Crush
Chapter 9
A Brand New Day
"If you want my love you got it
If you need my love you got it
I won't hide it
I won't throw your love away"
If You Want My Love
Cheap TrickIt was late morning, nearly afternoon as the sun shone through the windows and into the main dining room of Mandragore Castle. After the eventful night Dr. Mandragore decided the weather control machine that surrounded the island in a perpetual storm could use a different setting, and now a lovely spring day reigned outside.
Inside it was much quieter, but no less jubilant. The last of the super teens had been sent home safely hours ago, but the after effects of their presence could still be felt, having lifted a pervading sadness that had held the walls like an occupying force for too many years. Old ghosts were now gone.
Lucretia Mandragore sat at one end of the table, quite relaxed in a voluminous dark green robe. It had been the first time she could remember she wasn't wearing partial or all black…she just didn't feel the need for it now. She was sipping hot tea and enjoying some toast as she looked down the length of the table.
Next to her sat little Loki, who had been up way past his bedtime the night before, but he had been too excited from his "first super fight" as he kept bragging about what had happened in the streets of Maxville between he and his brothers and Will and his friends. He had also enjoyed all the teenagers being around, though there was no one actually his own age. Unfortunately his mischievous side had gotten the better of him at one point and he nearly spiked one of the punch bowls with a shrinking potion he had been aching to experiment with before Victoria and her new love Will Stronghold had caught him. Confiscating his potion, Victoria then shooed the little monster away. He had been ready to start a good pout…until he spotted her.
The beautiful black and purple dressed girl he had met at the "fight". The guinea pig girl named Magenta. Magenta…even her name was beautiful. What she was doing with the tall day-glow spazz named Zach was anybody's guess, but Loki didn't care. He was in love, and watched her from afar all night.
Now Loki sat next to his mother, trying to stay awake to finish the bowl of cereal he was trying to eat and dozing off between mouthfuls. He would just start to dream of Magenta in both her beautiful girl form or soft fluffy guinea pig shape when he would suddenly jerk awake, look around, and take another bite.
Lucretia was a little concerned for her youngest boy. The events of the entire weekend had doubtlessly overtaxed the little hellion, and he would need to get some sleep soon. She did wonder why the pajamas he was wearing were purple in color, and he had this disturbingly familiar look on his face she had seen very often, especially as of late.
Lucretia had the sinking feeling he was in love.
"That makes all four," she jokingly grumbled to herself.
At the other end of the table sat Dr. Mandragore, once again perusing the papers, only this time he was looking for articles about the incident from yesterday, including sightings of the giant flying octopus and how the rampaging monster had apparently tore open a gas main, triggering an explosion that threw the beast out into the bay and killed it.
The last part was very wrong. Herkimer was safely in one of the coves beneath the island, his slight burns from getting blasted by Warren Peace long since treated and he comfortably rested amongst the other sea monsters Loki had created, ready and waiting to come out and play again.
Dr. Mandragore was also very tired, with his eyes bloodshot from having so little rest preparing and initiating his huge surprise on the teenage heroes and villains of the nation. Of course the fact he spent half the night dancing with Jetstream, the mother of Will Stronghold, did a lot to tire him out as well. He decided that he wasn't as young as he used to be, and he would definitely take a nap after brunch.
"Barnabas," Lucretia said, "have you seen the other children this morning?"
"Could you be a little more specific," he replied, "if my head count was correct I believe we had about six hundred and forty-seven children running amok here until about…oh, four a.m. east coast time, technically still this morning."
Lucretia smiled. The only time Barnabas was such a smart-mouth was when he was in a good mood, and apparently he was still basking in the glow from the party. Whether it was because he himself had such a good time or the fact his name would be forever linked to it, feeding his ego, was redundant.
"I mean OUR children, dear," she smiled, "you know, our older sons and daughter."
"No, I can't say that I have," said Dr. Mandragore, "the last time I saw Victoria was after she introduced Will to me, and Balthazar was with a rather tall but cute blonde girl. I haven't seen Marduke at all, come to think of it."
