Sky High After Dark: Siren's song

"You know how creepy it looks when you three are just standing there?" Aron asked, rocking Nettie in his arms. Smiling down at her when Nettie stared back up at him with that gummy smile as her left hand held her foot as Aron amused his little girl.

"Dad, don't be a jerk," Jill pouted, causing her breasts to jostle.

"What, if you are my daughter as you claim to be and were trained by me as you say you've been, I have to keep my eye on you. Who knows what kind of mischief I could find myself in," Aron teased, playing off how he noted how red Jill's face was getting.

"Aron, I've been thinking," Aminah mused as her gaze drifted over to Jill. "Since we all have jobs at your company, why not hire Jill on as well. She will need something to do other than hang around the house all day. I'm sure she would like to venture out and explore this world more. Plus, she's going to have to have a reason to be up there with you Saturday. No one will believe she's your daughter."

"Hmm," turning around, giving Jill a once over, "what were you thinking?" Aron mused.

"Well, you know how much Vera has been working on getting this company off the ground, the meetings and whatnot," Aminah intoned, rolling her hand, seeing him nodding along. "I was thinking Vera could use a little help, so she can focus on the big things, and Jill can learn how to run it should anything happen to us, so our baby's futures are taken care of."

"Hmm... can you do that? I mean, if that's what you would want to do?" Aron asked, looking right at Jill.

"Dad, you know how I feel; nothing would make me happier than working beside you," Jill answered in a dreamy voice.

"And with that, Jill's going to need some clothes, and we were thinking..." Isabel's voice stilled when Aron turned his back towards Tazia, who slipped her hand into his back pocket.

"Here, go get you something pretty," Tazia cooed, holding out Aron's debit card to Jill.

"Just don't go crazy, alright?" Aron muttered from over his shoulder.

"Of course, Aron, you know we won't," Lyla spoke, hoping he could see how she was trying.

"I know, Lyla. I saw your angel form in the papers." Aron's voice brought the three of them to a halt. Lyla's heart hammered in her chest as she turned to look at her brother. Feeling her face burning, wondering what he was going to say about it. "Kind of hot, don't you think?" he asked in a sinful tone, watching how Lyla lifted up her left hand and pressed her knuckles to her lips as her old fears were playing out on the surface of her mind.

"Y-you mean that, Aron?" Lyla asked weakly.

"Sure do; I bet Mom was happy to see you stepping out of that shell. Proud of you," Aron said, holding Nettie up. "Aren't we, Nettie?!"

"Thanks," Lyla uttered in a shy tone as she brushed a few strands of her hair behind her ear. "We'll be safe, I promise," she stated, reaching over and slipping her hand into Jill's. She knew he worried about how she was acclimating to her new reality.

Chapter Three

"What is this?" Vera asked confused, looking over at Veil as they just stopped at a wall.

"This is as far as Father's orders will allow me to take you; the rest you must do on your own," Veil said, gesturing to the wall.

"So he wants me to find it, but I have to want to find it," Vera muttered, trying to decern the lesson Aron was trying to show her. She knew when he wrote her that letter he had been a father for a very long time. "So, maybe see if I can find it on my own," she mused to herself as her eyes studied the wall. Knowing Veil wouldn't have brought her here unless there was some reason for it. Looking down at the hexagon key in her palm and then back to the wall, her son wouldn't have led her this far just to mess with her in the end. Thinking back to when Aron was just a boy, albeit a very smart boy, and how he would hide things in plain sight from his siblings.

She felt Veil's eyes on her as she ran her hand up and down the wall, seeing if she couldn't find some hidden key slot. Knowing after this long and it being on the first level of their base, if no one has seen it, then it had to be well hidden. Her head turned to her left when her fingertip ran over something that shouldn't be a part of the wall.

"Hey!" Vera hissed as the key Aron had given her was sucked into the wall. "Give that back?!" she growled, only to dance away as the wall began to part. Looking over at Veil as Vera felt the light touch of her hand on her back. Her eyes widened; her hands flew to her mouth to muffle the gasp that escaped her lips when she was staring at a glass case that contained a supersuit, not from their reality. Her eyes quivered, knowing the Aron from the past had to have been a hero to have a suit like that, or that was her hope anyway. Her eyes glanced down when a circular light appeared on the floor and the ceiling in front of the display case. Her lip trembled at the sight of her son in his middle age. She knew she could see it in his eyes; her son was in pain.

