Gothoplis

Here is our story. Take it as you may. It is a story of the city of Gothopolis and the heros and villiansof everyday that make up the city. We heros aren't anything special. Take our story as a grain of salt.
To begin with, is one who would wish to fight. To end, is one who would wish o love. Both heros, and both just going through their days.

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Faster than a speeding shopping cart, more ferocious than a tiger cub, with the power to leap over the wettest puddles, scale the tallest picket fence, and generally infer the mood a person is in by their facial expression, is Zed. His motto; when there’s a villain to fear, I’ll kick him in the rear. We find our hero at his apartment above a local deli in the City of Gothopolis. He is eating a breakfast of frosted mini-wheats (the breakfast of champions) and buttered toast while reading the morning paper. Zed’s sidekick, Bonkers, sits at his side, panting, waiting for the last bits of his master’s cereal. Zed shakes his head at the morning’s newspaper.
“You see that, Bonkers?” He turns the paper so Bonkers can see it. A headline reads Police Capture Serial Cat Burglar: City in Awe. “It should be me that they’re all in awe of. I helped capture that burglar tons more than they did. Sure, I helped the guy a little by holding his tools before the police got there, but that’s only because I didn’t realize he was a burglar. Burglars always have so many more high-tech gadgets than that. But hey, they wouldn’t have gotten the guy if I hadn’t tripped the alarm. That’s all I’m saying.” Zed turns the page and sees the headline Uproar Over Masked Stranger. A picture of Zed lying on the ground in his Masked Stranger outfit while a man with a gun runs away sits among the article. The caption underneath the picture reads, “public hero, or public zero?”
Zed sighs. “You know what life is?” he asks Bonkers.
“Ruff,” says bonkers as he wagged his tail.
“That’s right, Buddy. Rough.”
Bonkers moves in closer and licks his master’s hand.
Just then, a knock sounds loudly on the door. After cursing under his breath, Zed answers the door. His arch enemy and landlord, Mr. Biggs, stands on the other side. Zed greets him and Mr. Biggs takes the cigar from his mouth to talk. “Let’s cut to the chase, Smalls, this month’s rent’s overdue, last month’s rent’s overdue, and every time I come to talk to you about it you make up some lame excuse to deal with it later.”
Zed reaches for his hat. “Sorry Mr. Biggs, but I was just going out, could this wait until later possibly?” Zed tries to leave, but Mr. Biggs won’t budge from the doorway.
“No way, Smalls, you ain’t getting out that easy.” He stands in the door smoking his cigar, and Zed can’t help but notice the way his oversized stomach protrudes over his jeans from under his dingy white t-shirt.
Zed clears his throat. “I’m very sorry Mr. Biggs, but I was supposed to meet someone for lunch. I’m already a half hour late, and she’ll be waiting.”
Mr. Biggs smiles, showing his nicotine stained teeth. “Well you’ll just have to tell the lady that you couldn’t be there on account of not paying your rent. I’m staying on this very spot until I get it.”
Zed is almost mesmerized by the cigar moving up and down along with Mr. Biggs’ words. When he snaps out of the trance, Zed sighs. “All right, just wait here and I’ll get my check book.” He closes and chains the door, then grabs his satchel and jacket. After opening the kitchen window, he calls to Bonkers who comes trotting to his master. In one movement, Zed leaps over the stove and through the window right behind it onto the fire escape outside. Bonkers follows.
His work done, Zed whistles as he makes his way down the fire escape. He has never liked the stocky little Italian man known as Mr. Biggs. All that man ever did was complain, smoke, and sleep. Zed prefers the sleeping Mr. Biggs to any other, but even so, he hates everything about Mr. Biggs, his bad comb-over, his annoying way of talking, and mostly his cigars. Whenever Mr. Biggs came into Zed’s apartment, he would leave a smell of cigars and sweat that wouldn’t go away for days.
But Zed is free now without a care in the world on one of the most beautiful spring days the city of Gothopolis has had this year. He has not lied to Mr. Biggs, and is heading to his favorite restaurant, Waldo’s, to meet a girl for lunch. The girl’s name is Nora, and Zed knows her from his job at the local movie theater. As he walks, he takes in the day. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the people are running around like they are late for something, which most of them probably are. It is a beautiful day for fighting crime, and that is just what Zed plans on doing later tonight. Zed smiles at the thought of his costume sitting in the satchel at his hip and the matching costume for Bonkers. Nobody on the street knows that Zed is the Masked Stranger, and he likes it that way. After all, a superhero should always protect his secret identity.
