6
"Today and Every Day"
by
Martyn Foster Lewis
Valentino meets with Jess Harlow. The Brain demands revenge. Rita gets lost. We learn something new about the Negative Man.
Rita loved walking on the lawn. The grass was cut short and she could feel its pointed leaves tickling the soles of her bare feet. She stood still and watched as the early morning sunrays came up through the branches of the apple-trees at the far end of the garden. Oh how she loved this place: Aunt Del's house in upstate New York. Here she always felt safe, without cares or worries. She could easily stay here forever. Instead of constantly looking out for the others, Del would look after her. There would only be Del, Rita and Del's cat, and no-one else.
Rita stood still at the edge of the lawn. She looked down into a large rectangular ornamental goldfish-pond complete with flowering water-lilies and tall flag-irises. She marvelled at how beautiful it all was and that was before she had even noticed the flashing orange, red and silver forms in the water. She was so enthralled by the magic of it that she wanted to stay there forever.
She gazed downwards hypnotised by the movements of the fish when suddenly she became aware that her clothes, her red and white costume from her time in the Doom Patrol, was ripped and torn – in fact it was almost completely shredded. She wondered how it could have gotten into such a state as she tried desperately to hold it together. She was failing to do so however, as it began to fall to the ground. As she struggled to hold onto her clothing, two small boys ran across the grass towards her. They could be no more than six or seven years old and she recognised them immediately – one was Gar Logan and the other was a juvenile version of Robotman. They seemed as pleased to see her as she was to see them and she hugged both of them in turn. These two were quickly followed by another boy of a similar age who also ran up to her – and this was a young version of Steve Dayton. Gar and Robot-Boy happily stood to one side as Rita gathered up Steve and hugged him and smothered him in her kisses. Tears were rolling down her cheeks now as she lost control of her emotions. She sank to her knees as the three small boys boisterously played together around her. She was laughing and crying in joy at their antics and then, as she thought her joy could not get any greater, the three boys all suddenly disappeared into thin air. Astonished, Rita rose to her feet and began to look for her young friends in other parts of the garden.
She wandered towards the small orchard of apple-trees and found there, leaning against one of the trees, a girl who was aged around seventeen or eighteen. Rita did not recognise her at all. Her hair was very dark and untidy as if it had not been combed for quite a while. She was dressed in a man's, old-fashioned, blue and white striped pyjamas. The girl's eyes were closed as if she was asleep but as Rita approached she seemed to know that Rita was there for she spoke without raising an eyelid: "You are lost, Rita."
"I beg your pardon: who are you?" Rita replied.
"Holly," the girl said yawning sleepily. "My name is, Holly."
"What do you mean, 'I am lost'?"
"You do not know where you are or where you are going," Holly replied. She then pulled both her arms up close to her chest and quickly pushed outwards towards Rita. Even though they did not make physical contact with her, Rita was instantly pushed backwards with such force that she was knocked off her feet to hit the ground with such a bump that she was immediately winded.
Rita awoke. She lay in the empty bath for several minutes as she reviewed the dream in her mind. While she was doing so, she mentally strengthened the bonding that held her body together, stood up, and stepped out of the bath.
That day, the same as every other day, she then looked at her reflection in the vanity mirror. Her features were there in the glass looking back at her but they were not quite right. It was as if during her sleep the outline of her features had begun to lose their definition. She glanced at one of the three photographs of herself that she kept next to the mirror. She studied the angles that made up her jaw and the line of her nose. She then turned back to her reflection and with a few mental adjustments she reformed her face until it matched exactly the photographic-images. She then slipped on the silk kimono that was hanging on the back of the bathroom door, tied it at her waist and opened the door. Only when she had completed her daily 'beauty-treatment' was she prepared to leave her bathroom.
Valentino drummed his fingers impatiently on the table-top of the busy diner where he sat alone. He hated being kept waiting.
"Hallo, Rudolpho."
Surprised by the sudden mention of his name, Valentino twisted around to see Jessica Harlow standing at his shoulder. "Why must you do that?" he hissed.
"Because it's fun!" she replied, clearly enjoying the situation.
"But every time?"
"Yes."
"I don't appreciate being crept up on like that."
"I know. Sorry!" She laughed.
"You're not sorry," he said with a sigh.
"No, not really."
Larry put down his mug and faced up to Rita: "I wasn't in your dream?"
"No, I don't think so," Rita replied before adding as an afterthought: "It's not important!"
Larry was still prickly about the whole issue. "I think it is! Why do you think Cliff and Steve were children?"
Rita was becoming more and more impatient. "I wish I hadn't mentioned it … And I don't know why they were children!"
"Perhaps it's because you see them as children?"
"Perhaps … Yes, now I think of it, I think you're right."
"And as you don't see me as a child, you didn't picture me in your dream with them?"
"That's it, exactly. Larry, now can we please move on to more important things?"
"Yeah, of course. I just wanted to straighten out the reasoning behind your dream, that's all."
"Thank you, I'm very grateful."
