In grief its common for humans to make decisions that are otherwise unhealthy. Locking themselves away in room, looming in dark places, its common that someone that wants to heal goes somewhere they cannot be hurt more. Some people might be lucky enough to heal and grow stronger, others might be lucky enough to find respite in the cold-warm embrace of death. Spending the rest of their lives with their lost. Others, the ones that are actually the lucky ones, live on, not to see the decrepit rotting flesh of their loved ones in Sheol. Such a place is what the griever is looking for unconsciously to sympathize with their lost. A Dark, depressing, decrepit place, Sheol. I would prefer the Hell of living.
Elliot, began his quest towards his goals. Elliot was now a broken man, without any support system. Elliot's family was dead. His best friend in the form of his sister was ashes. The people that kept him alive didn't do it to help him, they wanted something from it. To add insult to injury, while he was in a coma, they used his chest and body like a cutting board for their organic carrots for all he knew. Elliot was a generous man; he was not the one to act when slighted. He was easily seen as the easiest and nicest quarterback in the league, he had helped pick up most of the guys that sacked him. Elliot was successful at American football because his mind was lethal, his plans and plays were cutthroat. what they lacked to understand about Elliot was that he did not want to ruthlessly win. Little did they understand that Elliot gave grace out of the kindness he was taught to have.
Elliot's superpower was not giving up. Growing up with a precognitive sister meant that was hard. For all Elliot knew she was the genius and he was not. Elliot learned that the more elaborate a plan he created when they played the more likely he'd win. Playing chess with someone that knows all your chess moves seems impossible. Playing cards with someone that knew your card was harder. Although by the time they were 16 Elliot stopped losing at chess with Talia, and by 18 he would win more than half of the family poker games. Talia was not getting weaker; her abilities were like a muscle. Elliot's' borderline masochistic tendencies of not giving up were the perfect whetstone. Talia by the time of her death she could accurately predict the outcomes of the day, instances throughout the week, and situations a year or more out. Talia was a skeptic though and even with Annies grasp of time and space. She in that way was more circian than she knew, going with the flow. Not making extensive use of her abilities more ok with just doing thing without them.
Before Elliot arrived at The Ice Cube Facility he was flanked by four armored Ice-splitter destroyer subs. A dozen Exo-mech troopers, a Legion Snow-Walker, and a singular man in an admirals coat draped over a hawaiian shirt. Elliot had heard them coming, so he had exited onto the ice-sheets a dozen miles out from them.
"Good to see you!" Elliot enthusiastically waved to the band before him. " I can't believe you were all so worried about me that you came out on a rescue mission like this to find me!" Elliot watched them. As he walked closer, he noticed them all form around them. Elliot was unconcerned as him mind ran calculations like a chess grandmaster.
"You're a hard man to find" the man in the Hawaiian shirt said, as his admiral coat draped over him buffeted in the artic wind. His accent was harsh but his diction pointed and clear. "lots of money and guns over such an average boy"
"I can imagine I hid so well for someone not hiding."
"You hid."
"I did not. I was working, under my instructions'," Elliot stated, " All study of Major Dr. Elliot R. Kane under Major Dr. Elliot R. Kane and the like." Elliot tested the waters to see who this man really was.
"I care not of testing as though to do such a thing would allow the generation of answers. We ask question to find answers we could have found. We need to ask the questions, not asked, that we do not know. Such actions will provide us information that truly useful." The man was hard to take serious with such a loud unbuttoned shirt. Elliot was distracted by the vivid colors. Looking over the shirt he noticed that shirt even had fantastical beasts on it, and dragons.
"Well what would you like to do with me?"
"A question too simple, try again"
"Would you have me killed for wasting your time?"
"A question that you would only want the answer to if it was in your own best interest, and prod for the same information as your first" The colorful man spoke faster, his accent blurring between consonant and vowels.
"Would you have me buy a shirt similar to your own in hopes that one day I may stand on opposite side of this situation?" Elliot speculated
"Such a thing would be an oddity in the most absurd way. Why would such a thing matter?" the colorful man actually seemed to think for a second. " I think your getting there but you're not truly in the right ball park. You see actions and question happen in similar ways, they are done and then something else does as well. That's not the questions we need though."
