Short Story by Wade Flemming

"Hi, my name is... is... is... you know what? I'm too lazy to do intros, so I'll just let the narration do it for me." Aaron is a "normal" 15 year old boy who likes to take risks and live life to the fullest extent. Things are going "normally" and the way they are supposed to in a sunny Tampa, Florida. He goes out everyday and tries to do something new. On boring lifeless days like Mondays, he gets wiiillld lazy and doesn't do anything but watch television and do his dragging homework, since he can both enjoy and suffer in his day. Aaron does everything without fear of Karma breathing down his neck, at least after his adventure that we are about to embark on with Aaron. He has everything going his way and has a very wanted lifestyle by many others, in a present point in time. He does not care what anybody thinks or expects from him, but he knows his place and knows what he can change for the better, when, where and how to change it to whomever needs it. He is one of the nicest people on the face of the planet (Earth that is). He does everything to make the world a better place without a care for himself... most of the time. He encounters weird things and occasionally people, but that's just the way things operate in his day. He loves everyone and everything, but the fact that some new people moved into the neighborhood. These "suspicious" people live five houses down from his and always go out late at night, like at midnight and always come back with a suspicious bag, body-like too! Aaron decides to tell his best friend, Travis about the new guys on Wednesday, and was going on a stakeout next Tuesday after their last day of school. "You are out of your mind! Why would you want to do that," Travis screamed. The whole entire lunchroom looked in confusion with awkward silence covering the room like a soft, warm blanket. "I told you, I've been following their schedule and I know that they leave their house with a body-bag every Tuesday at 2:00 sharp, no later than that," Aaron whispered. " That is nutty Aaron, even for you," Travis exclaimed in a heavy whisper. "Well what is a life without risks, huh?!? What would you do if you could tell everyone that you busted a bunch of perps operation to probably kill a man. You'll be a hero! The whole school would look at you in a different light! Imagine it Travis, you, one of the smartest people in the school, ruling with an iron fis... you know what, forget the iron fist your more worthy of another distinction... just let me think about a great, nerdy description that fits you." "DUDE, I'm NOT A NERD! Just really, really smart," Travis screamed into a whisper while pouting. "Calm down, I'm kidding, your cool. So are you in or are you in?" "Not like I really have a choice, bro. Fiiiine. I'm in," says Travis. The next Tuesday after a tremendous year as a sophomore at James Gatz High School (like my reference to Gatsby, huh? I know you do.), Aaron sneaks into the weirdos' house with Travis and tries to take some pictures of things that would look out of the ordinary or "extraordinary"... I mean like some real E.T. type stuff. Aaron eventually comes across a picture of his father circled in red marker. Aaron's heart rate increases ten fold, worrying about the horrors these people could do to Aaron's family. Travis feels something approaching him, but it was just the wind through the open window that they entered in. Travis starts to panic and starts breathing like a broken air conditioner, just freaking annoying as hell. "Shut up! Do you want to attract attention," Aaron barked. Aaron jumped over the couch and did a somersault over a foot stool. Although Aaron is a very active person, he is also very clumsy. After the somersault, Aaron trips over a chew toy that has been ripped to shreds. Don't take Travis lightly either. Although he is very smart, he, unfortunately, is prone to accidents. His clumsiness is like his I.Q, very high, a 121 to be exact. On a scale of 1 to 50 Travis' clumsiness is at an exact 121. Aaron is almost as equally as smart as Travis. His I.Q is at a 120, but is no different to Travis as he is a wreck waiting to happen at any given place or time. While taking pictures, Aaron is petrified to know that his dad is being targeted by thugs, and tries to run out the door to warn his father, but runs into a guard dog. The dog looks very pissed off at them and looks for Aaron and Travis to piss their pants from fear, ironically right after the dog takes his piss by a weak tree outside. The dog starts chasing them and chasing them until Karma bites their rear end them like a little bit... you get the picture. The weirdos come home and hear their beast barking. Aaron doesn't know what he did to upset Karma, but knows that if he goes down, Travis goes down with him. "Dawg! We... are... going... to DIE!!!!!!" Travis screams at Aaron in terror. "Bro, bro, bro. There's a way out," Aaron says ecstatically. " The fence!" "Ummmmmmm.... I don't do fences. Remember the last time we tried climbing over a fence, Aaron? I still have the scar!" "Let's just go," Aaron screams. Aaron