My Name Is Justin

Chapter 3

Stranger With My Face

After we left Mr. Medulla's lab, no one spoke.

What could we possibly say?

We went back to the Stronghold house, and they insisted I stay there until they tried to figure out what to do next. Once I was as settled in as I could get, we had a nice dinner though I couldn't really bring myself to eat much.

Afterwards, they sat down with me and told me where to find them.

My mother, who I have never seen.

My brother, who I never knew existed until a few hours ago.

But first, they told me about my father…Baron Battle.

He was once a great hero, a mighty champion of justice and defender of the weak. At first he had incredible strength and a brilliant intellect…until the day an experiment went wrong somehow and he was caught in a blast of some unknown energies. He was wounded, but recovered quickly to find he had been given even greater power…the ability to fly and fire energy bolts.

That was also the day he was damned.

No one knew it at the time, but my father had been afflicted with the beginnings of an inoperable brain tumor. He went on to marry my mother, and fathered Warren…and me.

I think.

You see no one even knew I existed. Warren was born an only child.

Yet, here I am for everyone to see.

Anyway, a few years later my father succumbed to the brain tumor…to the delusions and paranoia it caused. He changed his armor and gathered a small army of some of the worst super villains there were…beings of pure malice and spite that he somehow bent to his will. Then he led the Brotherhood of Darkness, as they were called, when he lured his best friend the Commander into a trap at Mount Rushmore and tried to kill him.

He nearly succeeded.

A tremendous battle raged, virtually destroying Mount Rushmore and the city of Deadwood, before the Commander and his friends in the Champions of Justice overcame the Brotherhood and defeated them.

Baron Battle fell at the hands of the Commander.

Now my father is mad, locked up in a super prison in the arctic along with the monsters he led…leaving my mother and brother alone.

And no one knowing I existed.

But how can this be? How can someone NOT know I existed if I am, as Mr. Medulla said, a twin brother to Warren…a person I've never even seen…or knew existed.

I guess it cuts both ways.

The next day I waited at the Stronghold house in the Secret Sanctum while the Strongholds went and did their civilian jobs, and Will went to school. The hours drug by, so I went and got on the computer and researched my "new" family.

I found out that they had told me the truth, but left out a few things…such as my mother having a nervous breakdown after Dad was incarcerated and Warren nearly being taken by the military until the Stronghold's tried to adopt him.

That showed me that they were the right people to have come to after all.

That afternoon Will returned, and I watched him talking to a beautiful redheaded girl all dressed in shades of green like an elf princess. I stayed out of sight in the window so she wouldn't see me, as the last thing I needed was to scare anyone else.

Will came in and told me that he had told Warren what was happening, and that he and my…our mother would be waiting for us.

Will wanted to come with me, and I'm glad, because I don't think I could do this on my own.

I just lost the only family I ever knew…what…a couple of days ago. Now I was in a strange city about to meet two of the three people who have become dearer to me than anything else I've thought possible.

Now I stood outside the modest apartment building near the waterfront, swallowing hard at the thought of what was about to happen. Will put his hand on my shoulder.

"It's going to be okay," he said with a lop-sided grin, "I'll be right beside you."

Amazing. Will was the one of the geekiest kids I'd ever seen, but he was now being an emotional rock for someone he'd only known for a little over a day.

We went upstairs to the designated apartment, but just as Will started to knock on the door, we heard a voice from inside.

"Come in William," we heard a woman's voice say, "it's not locked."

We both froze for a second, scared about what had just happened. Was the woman inside psychic, or had she just seen us from the street and knew who we were? Either way, we did as we were told.

We entered the apartment, and the living room was a nice, well-kept place with simple furniture, including a really big overstuffed chair that looked like it was made for a giant that I instantly knew had to be my father's.

We saw the woman who had spoken to us.

The term "goddess" would have been more appropriate.

She was as tall as me, but didn't look much older. She was in fantastic shape, the envy of any fitness or swimsuit model I had seen in California. I could see where I got my hair color from, for hers was as white as snow as well, looking like a silvery cloud rolling down her shoulders almost to her waist. She was wearing a simple blue dress, but the term "simple" didn't really apply to her in ANY way.

Then I saw her eyes.

They were green…a shade of dazzling, almost emerald green that seemed to entrance and hold you as you looked into them. But I also knew from what I was told that those eyes, while lighting up the world for us, were dark for the one who owned them.

I knew my mother was blind, but it was still a shock to see it.

"Hello William," she said to Will, and I saw that he was totally dumbstruck by the sight of my mother. I then remembered that he had embarrassingly admitted that he had never met her before, and was a little nervous. I elbowed him gently to get him back to earth.

"Hi…uh, hello, Mrs. Peace," said Will, trying to sound more mature by dropping his voice, "I'm sure Warren told you I…we were coming."

"Yes, he did," she smiled, lighting up the world, "and I'm glad I finally got to meet his best friend, though the circumstances are a little…unusual for it."