Lucretia frowned. She had not seen Marduke at the party either, even though the object of his affection Anastasia the "Freeze Girl" had been there, there had been no sign of him. He had been acting odd ever since yesterday morning when he had been sent to "nudge" Layla in Warren's direction. She was getting suspicions about Marduke having changed the object of his affection to someone else, and she also had a large suspicion who it was…or more likely who they might be.
"I'll be back directly," she told her husband, and vanished in a burst of smoke that startled Loki awake again. Through bleary eyes he saw his mother was gone, and decided to rest his head on the table for a moment before she returned and scolded him for his bad manners. Within seconds he was snoring loudly.
Lucretia reappeared outside the door leading to Marduke's private chambers. She had wondered how to approach her son about what was going on, and decided that perhaps this time it would be better to be simply direct instead of the usual serpentine maneuverings she was used to doing to get information from others.
The large oak door was unlocked, and Lucretia entered to the gentle strains of violin music coming from somewhere. She made her way through the common room and on to the rooms her oldest boy had for his own; past the weight room and private sauna, past the entertainment room with the monstrous plasma television with full theatre level sound system, and on to the inner chambers. There, in a room overlooking the western half of the island, was Marduke.
This was his music room. Though only seventeen years old Marduke was a bit of a prodigy with music, having learned the piano and violin with great enthusiasm. He had taken to writing his own music of late, and it was rumored he had written a new song specifically for the commencement of his graduation at H.A.D.E.S. in a few weeks.
But now he seemed to be working on something else. Something haunting that seemed to clutch at Lucretia's once dark heart in a way she knew all too well.
It was a song of sadness and sorrow…of losing something one never knew was so treasured until it was gone.
Marduke stood bathed in the spring sunshine. He wasn't wearing a shirt or shoes, only the jeans he had worn from the eventful day before. From the mop of black hair and the slight stubble adorning his cheeks it was a sign he had not slept the entire night. He continued playing for a minute before he stopped, sensing his mother's presence.
"I never had a chance, Mom," he said, his voice cracking, "I…they…"
Lucretia, for all her past sins, was still a loving mother who never discouraged her children from giving in to their emotions. She approached her oldest son from behind and placed a hand on his trembling shoulder.
"Let it out," she whispered, "let it ALL out."
Marduke, unheeding of any damage he may do to the priceless Stradivarius violin he was holding, let it fall to the floor as he turned and buried his face in his mother's shoulder, his body shaking with deep sobs.
Finally after several minutes Marduke was able to compose himself and caught his breath. He stepped back to look at the large wet spot he had made on the shoulder of his mother's robe, and realized it was the first time in his life she had not worn black.
"Feel better now?" she asked, uncaring about the state of her robe.
"I…I think so," said Marduke, still wiping a few remaining tears in his eyes.
"It's about Layla isn't it?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
"Yeah,' he said, looking for something to blow his nose with when his mother produced a long silk handkerchief from thin air like a Las Vegas magician and handed it to him. He put it to good use.
"You have fallen in love with her," said Lucretia, "and it is understandable."
She then placed her hand on his shoulder.
"You also love Warren, don't you?"
Marduke almost jumped. Was it that obvious?
"Yes…" he said, "but NOT…that way…"
"I meant as someone you want to get to know better, to be with…to be good friends with. I believe the quaint term for it nowadays is "man crush"."
"Yes," said Marduke, now finding himself unable to look his mother in the face until she reached from his shoulder to his chin and gently forced him to look at her.
"NEVER be ashamed of your feelings," Lucretia mildly scolded her son, "where would your sister be now if she had?"
Marduke thought about it. Victoria had followed her feelings, which lead from a simple schoolgirl crush to a serious case of mutual like to friendship to now…love. Love with Will Stronghold.
