The lights were off in the leader’s office of the Lair Mansion. The moonlight filtered through the shades, providing the only light in the room. The dark helped the room’s lone occupant focus on the framed picture in his hand.
The picture was of Hatman and Sorceress. They were cuddled together on the couch, his arms wrapped around her in a loving embrace. It had been taken at a birthday party for Visionary a couple of years ago. The irony of the timing of the picture wasn’t lost on Hatman.
The Capped Crusader had received word from PhantomHawk Memorial of the death of Visionary’s child, Naari. He had passed word along to the occupants of the Mansion, and then quietly shut himself in his office.
He couldn’t bring himself to sit down, as if the simple act would be the final admission that there was nothing he could do. All of the power available to the Legion and they were unable to save an innocent little girl, a girl who never had a chance at life.
He racked his brain, mentally going through his entire inventory of caps, and realized he had nothing that could help. He felt completely helpless, as he was sure all the other Legionnaires must be feeling. All he could do was look at the picture of himself and his former girlfriend and think of the child he had never had.
The Hooded Hood had maneuvered events that had forced Hatman to a universe where he was to be married to Sorceress, who was pregnant with his child. The Hood’s plot against Hatman was actually a feint; forcing Sorceress to join him during the Transworld Challenge had been his true goal. But in the process, Hatman had been forced to have the Hooded Hood erase that universe to restore reality to its proper form. As a result, Hatman’s child was never born.
So he stood alone, holding an old photograph, thinking of the child he had never known. He wasn’t sure which was worse, never seeing your child or knowing her for only a few scant hours before she was taken. He pondered this alone, for he knew that there was nothing he could do to comfort Visionary. Though the two had worked together for years, they weren’t the closest of friends, and all of Visionary’s dearest were already with him.
He knew he needed to put the picture away and get back to work. The Legion was under attack on multiple fronts, and as their leader he didn’t have the time to stand around looking at an old photograph. But stand there he did, trying to share in Visionary’s pain just to feel like he mattered.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
“’Tis Sir John de Jabez, Chevalier of the Knights Imropbablar. May I enter?”
To be continued in a separate UToLL tie-in...
