Age of Power 1: Legacy

by Jon Davis

  I said, “Yes, but we mainly just had comics as a shared interest, Mom. Everything else he talked about seemed, well…beyond me. But don’t worry. I’ll have something to say.”

  “What was he like with you, Vaughn?” a voice asked from behind me. I looked around and saw a woman with bright green eyes and dark red hair walking up to us.

  She was wearing a deep blue v-neck sweater and near-black slacks. As her hands moved, I noticed that one hand had a turquoise ring on the middle finger that seemed familiar somehow. Then I remembered; this was the redhead who had tried to stop Alex.

  “Dana Sinclair—am I right?” I asked a bit nervously. She was stunning. What? I’m a red-blooded American male. Argh, fire bad, cave good, and all that. Brand didn’t help, snickering right behind me.

  As for her question, I said, “Um, he was like…well, all we did was talk a lot about comic books. That’s it, really. Well, wait—he really got into the science stuff. I think he wanted to go tour Ryan Technologies.”

  Dana sighed, and then said, “Alex did love science. But he talked about you, as well, Vaughn. I had hoped to meet you. I’m just sorry it has to be under such circumstances.”

  I wasn’t really thinking about Alex, though. Not at the moment. This woman was…beautiful…but, yeah, okay, time to put away the virile teenage fantasies. So, I said, “Sure, okay. I’d be happy to talk with you sometime.”

  Dana smiled. Then, just as she was about to say something, there was an announcement over the intercom that seating was about to begin. With a wince, she said, “I’m sorry; I have to talk with my father before all this starts. Would you mind if we talked later, Vaughn, Mr. and Mrs. Hagen?”

  My mom smiled at her and said, “Of course we don’t mind Dana, but please call me Andrea. And I wonder if you’ve seen Alex’s father. I wanted to pay my respects.”

  Dana’s eyes grew stormy, narrowing down. Her tone of her voice turned hard and cold. It added to that sense of a building storm as she answered my mom’s question. "No, the last I heard, he was still in the Rockies with his wife and family. Only Brian Shaw’s father-in-law—Joe Andrews—has returned. They’ve been in the Rockies since the day after the news came out about Yama returning to hit the planet.”

  With that, Dana gave her goodbyes and shook my mom’s hand before walking away. I watched Dana walk towards the front. Her father was there with Hector Gutierrez talking to other officers. Given their gestures towards the front doors, I guessed it was about the reporters still outside.

  Mom brushed my arm with a hand, asking, “Hon? I’ve seen Dana around town, but I never talked to her. How did she and Alex know each other?”

  “Um, I’m not sure, to be honest. Alex might have mentioned her, but I don’t remember right off hand.” I answered.

  “Hmm, well, hopefully we can talk to her about…well, never mind, I suppose we should head in.” Mom said, and started walking off towards Dad.

  I watched Dana for a few more moments wondering if she did know something. I remembered that she had said something about Alex on the day he flew. She said that ‘it’ would kill him. Did she know about his powers?

  “Get past it—she’s older than you, sick boy.” Brand whispered to me as he lightly smacked me on the back. I glanced at him and he nodded to where our parents were waiting for us.

  We headed over to our parents as the doors to the gym opened up for people to enter. Walking up to Mom, I noticed that she was on edge about something. I overheard her talking to Dad about what Dana said about Alex. That’s when I realized exactly what it was Dana had said. “Oh man, Alex’s family was there since the news about Yama came out. But that was weeks before it hit.”

  Brand stared at me. He said, “That means…they left him behind.”

  Mom stared at us, surprised. “We just assumed that the family stayed home on the Day. No one knew how many stayed in Riverlite. I…I don’t know what to say.”

  Then I started and stared at Mom. “Joe Andrews is here,” I said.

  Mom glanced pointedly away from me. Suddenly, I understood why she’d been so adamant against coming here. Joe Andrews was Alex’s step-grandfather by Brian Shaw’s marriage to Joe’s daughter, Janet. I’d met him a few times. He was all business, even when he should have been relaxed and easygoing. I’d never seen them together; Alex had once mentioned that Joe ignored him because he wasn’t a blood relative.

