Lap 04
My First Night as a Hero
My first task was to get used to how the Blue Falcon controlled. Thankfully, the streets of the city were somewhat quiet so I was able to do so. I popped the glass with a push of a button on my gauntlet remote control and jumped inside. The cockpit of my Blue Falcon was vastly different than my dad's. First of all, it was bigger and had more leg room. There was even space for one extra passenger behind my seat. The steering controls looked like one of those super oldschool starship controllers. Ever see that really old movie called Star Wars Episode 2 and one of the characters drives a yellow speeder through the city? Yeah, the steering controls looked a little like that. My throttle/speed control was near the floor near my right hand and the hand brake was integrated onto the steering controls so I could perform drift and side turns. To activate the boost function, I had to move the throttle to its maximum setting and then slam it forward again. My machine's power level and speed gage were also integrated into the screen on the steering controls. It seemed pretty straightforward but I was still hesitant. Fal's voice spoke in my ear.
"Oh yes! I also should have mentioned that while the Blue Falcon is parked here, you can start a virtual simulation where you can train your piloting skills,"
"You read my mind Fal, how do I boot that up? Oh wait, here we go," I said and tapped a button on the screen that said "Simulation Mode."
"Simulation Mode. Level E. Engaged" a robotic voice said from the console. I saw the Falcon Lair disappear and it was replaced with what looked like a simple oval shaped track with a few boost pads and some power recharge areas.
"Ok, that was cool," I said. A new message on my display was flashing. It read "Activate Capsules?" I had no idea what that meant so I tapped the no button. I felt the Blue Falcon power down and heard a familiar male voice from somewhere. It began a countdown.
"3…" My hands quickly located the activation controls.
"2…" The Blue Falcon roared to life and my right hand moved to the throttle. My heart was pounding. I could almost picture my parents watching me from the non existent crowd.
"1…" I began to move the throttle forward while keeping my finger on the brake. This was it. I was about to pilot the Blue Falcon. Holy sh-
"GO!" I slammed the throttle and rocketed forwards going around 700-800kph. The Blue Falcon handled like an absolute dream. Almost as if my dad and Uncle Mason knew exactly how to fine tune it to my liking. It turned with little difficulty and it didn't slide all over the place. I completed my first lap in around 25 seconds before I heard Mr. Zero's voice say
"YOU GOT BOOST POWER!"
"YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DO!" I shouted and activated the boost. Lemme just say one word about how I felt when I boosted for the first time. Bruh. It was AWESOME. I honestly couldn't remember how fast my 2nd and 3rd laps around the track were because I was too busy yelling with glee as if I was 5 years old again riding in the old Blue Falcon with my dad. As I crossed the finish line, Mr. Zero's voice said
"New Record!" and I saw my final time of about 1 minute which was around 5 seconds faster than another time with the name of "DLem." I apparently had beaten my father's old record. Suddenly, I was back at the starting line with the same "Activate Capsules?" message on the screen. This time I decided to ask Fal.
"Hey Fal, what does it mean to activate the capsules?"
"If you do that, a number of yellow capsules will appear around the track and your task will be to collect them and complete 3 laps within a time limit. There are 3 levels of difficulty. Normal contains 25 capsules and a time limit of 80 seconds. Hard has 30 capsules and a time limit of 60 seconds. Very Hard has 35 capsules and a time limit of 60 seconds as well," she explained.
"Thanks Fal, I think I'll give this a go and because I'm feeling lucky, let's try Very Hard," I responded.
"I look forward to seeing your skills in action Andy," Fal responded sweetly. She reminded me of my mom so much. I'll have to thank Aunt Kathy when I see her. I selected the "Very Hard" setting on the console and the countdown began again and I even saw a great number of yellow capsules placed around the track. This turned out to be a little harder than I expected but I still managed to beat it on my first try with 2 seconds left on the time limit. I had quickly figured out that I needed to rely on strafing and quick turns to grab a great number of capsules at once.
"Outstanding Andy! Your piloting skills are top notch! You seem to be a natural!" Fal said into my ear as I turned off the simulation.
"Well, you know, it's most likely in my blood," I said and looked over toward the photo of my dad on the wall.
