Chapter 11: Chapter 11

° Grayson Residence
° Early Morning

Debbie Grayson opened her eyes and began to stir on her side of the bed, her hand wandering to her side only to touch nothing but an empty pillow and ruffled sheets.

She turned and saw the empty space beside her bed, once again taking in the absence of her husband with a tired sigh. Feeling a bit sour all of a sudden.

Nolan Grayson, better known as Omni-Man to the wider world, was a powerful hero. Even more powerful than most of the Guardians of the Globe, so it is no wonder that he was usually called in at odd hours to help deal with threats they couldn't. She was already used to it, having been married for almost 19 years now.

She loved her husband and trusted that he would always come home to her, sooner or later. But that didn't stop her from missing the simple things they used to share, like waking up next to each other in bed.

She rose from her bed with a sigh and went to get decent before going downstairs for her morning meal and coffee.

As she walked down the stairs, she couldn't help but take in the wonderful smell that was coming from the kitchen with a small smile. She already knew who was making such a delicious smell.

She crossed her living room and caught sight of Matthew, who was wearing an apron and serving up a delicious serving of pancakes on a plate.

As always, he was already cooking food for the family so early in the morning. Debbie admired the boy, her ever-reliable son. He was always so considerate, always cleaned and helped her immensely around the house, and always took care of breakfast every morning.

Debbie loved both her boys, but if she were asked to pick a favorite then it would be Matthew simply because she didn't have much to worry when it comes to him.

Matthew didn't seem to notice her, and Debbie wasn't about to surprise him when he was cooking, so she slowly walked up to the side and smiled when he finally turned his head to look at her.

"Oh, morning mom. Newspapers by the table and coffee's still hot if you want some" he said, glancing at the small noises he heard as Debbie moved around.

"Thanks, honey" she went over and gave him a light peck before serving herself a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. Her focus waned after a few minutes of reading when her eyes wandered over to the empty seat opposite her own.

"Matt" she called out.

Matthew had finished cooking and was already walking towards the table when she did.

"Hmm?" Matthew hummed, meeting her eyes.

"Have you seen your Dad?" she asked hopefully.

Matthew paused, thinking back on the earlier hours, and shook his head with a shrug "Nope. Must have left earlier for a Guardian's emergency or something. Or he's on a breakfast run halfway across the world"

Debbie was disappointed but dismissed the feeling just as fast as it came out of habit. Nolan will come, he always does. Matthew sat himself down and began to devour his meal for the morning, not at all worried. Debbie merely smiled and continued to eat her meal.

Mark came down a few moments later and lightly commented on Matthew's cooking before sitting beside his brother and eating his meal. Debbie asked him the same thing and the answer was, sadly, the same as Matthew's.

"Don't worry, Mom" Mark reassured her, "There is nothing on the planet that can harm Dad, besides the Guardians and those Kaiju things. Those were unexpectedly strong"

Matthew nodded in silent agreement, though the words made him daydream about the many things that had harmed people more powerful than his father. Fictional people, anyway.

"I know, I know. I just can't help but worry" Debbie replied.

"Let's talk about something else then" Matthew suggested.

"Good idea!" Mark beamed at Debbie, "Mom! I can't wait to tell you about yesterday"

Debbie laughed, "Alright then, honey. Tell me all about it"

Matthew wanted to protest, to change to a more mundane topic before it started, yet the sudden mental influx of vivd memories as Mark began telling his story kept his mouth shut.

Debbie, however, didn't fail to notice the sudden shift but elected to let Mark finish before addressing whatever it was with Matthew.

Mark told his story with an animated glee, describing his laser-shooting opponent and each punch delivered with accompanying arm swings. His enjoyment was clear as he continued.

Matthew blinked a few times as the memories of the encounter stopped projecting through his mental perceptions. After which he couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of the relatively light experience Mark had compared to his own.

But he pushed the thoughts away quickly. He didn't want to dampen his brother's mood.

"That's good to hear, honey. I'm proud of you" Debbie smiled at Mark, who replied with a smile of his own.

"Anyway. It was good. I kinda blew it with the collateral damage thing, but at least no one was hurt or killed" he said.

Matthew gave Mark a thumbs up at the confession, "That's great in my book"

Debbie nodded in silent agreement, "But, I would like you to keep in mind to be more careful next time. The less collateral damage, the better it is for the other people you helped"

"I know Mom" Mark agreed with a slight nod.

Then, instead of further encouraging Mark, turned to her other son to continue the conversation.

Matthew couldn't help but tense up, accidentally squeezing the fork handle in his hand into a thin, crumbled piece of metal. Debbie did not notice it.

"And what about you, Matt? How was your first hero outing?" she said, keeping her tone light but her eyes betrayed her worry within.

Resigning himself to dealing with it now, Matthew answered honestly.