"Now, that girl, Holly: who was she, do you think?"
"Larry, I'm getting tired of all this now!"
"You're the one who mentioned it!"
"And I'm wishing that I hadn't!"
Larry shrugged his shoulders. Before Rita could speak he was off again: "Now … do you want to know about the dream I had last night?"
"No, I don't!" Rita snapped back.
"The Brain is not happy," Valentino explained as Harlow sat on the stool next to him. She did not say anything in reply so after a brief pause, Valentino continued: "He feels that you let us down. You allowed Negative Man to escape and he was then able to deactivate our robot."
"It was a surprise to me! I didn't think that Negative Man could escape. I don't know how he managed to do that!" Jessica replied.
"Rouge wants her money back," Valentino added. "She says you never earned it."
"What?" Harlow exploded: "What? The bitch! I did exactly what I was asked! It wasn't my fault that Negative Man escaped! I told you that already!"
Valentino tried to explain calmly: "It doesn't matter what I think, Jess. The Brain and Rouge reckon that you owe them."
"Well they can go and jump in the river, both of them!"
"See it from their point of view. You promised to do something for them, it didn't happen. You'll have to make it good, that's all."
"I knew I shouldn't have answered your call!" Harlow was still annoyed and replied in frustration: "Alright, what do they want me to do?"
Valentino patted her arm. "That's my girl. We can work this out. There doesn't have to be any bad-feelings between any of us. The Brain has a new plan."
Jessica replied unenthusiastically: "Okay, go on, I'm listening."
The street outside Rita's apartment was busy with passing traffic. Jessica Harlow stood across the road from the entrance and gazed up at the top floor where she knew Rita's apartment was located. This time, her job was to go after Rita Farr and not Trainor. Valentino's instructions had been implicit on the matter – get rid of Farr: she was the target, not Trainor. She wondered what she should do if Trainor wandered into the equation? Ah well, she'd cross that bridge if she came to it. The important thing was to get it done as quickly as possible, then she could leave town and have nothing more to do with disembodied brains, talking gorillas and implausibly malleable women.
Harlow stepped onto the road and instantly became a two-dimensional shadow. Seeing an accident about to happen directly in front of him, a passing taxi-driver slammed onto his brakes thinking that he was about to hit a pedestrian but the shadowy Jess Harlow was unaffected by the taxi passing through her. The taxi though, was rear-ended by another vehicle which in turn was hit by another.
Harlow ignored the chaos and progressed to the entrance of Rita's building. She did not stop there but continued onwards passing within without opening any door. She then joined another young woman in the elevator and rode with her to the seventh floor before progressing alone to the top floor. Still in shadow-form, she walked along the corridor and slipped under the door into Rita's apartment.
Trainor was there, in the main room of Farr's apartment, sitting drinking from a mug of tea with the aid of a straw. She cursed her luck and wandered into another room of the apartment – Rita's bedroom and from there into a spacious dressing room and its associated walk-in wardrobes. Harlow had never seen anything like it outside of an exclusive designer store. Hanging neatly and coded by colour were so many gowns and dresses that Harlow's jaw hung open in awe. She materialised out of her shadow form and examined some of the gowns in detail. One of them in particular, caught her attention – a bottle-green gown by Vivienne Westwood. She pulled it out of the rack and held it against herself. She then looked at her reflection in a full-length mirror at one end of the wardrobe and decided that she would take it as an extra payment for doing her job.
Rita was up-and-about, striding around her apartment tidying-up as Larry sat and watched her at work. She was also talking: "I am in two minds … I can't decide whether to go for traditional or modern ... What do you think? … Larry?" She paused, waiting for Larry to answer but when he didn't her tone of enquiry changed: "Larry, are you sleeping?"
Larry was not technically sleeping for moments before and without him consciously making the decision to separate, the Negative Man had become aware of the presence of the Shadow Thief in the next room and had independently decided to find out what she was up to. As a consequence and in the instant when that had happened, Larry had lapsed into a sleep-like state.
Jess Harlow froze as she became aware of the Negative Man standing in the doorway to Rita's wardrobe. She could plainly see that it was just standing there and watching. She quickly overcame her momentary alarm and braced herself for a fight. But the Negative Man remained motionless.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"You intrigue me," the Negative Man replied but it was not Trainor's voice that had spoken. It was as if the Negative Entity was indeed separate from Larry Trainor both in mind and volition. "You are like me and yet different. What are you?"
"I am human. What are you?"
"I am not human."
"Then that's the difference between us … Where's Trainor?"
"Larry is in the other room. He is asleep. He is unaware that I am here."
"Do you do that often, move about, I mean, without him knowing?"
"Sometimes … when he sleeps …" The Negative Man took one step forward and Harlow baulked, ready to become a shadow and run. "I mean you no harm, I am curious that is all. I was within you. That was an experience that I have not had before. It was unsettling …"
"It was unsettling for me as well," Harlow replied.
"I wonder what it would be like if it were the other way around?" In an instant the Negative Man zoomed forward, right through Harlow and now stood on the other side of her.
