All characters belong to Wildstorm/D.C. and are used
without permission. I am claiming no ownership of any
property contained herein. All standard disclaimers apply.
Unlike my other recent efforts, this is set in the 'real'
Authority timeline, immediately before/during the events of
The Authority #13.
Feedback is one of the primary benefits of indulging in
writing fanfiction. As such, comments of all sorts (sans
flames) are eagerly sought and may be sent to
ibelieve@rocketmail.com
Survivors
Each party, just like each person, has it's own
personality. There is a very distinct psychology to human
gatherings. Dynamics of a party include standard variables
of location, occasion, persons attending, and the thousand
other less identifiable factors which add up to create the
intangible essence which is the soul of the party. Just
like people, no two parties are alike. They can be good or
bad, fun or stilted, passionate or dreary, and all levels
in between.
There are Eleanor Roosevelt gatherings- brilliant and kind
and ultimately human, but not likely to result in
undergarments strewn on the floor.
There are Martha Stewart formal occasions, with perfect
ettiquette, lovely decorations, and everything just so.
Again, these are very rarely threats to chastity.
And of course, there are Hugh Hefner Bacchanalian orgies
during which one would be well advised to watch the floor
lest one step in something unsavory. Usually involving vast
quantities of alcohol and phernomes, this sort of revelry
is often coupled with subsequently magnificient hangovers
and appropriately hazy recollections.
This Thursday night on the Carrier definitely fit into the
latter category. In keeping with the team's new proactive
approach to the world they lived in, the Authority's
otherworldly home had become a much sought after party
spot. Here superhumans and celebrities mingled together in
a heady mix of superficiality and sensationalism. Porn
stars frolicked with cyborgs, aliens cavorted with royalty,
and a good time was had by all.
In the midst of all this revelry, Victoria Ojuku, the woman
once known as Flint, sat alone at a corner table in one of
the Carrier's makeshift bars and watched it all. Raising
her glass to her lips, she took another sip of the gin and
tonic she'd been nursing all night and watched the ebb and
flow of brightly colored people as the party surged around
her.
She was quiet, at the party but not really a part of it.
Indeed, she felt like she'd not been a true part of
anything for a very, very long time- for a little over a
year now, actually.
She stared morosely into her drink, swirling the clear
liquid around and around the glass. 'Why the hell did I
agree to come tonight?' she asked herself, not for the
first time that night. The answer was easy. 'Because
Jackson and Christine asked me to. And whatever else they
might be, they're still first-class manipulators.'
Although Victoria no longer offically worked with any SPB
agency she still served as a freelance operative, for after
all she'd seen and done there was no way to go back to a
'normal' life. It hadn't been easy- apart from the
emotional trauma of having the people who were in essence
her family murdered before her very eyes, she'd had to
readjust to living planetside again without the amenities
of the space station that had been her home for so many
years. Kenya hadn't been home to her in years, so she'd had
to start all over.
Financial realities demanded that she keep her U.N.
retainer, which carried with it the moral responsibility to
be of use in any way she could-- and that included
coordinating her solo efforts with Jackson and Christine's
fledgling SPB intelligence office. Over the last year she'd
worked quite closely with the only other survivors of
Stormwatch.
Well- the other *official* survivors of Stormwatch. She
hadn't spoken with any members of Stormwatch Black since
declining Jenny Sparks' offer of membership in the
Authority a year ago.
Since then, the team had attained almost universal
celebrity as members of The Authority. Victoria, along with
the rest of the world, had watched on her television as the
Authority staved off global threats, protecting the people
of the Earth from forces beyond their ken and control. She,
like the rest of the world, had been horrified to learn of
Sparks' death. The only difference was that she'd known
Jenny personally, as a teammate if not as a friend.
The entire world had wept when Jenny Sparks died.
Who had cried for Stormwatch?
Victoria swallowed her bitterness, chasing it with gin as
she downed the rest of her drink in one gulp. 'I knew this
was a bad idea,' she thought angrily, rising from her seat.
'I thought I'd dealt with all these feelings, but being
here on a space station with so many costumes- I should
have expected this.'
She slammed her drink down, and the resounding impact
shattered the empty glass in her hand. She stared dully at
the broken pieces, then laughed humorlessly before turning
to walk away into the brightly colored crowd.
**********
Across the room a slender, attractive Asian woman walked
towards the the packed bar, arm in arm with a much younger
man. She leaned into him and whispered loudly to be heard
over the pounding music, "Eddie, be a dear and get me a
drink, will you? That's a good boy," she purred.
