Tanner walked outside, pretending to make a phone call. He walked slowly until he

  was out of sight of the desk. Then he ran to the parking garage entrance hooked to the

  hotel. He put his phone away and slid under the guard arm.

  He jogged to the elevator/stairs combo inside a glass room. He frowned at the key

  card lock on the door. He didn’t want to bypass the lock and then wait until the

  power ran out so he could call Iceberg.

  He could key in Iceberg and smash the door. He didn’t want to do that. It wasn’t the

  hotel’s fault that their guests had attracted a vigilante.

  He needed to do something to get around the lock. He didn’t know how much time

  he had before Givens was moved to a new location.

  He decided to key in his mechanical again. He opened the lock with a simple touch

  of his hand. He plugged into the network camera and programmed the digital recorder

  not to accept his image. It wasn’t foolproof but it was the best he could do at the

  moment.

  He headed up the stairs for two reasons. He didn’t want to get trapped in the elevator

  when the Men in Black started shooting at him again with their fireballs. The

  explosions would kill him with the mechanical power activated. And he needed to use

  up the mechanical so he could key in another power that would be helpful in this

  situation.

  And as long as he had the mechanical operating, he could use the cameras in the halls

  to keep track of his enemy when they decided to move out.

  The church had to be the final destination. If he messed up here and lived, he could

  race them there and try to stop whatever they planned to do. He doubted they would

  be ready for him twice in a row.

  He smiled at that thought. They had been taken offguard, but had already beat him

  back twice. The third time might get him killed.

  Tanner raced up the stairs, checking the timer as he cleared landings. At least all this

  running around was helping him keep in shape. He idly wondered how many calories

  he burned every time he activated a power as he reached the fifth floor. He paused on

  the landing with his back against the wall as tried to catch his breath.

  He needed to do more step running when he got home.

  The timer ran out as he felt his heart beat slowly normalize. Now came the tricky part.

  He had to walk down to the rooms in question, take out any guards, and escape with

  the hostage. Bystanders could be hurt if he didn’t act fast enough.

  Explosions in the rooms were almost as bad as getting caught in the elevator. If any

  pierced a wall, there was no telling who would get hurt in the other room. And he had

  to consider that the building would be set on fire by near misses.

  He walked toward the room, hand hovering over the keyboard. He wanted to give

  himself any extra second he could before he went into the fight. If he ran out in the

  middle, he was as good as dead.

  He took a deep breath before he keyed in Iceberg and covered the peephole with a

  sheen of ice. He knocked on the door with a crystalline hand. He wanted one of them

  to open the door so he didn’t have to break it in.

  A guard tried to peer through the peephole. His shadow was visible behind the cover

  of ice.

  “Who is it?,” the guard asked.

  “Room service for a Givens,” said Tanner. His voice echoed slightly. There was

  nothing he could do about that.

  “Givens?,” said the guard. He opened the door for the ice sculpture in the hall. A

  stony fist crashed against his face and he went down without shooting.

  Tanner stepped over him into the hotel room. He counted three of the guys. He had

  to work fast before they got their weapons into play.

  Tanner took aim and fired nets of ice with his hands at the three men. He smiled as

  they went down in icy embraces. They were out of his hair while he checked on

  Givens.

  He rushed to the inner door of the suite. He wondered where the rest of the men were,

  but hoped he had gotten lucky. Maybe they were out doing a food run instead of

  getting room service. Maybe they had been dismissed until they were needed later.

  How many men did it take to guard a kid in the first place?

  He pushed the door open. A man sat in the middle of the bedroom at a desk. Pots

  decorated the top of the desk. A smell filled the air. He fought down his gagging as

  he looked around.

  “Where’s the kid?,” demanded Tanner. He raised a hand so he could use his ice power

  instantly if he had to shoot the guy.

  The man stood, dark eyes staring at the intruder. Several scars formed a complex

  patch on his cheek. His sleeves were rolled up, exposing stains on his hands and

  forearms. Dark hair lined with gray had been braided and left to fall behind him.

  “I see my men underestimated you,” said the man. “No one thought you would be

  able to track them to this place.”

  “The boy?,” said Tanner. He didn’t have time to have a chat with a crazy guy.

  “Is not your concern,” said the man. He held up a hand in a gesture of negation. Paints

  stained the fingers. “He is going to be my weapon when everything is done. Save

  yourself some trouble and go away before you are hurt.”

  Tanner frowned. Did he have the nerve to take on a painter in the middle of a hotel

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  room for the life of a boy he didn’t know? What would he do if there was some other

  thing at stake.

  Ice leaped from his hand. He didn’t need to talk to the guy if the church was the

  endpoint for all this. He could take him, and turn him over to the FBI after he got

  Givens back.

  They could sort everything out without his involvement after that point.

  The painter waved his hand. The ice blast bounced into the wall and covered it in

  whiteness.

  “You should have heeded the warning,” said the painter. He made a twisting motion

  with his hand. A fist of rushing air slammed into Tanner. He hit the ground and tried

  to roll away from the impact. Years of fighting Darla had taught him that much.

  He produced a wall to protect him from the rushing air. It circled around the ice and

  slammed into him. He went through the window in an explosion of glass.

  Tanner headed for the street. He wondered if he would live through the impact.

  His ice power faded and he reached for his keyboard. He still had a chance if he

  keyed in the right thing while still high enough.

  An arm wrapped around him and yanked him through the air. He grabbed hold of the

  arm with both hands as his rescuer swung him to a ledge at the corner of the hotel.

  “I know things are bad, but there’s no reason to jump,” said his rescuer.

  “I didn’t jump,” said Tanner. Gratefulness turned into irritation in a second. “I was

  pushed. Now I have to get up there and stop the guy who pushed me.”

