Chapter 7 - The Coffee
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(5:30 PM, Eastern time)
The Kent family didn't feel much like making anything, so they ordered some pizza for the night. Steve began to feel better, as now the truth has come out and everything was proven and explained. It was kind of cool that his parents were superheroes at one point, and he had picked up some of those powers as well.
"Hey, should we talk about this with Rose?" asked Steve, taking a bite of a hawaiian pizza.
"When the time is right." Replied Diana. "I was thinking of helping you realize your powers in case you need them."
Diana knew that eventually her son would have to fly the coop and would've used his superpowers at will anyways. She might as well let him be the best he could be.
"I was doing pretty good for what it was worth today." replied Steve.
"Can you stop projectiles with your wrists, like I did?" Diana held up her wrists which were still bruised from the paintball shots.
"Try me." Replied Steve.
"Not now, after supper." Diana didn't feel like getting up just yet from the table.
Steve wanted to know more about his parents' history.
"So...how did you two really meet? It wasn't in high school, was it?" Asked Steve.
"No, it wasn't...we met in the Justice league..I took one look at your mother and..." Clark looked lovingly into Diana's eyes and the two smiled "...I really...really liked her."
"Saving anyone?" asked Steve.
"It was in the middle of a flight going down. I was on board, protecting an IADC official, when the plane began going down." Diana took over the story "Then my Superman.." Diana looked at Clark "..came to the rescue and held the flight in the air. That's when I saw him first."
"Ok, and that man buried out in the yard? The one you named me after?" asked Steve.
"He's the one who found Themyscira by accident. His plane went down in the Bermuda triangle, and he escaped and drifted onto the island. He was the one who helped get me here...and he was my best friend for well over 80 years."
"That's quite a while." Steve pondered that.
"Well, the whole Justice league are my best friends. Batman & Darkwing, The Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Girl...and then there's The Coat, the last guy you'd ever expect to be a hero."
"That guy you made the goofy faces with." Steve guessed it right. "The guy that was on the news."
()()()
(1:30 Pm Pacific time)
For the trip from Cultus Lake, Kenny took the time to explain to his children what the trenchcoat and shotgun were, and how it was special to him. His offspring, they didn't believe the trenchcoat could stop gunfire, much less anything...but they knew that their dad wasn't lying when he showed them the shotgun, and mentioned he had used it many times before.
The truck pulled into the Triton family household, a 3-bedroom piece with a basement and a backyard. The truck backed into the garage, and the family got out to stretch their legs after the hour long trip and lunch at subway. But the driver of that truck had one last thing to do that saturday, after an eventful morning.
"You're going to Florida, aren't you?" asked Josie.
"I have to. I need the truth." replied Kenny "And I want closure on this chapter of life."
"Your superhero friends...what will they think?" asked Josie.
"I don't know. But if anything, 13 years is enough time to be alone." replied Kenny, thinking back to the night Josie comforted him as he cried himself to sleep, as he felt that was the last day he would ever see his friends. Josie sighed and knew this was something Kenny had to do.
"When will you be back?" she asked.
"I'm gonna get back as fast as I can tommorow. And by the way, this is coming out of my personal account, not the savings we put together."
That was a good thing too. The family had a rough go at scraping together the cash they had. Kenny had set up a private account for himself, as well as contributing to the "Family account" he and his wife set up. His account had enough to get him to Florida, one night at a motel and back.
"Ok then. Go to them but don't stay too long." Josie ordered her husband.
"Thank you, Josie. This means a lot to me." Kenny gave his wife a temporary goodbye kiss, and pulled out his cellphone to call a cab to the airport.
()()()
The ride to the airport took another hour, and when Kenny got there, he was whisked onto a jet plane as fast as he could go.
The flight took off from Vancouver's airport, and was scheduled to land in Florida around 9:00 eastern time.
Kenny landed, and the first thing he wanted to do, was buy supper. He found an airport restaurant and ordered a burger and fries, and sat there, reading the extra paper that had just been put out, showing the young superhero flying up to save the girl.
"Great work, kid...your mother taught you well." Kenny knew it wasn't Clark Kent, but it looked exactly like a kid between Clark and Diana would look.