"So did I fail." Elliot asked raising an eyebrow at the man.
"Do you feel as though you did." The colorful man's eye narrowed.
" I feel as though that gets into believe of action and not questions. The answers would then be subjective to myself and not the actual situation. Wouldn't doing that make me follow my own heart more than the answer to the question I pose." Elliot settled on answer.
"Don't kill him" the colorful man said with an about face, beginning a stride across the ice sheet. There was refraction and bending of light as a form came into a view a large spiral bored barrel covered the vision of one his eyes. Simultaneously a pair of red lips appeared before him, in the hands of a lithe figure was the metal over his eye, in what look like a think mink-like coat. The large what Elliot now assumed to be a blunderbuss like gun was lowered. The woman looked at him, and his heart fluttered.
"You're like my mother" Elliot spoke without thinking.
"You're smooth, that's a great way to talk to the woman that could have splattered your brains over the snow"
"You wouldn't have ruined all this great snow, could you?" Elliot chuckled. He kept a strong appearance.
"Something like that would be good for a human" She spoke coldly hoping to stand her ground.
"I doubt it would've been done too much good." Elliot began to step towards her.
"You men are always thinking with the wrong head" She once again disappeared, from sight. Within a moment a small trickle of blood fell from Elliot neck, as a glassy red blade was placed to his neck. "Learn your place" She coldly whispered into his ear.
"Which place is that?" Elliot said with a wry smile. he stepped forward slamming his heeling into the ice shelf, pulling her over and around him. He swiftly ended up behind her holding her the way she had him. With a sweep under her leg, a pull at her wrist and shoulder she was on the ground in one smooth rehearsed movement. "As long as I don't let go or you touch me to let me know where you are, I will always see you." He released her. Holding onto the knife.
She leaped to him going invisible. He slammed his foot even harder on the ice shelf as the area around him quickly sank into the sea. Very quickly there was a refraction of light and she could be seen again. He picked up her quickly freezing, shivering form, as he said, "I lied to you, I don't have to see you to know where you might be." Loud enough for the shout to be heard by the surrounding artillery. Now that she draped in his arm and her defenses down, he whispered into her ear something his mother always told him to say. "I am the fruit of the womb of the Circe know as Annie-belle the Pythoness" Elliot had not known what this code his mother had always taught him to keep close to his heart meant. He could only remember the instructions. The moment as clear as day in his head.
"Little El you are not allowed to spy on your sister and I's time. That is special mother daughter bonding" Annie looked at the small face of her infantile son. She was having difficulties finding time to train Talia in the way of the Circe and not have Elliot feel bad. She wished could tell both of them everything of their heritage, but doing so would be target on the backs of their heads.
"Mommy its not fair you always are hanging out with Tal and I want to have a turn too."
"Little El, Talia is a girl and mommy can't teach boys about being a Circe. Just remember what I said, Tal is going through a lot of hard work that your blessed not to have to do you just have to remember- "
"'I am the fruit of the womb of the Circe know as Annie-belle the Pythoness'," Elliot groaned out the rehearsed line as he slid down the door frame and slumped down on the floor, "Mommy why is the Circe religion so secretive? The other kids worship The Elder and go to kids temple services. I just stay home all day while they have fun." Annie cringed at the thought of lying to her child, looking at his sorrowful face. Elliot had heard David yelling one night after coming home from an 18-hour shift in the operating room. He in his tiredness yelled about how she failed to understand men because she was a 'darn Circe'. He then profusely apologized and bought her flowers and chocolates. David still slept on the stoop that night. Elliot asked about it and she explained him that, she was Circe which she explained like a religion that was secret, and only let women in. She said that people had tired to burn woman they did not like at witches, so the Circe's rounded together all the women to protect them from being killed, creating a safe club for women. Annie felt horrible lying to Elliot, but he seemed to understand and thought that protecting women was noble and Elliot could consign himself to do it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------