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Power Shot · #4 [ ] 11-15-2007, 03:31 PM

Part Four

Tobias looked up over the destruction of the airplane’s coach class. Nothing looked the same as it had only a half-hour before or so, he couldn’t quite remember how long it had been since the explosion. Carefully, because he had been wedged between two seats, the giant removed himself from the seats into the aisle. Lights around him flickered on and off, and the air conditioning had stopped working, so the air was even staler than it had been earlier. Tobias looked around, and saw that various people were getting up. From the first class, he heard all kinds of commotion, but ignored that. He headed instead over to where Thomas and Kerry would be seated, solely interested in helping them.

When he reached their seats, he received a surprise. Both of the children were knocked out, and had evidently slept peacefully through the landing. That’s good. Tobias, because of his size, had to crouch down next to Thomas’ seat in order to properly wake the child. Thomas was nearest to the edge, to the giant woke him up first by tapping lightly on his shoulder. “Hey, kiddo,” Tobias murmured. “You all right?”

It took about three prods before Thomas’ eyes started to flutter open and look around. “Give me five more minutes, Mommy,” he mumbled under his breath. “I don’t want to go to school today.” Tobias suppressed a chuckle at this, and rubbed the boy’s shoulder to completely wake him up.

“Sorry, Thomas,” he answered, and Thomas’ head slowly lifted from Kerry’s shoulder to spot the giant. “I’m not your mother, and we’re not going to school.”

Thomas’ eyes opened up completely. “T-Tobias…?” the boy asked weakly. The man nodded, and Thomas coughed lightly. “Is that you?” Once again, the man nodded his head, and smiled gently.

“Yeah, Thomas,” Tobias replied, and patted the kid’s head. “It’s me all right.” Thomas grinned. Okay, he’s all right. Except for a small bruise that Tobias noticed had formed on his left temple, Thomas was visibly fine. The giant glanced over at Kerry, who had a matching bruise on her right temple, and chuckled. They must have conked each other out while we were landing. “Are you both okay?”

“Sure are,” the little child answered, and tried to bring himself into an upright seating position, but stopped halfway. “Ah!” He grabbed his shoulder in pain, and Tobias noticed that a damp crimson spot had begun to form along the coat. And it was getting bigger. “Man, sorry, Tobias. I guess I got cut my something.

Tobias shook his head. “Don’t worry, Thomas. Don’t apologize for something like that. It’s not a problem.”

“Do you have any Band-Aids?” Thomas asked.

Weird. He’s not crying anymore. Tobias knew that Thomas was trying very hard to look tough and not let the pain get to him. “I’m sorry, Thomas, but I don’t think I do,” he answered the kid. “But don’t worry. I can probably bandage that up with something if you take off your coat and roll up your sleeve.” While Thomas obeyed his instructions, Tobias looked around for anything he could use to patch up the wound for him. Nothing around here…guess I’ll have to use one of my shirts. “Just a second, Thomas.”

The giant stood up and opened the overhead compartment above him. He unzipped his duffel bag and grabbed the first shirt within reach. This’ll have to do. “Okay, Thomas, roll up your sleeve,” the giant instructed, and tore off part of the shirt. Thomas did as he was told, and exposed a tremendous gash in his upper arm. Tobias looked at it, and smiled. “Yeah, don’t worry Thomas. It looks worse than it is.”

“Really?” the boy asked. Tobias nodded.

“Yep. It just looks deep is all. You’re perfectly fine.” He pointed out the wound to Thomas. “See, no bone. We just have to apply pressure to it, and the bleeding will stop.” Tobias wrapped the torn shirt around the gash and tugged to tighten it firmly over the wound. Thomas gasped, and the giant looked up. “Does it hurt too much?”

Thomas shook his head, and clenched his jaw. “It just stings a lot, Tobias.”

