THE ODYSSEY

Part II: Setting Sail

By Ben Hobson

Grey skies and rough winds hang over San Francisco. Despite the amazing tourism value of Golden Gate Park, a bad streak of weather has been keeping people out. And with nearly 18 million people passing through each year, that’s saying something. It hasn’t, however, affected the hundred or so people living in the park.

Nearly a hundred tents litter the rectangular park. The small domiciles go from one end to the other, most of them located in the open areas. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any in the wooded areas; it’s just that the inhabitants prefer the open meadows. Small campfires – some of them built in trashcans that have been painted over and redecorated – are scattered about and those who built them sit around for warm and companionship.

The people are dressed as everyone in the world dresses – men in jeans or slacks of ill-repair. Naturally-made shirts and vests cover those who choose to wear them, although many prefer to just be naked. The women wear long dresses that are decorated with flowers and leaves, while everyone wears some type of jewelry. Most popular are necklaces, some people wearing six or seven. Beads, peace-signs, flowers, they are as varied and different as those wearing them. Just who are these people?

We would call them hippies.

But in a world where hippies rule…they are normal.

And their hippie peace is brutally interrupted as a gyrating, twisting, whirling hole in reality suddenly pops open amongst them and spits out four bodies.

The first to land is a bird-man. Hawk’s-Eye thuds to the ground without the grace he usually displays upon landing, his wings spread wide. The quiver he wears upon his back tips, spilling arrows. The trip between Reality was not at ALL like the one he was used to with the Tallus. Drained of energy and shocked by the impact, he lays on the ground.

Behind him comes Davis Cameron, newcomer to a life of adventure. Covered in a red-and-black bodysuit, Davis hits the ground and rolls, crying out thanks to the arrow that’s lodged in his shoulder. The part that still sticks out of him breaks off, forcing the arrowhead deeper into the wound.

Next comes a woman named Irene, although she also goes by Legacy. White hair streaming behind her in a ponytail, she lands on the ground easily. A full-body black suit is the only thing she wears, save for the orange belt and sword. Her only ornamentation is a gold ring that’s worn on a string around her neck.

The last occupant doesn’t fall from the portal. Rather, he seems to…melt from it. The twisting energy, bright lights and dark shades, slowly flows towards the ground, slowly taking the form of a man. Legacy rushes over as her husband, Cameron, finally solidifies. Before he can fall to the ground, weakened from his transformation, she catches him. Irene lays him on the ground, feeling for a pulse. When she finds it she nods, then looks around. Spotting Hawk’s-Eye, she draws her sword.

“Holy. Shit,” Davis suddenly says, pushing himself up off the ground with a loud grunt. “What the fuck is – what the hell – who the fuck fucking throws arrows at guys?! Jesus Christ, get this fucking thing – “ reaching up to touch it, he curses at the pain, then screams.

“Stop whining,” Legacy says, stabbing the sword into the ground as she kneels next to him. Reaching for his shoulder only causes Davis to back away, tears streaming down his face. “Stop – stop it. Hey! Stop it. I can’t look at it if you keep moving.” With a quick jump she grabs his shoulder and examines the wound.

“This isn’t bad,” she says, gingerly touching the area around it. “The costume is blocking any blood loss. Until we get to some med-supplies though, I suggest keeping it in.”

“Fuck that!” Davis replies, a panicked look on his face. “I’m not leaving a goddamn arrow in my arm.”

“If I pull that out, you’ll bleed,” Legacy says factually. “A lot. And then you’ll get weak and pass out. I already have to carry Cameron, I’m not carrying you. So suck it up and stand up.” As she stands Legacy grabs the sword. A determined stride takes her towards Hawk’s-Eye.

“What – gggnnnhhh – what are you doing?” Davis asks as he stands.

“Removing a long standing problem,” she replies with a hard look. Legacy spins the sword in one hand, pointing the blade down, and starts to raise it up.

