25 - Attack of the Mutant (7 page)

I didn’t get a chance to find out. The elevator started with a jolt before I
pushed any button at all.

I grabbed on to the railing. My hand was cold and wet. The elevator hummed as
it rose.

I’m going up, I realized. Up to where?

The ride seemed to take forever. I watched the floor numbers whir by on top
of the control panel. Forty… forty-one… forty-two… The elevator
beeped each time it passed a floor.

It came to a stop at forty-six. Was this the top floor?

The door slid open. I let go of the railing and stepped out.

I glanced down a long, gray hallway. I blinked once. Twice. It looked as if I
had stepped into a black-and-white movie. The walls were gray. The ceiling was
gray. The floor was gray. The doors on both sides of the hall were gray.

It feels like I’m standing in a thick, gray fog, I thought, peering one way,
then the other. Or in a dark cloud.

No one in sight. Nothing moving.

I listened hard. Listened for voices, for laughter, for the click and hum of
office machinery.

Silence—except for the thudding of my heart.

I shoved my cold, clammy hands into the pockets of my jeans and began to
walk, slowly following the hallway.

I turned a corner and stared down another endless, gray hallway. The end of
the hall seemed to fade away, to fade into a gray blur.

I suddenly remembered the drawings in the newest issue of
The Masked
Mutant.
A big, two-page drawing had shown the long hallways of The Masked
Mutant’s secret headquarters.

The long, twisting hallway in the comic book looked just like this hallway—except that the comic book hallway had bright green walls and a yellow ceiling.
And the rooms were filled with costumed supervillains who worked for The Masked
Mutant.

As I slowly made my way through this gray, empty hallway, I had a weird
thought. Everything looked so gray and washed out, I had the feeling that I was
in a sketch of a hallway. A black-and-white pencil drawing that hadn’t been
filled in yet.

But, of course, that didn’t make any sense at all.

You’re just thinking crazy thoughts because you’re so scared, I told myself.

And then I heard a noise.

A hard, thumping sound. A bump.

“Whoa!” I whispered. My heart leaped up to my throat. I stopped in the middle
of the hall. And listened.

Bump. Thump.

Coming from up ahead. From around the next corner?

I forced myself to walk. I turned the corner. And gasped at the bright
colors.

The walls down
this
hallway were bright green. The ceiling was yellow.
The thick carpet under my sneakers was a dark, wine-red.

Bump. Bump. Thump.

The colors were so bright, I had to shield my eyes with one hand.

I squinted to the end of the hall. The green walls led to a closed yellow
door. The door had a metal bolt against the front.

Thump. Thump.

The sounds were coming from behind the bolted doorway.

I made my way slowly down the hall to the doorway.

I stopped outside the bolted door. “Anyone in there?” I tried to call into
the room. But my voice came out in a choked whisper.

I coughed and tried again. “Anyone in there?”

No reply.

Then, another loud bumping sound. Like wood thumping against wood.

“Anyone in there?” I called, my voice a little stronger.

The thumping sounds stopped. “Can you help me?” a man’s voice called from
inside the room.

I froze.

“Can you help me?” the man pleaded.

I hesitated for a second. Should I try to help him?

Yes.

I raised both hands to the metal bolt. I took a deep breath and shoved the
bolt with all my strength.

To my surprise, it slid easily.

The door was unlocked. I turned the handle and pushed the door open.

I stumbled off-balance into the room and stared in amazement at the figure
staring back at me.

“You—you’re
real
?” I cried.

His cape was twisted, and his mask had rolled down over one eye. But I knew I
was staring at The Galloping Gazelle.

“You’re really
alive
?” I blurted out.

“Of course,” he replied impatiently. “Untie me, kid.” He gazed toward the
open door. “You’d better hurry.”

I realized that his powerful arms and legs were tied to the chair. The
thumping and bumping had been the sounds of his chair banging against the floor
as he had tried to escape.

“I—I can’t believe that you’re here!” I cried. I was so amazed—and so
frightened—I didn’t know what I was saying!

“I’ll give you my autograph later,” he said, his eyes still on the doorway.
“Just hurry, okay? We’ve got to get out of here. I don’t think we have much
time.”