While reading the paper, a woman in her early 60s sat down with her husband beside Kenny in the restaurant. Kenny looked over at her, and then took a gander at her arm. The sight shocked him deeply - it was the whale trainer he had helped save back in time, when he and Wonder Woman went back to 2010 to avert the disaster. He gasped in shock at the sight of the arm.
"You're that whale trainer?" Kenny asked.
The woman turned to Kenny and had a large gasp when she saw his coat and his hood draped over his back. Kenny put the hood over his head, and held his hand out, still wearing the same cut-off glove he had the day he held the trainer's hand.
"You're going to be alright. she's the best nurse I know." The Coat repeated his very words on that very day.
The woman remembered Kenny's voice and knew he wasn't lying.
"You are him..." The woman was shocked beyond words "...Who are you?"
The Coat said it out loud. "I am The Coat."
The trainer had heard of The Coat, and only up until that point, didn't put 2 and 2 together that The Coat was the one who was with her that day. But the trainer was curious to know about that other hero, the one who really saved her life.
"Where's that Wonder Woman?" asked The trainer.
"I don't really know anymore." The Coat lied as he took his hood off to reveal his face again "It doesn't matter. She's gone off somewhere. She went on a trip and got lost...she's not coming back and she doesn't have to worry about how people feel about her anymore." Kenny's eyes welled up a bit. "And I really, really miss her."
"Aww, I'm sorry about that." The trainer replied.
"Well, I've got to go meet a friend. Take care of yourself, eh?" Kenny picked up his food tray and walked it to the garbage, dumped the waste, and went out of the restaurant to rent a car.
()()()
(9:30 PM, Eastern time)
The sun began to go down on Florida. But in the backyard, Diana was throwing tennis balls at her son and letting him try to block them with his wrists. After about 30 minutes, he was starting to get it, with a bit of coaching from his mother. After the sun disappeared behind the trees aside the road leading to the cul-de-sac, the family went back into their house.
"You're getting it. We'll continue the training on the days I have off." Diana told her son.
"I'm looking forward to them." Steve had a smile on his face, for the first time in a long time. Diana's smile matched his, as the truth was out, and finally, she didn't have to lie anymore about her past.
Then, there was a ringing at the doot...now who could that be?
"It's late, who could be here that late?" asked Clark.
"I'll see." Diana walked up to the front door...and peeped through the eyehole.
"Oh, it's just Mrs. Montana and Rose!" Diana opened the door, and Rose ran up and gave her mother a hug.
"Hey mommy!" Rose hugged Diana.
"Hey, did you have a good time?" asked Diana
"I had fun." Rose ran into the house to hug her dad.
"She and Hannah were playing on the trampoline all day! I can't believe how much energy your daughter has!" Mrs. Montana wondered how that could've been.
"Well, she is our little bundle of joy." Diana replied.
But amidst the sound of the waves in the background, Rose's singsong humming in the background, and Mrs. Montana talking to Diana, no one noticed the black 2034 Chevrolet Corvette rolling up in the background. No one heard the sounds of the music being shut off, and no one heard the door being shut.
"Rose wants Hannah to come sleep over here sometime, is that ok?" asked Mrs. Montana.
"That would be OK." replied Clark, who was standing in the doorway.
"Oh good, she would be delighted..."
And at the moment, emerging from the darkness of that nice Florida neighborhood, a man in a black leather trenchcoat with the hood placed over his head, appeared in the light that was aimed at the driveway. Diana noticed it...and when she saw who it was...the look on her face said it all.
Then, The Coat took off his hood and revealed his bald head and face with a goatee that hadn't seen Diana in 13 years. He cracked a slight smile and waited for Diana's reaction.
"Oh my god..." Diana held her hand up to her mouth in an act of shock. Clark saw Kenny as well, and he was just as shocked, but was busy listening to Mrs. Montana. Kenny pointed at Mrs. Montana who was clueless to his appearance, and put his finger up to his mouth to signal for silence. Diana began to giggle as she knew what Kenny was going to do.
"...And they said they wanted to watch the latest My little pony video, and..."
