A short time later, the two were sitting at the end of a short dock next to a rundown boat rental shack. They'd checked the building and gotten rid of the two occupants: a lone roach and a mannequin in the back of the room described by Charon as being "creepy as fuck". It was damp from the proximity to the river, but good enough for one sleepover.
Lee sat with his bare feet dangling in the water and Charon was beside him, legs crossed and large hands planted on the boards behind him. The bridge and landmasses sectioned the bit of the Tidal Basin in front of them into a kind of small lake, and the Jefferson Memorial perched on an island directly across from them. The dome of the rotunda sat atop the square building, and the intake and outflow pipes were still and silent as they usually were. The last time Lee visited, James had tested the inner machinery and gotten a small, sullen flow from the pipes, but had had to quickly shut down after an alarming clanking noise sounded from the guts of the purifier. Not put off in the least, James had turned the machine off and bustled off to find the malfunction. He wondered again how far along the reunited team had come and how close they were to turning things on for real. The dark bores of the outflow pipes stared back at him, empty for now.
Lee picked at the spongy boards of the dock and pried up a splinter of wood; bouncing it in his hand before flicking it into the water. They were so close to their destination, but he found he still didn't want to be there quite yet. He needed more time to work up to it. The sun was setting now, looking misty and ethereal behind the dense cloud cover in the sky. Lee's mind drifted as the reflections on the water dimmed turned darker.
"Charon... isn't your real name is it?"
"Hmm? Why do you say that?" Charon didn't sound at all surprised, but had a half-smile on his face as he continued watching the shifting tones of orange and blue ripple in the water.
Lee plucked another splinter from the dock and held it in front of his face, staring at the coarse grain. "It fits too well with Underworld. Like Cerberus, he had to have been named after arriving there. The Ninth Circle was named to fit with the Hell theme as well, and you being named for the ferryman of the souls of the dead is pretty convenient." He paused and lowered the shard of wood and glanced sideways at the ghoul. "Unless I'm off the mark and it is just a coincidence. A person's a little different from a robot or a shop."
Charon's smile broadened, "Took you a while, Mouse, but you're right." Lee tsked at the admonishment but let him continue. "When Ahzrukhal... acquired me for the bar, I was ordered to respond to Charon. I'm still surprised that someone like that ever cared about mythology." He straightened up and stretched his legs out, letting them hang over the edge of the dock in a mirror of Lee. The sun was below the horizon now; shadows had crept in and the two were just dark shapes watching the moon rise. "So your next question is 'What's your real name?'." Lee turned to him, expectantly.
"And I don't know, it's just one of the things I've lost. I've had different names over the years, Charon's just the most recent." He shrugged and stared moodily over the lake. "It's as good as any other, better than some." He turned back to look at Lee, "Disappointed?"
"Mmm? No. Just makes you even more mysterious," he answered, winking with a smile.
Charon chuckled and they continued talking quietly, watching the dim lights across the lake from the memorial until Lee started to nod off. They set up a quick pile of bedding in the shack for Lee and Charon kept watch outside. He sat again at the edge of the dock, listening to the water lap at the shore and the wind sighing around him. He'd been to the memorial before, and had briefly seen the development of the ongoing project there. Previously just a curiosity, it now sounded like it'd been turned into something greater. Interest piqued, he wondered if tomorrow he'd see anyone he recognized. Legs crossed, and pale eyes unfocused but watchful, he relaxed into a slow meditative breath to wait for sunrise.