1 – Smuggler's Mission – May 28, 2011
Aspen crouched in the shadow of a cargo container on the docks, keeping out of sight as five men loaded their goods onto a ship. The moon had risen over the bay and cast a sickly light over the docks and the black, nervously rocking water. Everything was about secrecy and timing. Aspen could blend into the background as if she were a shadow herself, but tonight really depended on her timing. It had to be just right. She had learned that lesson early on in her business. If you waited too long, the quarry would be gone, if you came out too soon, it could mean trouble. The men were wary; she could tell by the way they kept shifting their eyes around the dark docks, hastily loading the wooden crates onto the smugglers ship. She judged their strengths and weaknesses with a quick scan of her green eyes. Two of the men were armed with machine guns, pacing the perimeter of the loading dock, while the others loaded the crates. The two armed men were big. She could see their muscles even in the semi-darkness. They would be the ones she needed to worry about. The three loading the crates wouldn't be too much trouble. They'd focus on getting the goods onto the ship. There was only one item Aspen was interested in. It was in one of the cases that hadn't yet been loaded. Her scanner binoculars showed that it was in a case within the box, carefully cushioned by layers of packing material. This was her target tonight. Her mission.
Aspen crawled forward a pace, a plan forming in her mind. She needed to take down the two guards quickly before the others noticed. But it would be pretty obvious if they suddenly fell unconscious to the ground. She needed to lure them away from the loading dock. She looked around her on the ground until she found a sizable pebble of concrete. She tested its weight in her hand and then hurled it over the container she was hiding behind. It clattered to the ground somewhere on the other side. The guards froze.
"What was that?" one of them asked.
"Go check it out," the other said.
Aspen allowed herself a satisfied smile before slipping silently back along the container, trailing the guard who walked along the opposite side. She could hear his heavy footsteps and kept time with them. Her hand went to her belt, and she pulled out a dart gun. She never killed. That was her personal rule. Other smugglers would do anything to get their goods, but she clung to the last semblance of humanity she could find. She checked to see that the dart was loaded properly before waiting at the end of the cargo container. She heard the guard stop. She tensed, waiting to see if he needed any more prompting to come closer. He didn't as it turned out. He turned around the corner of the container so that they were only a few feet apart. Aspen waited; then she brought her arm around the corner and shot the dart into his neck. He collapsed, and she caught him before he hit the ground, groaning silently under his weight. Once his body was safely on the concrete, she relieved him of his gun and hat, tucking her hair up under the black cap. She left his body where it was. No use making noise trying to hide it. The gun she hid in the shadows a few feet away. She crept back around her corner and waited again. She had gauged how many crates still needed to be loaded and how long each would take to load as well as how long it would take the guard to come looking for his comrade. A minute later she could hear his footsteps. As he turned the corner, she shot a second dart. This time she hardly managed to catch the body, and his watch caught on the cargo container, ringing out loudly.
Aspen silently cursed, laying his body down next to the other guard. She hefted his machine gun and strode back to the docks. The men had stopped working and were looking nervously around. They caught sight of her from a distance, and she gave a firm nod. They went back to work. These lackeys didn't question much when their boss had a gun in hand, and the night hid her form. She watched as the other crates were loaded, keeping an eye on the last one. Her prize.
This wasn't her first mission, nor would it be her last. In years past, she would have been nervous about this. So much could go wrong. She could slip up and give her position away, they could load the crate before she had the chance to take what she was after, they could have more men aboard the ship… She was aware of their ring though. They worked in small groups, never more than five or six men. They smuggled at night, changing ports every new job, usually smuggling drugs but sometimes unusual artifacts found their way into the mix. The latter could be sold for a great deal to the right buyer.
They were down to the last two crates now. Aspen watched as two men lifted one while the other readied the last. This was her chance. Aspen set down the machine gun and stepped forward as the two men disappeared onto the ship and the third turned his back to her. A quick shot from her dart gun and the man slumped across the crate. Aspen acted quickly. She pushed the fallen man aside and pulled out a crowbar from where it had been strapped across her back. She pried the lid off of the crate and lifted out the black case. She replaced the top of the crate and melted into the shadows. She was halfway across the docks when she heard the two men start shouting. That was her cue to hurry. She sprinted to where she had left her transport, setting the case on the passenger seat of the black Audi. She pressed the engine start button and the car purred softly to life. She drove away from the docks without turning on her lights, letting the GPS system guide her until she was far enough away that she could risk the headlights. This had been an easy job. Not all of them were, but she always got what she came for. Get the job done no matter the danger and don't get caught. That was what they'd told her in training. She'd learned the latter the hard way and been left with a scar to remind her.
