The Mighty Doc Stalwart #260

Denouement

Adapted from The Mighty Doc Stalwart #260 (November 1984)

by Dr. Mike Desing

This was not a real place. I mean, sure, it was REAL, because they were here, and you always have to be SOMEWHERE, but it was not a real place. It was somewhere else. Doc had been teaching Mikah about science, and how science uses evidence to prove its hypothesis. So, Mikah was applying the evidence. The evidence all pointed towards the same conclusion: this was not a place. 

      First, the sky was not a single color, but a shifting array of purples, blues, and reds that moved against a deep, black background. This made it look like night, but it definitely wasn’t night. There were no stars, and there was no moon. Evidence: not a place.

      Second, the landscape around them, composed of rolling hills beneath the upper banks on which they stood, overflowed with trees. That would make it seem like a place. However, the trees seemed composed of pure, inky blackness. And they moved. They didn’t sway as if in a gentle breeze, but instead they writhed like snakes considering the charmer, and whether or not to listen to his pipe or bite his jugular. Evidence: not a place.

      Finally, there were the sounds. This should have probably gone first in the list of ‘not really a place’ evidence, but they were the most subtle. A forest at night is a loud place. This was also, but not in the same way. These sounds almost sounded like suffering, or crying, or the baying of an animal as it contemplates the wound that is about to take its life. But these sounds also commingled so it was impossible to tell if it was coming from singular creatures, or just rising from marshy, black ground itself. Evidence: not a place.  

      “The Shadow Vale. Or Shadowlands. Or Land of Shadows. It’s called different things across time. It’s all this place, though.”

      Hmf. Doc called it a place. Mikah was still going with his not a place theory.

      Giant Jynx opened his mouth as if to speak. Mikah couldn’t think of him as Monument yet… he was just a giant version of Jynx with Zirah and a seven-year-old acolyte and a demonic entity inside who could suddenly talk, he had decided. To his thinking, that was somewhat less upsetting than the truth. Monument spoke, “I dare go no further. This place… calls to me. Calls to my core.”

      Doc nodded. “We part as friends.”

      “Indeed.”

      Giant Jynx and Doc shook hands, which Mikah found profoundly weird. Giant Jynx looked towards Mikah, “I’ll bet your face is delicious.” He smiled and was gone.

      Mikah knew it!

      “What now?” Mikah asked. He really, really hoped Doc had a plan that was better than ‘wander aimlessly until we find something interesting’.

      “We wait.”

      Okay, this was a close second in terms of bad ideas. Doc sat down and crossed his legs. During his sessions when he was first using his powers, Mikah had been taught to do this - sit “crisscross applesauce” in order to focus better. He had no idea how this would in any way improve focus, but Doc was doing it. Mikah considered this for a moment and joined him. 

      He had not done this in some time. Mikah had modified this exercise considerably over the last few years as he’d mastered his powers - or as he’d gained some measure of familiarity with them was closer to the truth. He remembered how to steady his breathing, center his mind, and roll his shoulders back. He relaxed into a general awareness of everything without focusing on one thing. He was both here and not here, as he had been taught. Then his palms settled against the dirt at his side.

      The images dragged him in. He saw them, everywhere. The doomed. They were under him, and around him, and beside him at once. They were moving through the trees and lingering in the streams of this place. They were trudging through the dark vales and clambering up the rocky slopes. They were looking for it. Always looking for it. If they found it--       

      “What’s up, Doc?” 

      Mikah opened his eyes. Then he blinked again, because he was sure he was wrong about the thing that was standing there. Then he opened his eyes again. Nope. He had seen it. Evidence: not a place.

      It was a teddy bear. It looked like it had been run over by a tractor and dragged across a gravel driveway, but it was a teddy bear. It had several patches over places where it had nearly lost its stuffing, and it carried a short sword. Its eyes were the same texture as the sky. 

      “Hello, Seymour.” Doc had opened his eyes, but remained seated, “As you can see, I’ve returned.”