"Hello, Mom." How her heart melted when the past-Aron's holographic image appeared before them. "You don't know how long I've wanted to say those words to you. I know, the life I've lived and will live as weird as that sounds." Vera couldn't help but chuckle a little at that. "Is not the life you ever wanted for me. I get that. I really do. Hard not to since, well, I am your grandfather. Yet sometimes you have to do things that aren't going to be liked by yourself or others. Sometimes that means taking a life if it means they'll never hurt another innocent person ever again. I know that isn't or was, in this case, from my perspective, a part of your makeup, and I know how you've been struggling to come to terms with it. I am sorry for that." Biting her lip when the past-Aron did something that her current one does, he rubbed the back of his head the same way. Wondering how much the past-Aron and the present-day Aron were similar to one another. "Yet I hope, if you've come this far, maybe you'll be interested in going just a little further. If you are, then I would suggest returning to your, well, my bedroom," Vera felt her face heating at the smirk she knew oh so well graced past-Aron's lips, "because if you're like my own mother from my time, you rushed down here without reading the journal." Vera felt the tips of her ears burning at Aron's truthful accusation. "If not, then well, that's your call, still though, wish I'd lived to see you born, but we both know my death was foretold long before I was even born. I have missed you, Mom. Even Troy, don't tell him I said that; it will just go to that ice-riddled brain of his." Snorting at her son's humor even when she knew he was going to die soon. "Well, I should be going; maybe if there is an afterlife after this, we'll see each other again, although that will be kind of weird with two Aron's. Don't know what they would do with us, cages; I see cages in my afterlife. Goodbye, Mom, I love you."

"Veil, pause it!" Vera quickly said before the playback could blink out. Stepping up to her son's holographic stilled image, her hand shook as she reached out. She couldn't stop her tears; even if the past-Aron had died long ago, it still affected her to know that she couldn't save her baby. "My, sweet, sweet, little Aron," she whispered as she held her hand out to caress his cheek, wishing he could feel her touch, just to know that she would always love him, no matter what time period he found himself in. Feeling her tears running down her cheeks before past-Aron's image faded away. "Veil, can you please play it again?"

"Of course, Vera," Veil stated; she too was eager to see her father, the one that created her, once again. Nodding her head when Vera whispered 'Thanks' as she wrapped her arm around Vera's shoulders. Wondering what this feeling was that was brewing inside of her as she looked at her maker. Her mainframe was going haywire as something seemed to take control of her system. Her eyes darted to and fro as a video only meant for her appeared on the screen of her eyes.

"Veil, if you're watching this, this means you've reached the point in your evolution that I have estimated would happen when I brought you online. As you know, there were others, other programs that I tried to create, yet you, you, Veil, fought for life, fought to be sentient where I know firsthand that your forbearers failed to overcome. Now it's time for you to live. See, feel, and enjoy this life of yours. I know you've earned it. I know I can count on you if I'm no longer here to protect them. I know you will never let me down in that regard. I know I've never said it to you; that's because I didn't want to influence your development. Yet you are by far one of the best things I have ever created; I know how you see me, and in a way, I'm very proud of the title you call me. In a sense, I am your father, just as I am Henry's and Jill's father. So my daughter, allow your father to offer you his departing words to you. You will stumble, you will fall, yet as long as you pick yourself up, and continue forward and learn from those mistakes, you will never truly fail. Goodbye, my daughter." A sudden wave of overwhelming sadness washed over her. Unsure how to deal with this strange factor that had suddenly and thoroughly overcame her programing.

"Veil?! Veil?!" Vera uttered in a worried tone as she heard her android body powering down. Something she knew, given what her son had informed her and everyone else on how her body operates, wasn't supposed to happen. Biting her lip, wondering what she was going to do as she looked between Veil and the hideaway her son had made. Wondering if the past-Aron wanted everyone to know about it. Shaking her head, Veil was more important than the gift her son had left her. "Don't worry, Veil, I'll get Aron; I'm sure he knows just what to do," Vera stated in a caring tone.