“It’s supposed to sting. Just wanted to make sure it didn’t hurt too badly.” Tobias tightened his grip on the bandage. “Sorry, this’ll probably sting even more, but I’ll be as gentle as I can with it.” Thomas nodded, and the giant applied further pressure. He noticed that Thomas was trying hard not to let his pain show. He’s being pretty brave about this. After a few minutes, the bleeding began to slow. “There we go, Thomas. It‘s getting better.” Slowly, the bleeding stopped, and Tobias wrapped up the wound with the shirt. “Sorry, Thomas. I don’t have the right equipment to dress this properly, but the police will be able to deal with it without any problems, okay?”

“Okay, Tobias.”

“It might scar too, so make sure to take good care of it.”

At this, Thomas seemed genuinely excited, and his eyes widened. “Cool!” he exclaimed. “Scars are awesome. I’ve seen guys in movies with scars, they’re so cool. Especially when you get them in accidents, then you can tell people about them.”

Tobias just chuckled, and helped the little boy put his jacket back on. “Well, I’m glad you think so.” Better check on Kerry too. “How are you holding up, Kerry?” he asked, and the little girl opened her eyes in a flash. She squeaked in slight pain and rubbed her head, but otherwise seemed fine. “Good. Everyone’s okay then.” Both children nodded their heads eagerly. “Then let’s get out of here. I think everyone’s gathering in first class.”

Thomas agreed, and hopped out of his chair. Tobias helped Kerry out of her chair, and picked her up. “Come on kids,” he muttered, and put Kerry down in aisle. Thomas grabbed his little backpack, so Tobias slung his duffel bag over his back. “Yes,” he sighed in relief, as he took down his guitar, which had retained no damage from the landing. “I can’t break this thing…” With the case in his right hand, he led the children towards the curtain that divided the plane between first class and coach.

Thomas pulled on Tobias’ jacket, so the giant stopped just before they went through. “Tobias, can I ask you something?” the boy asked. Tobias smiled, and tilted his head down to the very diminutive children.

“Of course, Thomas,” he answered. “What is it?”

Thomas opened his mouth, but shut it, as he apparently had some sort of difficulty expressing what he wanted to know. “What happened?” he asked finally. “I don’t remember what happened before we landed. Neither does Kerry.” Beside him, the little girl nodded her head in agreement.

Tobias arched his brows, slightly confused. “You don’t? That’s weird.” He scratched his head, then chuckled. “Well, what do you remember? Maybe I can fill in some blank spots for you.”

Thomas shrugged. “Not much. I remember the explosion, it was a big boom. Did you have my game?”

“Possibly. My head’s kind of fuzzy on the exact details.”

“Oh.” Thomas drooped his head. “So, what happened then?”

Good question. “I think we were saved,” he answered as simply as he could. “By a savior.” Then, Tobias smiled. That brings back memories. Erin used to say that all the time. The children didn’t ask any more questions, and Tobias didn’t press the issue further, so he pulled back the curtain and led them into first class. Mostly everyone was up again, but a few heroes were taking care of the ones that weren’t. Thomas and Kerry made sure to stay close to Tobias, who proceeded directly to the stewardess, who appeared to be in charge of the recovering passengers.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

She sighed, and rubbed her temples. “A couple of the passengers are hurt, but nobody’s dead, thank God. We’re trying to get everyone ready because the police contacted the pilots and said that they were coming through in a few minutes.” Tobias nodded. “Are you all right?” she inquired, with an air of concern that the giant caught.

“A crick in my neck, but I’ll manage,” he answered with a smile. “The boy here, Thomas, has a gash on his upper arm that I patched up.” He stood aside for the stewardess to inspect the child. “Both have bruises on their foreheads, but nothing too major.”

“You poor things,” the stewardess cooed to the children. Kerry enjoyed the attention, and hugged the woman in thanks. Thomas, on the other hand, probably thought that being pampered by the stewardess was the furthest thing from the cool image that he wished to emulate, and only allowed the stewardess to inspect his bandage before he walked right back over to Tobias’ side. “Excuse me, mister tough
guy.”