"HEY LADY HOW YA DOING!" Kenny scared Mrs. Montana, who jumped out of her skin screaming at being jump-scared. Kenny laughed about it.
"Are you serious!" Mrs. Montana shrieked at Kenny. It didn't matter to Clark and Diana, they were laughing at her reaction to the jump-scare.
"Sorry ma'am, couldn't resist." Kenny shrugged.
"Is he a friend?" Mrs. Montana turned to Diana to ask.
"Yes...Yes he is." Diana shook off her laughter to admit that crazy guy who scared her neighbor was indeed an old friend.
"Well...OK then...talk to you sometime." Mrs. Montana stomped off, a little agitated at being the centre of the joke. Almost as soon as she left, Both Kenny and Diana gave each other a hug.
"13 years..." Kenny said it clearly.
"It's been that long, hasn't it?" Diana and Kenny stopped hugging.
"So it was Florida...I would never have guessed if it wern't for that news report." Said Kenny.
"I knew that's how it would've happened. You would've seen our faces on the news somewhere or someplace and went looking for us...how did you know we were here at this house? Bruce told you?" Diana asked.
"Nope...someone who did a business transaction with him did...Teena Wahlberg." Replied Kenny.
"Oh her! That's your friend right? The rich investor one? How'd she have a hand at this place? Did she sell it to Bruce?" asked Diana
"They made a bet. Bruce won that bet, and got the house...and he told Teena it was a wedding gift...It was just a matter of putting the two together." Kenny shook that off and got to the serious stuff.
"Listen...I know now why you left. I saw the images on the internet. That wasn't fair at all to you." Kenny leaned up against the vinyl siding.
"No...but i'm over it." Diana replied. "I don't care anymore. Wonder Woman's gone. She's never coming back."
"Oh OK. Remember how you said if I was going to have a young beautiful daughter, I might...hey! Want to see my kids!?" Kenny got really excited.
"Yes!" Diana said just as excitedly.
Kenny pulled out his smartphone, and flipped some pictures until he had a family picture of him and Josie and the kids. He passed the phone to Diana to let her see it.
"Awwww, that's so sweet." Diana saw the picture, and showed it to Clark.
"That young lady in the picture is my daughter Ronda, and that's my son Zakk..." Then, Kenny held up his hand "Hey, lookit!"
Diana looked at Kenny's hand and noticed there was a well worn wedding ring on it.
"Oh! You and Josie did get married! Oh, i'm so happy for you!" Diana smiled.
"And I didn't faint at the altar either." Kenny joked "I take it you have kids too? I mean, you didn't get married just so you could have all the fun in the world without the consequences, eh?"
"2 as well...a beautiful young lady named Rose, and an elder son named Steve."
"So you did name him after..." Kenny took a long pause and descended a bit "...Where can I find him?"
Both Clark and Diana pointed to the backyard.
"Do you mind if I..." Kenny didn't get through his sentence before his friends nodded yes.
"...give me a moment." Kenny walked out to the back to see the gravestone.
Clark turned to Diana.
"Do you still think he's clinging to you?"
Out in the backyard, Kenny walked up to the gravestone and noticed it had been there for about 11 years. The stone read "Here lies the body of Col. Steven Trevor, American Pilot and Intelligence Agent, IADC and CIA. Born November 22nd, 1920 - Died October 29th, 2022."
Kenny stood above the grave, and gave a salute to someone he also considered a friend.
"Thank you sir. Your services to your country are appreciated." Kenny put his hand back to it's resting position and returned to the doorway where Clark and Diana awaited.
"A month short of his 102nd...how did he ever live so long?" asked Kenny.
"Good friends, I guess." Replied Diana.
"Well, what do we do now? Go out for a coffee, I just walk on back to Canada and say "Hey, I found my friend" and that's that?"
"Nah, come in, we'll have a cup together." Said Clark.
"I would like to give you my address." Kenny fished out a piece of paper and wrote his Abbotsford address down, and handed it to Diana. "That's where i'm living with the family 9 months out of the year. We should write letters or do you have an email or facebook?" Asked Kenny
"No...we haven't used the internet here in 13 years." replied Clark.