The dark haired young man stepped back, a slightly confused
look on his squarely handsome face. "Um. . .ok. What do you
want?"
Shen Li-Men, Swift of the Authority, tilted her head
forward, and uneven dark bangs fell mysteriously over her
eyes. "Surprise me," she ran a hand down his tattoed chest,
a world of promise in her eyes. "And I might just surprise
you later."
Hardly able to believe his ears, Edward Chang nodded
eagerly and was gone, stumbling over his feet like a puppy.
Shen watched him go, admiring the way young muscles filled
out leather pants. 'Well, Mrs. Robinson,' she chuckled at
herself. 'Why don't you find a cozy corner table for two?'
With that happy thought in mind, she turned to maneuver
through the crowd, nodding and smiling to various
acquaintances as she passed.
She was so caught up in doing so that she walked straight
into someone's back. "I'm sorry," she automatically
apologized politely, stepping back to give the other person
room to turn around. "I wasn't watching where I was
going--" She looked up, and drew in a sharp breath.
"VICTORIA?!?"
The dark woman blinked, then looked down to see what
nuisance had stepped on her heels and was now calling her
name. Dark eyes opened wide in surprise.
"SHEN?"
Shen's face lit up, and she rose on her tiptoes to
impulsively embrace the taller woman. Victoria surprised
herself by returning the hug.
"Shen, it's great to see you," she greeted her old teammate
with a small smile.
Shen stepped back, obviously delighted. "You too, Vicky!
It's been so long- I haven't seen you since-"
There was a long, awkward pause. "Before Stormwatch
dissolved," Victoria crossed her arms over her chest
protectively, a harsh note creeping into her lilting voice.
A lesser woman would have stammered then, but Shen Li-Men
only nodded respectfully. "I know. I'm very sorry, Vicky."
"Me too," Victoria murmured softly, powerful hands
clenching into tight fists. Consciously smoothing out her
expression, she changed the subject. "But that's neither
here nor there. How are you these days?"
Almond eyes darted to the side, searching for her . . .
date. She located him standing in the back of one of the
longest lines to the crowded bar, chatting in an animated
manner with another tall blond boy about his age. Turning
to Victoria, she smiled. "I have a feeling I'm going to be
here a while. Would you care to wait with me, Flint?"
"Victoria," she corrected hastily, voice strangely flat.
"Not Flint. I'm just Victoria now, Shen."
Shen blinked, but nodded slowly. "All right, then,
Victoria. Care to join me?"
Victoria paused for a minute, glancing at the exit door,
then back at her old friend. She drew in a breath and
smiled a bit shakily. "Sounds good."
The two women made their way to the back of the room and
seated themselves at the table Victoria had just left. Shen
cast an odd glance at the pile of broken glass on the metal
table but said nothing.
Victoria spoke first. "You didn't answer my question."
"What question?" Shen asked pleasantly, settling into her
chair, angling it so she could see the bar.
"How you're doing. I've been keeping up with you all
through Jackson and Christine, and through the news, of
course, but I'd like to hear it from you. How's active duty
treating you these days?" Victoria managed a smile, though
Shen could tell its cost was dear.
"Better than I ever thought it could be," Shen breathed,
and Victoria saw a glint of genuine delight in her eyes.
"It's so wonderful to be able to do what we want, when we
want to- to and not have to erase our trail or worry about
whether we'll get sufficient resources or support to do the
job properly- it's grand."
"I guess it would be nice to come out of covert ops,"
Victoria admitted. "I remember how much Jenny hated all the
secrecy of what you were forced to do." She winced at her
own insensitivity at mentioning the late Sparks, barely
dead a month.
To her surprise, the other woman didn't flinch, only nodded
softly. "She did. She was never happier than when we left
that role and began to operate in the open as the
Authority. She would love what we're doing now."
"Shen- I'm sorry about Jenny," Victoria managed. "I truly
am. How she died-"
"Was how she was meant to die," Shen interrupted, but this
time Victoria heard Shen's smooth voice crack ever so
slightly. "She knew that. It was her time, Victoria, and
she left making this world a better place. It was as it was
meant to be."
"How lovely for her," Victoria snapped, faces of those who
weren't so fortunate flickering through her memory. She
made a face. "In any case, please let me express how truly
sorry I am for her loss."
"Thank you," Shen murmured quietly, eyeing the other woman
speculatively. "I thought we might have seen you at the
funeral."
