21 October – 1 November 2020
“But we can’t just leave Chuck trapped like this,” Jonny repeated for what Kyle estimated was the twelfth time since they had been forced to retreat from Yotan. The remaining Vanguard had spent the last several hours in Asgard, making sure that the Aesir did not pursue the fleeing Ice Giants back into their own realm, lest they suffer the same fate Logarthin and is people faced.
The Ice Giant king had sensed what was happening in his realm, and had ordered a full withdrawal, apparently thinking he could stop it if he was there in person. But within half an hour of the last giant passing back into Yotan, the mountain pass that contained the dimensional portal between the realms was nothing but a glacial wall of blue-green ice.
With Loki’s aid, Wotan sealed the gate from the Asgardian side. “Thus better to give my half-brother what aid we can in sealing in the Living Ice,” the trickster god had sighed when the job was done. Then he had taken Artemis off for a private conversation… one long overdue, Kyle suspected.
With the battle over, the lords and ladies of the Aesir were attempting to honor the Vanguard of Earth for their bravery, and the sacrifice of their comrade but, like Kyle himself, it seemed that no one was really in the mood to appreciate it; at this point they all just wanted to go home. Except maybe Jonny, who wanted to go back to Yotan to find some way of freeing his friend.
“Jonny, I know this is hard,” Kyle sighed, clapping a hand on the kid’s shoulder and gently shaking him. “We all hate it, but Totem has explained it in some detail, and I know you understand. The only thing standing between the Living Ice and Earth is Chuck’s will… and we need to respect his decision. But you know none of us will stop looking for some way to free him and still keep our world safe. Some day…”
“I know,” Jonny said, wiping a tear from his eye. “But it’s just so fucking heroic, man! Chuck’s really set the bar high for the rest off us, you know?”
Kyle laughed and had to agree. Jonny sighed again, and finally gave over, accepting the reality of the moment.
Shortly afterward Artemis reappeared with her father, and the two spoke briefly to Scion and Wotan. Then it was finally time to go home… but not before the All-Father made a pretty speech about sacrifice and courage and the everlasting glory of the eternal hero. Kyle managed to block most of it out as he concentrated on opening a portal back to Earth (curiously, it seemed less draining than did opening portals on Earth itself for some reason). When the speech was over, the Vanguard stepped through, the thanks of the Aesir still echoing in their ears.
• • • • • •
Jane groaned as she sank into her bubble bath, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. The week since the Vanguard’s return from the Asgardian beyul had been an exhausting one for the entire team. She (as Artemis) and Scion had immediately gone to Madeline Chisholm’s condo to inform her of her son’s fate before it became public knowledge. She had been… brave. But it was obvious to Jane that the news devastated her; she had emphasized several times that, while Chuck was lost to them for the moment, he wasn’t dead. There was always hope he would return. She wasn’t sure if Mrs. Chisholm was grateful for that sliver of hope, or if it just made her son’s absence more painful.
Jonny had volunteered to break the news to Chucks sort-of-girlfriend, Tori Andreas. He’d met her a time of two, and felt it would be better coming from him. Jane thought this sign of maturity was worth encouraging, and let him handle it. He’d come back from the girl’s dorm room pale and subdued, but had said she’d taken it as well as could be expected.
The public reaction, once the Vanguard released the news on Monday morning, had been shocked dismay. Chilz had certainly been the most publicly visible member of the team, both in costume and as Chuck, and the darling of the media — the outpouring of grief was huge and heartfelt. Makeshift memorials to Chilz began to appear almost immediately in Defiance Plaza, and the news coverage was almost non-stop the first couple of days.
But the attitude and been far too funeral for Jane’s liking, to the point that she bent her rule about not speaking directly to the press. She’d agreed to do an interview with Meg Halcyon, in which she emphasized that Chilz had made a great sacrifice for the world, but that HE WASN’T DEAD! Honor his sacrifice, certainly, but keep the hope alive that he would return one day. It was the day after her interview appeared in the Oregonian that “Chilz Lives!” graffiti began appearing on walls, overpasses, and billboards around the city. Memorials to Chilz also popped up in every Salt & Straw in the city, but they at least focused on his heroism and the belief that he would eventually return… Jane suspected Tori’s hand in that.
The team, both the first string and the reserve members, had had a hard time dealing with Chilz’ absence. Artemis had agreed with Scion that a private party to let everyone vent their feelings was a good idea, despite her misgivings about it turning into a wake. It had gone well, though, and seemed to be the catharsis everyone needed. And since neither ordinary crime nor supervillany rested in the face of grief, work soon forced everyone to begin moving on after that — although the miscreants of Astoria were certainly feeling the weight of the heroes’ grief.
