Flashback, Part 1

Nineteen years ago

Bob Null's life changed one Friday afternoon, coming home from high school. Someone was waiting for him. It was a Japanese schoolgirl, complete with uniform, holding a suitcase in her hands. The petite and demure Asian wasn't really his type, but he had to admit she was beautiful. She was standing in front of his rundown apartment building: the two really didn't seem to belong to the same world.

<Excuse me, are you Robert Null?> she asked.

<Uhm, yeah. Call me Bob> he answered, hoping she wouldn't notice how much he was staring at her. She bowed respectfully.

<Tanaka Leiko, it is a pleasure to meet you. Is your grandfather Professor Heinrich Null?>

<Maybe. Why?> he asked back. When your grandfather is a Nazi you tend to talk about him as little as possible.

<May we speak in private?>

Nazi grandfather or not, Bob was a fifteen year old boy in front of a cute girl in a school uniform. Of course he immediately invited her to his apartment.

Once inside, Leiko took off her shoes and looked around, confused. Like Bob, she realized this really wasn't her world.

<Sorry about the mess. We moved in three weeks ago and with Dad doing overtime at the factory…>

<Does anyone else live here?>

<No, my mother passed away and I'm an only child. What about you?> Bob asked to get a chance to change the subject to something else.

<My brothers died of overdose and my mother is in a mental institution> the girl answered. There wasn't the slightest emotion in her voice: she could've given him the weather.

Bob didn't know how to follow that, and just watched her retrieve a picture from her suitcase.

<Have you ever seen this object?> she asked. The picture showed an old black and white picture of Professor Heinrich Null holding a baseball-shaped rock in his hands.

<Sure, come here> he said, taking her by the hand and leading her to his father's bedroom.

He will never forget how cold her hands were that day.

The object was on his father's nightstand. He hadn't bothered to unpack most of his clothes yet, but the rock had been in its rightful place since the day they moved.

Leiko was overwhelmed and seemed on the verge of crying; even her composure had limits.

<Are you alright? You look a little pale> Bob asked.

<The Heart of the Universe. Mom was right: it was on Earth all along.>

<Look, it's just a rock. Grandpa said it was the most important thing ever or something, but he was kind of crazy.>

<What do you want for it?> Leiko asked.

<How about a date?> Bob asked with a big, warm smile. Leiko turned around to look him in the eye: he was positively towering above her, but she was clearly the one in control.

<Are you proposing a romantic encounter or sexual intercourse?>

<What!? No, nothing like that! I was just, look, you're taking this the wrong way. How about we just go for a walk?>

Leiko's stare was unsettling. She hardly ever blinked and her voice never changed tone.

<That will do> she agreed.

They talked for what felt like ages. Leiko let it slip that she was fifteen and that she was some kind of prodigy already in college, but that was the extent of what she wanted to reveal. At first she let Bob do most of the talking, intervening only when necessary to avoid turning it into a monologue.

But over the hours she started to talk about her family. How her father had always been cold towards her, more interested in her brothers and in his own career; he was a very important businessman with very, very shady connections. She didn't talk about her mother.

Eventually, the two found themselves sitting on the beach of Coney Island, looking at the sea.

Saying nothing, just happy with each other's company.

<It is late. Your father will worry> she broke the ice with her cold voice.

<He's used to it. I come here often. What about you? Do you have a place to stay?>

<Yes. I should go back to it> Leiko answered, wiping the sand off her skirt. Then she looked up at the sky, with a sad look. It was the first time Bob saw any emotion on her face.

<There are no stars> she said.

<Yeah, that's too bad. Too many street lights or something. It's funny when you think about it: we've managed to pollute everything, even the sky.>

<None of this matters. We could be nothing and the universe wouldn't notice.>

<What's wrong, Leiko? What aren't you telling me?> Bob asked. The girl looked like she'd been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders her whole life. He'd been trying to get inside her head the whole day, and this was the first time she didn't bother shielding herself.

<I know what is out there. Gods and monsters and scary things. If they come back, nothing will matter. Not the stars, not humanity, not you, not me. The universe doesn't care about us.>

<Will you cut out that gloom and doom bull##it?>

Leiko was surprised by Bob's reaction; he grabbed her shoulders and tried to shake her off her shell-shocked detachment.

<You got hurt by something, badly, I can tell that. But don't go around saying crap like that; people matter. You matter.>

<The universe disagrees.>

<F##k the universe! Why don't you go beyond the impossible and prove it wrong?>

Bob expected to receive a slap in the face. Instead Leiko threw herself in his arms and kissed him.