“Hey hey hey hey hey,” Davis stammers as he approaches her. “You’re gonna kill him?”

“This…thing has been hunting us for realities,” Legacy says, keeping her gaze focused on her target. “And it won’t stop until we’re dead or captured.”

“That doesn’t mean you should kill him. I mean, not exactly a good place to kill someone, right?” Davis says, motioning around them with his good arm.

Now, this catches Legacy’s attention. Turning to look around her, she notices for the first time the crowd of hippies gathered around them. Annoyed, she spins the sword around again and slides it back into the sheath. “No. It’s not.” Then she lashes out and kicks the prone Hawk’s-Eye in the head.

“So hey, what’s the next move?” Davis says, following Legacy as she heads towards Cameron. “Is it find a hospital for my arm? Because that would be fucking great, seriously. Hey, where are we anyway?”

“Another reality,” Legacy says, throwing Cameron’s limp body over a shoulder. Grunting, she stands up. “When my power kicks in I’ll know more.”

Davis stands there for a second. Another reality. Definitely NOT the answer he was expecting. Or particularly understands. “Like Planet of the Apes?”

“Tell you what,” Legacy says, turning to look at him. “Let’s make a deal. We get to…anywhere…that isn’t this place. A hospital. Fast food restaurant. Hair salon, I don’t care. We get somewhere away from here and I’ll explain what I can. Deal?”

An hour later

“Hey – are you alright?”

Hawk’s-Eye moves slowly, his head aching, and dislodges a bag of ice. As he opens his eyes, he finds himself in one of the many tents. A young woman sits just inside the tent, while her mother sits outside, holding the flap up. The girl shifts nervously as Hawk’s-Eye sits up, pushing the rough blanket off of him.

“We, uh, we saw what happened out there. Are you okay? Like, you totally just fell from the sky and like – “

Hawk’s-Eye ignores the girl completely, shoving past her. As he steps outside his wings twitch and expand, stretching in the windy breeze. Slowly he rotates his head, scanning the area with his enhanced vision. Finding nothing, he presses the Tallus that’s on his left wrist. It flashes red once, twice, and stops. Then popping sounds fill the air as the rest of the Hunter’s teleport in courtesy of Bouncer’s power.

“It’s about time,” Bouncer says, stepping towards his teammate. “Way to act on your own Ech-Eee. Follow ‘em and lose ‘em huh? Great plan.”

“Spare us your feeble attempt at leadership Bouncer,” Pariah says coolly, his six legs dancing about skittishly. “At least we know what World they’re in. Without the tracker they are going to be damn near impossible to find from now on.”

“I can find them,” Kazarbua says, dropping onto all fours. “Believe me, they can’t have gone too far. The male’ll be too weak to open another wave so soon.”

“Yeah? What other genius insight ya got?” Bouncer asks, planting his hands on his hips. “What about that other guy? He was wearing the same outfit as Cameron, what if he’s got the same powers?”

“Then I believe that our job,” Pariah says thoughtfully. “Just got much more difficult.”

Elsewhere – specifically, the Park Police Station just outside of Golden Gate Park

Two stories tall, the stone building that is the Park Police Station kept is original 1910 Mission-style appearance in order to maintain a non-threatening appearance to Park-goes, visitors, and tourists. To Davis Cameron, it looks like a much needed return to normalcy. As he dashes up to the building, he doesn’t even notice the “world peace” mural painted on the side. In fact, he barely notices the circle of people sitting in the parking lot, listening to the sounds of an acoustic guitar.

“Hello?” Davis asks as he steps inside. “Hello, police?” The inside of the station is deserted. Papers are scattered everywhere. Desks are unoccupied. There are signs of people living there – but no police officers. In fact, large flowers, rainbows, and other “calming” images have been painted over the walls. “What is going on here?” Davis asks as he picks up a chair to sit in.

