The Descent Chapter 11: My Father in Heaven Part 4

Full Novel Synopsis: Sequel to 'The Spiralling', itself a sequel to the Kick-Ass (2010) movie. However, this novel can be read on its own. After Big Daddy died, Mindy was driven mad, subdued by Dave, and locked away in an Institute after killing all who she deemed responsible but Dave. Will she recover? What will happen next to a New York without her nor the Motherfucker? Elements of the Kick-Ass 2 (2013) movie and comic series will be taken in.

The Descent

Chapter 11: My Father in Heaven Part 4

“Doctor Gravity, you’re next.” With everything forgiven, the Colonel went on to the next.

“No real reason, really.” Doctor Gravity said distractedly as he was twirling his Zero-G Device around in his right hand, “I saw Kick-Ass a year ago on TV.” He waved his free hand at me. I could feel a wave of shiver all over me. I guess it’s what happens when it felt like you made a difference, “Took me a while, but I thought to myself. Why not me?”

“The world ain’t perfect. My job sure wasn’t. Then there were all those things going on, on the news, with and without Kick-Ass…” I could tell that he’d lost half if not all his confidence as his voice trailed away towards the end.

“Your reason’s real to me.” Colonel Stars and Stripes said encouragingly. When I looked at him, I could tell that he meant it. He seemed larger than life. He was no superman, not even Barack Obama nor even a regular on the newspaper, but it was enough – there wasn’t a need for all that, “We’re all here because of Kick-Ass.” Murmurs of agreement. I was quaking enough in my suit that I felt like Mindy – Now I understand how it felt like, well, barely – I had to make an effort to prop myself up on my seat on another desk, “Speaking of which, Kick-Ass. Tell us ‘bout how you got to where you are now, if you please.”

“Well… It’s stupid, really…” I wasn’t prepared to answer the roll-call. I had to improvise on the fly, which I wasn’t really good at unless I was in the mood, and usually the mood came only when the thugs barge in. Outside of it, even in my Kick-Ass costume, I was on Dave mode. Or maybe it was because everyone’s in a costume now, so that I wasn’t much different from everyone in the room, “More than a year ago, I started wondering, ‘why is it that no one’s tried to be a superhero’? Remember, Marty?” I smiled at him, and he nodded in support, remembering old times – that silly smile, “So I ordered my wetsuit online, and started training and doing it for fun. Nearly fell off an apartment building.”

“I got hospitalised for something else.” I looked at Marty again. A smile was still plastered on his face, “my first mission, stopping a pair of car thieves, and I was stabbed and knocked down by a car. Now that’s before I went viral, so you guys won’t know.”

“Anyway, it gave me my superpower, if there’s such a thing. I had over a dozen titanium plates on my bones and some of my nerve endings were just… gone, so I don’t feel as much pain.” By this point, I wasn’t even aware that I was giving a little more than an origin story, but no one stopped me. Surprisingly enough, they held on, mesmerised by my story. It was the first time someone, and as a double entry into the Guinness Book of Records, more than one person, was paying attention to my story, “Anyway, I don’t know what made me continue. I just did, I suppose. That was when I stopped those three gangsters from killing that one guy.” Then I laughed, it was something I remembered. I felt like a war veteran. It was cool, and yet at the same time it wasn’t, “It was funny, really. I was just looking for a cat. Mr Bitey. Can’t believe I still remember its name.”

“I kept going on like that, got into a few scrapes. I met these two… Big Daddy and Hit-Girl and…” From here, it became infinitesimally harder to continue. But I didn’t have to. They knew the story, like how I knew about how Raven ruined Starfire’s wedding. At that time, I felt the trauma off the comic book, but this time it was the real deal, and this time I was Starfire… with all that guilt written in, “They were the… Real deal.”

“I was still with the D’Amicos back then. I heard about it from the underboss I was with.” The Colonel said – it was hard to believe how we’d come into the same room, putting on costumes, united under one banner – Justice Forever. It no longer mattered to me, his past, as the Colonel’d made a great impression. Not every superhero’s a good guy at the beginning. Tony Stark sure wasn’t your stoic paragon of idealism – he was a corporate magnate, the type who ran sweatshops, “They burnt Big Daddy alive. And we all saw how Hit-Girl rescued her father. And you. My condolences, Kick-Ass. What happened to Hit-Girl, by the way?”