"I'll say! I don't even think your father was that skilled at piloting. He was more about hand-to-hand tactics as his past data sho-," Fal said before she suddenly stopped. "Oh my, I seem to be getting a GSF transmission. Would you like me to put it on screen?" she asked. My heart skipped a beat. This was it. My first task.
"Yeah, go for it," I said, trying to keep the underlying fear out of my voice. A video appeared on screen and I walked over to watch it. I was watching what looked like a high speed chase between a few GSF squad vehicles and 29 similar looking machines that looked very much like…
"Hang on...is that the Bloody Chain gang?" I said to myself. "I thought they were losing members left and right? What are they doing now?" The video had an answer. I heard the voice of an officer yelling into her radio,
"GSF CRUISER 42 TO BASE! WE ARE ENGAGED IN A HIGH SPEED PURSUIT WITH MICHAEL CHAIN AND MEMBERS OF THE BLOODY CHAIN GANG! MICHAEL CHAIN APPEARS TO HAVE KIDNAPPED THE SINGER KATE ALEN AND PLANS TO EITHER HOLD HER FOR RANSOM OR KILL HER! MYSELF AND A FEW OTHERS ARE IN PURSUIT BUT THEY'RE TAKING US OUT ONE BY ONE! WE NEED BACKUP! I HAVE GSF CADET JODY SUMMER IN MY VEHICLE!" My eyes widened in fear and rage.
"Jody! Fal, give me a general idea of where they're going! Now!" I said while running back to the Blue Falcon and powering it up.
"They seem to be going towards the Lightning area through Mute City. Would you like the file on the Bloody Chain Gang as well?" she said.
"Read it to me on the way, I don't have time to read it myself! I gotta save Kate and my sister!" I said as the blast door opened in front of the Blue Falcon and I saw a track leading upwards toward Port Town.
"You got this Andy, I believe in you," Fal said as I blasted out of the Falcon Lair, determined in my mission to save Kate and Jody.
I blasted my way through Port Town and I even managed to see a few of the citizens turn their heads in my direction as I passed. I couldn't hear what they were saying at all but I figured it would be stuff like "Holy crap, is that Captain Falcon?!" or "What the hell?! Captain Falcon?!" I didn't really have time to savor the moment as I needed to stop Michael Chain. Fal read me some of his file as I was speeding towards Mute City weaving my way through the traffic in a manner that reminded me of my father. Apparently the guy was busted a few times in his youth for petty theft but never really did anything as high profile as this.
"He's gotta be trying to build up the Bloody Chain's rep or something" I said maneuvering my way through the vehicles clogging the streets. Surprisingly, I didn't cause any damage.
"Must be," Fal responded. "You're about to catch up to them. They've been going in circles for the past 15 minutes. Mr. Chain seems to be at a loss of what to do,"
"Any GSF casualties?" I asked, making a high speed turn down a side street marked by Fal as a shortcut.
"So far no. Your sister seems to be ok. Her CO's car seems to be undamaged," Fal responded.
"Is there a way to patch me through to GSF?" I asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes, let's see if the old access codes your aunt used are still functioning," Fal said and went silent for a few seconds. Eventually I saw a message pop up on my helmet display. It read "GSF Network-Connection Established," I did a few quick eye movements to activate my voice modulator.
"Dispatch, do you copy?" I said. I had chosen a voice that sounded deeper than my own.
"What the? Who is this? And how in the name of Captain Falcon did you get these codes?!" another voice said.
"Funnily enough, you just answered your own question," I answered back. The person on the other end went silent.
"Cap...Captain Falcon?"
"Yes, that's me. I am currently on my way to engage the Bloody Chain Gang," I responded. I coughed a little when I said "yes" so it came out more as a "HYES!"
"Are...are you serious? Don't do this to us sir," the voice said. It sounded like they were very tearful.
"I can assure you that it is me," I said and pulled up a vid screen so the person on the other line could see my face. I, of course, had my nose and mouth holographically disguised. Not drastically but enough to not be recognized as the Falcon House bartender. I was going for a clean shaven look like my dad. I myself normally sported a chin goatee. I forgot to mention that, didn't I? Oops. Anway, back to the high speed chase. The person on the other line gasped and then started to cry.
