On a fateful night in the suburbs, a family lived together in a townhouse in the middle of New York. A mother and a father were preparing to head out for a night out dinner. The son, named James McCoy was at the steps of the staircase watching them. The father took his jacket off the hangar, while the mother was checking her purse. After a few minutes of them both whispering to each other. The mother looked up at her son standing on the steps.
"Will you be alright by yourself honey?" Her eyes looked into his with a motherly touch. This was his first time being home alone. This meant that his parents trusted him enough that he could take care of himself. James looked down at his mother, nodding his head. He didn't say a word, but his mother responded to his head nodding. "Alright, we left food and drinks in the fridge. If you need absolutely anything, I left the phone number on the kitchen table."
James nodded as a response, but he didn't make a move. His father looked over to James, opening the door for his wife. "We'll be back by midnight, make sure you do your homework." He said straight into James eyes with a serious expression. The mother walked out the door with James' father following close behind her. Before he knew it, the door clicked with a locking. Giving James the sign that he was officially home alone for the first time in his life.
James felt relief and a gutting feeling of excitement. This was his time to shine and take command. James started heading to the kitchen, searching the kitchen for what food was currently offered. As he searched through the fridge, he pulled out some leftovers of spaghetti from last night. He placed it into his microwave and began heating it up. As he waited, he grabbed his backpack and yanked it onto the counter.
He took out his spaghetti and placed it beside the backpack. Sitting at the counter and beginning to pull out his homework and work on them. Silence filled throughout his house as he silently worked on his homework. The environment around him tuned out as he focused on his work. Within a few hours, James finished what he was doing and he checked his time. His clock reading, "11:05PM." This meant that James should prepare for bed.
He got up from his chair and packed up his stuff. Cleaning up the food he ate, and beginning to head to his bedroom. He turned off all the lights in the house, checking the locks on all the doors and windows. When he got into his bedroom, he placed his backpack near the bedroom door. Took a shower and brushed his teeth before getting under the covers. Within half an hour, James was passed out in his bed.
By the next morning, James woke up with no indication of regular movement from his parents within the house. Though, James didn't think much of it.. Believing that his parents were still asleep. He got out of bed and started preparing for school. By the time he walked down the steps and into the kitchen. He spotted something off, his parents were nowhere to be seen. Usually, by this time they are awake and cooking him breakfast.
Although, his ears and eyes were giving him a different perspective. He checked the clock, which said that it was 6:53 AM. His school was starting at 8AM, and his parents haven't cooked him breakfast yet. He decided to head upstairs and check his parents bedroom. When he did, he discovered that their bedroom was vacant. Untouched from last night, giving him a feeling of worriedness. This time, he begins to check throughout the house, including outside.
However, any sign of them coming home after last night was absent. Almost as though they never returned from their late night dinner. James went into the kitchen and took the small piece of paper lying on the kitchen table. On the table read his parents phone number. He reached over to the wired phone hanging off the wall. He dialed the number and held the phone to his ears. The voice that came through was the voice of his mother, but was the voicemail answering machine.
"It's Dianna McCoy, please leave a message after the beep, and I'll get back to you." As soon as the beep was heard, James began speaking. "Hey mom, it's me, your son. Where are you guys? School is going to start in an hour. Please come home soon okay? I hope you two are safe." James placed the phone back onto the landline and sighed. He looked down at his backpack hanging off beside him.
He was unsure of what to do, but his emotions were growing immense. He felt the tears coming, reaching for the phone again and dialing the number again. Just like before, it went to voicemail messaging. That's when James heard a knocking at the front door. A voice of an officer was heard from the other side. "Hello! This is the NYPD." The officer called out from the other side.
James placed the phone back onto the landline, walking over to the door and opening it. As soon as he did, two officers were seen. They both looked down at James with a serious, but sympathetic expression. "Hey there, are you home alone?" James nodded nervously as he looked up to the officers. The officer decided to continue, "Do you know the last time your parents checked in with you?" The officer pulled out the notepad from his pocket with a pen.
James took a second to comprehend the question, but he responded after a few seconds. "Last night, they told me they were going out for dinner together." When James said this, the officer with the notepad and pen began writing it down. The other officer continued the questioning, "Has your parents ever drank alcohol and drove while you were present in the vehicle?" James shook his head as a response, which the officer took notice of.
"What's this all for?" James asked the officers, looking up to them both nervous and worried.
The officer with the notepad closed it and placed it back into his pocket. "There was a car crash last night. Your parents were inside the vehicle when it happened." This struck something inside James, he was incapable of expressing words of shock. "I'm sorry..." The officer said, "Your parents didn't survive." When the officer said this, it made James feel icky inside. He felt as though he couldn't breathe, almost as though he was going to have a panic attack. He caught himself against the wall, calming his breaths down.
The officer looked at James with worry, "Hey, you feeling alright?" The officer placed a hand on James shoulder, making James look back up to the officer. The officer attempted to comfort him, ears rushing into James' eyes. The officer eventually pulled James into a hug. The other officer beside him started walking back to the cruiser, calling over his radio. James could only feel emptiness, tears began leaking out of his eyes and onto the officer's uniform.
