Average Joe (2018)

18

The subway train shook softly as it sped down the tunnel. My hands were shoved deep into my pockets. My head was pressed against the glass. There was nobody else on the train... or so I thought.

"What's up, Nancy Knight?" I looked up to see a smiling Cora approaching.

"Oh hey, Nightcrawler. Came here to try and convince me to join Bryan's righteous cause?"

Cora sat across from me.

"We both know Bryan is anything but righteous."

"Look I don't want to hear it, whatever it is that you came to say. I just want to go home."

"Norman, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot, alright? But Bryan and I need your help." I bit my cheek.

"I'm not Red Flame, okay? I'm not even Cold Front. I'm not anything close to them. I'm not a god, or a giant, or whatever. I'm just... me."

Cora thought for a moment.

"Then don't be a giant. Don't be a god. Just be you."

The screech of metal on metal came as the subway screeched to a halt.

"This is my stop."

I got up and left her there.

As I walked up from the subway, rain began to patter down around me. My phone began to buzz. I pulled it out and saw my Dad was calling. I hit the answer button.

"Hello?"

"Norman," my Dad sounded relieved. "Where are you, son?"

"I'm on Fremont. Almost home."

"Norman, listen to me. Get home as fast as you can, don't talk to anybody on the way, do you hear me?" My heart prickled with dread.

"Dad, what's going on?"

"Detective Mann has been killed a few moments ago, Norman. It was the Chronicle. He left behind another audio journal and in it, he revealed his next..."

Someone crashed into me, causing me to drop my phone to the ground, screen up. Hot coffee splashed across my chest. I stumbled and almost fell.

"Oh...!" A voice exclaimed. "I am so sorry..."

"No," I said. "Don't worry about it." I reached down and picked up my phone. I could hear my Dad's voice yelling on the other line.

"It's you, Norman!"

The stranger said something else as he pressed a blade against my throat.

"I find I rarely worry about anything, Norman."

I swallowed. Dad's voice kept calling out from my phone.

"Norman!" He exclaimed. "Norman, are you there?"

The man in front of me slowly extended his hand and took my phone from me, hitting the end-call button.

"I've looked forward to meeting you, Norman. I didn't want to do this now, but I made the mistake of leaving my last journal at the scene of the crime. It's a bit of a habit of mine, I'm afraid."

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"Nothing much. Just your life..."

Fly! A voice in my head screamed at me. You did it once, you can do it again!

Thinking quickly, I knocked the man's hand away, his blade skitting against the wet asphalt. I jumped up, trying to soar into the sky but nothing happened. The man laughed dryly and picked up his Gladius blade once more. I jumped up again and again as the man approached.

"Fly, damn it," I grunted, just as the man embraced me, and then something else happened - we were no longer touching the ground. The man grunted as we soared higher and higher, past the high rises of Manhattan. I expected the man, the Chronicle, to be surprised but he merely laughed.

"You learned a thing or two!" I yelped as the Chronicle plunged his knife deep into my arm. We began to descend wildly, toward the mouth of the 63rd street tunnel. We crashed into the grass by the street, the Chronicle rolling off one way, and me in the other. The knife was no longer in my arm but I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins as my blood dressed the ground. Adrenaline driving my actions, I stood and ran straight toward the tunnel.

Day turned to night as I sprinted into the mouth of the dark tunnel. My arm throbbed. I was too scared to look at it. I could feel the slick blood running down my side.

"Help!" I exclaimed. "Someone help me!"

"Norman," a voice in the tunnel called out behind me. "Where do you think you're going?" I tripped and fell to the ground, my knees scraping the asphalt. Behind me, the Chronicle approached... then paused. "Oh... hello." His words were directed to something... someone behind me. Craning my neck back I could see Red Flame standing in the darkness.