throws a stick at the dog and jumps over the fence. When Aaron and Travis escape over the fence after being cornered by the dog-bear, they barely get seen by the apparent thugs. They escape successfully, sort of, and cover their tracks, sort of. When in their safe haven, their tree house, Aaron and Travis figure out that the thugs are a part of an organization of thugs called The Weirdoz. Ironic isn't it?!?! Travis starts to panic like a chihuahua when he reflects over the situation that they got into and examines every possible effect of the problem that he thinks they started. "We're dead... we're dead, we're dead, we're dead... WE... ARE... DEAD," shouts Travis. " Calm down, okay? I think I have a plan, but it's going to take a little time to figure out the rest of the specified details," says Aaron. They decide then to go back into Aaron's house and try to analyze intel retrieved from their little breaking and entering mission. When they were at the "stakeout" house, Aaron picked up a cell phone and a letter. " There's a letter from a guy named the Immortal addressed to their house. I think it's the leader of this charade. I need more Intel on this mysterious guy who is targeting my dad," Aaron whispers to Travis. Aaron finds out the last whereabouts of The Immortal and finds out that he is targeting his dad because of something that his dad stole from him, something of importance... like it is more important than your mother... okay, maybe not more important than your mother, but it is important. Aaron, eventually finds out in the next two days that his father was a secret agent named, The MidnightAvenger. The Midnight Avenger was a part of an organization called the Valiant League of Agents (V.L.A). After a few years of fighting crime alongside and for the V.L.A, Aaron's father decides to go undercover and lay low for a while and take a very long deserved break with his family, but doesn't realize that he is still being Animal Planet hunted by the Immortal. In a climactic battle, the Immortal loses a Brazilian Emerald called the Emerald of, what else..., Immortality. See how the name matches the villain, huh? Anyways, ever since the Midnight Avenger won that battle, he has been in hiding from the Immortal to ensure that he does not get the Emerald back. Aaron and Travis are stunned by his father's legacy and ecstatic of the colossal fact that Aaron's father is sort of super hero-esque. While in amazement, Aaron sees his father, mother and sister pull up in the driveway from his day job as a pharmacist or his "decoy job" as Travis calls it. Aaron and Travis try to hide, but they trip into an old wall behind a bookcase which is behind another bookcase. Kinda weird. Aaron and Travis have stumbled upon the lair of the Midnight Avenger! Aaron and Travis stand in amazement as they investigate the lair. Aaron finds more truth about his father, including the stunning revelation that his dad was a fill-in for a ballerina in a recital, and decides to protect his father from the Immortal by picking up his dad's legacy and being the junior Midnight Avenger. After two hours of trying to find another exit from the lair, Aaron spies on the Weirdoz. After gaining info like his super spy dad, Aaron decides to follow the black van that the small time thugs owned on the following night, and of course, he drags Travis with him. As in all stories, you know that he lies to his parents and say that he is going to his friend's house for a couple of days for a sleep over because it's the beginning of Summer and the fun must start. As you know, Aaron is smart, but dumb so you guys know that business is about to pick up at the U.S. Postal service. When Aaron and Travis reach their destination off the coast of Key West, they try to do some undercover recon in an abandoned factory in which case they are not good at because of their clumsiness. Aaron surprisingly picks up traits from his dad very quickly and goes into a Midnight Avenger mind switch where he automatically gets reflexes and skills like his dad which make him a Midnight Avenger master, again sort of. "TRAVIS! I have got the moves! I got the reflexes! Just don't attract attention kid," Aaron says. Travis, on the other hand, trips and falls on top of a thug from a moving platform overhead. With the thugs on high alert, they capture Travis and lock him up in an underground chamber... dungeon... whatever you want to call it, just know that he is incarcerated." Heeeeellllllppppp! HELP ME! Aaron!!!!! I have to pee." A thug comes down the stairs and tosses Travis a doggy bowl. " Yeah, very funny! Thank you. Imbecile." The thug comes back. "What did you you say kid," the thug demands. "Nothing!" With no experience whatsoever, Aaron can only watch as the thugs take Travis away and lock him up. He knows that he would fall into a trap if he attempted a rescue so he went further into his recon. Eventually, Aaron, or Midnight Avenger jr., finds the proper Intel he needs and knows the whole plan behind the Immortal's domination and what the Weirdoz plan on doing to his family. Upon escape, Aaron remembers that