Chapter 8: My New Ride
Date: September 18th, 2023
Location: Summerton Residence, City of Ellington
Time: 6:07 PM (Local)
They arrive back home, and Brad directs the girls to have a seat at the dinner table while he retrieves Laura from the living room after sending Allen to his room to drop off his new clothes. Allen quickly makes his way to his room and places his bags on his bed and then walks back down to the kitchen. The girls are on one side of the table with a seat free between them and Brad and Laura sit opposite with stern looks on their faces.
“Have a seat, Allen.” Laura says without breaking eye contact with Valorie and Kayla. Allen moves to the free seat and sits down.
“Brad here tells me you guys had a little adventure in the food court.” Laura leads. She knows the age-old verbal Kung Fu that all moms no matter what multiverse somehow know. Start a conversation with a statement, not a question. Allen though, knows to keep quiet when a superior is talking and only respond to questions when asked directly. The girls don’t get this memo and immediately launch into excuses and explanations. Allen sighs and shakes his head.
“Rookies.” Is Eve’s succent response. Allen grunts in agreement. Laura and Brad just sit quietly and let the girls dig their own graves. Laura notices Allen’s silence.
“What about you, what’s your side?”
Allen chews his top lip for a moment before giving a short response.
“I was assaulted. I defended myself.” He says as he leans back in his chair and folds his hands in his lap.
“Was yelling obscenities part of your defense?” She asks with a raised eyebrow.
“I wanted to draw the attention of the authorities. So, I made as much of a scene as possible.”
Laura can’t believe she’s losing a verbal spar with a 16-year-old boy. She re-evaluates her opinion of Allen yet again. Here you have a kid that thought a shower was voice controlled and on the other hand you have a kid who’s calm under pressure, smart, and cautious. To top it all off, his devious mind is wrapped in a cute package that can distract you from his wiles. A real threat. Laura needs to keep on her toes with Allen around. She decides to have an in-depth conversation with Amy when she gets here. For now, she decides to resolve the fight in the food court with the kids and then talk with Allen with Amy present about all the developments in the mall today.
“Girls, I appreciate the fact that you backed up Allen in the food court. The only reason I’m not going to punish you is because you defended Allen and the security officers let you off. HOWEVER, if this happens again, you will get your asses handed to you. That goes for you too, Allen. You live under my roof. You will listen to Brad and me while we are responsible for you.”
Allen decides to not argue and simply nods his agreement. Sometimes battles are one by simply not fighting. The girls look chastened but are secretly relieved they are getting off with a simple slap on the wrist. They start to wonder if Allen happens to be a rabbit’s foot. They never got away with anything before. Brad clears his throat and speaks up.
“You girls are free to go. Allen, can you stay so we can talk?”
“Sure dad.”
Brad smiles at being called dad despite being perturbed. The girls scurry off while they can and run to Valorie’s room to talk. Once Brad and Laura are sure that the girls aren’t listening in, they continue the conversation with Allen.
“Brad tells me you want a job, so you can get a bike?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Laura nods.
“I’m not going to give you the whole, “Bikes are dangerous spiel.” I was young once myself and I know it will be a fruitless argument.” She holds her hand up to Brad before he can disagree.
“As far as a job, you’re going to have to build trust with us. We need to know you are going to be okay when by yourself and not cause trouble when we aren’t around. Once you show us we can trust you, we will revisit the job issue. Now….” Laura leans forward with a gleam in her eye and gives Allen an excited grin.
“I have an old bike in the garage. The girls never showed interest and to be honest, Brad and I really want to adopt you, and this is a perfect chance for you and me to spend time together and get to know each other.”
“Oh no, not THAT bike….” Brad mutters
“Yes. THAT bike.” Laura says while looking at Brad with a puppy dog expression. Brad sighs in defeat and nods at Laura. Amy arrives at that point and Brad fetches her from the door and leads her to the dining room. She sits down on the other side of Laura and places her satchel on the floor.
“What did I miss?”
