Chapter 14
My team’s first chance to start sabotaging Hamilton’s mayoral campaign came two weeks after his opening event that announced his run. Hamilton, to show that he was charitable, was hosting a charity auction to raise money to create two new water wells in Chad. Knowing this would be a good time to strike, I called my team on the holocube. Five people answered with Fe and Spider Man sharing a hologram.
“I really like what he’s doing,” Fe said after I explained what was going on, “Chad is in need of clean water supplies and these wells would provide that water,” Everyone else agreed.
“I’m not saying that we don’t get those water wells because believe me I really believe that we need to address the water crisis not just in Chad but in other places even among the United States,” I explained, “We just want to make sure that the night doesn’t run smoothly. I’m talking about spilling drinks over patrons, messing with the microphone and fumbles with the pieces being auctioned off. You know, the small things matter. It makes Hamilton look less prepared and foolish. Everyone knows that we need a mayor that can be organised and not make himself look foolish in public or in front of visiting politicians,”
“I see what you’re trying to accomplish here,” Gecko said, “You know that Hamilton’s political ambitions are exactly what the young voters want and so he’ll be appealing to them. By making him look like a fool you’re sending a message that despite all the wonderful promises he makes he isn’t the one who will be able to make them a reality because he is a fool,”
“Are you sure that your plan will work?” Red Bolt asked.
“No,” I admitted, “Even with all the psychology we can use to our advantage to persuade the public Hamilton isn’t their man, no one can truly predict what is going to happen. We could probably get everyone against Hamilton if we blew things up and released all his wrong doings in the world,” Everyone looked at me in a way that suggested that was what they thought we would do. I sighed.
“Did you guys really think I wanted to blow stuff up and collapse buildings just to stop Hamilton?”
“I mean he did blow up your apartment,” Fe said
“It does sound like something you would do Slingshot with all your explosive shots and crossbow bolts,” Gecko said
“It would be fun,” Red Bolt admitted.
“Oh, come on. We’re the Young Avengers we do not blow up buildings,”
“So, what is your plan then Slingshot?” Spider Man asked
“Well it goes like this. Ligero and Red Bolt are going to make things float and disappear. Their super speed and force manipulation will come extremely helpful for this particular mission. I want you two to keep your disappearing and smashing to a minimum. We want Hamilton to look clumsy. The less he suspects someone is behind it the better it is for us to do more sabotaging,” I explained, “The auction is also going to be streamed online. I want as much technical difficulties as possible. Fe and Gecko will in charge of that. I want funny typos in Hamilton’s teleprompters. I want cameras cutting out. I want Hamilton’s microphone to malfunction. Again, keep it minimal but make sure it’s harilous. No one will consider the court jester as the heir to the kingdom, will they?”
“That leaves you and Spider Man. What you will you two do?” Gecko asked.
“Spider Man?”
“Yes Slingshot?”
“How weak is your webbing?”
“It’s very strong. Too strong for normal people to get out of,”
“Can you make a batch of webbing that is quite weak? I want you to cover the doorways that Hamilton could enter into with it. You guys ever hear of the glad wrapping the door prank?” I got nods from everyone but Ligero. “It’s going to be like that but with the weak webbing. It will be funny watching Hamilton try to get it off as he walks through the door when he’s meant to look in control,”
“Slingshot?” Ligero asked. When everyone turned to look at her, she looked down at the ground embarrassed.
“Yes Ligero?”
“Uh… I don’t get what you mean about the whole glad wrapping the door thing,” Ligero said softly “Could you explain it for me please?”
“Of course. So, there’s this prank where you cover an entrance in glad wrap. Because glad wrap is see through you can’t tell that the entrance is covered in glad wrap so when you try to go through the entrance you get caught in the glad wrap. It’s a fun prank,” I explained to Ligero. Ligero nodded.
“Thank you,”
“No problem Ligero,” I smiled at Ligero.
“You still haven’t explained what you’ll be doing,” Red Bolt said.
“Compared to everyone else on this team, my skill set can’t help physically. I can’t hack any computer system you put me in front of nor do I know Spider Man’s formula, so I can’t be any help there. I also don’t have any powers that let me move things at super speed or by manipulation and I can’t cling to ceilings. This makes me essentially useless on the mission field this time around. However, one of my skills is sitting down and watching. I’m going to be overwatch for this mission. I’ll also provide ariel cover should things go wrong. Which I hope they don’t ‘cause I don’t want this to be over before it even began,”
“Sounds fair,” Red Bolt said.
“Glad to know that it does. I’ll be using a bow and arrow instead of my usual weapons because where I’ll be watching from is going to be a little bit out of my range,”
“You can use a bow and arrow?” Spider Man asked, surprised “Isn’t that Hawkeye’s thing?”
“If you literally give me a projectile weapon of any kind I’ll more than likely be able to hit any target you give me,”
“Okay then… remind me not to get on your bad side when you have something in your hand,”
“Smart move,”
“Next question,” Fe said, “How are the rest of us getting in. Having Stark Interns is not going to help us in anyway. And I don’t think Tony could really keep pulling that card,”
“Lucky for you I had Gecko whip up a few backstopped identities for you lot,”
“And what would they be?”