ARTIFACT was headquartered outside of Phoenix, Arizona in the desert. They had recruited her in 2007 shortly after she had turned 17. It hadn't been a difficult decision considering her parents had worked for ARTIFACT before their untimely deaths, and Aspen knew little to nothing about them. Her aunt had always refused to discuss them no matter how many times Aspen had begged and pleaded growing up. Leaving her aunt's house with the promise of learning more about her parents had been too good to pass up. Living with her alcoholic aunt had never been a happy memory, and Aspen was only too happy to move on despite her aunt's cryptic warnings about joining ARTIFACT. Despite never knowing her parents (they had died when she was only three), Aspen had inherited their scientific brains. She had graduated high school early at 16, but couldn't afford college. ARTIFACT had promised her a three-year contract and a free ride through any college in the country. She had three more months to go, and her future was her own. She would never have to take orders from anyone or knock someone unconscious with a dart or steal an artifact that had already been smuggled into the country. She would put that all behind her and live a normal life. That's all she wanted. A normal life. ARTIFACT had treated her well and her boss, Joseph Danners, had been like a second father to her, but Aspen wasn't blind; she knew what she did wasn't exactly legal. If the artifacts were already being smuggled and sold on the black market, then they were up for grabs according to ARTIFACT. It made some sense to Aspen even if she wasn't entirely comfortable with it. Danners always assured her that the artifacts would be in much better hands going to his private buyers than whatever dirty organization was stealing them. Her parents had been researchers at ARTIFACT, looking into the items brought in to see if they could figure out their function or power. If they had worked for the organization it couldn't be that bad, Aspen figured. Even still, the thought of going off to college and leaving her past far behind was what kept her going.
Aspen sighed. Right now she had an artifact to deliver. She needed to keep focused on the task at hand. It was a long drive nearing four hours when she reached the border of Arizona. ARTIFACT was headquartered just outside of Phoenix in an empty patch of desert no one ever went. Aspen had traveled all over the southwest part of the country over the last three years but there was always something nice about coming home even if she hated the desert.
When she finally reached Phoenix she took a back road into the desert until black wrought iron gates reared up before her. She slowed her car, rolling down her window and reaching out a hand to touch the handprint pad. It scanned her before opening the gates to let her through. She drove up the winding driveway until she reached the fortress. It had once been a factory but had been abandoned in the late 70s. Now it served as the headquarters for ARTIFACT. She parked in front of the building, shutting off the engine and lights and grabbing the black case. She was still wearing the guard's black hat, she realized. She pulled it off and flung it into the backseat before shaking out her red curls. She took after her mother her aunt had told her whenever she forgot herself and mentioned her sister. Red hair, light green eyes like a sun-beaten stalk of grass, a light spattering of freckles across her nose, a delicate heart-shaped face and a slender build. Aunt Vi had red hair too, but it wasn't the same shade, wasn't as beautiful as her sister's hair had been. She'd always been jealous of her sister. Ava Tolvar had been beautiful and smart and had succeeded in life where Vi never had. It'd made her bitter over the years, and when she had taken Aspen in at the age of three, she had made sure that Aspen shared in her bitterness. Aspen might have her mother's looks and her brains but right now none of that mattered. Instead of learning astrophysics and genetics in college like she'd wanted, she'd learned how to shoot a gun and how to cut off the oxygen in a person's windpipe until they lost consciousness. She'd learned how to steal and to infiltrate and to not get caught. Some life this was turning out to be. She hated to feel ungrateful when Danners had given her a chance, but sometimes she was jealous of the kids she'd gone to school with. They were off at college or job fairs while she delivered stolen goods at odd hours in the morning.
