A Story About Gearboy
Subject: Unknown
Date Published: Unknown. Data suggests the early Aegis Era, 2010 - 2097.
Date Accessed: 1.21.2322.
Note: The video file has been corrupted. This audio clip is the only part of the remaining file that has been accepted into the archive. As such, certain context is lacking. Please keep this in mind as you proceed.
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[audio begins]
“The one story I want to tell the world…? Well, I’m sure you know that there’s a lot of things I can’t talk about.”
[lament by interviewer]
[laughs] “I know, I know! If there was any time to spill secrets, a documentary would be ideal. But it’s important. I didn’t get this far by being careless, you know!”
[question from interviewer]
“Oh, of course. It’s a dangerous job. And while things certainly aren’t perfect, I’m grateful that organizations like Aegis exist now. Makes it a lot easier to do my work.”
[laugh] “Does that sound too much like a promotional ad? It’s true, though. It could get rough, before.”
“Well… Things were a lot different back then. Without Aegis around to keep us all out of trouble, I mean.” [laugh]
“Oh, I, uh.” [a short pause] “I just mean that… It was a different time. Pretty much every hero starts out working alone, but back then it was truly every man for himself. There was no vetting process, or - or oversight, you know? It was impossible to trust anyone. Even when you desperately wanted to.”
[pause]
“There were a lot of losses in those days. Losses that I know could have been preventable, looking back.”
“If… we could have trusted each other a little bit more. If - If that trust had been affordable, you know?”
“It wasn’t, back then, but. Y’know.”
[sentence by interviewer]
“Right, right. My bad. Uh, lemme think… Any story?”
[affirmation from interviewer]
“Right. The one story I want to tell, above all else… Hm.”
[slight pause]
“Y’know what, I do have one.”
“It’s not about me, though. I mean, I’m in it, of course, but - it’s about someone else. Does that work?”
[affirmation from interviewer]
“Okay. Okay, well, back in the, uh, back in the ‘old days’ – “ [laugh] “I wasn’t part of the big time yet. My name was starting to get around, but I was still operating pretty locally, you know?”
“Right. [clears throat] Well, the turnover rate was… pretty high back then. Vigilantes would vanish all the time. There one day, gone the next.”
[pause]
“You hoped to God that they just quit, of course. That they… they found something else that was fulfilling. Moving on to bigger and better things. Most of the time you never find out what happened to them, so, y’know.”
“You’ve gotta have hope.”
[clears throat] “Uh, well, anyway. The story I’m thinking of…”
“Well, this was actually one time I found out. It’s not… not a happy ending, just to, uh, let you know. But if I can tell any story and let it be recorded in history, it should be this one.”
“There was this hero – a kid, really. Young. Mid-teens, probably. I never asked. Nobody did, back in those days. Just never seemed worth the risk.” [a short pause] “I do know his legal name, with everything that happened, but I’m not gonna say it. Not like there’s any identities to protect anymore, and I’m sure anyone with enough information and access to a local library will be able to figure it out, but. Y’know. Old habits die hard.”
[clears throat] “Anyway, his hero name was Gearboy.” [snorts] “I know. I asked him why he chose it once, and he said that it was the name he’d chosen when he was a little kid, and it only seemed right to stick with it. Can’t blame him for that, I suppose. Not like my name is any more impressive!” [a laugh]
“He was a local, like me. Didn’t get involved in any big-time stuff, didn’t consider himself skilled enough for it. No powers, you know? Just a hell of a lotta smarts. The things this kid could make… You wouldn’t believe it. A lot of it wouldn’t seem too impressive these days, maybe, but back then it was better than anything you could get at a private company, I guarantee it.”
“Sorry, sorry. Enough bragging.” [slight laugh] “But I really admired him. He wasn’t doing much more than saving kittens from trees and making sure drunks got home safe, but it still mattered. It makes a difference, all those little things. Even if it only ever helped one person, it made a difference.”
