything with a predetermined thought in mind, then technology would have never advanced. And it is normal for humans to pre-plan and assume, but it shouldn't be that way.

When you see a red skull sign, you immediately assume it to be danger. And that is the kind of predetermined thought. You don't actually know whether it's dangerous, but you still avoid it, anyway."

The children couldn't understand what he was saying but had a vague sense of what he meant. It was like the case of Cluez's mask; although it was red and seemed dangerous, the guy wasn't so harmful when you spoke to him.

"Anyway, it's my turn. Have any of you Awakened? If you have, can you tell me what your Awakenings are?"

The children were hesitant to answer, but only 2 of them didn't have awakenings. The rest gave the names of their respective Awakenings to him.

"M-m-my Awakening is called Turtle Shell."

"Phase."

"Weighs paper."

"Clowning."

"Foxy."

"Covers."

"Boxed."

"Lightbulb."

"Sticky."

"Camouflage."

The children got braver after each exchange with Cluez, and the villain was very happy to keep them company.

"Wow, you have such nice Awakenings. I bet they haven't taught you much, because your leaders are cruel arses who refuse to acknowledge people that would rather be mundane than heroes,"

"So I'll teach you what exactly it means to be Awakened."

He taught them with cheerful outbursts. He wouldn't gain anything from teaching those children, after all, they were 10, what good would teaching them do for his life?

Midway through his teaching, the police forces smashed into windows and broke them down with full force, then surrounded him from all corners.

"Hands in the air Cluez, you're surrounded!"

"Hey, what the hell are you dogs doing? Don't you know you're interrupting this valuable lesson and taking away this wonderful experience from these children?!"

His words took them back, and for a moment they didn't understand where they were anymore.

"What the hell are you rambling on about? Give us the children or we will have to resort to the use of deadly force!"

Cluez took his focus off the children and towards the officer speaking.

"How do you know I don't have any demands?"

"Please, you can't bluff us Mr Cluez, we've studied you and all your patterns. You don't kidnap, you abduct!" The officer pointed at Cluez, knowing he'd figured it out already.

Cluez grabbed his mask and began laughing like more of a madman than all the other times he had laughed.

"So, you've figured me out. And it seems like I'll have to find a few weapons to survive this one!"