Being a Banner [ 1 of JA ]

21

Never lie to the person you love. It's not worth it and they don't deserve it
~ Unknown

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Really what I wanted to do on my Friday night was talk with Dad, give him my idea, then watch Netflix until I couldn't stay awake. That perfect plan was thrown to the curb. At least I'm hanging out with Dad.
"Why are we going now? I mean, I had nothing better to do, but season three of The Office is waiting for me." I tell Dad as I look over at him.
"Because this is very important, and I need you to help me." Dad said. "And you might be onto something with your plan."
"D'aw! Thanks!" I tilted my head jokingly. "Wait, help you? With the plan?"
"You'll see when we get there." Dad smiled.

*************

When we arrived at the building, I got out of the car to have Dad take me by the arm and jog to the side of the building. He took me into an alley on the left side, and built down in the ground was a staircase. As we stepped down, I saw a door in front of us. Dad unlocked it and we stepped in. Entering after him, I gasped at the site. The door lead to his lab, I remembered how the machines fascinated me, and it reminded me how much I wanted to be like Dad.
The lights we off, but a few machines blinked patterns on their panels.
"Okay... So could you explain why you need me?" I asked as I followed him through the whole room. Dad was walking out double doors on the other side of the lab that I never saw when I visited. They were on the left side and we came in by the right side, where the elevators and stairs from the lobby were.
"I told you, it's very important, and I need your help." Dad says, looking back at me.
"That doesn't answer my question. Why is it so important? What are we doing? And where are you taking me?" I asked as we broke through the double doors and entered a large white hallway.

Dad turned to me and took both my hands. "If your idea to take away radiation with radiation and reverse it works on what we're about to do, you might see me more often. I could be at home all the time. We would see each other everyday, and I wouldn't have to worry about you being lonely. Just you and me, Babe."
"Wait... Wait," I say, processing everything he said. "If whatever we're about to do works out, then you'll be at home all the time?"
"You could possibly see me every single day." Dad smiles. My lips happily shake into a smile. The thumping in my chest gave me hope this was going to happen.
"I'd like that a lot." I tell him. Dad smiled as he gestured me to follow.

I jogged up to his side, smiling all the way. Though, I couldn't get my hopes up too much, there was a chance this plan may not work. But the way Dad smiled and the hope in his eyes that he knew this was going to work made me believe it was.
Finally, we came to a stop at a white door. Dad pulled out a small silver rod from his pocket, and started picking the lock. It surprised me to see a gentle, kind guy like him break in. I have to admit, he's better than me.

"I thought I'd never see this place again." Dad said as he finally opened the door. The room was huge with the walls aligned with metal. A few computers and microscopes sat in one side on the left, while glasses and tubes were set up on the right side. In the middle of the whole room was this big white cage-like contraption. It was like a top, but upside down; the top was pointy and sharp. Glass windows were placed around on every side to see the whole inside. In the inside of the 'cage' was this weird looking chair. It had a platform, and on the side connected to the chair was a control panel.

"What's this?" I asked, pointing to the large white cage.
"It contains radiation," Dad smiled. "I'm going to be in that chair, you'll be at the control panel here," — he pointed to a large metal control panel a few feet from the cage — "and you'll be setting it to a high level, and — "
"What the hell are you thinking?!" I yelled at him. Dad looked over at me, a bit surprised by the curse word escaping my lips.
"We're going to reverse it, remember? It was your idea — "
"Yeah, but my idea didn't have you in the chair! Where's the serum? Why can't we put that in, why do you have to be in the chair? It's not like you have radiation in... Your... Body..." I stop myself.