Henry and his family sat down in their seats after some maneuvering through the crowd. It was almost like a dream, seeing so many costumes at once. Surreal and exciting to see so many heroes gathered in one place, it brought Henry back to his childhood. There was so much chatter going about, so many simultaneous conversations, by the time they'd all settled in their seats, they could barely hear themselves.
There were nearly as many people standing standing as there were seated, which was to say; near countless. A sea of people not only from Atlas City or the US, but all around the world. Apart from the spectacle of all the gathered heroes, the atmosphere remained as melancholy as a memorial should. The skies themselves were cloudy and thunder could be heard roaring in the distance, but they gave way to no rain.
An elderly husband and wife took a seat next to Henry on his right, bickering a bit between themselves. What they discussed was hard to glean, with all the other noise drowning it out and Henry had no interest in prying unless things decided to get out of hand. Fortunately that was not the case as another senior citizen sat down on their right. He spoke calmly and whatever he said, he seemed to talk some sense into them and that was that.
Or was it? Henry had no intention to speak to either of the people unless they spoke to him, but he had begun to get get a sinking feeling in his stomach. He turned to face the elderly trio to find them staring back at him. The old man of the couple gave a smarmy chuckle and that was enough for Henry to give a derisive sigh and stare at the ground.
"Why the sullen look, my boy!" the man spoke in a heavy Mediterranean accent, his voice breaking through as clear as day, despite the myriad of chatter. "A bit ungrateful, considering we practically took you in..."
"I seem to remember you two trying to get me killed. Soemthing along those lines..." Henry replied, managing to convey as disinterested a tone as he could in a whisper. "What are you doing here anyway. Thought you guys retired."
"Retirement is often boring," the old man wheezed. "Besides...we like to go where we please," he continued, his eyes wandering over towards a heroine alighting to the ground, lingering on her as she walked amongst the crowd. His wife promptly drew a fountain pen and jabbed him in the leg with it. "Why you withering old..." the old man spat through gritted teeth, grabbing her wrist and starting to squeeze it as tight as he could.
Henry glanced around to check if anyone was watching the scene unfold, but it fortunately(?) it seemed most were too preoccupied to notice the old couple's quick descent into a ludicrous amount of violence the likes of which one would see on a Tom and Jerry short. The old woman, her accent similarly Mediterranean commented amidst their struggles. "We did come here for a reason. There's something you should be made aware of urgently."
At this, Henry took a moment to drop his standoffish behavior regarding the two. Much as it would be in character, they wouldn't come down here to simply pester him about something trivial. What happened on the beach would and should concern them as well, after all. And he figured whatever they dropped by to say regarded just that.
"If you've got valuable information, say so...Otherwise-,"
"Yes, yes, I know. Just listen," the old woman hushed him. "Whatever happened two days ago has stirred the pot so to speak. What kicked off in the forties was but the prologue. What happened a few days ago has set you all into the first chapter."
"Is there a less vague way I can interpret that?"
"Eyes are going to be on this place now, my boy," the old man continued, finally wrestling away the pen from his leg (which appeared otherwise fine aside from an ink stain or two) now that the subject had changed. "Not just from the styx, but the stars. Before and beyond the Manifold Mirror. You should know that more than anyone what that means. With it comes both good and bad tidings."
"Lemme guess...mostly the bad?"
"Whatever veil clouded this planet has long since lifted," the other old man chimed in. He had a different accent than the others., Henry couldn't quite place it, but he'd recognized it instantly. He nodded at this one, with a bit more respect than the other two. He had darker skin, a stern scowl, a beak of an upper lip to help accentuate the near permanent frown etched across his face. "We can only do so much. We have our own to attend to after all."
"Right now we're doing all we can to get to the bottom of whatever's exactly happening," Henry noted, somewhat disappointed, resigned to the fact that whatever the bigger picture was, these three were unable or unwilling to spill any more than they had already.
"You have time, Macro-Nite. Perhaps you all will rise to the occasion, perhaps not. But you'll need to if you want to survive," the other old man stated, as he and the other two senior citizens sat up. "You all have that potential. Be better than us. Succeed."
"Yes, yes, be careful..." the old woman added, snappily. It was clear she and her partner were ready to make their leave. "Oh and something else you may want to keep an eye on..." she seemed to suddenly remember. "There have been some rumblings near Mt. Etna. Perhaps it's nothing to worry about, but considering the state of the world..."
Henry looked to the ground again, with a heavy sigh and nodded. Thinking of all the people here, he couldn't have bee the only one they deemed to warn. But something he felt, made the messages they'd passed on feel significant. He couldn't quite place it, but it made him feel better about the group George had assembled. As if it were the right choice after all. As if heading back to Atlas City in the first place was the right decision.
A loud din of the thunder rolled by, startling a few in attendance but once again it gave way to know rain. A pair of eagles darted across the sky out of sight and as Henry had expected the couple who had sat next to him previously had gone. The other old man was left behind. At least for now.
"Sorry about those two. I followed them to mediate and...I think it turned out pretty well, wouldn't you say?" he asked. "Good luck, Macro-Nite," he winked with a thumbs up.
"Look! Sun's out again! I told you it wasn't gonna rain!" he had heard his little cousin Tae exclaim to her father. Sure enough the sun had broken through the clouds and the second old man...nowhere in sight. Henry looked up and leaned back in his chair.
Times ahead would be tough. But at least here, at the memorial, he'd get a chance to relax and pay respects.
***
"Target en route..." Silentium registered internally, his communication reaching across continents to at present unknown party via encrypted signal. "Getting into position now. As quick and clean as I'd like this to be. With this many supers around it won't be possible. Today, we'll have to play the long game, won't we Mr. Carlisle?"