“Oh… Her…” By that time, I was an emotional wreck – I’ve learnt to hide it well. It was easier with my mask and helmet. I wasn’t sure if I should tell the truth, or lie, “Yeah… She’s… Retired. Hung up the cape because of her dad.” It was a half-truth. After Big Daddy was avenged with Frank’s death by bazooka, Mindy was merely mourning her father’s loss. She couldn’t take it, got worse as more time passed, went nuts and started even more massacres to avenge her father. She became Hit-Girl again when Demoness appeared, thinking it was a new villain, but Demoness turns out to be herself, her other personality that came into being because of her father and his death. I had to defeat her myself with the help of Aldan and Michael. But of course, I couldn’t tell the rest about that.

“Oh man, that’s a shame. She was awesome!” Marty exclaimed – he must had been remembering that time when they were watching Hit-Girl on camera, killing the mobsters, mostly offscreen, but enough for everyone, even Todd, to know that she did. To top the sundae off, she killed two right in front of the camera, flying across the warehouse with her pistol blazing, “If only she was still around when Demoness came into town.” Everyone was looking at him, willing him to shut up for the moment to respect Big Daddy’s death and Hit-Girl’s loss. He took the message and stopped, “Sorry.”

“Even if she is still around, we won’t take in child soldiers.” The Colonel said gruffly, breaking the silence, emphasizing Justice Forever’s codes, “It’s no different from child prostitution.”

“Anyway, you guys know the rest. I stopped the Demoness. Took me some time to track her, and I wasn’t alone. I had these two guys from a swordsmen school or something… Took her in.” Pushing aside my grief, I made the long story short so that it was out of the way quick. Another half-truth. By ‘took her in’ I meant bringing her to Dr Paul and then adopting her. They probably interpreted it as taking her to a police station.

“I was there myself when she raided the D’Amico Tower. She’s part of the reason why I’m here.” The Colonel said, his eyes a little glazed, looking at something out of my perception, deep in thought. Again, I felt that pang of familiarity, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it. I was too fazed by my own problems to do any real thinking. Thankfully, he didn’t pry any further, but instead: “Wanna see something cool?”

“Sure.” I said indifferently, but I couldn’t help it. Passing through a film of plastic strips, we went to the back of the headquarters. It was all the way to the back, past a few more rooms I’d yet to see. It was a huge room, almost a hall had it not been for the regular ceiling. At the front and centre was a circular table, resembling a conference room table, and to the sides were what looked like a training area, a workshop and a make-up section, “Nice.” I mustered up all the enthusiasm I had before, but there wasn’t much. I was running out. I felt like a bipolar case.

“Thought this could be our meeting room. Now, this renovation was totally clandestine.” The Colonel went on explaining, “Which means nobody knew about it. Everyone else was suitably amazed by the Bat Cave. I felt like a party pooper all of a sudden… in retrospect. As it turns out, everyone was new after all. Either that, or the Colonel did the renovations overnight. It felt like a little of both.

“Now, I know it’s not much, but this is just the beginning. Together we could make a real difference.” The Colonel approached me, his fists up in pretend fighting. I didn’t pretend to dodge – no mood, “If you’d consider it, Kick-Ass, we’d be honoured to have you join us.”

I didn’t answer immediately. With Mindy fresh on my mind, dishing out flurries of punches at me, I was even considering rejecting the Colonel’s offer. I didn’t want more lives on my conscious – I didn’t want to hurt anybody else. But when I looked at all the others, including Marty, something else was there, pushing me into this, other than my missing reasons of the past.

“Sure.” In the end, I took the offer. I wanted to be there, to make sure none of them would make the same mistakes I did. I was a dirty old virus, and I wanted to be a different kind of virus, one that keeps all its clones in check. There were cheers on the side, despite them knowing about my reservations, likely. I wasn’t very good at hiding my feelings when I’m really down – maybe that’s why they cheered, “Why not?”

“That’s what I like to hear.” The Colonel said, and we shook hands. It felt like he understood how I was feeling, and held back for a bit, “Alright, time for initiation. Turn around and I’ll unzip yah.” What he said scooped my right out of my valley of shadows, right out.

“I’m sorry, what?” I couldn’t believe what I just heard – I never liked such things. Bad experiences in school.

“I’m just joking. Let’s get down to business.”