The Last Hero (11 page)

Chapter 15: Homecoming

T
he
Yorktown
eased into Earth’s orbit with a bang.

News the actual Red Barons, not actors, had returned caused a frenzy. The public quickly grew into a hot mess at the opportunity to see their victorious heroes.

Their landing would require a proper celebration, which Trent didn’t mind. The fact that its organization delayed their shuttle ride to Andrews a full day about sent him into a rage.

On the ride down, the sharply dressed legionnaires displayed a wide array of emotions. Some looked as if they would jump out of their skin with excitement while others, himself included, felt anxious at seeing loved ones for the first time in over a decade. He wasn’t even sure anyone would be there to welcome him home. Anna hadn’t returned his messages.

Trent didn’t feel sorry for himself, though. After all, twenty-three people made the ride in the cargo hold inside caskets draped with the Legion Flag. The flag consisted of the Earth set in a field of black. A sword arced behind the planet with the words “Earth Legion” above the globe, and “For All Humanity” written on the blade.

Holo recorders ran as politicians spoke and the legionnaires stood in their black uniforms under the hot August sun. One and all, they wished they were in their climate controlled nano suits.

Trent spoke, but only for two minutes. He was the last thing standing between his unit and their well-deserved R&R. After a few remarks honoring the sacrifice of those who didn’t make it home alive, he dismissed the Red Barons.

With the order given, long separated family members surged forward and the reunion started. Mothers hugged sons and daughters as children saw their parent for the first time in twelve years. Tears flowed freely in the chaos of bodies and emotions.

Trent wandered through the crowd aimlessly. He struggled to see someone he recognized.

No one. Nobody came to see me.

Saddened, he made his way to the loading off point for the caskets. He said final good-byes to fallen comrades and did what he could to console grieving relatives who had made the trip to pick up their loved one’s remains.

The crowd disbursed quickly. Trent soon found himself standing alone on the landing pad. He stepped behind the shuttle to ensure privacy. There, feeling so alone, he cried.

For the first time, he wished that he hadn’t survived the mission.

***

Eventually, he pulled himself together enough to pick up his bag and make his way to the main building where he could find transportation.

Walking on the sidewalk without purpose, he gradually made his way outside. Twenty meters from the entrance, the driver’s side door of a parked blue car opened. Madison stepped out of the vehicle. His heart leapt into his throat. He froze in place.

The last twelve years had been kind to her. Her red hair waved in the wind as she ran her hand over her forehead, pinning lose strands behind her right ear. Closing the door revealed her body could still kill in a pair of tight jeans and a tank top. She stepped onto the sidewalk. They stared at each other. Her expression mirrored what he felt—happiness he’d come back, fear about what to do next, and uncertainty about the future. 

She broke the stalemate. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“I’m glad you made it back. I’m sorry about your dad. I take it you know?”

“Yeah, I got a message in orbit.”

“He was really proud of you. I hope you know that.”

“I know.”

Madison danced from side to side. Trent stood like stone as they continued their limited conversation. They never displayed any deep feelings or lingering eye contact.

Trent said, “Thank you for coming.”

“I...I figured someone should be here to meet you. I would have been at the reception area, but it was for family only. I’m...they didn’t let me through. I tried to call.” She gestured at her ear. “Your number must have changed.”

“It’s nice to see you. Is Anna ok? I was hoping to see her.”

Madison looked down.

“She didn’t want to come. She just started the semester at school and—”

He raised a hand.

“I get it. She’s mad, I don’t blame her.”

“It was tough on her, you being gone and all. She’s never gotten along with her stepfather.”

“Stepfather?”

Madison pulled her left hand out of the front jeans pocket. A diamond ring sparkled in the sun.

“Yeah, six years.”

“I see. Where is she going to school?”

“Close to home, Northern Illinois University.”

“I guess I’m going to Naperville.”

“I figured as much. If we hurry, we can make the next shuttle.”

Trent walked toward the car. He wanted desperately to hug her, and he suspected she wanted him to, but he bypassed her for the car. He wasn’t sure why.

They got in the car and drove away, continuing their shallow, awkward conversation all the way to Naperville.

Chapter 16: Reunion

A
gentle breeze rustled the leaves on the oak tree Trent used for shelter against the sun on the Northern Illinois University campus. Off in the distance, a young woman clutching a tablet and bundle of e-papers in her arm stood with her weight on one leg. She had the attention of a group of young men and women her age. Her smiles and laughter suggested they were friends. Trent could only guess. He hadn’t been part of Anna’s life for twelve years. The skirt she wore was far too short, he knew that for certain.

His mind struggled to process the image. To him, he left a little innocent eight-year-old girl a few months ago. In the blink of an eye, that little girl had become a twenty-year-old woman. Her hair had darkened to a lovely brunette, she had grown a meter in height, and she had even developed breasts.

The horror! I know they say kids grow up so fast, but this is insane.

Of course, it wasn’t insane. His baby girl had gone through puberty without him.

Anna giggled and reached out to touch the forearm of a boy. He responded by putting an arm around her waist. Trent frowned, his little baby girl had flirted. Under normal circumstances, a father would find such a scene stressful.