“T-time?” I stammered.

“He’ll be back,” The Galloping Gazelle murmured. “We want to get to him before he gets to
us,
right, kid?”

“Us?!” I cried.

“Just untie me,” The Galloping Gazelle instructed. “I can handle him.” He
shook his head. “I wish I could contact my buddies at the League. They’re
probably all searching the universe for me.”

Still half dazed, I stumbled across the tiny room to the chair and began
working at the ropes. The knots were big and tight and hard to untie. The coarse
rope scraped my hands as I struggled to loosen them.

“Hurry, kid,” The Galloping Gazelle urged. “Hey, how did you find the secret
headquarters, anyway?”

“I… just found it,” I replied, tugging at the knots.

“Don’t be modest, kid,” the superhero said in his flat, low voice. “You used
your secret cyber-radar powers, right? Or did you use ultra-mind control to read
my thoughts and hurry to my rescue?”

“No. I just took the bus,” I replied.

I didn’t really know how to answer him. Did he have me confused with someone
else?

Why was I here? What was going to happen to us? To me?

Questions, questions. They flew through my mind as I frantically worked at
the heavy ropes.

I tried to ignore the pain from the cuts and scrapes to my hands. But it hurt
a lot.

Finally, one of the knots slid open. The Galloping Gazelle flexed his muscles
and stretched out his powerful chest—and the ropes popped away easily.

“Thanks, kid,” he boomed, jumping to his feet. He adjusted his mask so that
he could see through both eyeholes. Then he swept his long cape behind him and
straightened his tights.

“Okay. Let’s go pay him a surprise visit,” he said, pulling up the ends of
his gloves. He started toward the door, taking long, heavy strides. His boots
thundered loudly as he walked.

“Uh… do you really want
me
to come, too?” I asked, lingering behind
the chair.

He nodded. “I know what you’re worried about, kid. You’re worried that you
won’t be able to keep up with me because I have dyno-legs and I’m the fastest
living mutant in the known universe.”

“Well…” I hesitated.

“Don’t worry,” he replied. “I’ll go slow.” He motioned impatiently. “Let’s
get moving.”

I tripped over the tangle of ropes on the floor. Grabbed the chair to catch
my balance. Then followed him out into the green-and-yellow hallway.

He turned and began running down the hall. As I started to follow, he became
a blue-and-red blur of light—and then vanished.

A few seconds later, he came jogging back. “Sorry. Too fast for you?” he
called.

I nodded. “A little.”

He rested a gloved hand heavily on my shoulder. His gray eyes peered at me
solemnly through the slits in his mask. “Do you have wall-climbing abilities?”
he demanded.

I shook my head. “No. Sorry.”

“Okay. We’ll take the stairs,” he said.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall. He moved so fast, both of my
feet were in the air.

I guess it was impossible for him to go slow.

The walls whirred past in a bright green blur. He pulled me around a corner,
then another corner.

I felt as if I were flying! We were moving so fast, I didn’t have time to
breathe.

Around another corner. Then through an open doorway.

The doorway led to a flight of steep, dark stairs. I peered up to the top,
but I could see only heavy blackness.

I expected The Galloping Gazelle to pull me up the stairs. But to my
surprise, he stopped just past the doorway.

He narrowed his eyes at the stairs. “There is a disintegrator-ray there,” he
announced, rubbing his square jaw thoughtfully.

“A
what
?” I cried.

“A disintegrator-ray,” he repeated, his eyes locked on the stairs. “If you
step into it, it will disintegrate you in one hundredth of a second.”

I swallowed hard. My entire body started to tremble.

“Do you think you can jump the first two steps?” The Galloping Gazelle asked.

“You mean—?” I started.

“Land on the third step,” he instructed. “Get a good running start.”

I’ll need it,
I thought, staring at the steep steps.

I suddenly wished I hadn’t eaten so many Pop-Tarts and bowls of Frosted
Flakes for breakfast every morning. If only I were a little slimmer, a little
lighter.

