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| Homecoming, The Falsehoods Unveiled; [Hulkling] | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 4 2012, 01:54 PM (508 Views) | |
| Sonja Altman | Jun 4 2012, 01:54 PM Post #1 |
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Accepting Mother
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May 14th, Early Afternoon The Altman Residence - Burlington, Vermont Intangible beams of sunlight pierced through the windows of a bare-bones house, creating a visual swirl of light and dust as Sonja Altman paced back and forth in a flurry of nerves. Droplets of sweat trickled down the side of her crinkled face, the product of a restless mind baked under the noon heat. There was no air conditioning, no electricity, and stark white sheets were draped across what little furniture was left here. The rest had been swiftly packed up over a period of two days and was waiting in the moving van parked a block away. There was a crunching of glass as she marched toward the dining room, wiping the sweat off her brow with a heavy hand as she did so. At a fold-out table sat two hunched figures, Allen and Theodora Altman. Their time-worn faces were painted with worried expressions as they looked upon their daughter with glassy eyes. “Take a seat, girl. Traipsing around the house like you’ve got the barrel of gun to your back isn’t going to get him here any quicker,” said the elder man. Sonja quickly snapped back, “Well that’s what’s happening isn’t it?! We were stupid to think we’d last even this long... I thought he’d be safe up there at that school, but I was wrong. You were wrong to make me send him off.” “Sweetheart,” Theodora cooed. “What’s done is done. Don’t punish the man for what we all agreed was best at the time.” The youngest among them shot the crone an indignant look, but said nothing. Sonja sighed, though it sounded more like a wheeze amongst all the dust. She bit at her nails as she continued her pacing, slower and more tentative than before as she became lost in her harried thoughts. “Are you sure we’ll be safe there? What did they say?” she probed. “I was assured by the contact that we’d be perfectly secure once we got there,” Mr. Altman replied, his words entwined with confidence. “They’re eager to help in any way they can.” Mrs. Altman chimed in, “You hear that? We’ll be fine. You’ll have to be strong for Teddy, so you’re going to have to snap out of this sulk.” She couldn’t though, not while he was still out of her sight and out of arm’s reach. The love of him, her son, was a roiling flame that licked at her tingling limbs whilst it pulsed within her fast-beating heart. Nearly two decades since she had brought him into this world, Sonja Altman found herself at a loss for the first time in her life since Teddy had brought so much joy into it. There was a raucous knock at the door and her heart sunk for a split-second before she caught herself. She looked to the elder Altmans who repaid her searching gaze with a steady nod. Sonja brushed the hair out of her face, now slick with perspiration, and shook out her quivering extremities before moving to the doorway. When she looked through the peephole, a sense of relief washed over the woman at the familiar face on the other side before she swung the door open. “Teddy. Sweetheart, come inside. Come on quickly, honey,” her voice cracked. |
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| Hulkling | Jun 4 2012, 02:18 PM Post #2 |
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After only month, Teddy was already getting used to the idea of working for SHIELD full time. As it was, he definitely wasn't an agent or even a trainee, but Maria made him feel like he was...like he might be a real asset one day. When she wasn't off running the world's largest law enforcement agency, she was spending time with Teddy either helping him train or helping to find Tommy. Though he'd never admit it aloud, her attention made him feel special, and for a boy who always had problems with self-esteem, that meant a lot to him. He was certain the director would have given him a ride home, after receiving his mother's message, but Sonja expressly told him to come quickly, quietly, and alone. Unsure whether or not he should be annoyed with his mother's antics or worried, Teddy hopped on the first bus to Vermont. Not even Billy knew where he was going or why, which the blond teen felt a bit guilty about. But his mother sounded so unlike herself that he was startled into following her strange orders. During the entire bus ride, the teen's leg jiggled and shook anxiously, and he nervously bit his lower lip. Maybe she had finally had enough with the constant danger Teddy found himself in ever since she let him attend Xavier's. He just hoped she didn't try to stop him from returning. Reaching Burlington at long