“Do you see that face?”  Judy asks with a smile on her own.  “THAT is the face I want to talk to you about.”  Faye is horrified, but while her fear is blinding her to the obvious, Josey Meyers and her granddaughter are almost drunk with excitement as they understand the fabulous family history they are about to enjoy.

    “Faye,” Kammy says, slapping her several times on the arm in rapid succession for what is meant to be a simple tapping on the arm, “Faye, honey, it’s okay.  It’s just a lesson on where our face model came from, and it’s from the sources themselves!  Well, Lara Shiloh’s not here, but the two most famous wearers of our model are going to give us our own precious tutoring session.”  Hugging her scared little friend, Kam says, “Hey, it’s okay.  No one’s here to accuse you, alright, baby?  Your family just wants to spend time with you.”

    “My family….” Faye contemplates as she tries to soak in Kamron’s sweet consolation.  Judy sees this and gives Faye a hug, apologizing for unwittingly scaring the girl.  All is well, especially as the other face models join in for a big group hug.

    “Okay, the time for hugging is ended.  The time for talking has arrived, and before I do, I need to introduce the one and only Charon Triton, the woman you all know as the Neptune Nurse!”

    The teens gasp and Owan declares, “That’s a former villain of Asteroid Boy when he was a kid!”

    “Yes!” Judy agrees.  “She was forced to work for Arion Jekel after he killed her father.  AB didn’t know this, as if it would’ve mattered back then.  He was a trigger-happy nine-year-old boy or so who only saw a blue monster in front of him, so he used his power and mercilessly nixed her.  However, this was only the appearance given as she survived the attack and tried to take him out again.  Well, that’s what little AB was told at the time, but it turned out later Arion Jekel brought her back.  Who’s concerned with details, anyway.  All the same, AB learned about her issues, and that’s when Asteroid Boy realized what a little jerk he had been.  He apologized to Charon and captured her.  She did go to prison for her crimes, but considering she didn’t cause THAT much damage, along with the fact she was forced to do it, her punishment was lowered to account for this.  All that time, AB made every effort he could to help Charon, always regretting the pain he caused her when she was secretly crying out for help.  And THAT is a foundational lesson that has shaped the compassionate nature by which AB has tried to lead his team.  This squad has still shown moments where they’ve needed to grow, but overall, you won’t find people more willing to work with the bad guys in trying to help them change first than you will in the leaders of our great army.  They are a blessin’.”

    Charon waves and greets the team.  “Hey, guys!  It’s an honor to meet with you all and to tell you that what AB did as an immature little kid, while I don’t condone it, was used to teach me many invaluable lessons that I’d never give up.  I know it’s redundantly obvious to say I learned forgiveness and patience, but those are, indeed, the most treasured possessions I’ve had and have tried to pass on to my son, Nix.”

    “Heh,” Judy says with an incriminating smile, “can’t say I’m complaining with the results there.”

    Doing the math, Paul says, “For Nix and Judy to be…Hm, must be some New Ruyngard years in there.”

    “We’re not here to talk about my wonderful marriage,” Judy says, getting back to topic.  “We’re here to talk about my beautiful face…er…I mean, our beautiful face.  Yeah, we’re talking about pretty faces.”

    “Pretty Faces?!” Owan gasps, “That’s another name for the Lure Bots.  Are you girls…?”

    “No, you dweeb!” Faye growls.  “Stop insulting everyone and listen.”

    “Uh, sorry, Faye,” he says in a small, beaten voice.  “I wasn’t talking about your face.”

-Next Page-

-Previous Page-