Lew just stood there for a few moments, looking around him in wonder, eyes big as a kid's in a candystore. His jaw was slack, and there was an expression on his face of pure, complete, blissful delight as he let his gaze take in all that there was.
"I have been a huge superhero geek since I was five years old," the stocky, tattooed, burly pastor said softly, his eyes never stopping their wonder-filled gaze as he spoke. "You have no idea, NO idea, how cool it is for me to be standing here, in the hideout of an actual, real life, superhero!"
He suddenly laughed out loud and clapped his hands together, then laughed again as he fairly quiverd in delight.
To say I was shocked would be putting it mildly. I was watching a man in his 50s giggle, almost dance on his feet, in excitement! Who would have thought the man who spoke about God's Word on Sunday mornings with the voice of a drill sergeant was the same man standing in front of me and hopping about like a child unsure of what he should do first? Talk about crazy!
I let him giggle and chuckle for a few minutes, then almost regretfully, I had to break into his delight and bring him back to earth. Well, bring him back to the reality that had become my life, which was about as unreal as you could imagine!
"Lew, hey, Lew!' I actually had to speak loudly to make him stop looking around like he was and break him out of his daze.
*He seems acutely delighted by all of this.*
Yeah, Becky, humans can get excited about odd things.
*So it would seem. You said this man was sensible, someone we could rely on. Are you certain of this?*
Yes! Well, I think so.
The sound I heard in my head conveyed loud and clear what Becky thought.
"Sorry, John. I got caught up in the moment." Lew was nicely apologetic as he pulled himself back to being serious again. He cleared his throat, squared his shoulders, and faced me full on.
"So, why tell me all of this? From what I saw of the Silver Shadow..." His lips quieverd for a moment and I dreaded another giggle, but he controlled himself...barely. "...why reveal yourself to me?"
That was a good question.
Why was i taking a risk like this? Sure, I trusted Lew, but still, revealing myself to someone, anyone, was risky for me, and for them!
*You said you are lonely.* Becky sounded only slightly miffed as he spoke into my head. But, it sounded like he understood.
I hoped he did. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, like arguing with someone when they are literally inside your head!
"I guess, I needed someone to talk to about all of this..." I swept my arms out to indicate my space, if felt weird to call it a hideout, and myself all at once. "...this is all new to me. I wasn't born this way at all!"
I nodded to chairs off to one side, inviting him to sit.
Why did I feel like I was going to confession?
I guess, in a way, I was.
Once Lew was seated, I told him my story, all of it, from growing up in Vancouver, BC, to meeting Becky, what he did to me, and what I could now do. I then told him about the Manson's Children and what I had learned of their plans, as well as who I suspected was involved. I let it all out, holding back nothing, not even that a certain beautiful detective had her suspicions about me.
Lew was a good listener. He was silent when he needed to be, asked just the right questions at the right time, and said very little. He just listened, not showing any reaction save for the occasional raising of an eyebrow as I spoke. It felt good to tell him, to tell someone, and let it off my chest; I felt tension leave me as I spoke and realized the stress of keeping everything secret had probably been weighing on me for months, maybe even since I had woken up from my unintended sleep,... coma,... whatever you want to call it.
When I finally finished, Lew leaned back and just looked at me, his eyes steady, calm, as he regarded me with a gaze that was almost disconcerting in its perceptiveness. Then, he slowly smiled, rubbing a hand over his bald head as he shook it.
"Man, if I had not seen the news footage, and this place, I would have said you were making up a story worthy of a Hollywood movie! I mean, to know that you are not...well....that you did not start out like this..." He gestured to my, admittedly, impressive form as he spoke. "...is crazy enough. But to hear that there is this alien cybernetic...symbiote I guess...inside you and that it's changed you the way it has. It's just....wow....I mean...." a slow breath blown out, "...wow."
"Yeah, I know."
He heard the tone of my voice and grinned.
"Yeah, as crazy as it is to hear, it must be even more crazy to be living it."
"You have no idea."
He nodded at that. Then, looking around the place, he paused for a moment.
"So, just what can you do? I mean really do?"
Oh, he wanted to see all of that?
OKay.
For the next little while, I showed him what I could do. I leaped and ran, jumped and punched, pulsed and boosted, and lifted weights to show him the limits of my strength and power. He watched as I leaped through the air from one end of the hangar to the other, blasted practice dummies across the room with pulses, and pretty much showed him all I could do, at this point, until he was just looking at me with a slack-jawed bug-eyed expression on his face that told me he was definitely impressed.
After my display, as I stood before him, barely breathing hard, he slowly applauded, then grinned a goofy, kid-in-a-candy store smile as he shook his head in wonder.
"Yeah, you definitely fit the bill for a superhero; strength, speed, stamina, energy powers, heightened senses...you pretty much tic every checkmark for what the traditional superhero should have."
"I may, in your mind. In mine, I am just me; a guy trying to live his life and make the best decisions he can."
I looked at the screens behind me, screens holding images of the maps I had seen at the Manson Children's plantation compound.
How could anyone have so much hate for their fellow man that they would plan to do what these cultists planned to do? What they intended must have taken months to plan, if not years. They had had to work to put people in the right places and positions to carry out what they intended; manipulate those who were not part of their group, buy off those who could be bought, and blackmail others. All to cause mass death, hysteria, and chaos in order to achieve a goal they would never achieve.
And here I was, a man with a cybernetic alien symbiote in my head and body, who never wanted any of this, trying to figure out how to stop several hundred, if not several thousand, people from achieving their ultimate desire.
Yeah, this was now my life!
