Chapter 39: Death in the Family

Tuesday November 6^th, 2023.

Catherine, Lindsay, and I spent that day and the following in the funeral home with only family and their significant others allowed to enter. There were a few exceptions such as Moria and Darrin putting in appearances.

Cat and her grandmother engaged in a heated discussion over the matter. Catherine stood firm based on not being able to trust anyone outside the family. Their friends would understand. If not ... her language started another brow beating by the eldest Larkin.

Cat acquiesced and allowed ‘the world’ to come to the graveyard for their burial on the 8^th at White Chapel.

As for Lindsay, she was lost. She emotionally half-blamed her sister for her parents’ deaths. I sat and talked with Lindsay for a few hours discussing robotics, life, her sister, and her choices while Catherine played hostess.

For continuity, their grandmother moved into Lindsay’s house allowing the youngest Larkin sister to continue to attend the same school. That was a major point of contention against her moving or living with her aunts. Living with us was never one of her sister’s choices.

The 8^th came around and Cat stood to the side of the rows of chairs with Boris. Bubble on and not speaking to anyone. Clarissa and I included. The only two she let get close to her were her sister and her grandmother. Aunts, uncles, cousins, dignitaries and even her friendly Ambassadors were kept at arms distance.

She did speak though.

“They were the best parents ever. I hope one day to have my children say the same about me. They are dead because of me. I know this. Mom even had to retire because of my fame interfering with her work. Dad worked at one of my companies calling it his retirement fund.

“Sorry daddy. I hope it’s okay if Lin spends it instead of you.” Looking at the black oak casket, she paused.

“I tried my best to rescue mom but she was dead when I didn’t immediately strip and surrender so that they could kill us both. You may not like some of the things I do later, but I hope you are proud of Lin and me.

“I love you two and will always miss you.”

Bowing her head after the heartfelt speech. She hugged her sister and whispered something in her ear. Lin was shocked by whatever Cat had said.

“Oh, and the twenty-five million is now a hundred. All I care about is Sirocco’s head. You can keep the rest. Thanks everyone for coming.”

The crowd didn’t react too well of Cat’s bounty, not that she cared. Gathering me and Clarissa, we left.

“A hundred million.”

“Tempting?” The auburn woman in an exquisite black pinstriped suit teased her aid.

“Damn straight. Might even retire.”

“If I know the Super community, it will be crowded in Tehran very soon.”

“I speak Arabic. Most of those morons can’t even read their native language.”

“You do have two weeks’ vacation coming. Would you rather spend it in a desert or on a beach?”

“That’s low.” He gave his boss a dirty look.

“Besides we would not want you to get uppity with all that dosh.”

“As our young friend would say; ‘you suck’. She is going to make a mess.”

The two were conversing in the sixth-row dead center where the mourners all around them, could easily hear their words.

“It’s already started. In less than a month there will be over a thousand foreign Supers crawling around a former superpower. That whole country will be ripped apart while they search for him.”

“He’s A-Rank, right?”

“Yes, they only have one S-Rank and she is held under lock and key.”

“What she did is illegal. There will be a warrant out for her arrest once I report in.” A honey haired Heroine interjected.

“Good luck with getting that served. You saw her here. No one could come within two meters of Catherine. A little birdy told me you are no longer on her friends list after betraying her. Are you sure you want to go that far Eagle?” Darrin Weathers replied mockingly.

“She is no different than anyone else. A death bounty is still a crime.”

“Since you are not her friend, why did you even show? Was it to crash or make your name known? Get lost.” Darrin stood and pointed to the outskirts where the reporters congregated. “You belong with the vermin and reporters over there. Not the mourners and the Larkin’s friends.” He stated loud and clear, embarrassing the woman who stalked off silently, never believing or even thinking that she could ever be in the wrong.

Hearing the conversation, as he meant, a few close by applauded softly.

“Miss O’Shannan, do you have time for an early lunch?” An aged man in an army general’s uniform asked, startling the woman.

