11-13-2017, 03:21 PM
Quote:After returning from: Going Down...
Knock, knock. “Mr. Stein? It’s Sunny.” The bright and cheery voice of the young twin could not fully pierce the veil of gloom that shrouded the hero. He was grumpy, but he knew it was not Sunny’s fault. Hauling himself over to the door, he unlocked and opened it for the young youtuber. “Hey! So I saw you leave early, did you go out for another Herotime video?”
“I did,” he said with little emotion. If anything, it sounded gruff.
Sunny picked up on the sour mood. “Didn’t go to plan?” Stein gave Sunny a look. He wanted to be snappy, but he knew the boy didn’t deserve it. If anything, this might be the consolation he needed. Instead, he nodded towards the coffee table where the laptop sat. Knowing almost instantly what Stein wanted, Sunny ran over and plopped on the couch. He hit the play button for the video already on the screen.
Not even a minute in, his eyes widened with horror. “I… I see…” The wails coming from the little speakers drilled into Stein’s ears, driving him to an edge he did not want to be at. “This um… this one shouldn’t be posted… You’d be flagged for excessive gore.”
Stein’s mouth opened, he wanted to snap at Sunny. Instead, it closed and for a brief moment he considered the situation. “That’s… logical…”
“Secondly… you didn’t do this. I saw the way you dodged, it was self-preservation. I mean, I donno HOW you knew, but if you didn’t I don’t know if even you could have walked away from that Mr. Stein… That guy… He has some major power.”
“You mean the gun?”
“Sort of… It looks like he was really strong for that gun to be so powerful…” That’s not how things work… He was confused, and it seemed to show on his face. Sunny shrugged. “A weapon is only as strong as its user.”
That was odd. Maybe something to do with the way physics worked in this world? Some sort of quantum exchange? Maybe… Nope. Don’t care. Not the time to worry about that… “So what you’re saying is, that guy is pretty strong even without the gun?” Sunny nodded. Kind of like that brawler on Tier 1. “Maybe I should try to find him… He didn’t seem to be a hardened criminal, maybe… maybe I could convince him to fight for the good guys?”
“You think he’d join the Empire?”
“Maybe… I mean he might just be looking for a means of survival… and that’s the only life he knows.” He knew plenty of those people. He thought for a moment of Ursula. They were just misguided. It took only a helping hand. Had he not interrupted Ursela long ago, the poor woman would have been sushi by Saitama’s one punch. “I should go find him… Pay my respects.”
“Be careful… He’s probably going to slug you real good, even without the gun.” Been there, done that. “I’m guessing I can’t come, can I?”
Stein shook his head. He ruffles Sunny’s hair before standing from the couch and walking back to the door. “Go home. Pretend you didn’t see this… I’d rather not have this leak out. Not so much for my sake, but… I’d hate to ruin that dude’s chances before I can even open the door for him.” It was my fault, after all. “Go home,” he repeated. “I’ll be back in a couple hours.”
“Oh!” Sunny popped up from the couch. “Mom says you should come over for dinner! I’ll tell her you’ll be a little late, we’re having tacos!”
Really? Tacos? … “Damnit kid, you’re making it hard to mope. Go home, tell her I’ll be back around seven-ish.” Sunny nodded and dashed for the door. Stein locked it behind him and pulled it closed.
“Oh!” Another surprise? “Malissa was looking for you too, she said she wanted to talk about the party last night. Wish I coulda been there, it sounded awesome!” Oh boy… “I’ll tell her you’ll see her in the morning, alright?”
“Perfect,” not perfect. This might get awkward.