Memories

Granny's Little Girl

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Zillah and Laura glanced at each other nervously. Then Zillah slid a knife into her hand from seemingly out of nowhere. Laura nodded and the two girls slipped out into the night.

Unbeknownst to either of them, a girl stood unobserved in the window above them, a bandage wrapped around her eyes yet giving the canniest impression that she could see them leave.

Phoenix rolled her eyes.

"Is this the beginning of Akira's 'Oh, see how mysterious I am' stage?"

"Phoenix, I wouldn't call it a stage. I'd call it the rest of her life."

"To raise a point, Phoenix, she understood the way others observed the world to work with the same confusion as others tried to observe with quantum mechanics."

"Okay, would either of you care to tell me why Mr Kade Kilgore is pressing assault charges and trying to get you imprisoned for hanging him by his underwear from a lamppost?"

Zillah and Laura exchanged slightly guilty glances then looked back up at Logan and Steve. Zillah ventured to answer.

"Well… We couldn't legally touch him for hurting Akira, so we thought humiliation would…"

"You thought? You thought?! For Pete's sake, you could have been killed out there! We know Kilgore is in league with Sabretooth, as well as Mystique and Azazel!"

Zillah cleared her throat.

"Well… Actually, when Azazel saw us, he just sighed and pointed us towards Kilgore."

"Did he say anything?"

"Don't set the crazy blind girl on me?"

There was a pause. Then, as one, everyone looked upwards, towards the room Akira was resting in.

"He actually said that?"

Laura paused.

"He also said that Zillah was too like her grandmother?"

Logan shrugged.

"We know next to nothing about Aleka. That could be a compliment or an insult."

"No. It was not Aleka, because he said… What exactly did he say, Zillah?"

"He said… 'Aleka's mother was as difficult as you are, girl. If you ever meet her, please don't come after me'. I think…"

There was a long pause. Steve and Logan exchanged nervous glances. Somehow, Etana's family had never really been brought up, unless you wanted a rant about how terrible her grandfather was. But grandmother? Someone able to make Azazel whimper in fear? That was…different. And in that case, how did he ever have a kid with her? Then both of them considered Etana.

"Er… Aleka was…pretty dangerous, wasn't she?"

Zillah blinked.

"I think she was meant to be the most dangerous of the Neyaphem after Azazel."

"Okay, what's the betting it's female thing in that line? The women are all deadly weapons?"

Steve grinned.

"Very deadly weapons."

Zillah didn't look impressed.

"Dad, weren't you yelling at us for taking risks?"

There was a pause. Then Logan and Steve exchanged that glance.

"Did anyone see you?"

"Only Azazel and Kilgore."

"Is there any security footage?"

"What do you take us for? Amateurs? We wiped the drives."

"DNA samples?"

"We wore gloves, hairnets, long-sleeved clothes and got Akira to vapourise it all."

"Unless they can link a canister of helium to the clothes we wore, then they can't touch us."

The two men exchanged looks.

"Etana taught her well."

"What do you expect? We found the backlog of forensics papers in the Eyrie. Etana knew the latest methods before they were even out there."

Zillah stuck up her hand.

"Are we still in trouble, or can we go? It's just we booked a Danger Room session and we don't want to miss it."

There was an awkward pause. Then Logan sighed.

"Go on then. But don't go after any more criminal masterminds without permission!"

He could have sworn he heard Zillah mutter 'Yeah right' to Laura as they scampered out.

Steve sat down next to him, looking slightly shell-shocked. Logan grinned.

"Getting worried about fatherhood?"

"She's… She's like a little, mini Etana. I found her last week trying to get the shield out of its case –using a toothpick and hanging from the ceiling. She said she just wanted a go with it but decided to make getting it out a training exercise in its own right."

"But you don't mind, do you?"

"It's nice to have her turn up on the spur of the moment, with cookies or coffee or something and ask if we can go on a rollercoaster."

"You still regret that, don't you?"

Steve grinned ruefully.

"What, was Captain America scared of rollercoasters?"

"No, it was more the fact that Zillah would happily spend hours on one, over and over again."

Zillah had been sitting in her room, wishing Akira would be back soon so they could chat madly at each other in Japanese. Then there was a slightly 'puff' noise and there was a graceful woman in a chiton lying on Akira's bed, smiling at Zillah.

"Hello dear. I'm Aleka's mother. I've only just heard about you, so I do apologise for not turning up before now."

Zillah's eyes widened in astonishment. The woman went on regardless.

