The Deconstruction of Billy Kaplan and the Universe – Part II
Thirteen Months Later –
Ben and Robbie practically leapt at Billy as he entered the sterile, uninviting hospital waiting room. “You took forever!” Robbie made a little voice like he was attempting a whisper when it just came out louder than his normal voice. Billy patted him on his head and lifted up Ben with one hand, all the while searching the room for his father.
Jeff Kaplan met his eyes.
One look was all he needed. Dammit. Billy grabbed Robbie’s hand, while he chattered on about how boring hospitals were and how mom had been lighting the last candle when she fell. Robbie had apparently decided this was in very bad taste since they were about to get their last present.
Billy put Ben down in a chair and nudged Robbie next to him. “Sit still for a bit and I promise I’ll let you guys mess with my DS.”
Robbie’s eyes lit up and Ben just frowned staring at his hands.
Billy walked over towards his father. “What happened?”
“The doctor said she had a stroke…” His father ran a hand through his hair. Billy noticed grey that he was sure wasn’t there before. “Just don’t understand it. She’s not stressed out, she doesn’t eat bad… she’s not that old, I mean…”
“Dad,” Billy put a hand on his shoulder. “Go sit. I’ll find out more.”
His father nodded shakily and went over towards the boys. Billy tried to ignore the fact that he looked so shaken. Looked so weak. Billy wanted someone to lean against in this situation. To not have to be the strong one, but being an Avenger in training this was all part of the job description.
At least that’s what he was telling himself now, when his father and his little obnoxious brothers needed him to be okay. Later… later he could break it all down.
He walked over to the nurse’s station and after a few redirects was talking to a nurse that didn’t seem to look at him and just kept frantically typing at her computer while she talked. “Mrs. Kaplan is still in surgery; her doctor will let you know more when he comes out.”
“But–”
“Look, I’m sorry Mr. Kaplan, but this is a really busy season for us and I can’t disclose any more information than that.”
Billy glared at her, his fingers twitched against his thigh. It was a busy season for a lot of people. Petty crime and robberies had gone up forty percent in the last month and he had just finished tying someone up while his mother was being rushed in an ambulance.
He sighed and went back over to where his brothers were fidgeting next to their father. Robbie seemed to be less keen at ignoring what was going on the longer their father kept in a near catatonic state.
Billy rubbed his forehead with his palm and sat between them. “She’ll be fine.” He said with a state of finality and will that he knew would be true.
Although last time he’d tried to keep something from happening, something he wanted more than anything… nothing had happened. And it had all gone to hell.
“She’ll be fine,” he repeated anyway. His father gave him a grim nod. “Now…” he pulled out his DS glancing at Robbie and Ben, “You want to play MarioKart or Castlevania?”
Later Billy was leaned against the chair, his legs up on the corner of a side table, Ben on one side, snoring softly into his jacket, and Robbie sitting on his father’s lap tapping away at Billy’s Nintendo, when the doctor finally came out.
Billy lifted himself off the chair, walking over so his father didn’t have to. The doctor looked really young. Billy tried not to let a Doogie comment slip from his tongue, but just the inane idea that it could made him almost laugh.
“William Kaplan?” The doctor’s voice was calm and not at all reassuring.
“Billy,” he corrected automatically, and shook his head after it registered. Not that it mattered what the doctor called him. “How– How is she?” It took everything he had not to look back at his dad, crumbled on the waiting room bench, his obnoxious brothers’ quiet and squirming, their hands clinging to their father’s jacket.
“I’m sorry,” the doctor said and nothing after that mattered.
***
Scarlet Witch, Still Missing.
That should be a headline in Billy Kaplan’s life. It wouldn’t have made a difference really, whether or not he could find his real mother, his real real mother would still be, well nothing like the Rebecca Kaplan she was before. His father had practically crumbled to pieces and Billy’s grandmother had moved in to take care of the brats.
He felt like an extra part from an Ikea package, just something left lying around when you were done putting your chair together, not knowing why it was even in the box.
So he’d picked up the search again. The fact that he had dropped it in the first place was more to do with the fact that it was Teddy’s idea to start with… and picking it up again had just been a painful reminder that Teddy was still halfway across the galaxy, his last call being months ago and his last visit being even longer than that.
