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| | Chapter 33: Sometimes it's just simple...
It had been weeks since Nerd Man donned the cape and mask. Gigglester
had been running around the city genuinely helping the people, and even
the Princess was getting in on the act. Randall couldn't figure out why
they had switched sides, but he didn't care.
It wasn't because he felt powerless or was injured, he just thought it
better to lay low. Since the destruction of the Invotek robot, the
city had been calling for Nerd Man to step forward and pay for that and
other small instances where things didn't go very smoothly. Seemed the
whole city had turned on him and wanted him to just go away. So Randall
gave them what they wanted, Nerd Man went away.
Randall crossed the street. He was on his way to the grocery store to
pickup tonight's dinner. He wished he could simply fly there, but the
sight of Nerd Man would have the cops down here in minutes.
He made his way past a news stand. "'GIGGLSTER' AND 'PRINCESS' SAVE
SCHOOL BUS" read one headline. "PRINCESS FOILS ROBBERY" was another.
"GIGGLESTER STOPS SUICIDE" read another one. Randall looked over the
newsstand, there had to be at least 10 papers with different headlines,
all showcasing those two. Randall smirked, they never wrote about Nerd
Man like that.
"Hey, Mac!" The newstand owner barked "You gonna buy somethin or what? This ain't no library."
Randall cocked an eyebrow and forked over the 50 cents for the evening
addition of the Post. The one that had the headline "GIGGLESTER STOPS
SUICIDE." Slipping the paper under his arm, he continued on his way.
He didn't take two steps before he heard the sound of a struggle coming
from the alley. Looking to his right, he saw the cause. A kid, not more than 8
years old, was getting hassled by 3 older boys, they had to be at least
15-18. The tallest one had blond hair shaved very short to his head and
wore a long black trench coat. Underneath, Randall could see black
cargo pants and black combat boots. The second one was about as tall as
the first, only his hair was pitch black and longer than shoulder
length. His low cut denim shorts looked like they were getting ready to
fall off his waist. And his yellow jersey seemed to be about three
sizes too big. The third boy wore his brown hair short, and also wore a
trench coat, only his was much more diritier than the first boy. He
also wore black pants and instead of boots, had blck sneakers.
"C'mon, ya little punk, where is it?" The tallest boy snarled. He grabbed the kid by the shirt and shook him.
"I don't know!" The kid said meekly.
"There a problem here?" Randall said stepping into the alley, using his most commanding Nerd Man voice.
"Back off, loser. This is a private matter." Said the black haired boy.
Randall feigned a smile "oh, but you're annoying my little friend here. And I think you should get lost instead."
Randall suddenly realized that if he let these guys go, they were just
going to hurt this kid even more when he wasn't around. He knew he was
going to have to figure something else out.
As if on cue, the black hair boy pulled a knife from his pants, and the
brown hair boy pulled a 9MM hand gun. Randall smiled and quietly
whispered a "thank you."
"Oh, so you're big men with guns and knives and beatin up on a little kid huh?" Randall said.
"Motha F*****! You wanna get yo' a** shot?" The boy in with the brown
hair said. Takin a step toward Randall. Randall didn't budge.
"I'm not worried, you're holding it sideways, you probably couldn't hit
the broad side of a battleship." Randall said, rolling up his newspaper
into a wand.
"oh yeah?" The boy said before firing off several shots. Randall was
right, the kid had no aim, as not one was going to hit him.
Unfortunately, the kid shot into the street, and the bullets were
heading in that direction.
With a blast of laser vision, Randall took care of the bullets at super
speed and then feigned getting shot. He hit the ground hard.
"Oh JESUS! What did you do??" Yelled the black haired kid. "That wasn't supposed to be loaded!"
"Holy! Darrel! What are you doing?!" The blonde haired kid said, still holding the little boy.
The little boy had become very silent, even more afraid than before.
