My Name Is Justin
Chapter 2
Welcome to Maxville
I had the dream again.
The "green dream".
For as long as I can remember, once in a great while I would have it.
I call it the "green dream" because in it everything is green…like I'm seeing the world through tinted glasses.
Not that there is much of a world. All I can remember is I open my eyes and I see him.
The man.
I have no idea who he is, as I've never seen him outside the dream.
He's an older looking man, dressed in a dark suit. Around him and to the sides are strange blinking lights. He is always smiling at me.
Is he my real dad?
No, my "mom" told me I look like my father, and this man looks nothing like me.
Could he be another relative…an uncle or a grandfather?
But why would I see him and not my real father or mother?
Then I always wake up. Like I did now.
"Attention, everyone," says the voice of the pilot over the intercom, "we're preparing for final approachto Maxville International Airport. Please make sure that…Good Lord, what's that!"
The plane lurched to one side and everyone started to panic until the pilot came back on.
"Sorry about that everyone, I guess this is to be expected coming into this town. If you can look out the left side windows you'll see why."
I was sitting near a window on the left side, so I looked out. I couldn't believe my eyes.
It was one of those flying dinosaurs…a pterodactyl! It was flying along as if it were as common as a sparrow.
Then I saw her.
Jetstream. The very heroine I had been sent to find.
She shot through the air and towards the pterodactyl, scaring it so that it banked off to one side and away from the airport. She was trying to herd it away so no planes would be endangered by the monster's presence.
On board everyone was scared and excited at the same time. They were all talking at once, but I had nothing to say.
I had seen her. But how could I contact her?
The plane landed without any more incidents. I rushed to the gift shop and purchased a small portable radio so I could listen for any other news about Jetstream or the dinosaur. Reports kept coming in from chopper pilots and reporters about what was going on, and I was nearly frantic to get my suitcase and hail a cab outside. Since I hada couplethousand dollars in cash on me, it was no problem to pay for anything.
Once I got a cab I instructed the driver to go where I told him, and a couple of twenties turned the cab into my personal ride. Eventually I heard of another dinosaur sighting and had the cab driver head that way. In a few minutes we were there, and I knew that was the right place.
There was a stegosaurus lumbering down the street. Though supposedly mild tempered according to the experts on the Discovery Channel, this bruiser wasn't very docile as he made his way along, slamming into cars or smashing them with his spiked tail.
That's when he appeared.
The Commander.
I couldn't believe my eyes. He looked impressive on television, but in life he was even greater. I was used to California bodybuilders, but this guy was BIG. He seemed to give off charisma and confidence like light from the sun, and I could see how he was so popular.
He approached the stegosaurus like it was a stray dog, and tried to calm it down.
"Easy big fella," he said, slowly advancing on the dinosaur, "I know you're confused…just settle down and we'll get you back home."
For something so big the stegosaur moved like lightning, whipping around and slamming the Commander with it's spiked tail, sending him flying into a nearby car that crumpled under the impact like it was made of cardboard.
The people cried out in alarm, but were relieved when the Commander got up completely unharmed. He was actually smiling!
"Okay," he grinned, "let's do this the hard way."
Once again the spiked tail whipped through the air, but this time the Commander was able to dodge it, then grabbed it and pulled as hard as he could. With a bellow the stegosaurus was pulled off its feet, and it fell to the street with a deafening crash. While it was momentarily stunned the Commander yanked up a nearby lamppost like it was a weed and quickly used it to hogtie the dinosaur's legs together so it couldn't get back up. It started bellowing in frustration, but soon gave up when it realized it was trapped.
"What do you want done with him, Commander," said one of the policemen on the scene, "ship him off to Monster Island?"
"No," said the Commander, "this big boy is here courtesy of the Curator and that stupid Scepter of Chronos again."
"I thought he promised to go straight after that little incident with the Roman Legion he summoned up that wouldn't obey him because he forgot they only understood ancient Italian."
"He did," said the Commander, "this time he was actually trying to summon up harmless prehistoric animals for the new display at the Maxville Museum of Natural History…you know, those little dog-sized horses and such. He wanted a kind of petting zoo for the kids but his aim was obviously off."
"I'm just glad he didn't let out a t-rex," said the officer, "that would have been disastrous".
A loud shriek from above drew everyone's attention, and we all looked up to see the pterodactyl overhead, still being herded by Jetstream.