“Long time no see, General Jackson, was it? I came with Darrin, any problem with him attending?”

“None.” He knew she damn well knew his name, not that he cared if she wanted to play coy.

*Click. “I’m going to Persia. Might be a few months.”

“The twenty-five million, Larkin offered? You will be a wanted criminal if you do.” The President of HA responded.

“It’s a hundred now. And no court in the nation will prosecute me. Persia can’t extradite me. It would be a good retirement fund. I am getting old.”

“You don’t even speak Arabic, Indigo.”

“I’ll worry about that later. See ya around boss.” *Click.

Ring. “What?”

“Taking a leave of absence. Might be a few months.”

“You don’t speak Arabic either.”

“Eh, who else is going there?”

“Indigo just called.”

“Cool, we can team up fifty million is enough to buy an island and some babes to hang with. See ya around boss.” *Click.

Ring. “FUCK!...”

“KittyCat, what did you tell your sister, all I heard was EPI?”

“I gave her ten percent.”

“How much did it make last year?”

“Four billion in gross sales.”

“Net?”

“Two point five and change. She will also inherit Dad’s five percent.”

“Must be nice. She is going to be one rich kid.”

“Won’t replace mom and dad. But she can get her workshop she has been after. Do you need money? I have a job you would be perfect for.”

“I have a few dollars. Why, what job?” Clarissa asked, Cat’s question felt wrong to her.

“Lin needs someone to show her how to be a lady and a woman. Grandma is seventy-five and not very mobile. Can you arrange that with her? And someone to make her understand what money is and can do. I think Grandma still hides hers in between her mattress, or converts it into bullion.”

“Sure, I know a few people.”

“Thanks. I need to make a few calls.” *Click. “Gretchen? Sorry, I’ve been a bitch this week, we need to talk.”

...

“ ... I.DON’T. CARE. I classify him as a terrorist. Just because he is bought and paid for by his government doesn’t mean he is not a terrorist. Do lawyer-y stuff and make them go away ... Fine. Next time someone kills my Dad and tortures my Mother to get me to willingly sacrifice myself, I will call you before I announce another bounty on the asshole ... Sorry for yelling ... Thanks Mr. Peabody.”

“Problems?” I asked between sips of my coffee. Cat’s argument with Jacob brought me out of my Den.

“He is not happy with the bounty. Apparently only governments are allowed to do that now.”

“What did he suggest?”

“I have to publicly recant, and then have an anonymous group offer it from either Switzerland or Israel. Apparently those two are the best at hiding money.”

“And?”

“I don’t want to go back on my word.”

“Do you believe that anyone won’t believe that it’s still you?”

“You aren’t helping.”

Taking another sip of my coffee. “And?”

“Sometimes you can be infuriating. Go play in the street, I need to make a few calls. International Bank of Zurich for one.”

“Your phone is off restriction. It seems there is a line of people that want to talk to you. Just don’t let it interfere with your studies.”

“Yeah. I need to talk to Lin too. The financial advisor is coming here today. Clarissa promised to sit in on the meeting with us. Dad had a million-dollar life insurance policy and their will is only a year old. The shares I gave Lin are nontransferable, she can only collect dividends until she is twenty-five or sell them back to me for twenty million per share. Dad’s five she can see what the open market will give her and I have the option to match, just like the rest. I don’t think she can sell that unless grandma approves as her trustee. Don’t know, don’t care. It’s her money.”

“How are you holding up?”

“Tomorrow, the first Core is being shipped out. It’s their responsibility after it leaves our property.”

“Catherine?” I pushed.

“Stressed. I hate money. Colleen was pissed at me for the website. She was fined fifty thousand dollars. I paid it, but she is still not happy.”

Breathing and thinking, Cat slowed down and asked me, “How does Moria do this?”

