Kristogar walked into the restaurant, an overcoat failing to conceal his massive frame. He calmly walked to a table where an old friend was sitting.
"Blessed are the dead that the rain falls on..." the friend muttered. "And damned are the living that the rain falls on...what brings you here, Velo?" He asked the question with a taste of bitterness.
Kristogar sat down and sighed. "Apologies for missing the fight, Ron. Apparently I just got in to bear witness that it's finally ending. Sorry to see that."
Ron smiled, but his usual lightheartedness was not present. "You shouldn't be. You weren't there. The shit that was going on... Being attacked back in September from an outside party turned part of this country against the other. What the hell do you think this will do?" Kristogar couldn't offer an answer. "And you...just what the hell are you still doing here? At any time you could just fly away. Leave us behind to nuke ourselves and forget about it. Why do you stick around?"
Kristogar contemplated. When he spoke, it was slow, and barely above a whisper. "I have seen worlds closer to the edge of destruction reach utopias...the battle is not yet lost. I think you can get it right before the end comes." Ron shook his head. After a moment, a new conversation began as if the old one never happened. "In your report of the world's metahumans to me, why did you leave Charles Walker off the list?"
Ron searched his memory banks. "The Tri-Vex scientist? He's a meta?"
"It would most definitely appear so, yes. One that I can't believe you missed. Where is he now?"
Ron guffawed. "Charles Walker would be more difficult to locate than Vern Keith at the moment..."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that Walker has disappeared off historical records. I don't know when it happened and I didn't think anything of it when I noticed, but he's gone. My guess would be that he really pissed off the wrong people...similar to you, I'd suppose. The MCCA destroyed, Tri-Vex destroyed, Malvan-X destroyed...I know you had a part in at least one of those, if not all three."
"I suppose somebody's looking for me?" Velo mused.
"You could say that. They actually tapped me to capture you. I plan on doing it, too, if for nothing else than to figure out just what the hell it was that you were doing in your lab in Keith's mansion. I mean, you didn't even take notes..."
Kristogar ignored the comments. "Anything else you want to ask me?"
"Yeah. Where's the limp?"
"Hm...in my visit to the...erstwhile future, someone took the time to operate on me. Another thing I'll have to ask Walker when I catch up to him. If there's anything else, speak up now. I plan on being on my way soon..."
"Oh, there's definitely another thing or two," Ron smiled, a little more animated than he was earlier in the discussions. "It might interest you to know that Doctor Klone isn't dead..."
Kristogar froze. "How do you know?"
Ron whispered to himself that he knew Velo was involved in Tri-Vex's building, partly Kristogar's own creation, being destroyed. "You know me, I tend to know things..."
Kristogar gritted his teeth. "Don't give me your usual bullshit, Ron. Do you know, as in you've actually seen the proof yourself, that Knell is alive?"
"Jesus, calm down. Yeah. I was going through the rubble of your favorite design and his body wasn't there." Kristogar thought deeply for a bit. When it became apparent that Velo wouldn't give a response, Ron smiled and began again. "Speaking of not being completely there, you wouldn't believe who popped up right in the middle of this Chicago mess..."
Kristogar immediately guessed at the truth. "The Gold Baron."
"What, you knew?"
"No," Kristogar replied softly. "I hadn't even thought of the Baron in a long time...where is he?"
"I knew you'd ask. In London last I checked. Don't know what he was up to, since I felt Chicago was more important at the time..."
"Understood. London. I'll have to get going then."
"You know, someday, you'll have to let me in on what exactly happened in the dark city..."
"Deal," Kristogar agreed. As soon as I figure it all out myself...
Kristogar walked out again, into the shattered streets and a city that has come almost to a complete halt.
