House Call

[angrydurf]

Ace quickly scrubbed his hands as he replied, "I suppose more of a security measure." He gave her a quick wink and elaborated, "I'm fond of my privacy."

Taking a step back to dry his hands he explained further, "It's a bit of a trick of the mind, a technique I picked up in my travels and have elaborated upon. Not so much invisibility as a tendancy to be ignored."

Ace turned to face Stesha and offered her his arm with a slight bow, "Where would you like to begin the tour?"

[Electra]

Since it would be impolite to just ignore his arm, and not a blatant enough gesture to warrant the "I'm seeing someone" speech, Stesha put her fingertips lightly on his arm. "I noticed the plant guarding the door earlier, I don't think I've ever seen a vine quite like it. I'd love to get a closer look at that. But I'm sure you know all the best parts of your garden layout to show off," she acknowledged with a smile.

[angrydurf]

Ace patted her hand almost absent mindedly as he guided her into the next room deftly sidesteping the clinging vine that had began to send tendrils out across the door once more.

"Ah yes, the imposingly named Death Kudzu." He said with a nod to to the twitching vine, "My father always did have a flair for the dramatic, the natives called it Un-Palo-Dri-Chek, The Vine of Eternal Peace." He further explained.

Setting into a comfortable oration Ace continued, "We were on expedition in the wild lands of Borneo when we found it. Supposedly they only grow over the graves of great witch doctors, they secrete a paralytic euphoric on contact." His fingers brushed the back of her hand with a gentle comforting touch. "The warriors of the tribe would brave the plant to get the toxin to use for hunting big game." He said with a smile as his fingers trailed off her hand.

He glanced around thoughtfully for a moment, "So when did you first become interested in botany?" His gaze lingered on her face for a long moment as if she was the most fascinating thing in the room full of wonders from around the globe.

[Electra]

"Sounds like a good time, but I think I'll avoid touching it," she said with a chuckle, observing the vine without getting too close. "My mom's been a gardener since way before I was born," she explained. "She's a midwife and does complementary medicine, grows a lot of her own teas and supplements. My dad's a professor of botany, and I've got my degree, but I love the growing and arranging and showing off more than the studying. Not that I'd turn down an opportunity to get a look at a new rare plant," she added.

"Freedom City's a great place for it," she added, taking a couple of steps closer to look at the way the vine anchored itself to the wall. "It's got so many different schools and parks and arboretums. You see something new every week for a year and probably not cover everything. Tomorrow my boyfriend and I are going out to the South Street Neighborhood Festival and look over some of the community gardens they've got going down there. It should be really interesting." Okay, maybe that hadn't been a seamless way to work that in, and maybe they were mostly going to the festival for the music and fried foods, but she did want to look at the community garden.

"Did this come from the grave of a witch doctor?" she asked, trying to turn the conversation back to the tour, "or is it a cutting from another specimen?"

[angrydurf]

Ace laughed softly. "No this one was grown from seed, as best we could tell the whole witchdoctor thing was mumbo jumbo anyway." He replied patting her hand comfortingly.

He walked her past a stand of exquisite orchids and a collection of tropical ferns pointing out a few of the rarer varieties by name. "Well you and your lucky fellow shall have a good time of it I imagine. Its a delightful festival, I haven't been in years but I had a very good time with my friend Randal there last we went." He exclaimed as he came to a stop before a willowy shrub covered in bright green berries.

"The knut-knut bush of the Outback, grows in odd little grottos down in the billabongs." He explained with an off hand gesture to the plant. Ace glanced down at Stesha with a grin telling her, "The berries are said to let you enter the Dreamtime. Grant great wisdom and forsight. One of my fathers bearers tried it, we found him three years later on Ayers Rock he hadn't aged a day and had almost no memory of where he had been." He let his hand lay atop hers once more while he continued, "The various settlers believe the leaves if chewed act as an aphrodesiac so set about gathering them whenever a plant is found. A shame really."

