The Adventures of Silver

Silver Takes Center Stage

Part Two

Veronica pressed herself against the wall, looking up, waiting for the trapdoor to reopen. You're an idiot, Veronica, she told herself. You could have just waited for them to ransom you, and you'd have survived. You could have run away instead of changing into this stupid silver leotard. You could have run away instead of chasing that guy around the theater. But no, Veronica, you and your comic book fantasies got you stuck in a below-stage trap-door, and now you're dead for sure.
She listened, and could hear sounds of people running through the room above her, footsteps crossing the trapdoor, and a few shouts. It seemed like there were three conversations going on between about six men; one yelling about how Veronica had disappeared; one yelling about how Silver had show up; and one screaming something unrelated about a mom and the police.
I wonder what's going on? Veronica thought.
"What's going on outside?!" someone above her yelled.
"It's a bloody protest! There's a mob outside protesting the board's decision to tear this place down! People are yelling it's history, they're saying something about a bleedin' superhero!" came a shouted reply from someone with a decidedly British accent.
"Yeah, well, I've got a superhero trapped down there," someone else answered, as several pairs of footsteps made their way to near the door Veronica had fallen through. "So what do we do with her?"
"Kill her," someone else supplied. "We're in enough trouble with a mom and police outside, we don't need some meddling guy in tights making things worse!"
There was the sound of general agreement, and Veronica looked about desperately for another means of escape. "So we open the door and all shoot down. No way she can survive that!"
"I dunno, she took a bullet and it didn't even slow her down," said the man she'd run into earlier.
Now that her eyes were adjusted to the light, Veronica could see she was in what appeared to be an elevator shaft. She was no expert in stage productions, but had seen a handful of musicals around the country. A few of them had featured characters popping up from the bottom of the stage, probably from a trap door like the one she'd fallen through. They'd need to be able to get up and down, and that must have been what the elevator itself was for.
She looked up at the ceiling anxiously, listening to the argument between her kidnappers. Veronica dropped to her hands and knees, and began to feel around the floor. The villains seemed to have nearly reached an agreement, when she found a notch in the floor. Reaching below it, she was able to pull up a panel and glanced at what was underneath.
Another compartment, about the size of a small elevator. Just as she'd expected. She dropped down into it, and found a panel of old, rusting buttons. They were hard to make out, but one looked like 'door open,' and she tried it.
"C'mon, work for me!" she begged, and after a few moments the elevator door opened with a long, creaky noise. A sudden silence from above meant that the villains had heard it and knew she was up to something, so she wasted no time in running through the door into an unlit room.
Moments later, she heard lots of gunfire hitting the elevator. Shuddering at what would have been a ghastly fate, she paused to figure out where she was.
Piled around the room were what appeared to be ancient lights and technical equipment. There was a window in the ceiling and upper corner of a wall that was covered with a thick layer of dust, but looked as if the stage was above it. Probably where the techies ran things from, she decided. There was a latter in another corner, which lead up to another door. The catwalk? she guessed, and decided it was. Then, on a whim, she decided to head up and see what she could see.
The door at the top opened with only a slight groan, and lead to a small room and another short latter. Up at the top was another door, and it opened into large catwalk. They're tearing this building down because it isn't safe, she thought. Maybe I shouldn't trust my weight to this thing. It doesn't look trustworthy.
"Come on, let's get out of here!" echoed below her. "It's all gone to Hell, the Silvers brat got away, the hero chick got away, we're surrounded by a mob and the police, so let's just leave!"
A moment of clarity struck her, and Veronica made a decision that would effect her forever. I am Silver, she thought. I am Silver! She took a few hesitant steps onto the catwalk, then moved with more certainty when it didn't collapse.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" one of the kidnappers said. "It's all gone to Hell, the Silvers brat got away, the hero chick got away, we're surrounded by a mob and the police, so let's just leave!"
The rest of the gang seemed to agree with him, and they started across the stage to leave. They froze again, as a spotlight turned on and swept across the stage to light them up. Blinking in the sudden light, one of the kidnappers looked up to see the form of a woman silhouetted in the light above.
"Every cloud has a silver lining. Clouds of crime have covered this fair city, but I am the lining of justice that will put everything rite. Iım Silver, avenger of evil!" a female voice announced above them, and then they could see someone jump from the catwalk. She did a few flips in the air, and landed gracefully on her feet.
"What the bloody 'ell is going on?!" demanded the British kidnapper. He didn't get an answer, except for Silver launching herself into the midst of the men. For a moment, there was confusion from the seven men as the heroine punched one in the face, turned around, and kicked someone else's feet out from under him.
