Blackjack Wayward

Chapter Twenty-Nine

One thing I remembered was her warning about the kitchen closing soon, so my shower and shave were fast, fastest in ages. The only clothing they had available in the room were one of those tech jumpsuits for men and one for women, but when I pulled it off the hanger, it looked designed for a small child.

“Great,” I said, measuring it against my body. Stepping on the toe to stretch it up, it reached only to my belly button.

I went to the door and it opened automatically. Covering my privates with the tech suit and crouching against the doorway, I leaned out a bit, whispering at the pair of techs that were walking past. It was a Middle Eastern fellow with a Slavic blonde woman, obviously a couple by how close they were walking together.

“Hey,” I said, almost scaring the crap out of them. “Where can I get some clothes?”

The woman shook her head, but her boyfriend/husband seemed to get a kick out of my plight.

“I did the same thing,” he said, giggling.

“Did what?”

“It’s flexible,” he replied.

She pointed at the tech suit at my midsection. “It will stretch to your size. No one told you?”

I shrugged. “The tour guide sucked. Fifty bucks!” I said, going back inside.

Once the door closed (it had a ten-second delay), I sat on the bed, naked, and stuck my foot into the suit. As the woman had said, the thing was the most flexible material I had ever seen, expanding to fit my big hoof, even though it looked too narrow to fit. In fact, once I had placed my foot as far as it went, the rest was still bunched up, and there didn’t seem to be enough material to stretch my 6’5” frame.

“Oh well,” I said, pulling the material apart and forcing my other foot in, then standing and stretching the whole thing up. The fabric gave wonderfully, and I was able to fit my arms and shoulders in without straining. It didn’t have a zipper or Velcro on the front flap (or had I just put it on backwards?), but once I tugged it closed, the material sealed anyway.

I walked over to the small mirror in the bathroom and took a look.

“I’m like a bigger, badder Superdynamic,” I said, though why I was talking to myself, I didn’t know.

Maybe I was just making sure this was all real.

I stormed out of the room and into the kitchen, which was now far less busy, and walked over to the serving area. One of the cooks was wrapping a salad tray with a roll of plastic covering that came out of a forearm attachment to his suit.

“I’ll open it for you, if you want,” he said, not recognizing and giving me a curious look.

“Meat,” I said, almost salivating. “I need meat.”

I walked past him to the rest of the setup, assaulted by the aroma of real food, for the first time in as long as I could remember. Grabbing a plastic tray that was slightly wet (some things never change) and a plate, I moved past the salad and crap at the start of the line to a tray of steaks and threw four on my plate, overloading it. I took another plate and filled it with about a pound of sides like potatoes, mac and cheese with bacon, and green beans. The utensils looked made out of ceramic, tiny and useless for a big, hungry guy like me, but I took them anyway and sat down at a table without bothering with napkins or a drink.

And I ate like an animal.

I only paused once, looking around at the folks who sat near me, a few of which were curious at my ravenous display.

“Sorry,” I said, munching through some T-bone steak fat. “I’ve been in a mind-prison for over a year, then I got lost in Australia on a walkabout and then I had to fight like two hundred super villains all at once. Make anyone hungry.”

“I imagine so,” someone said behind me, and I turned to see Focus standing there.

She smiled.

“You have nothing to drink,” she said. “Would you like something sweetened, or will water suffice?”

“Thought you were busy,” I said as she walked over to the drink station. “And water will be fine, thank you.”

Focus picked up a ceramic glass and poured water from the dispenser.

“Ice or no ice?”

“No ice is fine.”

“I figured to check on you,” she said, coming back and placing the glass in front of me.

“Thank you.”

“I had to make sure you didn’t get lost on your way to the kitchen. You’re welcome.”

She walked around and sat in front of me.

“Damn,” I snapped. “Now I have to mind my manners.”

“It’s okay,” she said, pulling a small pad computer from her back pocket. “I brought something to read, so I can pretend you are displaying the proper etiquette.”

I smiled.

“You’re learning Blackjack-speak,” I said. “Most impressive.”

She thought about it for a second and smiled. “I asked for advice from Moe when I was at the control center.”

“Oh? What’d he say?”

Focus looked down at her pad, “I’m not sure I should say.”

“No, come on,” I said taking a massive cut of meat. “It’s not like you’re going to embarrass me.”

She eyed me for a second, watching me butcher the steak in my mouth, wincing a little from the sight. The girl was probably a vegetarian, especially in light of how slim she was, and here I was eating half a cow.

