Where The Heart Is: Issue # 0.5
– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –
July 27th, 1986
Wall, South Dakota
Undisclosed Farm
Three Hundred Feet Underground
Fluorescent bulbs flickered overhead as three figures stared at each other, eyes shifting from one person to another as if in a weaponless recreation of a Mexican standoff.
For quite a long stretch of time, there was near-complete quiet in the laboratory environment, the two adults in the room seemingly trying not to be the first one to break the silence in the untouched sterile little room.
The little boy, on the other hand, was not so unsure of himself. "...hi."
"Now, someone tell me why the hell he's in that goddamn monkey suit?"
The child shrunk back at the rough voice as it barked the first words it had uttered since the very moment its owner had stepped into the room nearly several minutes ago.
Nervous blue eyes dropped to the ground to avoid the angered gaze of a pair of harsh green. The blonde five-year old shuddered as he took another step back, his hands clasping at the cape by his side as he tried to make himself look even smaller.
"Ben…" The balding man in the lab coat spoke up, hands raised as he gave the brown-haired frowning man an odd look. "Ben… come on."
"What?" The man pulled a face like he had just smelled something disgusting before scoffing in disbelief.
Soldier Boy glanced around the small room angrily, seemingly getting more and more irritated as he took in the white walls, white floor, white ceiling and annoying fluorescent lighting of the sterile lab-like environment. "What do you mean, come on?"
With a shake of his head, the bearded man pointed a gloved finger angrily in Doctor V's direction. "Now, you listen here, kike, I got marchin' orders from Edgar to haul my ass all the way over to South Dakota because apparently, you had a big whoppin' surprise for me…"
"Benjamin…"
"Don't Benjamin me like you're my fuckin' dad, Vogelbaum," the bearded man barked again, hands clenching into fists as he growled his own name. "You think I don't already got enough on my plate dealing with these new fucking wannabes popping up every-goddamn-where. Vought apparently doesn't know a goddamn thing about these hippy-dippy shit-stirrers, preaching peace, love and brotherhood and flying around with not a fuckin' lick of V in their system, and how in the flying fuck is that possible, huh, doc?"
"Ben…"
"And that flying fag that looks like someone brought my fuckin' Oscar trophy to life showing me up at my own game? What in the fuck is he, Vogelbaum?" The superhuman roared again as he took a heavy step forward, actual rage in his eyes as his voice boomed with a depth that felt right on the verge of physical.
"What in the actual fuck is he?"
The little boy's head turned to glance back at the bald doctor as the man in the white coat sighed out loud, voice calm in a way that made it seem like he was used to the man's heated moments. "Ben, we've gone over this countless times. You of all people are aware that I simply do not know."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't know. Looks like none of us know shit. Vought, you, and apparently me!" Ben threw his hands up as he yelled the last word, the kid by Vogelbaum's feet jerking back with a flinch as the shield the bearded man wore on his hand came very close to smashing right through one of the surgical lamps in the room. "Heavy on number three, especially when it comes to this rugrat you fucks have been hiding from me for the last five cock-sucking yea-!"
"Soldier Boy!"
The armor-wearing supe twitched, his mouth snapping shut mid-rant as Doctor V finally raised his voice. While it lacked the other man's raw depth and force, the shout was near enough a perfect mimic of Soldier Boy's tone, at least when it came to his manner of barking.
"... Sorry. I'm… I'm sorry." Soldier Boy raised his hands slowly as he repeated his terse apology, the words apparently struggling to leave his mouth as he gritted his teeth. "I've been trying to… trying to do better, I'm not…"
The shoulders of America's Greatest Hero shook as he took in a deep, trembling breath, the man's fingers twitching violently at his side. "And look… I want to say that I'm… I'm sorry about the… y'know, the kike thing, too. You know I really didn't mean that. I'm not like that… Vogelbaum, it's just…"
Vogelbaum waved away the man's apology, a long-suffering expression on his face. "It's not really your fault, I understand," the doctor began with a shake of his head. "That first batch of American-made V was more of a hyper-enhancile than anything else. No real out there powers but… strength, brains, healing, hormones, testosterone, adrenaline…"
"I know, I know, the outside drugs fucked up my inside drugs," Soldier Boy waved off Vogelbaum's explanation with a disgusted frown. "I heard it from the old man himself, back when the German was still kickin'."
The room was tense for a few seconds as the bearded super soldier's expression went blank, his eyes wistful for several long moments. "You know, ol' Fred was surprised I didn't fuckin' explode, you know? He said the V he gave me was some of the most concentrated shit anyone had ever mixed up since he started brewing the shit. Man clapped me on the back and called me a real life super boy. For a fuckin' Nazi, the man had… He had a heart."