last, Teddy jogged the short distance between his mother's home and the bus station, often surpassing the strolling town cars as his powerful legs propelled him with inhuman force. His childhood house was small and worn, but tidy. As always, it was strange returning to it, as the sense of home he used to get was now just a nostalgic aftertaste. He just didn't seem to fit here anymore. Outside there was a rental car parked next to his mother's old sedan, and a moving van idled near the front curb. Quirking an inquisitive eyebrow, he rapped on the heavy wooden door to announce his presence, and slipped his key into the lock. "Teddy. Sweetheart, come inside. Come on, quickly honey," Before he could so much as turn the lock, the front door swung open, and his mother's troubled face was staring back at him. If she sounded different on the phone, it was nothing compared to the present state now. As a struggling single mother, Teddy had witnessed the pain and stress Sonja went through to stay afloat, and he always tried his best to help alleviate her woes and worries whenever possible. Yet even with all that experience, he'd never seen her looking quite like this. The fretful expression on her face was almost frenetic, which made her look much older than her thirty-seven years of age, and her skin held an unhealthy grey tinge as well. "Mom?" The boy probed as he stepped into the barren house. There was nothing left but trash and a flimsy foldout table where his grandparents sat. The tension in the room was unmistakable, and Teddy began to worry in earnest. His look of anxiety mirroring his mother's, he probed: "What's going on you guys? You're all kinda freaking me out…" |
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| Sonja Altman | Jun 4 2012, 02:50 PM Post #3 |
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A glint of astonishment flashed across Sonja’s saucer-like eyes at Teddy’s words. She was made all too aware of the effect her own ragged disposition was having on the boy, so she attempted to collect herself. The woman took a moment to breathe as she patted her son’s hair and moved her hand down to stroke his cheek. She’d raised a beautiful boy, stronger than her even. If he was going to come with them, he’d only do it if he thought everything was fine, all things considered. She hadn’t raised Teddy to run from his problems, but this was something that couldn’t be fought against. How can one battle against a force of nature itself? “I’m sorry, Teddy. I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just been a rough few days with the moving and all. See, I got a job offer out of state and they want me there yesterday,” she said with a meek smile. “But… but it’s a big move and your grandpa’s not as spry as he used to be, you know?” Mr. Altman laughed and added, “We’re all in need of a strapping lad like you to help us out, Teddy. We haven’t seen you in a while, but you look like you could lift the whole damn van, eh?” Mrs. Altman stayed quiet, her eyes darting back and forth between Teddy and Sonja. The boy’s mother guided him to the dining alcove, away from the windows and doorway. When they stopped, she gave his shoulder a light squeeze of affection and continued her sales pitch, the color slowly returning to her face now that he was here and safe. “Exactly like dad says, honey. We couldn’t afford the movers so we had to call you in quick. I’m really sorry if it’s a big shock. I know it’s a change, but this is a big opportunity for me. I’ve just been… really frazzled from the stress.” |
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| Hulkling | Jun 4 2012, 03:42 PM Post #4 |
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Letting his mother corral him into the dining area, Teddy's eyes took in the state of his home. Ten seconds ago he noted how he'd outgrown the place, but the realization that his mother was leaving it was like a bucket of ice water thrown all over that sentiment. It was all so abrupt, and he found that he didn't want her to go. Yet, something just wasn't adding up. For one, his mother had just enrolled college - a fact she's been proud of - and he didn't even know she was looking for a new job, let alone one that forced her to move at the drop of a hat. And if grandpa was just a doddering old man, and she couldn't afford movers, who packed up the house to begin with? Eyes narrowing, Teddy watched as his family lied to him, and lied terribly. The excuses they were lobbing his way were flimsy at best, and insulting at the least. He knew them, and their actions were off, as though pretending to be themselves for his sake. His grandfather's smile was a little too bright, and his mother's face was too controlled, not to mention the way Grandma's eyes flickered nervously from person to person. "What sort of job?" He asked, his voice sounding more accusing