“Get a good running start and make sure you clear the first two steps,” The
Galloping Gazelle warned. “Land on the third step and keep moving. If you land
on the first or second step, you’ll disintegrate.” He motioned with his fingers.
“Poof.”

I let out a low, frightened moan. I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to be
brave. But my body wasn’t cooperating. It was shaking and quaking as if I were
made of Jell-O.

“I’ll go first,” the superhero said. He turned to the stairs, bent his knees,
stretched both hands forward—and leaped over the invisible disintegrator-ray.
He landed on the fifth step.

He turned around and motioned for me to follow. “See? It’s easy,” he said
brightly.

Easy for you!
I thought darkly.
Some of us don’t have dyno-legs.

“Hurry,” he urged. “If you stop to think about it, you won’t be able to do
it.”

I’m
already
thinking about it! I thought.

How can I
not
think about it?

“I—I’m not very athletic,” I murmured in a tiny, trembling voice. What an
understatement! Whenever the kids I know play any sports, I am always the
last
kid chosen for a team.

“Hurry,” The Galloping Gazelle urged. He reached out both hands. “Take a good
running jump, kid. Aim for the third step. It isn’t that high. I’ll catch you.”

The third step looked about a mile in the air to me. But I held my breath,
bent my knees, took a running leap—my
best
leap—

—and I landed with a hard
thud
on the first step.

I screamed and clamped my eyes shut as the disintegrator-ray poured through
me, and my body crumbled into thin air.

Actually, I didn’t feel anything.

I opened my eyes to find myself still standing on the bottom step. Still in
one chubby piece.

“I—I—I—” I stammered.

“I guess he doesn’t have it turned on,” The Galloping Gazelle said calmly. He
smiled at me through the mask. “You caught a break, kid.”

I was still trembling. Cold beads of sweat rolled down my forehead. I
couldn’t speak.

“Hope your luck holds out,” The Galloping Gazelle muttered. He turned and
started up the stairs, his cape floating behind him. “Come on. Let’s go meet our
destiny.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. Not one bit.

But I didn’t like anything that was going on. The Galloping Gazelle had said
that I was lucky.

But I certainly didn’t feel lucky as I followed him up the dark stairs.

At the top landing, he pushed open a wide metal door, and we stepped into an
amazing room.

The room glowed with color. It was decorated like an office, the fanciest,
most luxurious office I have ever seen.

The shaggy white carpet was soft and so thick, I sank in it nearly to my
ankles. Silky blue curtains were draped over enormous windows that overlooked
the town. Sparkly, crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling.

Velvety couches and chairs were arranged around dark wood tables. One wall
was covered with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, each shelf filled with
leather-covered books.

A giant TV screen—dark—stood in one corner. Beside it, a wall of
electronic equipment. Enormous oil paintings of green farm fields covered one
wall.

A shiny, gold-plated desk stood in the middle of the room. The tall desk
chair behind it looked more like a throne than a chair.

“Wow!” I cried, lingering near the door, my eyes taking in the splendor of
the vast room.

“He treats himself nice,” The Galloping Gazelle commented. “But his time is
over.”

“You mean—?” I started.

“I’m too fast for him,” the superhero boasted.

“I’ll run circles around him, faster and faster—until I become a raging
tornado. He’ll be swept away forever.”

“Wow,” I repeated. I didn’t know what else to say.

“He caught me napping before,” The Galloping Gazelle continued. “That’s the
only way he can catch me. When I’m asleep. Otherwise, I’m much too fast for him.
Too fast for anybody. Know how fast I run the one-hundred?”

“How fast?” I asked.

“I run it in one-tenth. One-tenth of a second. That would be an Olympic
record. But they don’t let me in the Olympics because I’m a mutant.”

I started to follow The Galloping Gazelle to the center of the room. But I
stopped when I heard the laughter.

The same cold laughter I had heard in the lobby.

I froze in fright.

And stared as the gold desk began to move. And change.

The shiny gold shimmered as it shifted and bent, raising itself up and
forming a human figure.

I took a step back, trying to hide behind The Galloping Gazelle as the desk
melted away—and The Masked Mutant rose up in its place.