Not quite three years later from the end of book 1

Val sighed and leaned back in the two-hundred and fifty thousand dollar car. They had loaned it to her for free after her movie had premiered a couple of months ago. The dealership asked that she take a picture in it and that she return the car when she was done. They never said how long she could have it for though and Val planned on keeping it for as long as she could. If they wanted it back all they had to do was call her.

The movie Val had been in had been an action flick with some big named stars. She had not been the lead in the movie. In fact, she only had eighteen minutes screen time in the two and half hour movie and of those eighteen minutes she only spoke for six. She had been the comic relief in the movie but she did get to kick butt and take a few names Hollywood style. They even changed it so her character survived and could be in the sequel. The critics and audience love her character.

It was why she was driving into town today. Her agent had called and said he had great news but he wanted to tell her in person. It was annoying but he was one of the best agent in the business. She had just got back from New York doing the talk show circuit and all she wanted to do was go home and sleep. The talk show circuit was her publicist idea and it worked out really well. Hopefully enough so that she could get another part in a movie soon.

“Almost there.” Josh her driver said. He was an old Marine friend that she had stayed with when she got out. She had received a pretty good paycheck from the part she played in the movie but it was not really Hollywood standard good pay. That came later with the talk shows and the two commercials she was in. Now Josh stayed with her in her new home in the desert.

“Now remember, he works for you, not the other way around. If you don’t like what he is offering don’t let him push you into it. Your star is rising and he is tagging along.” Norma, another friend from the Marines said from the back seat.

“This is why you’re my manager, Norma,” Val said with a smile.

“Looky-loos on the righthand side, Val.” Josh rumbled.

Val turned to look out the window and saw three teenage girls watching them pull into the parking lot to the three-story building where her agent worked. “Tourists?” Val asked to the car.

“Nah, natives. Had to know which building to stake out. Tourists wouldn’t know your agent works here.” Josh said turning off the car.

Val smiled and shook her head at her friend. He was just as good at picking out targets in a humvee driving down some hellhole as he was in sunny California. He was a hell of a Marine until some greeny drove his humvee over an IED. Josh had told him to stop but the greeny hadn’t listened. The greeny hadn’t survived but Josh had. He got out on disability and the VA took its sweet time regrowing his right leg and arm.

Val frowned slightly and rubbed her leg. The VA had taken their time regrowing her leg too. She ended up in a wheelchair for nearly a year before they even allowed her to make the appointment to see the healer who would regrow her leg. It was fine now and there was no scar but she still felt a twinge occasionally. She knew it was all in her mind but still it was there.

“Oh. My. God. It’s Valkyrie.” One of the teenagers said to the other teenagers. All three immediately picked up their cameras and started taking pictures of her.

Val struggled to keep smiling. She was still getting used to the fact that she was not a super soldier anymore. Anyone could take her picture now. She smiled at the three girls and waved. She started to walk towards her agent’s building when she realized that there was a fourth teenage girl behind the other three. The girl looked younger than her friends but that could have been because she was sitting in a wheelchair. Healers were great at healing injuries caused by trauma but they were horrible at healing disease.

Val changed directions and walked up to the teenagers. “Hi, guys.” She said smiling.

“Valkyrie. Oh my god, you’re my favorite superhero.” The loudest of the teenagers said.

“Favorite female superhero.” The girl in the wheelchair said in a snarky tone of voice. “She’s in love with Rematch.” Val chuckled and nodded.

“Can we get a selfie with you please.” Another of the girls asked Val.

“Sure. Hey Norma, can you do the honors?” Val asked her friend.

Norma took the girls camera and took a bunch of pictures of the group. She then took a picture using her phone and put the picture up on twitter. They talked for a few minutes with the girls asking all sort of superhero-related questions. After getting permission Val grabbed the wheelchair and pick it and the girl inside of it up above her head. They got another picture and that went up on twitter as well. They all laughed and the girls asked a bunch of questions about her co-stars in the movie before Norma pulled Val away.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Val laughed and wave to the girls as she was pulled into the building. Amanda her publicist and Sam her Agent met Val and her friends by the elevator on the third floor. “That was gold. I couldn’t have made that any better. I bet it will start trending in a few minutes.” Amanda said looking up from her phone.

“Thanks,” Val said trying to hide her annoyance. She knew Amanda was just doing her job but she sounded so ugly and uncaring.