The news broke James, memories poured into his mind from his past. Each memory indicates the good moments he had with his family members. With each memory that crossed into his mind, he felt more sad than before. The thought of his parents being dead was too much to bear. Incapable of comprehending the news, only tears. When James got a hold of himself, the officers took him down to the station with his backpack. The officers questioned him about other relatives he could stay at.
The only family members that stood out and were closest, was his grandparents. However, his grandparents lived further north of New York. Living in the Bronx, compared to James living in Manhattan. Luckily, he was able to get in contact with his grandparents. Informing them of the situation, and how he was going to move there.
On the last night of living in Manhattan, James looked back into the house he used to live in. The memories flooded in quickly as he stared into the empty house. He sighed sadly, hearing the horn of his grandparents car outside. He looked over to the car, waving towards them before closing the door behind him. He walked toward the car, opening the back door and getting in. His grandparents looked back toward him with half smiles.
His grandmother smiled brightly enough that it almost cheered James up. Her face gave off a warm feeling to him. "I'm so sorry hun." She said back to James, getting the car ready to pull out. "I feel terrible for what happened, I'm going to miss our little daughter." The grandfather nodded in response, his expression showed it all. Sadness and almost the ability to cry again. The grandmother pulled out of the side and began driving on the street, beginning their trip back to their place.
When James arrived at his grandparents place. He looked up at the house that he was going to be staying in for the rest of his teenage years. The house wasn't too big, but was also not too small. It was a basic suburban house, a middle wage house for a simple family. It was one story tall, a backyard, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a garage. Upon walking inside the house, it was very clean and organized. As though the grandmother always kept the place clean and tidy.
The grandparents showed him to his bedroom, which was the second largest bedroom in the house. It had a bed, a closet, and a TV. Though, the room was mostly empty of decorations or furniture. James sat down on the bed, feeling the comfort of it as he looked up to his grandmother at the doorway. "I know it's not much, but we'll get the rest of your stuff this week. For now, at least you got a place to sleep for the time being." She said in her smooth and comforting voice. James didn't respond, but nodded slightly.
"If you need anything honey, we got food in the kitchen." The grandmother said, before walking out of the bedroom. As soon as she said that, James returned back to the night that his parents disappeared. Those words that his grandmother said were the same as his mom's words before she left and died. James was incapable of moving, stuck in the memory like a loop. He could only feel sadness return to him. Though, he pushed the memory away after a few minutes. Snapping back into reality, looking around his new bedroom. He sighed, taking off his clothes and getting into bed. Before he knew it, he passed out for a long nap.
A few days after James' parents were killed. James attempted to revert back to a regular life. It wasn't easy for him however. That's when something odd came to him and his grandparents' attention. The officers at the NYPD reported to them that the parents' bodies were reported missing over the night. When James heard this, he was unsure of what to say. He grew both confused and angry at the NYPD. He didn't say anything to the police or his grandparents about what he felt. Though, he wanted to know the reason for their disappearance.
James attempted to continue his school work, but something came across his mind. He believed the police had something to do with the corpses' disappearances. He couldn't explain it, but there was something off about the situation. He decided to get onto his computer and check the daily news. Checking for any sign of what might be happening outside. That's when he spotted it, a news article dating from the night that his parents died.
The news article's title read, "Two parents shot and killed in car crash." The title convinced James to click it and begin reading it. When he did, the article explained with his own parents' names written along in it. That they were killed with gun shots in their skulls, with an abandoned car crashed into theirs. Almost as if someone targeted them. This made James feel confused and betrayed. Both the police and the grandparents didn't inform him of the full truth.
He decided to print the article out onto a sheet of paper. While doing so, he started to search up for any articles about any missing people in the recent days. Only for the results to come up as a dead end. He sighed and laid back in his chair, looking over to the printer. He watched as the sheet of paper with the article printed on it spurted out. He felt suspicious of the entire situation. Almost as if the police were covering up something that they didn't want him to know about.
He wasn't sure if his grandparents knew the truth. Though, he didn't want to ask them if they did. Leaving him to be alone with the situation at hand. He looked over the article a few more times. At this point, he knew what he was going to have to do. He looked over to his jacket and pants hanging in his closet. He grabbed them and began getting dressed, grabbing his phone and anything he might need. Once he was done, he called a cab to head back into manhattan.
The trip took only half an hour, but he eventually arrived at his destination. The exact spot that his parents were killed. He paid the taxi driver and got out of the cab. He searched around the area, looking for any sign of a possible witness. That's when he noticed three men standing near an alleyway. The three men looked suspicious, wearing clothing like they were drug dealers. He walked over to them and called over to them. "Hey!"
When the three men looked over, they slowly moved over to him. "You guys seem like you hang out here a lot." James said, but the men grew slightly confused.
"What do you want, little boy?" One of the men said.
"Did you guys see the car crash the other night?" When he asked this, one of them shook their head. Though, the way they started behaving made James feel suspicious of him. The other man standing beside him glanced over to him, before shaking his head as well.
"Nah man, but I heard the shooting." When they said this, James looked to him in the eyes. "I live nearby." They turned their body around and pointed down the street, toward a set of buildings. "Down there." The man that was beginning to behave suspiciously spoke something that caused James to look at him.