“Well, one of the things he said was to not take anything you said very seriously. To pretend that everything you say or do is an attempt at humor, probably because you feel uncomfortable with your present situation.”

I laughed, “That Moe’s pretty good.”

“He is a good friend,” she said. “It’s taken me a long time to get used to this way of life.”

“Oh?”

Focus brushed a strand hair out of her face, suddenly aware that she had opened the door on something that she wasn’t exactly prepared to talk about.

“Forget I asked,” I said, drinking some water. “I’m too damned nosy anyway.”

She looked at my glass and plate, almost empty already and stood.

“Would you like more? I can get it for you.”

“No, I’m a big boy, I can get it myself.”

“I just imagine that you must be tired,” she said, sitting back down.

I belched under my breath, covering my mouth with the napkin, “I’m okay, but I think I’m done eating for now, thanks.” The plates were empty, save for a bit of myoglobin juices on one, and one last bite of mashed potatoes on the other. I felt like eating more, but didn’t want to make more of a pig of myself than I already had.

She nodded with a little smile and looked at her pad.

“Is that all that Moe told you?”

Focus blushed again.

“It’s okay, you can tell me.”

She stared at me with her big brown eyes, wondering if she should divulge. Finally, she placed the pad on the table and inched forward, lacing her fingers together atop the table and leaning against her hands.

“He said you would try to seduce me,” she said in a low voice, her eyes wandering about the room.

“I lied,” I said. “You did embarrass me.”

Focus was suddenly worried, “Forgive me, I didn’t–”

I raised my arms, stopping her. “It’s ok.”

“I don’t mean to be insensitive,” she said.

“It’s fine, don’t worry.”

“No, please. I know how difficult your...” she paused, searching for the proper word.

“Look, I’m the one that’s sorry.”

“...your situation has been. In particular with your relationship with Apogee.”

I cocked my head, swallowing hard at mention of that name. This only served to embarrass and trouble Focus further.

“I mean,” she fumbled, “what I mean, is that...Moe said...he volunteered this, you understand, I didn’t ask about it. Nor was I curious, in any way–”

“What did he say?”

She paused, shaking her head, totally flustered and frustrated.

“Tell me.”

Focus composed herself. “He said that you would be looking for some...alternative companionship,” she said, blushing.

I looked up at the ceiling, growing angry at myself for being so rude and disrespectful to the poor girl. What had started as having a little fun to break the monotony had totally backfired and made me look like a total a*shole. But there was some truth in what Moe had warned her about, if only a shred. Focus was pretty, beautiful even, with an air of innocence that led me to believe that anything could be possible. Especially after how sexually intense the mind-prison had been, how severe my relationship with Claire had been.

“I’m sorry,” I said, interrupting her as she was going on, apologizing interminably. “I was just trying to be friendly. I’m sorry I’m such a Neanderthal sometimes.”

She was silent, watching me as I wiped my mouth.

I drank from the water and said, “You know, this is the best tasting water I’ve ever had in my life.”

Focus smiled, “It’s just water.”

“No, no, no. This is super water. Try it,” I said, handing her the cup.

“I’m sorry, I don’t drink or eat from other people’s....”

I chuckled.

“It’s a habit my father taught me, I don’t mean to be rude.”

“Well, it’s good water.”

“It is. I drink it all the time.”

“I tell you what,” I said, standing back up. “Give me the penny tour, and I might learn some manners and stop being such a classless monkey. Deal?”

“Of course.”

“Just one thing,” I said as we stood and walked out. “Don’t call me MISTER Blackjack. It’s not even my name, Blackjack. It’s just the stupid moniker, you know? My name is actually Dale.”

Focus paused, serious.

“We never use our real names, Blackjack. It’s done for our own protection.”

I nodded.

“Okay. Just Blackjack, then. Mister Blackjack was my dad,” I kidded as we walked on, but from the curious look she gave me, I could tell she didn’t know I was joking.

There was a frenetic pace among the tower’s inhabitants, with everyone involved in solving the mystery of D.C. Only the heavy equipment carousels travelled at slow speed, in fear they’d plaster a tech or two. But all in all it was impressive to see the resources that Superdynamic had available to him.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how alike he and I were. We were both polymaths with engineering and physics as our strong suits, yet he had used his considerable wealth and skill to create an oasis in the middle of one of the worst places on Earth, a haven amidst chaos of sectarian and tribal warfare, bringing food and security to millions. I had built some interesting arrows, and a pretty impressive generator.