Marduke was so jealous of Will he couldn't stand it. He had had Layla's love…though he hadn't treated it like he should have, and he had Warren's friendship…if in a rather "don't let anyone know what good friends we are" kind of way. And to top it off Will wanted to be friends with Marduke as well, even though they'd fought twice in the past two days.
Marduke sighed heavily. Things had been so much easier a few days ago when he had blithely been going about his villain studies, getting ready for graduation and looking forward to the planned "senior sneak"; a quick raid on the San Francisco Mint for all the precious metals stored there with everyone in their new costumes and using their chosen villain names. He had chosen "Basilisk" because of his eyebeams, and had already designed a green costume with gold trim and a gold lined black cape befitting someone using the name of the "king of the serpents" in mythology. Now it all seemed so trivial.
"You are sad about other things," said his mother, drawing his attention back to her.
"They left me…deserted me." Said Marduke, a new pain starting in his heart.
He was referring to his "friends" Drake and Aaron. They had been there for the start of the street fight with Will and his friends, but they had chickened out and fled. Drake had flown away screaming when Magenta had turned into a guinea pig, unknowingly triggering his fear of small furry rodents, and Aaron had fled when his power failed to take the fight out of Warren and a miss with a fireball was enough to convince him to find somewhere else to be. Aaron's cowardice was understandable, but still…neither had tried to contact Marduke since then. Even little Loki had stayed and fought alongside his big brothers…if distracting Magenta and Zach could be considered fighting. In Marduke's book, it did.
"That is a terrible hurt," said Lucretia, "but you must try to contact them. Meet with them and give them a chance to explain themselves."
"And then?"
"Blast them through the nearest wall," snarled Lucretia, a sinister green glow appearing in her eyes, "what they did is intolerable…inexcusable. It MUST be punished."
Marduke understood his mother. Disloyalty was something the Mandragores, for all their flaws, would not tolerate. They had always taken care of their friends, providing safe haven for them when the heat was on, caring for them when they were sick or injured, breaking them out of jail, whatever was needed. How many times had they offered to help their old friend Stitches with his "daughter" over the years, even now occasionally contacting him in prison and saying they would break him and Gwen out if he wanted them to? The last was especially interesting, considering Barnabas seemed to despise Royal Pain for some reason.
"I'm sorry," said Lucretia, calming herself down, "it's just…after all you did for those…minions. Well, I'm sure you will find your new friends will be much better anyway."
"New friends?" asked Marduke.
"Will and the others," smiled Lucretia, "you didn't realize that?"
Marduke shook his head, wondering what his mother was talking about.
"I guess that's something they don't teach you in school," said Lucretia, "so here's a quick explanation so you understand what exactly happened with you and Will and the others yesterday.
"One, you fell in love with a super heroine…well, she will be one day. I must say I'm glad to see you have such excellent taste in women…much like your father." She grinned mischievously at that.
"Two, you ended up in a big team vs. team fight on the streets of Maxville. Granted it was you and your brothers against Will and his friends…and your sister…and I'm sure Loki's little pet counts as he did fight with Warren. Anyway, a good team fight is always a great way to get to know someone. How do you think your father and I know Will's, Warren's and Zach's parents so well?
"Three, once things settled down, you TALKED with the people you fought with. You got to know them, and they you. Now, do you hate any of them?"
"No," said Marduke. He actually liked Will, and his feelings about Layla and Warren had already been covered. He did feel bad for having tried to shoot Zach in the back though, but he had been punished for that when the feedback from Zach's glow had temporarily rendered him blind. His father had explained it was a simple light trick Zach's mother had used with her own similar sidekick power for years, but suggested that Marduke not try it again. He didn't know how he felt about Magenta, though Loki had taken a serious liking to her, and Ethan, but he could guess how Balthazar felt about the little liquid boy.
"Well then," smiled Lucretia, "lesson learned. I just wish you had come down to the dance last night instead of playing "Phantom of the Opera" up here. You missed all the fun."
"I just didn't feel like it," shrugged Marduke, "besides, I couldn't bring myself to see Warren and Layla together. I…I just…I don't know."
