Last Record (IC)

[Dr Archeville]

Archeville nodded and smiled, "it is good you have found an honest and accepting partner; I am happy for you!" He reached down for another few cheese cubes from the platter, "and you say she is the quiet, work-focused type? Ah, they can be a tough nut to crack, but I am sure you are up to the challenge, else you would not be asking for advice! I'd even bet you've already started to see the real her under there, which has only attracted you more, yes?"

He chuckled softly, "ah, but now you approach unexplored territories! You want to please her, and to feel pleasure in return, and in that regard I am certain I can help! I may not be quite as gifted in prosthetics work as Miss Americana, but to replace that which was taken by the Omegadrone process, I can see why you would want to come to a male doctor, one with direct experience in the sensations of those parts...."

[Avenger Assembled]

Steve turned red, flushing along the cybernetic scars along his face so for a moment it looked as if he had wrapped himself in an irregular waffle iron. "No, no, that is, that is intact!" he said hastily, understanding why that might be the first on Archeville's mind. "I have had experience. What was not augmented was repressed, and thus when I was no longer under Omega's control..." he coughed. "When I came to you as a man, it was as much a man as...a friend. I am honored to call you my friend, Viktor. If I did have concerns like that," he said honestly, "you would be the first to whom I spoke, with no reservations."

[Dr Archeville]

"Ah!" Now it was the Doktor's turn to be shocked; he truly had no expected the Omegadrone conversion process to leave those bits, for fear of distracting the converted from the dread deeds Omega would put it to. "Well, then, I guess the old joke about 'never assume' is right!"

"Well, then, since you have no concerns in that aspect of your relationship," he sat back in his chair and took the glass of brandy a small robot had just brought him, "then my main advice would be to simply stay honest with her. And I do not mean just not telling lies -- I mean not hiding any truths, no matter how unpleasant, from her. I don't mean tell her everything about you -- I know there is much you have seen that you would not want to share, and that few would want to hear -- but if there is something that would affect your two, let her know," he downed about half of his drink, "and try to work it out together."

[Avenger Assembled]

They talked into the afternoon, Steve eventually relaxing enough that he ate instead of storing the available food for later. It was good to talk to Viktor, and good to talk about subjects that didn't revolve around sorcerous corruption or the gigagenocide of a thousand worlds. That they could have serious discussions about the ethics of relationships, as well as occasional diversions into cybernetic male enhancement, was a sign they were both much closer to normal than they once had been. When they were done, and he was leaving to take up his afternoon shift at HAX, he finished, "Thank you for the company, Viktor, and the advice," he said seriously. "It is good to have friends in times like these."

[Dr Archeville]

"Indeed so!," Archeville enthusiastically agreed, clasping a hand to Steve's shoulder. "Do send everyone at HAX my well-wishes, and, please," he gestured towards the half-finished deli platter, "feel free to take as much as you like with you! Oh, and send Miss Americana my best wishes, too -- you are still together, yes?" He cocked his head slightly to one side, "I remember when you came together, to Providence, to see me."

Waaait a second... you don't suppose...

Oooh, how delightfully scandalous!

Pfaugh! What would she see in him? Besides, he said his woman was a shut-in!

Well, nonetheless, those two would make a nice couple.

... nah.

He looked straight ahead, to catch Steve's eyes with his, and shook his hand, "and I hope the best for you, my friend."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I have come a long way already," replied Steve, returning that look to his friend with something more than his usual flat gaze. He even smiled. "And today, a little further." He left under his own power, as usual in a part of the city where there were enough sensors that could penetrate both his holographic disguise and his chameleon circuits, a man among men as he joined the urban throng in Freedom City. His parents were long, long dead, and what they'd done and what had been done to them could never be undone. But through all that had happened, they'd always been themselves. It was good to remember that.

THE PAST

NIHILOR

Sally and Ben sat alone in their quarters as the agonized screams came from deeper in the palace. The rebellion had been defeated, just as they'd known it would be, and those who'd stood against Steelguard were being transformed into the cybernetic slaves he had offered to the new dark master of their reality. Only Sally and Ben had stayed out of the fighting; only they had survived to swear their eternal loyalty to the thing that wore their old friend's face and did the bidding of the embodiment of Death itself. Only they were left.

Very very soon, they'd be expected to go out there and watch the last stages of the murder of their friends to write it up in glory for Steelguard's triumphal speech to the throng of slaves below. And they'd do it again the next day, and again, and again, and again, forever. Cowards went to Hell.

"Someday," Sally finally said, her voice a quiet prayer. "Someday."