A Common Hero

Common Heroes (Ryu and ACommonHero)

Oh god, why was he here? He tried to contain the tremors in his fingers, but couldn't quite manage it. This was insane. Any of the people here could butcher him, much less the champion. Hell, even the trembling Rat was probably more than his equal. And yet somehow, through all of this, he realized he was grateful that the police never entered the Blight if they could help it. They'd catch onto something like this within a minute, there was no subtlety involved. And somehow, Jack felt grateful.

He took a deep breathe. He needed a plan. There was no way he was taking out the Champion on his own. But as he desperately tried to find a blueprint for a weapon he couldn't seem to form anything usable. Too many expensive components he just didn't have. Carbon weave. A platinum band in the shape of eternity. Something called Unobtanium... Nothing that could be fashioned from rotting wood and broken beer bottles (oh how he wished he could at least take one of those, but that probably wouldn't have worked anyways).

And then the time came. He took a deep breath. He let it out. If he was going to do this, he decided, at least he was going to do it good.

His height seemed to fluctuate by about an inch with each step as he walked through the crowd. The soles of his shoes kept expending out slightly as the pressure of his weight was lifted away, and then compressing at a slow pace as he brought them back down. The damn spring locks were loose again. He'd have to be careful not to put too much force on them or they might release without consulting him first.

"Hey high," he said aloud as he emerged from the crowd and wrapped his arm abound the Rat's shoulders. "Have we met? I could have sworn I knew you somewhere...

"I'm getting you out of this," he whispered to him through grit teeth. "So make it look good, alright?

"Oh, I know! Now I remember, how silly of me. You sister owes me money!"

Suddenly Jack fell of his feet, his arm wrapped firmly around the Rat's shoulder. His other arm came up and elbowed him in the chest in a move he could have sworn he saw on TV once, though for the life him he couldn't quite remember where.

He shook the daze from his eyes, and got to his feet.

"Wait, wait, wait! How could I be so stupid?" he inserted his palm into his face as if coming to a singular bad conclusion. "High school! That's where I know this guy from! I don't even think he has a sister, come to think of it. Now how am I supposed to get my money!"

He seemed to think on it for a moment. In reality he was thinking about how all of this was a really, really bad idea.

"Oh! Wait. I'm at the fights! And I just knocked out the challenger! That means I can probably drop the champ, steal his lunch money, And pay off the Russians! This is a good plan. I like this plan."

He walks up to the ring, and steps up.

"Alright Vin Diesel, I'm calling you out! Come on. You're Superman, I'm the nuclear bomb. Let's go!"

Common Heroes (Ryu and ACommonHero)

Jack collapses off his feet, his back sliding down the front of the newly fixed fridge. The knife clattered down beneath him, and he was just purely lucky it hadn't cut him on the way down. He felt exhausted now that the adrenaline was leaving his system. His breathing was still heavy, though it was recovering quickly. He felt his heartbeat. That was recovering too.

"I can't fucking afford a new lock!" he shouts at the door, though Will is long gone.

The Blueprint his mind kept giving him for the lock required the use of parts he didn't actually have. For some reason it wanted him to "fix" the lock into some kind of optical scanning laser turret. Come to think of it, this kind of thing was probably why.

He looks down at the card. At the address.

"I'd have to be crazy."

But could it really be scarier than walking home at night? At least the fights would be something he's walking into face held high. He'd know this one was going to happen. He could even wear his Jump Boots, give himself an easy out if things went too badly. No weapons though. He didn't manage to make one from the dumpster earlier, and frankly it was better equipped than his apartment...

"I can't even believe I'm considering this!"

He looks down at his cellphone. The card. The cellphone.

He dials the number on the card.

"I'm in," he says as soon as Will picks up.

Common Heroes (Ryu and ACommonHero)

Jack is breathing heavily, and sweat trickles down his brow. What the hell just happened? What did he do? What did this crazy bastard do? He looks down at his hands, still clinging to the reporter's wrist. If he really was a reporter. Really, crazy person was more likely. Jack shoves the crazy-reporter-man away and reaches down to grab the knife off the floor. He holds it forward with two shaky hands.

"G-Get out..." he barely manages to choke out through his chaotic breathe. "Get out!"

One of his hands comes off the knife and he reaches towards his pocket for his cellphone. He had to call the police. He had to get help. What if this man has another knife? Or a gun? Would he have used a gun the first time? Was this for fun? Jesus, how had he just disarmed that man anyway? How is he now the one holding the knife?!

He was through dialing nine and one before he remembered that the police don't respond to calls in the Blight.

"Shit shit shit...!"