than he meant. Incredulity was written all over his face, but fright was the predominant expression, and it sparked in his eyes as he stared at the adults in the room. What was really causing them to act in such away? Why would moving make his mother greet him at the door with such fervor and relief? Why were none of her friends here to help her, it wasn't as though she didn't have any. Taking a step back, Teddy shook her hand off of his shoulder, and decided not to encourage this obvious pretense. "I can tell you're all lying to me, you know. It's not like I'm an idiot...or a child. Please, someone tell me what's really going on before I have an aneurysm. Are you in trouble, or something, mom? Did the house foreclose, because I can come back and...ionno, find a job or something? Just, easy up on the creepy lies." |
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| Sonja Altman | Jun 4 2012, 04:55 PM Post #5 |
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Teddy’s words hit the woman like a stone-handed slap to the face. It was Sonja’s own stupidity being made clear in front of her very eyes. She felt sick for lying, and worse for ever momentarily believing her bright, intelligent boy would buy any word of it. Her gaze turned to her parents for support, searching their faces for the strength to reveal a bevy of falsehoods that would shatter this farce, however real any of them truly wanted it to be. “Son’ja… He’s old enough to know now. We can tell him the truth,” Mrs. Altman declared. “You’ve raised him to be a remarkable boy… a remarkable man.” Allen took his wife’s hand in his and held it within a gentle grasp. Their gazes locked for a moment before the two elders looked back to their daughter and nodded in unison. Sonja beamed at them before she turned back to Teddy, the lines of worry on her face easing as acceptance washed over her. “Teddy,” she said taking his hands. “Me and your grandparents, we weren’t born here in Vermont. We moved… we moved just after you were born, you see. We came here to give you a better life – a life that would’ve been impossible for you to have if we stayed where we were.” Mr. Altman interjected, “It was a living hell of a place, Teddy. Things were falling apart all around us and the people… they were dangerous, violent people. The kind who thinks the world is entitled to them and they’ve got everything justified.” “So we left,” Sonja continued. “We took you with us and fled, but they’ve caught up now. I can’t say for sure what they want with us or what they’d do, but they don’t like deserters. That’s why… it’s why we have to go, Teddy. Go somewhere that it might be safe. Not here. Not Xavier’s.” The woman stared at her son's features, attempting to glean his reaction to this revelation, this truth behind the lies she'd told him for years. |
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| Hulkling | Jun 4 2012, 06:19 PM Post #6 |
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A moment passed between daughter and parents that Teddy couldn't understand. For whatever reason, the elders in his family felt it necessary to conspire without him, and the realization did little to improve his mood. Didn't they trust him? Or maybe they thought him too weak? With all the crap he endured in the past few years - things that still haunted him to this very day - the latter seemed almost laughable. A few fiscal woes (which he was used to by now, mind you) were nothing compared to the tragedies and dangers he'd face. To their credit, Ted wasn't exactly forthcoming with all the gritty details of his life, but their underestimation still hurt his feelings. "Son’ja… He’s old enough to know now. We can tell him the truth." Naturally, his grandmother's soft praise only made the teen feel guilty for inwardly accusing everyone in the room of conspiracy. Of course, the inflection she used when saying his mother's name was odd, but now wasn't the time to nitpick. When his mother turned back to him, she looked more like herself...like the strong and determined woman he was used to. This time, he didn't move away from her as she took his hands, and the invisible pressure in the room lessened marginally. Something in the unspoken shift clued Teddy in, and he realized that this would be more momentous than issues with money. "So - were you, in a gang or something?" He muttered through a suddenly dry mouth. He always knew his mother had a wild past, but he never expected it to be a potentially dangerous one as well. He broke eye contact with his mother and looked to his grandparents, who were giving him reassuring gestures and looks. As an idea dawned, it occurred to Teddy that he hadn't told his mother that he left Xavier's the month before. With everything going on, he dropped the ball on that part of his life. Lowering his eyes to the ground, he said: "If-if you're