Strong & Silent
Chapter 5
"Goodbye"
Josie Stronghold woke out of a sound sleep and rolled over to see that her husband was not in bed with her. Though she hoped he had only gotten up to get a midnight snack, she felt the mattress and knew he had not been there for quite some time. She sighed deeply and got up to put on her robe over her nightgown as she headed for the bedroom door.
She hated nights like this. It meant Steve was downstairs…ALL the way downstairs in the Secret Sanctum beneath their house. It was the specific part of the Sanctum he was in that she hated…not for a personal reason, but because of how it always affected her husband. He wasn't in the trophy room, where they kept mementoes of their greatest and most hard-won victories; he was in the OTHER room, the one not even Will knew about and, God willing, never would.
It was the room where Steve kept mementoes of his greatest failures.
No one else thought of the certain events of his life that Steven Stronghold looked upon as failures the way he did. They were events he had had no control over and could not have changed though he still to this day longed that he could.
In this room was a piece of railroad track. Next to it was the battered black and red armor that Steven had personally taken off his fallen friend Baron Battle after he had defeated him in the monstrous fight at Mount Rushmore. Next to that was a now empty spot that once held the file about the events where Steven and Josie had attempted to adopt Warren Peace when he was little; the same file Steven had absent-mindedly left in an old trunk after he had been looking through it years ago only for it to be found by Will and the truth revealed to both boys. At least that old ghost had at last been laid to rest.
Josie placed her hand on the panel that allowed her to access this haunted room. Sure enough, there was Steve, sitting in a large old overstuffed chair that had once been his dad's. He was in his pajamas and looking at an old yearbook from Sky High, but this was not the care-worn one Will had looked at and discovered the secret that ended up saving everyone at homecoming. This yearbook was four years older, dating back to Steve's freshman year, two years before Josie herself had come to Sky High.
He was thinking about HER again.
Josie smiled sadly at her husband. She did not begrudge him for his feelings, after all he would not be the man he was today if it had not been for…her. She just wished that Steve wouldn't dwell on the past so much at times.
Steven Stronghold finally lost it.
He grabbed Dr. Zeus by the lapels of his expensive suit and lifted the man off the floor, glaring into his eyes.
"You leave her alone," he growled, "you WON'T do ANYTHING to her!"
"Get your hands off me," Zeus replied, trying to pull Steven's hands away but finding to his shock that the boy would not be budged.
Instead, Steven continued to advance and slammed Zeus into the opposite wall of the hallway with enough jarring force to crack the plaster.
Dr. Zeus was one of the old guard, a powerful being who rivaled Steven's father Major Victory and had even on two occasions gotten into physical altercations with him; the two had fought to a standstill both times before the other members of their team could safely intervene and separate them.
Surprised he could not physically overpower Steven; Zeus instead used his other power. Like his namesake he was able to unleash devastating bolts of electricity capable of destroying a tank at full power, and he blasted Steven point blank in the chest.
Steven didn't even flinch. Instead he growled like a bear and hurled Zeus down the hallway, past the nurses' desk and into the far wall that held the bank of elevators that led up to the surface. Zeus slammed into the wall, and scrambled to his feet just in time to get tackled by a charging Steven, who succeeded in smashing completely through the wall and into the elevator that was there.
Security forces were scrambled. They were instantly apprised of the situation of a young super going berserk and attacking another in the hallway and the two were now fighting their way up the shaft and to the surface level where the normal hospital was. If something wasn't done their battle would endanger countless citizens who were in the hospital.
"Geez," said the head of security when he was told who it was, "THAT'S the Stronghold kid…what the hell have they been feeding him? If he's taking on Zeus the kid's got more muscles than brains, I'll give him that."
The quickest thing to do was to try to herd the two to an area where damage would be kept to a minimum, and then try to contain them any way possible. Considering the level of power that was already being tossed around, neither option was going to be very likely to happen, not without some serious backup.
The two smashed up the shaft and onto the ground floor of Maxville General Hospital. Steven instantly realized where they were, and instinctively knew he had to either stop the fight or try to move it away from the civilians. There was no way he was going to stop until Zeus surrendered, so he had to think of something else. Grabbing the still-stunned principal, Steven smashed through a wall and to the outside, where he performed one of his spectacular leaps that carried them away from the hospital and out to an area that was being prepared to build a new high rise building. There was nothing there but leveled earth and freshly poured concrete walls.
They landed with a crash as Steven dropped Zeus and backed away, wanting to give him a chance to surrender.
