11. Impact

The group wake up after their visit to Hell, but there seems to be more damage emotionally to worry about.

The three hid behind a rock until Hades sulked away.

“Well that sucked.” Ace sighed.  The other two nodded.

“My concern right now is how we get out of here.  Do you remember where we woke up?” Alex asked, looking around.

“Somewhere near the edge of the cave.  That’s all I know.”

“Welp, time to walk.” Otto said.  And walk they did.  When they got to the edge of the cave they looked around for anything that might clue them in to how to get back to Earth.  Otto was the first to spot something- a wide elevator jutting from the rocks.  It didn’t have any other buttons except two: Earth and Hell.  The three entered and pressed Earth, but immediately blacked out.  When they woke up they were stuck in the smoldering wreckage of a black jet that had crashed.  Ace was outside while Otto was stuck under Alex inside.  The pilot was still dead. 

“Should we bury him?  Say a few words, perhaps?” Alex asked when the three were back together.  Ace started walking away.

“Something tells me we don’t have time.  Hades is going to be sending people after us, and I say we get moving to find Jesus.”  She said.  The other two reluctantly agreed.  Ace had become more serious than normal, even walking more quickly.

“Um…Ace?  Are you alright?” Alex asked.

“Fine.  We just need to move.”  Ace said.  Her straight face and emotionless tone disturbed the other two, especially Otto.

“Something’s up.  Tell us.” He said.  Ace turned back to them.  What they were expecting was Ace to get in a dither over being questions, but instead she pushed her bangs behind her ears while casually smiling.

“Nothing.  Let’s just go.” She said calmly.  The other two didn’t push the subject.  Had they the break down Ace had about a half hour later would’ve been less disturbing for the three.  Ace fell to the ground and grabbed the grass, sobbing uncontrollable while she pulled dirt clod after dirt clod out.  The other two rushed to her and began asking what was wrong, or why she was crying.  Eventually Ace pushed them away and fell entirely on her side.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way!” She cried in-between sobs. “I was just supposed to go to Italy, meet with someone, and then come home!  And yet all sorts of s**t happened.  People died, the US army wants me in a lab; I even ruined your biggest day!”

Alex grabbed Ace and pulled her to her feet, trying to hold her steady. “Ace, please calm down!  I’ve already forgiven you for that.  If I hadn’t I wouldn’t be here.”

“And why are you?  Why throw your life away for this?  Two days since we met and already you’ve gone to Hell and were attacked by f*****g Satan!”  Ace sobbed.  She struggled to break Alex’s grip, but even she wasn’t strong enough.

“I’m not throwing anything away.  I care about you; I want to see you through to the end.” Alex replied, calmly. 

“Plus, we’re not going anywhere!   Our plane crashed so even if we didn’t want to be here we have no choice.” Otto included.  Ace started to cry more.

“And the pilot’s dead!  All those people when I fought the demon are dead!  Because of me!  If I had just gone alone none of this would’ve happened!  If I let them take me, or stayed in Hell none of this would happen!”

Otto punched Ace in the face, but to him it was the same as punching concrete.  He rubbed his hand before yelling at her:

“You didn’t kill anyone, you dumb b***h!  Hades killed them!  He sent a horde of monsters to fight you, they even said they’d kill you, and they attacked you with no regard to who was around!  The pilot died because of Hades, not you!  You didn’t do anything, so stop taking the blame!”

“Why do you care?  The entire time I’ve known you you’ve snapped at me for doing stupid things.   And you’re probably right.  I’ve just done stupid things.  I thought I was helping out, but I end up hurting people.  All the criminals I put away?  They were in the hospital before that!  The damage I’ve caused, even accidentally…no wonder people avoid me at school…no wonder my dad’s disappointed…”  Ace sobbed.  She began to lose her balance and fell back on Alex, who instinctively hugged her. 

“At least you’re trying to help!  At least you’re making a difference!  You super-powered crybabies, it’s like a rich person complaining about having too much money.  Do you know how often I have to watch Alex get all the fame and fortune?  Do you know how much I wish I could be right there with her, living out a crazy fantasy of being a hero?” Otto had moved from yelling at Ace to just yelling in general.  It concerned Alex.

“Honey, you are right there with me.  Maybe you can’t fight, but seeing you when the fight’s over is all I need.” She said.

