A Stolen Hero (DD)

Statue unveiling, while a tad cliche, were still a part of the Mayor's job. In modern jump, people didn't usually pay attention to those kind of things. Too boring. But today's statue unveiling was something special. It was the unveiling of Sheriff Jack "Ironside" Richards. One of Jump Cities' founding fathers back in the 1800's. Now normally, the unveiling of a statue dedicated to a town founder isn't usually a huge deal. But Jack Richards was different. He was akin to a hero in the eyes of the people of his day. He didn't have any powers, but the way people talked about him, you'd think he did. He took down horse rustlers, worked with the fledgling Secret Service to take down counterfeiters, and some even say he fought some... less human threats to the safety of the townspeople. But by far his greatest achievement was taking down the corrupt mayor of Jump in 1787. Fighting werewolves on the mesa was impressive, but taking down a corrupt politician was just legendary.

Needless to say that Jack Richards was something of a Folk Hero in jump city. A little spot of local identity that anyone who grew up hearing the bedtime stories could look to with pride. And today, his statue was being unveiled.

While Hotwire wasn't there in person, he was at least watching the news coverage. Kind of. He was working on some circuitboards with the television going on behind him. He wasn't really watching what was going on, but he was sort of listening to what people were saying. That counted right? 

"And here we have the Mayor, about to unveil the statue. The appearance of the statue has been kept a mystery to the public. Almost as mysterious as Mr. Jack "Ironside" Richards himself."


"This man--- great source of insp--- From his humble origins as--- to his--- to when he--- could go on and on about his many exploits. But without further ado, I present a memorial to Jack Richards!"


The sound Hotwire heard next however, stuck out like a sore thumb. It was a scream, followed by gasps. Harmon immediately looked at the television, and was shocked by what he saw. No statue. Just a mangle of wires in the vague shape of a person. Something had gone wrong...

It was a difficult area to cordon off. The open square in front of city hall was designed so that as many people as possible could see its podium, art projects, and now sculpture. Traffic was high as pedestrians and vehicles filtered through this hub all day. The police had to settle for a small audience, about fifty yards back, of thirty onlookers who had little better to do all day than gawk. With the occasional hungry reporter thrown in.

Among this crowd stood Envy. He watched as the assigned detectives ascended the five steps to the statue podium and made rudimentary observations. Around their feet was a team of forensic folk who seemed to be at a loss over where to start. Carrying off an entire statue was no easy feat. There was no such thing as 'by the book' here. For a change Aequalitas did not envy their task. Searching for clues among the inanimate was difficult. He preferred to work with more life-like subjects.

The Sin sidled close to a conversation between a journalist and a duty policeman. Cards were being kept close to chests. But the copper was disparaging over suggestions that a truck could have pulled up unnoticed, even in the dead of night. It was likely this area was under CCTV. They would have had the number-plates by now of any truck that had driven by in the twilight hours. Very strange.

But getting to the bottom of this mystery was not Envy's concern. Not unless it became someone else's concern. He was here scouting the hero market for life. He had seen young hopefuls battle a street thug or two, but he wondered if they would get themselves involved in the truly challenging stuff. He wondered if they had what it took to engage in a serious investigation.

"Gettin' a good look there, pal?"

"Hardly, officer. There's nothing to see."

"Tch. Jokesters."

Hotwire strolled up to the scene all of 5 minutes into the investigation.A few officers turned their heads. Then the lead detective broke off from them to approach the young redhead. "Name's Detective Gates. You must be Hotwire. I ready the report on how you recovered that Diamond from Chris Talon last week." He stated.

"Were you in charge of that case?"

"Nah, but it was the talk of the precinct for a while. You and some big walking tank right?"

"That about sums it up."

"Well, we could use the help. These forensic mooks wouldn't know a clue if it bit them..." He whispered. For a detective to have that little faith in those working under him... just what caused that?

"Well. I'll see what I can do." Hotwire said approaching the podium. With a wave of his hand, he accessed every security camera in the vicinity. "Hmmm. Here's the statue being delivered 3 days ago." He said looking at the footage of 4 workers bringing the statue over on a dolly. "And then..." he said going through the footage. Nobody seemed to cross the barricade seperating that section of the plaza from the rest of it. All of a sudden, on the night before the exhibition, the camera's cut out.


"Huh? The cameras cut out last night. Looks like they were down for 5 minutes." He pointed out.


