Shin-Man felt much better after the stress-relief session he had with the E.VLE henchmen. So much better in fact, that he decided to make a trip through the city to Chestnut Street.

The journey through the darkened streets was short, and Shin-Man soon found himself standing in front of a looming, black skyscraper which had been placed directly at the end of the street.

The signpost outside labeled the building as:

[ELV.E Corp. HQ]

It was obviously a front for E.VLE. Perhaps their headquarters too! After all, judging by the stainless glass exterior, inordinate amounts of cash had been spent on its construction.

Regardless of it’s possible headquarter-worthiness, it belonged to E.VLE, and therefore Don Cannoli. If Shin-Man’s sock was anywhere, then it would be in there.

He shivered. Who knew what sort of dastardly things those fiends were doing to his sock.

Next to the looming skyscraper was a common fast-food joint, McD*nalds. Shin-Man walked inside, changed into a suit and tie. His businessman disguise complete, he then walked through the front door of the evil organization headquarters.

It was infiltration time.

The interior of the first floor was tastefully designed with potted plants carefully arranged in the corners and a crystal chandelier on the ceiling. Security guards stood at attention along the walls. At the polished-wood reception-desk, a well-dressed receptionist sat. She quirked an eyebrow upon seeing Shin-Man’s disguise.

“Hello sir, and welcome to ELV.E Corps.” The receptionist said. “You wouldn’t happen to be Shin-Man in disguise, would you?”

Shin-Man sweated.

“No, of course not.” He said. “I am a simple businessman, here to do- uh… business with your illustrious establishment.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The receptionist smiled. “Wonderful. What is your business here, sir?”

Shin-Man’s eyes flitted from side to side, thinking furiously. He regretted not creating a story for his false identity beforehand.

Still, he improvised as best he could.

“I am here to… negotiate a deal for the selling of… ten air-conditioning units.”

Shin-Man sucked at improvising.

The receptionist’s smile dimmed.

“Of course.” She said, her smile becoming more forced. “A quick question though. Does this cloth smell like chloroform to you?”

Before Shin-Man could react, a security guard who had snuck up behind him shoved a strange-smelling cloth beneath his nose.

The world around him became blurry, and his vision faded to black.

The security guard stepped back as the superhero slumped to the ground, unconscious.

“Well that was easy.” Said one of the armored guards.

The receptionist rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it was. We have the superhero. Now what?”

The guard scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed at being asked what to do.

“I don’t know. I guess we should restrain him before he wakes up. And tell the boss.”

The receptionist shrugged. “Good idea. Where’s the rope?”

“I’ll go look for it. I think the janitor has some.”

The guard who had spoken ran off to the janitor’s closet, stepping over the snoring superhero as he rushed away.

A few moments later, he came running back, huffing and puffing.

“Why- *gasp* -is the janitor’s closet- *wheeze* -on the sixth floor? And why don’t we have any elevators?”

No one had an answer for him.

“Rope?” Asked a nearby guard.

The tired man shook his head. “The janitor said we were all out.”

“What do we do then?” Said the frowning receptionist.

The group of evil organization workers stood over the snoring hero, stumped.

A lightbulb appeared over a random guard’s head.

“Hey guys, why don’t we use the beach room? It’s got sand we can bury him in.”

The beach room was a special room constructed using E.VLE’s ill-gotten funds. It was an artificial beach, designed to allow E.VLE workers to relax after a hard day of work. Let it never be said that evil corporations mistreated their workers.

“The beach room…” mused another guard. “That could work.”

All in agreement to use the beach room, the henchmen lifted up Shin-Man’s comatose body and took him down to the basement, where the beach room was. Once there, they brought out shovels and began digging a hole in the fake sand.

They placed Shin-Man into the hole, and then buried him up to his neck. What was left was the superhero’s head sticking out of a mound of sand like some kind of weird rock.

The evil employees stepped back to survey their work, and then shrugged in an unspoken agreement of ‘good enough’.

“I guess we should go tell the boss now.” Said a guard after taking a gander at their handiwork.

“On it.” Another guard rushed off.

The hero slumbered…