BALL

Jase woke up the next morning, his night spent swinging through the city having agitated his wounds even further. Jase had spent the rest of the night, barring two hours of rest so his parents wouldn't notice him gone, finalizing his plan on how to end Dick. First step of the plan: skip school and head to the alleyway.

Jase found a perch to wait for Dick to enter the alleyway.

He didn't plan to murder him, though; he wanted to ruin this bully's life. He had his phone ready to record everything Dick did that day. Any crime would be well documented by the time Jase brought the recording to the police. To add insult to the injuries Jase hoped to cause Dick,

In the meantime, Jase tried out his powerfists, and he took a small bag of tools with him to make adjustments while he waited for Dick.

He tried a simple punch against a brick wall. He swung his fist and right as he made contact with the wall; the hydraulics extended and struck the wall with power, leaving a few bricks completely crumbled and a plume of red dust rising from the rubble. He swung again, putting a sizable hole in the wall.

BLAM!

His swing crushed a part of the wall again, picturing the six thugs that had attacked him.

He started to feel like he was fighting Dick already, unleashing a series of wild and reckless swings. He swung again and again until he eventually faltered from exhaustion.

He sat down on the ledge and waited for the time to spring his ambush; he crouched a little as he had inhaled a lot of dust from the now-destroyed bricks.

Jase opened his phone to find a text from Hal.

- - -

HAL

-Can we meet up man?

HAL

-I gotta show you something.

JASE

-Alright, I'll meet up later, I need to do something first

- - -

He closed his phone again and stared down at the alleyway; it was where all this started, and it was how he would finish it.

Jase spotted the man of the hour waltzing down the street as though he owned the neighborhood.

Dick simply opened his pocket and took out his vape. He leaned against the wall and took a couple hits, occasionally holding the nub that used to be his ear.

Jase watched him intently; after all, this is the person he's going toe-to-toe with once again, with his previous attempt still at the forefront of his mind.

Jase watched from his perch for hours, as did Dick. Dick was waiting for Jase to appear, and Jase was waiting for Dick to let his guard down and do something worth reporting before he intervened.

About an hour had passed since Jase usually walked by. Dick simply walked out of the alleyway; it made sense in his head that his usual victim was still off licking his wounds.

Dick slunk down the street, glancing at every purse he saw and every pocket that bulged; he was always looking to worm his way into someone's savings.

Dick eventually sat on a bench across the street from a large, two-story blue house. He placed his bag on the ground next to him and took out his phone. For a moment, Dick seemed like a regular, upstanding citizen.

Jase studied his target, attempting to understand Dick's train of thought.

'Why did he choose this house?'

As the sun began to set and the sky darkened, the reality of where he was struck him. He was on the nicer side of town, only a few blocks down from Hal's house. Jase was beginning to put the puzzle pieces together in his head.

He watched as Dick stood up and walked across the street; Dick's intent was clear—he was going to rob this home.

'How long has he been planning this?' pondered Jase.

Jase stood up from his perch and attempted to zip over to the house.

It went surprisingly well for Jase; he only botched his landing and this time managed to fall onto his side for a faster recovery.

"Smooth" he whispered, while still keeping some stealth about him. He crouched down so he could remain unseen as he sat perched on the second-story ledge of this home.

Dick quickly knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

With that, he waited a few seconds before kicking it in. With the door now freed from its hinges, Dick walked into the house. He removed his seemingly empty bag from his shoulders.

Instantly the brute searched for valuables he could shove into his bag; meanwhile, Jase had happened upon an unlocked window he used to slip inside quietly.

Once inside, Jase took out his phone and pressed record.

Jase was in what seemed to be a children's room, covered with pictures of cowboys and spacemen, with a race car bed to match. The floor was covered with toys and dirty laundry.

Downstairs, he could hear Dick seemingly digging through silverware as Jase creeped through the cluttered room, careful not to make a sound.

He needed to get downstairs and get footage of Dick; catch him red-handed.

As he stepped towards the already open door to the child's room, his foot made contact with a large rubber ball, which slowly rolled out of the door. Jase took a sigh of relief.

'It didn't hit anything, we're all good' thought Jase.

As Jase finally left the room, he saw the ball. It had perched itself right atop the staircase leading down to where Dick was in the kitchen.

One false move, and the ball would alert Dick of his position.

Jase chuckled in his mind, careful not to make a sound.

The situation was quite funny; it was quite possible that a rubber ball could ruin his plan to catch Dick in the act of a crime.

Dick moved through the house with purpose; he had clearly done this before and was highly experienced in home burglaries.

His movement around the bottom floor of the house almost seemed like part of the most optimal route possible to find anything valuable in the house, as he quickly swept every room the first floor had to offer.

Jase continued his slow trek for what felt like miles to move what was actually just twenty feet.

As he neared the ball, he saw it teetering on the edge of falling.

Jase was again tempted to chuckle out loud. It was why he always lost at hide and seek with his dad as a child; he never could keep in those laughs.

That's exactly what happened here.

"HA!" chortled Jase before he quickly covered his mouth in fear of what he had done.

As if with a will of its own, the ball finally decided on its course of action. In a flash, the ball, as though it had its own pair of feet, clomped its way down the stairs.

The sound of Dick rustling through this family's belongings stopped.

"WHO THE FUCK IS UP THERE!?" Dick's voice cracked a little; he was scared.

His "guy" gave him a hot tip that this house would be empty, and now it seemed as though someone was home.

He could go to jail for this, or worse, the homeowner could defend themselves.

Dick decided to go upstairs as fast as he could to hush up any witnesses before he made his retreat. He grabbed a nearby tablecloth and tied it around his face.

Jase panicked and scurried over to a nearby closet before shutting himself in.

Once upstairs, Dick ran into the master bedroom and hastily left with a pair of keys and a handful of jewelry.

Jase heard Dick's footsteps as he ran by, the moon now providing only a little illumination for the hallway through the windows.

From the garage below, the sound of a car engine started, echoing through the vacant home.

Jase climbed out the window into the brisk night air and shot a grapple into the distance, hurrying after the blue sedan retreating down the street.