"CAPTAIN FALCON! EVERYONE COME LOOK! HE'S BACK!" they shouted. I heard movement on the other line and then a bunch of voices going "WHAT THE…" and "IT'S HIM!" and "NO WAY!"
"Can you connect me to Cruiser 42?" I asked. I had just caught up with the GSF vehicles who were chasing the Bloody Chain Gang throughout Mute City.
"Of...of course Cap. You look different. Much more modern," the GSF dispatcher said, still trying to hold in their excitement to be talking to me.
"We'll have time for a cozy catch up later, right now I need to save Miss Alen and your officers," I responded. Fal had sent me a text message in the meantime. It read "See? You're already a hero to them Andy :)"
"Right sorry Cap, connection should be established. Good luck!" the dispatcher said. I had pulled up beside Cruiser 42 and was able to see inside. I saw Jody sitting there in absolute shock just staring forward, her hands clenched to her seat so much so that her knuckles had turned white. She hadn't noticed me. The driver hadn't noticed me pull up either
"Cruiser 42? Stand down. I will handle this. Take the Cadet to safety," I said. I saw the driver jump in alarm before talking into her radio.
"Who in blazes is this? What is your badge number?!" she said forcefully.
"Your backup. Look out the window," I said. The driver did so and nearly crashed her car.
"Cap...Captain….CAPTAIN FALCON?!" she yelled. This was enough to get Jody to snap out of it and look out the window in my direction. Her eyes rested on me and a look of absolute happiness and relief spread across her face. I heard her on the radio shout,
"I knew it! I knew you'd come back!" I gave her a two fingered salute and she nearly collapsed in happiness.
"Stand down officer, let me handle this," I repeated. The officer nodded and spoke into her radio. The other GSF vehicles veered off to the side and let me get a clear shot at the Bloody Chain Gang. I gunned the Blue Falcon forward.
As you'd probably expected, the Bloody Chain Gang were not happy to see me. I saw one of them lean out the window of his machine and his eyes widened in fear and anger. About 5 or 6 of them had slowed down in order to engage me.
"Uh, Fal. Please tell me that the Blue Falcon has some kind of defense system or at least the ability to take people out" I said as the machines started to edge closer to me.
"Yes. You may either perform a side or spin attack. The side is more damaging but has a shorter range. The spin attack covers a larger area but is harder to control," Fal responded.
"Perfect. Will they be killed if I take them out?" I asked as the machines began to surround me.
"Most likely not. But that's only due to the auto-eject installed on most vehicles nowadays," Fal said.
"Works for me," I responded and rammed into the first machine to my right. It slammed into the one next to it and they both broke down. I then rammed into the machine on my left and the same thing happened. 4 down. I decided to try a spin attack on the 2 in front of me. Fal was right, that move was dangerous but I managed to cause quite a lot of damage to the 2 machines and both of them took a bad turn and crashed into the guard rail. 6 down. I boosted my way forward to engage the rest. A similar scenario happened. Multiple members of the Bloody Chain tried to take me out but my piloting skills far surpassed theirs. Within about 5 minutes, only Michael Chain's machine was the last one standing.
"Fal, 2 things. One, did I kill anyone and two, any ideas on how to rescue Kate without slamming into the machine she's in?" I asked as I started to gain on Michael Chain.
"No, no casualties. Most are pretty banged up though. The GSF has been rounding up the other members you have taken out. Cruiser 42 is still safely intact. As for taking out Mr. Chain...hmm, I think your machine is faster than his. You could try...well no, that's a bit too dangerous," she said. I think I knew what she meant and I decided to give it a go anyway. I boosted right past Michael Chain and I saw his face contort with absolute fury. I thought I saw his mouth form the words "Captain Falcon?!" followed by a metric crap ton of swear words. I even glimpsed Kate Alen in the back seat with a piece of cloth over her mouth. I could totally tell by her eyes that she was smiling at me and I could almost hear her muffled voice shout "IT'S CAPTAIN FALCON! You're screwed now Chain!" I spun the Blue Falcon so I was facing Michael Chain's cockpit and continued to move in reverse.
