Chapter 21 – The Legend is Born

Chapter 21 – Tragedy

They came for Michael when he was just four years old. Before that fateful day, he had not known anything of the outside world beyond the four walls of the orphanage. He did not even know the name of the orphanage or what an orphanage was for that matter. Up to that point, waking up dutifully to the morning bell, standing in line for his breakfast, and avoiding the bullies in the playground had filled his days. Life simply about existing from day to day.

Then, he saw her. To his youthful eyes, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He had heard stories of angels and for a moment thought that he was in the presence of one. He had just gone down for his afternoon nap when he was unceremoniously woken up by Mrs. Delaney and pushed and prodded into the brightly lit room where its only occupant made his knees quiver.

She had smiled kindly at him when he entered and had laughingly denied that she was an angel sent from heaven. She introduced herself as Mary Wellington and said that she was here to meet with him to discuss his future.

Michael spent the rest of the day in a complete daze. Adopted! He was going to be adopted! He had hurried as fast as his little feet could take him to see Mrs. Delaney to ask her what adopted meant.

The next day, the beautiful woman returned with an equally handsome man. At first, he had felt a sharp pain in his chest when he saw them together, holding hands and chatting amiably. However, the pain lessened when they saw him and warmly welcomed him. The man had introduced himself as David Wellington, and after several minutes Mary left the room so that the two ‘men’ could get better acquainted.

Michael’s eyes had followed Mary’s departure with a wistful expression. David had smiled and knelt down until he was at eye level with Michael. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” he asked with a conspiratical grin. At Michael’s dumbfounded nod, David’s grin grew broader. “After all these years, I still don’t get tired of looking at her.”

Michael had looked back at David, and David’s grin became infectious. His eyes met with David’s and he instantly felt a bond with the man. “She looks like an angel,” he said with utter conviction.

“She is that,” agreed David, “and if you agree to let us adopt you, she’s going to be ‘Mom’.”

“Mom?” asked Michael. He frowned at the strange sounding word and said it again, “Mom.”

“As for me, you can call me Dad,” said David as he clapped Michael on the back.

“Dad?” Michael said this word several times to and decided that he liked the sound of it. “I like it. It feels…right.”

“That’s great!” exclaimed David as he beamed at Michael. “So, how about yourself?” asked David. “Do you like to be called Michael, Mike, Mikey?”

Michael thought hard for a moment and his face screwed up in concentration. Suddenly he relaxed and said, “Michael. I like Michael.”

David stood up and held his hand out to Michael. “Michael it is then. I am very pleased to meet you.”

Michael cautiously shook his hand. He liked the firm warm grasp and the friendly way in which his ‘Dad’ shook it up and down. Just then, Mary came back into the room. They both looked up as she entered.

“Mary, I would like to introduce our son. This is Michael Wellington,” said David proudly.

Mary’s face virtually exploded into a smile bright enough to eclipse the sun momentarily. She rushed over, picked Michael up and hugged him tightly to her. “Oh, Michael! You have no idea how happy you’ve made me!”

Michael’s world disappeared into a pleasant blur as his new mother whirled him around. David came over and wrapped his arms around his wife and his new son. Both David and Mary were talking, but Michael only seemed to hear his name repeated over and over.

“Michael…Michael…Michael!”

The world suddenly stopped spinning and Michael opened his eyes – eyes that he didn’t even realize that he had shut tight. He found himself looking into the tear streaked face of Serena. She managed to look both sad and worried.

“Michael,” she repeated and Michael belatedly realized that it was she who was saying his name over and over, “are you alright?”

Childhood memories seemed to clash with newer memories that were only just acquired a few minutes before. “I…I…Dead? Are…are you sure? They can’t be dead!”

Serena managed to nod slowly and said, “I only just found out myself.”

“How? When?”

Instead of answering right away, Serena turned to the man in the uniform and gestured for him to come closer. That was when Michael realized that he was sitting on the loveseat that Serena had only recently vacated. He had no memory of sitting down on it. “Michael, I’d like for you to meet an old friend of mine,” said Serena. The man in the uniform sat down on top of the coffee table. “This is Major Ted Marshall of the Canadian Air Force.”

