Juvie/Tom Cooper by Quiet American
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
This is a short story detailing the Life and Times of Tom "The Juvie" Cooper as he grows from a boy into a superhero. Tom is a fictional role-playing character currently playing on the Virtue server of the City of Heroes MMO. This project is a writing project started by Quiet American as a way to practice writing and experiment with styles while fleshing out his online hero's story.
Contents |
Tom Cooper
by Quiet American
Chapter 1
Written in homage to Charles Dickens and Golden Age Heroes
Concerning the Birth of Tom Cooper
Where men and women with Herculean strengths perform heroic feats on a daily basis, the event I’ve foreshadowed in this chapter’s title isn’t one that is noted in any historical books, nor are the subsequent incidents recorded in this chapter easily remembered by those who were present during their occurrences. The fact is, if any records were to be located, only “September 23rd, 11:59 pm” would be found, scribbled down on a torn sheet of yellowing paper and folded with care within the bindings of a first edition "Oliver Twist," by Charles Dickens. Whether this was the time of Tom Cooper’s birth, or a partial receipt of purchase for its accompanying book, no one knows for certain, but those who took possession of him in his infancy have offered this cusp of a day to Tom Cooper as his birthday.
As to the exact year of his birth, the information available for this too is conflicted. Some say he was a year old when he was admitted to Abigail Summerling’s Children’s Home in Kings Row. Others say he was closer to two. In the admitting registry, at that time overseen by Headmaster Humphrey Coverpot (who had recently taken charge of the orphanage after the untimely death of the kindly Abigail Summerling a week before, and who’s expulsion from said institution some eleven years later was due to charges of abuse and neglect) there is noted only that a new male baby was received fourteen years prier to the date of this chapter’s creation. In this document, the baby’s name was signed in as, 'Tom Cooper,' while the admitting signature is illegible.
Anyone who would care to search for the originator of this undecipherable signature will come upon a brick wall of indifference from the “retired” Headmaster, while a search for a Mr., a Mrs., or a Miss. Cooper in the Paragon City data banks will fail to find one of proper age that might have been responsible for this baby, not that anyone should care to seek out the disposed headmaster, or, for that matter, the missing individuals responsible for the child’s conception, for, as I’ve noted previously, there are far more important matters taking place.
Gods walk this earth. Spectacular heroes protecting us from powerful villains who threaten the domination, and or, destruction of this epic world in which Tom Cooper was born into. What’s one more life added to those millions who need rescuing? What justifies the need to even note this small event in poor Tom Cooper’s life, other than to say, Tom Cooper comes from a forgotten beginning, has entered a foreboding guardianship, and his future safety remains uncertin.
Let us, for now, find comfort in the fact that poor Tom Cooper has not entered this world empty-handed, for not every baby arrives at Abigail Summerling’s Children’s Home in Kings Row with a book, especially one as good as "Oliver Twist," by Charles Dickens.
Chapter 2
Written in First Person Dialogue
A Firsthand Account of Growing Up In Abigail Summerling's Childern's Home
Darwin’s wrong, see? He didn't count for theft. Bein’ fit don’t enter into it.
I saw a movie, said that, ahh, Jesus said that, "The meek’ill inherit the Earth," right? I think, ‘you know?’, I think, although they’ll get the earth, see, it isn't gonna to be handed to ‘em. No, its gonna have to be stole.
Look, I’m just saying, here, if I was to have picked the kids that woulda’ made it outta’ King’s House alive, Syd wouldn’ev been picked. The kid’s sick. I mean, S I C K! He coughs, a lot, and he sneezes outta both nostrils, 'you know?' He’s always pukin’ and, and, I mean, there’s always something comin’ outta that kid. God, he can stink a room up. Serious!
So, like how long can a kid like that last?
Huh? I mean, he lived here, in frikin’ King’s Orphanage for like, what, shit, like twelve years? Yeah, like twelve, and letmetellyou, there are some kids in here who woulda’ passed Darwin’s, they shoulda’ passed Darwin’s test. Fit, 'you know?' healthy teeth and all! Survivors, 'you know?' strong!
Like Eric Luminousky, Lum, big kid, big muscles, his arms were like… and his fist, really, you shoulda seen his fist, its like this… see… huge… and he liked to use ‘em. Bam! Shit! I mean BAM make you shit big, BAM!