"I could use a little help up here, Commander," she yelled down to her husband.
That was when I decided to do what I did.
I jumped out of the cab, paid the driver, and grabbed my suitcase. I was desperate to get their attention, but they wouldn't concentrate on anything else with the one monster still left, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone…so to speak.
I reached inside me and found the ball of energy that had been growing within me ever since I had been touched by the storm only days ago. I willed it to come to the surface and felt the strange tingling in my chest that spread to my arms and up to my fingers, building in intensity until I couldn't hold it in anymore.
I then shot a bolt of lightning from my outstretched hands and hit the pterodactyl, which shrieked and stiffened, then plummeted to the ground. Jetstream swooped down after it, grabbing onto it to keep it from crashing as she slowly lowered it to the ground.
The entire crowd, including the police and the Commander, turned as one and saw me still standing there holding my hands up. I admit I was a little out of it and I then noticed everyone was looking at me.
"Well," said the Commander as he approached me, "you're the young man we have to thank for…"
He froze. He had the strangest look on his face that I had ever seen. It was almost like he recognized me, but I was different somehow.
"Warren?" he said, as if I would answer to the name.
"No sir," I said, trying to sound brave but my voice was cracking from my nerves, "my name is Justin…Justin Battle."
His mouth hung open for an instant, but he quickly composed himself and walked up close to me.
"Let's get somewhere private and talk," he said quietly as he noticed Jetstream come swooping in after depositing the unconscious pterodactyl safely in the street. When she walked up and saw me I thought for an instant she was going to faint, but she also got a hold of herself.
"Let's get back home," the Commander said, and she nodded in agreement. She held her hands out to both of us and while he took it without hesitation I was a little nervous. What if I accidentally shocked her? She seemed to sense my concern and smiled.
"Don't worry," she said, "my costume's insulated against electricity. Fighting certain villains and flying through thunderstorms taught me that the hard way."
I then took her hand and she lifted into the air, taking us with her.
It was amazing flying through the air like that…to feel the wind in my face and look down to see the city below, knowing that only this woman's grip was what kept me from falling to certain death. But I wasn't worried.
When we landed, I then remembered that I had forgotten my suitcase, but I saw that the Commander had grabbed it for me. With a smile he handed it to me, then made a strange request.
"Son, I have to ask a favor of you," he said, "we're going to take you to our Secret Sanctum…it's not that we don't trust you but…"
"I understand," I said, "there's a lot of people out there that want to hurt you."
"I'm glad you understand," said the Commander, and nodded his head.
I turned around to catch a strange smell as Jetstream sprayed me in the face with something she had pulled from her utility belt. I was asleep in an instant.
I woke up in something out of a comic book fan's dream.
I was in the legendary Secret Sanctum, the headquarters of the Commander and Jetstream. I had been placed on a comfortable leather sofa facing a pool table and a pinball machine, both of which I never would have thought of super heroes having. I also saw a setup of sophisticated computers and a large monitor.
"He's awake," I heard Jetstream say, and she was there beside me with an icepack in case I needed it.
"Sorry about that," she smiled, looking more like an angel than ever before, "but we had to make sure you couldn't see how to get here. It's better for your safety as well as ours."
I understood, like I'd said before.
"Now, if you're feeling better," said the Commander, "we can get down to business. Just who are you?"
That was a question I honestly didn't know if I could answer. I told the world's greatest heroes everything that had happened to me, and they hung on every word I said.
"I had heard that Richtor had been captured in California," said the Commander, "but I hadn't heard from him for years…not since…"
Jetstream touched his arm, breaking him off from what he was about to say as she glanced towards me. She had been very startled when I told her what my "mom" had told me to tell her; "Letha Talone says she is sorry for everything".
"I don't believe it," she said, but not that she thought my "mom" was lying, "SHE was masquerading as your mother? Richtor playing daddy is one thing but this…"
It turns out my "mom" Letha Talone was a villainess called the Harpy, a vicious long-time enemy of Jetstream for years. She had vanished along with Mr. Richtor, and now it turned out they had been hiding out in California, raising me.
Then it was time for me to ask the questions.
"Who is my father? Who is Baron Battle?"
Both of them seemed unable to answer the question, as well as the other one.
"Why did you call me Warren?"
"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" a voice interrupted us.