"Fal, take the controls." I said.
"Alright but...Andy. What are you doing? ARE YOU CRAZY?!" she said as I popped the glass. I had also noticed that a bunch of news vehicles were flying overhead and tracking both me and Michael.
"Obviously," I responded and prepared myself for what I was about to do. This has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever done but here we freakin' go anyway. I unbuckled myself from the Blue Falcon, stood and then jumped toward Michael's machine. Absolute boneheaded move. I was going to be short by a few feet. Michael Chain wasn't moving fast enough. There I go, my first day on the job and I was about to be run over by Michael Chain of all people. Dammit. But then I had an idea. It was physically impossible but then again, I was now Captain Falcon. What if I could double jump? Seemed like a futile move but I gave it a go. I pushed against the air and I felt myself gain extra height thanks to a burst of fire from my boots. I even front flipped a few times. It was enough to close the distance and I landed on top of Michael Chain's vehicle. My boots absorbed most of the impact but I still needed to hold on to one of the "spikes" on top of his machine. We were still going pretty fast. I needed to rectify that immediately. I inched my way towards the thrusters and started to punch and kick them in an effort to slow Michael Chain down. I was getting nowhere before I was again reminded of the attack at Falcon House and how fire engulfed my leg. What if I could get that to work again? How did I even get that to happen? Out of options and in absolute desperation, I raised my leg as if I was about to perform an axe kick and thought about saving an innocent life. The fire immediately engulfed my leg and I slammed it down on the thrusters. This time it worked. My kick had done quite a bit of damage to the thrusters and I felt the machine begin to slow down drastically. After about 30 seconds, it stopped entirely and I jumped off. The canopy popped open pretty much immediately and a 6 foot tall African American man stepped out looking at me with absolute hatred.
"YOU MOTHER-" was all he managed to say before I charged forward and yelled, rather in a panic but it was the first thing that came to my mind,
"FALCON KICK!" This time, I flew forward with a flaming flying kick which hit Michael Chain right in the face. He flew backwards and crumpled to the ground in a heap, completely knocked out. I ran to the cockpit of the machine to retrieve Kate.
"Miss Alen, are you alright." I asked as I helped her out of the backseat and removed her bindings and gag. She immediately hugged me and planted a kiss on my cheek. Man, I could get used to beautiful ladies giving me affection like this. But I still preferred Sam.
"It's really you! The famous Falcon! You saved me!" she said and grabbed my arm.
"HEY! Where do you think you're taking me?!" I said as she pulled me towards the GSF officers. Many of them were cheering and clapping. Thankfully a good amount of them were holding back news reporters. A young cadet in a pink and white jumpsuit ran at me as well and she nearly tackled me in a hug.
"You're back! I knew it!" Jody said, hugging me very tightly. Kate meanwhile started talking to the GSF officers as a few others began to drag Michael Chain, who was still unconscious, towards a squad car. I awkwardly patted Jody's head. The disguise must be working, she didn't know Captain Falcon was "the best big brother ever."
"Are you alright Miss uh...Summer is it?" I asked her, pretending to not know what her name was.
"Yes! Thanks to you! Have you met a bartender named Andy Lemming? He's my brother and doesn't really like you because you failed to save our parents," she said. I hesitated but regained my composure.
"Miss Summer, do you really think that I am the same person from 16 years ago? If so, that would make me almost, what, 50 years old?" I responded. Jody looked at my face in confusion.
"What?" she asked.
"The previous Captain Falcon chose me as his successor. That man has retired. I have taken his place," I responded, choosing my words carefully. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to tell Jody yet.
"So you're...not the man that failed to save my mom and dad?" she asked tearfully. I knelt next to Jody and put a hand on her shoulder.
