Jeremiah
and Nikita met a VERY isolated J'onn Jo'nzz
“If
he wanted us dead we'd be dead right now, so what's his story?”
“I
don't know. He's a GREEN Martian.” She said definitively. “I've
lived on Earth for 70 years. 17 of them at the D.E.O. He's been on
earth At least 3 times as long. He may have forgotten how to trust
people, especially humans. Other aliens wouldn't be as hard.”
“That
I can understand.” I said glumly.
Three
days later the alien came to take me away. He grabbed me by the arm
and started to literally drag me out of the room. “Stop it!”
Nikita cried out. The green-skinned alien stopped in his tracks. He
turned to Nikita with a prompting look. “He's done nothing to
deserve this. I would think if anything you'd be after me.”
“Are
you saying you'd rather die instead?”
“...Yes.”
Nikita answered her voice low but distinct. “I would rather be
killed than let him die. I'd think if you'd hate either of us it'd be
a freak of nature like me. Not literally the best human I have ever
known. So if nothing else at least that would make sense!”
A
single look told Nikita the outburst had hit home. The man, the
alien, instantly dropped his arm and released her friend. “There
was no need for any of this. There never was.”
“I...I
misread the situation.” The alien said as if he were a schoolboy
getting dressed down for misbehaving. A feeling that would only
deepen as the conversation continued.
“And
that's the worst thing about all of this. All you had to do was ask.
I would have told you. Hell you're a Martian you could have read my
mind. I would have permitted it! How quickly we become the things we
hate and we don't even realize it.” Nikita walked to the far edge
of the room, sat down with her feet tucked behind her and turned away
from her host. A universally recognized 'I don't want to talk to you'
attitude.
“She's
comparing you to someone who treated her like an enemy for absolutely
no reason and literally tortured her to convince her to reveal the
truth. But there was no 'truth' to be found. She wasn't a danger to
anyone. And if Hank had looked at her for 5 seconds and seen anything
other than a human-looking alien...he would have seen what was right
in front of his face. Seen her for the innocent she was. Hank didn't
bother to look. He actually got off on hurting aliens...even helpless
ones like her.”
“And
you broke her free.” Realization blanketed the strangers face.
Followed quickly by a look of unmitigated shame. “You broke her
free from the D.E.O.”
“
I couldn't stand by and let her get tortured for information she
didn't actually have. I released her from...well she was propped up
for enhanced interrogation and I shut off the device. I knocked Hank
out and put him in that chair, which I kept turned off. She asked me
if I wanted to come with her. She said I didn't deserve to be trapped
in the D.E.O any more than she did. So we made our escape together.”
He turned and squarely face the man. “You are the third alien and
the 14th face we have seen in the 8 weeks since that day. And she is
quite right. All you had to do was ask. She would have told you
anything. Force, much less pain was never needed. She laughed at Hank
for that assumption. To her, you're as blind as Hank...Blinded by
your own preconceived opinions of others.”
“I
was as wrong about
you as this arrogant human you speak of was wrong about her.
I am sorry. I will FIND a way to make it right.” He left
without another word.
A
few hours later Jeremiah walked up the steps from the basement.
Something he very rarely did. He saw J'onn sitting at a dining table,
staring out the window.
“You
escaped. You both escaped.”
“Yes...I
thought we had established that.”
“If
she's not Enkaren, what is she?”
“Xavallen.”
Jeremiah replied with the sudden feeling that all reason had
completely run away from the conversation.
“Well...I
guess that explains it.”
“Okay,
I'm a little lost. I don't mind saying so.”
“Everything
that lives has an instinctual fear of dying. And you might think this
a universal tenant of sentient life. Which it is. But the extremely
well-developed need for self-preservation at all costs is unique to
humans. Most of the time, self-improvement and self-preservation
drown out all other considerations just as a matter of cause. She is
different. If I was examining her on such a thing – I swear to you
I was not but if I ever did examine different races in order to
determine how SELF preservation is balanced against an interest in
preserving all sentient life...Her people are the opposite of yours.”
“You're
saying her race gets an “A” in protective instincts and a “B”
in self-preservation?”
“If
I understand you correctly, yes.”
“That
does explain a lot.” Jeremiah said, his voice quiet.