  “Leave this to the professional,” said the girl in the costume.

  “I am a professional,” said Tanner. He keyed in his Gold Man form. “I have to go.

  Nice meeting you.”

  He grabbed the window frame with an elongated arm. He yanked himself up to the

  window. He flung himself into the outer room. His three captives laid where he had

  left them. They struggled against the ice, but hadn’t been able to break out of their

  bond yet.

  Where was the painter? How much time did they have before he did whatever he

  wanted to Givens?

  Tanner tried to breathe through his anxiety. He should have dragged Darla along. She

  would have blasted the guy with her eyebeam before he said one word.

  “You want to tell me what’s going on?,” said the girl in the costume. “Maybe I can

  help out, and I know some people who could help out if this is too big for me.”

  “Saved many people, have you?,” said Tanner. He went to the door and looked out

  in the hall. The painter was nowhere in sight. Would he use the elevator or the stairs?

  “Saved you,” she returned. She crossed her arms as she looked at him. Her mask was

  a dark green blank with protective spots where the eyes should be in her face.

  “Okay,” said Tanner. “That’s a good point.”

  He headed down the hall. The elevator was not moving. Did that mean the painter

  was using the stairs, or had he already used the elevator to reach the exits on the

  bottom floor?

  Had he gone down to the ground floor?

  Which way should he go?

  “Let’s try the roof,” said the girl. “Maybe we can spot him from there.”

  “Okay,” said Tanner. He pulled open the door. “Why are you tagging along?”

  “I’m still waiting for my explanation and my thank you,” she said.

  “Seriously?,” said Tanner.

  “Seriously,” she replied.

  “Thank you,” said Tanner. He stepped into the stairwell and used the Gold Man to

  climb the center space of the stairwell toward the roof.

  She flung out a line and let it pull her up after him. When she reached where the line

  had anchored itself, she threw out another one.

  They pushed open the roof door and headed for the edges. If they could grab the

  painter, they could trade him for Givens. Grabbing him seemed the hardest part of

  that statement in Tanner’s opinion.

  “Who am I looking for?,” said the masked girl.

  “Guy with long hair in a braid, scar on face, vaguely Middle Eastern,” said Tanner.

  “You’re chasing Amenophis?,” she said. “You’re braver than I thought.”

  “Who’s that?,” said Tanner. He spared a glance at her.

  “But not ready for this,” she said. “Amenophis is the number three guy wanted by

  most of the Middle East governments. A lot of guys have taken him on and gotten

  hurt.”

  “Wait, what?,” said Tanner.

  “He’s a shark, you’re a guppy,” said the girl. “You’re going to get killed chasing him.

  I’ll call my dad and he can take over for us. He’s dealt with Amenophis a few times.

  He’ll know what to do about this.”

  Tanner thought about the offer. It was tempting to just give up. He could go home and

  let someone else rescue Givens. He would be back under the radar. He would prefer

  that to dealing with a world power.

  Then his selfish streak kicked in. This was his job. He couldn’t just hand it over to

  strangers and let them muff it up worse than what he was already doing.

  “Thanks,” said Tanner. The Gold Man wore off. “Someone’s life is at stake. I can’t

  wait for someone to take over for me. I have to keep going with what I have.”

  “Wait,” said the girl. She held up a gloved hand. “My dad really can help us.”

  “You’re out of this,” said Tanner. “I’ll figure out how to deal with Amenophis if I

  have to do that. I just want to free his victim.”

  Tanner pressed the Sky Rocket keys. He blasted from the roof before she could stop

  him. He knew that was what she wanted to do. He beat her to the punch to get away.

  He decided to head back to the church. That was the likeliest place the painter would

  show up. He had to come up with a power to get through his control of the air and

  take him down. It didn’t need to be more than few minutes, but it had to be done in

  such a way he couldn’t interfere with getting Givens back.

  Tanner tried to avoid hitting too many buildings as he cut across town. He felt the

  power petering out and aimed for a roof he could use for a crash landing. He hit a

  ventilation unit before the timer marked the exhaustion of the power. He laid there

  for a minute before climbing to his feet.

  He pulled out his phone. He asked Google for his current location. He smiled at the

  red arrow. He asked for the location for the church. He was still blocks away.

  He put the phone away and keyed in the Gold Man again. He grabbed a flagpole and

  swung out in space. He grabbed another flagpole further along and dropped to a roof

  to the right of and below the pole. He stretched his legs out as he jumped over the

  gaps between buildings. Once he was close to the church, he paused to assess the

  situation.

  The Gold Man blinked out as he studied the street. He didn’t see any of the Men in

  Black. That didn’t mean anything. They could be inside the church, getting ready to

  do whatever they planned to do to Givens.

  He needed a way in, and he needed something that could handle them.

  He was tired of losing every fight he had with Amenophis and his followers.

  He noted the church had a bell tower. He could get in there with the Gold Man, or the

  Wings. Then he could descend down into the church. That’s when the fighting would

  start.

  He needed to act fast if he wanted to take down Amenophis. His minions could be

  dangerous, but they hadn’t demonstrated the ability to manhandle him.

  He changed to the Gold Man as he eyed the bell tower. He could get in there. He just

  needed some kind of handhold. He couldn’t stretch his body across the intervening

  space.

  He pushed back to get running room. He ran forward and leaped. His arms and body

  stretched out as far as he could extend them as he flew through space. One hand hit

  the window frame and grabbed hold. The arm retracted, pulling him away from a fall

  in the street.

  He checked the timer as he bundled underneath the bell in the tower. He had a small

  amount of time to get things before he was helpless. He pulled open the trap door

  leading down from the belfry. A ladder greeted him. He extended his body to take a

  look around at the vertical space. No one was in sight.

  He descended toward the ground.