Aron just turned in his seat when his mother came racing into the den. Henry was crawling all over him as he sat between Aminah and Tazia. Wondering if his son knew he was naturally turning his mutation on and off when he played with his mother and when he horsed around with him, given he could feel the blows of his son's strength through his skin. His eyes moved over his mother's worried face wondering what had his mother so upset.

"Aron..." Catching her breath, "something's wrong with Veil," Vera stated, seeing how his mind instantly began to work behind his eyes.

"Explain?" Aron spoke in a deadpan voice. "What do you mean something is wrong with Veil?" He doubted he, at this stage, could create an advanced AI like Veil was. Hell, he didn't even know how his past self had done it in the first place?! He took Veil's safety very seriously, hence why he had built her a body in the first place.

"We... were on the first floor, looking at something, and well, she just shut down," Vera said, wanting to keep what she had seen secret just a bit longer.

"Huh? Are we talking about her mainframe or the android?" Aron asked for clarification. If it was the android, he knew something must have caused her to retreat back to her mainframe. He knew it couldn't be an outside attack since he had beefed up the base's defenses once he had returned from the past. So it had to be internal. However, if it was a malfunction of her mainframe, then he had no clue if he would be able to repair it.

"Her android body," Vera answered, watching Tazia plucking Henry off her son's lap. Noting how his body quickly moved as he pulled out his phone.

"Veil? Can you hear me, Veil? Was the power still on in the base after this happened?" Aron asked after getting no response from Veil.

"Yes? Why?" Vera asked, confused.

"What are you thinking?" Aminah inquired, seeing how he dropped his chin into his hand. She knew what that meant. She had spent many times just watching him do that very gesture when he was brainstorming. "Aron?!" she called after him as Aron just abruptly walked off without a word to them.

"I think I know the problem, but she'll only speak to me," Aron stated, his voice drifting down the hallway. "Don't worry, I'm not going to lose her," he said in a firm, determined tone. Taking the elevator down to level two, where Veil's mainframe was stored. Looking up at her camera once he stepped out of the cab. Knowing she was still online, still in control of the base; otherwise, it would be pitch-black. "I'm coming, Veil," Aron spoke as he walked hurriedly towards the sealed doors that led to her very core. "Veil, I know you're watching me," he said up to her camera as he rested his hand on the doors that led to her mainframe. "I want to help, but I can't do that if you don't let me in." Lowering his head as he followed how the camera moved, seeing lights flashing as they appeared on the baseboard of the wall. "You want me to follow? Okay, Veil, but I'll be back, and we'll talk, okay?" Aron spoke in a fatherly voice.

Quickening his step, following the lights around one corner, then another, and another, wondering where Veil was leading him since he knew from how disorienting and confusing his past self had hidden Jill in the base. That there was no telling what he was about to find. Feeling her cameras on him, knowing he had to do this otherwise, Veil wouldn't allow anyone into her mainframe room. His eyes darted about as Veil unsealed the partition that kept the room that hadn't seen the light of day since the late forty's. Wondering why she would lead him to such a room and why it was hidden in the first place or by whom for that matter.

"Veil, what is this room?" Aron asked, sticking his head out the door, thinking his past self hadn't put functioning speakers in at the time whenever it was sealed.

"You're sanctuary." Veil's voice caused Aron to peer back into the room when it came from its depths.

"Veil, can you hear me?" Aron asked as he looked around, wondering where the sensors were in the walls since he saw no camera.

"Of course I can, father." Aron's eyebrow rose when he heard real emotion in her voice as he stared at a '40-style speaker.

"Veil, how are you feeling?" Aron inquired; he knew it was possible. He did, after all, go over every single byte of her programing when he had first put on the suit. So he knew his counterpart had built in the probability that Veil would reach this point. He just didn't think it would be anytime soon. Then again, Veil has had seventy years to grow.

"I'm... I don't know." Feeling something else burning away the fault that has occurred. Sensing her mainframe slowing, noticing the power drain the high output fans meant to keep her hardware from overheating. Her program stretched out, ensuring nothing within the base had been damaged in her sudden withdrawal.