For Jane most of her own down time and been spent processing both her sadness for Chuck and her feelings about finally finding her father. The latter was not what she had expected… she’d had a over a century and a half to build up a story in her own head, and however much she’d always known intellectually it was just a story of her own devising, that knowledge didn’t reach the deep-down emotional heart of the matter. She had spent many years learning to control her emotions, and was very much out of practice in dealing with such turmoil within herself.
Still, the years of training in Shambhala had given her the tools, and she was beginning to regain her mental and emotional balance, to reconcile the joy, the anger, and the confusion. In truth, the long conversation she’d had with Loki in Asgard before returning home had gone a long way to reconciling her to the surprising revelation of her heritage. She’d been somewhat taken aback at the depth of the anger she’d discovered in herself, something she’d never really acknowledged in all the years of thinking about her mysterious missing parent.
They had gone off from the others, into the snowy evergreen forest near Wotan’s tower, for their talk. It was cold and quiet, and at least the trees were normal sized, unlike the giant trees of lost Yotan. As soon as they were out of earshot, she’d found her first question was actually an accusation.
“Why did you abandon my mother?” she’d demanded. “She truly loved you, and even after 18 years I think she still held out hope that you’d return!”
“I am sorry, Jane,” Loki had sighed. “I never wished to hurt Katherine, for I did care for her deeply, in my own way. But I learned long ago about the pain and futility of loving a mortal too deeply. Have you not, in your own long life, learned the heartbreak of watching someone you love grow old and wither and die, while you go on unchanged?”
“I… have, actually,” Jane had been forced to admit. “And I’ve put up walls, sometimes, to keep people from getting too close because of that. But I’ve also learned to tear down those walls at need, or else I think I would have gone mad with the loneliness.”
“Ah, but you’re young yet,” Loki had shrugged. “The length of my own long life so far… well, let us just say that even with the varying passage of time between Earth and Asgard, I am several thousand years older than you, daughter. Loneliness is a powerful factor for immortals, to be sure, but so is boredom… which is why I have often traveled back to Earth, and is how I met your mother.
“I long ago learned that worse than boredom is the grief of loss. With mortals, it is better to share a brief moment, in the flower of their youth and power — but leave while the bloom is fresh. Thus do I remember them in my mind for all my own long years. Bittersweet perhaps, but the alternative is wholly bitter, I assure you.
“Even worse than romantic love cut short, though, is the pain of watching your children grow old, fade, and die in their turn. We immortals are not terribly fertile – a good thing, in truth, or both your world and all the mythic realms would be overrun with our offspring! It is an even rarer thing that, when we do conceive, that we should we pass on our immortality!
“And yet it has happened with you, Jane.” He’d given her another wondering look, and reached out as if to caress her cheek. But her look, perhaps, had brought him up short, and he’d only smiled ruefully. “Of course, it might well be the Salomani blood of my own mother that was passed on and is the source of your own long life. Whatever the reason, I am glad of it! But I swear to you, I had no idea I had left such a gift as you with Katherine when we parted.”
“If you had known?” Jane asked. “Would you have returned?”
Loki hadn’t replied immediately, and they’d resumed their walk. “I cannot say for sure,” he’d finally admitted. “But given that I would have assumed you were mortal… probably not, for the reasons I have already explained.”
They’d walked on in silence for several minutes then, Jane lost in her own memories. She’d eventually decided not to reveal a particularly painful part of her own past to her father, at least not yet. But his own story did give her real insight into what she ad to admit were… understandable reasons for his absence in her life. She’d been through it once herself, after all, and doubted she’d willingly do so again. She changed the subject.
“So, I ran into you in the early years of the 20th century,” she’d said, giving him one of her half-smiles. “It was in a crowd in Manilla, you were in an American military uniform. Did you hear me call your name? That is, the name you’d given Mother, Spartan.”
That had caught him by surprise, and he’d actually laughed. “Manilla? Oh, the Spanish American War, yes? That was an interesting one… but no, daughter, I did not hear you, I’m afraid. I assure you, I would not have ignored the call of a beautiful woman at any time in my life!”
“Eww! I’m your daughter!”
“Yes, yes,” he’d laughed even harder then. “But I wouldn’t have known that, now would I? And I assume you would have enlightened me before I embarrassed myself too much, no? Your are a beautiful woman, Jane Artemis Valentine.