"To make sure no one could track you." Kenny nodded.
"Yeppers." replied Diana.
"Well listen, I can understand this being a little awkward, so it might be best I just get myself into a motel or something." said Kenny.
"Whatever makes you happy, Kenny." Replied Diana.
Kenny smiled and turned to his car.
"You should check out my car...well, it's a rental."
Diana and Clark came out to see the 2034 Chevrolet Corvette parked in the cul-de-sac. Kenny walked around it, acting as if it was his possession.
"Pop the hood." ordered Diana.
Kenny opened the driver's side, and popped the hood open to reveal the specs to Diana, who after many years, still had a handle on automobiles and stuff. Clark looked in at it as well. But Diana was the one who knew her way around fast cars.
"You've got the C7 model...6.7 litre engine...V10, 0-60 in 2 seconds..."
"And a 6-speed automatic transmission." Kenny said from the driver's seat.
"Which is one reason you'll never catch me driving it." joked Diana.
"I saw your '73 mercedes 450sl parked up front...how long have you had that thing now?"
"Oh, like 55-60 years now. Still runs. Still my daily driver." Replied Diana "You still have that ugly truck?"
Kenny chuckled a little. That was definitely the Diana he remembered.
"Hey, You remember the Ad campaign? Like a rock." Kenny referred to the Bob Seger song that accompanied many Chevy commercials during his childhood.
"C'mon, let's go for a coffee." Diana signaled for Kenny to follow her and Clark.
Kenny walked into the house and saw how his friend had been living.
"I'm glad you took the time to wait. We needed our time." Diana prepared a cup.
"I understand. I missed you guys, but I wholly understand." Replied Kenny
"No hard feelings?" asked Clark, who extended his hand to Kenny.
"None." Kenny shook Clark's hand "I'm too old for that stuff anymore. I'm just happy to see you guys, you look like you're doing well. So what do you do for work? Did you become a nurse or a doctor?" Kenny asked Diana.
"Yes. But i'm not doing well because I don't use anesthetic and I berate my patients." Diana made a joke referring to a long time ago.
Kenny laughed and knew what Diana meant when she said that.
"He's gotten into firefighting." Diana sat down beside Clark and put her arms around him "And he's my sugar daddy." and the couple kissed.
"Awww." Kenny smiled. "Do you miss your powers at all?"
At that point, Steve walked into the room and had no idea who the big, unattractive bald guy was.
"Who's he?" asked Steve.
"I'm Kenny, an old friend of them..." Kenny nodded at Clark & Diana before he extended his hand to the 12 year old "You're the superboy that rescued that girl today, aren't you?"
"Yeah." Replied Steve.
"Your mother must be teaching you well." Replied Kenny.
"Actually...he only found out a few hours ago who I was." replied Diana "And you know what? I didn't lose any powers."
Kenny was shocked.
"You're kidding...you're still Wonder Woman?"
"No...Wonder Woman doesn't exist anymore. Now it's just Diana Kent." Diana quickly replied.
"Oh...I get it." Kenny knew what Diana meant when she said that. "Any chance she's coming back?"
"Probably not. Even so, I didn't know I still had those powers until this morning...check out my wrists."
Diana extended her wrists and revealed that they were bruised from something hitting them. She had used them to block something without the bracelets she normally had.
"They look like paintball bruises." Replied Kenny.
"That's exactly what they are." Diana confirmed Kenny's guess.
"Let me guess...a family paintball outing and you just put your wrists up to block the shots?" Kenny joked.
"Something like that." Replied Clark.
"But how you could have not lost any powers? It doesn't make sense." Kenny asked.
Diana poured 3 cups of coffee and handed 2 of them off to Clark and another to Kenny.
"Can I have some, Mom?" asked Steve.
There was enough left for one more cup and it was best that it didn't go to waste. Steve got the last cup and sat down with his parents.
"You're right, it doesn't." Diana replied to Kenny's question from before. "I dunno. Maybe it's because I waited for Clark to propose and actually get married before I submitted myself. That's the only thing I can think of."
"God does think highly of marriage. By the way, who does Steve take after more? You or you?" Kenny motioned at the married couple.