"I am Themis-Nemesis. The Greeks worshiped me in two forms. Themis, goddess of justice and custom, and Nemesis, goddess of retribution and revenge. Kind of like Sekhmet and Hathor, only a little less so."

Zillah stuck her head back under the pillow.

"Go away. Ima told me to stay away from my crazy family…"

"Oh, darling. I'm not going to hurt you…"

"How come you had a kid with Azazel?"

"Oh, poppet. That was a mistake. But we can put all this behind us now. I suppose biologically you're my granddaughter, but you can call me Great-Gran."

Zillah vanished in a cloud of smoke and two floors below could be heard screaming to "SAVE ME FROM MY CRAZY GRANDMOTHER!"

Themis appeared in front of her.

"Sweetie, don't run away. I just want to say hello and welcome to the family."

"DAAAD! UNCLE LOGAN!"

Zillah sprinted away, her wings fluttering helplessly behind her. Themis appeared in front of her again.

"Oh, poppet, don't run…"

The heel of Zillah's hand slammed into Themis's nose and Zillah was off again, screaming at the top of her voice. The Greek goddess/Titan continued teleporting, hemming Zillah in.

"Dear, I just want to talk…"

"GET AWAY FROM ME! DAAAD!"

Two men burst out of a door; a short, dark-haired hairy man and a tall blond man who was carrying a large shield. Themis paused and held her hands up.

"My apologies, granddaughter…"

"Stop calling me that!"

"I'm sorry, but it's true."

Logan and Steve exchanged glances.

"So… You're Aleka's mother?"

The goddess entered a sweeping bow.

"Themis-Nemesis, good sirs. Goddess of divine justice or divine vengeance, depending on what form I'm in. At the moment I'm Themis. You can tell that by the fact I've not got wings and I'm not trying to kill people."

Logan paused.

"Were you Nemesis when Aleka was born?"

"Oh, no. But Aleka was standard demigod. Strong, almost immortal. Unfortunately, it only affects first-generations. Etana's only concession to her heritage was her inability to age. It wasn't even linked into the Earth's biosphere –most of us are tied to Gaia, but quarter-gods don't tend to be."

Steve's head slid to one side.

"That explains a lot…"

Then he frowned.

"Etana did know, didn't she?"

The look on the Titan's face said everything. Steve's eyes narrowed.

"She never knew. Three-thousand years, and not one of you Olympians saw fit to tell her! She wanted to know about her mother! She knew nothing, and she wanted to know the truth and you hid it from her! She told me once how it felt, to know nothing of her mother's people! Blood meant a great deal to those she was raised with and it destroyed her! She lived as the motherless child, who could never reveal she knew her mother's name, because who could tell her that?! She was abandoned by you and now you suddenly think you can turn up and make good everything you've done?!"

Themis stepped backwards, slightly cowed by the mortal who dared stand up to her. And also, the goddess of justice could see his point, the injustice of a child abandoned to die by her grandmother.

Steve's eyes were icy cold.

"Get out."

"You dare command-"

"I said, get out. If Zillah wants to see you, she'll come to you. You get out and leave my daughter alone."

Themis straightened up to her full height. She was taller than Steve was, and her face was just as stubborn. Now both men could see the resemblance she bore to the girl whose arm she still held tightly. Zillah looked up, nervousness showing in her eyes. She was trying to communicate something, although what, Steve didn't know. Themis was preparing to speak.

"You cannot command me. The girl is mine to take. You have no blood tie to her while I am her grandmother. She is mine and-"

Zillah rammed her elbow back, striking the goddess in the stomach. On being released, she whipped around and slammed the heel of her hand into the Titan's nose. Then she darted backwards.

"You never sought out Ima. So why me? Because you think you can control me? I'm not going to be anyone's attack dog. I want to stay with Dad. So go away and leave me alone. Maybe I'll come and find you, maybe I won't. But I want to be left alone!"

Themis looked up, but instead of the rage Steve was expecting –he had met quite a few of the Olympians before- there was only sorrow in her eyes.

"I wait eagerly for that day then."

And she faded away, leaving Zillah staring at the place she had been.

The girl turned and her face was streaked with tears.

Death sighed.

"Well, it explains the Malach Hamavet's devotion to justice and vengeance."

Phoenix was spluttering.

"Then how… How did Zillah survive after Gaia died?"

"Bear in mind, the quarter-gods weren't tied into the Earth's biosphere as the gods born of Gaia were."

"Oh… So that's how she managed it…"