Common Heroes (Ryu and ACommonHero)

"...Are you insane?" Jack asks with a frown, but only a frown. He doesn't raise the volume of his voice, though he doesn't at all hide his disbelief in his tone. "You want Mr. Trash-Can-Lid to fighting in some street fighting tournament like I'm fucking Ryu? What the hell is the survival rate for newbies in this kind of thing anyways?" He as actually starting to sweat a little, and finally popped open that warm beer. He slumps down into one of the kitchen chairs and takes a long drink.

"Alright, alright, spill. You wouldn't be betting anything on this if you weren't rigging it in some way. What is it?"

Common Heroes (Ryu and ACommonHero)

As he looks, Jack places the back panel back into place, and twists the screws in finger tight. There is an odd, acrid smoke seeping out from the back vents, as if someone were burning crude oil within. He suddenly looks up towards the curious writer, and says, "You didn't see nothing."

Jack gets up, and moves back to the front. He opens the door. "Cooler already," he nods with a pleased grin before replacing the fridge within its little alcove. Only as he removes a rag from his back pocket and wipes his hands clean of the remains does he acknowledge the point. "Money for a one time gig huh? Yeah, I could use something like that. But I wonder what kind of job a reporter could need a mechanic for?"

Common Heroes (Ryu and ACommonHero)

"Says the man who can't even remember if he was the one who wrote a story about some dead kid."

Archer takes the gum and moves to the sink. Thankfully the water wasn't disconnected yet, he'd have to remember to pay that bill sooner rather than later. He takes the entire pack and runs it under the water all at once until the gum is nice and soft. Then he squishes it all into a ball, and takes a few wires out of the back of his fridge. He starts electrocuting the mess of weird goo a couple of times, though that's probably not exactly a safe thing to do with a soaking wet object you're holding in your bare hands. And all the while he keeps talking.

"You know, I think it's because I live in this shit hole that I relaxed around you so fast. When I saw the door open I was expecting some blood soaked maniac with an ax to be waiting for me. So when I didn't see that I was immediately relieved, then I switched gears. Was it too premature, Mr. William? Are you actually here to kill me?"

By now the gum has developed into some strange black tar. The rest can't be seen as Jack ducks behind the fridge and starts messing around with the innards of the beast.

Common Heroes (Ryu and ACommonHero)

"You kidding? Where I grew up there were no strangers. Everyone knew everybody. Or at least they knew, 'Hey you're bobby's friend right? A friend of Bobby is a friend of mine!' Ain't no strangers in Hicksville."

Since the "stranger" wasn't going to sit down, Jack decided not to either. He put the beer down, and started pulling out the fridge. His nerves were slowly settling, and his mind was clearing up. it would be easier to gain inspiration like this. Maybe he'd be able to fix this thing. He focused on the goal, "Fix the damn fridge," and a blueprint materialized in his mind almost instantly. The first few times he'd wondered where the ideas came from. Clearly weren't his, but they were easy blueprints to read and by this point in time he didn't really care anymore.

"Joey right? Name's Jack Archer, but you already knew that. You got any gum? Or some thermite. Gum would work better."

Common Heroes (Ryu and ACommonHero)

Oh god. Oh god, it was just a mechanic. Just one of the ones from one of the places he'd applied for. He wasn't going to murder him with an axe Well, probably.

"Yo," he replied, letting out a sigh of relief. He casually tossed the trash can lid over his shoulder, where it landed in who cares where down below. He thought he might have heard a screeching cat, but knowing this place even the cats deserved to get dinged by a piece of flying metal. Actually, just knowing cats in general...

He went over to his fridge, and tried to grab a couple beers. Failed. There was only one beer. Also the fridge was warm. He'd have to look at that later. He offered the bottle of warm beer to his surprise guest, completely ignoring that he (Jack) currently smelled like garbage.

"Here, want a drink? We country boys have hospitality to consider you know?"

Common Heroes (Ryu and ACommonHero)

This city. What a rotten place to live.

He couldn't exactly complain, he could be worse off he supposed, but the last couple months hadn't given him much reason to smile either. Growing up in the middle of nowhere like he had, he'd always assumed coming to the city was just what you did to get ahead in life. That somehow packing a million men together into a sardine can like this would magically result in a better life. Instead the people of this city were anonymous and hungry. he was just one face among many, and the tall buildings and crumbling brick walls were gathering to crush him. That was how his life had felt lately. But then it wasn't just him. On the way home he passed several homeless men, and he tried to remember that it really could be worse. Not that they were innocent, not every man hiding in the shadows was a victim. The smell of stale urine permeated the alleys, and the bricks hadn't always been the same shade of red. It could be worse.