"Why do you want to know? You think we did it or something?" The man's body began shaking just barely enough that James believed he saw or did something.
"I never said that." James replied, which the man motioned for him to leave.
"Then get the hell away from us man." James didn't move, he stared at him contemptly. As James stood there, the other two pushed him away from them in a defensive manner. At this point, James believed there was a connection between them and the car crash. He decides to use his elbow to hit one of their noses. He attempts to punch and hit the other, but he gets pushed onto his back. As he kicked the other one away and got back up to his feet.
The one behaving suspiciously took out a gun from his pocket and fired a round in James leg. James yelled out in pain, while he shot another round into the other. While James struggled to fight back, the three men began kicking James. It wasn't long until police sirens were heard from a distance. One of the men stopped and looked around, noticing people watching around them. He makes the other two stop, before convincing them to run away.
Before James knew it, he was bleeding on the ground in pain all over his body. When the three men disappeared, the civilians around them came over to James. They attempted to help him, calling the police over and helping to stop the bleeding. It took barely ten minutes before police and paramedics arrived. The medics came over and helped James into the ambulance with bullet wounds in his legs. Not long before he found himself in the hospital recovering.
At this point, he told the police all he knew about the three men that assaulted and shot him. Over the night, James' grandparents arrived at the hospital to check in. The grandfather was disappointed in him, while the grandmother was relieved that James was still alive. James didn't say much to them about what he was doing. Though, he knew that this was his own fault. He got himself hurt without realizing how dangerous it is.
When his grandparents left the room to talk to the doctors in the hallway. James looked up to the television screen in the corner. He saw the news about the shooting that occured not long before. James felt slightly relieved that they didn't kill him, but we also felt guilty. He felt bad that his grandparents had to deal with his mistake of going out by himself. He got himself injured, now they have to help him recover his own injuries.
James remained in the hospital for three weeks, before he was released and sent back home. His grandparents helped him into the house with his wheelchair. He sat in his wheelchair in the center of his bedroom. He looked around his bedroom blank minded. He didn't get the answers he was looking for. In fact, the only thing he got was himself in a wheelchair. Whether he'll be able to go to school while doing so or not is another question for another day.
Eventually, as James looks down to his legs. He felt a sudden urgency and inspiration to do something about his legs. He looked around his room for a second before stumbling upon his laptop sitting on his desk. He rolls himself over to the desk and takes his laptop. He begins searching through his browser until coming to a set of youtube video tutorials. He takes out a notebook and begins watching them through.
When James turned 19 years old, he graduated high school with his certificate. His grandparents were both relieved and happy that he was finally finished with high school. Although, not all things were sun shining and rainbows. A week after James celebrated his graduation. His grandfather started gaining symptoms of a serious illness that will doom him to death. While his grandfather was laying in the hospital with doctors on standby. James was at home, searching through his papers.
He was attempting to search for any scientific way he could stop his grandfather from dying. That's when he found his old blueprints of something he hadn't thought about in a while. The blueprints on the sheet of paper made out a set of armor. A kind of armor that would make James completely bulletproof and safe from external attacks. When his eyes looked down upon the armor set. He realized another thing, something that was staring right back into his face.
On the sheet of paper below the several sheets of paper stacked on top of each other. It was an article talking about the "pill of childhood." Based off the article, it explained that a mafia is believed to have the only one of its kind. That's when James put the two pieces together. He glanced between the two sheets of paper, before finally coming to a conclusion. He realized what he was going to have to do to help his grandfather. He needed to get this "pill of childhood" to help his grandfather.
James sat up from his chair, grabbing the sheet of paper with blueprints on it. He placed it beside his laptop before searching through the internet. He searched for the different kinds of materials he may need for the armor. Not before long, he purchased what he was able to find. He took out his phone, texting his grandmother. "Hey, I just purchased a few things online. I just wanted to experiment with some techy stuff for a personal project."
When the text went through, his grandmother didn't respond. Though, he knew that his grandmother was either asleep or focused on her husband. Either way, it was too late for her to get her money back now. He laid back in his chair, taking the sheet of paper with blueprints on it. He examined it for the longest of time, before placing it back down and sighing.
His thoughts returned back to the blueprints. He thought of something that would work well with the suit of armor. He approached his laptop, bringing up a set of programming programs. He begins to type a set of programming code into the program. He eventually saved the files he was working on, but continued typing on the keyboard. Before James knew it, the day ended quickly. James passed out at the keyboard, unaware of doing so.
After a few weeks, the different materials that he needed had arrived. He began construction as soon as he could. He first started with the helmet, melting the metal pieces together. The helmet was a dark blue, it was able to cover James entire face. The helmet was easily able to be carried, while also being thick metal. James constructed the body parts together, arms and legs. He melted each metal piece together, taking him several days of work.
By the time James finished constructing the full armor set. It was placed in James' closet, fitting nicely inside. James stood in front of the armor set, placing his hand onto the chest piece. He rubbed his finger down against the chest piece. Feeling the dry paint on it. He smirked a little after feeling it, staring at it. "Perfect, time to go for a test run." James spoke to himself, before hearing a door close from the front of the house.