“How
do you mean?”
“...Back
at the D.E.O. When I broke her free from that device. I was returning
the favor. I was there for six years and I saw Hank do some pretty
unspeakable things to aliens who...well who deserved it like the
weapons manufacturers and drug-dealers of Thrombus and to aliens like
Nikita. But no matter what he did to her, she never raised a finger
against him, barely ever raised her voice to him. We were...there she
was in a machine designed to lower her neural-synaptic threshold –
I'm still not sure what that means – and Hank decided I needed to
keep my sympathy where it belonged.” Jeremiah looked up at the man
who suddenly had become his companion in evening talk. “He stuck me
across the face. That's ALL he did. Nikita broke the machine, slammed
Hank against the wall with her forearm against his throat. Told him
that perception and empathy go hand in hand. That my 'bleeding heart'
meant I saw things more clearly than he did. Then rested on her shins
and knees waiting to be taken back to her cell.”
“Lowering
a neural-synaptic threshold of an empath, what would you expect?”
“In
most alien races it lowered their defenses and made them
more...pliant is the only word I can think of.”
“A
non-chemical way to produce the same 'I know what I'm saying but I
don't care' response as truth serum.” Jeremiah nodded. “The one
thing keeping an empath from physically hurting people is the full
awareness of how senseless, as well as how painful violence is. If
they no longer care what they are doing...”
“...They
no longer hold themselves back from whatever random and potentially
destructive thing that pops into their heads.”
“To
give her the credit she is due, I believe she did understand. Keeping
you safe was simply more important to her. I guessed why you were so
passionate about protecting her. Until now I didn't understand why
she seemed at least as adamant about protecting you. She saw you as
Alana-Kai.”
“Most humans, most races in the galaxies at all no matter how much
they try to lift the head of another and put the needs of their
friends first, would still put their own life, their own survival
before anything else at need. Xavallens don't. They are, by
comparison to their brethren, Friars and Philosophers.”
“I'm
sorry, but I still don't understand the connection.
“Enkarens
and Xavallens are sibling races to each-other. Enkarens
are...genetically speaking in trouble but also far superior to humans
in most respects. Xavallens are, by comparison to their brethren
philosophers and friars. They still speak the same language.”
“And
she doesn't make sense for an Enkaren.”
J'onn
nodded. “But more than that, Xavallens are a protected species.”
“Wait,
what?”
“If
I had known what she was, laying a hand on her to get
You
to talk would have been a crime.
And I would have begged her forgiveness.”
“Sir,
I confess I don't know where this comes from. But I know her, she
holds you no grudge, for any of this.”
“And
what about you?”
“You
didn't know. And besides, it was as much my choice as hers.”
“I
can see why she loves you so much.”
“...Loves
me?”
“Like
a father.” His face became concerned, and amazed. “You didn't
know?”
“I
didn't have the chance to get to know her, until about 3 months ago.”
Superman stood in the front
yard of an unfamiliar house. He'd looked up and triple-checked the
address before leaving. But he wasn't sure he wanted to knock on the
door. “It isn't everyday one receives a visit from Earth's favorite
Kryptonian.” A soft, strong voice said from the front porch. “Let
alone that he doesn't actually visit for some reason.”
“I'm sorry I...Jeremiah
Danvers?”
“Yes. Who exactly sent
you to find me?”
“No one. I'm here for a
friend, but I'm on my own. I'm not sure how to proceed.”
“Does this have anything
to do with the Department of Extra-normal Operations?” Jeremiah
Danvers asked. “And if so why are you involved?”
“Yes but not the way you
probably think. No agent of the place could ever ask me to do
anything beyond try to defend the planet and expect me to comply. I
have a friend who lives at the tower. She didn't send me to find you,
she doesn't even know you're still alive. I intend to prove that you
are. And from what I understand you'd be safe with J'onn if you came
back. But it is still very much your choice.”
“J'onn.” The scientist
said thoughtfully. “As in J'onn J'onzz?!” He exclaimed.
“Nikita has been talking
about you for the past five months. She says you're one of the two
people she's met on this planet she considers her friends, without
any qualifiers. It only just now occurred to me to look you up. I am
here to bring you to her...nothing else.”
“Then take me to her.