"No Miss Summer, I am not. The previous Captain Falcon told me about that night. He regrets it deeply as your brother was a huge fan of his. You must have been a baby at that time. I too am very sorry that happened to you. You still have your brother right? I recall hearing a rumor that he himself carried you outside to safety. As for the other guy, he was busy exposing Dark Million. You GSF people must know all about that. The welfare of Mute City and the surrounding areas will be my primary concern. You can count on that. I may not be the same man from 16 years ago but I am still Captain Falcon through and through. The previous guy chose me for a reason," I said and pushed the button on my gauntlet to call the Blue Falcon to me. Fal had sent me another message that read "Your father would be so proud of you Andy :)" Jody looked up at me, still in awe.
"You will make a fantastic officer someday Miss Summer. I am sure of that," I added.
"You think so?" she asked hopefully. "Hey, are you going to enter the Sapphire Cup Grand Prix tomorrow?"
"Hmm, we'll see what happens after tonight. If I enter, I'll make sure I'll win it for you. Deal?" I said before climbing into the Blue Falcon.
"Deal!" Jody said. Goodness, that reminded me of myself talking to my dad when I was 5. I gave her another two fingered salute before blasting away from the area.
I decided to let Fal take the controls for a bit as well as listen to her praise me like she was actually my mother.
"That was incredible Andy! You clearly have what it takes to be a hero. I'm not getting any other high profile crimes that require your assistance. Mainly typical GSF beat cop work. Most of the high paying bounties are either offworld or their locations are unknown. A lot of the radio transmissions are just officers telling stories of Captain Falcon's return. I'll keep you posted however. You have several new messages by the way. From a lot of people." This was indeed true as basically my entire contact list was telling me about one thing. Captain Falcon.
"DUDE! PLEASE tell me that you are watching the news right now! CAPTAIN FREAKING FALCON MAN!" Roy's message read.
"ANDY! Captain Falcon's back! He even talked to me! He says that he replaced the guy that didn't help mom and dad. I even saw him take out Michael Chain in ONE kick!" Jody's message read.
"Did you see the news tonight? Captain Falcon's back! He saved Kate Alen!" Lisa's message read.
"Your old friend Captain Falcon seems to have returned. He's cute, you might have competition mister ;)" Sam's message read.
"Andy...I just...did you jump out of a moving vehicle onto another moving vehicle and stop it with one axe kick?" Aunt Kathy's message read.
"YEAH! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT ANDY!" Uncle Mason's message read.
"How the hell did you stop that machine with one axe kick? Doc Stewart also saw you on the TV. Says that was the coolest thing he'd ever seen," Aunt Josslyn's message read.
"I love you so much Andy. That was absolutely incredible. Muffins seemed to have recognized you on the TV too. She was meowing happily and pawing at your image on the TV as you spoke to Jody," Aunt DJ's message read. I took the time to respond to all of them, making sure to not reveal that I was Captain Falcon to Jody, Roy, Lisa or Sam. I'd do that eventually. My dad had a group of allies so I figured I should have one too. I myself was feeling on top of the damn world y'know? This morning I had yelled at Aunt DJ that I didn't want to be Captain Falcon but look at me now, saving a celebrity from a gang with relative ease. It's clearly in my blood to be Captain Falcon. I can see that now. Fal and I continued to drive around Mute City for the next few hours as I read files on various criminals currently at large. Eventually, Fal patched me into the GSF radio so I could hear all the officers talk about me and exchange stories.
"All units, we have a possible 10-51 Code 1 near the White Land Bridge," the GSF radio said into my ear around 11:30pm.
"10-51?" I asked Fal.
"That is the code for a suicidal person. Code 1 is that the person is a jumper," Fal responded. I thought about it for a second. Surely Captain Falcon could not allow someone that clearly needed help to not receive it.
"How close are we to that bridge? Like an ETA I mean?" I asked.
"If we take the highway...about 5-10 minutes. Shall I set the course Captain Falcon?" she asked.
"Yes, tell the GSF that I'll handle this one too. Oh and you can still call me Andy or even Cap if you want" I said.
"Affirmative," Fal said as we made a quick turn onto the highway and made our way north towards the bridge.
I spotted a young woman standing on the edge of the bridge over the safety rail. She looked very upset, even at this distance. I decided to stop and get out of the Blue Falcon and walked up to the woman on the bridge. She didn't hear me coming but I noticed that she was crying. She was wearing all black with purple highlights in her hair and was talking on her phone to someone.
