3.16

After visiting the comic shop, Hunter headed over to the small, sweaty, pungent burger shop he’d worked at for the last two years.

Hunter walked into the shop; a faint ding could be heard as he crossed the front door.

“Look who finally decided to show up Jasper. Mister superiority.” Gertrude and Jasper each stood behind the counter. Jasper guffawed and returned to the fryer at the back of the store.

“Hiya Gertrude.”

“Don’t ‘hiya Gertrude’ me. Where have you been? Haven’t seen you since that incident with the weird little monsters. Thought you were too good for us huh?” Gertrude’s voice drawled longer the more she spoke.

“No, that’s not it at all. I’ve been really busy with heaps of personal stuff going on.”

“I don’t wanna hear it. You left me in the lurch with just old Jasper Jones, and he’s getting on in his age. You never even answered your phone. What kid doesn’t look at their phone these days?”

“I’m good to work now.” Hunter could feel it deep within his gut he’d been fired long ago.

“Its no good Hunter, you’ve been replaced. By somebody I know I can count on.” As Gertrude finished her sentence, a young kid walked in. He didn’t look any older than Hunter was when he started working at Greasy Timez.

“Hi,” said the kid as he walked into the back of the shop.

“Gertrude, I’m sorry. Please, give me another chance.”

“It’s too late Hunter. You should’ve come in when I needed you. Now, did you want to buy something?”

“No.”

“Then get out.” To emphasise her point, Gertrude made an overwhelming gesture of pointing at the front door. Hunter left the shop.

“Well that sucks.” Hunter walked the street for a while. He mulled over his predicament for a while. He barely had any free time, which made it almost impossible to make any money.

Hunter looked at his communicator watch and called for Michael.

“Hey Michael.”

“Hiya kiddo. Wow you look glum. What’s the problem?”

“Got fired from my job and I want money. You said that heroes get paid, I’m a hero. How does that all work?”

“Ah, that’s no good. Well, payment normally comes through endorsements from companies. Ads on t.v., radio, podcasts, billboards.” Hunter looked up and saw a billboard with Bulldog on it. That guy is everywhere he thought.

“Right. So sell myself out?”

“I guess that’s one way of putting it. But you’d only endorse something you believed in. I’ve been a face for these primo adhesive bandages for the last fifty years.” Michael held up a box of the bandages. It had a picture of his smiling face with one stuck to his cheek.

“You said ‘normally’, what other ways are there?” Hunter wasn’t sure he could put Mite’s name on anything.

“Some teams and heroes act as like a hire service. Doing jobs for money. Detective work, bodyguard work. They either do it themselves or through an agency.”

“So heroes don’t just get paid for being a hero?” Frustration started to mount in Hunter’s voice.

“Of course not. It’s all a voluntary system because its something we believe we should do. No, the villains do the work that get them paid. When they steal things that is. You should look into having Mite endorse something. A little bit of pay wouldn’t be too bad a thing.”

“Yeah thanks.” Hunter hung up on Michael, more frustrated than before.

Hunter noticed a sign in the window of the comic shop he was passing by. It was a new one, something he hadn’t even heard of before.

The poster was advertising Balloon Boy. He was giving out signatures on his trading cards for a small fee.

Hunter walked in and was surprised to see the shop was crowded. A lot of kids were lined up with their cards in their hands. Other customers were in the shop but not paying attention to Balloon Boy.

Hunter followed the line and sure enough, Silas was sitting at a small table, in costume. He was signing a card and talking to an excited customer.

“Hey, how do I know you’re the real deal?” Hunter smirked.

“You’ll have to ask Anh, the owner.” Silas looked up and smiled at Hunter. “I can assure you, it’s all legit.”

“Yes, yes. Excelsior himself said who he was. Its all documented and receipted.” Anh came around from the counter and shook Hunter’s hand.

“It looks pretty busy,” said Hunter.

“Yeah, I can’t believe it. I’ve struggled until this guy showed up. It was perfect timing, what with the Justice Punch cards just being released.”

“Yeah, lucky timing.”

“If business keeps up like this, I’m gonna need to hire more staff.”

“I’m looking for work, actually.” Hunter’s hopes picked up.

“Do you know much about the business?”

“Yeah. Grew up reading all sorts of comics. Pretty much live and breath them.”

“Welcome aboard,” Anh shook Hunter’s hand again. “Can you start right now?”

“Of course. I’d be glad to.” Hunter and Anh worked late into the night. Silas had stayed well beyond what had been advertised. Many customers asked if the other members of Justice Punch would make a visit.

“So what made you decide to open a comic shop Anh? In a city that seems too already have too many?” Hunter filed the receipts as Anh counted and ordered fresh stock.

“Just always a passion of mine. I want to try and bring a new life, a new experience to buying comic books than what most people are used to.”

“What’s that?”

“Make it a family.”

Hunter immediately called Silas when he left the comic shop.

“How’d you manage that?” Hunter asked.

“I talked to Michael about it, and he agreed it was a good idea.”

“Will you be coming back to the team soon? Haven’t really seen you since the chicken with Flink.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m coming back. Just been really enjoying spending time with mum and dad. Just give me a few more days.”

“Cool.”