His wistful expression shifted slightly, twisting into something of a frown even as his eyes remained dull. "Not like the current lineup at Vought. Fuckin' Brewster, Edgar and that asshole on Ninety-Nine. You know that hipster prick calls himself the Legend now?" The man almost spat the name, teeth gritted for a moment as he let out an angry breath through his nose.
"Fat bastard''s too busy shit-talking me to any cake-faced dame that'll fuckin' look his greasy way to do his goddamn job for even a fuckin' minute. Thinks I don't fuckin' know what he says about me, like I'm the rest of his shit-for-brains goddamn talent…" Soldier Boy's words trailed away as the man stared off at a wall with murder in his eyes, looking far older than his apparent thirty years of age.
Vogelbaum's gaze shifted as the man looked down at the still-confused child in the room for a moment, the boy staring back at him with wary blue eyes. With a sigh, the doctor glanced back at the other man as he nodded his head slowly, trying to return the conversation somewhere safer. "Again, I understand, Ben. From what I read of his notes, Vought didn't expect you'd keep on getting stronger. And, with that strength comes more… well, more."
Soldier Boy's face twisted into bitter grimace before the man shook his head as he tried to shift his expression, the smile on his face clearly as forced as they came. "Yeah, I guess but the shrink's been helpin', though. Really been making some strides with my team again too. Noir and Gunner don't even flinch anymore, if you can believe it. Even me and Countess have been making some positive steps, healthy steps. Might even get down on one knee, you know?"
Doctor V stepped forward with one hand raised to give Soldier Boy a few reassuring pats on the shoulder. "I'm glad to hear it, Ben." The action was enough to make the bearded man shut his eyes and flinch with every moment of contact but he simply nodded before opening his eyes, allowing Vogelbaum to step back.
"Look, I'm sorry for coming in here like a mad dog, Vogelbaum," the younger-looking man said with a sigh, one hand cupping his mouth and thick, heavy beard as he spoke. "But could… could you just tell me why the kid is dressed up like a fucking pretty princess?"
Soldier Boy gestured with his shield in the kid's direction with those last few words, the man nearly growling as he did so. The five-year old gripped onto his American flag cape even tighter as he tried to hide his body as much as possible behind Doctor Vogelbaum's leg. Doing so only made the bright colors of his patriotic outfit stand out in stark contrast against the white clothing of Vought's chief scientist, even more so when compared to the shield-user's dull military greens, one looking like actual battle-armor compared to a child's costume.
"If I recall correctly, Ben, you've worn quite a bit more color on your costume several times. Quite recently too, if I'm not mistaken," the balding man responded back, the man wearing a slight smile as he did so.
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"Yeah, and I fuckin' hated it, so? Blood shows up too easy on blue and white," Soldier Boy growled, remembering every mission or job that ended with every single one of his new Vought-approved pretty-boy outfits drenched in gore or mud or both. "Always came out lookin' like a fuckin' horror show after a single fight and that didn't answer my question, doc."
The doctor nodded quietly. "Fair enough. We're getting the boy used to the idea of wearing a costume," Vogelbaum admitted after a long moment of silence. "You know some supes have some odd hang-ups about that."
"Yeah, I was on a team with Mindstorm, don't I fucking know it?" Soldier Boy groused with a shake of his head. "The man refused to be caught in anything other than a three-piece suit even in the middle of a goddamn Arizona summer, that uptight asshole."
"We're simply nipping that in the bud early."
"Yeah, okay, I can understand that, sure," the short-tempered man began as he shifted his gaze back to Vogelbaum with a roll of his eyes, "but why in the hell is he wearing a cape like some kind of nancy boy?"
Vogelbaum offered a shrug. "What can I say? He likes it."
"That right?" Ben stared back at the leading expert on Compound V in the world, lips curling into a disbelieving sneer as he narrowed his eyes at the doctor. "And you expect me to believe whatever the kid likes or wants somehow matters to you in the slightest, Vogelbaum?"
Unlike most of the capes at Vought, Soldier Boy had come in from the outside, his connections with the rich and powerful allowing him access to the first rounds of Compound V. On top of that, the super-soldier was, after all, Vought's first hero, greatest money maker and signature brand, a position that came with quite a bit of leeway and not a small amount of clout. With all of that in his court, Benjamin Veder knew very well how the sausage was made at Vought-American, in ways that some of the executives sitting on the board didn't even have a clue of.
He also knew that the first and greatest mistake any of the "talent" at the conglomerate could make was taking any of the white coats or black suits at their first word. Fucking liars, every single one of them.
