“No please, take me.” Jeremiah Danvers said in a rush. The alien warrior lowered his fist. “Listen I might not care for him but he is my commanding officer and I cannot let him come to harm. Leave him here. Let us, you and I go away, someplace we can't be found. It's a strange way to start a new life but 'a new life' is what I've been seeking the past six years of my life.”
“”I am not sure what you are saying. What are you suggesting?”
“Listen if we are going to do this, we should learn each-others names.”
“That is polite even among enemies.” The alien said quickly.
“My name is Jeremiah Danvers.” The agent said, placing his hand over his heart.
“I am...J'onn Jo'nzz.”
“Jean. I give you my word, 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. He has a tracker on him, a beacon to activate in emergency and call for extraction. Activate the beacon and leave him as he is, our people...agents from our organization will find him; he will be alright. But you can't be here when they come. To tell the truth I'd rather not be here either.”
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. Without turning around he said “Then we should get out of here.” Two silent hours later Jeremiah came to a clearing in the middle of the mountains. There was very little around as far as structures. Just what looked like an old one-room school house and a few houses with flat roofs made out of red clay. With a wave of his green hand J'onn motioned his companion into the school house. The room was sparsely furnished but quite comfortable. 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. There's more of us here than you realize...strangers and friends.”
“Thank you.” Jeremiah said in a heartfelt tone.
“I get the feeling I should be thanking you.” And with that he was gone.
In the middle of the next afternoon J'onn came back and Jeremiah instantly got to his feet. J'onn looked almost disquieted at the courtesy. “Do your people have a word for being able to move freely throughout the premises as long as you do not leave the premises?”
“...House arrest.” Jeremiah said.
“Then I suppose 'house arrest' is the best description. You are not my prisoner. I do not intend to treat you as any sort of captive. I...am sorry if that's what you expected. I would hope we could treat and regard each-other as equals. You were the first human to treat me as an equal, seeing me as I really am.”
“And you would prefer that we remain equals and not frightened fo one-another. I would like that as well. I didn't expect to be a hostage. I just wasn't sure...who or what to expect if you understand me.” J'onn nodded once. “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 walked out of the building, and headed West, with Jeremiah walking half a step behind him. Minutes later they came to a clearing. This one dotted with structures made of wood as well as a few made of gray stone. And one that seemed to be formed entirely out of moss and knitted together with animal bones. There was a path straight between the houses leading to a small outdoor market. There were a few Caucasians but most seemed to be indigenous to central America. A few faces were clearly other than human. “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.”
Timeless Frozen Ocean aka: D.E.O. Revelations
“I thought we were a little overdue for a chat.” The young woman said to the solemn, dark-skinned man at her door. “Well, in or out choose one.”
“I rather deserve that. We need to have a serious talk.” A shiver went up Nikita's spine.
“I'm sorry; it still kinda gives me the chills when you talk like that.”
“I'm surprised it doesn't make you want to punch something...especially me.”
“Hank, what exactly are you here to hear from me? I mean we both know there is a pretty serious animal in the room, but what do you think that animal looks like...a tiger or an elephant?”
“Well that's actually what I'm asking...If I understand you correctly there is definitely some giant Herbivore that's stopping us from solving a damn problem. But if it is not a frightened dog -- and I can tell it is not -- why is it not a tigress? And why is it not turning on its kidnappers? Nikita I really mean it...why don't you hate me?”
“I have no reason on the face of this earth to hate you Hank. And I have nothing to fear from you anymore. Aside from the fact that hate is useless, I can sense everything that makes you who you are. The essence or core of a person, a soul I guess it's called. I don't mean an immortal thing. It isn't of everyone but I've spent enough time around you I can hear your proverbial heart. There is nothing in you now that even resembles what I sensed from you before...the person you were when you and I used to sit here and have those endless debates. I cannot hold who you were over the man you are now. It's actually against my own scriptures to do so.”
“Were you a priest on your planet?” Hank looked shocked and stupefied and a couple other things at once. “I'm sorry but everyday Christians don't hold so unswervingly or effortlessly to Christian teachings. Only those with religious training or holy orders so devotedly follow, even our own 'scriptures'. Are you the equal to a Franciscan friar?”