It was a long, passionate kiss by a girl who hadn't left any emotion break free of the absolute control she had over herself.

Noriko Null was conceived on the same night.

Today

Scion Corporation Headquarters, Tokyo

<You know, father, you don't have to tell me everything> Noriko laments, blushing.

<I think it's romantic> Kari says, sniffing.

They are all in the same meeting room, handcuffed to their chairs. Quantum is also there, under the constant surveillance of the Core that floats above him.

Unaffected by his daughter's embarrassment, Bob Null continues:

<Leiko rented one of the apartments and assembled some kind of lab in the basement. We told everyone she was an exchange student; I didn't know she was pregnant. Then, two months later, she just vanished.>

<I thought she left you after Nori was born> Kari notes, confused.

<No, I mean she literally vanished. One day I came back from school and found that stupid rock inside one of her devices. Her clothes were on the floor, underwear and all.>

<Just like when I was teleported to Myridia. But how? Nothing I tried has worked> Noriko wonders.

The doors open. Leiko Tanaka enters the room, followed by two people with surgical masks and another three dressed with military gear.

<Have you tried being pregnant?> she asks.

<What?> is the collective question.

<The Heart is programmed to answer only to beings with two distinct genetic codes. There's only one known alien species with this kind of biological structure> she explains.

<The Drylon> Noriko understands.

<Olympians can't use it because they don't have real DNA. The Many can fool the scanning process thanks to its unstable genetic code; probably a side effect of the shapeshifting. But a pregnant female human is registered as a single individual with two distinct DNAs.>

Noriko's silver eyes fill up with electricity. It still hurts, but she's too mad to care.

<So that's the only reason I was born? To be a password!?>

<Essentially, yes> Leiko acknowledges, gesturing one of the men with surgical masks to come closer. He's holding a syringe.

<Why'd you contact me? I didn't know you were my mother. There was no need to offer me money to keep it a secret and prevent me from traveling to Japan.>

<I had to test you. I needed the final proof that you were the failure of a human being that I thought you were. You had no talent, no ambition, no goal; in a few years you'd be working in a fast food. You could've accepted my bribe and used it to become someone, or to blackmail me. But instead you chose to run away like a spoiled child.>

<You do have a strange idea of child support> Quantum quips.

<How can you talk to our daughter like that!?> Bob protests, struggling to break free of the handcuffs.

<Robert. You think you're so special just because you can procreate? A dog can do it. Don't suppose to be better than me just because my life revolves around something greater than fulfilling what animals are programmed to do.>

<I am not a failure. I am Null> Noriko says; her eyes are blindingly bright now. All of her muscles are tense, pulling the handcuffs away from the chair, but there are hardly any muscles to speak off on her eighteen year old body.

<And what does that mean? You are the smartest person on the planet. You have all the knowledge in the world. And what are you doing with it? Building toys and an ivory tower where you can hide because the world is too scary? I had access to your scrapbook for six weeks and I changed the world without even trying!!!>

The man with the syringe is coming closer. Quantum is trying to turn into any kind of energy, but the Core's power is preventing him from doing anything. They walked right into Leiko's trap…she was waiting for them the whole time.

Then he notices the room is getting darker. They're right in front of a very large window; he can see there are black clouds gathering above the city, moving unnaturally fast.

One of the armed men is holding Noriko steady while the doctor is about to inject something in her arm. She just needs a little more time.

<You stole my comic books> Quantum intervenes.

If Leiko is surprised by the sudden change of subject, she doesn't show it.

<I was studying you. Learning how you think. But you're just a loser wasting the gift to change the world on a juvenile power fantasy. Much like my daughter.>

<Maybe. But if I was a character in a comic book and the bad guy was making a big speech when I was prisoner, you know what I'd say right now?>

<Enlighten us.>

<"Shazam".>

The lightning smashes through the window, headed straight for Noriko. Leiko's men are pushed back, and the syringe falls to the floor.

If this were a normal lightning strike, it would already be over. But this is an update for Noriko's brain: it will take several seconds to complete.

Fueled by the indescribable adrenaline surge that accompanies the update, Noriko breaks free of the handcuffs. Still engulfed in electricity, she punches Leiko right on the nose.

<WHO'S A FAILURE NOW!?> she screams through the pain.

For the first time in her life, Leiko can't hide the fact that she's afraid.