It wasn't brains or even connections that got you a job at Vought. It was the ability to tell a lie like the Devil already had your soul in his hands and waiting for you to meet him. People like Brewster, Edgar and even those two young guns, the Stillwell twins, Soldier Boy could see right through each and every single one of them and, to his complete lack of surprise, there was nothing to see. Nothing but empty, soulless, corporate cronies, every single one of them...
"Okay, fine," Vogelbaum gave in with a sigh, the man clearly not committed to his own lie under Soldier Boy's scrutiny. "The real reason is that capes are testing well with audiences these days. On top of that, it makes flying superheroes look more heroic.
Soldier Boy raised an eyebrow, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "The kid flies?"
"On top of other things, yes."
"Well, I'll be…" A small smile spread across Soldier Boy's face as the thought seemed to roll around in his head. A moment later, the man turned his eyes back down to look at the boy in question.
Curious blue met piercing green.
Moving closer to the kid, Soldier Boy dropped to one knee and allowed his specially-treated Voughtanium shield to rest carefully on the floor as he locked eyes in earnest with the boy standing just barely a meter or two away from him.
Father and son stared at each other for several long seconds, Soldier Boy's smile growing as his cold eyes seemed to melt with every passing moment. On the other end, the little blond boy seemed to grow more confident as the two stared, his tiny hands no longer gripping tight to his flag cape like a security blanket.
Standing between and apart from the two though was Vogelbaum, who seemed to grow more nervous with each passing second until…
"Wait, Ben," The man finally stepped forward, one arm outstretched with a look of panicked worry on his face. "He tends to get antsy. I wouldn't look him right in th-"
Blue orbs flashed red and a lance of scarlet fire powerful enough to warm the room several degrees burst from a pair of small glowing pupils. Without warning, the beams of heat blasted Soldier Boy right in the eyes, the man's head snapping back as he let out a grunt.
"Eyes," Vogelbaum finished lamely, his hand dropping back to his side. "I wouldn't look him right in the eyes."
Soldier Boy lowered his head again, face and eyes entirely unburt and unharmed despite the unexpected fiery onslaught. The bearded man turned his head to shoot Vogelbaum a manic look, the superhuman's smile wild as he wore an excited expression for the first time since he had entered the facility. "Whooo, boy! He can do that too? That's fuckin' amazing!"
Jonah Vogelbaum pulled a face as he glanced at the silent child still staring at up his father , the preschooler wearing a small smile and a curious expression that did not at all fit his otherwise innocent face. The man felt his heart drop in his chest before he forcefully turned his attention back to the other man in the room, pushing any unsettling implications to the very back of his mind. "I'm glad you find that so amusing. We've lost at least a dozen staffers and a small platoon of nurses to those things, you know."
Soldier Boy scoffed at Vogelbaum's wordswith a shake of his head. "Well, then don't hire pussies."
"I'll make a note of it."
"Next question," the super-soldier said with a grin, his attention back on the kid as the boy began to climb into his shield, "what's the kid's name? Better have given him a strong one too, or I'll have to kick somebody's ass before they change it."
"Kick somebody's ass, he says," Vogelbaum muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
Benjamin raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"
"Nothing," the doctor answered immediately, avoiding the man's narrowed eyes. He didn't doubt Soldier Boy was making strides on controlling his anger but he had no intention of causing the man to slip up. "Why don't you ask him?"
"Hey, kiddo," Vought's premier supe flashed a smile at the little boy making his shield rock side-to-side as he sat in it like a little boat, an action that would have taken at least five grown men to replicate with a great deal of effort, "what's your name?"
"Ummm…", the blond boy blinked for a moment before responding quietly, "I'm Johnny."
"Johnny." Soldier Boy tested the name on his lips, before approving of it with a smile. "You know what? I like it." He glanced over at the scientist in the room, a single eyebrow raised. "What's that short for? Jonah?"
"N-no," Vogelbaum raised his hands. "Just John."
"Too bad." The supe turned back to little Johnny with a grin as he tousled the boy's hair with a single gloved hand. "Your new name's Jonathan Morgan Veder. Vogelbaum, make it so."
"I'll get the paperwork through today."
"You're my daddy, right?" the newly christened Jonathan Veder asked innocently.
Soldier Boy's smile faltered at the question before rising back up full-force. "Yeah, you little rugrat, I'm your pops, no doubt about it."
"Okay," the young superhuman accepted the answer as quickly as any child would, before continuing on with another question, as any child would. "Where were you?"
"I… I… I was…"
Ben quickly shot a vicious look at Vogelbaum, hands once again twitching with barely-repressed rage, before he took in a quiet breath to push his anger back where it belonged and focused back on his boy. "I was protecting the homeland, our great country, from all sorts of threats who want us to take us down."
