A/N: you still have time to vote!
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Hawaii
Dinner stretched into evening, and as the Observatory restaurant closed the small crowd wandered out under the stars. Close by, Kilauea rumbled steadily while Pele addressed the SHIELD agents, Steve or Bruce Coulson on her lap by turns. Pele had always been fond of children.
"You were right to seek me out," she nodded, "and while your methods were distasteful, I choose to overlook the foolishness of your youth. Passion can cloud e'en the judgement of the wise."
"Lady Pele…" began Coulson, but she raised a hand and cut him off.
"Others must needs join the fight, for this Titan threatens all. The Children of Earth and the Children of Surtr will stand together at last. I will speak to my clan assembled in the meeting hall below. We should burn as one. The Children of Ymir may join us; you must ask them. The Children of the Sea need to throw off their cloak, and the Kree and the Skrull should fight someone besides each other."
"Who are the Children of the Sea?"
"Another Midgardian clan…" Pele's eyes wandered to Skye, head down in conversation with Kala Opelu, and she paused as if in memory. "I should let them make their own introductions. Will you be long on my island, Kane Coulson?"
The Agent shook his head. "A day or so only. We need to take word of your people's offer to help to my superiors. Is there a way we can contact you without flying all this way? I don't suppose you have cell service out here."
Lava red lips turned up in a feral grin. "Kane, I live in a mountain with a working observatory. I can contact any satellite I please. Half the park staff are mine own flesh and blood. I have both kith and kin among volcanologists world-wide. 'Islander' does not mean 'ignorant'."
Audrey threw her head back and laughed. "Well said, Mama Pele! May I add you to my Contacts list?"
"Can I convince you to offer a free concert tomorrow evening at the university concert hall? I love cello music."
Audrey stuck out her hand. "Deal."
Pele turned back to Coulson. "If you want to make contact with the Children of the Sea, I suggest you send that one," she pointed at Skye, "surfing. I'll send Kalo with her for security. No-one knows the waters around my island better than my son."
Coulson nodded, his head spinning.
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Across the table…
Skye quickly caught up with her old friend, despite the sour looks from Ward. Kalo whipped out an I-Pad and scrolled through photos of his wife and children.
"I can't believe you're married! This is so cool! You look so happy together!" Skye gushed.
"You never married?"
Skye shook her head.
"I had a bad break-up with my last boyfriend: caught him selling intel to the Chinese, and an innocent man got killed. It was horrid."
"I'm sorry."
"Kalo, can I ask you…"
"I'm 503 years old."
Her eyes widened. "How did you…"
He shrugged. "You had that look on your face. I've seen it enough over a few centuries, so I can identify it pretty quick."
"Your wife…"
"Yes, she knows. All of them did. I would have told you eventually, but you were taken back to the mainland." He looked pained. "I don't like to keep such secrets all to myself. Friends…family…they all learn sooner or later."
She sighed. "So many years shuffled from one house to the next. Some of my happiest times were here, despite the crap I got from the kids at school." She paused. "My foster-mom…is she…"
"She's fine. We established a barrier around that village long ago."
Skye looked crafty. "Just a guess, but is my Foster-Mom…"
"Yes," Kalo smiled. "She's my great-granddaughter."
"How many children do you have?"
"A lot," he nodded, "lots and lots and lots. And yes, most of them are half-human."
"Only most?" Skye's head was spinning.
"We aren't the only Fire Giants on the planet, Skye. I've hooked up with a few extra-terrestrials over the centuries, too. Some of my progeny wander the stars even now."
"Kalo, your mom said something about us both being children of 'mixed blood'…
He nodded. "I am half Fire Giant."
"So your father is…"
"I don't know. I never knew him, and Mother won't speak of him." He scowled bitterly. "500 years and she won't say a word. All I have are a few legends. I made sure all my children knew me and their mothers. None of mine grew up without both parents."
Skye bit her lip. "Kalo..."
"What, hoahanu?"
"Am I human?"
He frowned and looked thoughtful.
"That depends on what you mean by 'human', hoahanu."
"What do you mean?" Skye cocked her head.
"You have to define a set before you can determine if something belongs in that set or not," Kalo explained.
Skye's blank face said everything.
"Lemme help," Fitz volunteered. "Hand me thot plate, Ward? Thanks. Now, see these?" Fitz picked up a cherry tomato and a piece of breadfruit. "Now, Skye: are these animal, vegetable, or mineral?"
"You're joking, right?"
"No, he's defining three sets," Kalo nodded. "Animal, vegetable, or mineral: in what set do his items belong?"
"Vegetable."
"Right."
"But they're fruits!"
"He can sub-divide the set, if he wants. All plants belong in the 'vegetable' set, but not all parts of a plant are botanically 'vegetables'. The word stays the same, but the meaning changes with usage," Kalo explained.
"Right," Fitz nodded. "Jest like all of us belong in the 'Animal' set, but only Fluffy is a dog."
"Technically…" Kalo began
"For the sake of the argument…" Fitz interrupted.
"Ok, I get it, I think?" She frowned. "I thought everybody had the same definition."
Kalo shook his head. "Not everybody will agree with you. You encountered racism when you were in school, remember?"
"Who doesn't?" Fitz asked. "Errybody has an 'us' vs 'them' mentality. That's no the same as saying someone isn't human."
"But it's the core of the argument," Ward broke in. "Back in the 40's, the Nazis declared the blond, blue-eyed genome the 'Master Race'. Everybody else was inferior, with some (like Africans) declared sub-human. It's still 'us' vs. 'them'. We see the same things happening now with Enhanced Humans. They're locked away from the general population to…"
"What?" Skye was horrified.