“I, uh, was obviously going after some heavier stuff. But after the first time I saw him on patrol, I made a point to catch a few minutes with him, whenever I could. I already knew how hard it was to be a kid trying to be taken seriously, so if there was anything I could do to help…”
[a sigh]
“I just chatted with him, for a while. Then he started coming to me for advice, and things kinda… kept going from there.”
“I didn’t bring him with me on big operations, or anything. Even things I think he could have handled. He didn’t consider himself ready, and I respected that. But I would go on patrol with him, and before he went home, I would make sure he had something to eat.”
“He would bring his homework, sometimes, to do on quieter nights. I can still recall the utter confusion I felt when he showed me his physics work, sitting on the roof of the Mayor’s office.” [laughs] “I didn’t understand a damn thing! He had to explain what half the terms even were! At least I could help proofread his English essays, so that was something.”
[clears throat] “But, well, considering how I started this story… Y’know. He, uh, stopped coming by, one day. I wasn’t too worried, at first. Maybe he had a big test to study for. That had happened a few times, and he always came right to me when he was done, all excited to tell me his grades.” [a small laugh]
“Then… a week went by. He still wasn’t back. I got – I got freaked out. What if something had happened? What if he was sick? I didn’t know his name. I didn’t know where he lived. What could I have done, if something had happened?”
[pause]
“Something did happen. I was checking the newspaper every day at that point. Just, y’know, to at least feel like I was doing something. And there was a big story, right there on the front page.”
“I remember the headline perfectly – ‘TEENAGER FOUND DEAD IN BRUTAL MURDER SCENE’. Sensationalist garbage, designed to catch the eye and sell the paper, but…”
“There was a picture. A picture of the body. And…”
[a shaky breath]
“The kid had shown up to patrol injured, once. He didn’t tell me why. I had suspicions, but I didn’t ask. I just helped patch him up. And when I did, I saw this birthmark he had. A big splotch, right below his left ribs. And in the picture… I saw that birthmark.”
“I was…” [a pause] “I didn’t want to believe it at first. But the timeline matched up. The evidence pointed to an obvious answer, and I just…”
[clears throat] “The main suspect in the trial was his father. The kid had said things, once in a while, that caught my attention, but… I didn’t want to push. Didn’t want to ask too many questions, or the wrong one, and push him away entirely. I was scared. It would be way too easy for him to just… disappear. To just slip past me and never come back. Though I guess that did end up happening, in the end.”
[a heavy breath]
“The body was found right outside a park where a lot of homeless people used to camp. Obviously, people were quick to point fingers, but luckily the father got pulled in quickly. That was something to be grateful for, at least – I’d been to that park with the kid plenty of times. He would help them get food, medical supplies. Again, he wasn’t – he wasn’t taking down supervillains. But his work mattered. It mattered to them.”
“A-Anyways. The kid was beaten, uh, pretty badly, and his body had been dumped at the scene. He hadn’t actually died in the park, and the last place anybody saw him going was his home, so, the prime suspect was obvious. And the dad… he had a reputation. Not, like, a complete monster, or anything. But he didn’t have any friends. Bad attitude at work. His wife had left him, too – not even divorced him. Just up and ran off without another word. All of that together painted a certain picture.”
“And, uh, Gearboy… Well, like I said. He’d mentioned things, once in a while. And frankly, if his dad had been any good, I doubt he would have been following after me to ask for help with his schoolwork.” [a low laugh]
“I was watching the trial like a hawk, after that. The defense lawyer was like an iron wall, but the prosecution gave it all they had.” [a slight pause] “It was frustrating, of course. With the clues the kid had given me, and the evidence that was already against him… It seemed obvious to me. But the circumstances were too murky, and they didn’t have all the clues that I did. Even DNA testing wasn’t too widely used back then, so… Can’t blame ‘em. Can’t even blame the Defense, honestly. They were doing exactly what they shoulda done.”
“Just… hurt, you know?”
[short pause]
“Prosecution attempted to get him in for a retrial several times, but people were sick of it. They didn’t want to keep dragging this tragedy along. They were tired. I get it, I do.”