Harlow was surprised but unaffected by the experience. She spun around though to face him once again: "What are you doing?" she demanded.
"That was strange," the Negative Man said. "That's never happened before either! I do know why you are here though. You have come here to hurt Rita Farr!"
"Why do you say that?" Harlow asked.
"… Because I know it for a fact!"
"Are you going to stop me?"
"What do you think?"
"Well, you can try!" Harlow dropped the dress that she was holding and became a shadow. She then moved as fast as she could into the next room just as the Negative Man joined with Larry and he woke. Rita was standing over him but glanced around as the Shadow-Thief materialised in the room.
"It's that Shadow-girl, again!" Larry warned. "She's after you this time!"
As the shadow moved across the floor towards Rita, she instinctively grew in size – so large in fact, as to nearly fill the room. Her size increase was so swift that she knocked over Larry and the chair on which he sat.
Harlow quickly realized that Rita was now too large for her to battle and she paused while she considered her options. The floor of the apartment however, could not cope with the weight of Rita being a giant and began to sag under her weight. Rita needed to shrink and rapidly to avoid causing the collapse of the building and she shrank down to tiny size.
As a consequence and in all the confusion, Larry, not surprisingly, thought that Harlow had absorbed Rita into her shadow. He therefore naturally sprang to the offence sending Negative Man to attack Harlow. The Negative Entity was however unable to affect Harlow while she was in shadow form just as she too was no longer able to have any effect on him: their combat had quickly come to an impasse.
However, Harlow now knew that she could ignore the Negative Man and she concentrated her efforts on finding Rita - though no matter how thoroughly she searched there was still no sign of her. While she did that, the Negative Man zoomed off leaving Larry in an unconscious state. Seconds later, the Negative Man was in a near-by theatre and was removing a spotlight from above the stage. Moments later, he returned to Rita's apartment and plugged in the spotlight to the electricity. He then shone the powerful light on Harlow's shadow-form and she reacted as if she were in mortal danger quickly reverting to her normal appearance.
"Turn it off!" Harlow screamed collapsing to her knees.
The Negative Man then re-entered its host and Larry, swiftly recovering, took over the direction of the light as Rita re-appeared to stand next to him.
"Do you remember our friend here?" Larry said. "She doesn't appear to like being under the spotlight."
"Is she alone?" Rita asked.
"It appears so," Larry answered. He then directed his attention at Harlow: "Do you surrender?"
"Yes, yes, just turn off the light!" Harlow replied.
"Then you'd better not try any tricks," Larry then said as he turned off the light.
Harlow was weakened by the strong light and lay on her back on the floor while she recovered her strength.
Something was puzzling Rita: as they watched Harlow, she said: "Larry, you said that she was after me and not you: how did you know that?"
"I don't know why I said it," he replied, "but I did seem to know it for a fact."
"Were you after me?" Rita asked their captive.
Harlow looked at Larry: "You don't remember do you?"
Larry did not reply so she continued: "No, I don't suppose you did! Well, that's for me to know now, isn't it?"
"Larry, what is she talking about?" Rita asked.
"I have no idea," Larry replied.
The next day, Rita called in to see Larry at his apartment on the other side of town.
"I have to move out of my apartment while the engineers do some structural checks," she explained.
"Well you're welcome to stay here with me," Larry said.
"Thanks but I'm going to stay with my aunt, upstate."
"You have an aunt?" Larry asked, surprised.
"Yes, she has a nice place, rural, very quiet. It'll be like a holiday for me, I suppose."
"She must be a bit long in the tooth now though. Are you sure she can cope with a visitor?"
"She's … still quite sprightly for her age."
Later, Rita's Thunderbird pulled up outside a lonely detached house in the hills near Indian Lake. The house was surrounded by woodland but had a well-tendered garden with lawns, an orchard and a large rectangular ornamental fish-pond. A figure was standing on the porch watching as Rita climbed out of her car. The woman looked to be in her late-forties, casually dressed in cowboy-shirt and faded jeans. She was attractive with long lustrous black hair pulled back into a long pony-tail. The woman, Aunt Del, lifted her arms and welcomed Rita warmly, holding her in an embrace before taking hold of her arms to get a good look at her.
"You haven't changed a bit," Rita's aunt said a she studied Rita closely. "To think it's been almost twenty years since you last visited!"
"And you haven't changed either, Del," Rita replied.
"Well, you can explain not aging as a consequence of being a super-hero. It's much more difficult when you're an ex-Hollywood actress," Del said as she took Rita by the hand and drew her into the house.
"But think how much more work you could have had as an eternally young Delores Winters?"
Del laughed. "All they'd remember is that for a while I had been the villainous Ultra-Humanite."
[END]
Delores Winters:born circa 1916, was an actress who was kidnapped by the Ultra-Humanite. Assisted by a surgeon named Marten, she was able to become ageless if not virtually immortal in appearance. She was, for a while, in possession of Steve Dayton's (Mento) helmet.