*I still don't own Ed, Edd n' Eddy, Marvel, or DC!*
Won't Back Down...
"Are you sure this information is correct, Okoye?"
Standing in the meeting hall where King T'Challa and the Council of Wakanda convened were T'Challa himself, and one of his best warriors and closest friends, Okoye. Held in the hands of the king was a medical file about a certain survivor of the Cul-De-Sac Massacre, as it has come to be known as in the hero community. Eddy's file, to be exact. It not only detailed the extent of the injuries that the boy has recently suffered at the hands of the Joker, who got away with nothing more than what might as well be a slap on the wrist in T'Challa's honest opinion, but it also has information about the lad's shocking origin.
You see, there was a time long before he became king, before he was the Black Panther, that T'Challa thought it would be a good idea for himself and his wife, Ororo Munroe A.K.A., Storm of the X-Men, to freeze some of their sperm and eggs for an emergency. They had recently been married at the time, and they both knew the dangers of being out there in the field fighting crime and threats to their planet. So they did this in order to make sure that they could still have a child or two, should the worst case scenario happen. In the off chance that T'Challa was rendered sterile due to severe injury, or Storm ended up rendered infertile or with a severely damaged reproductive system for the very same reasons. This way, they could still have a child of their own, with Okoye having volunteered to be the one to carry the child should it be Storm who had been rendered infertile.
You can see where I'm going with this, right?
That's right. Eddy was created using those eggs and sperm cells.
Apparently, an unknown party had decided to steal the sperm and eggs that the two had frozen for such an emergency with the intent of breeding super soldiers using their combined genes to create a sort of ultimate weapon. In a way, the actual birthing process had been successful, but Eddy didn't seem to show signs of inheriting Storm's mutant powers. Rather than killing the boy, however, the ones who did this had decided that it would be for the best if they just left him on a random family's doorstep to be raised as a civilian.
This particular plan had worked flawlessly. They got away with precious cargo, their failed experiment was left to be raised by a civilian family, Eddy never learned the truth about his heritage, and no one's the wiser.
Until today that is.
It turns out one of Wakanda's field operatives was working undercover at the same hospital where Ed, Edd, and Eddy were treated for their injuries from Joker's attack. This gave the man access to the boys' medical files, and as he was looking over Eddy's file in order to prepare him for surgery, he discovered the origins of his DNA. With this new information, he quickly made hard copies of the records and had them sent back to Wakanda.
And so, here we are.
"I am positive, my King. The evidence is rather overwhelming and the blood sample that was also sent here with the records has been tested ten times with the same results. This boy, Eddy, is your child created by the genetic material that you and Storm had frozen so long ago. The very same genetic material stolen by Ulysses Klaue, which he sold to a criminal organization to try and create super soldiers using your DNA as a template." Okoye reported.
"Why does he look like this?" Storm asked as she looked at Eddy's most recent photo. "His skin looks like it's been bleached, and his hair is green!"
"According to reports, he and his two friends were caught in the center of the Joker's latest attack. Eddy was afflicted by his Joker Venom, but it must not have been as potent and so he didn't laugh himself to death like what would normally happen." Okoye replied.
The King of Wakanda mentally cursed at the thought of any one, no matter their age, suffering from that deranged psychopath's chemical weaponry. The Joker Venom was, is, and perhaps always will be, one of the deadliest weapons created by anyone. The only reason it doesn't affect the Joker himself is because he slowly built up immunity to it due to constant exposure during the creation process.
Joker was indeed a deranged, murdering sociopath. But he is also quite brilliant with his inventing, you have to give him that.
But for those boys to have suffered so much because of Joker, one of whom was his own flesh and blood, just made T'Challa sick to his stomach. Even more so than the fact that the Justice League and the Avengers don't just end the life of that killer clown so that he never kills any more innocent people. All of those men, women and children in that cul-de-sac died an unjust death because of the Joker and the big time superhero groups are doing nothing about it!
Storm walked up to her husband and put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down a little. Thankfully, it worked. T'Challa was still angry, but not so much so that he'd likely take it out on everyone around him.
