Chapter the 1st!!! (this is fiction, in case you were wondering...)
Main Characters: Kevin Hinckley, 32 years old. High School Science Teacher, at the same place his father was.
Pamela Davidson Hinckley - 51 years old. Circuit Judge.
Bill Maxwell – 76 years old. Retired. Consultant to FBI. Head of GreenGuy Private Investigations.
Tony Villacana – 40 years old. FBI Agent. Close friend of Mentor, Bill Maxwell.
Ralph Hinckley – Deceased. Would be 55. Died 15 years ago, so appears 40ish.
Green Guys - ?
Synopsis: Kevin Hinckley inherits the Red Jammies, and his father's job, moonlighting as a superhero.
Note: I don't own any of these characters. Other people make money from them. I just write this stuff for FUN, and to show Hollywood how the movie SHOULD be done... WITHOUT ADAM SANDLER.
"Alyeesha, SIT down. Buckle your seatbelt. I'm not going to ask you again."
"Yeah, Mr. H." the junior year science club member sat grumpily down and fussed with her seatbelt, but didn't buckle it. Behind her, a boy wearing thick glasses, grinned, showing his teeth, which were mostly obscured by the massive braces he wore.
"We're almost there. Relax." He said., still smiling.
"How do you know, Ja-FOOL?" she sneered.
Still smiling, he held up a portable GPS Unit. Alyeesha turned back around and grumbled unintelligibly to herself.
Kevin Hinckley sighed and tried to divide his attention between the road, and the group of rambunctious Science Club Members he had in the back of the van. The were regular kids; considered geeks and nerds by their peers. But, they were a handful, in their on way.
It was easy enough to get the trip approved, out to the desert, for a field study of drought conditions and their effects on the local flora and fauna. Kevin was a tenured faculty member. And his father had been assistant principal, years ago, before the accident. No one ever gave him much grief at work. He kept his nose clean and his head down. Best way to avoid trouble. And Kevin ALWAYS avoided trouble, if he possibly could.
"Hey, Mr. H! There's a stand up ahead. Can we stop and get a soda?" Emilio asked, from his spot in the last row.
Kevin looked dubiously, at the upcoming roadside stand, and slowed the van.
"Alright. But, if it's not refrigerated, DON'T buy it. This place doesn't look very promising."
The van swung into the dirt lot, and came to a stop. The teacher barely had the door open, before his charges were out the door and swarming the place. 10, 15-17 year olds. He shook his head. He remembered those years himself. Of course, with his father being just gone, they had not been very good ones. His birth mother had immediately sued for custody, and his step mother Pam gave him the choice, to go or stay. He chose to stay with her. It had been rough, going through those years, missing his Dad. Uncle Bill did his best. As a result of their efforts, he had grown up NOT having ended up in jail, or being shot, or joining a gang. He had been a latter day Boy Scout, in a time and place, where such were no longer valued.
He got out of the school vehicle, and stretched. Walking slowly, he approached the outdoor flea-market type setup and looked around. Yep. Just as he had thought; junk.
"This is cool. But it won't open. What good is a book that you can't read?" Emilio asked, holding up a small black book. Kevin gazed across the table at his student, with a look of mild annoyance.
"What about that soda?"
"Oh! Yeah. Right." the gangly boy dropped the book and headed for the small main building. Idly, Kevin wandered over and picked up the book. It was black. No writing on the spine. On the cover….. he frowned. An insignia. He KNEW that thing.
Upon closer examination, he could find no reason why Emilio had not been able to open the book. It opened readily enough for him. But, it was written in a language he did not understand. Not even the symbols. It might have been Sanskrit for all he knew. Slowly, Kevin turned and walked into the main building. An old, OLD man, wearing a ratty New Jersey Devil cap, stood behind a counter, trying to look at too many kids all at once. He spared a glance to the school teacher and nodded curtly.
"Yours?"
"Yeah."
"They thieves?"
"No. Worse. Science Geeks."
"AH! Alrighty then." The man finally smiles and relaxes slightly.
Kevin raised the book, so the man could see it.
"How much for this?"
"Eh…. $10?"
"Give you a buck."
"Sold to the cheapskate in the sport jacket that belonged to his father." A bell rings one ding, as the old man hits the "Sold" button on his cash register, opening it, to accept Kevin's proffered dollar bill.
