The mood in the Mobile Command Center left much to be desired as it zipped down the I-95. Armoring up in his seat, Harvey was breathing erratically, sweating in the air conditioning and, generally, losing it a little. Finally, after at least fifteen minutes of jostling, fear of a confrontation lost out to frustration at the negative energy pouring out of the passenger seat. “Jesus, Harvey, will you just cool it?”
“No!” Harvey hissed, his voice barely recognizable as he fairly foamed at the mouth. The man for whom violence was always the answer was clearly terrified. “How the hell did he know who I am, Carroll? Did you tell him? I mean what the actual fuck!?”
“What? Of course not!” Avery whispered back as forcefully as he could muster. “It doesn’t make sense. The last time I saw him you and I had only met once and you’re still the only one who knows Carroll Avery is, y’know, different.”
“Really?” asked Harvey, red in the face and eyes wide. “I’m the only one?”
“Really! I haven’t told anybody and you were involved in creating my persona, so—”
“Really!? You think so?”
“Jesus, Harv, what are you—?”
“Hey, Johnny! What’s up, bud?” Harvey’s voice had turned saccharine; patronizing. Then, to Carroll: “Testing something.”
“Yeah, little bro’?” called back the deep voice of the one they called Johnny. Johnny Doe…
“Hey, you know this guy here? Y’know, driving the big, uh, house-car?” asked Harvey, referencing what Johnny called the RV on first viewing.
“Is it you?”
“Ha! You’re funny, uh, bro’. No, y’know, blond man-bun man is driving.”
“Carroll?”
“Yeah. You know any other name he goes by?”
“Uh … Avery?”
“That’s his last name, yeah! Anything else?”
“Uh… Maybe?” Pause. Beat. “No.”
That hung in the air for a moment. Harvey seemed to deflate a little, his suspicion fading a bit but not his confusion. Carroll, meanwhile, stifled a laugh, shaking his head. No longer whispering to Harvey he asked “See that? Now don’t you feel foolish? Maybe we can—”
“Oh! Mandusa!” shouted Johnny, sounding proud. Then, with a thud, he shouted “Ow!” as Carroll nearly lost control of the vehicle, jerking it to the side of the road as several motorists whipped by, cursing and honking at the great mobile home.
“What the fuck, Carroll!? You almost rolled the RV!” hissed Harvey, deciding that keeping quiet was still the best course of action.
“How does he know that!?”
“Fuck if I know, man. What have you gotten us into? Do you even know who he is!?”
“I do! I know!”
“He’s the Jersey Turnpike Butcher, Carroll!” growled Harvey. “He ground a damned kaiju into hamburger on this goddamned road right here, Carroll! We have to pass over the exact spot where it happened! Carroll!”
“I know it! The video’s online but… But he’s good. You wanted a heavy and he’s a heavy!”
“Don’t you know why he isn’t in the New York Nine!? Did you even look into it!?”
Carroll grimaced, eyes dancing in confusion. “He wasn’t in the … in the Nine? Almost nobody is. They’re the elite. What do you mean”
“For f—, yes, Carroll. Your secret weapon has a past. Jesus! He beat the everloving shit out of the Solar Scion!”
“Wh—, no, no, that’s not possible. It would’ve been on the news. Or it would’ve come up on the streaming sites when I found the fight on the Turnpike.”
“My ears are burning!” blurted Johnny as he poked his head through the curtain separating the cab from the living area. Carroll gave a little squeak. “Ha! Care, you sound like a angry bird.” He stated, pointing, before breaking into a bout of immature laughter.
“Heh. Heh, yes, bird. Good one.” Carroll said, then fell silent, unable to think of anything else to say.
“What’s, ah, what’s up? Why we stop?”
“Oh! Uh, well, I have to, uhm, I mean, Harvey’s gonna take a turn driving! Yes. That’s it.”
“Okay. I’m gonna … you sure you’re okay?” Johnny’s dull look sharpened slightly as his eyes narrowed.
“Yes! I’m okay, he’s okay, you’re okay. Just gonna … gonna drive some more. Yes.”
“No, dammit, Carroll!”
“Loud!” shouted Johnny, ducking back behind the curtain.
“Hold on, stop, I just … can’t, anymore.”
“What are you doing, Harv!?” Standing from the passenger seat, Harvey was clearly in pursuit of Johnny. “Wait!” But he didn’t wait, ducking through the curtain.