James closed his closet and walked out of his bedroom. When he headed over to the front of the house. He saw his grandmother and grandfather walking inside. James felt relief when his eyes came in contact with his grandfather's. The difference that James had noticed about his grandfather was his walking cane. This meant that his grandfather's walking was growing weaker. He looked over to his grandmother, helping her husband into the kitchen.
She offered him water, which he accepted. When she gave him a glass of water, she began preparing dinner. James walked up beside his grandfather, placing a hand onto his shoulder. He turned his head, looking over to his grandson. James spoke first, "You're home! I'm relieved to see you looking much better."
His grandfather took a long sip from his glass of water, "The hospital sucks." His grandfather placed the glass of water back onto the counter. James and his grandfather chuckled at his statement. "I'm glad I'm not there anymore." James nodded in agreement.
His grandfather went silent when he looked back over to his wife. He watched as she started cooking dinner for the three of them. "I guess we won't have any beef tonight."
The grandfather nodded, "I wasn't feeling meatloaf tonight anyways." The grandmother started searching for other stuff to cook for the three of them. James looked back down to his grandfather in the chair. He had words to say to him, but he wasn't able to speak them. His grandfather glanced over to his grandson standing beside him. His grandfather spoke finally, interrupting the silence between them both. "What have you been up to James?"
James grew shocked at the question, his eyes wandering down to his grandfather once more. "I've just been working on a personal project." His grandfather's eyes widened.
"Oh really? What's this personal project?" James decided to lie to him.
"A new computer." When James mentioned this, his grandfather nodded his head in approval and returned back to his glass of water. James had something on the tip of his tongue that he wanted to tell him. However, he wasn't able to. He sighed and glanced over to his grandmother beginning to cook dinner. James started to head back to his bedroom. When he walked into his bedroom, he closed the door behind him and went over to his computer and sheets of paper beside it.
He looked at the several sheets of paper, glancing at each one. Before eventually looking over to his closet. He opened the closet doors and looked at his suit of armor. He knew the perfect time to test out his new set of armor. When his grandparents sleep, he'll go out and begin searching for the pill. He didn't know where to start, so he was going to have to search around and get answers. Hopefully, he'll be lucky enough to find someone who works for the mafia that holds the pill.
James smiled largely as he looked at the armor. He felt good about himself. Almost as though he just completed a childhood dream. Now, he will finally be able to live that dream. This new set of armor was going to change his life. What he hoped to gain as well, is the answers to his parents death. However, his goal was to find the pill to save his grandparents. That is, if the pill even existed at all.
That night, shortly after his parents fell asleep. James listened closely to the audio clues from his bedroom. He took a long nap on his bed over dinner time. He got up from his bed, peeking outside his bedroom to his parents' bedrooms. When he saw that both of them were fast asleep. He returned to his bedroom, opening his closet door and taking out the armor from within. He put the armor on carefully, constantly checking his bedroom door.
Within five minutes, the armor nicely fitted him and he felt ready. He took a look at the mirror that was sitting upwards and against the wall. Looking into it, he saw that his entire body was covered with the armor. He felt heavy, but was able to freely move without issues. The armor was almost weightless, almost like clothing. He turned on the helmet, emanating a glow of white light from the eye sockets. Luckily, they were more like a glow of LED lights that barely lit up the room.
He felt excited at this point, looking over to his window. He approached the window and began opening it widely. However, before he could go through the window opening. At the corner of his eye, he saw a news article on his laptop. The glow of the light from his laptop made him remember a recently new hero. A hero that inspired him to make his armor. The article was written out, "Midnight Archer strikes again at mafia."
Like the name entails, Midnight Archer was a hero that goes out at exactly 12 AM. Attacking various criminals, with his archenemy being the mafia. The same mafia that James was about to go after that very night. He felt relieved to know that he wasn't going to be alone in this fight. Not only that, but if he was lucky. They will be able to take down the mafia and save his grandparent's old age. Whether it existed or not, he knew he'd be still saving them from the horrors of the mafia's doing.
James looked away from his laptop and leaped out of his window. He closed the window behind him and began his way deeper into the city. His first goal at this point was to find the people working for the mafia criminals. That's when his thoughts returned back to the same three men that broke his legs. If he could find them, he could get answers about them easily. When James thought of this, he smirked.
It took him two hours to reach the spot, but when he did. He noticed that the three men were no longer there. This time, the area was vacant. Barely any vehicles drove past the spot. This almost made James feel defeated. That was until his hearing enhancement on his helmet picked up a distressed signal. The signal was that of a woman cursing and yelling at another person. Almost as if she was resisting another person.
James instantly started approaching the spot, taking several shortcuts from the rooftops of buildings. When he arrived, his eyes spotted a black woman getting mobbed by a man with a mask. His detector's scans started going off, detecting a gun in his pocket. When James noticed this, he took a deep breath. Before leaping off the building and down toward the end of the alleyway. Right before the man was able to pull the purse away from the woman.