in danger, I know someone who can help. About a month ago I met...uh, a SHIELD agent. They've been helping me out since then, and they might have a better solution. You know, so we wouldn't have to run." Teddy's tone was thin, and he said all of this whilst trying to wade through the notion that his family was in enough danger to frightening his mother so severely. Had quietly shouldered this burden for his entire life, only to have it rear its head and destroy everything she worked for? Learning the truth about his mother's grisly past was a illuminating as it was baffling. Silently, Teddy pulled his mother into supportive hug. "I'm sure Maria will want to help...this is what SHIELD is for, after all. Isn't it? Who are these people, she'll want to know?" |
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| Sonja Altman | Jun 4 2012, 07:37 PM Post #7 |
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“No… no, it wasn’t a gang really. It was… it was akin to a cult,” Sonja uttered, the shame apparent in her voice. “We were born into it. We didn’t know any better, Teddy. Didn’t know anything else but what they force-fed us. But, your grandparents and I, we knew in our hearts and our bones that somehow it wasn’t right. Unlike so many others, we saw the dangers of it all. When you were born, you were just so special and no one here wanted you to become a soldier in a misguided, zealous war.” She listened to his response after she’d said the words, though his attempts at assurance left only a pit in her stomach. SHIELD couldn’t help them. They wouldn’t. Sonja leaned into her son’s embrace, wrapping her thin arms around his bulk, her head resting in the crook of his neck. “Teddy,” she muttered as she held him tight. “SHIELD can’t help us anymore than they can help themselves in this…” At that point, Mr. Altman, who’d been doing his best until that moment to swallow his rage at the mention of SHIELD, found that he could no longer contain his words. “No shit they can’t help us!” he bellowed. Sonja startled and looked back at her father who was now standing at attention, no longer hunched and feeble as he should’ve been. “Dad! Calm down!” she cried. “No, Son’ja! SHIELD? SHIELD?!” He looked at Teddy now, his voice grave. “Son, you have no idea what you’ve done here.” “Dad… Z’Cann…” “Maybe… maybe we would’ve had a chance if we’d left as soon as he got here, but with SHIELD? We’ve been here too long. We’re in the shitter now, Son’ja. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve got the whole damn place surrounded!” Mrs. Altman, ever the voice of reason, interjected, “Allen, stop. You’re going to scare the boy! Maybe we can talk to them. Maybe they’ll help us! We're not like the others! We can explain...” Unfortunately, Mr. Altman was not to be convinced. “You think those humans in SHIELD, those warmongers, are going to help us?" he spat. "They’ll lock us up in chains and splay you out on a medical table with a muzzle so they can’t hear you scream before they'll ever listen to a word we say. We’re all the same to them,” he said as he squeezed Mrs. Altman’s hand. “I… I won’t let them take you, N’ala. Any of you.” |
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| Hulkling | Jun 4 2012, 08:36 PM Post #8 |
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It seemed that with each word of 'clarification', Teddy understood less and less. He thought aloud as his brain slowly digested the glimpses of information provided. "Okay - you, Grandpa, and Grandma were part of a violent cult...and I was born into it as well? But...uh, what about my dad?" While Sonja was never forthcoming about her past, this story didn't mess with the small tidbits Teddy managed to squeeze out of her as a child. The teen's mood seemed move go full circle, as he returned to being angry at his family. Why he was angry, however, was unclear. "You told me he left us shortly after my birth. Was he caught up in all of this too?" He spoke more to himself than anyone else, and it wasn't until his grandfather's anger cut across his reverie that Teddy became aware of his surroundings once again. "Dad! Calm down! Dad… Z’Cann…!" Teddy started and stepped away from his mother, breaking their contact. He was tired of being confused, and tired of the answers that didn't actually answer anything. "Surrounded, why would they surround the house!?" He shouted. Was this 'cult' a lie too, were they really criminals of some kind? "I didn't even tell anyone I was coming here. And why do you keep calling him that!?" Z'Cann, Son'ja...what were they even talking about? This was all so far beyond Teddy's conceptions of his family that his brain almost could not compute. There was a strong urge to just cut and run, or to shake them all until they started to make sense again. Without realizing it, his feet backed him into the crook between