Connections 2
Part 1: And Now Yet Again Still Even More Fragments: Chapter 44
Jimmy was rudely jostled aside by a man in an expensive suit who muttered about vagrants under his breath before he stepped up to the counter and placed his order.
Jimmy's anger seemed to explode out of him and the man's hair suddenly turned blue. He quickly turned and left the donut shop before anyone noticed and commented. This was the third time this had happened and while Jimmy wasn't upset about having powers, the ability to turn people's hair blue was distinctly underwhelming, especially as it seemed to be somewhat random unlike what he'd heard about most parahuman abilities.
Of course he hadn't intentionally tried to use it yet, the first time it had happened he'd thought it was just a coincidence that he'd been trying to kill someone with his mind when it had occurred because he'd never heard of a parahuman with a power that weak, it was only during the second time that he'd accepted it was him doing it.
"Lamest power ever," Jimmy muttered as he moved down the block to find another donut place to eat at.
It'd been two weeks since he'd rolled the thugs in the alley with Shadow Stalker and between that and his usual panhandling, he'd been able to avoid eating out of dumpsters, but dealing with the fine upstanding citizens of Brockton Bay was really making him wonder if that was a wise decision.
'Dealing with spoiled food is better than dealing with spoiled people', he thought to himself, before his stomach grumbled its dissent and he entered another shop. It was a small place with an old woman behind the counter who eyed him suspiciously as he entered. She had three customers, none of which were under fifty.
"A dozen plain," Jimmy said as he stepped up to the register.
"Sure you can afford it?" she gestured to the board.
"I can handle four dollars," Jimmy replied, pulling a five dollar bill out of his pocket.
"How about two dozen assorted day old for five?" she offered.
"No tax?" he asked, not wanting to pull out the rest of his cash, which he kept in an inside pocket so if anyone mugged him they'd just get the five.
"No tax," she assured him and received a nod in return as he handed her the money. She pocketed the money and vanished into the back room returning a minute later with a large brown bag. "I usually have 'day olds' on Tuesdays and Thursdays."
"I'll try to stop by," Jimmy said, pleased with the deal. He turned and left, deciding to eat at the tug. He could relax and catch up on his reading, plus his clothes could use a good wash and so could he.
Jimmy carefully skirted gang territory, keeping to the main streets, until he could reach the boardwalk. It was a pricey tourist area and had private security that would run off vagrants with special encouragement applied to those that resisted via their nightclubs.
One of the enforcers casually headed towards him as Jimmy walked along the railing above the beach. "Just passing through, sir," Jimmy quickly said, "not planning on causing any trouble or hanging around."
"What's in the bag?" the large well built black man asked, with a voice that was remarkably similar to James Earl Jones.
"Donuts, day old," Jimmy said, opening the bag so he could see.
The man nodded. "On your way, don't dawdle."
"Yes, sir," Jimmy said, closing the bag and continuing on.
A lot of people disliked the enforcers and some of them were complete pricks, but Jimmy really couldn't find fault with them in general. They served a purpose, making sure the tourist areas remained profitable by keeping out those that would interfere in that goal.
The city had little enough honest work available and tourist dollars kept a number of people employed, so Jimmy understood and did his best to keep out of the way. The boardwalk was filled with overpriced ritzy stores, so it was remarkably easy for him to do.
He let out a sigh of relief as he passed beyond the edge of the boardwalk, relaxing as some of the tension left him. Running into the wrong enforcer could leave you with more than just bruises and there was always the chance they could get the authorities involved.
Keeping an ear out for any strange noises that indicated a cape testing something Jimmy made his way to his tug.
He scarfed down a donut, jelly filled, the moment he locked the door behind himself. Setting the bag on the captain's chair he went to wash up, now that he was paying attention to it, he realized he was more than a bit whiffy.
A good thirty minutes later Jimmy was relaxing in the chair as his clothes dried catching up on his reading. He'd just opened a bottle and taken one of the pills inside when a voice said, "I thought you weren't a druggy."
Jimmy almost choked and had to take a quick drink of water to clear his windpipe. He glared at the hockey masked girl and tossed the bottle of pills to her.