The man raised his right hand and Michael shook it numbly. “I’m pleased to finally make your acquaintance, Michael. I only wish it were under better circumstances.”

“Did you know my parents?” asked Michael.

Ted Marshall nodded solemnly. “I did. In fact, we worked with each other on several jobs.”

“Why would my parents work with the Air Force?”

As if on cue, the second man, who up until now had remained silent, spoke up. “Ah, perhaps I can answer that question. First of all, I want to express my sorrow for the loss of your parents.” The man was reclined on the sofa and did not, in the slightest, seem sad. He remained seated on the sofa as he continued. “My name is John Lemon and I worked at Canadian Life Magazine with your parents. In fact, I was their boss.”

At his words, Serena suddenly swung back to glare at him. “No more lies! Michael deserves to know the truth!”

John Lemon seemed momentarily taken aback but then he said, “What lies?”

“If you won’t tell him, then I will!” retorted Serena.

John’s expression darkened. “That would not be wise. He is not cleared.”

“He’s their son, for god’s sake. What other clearance does he need!”

“Yeah, John, lighten up will you?” said Ted.

“You mind your own business, flyboy!” said John angrily. “You don’t work for me anymore. You don’t have clearance either!”

Serena turned back to Michael and looked into his eyes. “Michael, remember when I told you that I couldn’t tell you about your parents?”

“Yes.”

Serena took a deep breath before continuing. “Well, I’m going to tell you now. Do not breathe a word of this to anyone, ok?”

John Lemon suddenly leapt to his feet. “I forbid it! You better stop talking right now or there will be hell to pay! You owe us, little missy!”

“I owe Michael the truth,” said Serena with barely a glance at the livid man behind her.

John stomped forward several feet as if to physically stop Serena but was stopped himself when Ted interposed his body in front of him. “Get out of my way, flyboy!”

“Or what?” said Ted with a challenge. “Remember, Serena and I can still go over your head to have an interesting chat about how you got her real parents killed with your little information leak.”

Suddenly mollified, John backed down and sat back on the sofa. “Well, we don’t have to go to quite those extremes. Just be careful of what kind of classified information you give out.” He sniffed once and looked pointedly away from Ted and Serena.

Serena sat down beside Michael and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. “Michael, David and Mary didn’t just work for the Canada Life Magazine. The CLM is merely a front for the CSIA.”

“CSIA? What’s that?”

Ted responded from the coffee table. “The CSIA stands for Collaborative Special Intelligence Agency. It was created about fifteen years ago as a joint intelligence effort by the US, Canada and England.”

Michael rocked back on the loveseat. “Spies? My parents were spies?”

“Field operatives, Michael,” said Serena. “Their missions usually involved information gathering on issues that were considered too trivial for other agencies to handle,” she finished with a contemptuous snort.

“Like what? You mean like what you told me before about how you met them?”

Serena nodded with a quick sideways glance in John’s direction. “Of course, that’s still classified but David and Mary spent most of their time abroad tracking down cases like my own.”

“Where does the air force factor in?”

Ted cleared his throat and said, “I wasn’t part of the air force back then. I was a freelance pilot who sometimes flew your parents to and from their missions. These days, I’m just a test pilot.”

Michael nodded his understanding and then looked pointedly at John. “What about you?”

John looked as if he had swallowed something sour. “I was their controller. I received the missions and sent your parents the mission briefs.”

“So what happened to them?” asked Michael. The grief was starting to fade from his voice and in its place was something else.

John fidgeted in his seat for several moments before saying, “Ah, remember, what goes on in this room stays here, ok?” When the others nodded their heads, he continued. “About 2 weeks ago, we lost contact with David and Mary. All field operatives have a GPS locator surgically implanted but we lost the signal to theirs. Several days after we lost the signal, we managed to track down their progress and found the remains of a small plane that was registered to one of David’s fake ID’s. It had crashed into a mountain.”

At those words, a fresh sob escaped from Serena’s mouth. Michael, on the other hand, was not quite convinced yet. “Where did they crash? What about their bodies? Did you do a search for survivors?”

John shook his head and smiled ruefully. “I can’t tell you where. Rest assured though, we searched quite thoroughly for your parents.”

