It was five days later that I started really wondering what was going on. J'onn came to talk to us about once a day. He'd ask a hundred questions, give us lunch and dinner and then leave. This was after 2 weeks of taking one or the other of us away for private conversations that would last for hours. He'd either shove me against the wall or give me a blue jaw when he thought I was lying to him or being as racist as any human, but that was it. Beyond that he, actually took care of us. It was... I don't know what it was.
“I can tell what you're thinking.” Nikita said to me.
“Why do you think he changed tactics?”
“I told him it would be practical and more efficient to talk to us both at the same time. And that it was the only way you could know he wasn't trying anything...stupid. Since I wouldn't exactly admit to you if he were. I mean, I wouldn't. So now he talks to US.
“Why do I get the impression you're making fun of me?”
“I suppose I am...a little bit.”
“You have no idea how happy I am to hear that.”
“Even so, I'm having trouble making heads or tails of him. And I'm pretty sure he's doing everything he can to make sense of us. Or more specifically, of me.”
J'onn comes in, mentions Nikita's human appearance and how well she keeps her temper in check – sincere complimentary observations – gives them large glasses of potato curry soup and leaves.
“Okay, now I'm REALLY confused.”
“This simply cannot continue.” Nikita whispers. She turned to face the wall.
“Come with me, now.” J'onn told Nikita, who stood but did not move. “I'll not ask again.” J'onn insisted, taking a step toward her.
I got in front of her. “Leave her alone!” He raised his hand as if to backhand me, but dropped his arm in the last moment. “Whatever you have planned for her, take me instead.”
“And if I'm about to take her away and execute her. Do you still volunteer?”
“No, but I know you're not going to. Nikita was right if you wanted either of us dead, we'd be dead. If you wanted us hurt, we'd be beaten black and blue. What you want, the only thing you've wanted from either of us, is answers.”
“And it's about time I get them.” He grabbed Nikita by the wrist and started dragging her away. I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away from her. “Your actions are as heroic as they are unwise.” He warned me.
“You will not hurt her.”
“You care for her?” he said in a strange voice.
“This surprises you?”
“I knew you felt responsible for her. This is...Who or what is she, to you?”
“Someone who was tortured for years by a man more blind than I have the words to express. Hank Henshaw was...not the hard, stern man I saw in him. He was so convinced Nikita was an enemy and a liar. He tortured her to get her to reveal her true appearance and intentions. Basically he wanted her to show him the monster she really was underneath. But there was no monster. It was the most obvious thing in the world that she was a gentle and innocent soul. I'd rather die than let her come to harm again. Sir, I can't pretend to understand you, but I swear on my life, if you let her go you can do whatever you want with me __ in payment of that debt.” This speech, I must admit, had far from its desired effect. J'onn actually backed away from me.
“I was wrong about you. I'm SO sorry.”
“None of this was needful Sajen.” Nikita interjected. “It never was, was it?”
“No, no there wasn't.” I swear he sounded like a schoolboy getting dressed down for bad behavior. But Nikita wasn't finished. “For someone who can read our minds to determine the truth of our souls, you are surprisingly Deaf!”
“Nikita, help me understand this.”
“I think he was 15 degrees off about me and I'm pretty sure I was at least 30 degrees off about him. But all...you had to do was ask. I would have permitted it.”
“You're a telepath?” I said, turning to the stranger.
“Yes, but unlike her kind I don't pick up continuous transmissions. I can read you mind if I choose. But I do not do so without permission.”
'A comedy of errors with little funny about it.' I thought to myself.
“If this had gone on any longer 'Deimos pah, Tarek Nit-cha.' would have been the next thing out of my mouth. Or are you Phobos?”
“Do you know what they are?”
“I know that -” her voice and face took on an academic look. “- 'in the early days of Mars there were two brothers, Phobos and Deimos. Their rivalry and bloodshed was the reason for the split of the Green and White Martians.' I learned that Phobos were barbaric. Creech-ta if not Crishnaka-Sareth. I just never knew who came from whom.” I must have had a VERY confused look on my face because Nikita turned to me. “Hank was an ignorant arrogant asshole, if not an ambassador of hell. That's what the two words mean, in my language.”