“Pyramid. She sits at the top and only deals with the worst of the crisis. The rest she trusts her subordinates to handle. If they make too many mistakes, she finds out why and let those above handle it. She had problems in the beginning too.”

“I bet. Persia was condemned in the UN by a ten percent margin. Not that that means anything. Besides saying that they were bad and don’t do it again or we will tell you that you were bad again. Useless bunch of money grubbing, time wasters.”

She sighed, “Lin is distancing herself from me. She blames me and I don’t fault her.”

“She’s young.”

“I tell myself that.” Looking down at her phone. “I need to make some calls before everyone shows up. Stay in your den please. This is hard enough without you looming.”

“Okay.”

*Click. “Hi, this is Catherine Larkin, who do I need to speak to, in order to create an anonymous two hundred-million-dollar foundation?” She inquired in perfect Germanic with a slight Austrian accent which I overheard before closing my door.

“Bad news bro. you might as well go home.”

“Someone catch the bastard?”

“Nope, Larkin retracted the bounty. Asked forgiveness, saying it was spur of the moment.”

“Uh-huh. Not buying it. I saw that too. I also saw that there was a new bounty posted by some Swiss bank for 105 mil from some foundation.”

“Worth a try. The J&S memorial foundation. Want to guess what Larkin’s parents’ names were?”

“Try that on the others, maybe we can move ten feet without bumping to the Red guard or other Supers.”

“Did you hear Ulgath and Chaos went at it in that little town back there?”

“What happened?”

The younger of the Heroes started laughing, “Imagine a bar fight with a dozen Supers, mostly villains and none can speak the other’s language.”

“This whole country is going to turn into a warzone if that keeps up.”

“Isn’t that her plan?”

“Who knows. I do know that Sirocco would be an idiot to be in this shit hole of a desert.”

“He’s here. He landed in Con two days ago.”

“Qom.” The other corrected the hopeless pronunciation of his junior. “It’s seventy-five miles east of here.”

“What are we waiting for...”

“It’s begun, Lady.”

“Oh?” she asked while snatching a cookie out of his jar.

“WHO estimates that the first week’s damage is over twenty million in six cities.”

“She is good.”

“It’s confirmed that Sirocco landed in Qom.”

“He has his house there, not that they would let him live in the capitol.” Lady Strife noted derisively. “Has Vegas posted odds yet?”

“No.”

“Hold on. Let’s add some spice.” *Click, “I would like to make a wager not on the board ... One hundred million on the damage to Persia’s infrastructure in the next ninety days exceeding one billion dollars by the bounty hunters ... I’ll wait ... plus 250? I’ll take it. Here is my account number, XXX-XXXX-XXXX ... Yup that’s me ... Back to the grindstone.” Click.

“Did you just wager on the destruction of multiple cities?” Darrin asked with a scowl.

Stealing another cookie and savoring the bite. She paused before responding, “Yes. Yes, I did.”

“You have crumbs right there. And I thought you stopped doing that.”

“Too good of an opportunity to pass up. The real number will be fifteen billion in six months.”

“There is no way that those Super powered morons will be allowed to make that much damage. Their government will give him up first or bring out the army.”

“Wait and see, wait and see...”

“Hi Anna.” The two hugged after Cat greeted her friend in fluent Norge. “It’s all ready. I have it loaded on FloatyBot waiting for your trailer. You have protection and your route ready?”

“Yes. They should be here in an hour.”

“Come in, I have some coffee brewing...”

The transferal of the first Core went smoothly. No one suspected that today was the day for the first one to move. The rest would need increased security but that was a worry for another day.

A few pictures to commemorate the occasion and the newly appointed junior Energy director left with her new project. Once her customer pulled away, Cat headed straight to bed and slept the rest of the afternoon. Even ordering dinner in bed, she stayed planted.

I obliged her. She had earned the right for a full day of rest.

“I was pleasantly surprised that you did not insist on going with them to install it.”