“You said Planet of the Apes,” Legacy says, entering the building herself. “Earlier. Give me a hand here,” she says, motioning at a desk as she begins to shove stuff off of it with one hand. Davis jumps up and helps clear the desk, making room for Cameron to be laid down. Once he is, Legacy and Davis both sit back down.

“So earlier. You said Planet of the Apes. Well, no apes here – at least, they don’t rule this Earth. Hippies do. It seems that twenty years ago, right in the middle of the hippie-movement, this world’s Sorcerer Supreme cast a spell over Earth – making everyone happy and peaceful.”

“So everyone is a hippie?” Davis asks, sitting back in the chair. “Triptacular.”

“Indeed,” Legacy says, moving to look around the office. “It seems like the Sorcerer managed to get all of the other problems under control, just not humanity itself. The only way to protect them, she figured,” Legacy says, pulling a medical kit out of a box from under a desk. “Was to make them just not want war.”

“Doesn’t that seem kinda…manipulative?” Davis asks as she approaches him. “I mean, I get wanting world peace and all, but isn’t this just like brainwashing?”

“Who are we to judge other realities?” Legacy says, laying the kit out on the desk next to Davis. “Ready to get that thing out?”

“Is it gonna hurt?” Davis asks, looking at her cock-eyed. Legacy just stares back.

“Is it gonna hurt? What are you, six?” Legacy asks, placing on hand on his shoulder. With ease she grabs what’s left of the arrow and yanks it out! A guttural scream fires from Davis’ mouth as his eyes go wide. He tries to lean forward, but Legacy shoves him back, keeping her hand over the wound. “Lean back,” she says, grabbing a bottle of alcohol. “Just take it easy and – “ then she pours.

Davis screams again.

“Now,” Legacy says, blotting the wound in order to clean it a bit. “You wanted answers. Here we go. My name is Irene Cameron. I’m a mutant. When I was 13 my brain downloaded the entire history of Earth. All of it. Moment of creation, the day the dinosaurs died, the day man first walked – I’ve seen it all. Nearly drove me insane. So I wrote it all down and that nearly made me blind,” she says, locking eyes with Davis. Her milky pupils hold his gaze for a second, then she looks away.

“I met Cameron, then,” she says, nodding in his direction. “When I was on my book tour. Fell in love. Married him. Thought I was going to live happily ever after.”

Hesitating at first, Davis looks at her. “Something…went wrong?”

“Doesn’t it always?” she replies. Irene then starts to wrap his shoulder. “Suffice to say that something simply went wrong. While we were on the run, Cameron’s powers manifested.”

“He’s a mutant too?”

Irene scoffs. “You couldn’t guess? Cameron is able to transform his body into pure Reality.”

Davis laughs, and then says “What?”

“You heard me. Cameron can turn into the stuff that makes up everything. He can use that connection to open portals – the warpwave – between places and things and, we found, different realities,” she says, taping the gauze down. “So we hopped the first warpwave out of our reality and went on the run.”

“What are you running from?” Davis asks, an odd calm settling on him. The adrenaline from his wound wearing off and fatigue settling in. “Those…Hunter guys?”

“They came later,” Irene says, looking down at the floor. “But we don’t know why. They just showed up and started chasing us.” An awkward silence fills the air for a moment before she looks up at Davis again. “We came to you because we need you Davis. You’re like us – you’re a mutant.” At this, Davis’ eyes go wide.

“No,” he says definitively. “No, I am not a mutant. I’m not anything. I’m a surfer. That’s all I am, all I ever wanted to be. Just – just get me back to my reality so I can forget about all of this!”

“I can’t,” Irene replies quietly. “Other than you, Cameron is the only one of us who can travel between realities. But every time he does it he loses a bit of himself. You see how he looks? He’s only 34, Davis. But each time we go to another reality, every time we run another step, it kills him.”

“I don’t care!” Davis replies, standing up in a hurry. “No offense, but I don’t know you. I don’t know him. I don’t know alternate realities and hunters and any of that! I knowsurfing lady, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to know.”

