Where The Heart Is: Issue # 0.75 (Preview Draft) (Patreon)

Where The Heart Is: Issue # 0.75

                                          – o – o – o – o – o – o – o –​

February 30th, 1992

Vought-American Prospect Creek Facility

Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska

Undisclosed Farm

Johnny wasn’t sure why he was here.

Why they were here, honestly.

It was rare that the scientists let him out of his little room, rarer still that they even let him see sunlight.

Even rarer that he got to see his father.

He glanced up at the man, the hero of the century that everyone knew as Soldier Boy and he simply knew as "Dad".

"Sir", if he was in trouble.

The man was busy, he knew that, and he had only gotten busier the older Johnny grew.

Supervillain fights on the East Coast had turned to supervillain fights across the country, and then supervillain fights in North America and eventually, it had become Soldier Boy’s job to fight evil in all of the Americas.

Even still, Johnny could expect a visit from his dad at least four or five times a year, even at his most hectic and he appreciated that.

Still, it was unexpected for Doctor V to wake him up early in the morning and put him on a four hour flight on a nearly-empty cargo plane all the way to some empty part of  Alaska. Something told him the situation was different compared to the usual meetups he had with his dad, the location standing out as the biggest oddity.

"You know," Benjamin Veder began, breaking the tense quiet between father and son. "It’s a man’s job to dig in his heels and take whatever the world throws at him. It’s a man’s duty to be strong, tough, hard. It is a man’s job to make other people understand that he won’t take any shit.”

Johnny nodded slowly, agreeing with his father’s words but feeling oddly nervous as the man’s expression refused to soften even the slightest bit the longer he spoke.

“It’s also a man’s duty to train his up the right way, so he doesn’t become a fuckin’ lunatic when he becomes a man,” the hero tilted his head to the side, expression not lightening despite the motion. “My father told me that, said it was from the Bible or something. Anyway…”

Soldier Boy let out a long sigh before he finally spoke again.

But he did finally speak.

“Vogelbaum told me you killed another one.”

The boy nodded quickly, head bobbing like a toy on the dashboard as he smiled at his father expectantly. “It’s true, dad. I-”

Jonathan Veder didn’t see the socket punch coming until the gloved fist was already in his face, snapping his head to the side and sending the child stumbling back.

“So, Vogelbaum wasn’t lying to me. You killed your teacher,” Soldier Boy stated with certainty, his words the furthest thing from a question.

He looked up with surprise and fear on his face, eyes wide with uncertainty and brimming with unshed tears. “I-I-I… it was an accident. I didn’t mean t-”

The boy went silent, the unfamiliar taste of blood filling his mouth in place of words as a heavy boot to his unguarded face shut him up. He tumbled head over heels across the icy tundra until he was on all fours, fingers digging through the ice like butter in an attempt to find some purchase and slow himself down as he slid back.

“You’re not going to lie to me, you understand that?!” Soldier Boy rushed forward in a blur, friction somehow not a problem as he burst across the ice with speeds that would leave a race car in the dust without a doubt.

Without a moment to prepare himself, the boy found himself on the received end of another furious strike, one even harder than the first.

This time to his chest.

This time, he stood his ground, making himself unmovable as he planted his feet and flexed an invisible muscle the way his father taught him.

It didn’t seem to matter at all.

The blow sent him hurtling back even farther

“Get the fuck up, Johnny,” the boy heard his father’s voice as the man slowly stomped over to where he lay facedown in the snow. Even if he didn’t have super-hearing, the voice had an unmistakable presence to it, almost a physical thing, audible from a distance even when the man was speaking in normal tones.

It was intimidating enough when he was calm.

A terrifying thing when he was angry.

“I said…”

Jonathan Veder felt a heavy hand grab him by the neck. Oh no.

Soldier Boy yanked him upwards, one hand firm around his neck and let out a fearsome, powerful yell right in his face. “GET THE FUCK UP!”

The boy’s blond locks blew back from the force of Soldier Boy’s yell, his ears ringing harder than they had been from the punch to the face just moments ago. Vision still spinning, Johnny blinked as he found himself unceremoniously dropped on his butt, the boy’s palms meeting the icy ground a half-instant later.

“You’ve taken harder hits than that,” Soldier Boy continued, the man stomping around his son like an army drill sergeant. “And you’re gonna take even harder ones if you don’t tell me the fuckin’ truth.”

John Veder growled back at his father, the boy rising back to his feet as he flew up a meter until he was staring the man in the face. “What fuckin’ truth?”

“LANGUAGE!”

This blow was faster than the others.

It hit even harder too, sending the blond boy half a mile down the tundra until he slowed himself down with the reverse force of his own flight. His head still spinning from the sudden strike, Johnny barely had time to react as his father came barreling right after him faster than any train could manage, his speed on the ground faster than anything land-based had a right to be.

Soldier Boy came to a stop a few meters away from the flying boy, simply watching silently for a moment as his son spat blood on the ground before turning furious blue eyes back at him.

Then he spoke.

“You don’t raise your fuckin’ voice at me, young man,” he pointed a finger at his hovering son, sounding for all the world like a regular father. “And you certainly watch your mouth when you’re speaking to me.”

Johnny’s scowl remained on his face, but the boy nodded despite himself.

“Now, I don’t give a rat’s ass if you take out any white coat that pokes and prods at you too much thinkin’ like you’re some kind of lab rat,” Soldier Boy continued on, voice heavy and loud as usual. “I’ve told you that a man gives as good as he gets and if they’re gonna make you suffer, you show ‘em that you’re no pussy. You’re a goddamn Veder and you act like it, understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Jonathan responded exactly the way his father taught him to, heat slowly leaving his glare as the shield-bearing man continued to speak. “I understand.”

“Thing is, you didn’t kill a white coat, did you?”

“Dad, I-”

“Don’t interrupt me,” Soldier Boy shut him down, voice calm but firm.

“Sorry, sir.”

“You killed your teacher. You killed a dame.” Soldier Boy stepped forward. “Why?”

“...” The boy remained silent, heat rising in his eyes as his expression grew stormier with each passing second.

Soldier Boy didn’t appreciate the silence. “I asked you a question, boy.”

“She said she loved me, okay!” Johnny yelled out, anger and something else in his tone spilling out audibly as he yelled back at his father.

Mouth open and eyebrow raised, all Soldier Boy could do was tilt his head as he responded with a confused, “What?”

“She said she was my mommy and that she loved me.”