"Oh God," said the Commander, "Josie, get to the entrance and stop him before…"
In came a boy probably only a year or two younger than me. He was on the skinny side with a mop of reddish brown hair that matched that of Jetstream. He came bounding in all excited and didn't notice me at first.
"We saw on the tv at school about the dinosaurs," said the young man, all excited, "Dad, the way you handled that stegosaur was amazing, and Mom…"
That was as far as he got when he noticed me. He went totally silent as his eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. I seemed to be having that affect on everyone today.
Both the Commander and Jetstream seemed upset for a moment that this boy, obviously their son, had caught them "at work". They then relaxed like they were glad the charade was over.
"Will," said the Commander, " this is the young man who helped your mom with that ptero-thingy. This is…well, apparently this is Justin Battle."
Introducing me didn't seem to relax Will at all. He was still staring at me until his dad nudged him to see if he was still breathing.
"Is he…did you…" Will was over the place.
"No," said the Commander, "until I met him an hour ago I never even knew he existed. And we're going to the one man who can answer a lot of the questions we all have right now."
We all went upstairs into what was apparently their home. It was a nice, large house, even nicer than the one that had used to be my home. The Commander and Jetstream disappeared for a few minutes and returned in their "civilian" clothes. While they were doing that I was in the den with Will, who kept staring at me.
"Sorry," he said when I kept catching him looking at me, "you just…you look like…"
Then I saw it. On one of the walls was a set of pictures from different holidays, but one older picture caught my eye. It was obviously the Commander when he was much younger, maybe my age. With him was another powerfully builtboy who looked like me. Same skin tone, same features, same hair…well, black anyway, and the same eyes.
"That's my dad and…Baron Battle," said Will.
"My dad." I said, looking at the picture.
"When they were at Sky High," said Will.
I couldn't take my eyes off his picture. Why hadn't they taken me to him? Where was he? Was he…was this all that was left of him?
"Let's go boys," said the Commander, who looked funny in a long-sleeved shirt, slacks and glasses. Did that disguise really fool anyone?
"If anyone's hungry we'll get something on the way. I'm sure we all want to get answers as soon as possible," said Jetstream…Josie.
"Where are we going?" asked Will.
"To the one guy smart enough to figure out what's going on. We're going to your teacher Mr. Medulla's private lab."
We met with this man the Commander had been talking about.
He was a skinny, kind of goofy looking guy with a funny voice and the BIGGEST head I'd ever seen. It was obvious why everyone thought he could help.
"An interesting quandary," said Mr. Medulla, "and one I think will be fascinating to explore. First we'll need the usual…some blood samples, a quick swab of the mouth and maybe some hair samples. While that's being gone over we'll do a quick examination of our Mr. Peace…I mean Mr. BATTLE here. See what makes him tick."
That was the second time someone had almost called me by another name. Was I missing something?
I've always hated needles, but I let him get the blood sample though he had to try with a special needle because the first ones had trouble penetrating my skin, which I thought was weird. After he got the other samples he wanted I was escorted to an exam room where my vitals were checked, and then I was put in a machine that went from one end of my body to the other. I guess it was some sort of x-ray, but it looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Mr. Medulla just made all sorts of humming noises as he kept reading whatever was showing up on the monitor in front of him.
I don't know how long it all took, but I was sure glad when it was over. I got dressed and went back out to where the others were waiting. In a couple of minutes Mr. Medulla came out with his findings.
"Well, I was right," said Mr. Medulla as he looked at the readings his devices had given him, "this is VERY interesting."
"What's the news?"
"Mr. Battle…Justin here…is indeed who he claims to be. His biological father is indeed Baron Battle."
That seemed to bowl everyone over, especially the Commander.
"But he's the same age as Warren," said the Commander, "and I know there was no way that Baron was ever unfaithful to Angelica."
The name "Warren" again…and now another name, Angelica. The mystery to me was getting deeper with the proof of my paternity, not lighter.
"Nor was he," said Mr. Medulla, "because Justin's mother was…indeed IS Angelica. I would think that the hair color was a dead giveaway."
My mother's name is Angelica? Now I knew both of my parents' names.
"But that's impossible," said Will, "that would mean…"
"It's not only possible, but it simply…is. Justin here is the fraternal twin brother to Warren Peace."
Now I know who this Warren is.
He is my brother.
I have a father…a mother…and a brother.
I have a family.
To be continued