"I could have said the same," Victoria said coldly, staring
at the other woman with eyes as hard as her namesake.
Accusatory words came bubbling out from a fissure deep
inside she thought long since healed. "You weren't at the
Memorial Service." She hadn't needed to specify which.
"None of Stormwatch Black was."
Stricken, Shen tried to meet her eyes but the naked anger
in them made her look away. "I'm sorry," she tried to
explain, memories taking her back over a year. "You have no
idea how very sorry I am. I *would* have been there, I
swear it, but IO agents were at Malcolm's hospital bed-
someone had to be there to protect him."
"I suppose nobody else could have done the job, eh?" Shen's
remarks had tapped a vein of rage that Victoria didn't know
still existed, and she lashed ou angrily "Anybody could
have guarded Malcolm, but-" She paused, picking her way
through the words as carefully and furiously as a cat with
wet paws. "But they were Stormwatch. They were your
*family*, Shen, and you weren't there."
The smaller woman stiffened at the harsh accusation. "What
could I have done?" She demanded, body taut as a spring.
"They were not the first family I have lost, Victoria. What
would you have had me do? Sit weeping while *another*
teammate was in danger? Stormwatch was about saving lives.
I *had* to protect Malcolm!"
"Fine," Victoria growled savagely, not yet ready to concede
her fury. "Fine for you. But what about Jenny? Or Jack?
What about them? Did my team mean so little to them, too,
that they couldn't be bothered to come to their fucking
*memorial* service either?"
"They-" Shen's words were cut off by a contemptous snort.
"Save it," Victoria muttered, swallowing the huge lump in
her throat. "I'm sure they had their reasons, too, but none
of that changes the fact that I sat alone as we told them
goodbye."
There was a long, awkward moment of silence.
"I *am* sorry, Vicky," Shen studied her clasped hands, eyes
glistening in the dim light of the bar. "I know it may seem
otherwise to you, but their sacrifice is not forgotten. I
miss them too, more than you know. I just wish-" She broke
off, distraught.
Victoria raised a hand to her downturned face, rubbing her
temples. After a long moment, she raised her head. "You
wish what?"
Swallowing her weakness, Shen met her old teammate's gaze
with surprising forthrightness. "I wish you'd accepted
Jenny's offer to join us."
Her companion smiled tightly. "I work alone now, Shen.
Mostly simple extractions, hostage situations- that sort of
thing. Things not big enough to be worth the Authority's
time, but things that need doing anyway."
Almond eyes flashed in anger, but Shen held back a sharp
retort. Victoria sighed loudly. "Listen, I didn't mean that
like it sounded."
"I know," Shen conceded softly, defensiveness seeping out
of her tone. "You have every right to be pissed, Victoria."
"Damn right I do." Dark lips twisted in the other woman's
characteristically dry smile, then faded as Victoria lapsed
into the melancholy that had been her constant companion
over the last year. She sighed. "You must think I'm a
basket case."
"No, I don't," Shen replied quickly, but Victoria heard the
undertone of uncertainty in her voice.
She pushed the shards of broken glass into the center of
the table, then picked up the largest piece, idly turning
it over in her fingers. "Yeah, you do, but you're wrong. I
might be a mess tonight, but I don't want you to think I'm
like this all the time. The past year has been difficult,
but I've made it through- I've survived. I'm just a little
on edge tonight." Her voice was still cool and distant, and
very, very proud.
Shen looked away, reminding herself that the razor sharp
edges of simple glass wouldn't pierce her old teammate's
invulnerable skin. "You don't have to justify yourself to
me, Victoria." She pitched her words to be low, soft and
soothing, but the other woman continued as if she hadn't
heard.
"Tonight, all this," she waved her hands at the technicolor
surrounding them, "Is just bringing it all back. I mean, we
were *Stormwatch*," Victoria hit the table with the heel of
her hand, and shards of glass rose slightly with the
impact. "We fought terrorists and mutagens and conspiracies
and the entire bloody world. We walked into the jaws of
death on a daily basis. I always knew one day someone
wouldn't make it back. I just never thought-"
Shen swallowed tightly, finishing her sentence. "That you
would be the only one left behind."
"Yeah," Victoria murmured bleakly. "Yeah." She leaned
forward, elbows on the table. She buried her face in her
hands. "Damn, I just miss them so much."