Zed catches the eye of a particularly good looking woman and smiles even bigger. She gives him a look of disgust and turns her gaze away. He has never been very good with the ladies, and covers his eyes with his hat in embarrassment. As usual, his people skills don’t do him very much good, but do not fear. Our hero will prove himself an excellent crime fighter. Zed continues to walk down the street with his eyes down, Bonkers happily trotting at his side.
Finally, he comes to Waldo’s. Since Waldo’s doesn’t allow animals in the diner, Zed carefully ties Bonkers outside around a parking meter. Bonkers happily wags his tail. He would wait for years for Zed to come out of that diner if he needed to.
Zed walks alone into the diner, with a spring in his step, whistling the “Colonel Bogey March”. He sees Nora sitting in a booth and walks over to her in time with the song. Nora, upon hearing him, turns around and smiles. The end of the song comes at the exact moment he sits down across from her.
Nora smiles at him. “You timed that perfectly, now didn’t you?”
Zed just chuckles and stares at the table.
The waiter comes and takes their order. As they wait for their food, Zed and Nora talk about work and all of the crazy characters that they see when giving out the tickets for movies. They then begin to talk about the movies themselves. As she talks about her favorite romantic comedies, he laughs and chimes in with how wonderful the acting was, how the ending brought tears to his eyes, and how the music was just wonderful. He hates romantic comedies and thinks that they don’t really have any point, but doesn’t mention that once.
Whenever Nora talks, all he can pay attention to is the way she smiles and her big brown eyes. Usually at work she wears her hair in a pony-tail, but today she is wearing it down. He loves the way her bangs flip off to the side. She doesn’t seem to notice how Zed stares at her and just keeps on talking. Since he only halfway hears the questions she’s asking, he decides to answer in a general way.
“Yeah, I love everything that guy says. He tells the best jokes,” he says.
She wrinkles her nose. “Zed, I was talking about when Johnny Depp’s character died in his most recent movie. Have you even been listening?”
Zed clears his throat, and the waiter comes with the food. By the time the waiter is done distributing their food, Nora has forgotten about Zed’s embarrassing comment. She takes a bite out of her sandwich, looks up and wrinkles her nose. She is looking over Zed’s shoulder. “Geeze, that guy behind you has been looking at me funny the whole time I have been here. Even after you came and sat down, he’s been creepily staring.”
Zed turns around to check the guy out. He is average height, wearing a black leather jacket, and drinking what looks like coffee. The fact that his gaze is more lecherous than threatening gives Zed the impression that he isn’t a very tough guy. Also, he doesn’t like the way the letch is looking at Nora.
He turns back to her. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of him.”
“Oh, no, Zed. That’s okay. I just –“
Zed makes his way over to the man looking at Nora, and when he gets there, the man just changes his gaze and continues to drink. After a long silence where Zed and the man stare at each other, Zed decides to address the issue.
“Have you been looking at that lady over there?”
The man takes a sip of his drink. “What if I have?”
“I’d just like you to know that she doesn’t appreciate it, and neither do I.”
“What? What’s not to like.” The goon cups his hand around his mouth. “Isn’t that right, Sweetheart?”
Nora scowls and yells back, “I’m nobody’s sweetheart, asshole,” and sticks up her middle finger.
The goon sneers. “Maybe I don’t care what you or the pretty lady over there thinks.” He stands up and puts his hands in his jacket pocket. Zed realizes that the man is a good five inches taller than him.
Even so, Zed stands his ground and narrows his gaze. “Well.” He folds his arms over his chest. “I suggest you stop.”
The man folds his own arms and pushes his hat away from his forehead. “And what are you going to do about it, small fry? Take me on?”
“If I have to, yes.”
The man snickers and, when he stops, whistles to his two friends that appear at his sides. “Small fry, meet Jack and The Crusher.”
Jack is about Zed’s height and has a cocky smile on his face. The Crusher stands about 6’4” and scowls from under a full head of messy blonde hair.
Zed swallows. “The Crusher? What kind of name is that?”
“What do you think?” says Jack.
Zed laughs nervously. He looks back at Nora for support, who just sits in awe with her mouth wide open.
