For one thing, Warren hated visiting his father. He hated the prison, and he hated how his dad treated him like an associate instead of loving him like a son. He couldn't expect much, though for his father was a true villain. Villains hardly loved.
He sat down in the chair and stared through a thick, plastic window at another world. Pretty soon his father took a seat in front of him and grabbed the phone. Warren did the same.
"Hello Warren, to what do I owe this visit?" he gruffly asked.
"Hi dad, I wanted to ask you something," Warren went straight to the point, avoiding small talk that they usually, somehow managed to get to before anything.
His father's dark eyebrows rose in question, it wasn't often Warren visited, and it was even more infrequent when he wanted to know anything that his father knew. "And what would that be?"
"Do you know of anybody who went to Sky High with you that had certain powers that landed him in jail?" Warren phrased the question the best he knew on Zach's miniscule information.
"Well, a bunch of kids ended up turning to villains…you have to be more specific,"
"Well this kid, he would have certain powers that reflected the elements…" Warren said, thinking he must have had since Zach thought he was the father of the Matters Sisters.
Before Warren could finish his sentence, however, Baron Battle cut him off with "Felix Cordis"
"So do you know anything about him?"
"Of course, " his father said. Warren was even more impressed by the villains' network of information. "You would hardly call him a villain though, for he never did anything with malicious."
This surprised Warren, "So what about him?"
Baron Battle explained the same story, in different words, that the commander had told Zach earlier.
"So where is he now?" Warren asked when his father was done telling the tragic tale.
"Oh, he's right in this jail. He's just in the regular criminal cell. He robbed a bank you know…"Baron said with a thoughtful look, "he turned himself in."
This did make Warren raise his eyebrows in surprise. What kind of villain was this 'Felix Cordis'?
"So does he have daughters?" Warren demanded, for this was the original reason he came in the first place, to know the true origin of the Matters Sisters.
Baron smirked like a villain would and said, "You should go ask him yourself. He hasn't had any visitors in a year and a half, and before that none ever even came."
There was no chance Warren was going to go ask him. Although he knew where the guy was now and Zach was more than free to ask Cordis all the questions he wanted.
He said a quick goodbye to his dad and left the prison. Did he mention he hated the prison?
He averted his cold brown eyes forward until he reached the gate, looked back and thanked God again he wasn't locked in there too, knowing he could have been by now. He was given the same lecture about how 'super villains became super villains' the year before…the teacher explained about the bad child hood, the need for vengeance, and the bloodline all big causes of the super villain transition. Warren had all three, and whether not he admitted it to himself, it really made him stand on edge. Sometimes he just wanted to rip people's arms off, sometimes he wanted to punch holes into walls, sometimes he just wanted to set neighborhoods on fire but he didn't…couldn't. His friends had saved him from that path of destruction. Besides if he decided to follow in his father's footsteps, what would have become of his poor mother? There was just no way he could do that to her. Her only family locked in prison. No. No way was that going to happen.
Zach was scuffling around the flagpole the next morning. He was thinking. Ever since he saw the Commander's yearbook he just couldn't get his theory of the Cordis kid being the father of the Sisters out of his head.
Plus, he hadn't seen any trace of Terra since the Cafeteria incident. He was achin'. A shadow fell in front of him and he looked up to see Warren.
"What's up?" he nodded apprehensively.
"Cordis is in the state prison, he's visitable. I suggest you go ask him questions to solve your mystery," Warren told.
Zach was kind of surprised Warren would go out of his way to help him. Then again, he didn't know Warren was just as curious about the sisters' source as he was.
"Thanks, man," Zach nodded again and took off. Screw school he was going to visit Felix Cordis.
The penitentiary guards were a little bit confused by the bright boy's visit. He wanted to visit with a man that no one had visited in a long time.
"What's your name, kid?" one of the security guards asked, giving him a suspicious glance.
"Zach," he answered and gulped.
The guard left and came back, "Cordis says he don't know anyone that goes by 'Zach.'"
Zach frowned. He had to talk with the guy! He swallowed a lump in his throat and said, "Tell him, it has to do with his daughters." Now wouldn't he feel stupid if his assumption wasn't true?
The guard disappeared and reappeared again. "Well, whatever you did, he's agreed to talk to you. No funny business okay?" He left and Zach sat down at a table. Since Felix wasn't a dangerous prisoner (for all they knew) he was allowed to visit with him face to face but there was a one way mirror in the room so he new the guards were keeping an eye on them.
A thin, sad looking man trudged in, casting a disquieted look over Zach. He calmly sat across from Zach and the guard shut the door. They stared at each other blankly. Zach noticed he was once very good looking, but now had lots of stubble and in the commander's words looked like the epitome of 'tragic'. Just by being in the same room Zach felt no harm and could tell the guy was a decent man.