“So that’s it? That’s all you got for us?” asked Michael angrily.

John frowned at Michael’s tone. “What more do you want?”

“Tell us what happened!”

“Fine, you want the grisly details? I wanted to spare you the hurt but here it is. Yes, we found their bodies. But we had to go by dental records to properly identify them. By the time we got to them, wild animals had already had their meals!”

Serena wailed wordlessly and buried her face in her hands. Ted looked crossly at John and said, “Hey, lighten up will you! These are their parents you’re talking about!”

“Hey, he asked for it!”

John stood up and was glaring at Ted. In response, Ted got off the coffee table and confronted John. They argued back and forth in heated tones but Michael was no longer paying them any attention. He absentmindedly pulled Serena in close and she cried into his shoulder. A part of him was still in shock. This was too much information for him to digest in one sitting. Besides, something didn’t feel right. Something seemed to be missing. Suddenly it hit him.

Where’s Tracy?

<<Serena called a cab for her while you were still in your state of shock. Young one, I am deeply sorry for your loss. Believe me, I understand what you are going through right now.>>

What do you mean? What do you know about how I feel?

<<The grief has not yet hit you, young one. Right now, you are feeling something that is close to anger.>>

Anger? Yeah, I guess you’re right. I do feel angry. Why was I never told any of this before? Why didn’t they trust me?

<>

There’s something else. Something about what that guy John said just doesn’t ring true.

<>

So what do I do? How do I find out the truth? I know! Remember that night when we brought May home? You said that you picked out her home address from her memory. Can you show me how to do that?

<>

I’m willing to take the risk!

<>

Oh. But you did it to May!

<<Scanning and picking up an active thought is much easier than digging for buried memories.>>

I don’t care. This bozo knows what happened to my parents and he’s withholding that! I need your help, Big Bro!

<<Very well. I will take control of your body and make physical contact. You must imagine yourself following the physical link. After that, you must trust your instincts.>>

That’s it? Sound easy enough.

<<Just remember that you will be in his mind, young one.>>

I will.

Michael let himself slip out of control and gratefully allowed Big Bro’s entrance to his body. He felt Big Bro gently slide out of Serena’s embrace and off the loveseat. It was weird, watching the world through eyes that were no longer his own. At any other time, he would have marveled at the sensations, but now he only had one purpose: the intentional invasion of another’s mind to steal memories.

“Mr. Lemon?” asked Big Bro in Michael’s voice – did his voice really sound that odd? At the inquiring tone, both men stopped arguing. “I am sorry for my harsh words and I would like to thank you for coming tonight.” Big Bro raised his right hand out.

John reached up with his hand to shake the hand. There was a slightly contemptuous look on his face. However, the second he touched the hand in front on him, Michael made his move.

As soon as Michael felt the physical link, he dove for it like a speed swimmer. He sensed more than felt the warmth of the link. In a flash, his consciousness was through it and moving with more instinct than any kind of skill and before he knew it, he found himself in the mind of John Lemon. The first thing he found out was that John Lemon was not his real name. His real name was Paul Beddenson and he not only worked as a controller in the CSIA, he was actually a CIA plant. His job was to direct and influence the actions of the CSIA from the inside.

Anger suffused Michael’s consciousness as he swam through John/Paul’s memories, searching for any scrap of information relating to his parents’ death. It was like trying to catch fish in an ocean with his bare hands. Stray thoughts and errant memories floated all around him but his could not single out any that related to his parents.

He swam around for some time, desperately trying to find anything. All of a sudden, like a whisper in the dark, he sensed more than heard the word Wellington. Michael tried to focus on it but the stray thought that carried it seemed to flit and float about, evading all attempts of capture by his stubby fingers. Finally, if frustration, Michael cast an imaginary net in the general direction of the thought – it missed. He tried and tried again, each time making the net bigger and bigger. On one last throw, he finally sensed that his mental net had managed to capture his target. It was jumbled in with a whole bunch of other random and not so random thoughts. A small part of him realized that he was capturing more than he had intended, but he didn’t care. He had finally gotten what he was so desperately searching for.

