Superhero Shorts: The Cloud (ep.7)

The Cloud reached the entrance to his Basement in quick time. He rode the motorbike through the entrance tunnel in silent mode, as the tunnel was an old and long disused sewer pipe. The end of the pipe joined a maze of interconnecting pathways, roadways and other tunnels which led for miles beneath Mid. Cloud had set up a cleansing sector at one of the junctions just after the entrance, which removed any mud, water, soil, leaves or anything else that may have been picked up by the bikes’ tyres. From there, he rode the bike along a pre-determined route of these subterranean pathways, riding left, right, back and forth, sometimes crossing the same routes he’d already taken, in case he’d been followed. He knew this was highly unlikely due to the bike being in both silent and infrared mode, but was determined to keep the location of his Basement secret.

He stopped the bike at a tunnel with a dead end, and pressed a button on the handlebar. The wall slid open before him, and he rode through quickly as it closed once again behind him. Inside he rode along another tunnel before finally coming to a stop in an alcove.

He stepped off the bike, and took off his helmet, placing it on the seat. He then pushed a brick in the wall, which caused a false wall to drop down from above, concealing the bike. Cloud then walked along the tunnel until he reached a ladder, where he climbed up quickly and opened a hatch at the top. He pulled himself up through the hatch and into a short corridor with a door at the end. The door had an intricate-looking lock in the centre, similar to a vault lock, but Cloud simply tapped a code into a hidden panel on the wall and the door opened automatically for him. He walked through, ensuring the door was closed behind him.

The room beyond the door was the main room in his Basement. Dimly-lit, with one wall hidden by numerous computer servers. In the centre of the room sat a bank of desks, and on each desk a large computer monitor. The wall opposite the server wall was covered in many TV screens, but only one was in operation at present.

“Thank goodness you’re back!” Claudette Brice said as she walked into the room through a door beside the TVs. “I was just about to come out for you!”

“No need for Cloudette to make an appearance just yet!” Cloud said as he removed a memory card from his binoculars. “Now, let’s see if we can find anything on this.” He inserted the card into one of the computers and tapped the keyboard. Claudette pulled up another chair and sat down beside Cloud to see what would be revealed.

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Previous episodes can be found on the Storylines page.