Despacito (Slowly)

While Steven was, quite honestly, feeling a bit overwhelmed as Dr. Moench and Dr. Alraune made him go from the Gift shop to the HR department for his security badge to be created -something that the HR representative had to complain about because he was the one who still remembered the Bathroom incident – later to  take a few pictures for said badge just as Dr. Alraune started texting the university about the student who would join them for the fall semester but who needed some important validations due to external situations, and Dr. Moench started explaining what exactly would Steven’s new obligations would be, Marc took his chance to study the parts of the building they had never been to, make sure he knew the faces of the guards they passed, and of course, kept an eye out for Roonie.

While it was true that his senses were completely limited to what Steven could perceive, it didn’t mean that they did the same thing with the information. As an example, when Steven looked at the note Khonshu had written them, well, Marc assumed his love saw every symbol and connected them as Marc would connect letters. He had no idea what Jake made of Egyptian handwriting, but for Marc? While the symbols themselves were nothing but nice drawings, he could tell a couple of things about Khonshu’s state of mind when he had written it, as the strokes were calm, collected, and none of them had made huge marks on the paper. He hadn’t seen Dr. Moench approach Steven because Steven had the eyes of the body completely focused on Khonshu’s note, but he had heard steps. Soft steps, not a threat, so he hadn’t felt the need to make Steven change focus.

For the first time, as they walked to get Steven’s photo taken, he wondered about that. He’d always been good at spatial awareness, at knowing who was around him. It had always been an advantage in the battlefield and later in his mercenary work. Probably had saved his life enough for them to reach Khonshu’s temple. But now he had seen Steven read some hieroglyphs as if they were English, and he wondered if dead languages were as easy to understand for his beloved as special awareness was easy for him. And of course, there was Jake…

Jake, who had never gotten them lost and now Marc knew that his soulmate had somehow managed to pass the Knowledge on his first try, despite only having been living in London for two months.

Marc had never thought of themselves as anything special, he had been taught to see his Alters as an aberration, as something that had to be “fixed”. But now, with his memories of loving them since childhood back, with his memories of Khonshu loving and supporting them until he couldn’t anymore, he wondered…

I don’t think you should question those things, Brave One.

Marc blinked, as he heard Khonshu’s voice in his head. Only, it was not really Khonshu’s voice, as their Bird was looking at Steven and the proceedings with such admiration in his eyes, Marc swore the God would grow feathers just to peacock. He looked like what Marc figured a proud father would look. So it was not Khonshu speaking, not now.

It was a memory.

A memory of a time before the Asylum, but that he just couldn’t pinpoint, or figure out why it had come to him now.

It WAS the first time he had wondered about their abilities, wasn’t it? And if it wasn’t… why Khonshu didn’t want him questioning them? Had he something to do with them? But if he had, why wouldn’t he mention them?

He was trying to figure out that particular mystery when, out of the corner of their eye, he noticed a very spooked Ronnie. The damn cultist was still working there and had been hiding from Steven.

Questions about the past forgotten, Marc started to plan how to get to the man, and to the answers they needed.

*          *          *

Steven was finally starting to believe that it was true, that he had been given a raise and a huge opportunity, when Dr. Alarune introduced him to his Teacher Assistant and main Intern, a lovely American black woman named Reese, who immediately perked up at knowing that Steven was also vegan because “That way I can steal your lunches and not worry about my diet”. It took Steven a bit to realize that Reese was joking, but after that, they got along well as she explained the different responsibilities that Interns had in Dr. Alarune’s department, although Dr. Alarune kept interrupting to say that on top of whatever Reese told Steven to do? He was to be on translating duties at least two hours a day.

He also ended up somehow roped into agreeing to join the Interns for Karaoke night in a couple of weeks. To be completely honest, he was thinking maybe Jake was more suited for that.

“Siempre que pongan canciones en español, mi corazoncito,” Jake had said in their head. “No le hago al Elvis.”

Still, with everything he had to do and learn now, the new places and responsibilities that were far more complicated than selling sugar to bored kids that had been forced to come to the museum, they were not ready to leave until after pretty much everyone except for the security guards had left.

Which was exactly what they wanted since they knew that without witnesses? Ronnie would try to make a move to find out what had happened to his Leader.

