Chapter 27 - The Truth and Other Things That Hurt

Art by Xenoclea 

Later that day, I went up to Mr. Russell's office. I carefully knocked on his door, and after a little bit of waiting, Mr. Russell opened the door and let me in. My curiosity about my mother was killing me, and I was finally ready to get some answers from Mr. Russell. However, I knew that I would have to be cautious. Mr. Russell most likely didn't know that I was a superhuman, and I wasn't sure how he would react if he knew. I would have to continue to guard that particular secret.

I took a seat next to Mr. Russell as he said, "It's good to see you again, Jay. Would you like anything to eat or drink? I can always have my assistant bring you something."

"I'm okay for now," I said, even though I was a little bit hungry.

Mr. Russell leaned back into his chair and asked, "What brings you to my office today? I've been rather busy lately, so I'd prefer to get back to work soon."

"I just wanted to ask you about something," I said.

"What did you want to ask about?" Mr. Russell asked.

"Can you tell me a little bit more about my mother?" I asked.

"Of course, Jay," Mr. Russell said. "I don't know exactly what you want to know, but I can tell you that Michele was an adorable little child who grew into a brave, if sometimes misguided, woman." He paused for a moment, as if lost in thought, and then added, "I remember that Michele always managed to make both my wife and I laugh every day. She was everything to us - it's a shame that she died so young."

"Tell me more," I said. "What was she like?"

"She always appreciated everything that life had to offer," Mr. Russell said. "Michele had a large, close-knit group of girls that she always hung around, but sometimes I could just find her reading alone or wandering around the park in our neighborhood. She loved stories of every sort, whether they were movies or books or something else. Michele always liked those superhero comics, which I never quite understood, and she was quite a talented soccer player..."

"Wait a second," I said. "Since you brought up the superhero comics, is it true that my mother was a superhuman?"

"Where did you hear that?" Mr. Russell asked.

"I saw it in the photo album that you gave me," I said. "There was a picture where Mom was flying."

"So you did look at the photo album," Mr. Russell said. "I was worried that you wouldn't."

"Can you answer my question please?" I said.

"Yes, Michele was a superhuman," Mr. Russell said. "I don't know where exactly her powers came from, but she was able to fly."

"That's crazy," I said, feigning surprise. "Did she go to the Academy?"

"Yes, for a little while," Mr. Russell said.

"Why didn't she go there for all five years?" I asked.

"That's the problem with Michele," Mr. Russell said. "She didn't listen to me when I told her that it would be good for her to train her powers." Mr. Russell sighed and said, "Michele ran away from the Academy."

As an Academy escapee myself, I could understand why Mom had done it. The Academy wasn't exactly the best place in the world for a young superhuman. Then again, she was the daughter of the man who was funding the Academy. If Mr. Russell was my father, I never would have even thought of trying to escape the Academy. At least I knew that when I returned and told my story, my father had understood why I had done it and let me return home. "What happened after that?" I asked Mr. Russell.

"Michele seemed to disappear off the face of the earth," Mr. Russell said. "My wife and I searched for her, but we had no idea where our precious daughter had gone. That was when I started donating to the Academy. It takes a superhuman to find another superhuman, and I thought that if the Academy was properly funded, then they could find Michele and help her complete her training."

"Did they find her?" I asked, even though I knew that it was a silly question. I had seen pictures of my mother as an adult. Mr. Russell's story did explain why I didn't see any pictures of Mom as a teenager in the photo album though.

"It took them sixteen years," Mr. Russell said. "Those were sixteen of the hardest years of my life. My wife and I were heartbroken while we were searching for our daughter. We had no idea if something horrible had happened to her or not, and the Academy was having no luck with their search. I was almost ready to give up when they finally found her."

"What happened when you found her?" I asked.

"The Academy found Michele living in an apartment with San Urbano with some Japanese boy that she had run off with and their baby son," Mr. Russell said. "I wasn't exactly thrilled that she had eloped with this man that I didn't know and then possibly passed on her freakish powers to my grandchild, but that wasn't the worst part of all of this."

"What was the worst part then?" I asked. I was a little mad about Mr. Russell's descriptions of my father and I, but I wanted to hear the rest of his story.

"She was fighting crime without the Academy's approval," Mr. Russell said.

"What's so wrong with that?" I asked.

"Jay, I'm sure that I've told you this before, but superhumans are dangerous," Mr. Russell said. "If we don't keep them in check, then there's nothing stopping them from killing us all. We can't have superhumans running around on their own. That's why we have the Academy. They protect us from superhumans trying to act as vigilantes, and that's exactly what Michele was doing."

"Mom wasn't doing anything wrong though," I argued.

"She was defying the Academy," Mr. Russell said. "That in itself is wrong."

