Airport Madness (Part 1)
Airport Madness (Part 1)
It was time for an airplane flight. Matt hated airplanes, airports, and great heights. The last irritant and fear seemed irrational. Paradoxical even. Daredevil wasn’t scared of heights. Daredevil reveled at any chance to break bounds and cross limits, to find the edge of walls only to shatter them. Both figuratively and literally. How else would he catch every fiend he crossed paths with? And avoid immanent destruction from the more clever bunches? But, Matt wasn’t Daredevil, and was susceptible to fears and phobias alike.
Airplanes and airports were a reasonable dislike. At least Matt liked to think so. There were layers upon layers of foreign sounds, invading every inch of space. Tearing down his personal zone, and destroying boundaries he preferred intact. The rattle of plane engines which screamed, the four wheels on a cart carrier that just wouldn’t shut up, and of course on top of that, hundreds of people were all talking, laughing, and even crying simultaneously. The only way he could survive would be a nice pair of headphones.
The good news: Foggy had bought him a pair. The kind with noise cancellation. At this moment in time, Matt was eternally grateful. He’d have to remember to buy a nice gift for Foggy. Something sentimental and useful.
Matt scrunched his eyebrows and pursed his lips, trying to gauge which gift would be suitable, and how Foggy would receive it. This was far more difficult than anticipated. It was one thing to be there for his friend, and spend time with him, but finding a gift that described his importance seemed nearly impossible. Foggy had been there for Matt at nearly every twist and turn of his troubles, always offering a shoulder to cry on and a strong word of advice.
Matt wanted to offer something in return.
An announcement blared through the airport, gaining quite a few listeners. It was his flight. Delayed by thirty minutes.
“Great,” Matt sarcastically hissed out, readjusting his duffle bags position. It was heavy. Probably would’ve been unbearably so if he wasn’t ‘super-powered’. It was carrying his mostly bulletproof suit, which came at a price: lightness.
Generally speaking, he could get away with it during his travels. TSA sometimes gave him weird looks, and a few eyebrow raises, but Matt always waved it off as either Avenger’s con or a sex toy. Neither garnered questions.
Matt found a seat, but the material was sticky and had a strange — yet fruity scent to it. Someone probably spilled soda on it. Or apple juice. Either was equally annoying. Time seemed to be moving far more slowly than usual. They say that’s what happens when you’re bored. Time decides to take a break, and let you suffer in a prison of silence. A sensory deprivation chamber of the mind. Matt needed a distraction or a puzzle to pull him out of it, to bring him back to the normal flow of things. Or perhaps, living in a frozen state wouldn’t be so bad.
He didn’t have any troubles or missions at the moment. Matt was just headed out of town to meet a client. Nothing more. So why was he carrying his Daredevil suit? And why did he want to rush the peace and silence, to replace it with something far more dangerous?
That’s it, Matt stood and mapped out his next course of action. The last thing he needed right now was his own thoughts, left to converse with a mirror. One of Matt’s worst nightmares would be a real sensory deprivation chamber. One with no time limit and no exit, just an echo of disappointments and failures. And then, at the center, to be faced with his own darkness and humanity. An endless pit of despair and contradictions. Now that Matt thought about it, the whole world was built on contradictions. Good and bad. Righteous and evil. White and black. Gray.
Suddenly, Matt’s headphones had died. He’d forgotten to charge them. Stupid, stupid, stupid! An overwhelming wave of noise came crashing upon him. If it was danger he wanted to pull him up from the water, then it’d smash him right back down. Contradictions.
There was a beeping sound that seemed to get increasingly louder, and it wouldn’t stop! Pounding, burning, searing. Every vibration, a sneeze. Germs. The flu, why would that person be traveling right now? They should at least be covering that sneeze if they wont wear a mask.
Another airplane started it’s engine, and Matt folded in pain, cupping his ears which both hands. A couple concerned people walked up to him, touching his back and asking if he was ‘okay’.
‘Do I look fucking okay? ’ Matt thought in his head, but instead, he spoke disconnected words. Reassuring them he was indeed fine, and that he just needed to catch a breath.
It was all too much. Matt didn’t know why he was experiencing this today. His senses were almost always under control, given the rare occasion, which was almost never this violent. Today he was back at nine years old. Graveling at powers he couldn’t understand or grasp. A reality beyond his reach.
A wall he couldn’t climb.