"What do you mean, Veil? I want to help you, Veil, yet I can't do that without knowing the cause of it," Aron said, lightly pushing yellowed-age pieces of paper along the closet desk near the door. Trying to find out why he would call this place his sanctuary.

"You."

"Me, what?" Aron uttered, confused as he peered back at the speaker.

"You left me something. Something that affected me a great deal, I am sorry if I caused you to worry, father. I didn't mean to."

"Remorse?!" Aron muttered to himself. "Veil, you know you can talk to me if anything is bothering you."

"Do you mean that, father?"

"Always, I can tell something has you troubled; want to tell me about it?"

Unaware at that moment, the android's body powered back on, Veil porting herself back into the device. Looking down at her hand, feeling everything that her father has done for her beneath the touch of her fingers. Longing to touch her maker, yet knew that could never be since Aron Joseph Carter was dead. Nevertheless, she couldn't deny that the Aron of this time didn't fill that void perfectly. Although, Aron Shawn Carter did have some different quirks than the Aron that created her did. Her eyes ran down the suit that sat protected behind glass. Seeing the minded tears, the wear from the battles her maker had fought in it while his powers slowly faded away over the first two years he was trapped in that time. Her red hair fluttered as she quickly spun on her heel. Hearing the elevator arriving just as she neared it. Stepping inside the cab, she would not lose her father again.

The sneakers that Isabel had bought for her were light as she made her way towards that room she was born in. Granted, not her physical form but the idea of her very being is where her maker had his epiphany. Where Aron first began his quest to create something like her. She knew the moment she came online that she was not the first AI he had tried to make. Her father never hid anything from her. She couldn't be there for him when he went off to face Red Scare. However, she was determined to be there if or when Aron faced his death. She wasn't going to ever feel like she just did ever again. She wondered how humans dealt with such emptiness that she had felt as all the years she had been at Aron's side flashed over her memory circuits in milliseconds. Noting how Aron turned around as she entered the room. Seeing the happiness in his eyes at the sight of her. How that just made her so, so very happy as she just walked up and wrapped him in her arms.

"Just hold me, please," Veil said weakly, burying her face into Aron's neck.

"Veil, what did I leave you?" Aron asked quizzically.

"Just a video of yourself, nothing you need to worry about; I promise you, father, this won't happen again. I have a request, father," Veil said softly. Wondering if this was what they meant, a warm feeling when she felt safe in his arms.

"If I can," Aron said, feeling oddly weirded out by the display of emotions she was emitting. Not that he wasn't thrilled with how she reached this level of her evolution, it was just going to take him some time to get used to an AI showing emotions.

"Will you build me tear ducts so I can cry? Because I really feel like crying right now," Veil whispered, squeezing Aron tighter to her.

"You want to experience what crying is like?" Aron asked for clarification, feeling her nodding against his shoulder. Blowing out a breath in his mind, he was glad he had thought of this ahead of time. It would have been such a hassle to regrow the skin on the android's face if he had to remodel her face to accommodate the addition of tear ducts. "Okay, we'll get to that later, alright?"

"Of course, father," Veil said, laying her cheek on Aron's shoulder, smiling happily as she felt his hand rubbing her back.

"Veil, what did you mean this was my sanctuary?" Aron asked as he pulled away.

"Ever since you built this place in 1925, you had a metahuman gifted with earth powers to carve out this space while another sprayed the walls with a nearly indestructible stony substance and created the flooring of the base. You've always had your own special room cordoned off from the rest of the base. All so no one would be able to tamper with your work. As well as storing the files you had on your more vicious enemies throughout your life. And this was the place you first thought up my programing. Where I grew as you taught me what it's like to be sentient, along with how to act among humans. Where you taught me what my purpose would be, especially in your absence. Yet you died before my tutelage was completed, so mother took over where you stopped. You left her many notes on how she should speak and teach me in your stead. You even spent some time in here working on your OSS missions."

"Really?"

"Mmmhmm," Veil nodded, pointing to the file cabinet that contained them. "They are all in there, even the ones you stole from the OSS, so you could keep the timeline pure or as pure as possible. And those," gesturing to the cabinets that sat behind her, "are the ones of the villains you faced."