“Bullshit.  I’ve contributed nothing to your adventures.  Even now I’m a third wheel to you two.  I’d kill to even be your sidekick.  And hearing Ace complain about having this power and being able to save people, it pisses me off.  Don’t complain about the gifts you have!”

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry…”  Ace repeated quietly.  She almost seemed afraid to look at Otto.

“Don’t apologize!  Be thankful for what you can do.  If you hadn’t stopped all those thieves, what do you think would happen?”

“They….the victims would report it..a-and the criminals would be caught…” Ace droned, paraphrasing what her father would tell her.  Otto stomped his foot.

“NO!” He roared. “They would’ve gotten away with their crimes and no one would see them again.  Back in New Mexico there was a robbery at least once a month.  The criminals were rarely caught, and usually it’s because people saw it.  But when it happened when no one was around and it was dark like you told us?  They’d get away scott-free!  It's why Alex began helping people when she moved to Maine- so the same s**t she saw in New Mexico wouldn't happen there!  You did a goddamn service by taking those crooks out!  And I know you, if there was more than just a crime going on, if there was some sort of natural disaster, you’d be right there to fix it, and do you know why?”

Ace shook her head.  Her eyes were swollen, making it hard to see Otto, but she could tell his face was intense and serious. “Because that’s just what you f*****g do!” He screamed. “You help people!  It’s in your nature!  You’ve gotten out of bigger problems than this, and all the while only doing what was in everyone else’s best interest!  You didn’t even kill the armed soldiers who were instructed to beat you near death and drag you in.  Do you know how selfless that is?”

“It’s not, I didn’t want to get caught. I should’ve-”

“It’s selfless because you didn’t want to hurt armed soldiers who were instructed to beat you near death and drag you in!  You’d rather die than hurt someone who didn’t do anything wrong.  Jesus Christ, Ace, how many times do I have to tell you this before you get it?!”

“But…but you’re always yelling at me.  Insulting me, calling me names.  I know what you said in Hell, but…but still….”

“He doesn’t do that for anyone else, actually.” Alex chimed in. She was concerned about them both.  Even Otto was starting to tear up. “Normally he’s easy-going.”

“Yes!  Yes d****t!  I say that stuff because you’re the only one I bother to tell it to!  Everyone else?  I don’t mention s**t!  If they do something wrong and I call them on it they’ll start balling because of sensitivity, or ignore me outright!  But you’re better than that, you can take insults!  You’re stronger than anyone I’ve met- except Alex- and I know you’re smart enough to handle a couple potshots out of friendship!”

Ace let go of Alex and walked up to Otto. “You really think so?”

“Yes you idi-” Yet again he couldn’t finished before Ace kissed him on the cheek.

“Thank you then.  It means more than you think.” Ace said, trying to hold back tears.  She nuzzled Otto under the chin until Alex, who was just as stunned and confused as Otto, pulled her off.

“Whoa!  Not on my watch, that’s my man.” She said.  Otto just stood there dumbfounded.  Ace went back to leaning on Alex.

“I’m sorry, I just…let’s just get going, we need to find Jesus.” Ace said, trying to regain her composure.  She broke from Alex’s grip and walked past the two without looking them in the eyes.

“What was that about?” Alex whispered.

“F*****g super, acting like a kid…” Otto griped to himself.  The three were yet again silent for a long time as they walked up the field.  They finally made it to a small village, but had no idea where to go from there.

“Now what?” Otto said.  Ace looked around and found a farmer packing his truck. 

“Hang on, let me go ask.” She said.  The other two tried to stop her.

“Idiot!  We don’t know Italian!” Called Otto.  Ace ignored him.

“Excuse me, could you tell us where the Vatican is?” Ace asked the man.  He looked at her surprised that anyone like the three would be out this far, but he thought about the question.

“Vatican, hmm…..I would say it’s a long ways away.  Almost three hundred kilometers.  I guess if you find a truck to take you, it’s down that road there until you reach Florence.  You’ll get to the A1, from there it should be easy to find.” He answered, pointing them in the right direction.

“Awesome, thanks!” Ace said before heading back to the now completely shocked Alex and Otto.

“You guys probably heard that-” Started Ace.

“No. We didn’t.” Otto said with his still stunned look giving away to mania.