She entered the headquarters, using the same hand-scan system to gain access. Security was top priority here. ARTIFACT kept a lot of valuable goods on the premises while they waited to be examined and shipped off to a buyer. They were the notorious collectors of all things odd. They had moon rocks and asteroids as well as weapons supposedly forged by a higher life force. They had raw energy captured in cases and chunks of uncut iridium. Aspen didn't ask questions. It wasn't part of her job description, and as interested as she was in some of these artifacts, as much as she would have loved to study them, she knew that wasn't meant to be. She wasn't even sure what was in the case. Now it was her job to hand-deliver them to her boss so that he could inspect them. This part of the job always excited her because Danners often let her stay as he gave them the initial inspection whatever the objects might be. It was a fleeting but worthwhile chance for a short glimpse of what she'd risked her life for.
Aspen entered the elevator and pressed in the button bearing the number 8. She took a moment to shrug out the tension that had settled in her shoulders during the long drive while the elevator rumbled up. A ding sounded above her and the doors opened as she reached the 8th floor. She took the hall straight down to Danners's office and knocked.
"Come in," the familiar voice called out.
She pushed the doors open and entered the office. It was decorated in all manner of artifacts, all artfully arranged in glass cases as if it was a museum rather than a smuggler's trove. She didn't stare at the objects – she'd seem them all before – just walked toward the clear glass desk and the man sitting in the black executive's chair. She set the case down in front of him and waited. He didn't glance up right away from his iPad. Instead he flicked a finger across the screen, frowning at something she couldn't see. Then he set it down and turned to the case. A grey eyebrow arched as he opened it. He made an approving sound and pulled out two silver cuffs that looked as if they could fit on a slender wrist. Joseph Danners was a man who knew a lot about the extraordinary. He had founded ARTIFACT for the very purpose of collecting unusual items. He admired the cuffs for a moment before setting them down.
"Very lovely," he said. Then he looked up at Aspen, blue eyes glinting in excitement "Do you know what these are?" he asked. She shook her head. "These will stop a person from using any sort of ability they might possess whether a science experiment gone wrong or some natural talent they were born with. They make one utterly human." He stared at them for a moment, and Aspen thought he might have forgotten that she was there. "What a power." He looked up at Aspen finally. "Would you use such a power if you could take someone extraordinary and turn them into something ordinary?"
Aspen wasn't sure what sort of answer he was looking for. "I'm not sure, sir," she replied hesitantly. Danners got in these sorts of moods frequently. He was always wondering about the universe in ways she couldn't begin to imagine. "Depends on the power, I suppose. How the person might use it."
Danners gave her a thoughtful nod. "Well put. A power isn't dangerous in and of itself but rather the person who wields it. They are the ones with the choice to use it for better or for worse."
Aspen had come across a lot of strange things in her time with ARTIFACT including some science experiments gone wrong, but she had never met someone with super abilities. Even Iron Man was just a man in a metal suit. As far as she was concerned, such abilities didn't exist. Danners stood and put the cuffs in a glass case along the wall. "Good work, Aspen." He turned to look at her. "Your contract is up in a few months, is it not?"
Aspen nodded eagerly and then stopped not wanting to seem too excited to leave. Danners didn't seem to notice.
"Can it really have been three years already?" He ran a finger along the edge of the glass desk, frowning at the microscopic dust. "It seems just yesterday I was offering you the job. You've been a great asset to ARTIFACT. It came to my attention earlier today that I haven't told you much of anything about your parents. That was part of the promise I made you when I first hired you."
Aspen sat quietly. Danners had told her about her parents a little bit at a time over the last three years. He'd met them before he'd founded ARTIFACT when he'd been in the business of military armor. They'd worked with him on several projects, and he'd always praised their ingenious forward thinking. He'd laughed about the way Ava had always taken charge while Gregor was quieter, more of the thinker, the tinkerer. They'd made a good team, always eager to delve into the newest discovery in their branch of science. He said that Aspen was a mix of the two, quiet and thoughtful yet always eager to take action. Like her parents she had an innate sense of curiosity that often led her to unexpected discoveries.
"Sit down with me for a moment, Aspen," he said, motioning toward a modern-looking plastic chair in front of his desk. She sat down, folding her hands in her lap. "When you first started working for ARTIFACT, I wasn't sure you could handle the job," Danners said, sitting down at his desk. "You had just turned seventeen. Fresh out of high school with your own little ideas about the world. I took you under my wing, trained you to become something more. Despite everything though, you became one of my best agents. You showed skills in stealth and a common sense that keeps you calm in stressful situations. You never once killed on the job. Most of my agents won't hesitate. It's just collateral damage in a dog-eat-dog business but you," he pointed a finger at Aspen, "you didn't fall into that pattern. I want to know why."
