Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2016 15:43:11 GMT -6
September 2016
A large man strode up the gangway of the Harbor Princess. He wore a Black knit cap, camo jacket, old jeans, with a backpack and a battered guitar case. The man seemed to limp a bit as he moved across the deck of the Harbor Princess claiming a stretch of railing on the starboard side of the ship. Despite the bedlam of yelling children and vacationers, the man managed to create a space of calm about him, a space that people seemed instinctually to avoid breaking. He removed his cap and ran his hand through long blond hair and he leaned on the railings, locking his gaze on the bay’s horizon.
“This is your Capt, welcome to the Harbor Princess and the Bay City Tours”
Jax registered the information always aware of events going on around him, just like Robin thought him. Still he was absent from the scene playing around him. He was thinking about the events of the week. The trip to see his half-brother had been a disaster. He had expected anger or even a cold shoulder, but it never occurred to him in this day and age to hear the venom that poured out of his brother’s mouth. The newsies were always filled with pro-mutant stories and laws had been enacted to guarantee mutant safety. “Let’s get them out of the shadows” as one Congressman had put it. However, there was still some deep seated hostility and resentment in segments of the populations, feelings that the popular culture wanted to ignore. It was in this segment of society that his brother had staked his claim. It would have been so easy to force his brother to listen, but then he would have been the very thing his brother feared so deeply.
“Today is perfect weather for a tour. Look off to your left a pod of Humpback whales. You don’t realize how special this is. Humpbacks are rare beyond the Gate!”
His brother had been the first stop in his return to The States. First San Diego to see Jack, then China Town, San Francisco to round out the California leg of the trip. Then off to Cleveland, where his mother had relocated. Jax pondered that meeting and hoped his mother would be more welcoming. His sister was also in Cleveland and she had always been closer to him as a child. He hoped that his father’s views had not so infected her as to prevent them from reconnecting.
“Next on the Starboard side of the ship you can see the famous Titan’s Tower, home of San Francisco’s own Teen Titans. This is not the original tower; the original was built in The East River, New Y…”
Jax jerked his head up from his often revisited thoughts and gazed at the “T” Shaped building standing on the bay.
“It is said the tower was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece…” Falling water, Jax finished in his mind, as he gazed almost hungrily at the tower.
“Numerous heroes started and tragically a few ended their careers as Teen Titans. “
Jax glanced up and there was a screen running quick footage of prior Titans. Some of them he recognized, Wonder Girl, Beast boy, Cyborg, and there he was in his silly green and black cat suit. Clean shaven and in a half mask… Blue Robin, Lighting Lad and Laurel…. He took a deep breath seeing her again after what 4 or was it 5 years now. A stab of guilt always came to him when he thought of her or heard anything about her famous family. Again his mind wandered to the past and long missed friends, but mostly he thought of his last days in San Francisco. His decision to vanish and the decision to stop trying to be what he never was a Hero. Absently he played with a woman’s engagement ring, one that he always worn on a chain around his neck. Running his fingers over an engraved message on the band, he did not need any enhanced touch to remember every word of it.