Kenny had always wanted to be a hero. Being invited to the Pantheon and living with real superheroes in Olympus made the next step of taking villains to Tartarus seem inevitable. The reality was not what he imagined.
The dorms that housed the rest of the mutants were some of the only parts of Olympus left unscathed. They had to listen from inside their rooms as destruction reigned around them and wade through wreckage when they were evacuated.
Garrick himself was afflicted with an injury that even Aaliyah Folious could not heal: it was like a curse was put on his spine that prevented him from using his power—and his legs.
Tartarus didn’t fare any better. The control center that they were gathered in was salvaged to the barest functionality. Gashes still scarred the machinery and walls. Outside, the airport infrastructure and defenses were torn up, too. The control tower was knocked down, and the runway was ripped up.
UnderDog was injured fighting some monster and had to jump into the lake to survive. Underneath, the prison got the worst of it. Kenny wasn't shown it but the body bags that were still being shipped out were evidence enough. All the prisoners were gone, so they just sent in clean-up crews.
All of this happened while Kenny was being carried up the mountain. On the sidelines, useless as ever.
“Kenny,” started WhiteOut, “I am the one who allowed your brother to be taken by Immortal. The other day, he was involved with the attack on Tartarus.”
WhiteOut lost all color from her voice and mannerisms, the prodigious girl-wonder slipped away to reveal the automaton underneath. Kenny did not know how to react to that sudden information and sat dumbfounded in his chair.
“Everyone, I was the one who kept you in the dark about the full extent of my suspicions on Tyler Deimos. Garrick was informed, but I had him keep quiet. I wanted to control the situation as best as I could, even if it meant working with the enemy to maintain peace. I thought I could at least buy time for us to prepare. I was wrong, and I take full responsibility for my mistakes. I’m telling you all this because going forward, we’ll need to work together with full sincerity, for the sake of our country.”
After letting the information sink in, Kenny knew precisely how to answer.
“Was all that to say you’re sorry!?” shouted Kenny as he rose from his seat, “people died because you kept secrets, and you’re asking us for sincerity?”
“You’re right,” WhiteOut stated.
“You let my brother get kidnapped and turned into a villain! What else did you do? Was letting Delsin join them also part of the plan?”
“I let your brother be kidnapped because of his instability and criminality. I let him go in exchange for having you. I also used Immortal as an agent against mutants held by other organizations. Both plans were cut short. Delsin was a result of jurisdictional conflict getting in the way, but I still used the opportunity to learn more about our enemy’s capabilities. Even in defeat, they now understand why we should be the ones to handle mutant activity.”
Kenny wanted to continue but was distracted by Aaliyah’s hand on his shoulder.
“You have every right to be upset. You’re the most innocent member among us. But if you are mad at WhiteOut, then you should be cross with me and Hannah as well: we both kept our relationship and knowledge relating to Deimos hidden.”
“Yeah, but you guys would have gotten in trouble. She’s the one who conspired behind our backs. She’s why everything fell apart.”
“No,” said Garrick, leaning forward in his wheelchair, “I was the one who sent Hannah away that day. I told myself it was part of the plan, but it was really because I did not trust her. Because I wanted to prove something. To prove that I could do it myself. If she had been there to begin with, they would never have made it to Tartarus, and I wouldn’t be in this wheelchair. I failed. Now… now everyone else will pay the price for it.”
Garrick hung his head low. Kenny was taken aback by the sight of the great hero so dejected and darted his eyes around the room. Hannah was just as uncomfortable as he was.
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“Kenny is right,” said Captain Force, “Whatever the motivation or reasoning, even with what you did or didn’t know, you both put your own goals over others lives. Did you even speak with Kenny’s parents?”
What’s he bringing up my parents for? Is he some kind of camp counselor? thought Kenny.
“They understood that this is part of what it means to be a hero,” said WhiteOut.
“Fine,” Max sighed, “but if we want to move forward, we should focus on the problem in front of us.”
“Then let’s discuss the details of the last attack.
First, their core troops have access to unknown equipment. These ‘immortals’ have armor that gives them enhanced physicality and weapons that leave molten slag to invalidate our armor. We collected both; they are both living organisms. On top of that, all of them have mutant abilities. It’s not much, but combined with the equipment, they can output a disproportionate amount of force.