Aspen stared out the window for a moment even though everything was dark. She thought she could see a tinge of color on the horizon. "I didn't lose sight of my humanity, sir," she said. "I didn't want to lose myself. I'm not a killer."
"No, you're not. It will be a shame to lose you. A real shame. But," he folded his hands, "I want to see you succeed in life outside of this business. I want to see you through whatever school of science you choose, to see you continue your parents' work and become the scientist I know they would have wanted you to become." Aspen waited for him to get to the point. "I've treated you well, have I not? Taken care of you, gotten you out of tight situations?"
"Of course." Aspen didn't mention the scar. He hadn't been fast enough that time, and it blazed like a reminder down her face.
"I want what's best for you. That's why I took you in after you were out of high school. I felt I owed your parents the favor of doing everything I could for their daughter." It had crossed Aspen's mind a few times over the last three years that he could have just paid for her to go to college right then and there. If he'd really been looking out for Ava and Gregor's best interests, he wouldn't have made their daughter into a smuggler. Life was not a place for handouts though. She knew that well. You had to work hard for what you wanted, and so she did. "You know, of course, what your parents studied, but I never told you about a specific project they were working on, did I?"
Aspen shook her head. Her aunt had never spoken of it but Aspen always had the feeling that they had been studying something dangerous, something that had led to the explosion in their lab and their subsequent deaths.
"Your parents were very interested in genetics. How DNA shapes a person and if it's possible to shape the DNA to change the person. Heavy stuff, I know. Your parents believed that with the proper serum, they could alter DNA or even the way the brain functioned. It had been done before – a serum that changed a person's DNA. Have you heard of the Super Soldier Serum?" Aspen shook her head again. "You wouldn't have. Before your time by several decades. It was a serum created by a German scientist and given to an American soldier. It enhanced is body to make him the perfect human specimen. He was faster, stronger, able to recall memories in great detail. Many people tried to recreate this serum over the years, but were not successful. Your parents turned their focus on the brain. What if they were to find a way of unlocking the brain? They say we only use ten percent of our brains. Imagine if you could use one hundred percent."
Aspen couldn't imagine. "What could a person do?"
"No one knows. Anything I suppose, within reason."
"Fly?"
Danners gave her a patient smile. "Perhaps not fly. Your parents worked on this serum in college. That's where we met. I was giving a lecture on military advancements. They approached me afterwards with an idea. A serum that could open up that possibility. They thought perhaps it could be used in the military. Create a new kind of Super Soldier. That's where their fates were set, I'm afraid. Do you know what some people will do to get their hands on this kind of research?"
"I have an idea," Aspen said quietly.
"Anything. I tried to protect them as best I could, but there must have been a spy within their midst. I didn't get there in time. They died before they completed their research. My company dried up soon after. I created ARTIFACT because I'd seen what people would do for something like that serum. I vowed never again to let powerful weapons get into the wrong hands. We might not work with the law, but I've made sure a lot of objects have gone to the right hands."
"I'm sure my parents would approve – I mean that you're trying to keep people safe. I know they wouldn't have wanted their serum or anything else dangerous like that to fall into the wrong hands."
"That brings me to my next concern. I'm not sure that all the research was at the facility when it blew. It could be out there still. Hopefully not in the wrong hands – no, we would know by now if it was. I was hoping that you might know something. Maybe your aunt mentioned-"
Aspen let out an involuntary laugh. "Aunt Vi? No. That topic is off limits completely. This is the first time I've ever heard of any serum."
"I see. I was hoping you might be able to help me. I want to make sure that their research gets found if there is any left, but by the right people. I don't think I need to tell you how dangerous it could be in the wrong hands."
"No. I'll look around a little. See if I can find anything. Maybe my aunt has something."
"That would be wonderful. Why don't you take a few days off? See what you can find."
"Thank you, sir." She stood to leave.
"Oh, and Aspen, don't tell your aunt about this. I'd hate for her to think I was trying to profit from this. I just want to see it safe."
"Don't worry. She freaks whenever I mention my parents. I'll look around when she's not there."
"Good, good. Well, get some rest. You did a good job today."
