Chapter 1
"Jack! Have you even checked the footage yet?" Davis had asked from the other room. He was going through some old papers left behind by previous tenants.
"Going through them now!" Jack had replied, playing another tape.
He was a tall man with a face that you wouldn't miss. Authority followed him into every room he entered, announcing his very presence.
"I think I finally found something here!" Davis's voice was filled with complete excitement.
Jack looked at the screen, then noticing something off about it. In the footage was a man walks in and disappears for several hours before reappearing. Jack pocketed the tape as he made his way over to Davis.
Davis then stuffed a newspaper into Jack's hand as he entered the room. "All these papers tell a story of a villain, Meltdown. Apparently he caused a lot of mayhem."
Jack paged through the paper that Davis handed him. Jack read the heading at the top, 'At end?' "This article says that he died a few years ago."
Davis threw some papers to the side. He yanked the paper out of Jack's hand before making his way to the next room.
"It's locked."
"We could just come back tomorrow." Davis then made his way outside, followed by Jack.
Jack was carrying the evidence with him. He threw the box in the boot and jumped in the front seat. Jack kept the tape on him.
The ride to Jack's house was silent and quite uneventful. Davis bid Jack a good night as he drove off into the distance, leaving Jack on his porch.
Jack entered his house emptying his pockets at a table. He took the tape out of his pocket, staring at it. Jack inserted the tape to his player. In an instant the screen lit up, playing the tape.
The thought of what he saw hasn't left his mind. Who was that and where did he go? The footage was static, the dark atmosphere wasn't helping. Jack moved closer to the screen, hoping to get a better view.
A man walked up to the entrance looking around anxiously. After several seconds a bright light came from the building, blinding the camera. Jack could make out the man running into the building.
The tape went on for almost an hour with no movement. About to pass out, Jack noticed the man again. This time there was someone with him.
Their faces weren't visible on the screen. Jack ended up watching the footage over and over throughout the night. Passing out on the couch of exhaustion.
Jack woke up to a call from Davis. "Morning." Jack answered, yawning.
"Listen, I've been up all night going through these papers and I think you should come see this."
"I slept well thanks for asking," Jack said, his voice filled with sarcasm.
"Ha ha real funny," Davis tried hiding a chuckle but it failed.
"Just get over here as quickly as possible. I'll make some coffee and we can talk it over."
Jack sighed sitting up right. "Just give me a few minutes."
"See you then," Davis hung up the phone, leaving Jack to get ready.
Jack took a cold brisk shower. On his way out he grabbed a cup of coffee along with the tape. Davis lived about 5 minutes from Jack. Barely a few blocks away.
Jack got out of his car outside Davis's house. He hasn't been there in a while. Jack walked up the stone pathway to the door.
Bushes of roses were cut to perfection around the path. Going up the steps he noticed the purple orchids hanging from the railing. Jack walked up to the large wooden door. The doorbell made a light ding as he rang it.
Davis opened the door a few seconds later. He was dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. His shirt was half tucked in and a few buttons weren't buttoned up.
"Is that a coffee stain?" Jack pointed at a brown stain on Davis's shirt.
"I hope it is yes," Davis invited Jack in yawning. He closed the door behind him, rushing over to the living room.
Jack expected the neat dark themed living room he was used to but he found papers everywhere. Nearly every surface was covered with newspapers and copies of them.
"This is what you wanted to show me?" Jack picked up one of the papers with a red circle around it. "How messy you can be?"
Davis ignored the remark, making his way to a pile of papers.
"I wanted to show you the connection that I made." Jack made his way to Davis, still holding on to the newspaper.
"What you got?" A smile appeared on Davis's face.
"Well I've been reading all these papers and you know how our city has a hero right?" Davis began enthusiastically.
"Mindwipe, yes."
"Right. Well according to these papers he had a arch-nemesis at some point."
Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So you mean to tell me that Mindwipe had an arch-nemesis?"
Davis nodded, "That's right." Jack's expression grew more confused by the second.
"So what happened?"
"That's where it gets interesting." Davis grinned out of excitement.
"If we go to the papers of around 3 years ago," Davis scurried over to a stack of papers on the floor.
"We can see that the stories just stopped. No comment, no remark. Not even a mention about the villian."
"Now why would the biggest paper company stop writing about the most feared villain?" Jack asked, too confused to think straight.
Davis's expression changed, he looked as confused as Jack.
"Well, it's not just them." Davis looked down at some other papers. None of them bearing any news on the villian.
"Every newspaper company stopped reporting news about him." Jack and Davis shared a moment of silence.
"Where did he go?" Jack asked, his thoughts racing.
