Free The Adventures of Kid Combat Volume Two: The Heist of Spring Road Toys by Christopher Helwink Page A

computer
room, as usual. While Roller put all the hardware together for the
PCAVs, Gears was busy trying to get their computer systems up and
going. He was having just as much luck as Roller was with the
hardware always breaking. Constant glitches in his software were
causing massive delays.
    As Gears contemplated many questions over his
computer, he barely noticed that not more than five minutes ago,
Kid Combat had ducked away from The Playground, off on a secret
mission of his own.
    Kid Combat walked out of Maple Forest and
almost took a route heading toward Lincoln Elementary. It took him
several minutes to arrive at his destination. When he finally did,
he walked right up to the house on Berkeley Street.
    The house was very well maintained. The
bright green grass was cut very short, and not a blade was out of
place. It was surrounded by a white picket fence that almost
glowed—that’s how white it was. The Cape Cod house was also painted
white and had blue trim around all the windows. The brick walkway
that led Kid up to the house was a ruby red with black trim around
every brick.
    Kid walked up the two steps and knocked on
the door. As he waited for the homeowner to answer, he nervously
looked around to his right and to his left. Kid had been here many
times over the past few years, but every time he came here he felt
that he felt that he was in danger. Not for his safety, but for
some reason in the back of his mind, he felt that his secret
identity was at risk with every stop he made here.
    A few seconds went by and the door opened.
There stood Mr. Thompson, the owner of Spring Road Toys.
    “Oh, hello there, KC,” rang out Mr. Thompson.
“I wasn’t expecting you so soon. Come on in.”
    “Thank you,” Kid responded and entered into
the house. Mr. Thompson patted the young boy on his back as he
passed by him.
    “Let’s go down to my lab. We have much to
talk about.”
    Mr. Charlie Thompson was more than a simple
toy store owner. He and Kyle were great friends. He was the one
responsible for making Kyle into what he was today— Kid Combat. And
it all started because of the hatred of one man they shared in
common: Phillip Arthur Jones.
    Mr. Thompson was the mayor of Elmcrest before
Jones had come into power. It was Jones who had made sure Mr.
Thompson was out of office so he could start his corrupt
empire.
    During his time in office, Mr. Thompson ran a
clean ship. He looked over Elmcrest like it was one of his very own
children. He nurtured it, helped it grow, and let the townspeople
know what was really important—family. He stressed that the
children were the cornerstone of the town. He always said the
children were the future of Elmcrest, and that Elmcrest kids were
very special people. They had the potential to make the town into
something great, something beautiful. The world was their oyster,
and nothing was going to stop them. The town flourished in this
time, and Elmcrest had Charlie Thompson to thank for it, but all
that was in the past now, for all that was before Jones.
    During Mr. Thompson’s second term in office,
Jones was an up-and-coming real estate investor. He bought property
after property and started to build his legacy. Every contract that
came up for negotiation, Jones seemed to win it without breaking a
sweat. That caught Mr. Thompson’s eye.
    He started to investigate Jones and Jones
Industries and how the business was managed. He interviewed
witnesses and land owners from around town. They all pointed to one
thing—Jones was corrupt.
    Jones used different tactics to cover his
tracks. His favorite one was pure intimidation. Like a bully at
school, Jones would walk in and threaten the businesses with all
sorts of legal actions if they didn’t do what he said. Most,
knowing Jones’s reputation around town, were scared into selling to
him.
    The ones he couldn’t threaten, he would open
a competing business right next door and offer the same goods and
services at a fraction of the price