"Hey, I'll have you know my Dad had very GOOD taste in sport coats." He sniffed, pocketing the book. He turns to the kids milling about in the little store.
"Final purchases people! We have to be going! Get your butts out to the van!"
****************************************************************************
Tired. Bleary eyed. The high school teacher dropped the last of his charges off at their homes, and took the van back to school. The trip home would be a short one. But he wanted to stop first at his step mom's. The strange book still was in his jacket pocket. He wanted to show it to Pam, and see if she remembered what the strange insignia might be. It was nagging at his brain. He KNEW he knew what it was.
The old station wagon chugged its way along. It wasn't more than 10 minutes later, he pulled up in front of his old home. He groaned. She wasn't home from work yet. Tiredly, he got out of the car and walked up to the door. His key still fit the door after so many years. He'd have to talk to her about that. A switch every once in a while was purely a move for safety.
The door swung open, and he stepped into his old home. Carelessly, he flipped on the light, and walked in. Things had changed a lot inside. Pam did keep things up well, even though she was alone. She never remarried after his father passed on. Lord only knew why. She was still an extremely attractive woman. It was not for lack of guys trying. But she seemed to have no interest in anything other than Kevin, her work and her friends; Mainly Uncle Bill and Tony.
The stairs seemed steeper than he remembered them. Of course, he was dog tired from driving and wandering around in the desert all day. That could have been a mitigating factor in his perception. He passed his old room, and headed to his Dad's study. This area had not changed. Not a single thing. It was as his father left it, fifteen years before.
Curiously, Kevin searched along the bookshelves, looking for something that related to his strange book. Nothing. Then, he noticed the soft chiming noise, coming from his coat pocket. He realized it was coming from the pocket he dropped the book into. Gently, he eased it out, to see that as WELL as chiming gently, there was a soft, glowing pulse of light coming from the volume in his hand. It seemed to vary in intensity. He moved slightly left; softer. He moved right; stronger. Then he realized; it was homing in on something!
Kevin followed the pulses of the book, back out of the study, down the hallway. The glow and chimes grew stronger, as he drew closer to his parent's bedroom. Uncomfortably, he opened the door and looked around. The chiming insisted he proceed. It lead him to Pam's closet.
"Oh come on. I don't want to look at my Mom's unmentionables! Gimme a break…" he said to the book. It continued chiming almost stridently. "*sigh* Okay. Okay."
He slide open the closet door, to be greeted by a matching chime, and glow. Curiously, he looked up, to see a pulsing light coming from beneath a pile of blankets. He reached in and rummaged a bit, coming out with a suitcase sized, glowing case. He turned and placed it on the bed. It had an insignia on the lid, which match the book in his hand. Both items were now mysteriously silent. Cautiously, he poked at the strange box. A soft hum filled the room, and the lid raised up on its own to reveal it's contents. Cloth. With that same strange insignia, on the chest. NOW he remembered….
He had been not more than seven or eight years old. He had caught a glimpse of his father, frantically struggling into the suit, after a mysterious phone conversation with Uncle Bill. Kevin had been peeping into the bedroom room. Ralph had caught him, looking embarrassed.
"Hi Kev! Just dressing up for a costume party." His father smiled, in a strained fashion, still struggling with the suit. Kevin entered and began helping him, buckling on the belt, and zipping the boots.
"There ya go!" he said proudly, looking at his father, "But if you're doing Superman, the color's wrong and you got no S on your chest!"
Ralph laughed and smiled fondly at his son. "Thanks, Kev. Hit the sack. Pam will be here to watch out for you til I get back."
"She's not invited to the party?" the youngster had asked, curiously.
"Ah, no. No, this is just Bill and I." his father smiled nervously, "Go on to bed. I'll check in on you when I get back. Love you Kev."
"Love you Dad. Have a good flight." He grinned and marched back to his room.
"God knows I wish I could." Ralph murmured through smiling lips.