Just, let me tell Eliza first.”
“You underestimate your
friends fairly noticeable presence.” Eliza Danvers stated from
behind her husband. “If Nikita being at the D.E.O. is enough for
you, go.”
After embracing his wife
Jeremiah told Superman to lift him up and away. A request Superman
followed with as much care as he did speed. After about 8 minutes he
looked the hero in the eyes. “There's one thing I don't
understand.”
“With respect sir, there
is nothing I could say to explain what's going on, better than
hearing it from J'onn's own mouth. Or Nikita's for that matter.”
“Is Nikita still...Does
Hank treat her any better?” Superman stared at him, bewilderment
and disappointment on his face. The latter clearly self-directed.
“Sir, Hank Henshaw has
been dead for more than three years. J'onn takes care of Nikita now.
And he truly does so.”
“So, you're telling me,
J'onn J'onzz is in control of the D.E.O.?”
“He assumed the identity
of the creechta that was Hank
Henshaw. That's Nikita's word for him. I'm not sure what it means.
She's not the most open person in the galaxy..”
“Can you blame her?”
Jeremiah interrupted him.
“There's so much of her
story I've never heard. If I hadn't overheard the two of them talking
about you, I wouldn't have known J'onn even knew you.”
“Okay, tell me what you
do know. And I'll try to fill in the blank spots.”
“I know Henshaw led a
mission almost 4 years ago, during the course of which Nikita met
J'onn Jo'nzz. Hank is presumed to have died on that mission. Since
that day J'onn and Nikita have tried their best to make the D.E.O
into something better than it was when Nikita was first brought
through its doors.”
“I
have no doubt that together they have succeeded.”
This
is the eighth and final scene in a story about a young-adult alien
coming to Earth. Her initial encounter with the Department of
Extra-normal Operations was under a man named Hank Henshaw. Winn
Schott and Kal El of Krypton know that the man with Henshaw's skin
under whom Nikita currently serves is an alien named J'onn J'onzz.
She has never spoken of her life before meeting J'onn and later that
day the Kansas farm boy Clark Kent.
“Winn
and Kal know how we met.” Nikita said in a forcibly calm voice.
“And literally every one here knows I spent 11 months detained in
this place prior to that mission. Yet none of you have asked why I
was there that night on the precipice or even how willingly I played
my role 'did my part'. Which this I can actually understand. It's not
the sort of thing one would want to remember. But it is part of my
life and so was he. Hank Henshaw would never have acted as you have,
but because no one here had ever met him, you didn't have to act like
him to play the part. But Henshaw wasn't the only human being I saw
every single day when I was here. There was another. And if I hadn't
gotten to know him so well, I would think your humanity, as we think
of the word was betraying your otherworldly origins. I wouldn't have
known there was anything or anyone like YOU, as you are now on this
continent, if not for him.”
“You
mean Jeremiah.” J'onn said blandly.
“Whatever
the word is for 'willingly but not freely' we were that word at the
DEO. It was an 'I'm here to help but I don't have to like it' for me.
Jeremiah convinced me it was worth it. And was able to convince
Henshaw to try a more thoughtful, intellectual approach with me. I
don't my people don't do anything in our own individual best
interest. You have to convince us it makes sense and is worth it. I
followed where I was told to go. 'You can get me to track them you
can't get me to hurt them' kind of a thing, because Jeremiah was
right and they needed to see that. I wanted to give you guys a more
excellent, effective less hare-brained way of trying to achieve your
goals with 'those aliens' and we got that done, but it was way more
than that, longer, deeper. I...he meant a great deal to me and showed
ME a more excellent way just by being the kind of person he was.
That's rare on any planet that's not inherently psychic or empathic.”
Nikita turned and stared hard into J'onn's eyes. “What was the
first thing out of my mouth when you met us that day? Not on the
cliff by the fire that night, on the trail in the trees?”
“You
put your hand out to your friend and asked me not to hurt him. You
said 'tie his hands it makes sense but nothing else, please'. At the
time I didn't understand why.”
“Because
even though you had absolutely no reason to know this, he wasn't any
sort of a threat, willingly or otherwise. You didn't know if our team
was there to capture or kill you and I was pretty sure you were a
warrior, not a hunter or a barbarian but...but I DID NOT want him
hurt. I was there to keep him safe, my personal though obviously not
official reason for being. Did you never wonder why?”