“Still…”
[a pause] [subject clears throat]
“Ah, y’know, I found out later that the main prosecutor was actually Madame Smoke.” [laughs] “I should have guessed! That woman was an absolute bloodhound. Never gave up on a case.”
[question by interviewer]
“Huh? Oh. Uh, yeah. I guess it makes sense that you haven’t heard of her. She wasn’t much of a… traditional hero. A lot less taking down bad guys and a lot more…” [clears throat] “Well, breaking and entering.”
“Investigating her cases, you know? But she was a lawyer, not a cop, so it wasn’t like she was really allowed to go poking around by herself… Her powers made it easy though, and she felt it was her duty to use them.”
“We worked together on a few things. Enough for me to know that she was one hell of a tough lady!” [laugh]
[question by interviewer]
“Hm? Well, she’s dead now. Cancer, I think. She had a family, so I couldn’t go to the funeral or anything, but I sent flowers. Anonymously, of course.”
[slight pause] “I’m sorry, I’m getting off-track, aren’t I?”
“Anyway, he - he got off the murder charges. Even with Madame Smoke’s best efforts. They tried to get him on parental neglect, too, but the key witness was… gone. And all the remaining evidence pointed towards a good enough home life, even if the man was… a bit abrasive. There just - there wasn’t enough to hold him. He went home.”
[huff]
“Murders a kid, and gets to go home like nothing happened.”
“You don’t know how many times I’ve wished they had the same provisions they do now, for - for evidence sent in by the enhanced. Don’t know if I would have qualified, considering I’m not a telepath or anything, but. I could’ve tried something.”
[pause]
“So, yeah. A few people asked me about Gearboy, on patrol, and I never knew what to say. I just told them he wasn’t coming out anymore.”
“He slipped from the public consciousness after a few months. That’s how it always happened. Supervillains would stick with you forever, but a small-time hero goes missing and once the next disaster comes and goes, it’s like they never existed at all.”
[a breath]
“That’s not entirely fair. I remember these people because they touched my life in some way, and I’m sure it’s the same for plenty of civilians, regardless of how long a hero hung around. It’s just…”
“I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
“Was it better to know? Because, I mean, at least then I knew. I didn’t have to wonder what happened to him. But at the same time… that meant I knew.”
“I couldn’t just… Hope that he had gone off to college, moved on with his life. Grown up, done something big. Won the Nobel prize, maybe.” [laughs] “I’m telling you! He was so smart! He could have done it!”
[pause]
“I really think he could have done it.”
[clears throat]
“Anyway, I knew, now. So then I had to figure out what I was gonna do with that knowledge.”
“By all rights, the answer should have been ‘nothing’. It was out of my hands. From the very second it happened, there was nothing I could do.”
“I’m not - I’m not Madame Smoke, you know.” [weak laugh] “I’m not stealthy. I can throw a punch strong enough to smash a meteor, but this kinda stuff, it, uh, it really isn’t my specialty.”
“But… But I thought, after everything, I couldn’t live with myself if I did nothing.”
“So, I… I went to the house. Y’know, where his father was. He may have escaped jail, but he didn’t escape the scrutiny that came with the trial. He’d lost his job. Just sat at home all day, drinking.”
“Brought up - “ [clears throat] “Brought up some bad memories. That’s probably why I, uh, went into the situation a little more aggressively than I should have.”
“I bang on the door, and he answers, already screaming at me.”
“And I just - I just cut him off. I step into the house, close the door behind me, and I say ‘Did you kill your son?’”
[a longer pause]
“He’s drunk, you know. Blinking up at me, looking so blindsided. I knew it was him, but I had to hear him say it. I had to hear it from him.”
“And he’s - he’s mumbling. Breathing booze against my face and spitting tobacco everywhere. Fucking disgusting. Ah! Sorry, sorry. I shouldn’t swear.” [nervous laugh]
[reassurance from interviewer]
“Right. Well, he does it all. Threatens me. Tells me he’s gonna call the police, get me arrested, ruin my life. Everything that’s already happened to him. Tells me he’s got a gun in the other room, and he isn’t afraid to use it.” [laugh] “You saw footage of me during that battle last week, right? If a giant laser cannon can’t take me down, a pistol certainly can’t. So I just wait it out.”