“Are you dangerous!?” Harvey asked in the quietest voice he could muster. Carroll, in hot pursuit, grabbed him by the shoulder, but Harvey shrugged him off with a pained grunt, ignoring the fact that the man-bun on Carroll’s head was unfurling into prehensile hair tentacles.
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“What? Me?” asked Johnny, genuinely surprised.
“Yes, you. I can’t… Like, you know I’m not really your brother, right?”
The big man’s eyes showed concern. “Yeah. I, uh, had to think hard but I remember … I ain’t got no brothers. No sisters. I remember everybody and none of my everybodies have you and me having the same mom or dad.”
“Okay, that’s … that’s a really weird way to say ‘yes’ but I’ll take it. Look, we know who you are. Who you really are.”
Johnny’s eyes lit up. “You do!? Who!?”
“Megadude.” Harvey said, matter-of-factly, deflating Johnny again. “The guy who was famous in, like, 1990 or so for tearing a Kaiju apart on live TV.”
“Oh. Is that it? Do you know how I got to be Megadude?”
“What? I don’t know what that question means.” Harvey looked back at Carroll, shaking his head at his partner’s pleading eyes. “How would we know your origin story?”
“I spend all day remembering and forgetting things, bro’. Thinking thoughts that aren’t my thoughts. Laura kept telling me it was, like, really bad ADHD, but that ain’t it. Yeah, I got no focus. It’s better than it was. I usually know I’m in the twentieth century—”
“Uh, twenty-first … century…” Carroll chimed in, before backing away behind the curtain again, both Johnny and Harvey glaring at him.
“That’s … that’s fine, man. But I got it from a source I trust that you’re why the Solar Scion disappeared for a month back in 1989. Confirm or deny?”
Heaving a heavy sigh, Johnny plopped down on the twin bed, technically a kid’s bed for when a family took such an RV on vacation. Maintaining eye contact with Harvey he spoke in a sad tone. “I don’t know what to tell you, really. I was just born. Before 1989 I didn’t exist. I woke up, naked, on a cloud, with the memories of more lives than I can count in my head, no idea which one is me. I killed that Devil, that’s what the news guys called it, Jersey Devil. Back then I didn’t have episodes, just, every sentence was like another person all the time. That Scion guy, he sent somebody to get me. I was a hero, thought killing the Devil would get me something but it … didn’t. All yellow and white, puffin’ out his chest, he was talkin’ all mean like you were a minute ago. Thinkin’ I was dangerous. Then he … killed me.”
Harvey shook his head, a pang of guilt jabbing at him, before snapping back into the moment, really hearing what was said. “Did you say kill?”
“Uh … kinda. Cooked my head. I was … gone … then I was back. Body came back before my brain though.”
Carroll poked his head through the curtain. “You came back from the dead? What?”
“Focus, Care.” Said Harvey, annoyed. Then, to Johnny. “Look, I’m not trying to be mean, Johnny. Just safe. So you fought him … in public?”
“No. No, uh, he sent a guy, said he wanted me to come back to his house. Fed me. Well, this cook did that worked there. There was this nice person with a giant head what could unhinge! They were great. Kept tryin’ to get Scion to be cool. Uh, there was this big nerd! He said he couldn’t just do whatever he wanted and I needed tests and the nerd did tests. Yeah! Oh, I’m rememberin’ lots.”
“Wow, uh, that sounds like the Grip, though the other one I don’t know. What happened with the Solar Scion though?”
“Well … after all the tests. Like, uh, mostly, seeing how strong I was and stuff, they … wait. I don’t think they did all the tests. Scion stopped ‘em and he said he wanted to do a real test. Uhm … he wanted to spar…”
Harvey recoiled a little at this. It seemed like a bizarre request as it was generally accepted that the Solar Scion was the most powerful Altered individual on the planet. Some claimed that Aegis, who may or may not be a supernatural, immortal Greek warrior, was more powerful but that was it, other than Aegis, there was no doubt. It seemed odd that the most powerful hero in existence would want to sweep someone up off the street based on a single news report for a sparring session but, then, everything was odd recently. “Sounds like they were tapping you to be a member of the Nine, Johnny. My source says you were basically a member for a day. What happened when you sparred?”