"Foo though he was da sh**. Hmph. Who DA SH** NOW MOTHA F*****?!" The
shooter mocked. He walked over and kicked Randall hard in his side. And
immediately regretted it. "OW!" the boy yelled as he grabbed his foot.
"What's wrong with you?" The blond hair boy asked.
"Think i hit a stone or somethin'" the boy said, hopping on one foot. "Think i broke ma foot."
"Most likely." Randall said, getting up. All 4 boys stared at him, unable to move. The blond let go of the boy, who didn't move.
"N-not possible." The black haired boy said. "He shot you."
"Did he? looks to me like he missed." Randall said, looking over himself then cocking a smile.
"Fine, smart a**. I won't." The boy charged at Randall with the knife,
who easily dodged each stab attempt. Using his rolled up newspaper,
Randall smacked the kid in the head. The second it took for the thug to
realize what happened was all Randall needed as he
disarrmed the kid and slammed him into the wall, knocking him
unconcious.
Before the others could move, Randall crossed the distance to Darrel
and also slammed him into the brick wall. He fell without a word.
Randall turned his head to the final boy who was now running away. With
a burst of speed, Randall appeared in front of the runner who slammed
into him. The boy, now completely wide eyed, tried to run the other
direction, only to find Randall in his way again.
Before the kid could move, Randall grabbed him by the coat and lifted
him up. "You're going to leave that kid alone from here on. You're
going to leave EVERY kid alone. So help me if I ever find you again
harassing or doing ANYTHING, I'll put you THROUGH the brick wall. We
clear?" he said in his most menacing tone.
The boy simply nodded his head, to afraid to talk. Randall threw him
back into the wall, and the kid fell to the ground, but was not
unconcious.
"You ok?" Randall asked the little boy. "What's your name?"
"Y-yes. And I'm Randy" The boy replied, getting up.
Randall smiled "Cool, that's my name too. You sure you're ok, Randy?"
"You're him aren't you?" Randy asked, stopping Randall cold.
"Pardon?" Randall asked him, cocking his head to the side.
"You're Nerd Man aren't you?"
Randall looked at the blond haired kid, still gawking at him, then down to the boy. "What makes you say that?"
"Because no one moves that fast." Randy said.
Randall let out a sigh. "Yeah, I'm him. Or I was, anyway."
"Why aren't you in costume?" Randy asked
"City doesn't really want Nerd Man around right now. He went and messed up a bit." Randall said.
"So you gave up?" Randy asked.
"It's not that simple. It's just that-"
"You gave up" Randy finished the sentence.
Randall cracked a smile "No, I just work in secret now."
Randy looked at him puzzled. "Why? People say you're a phony, and are out only to help yourself. That's not true....is it?"
"What do you think?" Randall countered.
"I think they're stupid and wrong." Randy said with a bit of anger in his voice. "So, if they're lying, why are you hiding?"
"It's... just... sometimes, it's better to help people when they don't
know their being helped. This way, if things go badly, no one gets
angry." Randall said, wondering why he was explaining this to a 8 year
old.
"But if you're trying to help, isn't that enough?"
"Not always, I'm afraid. It's complicated." Randall said with a sigh.
"Doesn't look like it to me. Seems pretty simple." Randy said. And
you're Nerd Man! People depend on you." The boy began to have tears in
his eyes.
"No one depends on me, kid."
"But you can't just give up..." The boy said.
Randall stood there for a second, and blinked as realization hit. The
kid was right, he couldn't just give up. No matter if everyone hated
his guts, if the city wanted his head, if everyone was sick of him, he
was still needed. This is what he was supposed to do, and he shouldn't
be hiding cause he was worried of angering a few people. Randall stared
at the boy, wondering how such profound insight can come from such a
young mind.
"You're right." Randall said after a long pause. Randy's eyes suddenly
lit up and he smiled. "Sometimes things are just simple." | | | Posted 7/6/2005 12:22 PM - 1 view - 0 comments
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