Despite that, we were probably more dissimilar than not. He had spent his effort on helping others, while I had tried to become richer and more powerful. I knew that part of bringing me to his sanctum was to humble me, to show me my wasted potential. If he could build this, help so many people, with only an advanced mental capacity, imagine what I could do to help the world.

Then again, I built a wormhole-opening particle accelerator, traveling 2 kilo parsecs in the blink of an eye.

Focus did her best to keep up with my jibes and humor as we toured the facilities, but she was in way over her head.

“Where are you from?” I asked her after a long stretch of silence.

“A village,” she said, smiling. “No, really, it had no name. It was just ‘the village’ to us. It was located on the southern coast of Korea, fifty-seven miles from the nearest settlement.”

“Talk about small town,” I said. “Place doesn’t even have a name.”

She giggled, “It was a small community with a dozen families. My father had hoped I would follow him as a fisherman, but my little brothers will make up for my absence.”

We entered an elevator.

“How many brothers?”

“Six,” she said, as the elevator emptied. I guess the word was out that I was visiting and no one wanted to get too friendly. “The oldest is twelve, though. My father remarried after my mother passed away.”

“I had something like that happen too,” I said, not wanting to get into the sordid details of Doreen and Emmet Wellington, my stepmother and her sonofabitch brother.

“My stepmother is a lovely woman.”

“Mine, too,” I lied.

Without warning, a grinding of metal rang out that I could only imagine were the elevator’s breaks firing off as the lift came to a halt, and a moment later the lights flickered out.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “I’m back at Utopia for sure.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Utopia,” I joked. “You know, back at the...nevermind.”

“I’m sure it’s not a major problem,” she said.

I laughed, leaning against the wall. “I bet. Next thing you know, you’ll take off that China girl outfit and come cuddle up with me.”

She gasped, and for the next moment of silence, I was aware of her presence, huddling against the back wall of the elevator as if she was expecting me to rush her, to do something horrible.

“Hey, I was just kidding.”

“I’m sure they will fix this momentarily,” she managed, her voice quivering, awash in fear.

I banged my head against the back of the wall, and suddenly a holo-projector came to life, illuminating the room with the image of a tech.

“You guys all right?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said, staring at Focus’ concerned face. “The thing just stopped.”

The tech shrugged, “That’s a first.”

“Elevators never break down?” I said. “Come on.”

“Well, it hasn’t happened in the two years I’ve been here. Let me check...you’re on deck 135. Just hang in there and–”

Then we lost the image, the tech’s face replaced with static snow.

I turned back to Focus, whose attention had never left me.

“Focus, I’m sorry about what I said.”

She swallowed hard, still pressing herself away with wide eyes staring at me, and I suddenly had flashback images of my last moments of the mind-prison at Utopia, at my consuming rage that had led me to do something terrible.

“I would never hurt you,” I said, using the softest, gentlest tone I could, but not sure I was being as honest as possible. “It was another joke, a bad one. Okay?”

Focus glared at me for a long while, knowing I was lying, but she finally accepted my apology with a gentle grin.

“I’m an a*shole, you see. I’m not used to being around decent people,” I said.

“I just didn’t want to have to hurt you,” she said, biting her lip.

I stared at her, dumbfounded, caught wondering how badass of a martial artist she actually was, but she finally smiled.

“I finally got you on a joke, Mr. Blackjack.”

I have to give it to Superdynamic’s technical staff. They fixed the elevator in less than ten minutes, plenty of time for me to make up for my transgressions with Focus. By the time they arrived to pull us out, I had the girl in stitches.

We continued our tour and arrived at the antechamber to the command center, where Moe was leaning against a wall, waiting for us. I saw the smile of our conversation fade from Focus’ face, replaced instead with a downcast, embarrassed look. Moe eyed her over, noticing the embellishments and makeup, shaking his head.

“Why don’t you wait for us inside, angel,” he said, barring my way. “Me and Blackjack here are going to have a talk.”

Focus averted her eyes, clenching her jaw in frustration, moving past without another word.

“Come with me,” Moe said, going back the way we came. I followed silently to a doorway that he opened without a command. He stood there, left arm held wide for me to enter.

“Figured this was coming,” I said, with more than a little menace in my voice as I went inside.

The chamber was large, with a tall ceiling, almost five stories high. The floor was soft, with a little give, and the walls were padded.

