(A/N) Hey guys, you didn't really think we'd leave you with that sort of cliff-hanger, did you? Come on, whenever we end a fic, we make sure we do it right! We're not going to leave you without an epilogue of things to come, and a little announcement for both a prequel to this fic, which will then be followed by a sequel – X-Ray and Vav Origins: The Tale of Heisty Beardo, will be coming out in the Summer of 2015, and X-Ray and Vav: Ghosts That Linger will be out this Autumn. And now, I'm going to leave you with a little collaborative work between Gumby1011 and myself, ending this fic just as the animated series ends its first season, and I really hope you all have enjoyed both!
To the various Guests: We're sorry for breaking your heart, but you were warned! As for the quote, your wish is my command - just look below! And finally, yes, "wow" indeed. Thanks for reviewing, everyone who took the time to - it meant a lot to us, to know that there were people out there reading and enjoying our work. We hope that this will leave you excited for more, and there will be more, you can hold me to that! This one is for you guys!
As usual, enjoy (for the last time in this fic).
Epilogue
Written by NicKenny & Gumby1011
"Being a superhero isn't about keys to the city and publicity! The reward comes from helping others!"
"Sometimes you need to do something stupid to get results!"
- Vav & X-Ray, X-Ray and Vav
"We are only puppets, our strings are being pulled by unknown forces."
- Georg Buchner
Agent Joel Heyman
Agent Joel Heyman pulled up outside the dilapidated apartment block, where a squad car was already waiting for them, a pair of officers standing outside while forensics had a look at the body. Burns tapped his fingers restlessly against the armrest, until the car came to a stop, and then he immediately hopped out, making his way towards the officers.
It had been one hell of a day.
"Report," he snapped angrily to them, his eyes no doubt flashing behind the pair of aviator shades that he was wearing, and the officers seemed to sense his barely-restrained rage, glancing at each other nervously for a second before the one on the left began to speak.
"We were alerted by some of the residents about several gunshots going off about twelve hours ago. Due to the events going on in the docks, it took us a while to get anyone down here, and my partner Doyle here," and at this point he nodded to the man next to him, as a method of explanation, "was the first on the scene–"
Burns raised his hand and cut the officer off at this point, turning to Doyle. "What did you find? As much detail as possible, please."
Officer Doyle gulped and blinked a few times, recounting the moment mentally for a few seconds before steadying himself. He began to recount his finding, firing them off rapidly as though he may forget them at any moment. "One stiff – a white male in his twenties, suffered several gunshot wounds to the torso and abdomen, probably from a lone gunman using some kind of semi-automatic pistol. The deceased appears to have fought back – an empty shotgun was found next to his body, the casings spent."
"Any signs that he managed to injure his attacker?" Joel asked, breaking in, and officer shook his head slowly.
"Forensics are running over the scene now, but as far as I could see there were no traces of blood other than the pool around the victim, and it didn't appear as though the confrontation ever got up close and personal, or…well…not for long…"
Burnie frowned, placing a toothpick into his mouth, and began to chew it furiously – something he only did when he was absolutely furious, and trying his best to quell that anger. "What do you mean?" he asked, and the officer winced slightly.
"The victim…well, after receiving several wounds, he tried to crawl away and leave a message for someone, writing it on the wall next to him in his own blood. He didn't get to finish it though, before the assailant reached him, and…and crushed his trachea."
"He did what?!" Burns exclaimed, spitting the toothpick out in surprise and Joel watched it sail away before smacking the first officer – Franklin – in the face.
Doyle gulped once more, and looked down to the ground, continuing to recite out his findings. "While we haven't found any fingerprints, the bruising around the throat certainly looked like that of a hand, so it would appear that the assailant was both wearing gloves, and strong enough to crush a man's throat like a Sprunk can. The message, forensics believe, was left unfinished by the deceased, until the killer finished it himself."
He held up an image on his phone, taken before forensics had replied, and passed it over to Joel, his hands trembling. Agent Heyman stared at it for a while, his brow knotted, before shaking his head in confusion and passing it to his partner.
"S.M.G…" Burnie mused, staring at the image for a moment before passing it back to Doyle, and telling him that he should either delete the photo or turn his phone into evidence. He commended the officers on their work, and passed them his contact details, asking them to keep him updated on whatever the forensics team found.
Heyman got into the car, slamming the door shut and put his hands over his eyes, sighing heavily.
"You okay?" Burns asked slowly, nudging his partner with his elbow. "We'll catch the guy that did this, don't worry."
Joel just shook his head, and sighed again. "We can't let Vav know about this, you know that, right? He's been completely broken ever since he found X-Ray's body, and this…this might send him over the edge."
"Caleb Denecour was a lying, cheating, stealing piece of crap," his partner replied, frowning. "He was just their informant, that was it. Sure, he was still a person, and we'll hunt down his killer, but I'm not going to lose too much sleep over a hacker and small-time drug dealer being bumped off."