"Multivitamins?" Shadow Stalker asked, surprised.
"I don't exactly have a balanced diet," Jimmy reminded her, catching the bottle of pills as she tossed it back to him.
"I can see why you'd take multivitamins," she admitted. "I've stopped by a couple of times in the last couple of weeks and haven't seen you."
"I don't live here, too dangerous," Jimmy replied, "I only come here to relax and wash up."
"I can see that," she says, forcing her eyes to stay on his.
"Why have you been looking for me?" he asked tossing his magazine on the console.
She leaned back against the wall. "It's not often I find someone who's not like the sheep."
"Sheeple," Jimmy replied with a nod, the word coming to his mind unbidden. "Yeah, most people are like that, easily lead and only dangerous in large numbers."
"I have a hard time seeing sheep as anything to fear," she replied.
"Herd animals are easily spooked, but a herd of prey animals will stomp a lion to death if they're not cautious. Beware stupid people in large groups, you may be able to take out half a dozen, but you'll still get stomped," Jimmy said. "I avoid them for the most part."
"There are people who aren't sheep mixed in," she pointed out, "hard to find and you have to test them, but they're there."
"I know," Jimmy admitted, "I just find it easier to live like this than to deal with the sheep. Besides, the last thing I want is to end up in the system and be forced to spend all my time surrounded by a bunch of dumbasses. In a couple of years I'll be legal, then I can do what I want."
"Figured you had no family," Shadow Stalker said bluntly, "but the system ain't that bad."
"For you maybe," Jimmy said with a sigh, "but me? Faced with stupidity I can't let it slide, so I get in trouble and having shit on my record would complicate things when I'm an adult. Nah, better to lay low until I can legally handle my own life and make enough money to get a cabin in the mountains somewhere."
"Sounds kinda lonely," Shadow Stalker said, shoulders slumping for a moment before she straightened up and pretended she hadn't said that. "I meant dull," she corrected herself.
"I'm not adverse to taking a few people who aren't assholes with me," Jimmy said.
"You fought pretty well for not being a cape," Shadow Stalker said, changing the subject.
"I beat a couple of idiots with a massive dildo," Jimmy deadpanned making her laugh, "it's not like they were well trained or anything."
"You got any training?" she asked curiously.
"I've picked up some things on the street," he replied, "nothing major."
"You may not be a cape, but it's not like they check," Shadow Stalker pointed out. "Put on a mask, take out some thugs, make some money. Why sleep in a dumpster when you can live comfortably in an abandoned property with the right bribes?"
Jimmy looked at her not quite sure what she was getting at.
"There's properties that aren't legal to rent, but the caretakers are willing to overlook squatting for a little cash. Rolling gang members even just once a week is enough to afford some decent digs."
Jimmy frowned in thought. A safe place to sleep and some decent food and clothes was worth a lot, just not enough to deal with the system. Was it worth beating up some brainless thugs once a week? He slowly nodded. He'd get jumped at least twice a month on average as it was, being able to choose the place and time did make it safer.
"I hadn't considered running around in a costume before, but I like your idea," he admitted. "What do you have planned?"
"No hard plans, just thought that when I had the right target I could use a little backup," Shadow Stalker explained.
"I can probably handle that," Jimmy agreed, "simple ambushes and the like, not storming entrenched positions."
"If I'm hitting a stash house I'd just need help distracting them while I ghost in and rob the place," Shadow Stalker said, "I'm not stupid enough to hit them head on."
"I can work with that," Jimmy said.
"How can I find you when I need you?" she asked.
"I'll hang out here a bit more," Jimmy offered, leaning back in his chair, "catch up on my reading."
"Yeah, probably a good idea," she said, a smirk in her voice as she gave him an obvious once over and phased backwards through the wall.
Jimmy sighed as he realized he'd been naked the entire time. He glanced down and shook his head. "fucking hormones."
Four days later
One good thing about spending more time at the tug was it was easier to clean up, Jimmy thought as he relaxed and worked on some math problems from a battered textbook he'd gotten from a school dumpster.
