Average Joe (2018)

24

"Uh... I need that hard drive..."

"Sorry, but I'm afraid this is all mine." I realized she didn't recognize me. We were almost out of the tunnel. I put my hood up, as we passed into the daylight.

"Damn it! Looks like my opportunity is closed. See you around." She flew above me, and back towards the intersection, a trail of white ice trailing behind her.... hard drive still in hand. I flew towards the blue sky, my balance almost lost. I flipped over a little as I reached her, floating fifty feet above the intersection. Cold Front laughed as I spun and eventually got my grip.

"You're new at this aren't you?"

"Pretty much," I said, trying to deepen my voice. "Look, I need that hard drive."

"If you want this hard drive, you're going to have to catch me." And with that, she flew straight toward the stratosphere. I almost flipped a couple more times before following, though not as fast.

"Get back here!" I screamed.

"You're going to have to catch up!" She laughed. My Mom's a jerk.

"Dude!" I yelled as we reached higher towards the sun. "You want cash, huh? Cold, hard, cash? Ever heard of good jobs?"

"Flunked out of college!" I needed to throw her off. She's played this game before. But I had an advantage. I knew things about her that she didn't know I knew.

"Or are you getting paid by Oblivion?" Cold Front slowed her flight and I snagged her ankle. I pushed on everything in me to trigger just a small shock. That was a bad idea.

Suddenly, a zap of blue light shot through the sky, pulsing into the clouds, turning them a midnight blue for a brief moment. Cold Front screamed and fell towards the ground, me tagging along for the ride.

This was the third time in three months I fell from the sky. Arthritic pilots don't have this many crashes.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Uh, ma'am, we're falling, and I kinda need you to wake up, because I didn't do all too well in my freshman gym class!"

UltraMom... I mean MomWoman... No! Mom didn't answer.

Then things got worse. My grip on Mom lessened and she fell from my arms. Worser, she let go of the hard drive, both falling straight toward a truck stop. Worserer, I didn't have time to catch both.

I dove downward, losing my balance another dozen times. A long bike bridge slithered over a thick highway, east of where we were originally at. Mom was falling towards one side of it, the hard drive the other. I quickly formulated a plan. I had no doubt it would fail.

I soared to the right, quickly snatching the hard drive. I flew beneath the bridge, and when I resurfaced, realized my mother's unconscious body was right on top of me. Not having time to think, I thrust my arms in front of me, her form landing in my arms. Her weight quickly dragged me downwards, our bodies slamming into the roof of a suburban minivan, with a family of four inside. The family screamed, and the mom slammed the brakes, our bodies and the hard drive flew forward and we landed in the intersection, my grip still on the unharmed device.

I stood, slowly, my entire body aching. I shook a finger at the still-shocked family, their stopped car had caused a pile-up.

"Bitch, I will sue you!"

Their four mouths hung open. The little girl's ice cream had dropped to the floor, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Do insurance companies cover vigilantes falling from the sky?" Cora asked in my ear.

I looked at Ultawoman. She seemed fine, but highly scraped and bruised. Her suit was black and melted at some points.

I didn't approve of my mother's actions but I couldn't leave her here. I zapped her, and she groaned and started to wake up. I took to the sky, flying back in the direction of the clock tower.

___

I swung the door of my clock tower inwards, my arm slamming the hard drive on the table.

"What the hell was that?" I yelled at the two. "You said we were going to work together! For one thing, you leave me out of the loop for two months, and then suddenly bring me in when you need my powers. For another, you said you were going to train me, not push me out of a window and hope I get the job right!"

"You're right," Cora mumbled to Bryan. "He does complain a lot."

"Bryan, I'm serious. How am I supposed to help you guys when I don't know how to fight, how to use my powers, and when you guys keep me in the dark?"

"Look," Cora sighed. "You want honesty? We only needed you because the Chronicle is hunting you and you have powers. That's it."

"Cora," Bryan began.

"Oh, yeah?" I took a step towards her. "Take away your powers and what do you have?"

"Let's see... I can fight, I have the highest computer technology score in the history of my school, I can hack into almost any mainframe..." she paused. "And I'm hot. What does that little skirt you're obsessed with have?" I got in her face.

"At least I can stand to be around her, a skill, which you, very much so, lack!"

"You think I'm scared of you because you're daddy zips around the city playing god?"

"Guys!" Bryan protested. "We've got the hard drive. We can decrypt the rest of their messages. If this is going to work... we've got to work together."

I sighed loudly. We had all gone quiet. I grabbed my jacket. "I don't even know what I'm doing here." I went for the door.

"Norman!" Bryan called out. "Please."

I left the clock tower.