“Eventually he sees I’m not leaving, not without an answer, and he says - he says ‘I didn’t kill my son. That thing wasn’t my son’.”
“It’s a confession, kinda. So for a second I’m thrilled. But then I’m thinking, what the hell is he talking about? Gearboy, I told you, he - he didn’t have any powers. His brain, his determination, all that - that was what made him a hero.”
“So I say, ‘What do you mean?’ Not, uh, using those exact words, you understand.”
“And he says - “
[there’s a pause. a breath]
“He says ‘my son would never hang around those |censored|. My son knows how to respect me, to respect what I’ve taught him. That wasn’t my son.’”
“…I don’t know what I expected. Certainly not anything better. But it just… it hurt so much, in that moment. That kid, he - he died for this?”
“It wasn’t fair.”
“So many things were unfair in those days, but this one caught me in a, uh… a very vulnerable place.”
“I wanted to - well, I, uh, probably shouldn’t say what I wanted to do at that moment, considering the recording.” [clears throat] “But I was… upset.”
“Upset at the loss of a brilliant kid, a true hero who I was proud to fight beside, to… to this.”
“Someone so pathetic. So full of hatred. A truly ugly person.”
“How was that fair? Gearboy was a hero. But he was also a kid. His father should have been looking out for him! Protecting him! Why was it, in the moment that my kid really needed it, there was no hero around to - !”
[pause]
“Yeah, uh. Sorry.” [clears throat] [rustling of fabric] “Could I get some water?”
[affirmation from interviewer]
“Thanks.”
“Anyway, considering I’m here in front of you now, I didn’t get arrested for assault or anything.” [weak laugh]
“I just - I just turned around and left. What else could I have done? Nothing I could do in that place would have brought that kid back, and ultimately, it wouldn’t have made me feel any better either.”
“Because if I — if I used my powers to beat up a drunken old man, I wouldn’t be much of a hero, would I?” [weak laugh]
[pause]
“I know this isn’t a fun story, but it’s important. He wasn’t - he wasn’t active for very long, and he didn’t get involved with supervillains or gang takedowns or anything, but - “
“But he was a hero. Gearboy was a hero. I’m a better person for having known him, I can guarantee you that.”
“Most people don’t know him, though. And it’s - it’s hard for me to talk about. But I’m one of the last locals left from that era, you know?”
“If I don’t talk about him, who will?”
[pause]
“So that’s - that’s what happened.”
[pause]
“He wasn’t the only one, of course. I can think of dozens of other heroes in just this city alone. Ones who did great work, and then… vanished.”
“You gotta pray that they just quit.”
“Hey, maybe some of them are even watching this documentary now! In which case, hi everybody! If you have any respect left for me, please don’t ever bring up that old bodysuit I used to wear! I was going through a phase!”
[scattered laughter, from both subject and documentary crew]
“But, like I said, things are different now. I can do my work and know that someone has my back, that I won’t be left in the lurch if something unexpected happens.”
“There’s even a youth program I help out with, when I can! That’s… That kinda thing is everything I dreamed of, y’know?”
“It’s good, now. Not perfect. But it’s good.”
“And getting better every day!”
“Sure, I wish that… that more people could be around to see it. But they were all heroes. We know what it means to put on the mask. You can’t regret that.”
[sentence from interviewer]
[laugh] “Yeah, thanks. I went on a bit of a tangent there, huh? You can cut out my stuttering if you need to, it’s a bad habit of mine.”
[question from interviewer]
“Huh?” [clears throat] “No, no, that’s okay. There are plenty of stories about me out in the world. This time, I - I just wanted to tell a story about Gearboy.”
[audio ends]
———
hi everybody!! i wrote this in the span of like three days, and it’s so nice to sit down and just… create something. i hope you all enjoyed!!
love y’all ❤️