“Well, the guy said if we go down that road for like 300 kilos, however far that is in miles, we’d get to Vatican.”

“Ace…how do you know Italian?” Alex tried to question without freaking out.

“Psh, I don’t know Italian!  The dude was speaking English.”

“No he wasn’t.  He was speaking friggen Italian.  You were speaking friggen Italian.  You were talking to an Italian person in Italy speaking f*****g Italian!” Otto exploded.

“No, he was speaking perfect Eng….English…” It dawned on Ace at how understandably ludicrous the situation was, before she burst out in excitement and jumped for joy over an even more ludicrous situation.

“Oh hell yes!  I can understand all the languages of the world!  This is so friggen awesome!”  She screamed.

“Wait, let’s not jump to conclusions, Ace.” Alex tried to reason.

“No, I’ve seen it in movies.  Oh my god, I can’t believe I didn’t have this before.  God, this would’ve made Spanish class back in high school soooo much easier.  Quick!  Say something in Russian!”

“I-I don’t know Russian.” Alex said, concerned for Ace’s sanity.

“I can’t tell if she said that in Russian.  Did she?  Otto, say something in Spanish!”

“Ace, just shut up for a minute and think!” Otto snapped.

“That sounded like it was in Spanish.  Yep, it’s working, I can now understand every language everywhere!  I bet I can understand Klingon.  Or maybe binary!  Talk in Binary!”

“That’s not how binary works!” Otto yelled to the heavens.

“Ace, just because you understand one language doesn’t mean you understand them all.  It might just be this one language, and it’s probably because of that power rush you had in Hell.  Now, I theorize-”  Alex attempted to explain before Ace interrupted her.

“That was Klingon right? I knew it!  Totally sounded like English!  This is awesome!” Ace ignored them, jumping up and down with excitement.  Otto threw a rock at her to get her attention, which bounced off her without making her flinch.

“Focus!  Regardless of whether or not you can talk in…Binary….we need to get down to Rome and we don’t know where it is.”

“No, we’re going to the Vatican!”

“Which is in Rome!  How do you not know this?!  What is wrong with you?!” Otto yelled, roaring in frustration.  Alex grabbed him and pulled him close to calm him down.

“Ace…we’re concerned about you.  You’ve been acting weird since we landed in Italy.  One minute you're crying in the grass, and another you're leaping in the air with joy.   Almost like you’re bipolar.  Even your intelligence seems to fluctuate.”  Alex reasoned.

“I’ve just had a stressful week.  I’m sorry for freaking out back there, but at least we know where to go, right?”

“Ace…”

“Let’s roll!” Ace said, proudly walking down the road.   

“Well…at least she’s not crying?” Alex said to Otto.

“You know, I almost prefer it.  At least then she’d be more serious.” Otto responded.  His face was red with frustration.

“Maybe also because you want more kisses?” Alex teased.  Otto twitched in anger.

“B***h is seriously messed up, babe!  Seriously messed up!” He responded.  Alex giggled and kissed him on the forehead, which calmed him a little.

Author's Note

Just like when the plane was crashing this chapter is awkward and weird. It's another transition chapter, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. I had a dream about this scene and imagined Ace kissing Otto and acting either drunk or flirty, and Otto just being dumbfounded and confused since he felt NO romantic interest in Ace. In my head (how many times have we heard that?) it sounded cool, but on paper...eh....It was suppose to be a play on belligerent sexual tension- you know, where a guy and a girl meet up for an adventure, they act like they don't care about one another and are mean to each other, yet end up together at the end. It's so overdone that anytime two characters are mean to each other but travel together you know they're ending up together. It's on the list of things to watch out for if someone ever became a villain for crying out loud! If Alex wasn't dating Otto at the time- which would negate his existence in the story arc- then I'd definitely use more sexual tension between Otto and Ace before pulling the rug out and have it just be normal tension. As it stands, I wrote myself into a corner with Ace's personality, but I dug myself back out when I contribute her odd behavior to God's sealing.

And before you say anything, no she only knew Italian. Another subversion of that universal translator trope you see in shows. Because of Ace's powers she has to acquire new understanding of language- God just came with Italian default, if that makes any sense. And the Hellevator will be back, just not for a while. Chekov's Gun and all.