“I
know he's not being deliberately ignored. Like I said no one knows
how important he was. But he deserves to be acknowledged. People need
to know that he was the kind of person he was. If Jeremiah had tried
to make me feel normal I would have hated him, given what I thought
of 'normal' around here. But he didn't, he tried to make me feel
alright, acceptable. Something no other human...Hell no other
sentient being...in my life has bothered doing. No human I have met
has been as dark and blind as Henshaw. No human I have ever met has
been as patient and compassionate as Jeremiah. So I can say with
assurance that I witnessed the very best and the very worst of
humanity, side by side with each other for 11 months. Because you're
wearing his face, people know about Hank, at least that he existed
and that you are a way better human being than he was. Kal, Jeremiah
Danvers was to me who Johnathan Kent was to you, and none of you have
ever even asked what his name was. It's kind of annoying!”
“Danvers?”
Kal-El of Krypton said in a weak voice.
“Jeremiah
Danvers, that's his name. I don't even know what happened to him.”
“I'm
sorry, you didn't know?” J'onn said in a tone of which I could make
nothing.
“The
first thing I can remember after that camp fire was waking up in
Clark Kents house. That is he was standing over me and it was
obviously not a house in the Canadian Rockies. For all I knew I'd
been either unconscious or out of it for weeks before
he...you...found me. As far as not knowing what happened to him, I
didn't want to know. Enough crap had happened to him on my account
including getting a wooden spear through the ribs, I was basically
just afraid of the truth. If he was DEAD he'd probably be better off
than whatever else could have happened to him.”
“Nothing
bad happened to him...he's with his daughters.” J'onn J'onzz said
quietly.
“He's
back with his family.” Nikita said in a weak voice. “He has his
happy ending?”
“You
thought he died?” The Martian Man-hunter prompted.
“I
thought he was living his life more alone than I was.”
“Wait,
you both know Jeremiah!” Kal fairly shouted.
“The
one time I remember using violence against a human was to get Henshaw
quite literally off his back.” Nikita said coolly. “That
Creche-ta shoved him against a wall for 'stepping out of line' while
interrogating me. I basically football tackled the guy. Yes I know
him...why?”
“Guys,
Jeremiah Danvers is my cousins adoptive father.”
“I
didn't know there were any Kryptonians on Earth except for you.”
J'onn quipped.
“She...she
hasn't revealed herself as an alien. She's a refugee or an immigrant
by most standards, but yes another member of the house of El is here.
Kara Zor-el took the name of the family that raised her. She's Kara
Danvers to literally everyone but me.”
“Then
can you tell him I'm here? Tell him I'm still part of the fight, this
time by my own choice. Maybe...ask him to come see me? There is
definitely something I seriously NEED to know from him.”
“If
you mean 'did he regret helping you' the answer is no.” J'onn
offered.
“What
he thought of me in the fracking first place the 11 months I knew
him!” She exploded. “I know why he helped me, he knows more of my
story than literally any human being on the planet. I've heard and
talked about nothing with You, Winn or Kal about anything that
happened before that night. Because I only know half that story
anyway, Jeremiah IS the other half of that story, a part of it I
didn't know how to tell, and frankly didn't think I should. Until
today, I didn't think I could EVER find an answer. That's why his
being dead or gone sucked so much and THAT is why I don't talk about
my former time at the DEO...it reminded me way to strongly of a a
dear friend. And the one person on this earth I would want to make
proud of me. Not to mention it sucked just on general principle.”
At that moment she seemed to realize she'd said something wrong.
Pulling herself up and holding her hands flat against her hips she
stared J'onn J'onzz in the face. “You were a stranger from Mars
when we found you, but that's the extent of your time with them. I
was an enemy alien held as a spy because I, and I quote General
Elling 'supposedly don't know the name of my own planet.' Which,
taken together with the fact that I'd lived here more than 20 years
without telling anyone meant I was an infiltrator to this world. You
looked more alien than anyone else I'd meet while in DEO custody.
That was to your advantage and nothing short of serendipity. It was a
blessing, not a condemnation for you. To them, I was an alien and
didn't bother showing my 'true form'.”