“Remember the plan, Steven… just act as you used to do, before we remembered,” Marc whispered, keeping an eye on the darkened halls. As they walked around the exhibits, of old statues, sarcophaguses and relics stolen from Egypt, Steven knew that Marc and Jake were having some flashbacks to their reencounter with the Old Bird. And he also could feel Khonshu’s presence, keeping an eye on them, ready to protect them in any way he could now that they were his Avatar and thus he could be more active than when they were children.

As Steven acknowledged that, he also realized that it was not a new feeling. He had never been really afraid of walking alone at night as long as he could see part of the moon, and now he was realizing that it was because the moon meant Khonshu was watching over them. Even when Steven didn’t remember, the feeling was familiar.

Like being covered with feather wings.

“I know what to do, Luv,” Steven replied silently once again marveling how easy it was to communicate now that the walls of the past had been truly broken. Before, he had needed to vocalize his thoughts so that Marc (and Jake, even if he hadn’t remembered Jake back then) would hear him. Now, he could keep a conversation with singlets in the physical world and one with his Alters at the same time in their mind space without a hitch. “Stutter, stumble over my words and then run so he chases us into the shadows, yes?”

“Solo sácalo de la luz, lejos de las cámaras,” Jake finished. They were on a mission, and while Steven had been trying to convince Reese that he was not some sort of android created to translate ancient languages by Stark Industries, Jake and Marc had been working on the details on how to make it work.

“You sure? I mean, I could let you two beat Ronnie five ways to Sunday in front of the cameras just the day I got a new job so I can get fired tomorrow, break the monotony,” Steven joked just as the man they were talking about stepped out of the shadows.

“Grant… you are far away from your approved area,” Ronnie said, darkly, and obviously trying to sound menacing.  Of course, after Harrow? He actually sounded like a child trying to impress their friends.

“Ronnie… uh… hi?” Steven took a step back, following the plan as he ‘nervously’ fumbled to find his new ID. “Dunno if you heard? I got a bit of a promotion? I can be here now… I have… uh… my card somewhere? Besides… we know each other, right? Even if you left me alone with a genocidal maniac….”

“Don’t call Harrow that! He is going to bring a new era of Justice as the Avatar of Ammut!” Ronnie yelled, as he walked closer to Steven. Inwardly, Steven smiled as that was exactly what they wanted, so he stepped back, pretending to be cowed despite knowing that Marc or Jake could take the security guard in about 5 minutes without breaking a sweat, and he could probably do it too in about seven.

“You could do it in 5 too, Steven,” Marc grinned in his ear.

“Si, corazón. No te menosprecies,” Jake agreed. “Recuerda, picas como abeja.”

“I sting like a bee, but you guys hit like a truck,” Steven quipped as he pretended to stumble into the shadows behind a column. At the same time, he spoke out loud to Ronnie. “Harrow was a crazy man who was planning on a world genocide!”

At the use of the past tense, Ronnie grew angrier and ran, following Steven… only he wasn’t met by Steven, but by Marc’s fist right on his face, dropping unconscious immediately.

“That was a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Marc shrugged. “They really need to hire better security guards around here.”

“O entrenarlos mejor,” Jake laughed. “Vamos, par de dos, hora de subir a este idiota a mi taxi para que empiece lo divertido.”

*          *          *

Layla was still chasing some leads when Marc texted her to meet them at his storage unit. Despite no longer needed it to hide from Steven, her husband was very reluctant to let it go and apparently, he had finally found some use for it.

She hadn’t expected that the “use” was to keep a cultist tied up to a chair, blindfolded and unconscious.

“So… who’s this?” She asked, pointing at the man. He didn’t look very beaten up, which was a bit unusual. Layla knew that most people put up a bigger fight before getting tied up when it came to a dangerous situation.

“Steven’s co-worker, Ronnie,” Marc explained. “And before you tell me we’re not allowed to rough up every person in the museum who badmouth Steven? This guy is also a Ammut’s follower.”

Layla chuckled at Marc’s addition. To be fair, she also wanted to punch some of Steven’s co-workers, his boss Donna in specific, after hearing how badly they treated him.

“So, you got him to see if we could get more info on Harrow?”  Layla asked as the boys nodded. It was a bit hard to know exactly who was fronting, as they were also sitting and, upon arriving, she had heard the three of them speak. “That’s smart. Marc’s plan?”

“Con un poco de mi ayuda, si,” Jake said in, winking at her making her shiver a bit. She hadn’t forgotten his promise of a “proper” serenade and now that he was out and about, now that it was pretty clear that he was also in love with Steven and Marc -and, while neither her husband or boyfriend had talked to her about it yet, that it was very much reciprocated- he was far more overt in his flirting with her. “Ya sabes, somos un equipo.”