"The only thing is," Joel replied, turning to face Agent Burns. "Vav is a good person – he spends every waking moment of his life trying to help people. No matter what Denecour was, he'll still care. And right now, he has more than enough to care about, understood?"
Burns hesitated for a moment, before inclining his head slightly. "Fine, I'll keep my trap shut. Now let's get out of here."
Zachary Miller
"Mr Miller," a southern-sounding voice drawled, and Zachary Miller squinted in the harsh light, vaguely able to make out the outline of a man in the centre of the doorway. "I am sorry that we could not meet under better circumstances."
A thin chuckle broke out from between Miller's broken, chapped lips. "Me too, buddy. But as you can see, I'm a little tied up at the moment." This was said with a wry smile, as he lifted his manacles in demonstration. He was somewhat surprised, however, when the figure drew closer, and began to come into focus as his eyes grew accustomed to the light.
The man was a little shorter than himself, and far frailer, but stood with such a commanding sense of authority that his lack of size was barely noticeable. His green eyes were almost hidden away behind a pair of glasses, which sat severely above his nose. His hair, and immaculate goatee, were both jet black, and he stood with his hands behind his back, calmly surveying Miller's cell with the air of a connoisseur.
"I imagine you'd welcome a change of scenery," the man murmured, and Miller chuckled again. The man turned to stare at him, his head tilted slightly to the side, and looked him up and though, as if evaluating the condition that the merc was in.
It wouldn't take him that long to realise what the answer was – pretty crap, in all truth. Miller had begun to lose count of the number of days that he had been locked down here for, not having any materials to keep track, and having been informed that if he attempted to mark the walls of the cell, in any way, he would be given over into Dr Zach's custody for a few hours.
Needless to say, he had not attempted to mark the walls.
Having apparently found what he was looking for, the man nodded slowly to himself, and hunkered down to Miller's eye-level. "I can get you out of here, you know?" he said, and Miller couldn't help but blink in surprise, his heart-rate raising slightly. "I can get you out of the FBI's custody, away from their interrogators, back out into the real world."
Miller stared at him for a moment, not willing to trust the man's claims, yet even this small hope proved unbearable for him to ignore. "Why would you do that? What's the catch?"
The man smiled, displaying a flash of white teeth, and stood up slowly. "Because I need a man with your…talents, Mr Miller. Or rather, Mr Flanagan?"
Miller froze in his place, his eyes trained on the other man, pressure building in his throat as his mind threatened to give way to hysteria. "How do you know that name?" he asked, lowly, more of a hiss than a question.
"I know many things, Mr Flanagan. I know that you're name is not Zachary Miller, but Joshua Flanagan. I know your service record – your real one, not the fake one that the Community supplied you with. I have to say, I was impressed when I first went through it – now, however, I'm not so sure. This is the only chance you'll ever be given to leave this cesspit, so I warn you, think on it for a moment before giving me your answer."
Miller – or rather, Josh Flanagan – stared at him incredulously. "What do you want me to do?"
The man let out a brief chuckle, and smiled again. "I want you to work for me, Mr Flanagan. I promise, it'll all be within your capabilities, and if your files are any hint, it will be work that you will enjoy."
"Then I'll take it," Josh replied, without a hint of hesitation. "Anything to get me out of here. I just have one more question – who are you?"
"My name is Dr John Marshall Reed, Mr Flanagan, but you may call me Director."
Miles Luna / Flynt Cole
He sat in his office. The man sat at the creaky old desk in his shitty private-detective's office. His trenchcoat, black as coal and visibly tattered, hung from slumped shoulders as the man let out an exasperated sigh. He held his face in his hands, his eyes screwed shut as he tried to think of any possible way he could convince his superior of what needed to be done. Then...
He stood up. Quickly walking over to the door he locked, deadbolted and chained it shut. He would need to remain uninterrupted for this meeting. He then walked over to the windows and closed the shades, and drew the curtains. They would need to be unobserved as well. Then he walked back to his desk, took his adjustable desk lamp and shone it on the wall, before standing in front of it, casting a shadow blacker than was even natural on the wall's faded, torn wallpaper.
He let his eyes roll back in his head, and they began glowing white as he called upon his superior from whatever errand he was currently on. The room tremored slightly, pencils and papers rattling on the man's desk. Then slowly, inexorably, a humanoid, midnight-black figure stepped out of the man's shadow. It's eyes also glowed white, but it closed them for a moment before regaining more natural colors and appearance. HE had dark brown hair flipped up in the front, pale skin and though he was shorter than the detective, he moved with complete authority.
Then the new humanoid smiled and nodded at the office's owner. "Flynt."
Flynt nodded back, half-heartedly. "Kyle."
"You know you're not meant to call me that," the other man moaned, before sighing. "Why'd you bring me in?" the Sponsor asked a moment after, walking over to the wooden chair in front of Flynt's desk. "I take it you didn't invite me over for milk and cookies?"