He pulled the net in and absorbed the memories. A sudden influx of images, sounds and smells infused his consciousness and threatened to overwhelm him. With an act of desperation, he pushed all non-relevant thoughts aside and focused on the one that he was after. Like a man shifting through a net of fish- anxiously casting aside any that were considered worthless – Michael dug and dug until he held the one memory in front of him like a prized pearl. Almost tenderly, he pulled this memory into his consciousness so that he could finally learn his parents’ fate.

The shock of the truth shattered his frail concentration and sent him spinning back into his own body. Darkness enshrouded him and he tried to pull it around himself even more in a vain attempt to hide what he had seen. He was dimly aware of voices speaking, as if on the other side of a thick door. Slowly, bit by bit, he opened his senses to the outside world in order to discover what had happened while he was busy raiding someone else’s mind.

“What the hell did you do to him, kid?!” exclaimed Ted Marshall as he knelt over the collapsed body of John Lemon.

“Nothing! I swear!” cried Big Bro. “I just shook his hand and the next thing I know, he goes catatonic on me!”

John’s body was lying on the floor. His eyes had rolled up into his head and he was frothing at the mouth. Ted reached into his mouth with two fingers, desperately trying to keep John from choking on his own tongue. “Jesus Christ, I think he’s having a seizure! Someone call 911!”

Serena rushed to comply and in seconds had an operator on the other line. Big Bro used the ensuing confusion to connect with Michael. Did you find what you were looking for, young one?

<>

Perhaps you should ask yourself that question.

<Me? What did I do?>>

I warned you that invading the mind of someone else would be dangerous but you did not heed my warning.

<<You mean I did this? I caused him to collapse? I gave him a seizure?>>

He is not having a seizure, young one. In fact, if I had to guess, I would say that his mind has forgotten how to control his own body.

“Serena! Tell them to hurry! I think he’s stopped breathing!” cried Ted from the floor. Ted rushed to perform CPR as Serena passed on the details to the operator.

And now it appears as if his mind has forgotten how to breathe.

<<How is that possible? How did I cause this?>>

I was only peripherally aware of your progress. You used force when you should have been subtle. You could not have done more damage if you had taken a bat to his head! You raped his mind!

<<NO! It can’t be!>>

“He’s convulsing! Where’s that ambulance!” shouted Ted to no one in particular.

Michael disconnected himself from his outward senses and stewed silently in the dark. He tried to rationalize what he had done but could not justify it even to himself. He had not heeded Big Bro’s warning and had barged into the mind of another person. Through his own clumsiness, he had inadvertently caused damage where he had not intended to.

Big Bro unconsciously ground his unfamiliar teeth as the ambulance arrived and took the young one who called himself John Lemon away. The young one called Ted Marshall went with him. Big Bro tried to call out internally to Michael but there was no reply. He cursed himself under his breath at his own stupidity. He had been too harsh on his young charge. Was it the fault of the student or the fault of the teacher when the student failed? He should never have allowed Michael to fly solo on his first attempt at scanning. Even though Big Bro had only done it once himself, he was better suited to it. Michael’s current emotional and mental state was too unstable to have carried off such a delicate procedure. He tried calling to Michael again but still had no response. Sighing to himself, he did the only thing he could think off. He surrendered control and withdrew his consciousness.

As the door closed and the last of the paramedics drove off in the ambulance, Michael’s body dropped unceremoniously to the floor like a sack of discarded potatoes.

“Michael! What’s wrong?” cried an anxious Serena as she rushed to Michael’s side. “Michael!” Serena grabbed both of Michael’s shoulders and shook vigorously.

Michael hesitantly opened his eyes. He could still feel the invisible pressure of Big Bro as he was pushed and prodded back to the real world. However, he had not expected the real world to be bouncing around quite so much. “Whoa, Serena, it’s ok…I’m ok…really…please stop shaking me!”

Serena gasped in relief and manhandled Michael into a sitting position. As soon as he was up, she hugged him tight enough to strangle a python.

“Serena…can’t…breathe…” gasped Michael as he struggled for air.

Serena let go and sat down in front of Michael. “Serves you right, you ingrate! Don’t scare me like that – not after what I’ve already been through today!”