“Yeah, uh, we did. We went in this big room with a really high ceiling so we could fly and stuff. He told me what to do. Bossy. Mean. It felt weird. Like, we wrestled some and he hit me, y’know, but he got mad when I, uh, started winning, y’know. Hit me real hard. It hurt, not bad, but he was so angry. I was just doin’ what I was told.” Johnny lost eye contact, looking down at his hands.
Harvey could feel Johnny slipping into a funk. “Whoa. Okay. Uh, keep going.”
“Well it’s kinda fuzzy then, just a blur, because he wanted to fight. Like, y’know, until one of us said uncle. So we flew around and hit each other, y’know? Finally, he’s like, glowing. More and more, glowing. He flies into me, pushes me into the wall, then his face lit up and my face started burning. It was scary, y’know? I know I hit him a lot, y’know, but I couldn’t hardly see after he burned my face and I was afraid he’d do it again. There was this big robot guy, muscle guy, oh the Grip, couple others, all … holding me down. I was crying…”
Harvey was gobsmacked, only half-aware that the RV had started moving again. “Holy shit. Hold on, you’re telling me the greatest hero on record, the Solar Scion, picked a fight with you and then tried to use his ‘Solar Glare’ to, well, to try to kill you?”
“Solar Glare?”
“Yes. He can emit radiation, uh, really hot light, from his skin. Usually he uses his face, though, sometimes his hands. The rest is, well, it’s covered up.”
“I dunno, bro’. He burned me, uh, blank spot, then I beat him up. After that all I know is they sat me down in this box, y’know? I’m sittin’ on a bench, this, uh, light wall, I guess it was, keeps flashin’, and the lights in the box. I walk out and there’s nobody. I guess the lights were supposed to make me like a normal person and the light wall was supposed to be solid … but it wasn’t. I woke up on the street after that. Still don’t know how I got there. Just … buried in trash.” At this point Johnny’s face showed a deep sadness. “Greatest hero, huh? Greatest hero ever hates me…”
“Holy … Johnny, man, I am so…” Not used to showing or even feeling compassion, Harvey shook his head. “Care? You getting this?”
“Yup!” shouted Carroll. “Driving though!”
“Right, driving. Johnny, buddy, it’s been over 20 years, man. I know your type doesn’t age much but, damn, you literally look like a high school Linebacker or something. What have you been doing all this time?”
“Oh, that. Yeah, I … don’t know. It’s like I was asleep most of the time, y’know? Sierra House gave me an address so—”
“But isn’t Sierra House just, like, starting five years ago or something? That’s what Carroll told me.”
“Yeah. I … I know…” he broke eye contact and, much to the shock of Harvey, a single tear rolled down Johnny’s cheek. “It’s just all I remember.”
“Okay, it’s cool. It’s cool. Hey, how much did Carroll tell you about what we’re doing?”
Sniffling, the big man made eye contact again. “I guess we’re gonna go beat up a bad guy? He was sellin’ people but you so ‘em go but couldn’t catch him?”
“You got it. He’s really, really strong. It was all we could do to just get away.” Harvey’s headset phone started beeping and he checked his watch to receive the incoming message.
“It would be nice to hit somebody I’m allowed to hit. Everybody likes it when you hit a bad guy.”
“Shit, and we’re gonna be doing it sooner than advertised. Care! Buddy, the guy I got watching satellite imagery says that B.O.G. and his crew are back on-site. Uh, even though a building imploded, no cops, no EMS, no fire, nobody has gone near it this whole time. If nothing else the lights from their vehicles would’ve been picked up.”
“Forty-five minutes drive time left, Harv. Can’t afford to get pulled over. Too many questions.”
“I know that’s right. Look, Johnny, buddy. We don’t have a costume for you yet, but I figure street clothes will do for now. And this…” Harvey pulled a red and blue luchador mask from an interior pocket in his armored overcoat and offered it to Johnny.
Taking it, Johnny looked at the mask as if the synthetic fiber therein were woven of gold. “I’m gonna be Megadude again?”
“You’re damned right. And what does the Megadude do to bad guys?” asked Harvey, a sick grin marring his face at the thought of getting back at the man that almost killed Carroll and himself.
Staring his new mask in its eye holes Johnny sneered. “He hurts ‘em. Bad.”
The pair shared a laugh for just a moment. Up front in the cab, hearing it all, Carroll Avery’s mouth formed a stiff line as he wondered if he was going to regret today. But he was committed at this point, and so rolled ever onward, back to Asbury Park.