"Just say you'll leave Rebecca alone," said Steven, "I don't want to do this."
In answer Zeus blasted Steven with another thunderbolt, this one knocking Steven off his feet and he crashed into a concrete wall.
"You miserable little fool," sneered Zeus, "you're just like your father, an arrogant and self-righteous fool who thinks he can tell everyone what to do. But I made him cower before me boy, and you will too!"
Zeus unleashed one lightning bolt after another at Steve, striking him in the chest and incinerating his shirt. It hurt like hell, but Steven was not recoiling from the pain, he was using it to remind him why he was fighting. If it hadn't been for Rebecca, he wouldn't be feeling Zeus's bolts at all. He took the pain and reveled in it. He could feel. He could feel because of her, because she had sacrificed her own health to take the cursed numbness away from him, and now this man…this petty hateful man…was going to punish her for it.
Not while Steven still drew breath.
Steven stood up under the barrage and took a step towards Zeus. Every massive muscle of his body rippled and flexed like waves on the sea. Nothing was going to stop him. Nothing.
Zeus blasted him again.
Steven took another step.
Again and again Zeus struck out at the boy, who continued coming slowly but surely, not hesitating or even flinching from the pain and any possible damage being done to him.
For all his bravado and arrogance, Zeus was to his credit not a coward. He had faced off with the likes of the original cyborg monster the Human Panzer on the battlefields of Europe during World War 2, battled the Japanese genetically created dragon whose named translated to "Hell's Fang" in the pacific campaigns, and once fought with Dr. Skull himself as the fiend sought to summon a horde of zombie Vikings to invade the coast of England.
But this was different. There was something in Steven's eyes that made Zeus hesitate. Something he had not taken into consideration. He had thought he had cowed all the students at Sky High with his formidable history and sheer power of personality, but he had seriously underestimated the son of his rival Major Victory.
And Zeus took a step back.
Steven had grown up listening to the stories of his father, including those of Dr. Zeus. Though he didn't like him, Samuel Stronghold never demeaned his rival in any way. It was only later on, after the two had semi-retired that Samuel let his true feelings be known, feelings that were matched by many in the super hero community. Steven still gave Dr. Zeus all the respect the man deserved for both his history and being the principal of Sky High, but that ended the moment he showed to what depths he would sink to get back in any way at either Samuel Stronghold or even his son.
Steven increased his pace. He was not going to let this man do all that he had threatened to do and let him get away. No. He had to been shown that he could not threaten and demean anyone who was trying to help others. Doing so made them a villain, and there was only one thing to do with a villain.
Zeus was desperately backing away now, hurling bolt after ineffective bolt at Steven, who was stomping so hard in his determined charge that the very concrete beneath his feet was crushed into fine powder two inches deep. In another moment he was on top of the man and again grabbed him, but this time by the throat with one hand. Without hesitating he lifted Zeus high in the air, and choke-slammed him down into the ground with such force the shockwave went out in all directions and shattered every piece of glass for one hundred yards around.
Steven then straddled his enemy, dropping down and pinning him to the ground between his thick legs. He again grabbed the stunned Zeus by the neck with one hand, and drew back his other in a deadly fist. Then he struck.
"You…"
THOOM!
"…will…"
THOOM!
"…NOT…"
THOOM!
"…do…"
THOOM!
"…ANYTHING…"
THOOM!
"…to…"
THOOM!
"…HER!"
THOOM!
Steven then slowly stood up to look upon his work. The air was filled with dust and debris, and it was several moments before it cleared enough for all the bystanders to see what happened. Then everyone gasped.
Steven stood there nearly naked, his clothes burned away by the lightning bolts. What few rags there were clung to his body by sweat, which he was bathed in. Streaks of dust and soot covered him as well, and he looked like a young, vengeful god of strength and war. At his feet lay Dr. Zeus…or what was left of him.
At first it looked like he was dead, but a better view revealed something even more awe inspiring.
Every earthquake-inducing blow Steven had struck had purposefully missed Zeus' head. The ground around his head and shoulders was just a crater several yards around and no one could see the bottom of. Zeus lay there in shock, unable to understand what had happened.
"I'm not a killer," Steven whispered as he turned away and started to try to walk back to the hospital, but his legs started to shake. His anger had been burned away, and he was starting to feel the after effects of such a tremendous surge of strength on one so young. After a few steps his legs buckled and he fell to his knees. Gasping for breath, he tried to get up, but it was no good. He then tried to crawl on his hands and knees, but that didn't get him far either. He finally collapsed with a muffled groan.