"What are you going to do with the cuffs?" Aspen asked, glancing over at the two silver objects.
"Oh, I'm sure I'll find a use for them."
Aspen nodded, taking her leave. She felt restless after her conversation with Danners. She drove around for a long time until she found herself on her aunt's street in front of the home she'd spent the better part of her life. The paint was peeling on the plum colored two-story. The grass was dead and the window boxes empty. Just looking at it could drain the happiness from someone. She parked on the curb, cutting the engine and the lights. Everything was dark inside but then again it was close to four in the morning, so her aunt would be asleep, probably passed out with her brandy bottle close at hand. Aspen leapt over the waist-high picket fence and made her way around to the backyard. The window to the laundry room was easy enough to jimmy. She couldn't count the amount of times she'd slipped out through it to escape the confines of the house when things got too hard to handle. Now she climbed in, sliding across the washer to the floor. The hallway beyond was black, but she knew every bit of that house, every creak, and managed to find her way into the first floor study without difficulty. She closed the door and made sure the curtains were closed before turning on the desk light. It dimly illuminated the cluttered room, and Aspen took a moment to check her surroundings. Her aunt had never allowed her in this room, so of course it was the first place she thought to check. She'd snuck in a few times over the years of course, but then it had been neater, everything that needed to be out of sight was well hidden. Now it looked as if her aunt had ransacked the room looking for something. A half drunk glass of brandy sat on the desk. Her aunt had been in here recently. Curiosity piqued, Aspen began her search.
Twenty dust-filled minutes later she'd only found old news articles and useless paperwork. She pulled out yet another news article, but the headline kept her from tossing it away.
Fourteen Dead in Mysterious Lab Explosion
It was from the day after her parents had died. She brought the paper over to the light, seating herself in the creaky swivel chair and reading.
June 2, 1994
In an explosion that lit up the night sky just outside of Portland, Oregon, fourteen are dead. Police are still searching as the damage to the infrastructure prohibits access to much of the lab. The bodies have not been identified because of the fire, but it has been confirmed that Ava Tolvar, 29, and Gregor Tolvar, 30, were in the lab during the time of the explosion. The Tolvars were renowned scientists of neuroscience and genetics. It is not known what they were working on at the time of the explosion, and nothing has been recovered within the lab to give a cause to the tragic accident. Police are still investigating.
Aspen set the paper aside. So many questions. Everything about her parents was a mystery. The one person who might know more about it refused to speak of it. Aspen was tired of living in the dark. She had a right to know about her parents and how they'd died. For someone whose nature was to find out facts, it was frustrating beyond belief to be denied the simple truth for so long. She had been three when her parents had died. That didn't exactly allow a lot of time for her to get to know them. The most her aunt had ever said about them was that they were good people who made a mistake that got them killed and that if Aspen didn't want to end up the same way, she'd keep her head down and not ask questions. Maybe in some twisted sense, Aunt Vi was trying to protect her, but that had never stopped Aspen from wondering what had really happened that fateful night. She sighed, leaning back in the chair and pressing her fingers to her temples as a headache tugged at her brain. Where would her aunt hide anything pertaining to her parents' work? Aspen's eyes met with a black and white photo on the opposite wall from where she sat. It was one of her father's from when he'd fiddled around with an old film camera. There was definite talent there, but he hadn't gotten the chance to explore it. Aspen got up from the chair and crossed the room, taking a moment to admire the Portland skyline before pulling the photograph down from the wall. A safe with a numeric keypad for the code was exposed.
Aspen pushed up the sleeves of her jacket and hovered a finger over the keypad as she thought. There were six spaces for the numbers so it was probably a date. She tried her aunt's date of birth and then hers. When neither worked she looked around the office for any sort of clue. Aunt Vi wouldn't make it something random. Her life might be a mess, but she was still methodical. Aspen's eyes landed on the article. June 2, 1994 stood out under the headline. Aspen's fingers trembled as she typed in the code: 6-2-1-9-9-4. The safe beeped shortly and clicked. Aspen pulled the door open.
"What on earth do you think you're doing?" The overhead light flicked on, and Aunt Vi stood in the doorway. "I thought I taught you not to go sticking your nose where it doesn't belong." Aunt Vi's red curls were messy as if she'd just woken up or hadn't bothered to brush them in the first place. Aspen could smell brandy on her, but her brown eyes were sharp as ever and looking quite deadly.