“Yeah, I considered it, but then I would have to do that with the rest of them. If they can’t follow simple instructions then fuck ‘em,” she replied stretched out on our bed.

“Was this your goal?” I showed her the latest numbers from the WHO site.

“It might have crossed my mind. But I do want him dead.”

“It’s normal to want vengeance for killing one’s parents. But please remember who you are.”

“Yeah. Moria says make sure I keep my humanity. Same thing. They are making a mess over there, aren’t they?” She smiled, tiredly.

“Some are. You attracted a lot of Villains and Vigilantes.”

“More Heroes went than I expected.”

“They will be removed from the list,” I pointed out.

“Good, it needs cleaning. I convinced Lissa to change the date of Christmas vacation. I am not even sure if I should go. I’m worried about Lin.”

“Then ask her to come.”

“I did. She didn’t reply.”

“Ask again.”

“I don’t even know where we are going. Clarissa won that stupid bet and she won’t tell me.”

“Catherine...”

“I know. Oh, we received an official invitation for the lighting ceremony.”

“Date?”

“Tuesday the 19^th of December.”

“That’s fine. Are we taking Boris and Clarissa?”

“Going to ask Lin. Maybe Grandma too, but she will say no.”

“Your call.”

...

Lindsay ended up not coming to Norge with us since she had a few days left of school before the Christmas break. Clarissa didn’t join in either. She had made prior commitments to her rape counseling group. To my surprise, Colleen did join us on the trip to Oslo. The pair sat in the back quietly talking during the whole four-hour trip.

Cat donned her infrequently used bomber jacket, a gift from the Air Force the previous year after she received her pilot’s license. She snuggled in its warmth against the crisp late fall day.

“You could pretend to be cold.”

“I lived here for a few years. You get used to it.”

“Was that before or after the last ice age?” Prancing ahead, she took her friend by the hand and entered the line for customs leaving Boris and I behind. Despite her joviality, Cat was still very brittle after her parent’s death.

...

We were given the royal treatment and a full tour of the facilities the day before launch, including the normally restricted area where her Device and Core came together for the fusion production.

“Hanri Studenstoff was the plant manager and proud of his ‘baby’. Catherine’s attendance was icing on the cake. Not even the planned arrival of King Harold would have made the man happier.

Catherine didn’t hold back and asked quite a few questions regarding why such and such was in each location and their expected performances. The two-hour tour ended up taking five. Not that anyone in the power plant complained. They were all too happy to accommodate their young benefactress. Colleen followed along with a translator in tow for her, both Cat and I spoke Norge and Boris didn’t care.

Most of the plant managers and engineers spoke English, but sometimes it was nice to have a safety net. Cat had prepared one just in case the taller, not so narcissistic blonde as she was when I first met her, had questions of her own. Ever since working for Cat, Colleen had grown in surprising ways and showed excellent promise as a group manager.

Anna Brokke had a twenty-foot lightbulb made up for the occasion. With the rest of the dignitaries, including the King, Queen, and Prime Minister, standing on the platform, Cat looked like their young child, instead of the guest of honor. Even the Queen towered over her by nine inches.

The countdown began, at 00:00 all the lights dimmed in the surroundings as the lasers along with her Core, powered up. The light bulb suddenly lit brightly with an amber hue for ten seconds before the fuse blew.

Someone must have thrown the switch for all the exterior lights returned to normal. Either everything was working as planned or they returned to the old mains.

The crowd impatiently waited for confirmation, one way or the other. The nervous plant manager stood at the side speaking into his phone ... The smile on his face told the story to the cameras, as the reporters all focused on who was soon to be the happiest man in Norge.

“We have sustained FUSION!” The large blond man nearly wept with excitement. The tears in Cat’s eyes were all too real and the slumped shoulders revealed how much tension she had been holding in.

There was genuine revelry on the stage and in the audience. History had been made, and they were a part of it.

I placed a call, “All good on this end.”

“You are such a buzzkill. I’m watching it live. She did good.”