  But my mother knew him better as the man who had foreclosed on more businesses in town in the past five years than any bank in town had done in decades. She’d been in court to take down the notes as judgments were made against one defendant after another. She hadn’t told me all of this directly; that would’ve gotten her fired. But I could tell from reading the local news that she had been present for them. I knew her schedule. And I understood why she was so angry during those times.

  I had to put it aside as we entered the gym. Inside, I saw that they weren’t seating people in the stands. Instead, everyone was being seated in chairs in the middle of the gym. The stands had been set aside for reporters and camera crews.

  I looked back to the middle of the gym. What I saw made me realize that today was definitely more of a show than a real memorial. Paneled posters of Alex hung on the walls, a giant one of him in the front, and red, white, and blue bunting surrounded all of them. Hanging from the lights and the backs of each chair were pennants with various symbols of corporations and thank you notes in gold lettering underneath the logos.

  A massive video screen was set at the front of the gym. The work crews had affixed it to the wall above the main stage and had set screens of equal size throughout the gym. The screens were all active when we came in and the video feed was showing the center of the front stage, where I could see that people were still getting ready for the show. I knew I wasn’t alone in my thoughts when Brand whispered, “I’m beginning to get a bad feeling about this. Look at the cameras up in the stands. It’s like they’re at a campaign event or something.”

  My mom heard him, she looked at us and said, “This is why your father and I debated about telling you two about the memorial. This was all funded by a couple of major corporations as a thank you. We couldn’t argue about it, especially since one of them paid for both of your hospital bills. It seems that their gratitude for being saved extended to wanting to keep you two alive and not have you turn into a major cause célèbre for directly dying from Alex’s power.”

  I blinked. Okay. That’s fine. Everyone came close to death, and if some rich people wanted to show their gratitude that was okay by me. So why was my mother so dead set against…oh. Crap.

  “Hold it. Corporations paid for this. Mom, was Andrews Corp the one that paid the hospital bills?”

  She nodded as she said, “He may not be here, but Alex’s dad has been all over the news talking about his poor, poor son. You can guess who’s been behind that little melodramatic act. Joe doesn’t want anyone upsetting the potential money maker that Alex has become.”

  My dad, who had been quiet up until now, spoke up. “Andi, I wondered why you were so angry after you talked with the hospital when we went to settle the bills. I’m stunned you didn’t freak out when you heard what Dana said.”

  My mom’s smile grew brittle as her emotional ‘mask’ of nicety came down for a moment. “I was just gauging responses, dear. Remember, I work in the courthouse. You have no idea how deep the problems ran between Alex and his father—or, rather, his father’s wife, Janet. And our dear Joe Andrews paid the court costs. But now, let’s smile, be nice, grin, and bear it.”

  Beside me, Brand whispered, “What’s that about Janet?”

  I sighed. “I’ve met her. One time, I was over at Alex’s, and she went after him for reading comics and watching all the science fiction shows online. She said he was too spoiled. He’d just gotten home from mowing lawns for most of the day and I’d just come over to borrow some books. She knew where he’d been; he told her.”

  Brand coughed. “Spoiled?
Alex wasn’t spoiled! He was always doing yard work and stuff to earn money to get those comics. She sounds like a...”

  I cut him off before he finished the sentence. In a lighter tone, I said, “Well, Janet seems like a cruel woman until you get to know her.”

  Brand’s eyes twinkled; he finished the joke for me. “Yeah, then she’s just an evil witch. Look, I may not have liked Alex, but she’s wrong about him. Did she always go at him like that?”

  Nodding, I answered. “Janet didn’t like Alex living with them. He was a reminder that Brian had been married once before. I think Alex was putting up with her until he graduated.”

  That last part was just a guess. Alex rarely brought up his family with me. But with all this talking about them, made me wonder if he was reluctant to talk about himself because he didn’t want anyone to see his personal pain.

  We reached the front of the gym. Since I was on the list, they gave my parents seats near the stage. At my request, they also allowed Brand and his family to sit with them. Things came together and the start of the memorial was getting closer.