“Only in so far as the teachings in our holy book resemble closely what I have read in your Bible. And it's one of a very few things I have of my culture of origin. I never attended church back home. I would have if I'd had the liberty, I wasn't given that opportunity. I wasn't a prisoner I was...a shameful secret. I stayed at home, read books, watched holo-vids and read The Good Book over and over again. I KNOW the ten tales that comprise my peoples most sacred book. The only good thing that came from being hidden away is how easily I can follow the star in my own heart, and live as I would be taught....even without the...Basic Instructions By Light Eternal. On my desk.”
"I've heard the Bible called Basic Instruction Before Leav...You meant your people scriptures."
“We read them by lamplight and they are the light that guides our way as we journey along through life. We don't argue about what the afterlife looks like and there is never any doubt that one exists–Yeah, I didn't mean the Bible. Although from what I've read, even though it gets drown out a lot, the Ten Certain Tales are found in your Bible as well. Hank you've made the conscious choice to be different, to be better than you were before. More than that you have succeeded. You ARE a man a million times better than who you were. I will not hold onto that hot coal just waiting for you to backslide so I can stone you with it. I realize I am mixing A-ton of metaphors here, but they fit. From my perspective holding your past self against the man standing in front of me right now is not only stupid, it's morally wrong. Hate is as painful as it is destructive, and completely useless. The fires of the past hurt like hell, why would I choose to keep them burning hot?”
“Forgotten, but not gone?” Hank Henshaw said mildly.
“Oh trust me, this shrap still hurts...I just don't let it dig into my back.”
Jeremiah tells his host what Hank Henshaw is really like. “He did what he thought was necessary to protect civilians, all of Earth really from people he honestly believed were our enemies. I can't fault him for that. If this is coming from the mouth of an alien, you can believe it's at least possible that he's changed his mind.”
“What's the real reason you want to go?” Jeremiah looked mildly shocked and didn't hide it. “I can read your mind pretty well by now. It's effortless, and almost natural to hear what's on the surface. You don't want to see him, at least not for any personal reason. And you believe without proof he has changed. Which means there's another reason you want to go back. What is it? Why are you so certain he has changed?”
“Nikita. She was a dear friend of mine. Well, she was a dear soul and an innocent one. For the first time in the six years I disobeyed Henshaw for the sake of a prisoner. I couldn't stand by and watch her get interrogated for information she didn't have, or for being a threat she didn't actually pose. I broke her out of the DEO. This was about 6 months before Hank and I...sought you out. According to Firestorm over there she's back at the DEO, but as an officer, an aide-de-camp to the man I thought had the thickest skull on the planet. I need to see if she believes he is worth it or is simply following orders-- playing along. Let me go see them, I only need a day or so and I will have all the answers I need. No matter what's going on, I can finally know what happened to her...and move on with my life."
J'onn looked almost reproachful at this entreaty. “Jeremiah. You don't need to stay with me." Jeremiah started and looked intently at his host. "I'll miss you sure. But I wouldn't keep you here against your will. I thought you knew the choice...you've always had it.”
“Not always J'onn. But I know what you mean. When I traded my freedom for Hank's I hadn't seen any of this. I didn't know what to expect. Having seen Arias, seeing first hand your regard for Sarrin and hers for you, I promised I wouldn't leave your side. And at first I did feel like a prisoner. But I swore I would stand with you, that I would never leave you. From what I understand that was a 'til death do us part' oath of loyalty, if not brotherhood. I mean...I'm not wrong am I?"
“That you are like a brother to me Jeremiah, of course not. You're the best friend I've ever had, the closest to a brother I have known on this planet. But as far as you staying here because you made an oath, that's what makes no sense. The oath is invalid if you're staying only out of obligation and duty, do you not see that? We will always be brothers, Jeremiah. You don't have to live under my roof for that. But if you have someone in this life who needs you, I would never knowingly keep you from them. That's part of what brotherhood means!”
"I...I see your point." Jeremiah said sheepishly. He was genuinely embarrassed at the obvious truth behind his friend's words. Regardless of the initial circumstances of thier association it was weird thinking of someone who was technically his captor as an equal he had to admit the two of them had been true friends for almost the entirety of his 6 year stay. Thanks in no small part to yet another human looking alien named Sarrin. "Does that mean I might be able to convince you to come along?"
"How else are you to get to the D.E.O my friend? They can't send anyone for you; they don't even know you are alive. Come on, I'll fly you back. Just let me say a word to Sarrin first."
