One of the men that took Manbug away places a chair behind me. The woman pushes me back and I fall into it. Sitting with her legs in my face. Not moving, her knees inches from my face, she talks down to me.

"Why are you working with that oaf?"

Finally regaining my composure, I reply.

"I'm just trying to get my radio back."

Then following up with my own question.

"How do you know my name?"

"My flies hear everything. That's how I knew you'd be coming."

"But we were high up off the ground. Manbug said you couldn't hear us up there."

"Manbug thinks that's true yes. I let him continue to think it's true. But that's enough talk about Manbug. I want to talk about you. Why is this radio so important to you?"

"I'm not from around here. I use it to talk to my wife. She's a several hour drive away."

"Ah, a married man. Such a shame. Perhaps we could come up with some sort of deal."

She says. leaning forward to caress my cheek.

"What sort of deal?"

I ask.

"Some."

She laughs to herself, and continues.

"I know what Manbug told you. I'm some terrible villain out destroy the world, or whatever nonsense. The reality is, I'm a business woman, and a philanthropist. Yes, you could say I have an army of children working for me. But I prefer to think of them like my family. They do a little bit of work for me. I provide them a home, food, all the comforts they could ever want. I'm not the reason these children were on the streets in the first place. I'm the reason their off the streets."

"What about the fat boy? you're flies never caught him."

"That was the business side of it. He wasn't holding up his end of the deal. You know he didn't help collect any of the gadgets. He's rarely helped with any of my projects. I'm teaching these kids valuable life lessons. If they don't learn the value of hard work now. How can they be expected to succeed later on in life. If I give him a free ride now, he'll never learn to take care of himself. Surely you can see the logic behind my decision."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Okay, but why have them steal all the gadgets in the first place."

"Oh, I thought you'd have figured that out by now. It's simple. I control the only newspaper in town. The problem is, I'm not the only news source. Between radio, television, the internet. There's just too many ways for people to get the news. It's really affecting my bottom line. All I want is to go back to a time when the newspaper reigned supreme. With no where else to turn everyone will be buying newspapers again. I'll manufacture the news. Real sensationalistic stuff. A lot of murder, political scandal. Anything to keep them in fear and engaged, so they keep buying it every day. Imagine what I could make selling eighteen million papers a day. I could really take good care of my family with that kind of money. No more cramming them all into abandoned warehouses. No more hand me down clothes, or cheap meals. I could buy whole apartment buildings for them. Set up scholarships. Really set them on the right track."

"And what does this have to do with me?"

"I want you to help me. As much of an idiot as Manbug is, he always seems to find a way to spoil my plans. But he trusts you. You can use that against him."

"I...uh."

I hesitate for a moment. one of the men grabs me from the chair and guides me over to a large window. The woman starts talking again.

"Look at that view. You can see most of the city from up here. Think about all the children out there. All the deadbeat parents who don't even seem to know they have kids. I understand a bit of reluctance. But their fates are in your hands. And don't worry about Manbug finding out about our little chat here. My men tied him to a chair. It won't hold him for long. But there's no way he could have heard us. And We'll be sending a camera feed to him. Starting right about."

She pauses for a moment.

"Now."

"Wha..."

I try to ask what she's talking about. But the man behind me pushes me out the window before I can.

Once again in free fall. I don't even have the minor comfort of knowing Manbug will catch me. I look around frantically for any sign of help coming but there doesn't seem to be any other flying heroes around. I don't understand why she would ask me to help her. then send me off to my death.

Everything gets a lot clearer when I'm caught by a cloud of flies just a few feet from the ground. And gently lowered on to my feet. A crowd of passers by not even glancing in my direction. A second cloud of flies comes into view.

As it gets nearer I can tell there's no body on top of it. It comes right up to me and separates to reveal my radio in the middle. Now falling I catch it, to find a note on the back.

"A sign of good faith."

I try to call Germaine. But there's no answer. At this time of day, I'm not surprised. She's probably out visiting one of the neighbours. No reply From Choren either. I tuck the radio into the inside pocket of my coat.

It's time to go find Burt.