“We talked to the kids about the fight. I told Allen to hold off on a job for now until we can build more trust and I am about to discuss fixing up my old bike with Allen.” Laura says.
“You’re cool with Allen having a bike?” Amy asks in defeat. Laura motions towards Allen with a hand. Amy looks and sees that he has a glimmer in his eye and is leaning forward with a wide grin. She knows she’s lost instantly. Laura and Amy get up as Laura leads the way to the garage. Allen follows with an eager step. Brad throws his hands up with resignation and a: “WOMEN!” He decides to order pizza for dinner as it’s too late to cook.
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Allen and Amy stand side by side in the back of the garage while Laura is holding a corner of a vinyl dust cover with exaggerated showmanship. She has a devilish grin on her face and can’t wait to see Allen’s face.
“VIOLA!” She shouts as she whips the cover off. Dust momentarily obstructs Allen and Amy’s view, and Allen waves a hand in front of his face violently while Amy submits to a fit of sneezes. The dust finally clears, and Allen is speechless at the sight in front of him. A white and black motorcycle with sexy lines screams to be unleashed sits by Laura’s side and she has a look of absolute pride on her face. Allen hesitates just for a moment before he rushes to the bike and starts to run a hand over it.
“She’s gorgeous!” He lets out with joy.
“Sit on her.” Laura says with a large smile that almost makes her eyes disappear.
Allen does as he’s told and lowers his rear onto the black, leather seat. It feels like the bike was meant to be driven by him. Allen lets out a satisfied sigh as his hands trace a white, stylized starburst emblem on top of the gas tank. “Interceptor” is written in chrome cursive on the sides of the tank.
“You’re sitting on a 2002 Nova Interceptor. 781cc’s, double overhead cams, and 110 horses drive this beast. She’ll get you from 0-100 in 7.8 seconds. She was my midlife crisis.”
Allen doesn’t mention that he flew interceptor fighters, and this somehow seemed like fate. He’s in complete bliss and loses himself as he closes his eyes and imagines what it would feel like to drive it. Laura chuckles at his antics. Amy is fidgeting from foot to foot while images of ambulances and the sounds sirens fill her head. They spend more time going over the bike before Laura covers it back up and they walk into the house while Amy gives the bike under the dust cover one last, wary look.
The Summertons, Allen, and Amy sit around the dining room table as they enjoy pizza from the local pizza joint. Allen and Laura sit by each other and talk about the bike.
“Before you can ride it, you’re going to have to get fully licensed. We’ll need to overhaul her though; she’s been collecting dust for about 10 years now. Then, you’ll need to show me you can actually handle her before I cut you lose with her.” Allen nods along while Laura lays everything out. They make plans to pull her apart tomorrow as dinner continues.
“New bro, you’re actually going to ride that?” Kayla asks with wonder.
“Yep!” he responds back while inspecting the slice of peperoni pizza in his hands. He takes a bite and is glad that it resembles pizza from his universe. With that confirmed, he eagerly eats the rest.
“But…. but you’re a boy!” She exclaims
Allen stops eating to glare at Kayla and she shrinks back from it.
“So.” Is all he says before going back to eating and discussing the bike with Laura. Brad is secretly happy that Allen and Laura are bonding despite it being over a death trap. They finish up dinner and Brad walks Amy and Laura to the living room to have a conversation with cups of coffee in their hands. The girls go off to their rooms with Allen trailing behind them up the stairs.
Allen closes his door with a long-drawn-out sigh and locks it. He starts going through his new clothes and fills his closet and dresser as he folds and arranges everything. While he’s doing this, Eve speaks up.
“Allen.”
“I know….”
“We NEED that bike!”
“I know.”
“It’s perfect for us! We’ll be more mobile, and it will be easier to escape with such an agile vehicle. I think it’s only a matter of time before the government authorities discover you. Plus, she’s sexy!”
“I agree, 100% with you, Eve. That reminds me, I’m going to need documents for a job and to obtain a license.”