Trent could not explain why, but he didn’t like that boy.

He wanted to go and talk to her but found the safety of watching her from a distance with his enhanced eyesight comfortable. If she didn’t know he was here, she couldn’t reject him. The man who didn’t flinch at the prospect of fighting a Bearcat with just a knife found his courage waning at the thought of facing a young, apparently sweet, woman.

Understanding the window to approach the target closed with each tick of the clock, he took a deep breath and marched forward.

Half a league, half a league, half a league onward. Into the valley of rejection rides the absent father.

His paraphrase of Tennyson’s most famous poem rang through his head.

The campus fulfilled most stereotypes involving quad areas. Lots of open space and trees surrounded old brick buildings. Sidewalks crisscrossed through the green grass. Since returning, Trent had become a fan of green. It served as a continuous reminder that he’d made it home.

Students and facility alike stopped in their tracks to stare at him as he made his way toward Anna. A lack of options forced him to wear Legion blacks. He now wished he’d swung by a store before coming here. Despite the small size of the solid red ribbon on his chest, it seemed to attract as much attention as a billboard, a modern day scarlet letter.

Anna and her friends carried on their conversation. They failed to notice Trent walking to within three meters. He paused, not knowing what to say.

Finally he said, “Anna.”

She turned around with a smile. She stared at Trent not trusting her eyes. Upon confirmation that she was indeed looked at the father who had abandoned her, the smile quickly degraded into a frown. Witnessing the change in her expression broke Trent’s heart.

The entire group went silent.

“Hi, I just got in yesterday.”

“Yeah.” She crossed her arms and stiffened her stance. “Kinda hard not to know that. It’s the only thing the newsnet talks about.” After a pause of only a couple of seconds, which felt like an eternity, she asked, “So...is there something you wanted?”

“Could we talk?”

“About what?” she asked, the coldness of her tone matched only by the unforgiving expression on her face.

“Anything, everything. I want to get caught up.”

“Caught up!” Her friends squirmed. “You missed the last twelve years of my life. You jump back into it, and you want to get
caught up
?”

Seeing a passive defense wasn’t breaking through, Trent decided to push back. He stepped closer, ignoring the growing crowd of spectators.

“Look, I get it. You’re mad. You’re pissed. You know what, you have every right to be. I left, and you had to grow up without your father. It wasn’t fair to you, and it wasn’t fair to me. Anna...it’s not like I ran away. I haven’t exactly been on vacation.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re a hero. Big fucking deal. Do you have any idea what it’s like to grow up the daughter of a hero? The savior of humanity.” The words dripped with sarcasm. She rolled her eyes. “It sucks. Everyone always kept telling me how proud I should be of you. Don’t be sad little girl, your daddy is a hero.”

“I did what I had to do. One day you might understand that we don’t always get to pick what we want to do in life. One day, you can be sitting in your office happy as can be at life, and then someone comes in and tells you the universe isn’t such a nice place. He shows you a holo of children being eaten alive by monsters, and all you can see is your little girl being eaten by those monsters. Someone had to step up.”

Tears welled up as she forced out, “Why did it have to be you?”

Trent’s tone softened. He dared to step even closer, bringing them to within a meter of one another.

“For reasons not worth repeating, I happened to be the best man for the job. It was that simple.”

Anna fought hard to stay strong. She wanted to remain angry at him. In the end, she was just a little girl, and she missed her daddy. Tears, first one then two, then more rolled down her lightly tanned cheeks. A friend handed her a paper napkin. She dabbed her face.

“It was hard without you. Mom and I cried for days after you left.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Then she married a dork. I don’t think he ever wanted me around. We never really got along.”
             

Trent, sensing the moment was right, took a cautious step forward. He reached out to take both her shoulders in his hands. She didn’t back away. He pulled them together into a tight hug. Anna rested her head on her father’s shoulder, ignoring the tin eagle poking into her cheek. Feeling the love of her father for the first time in twelve years melted away any remaining veneer of bravado. She sobbed uncontrollably.

“I missed you, Daddy. I missed you so much.”

“Shhhh.” He stroked her hair. “I’m here now. Any time it’s my choice to make, I’ll be here. I promise.”

“I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, sweet pea.”

***

Over the centuries, Chicago experienced several phases of decline and rebirth. In the years since the conflict began, it remained one of the few cities that didn’t benefit economically from the war effort.

After the faltering Boeing-Airbus Corporation failed to secure any of the highly prized military contracts resulting from the mobilization program, they collapsed under a mountain of debt. With their corporate headquarters located in Chicago, the resulting fallout set off a financial chain reaction. As is the way with all recessions, crime skyrocketed.

Anna knew this. She also knew that she shouldn’t have taken a short cut through this particular part of town, but she didn’t want to be late meeting her father for dinner. They had been spending a lot of time together over the past week. She looked forward to seeing him again. She even made a point to wear a skirt and blouse she knew her protective father would approve of.