"I thought you were asleep." She wasn't about to apologize for what she had done.
"You stand in front of me after having not only broken into my house but my safe and make a wise-ass comment like that?" Aspen just glared. Her aunt glared right back. Then to Aspen's surprise she let out a long breath, her shoulders sagging as if she'd been cut from the strings holding her so taut. "Aspen, honey, you know I kept this stuff from you to protect you."
It was the first time Aspen had heard those words out loud. The first time her aunt had spoken to her about 'this stuff' without shouting that Aspen needed to keep her nose out of it. "Really?" she asked spitefully. "Cause it seemed more like you wanted to make me as miserable as possible."
Aunt Vi stood still for a moment and then put a hand to her head. "I really did screw up, didn't I?" Aspen didn't grace her with an answer. "Come on. I'll put the kettle on, and we can sit in the living room." She glanced at the open safe and Aspen's hand that was still resting on the door. "Just leave that a minute," she said. "Please."
The pleading behind the word 'please' was the only thing that made Aspen remove her hand from the safe door and follow her aunt into the living room. That and the hope that she was about to learn something – anything – about her parents. She waited impatiently while her aunt put on the kettle in the other room. Aunt Vi seemed to be gathering her thoughts because she took a long time, waiting for the water to boil and the tea to steep before bringing two steaming mugs into the living room.
"How's work?" Aunt Vi asked, bitterness in her voice. "Danners treating you well?"
"Everything is fine. He told me a little bit about my parents which is more than I can say for you."
Aunt Vi gave her a sharp look. "Did he now?"
"He said they were working on a serum that would give a person full use of their brain. He said that some of that work might still be out there and that it could be dangerous in the wrong hands." No use keeping that all a secret now.
"And he thinks he's got the right hands?" Aunt Vi scoffed.
"Maybe. You know he's treated me well."
"Yeah, hired you as a smuggler. What side of the law is he on again?"
"He's paying my way through college. Three months and I'm done there."
"Oh yeah. You got that in writing?"
"I know you don't like Danners, and I'm not entirely sure why, but he's given me absolutely no reason not to trust him. Yeah, the work can get hard, but we're saving these artifacts from falling into the wrong hands." Aunt Vi pursed her lips, and Aspen knew she wanted to question whether Danners hands were the 'right' hands again. "He doesn't keep all of them. He sells them to people who can keep them safe."
"Is that what he tells you? I thought it was to the highest bidder."
Aspen felt a jab of frustration. "I didn't come here to discuss Danners or ARTIFACT," she said angrily.
"No, you came here like a common thief to make off with some of my possessions like they were just another good you needed to smuggle into Danners."
Aspen felt a rush of shame mingled with frustration. "Well you gave me no choice. You never told me anything."
"What makes you think you need to know about your parents' work? About their past and the accident?"
"Because sometimes it's hard to believe they ever even existed. I was three when they died. I don't remember them. Just snippets of memories where I can't quite make out their faces. I don't want to forget them, and I don't want look back and my past and see a big cloud of mystery and misery. I want to know the truth."
"You are so much like your parents. Always in pursuit of the truth no matter how much it might cost you. But you know what happened to them, what it cost them. I don't want the same thing to happen to you."
"Shouldn't I know what I'm up against?"
"You aren't up against anything. It's better to be in the dark, trust me."
"I wish I could, but you've lied to me all my life, kept secrets. You've never given me any reason to trust you."
"Then trust that I made a vow to your parents to keep you safe, and I am trying as hard as I can to do that. You don't make it easy though. Working for Danners…asking questions..."
"Are you going to show me what's in the safe or not?" Aspen asked.
Aunt Vi was silent for a long moment, sipping at her tea. Aspen tapped her foot impatiently on the floor. "Fine." Aunt Vi got up, setting her mug back down on the coffee table so hard that some of the amber liquid spilled out. She left the room, and Aspen found that her pulse had sped up and her heart was racing. Was she about to learn the full truth about her parents? Aunt Vi returned holding a small shoe box. She set it on the table between them and opened the lid setting it aside. Aspen saw several items that struck some sort of memory for her. Her aunt reached in and pulled out a watch with a cracked surface. She handed it to Aspen.
