Rectifier - The Electric Man: An After the Crash Superhero Novel by Brian Howard

Author:Brian Howard [Howard, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-04-19T22:00:00+00:00

He was settling in for the night, reflecting on how incredibly messed up a Christmas Day it had been when Mrs. Chun and a small group of others approached and sat in a circle around him, probably not realizing how much it seemed to him like scavengers circling a fresh kill.

“Mr. Oliver,” Mrs. Chun said in her sometimes-confusing accent. Sometimes it almost came and went. She was an odd bird, but that was hardly a rarity. “Group of us got together to give you gift for Christmas.”

“Is three pieces,” she explained, handing a dark bundle to him. The gesture touched him. Hadn’t they seen the scene earlier? Luna and Mitch had only just come back, with Mitch’s big jacket around Luna’s tiny frame.

“But…You. Um, you don’t have to do that.”

“Yes we do,” she replied with a stern nod that brooked no argument. Something creepy hid in her smile.

He groaned in defeat and opened black cloth. A black safari hat rested atop something else. He raised an eye, wondering what weird angle she had behind it.

“Partly for rain. Keep you hair dry. Try it on,” she insisted. People in the circle leaned forward. Most of them he knew. Faces peered at him expectantly. The hat fit. It was in good shape, a waterproof canvas that might not do much to keep him warm, but it would help with rain. And with falling snow.

The second item was a black band of fabric, taller on one side than the other.

“It’s a motorcycle mask,” Burt, a burly man with a bushy beard—once supposedly a Hell’s Angel—explained. “Covers your mouth and nose and neck.”

“A motorcycle mask.”

“Well, not just that in your case, I guess.”

“It is a mask,” Mrs. Chun said as if he were an idiot. “For your face. When you use your powers to help people. You were afraid of police coming after you. Now you do not have to worry.”

“Um, hey, look…”

“I know, I know. You are reluctant to be a hero because you think police or bad guy come here and hurt us. Come after friends or family. Now with mask, nobody know who you are. Now you safe. Now you can make everybody safe.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

“Man,” Burt said. “If I could do what you can do? Well… I’d wanna make a difference. You know?”

“I’m not a hero,” Oliver insisted.

“Not without mask and uniform,” Mrs. Chun countered. “Now you have those things. Want to or not want to, you have obligation. This is not about you any longer. Look at shirt.” She pointed a wrinkled finger at the black cloth the rest was wrapped in.

“Hey,” Burt said, “I talked her out of a cape. But she’s right, dude. You gotta do it. You just gotta.” As if that were all there was to it.

He spread out what turned out to be a black t-shirt. A white spray-paint lightning bolt stood out against the black. You’ve got to be kidding me… He followed her pointed gestures and held it up to his chest, lightning bolt blaring out, putting all he had into holding his tongue.

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