Lew seemed to know what I was thinking. He put a hand on my shoulder, smiling up at me kindly, his eyes mildly playful even as they held a kind and understanding light in them.
"Feeling overwhelmed, John?"
I nodded, my eyes on the screen.
"How do I stop them? What they want to do is wrong on so many levels; violates so many principles of humanity, even outside of what I believe and you teach on Sunday. Just on a simple human level, what they want to do is just....just..."
*Wrong. It is wrong, evil, unacceptable, and not something to be tolerated.*
Way to put it in words, Becky. Evil is exactly what it is.
*I confess, I am quite fascinated by your specie's ability to actively harm one another. My creators would be terrified of your kind.*
They would be smart to be terrified; we are a cruel and wicked people.
*And yet a species with such potential.*
Maybe one day.
"Talking to your internal friend?"
Lew stood there a curious smile on his lips as he watched me.
"Yeah, sorry. I did not mean to cut you out of the conversation."
He waved off my apology with a casual motion of his hand.
"I understand. You really take talking to yourself to a whole new level."
I smiled at that, nodding.
"Yeah. Becky's original design and protocol was to explore new worlds and discover new peoples. That still comes through sometimes, and he has questions or observations when it does."
"Really? What did he observe just now?"
"That we are a very wicked, violent, and evil species."
Lew's face faded to sadness as I spoke. A gray weariness seemed to come over his features as he slowly nodded, his eyes distant with past pain.
"Yeah, he's right about that; more right than he knows."
*He has seen evil, great evil."
Yeah, Becky, I think he has.
For a moment, I felt awkward, like I had intruded on Lew' private life in a way no one ever should. I was not sure what to say or do. I wanted to help him but had no idea how to do so.
*You cannot help him. What he feels comes from what he has seen. You cannot make him unsee it, John.*
No? I wish I could.
*I do as well.*
That was interesting. Why would Becky care about how Lew was feeling?
*He is a friend to you and, I believe, a good man who may become my friend in time.*
Really? Cool!
*What a strange saying. What does temperature have to do with relationship?*
I smiled slightly.
Don't change Becky, don't ever change.
*I do not intend to.*
Of course not.
Yeah, must be great to be so superior.
Seeing the gray on Lew's face, I moved to put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back from whatever dark place he was at the moment. I attempted to give him an empathetic smile as he turned his focus from introspection to me.
"You okay, Lew?"
A wan smile touched his lips.
"I will be. Somedays I get reminded of the life I led before I was found by Christ and became a pastor," a bit of a shudder and a shaking of the head.
"Those were not good, or righteous, days. I did things, things I am not proud of, actions that give me nightmares now, and make it hard to forgive myself."
Understanding dawned in my mind.
"That's why so many of your Sunday messages have been about forgiveness!"
Lew nodded, a sad smile touching his lips.
"I am speaking to myself as much as I am to you and the rest of the congregation." He gestured upwards as he continued. "Forgiveness from Him I can accept as a reality, but from here..." he tapped his own heart, "...that's a bit more difficult."
I put a hand on his shoulder, looking down to meet his eyes as I spoke.
"You're a good man, Lew. I know it, and I have seen it. Your past is there, you need to accept it, but not let it rule you."
I smiled holding up three fingers.
"A friend of mine, a counselor, once said that his mantra was three things; Yes I did it. I am forgiven. I have changed. He said he tells himself that all the time to remind him that that is the truth."
I shrugged my shoulders.
"I don't know if that helps but, maybe it does?"
Lew nodded, his smile lighter now.
"It does help, a little, and, if I keep saying that, I may just believe it one day."
*I am sorry to interrupt this very moving moment.*
Yes, Becky?
*The Manson's Children group still have their plans in place, and we still are unsure how to stop them.*
Right, bad guys to deal with.
I gave Lew's shoulder a squeeze.
"Sorry, Lew, but Becky just reminded me that we have some bad guys to deal with."
A smirk and a nod of the head.
"Yeah, we do. So,.."
Something shifted in Lew. I don't know what it was, but I saw it. His eyes changed, his posture as well; there was now a readiness about him, a perceptiveness, that had not been present before. He was still Lew, but...different. The man before me was the man I knew, but also a man used to being in charge, taking command, and dealing with very tough, very bad, people.
He turned to look at the display screens before us, each showing different angles of the map, the locations now showing in 3D imaging on the screen to make them stand out from the regular map and the tattoo one. Lew's eyes scanned the images closely, his face contemplative as he stood there; legs shoulder width apart, arms crossed, back straight, looking like a kind of military commander planning his combat unit's next move.
"I am trying to get into the headspace of these guys." He explained. "You seem to have an idea of their plans, in general, but the timing of it all has to be considered as well; not just the date, but what time of day would it be, why that time, what effect would it have if the attack happened at that time...etc. If they are going for shock and awe, as well as chaos and destruction, they have to think carefully about how and when they are going to act."
*He sounds as if he has done this manner of action in the past*
Yeah, Becky, he does, he really does.
Just who was Lew?
I knew so little about him!
*All scans and biometric readings lead me to surmise that he is not lying or deceiving us, if that is your concern.*
Thanks, Becky. I was not really concerned about that, but you just helped to silence that little voice in my head that had suspicions.
*What little voice? I am the only voice in your head.*
Sorry, it is a saying we have on Earth. It means that a small part of our mind is wondering something, or concerned about something. I was not meaning an actual voice in my head.
*Ah... You humans do have some strange thoughts and ways of expressing yourself.*
Very true, Becky, very true.
"Yep, that's how I would do it."