Her eyes focused on the faceless crowd, but her vision
turned inward. She'd been alone for a year. No teammates,
no family, no friends- she'd survived, and done just fine,
a voice deep inside whispered defiantly. She'd carved out a
life for herself, and she'd been damn good at it. She'd
done the things that had to be done, things that no one
else could have done. Even so, she'd been so alone. To go
from part of a team to a free agent had been bad enough,
but to know that everyone else she loved was dead while she
had lived- at their expense- had been unbearable.
Shen read her old friend's expression, then drew in a deep
breath. She reached out a hand to rest lightly taloned
fingers on Victoria's muscled forearm. The dark woman drew
back sharply, then looked up at her in surprise.
"They wouldn't want you to hurt like this, Victoria," Shen
ventured softly, poised on the edge of her chair to dart
away if the other woman reacted badly to her guess. "What
you're doing to yourself- they wouldn't want this. You know
that."
Victoria's head shot up, and her mouth opened to shoot back
a sharp retort. To her great surprise she found she had
nothing to say. "It doesn't matter," she whispered
hoarsely. "We went through too much together to have them
go like that. I. . .I should have done something, Shen."
Shen leaned forward. "What, Vicky?" She shook her head
emphatically, short dark hair falling over her eyes. "What
could you have done? I read Jackson's report. Skywatch was
breached and was headed towards Earth infected with aliens!
You stopped them. Your team saved the world. What more
could you have done?"
Victoria's shoulders stiffened, and her nostrils flared in
anger. "I've asked myself that a thousand times," She
choked, expression anguished. "Maybe if Nick and I hadn't
been out drinking the night before my reaction time would
have been better! Maybe I should have gone for that monster
that grabbed Lauren first instead of blocking for Toshiro!
I don't know what, but I should have done *something*!"
Shen listened to the self-loathing and blame in Victoria's
voice, heard the desperation in her words. The winged woman
thought for a long moment, weighing her options, then made
a decision. She intentionally pasted a derisive expression
on her face, snorting derisively, making her voice as
mocking as possible.
"Oh, so that was it," Shen taunted mercilessly, hating the
pain her calculated words were causing, knowing they had to
be said. "You should have done *something*, is that it?
What? What could you have done, *Flint*? Died with them?"
"YES!" Victoria yelled, slamming tightly clenched fists on
the metal table, shaking the sturdy surface. The loud echo
was soon absorbed the dull roar of the crowd.
"And what bloody good would that have done?" Shen demanded,
uncowed by the outburst. "Victoria, don't you see that
you're not honoring them by hiding yourself away from the
world like this? You're not celebrating their memory- hell,
you're not even grieving them properly!"
"How dare you tell me about my grief," Victoria growled,
cultured voice lowering dangerously. "You barely even saw
them after the teams split. How *dare* you presume to know
how I felt- how I feel?"
"I lost a family too, Victoria," Shen bristled. "Not just
Stormwatch, but my very blood and bones. I've seen my
homeland raped by invaders, my entire culture devoured by
outsiders. Don't tell me I don't know what loss feels
like."
Victoria's eyes narrowed. "Kenya wasn't a playland,
either," she muttered, then caught herself. "You know very
well that's not what I meant."
Shen shook her head, eyes glistening in the dimness of the
bar. "I know damn well how you feel, Victoria. Stormwatch
died so that Earth could live. By closing yourself away
from the world and everyone that cares about you, you're
throwing away the gift they gave you. You're dishonoring
their memory, and they deserve better than that."
Victoria pressed the balls of her hands against closed
eyes. "Shen, I-"
"You what?" Shen demanded forcefully, rising from her seat.
"You hurt? You should! You loved them, and now they're
gone! I hurt too, Victoria. Jackson, Christine, even Jenny
and Jack, no matter what you might think- we all hurt. We
*all* miss them."
Dark eyes locked, and Shen leaned down so they were of a
height. "You, though- you're their legacy. Don't you think
they'd want better for you than this half-life you're
living?"
Victoria swallowed, unable to look away from the truth in
the other woman's piercing avian gaze. Realization dawned,
and she had to bite her lip to hold back the tears.
Her friends had died so she could live, and whatever she'd
been doing for the last year, it hadn't been living. She
fought back tears. They wouldn't have wanted her to isolate
herself from the world or to hold such resentment in her
heart. Her friends would not have wanted her to punish
herself for surviving.
A year was a long time to carry such pain. 'If it were me
gone, and Lauren still alive- I'd kick her ass if she acted
this way.' She smiled softly at the thought, and felt a
hard tight knot in her chest loosen ever so slightly.
