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CHAPTER -7- Teenaged Politics

Three Days Later July 16, 2049 - Midday Paris, France ...

"Elle peigne sa poupée," said the man on the television. Sinopa bit her lip to keep it from trembling. She lowered her gaze then glanced back up at the TV.

"Why are you torturing yourself," asked Karla in a soft, respectful tone. "Jules spoke Cajun French. To sit here and watch the mid-afternoon soaps in French isn't going to help you get your mind off of him."

Sinopa swallowed and lowered her gaze to the floor. "He used to call me 'poupée' on occasion. I believe it means 'doll.' The heartache is ... it comes in waves."

Karla reached for the remote and changed the channel to a news network. A box in the corner showed a picture of Washington DC.

Sinopa glanced back at Karla and asked, "What are they saying?"

Karla shrugged. "You spent twenty-five years with a man who speaks French and didn't pick up anything?"

"Cajun French," Sinopa reminded, adding, "In bits and pieces. He spent more time learning Japanese for me."

"Fair enough. My son could penetrate VPNs over the internet. Whatever that means. I was by his side for his whole life and I never learned what half of that stuff meant." Karla sighed and shook her head. The succubus turned the volume up on the TV slightly. She pursed her lips, trying not to think about her little boy. "Dammit."

Sinopa looked at Karla then nodded to the television. "In what regard is the news speaking?"

"Stupid stuff." Karla shrugged. "They're talking about how Arlington Cemetery has families that want to move their dead to the mainland. I don't quite understand the point. They ran out of room back, like, twenty-five years ago. I mean, seriously. The people who are buried in old DC have been dead for a long time. It's not like many people are going to go there and visit someone from two or three generations ago. But there's a huge movement, right now, to get people moved to New Arlington, in Illinois. People want their war heroes near the nation's new Capitol building, I suppose."

"I see. I find it distasteful to dig up the dead."

"Yeah. There's that." Karla sighed and shook her head. "Twenty-five years ago." She shrugged gingerly then said, "I miss Nathanial."

"Hai. He was a good man. What was he like when you met him all those years ago?"

"Back in 1906, I thought he was an odd-fish because of the way he dressed when I met'em. Then again, I was more concerned with the size of a man's codpiece than saving the world or anything. Y'know, figuratively speaking. Heh. I haven't seen those in fashion since I was a teenager. Shame they went away, really. But, yeah ... I was in a totally different mindset when I first met Nathan. I was full of hubris and scoffed at the idea that anyone was above me in any way. Then I met Nathanial, Natalia and Methos. Next thing I know, I became involved in the supernatural civil war in Siberia, in 1908. That cooled my jets."

"Ah. I see."

"Yeah. Then in 1999, I experienced love for the first time. And somehow those memories were stripped away. Every now and then I remember a new tidbit. But I do remember that it changed my life. Twenty-four years after that, I meet a real live demigod. That was pretty humbling, too. But you know what really taught me humility?"

"What?"

Karla chuckled and lowered her eyes to the floor. She fidgeted with her nails, eventually looking back up at the kitsune. "Becoming a mom. I thought I was going to hate it, or be overwhelmed by it. I had no idea what to expect. But it turned out to be the most rewarding thing for me. Parenthood isn't for everyone and I thought I fell into that category. Boy was I wrong. It was what I needed in my life all along. And now that it's gone, my stomach is numb; my chest is tight. There is a gaping empty hole, and nothing fills it. Do you feel that? A void?"

"Hai. I lived with that emptiness and never understood why I felt that way. From 2014 until 2024, I struggled with the feelings you've just described. However, I didn't know why I felt the way I did, because my memories were repressed to help me focus on a war in the Celestial Realm. After the resolution, I was tasked to return to Earth where I met Jules."

"It's awful that they did that to you and didn't give it back. Politics. I hate politics."

Sinopa replied with a sour expression. "It is not something I understand very well. I do not have the personality for such scheming."

"Did you ever get it all back? I don't care how much it hurts, I need the memories of my children."