"Who are you?" the man choked out in a voice that sounded like it hadn't been used for years. Raspy.
"Sir, my name is Zach and I'm in love with your daughter," was what popped out of his mouth. His pale skin turned a shade of red at the man's surprised expression.
Cordis studied him and after a thought asked, "Which one?"
Ah-hah! He was their father! ...Or just a guy that had more than one daughter.
"Terra," Zach breathed her name and smiled.
A depressed look came about Cordis suddenly, and Zach could swear he saw something glisten in the man's eyes. No doubt about it, Felix Cordis was the father of the sisters. Zach waited for an explanation of some sort but received none. It felt kind of awkward sitting there, looking at an inmate who was about to cry.
"Your daughters destroyed the cafeteria the other day," Zach mentioned. That info snapped Cordis out of his memory lane and he stared sharply at Zach.
"Well, of course they did, if one of them was pissed off enough," he noted almost like he was there that day the cafeteria was demolished.
Zach, wanted to know everything. He wanted to get this situation figured out. "Do you mind telling me your story?"
He was all ready to be denied but Cordis leaned back in the chair and began to pour it out, seeming like he had been waiting his whole life for a moment like this.
"My powers were composite…it was rare. I could make the earth shake, the clouds pour, the flames rise, and the winds blow," he sighed. "And I never knew why it rained when I cried, or when I was angry the ground would start to rumble, I was worried the breezes would get heavier…but then I learned it all had to do with my state of mind. People cannot just control their emotions. "
Zach agreed-it was hard to control emotions. You had to be very good at it.
"I used to like a girl back in high school. She was a sidekick." He started up again. Zach knew where this was going. Some bully murdered her and it messed Felix up bad. "I tutored her and well I got made fun of quite a lot by other heroes. But I didn't care. She was pretty and intelligent and so I asked her on a date."
Zach perked up at this bit of information since he hadn't known it before.
"We were getting friendly, because she, well, liked me back. But in the middle of it all, she told me that it wasn't right if we were to be together. Me being a hero and her a sidekick. She said she was worried about what people would say and I couldn't believe it! I was upset. Out of all the people to be worried about stupid peer pressure and gossip, I thought she would be the last. Not thinking, not taking note of my emotion, I kissed her again and when I pulled away she was limp in my arms. I called her name but realized…she was…dead. I had sent a tremor through her body in that last kiss and had killed her. I freaked out and left her in a ditch. I was in shambles after that. I couldn't handle it.
The kids them kept harassing me kept asking where my sidekick went and I just got so angry I let it all come out. I caused havoc and was glad when they dragged me away to jail."
Zach couldn't believe it. Cordis was the one who had murdered the sidekick girl. But it was all an accident!
"I stayed in jail for a couple months, because I didn't want to be let out. I feared I would do horrible things. They made me leave because I was always on good behavior and saw no reason to keep me there. If only they knew." He said, paused seeming to have a bitter taste in his mouth. "However I didn't return to Sky High, instead I started working for a newspaper. I liked journalism, always had; after awhile I became a regular columnist and it seemed as though my powers were subdued for good.
I met a woman named Fiona Matters; she was starting out as a reporter for the paper. I fell in love with her. She was the woman of my dreams, and we married. We had four girls, I'm sure you know them. You could tell what kind of power they possessed as soon as they were in the world long enough to open their eyes. They had each extracted one of my powers and they all were connected by my powers to each other and their own emotions. I'm sure you know which one has which power. But, after Terra was born, I felt a resurge in my powers and I became frightened. I had to disappear one night without telling anyone where I was going.
I hated it. So I robbed a bank and was caught on purpose, pleaded guilty on purpose to get a longer sentence, and purposely got myself thrown back into prison so I couldn't hurt my family. It worked. Until one day a year and a half ago Fiona had found me. She was very angry with me, and I don't blame her. She screamed at me about the destruction our daughters did whenever one became angry. She blamed me for it and technically it was my fault. She told me of how she had been alone and unloved. She said all these things with a voice of hate and I couldn't bear it, she wouldn't let me explain but I had missed her, so I grabbed her and kissed her. Once again my emotions were deeply distraught and…and…she …" Felix started to choke up and Zach knew why he couldn't finish the sentence. He had killed Fiona as well. The man had more tears in his eyes and kept swallowing his tears every other second.
Yeesh, Zach wondered how he could take it; he had killed the person he loved. Zach hoped he never had to go through that.
"Why did you tell me all this?" Zach asked in wonder.
"You needed to know the history. You said you were in love my daughter, so you're probably the only one that can save her and I'll have you know my daughters are walking time bombs, please don't let them succumb to my fate," Cordis said woefully.
Zach was blown away. Was Terra in danger?