Of course going after the non existent trail of Wanda Maximoff was hard enough when he had the entire team of the Young Avengers helping him, but for some reason the last few weeks he had felt the need to catch her on his own.
He still wasn’t sure if he wanted his mother, if he wanted to know how to use his powers to bring back his mother, or if he just wanted to question his entire existence in the first place.
Even standing in Time Square on New Year’s Eve, surrounding by thousands of people waiting for the same thing to occur, Billy felt remarkably like a lost soul.
Maybe that was how it was always supposed to be. Lost on a never-ending wave of not being able to save, or keep the people he cared about. What was the point of having these powers if he couldn’t do the really good things with them? Saving the city from Electro for the fifteenth time really didn’t have the same meaning it used to.
Billy let out a sigh and watched the breath carry four inches before it was cut off by another person. “Hi, Tommy.” He said lightly.
“I wasn’t subtle? I’m working on subtle?” Tommy wasn’t dressed at all for the weather, except for a really ugly scarf twisted around his neck, and a leather jacket that looked more cool than warm.
Billy tugged his hat down over his ears. “Kate sent you?”
“Well, no one else could get here in time.” Tommy twitched a little, glancing at the extreme crowd of people around them. “Besides, she promised me some New Years jollities if I did.”
Billy eyed Tommy out of the corner of his vision. “Did you know Teddy had your ring tone as Super-Freak?”
Tommy raised his eyebrows and tilted his head back. “Well… it’s nice to know someone knows my prowess.”
“Sure…” Billy took another breath watching it float another few inches. “I haven’t found her yet.”
Tommy frowned at him. Every time the subject came up he became defensive, whether out of some abstract love of his foster parents in Jersey or just completely irritated with the idea of being so interconnected with some of the strongest super hero and super villain teams in history. “You should stop looking.”
“Kate tell you to say that?” Billy frowned and shoved his hands in his jacket.
“No, she said I should be nice,” Tommy arched a pale eyebrow. “Was I nice?”
Billy turned to face him, ignoring the increasingly loud conversations around them. “I’m just watching the ball drop. Kate doesn’t have to be that worried.”
Tommy snorted. “Yeah, you’re by yourself on New Year’s Eve, waiting for a count down where everyone pairs off and starts making time,” he laughed a little at his own joke, “I really don’t think you’re here to cheer yourself up.”
Billy eyed him levelly. “And how would you suggest I cheer up?”
The pale speedster shrugged an indifferent shoulder. “There are plenty of blonde guys around here, I’m sure would love to get under Wiccan’s coat. Knock yourself out.”
Billy glowered at him and Tommy held his hands up. “Or not… get drunk, what do I care? Just do it in the safety of Avenger’s Tower, where you can get drunk and start a Karaoke night with Iron Man and Captain America to War, What is it Good For,” Tommy tapped his chin with one finger. “What was the line… oh right, absolutely nothing…”
Billy just closed his eyes and turned back towards the massive ball waiting to drop. Maybe it would drop on all of them. Maybe Wanda would suddenly appear out in the distance and cheer him up like she did once before.
Maybe she would explain to him why he even existed. Why Tommy existed. Why anything in this stupid universe happened and he had the power to change it, except when it mattered.
He closed his eyes again, trying to ward off the incoming headache. When he opened them Tommy was staring at the Waterford crystal ball, gleaming above the crowd.
Tommy raised his hand very slowly a smile creeping across the lines of his face that gave Billy a familiar sick feeling. Billy grabbed his arm. “Don’t.”
Tommy smiled wider, his eyes brightening and his teeth flashing. “C’mon, it’d give ‘em a thrill.”
“Do it,” Billy cautioned, “and you’ll suddenly be overcome with the urge to bake Eli cookies.”
“You’re sick,” Tommy whispered, shoving his hands in his jacket.
Billy pulled his hat down further over his ears. “Yeah… I know.” He shifted a little and closed his eyes one last time. When he opened them he turned towards Tommy. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Tommy held out one arm and they both zipped through the crowds.
***
Billy dusted some snow off his shoes as they entered the main entertainment area of the Avenger’s Tower.