Tobias laughed. “He’s just trying to show off,” he explained.

“Well, yeah, but-”

Just then, the entire flight heard some sort of gigantic smash come from the outside of the plane. The stewardess and the giant turned around just in time to see the door on the other side of the plane fly open, torn right off the hinges. “What’s that?” Tobias demanded, and arched his back. Thomas noticed that the giant’s muscles bulged.

From the outside of the airplane came three people, all dressed in spandex. Gabriella and Bluestreak followed Titanus into the plane, and all of them had very unpleasant looks on their faces. “Who’re they?” the giant asked the stewardess.

Her eyes widened. “T-those are the Starbolts,” she replied in awe. “They’re a big superhero team from Dastara City, down in Florida.” She pointed at each one. “It’s Gabriella, Titanus, and Bluestreak. They’re huge!” Tobias huffed with indifference.

“Never heard of them. I really should catch up with the times,” he murmured. “But what are they doing here?”

“Don’t know,” the stewardess whispered back. But, the Starbolts answered the question by themselves, as they proceeded directly towards the mayor, who was being guarded like a prized treasure. “But it seems like they came to rescue the mayor.” And then, Tobias practically saw the inner workings of her brain kick into overdrive. “Maybe they’re the ones who dealt with the guy that showed up earlier!”

“What guy?” the giant asked.

She shrugged. “Some guy I saw earlier. He was pretty scary. He showed up and tore a hole in the plane! The Starbolts must have gotten him, because I haven’t seen him. He must have been after the mayor!”

Tobias muttered something under his breath that the stewardess did not catch, but watched as the Starbolt Bluestreak embraced the mayor in what appeared to be a cripplingly powerful hug. “Well, that might explain things,” he said. “That guy might be related to the mayor or something like that.”

She nodded. “I think Bluestreak’s the mayor’s nephew, but don’t quote me.”

I really have to start keeping up with the times. Tobias mentally slapped himself, then returned to looking after the kids, who were star struck at the Starbolts.

“Can we get autographs?” Thomas exclaimed in excitement. “Can we, Tobias? Can we?” Tobias chuckled.

“Why don’t you ask them?” he suggested. Those Starbolts look like they took a beating pretty badly. Each of them had several bruises, and the one Gabriella had a giant purple dot in the center of her forehead that she kept rubbing. Her costume was also slightly tattered, a deep shade of blue with several cuts and shreds around her waist and arms. “I’m sure they’ll do it for little tykes like you guys.”

Thomas smiled. “Thanks Tobias!” Taking Kerry’s hand, the boy led her towards the superheroes. “E-excuse me, Miss Gabriella?” he said carefully, not wanting to bother the super heroine. Gabriella, however, didn’t seem to mind that her conversation with Titanus had been interrupted, and squatted down to their level.

“Yes, kids?” she inquired politely.

“Can we get your autographs?” Thomas asked. “Please?”

At the mention of the word ‘autographs’, Titanus turned around, though it was hard to tell if he had a smile on his face. “Be happy to, squirts,” he replied. “Uh…can I get a pen here please?” One of the mayor’s security provided him with one, and the armored warrior scratched his name onto a discarded napkin. He then handed the pen and paper to Gabriella, who mimicked his motions. “Hey, Marcus, ya wanna sign this thing?”

Bluestreak turned around and nodded. “Sure.” Releasing the mayor, he too signed the napkin before handing it and the pen to Thomas, who promptly placed the paper delicately inside his backpack, not wanting to lose it. “Don’t lose it, kid.”

“Nope!” the boy squeaked. Titanus and Gabriella chuckled, and followed the children back to Tobias.

“Say thank you to the Starbolts, kids,” Tobias instructed. Both Thomas and Kerry bowed their heads lightly, and Thomas issued his thanks to the superheroes.