"Shoot her!" yelled the one from the floor.
"I don't think so," Silver said calmly. Someone was aiming at her now, and she turned and leapt towards him. Her feet connected with his stomach, knocking him to the ground. Her foot kicked at his gun hand, connected, and sent the weapon sliding across the floor. The rest of the men were starting to scatter. Not wasting any time, Silver knocked the man's head against the ground once more, and he fell unconscious. She turned to the nearest of the men, jumped into the air much higher than a normal person should have been able to, did several elegant flips, and landed in front of him. "Running away so soon?" she asked.
He pointed his gun at her, but she kicked towards him in an arch. On the way up, it caught his gun and sent it flying; at its peak, it caught the side of his head and caused him to stagger backwards. She followed him and slammed a punch into his gut. He doubled over, and she grabbed the back of his collar with both hands, and used It to slam his head into her knee.
He passed out. However, several of his comrades had decided that it was better to deal with Silver in numbers than try her one-on-one. She was met from behind by three of them.
For a minute, things didn't look good for the would-be crimefighter. Fists and muscles surrounded her, and she felt herself fall hard. The moment she took to regain her breath was long enough for someone to place a foot on her chest and aim a gun at her head. "I wouldn't move, girlie," he said.
"You probably wouldn't," she muttered. "But I'm not you, am I?" she added, rolling and grabbing his leg as she did. The gun went off and someone yelled in pain on the other side of the stage. The man fell and there was a gruesome crack of bone breaking as she rolled over his leg.
Silver sprang up, and regarded the two stunned criminals in front of her. They were stunned enough so that neither one moved as she reached out and knocked their heads together. Hard.
One slumped to the ground, and the other was merely dazzled. She stomped on his foot and pushed him, sending him sprawling. She kicked his head into the stage, again achieving the desired effect of unconsciousness. Now, there was only one man left, and he has wisely fled. She followed the sound of his footsteps and caught him in a dead end. He shot at her and got her upper thigh, then gaped as the wound closed moments later. "I wish people would stop doing that," she muttered, as the two of them fought, and she grinned as she emerged the victor and dragged the unconscious man back to the stage.
Silver jogged to the curtain at the edge of the stage, and grabbed one of the heavy ties that held it back. She used it to bind the men together, and was very smug as she made her way off the stage and began to poke around for an exit.
Eventually, she found one, although it lead up to the roof. It was a cloudy night, and the moon was full, although hidden. She made her way to the edge of the roof, and peaked off.
Below, a crowd of protesters was being held back from the theater by a line of policemen. Many of the people held signs that said things like "Save the Theater!" and "Silver Saved Us, so Save Her Home!" and the obligatory, "Silver for President."
A wind started up, and the clouds shifted position in the sky. A beam of light broke through and it landed directly on the young hero, a supernatural spotlight. Someone in the crowd must have noticed and said so to his neighbor, who told the person next to him, and so on. Within a minute, the crowd was silent and gaping at the girl on the roof.
She saluted them, grinning madly. "It's Silver!" someone yelled, and several of the police turned around. Silver recognized one of them, Chief Aarons.
"Chief Aarons," she said in the loudest, most dramatic voice she could, "I think you'll find something inside that interests you." She regarded the crowd again. "And to my fans, I give my thanks and my assurances that the city of Pallis is once again under my protection. And to the criminals who darken her fair streets, I tell you, your time is up!"
There must have been several reporters in the crowd, as flashbulbs exploded and cheers erupted from the surprised onlookers. Silver, her sense of timing perfect, stepped backwards and out of the moonbeam just as the clouds shifted again and the moon was once again blotted out.
She scurried to the other side of the roof, and looked down. It was a four story drop, which was not usually recommended for jumping. However, Silver was not scared of heights, and has just jumped from a catwalk to the stage- also not usually considered safe. Taking a deep breath, she leapt to the ground and started running back to the part of Pallis where the university was located, carefully avoiding being seen.
It wasn't until she was safely back on campus that she realized she'd left her regular clothes behind. I'll find some way to explain this to my roommate. But her luck as Silver had carried over, and when she returned to her room, it was unlocked. Emma, her roommate, was inside and sound asleep. Sighing a breath of relief, she changed from her costume into her pajamas and grabbed her toothbrush, toothpaste, brush, washcloth, and soap, and headed for the dormitory's bathroom.
It wasn't until she glanced in the mirror, face covered in soap, that she remembered her hair and eyes. She concentrated for a few moments, and they faded back to their usual colors.
When back in her room, she snuggled under her blankets with a teddy-bear and a Batman comic, but was only half-way through it when she fell into a well-deserved sleep, to dream about the strange events of the day.