Second, how they project that force, I believe the secret to their teleportation is glass. All of the known entry and exit points involved glass.
Third, we have seen the powerful mutants they have at their disposal. Todd Nguyen brought this entire island to its knees with controlled heat. Delsin Rowe has rapidly developed his control over earth as well. There’s the flying, blue monster with camouflage and the bone-armored golem. I engaged the one that can create up to three clones of himself. I mentioned teleportation. Another is likely to be interfering with radio waves, based on Garrick's description. Then we have a pain in the butt that controls shards of metal while flying. That one can wipe out whole bases in an instant.
Finally…”
Max felt WhiteOut’s gaze before the tug on his shirt. To his side was a rugged little girl with sharp teeth and a girl that clutched a frostbitten alligator plush in her arms.
“Did I not deserve a mention?” asked Immortal from under his helmet, “I thought I was more impressive than that.”
“Finally, we have the other pain in the butt. But even with all that, they still ran away from GalvanGal,” WhiteOut crossed the room to stand before him, “well, Immortal, what was this lesson about? Since teaching is so important to you.”
“This lesson was about dealing with sudden, unknown variables. The blue monster is Anthony the Chupacabra. The bone golem is Philip Benz. Four-Leaf makes the clones. Lady Teumess jams your communications. Iron Angel is the pain you think he is. You already know Todd. The teleporter… well, unlike the rest of them and the rest of you, they are not one of my students so I’ll leave their name off the attendance sheet.”
“And what did you do to Garrick?”
“I placed a hex on his spine. Aaliyah could have broken it if she wasn’t so weak. Back to my students, Four-Leaf, did you know he could only make one clone when he started? It was just of his own body. Then he could make three clones. Then he could clone what he was holding. Thanks to this experience,” he stood between the two little girls with him and put his hands on their shoulders, “he can even clone other people, to a limited degree. That’s growth.”
“Who are these two here then?”
“Aaliyah, Hippo, this is Lanying and this is Letiche. I wanted to introduce my two new favorite girls to two of the most important women in my life. They’re gifted, just as much as you two were. This time, I won’t fail them..”
Aaliyah’s brow and lips curled in disgust, and Hannah’s mouth was ajar, as they looked down at those familiar little girls.
“You’re enjoying this,” sneered Aaliyah.
“Of course I am.”
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Angel, Delsin, Teumess, Philip, and Todd had gathered in Chen’s teleporter testing site. Chen herself was reading a book to Letiche while Delsin wrestled bloody with Lanying. The rest were at the BattleMace 50k table when Four-Leaf and Uncle Deimos finally arrived. Letiche pushed herself out of Chen’s lap and ran over to grab onto Uncle’s coat.
“Done with the parent’s conference?” asked Angel.
“I hope so, even with the ceremony, I still felt that one,” answered Four-Leaf. Uncle knelt to hug Letiche and stroke her hair. She never spoke a word, but the way she held her arms around Uncle said it all. Delsin got up from the ground.
“Hey uh, sorry for cocking it up, twice out there,” started Delsin.
“Mistakes happen,” said Uncle.
“Oh sweet, nothing to worry about then,” Delsin went back at it with an elbow drop on Lanying.
“Hey, uh, Uncle,” said Philip, “GalvanGal—”
“Hippo.”
“Right, Hippo, she almost killed me. I just got lucky she didn’t reach deep enough to tear my kidney out. But she seriously tried to kill me!”
“Of course she did. You were an enemy. I hope you didn’t expect this to be easy, especially when I trained her. Nothing worth doing is easy, that’s why we take the hard missions,” Uncle stood, but Lanying still clung to his coat, “Understand.”
“Oh, okay, yeah. I hear you.”
“If we’re just spitting here, you said that WhiteOut was a clone right? Like Four-Leaf?” asked Todd.
“She’s more like a familiar if it helps you think of it that way: she’s projecting an image that can shift and reform itself. That’s why it doesn't disintegrate when it got damaged like Four-Leaves. Either way, the only way to stop that kind of power is to kill the host; anything else is a waste of effort.
You all did well enough, but don’t get overconfident. The cornered animal bucks hardest before it's broken, and over the next few months, maybe years, we’re going to corner the rest of the world until they acquiesce. Until then, even after then, stay sharp.”