“I
don't understand you told me this IS your true form.” J'onn J'onzz
said, sincerely mystified. “That except for having your cardiac
organ where their left kidney is physiologically you're the
same...that this is what you really look like.”
“And
you took me at my word! You could accept that there were aliens out
there who were not soldiers for either side, weren't here for
vacation, and just want to live somewhere else. Honestly, I don't
think it ever entered Henshaw's crystallized, fragile, narrow perfect
mind that some are aliens out there who naturally looked more like
human beings than your...(realizes she is talking to two aliens) than
apes do.”
“No
please, take me.” Jeremiah Danvers said in a rush. The alien
warrior lowered his fist. “I might not like him very much, but I
cannot let this continue. He's no longer any threat to you, you gain
nothing
by this. Keep me, let him go...please.”
“I
do not understand what you are suggesting.” The alien prompted
slowly. “Please elaborate.”
Jeremiah
hesitated for a moment. “He has a beacon on him to activate in
emergency and call for extraction. Activate the beacon and leave him
as he is...or drop him off somewhere. Agents from our organization
will find him. And you'll never hear from him, or the rest of us
again. In all honesty, I'd rather not go back either. If you take me
with you, you'll be giving me a new life. But if you kill him...I
cannot let you take his life. We have rules even in war. He's no
threat to you. If for no other reason than to prove you're better
than him, leave him be. I promise, if you give him his freedom as
well as his life then without your instruction to the contrary I will
not leave your side.”
“You
would give up your freedom for this man's life?” the man said,
clearly mystified.
“For
his freedom AND his life...yes.”
The
alien bent over Hank Henshaw and put the back of his hand against the
man's temples. He closed his eyes briefly before righting himself.
“Activate the beacon you mentioned. And we will be getting out of
here.” Jeremiah took a small device from his jack-shirt pocket and
turned the top. He set the beacon down on Hank Henshaw's chest.
“Let's go.”
After
2 hours of walking though the fields with a sinking sun to their left
they came to a clearing, dotted by a few houses with flat roofs made
out of red clay and what looked like an old one room school house.
With a wave of his green hand J'onn motioned his companion into the
structure. The room was sparsely furnished but dry and cool. A cot
was set up on cinder blocks with lightweight sheets and fluffy white
pillows on it. A low set table and an equally short bookshelf stood
off the one side. “I... hope you'll be comfortable here. I have to
go see a friend.” He turned to leave.
“Wait
please.” Jeremiah reached out his hand, almost reaching for his
alien captor. “We should at least learn each-others names.”
The
alien looked almost embarrassed, or perhaps simply confused. “Of
course. That is polite even among enemies.” He looked meaningfully
at Jeremiah. “And WE are no longer enemies.”
“I'm
Jeremiah Danvers.” The man said simply. He extended his hand.
The
alien straightened himself like a solider and extended his own right
hand. “I am, J'onn Jo'nzz.”
“What
did you do to Hank?”
“I...made
sure he wouldn't come here looking for you.”
“Thank
you.” Jeremiah said in a heartfelt tone. “You gave me a new life,
and you kept your word. I could literally ask for no more than that
from anyone, so thank you.”
“I
get the feeling I should be thanking you.” J'onn replied. And with
that he was gone.
The
next afternoon J'onn came back. Jeremiah got to his feet the instant
J'onn came through the door. J'onn looked almost disquieted at the
courtesy. “There is no need for that, please.”
“I'm
sorry, old habits must die hard. And I'm, not really sure what to
expect.”
“Do
your people have a word for being able to move freely throughout the
premises as long as you do leave the premises?”
Jeremiah
nodded. “House arrest.”
“Then
I suppose 'house arrest' is the best description. I do not intend to
treat you as any sort of captive. I can only ask you to believe that.
You are not a prisoner of war, you are an unwelcome guest, I think.”
“Would
I seem, impolite to ask why you are being so kind to me?”
“You
were the first human to speak to me as an equal, seeing me in my true
appearance.” Jeremiah cocked an eyebrow. “My people are
shape-shifters. We can look human if we choose. And for most of my
time on your planet, I have done. I would hope we can continue to be
equals.”
