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Mutants & Masterminds: Heroes United - Aftermath


Gabriel Stone

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One of the things Gabe had to get used to with the whole flying thing was Time Zones. He figured he'd have time to get used to that as soon as he got used to flying, having just learned he could do it the night before didn't give him much practice time between then and his New York heroics. He didn't see any reason why anyone needed to know that his incredibly cool looking meteoric entrance was nothing more than his not having time to practice the whole landing part. Anyway, Time Zones... Gabe had two extra hours now to get yelled at by his parents.

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He'd recovered his father's truck from where he'd abandoned it on old U.S. 87 towards Billings. It was an old back road that did see much use since I-90 was faster and took you to the same place. By the time Gabe returned home it was a media circus outside his parent's ranch. Local news as well as just about every other major network was already camping outside the gates to the ranch. Although they legally couldn't block the roads there were so many vans and cars parked outside along the road that driving through made it virtually impossible. Flashes from high powered digital Nikons and blinding lights from news cameras made it difficult to maneuver and the swarm of people that surrounded the truck barraging him with questions made it hopeless. Had Sheriff Grix not been there to give them a loud whistle (which was his brand of a warning) and wave Gabe through his own driveway, he'd probably had never made it unless he got out and just flew (jumped, whatever) to his front door.

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"Thanks Sheriff." Gabe nodded as he got out of the truck. The Sheriff didn't reply, he just offered a slow nod and kept chewing his toothpick. Behind those aviators Gabe wondered if the Sheriff was silently sizing up, wondering if he could still take the young kid into custody if he needed too. Gabe was never a bad kid, but he was infamous with the law in Hardin for finding interesting ways to have 'harmless' fun. Like his annual attempt to leap Culver's Creek on a four wheeler. Every year he tried, and every year the sheriff brought him home and threatened to arrest him if he ever tried it again. It was amazing, Gabe realized, that until this very moment he'd been scared to death of Sheriff Grix his whole life and now, with super powers, the guy still scared the crap out of him. How did he do that?

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"Yer ma's bee worried to death boy." The Sheriff said, his voice was deep and always carried that authoritative tone. Gabe as certain this man hated him, and rightfully so, Gabe gave the guy a mountain of paperwork through out his lifetime. "Go on. Man up n' face the music."

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Oh great, Gabe thought. Even Grix knows I'm dead in the water. He must be loving this... He offered the Sheriff another slow nod through pursed lips, not really wanting to face what was beyond that door. His stomach churned and was heavy like he'd swallowed handful of marbles. Slowly he walked to the front door. His clothes were in tatters from the battle, his modestly was preserved, but he looked like he'd just 'Hulked out', covered in ash, dirt and grime from the clean up effort.

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"Gabriel." Grix called to him from over his shoulder. Gabe tuned to look and the Sheriff took out his toothpick to speak. "What you did took guts. You protected a lot people. Nice work." He turned abotu and was walking back to the gates before Gabe could manage to find a 'thanks' in the jumbled confusion of his thoughts. Did Sheriff Grix just give him his stuffy version of a high five? Gabe managed a forced smile as some spark of pride glimmered in the darkness of his Mom-fearing dread.

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Time to face the music.

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He stepped through the door and there, as he expected, was his family. Megan, his mother Connie, and father John. John was technically his step-father, but the guy had raised Gabe since he was six months old. He was a good man and Gabe never considered him anything but 'Dad'. Megan, his step-sister was the same. As long as they could remember they'd been siblings. Gabe was only a few months older than her and half the county thought they were twins with similar features and dark hair. His sister leapt up and dashed into him, practically tackling him with a hug. He didn't feel the need to disguise his powers anymore so he effortlessly held her there like she was weightless.

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"Dude, you were awesome." She planted her feet and playfully pushed him. "I about choked on my gum when I caught you on the news! The meteor thing was... I mean... wow..." Her words trailed off as she noticed he wasn't paying her any attention. His eyes were locked directly ahead of him where his mother had stood and was staring daggers at him. "Oh... right. Forgot, you gotta survive Mom. We'll, uh, catch up later, if you're alive." She patted him on the shoulder and stood aside, making a home for herself next to their father who was still sitting comfortably in his big comfy chair.

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"Sebastian, what were you thinking!?" She always used his middle name. Gabe's birth father, his name was Sebastian. It seemed like some unwritten law of the universe that only his mom could call him Sebastian, because no one else ever seemed to, except his best friend, Cassy. "Do you see what you've done? The press has been on our doorstep waiting for you for hours! You lied to me! You went across the country! And you were fighting, Sebastian. G-god only knows what... but you were fighting! So please, Sebastian... please tell me what was going through your mind that made you think any of that behavior was acceptable."

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"It was New York mom, everyone fights in New York. When in Rome?" So, okay... maybe that wasn't the most diplomatic opening for his argument, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. He could hear her heart rate increase, apparently he'd only made her madder.

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"We agreed, young man, that you were not to use any of your abilities. I forbade it and you blatantly defied me and look at the result." He gestured to the door to signify the horde of press outside.

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"I'm sorry." Was all he could muster. It sounded like more of a mumble that anything. Like any seventeen year old kid, getting scolded by your parents was never the ideal situation. They were the authority figures any kid, regardless of how justified they felt their actions were, couldn't help but feel intimidated or guilty (or both) when their parents were yelling at them. She was right, he'd agreed not to use his powers and he did anyway. Technically, he shouldn't had been in space relaxing in the silence of vacuum. But he was and a part of him felt guilty for it. "I just wanted to help." He mumbled again.