“Fe’s going in as herself, I know for a fact that the Smith’s have an instant invitation. They’re rich, white and liberal compared to the rest of the people in the circles. By sending their daughter in as a go between, it gives Fe cover to bring in her tablet or laptop as she could always say she is communicating with her family. Gecko’s going to be wearing prosthetics since she’s instantly recognisable to Hamilton and his family. She’ll be a daughter of a high rolling casino owner out of Atlantic City who is looking for some new items to put in his foyer. Red Bolt and Ligero will be acting as the twin sisters of a wealthy business man in Los Angles who is looking for a chance to expand his company to New York. Vision and Scarlet Witch will be attending with you guys. Let Vision and Scarlet Witch handle any and all transactions, your jobs – besides the moving objects thing – is play the part of a board teenager who has much better things to do than to sit in an auction while her parents discuss which pieces they should bid on. Ligero, I know that you don’t know Red Bolt and I also know that you’d prefer to work with Fe but for this I need you to trust me and Red Bolt enough to work with Red Bolt. I know I haven’t really given anything to make you trust either of us, but I can assure you I will make it up to you. Can you do this for me? For the mission?” Ligero nodded.
“And again, you’ve left me out of the fun,” Spider Man said.
“Well you don’t get a backed stopped identity because you’ll be crawling through the air vents,”
“No,” Spider Man groaned.
“Dude, your code name literally has the word spider in it. I think you can handle hanging out with your buddies in the air vents,” Spider Man sighed knowing that I was right and there was nothing he could do to change my mind or my plan.
“She got you there Spidey,” Fe laughed. Spider Man elbowed Fe in her side.
“Okay since it seems that I’ve answered everyone’s questions, I expect everyone to be in position fifteen minutes before the auction,”
I set up my holocube on a building across the road from one of New York’s many galleries for hire. It produced live camera feeds from inside the gallery as well as blue prints with pins for each member of my team that moved in time with their real-life movements. It also showed the website from which Hamilton would stream his auction from as well as the Twitter search page. If anything stupid happened to Hamilton or if he made a mistake, social media would be the first to hear about it. With one of my quivers of arrows slung over my back and my bow in my left hand, I paced a small square on the rooftop as I waited for everything to start. I was looking at my holocube when a call screen popped up. The caller id said it was Hawkeye. I accepted the call from him.
“What I do for you Hawkeye?” I asked.
“I’m just checking in. Wanted to see how you were doing on your first solo team mission,”
“First off it’s not my first – the campaign opener was our first without any adult supervision. Secondly, Vision and Scarlet Witch are going to be there so its technically not a solo team mission and thirdly solo means one person while team means more than one person so solo team shouldn’t really be a thing since they’re two opposites. I prefer the term mission without supervision,”
“Okay you got me there Slingshot,” Hawkeye admitted, “How are you?”
“Nervous. I’m used to providing overwatch. I was literally trained to be overwatch. But this is one of the few times that I’m doing it from a distance. And I don’t like it. Sure, I know that I can shoot an arrow from here and I know it will hit its target but it’s not the same as providing cover in the same room if you get what you mean. It’s a lot harder to control the mission from out here,”
“Understandable. It’s hard for you to let go of control; it’s no surprise to me that you organised your friends into the team you have. But as you said Slingshot, you’re trained for this. And they’re trained for their job. You guys will do fine,”
“I know you’re right. But most of my team is just my teammates – I would only really say Spider Man and Fe are my friends,”
“Everyone is your friend – you just don’t know it yet,” I rolled my eyes at Hawkeye’s cheesy statement.
“As much as I would love to continue to talk to you Hawkeye, I’ve got to get back to my mission and lead my team. Gecko’s just arriving now,” I said, looking at the road below and spotting the limousine Gecko was using pull up to the gallery.
“Okay Slingshot. Call me when you’re done,” Hawkeye cut his connection as I made my way to the holocube.
“Okay Gecko this is Slingshot,”
“Gecko receiving,”
“Just letting you know that I have spotted your car pull up and…” I looked back over to the road and saw a blonde-haired women in a red dress step out “I can see you getting out of the limo from overwatch position,”
“Copy that Slingshot. What’s the status of everyone else?”
“Fe is already inside taking a look at what seems to be a fake Banksy. I recommend not bidding on that,” I told Gecko as I checked Fe on the live camera feed, “Ligero and Red Bolt will be coming shortly. I can get you an update on Spider Man if you want,”
“Yeah sure, why not. See what the wall crawler is up to,”
“Sure thing Gecko. Slingshot out for now,” I said, “Okay Spider Man this is Slingshot,”
“Spider Man receiving,”
“Just wanting to check in on your progress,”
“I know you know what my progress is. You have the schematics to the building and tracking our locations with it,”
“Humour me Spidey,”
“Well for starters I haven’t seen any of my so-called buddies. And I’m starting to get sore arms. These air vents are exactly easy to navigate you know,”
“Actually, I do know. I just knew that you would be better suited for this challenge than I was. You have spider strength and I do not,”
“Now you tell me that,”
“How else was I supposed to get you to do this?”