“As usual, I’m ahead of you! I’ve been looking for news about car accidents or other situations where only a sole boy survived in the last 5 to 10 years. I am going to build you a back story and then Amy will have a last name for you and be able to get you what we need as far as for documents.”
“Sound good Eve. Thank you.”
“Always! Want your normal wake up?”
“Please.”
“You should have seen him move in the fight. I don’t know the first thing about martial arts, but it looked like he was straight out of an action film. No hesitation and clear confidence, he was even chuckling the whole time. It looked like he could anticipate every move they could make.” Brad says as he replays the scene in the food court. Allen was in fact being helped by Eve who was giving him solutions and paths of attack during his fight. She was also cheering him on and hurling insults at his opponents, despite the fact his opponents not being able to hear them. It explained while Allen was chuckling during the fight.
“Also, his language was strange.” Brad adds almost as an afterthought.
“How so?” Amy asks.
“Like, he’s not from here? I don’t know….” Laura raises an eyebrow at this statement.
“I’m no conspiracy theorist but I’m starting to believe he’s from some government facility.” Laura says while digesting Brad’s words.
“Do you want me to remove him from your home?” Amy asks. This would complicate her plans.
“NO, the poor thing! If it is true, then he definitely needs a normal life. He defended me and fought with Kayla and Valorie by his side.” Brad says while crossing his arms.
“Well, there ya have it. If Brad feels safe with him around, then I do too. We can tell that we are going to love that boy and we will try our best to help him adjust.” Laura says as she looks at her husband with love. They say goodnight to each other after that and Amy leaves while Brad and Laura head up to bed. Brad turns and looks at Laura as they walk up the stairs with a raised eyebrow. “We’re going to discuss the bike issue. I didn’t forget.” Laura gulps at this.
The drive is peaceful while Amy makes her way through near deserted streets. Her thoughts are interrupted by her phone ringing, and she looks at the caller ID before answering through the car’s Bluetooth system.
“Yes, Colonel?”
“Agent Lynch, what’s the situation?”
“I believe that he’s the pilot that landed in the forest north of Ellington. The situation at the mall that I briefed you earlier on gives more than enough evidence. Also, his language sounds like someone who isn’t from here.”
“I agree. Continue to monitor and ingratiate yourself with him. You’ll remain the go to contact between us and him for the foreseeable future. Get settled in Ellington.” Agent Mira Lynch or as Allen knows her, Amy already assumed this would happen if Allen turned out to be the mysterious pilot.
“Ma’am, may I ask a question?”
“Go ahead….”
“What’s going to happen to him?”
“Do I hear concern in your voice? Be careful. Don’t get too attached to him. It’ll cloud your judgement.”
“Yes, Colonel.”
“To answer your question, nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“One, we don’t know who his people are, and we don’t want an incident on our hands with such an advanced civilization if they come to rescue him. Two, his head is filled with tech that would put our nation years ahead of the rest. Three, if we spook him, he’ll be in the wind before we know it and we confirmed that he’s more than capable. The brass thinks that it’s only a matter of time before he develops tech from wherever he’s from to cope with being stuck here. We couldn’t recover his ship as too much burned up. He has no ride.”
“That explains the bike.” Agent Lynch ponders aloud.
“Bike?”
“Yes, Laura Summerton is going to fix up her old bike for him. I think she’s trying to bribe his affections.”
The Colonel chuckles over the speakers.
“Sounds like someone misses speed. Let him. We must keep him happy.”
“But ma’am! It’s dangero….” The Colonel cuts her off.
“Heh, he’s a pilot. I’m sure he can handle it. Your mission now is to protect him and report any tech he develops to us. We are going to work up a full kit on a fake background for him so he can assimilate into life here. There’s also chatter that the Sino-Chinese have learned about the crash, and they may send operatives if they aren’t already here. I’ll insert agents into Allen’s life to help with security. You’ll retain point though. Keep me updated regularly. Also, I need the records from the hospital. Wait until after his check up and then send me the file. Good luck.” The Colonel hangs up without waiting for a response. Agent Mira Lynch sighs and continues her drive to her apartment.