The noise of the party around them faded to an indistinct
background roar and the world narrowed to that single
table. Accusations and anger forgotten, Shen reached across
the table to clasp the other woman's dusky hand. Victoria
stiffened, then squeezed Shen's hand gratefully.
"They were my family," Victoria murmured softly. "Lauren,
Nikolas, Toshiro- even Nigel, dammit," she laughed through
her tears. "Stormwatch went through so many changes, but
the five of us held fast until the end."
She pulled her hand away, clasping it in her lap. Words
came pouring out in a cathartic rush. "Maybe that's why
this is so hard for me. Here, on your Carrier- The
Authority is a team. It reminds me of what we used to be
like. And I see you on the news every night- every single
night, Shen- and I can't help but think that the name
'Stormwatch' is nothing but a rapidly fading memory, now."
"Wrong," Shen said firmly, shaking her head. "You couldn't
*be* more wrong, Vicky. Look around you. I meant what I
said. Everyone on this ship- hell, everyone on earth, and
*especially* The Authority- owes our lives to Stormwatch in
one way or another. We haven't forgotten at all- in fact,
there's even several old members here at this party
tonight."
Victoria wiped her eyes and sat up straighter, looking
around the crowd slowly, searching for familiar faces.
"Here? Tonight? Who?"
Shen grinned slyly, recognizing that she'd done as much to
heal her friend as she could possibly do in one night.
"Maybe if you weren't hiding out here in the corner you'd
know," she teased, burying her message in a light,
conversational tone.
Victoria nodded, quietly accepting the gentle rebuke.
Bunched shoulders relaxed somewhat, and something very near
a smile graced her elegant features. "I have ways of making
you talk, Shen. I still remember a few old Spetznaz tricks
Nick taught me-"
Swift laughed, a welcome reprieve from the lingering
tension between them. "Oh, fine, you're no fun at all. Karl
and Maya are here. Union's here." Shen inclined her head
with a smile. "Several others, I'm sure. I think even
Blademaster made it to this one."
"Blademaster?" Victoria nearly goggled at the thought of
seeing their old teacher again. "Here? Are you serious?"
"Quite," Shen assured her. "Perhaps you'd like me to ask
him to lead us in a few rounds-"
"Shut your mouth," Victoria cut her off, only half joking.
"I *still* have nightmares about those early days. Nigel
always bitched about Scythe being rough, but Blademaster?
Now *he* was one tough training officer-"
Shen shuddered dramatically. "I remember. Quite an
experience, wasn't it?" She raised a speculative eyebrow.
"Of course, your first costume was so distracting that it's
a wonder the poor boys got anything done, wasn't it?" She
glanced sideways at her companion, then burst into laughter
at the expression on Victoria's face.
Victoria coughed, dusky cheeks flushing with color. "Hey, I
thought we agreed not to bring that up anymore, didn't we?"
She smiled sweetly and went on the offensive. "Do you still
have any of that face paint around here, Shen? What *was*
that stuff, anyway, Stripey? Lipstick?"
Shen hooted in laughter, and Victoria joined her, the two
grasping their sides and giggling like schoolgirls.
Hilarity combined with pent up emotions to form a heady
mixture of cathartic release. When they were- finally-
done, Shen asked quietly, "Victoria, what made you finally
come visit us? You've had an open invitation- what made you
come tonight?"
Still grinning, Victoria arched a wry eyebrow. "In a
nutshell? Jackson and Christine. They wouldn't get off my
damn back and I thought this was the easiest way to get
them to shut up about it already."
"A wise decision. Where are they, by the way?" Shen asked
curiously, looking around the crowded room. "I saw them
earlier, but in this crowd-"
"Beats me," Victoria shrugged, still smiling. She felt
curiously light inside, as if the argument with Shen and
resulting laughter had purged her of some of the darkness
that'd followed her like a shroud. Endorphins, some part of
her noted absently. Endorphins. Whatever it was, she wanted
more. "They stayed with me for a while, but you know
Jackson-"
Shen rolled her eyes. "Ah, the life of the party. He can't
resist the lure."
Victoria looked askance. "Are we talking about the same
Jackson King?"
"Tall, dark, handsome, unfortunately quite taken? Yes, the
very one," Shen smiled wickedly. "Although if Christine
ever tires of him. . ." She trailed off, suggestive
expression completing the sentence for her.
"Damn, you sound just like Lauren," Victoria murmured with
a smile. It felt good- damn good- to speak of her friend to
someone who would share her memories. "She said almost the
exact same thing to me one time."
