“Okay, maybe it can get weirder.”
TJ listened attentively to every word that Sam had to say as he threw together a quick meal in his hideout amidst the junk. He had opened a couple of bottles of cola as well as baked a frozen pizza.
It felt kind of like a Saturday morning cartoon to Sam, being in a junkyard lair that would be more suitable for, say, mutant ninja turtles, while eating pizza and soda.
“So, let me get this straight,” TJ continued, “Heaven has blessed you with a power to smite unholy fiends, and then sends you to an old scrapyard to find a guy that takes thugs out with a bottle cap gun? I guess the Lord really does work in mysterious ways…”
“To be perfectly honest with you, I’m just… overwhelmed and scared. I don’t know how to proceed, what to do, where to go. I had figured that when I found the person that Evangelos had spoken of, that maybe the next step would present itself? Or maybe I'd hear from him again?”
TJ took a large swing of his cola and swished it around in deep thought before gulping it down. He walked over to his office, if you could call it that, and came back with a police scanner.
“I don't know if you could call this a lead, or a hunch, or really anything, but this is what I have for now. I listen to police chatter pretty much daily, to listen for gang activity. Recently, and I mean like around the same time that your uh, superpowers were gifted to you, I heard talk of this crime boss that they've been calling 'Goliath' acting strangely. Rumor has it that this guy is huge, like, bodybuilder on steroids huge. And as for the strange behavior, well, they say he stays super angry and violent nonstop. Nothing will calm him down. Bullets make him angrier.”
Sam shuddered. He did not want to meet this Goliath, but he knew deep down that this was the lead he was looking for.
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“Not to take over, but I also think that you should build the Tabernacle back up. Not just the physical damage to the building, but the congregation as well. I've been living the past few years thinking I was pretty much the last Christian around. Now, I'm talking to angels. People need hope. They need God first, superman second.”
Sam nodded and voiced his support to TJ's planning. It was nice to have someone with clear goals and plans helping him figure this out. He was beginning to feel more at ease, and yet nervous about the work ahead of them.
“I will also have you out on the front-lines with me, TJ. You're an expert fighter, skilled marksman, up to your ears in gadgets...”
“Playing sidekick to a superhero. Heh, I can honestly say that this is something I never thought I'd do.”
Sam nodded. “You're right. You're not doing that.”
TJ gave him a puzzled look.
“If anything, I'm being your sidekick. Oh, I already picked out a good name for you as well.”
TJ chuckled and declined. “Nah, that's okay. I always thought that the guys in the comic books just wore the colorful costumes and had the fancy names as a way to glorify themselves. I want to be myself, and inspire the everyday Joe.”
“Well, then I really think you'll like this one then. I heard the reporters call you this, and thought you might wear it as a badge of honor. The Junkyard Dog.”
TJ thought for a moment, then smiled before saying, “Oh. Yeah, that's good. Never mind, let's go with that.”