“A good team, too. So, do we keep him blindfolded? So he won’t know he was taken by ‘Steven’?”

“No,” Steven shook his head and got up from the chair. As he did, and for the first time since Cairo, the Suit came to him, covering him from head to toe in the elegant white suit that marked that he was the one fronting. That proved that they were still Khonshu’s Avatar. “We want him to see us, to know he’s facing Khonshu’s wrath.”

Layla paused a bit at that. She was still not used to how now the boys talked about the Moon god. Sure, now that she knew Khonshu, she could understand that a bit more. The God was nothing like what Marc had originally told her, but it was still weird to see Steven so angry in Khonshu’s behalf.

“What do you mean?”

“Harrow betrayed Khonshu… The Old Bird considered him a friend, we’re sure of that, because that’s how Khonshu is with his Avatars, and then killed us before trying to kill half of mankind, so… This is a bit personal for us,” Steven said, but there was a bit of Marc’s accent on his words. As if they were talking at the same time.

As if they were both angry not just at what Harrow did to them, but for Khonshu’s feelings.

“Ok. I will follow your lead, then. Is Jake ok with being in the back, back seat?” She decided not to voice her observations about them and Khonshu. She wasn’t sure if her boys were ready to hear how much their attitude had changed in such a short time, especially since she really didn’t have the whole story yet.

“He says that it’s better that we keep him as a secret weapon,” Steven replied. It was only then when it dawned on Layla that the reason why her boyfriend was fronting completely, without the other two piping in as it had been happening since their return from the Other Void, was because he wanted to keep the Suit. To keep that particular intimidation tool on their grasp.

Layla wanted to ask something more, but then the blindfolded man groaned, and so it was time to act. She lowered the lights of the storage room before standing behind the man. From her point of view she could see why the boys had chosen this place. With the lights the way they were, Steven practically shone in the white suit. And the mirrors made it look as if he was more than one person. Which he was, but that was besides the point. The man in the chair didn’t know that.

And when Steven gave her the signal, she took the blindfold of their prisoner off.

*          *          *

Jake podía ver a Marquitos temblar de coraje a su lado en su mundo interno. Sabía bien porque era, ya que al final, Jake también sentía la misma ira: Ronnie había tratado de lastimar a Steven, y eso nunca les gustaba. Pero a diferencia de Marc, Jake tenía practica en mantenerse a raya hasta que era necesario. Así que, para ayudar a su cielo hermoso a tranquilizarse, Jake tomo su mano mientras observaban lo que Steven veía a través de los ojos del cuerpo.

“Nuestro corazón sabe lo que está haciendo, mi cielo,” He told him, as Marc looked at him, startled. “Necesitamos confiar en él.”

And that was also true. Him and Marc? They were great at fighting. But when it came to words? Steven was the champion and right now, they needed words. Torture would get them nothing but lies, and while out of the three of them Marc was the only one who knew how to play Chess -and was damn good at it- when it came to verbal chess? Steven was unbeaten.

“Where the bloody hell am I? Who the fuck are you?” Ronnie woke up with a start, focusing immediately on them, just as Steven had planned.

“Language, Ronnie, we’re not savages here,” Steven said, calmly walking to stand right in front of him. “I’ve got some questions, if you give me the answers, we’ll let you go. It’s as easy as that.”

Jake knew that Steven was lying there, as they had already decided that Ronnie was going to jail after this. The man was part of a genocidal cult, was still wearing their tattoo, so the cops would also love to talk to him.

What surprised Jake was that Ronnie didn’t seem to recognize Steven’s voice.

“I don’t have to talk to you, weirdo! Let me go!!” The man tried to struggle against the ropes, but Marc was too good at tying people up. Ronnie wouldn’t get free unless he somehow hulked out, or they decided to untie him.

“Oh, but you have to talk to me… after all, don’t you want to find out what happened to your dear leader Arthur Harrow?” Steven pressed, and Jake smiled. He remembered how much the cult blindly adored Harrow, even if he didn’t understand it. So it was a good plan to try and get Ronnie with that.

“What have you done to him, you monster?!” As if to prove Jake’s point, it was only then when Ronnie started really trying to fight to free himself. Because apparently, his own safety didn’t matter, but Harrow’s? Oh, that was worth dying for.

Brainwashed pendejo.

