LNH: Teenfactor # 74: Sins of the Father
TIFFER003
comics today, tied only with "Deadly Genesis." Also, this takes place after
Boy Redundant Lad # 12, which is not out yet.
The door was wooden, old and creaky, and definently not up to the standards
that anyone would have for an apartment building. But down town, here in this
city, where the flamboyant heroes were less flamboyant and they were not to be
seen amongst the muck, no one really cared about what anything looked like, as
it mirrored the shape for the entire neighborhood. Carolyn stood at the door,
and stared it down intently. So, all the answers . . . they're all behind this
door.
With a deep breath, she rapped on the door thrice, her heart skipping a beat.
After she had finally located her sister, Delilah, she had decided to wait
until she contacted the woman she supposed would be her birth mother; in truth,
it hadn't been more than five days. Either way, she needed to talk to her
mother; she needed to discover who she was, and whom her parents were. Perhaps
the uncertainty of not knowing who she really was that had presented a new and
different mystery.
She was a scientist, of sorts, taking after her "mother." She liked
challenges and there were so few of them to be presented these days. When one
is a super- genius, it happens. She knocked again. Still, there was no
answer.
What if Dr. Stomper had given her the wrong address? He had seemed less than
civil when he wrote that the LNH would appreciate if this were kept low, that
the media had no awareness of it. Delilah had said her mother was a "fallen
heroine." Perhaps she was one who transformed into some sort of villain, or
betrayed the LNH. Maybe she was some hateful, evil, deceitful person.
Could that be true?
Maybe the LNH had warned her not to be home, to move away, and not let Carolyn
meet her mother. Maybe it was all just some plot to keep her from discovering
the truth. Carolyn doubted that.
She knocked again. Why was there no answer? Why?
She felt a tinge on her shoulder, cold and cautious: three fingers, delicate
as silk, which was followed by a hand that tapped her shoulder. Carolyn
turned, surprised. "I . . ."
"Carolyn?" The voice was weak and fragile. The figure wore a poncho that
covered her features. She was somewhat heavy- set, more realistic looking.
"Y-Yes," Carolyn said. "Are you--?"
"Yes," the woman nodded. "Come on inside." Her hand reached out, producing a
key, and turning the lock. The skin on her hand was an odd combination of
dark, shadowy black, murky brown, and an eerie albino white.
Carolyn followed her inside.
TRJ Productions Presents . . .
The Identity of Carolyn's
Mother and Father . . .
Teenfactor
No. 74
"Sins of the Father"
THE LIGHTS IN THE APARTMENT lit up as the woman's hand passed a switch. She
discarded the poncho. Underneath she wore a blue sweatshirt and blue pants.
Her hair, and the skin on her face, was of the same odd trio that made up her
hands. Carolyn gaped a bit, but tried to keep her mouth shut as not to offend.
"Would you like something to eat?" the woman asked.
Carolyn shrugged her shoulders and nodded a bit.
"I'll start up some Macaroni and Cheese," the woman said. "Take a seat?"
Whoever she was, or whatever she was, she was nice, that was for sure.
Uneasily, Carolyn sat down on the green couch in the center of the room. The
woman's voice carried across from the kitchen, but it was a whisper.
"I suppose you want to know who I am."
"Yes," Carolyn said. "And . . . who my father is."
The woman coughed. "My name is Marie Smith, and I'm your mother."
Carolyn was silent. What questions to ask? "Your, your skin . . . it's a
different color than mine."
"I . . ."
"I didn't mean to pry or for it to come out that way, but . . ."
"Well, there's an answer for that," Marie said. "I'm Ms. Calico," she
announced.
"I, I really haven't heard of you, I'm sorry," Carolyn announced feasibly.
"Well, it's a long story . . ." Marie said, throwing back her eyes. She came
into the room, and sat down. "Do you believe in elves?"
Carolyn's eyes widened. This was something different. She concentrated,
thinking, and closed her eyes; she did her best thinking when her eyes were
closed. "I . . . well, I suppose so. There's a lot of things I've seen, so
the possibility of real elves doesn't seem that far- fetched."
"You're very opened- minded," Marie said.
"Er, thank you, I think."
"Well, there are elves," Marie explained.
"Let me guess," Carolyn said, "you're one of them?"
"No, no, I'm half- elf," Marie said. "Half- elf and half- cat, if you can
believe it."
"I . . ." Carolyn nodded. "So that would make me a quarter each?"
"Well, yeah."
Carolyn stopped for a moment. She had wondered about her origins, where she
came from, and now that she knew . . . at least part of that.
"Well, my mother was an elf," Marie started. "Very smart, had shape- shifting
and such under her belt, and she transformed herself into a cat. Another cat
found her, and they . . . well, life began anew."
Carolyn coughed a bit. "This is a little bit hard to swallow."
"I thought you said you believed me?"
"I do, I do!" Carolyn said quickly. "I sincerely do. It's just sort of . . .
well, difficult to digest."
"Digest?" Marie said, looking back towards the kitchen. "Oh, I better check
on the Macaroni. Be right back."
