I: Heirloom

Joel hums and taps his foot along with the song filling his garage. Heaven Must Have Sent You, The Elgins. He will never not know what this song is; it was his mother's favorite. It takes him back to Saturday mornings when she would be busy baking cakes for some of her friends at church while he and his little brother watched, eating cereal for breakfast.

He smiles a little as he meticulously twists the shock coils together. Those were the good days. He and Arty would watch cartoons then play outside until it gets dark. The world had never been absolutely safe, at least for families like them, but it was a bit better.

Now, everything has just gone to the dumps.

Still, memories of this song, of his mother and brother, and of his affectionate father give him some hope. It motivates him to be better in his work, too.

Thoughts of his kid suddenly drift into his mind, and he can't help but chuckle. If it was all up to him, he wouldn't be staying up this late, pulling all stops to ensure safety. He had always been more like his Uncle Pete: he was a man of action – act now, adapt later.

Planning ahead really isn't like him. However, if he thinks about it in the perspective of his child, he can admit that the mission he's about to embark on is dangerous enough to warrant precautionary measures.

He grins, clicking the black hilt back in its place. His boy. He's just so smart. If his Nana was alive, he thinks she would love him. His kid was definitely a man of action like him, but he was also born with a heart of gold like his grandmother.

It makes the kid just a tad bit too optimistic about the world, in his opinion – but he would eventually outgrow that.

The boy's intelligent, too. He would like to think he got that from him; before all of this, he was an electrical engineer. But, he allows that his ex-girlfriend contributed much to that intelligence gene, too.

She's a smart a woman. That's why he fell in love with her after just one conversation. Nothing was ever boring whenever she's talking.

Well, she was a smart woman. He doesn't know what's gotten into her marrying that idiot.

He pins a clamp on each the four outlets of the suit as the song changes. He slips on his gloves, puts his safety goggle back on, then rolls his chair back a considerable distance. When he reaches the control panel, he turns the key and presses the on button.

Then he cranks the lever on High.

The lights in the house flicker violently. The panel shoots off some sparks in angry protest, and he hears the circuitry crackle.

The power finally blows out—but only for a few seconds. When everything comes back on, he sees that his modifications worked.

He laughs, his baritone voice filling the eerily silent garage. "Let's see them stop me now," he says to himself as he counts down the hours to the next phase of his plan.