That hadn't been the last time he'd seen his father in that strange outfit. In fact, now that he was rummaging through his memories, he realized his father had worn the strange costume on a LOT of occasions. Sometimes under his regular clothes. Kevin gently pickup up the suit and pulled it from the box. On impulse, he laid it out on Pam's bed, and began removing his own clothes. The red outfit cleaved to his body, like it had been custom tailored. Of course, Pam often commented on how alike in build, he and his father had been. Ralph's hair had been a curly mane of yellow. Kevin's was straight and dark brown. A bit longer than fashion dictated, but, he'd never stood much on fashion; hence wearing his Dad's old sport coats to work.
He looked at himself in the full length mirror against the wall, chuckling. Then he plopped down on Pam's bed and picked up the book. It seemed to fly open of it's own accord, in his hands. Low and behold, the text inside was now legible! He scanned through it, and began to laugh. An instruction manual. For the very suit he was wearing. His chuckles died down as he read more. The suit was designed to be capable of some VERY incredible things. Ridiculous things. Impossible things.
"Yeah. Right."
The young man laughed again. Still, he rose from the bed and went to the dresser. Gently, he picked up Pam's hairbrush and concentrated. He almost dropped it, when a crystal clear picture appeared before his eyes, of his step mother, leaving the courthouse downtown. As she walked through the parking garage, to her car, a van door opened nearby and three thugs piled out. Before she had a chance to scream, she was grabbed, gagged and bundled into the van, which took off at high speed.
Kevin shook his head, clearing the vision from it. He looked at the brush in his right hand. He looked at the book, still clutched in his left hand, open to a page which explained Remote Viewing. Dropping the brush, he flipped to the index. What else exactly could this thing do?
Moments later, Kevin rushed out the back door of the house, took three steps and leapt into the air. To his credit, he didn't scream, when he actually shot up into the sky like a rocket. His shock was still great. But the thought of his mother in the hands of kidnappers, kept him focused on the task at hand. He concentrated, bringing back the image of the van, which was now speeding down a highway, headed out of town. The suit responded unbidden, turning him gently in the direction he needed to go. His flight was straight, true and sure. He'd been an avid hang glider and gyro pilot since he was twenty years old. Uncle Bill had insisted, for some odd reason. Now, he knew why. Obviously, the old agent KNEW about the suit. And his step mom probably did too. Concentrating, Kevin put on a burst of speed, streaking through the night like a red missile. Moments later, the van was in sight.
Cautiously, he descended, til he was flying directly behind the speeding van. Luckily, there was no one on the road at the moment. Grimly, he grabbed the rear door handles and slammed his feet into the pavement. He adjusted his grip to include the bumper, and gritted his teeth at the jolting and jarring that occurred as the van ground to a VERY sudden halt. The doors bailed open, and the kidnappers poured out; three men with automatic rifles. Without a word, opened fire. His heart stood still for a moment, as the barrage hit him from all sides at once. The bullets bounced off of him, like rain from a duck's back. A few seconds later, they ran out of bullets and stopped firing. Disbelief showed on their faces. Kevin smiled, almost genially.
"My turn."
He ripped a rear door off the van, and began swinging. It was over as soon as it started. Three unconscious men, bleeding from broken noses, busted lips, and torn scalps. He felt no sympathy. Kevin dropped the door and turned to the van. Pam was just inside, struggling mightily against the ropes that bound her. Gently, he picked his step mother up and set her upright. He removed the gag first, for her to scream...
"RALPH!"
He broke her bonds and she removed the blindfold herself. Judge Pamela Davidson Hinckley looked her stepson in the eyes, and passed out. Kevin caught he and laid her momentarily back in the van. He quickly searched the men, collected their wallets, destroyed their weapons, and finally found a cell phone. He dialed 911.
"YES. There's been an accident out on highway 66, at the 236 mile marker? Send the police." Calmly, the young man hung up, then dialed another number.
"Uncle Bill! Hey it's Kevin. Fine, just fine. Listen, I need you to meet me over at Mom's place as soon as you can get there. Yeah. Oh sure, bring Tony if he's there. I'm he can help with this one too. I'll see ya in a bit. Be careful." he closed the phone and wiped his prints from it. Then he wiped the door and the bumper. He gathered up the rope that had bound Pam, and the blindfold. Pam herself was next. Checking to make sure she was still breathing okay, Kevin leapt into the sky and headed for home. An interesting evening, was going to become even MORE interesting, shortly.
END CHAPTER 1
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