Instantly the authorities swarmed in. Two sets of medical personnel, each taking one of the fallen figures, started to work. Zeus was badly bruised with several broken bones, though nothing he couldn't recover from. Steven tried to fight off the other medics, but he was weaker than a newborn baby.
"Easy son," whispered the chief med, "you can relax now. Everything is going to be okay."
"Rebecca…" Steven moaned, "gotta…get back to…Rebecca…"
The head of security quickly filled in the chief med about the situation, and the man only shook his head in disbelief.
"All of this over a girl? The boy must have it bad."
"Yeah," grinned the security chief, "but Zeus definitely got it a LOT worse."
Steven came to in a hospital room like the one he had just left. He was in one of the specially built beds for larger and heavier super patients, and saw that he was hooked up to monitors registering his heart rate and blood pressure. He didn't even have on one of the usual hospital gowns, though he had been cleaned up quite a bit.
Apparently he was being very closely monitored, as the moment he started to stir a nurse came in to check on him.
"Finally awake I see," said the nurse, who was the same one Steven had met on his way in to see Rebecca.
"Yeah," said Steven sheepishly, "I guess I must have passed out or something after the fight."
"That's a mild way of putting it," said the nurse as she check Steven's blood pressure and temperature, "you were completely exhausted. We were scared there at first but you seem to have pulled through just fine."
"Yeah," said Steven, a good night's sleep was all I needed."
"Actually, you've been unconscious for nearly a week," replied the nurse.
"A WEEK!" bellowed Steven, "I've got to get out of here…find Rebecca…"
He tried to get up, but every muscle screamed in agony. He was so stiff and sore he could hardly move. He recognized the feeling from all the times he had intensive workouts since powering up, but this was beyond anything he'd ever experienced before.
"Take it easy," the nurse told him and put her hands on one of his thick arms to calm him down, "Miss Crane is just fine, though of course she was VERY concerned to find out what all the ruckus was about when the fight started."
"Yeah," Steven said, settling back down into the bed but still feeling his sore and tired muscles, "I guess I kind of lost it…but when he threatened her…"
"Don't worry about that either," said the nurse with a smile, "I REALLY shouldn't be telling you this, but if it will keep you from doing anything else stupid that comes to a couple of million dollars in property damage, I think you should know."
"Know what?"
"Just about every square inch of our little supers hospital is monitored around the clock, both video and audio recordings of everything that goes on around here are made. Needless to say the Higher Authority was VERY interested in what was on the tape played for them concerning what happened outside a certain hospital room moments before all hell broke loose a week ago."
"Then that means…"
"Zeus always did think too highly of himself and that he had all this influence over people. Turns out the only reason he was principal of Sky High was because everyone thought it was the best way to keep him out of trouble and give the students someone to look up to as an inspiration. Did they ever miss the target."
"So…what's going to happen to him…and me?"
"Well, Zeus is now on paid leave from his position pending the full investigation, after which he'll doubtlessly be released. Turns out quite a few super parents don't like the idea of someone goading one of their kids into a fight; especially in a hospital of all places…some villains have a problem with that too. Can you imagine that? People who make a living trying to conquer the world getting mad about this situation…guess there's some things even THEY won't sink to."
"Am I…am I going to be kicked out of school…or arrested?"
"Good Heavens, of course not," said the nurse, "who in their right mind would try to prosecute you, even if you weren't the son of Major Victory? Like I said they have all the evidence in front of them, and it was clear you were goaded into attacking Zeus. I doubt ANYONE wouldn't have taken a swing at him if he threatened someone they loved like that. I know I would have decked him, and I can imagine what your father would have done…"
"My dad," said Steven, "is he…mad?"
"He's so proud he's about to hurt himself internally," smiled the nurse, "once he got here about five minutes after you collapsed he was told what happened and how you defeated Zeus. From that and looking at the battle site he couldn't stop grinning. Your mom was upset at first, but once we knew you were going to be okay she was just as proud."
"I'd like to see them…let them know I'm okay."
"Sure thing," said the nurse, I'll go phone them right now. Hopefully they'll get here before another fist fight breaks out."
"I'm not going to fight with anyone else," said Steven, puzzled by the remark.
"Not you," said the nurse, "I mean another fist fight between the nurse's aids as to who gets to give you another sponge bath…or did you think you've been so squeaky clean for the last week by accident?"
Steven's face went beet red as the nurse left with a big grin. But as the door closed behind her someone else was standing there.
