V is for Vagenda (Part 5 - Magnanimous)

V is for Vagenda (Part 5 - Magnanimous) 

 

It's February 22, 2011. Lex Luthor, green armor shining in the sunlight breaking between skyscrappers downtown Metrolpolis, hovers over an intersection as Nasthalthia walks with absolute elation toward him. A rare moment of apparent victory is upon him and he suddenly drifts off in his own thoughts, ignoring his partner-in-crime as she calls out to him. Alarmed, Nasthalthia asks if he is ok.

Shocked in a moment of intense revelation, Lex says smiling "I can see the entire electro-magnetic spectrum... and those must be atoms - little clouds of possibility. Einstein couldn't connect the gravitational force to the other three but if he could have seen this... It's so obvious... The fundamental forces are yoked by consciousness. Everything's connected. Everyone. And this how he sees things all the time. Every day."

Nasthalthia, suddenly becoming nervous of this sudden change in behavior, sarcastically responds "I don't know if I should be worried or mortified".

"It's a cruel joke," continues Lex, unaffected and still in a trance-like state of profound fascination, "the mechanistic clockwork of reality hinging on a precious impossible defiance of entropy, on life - and the clockwork doesn't care. It's like - like it is all just us, in here, together. We're all we've got."

Nasthalthia, face palming now, "you're embarrassing me beyond therapy..."

"You'll have to forgive him, Nasthalthia." says Superman as he picks himself up of off the hot asphalt, "He just figured out how everything works."

Lex continues on without concern "Gravity warps time. superman trapped me in a relativistic conundrum..."

Superman, dusting himself off, explains "he's trying to say, his 24-hours of super powers just ran out."

"But it's only been a couple of hours!!" screams Nasthalthia terrified.

Superman, in a reassuring tone, says "Relative to us. The gravity gun sped up his clock."

(** a scene from "All-Star Superman" (C) 2011 Warner Brothers - 1 hour and 6 minutes in **)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1699114/

Magnanimous

A three day bohemian style concert with tents and campfires everywhere, 4 stages with a different style of music going non-stop for 72-hours, a fifth kid's stage, face-painters, fire-spinners, jugglers, buskers, vendors selling everything from coffee and pancakes, to hand drums and solar panels, surfboards, fireworks, 4-wheelers for rent, a river with a waterfall near-by - everything powered by solar and wind energy. This - this is exactly what I needed. A vacation. A party. Friends from my old life who have no idea about Vagenda. If it were not for those in my family that know, I could forget about V and that life altogether right now. At least I get a rare opportunity to see my brother. Maybe, after his set, we can eat a pizza with his band backstage!

Meanwhile, on the watchtower, Batman walks into the Hall of Justice. Superman turns to him "have you figured it out yet?"

Batman stares at him, unimpressed, "If you already knew, why didn't you tell me?"

Superman, arms shrugged, "would it have stopped you from trying everything you did?"

Batman, shaking his head, "What do we do about this?"

Superman smiles "We do the only that we can do, Bruce. We let V be V. The only dynamic in our power is to give her the option to follow this path, or to follow any other. The incredible odds that a person get hit by an exobyte from the future, compounded with the odds of an exobyte hitting someone that already has the power to heal - an exobyte with healing power, itself, no less - are too fantastic to ignore. It can't be undone, and I don't believe in coincidence. We watch, we wait, we let her have the freedom to find happiness"

Batman, finally accepting that he can't cure her, turns around to leave, but before walking out the door stops "How long did you know? From the beginning?" Superman smiles, as Batman leaves saying "I thought so."

The full moon is out and I walk into a techno tent - surrounded quickly by people dressed like hippies on acid waving glow-sticks when the smell of pot hits me. I get lost into the dance and start to sweat. I don't want to feel anything but the rhythm right now. Suddenly I feel someone tapping on my shoulder behind me, whispering in my ear saying "Guess who?" I turn confused - "Oh my God! Raiden!!" I jump into his arms giving him a big hug! We go to the fire and catch up. Someone playing original tunes on an acoustic guitar sounding like Anthony Keidis meets Tom Waits fills the air with the crackle of the fire as we are washed in moonlight. Raiden outlines his plans for "Gray Wardens", and I need to stop him there. I'm honored that he wants me to co-create a new league with him, but I don't want anyone here - here in this place now - knowing I'm V. He looks a little disappointed, so I whisper in his ear softly "but of course, I will do it!" He smiles and dances off, as I sit smiling at his crazy self having fun - I love seeing him so happy. I think he found our first 6 recruits that night, if I remember the faces I seen him with right.

I return a week later, ready to resume duty, refreshed and full of memories of the concert, family, friends, and a restored sense of self and of normalcy. I hope it doesn't seem too odd that I don't chronicle my times with my little one, but some things in life are just for me. She is both my heart, and why it beats.

Creepy - why is Batman smiling?

V