  The feeling only got worse when I noticed rows in front of the stage reserved for some very important looking people. Already seated near the gym exit on one side were a large number of Catholic clergy. The rest were people I only knew from television. Statesmen, politicians, movie and music stars, even a few billionaires that I’d seen on social news shows were here.

  I nodded toward them and whispered to Brand, “Seriously, how did a major computer billionaire and a clothing guru ever know Alex? I mean, wow, the boy got around! And why is the White House Chief of Staff and the Secretary of State here but not their boss? Ungrateful leader of the Union, isn’t he?”

  Brand snorted and said, “Be good. Remember, we don’t want everyone calling for our heads! And I want to vote for the Secretary of State if she runs for President someday, not have her declare war on us. She’s cool.”

  I stared at him and said, “Since when did you get into politics? Wait a second…‘our heads?’ Excuse me? Who’s gonna be up on the stage?”

  Brand smirked. He mouthed the word, “You!”

  Things moved quickly from there as people took to their seats. Once my family was sitting, someone escorted me to the stage, where six chairs sat at the back for all the speakers. I stood next to Dana for a moment as we waited to be seated.

  As the escort walked off, I noticed Dana’s tight expression, so I leaned toward her and whispered, “You okay? You seem bothered…”

  She smiled easily, but I could see that she was angry.

  She said, “Let’s just say that I had a deep understanding where Alex’s religious beliefs are concerned. The clergy here is Catholic. Alex was never Catholic.”

  My gaze went down to her neck, and I saw that she wore a pentagram necklace. That reminded me even more of Aunt Cassie, but it also prompted a thought. “Alex was Wiccan? I thought he didn’t believe in a god. He always made a face whenever I swore to the gods.”

  She shook her head. In a low voice she said, “No…he didn’t. He was a mix between a humanist and a futurist. But he respected spirituality. But I knew that about him. These people do not. In fact, few people here really knew him. I’m seeing a show, not a memorial. And Alex deserved so much more!”

  We began being seated, and just as Dana was shown her seat, a new person arrived to be seated between the two of us. I didn’t recognize him, though, he seemed familiar. I also didn’t have time to think about it when the lights dimmed. Around the room, the screens all came on, showing a scene from a video I’d heard of but hadn’t had time to watch.

  Along with the video, a deep-sounding voice said, “He appeared from nowhere on the Day. Earth was doomed, and no amount of human intervention could stop what was coming. Then, from a small town in the American Midwest, a single teenager, holding the powers of the fictional Superman, flew!”

  It was just as Chief Sinclair and Hector Gutierrez had described. Alex flared brighter than the faraway sun. We all watched as another voice, identified onscreen as astronaut Daniel Wilson, told of his experience filming the first and final flight of Alex Shaw, the Avatar.

  I felt as if I were watching a mini-documentary on the History Channel intermixed with a trailer to the next big superhero movie. I only hoped it wouldn’t get worse. As we watched, Alex reached the edge of the atmosphere, flashed brighter for a second, and suddenly sped past the ISS camera.

  It took a few seconds for the camera to track him again, but when it did, there was a collective moan from the crowd when Yama appeared. It reflected light from the sun brightly enough to make people wince. The damn rock was a monster. It blocked out stars and even a part of the moon. Then we caught our breath as Alex and Yama came together. Suddenly the camera caught a blast of light that made us all cry out and look away. Nope, nobody had thought about using filters on that camera!

  As the room darkened, we looked up and watched as the bright blue light flared into two crescent waves that split Yama into two huge, hot, glowing pieces. They even began to move away slightly and to the sides of the camera’s view. You could literally see the space between them growing. At the midpoint of the explosion, a blue and white star slowly died away.

  The announcer’s voice continued, “To this day, no one has been able to explain what science exists that could explain such a miracle. And, tragically, no amount of effort to find the young Avatar has been successful. We may never recover his body. But the Avatar has given humanity a new chance at life. Now, here is our thank you to the god-like man who died in saving us.”

  The crew of ISS appeared and saluted a blown-up picture of Alex.

  I whispered, “Please tell me that we just didn’t see the start of a new religion!”

  The man next to me heard me and said, “I think we have. I hope we’re wrong, it would be insanity!”

