Contrary to Electron's expectations, and perhaps to his
relief, the day ended up being almost entirely uneventful. The only notable
thing that happened was an attempted purse-snatching in the suburbs, and all it
had taken was a single look at Electron for the perpetrator to hand the purse straight
back again and run away in fright. Violent crime had already taken a nosedive
since Electron arrived, not because he had been stopping them all, but because
criminals were too scared to commit them in case Electron caught them in the
act. If the superhero could stop the seemingly-invincible Titus, then he could
stop almost anyone.
The following day started off just as uneventfully.
Electron flew around the city all morning in search of crime, the armour-clad
murderer from yesterday, or both, but his search proved fruitless. He was,
however, greeted by hundreds of citizens who waved and cheered as he flew past
them, just as they usually did. Even after a fortnight of patrolling the city,
he had still not gotten used to the attention he attracted.
At about 1pm, a hungry Electron decided that it was time
for lunch. He tended to eat out for lunch, partly because it was more
convenient then having to fly all the way back to his apartment, and partly
because the city's various eateries tended to waive his bills. Having the
city's greatest hero eat at your humble burger joint was not only quite the
honour, it was also fairly good for business, and already a few store owners
had taken pictures of the superhero to hang on their walls. On the rare
occasions that a store didn't offer him free food, a citizen would usually step
in to foot the bill - this was fortunate for Electron, as his suit did not have
any pockets.
Today, Electron decided to stop off at a Chinese restaurant
only a block away. As he stepped through the door, he found only one other
person inside, a slightly chubby woman happily tucking into a chow mein. At the
counter, he was greeted by a young-looking white man who seemed rather star-struck.
"Wow, Electron!" he exclaimed. "I was hoping you'd visit this
place eventually! I'm a huge fan!"
"I'm sure you are," said Electron, nodding. "Could
I get an order of General Tso's chicken, please? And some prawn crackers?"
"Sure," said the man. "Would you like a
fortune cookie?"
Electron shrugged. "Sure, why not," he said.
"Oh, and can you make all that to go, please? Just in case I get a
call-out while I'm eating."
"Of course," said the man. "Will that be
all?"
"Yeah, that's all," said Electron.
"Alright then," said the man. He started to run
up the total, then remembered who he was serving. "I'll have to run this
past the manager," he said, "but I'm sure he won't mind if I make
this one on the house."
"Thank you," said Electron. "You're too
kind."
"It's the least I can do for the man keeping this
city safe," said the man.
As the man passed his order through to the kitchen,
Electron waited patiently for it to be ready. Only a few minutes later,
however, he was interrupted by a beeping sound coming from his earpiece,
signalling an incoming call from Martin. "Typical, of all the times for
him to call me…" he muttered, before turning to the cashier. "Sorry,
I'm gonna have to take this," he said.
"That's okay," said the man. "We're still
working on your order."
Electron flicked a switch on his earpiece to open the
channel. "This had better be important," he said, "I'm about to
have lunch."
"Oh, it's important all right," said Martin.
"That masked killer's been sighted on Jefferson Avenue. Sounds like she's
gonna strike again. You better get over there as fast as possible."
"She had to pick now
to show up," grumbled Electron. "Why couldn't she have not shown up
at all?"
"Well, she has
shown up," said Martin pointedly, "so get your ass over there right
now!"
"Alright, alright, geez," said Electron,
rolling. "I'm on my way." Hanging up the call, he turned to the
cashier. "Sorry, I'm gonna have to head off quickly," he said.
"I'll be back in, like, twenty minutes. If my order's done before then,
keep it warm for me, alright? I'll be back."
"Okay, no problem," said the man. As Electron
activated his jet boots and flew off, the man eagerly waved him off. The woman
eating her chow mein waved as well, her chopsticks still in her hand.
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