And wazn't dumb neither. Ahh, don’t look like that! I know what you were thinking. Big kid, all muscle no brains, duh, duh, duh, right? Well, he weren’t no mouth breather, get me? Did I tell you Lum could do math? Hear that? Math! You know what I’m saying?
That kid use ta, like, sway down the hall, like this, see, and bump into the other kids, squish them against the wall…
Me? No, not as much, at first, 'you know?' Lum liked me, I didn’t get pushed around so much like some of them. I wern't like a Tom or nothin. Huh? Oh, like a Tom? Its a joke, 'you know?' Y’er such a Tom! Around King’s House, if you fuck up, oh… sorry, I said fuck didn’t I? Well anyway, you’d be a Tom. See there was this little shit named Tom something... Cooper? Yeah, that sounds right, I don’t know, anyway, we use to beat up on him a lot. Why? Idon’tknow? I mean, we just did. Anyway listen, there was this time I saw, man it was sweet, listen, Tom was like this high, and there comes Lum like this… and Tom’s you know, not pay'in attention, or something, and BAM! I swaretoyou, you could see the dent’ like his face streaked on down the wall.
Splinters and shit, funny…that was funny… yeah…
Anyway… Tom? I don’t know what happened to him, could care, right? No… a hero? Shit’all, proves my point, don’t it? You know? Darwin n’all thoes labcoats are dead wrong. Tom shoulda’ been dead and buried back there with the others.
A hero, hey, if you see ‘em, let ‘em know that I didn’t mean nothin all thoes times I kicked his ass up and down the yard. It was just fun, 'you know?' I mean, like a kid brother, 'you know?' We’re all family here at Abigal Sommerlings’ right? Ol’ King’s Row Orphange, King’s House, is like a home, 'you know?'
Got a smoke? ‘About some Dine? Are you holdin? Holdup, let me see my coat…, Ok good, here, want some? Let me… holdup. Don’t look at me. Its not like my skin’s turning green or nothing, shit. People like you, you’alls the problem!
Yeah, listen, what I was sayin’ was that, you know, Syd? He’s like Tom is, like there’s proof that Darwin was wrong. Lum, he was big, he was strong, and he was smart. Really, he had it, you know? He was even thinking of goin’ta collage. But Syd, frikin’ Syd, snotbucket and shit, he stole Lum, you know? Don’t you get it? Syd is freekin’ meek, man! The sick fucker just stole it. He just walked up to Lum, said somethin’ like, "Hey Eric," yeah called him Eric, "look what I gotcha, I gotcha Dine," and, ‘you know?’ "do you want some?" And, and, like, and "if you do, don’t beat me the fuck up!" Then he said like, "hey Eric, you want more Dine?" Course he does, don’t he, 'you know?' "Then do me a favor," right? He was like coughing and shit while he said it, you can just see it right, wiping’ his nose on’a King’s House T, and him holdin’ out the Dine, and saying’ "You want this, then do me a favor, beat the hell up anyone who doesn’t say God Bless to me when I sneeze!" Right? Right? You gettin’it? Syd sneezed his frikin’ ass off! Constantly! The frickin’ Orphanage was like a Jesus Christ Chruch whenever Syd sneezed. And he fucking sneezed double barrel all frikin’ day, 'you know?' That’s how Syd stole Lum from us. Fucker!
Yeah, just shows you, a sick fucker like Syd could be the top of the fucking food chain at King’s Orphanage, Tom’s a fucking hero now, and look at me, here, waiting to see my friend, stickin’ Dine in my neck, while you watch, fuck. It isn’t fair. That’s what I’m sayin’. It isn’t fair. They frikin' stole it! They're gettin' everything! Can’t hear someone sneeze anymore without shittin’ a brick.
Yeah, I’m ready, where is he? Through here? Holdup. Don’t look at me!
…Ok, ready.
Where… oh, right. Yeah, that’s Lum… Eric, shit man. I mean, look at him. He’s got the horns, and he’s green, and fuck he trolled out, huh? Hell yeah, that’s fucking Eric Luminousky! What are ya, deaf? Can I go home now?
The Dine? Chirst man, whatthefuck do you care? That was like years ago! Sides’ it was Coverpot! The frikin’Headmaster, ok? Everyone knows that! The Head got it for Syd. Hellsknows! What the fuck man? Let me go? I thought you said I wan’t goin’ to the Zig! Man!
