Sky High After Dark - Cosmic

"She loved you a lot, you know?" Jill sniffed as she wiped her eyes.

"It seemed like it when I was there," Aron nodded.

"Now, what happened to you?"

"Red Scare killed me," Aron stated factually.

"I asked you not to fight him! You promised me you wouldn't?! Why, why did you have to fight him?!" Jill asked, shedding tears for the man she was in love with, even if that man was standing before her.

"I don't know; it wasn't like we all knew who Void was. I kind of kept that secret."

"Why?" Jill inquired, her voice breaking as she did.

"To keep the timeline as pristine as he could given how he had already altered the timeline in sending Void of now back to this time. Void had to keep to the timeline, which meant he had to die. In truth, Void was already dying at that point. He didn't have much time left."

"Why?" Jill asked, looking up at Veil.

"Because of how I was thrown back in time. No one is meant to travel through time, somehow it happened, and in doing so, I lost my powers, and what sent me back altered my cells which was the reason it was killing me," Aron said, rubbing her arm, seeing how hard she was obviously taking his death. Glancing down when her hands quickly took hold of his.

"Please, promise me, really promise me you won't do something like that again. I don't know if I can handle losing you... again," Jill said, with all the love she had burning in her eyes.

"Make that two of us," Aminah said from the doorway to the lab holding Nettie's and Henry's baby carriers in her hands. Smiling when Aron wasted no time in taking them from her.

"Bring them here, Dad, I want to meet my new brother and sister," Jill said, quickly fixing herself up. She couldn't let them see her like that. "Hello, little guy," she greeted Henry as Aron set their carriers in front of her. Smiling as she listened to his laughter as she tickled his stomach only to watch as a silvery metal enveloped his body.

"Be careful; Henry is strong," Aron warned.

"So, where did he get the metal skin?"

"From my sister," Aminah spoke as she sauntered over to Jill's left side.

"Are you a telepath, too?" Jill asked, looking up at her niece.

"To an extent, but my powers are more telekinetic," Aminah said, playfully tugging on her daughter's toes as she chewed on her hand. "While I suspect the opposite with Nettie. So what's yours?"

"I don't really know; Mom and Dad never really called it anything," Jill stated, seeing Aminah nod in understanding.

"Yeah, you're mutation is very... unique."

"Why, what's so unique about it?" Jill asked, still not understanding.

"Jill," turning her gaze towards Aron, "the radiation you are absorbing isn't natural on Earth. The only place you can find that kind of radiation is in the heart of a star." Jill looked to Aminah, who nodded. She had been around her father long enough to spot someone with more smarts than she had. "So seeing how the only way to get these." Tapping the glass lens that kept the core slices contained bringing her attention to them. "Is to harvest it from a star's core. I'm smart, but nothing can survive that. So I had to look for pieces of a core that got ejected. Which thankfully, my friend and her people had one already in their possession."

"What did you have to do for this?" Jill asked, praying that her father didn't do anything foolish just to save her.

"Oh, nothing much, just had to lower the world supply of Twinkies by a ton," Aron said with a smile, which grew wider as Jill burst out laughing.

"Really? All it took to save me was a ton of Twinkies?!" Jill asked. Her jaw dropped when Aron nodded. "Damn, why didn't Dad try that earlier?"

"Probably because in his time, he didn't have a way of contacting them. Or in his time line he never met them in the first place like I did in this one," Aron spoke, listing off possibilities.

"However, you did it; it doesn't matter. What matters is that you did it for me; you're baby... well not your baby girl anymore," Jill said, turning her head when Nettie whispered 'Sister' in her mind. "I am, and we're going to be the bests of friends," she cooed sweetly at Nettie, who flashed her a gummy smile.

"So, Aron, mind finally telling me why you didn't tell me all of what happened when you went back in time?" Aminah asked, incensed.

"Oh, Dad, just didn't want to ruin his spank bank material as you would call it," Jill said, letting on that she knew more about him than he had thought.

"What?!"

"What? Carol was hot, I'm not going to apologize for that," Aron said, looking at Aminah.

"Mom would eat you alive," Jill giggled.

"I could go for a nibble," Aron retorted. Only to watch as Jill cracked up.

"I've always loved this side of you," Jill said, wiping a way a tear. "You were never one to stand on formality like Henry or Mom would. Then again, now that I think about it, you always did push the envelope."

"Naturally."

"So, do you still work for the OSS?" Jill asked, praying that he didn't.