“We use this room for practice,” he said coming in, and sealing us inside.

I stretched my neck. “You practice a lot?”

“Man, f*ck you!” he said pushing me off, not even waiting for the preliminaries. “F*ck is wrong with you, anyway?”

I flexed my shoulders, feeling the blood flow through my limbs, and waited for his move. This was his party; he’d get the first shot.

“Look at you, you stupid f*ck,” Moe said.

“I’m just waiting on you, man.”

“For what? To throw down? Shit, I’ll throw down with you, I don’t give a f*ck. But first, first you’re going to listen to me, you get me? You big stupid f*ck.”

“Call me that again and I’m redecorating this place with your face.”

“Man, you’re all wrong about everything, aren’t you?” he said, stomping closer. “All you know is this shit,” Moe raised his big fist. “I know about you, dude. I know all about you. It’s f*cked up because you and me, we came from the same shit. It’s a f*cking miracle we even made it; you know what I’m saying? Guys like us? Shit. Our shelf life’s like a few years, then that’s it. We’re either dead, or so beat-up it’s all pills and shit. But that girl,” he motioned to the door. “That girl has a future for her, you hear me? She’s good people. She comes from good people, people that are counting on her, praying for her and shit. And you’re not going to ruin that.”

He paused, letting it all sink in, and softening his stance, trying to break it to me as gently as I could. I must’ve softened my stance too, because he came closer.

“I know about your shit, man. I know how your dad died, and the shit you went through after that. I know more about you than you know about yourself ‘cause it’s like looking in a mirror. I had to deal with some of the same shit, you understand me? ‘Cept with me it was my dad who was the motherf*cker, not the stepfolk.”

I looked at him, wondering what our similarities were, what he had gone through.

“That’s right. Old man was big as f*ck and I was just a little shit. He’d come home, all high and shit, and take it out on me and my mom. Shit,” he said, turning his back to me and lifting the back of his shirt, revealing a bunch of deep slashes. “Think you the only one that had to deal? F*ck. My pops would hit my shit so hard he’d pass out. Then he’d wake up later and come back to finish.”

“But then I got big and one night, I said ‘enough’ and broke his punk-ass head,” he said. “I did time for that shit. What’s the worst is that my moms testified against me, that it was my fault and whatever. F*cking bitch. I was fourteen, dog, and in jail with the big boys. I got lucky on some appeal that they did ‘cause I was a minor and shit and they let me out and here I am, a mother-f*cking superhero. Yeah, that’s right. So don’t think you’re the only that’s f*cked up some shit bad and had to come back from rock bottom. You’re the only one that thinks that the rest of us owe you some shit, though.”

He laughed. “I think sometimes you’re like that Rainman dude. All smart with books and shit, but stupid as f*ck–”

“I warned you–”

“Oh, shut the f*ck up with that. If that’s all you got, then that’s all you’ll ever be. Big f*cking stupid bully. You know what you need? You need someone to come along and put your ass down. Hard, you know? Bad so you know what it’s like to be afraid again. Like when you was a little kid and your uncle was chasing your ass down, beating you ‘til you cried and shit. Maybe then you’ll stop being such a pain in the ass motherf*cker.”

“So that’s what we’re here for? I get the royal beat down from Moe, strong guy of Superdynamic’s Battle? Let me tell you something, big guy. You’re f*cking with the devil.”

He paused, suddenly serious.

“If that’s what it takes, man. I’m right here. I ain’t never backed down from a fight, and I’m not going to now. Especially from some bully f*cker like you. And if they gotta scrape my ass off the walls, I don’t give a f*ck, but I had hoped that you weren’t all Rainman, you know? That you weren’t all stupid. That you might listen to some shit if I gave it to you straight. Man to man and shit.”

“You’re smarter than you look,” I said, still in ‘dark Blackjack’ mode.

“That girl,” he said, gesturing toward her again. “She’s lead a sheltered life, man. From a tiny little place in the middle of nowhere. She don’t even know about motherf*ckers like you. She’s never had to be careful of a guy that only wants one thing.”

“I was just playing with her,” I said, defensively.

He pursed his lips, and bowed his head closer, pulling back his glasses, as if he was trying to get a better look at me.

“You think that bullshit’s gonna work on me? I’m from Brooklyn, Gee. You know what I’m saying?”

“I wasn’t going to do anything.”

“Suck-a-dick,” he scoffed. “You telling me you were going to throw her out of your room if she came in there, all curious and shit? She don’t even know how to behave around you, man, and you’re whipping your dick in the poor girl’s face.”