“Hi Val, you’re looking amazing. By the way, have I got a surprise for you.” Sam said in a giddy voice. He was practically glowing. It was hard for Val to imagine that he had graduated from Harvard law school and was in the top ten of his class. “Come on, let's head to my office.”

“Hi, Sam,” Norma said in a fake friendly voice.

“Norma. Josh.” He replied nodding at the two. “Val, come on. This will make your day. No, wait. I take that back. It will make your week or month or hell maybe your year.”

“What's going on, Sam?” Val asked frowning at her glowing agent.

“Inside.” He said opening the door to his corner office.

Val chuckled and walked into the huge office. She spotted someone to her left and turned to look. She froze for a few seconds at the sight of the man that was sitting on the white couch. “Michael. It’s good to see you.” Val said stepping up to the man who got the unfortunate nickname of EXO.

“Val. It’s good to see you.” Michael said standing up holding his hand out to shake. Val noted that he had a script in his other hand.

Taking his offered hand she nodded her head at the script. “What is that?”

“I finished it.” He said with a smile. “I made some demands with the movie studio and one of the demands was that you had to be in the movie.”

“They will never let you film that,” Val said looking down at the script.

“I already got permission. In fact, they are willing to let us use some military bases and equipment for filming.” He told her smiling. “I got permission for you to play yourself. I had to edit a few things out and change a few things but ….”

“The part that is being offered is huge Val,” Sam said nearly jumping up in the air. “The production company is willing to pay huge amounts of cash for you to be in this. Hell, aside from the lead and the love interest you will have the most screen time. I read the script and it’s amazing.”

“No,” Val said shaking her head. “It would ruin her Michael. It would also put her in danger. There are still a lot of people on that side of the world who want her dead.”

“Val, she’s behind the wall. She’s been there for six months now. There is no way to tell if she is still alive. This is the biggest military defeat the US has ever seen. They want something patriotic to show Americans that we are still a superpower in the world.” Michael said looking into Val's eyes.

“We don’t know if its a defeat or whoever is left behind isn’t still fighting,” Val said tonelessly.

“It doesn’t matter. The public thinks we’ve been defeated. They are still trying to get through the wall but it doesn’t look good with China who won’t letting the US help. There is talk of war if we interfere with the rescue operations.” Michael said holding up the script. “This lets people hold onto the hope that we can still pull this off somehow. It lets people believe that the wall will come down and the American flag will be flying over the corpse of the King's Son.”

Val took the script from Michael and flipped to the back page. There was a cast list and Val blinked at some of the names. “You got her? She has, what, three Oscars. Wait you’re making her older.” Val asked surprised.

“Yea. It’s one of the ways I am using to hide her identity. Joanne jumped at the chance of playing her.” Michael said with a slight smile. Val ignored the name dropping. It was just a Hollywood thing.

She read the lead character’s description and smiled. It was close enough but still enough facts had been changed to disguise her. She read her own description and smiled. It was her down to a tee. She looked at the title and frowned.

“The production company needs an answer by the end of the week,” Sam said staring at Val’s face. “Pre filming starts at the end of the month. Since you have the experience they want you on as a technical advisor as well as a supporting cast member. They are willing to pay out enough money that I would kill my own mother and I love my mother.

“She thought you were only going to write a book, Michael,” Val said looking down at the script ignoring her agent. Michael just shrugged. Val sighed. “If I think it’s good enough to live up to what she did then I’ll do it. Otherwise, it’s going to have to be a no.”

“It’s good, Val. Joanne thinks this is going to be another chance for her to get a fourth Oscar.” Sam said smiling.

“I don’t care, Sam. You have no idea….” Val said letting her sentence trail off as a wave of sadness crashed through her body.

“I do Val,” Michael said. “I remember watching my friends die and then there she was coming out of nowhere, saving my butt. I was there when she walked out on her own after she got run through by that thing. I stood watch on hells gate until they closed it. I know Val. I will make sure no one forgets what she’s done. And if she does come out from behind that wall I’ll even let her kick my butt if she hates the movie.”

“Ok,” Val said softly. “I still want to read the script and if it’s crap I’ll make sure you never get this movie produced.”

“That’s fine. I trust you. If you walk then I’ll pull the script.” Michael said quietly.

Val looked up surprised then nodded. She turned the script over and read the title again. Super soldier, not superhero. “You have to change the title. It's awful.” Val said shaking her head.

The End.