Zachary's father was enraged at his son's carelessness. Even after the talk they had, Zachary still had been reckless. Fighting wasn't the solution. Especially not if he was beaten every day. Why would he do it again? Now he had to pay money they didn't have on medical bills and had to leave work to pick up his son. He was at the point where he was too mad to even yell at Zachary. So they both sat in the truck, silently driving to the hospital with their eyes fixed straight ahead.

When it was all said and done, Zachary's hand was properly braced and his father's wallet was considerably lighter. The anger was still burning, but was now more under control. Zachary was grounded for a month and was tasked with replacing every post of and enlarging the cattle enclosure by himself since they couldn't afford to hire anyone to do it now.

Zachary was just glad to still be alive.

The next day at school was different. Zachary walked in with a sore attitude and a painful cut on his side that his shirt kept irritating. Between that and his hand, it was too painful for him to put on Carl's vest, so he walked the halls ready for a revenge beating from CJ's gang. Instead, it seemed the whole school suddenly worshiped him. Everyone kept smiling at him and thanking him. Hands patted his back as he walked by and it was the first time anyone besides Carl called him by his real name. Not "Lunchbox" or "Scott". Just "Zachary". It was like going from a ghost to being a celebrity.

Finally he made it to his locker where Carl was waiting with a grin.

"So...what's it like to have people know you exist?"

Zachary glared at him sleepily. "It's too early for this."

Carl merely chuckled as he helped his friend with his locker combination.

"On a different subject, how was yesterday evening for you?"

"I'm grounded. My family is beyond upset with me. I have nearly an acre of fence to replace. Shall I continue?"

"No, I get the picture. Sorry. Didn't imagine it would go that badly."

"Right." Zachary looked over Carl for a second. Something about him was off. He was unusually chatty and had bags under his eyes. He prompted him further.

"So, you catch up everything in Math, Carl?"

"Mhm."

"Any issues?"

"Nope."

Zachary shut the locker door. "Alright, what's going on? Why are y-"

"I figured out flight."

Zachary stared at him incredulously,

"In theory, at least. And the math all works out. I welded together and fabricated half of what I needed last night. The other half I'll finish tonight."

Zachary rubbed his eyes, just now fully waking up.

"Wait... you figured out how to make a man fly?"

"Yeah. Well, glide. But glide really well and really fast really far. Otherwise we'd be talking rocket propulsion which I don't have the budget for and would be impractical if wearing it still on the ground."

"You're serious?"

"Well, yeah. I must have thought of at least a hundred methods yesterday. But this one is the most practical and most efficient."

Zachary was still in disbelief. It had only been one night! "Well, what's the method? How does it work?"

Carl smiled. "You'll have to wait until the parachute I bought online gets delivered. Then you'll see. In the meantime, I have something for you that you need to practice with."

He pulled out an odd-looking metal box with two straps from a nearby unowned locker. It looked as if someone had turned a vault into a backpack. Zachary laughed at the absurdity of it.

"It's just a prototype, okay? Only for practice. It won't look like this."

"Alright. What does it do?"

"Well... you wear it as a backpack. And when you put this..."

He casually pulled out a harpoon with a metal head and wooden shaft. Zachary stared wide-eyed.

"...in the top, it automatically arms itself. Then once the gauge here is in the blue range, you press the button on this remote and it will fire the harpoon. You need to practice wearing this, bending over, and firing it over your shoulder at a target at least fifty feet away. Make enough sense?"

"Carl... what the actual bananas is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you have a homemade harpoon gun hidden in a locker at school?"

"I made it last night and came early to school so I could stash it there. And it'll all make sense once I finish the other components."

"So this... deadly weapon you've made will allow flight?"

"Correct."

"Oh, wait! It's like a grapple, right? Carl, there's no tall buildings here. A superhero needs to be able to take off from anywhere."

"I know, I know. Just trust me for now, Zachary. It'll all make sense later."

"Zachary."

Carl and Zachary jumped at the deep voice. Being so immersed in their own conversation, they didn't realize CJ was standing behind them until he spoke. Carl jumped around in surprise and still holding the "harpoon gun", pointed it directly at CJ's head. He was still wearing his broken shades so they couldn't tell if he was surprised or not.

"Carl...murder is a heavier charge than bullying. Put the... harpoon box down."

Partially out of shock that CJ just used his real name and partially out of embarrassment for accidentally aiming it at him, Carl put the box back into the locker.

CJ turned to Zachary.

"Let's take a walk."