his friend, Travis is locked up. Aaron has a big decision to make on whether or not to save his best friend or his family. With careful consideration, Aaron decides that Travis is family and goes back to save him. With Aaron's new found confidence, he tries to fight off some thugs, but a 15 year old can't fight the world alone, so he gets captured as well. Aaron and Travis although locked up in a cage, somehow find a way to get Aaron's dad on cell phone due to Travis' quick thinking. When Aaron and Travis tell Tom (Aaron's dad) the story, Tom immediately suits up and continues his job as the Midnight Avenger. When Tom gets the coordinates, he quickly springs into action and takes his spy helicopter to the closed and eerie location. Upon Tom's arrival, he is attacked by thugs and shows Aaron how to truly fight like a Midnight Avenger. When Tom fights off the evil-doers (cliche I know), he frees his son and his best friend from imprisonment. All under surveillance, the Immortal gets enraged and flies to the base. Upon arrival, the Immortal closes all exits just when Tom, Aaron, and Travis were about to make their departure. As enraged as anyone else could be, the Immortal jumps off of a balcony on to the original Midnight Avenger and resumes the epic confrontation that they once had. With the Immortal gaining the upper hand, Aaron and Travis call for other agents in the V.L.A. When the Immortal spots them calling for help, he takes them hostage in his helicopter and makes a proposal to Tom, Aaron and Travis for the Emerald of Immortality. Tom gets anxious because the two are dangling and choking from 100 feet in the air over an industrial load of toxic liquids and knows that he doesn't have the emerald. "Dad! Help!" "Mr. Anderson!" The two scream as they dangle 100 feet in the air. With the boys in mortal danger, there is one twist in the story. No one knows where the emerald is, but Aaron because he is the one who has it. With the Immortal unaware of the emerald in Aaron's pocket, he drops them both into the toxic waste. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" However in mid-fall, Aaron figures out the secret to the emerald's power and starts flying with Travis. Obviously they don't know how to fly so they crash into everything in sight, including the Immortal's helicopter making it crash to the ground. When Aaron and Travis fall to the ground, the Immortal catches the emerald and gains immediate super-natural power. He starts destroying the whole place and everyone in it, including the remaining thugs. TheMidnight Avenger holds his own, gets a grip and starts to embrace his roots of being a secret agent and starts to fight the Immortal, although he is way too powerful to fight on regular human circumstances. After smacking the Immortal around a little bit, he tries to snag the emerald, but is blocked by the same two thugs that live in his neighborhood. Tom starts to get beat on, so Aaron and Travis wake up and start to fight off the Immortal themselves. When Tom beats the two thugs, he tries to come to his son's aid, but is blasted away by a green laser. Aaron realizes that all of the thugs are beginning to wake up. He starts to get anxious and afraid. When the Immortal commands all of the thugs to attack the three, the agents of the V.L.A come crashing through the abandoned warehouse. With the score set even and the pondering of Aaron's mind of why the agents took so long, the real fight begins with the MidnightAvenger and the Immortal at the center of the war. Everywhere was pure chaos and violence, but Travis is the true smart one to avoid the violence and come up with a very knowledgeable plan since the war is a stalemate. Travis finds Aaron and tells him to steal the emerald from the Immortal and to follow him (Right now, Travis is looking more like the clumsy hero instead of the clumsy sidekick). When Aaron gets the emerald, he runs into the factory section of the warehouse and throws the emerald into the toxic waste. Before the emerald reaches contact with the waste, the Immortal catches it and regains power. When Immortal tries to end Travis and Aaron, Tom comes through with a bulldozer,(don't question it) and runs Immortal into the Atlantic Ocean and recovers the Emerald of Immortality. When the other agents beat the remaining thugs, they celebrate by throwing Aaron and Travis up in the air. With new found strength and power, Aaron and Travis decide to go to Brazil and personally put the Emerald of Immortality back into it's rightful place in the stone mountain tomb of Ricky Krakatoa (More information on Krakatoa in the action-packed sequel, The Midnight Avenger: Krakatoa Kronicles.) Upon reaching home, Tom, Mary (the mother), and Anna (the sister) surprise Aaron and Travis with new costumes, a new lair, and new recognition into the V.L.A. With such astounding news for Aaron and Travis, they go out and jump up in a freeze frame motion signifying that their summer has just begun. While the celebration continues in Tampa, some 700 miles away, is the return of the Immortal with vengeance on his mind and immeasurable power!