Highanded :: Five

Highanded :: Five

The wall computer was set to the news station. Susan looked upon it, waiting for Ace to return with the materials for his suit. A woman was reading the news from her teleprompter. She didn't look defeated like everyone else, but Susan knew that was from all the makeup.

"More riots have occurred as Pro-Vitality citizens and the city police department attempted to move homeless individuals to Compassion Zones. The Pro-Quality citizens are successful in holding the masses at bay, likely through the help of resigned policemen and women. Some have even begun working to remove homeless citizens from Compassion Zones..."

Ace walked in carrying a wide box, "Like it? It came with the house."

"The hostile confrontation you started is on the news and you're commenting on your wall computer?"

"It was already a hostile situation. Here are the materials." Ace handed her the box, "Why are
you helping me if you're against this?"

The dramatic music signaling 'Breaking News' interrupted the conversation, "We're about to take a look live at the surrounding area of one of the Compassion Zones, where an arsonist is laying siege. Here's Jenny in our helicopter over the scene."

The view cut to a wide shot of a blazing fire covering a series of buildings, smoke clouding the sky. The camera was zooming onto firemen and citizens either fighting the fire or trying to escape the building through the windows, "Thank you, Sarah. We're taking a look at the carnage below, trying to find whoever started this fire. Witnesses have claimed that only one man is the cause of this damage. If this is true, it's truly baffling how much damage was done by this one man-" There was a series of explosions, and one of the buildings collapsed to the ground. Screams were barely heard under the sound of the explosion, Jenny exclaimed in panic and hesitated as the building fell and the dust rose up. The flames on the other buildings were still blazing, "This is absolutely horrifying. Hundreds of people were still in that building when it came down, including some firemen who were able to break the blocked doors down..."

Susan was gripping the box of materials tightly, and she turned to Ace. His expression was of fear was one Susan had never seen before. "I'm not against you, Ace. I'm against that." The reporter went on to explain the damages, but Susan and Ace knew that this would pale in comparison to what has yet to happen...

---

Ace drove the repaired motorcycle to the machine shop. He took the lift down into the work area and walked it to where Coen said he'd meet him. Instead of Coen, there was another man. Ace walked up to him, "Excuse me, is Coen here today?"

"Called in to work, one of his relatives died in that blaze that happened yesterday. I'm his temporary replacement."

"I see." Ace let the motorcycle rest on it's kickstand, "Here's the rite of passage he assigned to me. I rode it from my home here."

The man looked at the motorcycle, inspecting a few places here and there. He made a few impressed grunts, "This is good. Didn't see this kind of quality from a rookie in a while. Did you get any training?"

"Some from a few mechanics, here and there. I'm already pretty handy with some tools."

"Good. All right, everything checks in. You've got the job. Whatever you do to the bike is your business."

The two shook hands, and Ace took his motorcycle and got on the lift. As the lift brought up Ace and his bike, Ace called Eddie.

"Heya, Ace."

"Ed! Hey, are you doing anything right now?"

"Just helping with the cleanup of that collapsed building. Saw a corpse with every limb seperated from it's torso!"

"That's wonderful, Ed. I know how you're always bitching and moaning about how you always want someone to bike with. So, I got myself a motorcycle."

"Drive by, I'll be ready to join you. There's only one cleared path through this area, so you don't have to worry about me needing to find you."

"See you later, man." Ace placed his phone in his pocket, put on his helmet and rode his bike towards the ruined Compassion Zone...

---

"Amy," Her father tossed a lumpy manila envelope onto the table. "Package."

"Oh!" She looked over the back of the couch toward the kitchen. "What's the label say?"

"Amy Jennings." He turned away, but she could hear his smile though his voice. She put herself in a place where she wouldn't die. She told Eddie's roommate that she would be back in a minute, and then went to check her mail. "Bingo!"

She tore through the packaging and found herself with a spheroid toy with lights on it. Her father looked over her shoulder. "Is that a toy from a new movie, or something?"

It came with a small sheet. It had basic information, it's name, a list of idea staff, supposed release date, etc. It was apparently a tool for disrupting mechanical devices. She decided to keep it away from the computer.

"What is it, Amy?" Mom came in the door with a dish smothered in aluminum foil. "That from
your new job?"

"Yeah." Amy held it up so that her Mom could see it. "What did you bring home?"

"A casserole!" She was really excited about it. "You guys will love it."

Amy cast a glance to her Dad, who was trying to hide the grimace from his wife. He picked up the information sheet, "A mechanic disruptor, huh?"

Amy nodded. She was about to speak before her mother cut in, "Amy, do me a favor and put this in the microwave for five minutes?" Her mother passed on the tray to her daughter. "I gotta take a shower. It's been one of those days. And don't forget to put it on a real plate!"

Amy transferred the food, which looked and smelled worse than she had imagined. She turned to her father for help. "This is gross. Can we order pizza?"

His face lit up, "I believe we can. How does that new gadget of yours work?"

She read straight from the information sheet, "You have been selected to test out this government-issue 'Technobollix'. Please write a detailed review of the affects on any machinery that you are near while activating this tool. Test on as many machines as possible... Here we go. To activate it we need to just bop it."

"Alright then." Her father grinned, "Put the casserole in the microwave, and then we'll turn it on while it's being nuked."

"So the mircowave won't work," Amy smiled back, "Nor will anything else Mom puts it in to heat it up."

"And we'll just have to order out."

"You put it in."

"What?" Her father stepped back, "You're the one who has to test these things, not me. It's your job."

Amy's face scrunched up, but she didn't argue. She turned on the microwave, waited a while, and hit the Technobollix. The microwave shut down, and Amy saw that her game was turned off as well. There was stomping heard from upstairs.

"Fuck! That's the wife. It must have affected the temperature in the shower!"

"What do you want me to do?!"

Amy's father picked up the Technobollix, opened the microwave, and threw the machine in the casserole. He churned it with his hands to bury the contraption and immediately rushed to the sink to wash his hands. Amy closed the microwave door.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" Amy's mother stormed down the stairs in a towel. Water dripped off her frame, "There better be a good damn reason for there to be no HEAT! In this DAMN HOUSE."

"I dunno." The father put up his hands, "The house just shut down."

"I lost my game." Amy grumbled. "Lost all my upgrades!"

The wife readjusted her towel. She took a deep breath. "David- go down and find out what's wrong in the basement. If you don't find anything, check the bills."

"Yes dear."

"When you've got it figured out come upstairs."

Amy's dad scrambled down the creaking basement stairs. Amy stared at her computer. She was glad she could start from where she left off, and that her mom didn't know what auto-saving was.. Her mother started walking away, but turned back at the last second.

"Amy."

"Yes, Mom?"

"Go to Mr. Yowling and ask if you can use his phone to order Chinese or something." She stormed up the stairs, grumbling and complaining all the way back to her room.

Amy fished the Technobollix out of the casserole and rinsed it off with a washcloth. Clean and glorious, she kissed it. She trashed the green glob and made her way to the neighbor's place. Eddie was right, she loved her job. Mental notes began to form in her head, Makes showers run cold, fries microwaves, turns off computers...Thank God for autosaves...