“Don’t mention it, little ones,” Gabriella answered sweetly. “Are they yours?” Tobias opened his mouth in surprise, the Starbolt was addressing him.

“N-no,” he stuttered, flattered that the Starbolts would even speak to him. “I’m just watching them for this flight, thanks to some help.” He smiled at the stewardess, who blushed again. “The boy’s father is waiting for them at the terminal… Or, I guess he is. What exactly is being done for everyone here?”

Gabriella thought about it for a moment. “I think everyone’s being escorted off and they’ll try to recover the luggage and contact everyone. Right now, we should probably start getting everyone out of the plane. The police say that someone tampered with it and it could collapse due to internal alterations.”

“Okay,” Tobias replied. “Come on guys. Let’s get you to your dad, Thomas.” The Starbolts, after announcing their intentions to everyone, got everyone to line up properly in two single file lines. Very nice. The giant, with the stewardess in the back supervising the evacuation, moved slowly in the direction of the doorway out. The wounded got out, with some help from Bluestreak, Gabriella, and Titanus, and shortly after everyone had exited the plane and were outside in the fresh, freezing air that was Zepther, Michigan.

“It’s cold,” the stewardess murmured, shivering.

Tobias shrugged. “I don’t really get that cold, so I don’t mind it that much.” He breathed the air around him, which smelt of nothing but slight exhaust fumes, and smiled in content. “Air smells nice though.”

“What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. Let’s get the kids inside the airport. Thomas’ father is probably worried sick, he’ll want to know that they’re okay.” She agreed, and both ushered the children into the warmth and security of Zepther Airport with the rest of the flight. Tobias noticed that, as they did so, the Starbolts mysteriously disappeared, as did the mayor herself. Guess that they did what they came here to do. He opened the door for the other three, and Kerry, Thomas, and the stewardess rushed in behind him. He shut it and followed them to the check in gate.

It’s strange that there’s no police at all though… One thing that had altered in the world was the significant decrease in the amount of policemen roaming the streets of the world since superheroes had begun to reveal themselves. Not that there weren’t the same number. In fact, I’m pretty sure with all the supers running around there are probably more. They just didn’t deal with stuff like a plane crash. They learned to pick their battles, and leave supers alone when only supers can save the people.

The giant, swept up in his thoughts about superheroes and the battles they fought, did not notice as he and the others neared the first check in station, which happened to be a line of metal detectors in front of him. Well, this isn’t going to be fun. “I hate metal detectors,” he grumbled to himself, something the stewardess picked up with interest.

“Why, sir?” she asked.

He groaned, and covered his mouth. “It’s sort of embarrassing, so I’d like to keep it to myself if that’s all right. I’ll just need to explain things to the guard.”

“Why would you need to explain anything?”

“I always set metal detectors off. Every. Single. Time.”

She giggled, but Tobias’ prediction held true. When it came their turn, Thomas and Kerry dropped their belongings into the trays provided by the staff and zoomed straight through the detector without any problems whatsoever. The same happened with the stewardess, who took just a little bit of extra time to remove some jewelry on her ears and her fingers before she too passed safely underneath the detector. Then it came Tobias’ turn, so he grimly stepped forward to empty all of his metallic possessions into the trays.

The guard at the other side of the machine handed him one tin to place his items in. Tobias emptied his pockets, which included his identification, such as the passport and his ticket stubs, and his wallet, among other things. However, when he tried to put his giant boots into the container her found that they would not fit. Meekly, he looked down at the diminutive guard and asked, “Can I get anything bigger please?”

The guard looked up, and grumbled, “Yeah, Bigfoot,” and passed him a bigger one. Tobias, if he heard the comment, chose to ignore it, and just set the boots inside with his belt.

“Thank you,” he replied politely. Tobias, holding his breath, walked underneath the machine, fully aware of the fact that both Thomas and Kerry were waiting for the beep. And, as Tobias had promised, the moment he stepped under the detector it started to flash and scream its beeping. Tobias sighed, and simply allowed the other guard on the side to approach him.

