skonen_blades (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
skonen_blades) wrote2006-07-12 01:01 am
skonen_blades) wrote2006-07-12 01:01 am
Heroes
They adopted me in dreams.
The Cowboy and Kardiak. They lived in a shining silver Slipstream trailer from the fifties out in the Arizona desert. They had a little fence set up around it with some deck chairs and sun umbrellas. Little red curtains with white polka dots hung in the windows. There was a treeless arid wasteland around them for hundreds of miles. That desert heat was ridiculous, even in my dreams.
It was usually the same. I’d show up hot and scared in the middle of the Road Runner cartoon landscape and see their trailer. I’d be shivering even though it was so hot. I’d walk towards the trailer to get help or at least some shade. The Cowboy would be relaxing on his white plastic deck chair drinking a tall glass of cool lemonade when he’d notice me and smile. That smile wiped everything out of my head. I knew everything was fine then. I’d walk forward with confidence.
Kardiak would come out from the trailer with a tray of cookies that she’d just baked. She’d see me and smile and welcome me back. The oven mitts would cover up her arthritic claws and the wires. She was beautiful. She’d put down the cookies on the little plastic table and gather me into one of her deceptively soft and easy hugs. I remember the faintly electrical violet smell of her.
They adored me.
They’d sit me down and give me a glass of lemonade and we’d all help ourselves to cookies. After a little chit chat about how school was going and daily events, The Cowboy would clear his throat and we’d turn to him in anticipation. It became story time again. He’d pick up where he left off and continue the tale. Kardiak would jump in now and again with little corrections on the details. They’d talk for hours.
They were orphans at the same orphanage in Ohio when they first met. They’d been scooped up by the government one day with all the other orphans between the ages of 4 and 6. Along with the other kids, they were put into a program of training, chemical treatments and the finest organic enhancements that the early 50s were capable of. Which is the reason for The Cowboy’s headaches and Kardiak’s hands.
The government didn’t test the kids first and pick the best so maybe that’s why these two were the only survivors. They just happened to be the strongest. And they depended on each other in a way that the other kids didn’t.
The government didn’t make that mistake again with the next batches. Almost before they were ten, Kardiak and The Cowboy were obsolete.
The government was trying to make super heroes.
These two were scheduled to be released to the public as Peace and Love in late 1968. The oldest of the experiments, they were cosmetically modified to be as attractive as possible. It was a painful process. They were considered expendable and weak. They were charming, though, so they were put forth. They were teenagers at this point and the government thought they’d be front running shoe-ins for future public office. They'd be like a young Timothy Leary and Jane Fonda. Peace was toothpaste-commercial handsome and Love was beautiful beyond compare.
They were going to change the world back in the sixties. They were supposed to turn on, tune in, and then keep tabs on and control the new young anti government movement from the inside. Their powers and identities would be released later when it was seen that they could lead it as well. They had no trouble adjusting to life outside the sub-basements. They had a great time for a while.
Future rebel leaders in the government’s pocket.
Peace took the alter ego David Lungbloom, was injected into Berkeley and was there when the troops came in and killed those kids that were protesting against Vietnam. Love took the alter ego Renee Tesla and was in Washington when they got Martin Luther King.
This ruined the government’s plans forever for these two. They went rogue almost immediately. Their faith in the organization that had raised them was shattered so easily. Their existence was never revealed to the public. The plan was scrapped and the decision was made to keep the upcoming batches covert.
Then the government went after Peace and Love.
They never caught them. They always regretted trying.
In the eighties, Peace and Love went underground.
The Cowboy aka Peace aka Dr. Feelgood has the power to make you feel great and totally agreeable to whatever he wants you to do. He is the power of suggestion manifested. You’ll cheerfully do what he asks you to do and feel euphoric while doing it. It’s his smile. He just projects happiness and good feelings. You’ve done exactly what he wanted you to do before you know it.
He’s made some people do some horrible things. You can see how haunted he is. You can see how he used to drink.
Kardiak aka Love aka Shockra can control your heart after she touches you. She can turn up and direct your desire. She can even speed up your heart until it ruptures. Which she has done more than a couple of times, first at the government’s behest and then independently to insure her and the Cowboy’s survival.
She nearly committed suicide a couple of times. Her love for The Cowboy kept her going.
They have an uneasy agreement with the government now. Namely, as long as the government can’t find them, it won’t try to kill them.
The government has abandoned the super hero program. It’s looked back on with foolishness now.
In Vietnam, they’d only let the soldiers with the flamethrowers operate them for a period of one week. It was found that after longer that a week, soldiers with flamethrowers would start to believe that they were gods. The destructive power that they brought to the foliage in front of them would drive them mad. They became gods of fire. If they kept rotating the flamethrowers amongst personnel, they had fewer section eights.
It’s a little different if you’ve got a soldier with laser vision or super strength.
The ones that weren’t killed when the operation was shut down are in hiding. Most hold down everyday jobs and keep their heads down. Kardiak let it slip once that some of them weren’t behaving themselves. I asked her what she meant and the two of them just looked at each other. The Cowboy ruffled my hair and Kardiak offered me another lemonade.
As they got older their powers grew.
This is how they’ve called me to come to them in my dreams. They’ve called to others.
They’ve just told me that they’ll be downstairs tomorrow morning and that they’ll take me and the others to a safe place to make us into heroes like them.
In the morning it'll be my ninth birthday.
The Cowboy raises his glass to me with a wink and Kardiak giggles like she’s a little girl. I leave them smiling. I can't wait to wake up and start packing.
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