      Seymour, which Mikah presumed was the talking, animated teddy bear’s name, cocked his head. It reminded Mikah of a dog who suddenly hears a sound he’s not familiar with. “Who’s the kid?”

      “The Chronicle.”

      “Ahhh. That tracks.”

      Doc smiled, “I like what you’ve done with the place.” He gestured in the general direction of everything.

      “She’s been busy.”

      “Can I see her?”

      “She’s expecting you. 

***

Vesper leaned forward on her throne and slipped her robed sleeves upward, revealing long, slender arms. She was probably fifteen. Mikah was pretty sure that this is what being in love felt like. He had the aching in his heart and the sudden increase in pulse and the immediate desire to say something incredibly awkward that were the hallmarks of true love.

      If she noticed, she pretended not to. She reached towards Doc’s face. “May I…?”

      “Of course.”

      She set her thin hands against Doc’s forehead. He waited. “Thought we’d cleared them all.”

      “So did I.”

      “It’s buried. Very deep. How did you find it?”

      “He did.” He gestured towards Mikah.

      Vesper looked at Mikah, studying him. She had the same eyes as Seymour, the same eyes as the sky. She was the prettiest girl Mikah had ever seen, and he would have, in that moment, done anything for her. He would kill for her. Of that, he was quite certain.

      “Explain.” She waited.

      “I guess, I mean, I suppose that the first idea I had was when we met with Ro the Ravager. It didn’t seem right. Doc not worthy?” Mikah paused to see if this made any sense, but Vesper was nodding. He continued, “and then with his brother… I sensed… I’m aware of barriers in Doc’s mind.”

      Vesper continued nonplussed, but Doc did some tentative shuffling. It was not like him to be tentative. But it was also not like him to not know entirely what was going on. The fact that things in his head were hidden from him had to be bothersome. Mikah continued, “and then the Emerald Queen…” again, Vesper was totally up to speed with the major players, “she said… There were things. To do. To be done.”

      Vesper considered this. “Do you know about how Doc Stalwart saved the world?”

      Mikah shrugged, “he’s saved the world lots of times.”

      “No. He’s saved large numbers of people. He’s saved monuments and architecture and lives. But, there was one time, he saved everything.”

      Mikah gulped. He did not know that. He looked at Doc, but Doc was not looking at him. He was starting at the wall. Was he tearing up?

      “Everything had fallen apart. The wall between worlds had broken. Null had crossed over. He was feeding on fear. Consuming it. Consuming everything. Doc made a tremendous sacrifice to prevent that. He completed a quest.”

      Doc was full-on crying now. He stood, stalwart, letting the tears run down his cheeks and drip from his chin. He held his jaw firm. 

      “Doc traveled into the darkest place you can go. Darker than you can imagine. Beyond the gates of Hell itself. Into the lowest pit, reserved for the most vile of all monsters. It was difficult to get there. He had to become a sin eater. He had to take on the collective sin of hundreds. Thousands. He carried their sin. Only one figure in history has carried more.”

      Mikah was starting to tear up, too.

      “He redeemed hundreds. Thousands. Setting them free. Setting me free. I was there. He brought me back. He brought back Jynx. Brought back Zirah… Even after she had killed his wife.”

      Mikah coughed now, struggling with his own tears. Zirah had killed Doc Stalwart’s wife? And he had worked with her? Trusted her? Saved her?

      “He brought back those of us who had faced the most profound fear in creation. We were immune to Null’s touch. We were able to push him back.”

      “YOU pushed him back,” Doc corrected.

      “Maybe that’s true,” Vesper sighed, “but now we need to get you.”

      Mikah licked his lips. Snot was gathering on his upper lip. “How?”

***

The hallway was familiar. It was much like the Citadel of Tomorrow, with the clean white walls and rows of identical doors. Mikah didn’t know which door he was looking for, but then when he found it he knew it was the right one. He drew a deep breath and entered.

      The boy was here, working on something. It was a kind of device with hoses and pipes connected to a central processor. The boy finished adjusting something and looked up. “Hello, there. I’m Nate.”

      “Hello, Nate. I’m Mikah. What are you working on?”