"I think he's got his mother's abilities." Clark put his hand on his son's shoulder. "He's strong and can really jump."
"And blocking shots with my wrists, don't forget it." Steve took a sip of his coffee.
"He's on the track to that." Diana added.
"How about your daughter, does she have any abilities?" asked Kenny.
"She doesn't know yet...we'll wait for the right time to tell her." replied Clark.
"What about your kids?" Diana asked Kenny "Are they...psionic as well?"
"Well, i've been tempted to bring em out back and shoot them in the head to find out." Kenny joked.
The group chuckled a bit, except for Steve, who didn't get it.
"But, I love em too much to make em ugly. They got their mother's looks."
"I can tell." Diana commented.
"But my daughter, apparently, Josie's mother was a bombshell, and you know, they say beauty skips a generation, and of course, when Josie walks through a door the first thing that goes through is her face. And then when my daughter trails behind her..."
"Yeah, I hear you. I have a bad feeling Rose is going that way too." Diana understood that all around.
"i'm gonna have a hard time keeping the boys off of her." Clark commented.
"Well, you could sit on the porch sipping rum on the rocks, cleaning a shotgun...hey, Steve, you wanna see the shotgun I have?"
"Shotgun?" Steve's eyes widened.
Kenny stood up, and pulled his 12-gauge shotgun from the pocket in the trenchcoat.
"Holy shhhhh..."
"...it's a 12-gauge specialised shotgun." Kenny interrupted before Steve could swear "It can fire buckshot, explosive shells...and also, my favorite feature...a disabling shot."
"Disabiling shot?" asked Steve.
"That's the thing...you know how your parents are special, how they have powers? I had this gun thrust upon me at age 17...and ever since that day, i've used it to help people all over the place. I don't like killing. So, I use disable shot."
"Are you still in the business?" asked Diana
"Once in a while...actually today...nah, I don't want to talk about it." Replied Kenny.
"We heard about it on the news. If you don't want to discuss it, it's fine." Diana assured her friend.
Kenny wanted to make sure he used the right words "Clark, Diana...Make sure you keep a close eye on your daughter...guys are getting worse all the time." Kenny didn't want to talk about storming the polygamist compound.
"Perhaps some other time?" asked Diana
"Yeah...i'm still hurt about it. That's my daughter, she's an innocent thing, and she doesn't deserve to be hurt or have guys think she's a sexual object for them."
"Yeah, you've got a point there." Replied Diana, who took another sip of her coffee and thought back to that night she saw opinions of herself online.
"But...I don't think it's entirely fair for a boy to have to have all these girls walk around with everything hanging out as if they're teasing them. Sure, girls don't want to be teases to boys they don't care for, it's hot outside and stuff and less clothes are more comfortable, but it's an inevitable side effect. That's one of God's way of keeping boys interested in girls so that way boys would want and need them. And he made it so boys were mostly bigger and mostly stronger, so girls would feel safe around ones they trust and be willing to submit to, and that's one of God's ways of keeping it so girls want and need them." Kenny took a pause "Am I wrong in saying that?"
"I think you nailed it." Replied Clark.
"There's truth in there." Added Diana.
"At least that's how I feel." Kenny took a sip of his coffee.
"Then, there comes along a person who changes the mold." Diana stood forward. "We Amazons didn't like the idea of just submitting to men. Maybe we wanted them to earn it."
"That's fair." replied Kenny.
"And on top of that, dominance. Men feel like they have to be dominant over women so they can control situations. Do you think that's fair?" asked Diana.
"As a guy, I can see why guys want to feel dominant." Replied Kenny. "But Josie and I, we compromise. I ask her if she's ok with things, and she asks me if i'm ok with things, and we do our best to compromise. We've been married for 12 years now. It must be working." Kenny took another sip of coffee.
"But the whole dominance thing..." Diana continued "I think in man's world...men believed it was their right...and women did too. It took a special woman, a strong woman, an Amazon..." Diana pointed at herself "...To come along and change that. Someone to make men work for that right...excuse me...priviledge. It's not a right...it's a priviledge."
"Amen." was all Kenny wanted to mutter to that.