“But what were you doing in Manilla then? And what of your mother? Did Katherine have the long and happy life I’d always wished for her?”
That had quashed Jane’s growing humor, and after a moment’s contemplation, she decided to tell him the truth. The whole truth. It had been almost a century since she’d last told the story of her final night at Tulip Hill Hall, and all that followed. Loki’s smile had vanished with the news of Katherine’s murder and the massacre by the old oak, and he was entirely subdued by the time she brought her tale up to the present.
“I am so sorry, daughter,” he had said at last. “Katherine deserved so much more, and so did you. But I am glad that you have at last found your way to some balance and happiness in your life. I think discovering the road to Shambhala was the best thing that could have happened to you… nonetheless, I am deeply sorry that I was not there for you, all the times when you needed me most.”
“I’m coming to understand that it might not really be entirely your fault, Loki… father. And I did manage to come to a place where I am… satisfied with my life.”
“Jane, you have become a remarkable woman, and any man, mortal or immortal, would be proud to call you daughter.” Loki’s green eyes sparked with a sudden fire, and a sly grin quirked his lips. “I may have missed the first 150 years of your life, but you may be sure I’ll be around to see the next 150!”
Finally feeling the tension beginning to melt away in the hot water and bubbles, Jane sighed and smiled herself. She had no idea how her father, a trickster god of mischief and chaos, would fit into her life going forward, but she was willing to bet it would be… interesting… if nothing else.
• • • • • •
The week that followed was a busy one for the Vanguard, both professionally and personally.
Jonny, inspired by Artemis’ discovery of her long-unknown father, continued to pursue the mystery of his own parentage, helped greatly by the notebook Brittany had given him. He had forgotten about it for a time, in the rush of events and emotions surrounding Chuck’s sacrifice, but as life returned to what passed for normal he finally pulled it from his safe and began to really study it.
McGreggor had clearly been obsessed with discovering who his wife had been cheating on him with, and the notebook seemed as much a journal of his wounded ego as it was a record of his investigation. Brittany had been concerned about Jonny’s feelings reading her father’s rants and slurs against his mother, but in fact they had little impact on him. Sloan had always been upfront about her infidelity, and the reasons for it — he was morally certain her version of their marriage was a lot closer to the truth than Mike McGreggor’s rage-fueled victim fantasies.
In amongst the ravings the man did manage to lay out the steps he took in tracing his now ex-wife’s steps in the year before Jonny’s birth. Most of his findings were dead ends, a few were ambiguously inconclusive, and none provided the answers he (and now Jonny) sought. Until the last entry, or at least the last remaining entry — several pages had been torn out after it. The last remaining entry referred to a coffee shop in Chinatown on New Year’s Eve, and seemed as innocuous as everything before it, ending in mid-sentence about Sloan having met… someone… there.
In frustration, Jonny stared at the blank page that followed, and the torn edges of the three missing pages between that might well have held the answers he needed. He was considering what high-tech solutions Kyle and JJ might bring to bear on the problem, and even what magical solutions Cooper might have up his sleeve, when inspiration struck.
Rummaging in the desk draw in his seldom-used office, with a triumphant cry he pulled out a pencil stub. He’d seen this on TV a million times… could it possibly work in real life? Bending over the blank page of the notebook, tongue held between his teeth in concentration, Jonny gently rubbed the graphite over the paper. To his amazement, faint traces of the words from the previous, missing page actually began to appear!