A large thud shook the two of them. Both of them stopped what they were doing, looking back toward James in his full suit of armor. The light glowing from his helmet convinced the man to pull the gun out of his pocket. However, James quickly reacted and kicked the man back against the wall. Releasing him from the woman's grasp. The woman was panicking, but she knew that the man in the armor wasn't after her.
Before she could say anything, James spoke through his voice changer. "Call the police mam, I'll take care of him." The voice sounded both robotic and deep. The woman, happily relieved of the help, rushed over to the curb of the sidewalk. She began calling the police on her phone while James slowly approached the man. While the man on the floor struggled to get back up to his feet. James slowly approached the man, cautioned by the gun in his pocket. Right as the man was about to pull out the pistol, James quickly started to charge at the man.
He pulled the pistol out quickly and aimed it straight into James' chest. When he pressed the trigger, the pistol fired and echoed across the city. Luckily, the bullet bounced off the armor and onto the ground. While James, unaffected by the bullet, slammed the pistol out of his hand and knocked him unconscious almost instantly. While the man laid on the ground, James turned around to the woman on the sidewalk. James kicked the pistol several feet away from the man, but kept it in visible view for the police.
When the woman finished calling the police, she turned around. "Wait!" She called to James, right as he was about to leave the area. He stopped in his place, slowly turning his head toward the woman. "Who are you?" She asked him, wanting to know what his name is.
James spoke after a few seconds of silence, trying to figure out the words to say. "Just a man who wants to do good." James replied in his robotic voice changer. Before the woman could say another word, James started to leap upwards against the building. Beginning to make his way back up to the rooftop. The woman watched from below, astonished from the encounter. By the time the police arrived, James disappeared from the top of the buildings.
The police caught the man laying on the ground, taking the gun in as evidence. They took her side of the story to the situation. They wrote down what she saw, but the police weren't able to believe the man in the armor. James used his enhanced hearing from his helmet to listen closely to their conversations. They might not believe her now, but it won't be the last time for sure. James felt really good about how the situation played out. He looked around from the top of the building. The city was beautiful, and he knew that thousands of people needed help in this city alone.
James returned home ten minutes after he saved a woman's life. He knew that it would take a few hours to return home. As a result, he wasn't able to do much shortly afterwards. Besides that, he wanted to hear what the newspaper had to say about him. Whether the news was good or bad. He wanted to see if someone had at least a few words to say about James' heroism. He took a long nap, letting the day go by.
When he woke up, he checked the news page. That's when he noticed that there wasn't much talk about what he did last night. However, that changed when one article came up. An article's title that made James disappointed to find. "A woman beats up a thug, says a man in armor saved her." The article instantly made James frown in disappointment. He hadn't felt this humiliated in a long time. What this meant to him, was that he was going to have to go full on in.
James sighed, laying back in his chair as his eyes wandered back over to the suit of armor in his closet. He started to think to himself about what he should do next. If starting small was the right move, then James should search for more criminals. Hopefully, the word would go around that there is in fact someone in a suit of armor. It wasn't just in the heads of people. It was real, and James wanted to prove to everyone that it was.
James looked over to his computer again. That's when a thought popped into his head. An idea about how he could quickly find criminals nearby. He got up from his chair and started dressing himself up. Afterwards, he closed his closet and left the house. He said goodbye to his grandmother and grandfather before closing the front door. James called a taxi, getting into the back passenger seat. Not long, before he was on the road heading to his destination.
~~~
It took James about 30 minutes to arrive at his location of interest. The taxi stopped on the curb, letting James to get out. James informed the taxi driver to stay put. When James got out, he turned his head to the shop behind him. He walked through the front door of the shop slowly. It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting of the shop. That's when James noticed the man behind the cash register. The man was on the older side, possibly mid-60's, he had a cane beside him. The man's eyes glanced up at James from the comic he was reading.
James examined the shop that he was in. Noticing the different kinds of clothing and items that were on their own shelves. James slowly stepped closer and closer to the man behind the cash register. James stopped when he noticed the item he was searching for. A police radio scanner sitting by itself behind the elder man. James stepped up to the cash register and cleared his throat to speak. "Hello!" James greeted the man, but the man barely moved an inch as he looked at James with a creepy stare.
James started to feel uncomfortable, struggling to speak. However, he heard the front door of the shop open. James glanced back to the front of the shop. He noticed a woman walking in with a purse around her shoulder. He looked back toward the man and the police radio scanner behind him. James found enough courage to speak again, "I see you have a radio scanner." The man nodded slightly. "I'd like to buy it."
The man finally spoke, his voice sounded like an addicted smoker. "That's going to cost you 500 bucks." James pulled out his wallet, slipping out his grandmother's credit card. He placed it on the counter in front of the man. The man took a second to glance down at the credit card and James, before turning around to grab the radio scanner. He grabbed the scanner and placed it on the counter carefully. The man took the credit card and started to do the payment processing.
James felt nervous from the man's presence, beginning to nervously look around the shop. The silence made James very uncomfortable, he wanted to leave as soon as possible. He wasn't sure if it meant that the man was secretly a criminal or not. Though, whether the man was or not. James didn't have the armor to find out if he was. Regardless, he could tell that the man was armed with something. The aurora around the man was obvious for that to be the case.