Something seemed to click in J'onn's brain. “How can you be speaking the Enkaren language so flawlessly if you are not yourself Enkaren?”
“Because it's my native language as well.”
“What?”
“Atraxi, Enkarens and Xavallens all share the same language. No more than 3,000 years ago we were the same race!”
J'onn stepped toward Nikita and brushed his fingers over her temples.
“I must humbly beg your pardon.” He said sadly.
“I have 3 questions right now. One of which, you can probably read on my face.”
“And one of which is not even a question.”
“True. So instead I will simply present an argument. For almost a month now the three of us, most certainly the two of us have been remarkably civil to each-other...given the rest of our situation. You must have seen Nikita was as dedicated to my well-being as I was to her protection.” J'onn nodded agreement. “And it is by that same token I tell you that if you hurt her again, my restraint will go so far out the window it leaves the atmosphere. I would almost certainly die trying to take you down. I have that amount of sense. But if you let her go...” I took a breath and put my arms out in front of me as if being arrested, then pulled them as far apart from each-other, stretched to either side as they could reach. “If you let her go you can do whatever you want to me___in payment of that debt.” I must admit the speech did not have anything LIKE its intended result. Our host cast his eyes to the ground and actually backed away from me. “This surprises you."
“Yes, what is she to you? Who is she to you?”
“Someone as precious to me as my own daughter. I don't expect you to understand; I barely understand. But I would DIE before I let her come to harm.”
Jeremiah and Nikita are held and cared for by an alien who has forgotten how to trust.
“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 would think if you'd be angry at either of us it would be a freak of nature like me. Not quite 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 Sajen. There never was, was there?”
“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 Hank Henshaw.” Jeremiah explained. “Someone who treated her like an enemy for absolutely no reason and literally tortured her to convince her to reveal the truth...what ever that was. 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 person she was. But 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. And in fact got in the way. I say this with as much experience as she has. She actually literally laughed at Hank for making that assumption. It was the last thing I expected. Making both of you equally blinded by your own prejudicial assumptions as far as she's concerned.”
“You escaped. You both escaped.”
“Yes...I thought we had established that.”
The alien, the Green Martian stared after Nikita. “So that's why she still didn't stand up for herself. Well, she probably didn't think she could reach me, any more than she could have gotten through to that thick-headed human you keep talking about. But she stood up for you. I was right about that part..”
“Okay, I'm a little lost. And I don't mind saying so."
“Everything that lives has an instinctual fear of dying. But only humans have such a strong sense of self-preservation. There are those who selflessly help and protect others. Who would also literally do anything to protect and preserve their own life and well being. It's human nature. But it's also human thinking. 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 – and I swear to you I was not – she would get a lower grade in self-preservation than she does in protective instincts. Extremely rare in the galaxies.”
“Well that makes sense” Jeremiah said without thinking. “She told me her race was rare. Not like superior or of a rare quality but few and far between. There aren't many of them left.”
Understanding blanketed the man's narrow face. “She's Xavallen. That explains a lot.”
“Would I seem like a jerk if I insisted you elaborate on that?” I said shaking my head as a man I had assumed was a dangerous closed-minded fool and someone I needed to protect Nikita from spoke fo her with admiration and perception. Indeed I couldn't help feeling a bit awkward as he stood and spoke to me as if we were university students comparing notes on a lecture.
“Enkarens and Xavallens are sibling races. I don't know enough to tell the difference between them at a glance. Enkarens have intense emotions, they are as you would say 'hot blooded' as a species. They are generally compassionate and reasonable, just quick-tempered. Xavallens are quiet, philosophical and barely even argue with anyone. They are said to have a quieter power, drawing strength from their convictions alone. But until now no one has known enough about her, or her convictions, to know for sure.”
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