It was Rebecca. She was dressed in her usual dark clothing, and she looked better than the last time Steven had seen her. But now she moved very slowly, and needed a cane to walk with. With a gentle smile she approached Steven.
"I hear you had quite an interesting time," she said.
"Yeah," he said with embarrassment, "if you call beating up the principle, trashing the hospital and completely destroying a construction site "interesting". But…"
"But what?"
"I'd do it all again for you…to protect you."
Rebecca gently caressed Steven's cheek, and her touch made it worth all the pain he had gone through.
"There won't be any need for that," she said.
"I hope not," Steve smiled back, "this last one knocked me out for a week."
"No," she said, the smile vanishing from her face, "I mean that…I won't be around for you to protect anymore."
"What?" He couldn't have heard her right.
"I've talked it over with my folks…I'll be transferring to Sky High West effective immediately. They have a…they have the means to help me with my condition."
"Zeus did this," growled Steven, anger again swelling within him and actually overcoming the stiffness and soreness of his muscles, "I guess I didn't get it through his thick head…"
"No Steven," said Rebecca as she placed her hand on his broad shoulder, "Zeus had nothing to do with this. I had already made the decision before you…before the two of you fought."
"But why?"
"Steven, I'm too much of a distraction for you. You need to concentrate on your studies so you can be the great hero I know that you are. I know you are willing to throw it all away because of me…I know that you were going to ask me to marry you."
"I still want to," he said, taking her hand in his, "I want to take care of you the rest of my life."
"But that's my point," she said as she slipped her small hand out of his, "you can't just be with me when the entire world needs you. It's not just your strength either; it's your heart that is needed. As long as I'm around you won't be able to focus on the truly important things like your training. It's best if I go."
"No," said Steven, "I need you, Rebecca. Until I met you, I didn't really have anything to keep me going. Ted…my brother…".
"I know," said Rebecca in her whispered voice, "I know all about Theodore. His loss was a terrible blow to you and your parents. But you still have much to live for…you have a legacy to uphold and build upon."
"But I love you."
"And I love you, my young Hercules," she said with a sad smile, "but I am not the right girl for you. Someday you will meet the one who is, one who can share your life in the way you need to live it."
"But…" he started.
"No," said Rebecca as she placed a finger on his lips to quiet him, "we both know it's for the best. I've done my part…now you must go on and do yours."
"No," he said, "I'll…"
She was gone. Vanished. But how? Then he remembered she had taken the time stopping power of Harlan Quinn, the incident that had started the whole thing. She had used it to stop time so that he couldn't prevent her from leaving. And now she was gone.
Then, for the second time in a few months, Steven Stronghold broke down and wept as he felt his great heart shatter into a million pieces.
Josie quietly approached and placed her hand on Steve's broad shoulder. He looked up at her touch, and both realized that, if not for Silence, Josie could have hit him in the same spot with a sledgehammer and he would not have felt it.
Steve had been crying.
"Honey," Josie whispered as she knelt next to him, "what's wrong?"
He quietly handed her a tear-stained piece of paper with an official government logo across the top. It was from the Higher Authority, those who monitored and oversaw all super hero activity in North America. But Steven never kept such messages from her, so what was so important about this one?
To: Steven Stronghold a.k.a. The Commander
It is with deepest regret and sympathy that we inform you of the passing of Rebecca Crane, a.k.a. Silence. Her untimely passing was the result of complications arising from the state of hyper-advanced rheumatory arthritis she had mysteriously contracted at the age of sixteen.
Her long service in the de-powering and incarceration of several dangerous super villains will always be held in the highest regard, and as a person she will be greatly missed for the quiet strength and resolve she possessed that served to help us all.
The message was dated today, actually yesterday, as it was only a couple of hours old. It must have come in while Josie was asleep.
"She…she's…" was all Steve could say. It was then that Josie didn't see the Commander, the all-powerful hero who had saved the world from evil and disaster time and again. She saw the overgrown, but still vulnerable and sweet young man who had lost so much in his first year of becoming a super hero. And she couldn't help but fall in love with him all over again.
"I know honey," said Josie as she took his broad, strong face in her hands and looked into his bloodshot, tear-filled eyes.
Her small red cell phone began to buzz in the pocket of her robe. She swiftly reached in and shut it off. There were plenty of other heroes around to take care of whatever this latest threat was, and right now the Commander and Jetstream were needed for something far more important. She then took her husband and held him in her arms as they both mourned the loss of a quiet young girl who gave her all to save the world in her own way.
The End