She tried to ignore the rundown buildings and boarded up windows, but they didn’t ignore her. Four men kept pace with Anna. Her heels clicked and clacked against the sidewalk. The quartet of men held back several meters to stalk their prey, waiting for the right time to strike.

Two blocks away from the restaurant, Anna handed them that opportunity. She attempted to make a short cut even shorter but ended up turning into a dead-end alley. By the time she turned around to correct her mistake, they had boxed her in.

“Hey, pretty lady. What are you doing in this part of town?” asked the bald leader.

She nervously studied the men. Two black, two white. All wearing old clothes in varying condition ranging from freshly washed to mud splattered. The one who spoke stood in front of the others, signifying his leadership. A streetlight at the entrance of the alley shined off his shaved white head, in stark contrast to the thick stubble covering his face.

Anna said, “Ummm...I made a wrong turn.”

“You don’t say. Tough luck.”

She slowly raised her hand, hoping to tap her right earlobe to call the police.

“Now, now missy.” He waved a knife from side to side. “You don’t want to be do’in that. Help won’t get here that quickly. We’re planning to have some fun with you and would hate to be rushed.”

Outnumbered and outgunned, Anna did the only thing she could think of.

“Help! Daaad! It’s Anna! Help!”

Her would be attackers laughed.

“Oh, honey. Your daddy isn’t going to hear you. He can’t help you now.”

What Anna knew was that her father wasn’t an ordinary man. Not since the injection of military grade nanos, enhancing each body function including hearing.

***

Trent heard Anna’s cry for help. He was lingering outside the restaurant where they were supposed to meet. Fellow bystanders were surprised to see the man wearing tan pants and a dress shirt, who just a moment ago stood quietly, bolt off with the speed of an Olympic sprinter. He ran as fast as he could toward the scream. Soon, taunting voices guided him to the alley. Mere seconds passed before he arrived not even short of breath.

The four men turned at the noise he made skidding to a stop.

“Who the fuck are you?” asked the leader.

“Her father.”

A cocky smile drew itself across Anna’s face.

“I told you he’d come.”

“You think he’s going to save you. Hell, getting to fuck him up just made my night funner.”

“Buddy, you and your friends walk away, and no one will get hurt.” Trent’s voice switched to angry. “I promise you, on all that is holy in this world, if you try to harm one hair on my daughter’s head I
will
kill every last one of you.”

“Wow! Aren’t you a feisty one.” the leader laughed.

“Walk. A. Way. You do not want to fight me. You
will
die...all of you.” Trent stared into each man’s eyes. He saw fear in the three followers. Their leader’s eyes burned with the arrogance born of ignorance.

And he wasn’t amused.

“Who do you think you are? This is my neighborhood, motherfucker.”

“I know exactly who I am. I’m the man who will kill you. This can still be your neighborhood tomorrow.
If
you leave now.”

Anna didn’t want the night with her father ruined. She tried to reason with them.

“You don’t know who you’re dealing with. Leave while you still can.”

The leader grew annoyed at the back and forth.

“Then tell me. What greatness am I in the presence of?”

Anna softly said, “Trent Maxwell.” The name’s power caused their eyes to widen. “The Trent Maxwell.”

The leader jerked his head back to Trent to size him up. His eyes burned with overconfidence born of stupidity.

“He doesn’t look so tough.” He spat in Trent’s direction.

“Maybe we should get, man.” The wise suggestion came from a black man with a full afro.

“Yeah, man, ain’t worth it,” the bald black man urged.

The other white man, curly haired, and wearing a jeans vest looked too scared to say anything.

The treasure trove of street credit standing in front of the leader proved too intoxicating.

“Fuck that. I want his head.”

Trent assumed a combat stance.

“Remember this when you’re slowly dying after I rip your throat out. I gave you a chance.”

The gang spread out to attack from multiple angles. Trent stood still, carefully monitoring every twitch, every breath. All carried some type of weapon, knives and a metal pipe. The leader charged first. The others moved a fraction of a second later.

Trent coldly and calmly darted to meet the one furthest on his right, the man with the afro. Quickly grabbing the attacker’s knife arm, he overwhelmed him with pure strength. Trent yanked the arm, pulling it out of the socket. He used the wounded man as a temporary barrier from the others. The man screamed from the intense pain in his shoulder. He soon forgot about that. Trent cupped the fist holding the knife and thrust it into him, jamming the blade directly in his chest.

The body hadn’t hit the pavement before he moved on to the next one. He used a sweeping kick to delay the leader and drove a fist into the gut of the bald black man, doubling him over. With two of three occupied for a few moments, Trent focused on the curly haired attacker. That man approached with a pipe held above his head in both hands.

He came at Trent, attempting to strike a decisive blow by putting all he had into it. The street thug struck air when the target avoided the attack. While still helplessly following through, the man heard the sound of his neck’s vertebra snapping.

The last thing the doubled over bald black man witnessed was the blurry image of Trent’s heel striking his temple, crushing his skull. He lay dead next to the trembling leader.

The leader scrambled to his feet, holding the knife out in front of him. He hoped the show of force would drive the monster away. He retreated backward when Trent advanced at a walk.