"Goodbye," she said before throwing her phone into the water about 100ft below. She closed her eyes and went to step off the bridge.
"MA'AM! WAIT!" I shouted. The woman stopped and turned to look at me.
"Captain Falcon?! No! Stay back!" she yelled. I stopped and held up my hands.
"Ma'am, I just wanna talk. Tell me what's bothering you," I said.
"EVERYTHING! I WANT THE PAIN TO END! Everyone takes advantage of me! It's hopeless! The world sucks! I JUST WANT TO DIE!" she shouted at me.
"Ma'am what is your name?" I asked.
"Chisato Zoh," she said and sniffed.
"Well Chisato, I can tell you that what you are about to do is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, whatever said problem is," I said.
"STOP IT! YOU KNOW NOTHING! YOU'RE JUST BEING THE HERO EVERYONE SAYS YOU ARE! YOU DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT ME!" Chisato yelled at me.
"Do you have a family?" I asked still very calmly. This surprised Chisato immensely. So much so that she had stopped yelling at me and spoke in a shaky voice.
"Y-yes," she said.
"Well, tell me about them. I have all night to listen," I said and leaned up against the safety rail.
"I live with my parents and my cousin. My brother lives close by. I even call my cousin my little sister because she's lived with us since she was a baby. Her parents died and she came to live with us. I think she recently got a job at a diner to make some extra credits," she said.
"So you must be real close then. They care about you. Think about how they would feel if you were to leave this world. I felt the same way you do now when I lost my parents to criminals. Like I wanted to end it all. I wanted to just be rid of the pain by taking the, pardon me, easy way out. I grew up with my aunt and she showed me that no matter how hard things get, there's always another day for things to get better. I know that's very cliche to say but it's true. But if you honestly believe that those days will never come for you again, you may choose to take your own life. I will not stop you. But if you are willing to hold onto the chance that there will be more happy days in your life sometime soon, then take my hand. Giving up never helps anyone, trust me on that Chisato," I said and held out my hand toward her. Chisato looked toward the river below and then towards me. I just stood there with my hand outstretched waiting for her to make her decision.
"I care about you Chisato. Your family cares about you. Things are never as bad as they seem. You're much stronger than you think you are," I said. Once or twice, I thought she was going to jump but she reached out towards my hand and grasped it. I pulled her over the safety rail and she immediately fell into my arms and burst into tears.
"It's alright, you're safe. Let me give you a ride home ok? Your family must be worried sick," I said, still holding onto her. She nodded and gave me her address. I called the Blue Falcon to me and helped her into the back seat and we blasted off toward a suburb in Port Town.
I pulled up to Chisato's house within 15 minutes of saving her from her suicide attempt. It looked like a pretty nice place. Similar to Aunt DJ's place. Middle class 2 story home. A middle aged Japanese woman was sitting on the porch weeping softly.
"Mama?" Chisato said tearfully as we approached the front porch. The woman looked up and screamed before she ran over to Chisato and wrapped her arms around her and they both began weeping. 2 men appeared in the doorway, an older man who looked equally as upset and a younger man that looked like Chisato's brother. Both men went to embrace Chisato. They were all speaking in what I believe was Japanese but Fal was able to translate it for me. Basically, they were saying that they were worried sick and thought Chisato was dead as the GSF told them that they hadn't heard anything new for the past 4 hours. Chisato meanwhile had pointed to me and said that I saved her. Her father looked at me in amazement.
"Kyaputen Farukon?" he said, still in Japanese. I didn't need Fal to translate that one. I hoped the family was bilingual because I didn't speak Japanese very well.
"Yes sir, I came across her standing on a bridge wanting to end it all. I talked her out of it and brought her home. You may want to get her some therapy, might help with her depression," I said but then I heard a familiar voice from the doorway.
"Chisato?! Captain Falcon?! What?" the voice said. I turned to see none other than Samantha Narasu standing in the doorway. Oh you gotta be kidding me, I said to myself as Sam ran over to Chisato and hugged her. The rest of Sam's family thanked me profusely before Sam herself walked over to me.