[Electra]

"It's a shame when that happens," Stesha murmured, looking over the graceful little plants. "There's a fine line between a plant that has a use and a plant that's marked for destruction because it's a bit too attractive. Plenty of plants go extinct that way. And yet plants like the dandelion, that have more uses than I can count, are destroyed wholesale and always manage to come back again. If someone got enough people to believe that dandelion salad improves your sex drive, I guarantee they'd go for more per ounce than marijuana. Both weeds, after all."

She chuckled, then crouched down next to the plants, looking at them more closely with a scientific eye. "They certainly could have hallucinogenic properties, they look to belong to the right family. Probably not the sort of thing you want to go playing around with, even if you do have a few years to spare." Stesha sat back on her heels and looked up at him. "Okay, I know this sounds stupid, but I just have to get it said. When I was a kid, my sisters and brothers and I all used to watch your old cartoon show on Saturday mornings, when it would air before the sun was even up. And we played Johnny Danger Family out in our treehouse. It was my favorite show till I was about ten years old." She smiled, looking kind of embarrassed. "So anyway, it's really extra neat to be out here and see all the things you've collected all these years."

[angrydurf]

Ace laughed out loud, "Not silly at all Stesha. After all it was a very popular show." He said with a wink.

"I'm glad to get the chance to show you some of my collection. They are after all here to be shared with friends." His voice was warm and his smile broad as he spoke.

The next several examples of his collection were various rare tropical flowers a few now extinct in the wild though as he explained, "Danger International has begun a growing program to keep the captive population up but under the current political climate in Uruguay its unlikely that reintroduction will be possible for some time."

As they reached the door to another section of the atrium he inquired, "So other than help excentric old men with thier plants what do you do in your free time?"

[Electra]

Stesha was starting to wish she had a notebook to jot down a few things about all these amazing plants, but she was sure she wouldn't forget any of them. "Mostly I beautify the local parks," she told him. "It's sort of my hero work-slash-hobby right now, while the weather's so warm. Between that and my day job and my own gardening, I keep pretty busy, then spend a little time relaxing or out with friends." She grinned and shrugged. "It's not very exciting, but I like it. Do you spend much time in Freedom City these days? I hear stories from all over the world, but you never know what's true and what's total garbage. Your house here is gorgeous."

[angrydurf]

"Thank you, I don't have visitors often and its been wonderful to get to show it off." He said with a self depricating air, but a warm grin.

"I've been traveling until recently, but have settled in for the time being, I keep a penthous at Pyramid Plaza in case business keeps me in the city too late." Ace elaborated. He went into further detail explaining, "Freedom for all its glories is still struggling to find its footing in a way in the wake of the Moore act and the Terminous invasion. I Just want to try and give a little back to a city that has given so much." Despite the slightly scripted sounding wording he did sound sincere.

As they chatted they had continued into the gardens much more standard show fare compared to the atrium but very well maintained.

[Electra]

Stesha didn't know much more about the Terminus Invasion and the Moore Act than what she'd learned at school and at the Super Museum, but she nodded along. "I decided to move to Freedom City because it's such a gathering place for people with powers, and because it's got so much history. I can't imagine what it would be like without the heroes around." She grinned wryly. "I could do without the villains, but I guess it's hard to have too many of one kind without the other being attracted. Do you really think it's a lot different than the way it was before the Terminus invasion?"

As they walked through the garden, she extended her powers almost instinctively, giving little boosts to whatever seemed to need it. The garden was beautifully maintained, but there was hardly a plant anywhere that didn't appreciate a little perking up. When she realized the plants around her were rustling and turning greener, she stopped abruptly. "I'm sorry, that was rude, I should've asked first. It's sort of gotten to be a habit lately."

[angrydurf]

Ace smiled at the young woman and patted her hand comfortingly, "Be my guest a little pick me up never hurt anyone." He said a laugh.

"Before the invasion, well it was a time that too many of us looked the other way really." He seemed sad and a little remorsefull speaking of the past.

"Ah but the good days before all of that regulatory non-sense Moore pushed through, they were not so different but there was a kind of trust that still hasn't been rebuilt." His words were honest and straightforward this was a rare subject Ace would not gild.