"Oh," Jonathan Veder blinked, seemingly taking in the information. A split second later, another question was on his lips. "Like what?"
Soldier Boy blinked. "Like… like, the Russians, and… the Chinese, the Red Menace."
"Who are they?"
"They're bad guys, from…" Soldier Boy faltered, his usual lines for the crowds not having much effect on an insulated five-year-old, "from other countries, bad countries, foreigners who want to take us over and invade us, y'know, and make us be like them."
"Why?"
"Because we're better than them, th-that's why?" The response came out almost like a question, the patriotic hero seemingly on the backfoot against a preschooler.
"Why?"
"Because we're Americans, kid!" Soldier Boy barked, a clear note of exasperation in his tone as he tried to answer questions he wasn't prepared for. "We have freedom. That makes us better."
"Why?"
"Bec-"
Soldier Boy wasn't even able to begin answering that question as the kid switched to asking the man another one, quiet voice growing in volume as he spoke. "What's fweedom?"
Ben's eye twitched as he shot the kid a look, mouth moving slowly as he silently dared the boy to interrupt him. "Freedom is when you can do what you want. It's when you can go where you want, live how you like, without any one forcing you to do things how they want you too. It comes with being an American," the old soldier finally finished his explanation, nodding to himself even as Vogelbaum winced in the background.
The action didn't go unnoticed as Soldier Boy glanced at the scientist with a scowl. "Doesn't he know anything? What are you weirdos teaching my kid?"
Vogelbaum let out a wince, a hand rising to knead his forehead as he responded. "Mostly how to read and write, his alphabet, math and the like… We were getting to other things."
Benjamin quirked a brow before turning to his son as the boy poked at his arm, another question already on his lips. "So, you're American?"
The bearded man's eyebrow rose higher at the obvious question before he responded with a simple, "And proud, just like you are."
What came next sent him reeling like a physical blow.
"So, you're free?"
The boy stared at the suddenly frozen superhero with blue eyes that seemed too smart, more piercing and far more aware than they seemed a second ago. "What?"
The boy didn't seem to need an answer to that as he asked another question. "Am I free?"
Soldier Boy's mouth hung open as he kept his eyes locked on his seed, the man suddenly uncomfortable. Mouth snapping shut a second later, he shook his head as he leaned back from his son. "No more questions, brat."
"B-"
"No. More. Questions." Soldier Boy hopped back to his feet, standing tall and towering over the now-smiling blond boy looking back up at him as he sat in the center of his father's shield.
Even when clearly exasperated, the bearded hero wore a curious look on his face as he smiled back down at the fruit of his loins. An instant later, he turned his attention back to the man in the lab coat, his face losing a chunk of its good humor as he stared at the other adult.
"What the fuck are you teaching this kid?" He repeated the question of a few seconds ago, a good deal more heat in his voice this time around.
"Not exactly prepared for fatherhood, are you?" Vogelbaum asked sarcastically, eyes flicking between father and son as he tried to hide his own discomfort.
The supe let out a sarcastic laugh before he scoffed in the doctor's face. "Yeah, maybe I'd be more fucking prepared if some suits and lab coats hadn't tried to hide him from me."
"Fair enough."
Soldier Boy let out a sigh, his eyes flicking between the kid and Vogelbaum for a moment as the curious expression returned to his eyes. "Question for you."
"I could probably find an answer," the balding man replied absentmindedly, gaze and thoughts still locked on the blond test subject rocking away on the hyper-dense shield like it was a toy. "Really, it depends on the q-"
"Who's the mother?" Soldier Boy cut in.
"The mother?" the scientist coughed, shaking his head as he quickly turned away from Soldier Boy's angry green eyes. "Well, that's…"
"Where's that answer you promised, Vogelbaum?"
"No, of course, an answer, I…" Vogelbaum edged, the man taking a single step backwards. "I said i-it depend-"
"That fire from his eyes?" Benjamin Edward Veder continued on, voice growing louder every second he spoke. "Is it Countess? You grab one of her eggs like you took my swimmers? Put 'em in some retard off the street to incubate the brat?"
The doctor coughed, hand to his mouth as he kept on avoiding eye contact with the powerful super-soldier. "Well, I don't think that's really important r-right now."
"Vogelbaum, don't you dare dick me around…"
"It's a matter of privacy. She asked not to be…"
"Vogelbaum." His voice was unmistakably a growl, something that seemed to vibrate through the small sterile room and through the bones of both other occupants.
The doctor sighed, one hand raised to rub his nose. "...fine. Just… just don't spread this around."