The Middle Aged Adventures of Sprocket Man- Chapter 8
Meeting Captain Courageous
Stephen arrived at the coordinates that Captain Courageous gave him over the phone. He was in a shipyard in the harbor. This was the perfect place for a superhero hide-out! There were so many abandoned buildings and shipping containers, it would be easy for anyone to get lost if they did not know exactly what they were looking for.
Stephen looked around. Captain Courageous told him that once he arrived at the coordinates he was to enter a gray shipping container with a bright red “C” spray painted onto it. Sure enough, the container was to his left, in plain sight. Stephen approached the shipping container and opened the large heavy door.
CREAK!
Well, he definitely was not going to be able to make a surprise entrance!
The shipping container was large, he could probably his apartment in it three times, and the ceiling was high, about 9 feet tall.
The only thing that Stephen could see was a light at the far end of the container and a man sitting at a desk.
“Hello?” Stephen called out, his voice echoing against the empty container and the metal walls.
The man looked up, “Yes! Come on over here!”
Stephen recognized the voice from the phone call immediately, he was speaking to Captain Courageous, the greatest star among superheroes. While there were plenty of other heroes saving the day, Captain Courageous was truly in a league of his own.
“Stephen Schwin!” Captain Courageous said with a big smile on his face, “You, my friend, have made quite the splash in the world of heroism!”
Stephen blushed humbly, “Honestly, I was just at the right place at the right time.”
Captain Courageous let out a jovial laugh, “Of course you were, of course you were. And the girl you rescued just so happened to be a news reporter!”
Stephen flinched. What was Captain Courageous implying?
“Listen,” said Captain Courageous, “Your name is hot right now. “Sprocket Man” is all of social media. I thought it would be in both of our best interests to offer a deal to you.”
Stephen’s interest was piqued, “I’m listening.”
“I could make you my sidekick. Honestly, it would be endearing and a fun twist on a common trope. You know: “Superhero takes child sidekick as his ward”. Instead, I would be taking you, a man much older than me, under my wing. It is unpredictable, it will give us some good PR, and people will love it!”
“Oh wow,” Stephen said as several conflicting thoughts swirled through his head. “This is a lot to process. Do you think I could sleep on it and get back to you?”
“Of course, of course!” Captain Courageous said, “But hey, let me ask you this. If you do decide to join me, what villain would you like for us to fight together against first?”
Stephen was confused, “Wouldn’t that all depend on which villain attacks first?”
Captain Courageous laughed again, “Which villain attacks first? You are funny!”
Then suddenly, Captain Courageous stopped laughing and more serious look came over his face.
He looked at Stephen with concern and asked, “You do know that all of this is staged, right?”