"Karla-san, it took a long time for the memories of my first marriage to return. But now I recall, clearly, how I felt when I held Fox and Topaz for the first time. And now they're missing. And your daughter and son are missing as well. I cannot rationalize how I've been so calm about this, crying spells not-withstanding."

"I haven't noticed you crying," Karla murmured. "I see you fight it, sometimes, though. I think we're both still in denial. From what I understand about grieving, anger comes next."

"I prefer to be emotional in private. I used to tease Jules for how often he said, 'I love you.' It's not a saying we toss about in the Japanese culture. We prefer to show our love and affection rather than saying it repeatedly. Jules, however, said it a dozen times a day. And now..."

Karla drew the redhead into her arms. "Now you miss hearing it, huh?"

Sinopa whispered, "Hai."

"Well, like I said about anger ... that comes next. And Falcon does not want two angry supernatural women in his backyard. We are going to make his life hell. The thing is, we need more than the two of us. Rufus doesn't trust me, and Kalen won't get himself into a situation where he might die because he has to protect Natalia. Conner is way too young. Reno won't wake up. We're pretty much screwed."

"My suggestion is simple, Karla-san. We need to find people with abilities and recruit them. Then we need to train them."

Karla rubbed her chin with a thoughtful nod. "A new team."

"Hai. I am curious as to whether Fara Parker's son manifested an ability. Perhaps we should try and locate him."

"I have an idea."

"Share it with me?"

Karla nodded and rubbed her face. "Kalen and Rufus should head back to the coastal ... whatever those people call it now. The Confederate Coast of America or whatever. Those two can find Falcon's front gates. However that asshole is getting to and from his stupid dome city. I don't know if he still comes up from the ocean, or if he's buried beneath the bedrock now. But we know one thing is for certain, Sinopa. That bastard came to my house. He's not trapped down there. I think the boys should do some reconnaissance."

"Soon, Karla, sometime this summer I fear, there will be a tremendous quake where the center of the coast will grind against what was once Bermuda. I do not know if they're pressed together or pulling apart, but there will be an enormous quake and a flood. This series of events will be followed by a great storm that will destroy the south coastal region."

"That might close our window, Sinopa. It might make it too difficult to get to our family, let alone find Falcon again. What if our window of opportunity is closing?"

"I think it is exactly the opposite," said the kitsune with a weak smile. "I had a premonition. In it, Falcon was easier to locate after these storms. We should find allies now. After the quake, the flood and the storms, we will be ready to attack Aris Falcon once and for all. But in my dream, we needed artifacts that Falcon could not acquire."

"Again with the artifacts?" Karla sighed in disgust. "Do we really need that crap?"

"As I understand it, the reason Aris Falcon caused all this devastation is because he could not amass all the artifacts. So he sought short-cuts. His impatience is what has caused the world to be misshapen and wounded. I believe we can obtain these last items on our own. His operation involved humans, finances, material resources, and he had to distance himself from these things. I am a deity. You are a demon. Between the two of us, we can accomplish what Falcon could not."

Karla rubbed her chin in thought. "Maybe. How old is the boy that Fara and Greg Watson have raised?"

"Approximately twenty-six years old, I believe."

"Definitely old enough to be legal. I think it'd be a good idea to see if that boy ever manifested an ability. Plus, it would piss off Watson to get help from his step-son. Anything I can do to upset Greg Watson is a bonus."

"Very well. We should go and find the Parker boy. Kalen and Rufus would be an excellent team to find Aris Falcon's so-called backdoor. Conner can watch over Reno-san. He can practice and prepare himself."

"That keeps him safe. Can he speak French?"

"Hai. He is a surprisingly gifted boy. He speaks Japanese, French and Spanish fairly well for a boy his age. It is obvious that Topaz took his training very seriously."

The succubus glanced back, seeing Rufus from out of the corner of her eye. She used her free hand and waved at him in a rapid, dismissing fashion. He took the hint and left the living room.

"Karla, we needs must get our children back from that man."

"Yeah." She looked down at the floor. "So-called Governor Falcon, head of New Atlantis. Can you believe the audacity of that man? Getting into privatized politics? What's his party, anyway? _Goober_natorial? I sure as hell wouldn't want to sit through one of his filibusters."

