The Avenger

            by Ryan Race

 

The bold outline of a city is projected against the watercolor stained sky as the sun sets in the background. A man dressed entirely in black clothing bursts through a door on the roof of the tallest building. His figure is barely visible as he bounds along the rooftop. Atop the building is a small garden with a winding path bordered by flowers and orange trees, grass on either side. A lady is seated on a bench beside the path, legs crossed and her attention drawn to a small paperback book, a violin case at her feet. Following the bounding man is another man’s figure, flying and twirling magnificently through the air. It’s The Avenger: ZOOM! With nowhere left to go, the man dressed in black reaches behind his back and pulls a small pistol from his belt. He turns around and aims to the sky behind him, but now his pursuer is nowhere to be found. The man desperately looks in all directions above him. Out of the corner of his eye he sees a hand fly towards him, and before he can respond, it knocks the pistol from his grasp: POW! The gun bounces a few times and finally slides to a stop near a bed of pansies. The Avenger tackles him and they roll around in a thick cloud of dust: WHAM! POW! BAM! SLAP! The man wearing all black is flung from the cloud and rolls to a stop. He lies motionless, sprawled out on the grass, and The Avenger turns to leave; it seems that his work here is done. He walks to the edge of the garden and pauses to look out over the city’s vast, sherbet painted horizon. Glancing back before taking flight, he sees that the man has crawled to the pansies and recovered the pistol. The Avenger feels his heart skip a beat and his eyes blink shut as the man lifts the small gun and takes aim: BANG! His eyes open and he sees the man lying on the ground, pistol in hand. Standing over the body is the lady that was seated on the bench, off balance with a look of fright and dishevelment on her face, her swinging violin case clutched in her hands. She steadies herself as her big brown eyes meet the Avenger’s heavy blue ones, and she quickly looks away. Struck by love at first sight, he is completely speechless. The woman straightens out her skirt, corrects her posture, and turns to leave. “Wait! Where are you going? I haven’t thanked you. I’ve never seen anyone knock a man unconscious so gracefully,” he says wittily.

The woman replies: “Oh, well, you’re welcome. I, well, I must be going.”

“Wait! May I at least ask your name?”

“Hartfield, Jane Hartfield!” and she disappears behind the door through which the man in all black had come.

 

“…Oh my God, no, actually though, he is soooo cute. …” Jenny Riftaker is five tables and two seats away and her voice still drifts over to where I’m seated in the cafeteria, loud and clear. She never stops; she’s like one of those energizer bunnies from the battery commercials, she just keeps going and going and going and going and going. I’ll never forget the day Jenny moved here to Fairmount. We were in the second grade, and she so valiantly told Todd Hampton to stop burying my lunch in the sand box under the monkey bars. The next day, I picked her a flower from a shrub on the playground, and while looking into her big, brown eyes, I confessed my undying love to her. I was quickly put in my place with a fancy “Loser, loser, double loser, your momma washes windows at McDonald’s” hand gesture routine.

            Skipper pulls a chair out and takes a seat across from me. “Hey, hey, Tyler. How was that trig test? Was it hard? What was on it? I studied pretty hard, do you think I’ll be alright?” The wire frames of his round glasses reflect the stale light in an unnatural way, and his hair is long and unkempt. His leg immediately begins bouncing at a rapid tempo and he pushes his glasses further up his nose.

“It wasn’t so bad, and you always do better than I do on those stupid things.”

            “ Oh, I’m just always nervous.” The tempo of his tapping quickens.

            “Well, it wasn’t bad.” He’s always so nervous it makes me feel nervous.

            “Did you read The Avenger last week? It was a really good episode.” His rhythmic leg bouncing turns to toe tapping. “It’s about time they had a woman in the plot. No doubt the Avenger’s got mad smooth-talking skills, eh?”

            “Yeah, well, I don’t know. Realistically, if I were a woman, I would definitely question his sanity. I mean, he wears tights, and a cape.” Before I even finish my sentence, a look of confusion takes hold of Skipper’s face and he stops tapping. He takes these comics way too seriously. “But then again, he is the Avenger. It would only be natural if he had ‘mad smooth-talking skills’.” Nice save. For a minute there I thought Skipper’s heart was going to stop beating.

            “I’m sure I could learn a thing or two about how to get a lady of my own from The Avenger, don’t you think?”

            “I’m sure you could Skip.” You never know; maybe he actually could. “Got any special lady in mind?”

            “Well, there is this one girl… but I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”

            “I’m sure it’s a great idea. The Avenger wouldn’t be afraid, go for it Skip.”

            “Alright, alright I will! Thanks a lot man.”

The sharp sound of the bell echoes through the chatter filled cafeteria and I’m off to learn more about the history of ancient China and its many dynasties. Never know when that’ll come in handy.

 

“Help! Someone, please! Help me!” the voice of a woman in distress yells out desperately from an alleyway. Having heard her cries, The Avenger flies to her aid, following the sound of her voice. Six men stand shadowed in the alley and only their dim silhouettes against a brick wall are visible from the street. One of the men grabs the woman and cups her mouth with his hand as the others spring into motion. The Avenger and woman meet eyes and he immediately recognizes her to be none other than Jane Hartfield. Kicking and flailing, she fights for her life. The Avenger runs from the sidewalk and toward the scene at the end of the alley. One of the men moves aside, reveals a manhole in the sidewalk, and disappears into it. Next, Jane is forced down into the hole and the other men climb into it. The Avenger tackles the last two men before they can follow their companions: POW! CLANK! CRASH! Their bodies clatter to the ground. Confused by the odd sounds made by their fall, the Avenger clenches his fists and punches one of the men in the abdomen: CLANG! His hand crushes into the metal body, leaving a fist shaped dent. Robots! The Avenger grabs the head of one robot and twists it off: CRRREAK, POP! After doing the same to the second, he steps over to the hole in the ground and drops down into the sewers below, determined to rescue Jane.

