Megamatrix Hero Within Read Online Free PDF Page A

night.
    Street criminals liked clinics. Some of the drugs they scored could be sold to addicts, and they saved the good stuff for crime-bosses who needed to keep their henchmen healthy and strong.
    "I got it," the lockpicker announced quietly.
    "Then let's hurry," said the lookout. "And don't bother grabbing tongue depressors this time. Napalm didn't buy the ones we grabbed last week."
    "I know, I know."
    As they disappeared inside the clinic, Fletcher dropped into the alley without any more sound than a feather landing on a cotton ball would make.
    It wasn’t long before the men returned, each carrying two boxes of pharmaceutical drugs. "I told you the shipment came today, didn't I?" the lockpicker gloated.
    "I didn't say you were wrong. I just asked if you were sure," the lookout said.
    "Does it look like I'm sure?"
    They stepped out the door and into Fletcher. The lockpicker toppled over backward like he'd run into a wall, causing the lookout to stumble over his partner and wind up on the ground beside him.
    "I'm pretty sure those don't belong to you," Fletcher said in his most menacing tone.
    The lookout jumped up and balled his fists. "What are you doing out here, kid? You looking to get killed?"
    "No," Fletcher said. "I'm really not too worried about that. You guys, on the other hand, might want to walk away while you still have the chance."
    The lockpicker took a gun from his waistband and pointed it at Fletcher. "Don't be stupid, kid."
    Liberty Torch's enhanced reflexes helped Fletcher kick the gun out of the thief's hand before he finished his sentence. Then he grabbed the lookout by the throat and hurled him down the alley like a stuffed animal.
    The lockpicker scuttled toward his gun, but stopped when Korgus's huge ball smashed the pistol into the concrete before him. Fletcher reeled the ball back with the chain, daring the thief to make a move.
    But the only move he made was one that got him out of the alley as quickly as humanly possible without daring to look back.
    So that's what being a superhero felt like, Fletcher reflected with a satisfied chuckle. He picked up the four boxes and examined them. He didn't know one kind of medicine from another, but regardless of what was in the boxes, he knew whatever it was must be worth something.
    With a wicked smile, he flew back to Miguel's house and stashed the medicine in a corner of the basement until morning. With a gentle pat, he left them and headed back toward the ruins.
    It took a little explaining when he met his brother and Miguel, but they accepted his story of getting lost among the weeds and being trapped in a sinkhole. He didn’t mention anything about his newly acquired powers, though.
    “You’re lucky you managed to get out,” Miguel said. “The Revolution needs a new place to meet. One of the guys broke his ankle getting it twisted in those vines. When I tell them we nearly lost a new recruit in a sinkhole, they’re not going to be happy."

 
    CHAPTER 7
     
    The next morning, Fletcher was up before anyone else, which wasn’t difficult since he couldn’t possibly sleep with so much power pulsing through his body. It took all his patience to wait until the first rays of sunlight fell on the basement window before he leapt up from his cushion on the floor and ran to his stockpile of medicine.
    With the boxes secured in his arms, he tiptoed up the stairs and out the front door. Few people were out to see the sunrise, so Fletcher didn’t worry too much about hiding his newfound abilities. When normal people saw someone flying or bounding from rooftop to rooftop, they got scared. That’s why he’d waited at least a block or two before flying, partially out of fear of drawing attention to Miguel’s house and partially because he had one other task he wanted to take care.
    When he got to the front of the barbecue restaurant from the previous afternoon, he carefully put the boxes down on the sidewalk. A quick moment to remember the face of the woman