Frontier #34 - Showtime! pt. 2

                The sea breeze blew over Tony’s body as he stretched out on a folding chair. The beach’s sand was warm to his feet, and despite the fact it was closer to autumn than summer, the temperature was still enjoyable. As he took a drink, he continued gazing out over the ocean waves. Before Steve left for West City, he told Tony to take some time to himself. Steve didn’t give him a date to return; he just said to come back when it feels right. So Tony took some money and went down south. For the past three weeks, Tony has been relaxing on the beach, enjoying his vacation. At least, that’s what it looks like on the outside.

                Internally, Tony was still unsure of how to react to the past events. He had felt a change start to come over him, and he was actually caring about his life and the superhero business. And then…it was hard for Tony to even think about. He reacted on instinct, doing what he thought was necessary to stop Land Slide’s attack. Whether he didn’t know his own strength or he did it subconsciously, he couldn’t tell. But the moment Tony broke the super villain’s neck, he felt things he had never felt before in his life. Tony felt alone and ashamed. An entire world stopped what they were doing to see what he had done, and it was a horrible act. Yes, Land Slide was going to destroy the city, but there is always another way. He could have knocked the villain out, or grabbed and carried him into the middle of the ocean, or anything. Anything but kill him.

                Tony shuddered despite the warm breeze. Cure had tried to help ease his mind, and while she was there he forgot about his deed. Yet when she was gone and Tony was alone, it was all he could think about. He didn’t know what to do now. How can he go back to being a hero with someone’s blood on his hands? If you had asked him before, Tony would have laughed and said that he could kill someone no problem if needed. Now that he actually did, however, he realized it wasn’t something to laugh about, no matter how much the villain deserved it.

                Tony downed the rest of his beer, hoping to drink himself to sleep like he had been doing lately. There wasn’t anyone else on this part of the secluded beach to bother him, and a few nights Tony had woken up in the middle of the night after passing out, still sitting in his chair but under a foot of water from the rising tide. As he cracked open another beer, he heard a cough from behind him. Tony didn’t flinch, nor look up when someone unfolded a chair and sat down next to him.

                “Mind if I help myself?”

                Tony waved his hand. “Why not, it’s not my money.”

                “I know,” the gruff voice boomed in the relaxing ocean’s silence, “it’s mine.”

                Tony look over and almost fell off his chair. Sitting next to him, barefoot and wearing shorts and a tank top, was Kenneth Bridge, aka Eternal, the head of the GMA. Tony stared as Ken cracked open a beer and kicked back with a sigh. He looked over at Tony, “Of all the places you could have sped off to, you picked some plain jane beach.” Ken paused as he put sunglasses on. “It is a nice view though.”

                Tony was stunned, but after a quick look around to see if there was anyone else here he tried relaxing. “So um, what brings you here?”

                “You do, kiddo. I came to check up on you.”

                “B-but…me?” Tony knew that’s why Ken was here, but he couldn’t begin to fathom why. “Why? Did something happen back in Hopling? Is the team okay?”

                “Relax kid, everything’s fine.” Ken took a drink, “Good stuff. I prefer liquor personally.” The two men sat in silence for a few minutes. Tony had no idea what was going on, but the head of the GMA did not make house calls for no reason.

                Finally Ken broke the tense silence. “How’s your spirit?”

                “My…spirit?” This question only confused Tony more.

                “Yeah, your spirit. Your drive, your will, the thing that makes you get up every morning and keep going out to put your life on the line for the greater good. How’s it doing?”

                “It’s…alright,” Tony lied. He saw what Ken was getting at, and hoped to avoid that conversation.

                “Don’t lie, Tony. Especially not to me. Now I want the truth: do you feel like you can continue fighting the good fight? Or are you hanging up your tights for a life of booze and bad dreams?”

                Tony waited for a moment, hoping the courage to answer strongly would come to him. When he realized it wasn’t coming, he whispered, “I don’t know.”

                “Well you better make up your mind,” Ken said tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair.

                “Why?” Tony asked, suddenly scared where this conversation was going. “You gonna kick me off the team?”

                “Don’t be ridiculous, Tony, and don’t act childish either. We’re both adults here. I don’t kick people off of Frontier; that’s Steve’s job.”

                “Then why are you here? You don’t check up on licensed superheroes unless there’s a damn good reason.”

                Ken eyed Tony up. “There is a reason I’m here, and it’s one hell of an opportunity for you. As long as you don’t make me regret it.”

                Tony waved Ken on, so the older man continued. “I’m not here to scold or punish you, Tony. I’m here to offer you a job.”

                Marian rolled over amongst the sheets and watched Matt pour them drinks from the bar. The public relations manager for the metahuman celebrities insisted they take the official MetaMornings private jet, which consisted of its own minibar and sleeping quarters. Marian was eager to take advantage of both things as much as possible. As she watched him, Marian was once again hit with the notion that she was really starting to fall for Matt.

                Matt looked over and caught her gaze with a smile. “You sure you want to start drinking before we even get there? We might need to keep our heads about us. Plus you’re not even legal yet.”

                He finished mixing and walked the drinks over to her. Taking one, she smiled and sipped it. “Just because they sent us to their fancy resort in style doesn’t mean they’ll send us home the same way. I’m using it while I can. And seriously, you’re gonna pull the illegal card on me, mister no-license?”

                Matt watched Marian get up and walk into the bathroom. She was naked, despite the flight attendant right outside their door. Matt knew how attracted to Marian he was, but wasn’t sure if it was true attraction, or if he was just projecting his feelings for Jasmine onto Marian. He shook his head to clear Jasmine’s memory from it, then realized that he was still smiling. Matt had been smiling more in the past few weeks he’s spent with Marian than he remembered smiling in the past few years.

                Crap, he thought as she walked back into the room, her black curly hair framing her face and her toned yet sexy body radiating the heat of passion. I am totally falling for her.

                Marian took the glass out of his hand and straddled his lap. “You’re right though. We shouldn’t be drunk when we get there. But I can think of something else we can do.”

As she kissed him, Matt pulled back. “We should go over the reports. Make sure we know where we’re flying to.”

Marian sighed and climbed off him. “I guess you’re right.”

“It’s nothing about you,” Matt started to explain, but Marian waved him silent.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry I just…it’s been awhile since I’ve felt like this towards someone. With Tony is was nothing but physical attraction, and it left me feeling empty after each time. But it’s so different with you.” She looked over at Matt, a little smile on her face. “I really like you.”

Matt smiled and stood up, pulling her into a hug. “These past few weeks have been unimaginably fun, and I would hate for something to happen to ruin it.” He gave her a kiss, “But we really do need to focus. There’s two missing metahumans out there that potentially need our help. Let’s finish this mission as professionals. And when we get back,” here Matt took Marian’s hand and held it tight, “we’ll figure out what to do about us.”

Marian’s smile beamed back, “As long as that’s not a veiled attempt to run off after having your fun with me, I agree.”

Matt shook his head with a smile and picked up the file. “I would never dream of it, Mare.”

“Are you getting all this?”

A few keys were tapped. “Hell. Yes. This is gold. Who would have guessed these two were bumping uglies? I thought this was a family superhero team.”

“Not everyone’s in the family, apparently. But good God, this is incredible. No need to edit in a love story anymore.” A click of a mouse and more keys were tapped. “We are going to make cinematic history.”