Chapter 2: Where We Stood
Sitting bolt upright, Jet's eyes flew to the door of his apartment. He strained his ears holding perfectly still, as if even breathing would render it a lie. But the sounds that had roused him continued, and they were like music. Slowly Jet stood and approached the door, peering through the peephole in the door and out into the hallway.
"I'm telling you it wasn't my fault!" Jimmy shouted as he trailed his mother, both of them laden with shopping bags. His tone was distraught, and he appeared to have been in a scuffle.
"And I told you, I don't care who's fault it was! I specifically told you not to get into any more fights. But I turn my back for one minute and you jump headfirst into another fight." Cathay did not even look back as she spoke, fighting to pull a ring of keys from her coat pocket, an old woolen thing worn big over her waitress apron. Her tone was exhausted but firm as she continued to lecture her son.
"You'll be fourteen soon, old enough to get a summer job. If you want to go to that space camp with your friends in September, like you've been so excited about, you need to get a job, and people don't hire troublemakers, so you need to stop fighting!" with the final word she freed the key from her pocket and deftly unlocked the door. Holding it open she finally looked back at Jimmy, and Jet couldn't help but smile as he saw her face.
"Now, in you get young man, and wash your hands for dinner."
Jimmy hunched his shoulders and stomped into their apartment, knowing better than to argue with his mother any further. Cathy shut the door behind them both and Jet ten realized that they were gone. He considered for a moment opening the door and crossing the hallway, but reflected that this might not be the best time to do so. Bumping his head against the door he also contemplated the relationship he had with the two the last time he was in town.
Two years ago, after the first supposed death of Black Ghost, a much similar parting of ways had occurred. Trying to acclimate to the modern world, Dr. Gillmore had funded his stay in the city, and so Jet had found himself as a babysitter for the eleven-year-old next door. Jet had met Cathy a few times in the halls and at her job at the cafe below the apartments, so when she came knocking and asked him to watch her son in exchange for a meal he agreed with little reservation. An abysmal cook, that dinner had been the best thing Jet had tasted in a long while. After that first night, Jimmy began frequenting Jet's apartment. The boy was enamored by Jet, following him about and hanging on his stories. He idolized the cyborg like a big brother and Jet indulged him. Cathy was far less pleased with Jet, recognizing that he had neither job nor skill enough to hold one, and was likely living out of someone else's pocket. She never pried, but made her disapproval clear. Jet's own attitude had done little to endear her to him, as he never dissuaded Jimmy from doing as he pleased.
Nearly a year after their first meeting, Cathy nearly lost her life in a building fire. Jimmy, who was hiding out at Jet's place, was alerted to his mother's situation by a kind elderly neighbor from downstairs. Rushing to the scene of the hotel consumed by flames, Jet could not say no when Jimmy begged him to help his mother. Having spent so many months filling this kid's head with stories of hero cyborgs, Jet refused to let him down. The rescue had been successful, but had also exposed Jet to Cathy in the process. His secret out Jet was prepared for Cathy to fear and avoid him, but the headstrong mother protected his secret from the medical responders, and spent the next week cooking for him. When the other had arrived to fix Jet and told him of the reemergence of Black Ghost, Jet almost asked to stay. Instead, he wrote a note for Jimmy and discussed his departure with Cathy after the boy had been put to bed. The last they saw of him was a red and gold streak across the sky, vanishing into clouds.
Jet wandered into the kitchen and turned the sink tap, apprehension at reuniting with Cathy and Jimmy beginning to grow. As the cup filled with water that smelt of iron Jet wondered if he would even be welcome back in their lives. A long chug and deep thought later he decided that the answer was yes, but not now. He set the glass down firmly and pulled the phone and card out of his pocket. A few calls first, and perhaps a gift.