1.19

It was a Saturday and Hunter was out on his own. As much as he had started to enjoy being a part of a team, he still craved for time to be by himself. He had organised it with Stick the night before and she encouraged for the whole team to return to their normal lives for the weekend.

Hunter’s relationship with his mother hadn’t improved. She knew what he was doing, she herself used to be a highly regarded hero.

The previous night had ended in another screaming match between the two and his mother grabbed a bottle of whiskey and planted herself in front of some trashy horror movie. Hunter had tried to reignite the fight, wanting to prove to her what he was doing was right, but she threw the bottle through the television. She pulled out her phone and continued watching the movie on it.

Before going to bed, Hunter removed the cigarette from his mother’s mouth, she had fallen asleep and it had almost burned out.

Hunter loved his mother. She had a lot happen when his father was framed and murdered on air. He understood where she was coming from.

Hunter hadn’t made plans on what he was going to do today and had just started walking with no clear destination in mind. Hunter walked into a building and came out of his daze to find himself at his local comic shop.

The shop was filled with comics, floor to ceiling, all four walls. There were extra shelves constructed to make hodgepodge aisles. Replica props of movies and famous hero and villain gadgets and gizmos hung from the ceiling. Action figures and dolls hung side by side.

Hunter made a beeline to his favourite comic, Goblins and Dwarves. He had missed the two latest issues and the last issue he had read ended on a cliff hanger.

All sorts of genres had found their way to the comic book format. Some of the most popular were superhero ones. Most used already existing real heroes either as likeness or as the main character. Real life heroes often had agreed upon royalties and payments for these to happen.

There were a few indie comic books where writers tried to create their own original heroes, but these usually didn’t do well and were often shallow echoes of the ones that existed in real life.

With so much of his life tied into the whole cape world, Hunter avoided the genre as a whole.

A few companies had even tried their luck at super-hero movies, but most of these were financial flops. Pirates and horror were the biggest money makers right now.

“I’m telling you; Bulldog is the greatest hero ever.” A small voice cried out from around the shelves.

“You are wrong, and that’s all I’ll say,” replied a nasally, droning voice. She sounded irritated and Hunter recognised this one, the owner of the comic shop.

“He’s been around forever and stopped so many bad guys,” Hunter rounded the corner and saw a small boy holding one of the latest Bulldog comics. Bulldog had four ongoing titles.

“Yes, but Cardinal Knight has done so much more. Her cape that opens into the Birdstream is much more useful. And she was a member of The Victories. Now are you going to buy the comic or not?”

“Mom says we’re struggling with money. I hoped you’d give me a discount.”

“Get out.” The boy looked like he was about to cry, and the owner was ignoring him by reading the latest released manga. She wore an oversized t shirt and extremely baggy pants that were held in place by a drawstring.

“Hey kiddo, I’ll pay for it.” Hunter approached the counter and slammed down the cash. The owner rolled her eyes and the boy’s gaze lit up.

“Thank you.”

“You could say I’m a superhero in some way.” Hunter smiled.

“No.” The boy shook his head and ran out of the comic shop.

“Why’d you have to go and make his day?” the owner asked.

“Why wouldn’t you help him out?”

“That’s not how running a business works.” The owner turned her gaze back to the manga volume.

“You don’t have to be so mean about it either.”

“You still here?” Her gaze didn’t leave the manga she was reading. Hunter sighed and left the shop. Sometimes he wondered why he kept returning to this shop.

Hunter settled on a bench at a nearby park. It was a small grassy reserve, only the size of two apartments. It had three benches and two trees. Surrounded by busy roads on all four sides, a small coffee van spent most of its days there, earning big on the foot traffic.

It was Hunter’s favourite reading spot.

Hunter was so engrossed in his new comic and drinking his coffee, he failed to see the action that was unfolding around him.

A highspeed car chase had been playing out through the streets of Athena City for the last fifteen minutes and its final moments played out around the reserve where Hunter was reading his comics.

Two cars ripped around the small grassy plot, one was an old, beat up Firebird the other, a sleek new Lamborghini.

The Lamborghini screeched to a stop, snapping through a 180 turn, it now faced the Firebird. The Firebird revved its engine, the car shook.

The Lamborghini suddenly folded up and out, like it was morphing into something else. Within moments, the Lamborghini now looked like a robot car, and sitting hanging in the torso was a person. His arms and legs were fused into the body of the car, exposing only parts of his chest and head. They were fused into the car as well. He was the villain known as Gearshift.

The driver’s side window for the Firebird came down, within was a bald man with an eyepatch. He smoked a fat cigar. Although he didn’t look like most, he was a superhero known simply as Stuntman. He could do impossible things in his Firebird, things that defied the laws of physics.

“You’re going down Stuntman,” Gearshift yelled. He raised a robot arm and it started to spin and glow blue.

“Bring it.” Stuntman’s car roared to life and took off toward Gearshift. Gearshift shot his cannon, a dazzling blue beam raced toward Stuntman. Stuntman worked his magic with the pedals and gear stick, coming to a halt and whipping off to the side, dodging the cannon blast.

Gearshift kept firing his cannon as he laughed maniacally.

Stuntman’s car whirled and spun like a tornado, making its way toward Gearshift. Gearshift braced for impact. He caught the Firebird, only for the classic car to buck right up and stand on its end.

The Firebird flicked up and off the tail end and came speeding down, aiming for Gearshift’s robotic head. The villain launched forward to dodge the attack, only for the Firebird to spin in the air and smash into the back of Gearshift’s head.

The robot collapsed to the ground. The Firebird rolled on top of the robot and did a burn out, causing Gearshift to faint.

Stuntman roared off down the street, driving on the walls of the skyscrapers, shattering many windows.

Hunter finished the second issue of his comic, stood up and stretched his legs and neck.

Looking around he saw Gearshift collapsed on the ground and skid marks all over the road.