"That was your mother's. She wore it everyday. Such a stickler for time. If there wasn't a clock in the room she'd panic. She had a tendency for losing track of time in the lab and missing important appointments. Nearly missed her own wedding. Somehow it survived the explosion."
"You mean…" Aspen nearly tossed the watch back in the box. "It was on her when…"
"They found it in the rubble. Not on her..." She pulled out a paper envelope and handed it to Aspen. She slid out a set of photos from her childhood. Pictures of her as a baby and a toddler. Riding on her little bouncy horse in the backyard, eating a bite of birthday cake when she turned two, petting a miniature horse at the petting zoo. She didn't remember any of this but here was photographic evidence that it had happened.
"Why haven't you showed me these before?" she asked. She realized that her eyes had grown moist and tried to push the surge of emotions she had just experienced back.
"I thought it might be too hard to see what you had and what you can never have again," her aunt said.
"But at least I had it for awhile. Can I keep these?" she asked. Her aunt nodded. "What else?"
Her aunt pulled a folder out of the box next. It was labeled 'Superhero Serum' in a familiar handwriting. "These documents are something I have guarded with my life. I probably shouldn't keep them here, but I don't trust banks and burying it in the backyard seemed a little silly. You must never mention these documents to anyone, especially Joseph Danners. If anyone asks, you came her tonight to find out more about your parents and all you found were these photos. I don't have anything else of theirs. Promise me."
Aspen thought back to Danners's request that she find the missing documents that showed her parents' work on the serum. She saw the desperation in her aunt's eyes and gave a nod. The truth was owed to her first and foremost. Anyone else would have to wait. "I promise. It stays between you and me."
Aunt Vi opened the folder and handed it to Aspen. "This is your parents' work. The night before they died, they gave it to me and told me to guard it with my life and to never let it fall into the wrong hands."
Aspen stared down at the papers. Scribbles and notes, more scribbles in the margins. The notes were a complete mess but they were written in scrawling cursive (her mother's?) and her choppy shorthand (that had to be her father's). What was more, she could understand the basics of what their notes described. "This is genius. How did they even discover this?"
"Teamwork, ingenuity. They studied other serums and enlisted the help of some talented scientists."
"Do you think one of the other scientists betrayed them?"
"Possibly. But a lot of people died in that explosion. Not too many people know of their work. But it just takes one to make a mess of things." She let Aspen read through the rest of the notes and then took them back, placing them inside the box and closing the lid. "It's just a folder with papers, but to the right person it's a weapon. I think you of all people can understand that."
"I can. Thank you for showing me, Aunt Vi."
"I just hope I've done the right thing. I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you."
"Nothing's going to happen. I can take care of myself."
"I know you can. But you shouldn't always have to. I know I haven't been a good guardian. I'm a sorry excuse for a mom. I've made mistakes in the past, mistakes I won't ever forgive myself for, but that doesn't excuse the way I've treated you. I suppose I pushed you away because after all the bad I've done, I thought I'd mess you up too."
"Maybe we're both a little messed up, but that just means we can learn from our mistakes," Aspen told her.
"Now when did you get so wise?" Aunt Vi asked, cracking a smile. It lit up her face in a way Aspen hadn't seen in years.
"I'm not sure I'm very wise," Aspen said. "I have no idea what I'm doing right now, but I do know what I want to do and that's finish up at ARTIFACT and go to college. I want to study science like my parents and maybe continue their work but for the greater good. I won't make the same mistakes."
"You should get back," her aunt said, taking the box protectively. "Remember your promise."
"I won't tell anyone about it." They stood and an awkward silence filled the room. "Thanks for the tea."
"Anytime honey. Maybe we can do it again."
"Yeah, maybe."
…
"The aunt has the papers," the man across the street from Violet Fengard's two-story house said into his earpiece. "She just showed them to the girl."
"Where does she keep them?"
"I can't see exactly where, but she went into a room across from the living room. Probably a safe in there. The girl's leaving."
"Wait until the girl leaves on her next mission and then retrieve the papers. Don't kill the aunt though; she could have some valuable information. She knows more than she's letting on. She'd have us believe that she's some drunken nobody, but she was there at the birth of that serum. She knows how it works."
"Copy that." The earpiece went silent and the man turned the keys in the engine, driving in the opposite direction as the girl. Three years of patiently waiting and the girl had finally led them straight to the prize.