"I am afraid I do not follow your meaning, Karla. I don't know the terms. I just want my children back."

"Yeah. We can't go down there emotional and get ourselves killed. I'm numb. I have this ball of numbness mixed with hate just sitting in my stomach. I don't even know what to do right now." Karla sighed and rubbed her face. "All I can do is make jokes about Falcon. I miss my baby boy."

"At least, now, we have some semblance of a plan. We should train Conner on how to care for Reno-san. Then, when we feel he is well to be left on his own accord, we can start looking for the allies we will need."

The succubus offered a weak smile. "I just hope the trip is productive. And at least we know this place is safe from Falcon."

"Safe how? I was going to suggest we move Conner elsewhere."

"Falcon thinks he knows all there is to my house. He's been here, he was probably egotistical. Yet he had no clue Reno was sleeping right beneath the floor. An easy target. He came all the way to Paris and didn't pay a visit to Reno? Hell no, he has no clue Reno's here. So Conner should stay in the basement. I had a room set up for Kalen to use. It's got everything. A kitchenette, a bath and shower - everything. He'll be safe. It's like a bunker."

"Ah, very interesting. It would be akin to hiding in plain sight."

"Like I said, Falcon has already proven he doesn't know to look in our basement. He doesn't know it's anything more than a wine cellar. Conner would be safe down there. By the way, has he manifested yet?"

"Hai. Conner has his mother and father's Parker-family abilities. He also exhibits control over electronic devices like his father. However, he has trouble believing any of it is real. Even after meeting Tamamo and seeing your powers first hand. He is in denial."

"Does he miss his sister?"

"Very much. His worry for Carmen is renewed in light of all that he's learned as of late."

"Poor kid. You think he should know the truth about his parents?"

"Actually, yes. He's old enough, now, that it's time to tell him. If we wait too much longer, he will resent not being told sooner. If we told him any sooner than now, he would not have been mature enough to handle such a burden of information."

Karla frowned. "I hate to take the cheap way out, but perhaps it should be a man-to-man conversation. Might go over better with his masculine sensibilities."

"Rufus?"

"I hate to put it on him, but it's either him or Kalen. And since Rufus knew his parents and family, maybe Rufus will do the honor."

"I will speak to him about such." Sinopa stood up, smoothed the fabric of her simple kimono-style summer robe, and left the room.

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Rufus continued down the hall to the kitchen where he saw Conner sitting at the table with a dismal expression. "Hey, kiddo. Looks like everyone's having a spell of the blues."

The fifteen year old boy looked down at his folded hands. "Did you know that I was warned a few months ago that this would happen? Tamamo-sama told me, personally. But I don't understand one thing."

"Wha's that, bud?"

Conner looked up from the table and frowned. "Sinopa said she once prophesized that my grandfather would play some important, special role. It never happened. He died at gunpoint to buy you an extra ... what? Minute? Maybe two? That's not a special role. I'm stunned he gave his life to protect me so I could get away, but it's not what she dreamt. Everything sucks, man."

"Yeah. Well, your grandmother is a good woman. Most powerful one of us all, I think."

"I grew up being told she wasn't even family. I still have to deprogram myself from that way of thinking. She lets me call her by her first name; after all, she barely looks twenty. Calling her, 'grandma' in public would be something that people notice."

"Reckon so."

"You said you went back for him after pulling me out of the car. And you said that he told you to get me to safety first and come back for him later. But ... uhm, did he say anything else?"

Rue frowned. "Yeah." Rufus paced on the linoleum floor. "He said you were more important than anyone else. I'm not sure what's going to be happening soon, but you're supposed to be an important part of it."

Conner cut his eyes away, glaring at the wall across the room. "What's the deal between you and Karla?"

"It's complicated."

"I hate to tell you but the modern teenager is more complicated than the modern adult. Try me."

"A'ite ... hell, in some parts of the world, thirteen is considered a man ... so if you wanna give up your childhood and rush into manhood ... that there's your choice, hoss."