"But we have a new generation now to take up the mantle," He looked at Stesha warmly, "Don't downplay what you do or are capable of. It's not the powers that make a hero its the actions." He glanced away, "Even if its just some flowers to brighten a travelers dreary day." He squeezed her hand gently.

[Electra]

Although Stesha wasn't sure she liked all the handsiness, or at least wasn't sure whether she was entirely comfortable with it, the reminder of the difference in their ages helped. Her Grandpa Madison was a little bit like that as well, always patting backs and squeezing hands and, if they didn't watch him in restaurants and stores, occasionally pinching bottoms as well. After a man got to a certain age, that sort of thing was more easily tolerated, it was just that in this case, the great-grandfather type still looked like he was her age, and very attractive to boot. Besides the hand squeezing though, he'd been nothing but perfectly polite and kind, so she'd give him the grandpa-caliber benefit of the doubt for the moment. If he pinched her bottom, they'd have a problem, but somehow she didn't see her suave host doing anything like that. If he wanted a bottom to pinch, he didn't need to surprise an unsuspecting passer-by!

"I've gotten a chance to meet a lot more heroes than I thought I would, just in my few months here," she told him. "Most of them do a lot bigger work than I do, but they still try to hang onto a normal life when they're not busy working. And I can understand that, I think. Doing hero work can get exhausting, and frightening. But it's exciting, too. Are you looking for the peace and quiet and the normal life now that you're back here in Freedom City?" she asked with genuine curiosity. "Or is it too hard to give up the excitement?"

[angrydurf]

"Hero life or normal life its all really the same." Ace explained, "No I'm not retiring or anything like that just refocusing, the world has many guardians I'm going to focus on the city for awhile."

They continued their walk out to a well aportioned pergola looking out over the scenic North Bay Shore. He motioned for her to have a seat in one of the chairs as he elaborated, "Its not a job with hours and vacation days its something within that drives you to do more for your fellow man," He leaned in conspiritorily "you can't just turn that off."

Then again Ace had grown up witht he Jungle Patrol and been involved with similar activites his entire life, normal might not really be something he could understand even if he wanted too.

[Electra]

Stesha took a seat and nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I'm starting to understand that, I think. It's a little bit different for me, since if I get busy or if I'm tired, the plants will wait. It's different for people who have lives riding on their actions. That's such a heavy weight, though, and they never seem to get a chance to take it off. You've been doing this for such a long time. How do you cope?" she asked sincerely, hoping she wasn't digging too deeply, but really wanting the answer. "I mean, with day after day, year after year, of having so much responsibility." Rumor had it that he hadn't always discharged that responsibility, but that didn't necessarily mean that it didn't weigh on his mind.

[angrydurf]

"Sometimes you fall short." he replied plainly. He clicked his tough thoughtfully for a moment then shrugged, "I certainly have, the thing of it is you have to pick yourself up afterwards and dust off and try again."

Ace looked out over the bay a smile toying at the edge of his mouth. "Its not easy, but nothing worth doing is right?" He inquired almost rhetorically.

"Now," He said emphatically, "If you want to know how you keep going even after the failures that is harder but at the same time very simple." He looked back to Stesha, "Will. The will to do good regardless of the personal cost and against all odds. Its the true defining feature of a hero powered or not." He paused his eyes searching her face for a moment, "At the same time its very easy because the alternative is unbearable. To see people suffer because you did nothign is far worse than anything you will suffer in the course of your career as a hero."

[Electra]

"I don't know if it's even so much the failures that I'm thinking of," she admitted thoughtfully. "Even when you succeed, doesn't that just make it more important to keep succeeding? If you hadn't been there just then, something horrible would've happened. Most of the heroes I've met, that weighs on them, the idea of not being there." She thought of Taylor and of Derrick, the work they did and their dedication to it. "And if it's that way in Freedom City, where there are more heroes than anyplace else on Earth, you'd think it would be even worse somewhere else. Do you ever have to remind yourself that you're not the only one who does the work, or is it just something you come to accept?"

[angrydurf]

"A little of both really." Ace replied warmly, "In this buisness friends are important, but you also have to accept that sometimes theres nothing anyone can do." His voice went quite and a little sad as he spoke.