The man placed the card back in front of James for him to take it. "It's all yours, have fun." The man said with a tone of little care. James quickly took the radio scanner and the card. Before beginning to leave the shop, moving slightly quicker than when he entered. As soon as he walked out of the front door of the shop, he took a deep breath of the fresh air outside. He felt relieved of leaving the shop. He opened the door of the taxi and got in with his radio scanner. He looked over to the taxi driver and informed them to start heading back to his house.
James was working for hours on his suit of armor. Applying the new radio scanner to the computer system inside the helmet of the suit. He pulled away from the suit once he felt like he had completed his goal. He took a long look at the suit, before reaching to the helmet. He decided to give it a test run. He started to put the suit on him. When he finished, he activated the computer system. Almost instantly, the radio was heard through this helmet.
Instantly, James heard radio chatter begin speaking into his ears clearly. It was that of a female police officer and several other kinds of female and male voices from other officers. James smirked in happiness as he listened closely to the radio chatter for a few minutes. Multiple seconds of silence and various conversations were heard. A new call was heard every few minutes. While the rest was either silence or police communicating between each other about other topics James didn't understand well.
James finally decided to look over toward his window. He noticed that the sun was beginning to set. James felt slightly excited as he started to take his armor off. He wanted to do one last thing before he went out for the night. That was, that he wanted to get some food into his stomach. Once he finished putting his armor away in his closet. He left his bedroom and started heading toward the kitchen. Both of his grandparents were nowhere to be found. Indicating that they weren't home at the moment. James took this as a perfect opportunity to make himself something to eat.
~ ~ ~
Once the moon had fully set upon the horizon. His grandparents were asleep, hearing them snore from their bedroom. James got up from his bed and started to put on his newly upgraded armor. As soon as he finished, he opened the window of his bedroom and crawled out. He closed the window behind him and instantly began rushing toward high ground. He activated his helmet's computer system, which started up the radio chatter.
James got onto high ground, looking out into the distance of buildings around him. The city looked and felt peaceful as the moonlight shines down upon him. James sighed happily as he relaxed himself, staring out into the distance more. That's when James finally got a call that got James's attention. James listened closely to the conversation of the police chatter. "All units, we have a bank robbery in progress." The officer began speaking about the location in which the bank robbery was taking place.
That's when James's attention turned toward the direction of the bank. He knew what bank was being robbed at. It was the same bank that his grandparents use. That same bank was not far away from where James was. James took a deep breath before beginning to head toward the bank. James used all his might and force to jump from building to building roof. By the time James arrived at the location, he looked closely into the bank's windows.
He saw three men inside with armed weapons. Two of them were keeping the people inside in check, while the other was getting money from the back. James looked around from on top of the building he stood upon. He noticed that police cars were getting closer, their lights and sirens were visible and heard from afar. James looked down toward the bank, taking another deep breath to prepare himself.
However, before he could bring himself to barge into the bank. He saw a familiar figure enter the bank. The figure wore dark green and black clothing, a hoodie over his head with a mask covering his face. James instantly knew who this was, it was the famous Midnight Archer. James's eyes wandered up into the sky toward the moon. He realized that the moon did in fact signal midnight. James looked back down toward the bank again. He watched as Midnight Archer fought against the two men.
Eventually, Midnight Archer disappeared into the back of the bank. Two of the bank robbers were knocked out on the floor. The victims inside started to pour out into the front of the building. James slightly grinned as he watched the scene unfold. The police finally arrived after another minute, with five police cruisers parked in the front. The victims spoke with the police as James kept a close eye inside the bank. He was waiting for the Midnight Archer to make another appearance. Although, he never made another appearance inside.
Instead, the police started to flood through the front of the bank with armed weapons. As James watches the scene, he eventually recognizes a familiar figure climbing a building. James looked over toward the figure, until finally realizing who it was. Midnight Archer was getting to the roof of a nearby building. Trying to escape from the scenes that transpired. James smirked again in delight, as he started to make his way toward Midnight Archer's location.
Midnight Archer got to the roof of the building. He didn't realize James was getting closer to him. Midnight Archer looked down upon the roof of the building he stood upon. Glancing back toward the bank every few seconds. However, right before Midnight Archer could start searching for the next villains to take on. At this point, James was on the same rooftop as him. James spoke out loud through his robotic helmet. This slightly startled Midnight Archer, turning his body full around to James. "Hello there."
Midnight Archer looked at James with both confusion and slightly worried. "Who are you?" Midnight Archer's voice sounded like a man in his thirties.
"I'm a new hero in town." James responded, "Want to be like you, save people." When James said this, Midnight Archer scoffed at him.
"You want to be like me? What's with the costume?"
James glanced at himself for a second before responding, "It's not a costume, it's an armor set to protect me from gun fire."
"Right." Midnight Archer said, almost as if he didn't believe James. However, Midnight Archer said something that got James's attention. "So, it was you who saved that woman last night I assume?"
James nodded his head, "Yes."