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"Wanted to help?!? Wanted to help?!" Her yelling made him wince. She'd never been this mad at him before. Normally she was really cool about everything, even his annual Culvert's Creek ride home from the Sheriff had become something of a private joke among the family. They'd laugh it off, he'd be grounded for a week and all was well. But today? Today, she'd come completely unglued. "Sebastian, you almost got yourself killed!"

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He raised his head with a perplexed expression. He felt fine. No scrapes or bruises, no trauma (yet, he hoped mom didn't have super powers too). Heck, Gabe felt like he could go another twelve rounds with the forces of the Basalt People of Middle Earth. He made a fatal mistake, again. He argued her point and what was worse, he was a complete smart-aleck about it. One thing you never do is argue with an enraged mother, second on that list is mouth off. "No I didn't. I feel great, aside from my shoulders aching a bit from having to heft all this guilt you're putting me through. They didn't touch me, mom. I'm invulnerable, I think, that's why I never broke any bones or..."

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"I don't care what you can do, Sebastian...!!!" Sebastian was certain he'd just pushed her past unglued and straight to 'off her nut'. Then he realized what she was trying to say when the tears burst from the corners of her eyes like flood waters bettering down a levy. He was her baby boy. What was a fun day for him just flying around and getting pummeled by monsters was a mental marathon of doubt and fear for his mother. To see her boy out there being beat on by, whatever they were, launching jagged rock projectiles, bashing on him and tackling him in an attempt to tear her son to pieces. Like any mother who knew her son or daughter was on a battlefield somewhere she had been consumed by the one thing not even Sebastian could lift off her shoulders: the weight of the wait. The burden of not knowing whether your child would ever walk through that door again.

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"Connie, sit down. I know it's hard, but try and calm down a bit." John finally spoke up and Gabe's mother didn't argue. She was too exhausted with worry and rage to fight anymore. She collected herself and sniffled a few times, wiping her eyes. Megan moved over to sit beside her, holding her mother to comfort her. John was so laid back, he didn't even raise his voice or give Gabe any sort of accusing glare. He just met his eyes. "You never answered your mother's question: what were you thinking?"

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Gabe took a deep breath. His mind was tumble drying a thousand wet ideas about how much a jerk he'd been but they were conflicting with a series of thoughts that felt this entire grilling he was getting was entirely unfair. He never wanted to hurt his mother's feelings, but what was he supposed to do? Go through his whole life and never use his abilities? Ugh, it was frustrating. The deep breath helped, so did not having his mom yelling anymore. He cleared his thoughts and just spoke. The first things that came to his mind, unfiltered and uncensored. "I wasn't thinking. Okay, mom? I wasn't. You guys don't understand what it's like to hear the things I hear... in China. Six billion people on this planet I can hear them, all of them. I hear them laughing and that cool, I hear them joking, and sometimes the jokes are funny, when I understand the language."

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He paused and took a moment to pace about. He'd been standing still for so long getting yelled at that even a few steps back and forth felt like absolute freedom. "Know what else I hear? Crying. Every man who abuses his wife or children or girlfriend. I hear that. Every insult, every jab and every underhanded comment people direct at their so called 'friends'. I hear that. Everyone insult tossed at the homeless begging for a coin. I hear it. Every cry for help, every shout for someone to come and take the pain away. The misery, the heartache, the sorrow of millions of people who are victims of a world that has seemed to stop caring. I. Hear. Them."

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He looked to his mother, hoping his words were making some sense. "I was in orbit, relaxing in the silence of vacuum. Even there I heard it, those things in New York, those people fighting them. I didn't think. My eyes opened and I just... reacted. People needed help, I helped them. That's how you raised me. You weren't there, you didn't see it like I did. Hundreds of injured and all people were doing was looking to their neighbor as if to say 'are you going to do something?' while their neighbor is too busy recording it on their cellphone to post to YouTube. That's our world, mom. Everyone is just looking to someone else and waiting for them to do something and meanwhile, while everyone is looking to their neighbor, the victims are just lying there crying and hoping someone can put down their cellphone long enough to help them up to their feet."

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"I love you guys, with all my heart. I do." He walked in now from where he was getting scolded to actually stand in the living room. "I would never intentionally hurt any of you, and for doing do mom, I'm sorry. But today, people needed someone, and we were there. I held up an apartment building so Fulcrum could rescue a family of five trapped beneath it. I moved rubble so rescue workers had a clear path to deliver medical aid to injured people. Today," He thumbed his chest and a stern look etched it's way into his expression. "I saved thousands of lives by being the man you two raised me to be. Good. Decent. And above all never to compromise my integrity and always do the right thing. For that, I will not apologize. Ground me until I'm thirty five, but I will always be proud of what I did today." He turned and stormed out of the room. "It's chilly, I'm going to get a shower and change. I'll be in my room."

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Still irritated Connie looked to John, her hands collapsing into her lap. "And you're just going to let him go, John?"

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"Yup." John said calmly, grunting a bit as he got up from his chair. "Connie, he's right. Now, I'm just as scared as you are that something might happen to our boy, but that doesn't change the fact that he is right. We raised our children to be exactly as he said, how can we get angry when they do just that? It's like telling him to grow up but constantly treating him like a child. For now, though, I think you two need to calm down, collect yourselves, and then try and sit down with out yelling at each other or mouthing off." John put his Jon Deere hat on and made his way to the kitchen and the back door. "But we both know Connie, he's growing up. His secret is out, and one day you're going to have to tell him the truth about his father."

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John left out the back, Connie stomped off up the stairs in their bedroom to wash up and Megan still sat on the couch. It was lonely there in the silent room but she let out a sigh and looked about at the empty and now incredibly boring room. "So, uhh... yeah... if anyone wants to clue me in on what's going on, I'll just uh, be right here. Yep. Right here..."

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