Jeremiah smiled at the obviousness of the remark. "Good idea."
Elana tries to convince J'onn to visit the DEO. Says that Henshaw really has changed and that at least one of them need closure. In the standard cliché J'onn obviously doesn't think so. Jeremiah tells him what Henshaw is really like. “He did what he thought was necessary to protect civilians, all of Earth really from people he honestly believed were our enemies. I can't fault him for that. And if this is coming from the mouth of an alien, then you can believe it's at least possible.”
“What's the real reason you want to go?”
Jeremiah looked mildly shocked. “I can read your mind pretty well by now. It's almost natural to hear what's on the surface. You don't want to see him, at least not for any personal reason. You believe without proof he has changed. Which means there's another reason you want to go back. Why? Why are you so certain he has changed?”
“Nikita. She was a dear friend of mine. Well, she was a dear soul and an innocent one. I served under Henshaw for six years trying to be a good agent, trying to do my job and not let it get the best of me. When I met her I couldn't let her get interrogated for information she didn't have. It was assumed by pretty much everyone that she was deliberately a threat that she didn't actually pose. It would have been obvious to everyone...should have been I mean. I broke her out of the DEO. I had to stay I had NO choice in that. According to Firestorm over there, she's back at the DEO, but as an officer, an attaché to the man I thought had the thickest skull on the planet. I need to see if it's true, if she believes Hank has changed or is simply following orders, playing along like I was doing all those years. I mean don't get me wrong I believed in what we were trying to do. But I saw how much...To be concise, If Nikita is with him willingly, without reserve, I need to know. And I will have my answer and can leave. I can finally have closure...then we can keep going with our lives.”
“You love this woman.” J'onn Jo'nzz observed.
“As a daughter, yes. You told me Hank Henshaw believes I'm dead? It's very possible he has taken, I mean adopted Nikita as his prodigy wanting someone...like-minded to me...helping him.”
“Jeremiah. You don't need to stay with me.” The human scientist started. “If you leave, I mean if you decide to stay in National City I'll miss you sure but I wouldn't keep you here against your will. And I am sorry if I've made you feel otherwise.”
“I swore I would stand with you J'onn; that I would never leave your side. From what I understood that was a 'til death do us part' oath of loyalty...if not Brotherhood.”
“The oath is invalid if you're staying here only out of duty, do you not see that? We will always be brothers, Jeremiah. You don't have to be at my side for that. If you have somewhere else to be, someone in this life who needs you, I would never knowingly keep you from them. Is that not what brotherhood means!”
“I...cannot argue with you there.” Jeremiah said, genuinely embarrassed at the truism.
“Come on, I'll fly you back.” J'onn Jo'nzz said, morphing into his natural green form.
My most recent set of stories follow two human looking aliens, Nikita and Elana through National City. it's the setting of the Show Supergirl, where the public knows aliens, more alien races than just Kryptonians live on Earth. But these characters and thier respective races are entirely my creation. Nikita is Xavallen, Elana is half-Enkaren. Strange thing is, this story doesn't have either one of those characters. It just seems especially relevant and a good 'getting your feet wet' introduction to the world I've created. The man speaking is Jeremiah Danvers, whose adopted child wears a Kryptonian symbol on their chest.
DREAMING THE IMPOSSIBLE
I woke up. I don't know how else to describe what happened, I woke up. I was sitting on a bench, my back against a wall. The first thing I noticed was that the only lighting in the room was from tiki candles. The second was that I wasn't restrained in any way. Whoever attacked us knocked Hank out first and then myself. Hank was so focused on taking out this 'creature' he'd been hunting, he never stopped to think how powerful his target might have been. I couldn't help smiling at that. I looked around the room. It was a wigwam more than anything, the kind American Indians lived in. And I was alone. I laid down on my side, facing the curtain that served as a door. And waited for someone to come in and speak to me.
“Are you awake?” I heard a voice say from the other side of the door not ten minutes later.
“Yes, please come in.” I answered. A young woman, maybe in her late 20's walked in carrying a bowl and a tray. Her cinnamon-colored hair was short-cropped just below her earlobe. She weighed maybe 140 pounds. “nibbles.” She said holding the tray up a bit. I nodded. She set the tray down on the bench and the bowl of water down at my feet.
“What are you doing?” I asked her.