Our valiant hero knows that he must think fast to save the reputation of his precious Nora, but doesn’t know how. When he turns back to the three thugs, he notices the coffee mug on the table. On an impulse he takes the mug and throws the remaining coffee in the face of the lecherous creep. The man cries out and clutches his face in pain while Jack and The Crusher look for napkins to help him out, and Zed takes the opportunity to run. He goes to the booth, throws some money on the table for the meal, grabs Nora, and zips out of the diner. In the nick of time, he is able to unleash his furry friend. Bonkers follows as they run away.
A block down, they stop to catch their breath. It appears that Zed is victorious, the second victory of the day. It is a good day for Zed.
Nora laughs. “That is the most fun I have ever had at Waldo’s. You sure showed that guy, didn’t you?”
Zed is entranced by the way her face lights up when she smiles. He gathers up all the courage he has and takes Nora’s hand. “Would you like to go out some other time? Maybe tomorrow night for dinner?”
Nora smiles even bigger. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot.”
“Great! So, pick you up at seven tomorrow then?”
Nora nods and gives a shy smile.
At the moment, Nora is the most beautiful that she has ever looked to Zed. Her brown hair glows in the late morning light. He can even see the beauty in her eyes, which seem to be a reflection of everything wonderful and good in the world. Caught up in the moment, he moves in to kiss her.
When suddenly, a shout comes from down the street.
“You’re dead, Dipshit!”
They both whirl toward the call. It is the voice of the evil villain from the diner with his two thugs. He is running to catch Zed, despite the fact that he looks ridiculous with a coffee-stained white t-shirt. His face is beat red from the hot coffee, and his teeth gnash in an animalistic snarl.
Zed turns to Nora and grabs her by the shoulders. “Sorry, Doll. I’ve gotta lose these thugs. See you tomorrow.”
Our hero plants a quick peck on the cheek of the lovely lady, and turns. “Come on, Bonkers.” With cat-like reflexes, he dashes down the street and turns into an ally. Bonkers at his side.
Despite his awesome powers of elusiveness, his detour is not enough to confuse the thugs and they follow him down the ally. The Masked Stranger knocks down a garbage can before he exits the other end of the ally, looking back to see if his enemies are following.
As he turns out of the ally, he collides with woman carrying two full bags of groceries. Zed and the woman fall and the groceries fly into the air. Eggs, bread, bananas, and everything else the woman was planning on consuming fall onto the ground, destroying her week’s supply of victuals. Finally, a gallon of milk breaks, spraying the white substance all over her brand new jacket. Zed too, is covered with the already souring milk, along with the gooey substance of a stray egg that landed on his head. Bonkers keeps on running, not noticing that his master has been inconvenienced.
The delay allows the villain and his goonies time to catch up, and soon the leader is picking Zed up by the collar.
“Crusher, come hold this guy.”
The Crusher holds Zed’s hands behind his back and the leader brings his fist back punch Zed.
The woman on the ground with her destroyed groceries begins to cry.
“Shut up!” yells the leader of the thugs.
The woman continues to cry.
“Jack, shut her up.”
Jack walks up to the woman and looms over her. “Shut up, lady.”
She doesn’t shut up.
“Why you crying anyways?” Jack asks.
Through sobs and sniffles she makes out the words, “Spilled milk.”
The thug about to punch Zed turns to her. “You gotta be shitting me. Hold on, Jack, I’ll take care of her myself.” He walks over to the woman and picks her up. “If you don’t shut up by the time I count to ten, you’ll be sorry.”
Zed watches helplessly, sorry that this woman got in the way. Nevertheless, there seems to be no way our hero is able to escape from the clutches of the evil Crusher.
Then suddenly, to Zed’s surprise, The Crusher cries out and lets him go. Zed takes this opportunity to run, and realizes that Bonkers is following him again. He looks back and sees The Crusher grabbing at his back side and cursing.
Zed continues to run until he comes to the nearest convenience store. The woman back there is in trouble. This is a job for the Masked Stranger!
With his powers of stealth, Zed sneaks into the store with Bonkers and weaves through the aisles to the bathroom. Inside, he changes himself and Bonkers into their outfits. Then, they dash out to save the poor woman on the street back at the scene of the crime.
At the scene, the leader of the thugs is still yelling at the woman, and she is still crying. She is back on the ground and it appears he may kill her.
“Halt, Villain!” yells Zed.
The thug takes in Zed’s black fedora, cape, and boots, his mask, and the dog at his side with matching clothes. Both hero and sidekick are covered with strategically placed garbage can lids for makeshift armor. The thug can sense an undeserved air of confidence about him, and laughs. “What are you supposed to be? Confused? Let us be you crazy fruit.”