"The what?" Aron stammered, unsure of the acronym.

"The Office of Strategic Services, you worked with them during the war."

"Really, Aron was in the war?!" Aminah gasped, knowing what war she had been speaking about.

"Oh yeah, they hated you too, the Germans, I mean," Jill said, smiling up at him.

"Well, they were Nazis; what do you expect," Aron said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Veil?"

"Yes, Jill?"

"Is that file still on your mainframe?" Jill asked, hoping Veil understood what she meant.

"Of course, Jill, I saved it for you for when you woke up again."

"Awe. Thank you, Veil, that's so sweet of you. Would you mind displaying it? Anywhere would be fine."

"Of course, Jill. One moment."

"Oh my?!" Aminah gasped in want as she watched the old black and white footage that the past Aron had stolen from his OSS file. Seeing Aron arch an eyebrow when she gave his body a once over.

"I know, isn't Dad mmm... dreamy?" Jill swooned in her seat. The corners of her lips lifted when the image changed to one that was taken in their base as the past Aron was undressing. "You like?"

"Oh yes, yes I do," Aminah cooed as her eyes ran down past Aron's muscular chest.

"You'll share, Daddy, won't you?"

"My dear, you never have to worry about that," Aminah said, gazing down at Jill. "Just don't expect him to join the orgies. Not even me or Tazia could move him from that position."

"Yeah," reaching out and pulling her father into her, "Dad's never been one for that, have you?" Jill asked with a smile. Which grew as she felt her father up. "But you'll watch your little girl getting fucked by that dreamboat, won't you?"

"You so need to set your sights higher," Aron stated in a fatherly voice.

"I like what I like, and who says I haven't?" Jill uttered with a sultry knowing grin. "Maybe you'll show me this little guy later," she purred as she rubbed the palm of her left hand up and down Aron's now hard cock through his pants. "He and I have a lot of years to catch up on," Jill spoke dreamily to her father's cock. "What's that?" she inquired when she heard a noise she's never heard before.

"That's the jet car..."

"We have a jet car!" Jill squealed in excitement. "It flies, right?"

"Of course."

"You so have to take me out in it..."

"Did you hear what they were asking?! The nerve of those reporters?!" The base shook as Vera slammed her fist into the wall.

"Well, in their defense, Aron really hasn't been seen in these last two weeks. So that is bound to cause questions to spring up," Chery stated, trying to calm her sister down.

"You know if you keep doing that, you won't have a base anymore," Aron said, sticking his head out the door.

"Aron, you need to go out there and get a handle on this situation," Vera said, marching up to him. "You caused this mess; you need to clean it up," she spoke in a motherly voice as she poked his chest.

"I do, huh?" Aron mused, slipping his hands into his pockets. "And if I don't?"

"Then you'll have people, heroes included, thinking you're the villain?! Because some of them already are!" Vera said, trying to get her son to see that this was dooming his chances of being a hero. "Do you want to know that they're asking us?! They're asking us when we were going to take you down. Do you now see the mess you caused?"

"Mess? I didn't know killing terrorists was a bad thing?"

"It's not," Jill voiced, backing her father. She was in his mindset as well; some people you just can't help or save.

"They think you're a villain?! Do you want that?" Vera asked, trying to get through his stubbornness.

"So? I'm not a hero; why would I care what they think. I do what's needed to be done." Not seeing Jill had mouthed those very same words as he spoke them.

"Please, Aron, think about what you're doing. You're setting a stage that I don't know if we can follow you on," Vera uttered, knowing if he kept down this road, it would only be a matter of time before he took an innocent life.

"I understand, then I'll stand alone if I have to, even if it means the world thinks I'm a villain," Aron said, setting his resolve.

"Please, Aron, don't do something that would make us have to fight you," Tazia said in a pleading voice. "How would I ever be able to tell Henry that I'm the one that put his father in prison?"

"One: because that'll never happen, two: you won't because I'm not a villain either." Huffing when his mother unexpectantly propelled his face into her bosom.

"Please, son, don't cross that line anymore. I don't want to become your enemy," Vera whispered into his hair.

"I can't promise that, but I can promise you won't have me as an enemy because I'm not a villain," Aron said, detaching himself from his mother and walking to his whiteboard.

"Dad might not be your typical average hero, but he isn't a villain," Jill said, sticking up for her father. Her childhood flashed before her eyes, recounting how she would find him standing like that in front of a blackboard. Turning her head when Aminah tapped her on the shoulder.