“Very good.”

“Try and keep this one alive, will ya?”

“I will.” *Click.

Switching languages to ancient Greco, I placed another call. “I have a commission to be delivered to you.”

“Hephaestus?”

“Ares.”

“Your Priestess is amazing. What do you have for me?”

“A sculpture.”

“I will send some men.”

“Come the 23^rd.”

“It’s us three now and none of us trusts the other enough to visit. What a world we made.”

Four. One was hiding in the south Pacific. “We were young and foolish.”

Snort. “We still are foolish. See you around, Brother.”

“Brother.” *Click.

“ANDREW MASON JACKSON! How dare you light a cigar in my house.”

Unconcerned, temporarily, General Jackson puffed away while watching the live demonstration from his den. Respecting his wife’s sensibilities, he did close the door and opened a window beforehand. Not that it mattered in the slightest to Margery Jackson.

“I think she will be okay now.”

“That settles it. She’s Untouchable.”

“Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?”

“Do you think she has given up her desire for vengeance against those that attacked her?”

“Don’t care. Anyone dumb enough to attack her deserves what they get.”

“Get out of my office.” Disgusted at the fanboy masquerading as a Hero, Drake returned to his brooding.

“You are saying that we have to wait another year before we can get one of our own?”

“Yes, Dale. The House stalled the bill with a couple senseless provisions.”

“Has the ground even been dug yet?”

“Not ‘til after the New Year’s break. Then they have to follow union rules and guidelines; Twenty men to do ten’s work and breaks every hour for fifteen minutes. The usual.” The Energy Secretary exaggerated.

“See what can be done to speed it up. I don’t mind adding to the fund.”

“Depends on how receptive they are. I can try.”

We spent the following day outside of Oslo while Cat checked the readings and went over the particulars with a will. Colleen, was offered a guided tour of the thousand-year-old city, accepting the offer of a particularly tall translator that she had gotten along with the previous day. As a state guest, neither Cat nor I had any concerns about her safety. With that gleam in Coleen’s eyes and a lack of band on translator’s ring finger, his wellbeing might have not been as assured.

A surprise to Catherine was that she was presented a residence on the northwestern outskirts of their great city by the King and Queen themselves. They understood that she would not be using it often, but wanted her to know she was welcome in their country at any time. The Norge Monarchs provided and paid for the staff until the day she wanted to replace them with some of her own. Harold guaranteed her privacy and safety while in residence, promising that their best people would keep an eye on it.

This was all accomplished over a late, very private dinner, on the third floor of an older, slightly rundown restaurant that had to have held some cultural significance to our hosts. Not that food was not some of the best we had ever eaten. It was. Cat was overwhelmed and said little, not knowing how to respond to their genuine affection and regard.

We delayed our return an extra day to tour Catherine’s new five thousand square foot residence, settled on four acres elevated above most of the city.

“I think they are bribing me to spend more time here.”

“Is it a good bribe?”

“Yeah. I bet the view is awesome at night. If only it wasn’t so freaking cold.”

“Someone gave you this house?” Colleen asked incredulously. She had returned to the hotel very late, according to Cat, tired but happy.

“Yeah, the King did.”

“You don’t even know how to ski.” Her friend complained.

“You can use it anytime,” which brought her closest friend to a dead stop.

“It comes with a butler and a maid?”

“And security. Although you have to ask them if they come...” Cough, “with the place.”

Avoiding the incoming smack, the two chased each other around an eight-foot upholstered sofa for a minute, laughing about ‘Thor’ from last night.

It was good to see Catherine so unrestrained. She had been putting too much pressure on herself of late.

Arne and Kari; a married couple that I wagered spent considerable time in the Norge special forces, watched amused from the other side entrance to the room. We enjoyed a solid lunch before returning home. Customs in LaGuardia was rude, using their positions for photographing Catherine and her Bot to the extreme but let us pass otherwise unmolested.