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Chapter Four: Fork In The Road
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“Once I found out, I killed him. I punched a hole through his chest. That wasn’t the end, though. He framed us. Well, not framed. To be fair, I did kill him. He was very influential. So when they found out Jack Monroe killed Nathan John, they were tasked with hunting me and all of my associates down. After that, even more of my friends died. We were in hiding for years. We wore masks, like superheroes. We still fought the mobs, the scum, stuff like that. Only we had costumes. That was stupid. I was Atlas, Apollo was the Fly, Ody refused to participate. He stayed in his study for weeks, poring over notes. That was the worst I’ve ever seen him. For a while, the dude was as almost a skeleton. His wife died. It was rough for all of us. Apollo tries hard to be stoic and light-hearted, but the death of his sister hit him hard. He tried not to show it, but I noticed. He didn’t like showing it in front of anyone. The night his sister died, he destroyed his room. Our underground base, there was a crater in his the size of a lake. We all mourned. We’re better now, but it took years for us to try a new team again. We don’t want it to happen again.” <i>Jack stared at his reflection, running one hand through his short hair.</i>
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Apollo punched Jack across the face lightly. “I wasn’t the Fly and I’m not going to go with it, ever. That thing was stupid. And the Shavari part is true, Jack isn’t all tall tales!”
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As Jack’s story slowly unraveled Rose grew more horrified. How can someone deal with that? And the way he says it too, he sounds broken, as if a rock weathered down for years. Rose slowly approached Jack and hugged him from behind.
“You can’t expect yourself to carry the whole world on your shoulders. A team means all of us have to take our part in protecting each other as well. I know that you have your immortality, but that doesn’t mean much. You are still a living being and because you care so much, it ends up destroying you from the inside out. Do you remember that card I last gave you? It was Nine of Swords Reversed I believe…It means hopelessness, torment, and depression, it fits you very well. You always seemed to have a shadow over your head, even on the good days, as if you were always weighed down by something. You don’t have to be. You can’t save everyone Jack, we can help too. You should tell us this, that you feel responsible, that you fear losing control. That way, you can depend on us a bit, we can pay attention more and make sure you don’t hurt us. I don’t know how it feels to have a team that feels like family, and this one is sorta like one. I hope we last, and that includes you.”
Rose smiled at Apollo, “See?”
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Jack turned around, looking at Apollo. He must have heard what he said, suddenly regretting indulging so much.
“We’re not going just yet. I need time to think before I send two of my teammates off to an OGA-infested planet we’ve never explored before-” Jack caught the hit across the face, surprisingly harder than usual. He tried to play it off the best he could about it being light as his head whipped slightly to the left, knowing how upset Apollo was beneath the surface. He tried to give the most apologetic look he could to him, wishing he never talked about Apollo’s suffering without his permission. He accepted Rose’s hug, trying his best to smile.
“Thank you Rose…anyway, let’s get to work. Someone, wake Ody and Faye.”
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Rose smiled, “I will, just know that I’m always here to listen, if you ever feel the need.” Rose left the room to wake them up.
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Andaluza held out his hand, a small OGA communications pad in it. “Guys, bad news. Midzog found a new accomplice named Harvin Vaelance. Midzog claims he is some kind of Ascendii and the ‘spitting image of Apollo Venport with the attitude of my own’, so he must be dangerous.”
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Apollo noticed the apologetic look on Jack’s face. “It’s alright. When you spend 600 years with someone, you sort of forget boundaries.” Apollo was also a little miffed that he wasn’t involved in the hug, but decided to hug everyone anyways. “We’re one big happy family!”
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Jack smiled again, watching her leave. He pulled out the Nine of Swords Reversed out of his coat pocket, looking at it. He turned to Apollo.
“I’m real sorry, man. I shouldn’t have talked about that shit.”
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Harvin walked out of the dark room, looking directly at Midzog. “Hello, father. You have summoned me here, and I intend to do my duties to you. What do you have in mind, sir?” Harvin gave a smile, flickering with malice and expertise. He stepped out into the light, revealing his bright orange-blue eyes, nearly the same as Apollo’s, his wings shimmering bright orange. “I am ready. For everything.”
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Rose looked at Andaluza surprised as she gently woke up Faye and Ody. “What? How?” Rose suddenly realized that Midzog didn’t know Andaluza switched sides, awesome.
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He hugged Apollo, patting him on the back.
“Let’s go.” He walked down the stairs, following Rose.
“Everyone, wake up! We found the location of Midzog. We need to start our plan.” Jack shouted, shaking Faye gently in the passenger seat of the ship.
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Apollo shrugged it off, he was always cool with stuff like this. “They’d have found out anyways, just not as fast. I guess it brings us together. Please don’t treat me any different, I’ve moved on.” Apollo turned to Andaluza. “WHAT?! Harvin Vaelance is working for Midzog?! He was one of the best members of the Exansis Security Force of Ctherramore-oh. I see what Midzog is up to.” Apollo looked out the window at the solid silver-white planet known as Ctherramore. “We gotta get going soon.”
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“heh!”, Pandora said shooting up from her siting position against the wall, she didn’t know how she got their.”Ok what am suppose to do again sorry!”, she said flustered.
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Midzog looked up, smiling at the clone of Apollo Venport.
“Good…I’m glad you are ready, my son. My degenerate juvenile welp has not returned communications. I’m afraid the Keepers have captured him and possibly tortured information out of him. As you can tell by Apollo’s last visit, I was fortunate enough to get his DNA off of the plate he was using. Now that I have you, just as strong and fast as he is, as well as immortal, I want you to kill him. He is no longer needed, as you are the perfect version of him. Now, go. Find his location, and murder him.”
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(It’s not a clone Andaluza just confirmed it)
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