  Then the President appeared onscreen and gave his apologies for not being at the memorial. That was fine. He’d always been a great speaker, but this was for Alex. He thanked the people of Riverlite for raising such a brave young man, and expressed his hope that others would be inspired to carry on with acts of compassion and kindness in his name. Yep, this was only going to increase the religious fervor that had started about Alex. And now, I had a feeling that was exactly what someone was trying to do.

  The screened darkened, the lights came up as everyone in the room started clapping. I clapped along with everyone else, but in the pit of my stomach, I had the feeling that things were about to get way out of hand. I saw Dana tense when the first speaker, who introduced himself as Cardinal Benito Bersculini, took his place in front of the podium and led us all in a prayer for Alex’s soul and gave thanks for his appearance on the Day.

  I suppose I could be fine with this whole thing, except, although I didn’t mention it to Dana, I also knew what Alex’s feelings about religion were. Alex had definitely not been Catholic. He even mentioned once that his mother was Lutheran. So they even had the wrong denomination. But Alex was a futurist and an atheist, and a humanist as well, from what Dana had said. I just knew that he didn’t believe in a God. His belief was about the potential for human beings in the course of things. I couldn’t say anything, but, as the homilies went on, I kept thinking Alex would tell them they were all rushing back to the caves.

  And I couldn’t say anything. Well, I could, just not yet. I settled down my urge to scream by thinking that my turn would come soon enough. I figured it couldn’t get much worse after Bersculini finally finished and returned to his seat. What sounded like elevator music came on between speakers. That was annoying in and of itself. And even the crowd in the gym looked unsettled by it. The next person to speak calmed things down with his speech being filled with humor. Vice Principal Jerrold Gaines told us about a time he discovered that Alex had a sense of humor.

  We all laughed when he said, “You know, at one point, he said he could have been worse. He mentioned that he’d been thinking of doing some heav
y piercing and black lipstick. I remember staring at him in horror. He looked serious for a moment, and then he actually grinned and said, ‘A bit too much?’ I had to wonder who this joker was and what he’d done with the normal dark brooding Alex Shaw we all knew and loved!”

  As the laughter died down, Gaines got a bit more serious. “Really, Alex Shaw was a good kid, and I was happy to know a small part of him that could find humor with how he acted. And I hope that each of us who knew him can keep that as a memory to carry on with.”

  After he finished, Gaines returned to his seat as the audience applauded him. It was a good speech, and the memorial could have ended with it and no one would have minded. But it didn’t. I gritted my teeth as the third man stood. Joe Andrews; he was the man behind the glitz. If this was how he thought we should remember Alex, then he had barely known him!

  Maybe if he looked like a dour old man with a balding head and hooked nose, I could have felt something for him. But no, Joe Andrews was this heavy, gray haired man with a groomed beard and few wrinkles. The man was in his sixties, yet he looked as if he could beat Hector Gutierrez in a straight out fight. Well, okay, maybe not Hector. I doubt he’d need to. He could hire someone for that. He was the richest man in town

  I didn’t hate him for that, mind you, I really didn’t. Having money doesn’t make a person evil. If it did, we’d all have been spitting on the biggest money guy in the front row. No, I just didn’t like the way Joe Anderson treated his family. This wasn’t a memorial to Joe Andrews. For him, this memorial was about gain and keeping what he coveted, money. ‘Greedy’ didn’t begin to explain this guy. Yet, when he got to the podium and began to speak, I suddenly got a glimmer of why he could do so much. It wasn’t only about his money. He had charisma, and his voice projected strength as he spoke.

  I heard that as he began to talk about how deeply he had cared for his step-grandson. And although I had to look down to keep from making a face, I had no doubt that many people actually bought into his words. I knew he hadn’t cared about Alex. But with the way he was speaking about him now, the unwary might think he had been getting ready to make Alex heir apparent to the Andrews fortune. But I knew. And so did some others. Glancing around, I saw their looks. They didn’t believe him, either. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement from where Brand was sitting, and I looked over to see him making a puking gesture. He saw me looking, and grinned as he shook his head in disbelief.