“Have you emptied all of the metal out of your pockets?” he asked, and pointed his portable metal detector at the giant. Tobias nodded his head. “Is there anything you might still have with you that might be made of metal?” Again, the giant nodded.

“Sort of,” the giant answered meekly, and lowered his head.

The guard looked him over. “What kind of ‘sort of’?” the guard muttered. “Is it the glasses? Take them off.”

“I can’t,” Tobias answered. “My eyes are sensitive to sunlight, so I can’t really remove them without going blind.” He tilted his head to display the glasses, which were perfectly black. The guard couldn’t see anything underneath them. “Sorry I can’t.”

“Ah…” the guard murmured, and nodded. “I understand sir. No problem.”

“Thank you. And-” With this, he leaned into the man’s ear, not wanting any of the children or the stewardess to hear him “-that’s not the only thing. When I was a kid, I accidentally ate a lot of coins. My mom didn’t pump my stomach, so the metal is still in there. She thought it built character.” To prove this, he opened his jacket and displayed his gut. “If you’d like, you can scan my gut to prove it.”

The guard nodded. “Well, let’s see.” He whirled the wand-like device up and checked Tobias’ belly. Just as the giant promised, it whirled to life and started beeping like crazy. “Okay, I think that’ll do it sir,” he said in satisfaction. He put the wand away, and allowed the giant to step through.

“Thanks a lot,” Tobias answered. “And, please don’t tell anyone about that. It’s very embarrassing for me.”

The guard chuckled. “Your secret’s safe with me,” he whispered with a wink.

The giant exited the line and picked up his belongings on the other side of the x-ray detector. Well, that went well. He stuck his boots right back on and reattached his belt before he joined the others, his duffel bag and his guitar in tow. “Okay, let’s get out of here,” the giant mumbled.

“Tobias, why do you set off the metal detector?” Thomas asked.

“Let’s not talk about it,” the giant answered. “I always forget something made of metal on me. No matter how hard I try to get it all off.”

“It’s all right,” the stewardess said. “Come on, kids. Let’s get you to your guardian.” Tobias led the way down the halls, Thomas and Kerry at his heels, with the stewardess bringing up the rear. With the rest of the flight, they reached the final checking area: the line that screened everyone’s passports and information.

I hate this thing. It always takes so long. Why don’t they have more people working this thing? After a few minutes, they moved about a foot in the direction of the checking stations. With about thirty left to go. It took them about a half-hour to get to the station itself and, even then, they had to go one at a time.

“Hey,” the giant said, and looked towards the stewardess. “Why are you here? Don’t they have a separate checkout deal for flight crew?”

She shrugged, and then again Tobias noticed the tingling on her face. “I guess I kind of like the company,” she replied. “Plus, I thought I could help you with the children.”

“Thank you,” he answered.

Tobias went first in the checking station, as the children had to go with supervision and the stewardess was the best person to do that. He handed his passport to the woman behind the counter. “Name please,” the woman said nasally, not bothering to look in depth at the little book, and only checking its authenticity, which was perfect. “Name please.”

“Oh!” Tobias said. He hadn’t noticed he was being addressed. Erin really outdid herself with my identity. “Tobias Green.”

“Tobias Green…” the lady mumbled without interest, and pulled up his information. “United States citizen. Previously listed as living in Europe, currently registered as a new resident in Zepther, Michigan. Correct?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he muttered.

“Recent traveling prior to Zepther includes stops in Brussels, Belgium and O’Neil International Airport. Correct?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tobias repeated.

“Are you traveling alone?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he repeated.

“Enjoy your move to Zepther, Mr. Green,” the station attendant stated, then handed back his passport.

