Hybrid Earth: Volume 1

Issue 5: Ira Kelly - Before

Ira Kelly was a criminal. He knew this and honestly, didn't give a shit about it. Why work your ass off from 9 to 5 every freaking day of your life? You just slowly kill yourself day in and day out. It was much easier to just take what others have. All you have to do is watch them a little and then hit them when you know they won't be home. Easy as pie. That's what he thought back then. Back before he hit the wrong place. He had quite the big score from that guy, but that guy also knew all the right people. Before he even knew what was going on, the police were on his heels and snagged him trying to get out of the city not two days after that big score. He spent five years in the slammer for that one. He spent nearly the first three years fantasizing about all the different ways he was going to hurt the rich son of a bitch that really put a fire in the cops' collective asses to find and arrest him.

Oscar Thorne.

God, he hated that motherfu...

But no. The last two years of his stint, he really spent working on himself and came to realize that it was his own fault that he was in prison. He couldn't keep blaming others for his stupid mistakes.

It was that attitude, really, that was how he got himself released on parole. It wasn't even an act like so many others he knew. He really did want to change. Not just because it would keep him out of prison, but because he truly wanted to be a better person. It was a drastic change, sure, but also...inevitable, he supposed.

"Yo, Ira!" A voice was hailing him, and he looked up. He was walking on the sidewalk, heading toward his job at the factory. He'd gotten the job as part of a prison program. He thought he would hate every aspect of it but found that he enjoyed it there. He liked the physical part of the work a lot, but it was the people that really made it worthwhile. He thought they would instantly hate him because of his background, but (weirdly enough), they didn't. They were all super nice to him and he quickly became good friends with almost all his co-workers. It was unexpected, to say the least. He thought he would instantly hate everything about having to work. The fact that he not only liked his job, but loved it, was a weird 180° turn he never would've seen coming.

"How's it going Gerald?" Ira asked.

Gerald was a squat man who was an incessant talker. He'd seen Ira and instantly latched on to the bigger man from day one. He talked and talked and talked to Ira, not even caring that Ira didn't talk back, for the first three or so weeks since Ira started there. Eventually, Ira broke down and talked back. It was to tell Gerald to go screw himself, true, but at least it was talking. Gerald, not even close to being scared off by Ira's rude and scary attitude, pressed on. He invited Ira to get drinks at the bar, go to the mall, play laser tag, check out the local Dave & Busters, and more. Ira turned him down nearly every time, but Gerald wasn't quitting so he eventually gave in and decided to shut the guy up and go to the bar with him. He had sodas but Gerald pounded several beers and just sat there talking his ear off. Ira, despite himself, eventually engaged in the man's conversation when Gerald decided to express his love for the Marvel universe (something Ira could definitely get behind as he was a closeted Marvel super fan himself).

Before either one knew it, it was last call and the bar was closing.

That first visit to the bar had been nearly six months ago and Ira often looked back on it with a weird sense of fondness. For the first time in his life, he felt that things were...good. He'd never had anything like that sensation before and quickly realized how much he craved it. It was a new addiction for him but a much safer one.

Ira shook himself out of his thoughts as Gerald got closer to him.

"You ready for the day? I heard we got a big quota we gotta meet today. Big bosses upstairs got their panties in a twist over something and now us lil' guys are bout to pay the price for it." Gerald glanced up at the second-floor windows where the executive offices were located.