“I’m sorry,” said Michael contritely. “I…ah wasn’t quite ready when Big Bro released control.”

<<It was the only way I could get you out of your shell, young one. I am sorry.>>

No, you were right. About everything. I’m the one who is sorry.

<>

I’m the one who barged in and ransacked his mind.

Michael felt a strong hand grasp his face and suddenly, he was looking into the beautiful yet determined eyes of his adopted sister.

“What happened, Michael?” she demanded.

“Um, I had a feeling that that John guy was lying through his teeth so I raided his mind,” said Michael cautiously.

“I already figured that part out, Michael,” replied Serena in a tone that one used when one was trying hard to be patient – and was failing. “What happened to David and Mary? What happened to our parents?”

“They weren’t in a plane crash -” began Michael slowly.

“I know that!”

Michael heaved a huge sigh. How was he supposed to describe what he had seen in words? Was it possible to…

Hey, Big Bro, have you reviewed the footage?

<>

Can you show it to Serena? I’d rather not poke around anyone else’s mind right now.

<>

If you say so, Big Bro!

<<Make sure to remain in contact with her.>>

I will.

Michael held both of Serena’s hands and looked straight into her eyes. “Serena, I can’t describe with words what I saw, but Big Bro can show you. After what I inadvertently did to that guy, I don’t trust myself.”

“Is it that dangerous?”

“I don’t know for sure. Big Bro says that he thinks he knows what to do.”

“He thinks?” asked Serena incredulously. Then, she shrugged. “I don’t care. I have to know what really happened!”

“Ok, consider yourself warned,” said Michael. Take it away, Big Bro. “Close your eyes, Serena.”

Serena complied and almost instantly, she felt Michael’s grip on her hands getting warmer and warmer. The warmth traveled up her arms, over her shoulders, through her neck until it finally encompassed her head. There seemed to be a pressure inside her head. It was not an unpleasant feeling, but it did feel almost as if her mind were crowded.

<<Testing, testing 1, 2, 3…can you hear me, Serena?>>

<<What the-? Michael, is that you?>>

<<Yup. Don’t worry though. Big Bro is running the show.>>

<<Big Bro?>>

<<Greetings, young one.>>

Serena gasped out loud and almost pulled out of Michael’s grasp. She had known about the alien entity but a small part of her had always assumed that perhaps it was a fragment of an over-active imagination.

<<You’re real! You’re really real!>>

<<You had doubts, young one?>> The thought seemed amused.

<<Um…well…I…>>

<<Yeah, if that’s how you feel, imagine how I felt!>> Michael’s mental voice piped up from the back. Now that Serena had a chance to ‘hear’ them both, it seemed as if Big Bro’s ‘voice’ was closer than Michael’s.

<<Do not be afraid, young one. Just relax. The footage you are about to see is quite shocking. Unfortunately, for all of his exalted opinion of himself, the young one who called himself John Lemon did not have any more information than this.>>

Like a blank TV that suddenly burst into life, Serena could ‘see’ an image in her mind. There were also faint noises that sounded like rustling fabric. There was another deeper, more disturbing noise that sounded like something heavy was being dragged on the floor. It took her several seconds, but Serena was finally able to make out what she was seeing. It was a video of a forest. The camera angle was pointed at a plain looking building far off in the distance. The dragging noise stopped and the rustling noise got louder and then the view was blurred and blocked off as if something or someone stood in front of it at too close a distance.

The camera must have an auto focus feature because the image sharpened until the thing which had blocked its view became clear. It was a mottled green patch of fabric that was getting further and further away. Eventually, it got far enough that Serena could see that it was someone’s back. The figure was carrying the front end of a stretcher behind it, and, for a single clear and shocking moment, Serena saw the face of David Wellington on the stretcher before the view was blocked again – this time by another figure that was obviously holding the rear end of the stretcher. After the second figure passed, there were several seconds with no action and the camera started to auto focus again to the building in the distance but then something else blocked its view again. It was almost like an exact repeat of before except that this time, it was Mary Wellington on the stretcher. The camera watched dispassionately as the four mysterious figures in green camouflage uniforms brought David and Mary towards the distant building.