“Don’t you get it?” Legacy says, stand herself as she gets angry. “You know WHY you manifested a surf board when Cameron activated your powers? Because surfing is part of your mutation. You’re meant to travel between space by surfing! It’s not a skill you have, it’s part of your mutation.”

That news hits Davis like a slap in the face. All along, his talent…his dream…his goal…it was all some cosmic pre-ordained mutant plan? No. “No. No, fuck that, lady, I’m not surfing reality okay? I want to go home and that’s it.”

Irene sneers at the younger man. “You can’t just – “

“It’s his choice,” Cameron says weakly from across the room. Irene is immediately at his side.

“Please honey, you can’t exert yourself,” he says, pleading at him with her eyes. “You’re too weak.”

“I know what’s wrong with me,” Cameron says, pushing himself up. “And I know what’s wrong with him,” he says, gesturing at Davis. “He’s a coward. Running and hiding is what they do.”

Insulted, Davis retorts. “I’m not a coward! I just don’t – “

“You don’t know what you’re dealing with,” Cameron says quietly, his voice harsh and rough. “You don’t want to be a freak, you don’t want to help those who need it, you just want to hide your head and forget it all. That’s a cowards way.

“And we don’t need a coward,” Cameron says, putting a hand to Irene’s cheek. “We’ll find another.”

“But you’re – “ she begins.

“We’ll find another, Irene,” Cameron says with a sigh. “We can’t force him.”

Back over in his corner, Davis doesn’t speak. Partly because there isn’t anything he can say. It’s true. As much as he doesn’t like to admit it – even to himself – it’s true that he’s scared. Torn away from his home, stabbed in the shoulder, dragged across an alternate-hippie-Earth – who wouldn’t be? Who in their right mind would want that?

So Davis doesn’t say anything. The resulting quiet is the only reason the three of them manage to hear the slight electrical sound that accompanies Pariah’s eye beams.

Those eye beams blast through the rock wall, sending dust and rocks everywhere. Between the coughs, Irene manages to shout “Davis!” as she drags Cameron over to him. “Take him out the back, there has to be a back! Get him away from here!”

Nodding, Davis does as he’s told, helping the older man as they dash through the building. As Legacy draws her sword, Pariah passes over head. She swings at him but misses, leaving her open as Kazarbua dashes past. They both keep moving, following the men, while a boot suddenly slams into Legacy’s chest! She falls backwards, her breath knocked out, as Bouncer stands over her.

“Gave us a nice run there girlie,” he says, working his fingers maniacally. “But now we GOTCHA. Pariah and KB are gonna take muy excelente care of your boy toys. And if they can’t, we got my man Hawkie up top keeping watch. So y’know what that means?”

A loud THUD outside suddenly interrupts Bouncer’s speech. Both he and Legacy look behind him – at Hawk’s-Eye, sprawled out on the concrete. Twisting bands of green energy pulse around him, a hissing sound coming from them.

“What the fuck is that?” Bouncer asks, honestly annoyed.

In the back of the building

“I gotcha now, boy!” Kazarbua shouts as she launches herself from the floor to the wall to a desk to the floor. As queen of the Savage Land on her world, hunting was just about the national past time. So right now, she’s loving this.

Above her Pariah sticks to the ceiling, occasionally firing his eye beams – each time with less and less success. Cameron and Davis keep on moving, ducking in an out of cubicles, down halls, through meeting rooms, anything so long as they don’t stop. Cameron, finally enough, can’t take anymore. Panting, he comes to a stop.

“I – I – I can’t. I can’t – stop – I can’t keep running.”

“We need to!” Davis says, grabbing the older man’s shoulder. “While I’m sure you’re getting quite comfortable with the idea of death, I would like to stay alive long enough to get home. So move.”

“I can’t!” Cameron says, gripping his chest. “You might not have noticed but I’m not as young as I used to be! I need – I need to rest.”