"Oh yeah. That. Apparently there was a local blackout here last night. Something about a blown transformer. Either way, that's not enough time to sneak in here and steal the statue. At least not without creating a noticeable scene. That statue was bolted into place."


"And that brings us to the next odd point." Hotwire noted. "See that stand right there? The bolted on plate that was at the bottom of the statue is still there and secured. It's like the statue just disappeared."

"Let me through."

"What? What did you say?"

"You have the authority here. Lend me permission to through."

"The tape is here for a reason pal. Police only."

"He's not police." Envy pointed at the teen which had wandered onto the scene a minute ago.

"He's a superhero. An exception. Don't tell me you want his auto-"

"As am I, Officer Delaney. I am Aequalitas - a super investigator. In my scant time here I have observed you are 45 exactly, a type-2 diabetic, you must wear glasses to drive for you are near-sighted, your true hair colour is a dull brown going grey, and you resent that trumped up detective Gates over by the statue for - what is it - cheating you out of a promotion? I find that this is the most common cause of enmity for well deserving men."

Moments later the uniformed officer had brought the hooded Sin up to his colleague, interrupting the conversation Gates had been having with Hotwire.

"This is, umm, someone who said they can, err, help."

Envy bowed formally as was common in the Indian subcontinent, "Detective Gates. Hotwire. I'm here to offer my assistance to you. I am Aequalitas and I have much experience in these matters of extraordinary theft. Thank you Delaney, that will be all." The officer sheepishly backed away from the scene and returned to his post.

"I'm not sure I'm familiar with your work, Sir."

"I assure you my skills are adequate for your purposes. I'm determined not to slow either of you down. Perhaps you are able to vouch for me, vigilante? What could be the harm on doing that?"

The detective scratched the back of his neck. He sure didn't know all the freelancers that had flocked to his city of late. He turned to Hotwire, "Well? You vouch for the guy?"

Everybody and their mothers these days seemed to be sherlock holmes 2.0 or something. "Never met the guy in my life." Hotwire responded, rather bluntly. But then again, Hotwire himself was trying to play detective wasn't he. This slightly hypocritical realization caused Hotwire to turn back. "But hey, if you keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't interfere with the crime scene, I don't see why not."

Hotwire turned back to the statue, and felt around a piece of cloth lying on the ground. "Was this the cloth the statue was covered in?" Hotwire asked.

"That's the one. It's waterproof, so it didn't get messed up in that rainshower the other night."

"Oh yeah. I remember that... but.... something about this cloth here just seems off. It's a totally regular cloth minus the waterproofing. but I can't quite place what it is." Hotwire said. He put his hand to his chin. "Now the next oddity: this wire form here. Was the culprit trying to make some kind of statement with it?" He pondered.

"Well, uh, we have some photos of the statue getting delivered down at the precinct. But if memory serves, that bunch of wire mesh is shaped like the statue. More or less. I'm going with less."

Envy was underwhelmed at his reception. He had intended to subtly impress the superhero by alluding to his secret identity. But it seemed the insinuation had flown directly over the boy's head. The secret to his deductive capabilities wasn't good schooling or a keen eye, it was his humble power of ESP. The gift that let him know the worth of another, all facts pertaining to them, so that he could see who and what they truly were. Sure he forgot them when he looked away, but their worth was in the moment. It meant he was a much better mind when it came to people.

The immediate ruminations after his arrival did not give him much of an opening.

No one got him up to speed, and why should they, forcing him to play catch up on the case. He listened to the discussion without seeing the significance of the non-waterproof piece of cloth or noticing the remaining bolted plate. But he did hear the mention of 'statements'.

"A statement is assuredly what the criminal was making. And fortunate too. For how many members of our society could possibly hold a grudge against an icon long dead? If you can't figure out the means; and who could in this day and age of the impossible, then I suggest the villain's motive might be more plain." Envy kept his arms behind his back and did not step any closer to the material evidence apparently before them. His investigation was done in the mind. By eons of experience and familiarity with man's sinful rationale.

"Juvenile delinquency can be rejected due to the sheer difficulty of the act. Therefore someone with grudge and means did this. Is this a strike at city hall? At the statue casters? Or at Ironside Richards himself? If we assume the latter then that reduces the number of suspects enormously." Envy began speaking directly to Hotwire, "Envying a man 200 years dead takes a special kind of hate. Familial. I would suggest tracing the descendants of Ironside's greatest successes. Otherwise, a simple internet search of anti-fan boards for the subject might turn up leads worth following."