“I should think that was self-evident.” She said in a voice so devoid of humor I could not believe she was poking fun at me. If anything she seemed surprised at my question. So I decided to rephrase the question. “Why are you doing this?”
“Me personally, Jean said to make you as comfortable as possible. Why are we taking any measures to make you comfortable...that is for Jean to explain.”
“Am I a prisoner here?” I insisted.
“No restraints but there is a perimeter, that is my understanding.” She replied. She tilted her head to the left. “Please, introductions should come first. My name is Sarrin, and you?”
“Jeremiah.”
“Jeri-miah. That's a good name.” She smiled softly.
“Forgive me but are you...what planet are you from?”
“I am Atraxi. We don't have a home-planet. I was almost 8 years old when my mother and I left home. I was 10 years old when we made our home on the Western coast of the United States.”
“Jean is your leader?”
“We're a collection of aliens of various races and a few of the more tolerant humans any of us have met. And yes, J'onn Jo'nzz is the leader of our community. But I'm not wearing a bracelet.”
“Please, elaborate.” I told her earnestly.
“Well for one, I follow him and I consider myself indebted to him, but it's not an official thing. I'm not bound to him in any way. But also, I'm not wearing one of of those things,” That's when I realized she meant a slave's bracelet. “with you either. I'm not afraid of you. I'm naturally high-strung but that's all it is. I'm skittish. And frankly I'm more concerned with what you think of J'onn and of the rest of us than I am about offending you.”
“You are an incredibly perceptive individual.”
“My people sense emotional vibrations. We don't read minds and while I will not do so without permission or instruction I can search your heart. If J'onn asked, I would try to search the core of your being. To tell the truth, I am tempted to do so anyway. I swear I am not trying to be intrusive. I can tell you are an extra-ordinary individual. I'm just...I'm not sure why.”
“ 'Discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart'. And that was meant as a question.”
“More like 'motivations and intentions'...but yes. ”
“Then you and I are a-lot a like.” She said with a smile. “Jeremiah. Well I assume your name is spelled the same as in the book of the major prophet?” I nodded and tried to smile. “Listen, J'onn is eager to speak with you. But I should warn you, J'onn's people are psychic. All his people's communication would have been through thought. So chances are he'll give me his words and hear your answers. My people are empaths and I have an extremely well-ordered mind, makes it easier for me to hear and understand what he is trying to say. But I wanted to assure you that he will not search through your mind to find hidden truths or secrets. If that is what you are, to be polite expecting to be candid anticipating will happen you are incorrect... 'Let him have every liberty, except liberty itself' It's that kind of situation.”
“House arrest.”
“You've been asleep for hours. To fill in the blanks: You are in Arias, Guatemala. It is our community of...friendly individuals from various points across the stars.” She looked at me hard, trying to make sure I understood her meaning. I nodded. “If you're up for it, I'm to take you down a walk down the main road. But only if you are up for it.”
“Then let us walk about a bit.”
“Please, wash up first. The dirt on your face will cake to your skin otherwise.”
“Do you always talk like that?”
“Uncertain, unsteady, yeah pretty much.” She said with the first smile I had seen on her face. “If you mean as if English is my second language, then absolutely yes...It's my fourth!”
“Okay, please explain that one.”
“My own people's language, the official language on my home-planet, the first Earth language I learned wasn't even English. I landed in a very ethnic community. Not diverse but...you can take a guess.”
“Chinatown in San Francisco.”
“Nail on head. And I should tell you, at least a little of my being 10 degrees off is that I don't value hitting the nail on the head as far as convention...only communication...expression.”
“Which is why J'onn has you do the introductions. You don't claim either world but you understand them both...I take it.”
“There is that.” A deep voice said from the doorway. “And she sees beyond sight in a way I have never encountered before.”
“I a..” I stammered at the giant green man standing in front of me. “I realize you have no reason to trust me but you can believe me when I say I am glad to meet you.”
“And I you, Jeremiah. What is your surname?”
“Listen, whatever else is going on, I don't doubt your intentions. And I hope to prove mine. Starting with what a friend of mine would have called 'proper introductions'. I'm Jeremiah Danvers. For my part, you can consider me a friend.” I offered him my hand.
For a moment the alien I took to me J'onn Jo'nzz looked at my hand as if he didn't know what to do with it. Then he straightened himself like a solider and offered his own right hand. “I am...J'onn Jo'nzz.”