¼ elf, ¼ cat, and half something else. Human, maybe? I can't believe that
I'm part cat. Part CAT, for God's sake? Carolyn shook her head. Marie soon
entered the room again, with two potholders and a large bowl of Macaroni and
Cheese. She passed a small plate and fork to Carolyn.
"I don't suppose you've ever felt feline at all, eh?" joked Marie.
"Well . . ." Carolyn's eyes rolled back. No, she thought, that's between me
and Terrence. She changed the subject. "So what about the rest of me? The
other fifty- percent of my genes?"
"I . . ." Marie was hesitant.
"Human?" she asked.
"I guess so," Marie said as she shivered slightly.
"What do you mean, you guess so?" Carolyn asked as she swallowed a fork- full
of Macaroni. She reached for a napkin and wiped her mouth.
"I . . ."
"Marie?" asked Carolyn.
"I . . . I really don't want to talk about your father." She turned away.
"Are you, are you crying?" Carolyn asked.
Marie was silent. Carolyn stepped back. Marie wiped her eyes and looked up.
Her eyes were red as she met Carolyn's glance. "I guess you want to know,
don't you?"
"Yes, if its not too much trouble?"
"It's not, it's not. Your father . . ." She paused for a moment, searching
for the right words. "When I met him, he was all ready engaged, to Caron
Forge. She's raised you, we both know that. Smart woman. A little bit on the
strange side, I thought." She stopped to see if this offended Carolyn.
"I . . . I know what you mean, sort of," Carolyn said.
"He had a short temper, but so very much a gentleman. He was uncertain about
the ceremony. Around then, we would meet once a week, secretly, while Caron
was at work at the post office. We grew closer, and he never let loose his
temper on me."
Carolyn frowned a bit.
"He was supposed to get married on the very day he arranged for me to meet
him. Caron was there too. He locked the door, and called off the wedding."
"Then what happened?"
"The two of us . . ." Marie tensed up a bit, looking away. "Me and Caron . .
. he forced us to . . . with him . . ." She paused for the longest time. "I .
. . I felt so ashamed, so used . . . and . . . both of us . . . me and Caron .
. . we were both pregnant afterwards."
Carolyn was shocked, to say the least. "But . . . that's so . . . so vile . .
."
"I had joined the LNH . . . the . . . the year before. I was a founding
member. Caron and me gave birth on the same night, Caron, to Delilah, and I to
you. Your father switched the babies, for reasons all his own. He blackmailed
me . . . into giving him Delilah, who I thought was mine. Blackmailed me to
pay him money, and to do things for him . . ."
"What did he have on you?" Carolyn asked.
"Your father . . . he was . . ." Marie paused. "Your father's identity. It
would be harming to the LNH if one of them had given birth to -his- baby. I
was eventually booted out and they took special care to make sure I was
eventually forgotten by everyone."
"I . . ." Carolyn didn't know, for once in her life, what to think. "What
kind of man was he?"
"I don't know," Marie began, "if he was really a man at all."
Some time passed. Marie collected the dishes and went to the kitchen, and
somberly did them up. Carolyn sat down and thought for some time, examining
the information she had been given. And next to her . . . she glanced over at
the coffee table and picked something up from it.
1991 March 16
I was bad today. I didn't mean to be, but I keep forgetting Father's rules. I
forgot that I was not to speak unless spoken to.
I was punished again.
I also forgot the food rule. I didn't remember Father making it up before, but
he did, he insists that he did. And Father is always right. He's always
right.
I'll write the rule down so I don't forget it. Then I won't be punished.
After my morning punishment, the one for being alive? Only then can I eat.
I'm only allowed a piece of toast, and it has to be burnt. I hadn't known, or
maybe I have forgotten, that I can't eat until after the morning punishment.
1991 December 24
I had asked Santa to make me a good girl. Then I wouldn't be bad. When I'm
bad, I'm punished. But my special gift isn't going to come thru, Father says.
Father says that I don't deserve it.
1991 December 25
Father helped me unwrap my present. It was a long chain that one uses to tie
up dogs. Father said that since I was such a bad girl, Santa couldn't even
give me a lump of coal. I got another punishment.
The phone rang, disturbing the tranquility of the rain overhead. Sandy
grumbled a bit as she sorrowfully reached for the phone and picked it up off
the hook. "Hello. You've r-reached Sandy's residence."
"Sandy?"
"Shaggy . . ." Sandy gulped a bit and was silent. She wanted to talk to him,
to tell him how she felt. How she really felt. She wanted him to know that if
what Mylar said was true, then she forgave him. She wanted to say all that.
"Hello? Are you there?"
"I-I'm here, Shaggy."
"I . . . Sandy, I don't know what the hell that was all about yesterday."
She was silent.
"I never said any of those things. I never will. But I do want to know . . .
about what happened with the Insanity Gauntlet." (See Teenfactor # 43-44.)
"I . . . give me a minute." Sandy took a deep breath as she pushed a small
button besides the phone. "Are you still there?"
"Yes."