“What,” I challenged, “and she’s all yours or something? You got dibs?”

Moe laughed, “Papers of ownership. Get a load of you. I don’t want nothing with that girl, you understand? All I want is that she stay away from pieces of shit like you, and maybe one day she meets a decent guy, who’ll treat her nice. Not like a ‘ho.”

I swallowed hard. “I wasn’t going to....”

“Yeah?” he said, snickering.

I didn’t know what to make of this guy, I mean, did he want to fight or not? He was cutting through my bravado, killing my edge, putting me on the defensive, but for what reason?

“I know, I know. You’re like, ‘nigga you don’t talk to me like that’ and whatever.”

“No, it’s not that at all.”

Moe roamed the room a bit, “See, it’s like this. You’re like a great white shark. Top of the food chain. All you know is eat, shit, fight off other sharks going for your p-ssy, and f*ck. That’s it. You just roam like a f*cking animal looking for the next piece of ass.”

“That’s not true,” I said.

“I ain’t done yet,” he said, not liking my interruption. “I was gonna say, it’s cool to be like that sometimes. Shit, I was like that for a long time. I’m big like you; no one ever f*cked with Moe. And if some motherf*cker got in my way, shit....” He laughed. “And if I saw a nice piece of tail, a fine piece of ass, that shit was mine, you know what I’m saying? I had to hit every piece of ass I saw, everything in sight. Few years ago, that girl would’ve already had it bad, if you know what I mean. It was like I couldn’t have enough, like the world had f*cked me so I had to f*ck everything, including myself. Especially myself.”

I crossed my arms, not liking where this was all going, but I knew he was making sense. It had been a major part of my mind-prison, to keep me sexually occupied from one woman to another, even if she was part alien. They knew, as Moe had realized, that it was a sore spot for me, something that drove me, even if I wasn’t aware of it.

“But that shit ended, and when it did, I f*cking grew up. You know what I’m saying? Now, Focus? You’ll f*cking ruin her. She’s got this girly crush on you, and you’ll bat your blue eyes and shit, and next thing you know, the girl’s pregnant or some shit.”

“What?”

“Don’t act like this shit is coming out of nowhere. It happens all the time where I come from. Shit, go back to the projects in Williamsburg, go check out the courts on South Second Street and I bet there’s like a few little niggas with big-ass fros look a lot like me. So don’t pretend like that shit–”

“Wait a minute. You’re trying to tell me not to do like you? Like you’re some fountain of wisdom or something?”

“I’m trying to tell you that...shit. Are you Rainman or not, motherf*cker?”

“No, I’m not f*cking Rainman!”

“Then nod or some shit if you understand what I’m saying.”

He cocked his head, waiting for my reply.

“I understand you, goddammit.”

“Good,” Moe said, then moved closer. “Now give a nigga a hug, before all the love leaves the room. Come here.”

I recoiled.

“Come on,” he said, arms held wide open. “A moment ago we were going to throw down, now we brothers.”

“You’re crazy, you know?”

“Gotta be a little crazy in this world. Come here and give this crazy nigga some love,” he suddenly got upset. “You don’t have no love for the black man?”

“Of course,” I said and extending my hand so he could shake it, so we could get out of here and end this strange conversation.

“That’s it? After all this shit, that’s all you got?”

“I don’t know what–”

He interrupted me by taking my hand and shaking it hard. He was almost strong as I was, but before I could shake back, he pulled me to him and hugged me.

“See? Now we’re like brothers. You’re my crazy white brother, and I’m your crazy black brother.”

Moe pulled back, still embracing me, and looked at me.

“You was really going to fight me and shit?”

I shrugged him off, but he came back at me and clasped my shoulders.

“All you need is love, man.”

“I’m not f*cking gay, okay?”

Moe broke into full body laughter, and slung his arm around my neck. He was taller than me, so I ended up under his armpit.

“Come here, man. It’s got nothing to do with that shit, you know what I’m saying?”

I smiled, but more out of nerves than anything.

“It’s like, love your fellow man and shit. Like, love your dog.”

I pushed him off again, not as brusquely this time.

“So I’m the f*cking dog in this?”

“You my dog,” he said with a playful tone, then lifted his head back, suddenly serious. “Just cool it with Focus, you got me?”

I nodded.

“Now come on,” he slapped me in the back and walked toward the door. “I know just what you need.”