"We are with you all the way, my love." Storm said. "Now, what do you want us to do?"
"We must bring back the lost son of Wakanda, and give him proper medical care. It will take more advanced healing knowledge than what America has in order to fully heal Eddy." T'Challa replied. "Okoye, get Nakia and meet me and Storm at the hangar bay. We leave in one hour."
"At once, My King!" Okoye said.
As she left to find Nakia and tell her the mission, she desperately hoped that they got to the boy in time. Before someone else with bad intentions catches wind of the boy's heritage and tries to use him for their own benefit.
Eddy may be tough, but he's only so much so.
...Somewhere In Peach Creek...
Eddy was walking down the abandoned path to the wilderness that he and his friends used to use as a shortcut to the candy store before… the incident… with only one destination in mind. He wasn't planning on staying in that hospital for a second longer. Those quacks they call doctors don't know anything about treating something as volatile as Joker Venom, even if it was low grade. If anything, their idea of treatment would just make things worse and likely kill him!
So he snuck out of the hospital and headed out of town to a place where he might find some relative safety, and solitude from the prejudice that would likely follow due to how he now looks. And judging from how Ed and Double Dee were gone from the room, too, Eddy's pretty sure they had the same idea.
Oh, if only the poor sap knew.
"Come on, Eddy! Just ignore the pain, you're gonna make it!... You're a fighter, just like Uncle Ben used to say!" he mumbled as he limped along.
A member of Eddy's adopted family. His uncle on his mother's side of the family, Ben was a simple farmer who spent his days tending to the fields, taking care of his livestock and selling his goods at the local farmer's market. His farm used to have two cows, a dairy cow named Bessy and a longhorn named George, a chicken coop full of hens and one rooster, three pigs with two being female and one male, a flock of sheep, two goats, and a loyal dog. A dalmatian to be precise.
But one day, a terrible tragedy befell old man Ben.
He was attacked by a pack of wild coyotes that were attempting to raid the chicken coop. Ben fought valiantly using only his bare fists and his old guitar as a weapon, but he was quickly overwhelmed due to the size of the pack. All of the gashes from their claws and deep bite wounds caused him to quickly bleed out just before help arrived and the pack was driven off.
It was the one event in his life, besides very recent events, that changed his life forever. He remembered how his old Uncle Ben had tried to be a role model for him, to make him into a good man, but Eddy's older brother Matthew always came along to ruin that by influencing Eddy into being the little scam artist that we all know now. It was soon after Ben's death that Matthew and Eddy's parents got into a big argument that ended with Matthew leaving home for good. Which now that he thinks about it, it was probably for the best.
As he hobbled up a hill, Eddy realized that he was on familiar property. It was his uncle's old farmland, though he supposed that it was now his since Ben had left the land and everything on it to Eddy in his will, and he was currently on the hill where Ben used to just sit on a stump for hours playing his guitar that he made from an old wooden box.
Amazingly enough, that old guitar was left leaning on the stump after all these years!
Deciding to take a page from his uncle's book, Eddy sat down on the stump, surprised that a new tree hadn't grown in its place, picked up the guitar, tuned it, and began to strum a song that was very familiar to him. One that reflects all of the emotions that he's feeling right now.
Well, I won't back down.
No, I won't back down.
You can stand me up, at the gates of Hell,
But I won't back down.
As Eddy sang and strummed along, he saw the beginnings of a thunderstorm in the distance. A truly daunting sight for one in his condition, but like the song says, he's not backing down.
Gonna stand my ground!
Won't be turned around!
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down,
Gonna stand my ground!
And I won't back down!
But little did he know that someone was watching him in the distance. And whatever it was, or whoever it was, they're not friendly. Unfortunately, it was too dark for Eddy to see much of anything and he hadn't thought to build a fire as he both didn't have the knowledge of how to do so, nor did he have anything like matches or a lighter to do so.
Let's just hope that he doesn't encounter whatever's watching him.
***To Be Continued…***
Another bi-monthly chapter for this story written and up! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you all next time! Good bye!