"Somehow I knew you'd be naked," Shadow Stalker said, "though doing schoolwork is new."
Jimmy snickered. "I wouldn't be surprised to find that part of your power is surprising people while naked, but since this is where I come to wash up and do laundry..."
"Yeah, I can see that," she agreed, "along with everything else." Shadow Stalker unlocked the door and opened it, sticking her head out. "Come on in, Emma."
"I really should get some more clothes," Jimmy decided as the red-haired girl he met two weeks ago entered the wheel room and blushed nearly as red as her hair, but did not, he noted, turn away.
"Hi, it's good to see you," Emma offered.
Shadow Stalker laughed and locked the door once more. "Why don't you have more clothes anyway?"
"And why do you smell like my shampoo?" Emma blurted out.
"Things get stolen or destroyed by assholes," Jimmy explained, deciding his clothes were still too wet to put on and the pair had already seen everything he had, so he might as well not bother, "and I use coconut dream shampoo to wash my clothes. I like the smell and it's a pretty effective detergent."
Shadow Stalker pulled back her hood and took off her mask, revealing an attractive black girl. "Sophia," she introduced herself.
"Jimmy," he said offering a hand.
Sophia grabbed his hand and bore down on it, but he only smiled. "Got some strength to you," she said with approval.
"Are you a cape?" Emma asked eagerly, while she tried and failed to subtly look him over, noting the scar on his forehead and on his right arm halfway between the elbow and shoulder.
"If I am, I have the weakest powers ever," he replied. "I jumped those guys because I have a mental problem, not because I'm a cape. If I know someone's in trouble, I can't not help them," he explained.
Sophia laughed. "Most people wouldn't consider that a mental problem."
"It's heroic," Emma said licking her lips and moving closer to him.
"It's a pain in my ass at times," Jimmy said with a sigh. "I've jumped into situations without thinking about it where it would have been better to let people work it out among themselves. I've gotten better about it, but it is what it is."
"If not for you two I don't even want to think about what would have happened to me," Emma said moving to his side. "Math problems?" she asked surprised.
"When I turn eighteen, I'm going to take the GED," he explained, "hard to get a decent job without one, so I study in my spare time, of which I have a lot."
"Sounds like a lot of work for a useless piece of paper," Sophia said with a frown.
"You're looking at it the wrong way," Jimmy said. "Anything you can't do yourself you are forced to rely on someone else to do for you. You are conceding power over your own life to someone else and trusting them to take care of that aspect."
"Seriously?" Sophia asked looking a little doubtful.
Realizing he had the girls' attention he explained, "If you can not cook for yourself, you are dependent on others to cook for you. If you can not protect yourself, you are relying on others to protect you. Every single task you can not perform you must have others perform for you. If you want to be independent, be your own person, you have to be able to rely on yourself."
"There aren't enough hours in the day to learn everything," Sophia said shaking her head.
Jimmy nodded. "True, but the more you know the more control over your own life you have and you don't need to be an expert to make sure someone you've hired is doing their job, you just have to be competent. You've heard about how celebrities were screwed over in contracts and lottery winners have gone broke."
"And?" Emma asked eagerly.
"And ignorance was their downfall," Jimmy explained. "They should have been on top of the world with their futures set, but because they couldn't understand contracts or do basic finance, they lost it all. The more you know the more power you have over your own life."
Jimmy suddenly found his seat a bit crowded as Sophia had squeezed in next to him and Emma was sitting on his lap.
"What are we learning today?" Sophia demanded.
"Didn't you two come here for some other reason?" Jimmy asked, trying not to focus on how good it felt to be squeezed in between them.
"Going to have Emma play spotter while you arrange a distraction, maybe jump a guy, but probably just set off some car alarms, while I do a snatch and grab with a little arson tossed in for flavor at an Empire stash house," Sophia explained. "Now make with the teaching. What are we learning?"
"Basic algebraic equations," Jimmy replied, deciding just to roll with it and wondering where his little speech had come from.
Typing by: fyrewolf5
TN: Now if only the source material was this good without being depressing and full of terrible things happening to people over and over.