the cabinets and the refrigerator, as though he were being cornered by wild animals. His grandmother was right; they were all scaring him with their wild/uncharacteristic behavior and cryptic explanations, and his silence lengthened as Allen raged on. Whatever this great and unknown conflict was, they were in it deep, that much was certain...but his fear lay in the uncertain. And yet, for all his confusion, there was a sinking feeling in his gut that Teddy could no longer ignore. The same feeling of foreboding that remained ever-present ever since Billy told him the nature of Tommy's imposter. And with each passing day, each report shared, the inkling only grew, and denial along with it. Gaping at his family, he broke his silence at last, his blue eyes wide with dread. "...humans?" He rasped. His grandfather said the word as if it didn't apply to them. "Someone better tell me the whole truth or...or..." But the stammering threats were as meaningless at their deceit, there was no point in finishing it. |
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| Sonja Altman | Jun 5 2012, 12:12 AM Post #9 |
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She could see the discord in his eyes, the angst in his words striking at the chords of her heart in a way that only the pained voice of a mother’s son could ever possibly achieve. It tore at her, wholly and wretchedly. Sonja had tried to ease Teddy into this revelation, but her efforts only appeared to him as half-truths and her spirit fell as she began to feel like a failure of a mother in this instance. “Teddy, your father was a good man. I know that if it wasn’t for… what happened, he could’ve been here for you and I’m so sorry that you missed out on what could’ve been with him,” she said, her voice beginning to crack again. “I love you, sweetheart. I love you so much, and it pains me to see you like this… to see that our choice of withholding this from you is so hard, but I kept the truth from you to protect you.” The words felt sour in her mouth. She felt so clichéd, but the worst of it was yet to come. The boy’s mother worried that when the façade was shaken, he would abandon her emotionally. It was her fault, really. She’d surrendered to the maternal instinct that was so rare in her species, the same instinct that had somehow been miraculously pulled forth from within her at the sight of Teddy’s infant form the moment he was placed in her arms. He was so tiny then, nothing but a mewling lump of green flesh with cornflower blue eyes. Mr. Altman, slightly calmer now as his wife stroked his hand with a tender touch, interposed, “Teddy, we’re not your blood, but we are your family. We were brought together by the most insane of circumstances and tasked with securing your well-being. We’ve been here, son, for nearly all of your life since the moment you were born. Your grandmother even helped to bring you into the world with her very own hands. It just… wasn’t this world.” “You are still technically a mutant, Teddy, but not a human one,” Mrs. Altman added. “We were born in a world out of phase with this one. We co-existed with Earth beyond the veil, but that wasn’t enough for some.” “I… I know this is a lot to take in, honey,” Sonja murmured. “But no matter what, I still… I still love you like a mother would. I’d do anything for you. Nothing could ever change that.” “Son’ja, don’t spout that nonsense!” Mr. Altman cried out. “You are that boy’s mother. He’s your son. Heart and tears, he is your boy.” There was a moment of stillness, silence in the wake of revelation. Mr. Altman looked to his wife with a gaze that spoke volumes. He held out his hand to her, reminiscent of a prince from the final scene of a childhood fairy tale, and helped pull her up from her seat. They embraced in a moment that seemed hung in eternity before he turned to Teddy, his arm still wrapped around his lover of so many years. Though they didn’t start out as such, the two of them had developed a relationship as loving partners since their coming to this world. For them, the fabrication had transcended its invention and blossomed into a full-blown adoration. Sonja looked at them with tears in her eyes before whispering, “Z’Cann… N’ala…” “Z’Cann, maybe the humans at SHIELD will understand,” Mrs. Altman whispered in her husband’s ear. “Maybe they’ll let us be together still, with Son’ja and Teddy.” “Maybe they will, N’ala,” he said. His trepidation lay hidden under a false smile, though he felt foolish in his deceitful consolation. Mr. Altman’s eyes flew from wife to daughter and then settled on his grandson. With a heavy sigh, he cast off the falsehood of his fictitious body, and a weight seemed to be lifted as it morphed and changed. He hadn’t realized how so many years of hiding his true self had strained his natural form. His muscles ached sorely as they swelled and spread