Davis stands there, literally bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Shit. Okay. Shit. Okay, here, sit down.” They duck through a door into what turns out to be a large room. A meeting room actually, complete with large table, a dozen chairs, filing shelves, and two windows into the hallway. Just as the door closes Pariah’s eye beams burn a streak across the wall.

“They’re cornered,” Pariah whispers, scuttling his way across the ceiling. “They went in there.” he says, pointing at the room.

Kazarbua bounds around the corner, knocking a table over, and skids to a claw-helped stop. Grinning her large teeth, she slowly approaches the door. “I’m gonna enjoy this Pariah. We don’t need that young one right? He looks…” she pauses to lick her two oversized teeth. “Tender. I’m going in. Watch to make sure the old man doesn’t escape, alright?”

Sighing in the way only a giant locust can, Pariah nods. “If you insist. But make it quick as I – “

Shattering glass suddenly fills the hallway! The blinds and glass of one of the windows explodes outward as Davis flies through the window on his warpboard. He moves his hand away from his face, shaking out the glass, and looks down.

Kazarbua.

Then he looks up.

Pariah.

Without saying anything, he suddenly drops down, slamming the board into Kazarbua! With a practice ease he flips up, spinning himself upside down, and then knocks into Pariah as well! As the giant locust falls to the ground, Davis drops again, smashing into Kazarbua one more time.

“Alright Grandpa, move it!” Davis shouts, reaching through the window at Cameron. Careful of the glass, Davis pulls him onto the board, and then they jet down the hall, back the way they came. Cutting and sliding his way down the hall, the pair of them reach their starting point quickly. They practically run into Legacy and…someone else.

“Cameron!” Irene shouts, helping her husband back down onto the ground. They hug while Davis hops off himself. “Thank God.”

“Thank him,” Cameron says, thumbing at Davis. “Kid might not be a complete waste after all.”

“Can’t have him dying,” Davis says nervously. “He’s my way home. Now can we move? Cuz they’re probably still alive?”

“Don’t worry about them,” the stranger says casually. “I can handle them. Took down birdbrain and superball, didn’t I?”

The woman with Legacy is a few inches shorter. Brown hair, cropped short into a bob cut, rests atop of her bright face. A pair of round, blue glasses rest on a small nose above a wide grin. A pink flower has been painted on one cheek. Several necklaces – including one of a small, closed eye with orbs around it – hang from her neck. She’s dressed in layers – torn, faded, patched up bell bottom jeans over bare feet, what was once a white, full-body skirt over that, v-necked, covered by a long sleeve black shirt, covered by a yellow vest. Patches of various shapes decorate the vest, and everything is covered by a large red coat that reaches the ground. Swirling golden patterns line the trim, although it’s looking threadbare in some places.

“May Parker,” she says, grabbing Davis in a hug. “Guardian of Earth, y’dig?”

“Thank you then, too.” Cameron says as she hugs him.

“You’re the guardian of Earth?” Davis asks, laughing to himself. “With what?”

“I can do magic! It’s totally boss, you have no idea.” She says with a grin. “Best thing that ever happened to the world.”

Irene steps up next to her. “She saved me. Bouncer had – “ Bright yellow eye beams suddenly burn into Irene’s back, forcing her sentence to stop. The smell of burnt flesh wafts through everyone’s nose. Cameron dives forward to catch Irene as Davis and May turn, grimacing as Pariah and Kazarbua – her mouth foaming – dash down the hallway. May’s hands fly up as she begins to chant to a spell, but she never gets the chance to see it hit home.

Cradling Irene, fighting back tears, Cameron’s body turns into sparkling, twirling, shifting energy.

“We’re leaving.” He says quietly. Then, all of sudden, his body bursts outward, engulfing Davis and May, and then folds in upon itself.

To another time. Another reality.

Another chance.

NEXT: In which May and Davis get their codenames. In which Steve Rogers appearance. In which the Spirit of Vengeance appears. In which we say good-bye. In which we say good journey.