“What is your name, Villain?”
“Jayne.”
Zed is confused. “Jane? Isn’t that a girl’s name?”
Jayne advances on him and pulls out his knife. “J-A-Y-N-E, Jayne. It’s always been a boy’s name. You’d be smart to remember that in the future.”
Zed holds up his hands. “I didn’t mean to offend you, I simply wanted to know your name so I could address you properly. Now, Jayne, I suggest you leave this woman alone, she did nothing to you.”
Jayne is now directly in front of him. “What are you gonna do about it?”
“I would rather that not happen, Jayne, but I will use sufficient force if –“ the theme from Superman begins to play. Zed digs in his pocket, creating a great deal of clanging and cursing as he does, and pulls out his cell phone.
He rolls his eyes at the number on the screen. “Sorry, I have to take this.” He angrily opens up the flip phone. “Mom? No, listen I’m kind of busy, can we talk a little later maybe.”
The voice on the other end is angry and shrill. “Oh, so now you’re avoiding your mother are you?”
“No, Ma, I’m just a little busy.”
Jayne rolls his eyes and walks back to his gang.
Zed turns away from them. His mother continues to speak. “I was just wondering when you were coming home again? Your father and I miss your cooking, Sweetie, and I would like to have your company.”
“Well I don’t know, maybe next weekend. I’ll have to see.”
“Oh, that’s no good, honey. Next weekend your father has a doctor’s appointment. His colon is acting up again.”
“I really didn’t need to know that, Ma. Besides, how can just your colon be acting up?”
“Well I’m sorry to try and let you in on our lives, Zed, I just thought you cared about your father is all.”
“Oh, Ma.”
The woman who spilled the groceries cries out.
Zed flinches. Bonkers looks at him and whimpers. “Listen, Ma, I promise I’ll call later and try to figure this out with you, maybe you could come visit even, just right now I need to take care of something.”
“What is it hun? You got diarrhea or something?”
“Ma!”
“Well, I was just wondering why you were so eager to leave.”
“Ma, I’ll talk to you later.”
He almost drops the phone as the tries to close the phone in anger.
When he turns around, the woman is crying on the sidewalk with her groceries still scattered everywhere. None of the thugs are there anymore and an older man is helping her gather what is still salvageable. The Masked Stranger runs to her aid. At a closer look, he sees her lip is bleeding.
Our benevolent hero helps her up. “Hello, Ma’am, I, the Masked Stranger, am here for your aid.”
The woman administers a slap that would send the strongest man in the world sailing across the road. “Aid my ass! Where were you two minutes ago when that thug punched me?
The hero hangs his head.
The woman starts tapping her foot. “And ten minutes ago when that idiot crashed into me and ran away?”
Zed is speechless. The Masked Stranger’s words do not seem to be working. He looks to Bonkers, who puts his paw on the woman’s leg. She pets his head, smiles, and turns back to Zed. “Cute dog.” She shakes her head and scowls again. “The only way you can help me is to go away.”
The older man helping her steps forward. “That’s probably a good idea, Son. You don’t seem like you can help any. It would probably be best if you just went on home.”
Our hero decides to take the hint. He will have to be at work in a few hours and still needs to pick up his work clothes.

We next find our hero outside his apartment door. There is a note taped to it, which reads.

Smalls,

I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Pay up your rent or you’re out of here! You have 5 days.

Cordially,
Mr. Biggs

His arch enemy strikes again!
Zed sighs. It isn’t that he doesn’t want to pay. It is simply that money has been tight lately, what with a new girlfriend and all. Not to worry, though, gentle reader. Zed is about to take on more hours at work. Soon he will be able to pay the overdue rent that he has been so neglecting. It will mean less time with Nora, and certainly less time as the Masked Stranger, but it will be useful nonetheless. Tomorrow he will talk with Mr. Biggs and pay a portion of the rent on the spot.
Crisis averted, Zed begins to whistle as he sets down his bag and changes into his work clothes. He only has half an hour to get to the theater, and it takes him usually about 20 minutes on the bus. Since he likes to be early, he is cutting it a little close. Realizing the urgency, Zed dashes to the door. Bonkers begins to follow.
“Sorry boy,” Zed says, “you have to stay here this time.”
Bonkers lets out a slight whimper and hangs his head. Zed has little time to acknowledge his companion’s sadness before he is out the door and onto the city bus that has just pulled up to the stop. Mission accomplished! He will get to work on schedule.