“I’ll try.” Tobias then walked away and waited for the stewardess to get Thomas and Kerry passed security, which for some reason took a lot less longer than his interview did. “All set?” Both children and the stewardess nodded, so they headed for the welcome terminal, as none of them had anything they needed to get at baggage claim.

Tobias thought it was rather high tech that the receiving area’s doors would open, as though they were designed to wow anyone traveling away from the difficult and often annoying experience that was flying. But he changed his mind once the doors did open, and the giant noticed that, instead of a small crowd of people waiting for their loved ones to disembark the plane, there was an army of reporters battling said loved ones for the chance to get interviews.

That’s mildly disgusting. At the sight of Thomas and Kerry, however, the reporters went insane, and charged in the foursome’s general direction. Both children looked frightened, but Tobias turned around to them and smiled. “Don’t worry, kids,” he whispered, and patted them on the heads. “We’ll get you to your dad, Thomas, and those reporters won’t bother you.”

Thomas smiled. “Thanks, Tobias.”

When the reporters arrived Tobias, in his unusually calm way, stood in front of the children and prevented the reporters from reaching them. “Can I help you all?” the giant asked politely, when some of the reporters began to jab microphones in places Tobias felt were slightly inappropriate to jab things into a person.

One of the reporters, apparently braver than the others, craned his neck up to look the giant in his glasses. “We were wondering if we could interview those delightful children behind you about this traumatic experience.” Tobias detected in his voice a distinct aroma of greed.

Tobias tilted his head, as if considering it, and the reporters waited with bated breath for his decision. “No,” he said pleasantly, and gave them a courteous smile. “You may not. Now move along.”

The press didn’t like that verdict. “But sir, I’m sure that those children would love to tell us what they felt on the plane as they plummeted to their deaths.”

Tobias arched his brow in confusion. “Really?” he asked, with an air of sarcasm.

The reporter stuttered. “T-that came out wrong.”

Tobias‘ smile faded, and leaned into the reporter’s ear. “You are right. It did come out wrong,” he whispered with a slight growl. “Now leave them alone. There are plenty of glory hounds out there who would love to talk to you. Boost your ratings elsewhere.” When Tobias lifted his head back up to smile, the reporter had a look on his face that clearly indicated a deep fear of the giant. “Would you please move along?”

The reporter nodded, as he had a sudden, strong urge to agree with the giant. “C-certainly sir,” he concurred. “We’ll interview someone else.”

“I hope you do,” the giant replied. Then, as the herd parted around them to other passengers, Tobias turned to the children and grinned. “Okay, let’s get you guys to your dad, Thomas.” Thomas, in awe of the giant once again, complied.

It didn’t take long for them to locate Thomas’ father, mostly because the gentleman rushed in their direction the moment he saw the children. He looked different from both, which meant Thomas’ features were maternal. The father had bright red hair and grey eyes, but he wrapped his arms around both the moment he could. Tobias and the stewardess waited from afar as the family reunited.

“Thomas! Kerry!” he shouted, and picked them up to hug them.

“Uncle Harris!” Kerry squealed in joy. Thomas, on the other hand, was mute in his happiness to see his father, and maintained a stoic, calm composure.

The stewardess bumped Tobias’ elbow. “He’s acting like you do,” she whispered, and pointed to the little boy.

Tobias chuckled and, just before they fell off, adjusted his sunglasses. “Gee… I sure hope that doesn’t last. Kids are like sponges.” Both of them shared a hearty laugh. “I’ll take that as my cue to leave though.” I wouldn’t want to break up such a nice family reunion. Plus, I should probably get to Ms. Urashima’s home and introduce myself. I start working tomorrow. With that, he started for the doors outside to the taxis, but was stopped by the stewardess, who grabbed his sleeve.

“Hey,” she said, and he turned round to face her. “Don’t you want to, I don’t know, say goodbye to them?”