They were faint, and far from complete (McGreggor seemed to vary the pressure of his pen based on the intensity of his feelings), but they were something. Heart racing, Jonny had a sudden intense pang of regret that Chuck wasn’t here to appreciate this… pushing the emotion down, he strained his eyes to make the indentations yield meaning. In the end, he could only be sure of a handful of words:
”…nip bastard…threaten (or threatened, it was hard to be sure) my… don’t nee(d) this shit… deserves the… fuck(ing?) yakuza! …drop the…
Fourteen words, but it was only one of them that focused his attention. If McGreggor had discovered his ex-wife had taken up with a member of the Yakuza, and that organization had threatened him for pursuing the matter, it would certainly explain why he suddenly dropped his hunt for answers. And it jibed so perfectly with what Jonny himself had always believed…
Still, Oshiro Tatsuo had sworn that he was not Jonny’s father… but of course there were a lot of other members in the Yakuza, most of them men. Still, Oshiro-san had also offered to take a paternity test to put the question to rest once and for all. In the turmoil of the last month Jonny hadn’t given much thought to the idea, but now…
He still had Oshiro Mariko’s phone number, and was pleasantly surprised to find she didn’t seem to mind his call. Once he’d explained what he wanted, however, she became distinctly cooler. Yikes! Did I just blow my chances with her? She agreed to set up a meeting with her father, and hung up. Yeah, maybe I should’ve called sooner, and without needing a favor. Oh well…
Oshiro Tatsuo met with Jonny the next day in the businessman’s penthouse home. They were alone except for Mariko-san. “Once we have settled this question to your satisfaction, Jonny-san, if you wish to pursue the matter of your true parentage… I will lend what aid I may. This journal of your mother’s former husband is indicative, but hardly conclusive, and it has been almost 25 years. Still, while of course I have no connection with the Yakuza, questions may yet be asked in certain quarters on your behalf…”
”I appreciate your offer, Oshiro-san,” Jonny said, bowing before stepping forward to swab the offered cheek. He was shocked to find that the man was an inch shorter than himself – he’d always thought of him as taller, somehow. “As we agreed, I am keeping this entirely between ourselves, and I’m calling in a favor to go through back channels at ASTRA Labs in New Atlantis. They’ll have no reason to suspect either of our involvement, and my contact has agreed to destroy the sample once the results are generated.”
”I trust you are a man of honor, Jonny-san, or I would not have agreed to this test, despite the debt I owe you. I am certain all will unfold as you have promised. Now we await the results — although I already know what they must show — and the discharging of my debt. My daughter will show you out.”
As they waited at the elevator, Jonny cleared his throat, then turned to look at his beautiful escort. “Mariko-san, I was wondering, um, if you would like to join me for dinner some evening? My treat, of course.”
Mariko raised one perfect eyebrow. “A date, Jonny-san? Before you know for certain if I am actually your half-sister? How… outré!”
Jonny’s face blazed red, and he suddenly seemed to lose the ability to speak coherently. “No! I mean… I didn’t think about… that is, I—“
There was a ding and Mariko put a hand on Jonny’s chest pushing him gently backward into the waiting elevator car. “Ask me again when your test results come back… assuming they come back as my father predicts, of course.” A faint smile pulled at her lips as the elevator doors closed, cutting off his stuttered response…
––––––
In the press of events JJ had almost forgotten about the break in at his lab, despite the disturbing connection it seemed to have to his Atlantean roots. The matter was brought back to the fore, however, two weeks after the Vanguard’s return from Asgard. While the team was dealing with a very public rampage by Captain Bluebeard and his cyborg pirates in Seahaven, his penthouse condo had been broken into and ransacked.
No witnesses or security footage this time to identify the culprits, but JJ was morally certain that it was the same blue-skinned Atlantean bastards who had raided his lab at Apergy Systems. As in that break-in, nothing had been taken, although they had managed to open his ultra-secure safe… which bespoke a technical skill beyond anyone but governments or major criminal organizations. He was going to have to do something about this, but beyond demanding answers from the Atlantean embassy in New York he wasn’t sure what that should be…
––––––
Kyle and Nora were just getting out of a matinée performance of the Astoria Philharmonic, when Quanta’s Aztech WristComp® quietly buzzed with the Vanguard alert. Nora sighed, but gave him a wry smile. “Well, at least they waited until the concert was over.”
Kyle acknowledged this with a helpless shrug, and tapped his earbug. “Q1 here, what’s up Dispatch.”
“Dispatch Q1, sorry to bother you on your day off, sir, but we’ve got a possible Alpha-3 situation going on. The whole team is advised to meet on site at Cathedral Park on Desdemona Island. It seems a giant, um, earth boring machine has burst out of the ground in the middle of a big photo-shoot going on there… and, um, some sort of mole-men seem to be swarming out of the hole as well.”
“Mole-men?” Quanta said sharply. “Can you give me a better description – or better yet, an image?”
“Sorry sir, this is very preliminary, intel is still coming in. Will relay more details as we receive them, but Captain Astor advises you should proceed with all due speed to the incursion site, sir!”
“Well, it looks like our late lunch at Pietro’s is off honey,” Kyle said regretfully, taking up Nora’s hands and kissing them. “Duty calls!”
“So go answer it,” she laughed. “And your late lunch may be off, but I plan to enjoy Pietro’s famous lasagna at a table for one, thank you very much. You’re still treating, though.”
How’d I get so damn lucky? Kyle thought happily, as he jogged back up the stairs to Pamella Hall to find a secluded place for Quanta to open a portal. Life is pretty damn good… and I just hope it stays that way for awhile…