theRevenant 
ezOP
Posts: 18
(4/21/04 5:19 pm)
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Chris McKee's superhero.
The overgrown rose bush meandering up to Chris' window was alive with sluggish bees visiting each blossom like tired salesmen. The heat of the mid-afternoon day was opressive, made worse by the humidity from the rain the night before. This didn't bother Chris McKee though.
Chris was in the rapture of enthusiasm that only 8 year old boys have. His small fingers carefully making a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich (only Smucker's Grape will do), his mouth open as he concentrated.
"What are you doing, Pumpkin?" Chris' mother chimed from the nearby living room. She had developed the preternatural sense that all mothers have of knowing something was happening simply by how long their child had been quiet. Chris had his tongue out in concentration as he smacked down the top piece of bread onto the gooey sandwich. He didn't hear his mother until she stepped into the kitchen and frowned at the sticky knife laying on the counter beside him. "Ugh. Why didn't you tell me you wanted a sandwich? I would have made you one." She walked over and wet a paper towel from the sink.
"It's not for me, it's for my superhero." Chris replied.
"Yeah well, I would have made him one too. Look at this mess!" She wiped up the jelly as Chris turned and went out the screen door into the back yard.
"Don't let me........." Her voice vanished behind him as he stepped into the damp grass and headed for the path through the high weeds at the back of the yard. To Chris, the yard and beyond was a wonderful place. A place where he could discover the world away from his mother, a place where he could imagine that he was a superhero, thwarting bad guys and sending them crying in defeat. Even with the unheeded warnings from his mother, Chris spent much of his time roaming the farmland adjacent to his house, often spending entire afternoons watching fish in the pond or staring up through the sunspotted leaves of the cherry trees.
But today was different. Today he didn't have to be alone in the fields, for he had something that no other kid in the world had.
He had his very own superhero!
Chris stuck out his hand and felt the furry tops of the foxtails as he made his way to the abandoned corn crib nearly hidden under a squat locust tree, and remembered how it had happened.
It started last night with the storm. Storms frightened his mother, who was always warning him to stay away from the windows when it was lightning, but it thrilled Chris. He loved the roar of the wind and the sudden flash of light sparking off of things like a flashbulb. Last night was a storm like that, and Chris was kneeling on his bed, looking out of the screen from his open window. The smell of the cool wind blew against his face, ruffling the curtains, and he grinned at every thundercrack.
Then something strange happened.
Up in the murk of swirling clouds came something like green lightning. It lit up the clouds and occasionally shot to the ground. Chris 'wowed' under his breath when he saw it, and was about to get his Mom when a huge green........something fell to ground into the high weeds behind the house. Chris knew that his mother would be furious if he left the house to investigate, but none the less, he mentally marked the spot and made his plans for an early morning excursion.
The place where it had landed was easy enough to spot. The grass around was scorched and strangely flattened. There was....stuff..on the ground too, a green, glowing stuff that was thick and sticky. And there was a trail.
Chris followed the trail to the old corn crib and had found him there, hiding in the dust and old corn cobs. His very own superhero!
Chris reached the corn crib with his dripping sandwich in hand and reached up to open the old wooden door. It creaked open on rusty hinges and light stretched into the room. He could see light coming in through the cracks in the boards of the crib, but he didn't need it to find his superhero. He was glowing green and leaning on the wall in the corner. Chris had had pets before, and this behaviour reminded him of a rabbit he had tamed after it had been hit by a passing car. It had taken time, but food is what he used then. Food is what he used now.
"Hello?" Chris called softly. He was certain that his mother would not approve of him keeping a superhero in the crib.
"Mister superhero?"
The figure in the corner stirred, and Chris got a good look at him. The man had long, gray, stringy hair that fell into his face when he leaned over. The face was that of an aged man like one of Chris' uncles, but the eyes shown with a green glow like a flashlight was being shined on them. The rest of his body was almost entirely metal, black with a green oxidized look to it, with metal legs and one of his robot arms missing at the elbow. The green goo that Chris had found in the field was leaking slowly from several holes in the chest of the man, and it looked like he was sick.
"I...." Chris knew that the superhero was grouchy because he had been hurt. Like the rabbit that Chris had once. He tried to think of a gentle way to talk to him.
"I've brought you something. Some food." He held out the sandwich. "It's really good and I fixed it myself. I'm sorry I don't have anything to drink....." He paused. "I could get some water?"
The superhero sneered at the boy and winced in pain as he made an attempt to gesture in disgust. "I...I don't need your sandwich foolish boy. I only require rest..and quiet!" The harsh words would have driven other boys away, but not Chris. He was certain that his superhero needed more than that. His mother told him animals would eat when they got hungry, so he sat the sandwich on a paper towel on the floor and sat down.
"So....do you have a name? I can give you one if you don't." Asked Chris.
The man cringed at the thought and wet his lips. There was a faint whirring from his chest when he breathed in to answer the boy.
"Of course I have a name! My name is Black Atom. Now go away and leave me in peace!"
Chris rocked back and forth with his arms around his legs.
"That's a great name! Really. I guess you must be some kind of powerful superhero with a name like that." Black Atom did not answer but turned slowly so that his back was to the boy.
"So.....how did you wind up here? Were you fighting a bad guy? Is he the one that did that to your arm?"
Black Atom was quiet for a moment and then sighed.
"Will you go away if I tell you?" He asked.
"Yup!" Said Chris as he leaned forward and grabbed his sneakers. He didn't want to miss this.
Another sigh.
"Very well." Black Atom turned around, his metal legs scraping the floor and sending corn cobs rolling. He was holding his side and grimacing when he looked down at the boy.
"Very well. It all started in Paragon City."
to be continued.....
Founding Member,
Occult Detective!
Edited by: theRevenant at: 4/21/04 5:42 pm
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