"It never really stops haunting you, but you can either let that defeat you or let it drive you try all the harder." Ace shook himself and said with a practiced smile, "And here I've gone all maudlin on you, appologies milady."

"As for the rest of the world it has its defenders as well by and large, not to mention the League who act much more internationally these days. So Freedom really needs me as much as anywhere." His tone returned to is former jovial devil-may-care tone as he spoke.

[Electra]

"Don't apologize," Stesha replied, "not when it's me who's been asking all the personal questions. Even if it's in a good cause. I hope I can be a better friend even if I'm not in the thick of hero work if I can at least pass on some advice from an expert." She folded her hands, looking around the garden and trying to think of something else to say. She suspected that trying for scintillating or witty wasn't really an option, but she could at least try not to be boring. "How do you know Taylor, if you don't mind me asking?" she finally asked. "Do you work with the Knights?"

[angrydurf]

"I haven't worked with the knights as a whole but I've worked with several of them independantly." Ace explained casually adding, "I'm a bit of a free agent overall, I've made alot of friends over the years that occasionally need my talents."

Leaning back he explained how he knew Phantom, "I worked with Phantom when a bank we were in was robbed. We thwarted the robbers and traked them back to thier cohorts." He tastefully left out the rather catastrophic war between armed criminal factions that followed, Stesha didn't seem the type for all the gory details.

"Of course," He added, "When you've been in the business as long as I have its never that simple, Her great-uncle worked with my father and I in his youth, Hong Kong Harry taught me chinese and some basics of martial arts."

[Electra]

"Hong Kong Harry?" Stesha couldn't help but chuckle. "I remember him from the cartoon show, but I always thought he was made up, like Hong Kong Phooey. And he's Taylor's relative, too. It's a very small world out there. Maybe you should write your memoirs, with the names changed, how it really was behind the comics and the TV shows and the tabloids. I'm sure it would be amazing."

[angrydurf]

"Well as exciting as the memories of a terrified ten year old might be to some, I think the cartoons and comics show a lighter side that the world needs more of." Ace said lightly, "And yes all of them were or are real people, good people."

Ace looked over at Stesha, "Phantoms Great Uncle Huang has a doctorate in anthropology and archeology I'm told. He's had a long and distinguished career. I don't need to undermine that with tales of him, even under psuedonym, karate chopping an andean mummy" Many of Aces old friends and companions had moved on to the private sector and away from the rough and tumble days of his youth.

"Times are different today," He explained, "We do things differently now, no better and no worse but deffinately different. I'm not sure todays sensabilities can really understand what we did and why."

[Electra]

Stesha was personally very interested to hear some of the stories behind the stories she'd watched on television growing up, and wound up staying far longer than she'd planned. When she realized it was well and truly dark outside and she'd intended to be home several hours ago, she was rather startled. "I need to be getting home," she admitted, "I have a bunch of work I'm taking home with me for different projects. It's really nice to have met you, and I'm glad I was able to help. We can meet up next week and I'll check on how the plant is recovering?"

[angrydurf]

"I'd like that." Ace replied.

He quickly showed her back to the atrium and helped her to load the Mankana bush into her car before bidding her farewell, "Until we meet again," he said while fishing a card from his pocket, "And if you ever need anything give me a ring."

[Electra]

Stesha insisted on buckling the bucket into the front seat, which took a little bit longer, but the last thing she wanted was to tip the precious plant on the way home! When it was secure, she took the proffered card, then dug around in her purse for one of her own. "I know you already have my number at work, but here's my cell number as well. Let me know if I can help out with anything else, or if your mankana starts acting weird. And thank you again, so much, for the split." She smiled at him and extended her hand, ready to shake although she suspected he might kiss it again.

[angrydurf]

She was not disappointed, "The honor has been all mine milady." Ace said as he bent to pass the barest brush of his lips over her knuckles. He tucked he number into his pocket and stood watching as she drove out onto the streets proper.

Turning to return to the manor Ace made a note to thank Taylor for suggesting the fascinating young lady.