Shanahan leaped at his enemy. He swung with his full strength. It didn't matter if he killed Whitehouse. He just wanted to keep the alarm from being sounded before he was ready for it.

Whitehouse popped out of existence.

Shanahan's fist split the air, touching nothing. He pulled back. How long did he have before things went into the pot?

A bell started ringing. He frowned. He would be knee deep in mooks and the other two living weapons. He had to get out of there, or think of some ploy to distract them long enough for him to get Wyndham and get out of there.

Shanahan took two seconds to look around. He decided that he could lay a false trail for a few minutes.

Anything after that would be gravy.

He slammed his fist into what he thought was an outer wall. He watched in fascination as the force of the blow blasted into the rock. Then the wall flew away from him in a shower of shrapnel.

Step two required him to hide. He dove behind a curtain over a doorway. He leaned away from the inner wall. He didn't want the Sword slicing through him and the wall at the same time if they thought something was hinky.

He found himself in a map room. He saw saw some things he could turn into weapons with his increased strength. He picked up a paperweight. The thing was a flattened ball that resembled a cat's eye marble. He wondered what made it so special before he went back to listening to the other room. He needed to be ready to move depending on what happened.

Step three of the plan depended on what the enemy did. This was the part where he would have to improvise a solution to whatever problem cropped up until he was free and clear.

The optimal solution was he killed both of the weapons, got Wyndham, got the gate stone, and made it home without leaving a way for the enemy to chase him.

He figured that what really happened would be less sanguine than that.

He heard the pop sound of Whitehouse arriving in the next room. He listened. They should be looking the other room over for any clue to where he had gone.

He waited until he heard them talking. The moment they did that, they weren't looking for him anymore. They had decided that he had done something they could make plans around to chase him.

He pushed the curtain out of the way so he could peek in the next room when he heard the Sword and Whitehouse discussing the hole in his wall.

He remembered that Wyndham's note said Whitehouse had some way to track her. If he could get that, that would make some of his problems go away. If he could get rid of them at the same time, that would be great.

“He's still here!,” shouted someone.

Minions had been left by the entrance to the room. Shanahan hadn't seen or heard them before he moved the curtain out of the way. He needed to act fast if he didn't want to be chopped to pieces.

He leaped at the weapons as they turned to face him. He saw the sword swinging to cut him off. He twisted in the air as his feet aimed for the solid surface they wanted. That was the Sword's chest. He hit as a burning pain sliced through his leg.

They both started out of the hole in the wall. Shanahan grabbed Whitehouse as he moved by and yanked him into the air with him and the Sword. He punched the man in the stomach. It was a weak blow, barely grazing the man. It was a distraction and what he wanted at the moment.

Shanahan started to rotate so his feet pointed toward the ground far below. He grabbed at the pouch strapped to Whitehouse's belt. He yanked it off as the weapon vanished.

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Whitehouse reappeared and grabbed the Sword. They vanished in the middle of their fall.

Shanahan looked down at the ground approaching. He needed to do something before he crashed down and hurt himself so bad he was easy pickings for his enemies.

He tucked the stolen pouch in his coat pockets. He needed both hands if he wanted to stop himself.

He rotated his body so that his feet would land on the tower's outer wall. He started gliding in for a landing. He started running when he touched down.

He leaned back so that he started sliding along the stone face. He bent forward and jammed his hands in the stone. He flipped over. He tightened his grip. Luckily, he didn't accidentally pull his hand holds out of the wall.

He took a moment to catch his breath. He wasn't dead and he had a way to track down Wyndham if he had grabbed the right thing. He just had to avoid the Sword and Whitehouse until they were clear of the tower.

The only problem with that was they knew where he was going. They would be waiting for him to go there.

How could he turn that around so he could finish the job?

He didn't have a lot of experience reversing traps. Usually he was the one setting up ambushes. Or he ran away from ambushes that had been sprung on him and his men.

He had to get off the wall before someone tried to knock him off. He had to get back inside.

He freed one of his hands. He twisted around to secure a better grip with his free hand. He let go with his other hand and balled it up in his fist. He slammed it down on the wall. He released a ton of water out of the tower. He swung out of the way and waited for the water to quit running before he slid into the hole he had created.

Shanahan looked around. He was in a bathhouse inside the tower. The water was from one of the bathing pools. He supposed if the alarm had not sounded, he would be facing naked people who didn't want him invading their space.

He jogged to the door and peeked out in the hall. He saw guards on the steps. They didn't seem to be looking his way. He supposed they weren't sure if he would come back inside after jumping clear of the building.

He took a moment to look inside the stolen pouch. He found a cylinder made out of stone. A circle was on one end like a button. He pressed the circle in. Green light pointed upwards from the cylinder.

He cut the cylinder off. He put it in his pants pocket. He needed to get to the steps and around the guards before he could worry about Wyndham.

They would add on the guard and have someone inside the room with her to keep him from doing something harmful. He wondered how he was going to deal with that.

He had to find the exact room she was in before he made any plan more complicated than bust in and kill everyone and then run.

Wyndham's condition would have to be taken into consideration. He was sure that he could carry her around if he had to do that. He hoped she would still be able to run on her own.

He supposed he should be happy they were keeping her alive. It would be so easy just to kill her so he would run around in their maze until they caught up with him.

He glanced at the guards on the steps. He needed to do something about them, or he needed to go around them somehow. He studied the area.

Maybe he could impersonate Spider-Man. They had real powers here. He doubted they thought about new applications of the same old thing.

The first step he had to get done was climb off the ground and use the ceiling to get to the stairwell. If he was seen, he would have to drop down on the minions and go to work.

Shanahan tapped the bathhouse wall. It seemed solid enough to take his weight. He had to get through the door and get to the ceiling. He could pull himself along once he had a grip on the stone.

He watched the guards. They didn't seem to pay attention to his end of the area. He jumped up and worked his way to the ceiling. He pulled himself along to the stairwell. He paused but the guards didn't look up. He grabbed the side of the steps and started climbing upwards.

He worked his way up until he was above the twentieth floor. The army was milling around without purpose. He didn't hear Whitehouse or the Sword. They were probably waiting on him to grab Wyndham.

He hated that he was walking into a hostage situation without any way to change the odds to his favor. He could be getting the both of them killed despite them wanting Wyndham alive for whatever reasons they had.

Shanahan wondered if he should let them know where he was so they would take him to Wyndham. Would they want to keep him alive after what he had already done? He doubted they were going to be friendly.

He wondered how strong he was now. Could he knock the tower over if he had enough leverage? Did he want to try?

He put that idea away for when he was really desperate and had nothing to lose.

He might reconsider his thinking if he couldn't get Wyndham out.

He dropped down to an unknown floor without any guards. He leaned against the wall as he considered what to do next.

He pulled out the cylinder and pressed the button. The light pointed upwards. He had to keep climbing.

He looked at the stairs. He felt he could run up them forever. He didn't want to. He preferred elevators.

He watched as the light painted the stairwell ahead of him.