"No. I really didn't." Flynt frowned before taking a seat. "Shit's fucked here. In a big way, too." Sitting across from the sponsor, the detective picked up a manilla folder from his desk and handed it to the Sponsor. "X-Ray is dead."
The smirk dropped from the man in the wooden chair's face immediately. "You're sure?"
"Sure as sure can be." Flynt shook his head. "Just got back from the morgue."
"The morgue is closed, this time of day."
"Sure is."
The Sponsor let that little quip hang for a minute before continuing. "So…What do you expect me to do about it?" he leaned forwards on the desk and steepled his fingers.
"You know what I expect you to do about it."
"I can't do that-"
"If you'd just approve for direct confrontation, I could wipe out this 'Community' in one fell swoop-"
"Shut up," the Sponsor's retort was concise, the tone in his voice conveying an implacable resolve. "We haven't remained in the shadows for all these aeons only to be found out now." He glared at Flynt, dead in the eyes. "We're going to work on damage control. We'll need to make sure the one they call Vav is looked after. I get the feeling he'll retire temporarily, if he follows his pattern at all from last time."
Flynt's mouth hung agape, baffled at his leader's stubborn insistence on outdated traditions. "Sir, you can't expect me to stand by while the city goes undefended!"
The Sponsor waggled a finger. "It's not at all undefended. Iron-Ryan and Mogar will surely-"
"Mogar and Iron-Ryan are a fucking joke!" Flynt growled, slamming his fist onto his desk. "Either one of them are a hair away from throwing Achievement City into chaos at a moment's notice! Born of the dark, made to serve it!"
Sponsor just shrugged. "Then I guess you'd do well to keep a better eye on them than your previous charges." Flynt curled his fingers into fists involuntarily at the jab. The Sponsor then stood up and walked towards the shadow on the wall. "And that's my final word on the matter."
Flynt tried to think of something, anything he could say to change the sponsor's mind. But in the end, all he could do was slump his head down and lean back in his chair. "Fine," he replied, through gritted teeth.
As the Sponsor melded back into the shadow he'd entered from, he looked back at Flynt. "Oh, and one more thing. Domake sure you choose the very best guide for X-Ray, will you? I know you're going to be far too busy ignoring everything I've just said to help him along yourself."
Ray Narvaez Jr. / X-Ray
For a while, he thought of nothing. He couldn't recall any memories. Nor sensations. Nor even who he was. Then…
The shadowy figure in the black ski mask.
With a start, Ray leaped to his feet, hands up in a fighting stance. His eyes instantly lit up as he scanned the environment with his x-ray vision. There was no trace of the masked man who had attack him, but… Ray's x-ray vision slowly faded as he focused less and less on what he was seeing, and more and more on where he was seeing.
He wasn't in his shitty house. He wasn't in a hospital. He wasn't even in the city!
Ray felt sand beneath his bare feet.
Looking around, he saw that he was in a vast, seemingly endless desert. There was a huge white sun on the horizon, where the oceans of brownish-tan sand met a tan-coloured sky. Then he looked down at himself: He wasn't in his civilian clothes. He wasn't in his X-Ray uniform.
For some reason or another, he was dressed in red robes with subtle, orangish-brown trim, and he looked up, his eyes adjusting to the harsh glare of the sunlight on the sand, to see another figure standing before him - shorter, but in a similar get-up.
"What… What the fuck?!"
Credits
Founders
NicKenny & Jerem6401
Moderators
Ayane458, LanaLlama, Lili-Hunter & WargishBoromirFan
Cast
Dr Gavin Free / Vav – NicKenny, LanaLlama, Jerem6401, StormBlue, Gumby1011
Ray Narvaez Jr / X-Ray – NicKenny, LanaLlama, Tall on the Inside, StormBlue, Jerem6401, Jaden Silver, SpoonyAzul, Residential DeadMan, Gumby1011
Jack Pattillo / Bullet-Beard – Jerem6401, Jaden Silver
Dr Michael Jones / Mogar – Maple Alycia Hood, SpoonyAzul, Minaethiel, TunelessLyric, Jaden Silver
Ryan Heywood / Iron-Ryan – NicKenny, Maple Alycia Hood, StormBlue, Gumby1011, Jaden Silver
Agent Joel Heyman / J-Roll – StormBlue, SpoonyAzul, LanaLlama, My Seven Deadly Sins, Minaethiel, NicKenny
Josh Flanagan / Zachary Miller – NicKenny
Dr John Marshall Reed / The Director – NicKenny
Miles Luna / Flynt Coal – Gumby1011
Special thanks to all of our readers and especially those who took the time to review. Honorary mention also goes to WargishBoromirFan and InDeepDarkWood for their help and support, and of course to RoosterTeeth, for being such an inspiration to us all. We'll see you all in X-Ray and Vav Origins: The Tale of Heisty Beardo, and then X-Ray and Vav: Ghosts That Linger, soon!