I didn't bother to argue with Mr. Russell further. "What happened next?" I asked.

"Of course, I had to do something," Mr. Russell said. "I asked the Academy to send a team of superheroes to confront Michele and get her to return to the Academy."

"Then what happened?" I asked.

Mr. Russell paused and then asked, "Jay, do you know how your mother died?"

"No," I admitted. "Dad never told me very much about Mom."

"Michele got into a fight with those superheroes that I sent," Mr. Russell said. "Ultimately, they had no choice but to kill her."

"They murdered my mom?" I shouted.

"Now, I wouldn't put it that way," Mr. Russell said. "It was self-defense."

"Mom would never do something like that!" I exclaimed. "Dad said that Mom would never hurt a fly!" I took a deep breath to calm myself down and then asked, "Did you know that they would kill her?" Mr. Russell remained silent for a few minutes, so I asked the question again.

"I knew that it might happen if there was no other choice," Mr. Russell said.

"You killed your own daughter!" I shouted. "You monster!"

"You don't understand, Jay," Mr. Russell said. "I had no other options. You don't know what it's like to have to live with the shame of having a villain for a daughter."

"She wasn't a villain," I said. "You're the real villain here, Mr. Russell. What kind of man kills his own child?"

"What kind of man destroys a hospital?" Mr. Russell replied.

"How did you know about that?" I asked.

"I knew who you were all along, Jay," Mr. Russell said. "I've been keeping an eye on you ever since Michele died. I did hope that you would turn out differently."

"I didn't mean to destroy the hospital," I said. "We thought that it was the Academy."

"Is that any better?" Mr. Russell asked. "The Academy is an institution that works for the public good. Destroying the Academy would turn San Urbano into a crime-ridden nightmare."

"That's not true," I said. "You've never been a student at the Academy. You can't even imagine what it's like to be there."

"I've funded the Academy since long before you were born," Mr. Russell said. "I know what goes on in there, and I know that it's good for all of us. It keeps the normal people safe and the superhumans in check."

"How does any of that justify killing Mom?" I asked.

"She was a menace to society," Mr. Russell said. "You remind me too much of her, Jay. It wasn't enough for you to develop those superpowers - you had to run away from the Academy too. I tried to help you, you know."

"How did you help me?" I asked. "I didn't even know that you existed until this summer."

"I was the one who insisted that you should have this job," Mr. Russell said. "Why else would we hire an inexperienced, seventeen year old intern? I wanted to teach you a lesson so that you would return to the Academy."

He had a point, but it didn't detract from my anger. "I'm not going back to the Academy," I said.

"Why don't you come back tomorrow after you've thought about it a little more?" Mr. Russell said. "I'm sure that I can convince the Academy to take you back."

"Didn't you hear me the first time?" I screamed. "I'm not going back to the Academy!" I stormed out of Mr. Russell's office and ran back downstairs, glad to finally be away from my mother's murderer.

By the time I returned to the newsroom, everyone else had already left. Vanessa was still at her desk, waiting for me. My whole body was shaking as I walked to Vanessa's desk. "Hi Jay," Vanessa said. "Are you okay? You look kind of sick."

"I'm fine," I insisted. I could wait to tell Vanessa about Mr. Russell until after we arrived at the castle. I didn't want Mr. Russell to find out that I had told Vanessa about our conversation. If he had apparently been "keeping an eye on me" for most of my life, then he could easily find out that I had told Vanessa about how Mr. Russell had killed Mom.

"Let's head back to the castle then," Vanessa said. We walked out to the parking lot, and I climbed into Vanessa's car.

As Vanessa turned on some music, I felt my powers begin to surge. Worried that they would go out of control again, I tried to rein my powers in. Even thinking about what had happened that day made my powers flare up, so I closed my eyes and focused on the motion of the car. I had to distract myself from thinking about Mr. Russell.

My powers thankfully weren't strong enough for me to steal a soul, but I was still losing control. Ghosts began to float around the car, making it difficult for Vanessa to see the road. "Jay, what's going on?" Vanessa asked.

"I'm having trouble controlling my powers," I said.

"That's not good at all," Vanessa said. "Should I pull over?"

"No, just keep going to the castle," I said. "I'll try to regain control."

After a few minutes, I was able to make the ghosts disappear, but I was still struggling to fully control my powers. Something was definitely wrong. However, as long as I could make it to the castle without stealing anyone's soul, I knew that everything would be fine.

When Vanessa and I arrived at the castle, I ran up to the castle gates and knocked on the door. Percy and Terry both let us in, but I had no time to speak to either of them. I ran into Carmen's lab, hoping that somehow she would be able to help me. After all, if anyone could find a way to keep my powers from going haywire, it would be Carmen Alvadora.