Chapter 27: Hiatus

The car ride home was silent. TIP focused on the rode and ZBO-Man focused on what had happened in the last few months and particularly what the woman said to him. “Take off your costume. Maybe you can get candy as a normal human being.” The Uber Guild of Villains was ruining his life. No. The Uber Guild of Villains ruined his life. If Zapblapoman didn’t do something, his friends would start getting flamed as well.
“Look man,” TIP said as he dropped ZBO-Man off. “Don’t let these people get you down. You know that you’re not a bad person. You have to show them that these advertisements are fake. I mean, you have made mistakes. Every hero does, especially when they’re starting out. I haven’t yet… but I’m sure I will. So, go to sleep now. Let it sit for a night.”
Zapblapoman didn’t respond. He just closed the door and slowly walked to the Lab of Electrocution. Inside was dark. He took off his costume and went to bed.
He lid in bed trying to get to sleep. When he did, it wasn’t a good sleep. He was disoriented and kept rolling over to try to balance his world out. Despite his mattress being soft, it felt like it was made of rocks. It was boiling in the covers and freezing outside them. He stuck one leg out to try to cool off. Thoughts blurred into his mind. He couldn’t understand what they were. Before he could grasp them, they left in a cloud.
Aurora walked into his head. Everything was dark. Only she stood in view, like a beacon. Her expression was blank. Her blue eyes staired at him. She climbed the stairs, body elegantly swaying with every step. At the top was a door. When she got there, she looked down at Zak. Her eyes glowed with soft blue light. She grabbed the doorknob. Twisted. And pulled. Zak’s heart jumped. “No! Wait! Don’t do it!” he cried. He grabbed the rail to the stairs and climbed as fast as he could. Every step seemed to take a minute. The door slowly opened and immense light poured into the dark room. A loud gunshot echoed through the room. Aurora screamed. Zapblapoman woke-up.
He was completely out of the covers. Sweat beaded across his skin. His heart beat at double speed and he was out of breath. The sun was up. It was seven o’clock. He tried lying in bed for longer, but he was too restless to sleep. He got up and groggily walked to the kitchen.
SHIMC was showing security footage. Outside was Hemopheria keeping watch on the building. They did this daily. They took turns doing it.
ZBO-Man poured himself a bowl of Zapblapoflakes. Electric Mills gave him a lifetime supply of cereal. This included any concoctions they came up with later. As always, the Zapblapoflakes were ZBO-Licious.
Nothing in his mind changed over night. He knew what he had to do. After he was done breakfast, he cleaned-up, got dressed, and went outside. The air was cold and snow slowly fell to the ground. Hemopheria was sitting in a parked car, huddling to get warm.
“I see you grew your arm back.” Hemopheria jumped out of the car in surprise as Zapblapoman shouted. “How’d you manage to do that? I thought I burnt it shut.”
“I cut off the stub allowing it to grow normally.”
“I didn’t know you could do that. Cool. I haven’t seen you in a while. How’ve you been doing?”
“Pretty good. The Guild is doing well. Have you seen the new commercials?
“I have. That’s actually what I’ve come to talk to you about.” ZBO-Man took a deep breath. “I’m done. You win. As long as you quit the commercials, I will give up being a super hero. I’ll let you make one more to announce my resignation, but that’s it.”
“Who will you be?”
“A normal human being.” Zak turned around and walked around the corner of the Lab of Electrocution.
“Wait,” Hemopheria shouted from around the corner. “I forgot to ask you whether you live here.”
Zak kept walking. He pulled at a hidden trap door at the IKEA entrance and entered the lab. It was time for some TV. It wasn’t congratulatory TV, nor was it commiseratory TV. It was something in the middle. “Wait a minute,” Zak thought out loud to himself. “Today’s Tuesday. I have school.” He quickly brushed his teeth and got his stuff together.
Zak was about to go out the door when he realised he was still wearing his suit. This time he didn’t hurry. He slowly took off his suit, folded it up, and reverently placed it in the back of his closet. After that was done, he quickly threw on some clothes and ran out the door.
*
When Zak got home, he was surprised to see the next and last anti-shock propaganda commercial on TV. Wow they do these things fast, he thought to himself.
*
The scene was looking over the North Saskatchewan with the city skyline in the background. All three guild member stood in front of the camera with Surgeon Indubitable in the centre, Hemopheria on the left, and Aluminum Foiler on the right. They wore disguises, but Zak could see through them.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Surgeon Indubitable said. “It has been a long few months of showing you the true evils of Zapblapoman. Well, our efforts have been rewarded with the formal resignation of the greatest fraud this city has ever known, Zapblapoman.”
Hemopheria talked next. “We would like to thank all those who supported us from the beginning. We also can’t ignore those who joined the cause later. It may have taken you longer to see the truth, but in the end you made the right decision.”
Aluminum Foiler poured some glasses of champagne and handed them out to the other two. He raised his into the air. “Here’s to a brighter and safer future for the City of Champions.”
*
Zak raised his hand. “Here’s to my dreams being crushed.” He didn’t really feel like TV anymore, nor did he feel like eating supper. Instead, he went straight to bed. At around eight at night the doorbell rang. Zak slowly got up and went to ascertain the cause of the alarm. No one was there. Zak opened the trapdoor. Thirty seconds later, Flurada and TIP got out of the elevator.
“I think we need to talk,” Flurada said.
“I think we do too,” Zak replied. “Come into the kitchen and I will get SHIMC to make some food.
Flurada and TIP went into the kitchen, while Zak walked to SHIMC to order some food. He then walked to the kitchen and sat in an available seat.
“We saw the new commercial,” TIP said. “If I didn’t know what happened last night, I would have thought it was another one of their tricks.” TIP lifted the cup of tea that SHIMC served to him. He swirled it around. “Zapblapoman—”
“No. It’s no longer Zapblapoman. It’s Zak.”
TIP decided not to take a sip after all and set it back down. “Zak, I told you last night. Don’t listen to the people and don’t listen to the commercials. You do a lot of good for this city.”
“Do you really think that I’m concerned with what people think of me? Is that what you think the reason I quit was? Don’t get me wrong. It kind of hurt when I heard people criticize me. I heard it all the time when I was in disguise. It’s possible to think that the minority are the loudest in this case. In fact, that’s probably what it is. But it’s not about me. The Uber Guild of Villains is trying to eliminate the biggest threats to their cause, which was me. Next would be Flurada and then you, TIP. I made a promise with Hemopheria when I told her that I quit that I would not come back so long as they made no more commercials. I did it to protect you guys, especially Flurada who needs his secrecy.”
Flurada was silently sipping his tea. “So is this the end the?” He broke his silence. “Are you never going to be a super hero again?”
Zak sipped his tea and thought. He sipped it again. “I don’t know. So long as the Uber Guild of Villains is spreading lies and rumours about me. I can’t be Zapblapoman. So, maybe it’s more of a hiatus until I figure out what I’m doing. I need to think. The events in the past few days have left me drained. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. This break from the world’s problems will allow me to clear my head. Don’t worry. I’m sure you guys can handle the city. It’ll work out in the end.”
“ So, this is where we split off, then?” Flurada asked rising to his feet.
“Not for good,” Zak said. “But for now, yes.”