Kate walked out from one of the many rooms towards them, flashing Tommy a slow smile and meeting Billy’s eyes for a moment.
Tommy winked at her and stretched his arms out broadly, not at all observant of the change in temperature or the sickeningly fast run over here. He did, however stop when he reached where Spiderman was sitting, with his legs up on the couch and a copy of Popular Science in his hands. “Why is there a toddler stuck to the wall?” Tommy leaned sideways to take in the sleeping two year old, fisting a bit of webbing.
Spiderman shot his arm out, without moving and webcovered Tommy’s mouth. “This is the only position she’ll sleep in and if you wake her I’ll web places that only your doctor has seen.”
Kate stifled a giggle as Tommy tried to pull the webbing off his mouth and put a hand on Billy’s arm. “Come on, I made you some hot chocolate.”
Billy padded after her, taking off his jacket, gloves, and hat, as he went. When they reached the kitchen (passing Cassie and Vision playing a rousing game of Dance, Dance, Revolution in one of the other rooms), Kate handed him a warm mug.
“My mom…” Kate said softly, wrapping her fingers around her own mug, “used to make my sister and I this every time it got cold.”
“Oh…” Billy didn’t feel thirsty anymore. “Kate–”
“I know you said you didn’t want to talk about it,” Kate said firmly and frowned at him, “But you should. Even if it’s not to me. If you don’t talk about this stuff it can destroy you.” She stared at the swirling brown liquid in her mug and took a sip. “Although if you wanted to talk to me, that can work too.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Billy muttered irritably and put the mug down, raking a hand through his hair.
“Billy, your mom–”
“Is fine. Or she will be… eventually,” Billy rubbed his head again. The migraine felt like it was coming back twice as strong this time. Maybe if he kept telling himself the migraine would go away, that would work just as well as telling himself that Rebecca Kaplan would be back to lecturing him about missing class once again, in no time.
Kate sighed and leaned on one hip. “Okay, well what about the fact that you’ve been sleeping in the tower for the last week and a half?” She raised an eyebrow when Billy didn’t respond. “Or the fact that Teddy hasn’t called or made any communication in three months? Or your sudden renewed interest in finding the Scarlet Wit–”
“She’s not my mom!” Billy snapped, wishing he still had the mug in his hands so he could slam it down. It appeared in his hands in a flash of blue light and he did slam it down, cracking the sides. “You lost your mom, Kate and I’m sorry, but if I lose mine… I don’t know if she’s my mom or if the Scarlet Witch is… hell, Vision could be my father technically… or Wanda would be my father and mother– I mean who knows?” He jammed his palm against his eye, causing yellow spots on black to dance in front of his vision.
“I sure as hell don’t. And if she is my mother then what does that make me? An unclaimed soul?” Billy let out a sharp breath through his nostrils. “So if you have some light to shed on that, be my guest.”
Kate was silent for a long moment before glancing at her drink, taking a sip and staring evenly at Billy. “You didn’t mention Teddy…”
Billy matched her silence for a short moment and stared at the wall. “You can’t tell me anything I don’t already know about that issue.” Because that’s all it was now… an issue. An issue of the fact why a guy like Teddy ever let Billy believe in anything, even if he wasn’t a half-skrull/half-kree supposed savior of his peoples.
“Billy…” Kate put her cup on the counter. “You’ve been through a lot, but so have a lot of people. Maybe if you talk to Cassie or Viz or even Eli, any of us would be willing to–”
“Kate just cut it out, I can handle myself–”
An alarm dinged in the Tower. It was a normal response code, anyone could take it and no one was likely to. Somewhere in another room Spiderman was swearing as a toddler shrieked and swearing vengeance on Tony Stark for installing the alarm system.
Billy tugged on his jacket and after a moment his uniform appeared on him in a flash of blue light.
“Billy… the others can handle it,” Kate half-scolded.
Billy ignored her and started walking towards the door. Kate went after him, but didn’t have a chance to catch him as Tommy zipped into the room with a quick grin of “Happy New Year,” and proceeded to show her just how happy it was.
Billy left them in the kitchen and jumped out of an open window, free falling thirty flights to land too gracefully on the ground.
His head was killing him.