"Only those who have used their enhancements to hurt others, Skye," Fitz said hastily, giving Ward a 'shut up' glare.
"Really," said Kalo, settling back in his chair with a cunning look on his face. "A drunk driver who kills a person might get 10 years: he still gets a lawyer and a court date. The kid from your academy who freezes things: did he get a court date before you threw him in the Fridge?"
"Danny had to be secured, he's dangerous!" Ward puffed up.
"How do you know about…" began Fitz.
Kalo smiled grimly, and his eyes began to glow red-orange. "I'm dangerous, boy: a 500-year old alien that can surf and swim through molten lava. I live inside a submerged, active volcano. I've seen the center of the planet. Mom and I have passed judgement on individuals and villages…"
"Kalo!" Skye exclaimed, horrified.
"It was a different century, Skye, remember that. Mother never asked for young women to be thrown into her caldera; some power-hungry lolos came up with that on their own," Kalo cautioned. He turned back to a defiant Ward. "You'll want to keep tabs on us, to protect your own people, and I can't say I disapprove. Lots of races fear what they don't understand, and caution is a good thing. If you read history, though, you'll find more atrocities committed by 'normal' people than a few 'enhanced' individuals, or even complete non-humans, like me." He turned back to Skye. "Hoahanu, you want to know if you're human or not? I say it doesn't matter. What matters is what you make of yourself."
"That's deep," nodded Fitz.
"But…" Skye protested.
"I just made the longest speech of my life, hoahanu. 'But' what now?"
"ButwhocanImakebabieswith?" Skye said in a rush.
"I'm out!" Declared Fitz. He nudged Ward, and the two men gathered up some dishes and left the blushing Skye with her friend.
Kalo watched them go and turned back to Skye.
"Hoahanu, so long as your plumbing works," he nodded at her pelvis, "you can make babies with anyone you please. Earth man, Jotun, Surtur-son, Menehune, Kree, Aes, whatever: doesn't matter."
"I…really?"
He nodded. "You may think Earth isolated, and for a while it was, but there have been a lot of races who visited just to get it on." He shrugged. "The 'pureblood' human might be the only actual myth, if you think about it." He caught the calculating look on her face. "What now?"
"I think I know who your dad is, Kalo." She pulled out her smartphone and started scrolling through pictures. "Can you change your shape?"
He nodded. "All giants can, some are better at it than others. Legend says that my father was particularly gifted: you name it, he could be it. I'm not that good, but….yeah. This is my human form. Inside the mountain I look a lot different."
"Can you look like this?" She held up a picture of a rock-encrusted humanoid, and Kalo raised his eyebrows.
"Not in public, but yes." He frowned. "Where did you take that? It looks like something hand-drawn."
"On a wall inside our last base. The artist is possessed by some recently killed aliens: long story. Anyway, one of those ghosts drew this to represent Thanos' mortal enemies. She called them the Sons of Chaos."
"Huh. Mother always called my father "Kamapua'a"..
"?"
"Pigheaded. They were complete opposites. She was all rock and stability, and he was all about rain and upheaval and growing things and making jokes. Mom said she never knew what he was going to do next. When they broke up it was bad, apparently. She didn't tell him she was pregnant with me." Kalo's face seemed to darken, like obsidian covered in ash. "I wonder who this 'Chaos' really is?"
"I think I know," Skye whispered furtively, glancing down the table at Madam Pele, "but you'll have to ask your Mom for sure. And get this: he's a Frost Giant, and a shape-shifter."
"You don't say…"
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The Greenhouse…
Alone again…it was a familiar feeling. Adam Koenig quickly had the secret base set to rights again, and fell back into his old routine. He frowned at the pile of unattended weapons and chided himself for his laziness. It wasn't like he didn't have time for the chore, especially now that he had the base to himself again…
He didn't reach the arboretum for several days, and the scent of growing things was a welcome change. Programmed irrigation and careful cultivation meant he did not have to worry about things like drought and weeds, but there were still fruits and greens to harvest, and bees to tend. He considered getting a fresh cup of honey out of the back of the hive...it made his stir-fry really pop, and wasn't bad in his tea…He put his gloves on and grabbed his tools…
"Adam! Adam! Adam!"
The voices were high-pitched, like wood creaking in the wind, and Agent Koenig nearly jumped out of his skin. He was alone…wasn't he? He dropped the small shears and chose the sharp hoe in its place.
"Adam! Adam! Adam!"
He followed the sound cautiously, straining every sense to try and locate the source, and wove around the orchard, carrying his hoe like it was a shotgun. The ridiculousness of the situation made him pause. Shouldn't he get an actual weapon?
"Adam! Adam! Adam!"
He was getting close…the sounds were getting louder…he raised the hoe up a little higher and turned around the last tree…
The earth was still disturbed here, where a desperate young woman had dug into it with her bare hands. Small mounds like graves had been formed, with carefully chosen twigs for markers. She had chewed the ends and kissed the earth, as if in farewell. "They have left this house," she said somberly, "to find a place of their own."
"Adam! Adam! Adam!"
The hoe fell from his grasp as tiny hands waved at him, large infantile eyes pleading for mercy. The sticks were alive. Adam Koenig fell to his knees, reached out gentle hands, and touched tiny wooden bodies and itsy-bitsy leaves.
"How? Where?" He stammered. "Who are you?" He finally choked out, wonderstruck.
"WE ARE GROOT!"