"...And this special woman, this...Wonder Woman...she paved the way. Now women serve in the army. They serve as police. They act as doctors, lawyers, judges, things only a man could do. They're leaders in countries now..." Diana slowed down..."Do you think this woman needed to do any more? Could she finally settle down and just be at peace with herself...Do you think out of all the things she stood for...was equality the one thing she got?"
"I think she nailed it." Kenny popped his coffee cup over for Diana to tap it with hers before taking a sip.
"Man's world still doesn't always understand the true value of a woman, though. Remember the blood clinic?"
"Great day." Kenny replied. "Until that kid showed up."
"That boy...that little brat...he obviously didn't see the value in a woman...and as a result, he paid for it...a strong woman took him down." Said Diana.
"Hey, have you and Cassandra talked since then?" asked Kenny.
"She hasn't found us yet. But i'm tempted to put out a call for her." Replied Diana.
"You should. You would totally make her day." replied Kenny.
"But don't tell her where we are, right now. The last thing we want is everyone just showing up...we want people to figure it out...Like you did."
"With superboy here, i'm sure they will." Kenny pointed at Steve.
"Hey, I still saved a girl's life." Steve came to his own defense.
"And if you hadn't...i'd still be back home waiting for the day...and that day has come...thank you." Kenny extended his hand, to which Steve shook it. "You should come and meet my daughter...I think she'd like you."
"Ahhhh...what does she look like?" Asked Steve.
Kenny pulled his phone and showed a picture of his daughter doing workouts.
"She's beautiful." replied Steve.
"You just take it slow, cowboy." Kenny put the phone away. "That's still the same girl that sat on my lap when she was 2 years old and called me "dada" and stuff."
"I know." Replied Steve.
"And if you see a girl that you like...don't forget...that same girl sat on someone's lap when she was 2 years old once. Y'know, when she was sweet and innocent?"
"I think he gets it, kenny." Clark butted in.
"Good." Kenny replied.
"He's my baby...he sat on my lap at 2 years old, and I wouldn't want any girl to forget that either." Diana hugged her son.
"I'm going to go play on the computer." Steve took his coffee and went into the livingroom.
"Don't spill that on the carpet." Diana warned her son.
"If you do, you have to suck it out." Kenny whispered at Diana, causing her to laugh a bit.
At that point, the clock had hit a certain time and Kenny felt like he had said his peace.
"Well...it's kind of late, and I did swear to Josie i'd head back as fast as I could get." Said Kenny.
"You're going?" asked Diana.
"I kinda have to. I made that compromise to my wife, and it wouldn't be fair if I broke it."
"True." Replied Diana "I would've loved to keep socializing, you're the second best friend from the past that we feel we can trust...Bruce being the first."
"Yeah, Bruce is awesome. From what I hear, he's still doing good deeds in Gotham and taking care of people."
"We hear about it all the time." Replied Clark.
"Listen...we'll catch up again. Next time, i'll bring the kids. We'll do dinner or have a barbeque up at my summer cottage and we'll go water-skiing when I can get my hands on a boat." said Kenny.
"That would be awesome." replied Diana.
"It would be...listen...after you gave me that letter, that letter in texas." Kenny continued "I came home, and got a letter from the RCMP...it was a letter from my mother, just before she died."
"And?" asked Diana.
"She was praying for me in those last few hours before she died. She was praying that I would be safe, and that someone would come along and be a mother figure..." Kenny looked at his coat, and then looked at Diana "...I think her prayers were answered."
"You still miss her?" asked Diana
"I'm always going to." replied Kenny "But at least I have my closure. After today, I feel like everything is as it should be."
"I'm glad for you." Diana nodded her head.
"So, we'll keep in touch. I'll send you some letters, maybe a phone call on a good day."
"We'll keep the phone jack plugged in." said Clark.
"Ok..." There was one last hug and then Diana showed Kenny to the door.
"You know something?" asked Diana.
"What's that?" asked Kenny.
"Everything is as it should be...let's keep it that way." Said Diana.
The heroes bumped fists, and Kenny put his shoes on, and walked out the door. He got into the Corvette, turned it over, and sped away into the night.
()()()
The End