"Not good," he said, letting the answer hang and watching the change of expressions in his mother and brother's faces.

Both waiting patiently and with ample seriousness.

"Don't get me wrong" Matt decided to clarify, "I took the guy down easily and I made sure that nothing else happened, but...I was too late to arrive and there were already casualties"

"Shit," Mark said in sympathy.

"Yeah" Matthew paused for a moment before he continued "It's not something I'd wish I saw but there it was..."

And Matthew went on to tell his story of yesterday. He made sure to express his thoughts as he did, to convey the experience as best he could. However, he did keep the part about the rocker blonde hero Throwbolt to himself for personal reasons he would take care of soon.

When he was done, he felt Debbie's warm, comforting hands over his.

"Honey, it's not your fault. I hope you know that" she said.

"I guess? But it's hard to get rid of that feeling of guilt, you know? What if I had arrived sooner or-"

"Stop" Debbie's grip tightened, silencing him.

"You can't allow yourself to take all that blame. What happened was very unfortunate, but it was out of your control at the time. You couldn't have known" she said.

"Mom's right," Mark said, chiming in "We were literally several blocks away and in the air when we noticed the explosions. Even then, we didn't waste any time and reacted quickly"

Their words made Matthew smile wryly at them.

"Thanks," he said softly, "I really didn't want to share it, if I could have, but now I think that would've been the wrong choice. I'm glad I did"

"Of course, honey. That's what family is for. We share and deal with stuff neither one can handle alone. Even if you can lift up a cruise ship by yourselves" Debbie joked, attempting to lighten the mood.

It worked and both boys smiled warmly this time as they went on to talk about different things before finishing their breakfast and continued about before they were to depart for school.

Debbie was glad to see her boys happy, though the concern of Matthew still lingered within her mind so she decided to simply let the boy deal with it himself before she took any further steps. Regardless of what he chooses to do, Debbie would support him.

She would support them no matter what.

****

Matthew was absently cleaning and placing the dishes back in the cupboards when the front doorbell rang.

"I'll get it" he said as he started for the door.

He opened it and found himself surprised at the sight of Mrs.Laurel standing outside in her expensive business outfit, behind her stood a pair of men in black suits and black shades. The stoney look on their faces reminded him of a particularly creeping Agent Smith from the Matrix.

Thena smiled brightly as she saw Matthew and gave him a light wave, "Hello, Matthew. Didn't expect to meet you today".

Matthew's face snapped back to Thena and he smiled wryly, "Hey, Mrs.Laurel. I...sorry for being rude, but why are you here?"

The smile from Thena's face faded and her expression grew severe. A sense of unease came over Matthew as he straightened himself, sensing the sudden tension in her.

"Right, straight to the matter at hand then. Before I say anything else, I'd like you to call your mother and brother. What I'm here for needs to be heard by everyone in the house" she explained.

Albeit vaguely, Matthew sensed the seriousness in Thena's voice and immediately nodded and turned to call for the others. It didn't take long for the entire family to gather by the door.

Mark looked at Matthew for an answer and his brother just shrugged.

"Thena?" Debbie asked, sounding delighted. Mark followed behind her.

"Hi, Debbie. It's been too long" Thena strode forward and hugged Debbie, who received it in kind "How are you?"

Debbie held a smile when they separated, "I'm doing fine. What about you?"

"Much of the same, too busy for anything else than work and taking care of a teenage daughter" Thena replied with a wink before her eyes went to Mark.

"And you, young man, must be Markus. My goodness you've grown so handsome, you look so much like your mother now" Thena complimented, patting lightly at Mark's jaw.

Debbie chuckled at Mark's embarrassed reaction.

"Thanks, Mrs.Laurel. And it's just Mark, not Markus" Mark said.

"Oh, right. Sorry" Thena gave him an apologetic look.

Thena took a step back to eye all of them, "Okay. Before I say anything else, I would like to make something clear in advance. I am here on behalf of the GDA to deliver...a bit of news"

The Grayson's all looked at her with mild surprise.

"Wait. You work for Cecil now?" Debbie asked worriedly.

"No, I still own the company. I won't give that up even if that man threatens me" Thena said, causing the agents with her to clear their throat "But I now also work as a part-time consultant for their Research and Development Division. They call me whenever they want a second opinion on whether the latest tech they 'develop' has applications outside of military destruction"

"When did this happen?" Debbie asked.

"About a month ago. Cecil visited and handed me a few articles of light-based communications tech salvaged from a crashed alien ship" Thena answered "His people couldn't reverse engineer the process, I did. And so offered me a very generous and beneficial deal"

Debbie didn't know what to say, but her boy looked quite impressed and a little intrigued. Especially Matthew.

"Anyway, enough about me" she clapped her hands "Now that you are all here, I have to deliver the news"

Thena turned to Debbie and said her next words carefully "It's about Nolan. Something happened to him"