“Monster? Me? I was not the one ready to kill babies in the name of his man-eating goddess,” Steven said, grabbing a second chair to sit in, as if he was in a fancy meeting instead of interrogating a prisoner. “I believe your Harrow was a bigger monster than anyone you’ve ever met.”

“Harrow isn’t a monster! Harrow is a god! Grandson of Ammut herself, Son of Sobek the true keeper of the Sun!”

Jake blinked. THAT was new. Harrow himself had been full of hot air and pretentiousness, but he had never claimed to be a god.

“You can’t truly believe that, my friend,” Steven calmly stated. “The Enead never had children with humans. If Harrow was claiming that…”

“Shows what you know!” Ronnie laughed, like a mad man. “Harrow was conceived within our church, everyone there knows the story. That’s why we were waiting for him to come back, to lead us to Ammut’s resting place!”

“And you believed this with no proof for how long?” Jake heard Steven ask, wondering exactly what kind of fool Ronnie was if he truly thought Harrow was part god. The man had been a madman, yes, a murderer, and a traitor.

Ronnie was also an idiot. Steven was hardly making any effort with the interrogation, the way the security guard was talking.  However, his next words made Jake’s blood freeze.

“Oh, we had proof! After all, only someone with Ennead’s blood in their veins could’ve found Ammut’s resting place! The prophet said so!”

*          *          *

After that outburst, it became obvious that they wouldn’t get anything useful from Ronnie, so Steven let Marc take over. When he saw the suit change into the ceremonial armor that Marc preferred, Ronnie’s eyes grew wide as saucers, not with fear but with hate.

“Khonshu’s slave! You heretic…!” Marc didn’t let him finish, punching him hard enough to render him unconscious again so they wouldn’t have to hear his fanatical ranting.

“That was a waste of time,” Marc said, the mask coming off as soon as Ronnie was out of combat, and Layla blindfolded him again, just in case. “Everything he said was nonsense.”

“I could ask Tawaret if that would be possible,” Layla told him, as she came closer to hug him. As always, she could tell exactly what he, what they needed.  “Just to be sure. I mean… just because we have no record in any legend of the Ennead courting humans, it doesn’t mean it would be impossible. The Greek had many, many demigods, and just six years ago the fact that Thor was dating a human was in every gossip magazine in London.”

“The Ennead are not like them,” Steven said in their inner space, and Marc repeated his words for Layla.  “I don’t see someone willing sleeping with a thing with a crocodile head.”

“Doesn’t hurt to ask,” Layla shrugged. “Besides, all we have points to the fact that Harrow was probably part of the cult even when working as Khonshu’s Avatar… and Tawaret told me that a god can read their Avatar’s mind. You guys speak to him in your inner space, right?”

“Sometimes,” Marc agreed. He didn’t add that before, in their childhood, Khonshu always asked for permission first, nor that in occasions, they had been able to push him away. Mostly Marc, when he didn’t want to talk, when he felt like if he was imposing on him. Much less that since Marc had become Khonshu’s avatar, the god had always been cautious not to contact him in the mindspace. Now Marc realized it was because Khonshu was respecting Jake and his wishes, because if the old Bird had reached them there? He’d have revealed himself to Steven immediately by the contact.

“So… an Avatar can’t lie to their god. How did Harrow manage it? Him being not completely human could be a reason,” Layla pointed out, and damn her, she was right. That was the piece of the puzzle they couldn’t figure out, how had Harrow kept Khonshu blind about his true nature for so long?

And there was something else about what Ronnie had said that was bothering Marc, only that he couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly. Problem was, it was more of a gut feeling, since Steven was the one who knew about the Ennead, and Jake was far better than him at figuring out lies. But he couldn’t discuss his gut feeling easily with them, not when they were with Layla. Marc shoved that away and started untying the guard, long enough to separate him from the chair.

They were not going to kill the man, of course. Instead, they were going to take a page of a New York superhero that they all had seen in the news and leave him hanging from a lamp post close to a police station.

Then they would have to call Khonshu and tell him what they had found out.

And for some reason, Marc was a bit wary of that.

*          *          *

Layla waited until she was alone in her apartment to call Tawaret. It was not that she had any problems with the boys seeing how Tawaret took her mouth to talk to her, of course. She couldn’t, not when Marc and Steven shifted so freely between each other to have a proper conversation together.