tightly over his limbs and torso, filling out once-wrinkled skin that was now stretched taut and green over his invigorated figure. Allen Altman’s eyes shifted from their normal grey to a vivid yellow-orange. They were Z’Cann’s eyes, now reclaimed. The change culminated in the sprouting of elfin points upon his ears and a ridged, puckered chin. “You see, son,” Z’Cann began. “Green runs in the family, and that’s exactly what we are. We love-“ There was a thunderous bang, and then a deafening noise that sounded like a thousand firecrackers had been set off all at once. A hail of bullets. Splintered wood. Bones pulverized in the path of high-caliber assault rifle shells. There was a spray of hot, salty black as the two lovers were riddled with metal and gunpowder whilst Sonja and Teddy looked on in dread. N’ala’s body had reverted to a form not unlike her husband’s as her last breath choked out of mangled green lips. Their ink-colored blood sprayed out in morbid flowers. It seemed to take forever for the bodies to drop, the force of the bullets coming in from both sides keeping the bodies suspended in their steel rain. “No! Nononono!” Sonja cried as she reached out to the two. A bullet caught her in the forearm, skewering the bone with an audible crack that resonated in her ears. She screamed and cried out in agony, stumbling backwards and falling to the floor, gripping her arm in an attempt to stop her darkened blood from pouring forth. A cascade of green seemed to spread out from the wound as her skin struggled to stitch itself over the gaping hole in her wrist. The sight of her was pathetic, tears like a miserable waterfall and blubbering incoherently as the entire dining room was torn asunder by bullets. “Teddy! Teddy, you have to run!” she rasped between gritted teeth, threads of spittle hanging upon her jade lips. The bullets ceased, though the sounds of firing still rung in her ears, and the cacophony of crashing glass sounded throughout the empty home. Heavy boots crunched on the crystalline shards as a flood of bodies crawled in through every window and door, guns poised at the ready. All were pointed at Son’ja. The SHIELD agents circled the woman, creating a barrier between her and Teddy, a wall of uniforms and rifles. “No! Please! He’s my son! He’s my baby!” she shouted pitifully, clawing at the men in her impeded attempt to reach Teddy. There was another cracking sound as the butt of a gun collided with her jaw, sending her backwards against another wave of bodies that then pushed her to the floor. One of them kicked at her wound and she wept. Huddled close to the ground, her body shook and heaved as her lungs were lit aflame with anger and fear. It was the vilest breed of horror she had ever felt. It was paralyzing... One of the agents spoke into his radio transmitter in a disaffected voice, “We’ve got it secure here. Two down and the other one in custody... What? No, they tried to shift… Yeah, well those were my orders. You can poke and prod whatever's left of their brains to all fuck if you want to find that out for yourself.” Their faces were ugly, expressionless and flushed with red. Son’ja’s fading vision tried to keep from blacking out as she searched for any sign of her boy among the sea of bodies, but she could only witness her own warped reflection in the shine of their black leather boots. She was a failure. “D-Dorrek…” she muttered. “I... love y-“ There was a flash of blue as her muscles twitched and her limbs tried to whip out in spasms but found themselves restrained by the electric net. She couldn't pace her breathing as the electrical shocks spread to her lungs and permeated her every nerve and inch of flesh. Several of the capillaries in her skin and eyes burst whilst she began to exude a smell like singed meat before the net ceased with its cruel pulses. Son’ja lay there... unthinking and unfeeling, her consciousness lost in the blackness... |
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| Hulkling | Jun 5 2012, 03:21 AM Post #10 |
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It was obvious how genuinely distressed his mother was, Teddy saw it written in the premature wrinkles around her eyes, and even in her body language. In her tone, she pleaded for him to understand…to forgive, and the teen sincerely wanted to. But as a being of inherent honesty, however, he simply couldn't justify the deceit, not when everything he did was motivated by his desire to make her proud. He grew up believing it was he and his mother against the world, and he foolishly assumed that they told each other everything. And in grade school, Teddy was that loser kid who always named his mother as his best friend. With all his notions of family shattered, every good memory appeared tainted and sinister. What was reality and what was simulation? So how could she stand there and ask him to understand her lies? Although he didn't want them to, tears obscured Teddy's vision as the truth about his father echoed inside his skull. 