Still on automatic, the camera zoomed in on the back of the last figure in the strange and silent party until it disappeared into the building. There was another several seconds of no change, and then the camera zoomed out. As it zoomed out, Serena thought she saw something bright shiny and round in front of the building but it was soon gone as the camera defaulted back to its original setting and then there was darkness as it shifted into suspend mode.

<<That’s it? That’s all you got?>> demanded Serena.

<<Not quite, young one. The next part is the most disturbing. The footage did not have a time counter so it is hard to determine the time span between the first and second scenes.>>

The strange mental movie started up again. This time, the view seemed darker, almost as if night was falling. The view was the same except that the building did not seem to turn on any exterior lights as it grew darker. The camera zoomed in about halfway and then Serena saw what had caused the camera to ‘wake up’. Something that resembled a flat elongated football dropped out of the sky. It appeared almost over the top of the bright round shiny thing she had caught a glimpse of earlier. There was a flash of light and suddenly, the bright round object on the ground was gone, only to be replaced by flames.

Small dark figures dropped out of the hovering space ship (for the hovering object could be nothing else) and disappeared into the building. The camera suddenly zoomed out as another space ship entered the picture. The second one was smaller and was circling the building. Bright red splashed of light kept searing down from it. Everything that those red beams of light touched burst into flame. How long the destruction continued for was unknown. However, eventually, most of the building was in flames. Serena couldn’t be quite sure because of the current wide angle of the camera, but she thought she saw some dark figures come out of the building and leap up into the hovering space ship. The smaller space ship slowed to a hover beside its larger brethren and both ships disgorged their combined firepower into the building. Their probing beams must have finally found something important because a giant white flash of light temporarily blinded the camera.

As the camera slowly came back into focus, all that was left of the building was a smoking crater. The camera held the view for several minutes and then went blank once more.

<<What were those ships that destroyed the building?>> A small part of Serena was surprised at how calm and collected she sounded. After all, hadn’t she just witnessed alien space ships destroying a building that her unconscious parents were taken into?

<<I’ll let Big Bro field the questions.>> Michael’s mental voice seemed infused with pent up anger.

<<The smaller ship was a Valean sting ship and the larger one was a troop transport.>>

<<Valean? You mean the alien race that is currently at war with your former masters, the Pracetorians?>>

<<Correct. Did you not see the Pracetorian scout ship?>>

<<That bright round shiny thing?>>

<<Yes. As you saw, that was the first target that the Valeans destroyed. They did not want any Pracetorians to escape. The troopship dropped a full complement of armored shock troopers – presumably to ensure that any Pracetorians in the building were killed. Valeans do not take prisoners.>>

<<You mean that…when the building blew up...David and Mary…>>

<> Big Bro’s voice was gentle with compassion. <<It appears that your parents were unfortunate enough to be caught in a crossfire of a millennia old war.>>

Serena felt something like a mental caress and then the two presences in her mind departed. She felt Michael releasing her hands and then she opened her eyes to look at him. His face looked bitter and grim. “What do we do now?”

Michael’s face twisted in anger as he spoke, “Big Bro says that the easiest way to get at the Valeans is to make them come to me.”

“Come to you?”

Michael nodded assertively. “Yeah, if I fly around and openly use my powers in my other form, any Valean ship that may be picketing our planet will eventually pick me up on their sensors and come to investigate. Remember, they have a mission to exterminate all Shiza-harans.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” asked Serena in a worried tone.

“Only to the Valeans,” said Michael in a voice tinged with hatred. “They hound the Shiza-harans to extinction, and then they come to my world and bring their war with them and kill my parents. They are going to pay for this! I’ve been skulking around, too afraid to use my powers for too long. They will see soon enough. The whole world will see just what I can do! The Valeans are going to regret ever coming to Earth!”

Serena could feel the anger in Michael’s voice as if it were a solid force. There was a crazed look in Michael’s eyes and deep down, she knew that she should try to dissuade Michael but she could not bring herself to do it. His words struck a cord within her and part of her cried for revenge as well. David and Mary rescued her from a life of hell on earth and she would do anything to see their killers pay with interest!