"Okay. I've turned on a psionic- protection field thingy that I picked up
from . . . one of Carolyn's friends."
"Why do you need one?"
"Because . . . Well, I can't talk about that right now. I want you to stop by
the Sig.ago Hospital, and find a Dr. Variel. She knows me and she knows
Carolyn. Tell her that I sent you and pick up one of the scrambling things."
"Oh . . . Okay."
"Then meet me here, will you?"
"Sure. Bye Sandy. I . . . I love you."
"I . . . bye, Shaggy."
Carolyn didn't notice as Marie returned to the room. "Carolyn?"
"Oh, hi, Marie." She quickly put down the sheets of paper she was reading
from.
"I see you've found Delilah's diary."
"Delilah's diary?" Carolyn asked. "I thought it would have been yours or
something."
"No," Marie said. "I'm afraid not."
"So Delilah's father . . . my father . . . did all those things to her?"
Carolyn said. "That's . . . that's so sad . . . and so, so disgusting."
Marie sat down and turned her head away. She was sweating and very nervous,
Carolyn observed.
"How did it come into your possession?"
"When . . . when Delilah was about ten . . . in 1992, your father left the
house where they lived . . . it was a few blocks just outside Net.ropolis . . .
he left to take care of some business. He said he had been training for this
his entire life . . . that it was a challenge worthy of his mettle."
"What was it? Who was he?"
Marie was silent. She coughed a bit before changing the subject slightly;
"Delilah ran away the first chance she got. He had disappeared before, and
usually it was a trap . . . another excuse to . . . punish her. She ran all
the way here, gave me all of her real possessions . . . so she wouldn't leave a
trail for him to follow. She ran and she sort of drifted from place to place
for the last six years, until you eventually found her."
"But who is my father?" Carolyn insisted, not for the first time.
"Delilah . . . was so very angry. That . . . that scared me. I've heard
about abuse being a dangerous cycle . . . that when a child is abused, they'd
pass it on to their children."
"I know that," said Carolyn. "Not from experience, but from reading enough to
know. But who is my father?"
"When he was defeated, he told me about how he had switched you two at birth .
. . and I went to Caron and told her. You were there . . . but you soon left .
. ."
Carolyn nodded slightly, rolling back her eyes to the memory that the Time
Crapper had revealed to her shortly before his death. (The Revelation in issue
71, the death in 72.)
But the questioned still remained, and was worth repeating. "Who is my
father? I have a right to know."
"Caron was angry about it. She told you to leave, and she told me that for
all intents and purposes that you were her daughter. Until later . . . after
you became pregnant and I heard . . . I heard that she disowned you."
(Teenfactor # 30.)
"That wasn't my question. Who is my father? Answer me, please!" Carolyn was
getting impatient.
"I . . . I'm so sorry, Carolyn."
"About what?" Carolyn said.
"It's . . . it's a trap," she said, her throat raw.
"Set by who?" Carolyn asked, confused.
"By me," a new, matter- of- fact voice called. A lanky man in a black suit,
complete with coattails, and a top hat, along with a large, iron- made cane,
stepped out from the shadows where he had been hiding this whole time.
"My father?" Carolyn asked.
"Y-yes," Marie said, crying.
"Who are you?" Carolyn asked, getting out of her seat and reaching with her
left hand into her left pocket.
"Doctor Killfile."
NEXT: "Killfile Kuest, pt. 1"
The Teenfactor/ Easily-
Discovered Man crossover
Begins as good old Dr.
Killfile attacks Teenfactor!
Of course, with Terrence
Out of town, MPLass and
Anime Freak out on a date
And Shaggy visiting Sandy,
It looks to be a one- sided one!
Guest- starring EDM and Lite,
As well as the VIXEN REVENGE
SQUAD!
NOTES:
About Dr. Killfile: I know some people are going to be unhappy about me using
the good doctor. From what I can gather, he's somewhere in-between not
reserved and Taboo. Still, I can find no law against using him for a three-
part story. As for how I characterized him, considering I had only The Cosmic
Plot Device Caper to assist me, I had a two- fold characterization in mind. A
refined, gentleman- like person, ala the Shade (of course, I've only seen him
in THE LIFE STORY OF THE FLASH). Then, I added the creator of Dick Tracy's
opinion on the vilest person ever (the creator's name escapes me now), and
voila! Instant interpretation of Dr. Killfile.
And on the more serious side, I only did a small bit about Child abuse in this
particular issue, more probably because I had let the whole Carolyn- Marie
conversation run a little bit too long in an issue that was supposed to be
mostly Diary entries. Just the same, I would like to take this moment to point
people to the NCPCA (National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse) headquarters at
P.O. Box 2866, Chicago, IL 60690. Or phone at (800) 556-2722.
1998 Tom Russell Jnr. Dr. Killfile is not reserved or taboo or somewhere
in-between both, everybody else are mine.
TRJ
"--Because I am PHOENIX! And I want you-- to get out of my house!!"
-- Phoenix in The All- New, All- Different X-Men # 105,
by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum