November 22, 1980

"Now then," Séance said, settling himself comfortably against the wall of the televator (As comfortable as you could get in a metal box anyway), "We've got at least fifteen minutes before we get to Vietnam. It's an older model after all. So we have plenty of time to talk."

Xuan sighed and leaned herself up against the walls.

"It started about five years ago," she said, "When Hoa got sick. We needed to pay extra to keep her out of a charity ward."

"That sounds expensive," he frowned, "I know I left you guys plenty of money but it's been what? Seventeen years?"

"Yes, and that money started to run out when Klaus turned ten," Xuan said.

Séance smirked. (He had a kid!)

"Does he look like me?"

Xuan frowned thoughtfully.

"Sort of," she said, "He's got a pretty good face and he finally figured out how to manage his hair. He wears your sunglasses too. The situation right now-"

"What's different from looking like me?" Séance said indignantly.

"He's Vietnamese to start with," Xuan sighed, "He asked about you almost continuously until he turned fifteen."

"What happened then?"

"I told him."

"How'd that go then?" Séance asked.

(Honey, your dad is a psychic-psycho superhero who time travelled to save J.F.K, which, by the way, he failed at. Surprise!)

"He didn't believe me at first," Xuan admitted, "But he did after awhile. Now as I was saying-"

"Understanding kid."

"Only after a month. Then you should consider that he can see dead people," Xuan said, "He was willing to believe a couple of weird things. He wanted to come see you this year you know. He'd gotten the travel arrangements together and everything."

"Good thing I have some warning," Séance said, scratching the back of his neck, "My room is a mess right now. Not to mention that my siblings have gotten even more psychotic in the last twenty-four hours."

(Your aunts and uncles are psycho superheroes too! Let's have a party!)

"I can't imagine him liking any of them," he said reflectively.

Folding her arms Xuan looked down at him angrily.

"You can talk to him about that stuff later," she snapped, "Now do you want to hear about what's happening to your not?"

"Okay, okay," groused Séance, "I get it, I get it. Continue."

"Now that I have your permission," she said bitingly, "We really didn't have enough money even for standard health care when she first got sick. So Klaus used his powers to see into the future and bet on winning dogs and how to win card games."

"He can see into the future?" Séance frowned, "I'm jealous. I can't do that."

"I guess it's a perk," Xuan said, "He can't fly. Does that make you feel better?"

"Kind of does."

"Anyway, he bet a lot of money. I mean a lot. Consistently too. He was careful though. Never too much at one place, occasional disguises, and that sort of thing. They all call him Kit Siang now."

For a minute Séance rolled the words around in his head. (Vietnamese had way too many i's in it for his preference.)

"Lucky?" he managed.

"Yeah," she said, "and he was. He was able to quit his other jobs and just do this. Like I said, he was careful. He had reason to want to be. If he was accused of cheating…there are some pretty unscrupulous characters that run those kind of places. Oh, you've been to Saigon. You know about the underground businesses."

"Oh boy," Séance said, "The boy's gambling…he's fallen in with the wrong crowd…jeez. This sounds like the kind of shit that would've happened if I'd been watching him. I kind of wondered if he was going grow up being a chorus boy with you taking care of him."

"You try watching a teenage boy!" she snapped, "And I did a very good job, thank you very much. This was his only vice and he did it for a good reason. As for the whole chorus boy thing, I never wanted him to be a chorus boy!"

"You might've."

"He's too much like you to turn him into a chorus boy!"

Again Séance smirked. He was liking his kid more and more.

"Good to hear. Now, what you were saying?"

"He was doing this for five years," she said, rubbing her temples, "Never losing large amounts of money, for five years? People noticed. He wasn't so lucky in that respect, the people who did notice."

Curiously Séance straightened up.

"Who noticed?"

Looking away Xuan shuddered.

"They were very interested in how good he could do this. They were also willing to believe that he could see into the future. They approached him a week ago and he blew them off. He got attacked when he was in the downtown area this morning."

Séance narrowed his eyes. (He hated people messing with his stuff.)

"These people are going to be in a lot of shit soon," he said, "Is he doing okay?"

"Right now he is, or was when I left him. They wouldn't hurt him too badly right now. They want him to become their new source of capital after all," Xuan said, "With him they really can't make a faulty investment. I told him to stall while I get help. But…they're mafia. He won't help them. He's got these morals and all…more then you do actually. Plus, he won't help them for…personal reasons."

She looked away.

"Personal reasons?" he asked, "You have got to tell me this one."

Sighing Xuan pulled on her braid. (Odd nervous habit if you asked him.) Then she looked at him.

"When you…left, you said you got Seung's smuggling ring?"

"Yep," Séance said proudly, "Threw a car at Giang myself. Soar, scream, crash, squish!"

He suddenly got that she wasn't asking him about that so he could brag. (Dammit, he liked bragging!) One look at her expression confirmed that. He moaned and rubbed his temples.

"Okay," he said, "Who did Diego and I miss?"

"Seung," Xuan said flatly, "He's old, fat, and pissed as hell. But he sees potential profit in our son, who has just given him faulty betting information. When they find out that the information isn't real, then I have no doubt in my mind that they will kill him."

Clambering to his feet Séance lurched over to some of the televator controls.

"I'd better speed this thing up then."