A Star Walks Into A Bar

Seeing Astrid extremely upset, Mason’s paternal instinct kicked in, and moved in for a big Mason hug, if she wanted it. “She’ ain’t comin’ back. Ahm sorry, darlin’, that was on me. You got cajones saying no to Nakamura but, you’re really a kid if you think she’s now yer archnemesis villain.” Mason grabs a fresh shirt, that half full bottle of Jack he keeps under the counter, and a class picture from the far wall where he keeps friends and family photos. Between changing, one could see a massive burn scar across his chest, and the same pattern on his back, as if some awful weapon cut him open.

“See, For every lab like yers that gets blown up, she got five more making her sweet dosh. And Nakamura cares about two things only- saving face, and making money. Fighting a teenager? Not worth either. Sit down, I got a story to tell ya. Might even get a laugh or two.”

Mason forgoes the glass and drinks straight from the bottle. The picture he showed was an old faded class photo of an elementary class, and a canny observer would note Mason’s distinct facial features in a very large, round young boy in shorts, wearing thick framed glasses, seated in the front.  Beside him, standing, was the class adviser, Ellen Nakamura, virtually unchanged from her present appearance save for the flared pants and short curly hair.

“Don’t mix up Nakamura with the Institute. Those are two separate things. Or, supposed to be. Institute started drinking her money like a man lost in the desert takes to water, all to expand their research. Last I hear, it’s a big ol' conflict-of-interest mess over there.”

Mason took another swing of Jack, going through the hard stuff like water. “So, there she is. My grade school and high school science teacher, also taught me how to set up wires for lights and power, how to fix a generator. Useful stuff really. Our principal at the time was a talking cat, and I dated, I shit you not, a blood sucking vampire through high school. My wacky Life at the Institute, am I right?”

Mason paused before going further, hoping the story would so disarm Astrid as to make her laugh or lighten the mood.

”Get your hands away from me.” She hissed, sounding less prone to violence but still pissed. Still, he was right. Astrid was a drop in the bucket for Ellen. She had bigger things to worry about than a weird anomalous kid who played at being a hero. It didn’t sting any less, though, knowing that Mason was one of the people who her father worked for, considering her father was bad news in many ways.

When Mason broke out the photos of him as a kid, Astrid didn’t entirely understand that she was looking at initially. Did Ellen age normally? It made Astrid wonder if she was some sort of metahuman herself, the way she looked unchanged physically.

”I spent at least half of my life in one of those labs while the scientist who was supposed to be father pretended I didn’t exist. I know how they work.” She said, bluntly, while listening to Mason talk about his childhood. A taking car for a principal sounded pretty weird. Mason dating a vampire? Even weirder. Well, maybe it made sense if he was just into biting…

She didn’t laugh.

[color=white]”She knew you personally when you weee a kid. That’s why she recruited you, I’m guessing.”[/color

”Get your hands away from me.” She hissed, sounding less prone to violence but still pissed. Still, he was right. Astrid was a drop in the bucket for Ellen. She had bigger things to worry about than a weird anomalous kid who played at being a hero. It didn’t sting any less, though, knowing that Mason was one of the people who her father worked for, considering her father was bad news in many ways.

When Mason broke out the photos of him as a kid, Astrid didn’t entirely understand that she was looking at initially. Did Ellen age normally? It made Astrid wonder if she was some sort of metahuman herself, the way she looked unchanged physically.

”I spent at least half of my life in one of those labs while the scientist who was supposed to be father pretended I didn’t exist. I know how they work.” She said, bluntly, while listening to Mason talk about his childhood. A taking car for a principal sounded pretty weird. Mason dating a vampire? Even weirder. Well, maybe it made sense if he was just into biting…

She didn’t laugh.

”She knew you personally when you weee a kid. That’s why she recruited you, I’m guessing.”

“Yeah. My pa kicked me out for being part Moose, cuz his .45 wasn’t up to the job. But, I could always talk to Mr. Pythagoras and Ms. Ellen. Taught me how to control it. I Should’ve taken the cat’s offer.”

“We met up ten years later after my stint in the army. She had a security company now, building a plant out in some south American dictator’s country. Fine enough. At least people will get power. Turns out, he only wanted the plant built so he and his minions can live in luxury while the people stay in the dark ages. There were always protests, always troublemakers. You could see the mansions, separated from the slums by high walls. We were the walls for the plant.”

“A year on, on the opening day. There was an attack on the plant and… back then I thought they were terrorists. Turns out, when you’re seeing your whole family starve to death because they took your farm land, a 13-year-old with a gun is as good as a 30-year-old with a gun. Kid was… skinny, malnourished, god, he was smaller than you, Ash. He was shooting… the construction workers. People who were just doing a job. I only looked after I hit him with a steel pipe. I remember the crunch, the bones snapping. He went flying ten feet into some bricks. He looked at me like the monster I was, reaching for his gun. I can’t forget his face. Ever.”

“Then I hear gunshots from the plant. They must’ve had a second team going after the people who worked in there. Naturally I want to check on my bosses, but the second I opened the main door I get a face full of hot, steamy guts, and half a kid in my arms. I saw Nakamura use her power the first time to defend the Plant. It was like… a laser, hurt to look at it. One kid was hiding behind a crate, shitting his pants. I couldn’t say a damn thing but she drilled a hole in their head.”

“I remember being sick all week, seeing the walls… floors... all painted red. And the smell. Cooked human flesh, turned my stomach because it was like it was burnt pork. They tried to take the execs hostage but she was pissed off like I’d never seen. Why wouldn’t she? She came and built these people a power plant, and they repay her like that. But still, none of it sat well with me. The second she brought that laser out they all probably dropped their guns and ran. I was mad at… president what’s-his-name for what he did to his people… mad at Ellen for…something.” Mason sniffled, the memory bringing a tear to his eye.

“That’s why I want you to stay away from her, fighting her or working for her. Right and wrong is supposed to be easy. Once I got a taste that Nakamura money, I started questioning everything. Hell, that money is still screwing up my life… my wife divorced me and she’s a manager over at the Plaza in New York. Since she’s got the steady job though, she’s the one paying spousal support. But she took the kids. I miss em.”

“I don’t know why I opened about my life like that. Guess I just wanna say, keep to your beliefs, do the right thing. But, I always got your back Ash, if you need my big dumb Moose powers or a place to crash.”