The youth glanced back at Rufus and said, "I just hate being kept in the dark. It means I can't make intelligent decisions on how to act or what to say."

"Fair enough. Well. Karla and I had a thing going at one point. By the time I developed feelings for her, she began developing feelings for this guy named Eric. Then she got pregnant. From what I understand, it's extremely rare for her kind to become a mother. Could be hormone levels, I dunno. Anyhow, I respected that she chose him 'n not me. Follow so far?"

Conner nodded firmly. "I do."

"Then our group organized and went to face Aris Falcon." Rufus paused, ran his fingers back through his hair with a sigh, then began pacing again. "Her and I wound up in a room, alone, with Aris Falcon. Two of us, one of him. And as powerful as she is, and as riled up as I was to fight, we should'a kicked his ass."

Conner leaned back a bit and stretched. "But?"

Rufus shrugged. "But ... she's a succubus. She has to have sex, else her kind have been known to age rapidly to appear their physical age. For her, that'd be fatal by now. Reckon Falcon is a geneticist. Damn good one, too. He's even stolen the abilities of some supernaturals and figured out how to add'em to his own DNA or whatever. Not all people's abilities are compatible with him, though. He didn't want mine, and he didn't want Karla's abilities. Or maybe he cain't use Karla's abilities. I dunno."

"What happened?"

"That prick bribed Karla. Gave her a pill that'd simulate sex feeding. For the first time in her whole life, she'd be able t' have a normal relationship and a normal family. Bein' that she was already pregnant, and Eric was in over his head in another room ... Karla negotiated for the lives of herself, her child, 'n the baby-daddy."

"What were the terms of the agreement?"

Rufus smirked, hearing the way he worded his question. "You tryin' to sound mature. Tha's real cute, son. Anyway, Falcon said she'd get the pills and they'd get to go free. The condition was that she'd let Falcon have his way with the rest of our team."

"Holy shit."

"Ayup." Rufus ticked off fingers. "Reno Nevada, Evan Balmoral, Johann Foster, Collobulous - my best friend I might add, and a few others - Patience Ubysh ... and some others from before the attack: Donovan Loupe, Nichole Parker, this gypsy girl named Abby something-or-other, some young thing named Samantha ... they were all put into a deep freeze, some two hundred 'n sixty degrees below zero Celsius. That's right cold, by th' way."

"So ... what? Can't someone wake them up?"

"Scientifically speaking, nobody, to this day, has ever been thawed from cryogenic stasis, cause the brain dies when the tissue is frozen. Except Reno. He's the first 'n only. Ever. Might have somethin' to do with electricity, since that there's his ability. He could'a keep juice on in his head; maybe that kept his brain from freezin'. I dunno. Some say it was because Falcon used stolen technology to create a solution these people bathe in that keeps their tissue from freezin' during the thaw process. If tha's true, then everyone can be saved."

"Even my sister."

"Reckon tha's a rightly optimistic possibility, son. But Karla didn't care one way or the other. She chose her newly made family. The rest of our friends," Rufus sighed and shook his head, "they might never survive the thawing process. Until we know for sure, we have to look at a right dark fact of the matter: Karla let a lotta' people die down there. She took the goddamn bribe and walked her ass right off the goddamn battlefield in the middle of the goddamn war. That ... that is why I don't trust her fer shit."

"So now what?"

"I dunno, bud. But first Cybil 'n now Jules say you're important to this whole thing, somehow. So. I think it's time you met Lance. Kalen 'n I will bow out, to keep th' drama down. Not only that, it's easier to keep an eye on you 'n your loved ones from a different vantage point. That 'n I'm not interested in working things out with Karla jus' yet."

"Yeah. I can understand that. My folks have been telling me that we should just wait for my mother and uncle to get back from some mission. Now I'm worried they're with Carmen. God only knows if I'll ever see any of them ever again. I have hope but only so much."