"You have something right here," Aminah whispered, rubbing the pad of her finger along the corner of her lip. Indicating that Jill was indeed drooling over her father. Biting her lip to contain her smile when Jill's face grew beet red when she realized what Aminah was saying.

"Save your breath, Jill, with them, it's either you're a hero, or you're a villain, no in-between," Aron said offhandedly. Shoving his hand into his pocket as his phone went off as he ignored how his other family members were eyeing him as they filed into the lab. Arching an eyebrow when Sovereign Crusaders appeared on his screen. He had thought he had heard the last from them, given the silence on their part for the past two weeks. "Hello?" Aron answered once he brought his phone to his ear.

"Void?"

"Yeah? Who's this?"

"This is Nightshade."

"Oh? And what can I do for The Sovereign Crusaders?"

"Who?" Jill whispered to Aminah.

"A superhero group, your dad, worked with for a very short time," Aminah stated.

"Really?!" Jill uttered in shock.

"Really, but he joined them as an undercover assignment to bring down their core members who were actual villains," Aminah said loud enough for her family to hear.

"Well, isn't he just the ace then," Jill whistled, seeing the confusion in her eyes at her '40s vernacular.

"You want my help with a volcano? You sure you want to be seen with me? Okay, send me the coordinates, and I'll meet you there," Aron said, looking down at his phone as his text message pinged. "Veil run a search on the coordinates Nightshade sent me."

"Yes, Void."

"What, don't want to walk into a trap now, do I? Seeing how you heroes can't tell the difference between the good guy," pointing to himself, "and the bad guys," Aron said, seeing their combined looks. Kissing his children goodbye when Veil told him it was the Arenal Volcano that was on the verge of erupting. Jill took it as an opportunity to really lay it on him.

"Now you hurry back home; there be more waiting for you when you do," Jill said in a dreamy voice as those violet eyes gazed at her father in a wanton light. After all, she's been asleep for sixty years, and she was horny!

"What she said," Aminah mused after getting her own kiss in. Watching how he walked past his family without a word.

"You really just going to take off without giving me a goodbye kiss?" Tazia asked, hurt, as she watched Aron change.

"That was the plan."

"Why?"

"Why do you think I'm going to become a villain? If I wanted to, I so could have long ago, but I didn't. Not when I knew there was no one out there that could stop me, and yet here I am about to go wrestle with a volcano. You all are standing there thinking the worst of me when in reality, you fear what you do not understand. I get that. Sometimes doing the right thing can be wrong, and sometimes doing the wrong thing can be right. Like in DC. How many scores of people do you think would have died if I hadn't acted? You saw what they were there for. Do you think they would have stopped killing innocents long enough for me to take them down normally? No. Then, however, many souls of the innocent would be on my head for not putting those men in the ground like they deserve."

"I know you have nonlethal means on you. Why didn't you use those?" Tazia pleaded with him to see the dark road ahead of him.

"And what? Have them twitch and jerk erratically with their fingers on the trigger? Are you listening to yourself? You would have me unintentionally kill civilians? Because that is what you're saying," Aron said, shoving the hem of his shirt down.

"I'm not saying that?!"

"You are; what do you think would happen if I used my taser darts, huh? They would twitch and jerk; in doing so, they would have no control of their muscles, and where exactly were their guns pointing? Let me remind you, on the crowd, so again I ask how many innocent people were you willing to let die if I did it your way, because those in the garden just weren't the only ones in danger. Tell me, Tazia, how many are you okay with dying?" Aron asked heatedly. "Sometimes, the only way to stop a villain is to kill that villain. If Henry had heeded my words, he would still be alive..." He knew the smack was coming; it was called for after all.

"Don't you ever, I mean ever bad mouth my father! You asshole! God, here I was, worried about you! Fine! Go, do whatever the hell you want! But I'm warning you the moment you go too far, I will stop you even if it means I have to die to do it," Tazia yelled an inch away from Aron's face. Turning her face, hating how her skin heated when she felt his kiss. "I'm mad at you," she mumbled, but that didn't stop her from letting Aron kiss her other cheek.

"I'll be home when I can," Aron said as he left the room.

"I'll stop you; I swear it!" Tazia shouted after him.

"I would expect nothing less from a hero," Aron said, not seeing how red Tazia's face was when he said that. "Veil?" he spoke as he pulled his mask down.

"Yes, Void?"