 

After school the sun beats down and heat waves swim and dance above the pavement. The air is hot and dry with no sign of relief, not a cloud in the sky. The scuffing sound of my sneakers on the rough concrete is the only noise in the open street. Walking to my house from Fairmount High School is a dull and daily practice. Jenny used to walk this way, but now she drives her shiny black Audi. I asked her for a ride once, but I was quickly put in my place with the fancy “Loser, loser, double loser, your momma washes windows at Mc Donald’s” hand gesture routine.

At the end of the block in front of me, I see her car pull into her driveway. I pick up my feet a little and quicken my pace. I love it when this happens; I always ask her how things are going and usually she just says ‘good’, but occasionally she’ll stay and talk for a while. Her car door opens and she steps out, then turns and leans back into the car to get her bag from the back seat. She looks like she’s talking to someone and I realize that there is a person in the passenger seat, a guy. I slow my pace again. Jenny grabs her bag and walks around the car towards her house. The guy gets out of the car and follows behind her, giving me a clear view of his face; Skipper? He grabs her hand once they’re in front of the door and flashes a baby-faced smile, faker than a girl’s nails on prom night. He says, “I bet if you knocked a man unconscious, it would be graceful.” What a moron.

Jenny takes away her hand, “Skipper, I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about. We are partners for this project and that is all. If you try to hold my hand one more time, I will be forced to inflict pain upon you…” She unlocks the door and they step inside the house. Jerk. Skipper is the only one I’ve ever talked to about Jenny. My stomach tightens and my mouth tastes salty. I know nothing has exactly happened between me and Jenny, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t eventually. Something is going to happen, I know it will. But Skipper can’t get in the way. I have to put a stop to this and win Jenny Riftaker’s heart once and for all.

 

The Avenger trudges through the small tunnel, sloshing through knee high, raw sewer water. The stench of waste is unbearable. Two voices echo in the passageway and The Avenger stops to listen. They are coming from around a corner only a little ways away. Inching forward, he peeks around the cold, scum-stained wall. Two of the robots that kidnapped Jane are guarding a tall, steel door. On the wall by the door there is a flashing yellow button at about elbow height. The Avenger flies from the corner and knocks out the first robot with a karate chop: HIYA! He quickly takes care of the second one with a low kick to the abdomen: POW! He pushes the flashing yellow button and the doors slide open, revealing a room. A single light hangs from the ceiling, the shade focusing its yellow beam into a circle just large enough to illuminate the figure seated below it. The edges of the room are left too dark to tell its size. Jane sits alone, her legs tied together at the ankles and her hands bound in her lap, a handkerchief in her mouth. He goes to her and begins to unbind her hands. Out steps the tall silhouette of a man, barely visible in the shadows. The Avenger recognizes him at once; it is Unicorn Boy, the Avenger’s long lost sidekick.

“Unicorn Boy, you’re alive!”

 

“Of course I’m alive, no thanks to you. Leaving me in the Swamp of Serenetti…” His voice is surprisingly high pitched coming from such a large, scruffy looking being. “Well look now, I have your lady friend, and we are to be wed.” Unicorn Boy begins to pace back and forth, wading through the knee-high sewer water, his purple cape dragging heavily in the water behind him.

“I would never have left you behind if I’d known you were still alive! I was sure that you’d been sucked to death by the Lumpnode Leaches… wait what do you mean ‘to be wed’?” The Avenger glances at Jane.

“You were never really the brightest crayon in the box. I mean that we are to be married, joined together in holy matrimony, hitched…”

“I am aware of what ‘to be wed’ means. You cannot marry her.”

“Oh? And why is that?” Unicorn Boy questions, eyebrows raised.

“Well,” The Avenger looks over to Jane, her big brown eyes beginning to well with tears. “Because, I am in love with her, and I will die before I see her wed to… an ex-side kick.”

“Then so be it.”

 

Earlier this morning I saw Jenny drop her keys on the floor. I picked them up hoping that I would get a chance to talk to her and give them back. I’ve been holding on to them all day, waiting for her to notice their absence.

I walk over to Jenny just as she closes her locker and swings her book bag over her shoulder. Skipper’s failed attempt to seduce her is still fresh in my mind. “Hey, Jenny…” I say to her as she shifts her bag to the front and begins rummaging.

“Hey Tyler, now’s not really a good time. I can’t find my…”

“You dropped these by your desk in Mrs. Marcey’s room.”

“My keys!” She looks up from her bag and gratefully takes the keys from my hand. “Thanks, I’ve been looking everywhere for these.”

“Oh no problem, I just saw them on the floor and thought I would return them.”

“Yeah, thanks a lot. I owe you one. Well… see ya.” She puts the keys in her pocket and turns to leave.

“Uh, Jenny? Do you think I could have a ride?” My face begins to burn as blood rushes to my cheeks.

“Um, well…” She sounds a little uncertain and looks at the floor for a moment. Finally looking up at me she says, “of course you can.”

 

Unicorn Boy jumps in front of Jane and strikes a threatening pose. The Avenger sommer saults over him and pulls the string hanging from the light: CLICK, enveloping the entire room in darkness. WHAM! BANG! CRACK! POW! Then silence… CLICK, the light shines down onto an empty chair. Unicorn Boy looks around and sees that he stands alone in the room; The Avenger and Jane have vanished. Unicorn Boy drops to his knees and bows his head in defeat. “Nooooooooooooooooo!”