Tobias smiled, but shook his head. “Sorry, but I’m not one for stuff like that. The kids are safe, and Thomas’ father is with them. It’d be rude for me to interrupt a family like that. I’m just glad that I did what Thomas’ mother asked me to do. I made sure they came here safely, and they did.” He bowed his head. “By all means, go and make sure that they’re fine after this.” He withdrew the sleeve she was grabbing, and extended his arm. “It was a pleasure to meet you, miss. If I am ever on a plane again, I hope that you are serving the drinks.”

She giggled, and gladly accepted the handshake. “And I hope that, if there is ever a time when my plane’s crashing to the ground, someone like you is there to make me smile even a little bit.”

Once again, Tobias had to be careful. Don’t break her hand. When he released her, he bid her good day, turned on his heels, and headed out of the airport and into the freezing air of Zepther. Have fun, Thomas and Kerry. I’m glad we were sitting next to each other. Outside the airport, there were many, many people, most of them unloading vehicles or loading up luggage from visitors. Either way, Tobias tried to ignore the stank of cigarettes as he passed by several people huddled together smoking. That smells terrible. It ruined the scent of fresh air.

Signs erected above him indicated where he had to go to hail a taxi, so he lugged his belongings down the north side of the arrival terminals. After about a hundred feet, he noticed a small fleet of about twenty taxis sitting in a row along the sidewalk. That must be it. He walked towards the first free taxi he saw, and he denoted this from whether they had a cabbie leaning against their driver’s side window.

“Need a ride?” the cabbie, who smelt strongly of cigar, inquired.

“Yes,” Tobias answered. “Can you take me to a shop called Comic Central? I was to understand that everyone knew where it was.”

The cabbie coughed. “Yeah, I know where that is,” he said between hacks. “Stuff your stuff into the back trunk and we’ll get out of here.” Tobias nodded, so the cabbie popped open the back for Tobias to carefully place his guitar and duffel bag inside. He shut the trunk and got into the passenger’s seat. “Buckle up for safety kiddo.” Tobias took the cab driver’s advice, and the cabbie gunned the very loud engine.

They pulled out of the airport fairly easy, and much faster than Tobias expected. I guess with the incident on the plane not everybody feels up to traveling today. The cabbie got them onto the freeway that connected the airport to the city, and started to speed up. I’m really glad I have a seatbelt on. But it was alright, as the cabbie knew how to drive pretty well.

“You new in Zepther?” he asked.

Tobias nodded. “Just moved here.”

“That’s nice,” the cab driver muttered. “You live uptown or downtown?”

“Uh…not sure. I’m going to be working with the manager of Comic Central, so I guess I’ll be living where Comic Central is. What’s the difference?”

“Well…Comic Central is in uptown, so you shouldn’t worry too much about it.” He hacked, and spit out his window. “But Zepther’s divided into two sections. There’s the uptown, which is basically where most everybody lives, and everybody visits. Then there’s downtown, a kind of bad place that has some of the city’s harbor. I don’t go there too often, but I don’t really want to. Bad place.”

“Really?”

“Really really, kiddo.”

Man, I didn’t know that. “Thanks for the information. I’ll try to stay out of downtown if I can.” The cabbie brushed aside his gratitude, and got off the freeway to drive into the main city. “How far into Zepther is Comic Central?” Tobias asked.

“Just about a few minutes,” the cabbie replied. “We’ll be there in no time.”

True to the cabbie’s word, Tobias found himself on the doorstep of the comic shop in no time at all. “Thanks,” he said, and tipped the man what was owed from the money in his wallet. “Keep the change.”

The cabbie nodded, and stuffed the money in his coat pocket. “Make sure to get your stuff out before you go. I’d hate to have to come back here for no reason.” Tobias laughed, and removed his belongings from inside the taxi. The cabbie waved from his window and drove off, leaving a trail of exhaust in his wake. Tobias, after the black haze lifted and he finished coughing, turned around to see his new home.

And the woman that was approaching the door to greet him.

Word Count- 5258 Total Word Count- 21,090