"Yeah, uh..." Rufus frowned. "Kid, listen ... they went to fight Falcon. He's stolen tons of powers since he started, almost three decades ago. It's most likely that they're in cryogenic freeze. Maybe Falcon's gotten better with tha' stuff. They say it's not about the freeze, after all. It's supposed to be about the nutrient fluid tha' preserves ya from freezing while in stasis or whatnot. He's had thirty-damn-years to perfect the technology. Not to mention he's had a hell of a lot of 'test subjects' to practice on. It's possible you'll see yer folks again. Considerin' we got Reno back and he's alive, I'd say the chances're perdy good."

"My mother and uncle went to find my sister, Carmen. We think she went down there to find my father. I've lost all of them to that freak, wherever he is. I want them back, frozen or not. And so help me God, I'm going to find that guy and take him down."

"You'll jus' wind up joinin' your folks if you do it alone. You need a trustworthy team of badasses, son. Know what I mean?"

Conner stood up from the chair then said, "I'm going to get my mother and sister back. And, if I can spare it, I'll get my uncle back, too. I'll succeed if it's the last damn thing I do. And while I'm at it, I'll finish where my sister left off, and find my father if he's down there. I recently learned that Uncle Fox had a secret weapon. He kept it in a jar somewhere in the mansion back in California. If I can get my hands on that, I'll use it to help get my family back. I don't know what it was, but Uncle Fox could do some pretty wild stuff."

Rufus turned to him and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Listen. There's something you gotta know. A few of us already know it. But it's been kept from you. And while it ain't my place to tell you ... the fact is you deserve t' know the truth."

"What do you mean it's not your place to tell me?"

"It's a conversation you should'a had with your mother'n Fox."

"Tell me."

"Vincent is Carmen's daddy."

"I already knew that. It's the family secret. They wanted people to think her father was someone else. Someone important. That way I could be protected. Not sure why, or what all the details are but..."

Rufus held his hand up. "Tha's true. But ... Vincent Nevada ain't your father. In fact, you ain't related to the Nevada family at all. Carmen is, but not you. She's yer half-sister."

Conner stared at Rufus long and hard, his eyes narrow. "Let's say I believe you ... who is my real father? You'd better not say that freaky doctor guy."

"Hell naw. Falcon prolly so hopped up on genetics, he prolly cain't even getta' hard-on no more."

"Don't beat around the bush. Please. You've treated me with respect since we've met. You've treated my grandmother with respect. Please, just tell me."

"You ain't gunna like it. You gotta promise not to go running to them, all upset. They couldn't say anything cause you're under cover. But ... yer daddy is Fox Parker."

Conner slumped back into the chair. "What ... the ... fuck...?"

"Tolja you wouldn't like it."

"No, that can't be right. Fox is my uncle. Fox is her twin brother. That's impossible."

"Uh ... no. It ain't impossible. And, if y' don't believe me ... ask someone you trust will be honest with you. Anyone you can find that was involved in that crazy clusterfuck from February 2024. Now ... I'mma go find Kalen and we're gunna take a walk. Call it a patrol if you like. I jus' wanna keep vigilant. Plus I wanna walk off some of this pent up energy. Don't get weird'ed out. No one here judges you or them. We're all friends 'n family here, Conner." Rufus sighed and walked out of the kitchen.

Once he was gone, Conner left the kitchen, found the nearest bathroom and locked the door behind himself. He turned to the bathroom mirror and put his hands on the reflective surface. "Tamamo-no-Mae, on behalf of myself and my mother, please appear. I need to see you again. I need to know the truth about something. I'll do anything you want in return, but I need to know the truth."

A beautiful Asian woman with white hair appeared in the reflection. She put her palms on the other side of his, separated from him by the glass. "Anything...? Conner, let's talk in private."

"I'm locked in the bathroom."

Tamamo smiled somewhat then looked him over. "Come with me, back to my 'plane,' where we can speak in my den. Just us. You won't regret it. It's just ... far more private. You don't have to worry about anyone overhearing anything you say through the door."

"I ... suppose that would be fine."

"And you mean it when you said you'll do anything I want?"

"I need to know the truth. Please."

She grinned in delight then interlaced her fingers with his, through the reflection. Without another word, she pulled him through.

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