5.10

Hunter, Jimena, Silas, Anh, and Vanya exchanged awkward glances as they stood in the misty silence that laced the cramped comic shop.

“You said you were Mite, right?” Vanya said again. She looked Hunter up and down as if to measure him up. Hunter looked at his teammates. Silas was looking away now, distracted by new trading cards. Jimena looked dead eye back at Hunter and shrug her shoulders.

“Um, yeah. I’m Mite.”

“Sweet. You and your team, Justice Punch, they’re pretty cool. Are you two Quagmire and Balloon Boy then?” Vanya looked over the other two and nodded to herself in confirmation.

“Yeah, we are. But please make sure you don’t tell anyone. It would be um-” Silas started.

“Catastrophic consequences could be inflicted upon our loved ones if everyone knew who we really were.” Jimena blurted out and stared right at Vanya, making her feel uncomfortable.

“Yep, that’s the one,” said Silas.

“Now that we’ve gotten that all cleared up. What was it exactly that you needed to talk to me about Hunter?” asked Anh.

Before Hunter could say anything, the door to the comic shop suddenly opened and two customers walked into the shop. The group awkwardly broke up. Silas and Jimena checked things out, Vanya returned to stacking the shelves and Hunter joined Anh behind the counter.

One customer was a human male who looked to be in his mid-sixties. He was thinning on top, but still combed his hair back with wax. He wore a striped button shirt and brown, smart casual pants. His scuffed brown leather shoes looked as though they must have been the talk of the room once upon a time. His sideburns came to stop just short of his chin and in the pocket of his shirt was a battered box of cigarettes.

The other customer was a grizzled looking bear whose fur was grey more than brown. He wore a pair of loose-fitting red pants that were held up by a frayed piece of hemp rope. One of his eyes was surrounded with an ugly, knotted scar and in his mouth was a redwood calabash pipe.

“Hi, how are you two today? Is there anything we can help you with?” asked Hunter. It had been a while since he last served a customer, the desperate tone in his voice made this obvious to everyone in the room.

“Well, that depends,” growled the bear. He looked over the shelves, his pipe now held in one hand as he spoke.

“What does it depend on, sir?” asked Hunter. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so awkward in his life.

“Do you have any rare back issues?” asked the bear. The human plodded through the shop, winding through the shelves. His eyes stopped on an old statue of Copter.

“Oh yes, for sure. We’ve definitely got some of the old stuff. What did you have in mind?” asked Anh. Hunter breathed a sigh of relief as the anxiety was lifted from his chest.

“Hi, can I help you there?” Vanya asked the elderly man. He tried his best to look at the statue at different angles.

“Can I get a better look at this one, please?” Vanya nodded.

“Hey Anh. This gentleman wants to get a better look at the statue of Copter. Can you come help him out please?”

“Excuse me please. Hunter will be able to help you out.” Anh excused himself from the bear and the anxiety that had just left Hunter now returned tenfold.

“I’m after some old Glory Days or Flying Dutchman stuff. You’ve probably never heard of that kind of stuff. Your father would’ve just been a kid when that stuff was on the shelves. And I don’t mind if they’re reprints, I’m just missing some issues.”

“Yeah, I know what those are. My father actually had a lot of those issues in his own collection. I’ve read a lot of them,” Hunter felt calm again as he kicked into a gear of confidence.

“Huh, really?” the bear sounded surprised and put the pipe back in his mouth. “You wouldn’t be willing to part with any of them, would you? I’m trying to finish off the sets.”

“Erm, well you see, my dad passed away a-”

“Say no more, I understand. What issues do you have here?” Hunter and the customer went around to the back room and looked through some of the clunky metal filing cabinets.

“I worked with this guy.” The old man was holding the statue of Copter and turning it over in his hands. Anh looked nervously as it looked like the man would drop it at any moment.

“Oh really?” asked Vanya.

“Yep. I worked with him before he went a little loopy. Poor fella, he had a bit go south for him and he ended up on the wrong side of the law. He showed a lot of promise, a clever inventor.”

“In what manner did you work with him?” Vanya asked. She slowly took the statue back from the customer. “Were you interested in making a purchase?”

“I was a superhero with him. I was The Full Stop. Putting the end on crime. And yes, I’d like to make the purchase please.”

“You were The Full Stop?” Silas had overheard and slowly made his way over to the conversation.

“Yes, I was. You know of me?”

“Yeah, I do. I’ve got all of your trading cards. You wore a fedora and trench coat. Resorted to ‘fisticuffs when words no longer worked’. You were a legend. You are a legend. One of the best.”

“Why thank you. That’s made my day. It seems most people no longer know who I was and just ignore me. Here, catch this.” The old man retrieved a coin from his pocket and flicked it to Silas. Silas caught the coin and looked at it. The symbol of a fedora sitting atop a circle was stamped on one side.

The customers made their purchases and left the comic shop. Everyone felt a little better than they had before.

“So, what’s up Hunter?” Anh asked again.

“I’m not sure if I should work here anymore. I keep forgetting my shifts and that’s unfair to you,” said Hunter.

“With Vanya here now, we can make it work if you still want to try.”

“What do you two think?” Hunter looked at his teammates.

“It’s up to you,” said Jimena.

“Anh, I appreciate everything you’ve done with being accommodating for me. But I think I need to resign. This superhero stuff really needs my all.”

“Totally understand.”