'A good man'? His entire life, he operated under the belief that his dad was a deadbeat, one who left his family and never looked back. Teddy wanted to scream at his mother his was so furious, how could she let him think the worst? How could she withhold the facts for so long, and why was she telling him this now? What actually happened to his father, was he even still alive? There were so many questions to ask, and all of them fought to get out first, causing the blond to stand rooted to the spot, his mouth agape. Struck dumb, Ted had too much to say, so he said nothing at all. "Teddy, we’re not your blood, but we are your family." Just when it seemed as though they would never be able to say anything that could shock Teddy ever again, his elders lobbed yet another bomb his way. By now, the teen's heart was pumping so frantically it was almost difficult to hear what everyone was saying. Like talking into water, nothing was fully intelligible. Deep down he'd known or at least suspected - maybe even before 'Tommy's' corpse showed up - ever since that Sentinel in Mutant Town couldn't get a read on him. He wanted to call them liars, to denounce them as lunatics, but a part of Teddy always knew that he would never fit in. Not even amongst other freaks and misfits. Still, he said nothing, even as his knees shook and his chest heaved with increasing fervor. He'd asked for the truth, hadn't he? Only now it felt like the truth was quicksand and he was sinking faster and faster as his family sought to bury him alive. Now more than ever, the desire to flee was strong, and he even felt a prickle in his shoulder blades, as though his body might sprout wings and take flight. But those wings – green and scaly – labeled him as he truly was…the enemy. Feeling vile and uncomfortable in his own skin, Teddy thought he might never fly again. He would fall before he flew again, he would sink…sink faster and faster. Faster and faster his chest rose and fell, and he was beginning to feel lightheaded as a result. His grandparents were saying something to one another, but Teddy couldn't hear it over the sound of his own breathing; he didn't want to hear it. At some point, exactly when he did not know, the shifter squeezed his eyes shut and blocked out the room. Perhaps his was being puerile, but Teddy felt utterly powerless. What would Billy think? It was a question he was trying to avoid, but it was no use. The warlock would undoubtedly loathe him, if he knew, yet Teddy knew he wouldn't be able to lie to him. Billy would think he had been dishonest from the start, and he would blame him for Tommy's loss. A picture of Billy wearing a sneer of unadulterated hatred coalesced in the blond's mind's eye, and he saw that any semblance of a relationship between them was impossible now. "So you see…Green runs in the family…" Teddy opened his swimming eyes and recoiled at the sight of the lizard like creature standing before him. So deep in his own thoughts and self-loathing, he hadn't even noticed the transformation. There was a moment when Allen…no, Z'Cann registered the look of fear and disgust in his grandson's eyes before a raucous cacophony split the Altman home into two. Dark blue-black blood splattered across Teddy's face as his grandfather's body jerked and twisted eerily within the air. The blood, and bone matter of his grandparent's hung in the like a miasmic mist, and Teddy viewed the devastation as if in half speed. It wasn't until his throat was raw with overuse that the teen even realized that he'd finally broken his silence, and for a terrifying moment, he believed that he was back beneath the rubble of Xavier's school…or maybe he'd never left. His mother's piercing scream plunged Teddy back into reality. In spite of it all, Teddy instinctively went to her, clumsily tripping on the wreckage. "Mom!" His voice chafed his throat, but he didn't care. Dazed, Teddy stumbled blindly, completely unable to glean from which way the sound of his mother's shriek originated. His attempts to find her were in vain, however, for a storm of people in black Kevlar and tactical helmets barred his way; he hadn't even noticed that they'd stopped shooting. "Mama?!" He cried, sounding more and more like frightened child. Without warning, he was forcibly reminded of the time he wandered off and lost his mother in a department store. The young boy only wandered for approximately half an hour alone, but to a child, those terrifying moments felt like days, as though he would never see his mother again. Disregarding her call to flee, Teddy chose to knock aside agents instead as his desperation increased. There was another sickening crack as an agent struck Sonja squaring in the face, and something