"Take your time sorting your feelings," said Lucretia, realizing her son still had a lot of thinking to do, " but do come downstairs and get something to eat. Your father is worried about you."
Marduke smiled and understood. He wondered how the world would react if it ever saw his father, the publicly raving mad scientist and criminal mastermind, as the caring father he knew him to be.
A half hour later Marduke, fresh from a hot shower and wearing a clean t-shirt and jeans, entered the dining hall where his mother had awakened Loki, who was a little refreshed from his catnap and talking incessantly about Magenta this and Magenta that.
"Ah, there he is," smiled Lucretia to Marduke, "I had your favorite cooked up fresh for you. Now sit and eat.
Marduke took his customary spot next to his father, who actually looked up from his paper and smiled at his son without saying a word. None was needed.
Marduke dug into the plate of steaming eggs benedict and fresh blood sausage just as the last two Mandragore children saw fit to make their entrance.
Victoria, dressed in a flowing dark blue gown with her hair loose about her shoulders, and Balthazar, wearing an outfit more appropriate for a biker bar rather than a family breakfast, entered. Both were talking excitedly about their respective night and Balthazar was actually smiling (!). The two sat together and began piling food on their plates like it was going out of style.
"Well now you two," said Lucretia, enjoying the long-missed sight of her second oldest son at the table and acting more appropriate for his young age, "what are you chattering about so?"
"We've been planning our schooling," said Victoria in her matter-of-fact way.
"Really?" said Lucretia, becoming very interested, "do let us in. Are you listening Barnabas?"
Barnabas gave his customary "yes dear" grunt as he looked at his papers.
"Well," said Victoria, "Balth and I have decided we want to challenge some of the freshman classes, then make up the rest in summer school so we can be sophomores in the fall."
"That is interesting," said Lucretia, "are you sure you really want to?"
"Yeah," said Balthazar, "we…we want to be in the same year as Willie…I mean Will and Elise.'
Lucretia could not help but smile.
"Well," she said, "I don't think there will be a problem with that. We'll contact the Head Master first thing in the morning and start getting things arranged. I'm sure he will be accommodating, especially for the children of two of his alumni and the younger siblings of this year's valedictorian." She nodded towards Marduke, who blushed and smiled.
"That's the other thing," said Balthazar, "we don't want to go to H.A.D.E.S."
"We want to go to Sky High!" piped in Victoria.
Everyone in the room froze.
As one the entire family turned to the head of the table to see the newspaper between them and the head of the house begin to shake
There was a slight tearing noise as loud as thunder as the paper began to split down the middle. Finally it was torn in two by the trembling hands of Dr. Mandragore.
Without saying a word he dropped the two halves of the paper and slowly got to his feet.
Everyone knew what was coming, but the anticipation was what always made it better.
No one so much as breathed except Loki, who was suppressing a fit of giggles, as he LOVED when Dad did one of his tirades, and from the three different shades of red and purple his face was changing back and forth to, this was going to be a classic.
Dr. Barnabas Mandragore fixed the two children with a soul-scorching glare that would have made the entire senior class of the just mentioned institution collectively wet themselves. He then drew in a deep breath.
"Are…you…two…INNNNSSSAAAANNNNNEEE?"
Lucretia sat back and let her husband go all out. Loki started giggling non-stop. Marduke, though he had scooted his chair well back out of the line of fire, kept wiping off the spray of his father's spittle like it was foam from a rabid dog. This was a new touch that he liked. Victoria and Balthazar sat with their heads down, trying to look contrite but actually hiding their wide grins as they held hands under the table in a show of sibling support and happiness to all be together.
As Dr. Mandragore went on an almost religious tear about "tradition" and "shaming the family" and other such stuff, only one thought went through the minds of all four of his children.
"We love you too, Dad."
The End
No cute black and purple guinea pigs or giant flying octopuses were harmed in the writing of this story.
Remember kids; just say "no" to radioactive steroids
Now go tell someone you love that you do.
Bye.