Midnight Archer looked frantically around him, almost like he felt uncomfortable being around James. It took Midnight Archer several minutes to respond, which left the two of them in uncomfortable silence. The only sounds that were heard was the wind brushing past them, and distant engines roaring from cars. Despite this, the two were left in a staring contest. The two of them were incapable of bringing up any words about this very situation.
That's when Midnight Archer heard something that caught him off guard. The sound of a woman in panic close by. Midnight Archer's ears guided him as he started look around for the woman in terror. When he realized where it was coming from. He looked back toward James as he grabbed his bow and arrow that was strapped around his back. "I'm sorry to cut off this meeting short, but I got some business to attend to."
Before Midnight Archer could leave, James stopped him in his tracks. "Wait, do you need help?"
Midnight Archer shook his head in response. "I work alone." However, Midnight Archer turned his body around again to face James. "But if you want to be a hero, you have to keep moving." Midnight Archer grabbed an arrow from the sack behind him and jumped backwards off the roof. James instantly panicked as he scurried toward the edge of the building. That's when he saw Midnight Archer using his bow to swing across to the next building. Luckily for James, Midnight Archer successfully got over to the next building uninjured.
James sighed with relief, though he wanted to follow Midnight Archer. That's when something caught him off guard as well. This time, his robotic sensors were picking up gunshots from close by. James's attention drifted toward the direction of the gunshots. That's when the police over the radio chatter started to speak. "Attention all units, we have shots fired at a nightclub." As the police told him the location, James sprung to action. Beginning to follow toward the noises of gunfire.
A night club sprung into shots fired by two parties. Five African males were firing back against white and black men. The five men had a table vertically upwards to shield them against the gun fire. Three of them carried SMGs while the other two had pistols and a shotgun. As the gunfire carried on, finally one of the five men was shot in the head and chest. Killing the man instally as he flopped over the table. One of the four remaining men was able to kill two more of the opposite party shortly afterwards.
That's when the two parties were at a stand still. Both sides fell silent, the four remaining men glanced at each other and glocked their guns readily. The opposite party had three men slowly get closer toward them. Though, the number shortly increased with four more men. One of them carried a cigar in their hand as they observed the room from above. A guardrail that allowed him to see the whole room from above. He started to laugh, before speaking out loud for the whole room to hear.
"Don't make this hard for everyone, you did this in my club. Now, you have to pay the price." The man blew out a puff of smoke as he looked toward the table that the four men hid behind. "Surrender now, and I'll keep your life intact." The man shortly placed the cigar back into his mouth as he stared toward the table. The four men looked at each other, knowing that their weapons were out of ammo. They felt trapped, they knew this was their end. The man from above looked over to his partner, carrying a shotgun in his hands. "Kill 'em for me."
It wasn't long before the partner nodded and began heading downstairs. The man on the top smirked before beginning to leave. Knowing that the police will arrive any second to clean up the mess leftover. The rest of the men all circled around the table, aiming their guns toward the table cautiously. They waited for something to happen, they were ready to fire their weapons at any second. The partner arrived downstairs not long after, looking toward the table and smiling widely. "They're out of ammo, clearly." He said toward one of the African males standing beside him.
Right before any of the men could approach the table. A window from the top floor shattered, revealing James in his suit of armor smashing through it. All of the men turned their attention toward the second floor. They aimed their weapons toward the table and back toward the second floor. James slowly got up to his feet and looked down toward the group of men that was armed. "Looks like we got a visitor." The partner said before taking a few steps back. "Show ‘em what we got." The partner informed the men, taking out his pistol just in case.
It wasn't long before the men started to fire toward James. As for James, he started to head downstairs as the bullets bounced off his armor. He jumped off the guardrail and landed on his two feet. This caused a slight rumble throughout the building. The partner stared in astonishment and surprise, slowly taking a few steps back. James stood and waited for the guns to run out of ammo. When they finally did, the men all stood in silence and confusion, including the partner behind them. "It's my turn now." James said through his robotic speaker.
James instantly sprung into action, knocking each one out within seconds. The partner pulled over one of the men, giving them an armed gun to use. As the remaining person with a gun started to fire at James, the partner started running out of the building. The bullet's didn't affect James at all, the person stood in shock and fear. Right as James got close enough, he yanked the gun out of his hand before bending the gun. The remaining person stood in disbelief as he watched the gun crumble like a piece of paper. The remaining person raised his hands up in surrender, "Look man, I-." Before he could finish, James knocked him out.
This made the room completely silent, leaving James with the remaining four behind the table. James slowly turned his body toward the table sitting upright as a shielding move. James didn't know what to say, but he stared toward the table. Finally, he started to approach the table cautiously and carefully. When he was close enough, James moved the table out of the way. Instantly revealing the four men hiding from behind the table. Fear and sweat was seen on each of their faces. James examined each of them closely, before sighing with relief when he noticed their guns were out of ammo.
"Don't kill us man! We're sorry!" James didn't respond to the statement, but his eyes wandered toward the front door and windows. He noticed the bright red and blue lights shining outside from police cruisers. One of the four men noticed and was about to run toward the back of the building to escape. James was able to catch this and pushed the man back. Causing him to hit the wall behind him.
James looked at each of them, "None of you are going anywhere, you're going to the police."