in Teddy shifted. Unbridled rage bubbled within him, causing him to swell in size. His skin rippled, but before he could fully transform, a soft PEW! cut through the sudden silence, and the boy dimly registered a prick in his neck. Teddy didn't know what he was doing, he was a boy possessed by some vengeful entity. Human bodies crumpled like cardboard beneath his strength while an entire barrel of tranquilizers was emptied into his back. His roar of fury and grief shook the house's foundation, yet the intensity diminished as the chemicals railed against his body's healing factor. Unbidden images flashed behind his eyes as Teddy's mind began to wonder, and he body weakened. His grandfather's wounded eyes before being riddled with bullets, his imaginary father wearing the garb of the superhero's he so loved, Billy's sneer of absolute abhorrence, his mother's terror… He never reached Sonja. The last thought Teddy had before succumbing to the sedative was of his failure, not just the failure of the day, but all of them. Knowing what he knew now, his entire existence seemed to be just that…a farce. This time tomorrow, he might wake to find himself on an autopsy table, being poked and prodded by human scientists, and it would be no less than what he deserved. Slipping into blissful unconsciousness, Dorrek didn't hear his mother and protector's last words to him, just the sound of a heavy combat boot as it connected with his forehead and he sunk into oblivion. |
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| Maria Hill | Jun 5 2012, 04:15 AM Post #11 |
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"Mr. Altman." When the boy heard her voice, he would wake to find himself, not on a slab, not as some prisoner or science experiment, but in his room. No, not his room at home, not his room at the Institute, God knows that was gone, but his room in the Helicarrier, the one they had set aside for him. He would find himself comfortable, we as comfortable as someone in his condition having just gone through what he went through could be, in a clean bed and a clean gown. "We take care of our own," she had told him when she recruited him. And he, as strange as it may have seemed only a few months ago, was one of their own. Teddy had become something of a protege to the Director. She found in him a bright, determined, and talented young man with abilities and a work ethic others would have killed for. She had invested, not only time and government funds into the boy, but her own interest as well. She found herself actually caring how he was progressing, rooting for him, as it were. That, she thought, was strange. But he was a special boy and, as time had taught her again and again, special things came to special people. "Mr. Altman," she repeated as he nodded to consciousness. "You're safe now, son. You're okay." She pulled a chair up beside him, brushed a few strands of sweat laden hair from his eyes and continued. "You've been through a lot son, but you're going to be all right." She noticed tears welling in his bright blue eyes and realized that 'all right' meant so much more right now than breathing. "Listen to me," she put her hand in his. "I'm a practical woman. I never promise anything I can't deliver. I promise you we will make this right. I promise you will be okay." She leaned in closer. "We've had our eyes on these things since before your friend turned into the Jolly Green corpse. We didn't have all the information, of course, but we knew something big was on the horizon. These things are tricky, Mr. Altman. They take faces, take identities. They use connections to worm their way into your head, into your heart. You're better than that Mr. Altman." "You were better than that even before you met me and I'd hate to think that someone under my tutelage. even with it being as short a session as it's been, couldn't see through something as thin as that." "They're messing with you Teddy. They want you to believe their lies. They weren't real. Just like your friend, just like Tommy. I know it hurts, and I know that you feel like it wont get better." She leaned away. "And it wont. It wont ever get better, unless you make it better. I'm not going to guarantee to you that the people you love are safe. These imposters may have very well ended them. But in all my years on this planet, if I've learned one thing, it's that if we don;t do right by the people we love, if we don't avenge them, make their deaths count for something, then it will eat at us for the rest of our lives." "Let me help you Teddy. Give me your trust. Let me help you make them pay, let me help you be the person you need to be." "Nick Fury used to tell me that smart people thought the world was out to get them. Brilliant people, he said, beat it to the punch." |
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2:17 PM Jul 11