"Evening ma'am. You must be Chisato's cousin, correct?" I said. I prayed to all the deities I knew that Sam wasn't able to see through the holographic disguise and voice modulator. I also tried to contain my shock at learning that Sam's parents were also dead.
"Y-yeah," she said in a shaky voice. Chisato was being led back into the house by the rest of her family.
"Oh, so this is the girl you have a date with on Tuesday," Fal's voice said in my ear. "She's cute, Andy."
"So...so you're Captain Falcon?" she asked me. Oh Sammy, you can't set me up like that and not expect a bad joke.
"Nope, I'm Lieutenant Eagle," I responded. Sam laughed. Fal chuckled a bit too.
"Very funny. Thank you for saving my cousin. We were supposed to go out of town for a beach trip for a few days but Chisato had been missing since this morning so we cancelled," Sam said. Ahh, so that matches up with what she told me this morning. My stupid brain then began to picture Sam in a blue bikini. Had to stop those thoughts pretty quickly. Needed to be on my guard so she wouldn't recognize me.
"Anytime ma'am. It's what I do," I responded.
"Hey, have you heard of this guy named Andy Lemming?" she suddenly asked me. Well of course I'd heard of him, he's me.
"You are the second young lady to ask me that tonight. Why? Is he your boyfriend or something?" I asked.
"No, but I would very much like him to be…" she muttered. What she didn't know was that my insides were now dancing the conga.
"But seriously, he seems to hold a grudge against you because you failed to save his parents when he was 9. I knew he was wrong about you," she said. I chuckled.
"That other young lady that mentioned him was his little sister. A GSF Cadet named Jody Summer. I will tell you what I told her. I am not the same person but I share the same intentions. I am his successor. He chose me to carry on the Captain Falcon legacy," I responded and started to make my way back to the Blue Falcon, it was getting quite late and your boy Andy was very tired. I figured the GSF night crew should be able to handle anything. Most of the bounties I marked earlier hadn't been seen for a few weeks and I didn't expect any of them to make an appearance tonight. Sam meanwhile was looking very puzzled at this. Much like Jody had been.
"If you aren't the same guy, then who...who are you?" she asked as I climbed into the cockpit and turned on the engine. I turned back to look at her beautiful face.
"A friend," I responded. "Bye." I smiled, waved and took off in the direction of the Falcon Lair.
On the way there, I got a message from Sam. It read "Hey Andy, wanna move our date to tomorrow instead of Tuesday. I had a family emergency and we had to cancel our plans. I'll explain tomorrow. Wanna meet at Falcon House at around 4 or 5?" What, no message of wanting me to be her boyfriend? The nerve. Ah well, gotta take it slow right? I responded with "Sure, that works for me. Are you doing alright? Is everyone ok?"
"Yes, just a bit shaken up currently. I'll see you tomorrow ok?" she texted back.
"Still want me to wear that leather jacket?" I responded. Sam's response was an enthusiastic "HYES!"
"Well Andy, I must say that you had a very successful first night on the job. You saved Kate Alen and another young woman from taking her own life. Your father chose wisely. Now, would you like to sleep at the Falcon Lair or back at your Aunt's place?"
"I think at the Falcon Lair. Give Aunt DJ and Aunt Josslyn the place to themselves tonight. Plus my jacket's still there. I assume that there's a change of clothes and some food in the fridge right?"
"Affirmative," Fal responded.
"Perfect. Oh can you pull up the Sapphire Cup registration form? Might be able to get a spot due to the fact that I am Captain Falcon. I have a promise to fulfill," I said as I pulled into the Falcon Lair. Fal sent the digital registration form to the computer. I filled out the registration and wrote "Douglas Jay Falcon" in the name section as a tribute to both of my parents. This would be the name that I would use as my alias. Hopefully, no one would be able to trace it to Douglas and Jacquelin Lemming. Then, I got out of the Blue Falcon, stripped off my uniform, took a quick shower and fell onto my new bed. I did miss hearing Muffins's kitty snoring though. I kept repeating my conversation with Sam over and over again in my head as I drifted off to sleep.
"Who are you?...A friend." Yeah, I could totally get used to this.