      “It’s a water purification system. There are parts of the world that don’t have clean water. I think that we can make this so that it can clean all of the water in the world so that people can drink it. That would be good. You know? To make the world better. To use science for good.”

      “Science for good,” Mikah repeated, “So, Nate. Your last name is Stalwart?”

      “Yes sir.” The blonde-haired boy went back to working. He was maybe in third grade.

      “Can you tell me about your brother?”

      He stopped working. He looked up. Was that anger? “I don’t have a brother.”

      “No. I know. But you had a brother. Do you remember him? James? Jimmy?”

      That water purification system was going to need to be started again, because the ten-year-old Doc Stalwart had just thrown it across the room where it shattered against the far wall, “I don’t have a brother.”

      “You do. You DID.” 

      “You are a liar!” The future Doc Stalwart, despite being several years younger, was still larger than Mikah. He moved upon Mikah with menace.

      “I’m not. I want to help you. I’m your friend,” but a fist met his chin and sent him across the room. His jaw was broken. Okay, it was probably not really broken, because this was all happening in the depths of Doc’s subconscious, but it still FELT like it was broken. He struggled to talk through a shattered jawbone, which was just as difficult as one might imagine it to be, “he’s dead. You know he’s dead.”

      “LIAR.” This punch broke several ribs, and Mikah couldn’t draw breath. He was probably bleeding internally. He coughed up blood. Okay, definitely bleeding internally. If he died here, did he die out there? He had forgotten to ask, but he didn’t want to find out.

      “I know this is hard to hear,” it was hard to say, in all the ways it could be, “but you killed him. I need you to accept that. You didn’t mean to. You didn’t want to. But you did. You killed your twin brother.”

      “LIAR.” Mikah was now going to choke to death. He could no longer breathe through his shattered nose, and blood was welling up in his throat. He was going to either bleed to death or suffocate on his blood. It was only a matter of which happened first at this point.

      “You meant to help him,” Mikah choked, “he couldn’t walk. I know. But you killed him. You did it. You. It was your fault. It was entirely your fault. I need you to accept that.”

      “LIAR!” If little Doc Stalwart had punched Mikah again, it would have killed him. But this time, he punched the wall. And he punched it again. And again. And again. He punched until he had forged a 3’ deep divot in the reinforced titanium wall. 

      Then he cried.

      Mikah couldn't see, and he couldn’t really breathe, and he thought this might be the last thing he’d ever say, but he pulled himself next to the crying little boy with the Freedom Formula coursing through his veins and kissed him on the head, “you killed your brother. But I still love you.”

***

Mikah sat up, gasping for breath. He was alive. He was back in the throne room of Vesper. Doc was sitting at the foot of her throne, his shoulders hunched over, his head hung low.

      Mikah went over and sat next to him. He put his hand on Doc’s shoulder. There was nothing more to read, nothing more to see, no more secrets buried in Doc Stalwart’s heart.

      Doc took a moment and then whispered, “Mikah. Thank you. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

      “Please don’t ever punch me for real.”

      “Agreed.”

      Vesper sat on her throne, “I’d invite you for dinner, but you no longer have any purpose here. You cannot abide. I must send you from my realm.”

      “Let us know if you ever need us.” Doc said.

      She nodded.

      And then they were back in the Beetle.

 

EPILOGUE

“So this is Midvale?” Mikah asked, looking out the port window. It looked like a nice city.

      “Yep. Want to see the World’s Fair?” Doc shifted the controls and the Beetle dropped beneath a bridge, skimming over the river.

      Mikah looked away, “Maybe another time. There’s one more thing I have to talk to you about.”

      Doc smiled, “Okay.” His smile was back. No, it wasn’t back. It was bigger - it was better - than ever. 

      Mikah no longer hesitated when he had something important to say. Maybe he had changed, too, “I didn’t know why at the time, but I know now. You had fear. It was deep inside, but it was there. And it would have made it impossible to do what you are going to do next.”

      Doc still smiled, “and what’s that?”

      “You’re going to save your daughter.”