“You are an evil person Slingshot; did you know that?”
“I would have been an evil mastermind in another life. Now seriously, how far away are you from the objective? You have less than ten minutes to do so,”
“I’ll get there in time Slingshot,” Spider Man assured me, “Have the guards done their final check?”
“Not yet. They’re meant to do it after Red Bolt and Ligero arrive with Vision and Scarlet Witch,”
“You’ll let me know when they arrive right?”
“Of course, I will. I wouldn’t be a very good overwatch if I didn’t,” I replied, “I’m going to talk to the others. Slingshot out for now,” I took in a deep breath. It was important as overwatch to keep calm so that your team felt calm as well. I took a quick look at the holoscreen showing the streaming website. The count down clock read eight minutes. Taking another breath in, I turned my attention to Fe.
“Okay Fe this is Slingshot,”
“Fe receiving,”
“Just letting you know that the Banksy you were looking at is probably a fake and that Spider Man is almost in position,”
“Cool. How long until Red Bolt and Ligero turn up?”
“Another two minutes. I should probably check on them. Do you think you can pass Spider Man’s news onto Gecko for me?”
“Yeah sure. Fe out for now,”
“Okay Ligero this is Slingshot,”
“Ligero receiving,”
“According to my location screen you and Red Bolt are less than two minutes away from the gallery. Actually…” I looked at the road, “I can see your car now,”
“Okay,”
“How are you feeling Ligero?”
“I feel nervous. I feel super nervous,”
“Do you need any help from me or will you be fine?”
“I should be fine. But I want to talk to Fe. Maybe she could help,”
“Of course, you can Ligero. I’ll switch to Red Bolt – go talk to Fe,”
“Ligero out for now,”
“Okay Slingshot this is Red Bolt,”
“Slingshot receiving,”
“My car door is opening now with Ligero getting out first. Vision and Scarlet Witch will get out after us,” I looked across to the gallery. I spotted a girl with auburn hair step out with help of the chauffer. She was quickly followed by another girl, this time with blonde hair.
“I see you and Ligero Red Bolt. I’m watching Vision and Scarlet Witch get out now,”
“Cool. Is everyone in position,”
“They should be by now,”
“Okay then. Red Bolt out for now,”
I, along with the millions of other people watching the live stream of the auction, laughed out loud when Hamilton walked through his entrance covered in spider webs. As the auction continued, those millions of people started to make memes and funny tweets about how unprepared for the auction Hamilton seemed to be. #Hamilton became a trending topic on Twitter as people either inside the building or watching the live stream shared pictures of floating objects, the cobwebs that Hamilton missed when he brushed his suit clean and photoshopped old meme formats to represent the unprofessionalism of the event. It seemed that our plan was working. The live stream ended at midnight at the conclusion of the auction, so I returned to watching the camera feeds and the road down below. I watched Fe get into her SUV driven by a chauffeur while Gecko, Ligero and Red Bolt got into their respective limos. Spider Man was waiting on the roof of the gallery. He couldn’t leave his position until the majority of the patrons left. I closed the holoscreens with the Twitter feed and live streaming site as well as the schematics now that Spider Man had left. I kept the cameras inside the gallery going to watch people leave.
“Okay Slingshot, this is Spider Man,”
“Slingshot receiving,”
“How much longer do I have to wait for people to leave?”
“Probably another five minutes. I suggest you make like you’re heading to where Stark Tower used to be. Or do you want me to give you a crime to go to?”
“As much as I would like to go now, Aunt May wants me to come straight home,”
“Okay then. I’m going to patch everyone in so that we can talk about what the reaction is to the auction,”
“Sure thing,”
“Okay everyone, this is Slingshot,”
“Fe receiving,”
“Ligero receiving,”
“Red Bolt receiving,”
“Gecko receiving,”
“So, I’m just letting everyone know that we pulled it off. Social media is blowing up with memes and I’m sure that by tomorrow morning there will be a few articles detailing exactly how and where Hamilton went wrong,”
“Are the memes any good?” Fe asked.
“I think you should see them yourself – I mean I’m finding some of them quite funny others not so much,”
“Oh well. I’ll check Tumblr when I get home,” Fe said.
“Anything else you care to mention Slingshot?” Gecko asked.
“At the moment. Not really. I just want to tell everyone that we did a good job here tonight. Especially Ligero. Thank you for trusting me. I know it was hard for you,”
“Can I go yet?” Spider Man asked, skipping any sentimental connection that may have been formed between myself and Ligero. I check the cameras for Spider Man and saw that the majority of the people attending had left.
“The majority of people have left the building Spider Man, you’re free to go home. I’ll see you all at school tomorrow. This is Slingshot signing out,” Everyone else signed out and the com channel went dark. I finished closing the holoscreens before securing the holocube to my belt. I brought out my hoverboard, activated it and flew home.