It just got worse.

"...What?"

His mind immediately went into overdrive at the sight of the broken door. He held no illusions about the poor neighborhood he lived in. It could just be the busted locks he inherited from the last resident. Then again, he wouldn't exactly be able to track down the previous tenant to complain. Not unless he wanted to visit the local cemetery. The locks were always broken. But the door wouldn't just swing open on its own. Were they still in there? Or had they just not bothered to lock up as they left? But the lights were on, and despite the silence Jack just couldn't imagine that everything would be settled so neatly.

And who the hell breaks into a house in the BLIGHT?! There's nothing to steal in this shit hole!

He froze. His legs wouldn't carry him.

Who the hell breaks into a house in the Blight? Plenty of people. People who know the locks are already broken. People who aren't looking for valuables to steal. People who are looking for something else. Something he was just delivering to them.

Could he build something to salvage the situation? His boots were in the apartment. Oh don't look at me like that! Why would Jack ever carry those things with him? They were just sentimental pieces of junk. Sometimes the springs fall loose and go off on a hair trigger, and what good would that do him? But they did him no good in there. Could he build something? Was there something in the alleys he could use? In the dumpster maybe. But the noise. Building this was usually loud. Bending metal, twisting chemicals into strange powders. Would there be chemicals in a dumpster? Maybe the vestiges of some cleaning solution. Right. A cleaning solution in the fucking Blight. If anyone cleans their homes that thoroughly around here. The Bleach would probably be worth more than their carpets.

He was breathing heavily. Almost hyperventilating.

He leaped for the trash can by the front entrance to his building. His apartment was on the second floor, but he didn't have to go up there yet. He didn't care that the lid made a horrible clanging racket as he tossed it aside. He didn't care that the waste smelled like it had been ripening for several days. A weapon. Some kind of weapon. A few cans of food with the labels removed, bulging from age. Whatever was inside was decomposing. Would this work if he had a source of fire? But no, the spark wasn't there. He couldn't think straight when he was panicking like this, and he knew he couldn't get inspiration like this and it just wouldn't work.

Calm down. He had to calm down. He didn't need to Build something. he could take the trash can lid, and use it as a shield. They're probably only armed with knives right?

He tried to control his breathing, and met with some success. Calm down, Archer. His breathing was under control.

He took a few shaky steps up the stairs. He was at the door before he knew it, the distance passing in a fugue. He gulped, and pried at the loose planks, peering inside.

Common Heroes (Ryu and ACommonHero)

Name: Jack Archer

Age: 21

Power: “Mad Science,” the power to build things even when you really shouldn’t be able to. Takes at least twenty minutes, and often longer, to build anything using his powers.

Weapon: Jump Boots- A pair of boots Jack built in high school which let him jump extremely large heights via a self-loading spring mechanism. He brought these with him mostly for their sentimental value, as they’re the first invention he ever made with his “insight.”

Appearance: He is characterized by a wild mane of red hair which he keeps slicked back with a hair tie when engaged in important work. Short and a little pudgy, Jack isn’t much of an athlete. His tan skin distinctly lacks freckles.

Personality: Jack is an easygoing guy for the most part. He tries to get along with people and roll with the punches. However, he doesn’t always react well to high stress situations and can get into an angry kind of panic if up against something urgent without a plan.

Outlook: Jack has moved to the city to start his own business, and to get away from town after a bad breakup (“Don’t ask”). He sees the move as a way to start over.

Bio: A car mechanic from a small town, Jack runs his business in a rather unorthodox manner. Using his powers he can offer extremely cheap maintenance/repair, or more pricey customizations for those looking to get something unique on or off the road. Wen maintaining or repairing a vehicle the car usually ends up looking the same as it came in, but on the inside strange modifications are the norm.

See, Jack knows nothing about engines. And very little about gearboxes.

The modifications used in Jack’s line of work cause the car to run the way it’s supposed to (by utilizing a construct built on the idea of “fixing this vehicle”), but the means of doing so often becomes incomprehensible. Engines “just work” when he builds them, but no one is quite sure where the gas goes. But so long as no one looks too closely, there’s nothing to notice.

Except of course for the downright weird custom jobs he’s done for certain customers in the past. These are usually flashy and obvious, to the point of maybe not even being street legal. But then that’s what they ask for.

Jack’s gotten away with this back in his hometown because he was part of a family business who mostly covered for him, and were the only mechanics in town anyway. So there wasn’t a second opinion most of the time to say he did things wrong. Unfortunately he’s been having trouble finding work because of this now that he’s moved to the city. Still he’s optimistic about his chances, and one day hopes to open his own shop where he’ll be free to do things his way.