Who’s the kid?

I settled into the hero role and the years of adventures slipped by.

I faced a host of enemies from jet skiing bank robbers to shape-shifting royals. I even faced down a time travelling rocker hell bent on kidnapping Elvis Presley.

One of the most evil was a serial killer who called himself the Stranger. For months London was in a grip of terror.

The press had jumped on it and named him Jack the new Ripper.

He had slashed a bloody mark across the cold streets. Me and the Chief tried everything we could to catch him. But he was always cleverer, quicker and just plain luckier than us.

Then destiny took a turn and out from the night as I did one of my patrols stepped Firefly a fourteen-year-old kid who wanted to be nothing else but a hero like me.

I wasn't sure what to do or say. But in the end, we talked. It turned out he was an orphan. His parents had been killed during the war. And every night in the orphanage he dreamed of giving some payback to the bad guys.

Yet even with all that said I could see something in his eyes. He meant what he said. He might have been only fourteen but he was nobody's fool.

Then destiny stepped in again. I had installed a police radio in my car. Suddenly it fired into life. "The Stranger suspect spotted in the British museum."

"We could be there in 5 minutes in your car." Firefly said. "I know a short cut."

Inside my head I tossed a mental coin. Heads I bring him, tails he comes with me. 5 minutes later we really were skidding up to the museum.

The whole place was swarming with police. The Chief was waiting for me. "Who's the kid?" He asked.

Firefly, as I was soon to find out, was quicker than he looked. "I'm his new partner, name's Firefly. So, Chief where's our bad guy to."

The Chief gave me a sideways glance.

Somewhere deep in my heart I felt the Dirty Desperadoes give a cheer of defiance. What the hell I thought. No guts no glory. "The kid's with me Chief." I said.

"Right ok." The Chief said. "This freak or monster or whatever the hell you want to call him is inside. Turns out a woman he attacked wasn't that much of a push over. In fact, she holds a third Dan in Karate."

The Chief took his gun out. "Witness reported last time she saw him he was running inside the museum. That was 15 minutes ago."

The kid looked at me and said. "I can do this."

We stepped inside the dark museum and fanned out. I'd forgotten how big the place was.

"Firefly." I whispered. "Stick with me." I saw him look at my guns. I shook my head. "No chance you having one kid, you're lucky you got this far."

Slowly we made our way through the massive rooms.

"Look." Firefly whispered and pointed to a wall full of swords. "One of them is missing."

Then from above we heard the sound of singing.

"Gee this guy's crazier than a full moon." Firefly said.

Then very quickly a sword was placed to my neck. From the darkness a voice calmly said. "No young man, I'm perfectly sane. But I take it you both did not know the museum now houses a large record section above."

The blade then pressed against my skin. "A perfect distraction, don't you think Darknight?" The stranger as he pressed the blade harder. "Now put the guns down slowly before I chop your head off."