RIP Aftermath: Mothers and Fathers

Mothers and Fathers
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An Underground Lab
The remains of Angel Falls
2020

She sat at her console, alone in the vast lab that once belonged to her father. The last thing that remains of the legendary Doctor Alexander Valiant. It was dark, and not a computer was on. Even the communications had been disabled. Young Patricia Valiant didn't want to be bothered at this moment.

She had just learned who her genetic mother was. Now the Lady Valiant didn't know what to do, or how to approach this.

"Stupid idiot!" Pat cursed at herself. She should've known better. Now all she's done is gone and complicated her life more. Sighing the young superscientist took a drink from the cup of cocoa, re-reading the test results for the twelfth time as if in some vain hope that they'd be any different from the last time.

A ringing noise echoed through the lab complex. Patricia sighed, annoyed but not surprised. It was Timothy Murray, her liaison. The young Valiant had a hunch he'd come here. He had been talking to her over the com-link when she got the test results. Test results that caused her to 'close up shop', and he wouldn't be a good agent if he didn't come to check on her. Sighing again, she buzzed him in.

Tim was about six feet tall, with cropped brown hair with some slightly spikey hair up front. He was just barely even in height to Patricia, maybe a few inches taller. Murray looked like the kind of man who took pride in his looks, wanting to look professional in his attire. Perhaps, as far as the Lady Valiant was concerned, a little too much at times.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he drew closer to the young lady. "You just shut off after checking on something from one of your computers." Patricia nodded, trying to smile, weakly, as she placed her cup down onto a nearby counter.

"Yeah. I'm alright." she replied placing the sheet of paper down as she stood up. "Just found out something about myself... something that complicates things." as she strolled over to a nearby tool bench. Murray picked up the sheet, reading it over.

"Is this... legit?" he asked, feeling rather silly that it actually came from his mouth as he looked up at her. To this, the young superscientist merely nodded as she tried to occupy herself with cleaning tools. He knew it was legit, the computers she had were top of the line.

"Olga Yezhov? The Soviet Valkyrie is your genetic mother?" he asked aloud, as if checking to see if he was reading this correctly. Pat nodded, tears coming to her eyes. This seemed to hit him as hard as it hit her. "So... so... what are you going to do?" he asked.

"I... I.... I don't know. How does one approach something like this? How does one break such news? W... Would Olga even accept me? The daughter she never really had? Never knew of? How would she react to the revelation that Doc Valiant used her DNA in such a manner?" asked the Lady Valiant, sobbing now as it dawned on her even more. "She's had alot happen to her in the last year or two... lost her lover... had the city that adopted her destroyed by her greatest enemy... and now this? Me?" gasped the young lady, dropping the tool she had in her grief.

"My... my father's dead... and my... my... mother doesn't even know I'm her daughter... " sobbed the amazonian beauty, looking rather vulnerable for a woman of her build. Oh how she wished she hadn't tried to find out. Grief turned to anger as she sent her fist into the tool bench, sending wrenches, screwdrivers, etc. into the air.

Timothy Murray wished he had the answer, wished he had the right words to comfort her. But nothing came to mind. He felt awful... powerless to help. He merely wanted to let her know that he was there for her as he walked over to where she was standing. He tried to reassure her, feeling kinda silly that he was trying to be strong for a woman who could bend steel girders in her bare hands.

"Hey... hey... calm... calm down here. You'll think of something... I'm sure of it. You'll-" before he could finish, Murray found himself hugged by the amazonian superscientist as she grieved. Slowly, surely, he reciprocated by hugging her back.

"I'm... I'm sorry Pat." he said, whispering to her as they stood there in the quiet lab. "I wish to heaven that I knew what to tell you... and knew what best to say... but... but I don't. But what I do know is that you'll find a way to make this work... to make this right." he assured, hugging her tightly.

"Because I have faith in you." he added. Patricia Valiant merely smiled as she held him close. "Thank you." she replied.