"Aw hell nah man." Of the four said with annoyance, "I'm not going back to prison." The man on the right of the others tried to get past James. However, James caught him just in time to push him back against the wall along with his buddy. "I guess I'm staying here till they get in here." When James said this, the men shook their heads in disagreement. One of them decided to punch and push James back. However, his hand met a different set of arrangements by breaking his hand. The man yelped in pain as he backed away.
James sighed in disappointment, glancing back toward the front door. James decided to knock the rest of them out before the police got in. As James knew that he had more people to save. Once two of the men were knocked out, the other two sat down against the wall. They raised their hands in fear and surrendered. "Alright man! Chill! We'll stay!" James stopped himself, before lowering his hand back to his side. James decided to rush out of the building, looking back toward the four men before disappearing. The police successfully got into the front doors with heavy weapons and body armor.
James stood on top of the night club building, looking down at the police. He watched as the two men from inside were in handcuffs. James smirked with happiness and delight as he watched the scene unfold. Right as James realized that the scene was cleared up. He was about to leave the roof, when he heard the familiar voice of Midnight Archer behind him. "Nice job." James turned his body around to face Midnight Archer. "You did very well." Midnight Archer leaned over the edge of the building to look at the police scene below.
"Thanks." James replied with a large smile, feeling good about himself.
"Only one problem, you didn't get the leader's partner." James's smile faded as he remembered one of the men ran out of the building. James looked at Midnight Archer in the eyes. "Well, I'm sure we can get him next time." Midnight Archer had no comment about that statement, he continued to look down at the police below. Midnight Archer thought to himself for a second, before turning his head over toward James.
"Do you know who you just fought in there?" James thought to himself, but wasn't able to come up with a proper response. James decided to shake his head, glancing down at the cruiser that the two men were being held in. "What you just intervened in is the same mafia group I'm after." When Midnight Archer mentioned this, James knew exactly what to say next.
"Wait a second, a mafia?" Midnight Archer nodded his head and turned to look at James.
"They're very dangerous." James nodded as he started to listen closely to him. "They're the most violent and richest mafia group in the USA." Midnight Archer started to look around at the city. "They're the reason I fight crime."
James nodded in understanding, before starting to remember the very reason James did crime fighting. His own parents were shot to death in their car. James decided to tell his reason, "I do crime fighting because my parents were killed a while back." This made Midnight Archer turn around to look at James. "They were shot and killed by someone in their car. I don't know who did it." Midnight Archer fell silent, listening to James closely to what he was saying. "But I feel like it wasn't just an accident."
The two fell silent again, leaving Midnight Archer to stare at James. Finally, he turned his head and looked around again. It wasn't long until Midnight Archer spoke again. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the people who killed your family were the same mafia."
James was confused by the statement, "Really?"
"The mafia kills more than just enemies, they also target specific families to bring out a message. A lot of the time, and you can guess how a lot of them are killed."
James knew where Midnight Archer was going with this. "Shot and killed in a car?"
Midnight Archer nodded in response, "They also make it appear like an accident by trying to hide the gunshot wounds. Most of the time the gunshot wounds are only used if the person wasn't killed properly by the car accident."
James grew confused by the hiding the gunshot wounds part. "Wait, how exactly do you hide a gunshot wound?" Midnight Archer shrugged in response.
"From what I know, they usually shoot them in less obvious spots that are also effective for killing." Midnight Archer shook his head like he was shaking off the whole idea. "Now, obviously that's just a guess of mine."
"A news article I read claimed that they found gunshot wounds in my parents." Midnight Archer nodded.
"Yeah, sometimes they do it well and other times, not so much." Midnight Archer walked over toward the edge of the building and looked out into the distance. "Anyways, if you're looking for the possible targets. I'd start your search with them. They're probably your best candidates." James nodded in response as he watched Midnight Archer take out his bow and arrow.
"You're going back out?" Midnight Archer nodded as he took out an arrow from his bag.
"Yep, can't save people if you just stand around." James nodded in agreement.
"Well, the time for me is getting late. I should probably get going." James turned around and started to head back home. Realizing that the time was getting close to 4:00 AM in the morning. Right before James could leave, Midnight Archer called over to him.
"Before you leave!" James turned his head to look back at Midnight Archer. "Meet me at the docks tomorrow night."
"Does this mean we are working together?" When James asked this, Midnight Archer didn't respond. Instead, Midnight Archer took his arrow and jumped off the building. James didn't follow him or worry if he was fine. He knew Midnight Archer was able to take care of himself. James smirked at the idea of them working together. Though, James decided to start heading back to his house to get some sleep for the day ahead.
James awoke to the sound of his grandmother walking into his bedroom, "James?" Her voice sounded not only demanding, but also a bit annoyed. It was as if James did something unpleasant to her. He rose from his bed and looked at her with tired eyes. "Can you come into the kitchen for a second? We need to talk." Once again, James felt a wave of guilt travel through him. He wasn't sure what this would have been about.
When his grandmother left the bedroom, James got out of bed and quickly dressed himself. Once he was finished, he head out of his bedroom and into the kitchen. Once again, a wave of guilt and worry was felt throughout James.