“I
would like that as well. I know enough to know I'm not a captive here
in the strictest sense. I just wasn't sure...who or what to expect if
you understand me.” J'onn nodded. “I
owe you an apology. I don't understand what could have happened but
we were VERY wrong about you. And I am sorry.”
“You
were also the first human to look me in the eyes, without either
anger or fear on your own eyes. Believe me if I didn't have as high
an opinion of you, I would not let you stay here.”
“That
makes sense. Wait, does that mean I can soon see the rest of this
place?”
“ 'The
rest of this place', is what I
came here to show you.” J'onn said with a slight smile. Jeremiah
fell-in half a step behind J'onn and they walked out of the school
house. It turned out they were in a rather pleasant meadow, with the
mountains away to the north. After about ten minutes walk J'onn
brought him to another clearing. This one dotted with houses
constructed mostly of gray stone or wood. A well beaten path ran
between the structures and at a distance, under the shade of the
mountain there was a structure made entirely of dried sticks covered
in moss and held together with what could have been twine. Jeremiah
got the impression that whoever lived there preferred the company of
animals to that of bipeds. “Welcome to Arias.”
“Arias,
what does that mean?”
“In
many languages it means something between and including 'city in the
clouds' and 'near to God.” J'onn said with a clear note of joy in
his voice. “It's simply a more specific word for 'sanctuary' which
doesn't always translate the same way in our languages.”
“It
doesn't?” Jeremiah asked before he could stop himself.
“For
Zyerilians a sanctuary is a cloister, set apart from the outside
world, dedicated only to the pursuit fo religious knowledge. For
Enkarens it's a military or government training school where you cast
aside all other concerns to become the best of whatever you pursue.”
“Ahh,
yeah I can see how that would get confusing. Why intentions rather
than functions would help best if you have different 'native'
languages. This may be a weird time to ask it but were we right about
you? In so far as we thought you were a Martian, were we right about
you?”
“Yes,
I am a Green Martian. And the distinction is significant.” J'onn
did not say anything else on the subject and for a few moments did
not say anything at all. He simply stared into the distance, lost in
thought...perhaps in the past. I regretted upsetting him. He was a
good man. If nothing else he was a man of honor and someone the
people of Arias looked to as their rock.
Jeremiah
stayed with J'onn as kind of a willing captive. He asked
J'onn to not only let Hank live but let him go. He's a captive in
that he cannot
escape but his life is otherwise normal. Basically he has every
liberty except liberty himself. Elana and Martin practically stumbled
upon Arias four years later. Jeremiah asks J'onn for permission to
visit the D.E.O. He wants to know if Nikita is at Hank's side
wholeheartedly. The answer will be a glowing affirmative.
Superman:
Nikita says to apologize to you, she wasn't able to keep her
promise.
Jeremiah
Danvers: I don't understand she never promised me anything. Any
promise she had the chance to make in the time we knew each other she
has undoubtedly kept.
Superman/Elias
Danvers: She called me by my birth-name when she first saw me,
staring at the symbol on my chest, and later broke down in tears and
apologized for failing you. 'Tell your father I'm sorry, I couldn't
keep my promise.' Calling Superman Elias would be one thing
but who else could have told her my Kryptonian name?"
Jeremiah:
Well someone else must have...because I never did.
Superman:
Jeremiah, she said to tell my father she's sorry. What father have I
except you?
Jeremiah:
The one who would have given you the name Kal'el.
Superman:
(floored) You're saying she knew my Kryptonian father?”
Jeremiah:
You have to admit...I have to admit, it would explain a lot. Not
the least of which how she ended up in the D.E.O. in the first place.
She is not so obviously an alien herself. But if she made a habit of
sheltering aliens...it would have put her on their radar.
Superman:
I'm still a little confused why she called me Kal'el. I mean she's
been calling me that since I met her. I figured it was her name for
me, in her own language.
Jeremiah:
What changed?
Elias
Danvers: The Atraxi you brought with you, Sarrin. She said this
(touches the emblem on his chest) is a Kryptonian family crest, the
symbol of the house of El.
Jeremiah:
And how the heck could Nikita know your individual Kryptonian
name.
Elias
Danvers: Unless she had heard it before from someone...somewhere.