But she had seen how adamant the three of them were about how it was impossible that Harrow was more than just a man. It was as if they were determined to ignore anything weird that they had seen -like, how had Harrow found Ammut’s staff? How had he gained her ability to judge others, when Ammut was locked in her ushabti, unable to interact with the universe at large? And of course, how had he been able to fool gods who could read his mind? Even if Steven was right and there was a betrayer in the Ennead, the other gods would’ve been able to see the lie, no?

And yet, neither Marc nor Steven wanted to delve more in those questions. Jake was a bit more willing, saying that there was a chance that Harrow had some sort of powers like an Avenger or something… but even Jake drew a line at believing that the man could’ve been fathered by a god.

So because she didn’t want them arguing with her and Tawaret every two other sentences, she had waited to be alone.

After going through the motions of the always cheerful greeting her goddess gave her, Layla explained to her what had happened, what Roonie had told them, and her suspicions. And then, for the first time since they had met, Tawaret went very, very quiet.

“Tawaret?” She asked, after a few minutes had passed.

“I… I’m sorry Layla, it’s just… “ the goddess’ voice echoed in her mind, obviously troubled. “What you are saying… what you are implying… is that Sobek did the worst crime a god of the Ennead can commit. Taking advantage of a human is already bad, that is why Khoshu is in trouble… despite… everything. But fathering a child with one? Oh, no… that is… That would be… the punishment would be… I just can’t say it!”

“What do you mean?” Layla asked, now very, very worried.  “Other gods had child with humans… at least according to legend…”

“The Ennead are not like the Olympians!” Tawaret said, as close as anger as Layla had ever heard her. “We exist in a completely different plane from humanity, and we did so even when we walked the Earth like Khonshu does. Our energy… our energy would kill you or drive you insane if we ever mixed. So Ma’at set it as a law, that we were never EVER to do what the Olympians do. And after she left the throne to Ra… and Osiris… that has always been the rule.”

Layla bit her lips, as she considered how to break to Tawaret that laws were not always followed. It was funny, since she knew that her goddess must know, after all, she was centuries old. But at the same time, sometimes Tawaret seemed to her like a small child to be protected.

“Ok. So… no one who respects Ma’at would do it,” She began, slowly. “But… if say, a follower of Asfut wanted to create more chaos… and didn’t care about the human who they took, would it be possible? Could a human/Ennead hybrid exist? And could that being hide his thoughts from you?”

Tawaret was silent once again, but Layla could almost hear her shuffling her cue cards in her head.

“It… would be possible, I think,” She finally said. “Probably would need to take over the ‘father’s body in order to impregnate the mother… and it would be a long shot for the mother and the baby to survive childbirth. But yes… if the god didn’t care about Ma’at and the human? An Ennead could have a child with a human.”

*          *          *

Jake no podía dormir.

He was holding Steven close, and knew Marc was doing the same on the other side of the bed that they had conjured in the common room of their Inner space. Sooner or later, he knew, they would go back to sleep in their private rooms but at just 48 hours of having reunited again? They needed this contact. They needed to know they were together again, that they wouldn’t be separated.

And yet, not even the peaceful sound of his soulmates’ soft snores and the body’s hear beat that echoed around the inner space could led him to slumber.

Part of him wished he could do as Estebancito, his Corazón, and just travel to Khonshu’s house alone to talk to the old Bird. But he knew that if he did? Estebancito and Marquitos would follow him and Jake wasn’t sure his beloveds were ready to hear what he wanted to discuss with their padrino.

Jake sighed again, as Steven sighed, moving around and, still sleeping, placed his head right under Jake’s chin. As if even in dreams Steven knew Jake needed the comfort.

His Corazón was good like that.

But it still didn’t help Jake to sleep, because after what had happened to Ronnie, all he could think of was of his one memory that he knew for sure had been damaged by the electroshocks. The one memory that only came to haunt him when he was too stressed, when he was feeling too lonely. The one that had almost disappeared once Khonshu was back on their lives.

He couldn’t remember the context of it. That was what the electroshocks had taken. In his head, it was a lone image, of Wendy Spector’s hate filled face, the one time she spoke Spanish around them probably because she thought they couldn’t understand her.

Marquitos and Estebancito couldn’t, of course. But Jake could.

“Jamás debí aceptar a un monstruo como tú en mi casa,” She had said, voice full of venom. “Debí decirle a mi madre que no eras mi problema.”

Jake didn’t know what it meant, but he knew what it implied. That’s why he couldn’t tell his Corazón and his Cielo, because he wasn´t sure if the woman had been telling the truth, or if it had been wishful thinking brought on by alcohol.

What he didn't know was why he was remembering now.