Outlaw: Into The Fire

Chapter 5

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Edited by BizarreSmalls

Chapter 5

I look at the tarp-covered lump again and shake my head. I don't know why I'm still working on it. The idea for it came from something Theo said a couple years ago, though it feels like a lifetime ago that I started working on it. The heroes were still fighting the good fight and my idol, the Professor, was still alive. He was killed at the Last Stand three month's ago with so many others.

I methodically clean the bits of grit and grime from my hands and underneath my fingernails. A small twinge of guilt goes through me. I've told no one about my little project, not even Theo. He knows everything about me, except this. My hands clean, I take my round lens-ed reading glasses off their perch on my nose and start to polish its lenses. I fall into a light meditative state as I slowly rub the lenses.

When I was thirteen, I started having trouble with faith and understanding my place in the world. Unlike many people with my level of intellect, I didn't rely on science having all the answers. I wanted to have faith in something greater than myself that didn't involve science; but the older I got and the more I learned, the harder it became.

Then one day, Theo and I were watching an old kung-fu movie that featured a shaolin monk as the main character. As we watched the strange combination of warrior, philosopher, and priest. I told Theo the problem I was having with my faith. Theo went quiet for a time. I knew to stay quiet and let him think. Theo is far smarter than he gives himself credit. On top of that, he has a understanding of people and situations that I didn't at the time, and still don’t. I've gotten better, but my mind always slips into the logical way of seeing things. While my intelligence makes me who I am, it often makes it hard for me to understand people and understand the deeper meaning of things that don't involve science. Then Theo point's at the TV and say's, “Maybe there's your answer.”

I spent a long time considering my best friends words. After a time, I decided what could it hurt to do some research. I quickly found that there was only the most general information available on the net about shaolin monk's and their order as a whole. After five hours of searching on the net, I found a very poorly put together page on a small temple three hour's away. What information I had gleaned from the net about the order was intriguing. I'm still not sure why I got on a transit bus and went to the small temple; all I know is, I've never regretted the trip.

The single master of the temple was more than happy to speak with me at length that day. That was nearly three years ago. I spend a month and a half each summer at the temple training and studying. I reworked the temple net page and I use it for my makeshift training with the master. The number of full time disciple's tripled, and there's a dozen others like me learning over the net, so I'm a nerd that knows kung-fu.

“Owen sweetie, you have a visitor.” Crackles my mothers voice over the intercom.

“Send them back to my workshop.” I frown at the intercom.

Who could it be? If it was Theo, she would have said that he's on the way back. And did she sound chipper about whoever it is? I exit my secret workshop and activated the door panel that conceals my secret shop. The door closes silently and seals with the faintest hiss. I check the program running on my computer that is searching for any net cast on heroes. It's set to play and record any net cast it finds.