Shen grinned, responding to the gesture with a memory of
her own. "As I recall, she said something like that about
all our male teammates at one time or another."
Victoria laughed aloud, a bit surprised at how good it felt
to reminisce over so simple a thing as an old, dear friend.
"So she did. She was teasing, though- she knew the one she
wanted, and she got him."
Shen blinked, then her face slowly split in a disbelieving
smile. "Jackson mentioned something about that, but I
couldn't quite bring myself to believe him. Is it true? Did
she and Nigel-"
Victoria nodded solemnly, but her eyes were dancing. "Like
rabbits." She made a wry face. "Believe me, Lauren told me
*all* about it, and from what Nick told me Nigel did the
same thing with he and Toshiro. Way more information than
we ever needed to know." She shook her head, but the smile
was still there.
Shen made a smug face. "Hah! I *knew* it! I asked her about
it once, but she brushed me off. 'Harmless flirting', my
ass. . . How did the rest of you handle it?"
"What could we do?" Victoria raised her hands helplessly,
exulting in the unaccustomed feel of reminsicing over
pleasant memories. "They were so damn happy, and
surprisingly enough they were great together. I worried
about whether he was right for her, but even though Nigel
was so . . . outgoing. . ."
"That's one way to put it," Shen interrupted, bemused by
the memory of the outrageous Irishman.
Victoria's lips quirked in a grin. "That it was easy to
forget how damn smart he was. I don't think she could have
found another man who could challenge her like he did. And
he was happier than I'd ever seen him. He was actually
*sweet* with her- Nigel, sweet, if you can believe that!"
Her smile faded abruptly. "I just wish they could have had
more time together." Implicit in the words was a longing
for more time for them all.
Shen recognized the darkness looming and quickly moved to
block it. "Then they were fortunate to find each other,
even if only for a little while. You- we all- were
fortunate to have such friends, even for a while."
She caught Shen's gaze and nodded. "Yes," she finally
murmured, understanding and doing her best to accept the
truth behind the kindness. "Yes, we were."
The slight woman extended a hand. "Then I have a
proposition for you. I suggest that you and I round up
every member of Stormwatch we can find and drink a toast in
their honor."
Victoria paused, and then did something she could not have
considered even an hour earlier. She smiled. "I think," she
spoke slowly, carefully, feeling the burden on her heart
lessen with each word, "I think I'd like that very much."
Shen caught her eyes and smiled, and together the twowomen
slowly threading through the crowd until they reached a
relatively empty space at the bar. Nearby, two handsome men
sat side by side on the barstools, embodiments of dark and
light with eyes only for each other.
Victoria saw them and, motioning discreetly, bent down to
whisper in Shen's ear. "I've been reading the papers. So
they're Out now, eh?"
Shen returned the whisper with a sly smile. "Were they ever
in?"
Victoria laughed. "Good for them. I'm glad, but I shudder
to think what response Nigel- or Nick, for that matter-
would have made to that remark."
Shen stifled a laugh, then turned to greet her teammates,
Victoria close behind. "Apollo, Midnighter- do you remember
.. . . " She glanced at the other woman, an unspoken
question in her eyes.
Victoria stepped forward. Taking a deep breath, she
extended her hand. "Flint," she identified herself with a
small but steady smile. "Late of Stormwatch. Nice to see
you two again."
The dark man just grunted in acknowledgement, but the blond
rose from his stool, a charming smile on his handsome face.
He took her hand, cupping it warmly in both his huge palms.
He smelled slightly of alcohol.
"Flint! Of course we remember you! Care to join us in a
drink?"
Victoria glanced over her shoulder at the empty table, then
back at the warmth and companionship before her here. Faces
of old friends scrolled once more through her memories, but
this time she felt comfort, not condemnation. They had died
so she could live, and she wouldn't belittle their
sacrifice by refusing to live her life to its fullest.
They deserved a better legacy than that.
Turning to Apollo, she nodded. "Yes, I think I will," she
murmured, meeting Shen's approving gaze. "But just a quick
one." Craning her neck to get a better view of the main
room, she saw a flash of pale green skin beside pale blond
hair, and she grinned, spotting Karl and Maya Royko. "I've
got to meet some old friends for a toast."
Shen smiled broadly and motioned to the bartender for
assistance. The Midnighter grunted, Apollo grinned, and
Victoria took the drink that was offered her.
And the party raged on around them.
Fin.