She then turned to me, and I could FEEL her looking at me…through me…into the depths of my being. But she was blind…how could she "see" anything?

She stood there for a moment, puzzled by what she was "seeing", then the shock registered on her face, and a single tear formed in one of those magical eyes.

"It's true," she whispered out loud, "Dear God…you ARE my son."

With that she held her arms open to me, and I felt like I was drawn to her by something pulling at my heart. I ran the few steps to her and threw my arms about her, feeling such love as I had never known possible. We both stood there, crying for who knows how long. Eventually we had to break the embrace, but I did not want to. I wanted to be held in those strong arms and absorb the love of my long lost mother for the rest of eternity.

She led me unerringly to the sofa, and we sat together while Will thought better of sitting in my dad's chair for some reason, and found another place to sit.

"But Mrs. Peace," Will said quietly, "I thought Warren was an only child."

"He was," smiled my mother, "and I should know…I was there."

"Then how could I exist?" I whispered.

"I think I can answer that," came a voice from the still open doorway.

There stood the Commander, or should I say Steven Stronghold. He was carrying a book of some kind, but it was who he had with him that caught my full attention.

I saw…me. Standing next to Mr. Stronghold was a boy who looked almost just like me, except he had retained his black hair though it had strange red streaks in it. He was dressed in leather and denim that looked like it had been scorched several times, and he seemed to have trouble looking straight ahead, almost as if he looked at the world through the top of his eyes and the hair in the way.

It was my brother. Warren.

"I ran into him downstairs," said Mr. Stronghold, "and I thought he should be here for this too." He then turned his attention to my mother.

"Hello, Angelica," he said, his voice almost seeming to quiver at the sight of her.

"Dear Steven," she smiled back, "it's been too long."

The two of them started talking, but I wasn't paying attention because my focus was totally on my brother. I slowly stood up and started walking to him, and he did the same until we were almost face-to-face.

He then looked me full in the face, and I could see the pain he held within him through his own dark eyes. I had no idea of what he had been through in his life, but then I couldn't really recall what had happened in much of mine.

Neither of us spoke for a long time, we just looked at each other until Will finally spoke up.

"I know what I'd do if I found a long lost brother," he said.

I knew what I wanted to do, but how would Warren react?

From what I had been told Warren had had a hard life…one that made him defensive of anyone wanting to reach out to him.

I wanted to do more than reach out to him. I had been raised to always express myself; to laugh when I was happy and cry when I was sad. That may sound strange for a guy, and my "dad" sometimes frowned upon it, but "mom" would always give him a look that settled him down.

I figured what the hell.

I threw my arms around my brother, giving him a hug from the bottom of my heart. He had not been expecting it, and stiffened up like it was an alien experience for him.

It probably was.

Then slowly I felt the stiffness ease up, and his own powerful arms encircled me, returning my hug gently at first, then with a sudden emotional ferocity that spoke volumes of his loneliness. I could actually feel it wash over me like a wave that threatened to drown me, but I fought it off. I was strong for my brother…a part of myself that I did not know I was missing until now.

We both began to cry…gently at first, and then deep sobs of released anguish and intakes of joy at what was happening. In a way it was similar to the experience with my mother, a deep emotional and spiritual connection that, while strong for a mother and child, was different and deeper for what Warren and I were experiencing. He was a part of me. I was a part of him.

"Justin," said the Commander, "I need to ask you if you could look through these pictures and tell me if you recognize any of the people you see…even if they look remotely familiar."

I didn't want to break the embrace, and I could tell Warren didn't either. We held it for a little longer, and then we slowly parted, still looking at each other

I nodded at the Commander, then took and opened the book. It was full of front and side pictures of the faces of lots of men and women, and I realized I was looking through a book of mug shots of super villains when I spotted my "dad" Mr. Richtor.

I then also found a picture of the Harpy, who had been posing as my mother, though she had had some plastic surgery, probably as part of her disguise.

I also spotted the face of a heavy-set man with red hair and a beard, and recognized him as "Uncle Angus"; at least that was who I knew him as. He would come visit us every Christmas and dress up like Santa Claus, though I knew it was him from his thick Scottish accent. I had always thought that was strange, as nobody else in the "family" seemed Scottish in any way.

"Blowhard too," muttered the Commander, "well, that explains why he would disappear for a few days around Christmas every year."

I went on, looking at some very ugly and very dangerous looking people, until I saw him.

The man from the green dream.

He was younger in the picture, with a fuller head of black hair, and a scowl that looked totally alien to the kindly smile I was so used to.

I pointed him out to the Commander, and told him about the "green dream" I had had for years…even just having it on the flight from San Diego to Maxville.

The Commander actually went pale. So did Will and Warren.

I was totally confused…why was this man in a book with all these terrible people?

"It's him, isn't it?" I heard my mother say.

The Commander only nodded his head, seeming to confirm something that he didn't dare speak out loud.

I looked at the writing under the picture, and finally knew the name of the man from the dream.

Dr. Barnabas Mandragore.

To be continued