DLM, Bk 6, Chapter 5

“My long-term plans, you ask?” Sophia looked at me with a raised eyebrow, a slight suspicion obvious in her eyes.

“Yes, where do you see yourself in five years? In ten years, those kinds of plans.” reiterated my question, before adding, “You recently managed to gain your education-degree, which had been one of your goals. Now, what is next on the agenda for you, Miss Collins? Should I try to look for a catholic school-girl outfit, so you can play teacher to my uneducated self?” my smile might have wandered into wicked-territory at the suggestion, to which she only laughed.

“The one with a super-computer in her brain calls herself uneducated, sure, pull the other one.” she shook her head, before her eyes turned serious once more. “But to answer your question, I don’t know. I don’t know where I’ll be in five years, or in ten, but I know that I want to be next to you. The time we’ve been apart has been hard, being left behind wasn’t pleasant but I learned quite a bit about myself. One of the things I learned was that I like being with you, that I enjoy having you next to me, to rely on you and have you rely on me.”

I felt myself blush at her words and when her arms wrapped around my hip, her head leaning against my chest in a gentle embrace, I could not help but feel warm inside. At the same time, I knew it was not quite the answer I was looking for. Sophia was her own person and I did not think that trying to define herself simply as a backdrop for my desires and pursuits would be healthy long-term.

“Granted, we will be together. That much is certain.” I assured her, the time apart had been unpleasant, even just the last three weeks, with her visiting her adopted parents had been lonely and I had found myself watching her through nearby surveillance-cameras on more than one occasion.

“But the science I want to do, most of that I can do anywhere and some of it, I can even do remotely, robots doing the set-up and clean-up. I do not need to be physically present for that.” I explained and got a quiet nod in response.

“Children.” was her single word answer, causing me to freeze for a moment. There were problems with that wish, some difficult, others merely questions that I needed to answer for myself. One of the questions I needed to answer was, did I feel ready to raise a human, to impart the experiences that had forged me and my general outlook on life to a child?

And that was ignoring the question of safety. In hindsight, I could see why Technica, Andrea, had removed herself from my childhood, simply due to the gruesome and dangerous nature of her role. I had enemies, a lot of them, and I had no doubt that the Greene’s would gleefully try to murder any offspring associated with me.

“They would have to be yours.” I reminded her, my gut clenching with the memory of pain, the pain of being struck with bone-shattering and organ-pulping force, to be left on the floor to bleed out and die. I had survived, but the damage lingered.

At that moment, Galatea shifted a vague idea into my mind, wondering if the two of us, Galatea and I, would be able to create a pseudo-sperm, using my own genetic material. We had done some genetic manipulation, slowly turning our physical body into something stronger and better, not quite superhuman but very much pushing the envelope of what a human body could do, and that was before we had incorporated nanites into the whole thing. Neither of us had any idea if it was even possible, but I could feel her spin up processing-threads that explored the idea. It would also get around a question I did not even want to consider, namely that of the father.

“I wasn’t talking about having children.” she chided me, sounding very much amused and causing my thoughts to grind to a sudden halt.

“The Guild is gone and with it, the overall structure of academies. The schools are still there, but they have been folded into the respective national school-systems, churning out nice, indoctrinated cogs for their national machines. The international outlook, the attempt to see humanity as a single entity is gone, replaced by different cultures imparting their ideals onto their youth.” she sighed sadly, before continuing.

“There were always problems, the Guild was obviously far from omnipotent, but at least they tried. The ideas and ideals managed to penetrate into the minds of the general populace, though they had to fold before those holding power and influence, as it so often is the case.” Just the tone of her words made it obvious that she was talking about the Greene’s, but also about my own father. I was not quite sure if he truly had wielded his influence at the school but the sheer threat of him putting a hand in had likely been part of what had isolated me. In hindsight, and thanks to talking with Sophia, I was cognisant that my own behaviour had contributed, that the tight, emotional control I had been trained to maintain had made me seem standoffish and stuck-up. At times, I wondered just how much of my problems had been of my own making, but there was no going back and trying to analyse biological memories was an exercise in futility, their interpretation constantly changed by my own bias and outlook. Pushing the memories and contemplations away, I focused on Sophia.

“True, what do you have in mind?” I asked, having a vague idea but wanting to hear it from her lips.

“I want to make sure nobody has to go through what I, what we, had to go through. To have Powers but be forced to muddle through on our own, to face the threat of persecution, simply because we didn’t want to be put on a register.” she explained and I had to grin at her words. In some ways, I agreed, the situation had not been to my liking, either, but it had been one of my own design. It had been a conscious choice not to trust the authorities, at least on my part, due to my father’s influence.

“That is going to be difficult, you know? We would have to keep things hidden from the powers-that-be, contact people on the sly and spirit them away in the dead of night. And that is assuming we even find them.” I reminded her, my grin widening just a little.

“Never said it’d be easy, but if it were, it wouldn’t be worth it, would it?” she asked, looking up and seeing my smile.

“Where’s the difference between your plans and what the Colours are doing? They, too, are recruiting the young into their Golden Eagles, the Americans are recruiting for the Future Superheroes of America and the Heroes’ Association has their youth-recruits, like Clark was one. What makes your plan so different?” I had to ask, simply to make sure she had considered the question. Not that I would refrain from helping her, if she had no answer, but I wanted to know if she had one.

“Isn’t it obvious?” she asked, an eyebrow raised, “They all want to make Heroes, train people to fight on their behalf and for their ideals. I really don’t care, I don’t even want to teach my pupils to fight, I just want to teach them to live. To give them the means to make a living without relying on their Power. Hell, why would an Atlas have to use their strength, why would a Psychic be forced to delve into other people’s minds? Give them the means to control their abilities, so they don’t cause accidents and from there, simply teach them as you would anyone. Just while giving them the option to explore their Powers further.” she explained, essentially reiterating the old philosophy of the Guild-Academies to me.

To use your Powers because you could, not because it was the only thing you could do.

Nodding, I kissed her forehead, the goal resonating with something deep inside me. It sounded worthwhile and I was quite sure it was something Technica had believed in. Maybe helping to set up such a school would be a worthwhile undertaking, a good way to honour her memory.

“There will be massive resistance, you know? The Colours won’t just let us set shop, nobody really will want us to.” I reminded her, getting a nod in return.

“We’ll have to establish ourselves as a power to be reckoned with.” she declared, her voice almost sad.

“I talked to Isleen and she’d help us with the initial set-up. But that can only work, once the Colours and their agenda is broken, or they’ll attack us, wherever we set up shop.” Again, I nodded, feeling that we had come full circle. If we wanted to set up the school she wanted, we needed to get rid of our current enemies and do so in a way that did not make any additional enemies. Optimally, we would get rid of them, without making the whole world fear me, and Sophia, by association.

Maybe we would have to, again, change identity once everything was over. A part of me was curious what name Sophia would chose.