Men of Mystery

Dust up in Carver City

The next day, Craig wired a story to his newspaper. From his hidden vantage point, he had seen the Archer pin one of the racketeers to the bank and had heard Cerulean beat up Needles and Sureshot.

But Crent was sure there was more to come and across town Sammy, the boss, was fuming, yelling at his henchmen that had escaped. They were inside the warehouse they had met at the day before.

"Incompetent louts!" he screamed. "I have half a mind to kill you myself." He drew out his revolver and pulled back the hammer. He stood there thinking for several minutes then engaged the safety and put the gun away.

He grumbled. "With my luck even if I can replace you idiots, the new men will be even stupider."

"But it wasn't our fault, Sammy," said one of the men. "That guy from Central City, Cerulean, showed up and deflected the bullets."

"Now why would he come all this way to save the Archer?" asked Sammy.

The henchmen all shrugged.

Silently, Sammy fumed as he thought about how kill the mysterious bowman.

Suddenly the sound of metal rending was heard and Cerulean came bursting in. The henchmen ran to meet him, shooting their pistols but the bullets bounced off him harmlessly. He knocked them all aside and went after Sammy.

The boss man ran towards the back of the warehouse. Cerulean sped after him. He closed the gap between and just as he was about the grab the head man, an arrow whizzed by. Cerulean turned to look who had shot the missile and there in the hole he had made was the Archer. The man was covered in red from top to bottom. A deep hood obscured the man's face. He was already drawing another arrow for his bow.

"Beating up these men," said the mysterious bowmen in a harsh voice, "is no way to treat them."

"You're protecting them?" asked Cerulean.

"Only so they can stand trial and answer for their crimes."

"They'll stand trial and go to prison," said the man in blue, but the Archer didn't seem to believe him.

"Not if you break their legs and bash their skulls." He loosed his arrow. It sailed through the air and hit Cerulean in the chest, the arrowhead flattening against his body; the shaft snapped like a twig.

"My quarrel is not with you, Archer." He looked around for Sammy and saw him exited through the backdoor. Instantly, Cerulean took off after them. About fifty feet from the warehouse he caught the man and then jumped into the air, landing near police headquarters. Several police officers saw him land.

"Here's your racketeer boss," said the man in the azure clothes.

"Sammy Desosa," said one of the officer. "We've been looking for you."

Cerulean shoved the mobster at the police and then leapt into the air. Minutes later back at the warehouse, he found that the Archer had disappeared.

Was he really a force for good in this town? Cerulean didn't know. Clearly he played by different rules. He would think about what was said here. Perhaps a softer approach was possible.

But that still left the Archer running around loose. That bothered Cerulean; he didn't like the idea of the man taking justice into his own hands. Then he stop and laughed at himself. The Archer was doing exactly what Cerulean had been doing. Perhaps he could be trusted. He would watch the reports coming out of Carver City. It any of them showed the Archer was a crook, Cerulean would be back here to bring him justice.

For now he had to get going and round up Sammy's henchmen. He leapt into the air looking for them.