*PLONK* Zzzzzzz...
That night, Johnny did not sleep well at all. Like the others, his sleeping quarters were set up in one of the cabins of an abandoned passenger train. Lying uncomfortably in the dark, he tried to fend off the empty feelings of his spoiled, Alecto-tainted destiny in order to get some rest, but the effort just filled his head with further conflict and frustration. A hopeful, irrational part of him mused that this was all just a vivid nightmare that he would wake from the moment he closed his eyes. But peaceful repose was not to be had.
Getting up for some fresh air and to at least try to clear his head, he noticed that The Underground remained active even in the middle of the night. Snake was manning the lab's radars and surveillance (an enthused favour to Ace, no doubt), and Sedusa was shuffling about the halls of the train station with various supplies and weapons.
Johnny grit his teeth upon seeing her approach, and tried his best to avoid eye contact. As he passed, she sneakily stuck out a stilettoed foot and tripped the boy up. As he glared at her indignantly, Sedusa simply giggled: a nasty, high pitched twittering sound that aroused at least a small part of Johnny's wearied ire.
Reaching the cemented-over stairs of the subway entrance, he noticed Ace leaning casually on the steps, sipping from a can of standard-issue beer. He had witnessed Sedusa's prank and was currently sporting a bemused grin.
"Not sparing you any dignity, is she?" He scoffed, patting the space beside him in invitation.
"What's with her?" Johnny scowled.
"It's a long story," Ace replied simply. "Listen, um, thanks for looking after Buttercup. The guys and I may not have shown our appreciation earlier, but…"
Johnny nodded in understanding.
After a suitable silence, the boy asked "How did you and your gang… you know… end up fighting Alecto? You don't seem to be the type who would."
Ace took a casual swig from his can. "Yeah, I've never been much of a golden-boy type. Fighting Alecto's sort of a repentance for some things I've done that I'm not proud of."
"Crime?" Johnny asked.
"More than crime," Ace replied, "I guess it was just who I was, my attitude. There were things I didn't appreciate until I was forced to fight for them."
Johnny thought of the way Ace had acted towards Buttercup, Snake, and his fellow team members.
"You seem pretty gracious from where I stand." Johnny noted.
Ace smiled at Johnny, warm eyes reaching him from the frame of Ace's shades.
"Thanks, Squirt."
The two of them sat quietly for the next few minutes, Ace enjoying the rare moment of peace and relaxation, Johnny grateful for the soothing company that helped to ease his grim mood.
"So you wanna hear why Sedusa is such a hard-ass bitch?"
Johnny laughed and nodded his head.
It was the spring of 1979, and all around the world archaeologists were raving about the find of the century. On the outskirts of Athens, Greece, a team of building contractors had stumbled upon a hitherto undiscovered ancient ruin. Upon further excavation from experts at the local university, it was found to be a temple to Hades: the Ancient Greek God of the Underworld. Before, it had been accepted by historians that the Ancient Greeks had never built any places of worship for this dark, mysterious deity, so the top scientists, scholars and professors had been flown in from all over the world to examine it.
One of these was the handsome Professor Felix Pontmercy, a Greek archaeology expert from Townsville, USA. Enthusiastically digging away at the ruin during a lonesome lunch hour, he happened to come across a deep stone vault containing nothing but a beautifully carved marble sarcophagus. Expecting it to contain some lost treasure of Classical culture, he frantically pried off the lid…
What Pontmercy unleashed was indeed a marvel to behold, but it was nothing that he would have imagined in his wildest dreams. From out of the vessel, in a gush of supernatural mist, stepped a beautiful nymph that put the voluptuous sculptures of the Greek masters to shame. A daughter of Hades himself, she had been encased there by a cult of priests some three thousand years previous.
The nymph begged with him for mercy and protection, and still awestruck by how lovely she was, Pontmercy agreed to be her keeper. In the months that she resided with him, hidden from his science colleagues, the nymph feel deeply in love with the charming professor. A year later, she bore him twins: one boy and one girl, two beautiful, peculiar looking children that were half human and half divine.
A few more happy months passed for the young family, but soon the time came when Pontmercy was called back to Townsville for his work. Back at home he already had a wife and children, and just as quickly as they had met, he abandoned the nymph and their two infant offspring.
Surviving on the outskirts of society, the nymph tried to keep up a human guise, living in downtown Athens and supporting her beloved children. They grew, nurtured by mutual sibling love and the adoration of their mother. But in the twins' nineteenth year, the tired nymph, still heavy from her broken heart, died a sad and untimely death.
Brother and sister were both shaken by the loss. Still grieving, they began to turn their attentions to the man who was responsible for destroying the nymph: their father, Professor Felix Pontmercy.
Their grandfather's baneful blood began to boil in their veins, and the two grew angry and thirsty for revenge. They not only wished to be the scourge of their neglectful father, but also to the city that harboured him.
However, once they reached Townsville, they discovered that their father too had died. Uncontrollable with rage and frustration, they began random strings of crimes and misdemeanours. The twin sister, now a beautiful woman with charms to rival her late mother, took to seducing and deceiving the powerful men of the city to her advantage, dubbing herself with the Gorgon-esque title of Sedusa. Her brother, equally beautiful and deceptive, was more interested in striking fear and distrust into the citizen's hearts. Aided by his unholy reputation, he took on the guise of his grandfather Hades. But in fearful respect for his powers, the people of Townsville only referred to the young imp as 'Him'.
When the criminal Utonium revealed his tragic story to Him, the demon was deeply touched. The poor man had suffered the same kind of loss that he and Sedusa had: they lost their mother, Utonium lost his daughters, and both thanks to the people of Townsville. This empathy lead to Him's loyalty to Utonium-he believed that the wild-eyed genius was the path to the vengeance that he and his sister wished to exact, but Sedusa was not so easily won over. As far as she saw it, Him was going down the same fatal path as their mother: he was being sucked in by the charisma and supposed strength of a ruthless Townsville Professor-and the outcome could only be disaster.
Sedusa tried to pry Him from the power-hungry Utonium, claiming that the man would end up deceiving and abandoning him, but it was useless. Him was now obsessed with the man, practically worshipping him as his-and his late mother's-saviour.
The siblings fell out, and Sedusa fell into despair for her beloved brother. Then one night, she spotted the Gangreen Gang returning to HQ from one of Team Eumenide's sabotage missions. Approaching them, she explained herself and requested membership. She yearned to fight back against the man that, so much like her father, had bended her twin brother to his will and made him a slave.
To Be Continued. . .