"Unrack item 87," Aron directed as he walked towards the armory.

"Hey," Troy said, appearing out of nowhere.

"Yeah?" Aron muttered as he prepped the freeze gun before he took off. He knew he wouldn't have time to wait for it to charge when he got there.

"Let me come with you; you're going up against a volcano; you're going to need me," Troy insisted when his brother looked at him.

"You sure you have enough left in the tank?" Aron inquired as he holstered the rifle against its power pack that was on his back.

"More than enough," Troy nodded sternly.

"Alright, but if you fall off, you have to find your own way home," Aron joked as he walked out of the armory with Troy in tow. Hearing Veil sealing the doors as he did.

"Troy?"

"I'm going to give Aron a hand," Troy whispered as he placed a kiss on Isabel's lips. "I'll be back soon, I promise."

"Keep an eye on your brother, don't let him do anything foolish," Vera said in a motherly tone.

"Right, me stopping the strongest man in the world, you're asking a lot of your son, Mom," Troy joked, "but I'll keep an eye on him." Waving to them before Aron shot off down the tunnel on the jet bike, Jill was stunned to see in action. In truth, he did hope she was checking him out.

Chapter Seven

The moment they came out of Null space, Aron and Troy were choking on volcanic ash. "Shit, we're too late?!" Aron hissed. Thankful for the filter that Veil had activated the moment she detected toxic fumes in the ash cloud. Putting the bike into a dive so Troy could get some much-needed air. "Nightshade, come in, Nightshade," he spoke hurriedly into his mike as he pushed the bike faster as Troy struggled to breathe.

"Void?! You made it!"

"Yeah, but not in time to keep it from blowing its top."

"It happens. You're here; that's what matters."

"Are you and your team down in the village?"

"We are. We're helping to evacuate the village."

"Okay, you handle that, and we'll keep the lava from threatening the citizens."

"We?"

"Yeah, brought along a friend," Aron said, listening to his brother coughing up a lung once they had finally gotten out of the ash cloud. "Here, use this to breathe," he said, holding a filter with a mouthpiece attached to it over his shoulder. "Breathe through your mouth; it will keep the toxic fumes from getting to you."

"Thanks," Troy rasped.

"Okay, you sure you can handle the volcano?"

"Maybe not stop it entirely, but I can buy you time to get the rest of the people to safety," Aron said, pouring on the speed as he raced towards the mountain.

"Sounds like a plan; we'll see you when it's done."

"Affirmative," Aron said before cutting the link.

"Aron, what is that thing?" Troy asked, well yelling over the sounds of the erupting volcano.

"Freeze gun, let's get to work," Aron stated, seeing his brother nod in response.

For two hours, Aron and Troy raced around the volcano. Freezing the lava flows that were in the path of nearby towns, and yet they weren't making a dent. The lava just kept coming, and Aron was running low on power, and Troy was sweating like a pig and exhausted beyond measure. He needed to end this and end it now. He knew of one way to truly put that monster to sleep, and he hated to do it. He didn't know how long the magma would take to melt the stone, but he knew it wouldn't be anytime soon. However, the lives of the innocent were in danger; there was no time to debate whether or not to destroy his invention for the power core. It had already been decided.

"Aron, this is too much; we can't keep doing this?!" Troy said into their communicator so he could be heard over the noise.

"I know," Aron muttered before zipping off to the peak.

"What are you doing?!"

"Stopping a volcano, what does it look like?"

"I don't know; I was thinking you'd actually gone insane because we're heading towards an active volcano!" Troy bemoaned into Aron's ear.

"Can't put anything past you," Aron chuckled. "Put on your filter," he warned before coming to a stop over the mouth of the volcano. Slinging the power pack off his shoulder and punching through the hard metal case to get to the enclosed power core. He had designed it that way to keep the negative two hundred degree element from freezing the whole unit when it was activated. Tossing the unit into the hissing, bubbling cauldron of superheated rock beneath them. Seeing the questioning look in his brother's eyes as he held the containment chamber in his hands as it was illuminated in a light blue glow. Without a second thought, Aron dropped it into the heart of that raging beast before zipping off to get out of the splash zone, as it were. He knew once the magma ate through the container, it would get... explosive, or that's what he thought anyway. Hovering over the village as he switched his HUD to infrared, a smile appeared on his lips as he noted a little patch of black a quarter of the way down. Switching back, he was in shock; he didn't calculate for this as he watched as the then spewing lava flash froze in place.