Brave

"Are you sure you want to do this, honey?" asked Mike through the phone. "He did retire for a reason and has been pretty clear over the years that he didn't want to be bothered."

"I know, but..." Bobby sighed. "I just gotta know what happened."

"None of that was your fault, Bobby," Mike said gently. "Nor what happened after. You know that."

Bobby frowned. "I still wanna ask him..."

Mike held up a hand to the camera. "I know. I know." He gave Bobby a gentle smile. "I'm just worried you're going to get hurt, or he's going to tell you something you don't want to hear."

"Yeah," Billy replied. They were quiet for a moment, then Bobby heard a door slam through the open window of the car. An older man came out onto the porch of the old farmhouse, stopping when he saw Bobby's car. The man was large, muscular, and nearly ageless, except for his grey hair, which was the only sign of his true age. He shook his head and took a seat on the porch swing, clearly waiting for Bobby to come to him. "I should go, Mike. He just come out onto his porch."

"All right, love. Call me when you get back to the hotel, ok?"

"I will. Love you," Bobby replied and hung up. He sighed, dropped his phone in his jacket pocket, and got out of the car. He stood, stretched, and shoved his keys in his pants pocket before approaching the porch.

"I don't give interviews," grumbled the man on the porch when Billy was close enough to hear him.

"Um. I'm not a reporter," Bobby replied.

"You look like one."

Bobby grinned. "Yeah, I suppose I do in this suit."

The man stared at him for a long moment. "Well. Out with it. Whaddya want? If you're looking to buy the house, I ain't selling. If you want money or something, it's all in the bank. And if you want a superhero, you can call the Heroes League. I don't do that stuff anymore."

Bobby frowned. This wasn't going at all how he planned. "Um, sir, I'm not here for any of that." He put his hands in his pockets. "Um, do you remember me, Mega-?"

"Nope! Don't you use that name, boy! My given name is George Winkel." He peered at Bobby. "And why would I remember you?"

"Well, Mr. Winkel, you saved me. When I was a kid. I looked a lot different then."

George frowned, but looked thoughtful. "Saved you? From what? A burning building? Some evil henchmen? Glad I saved you," he said, flatly, and stood to go back inside. "Now get off my land, and go home."

"No! Wait! It wasn't anything like that. You got me away from my father when you lived across the street from us. When you were still with Power Woman."

The large man stopped and turned, really staring at Bobby this time. George's eyes went wide. "Bobby McKnight?"

Bobby nodded. "Although, I didn't look like this, then."

"No. No you didn't," George said, quietly. "You made it to California?"

Bobby nodded.

"Thank God!" He went over and sat back down on the porch swing. "Please, have a seat," he said, gesturing to one of the other chairs. "And, really, call me George. We're both adults, now."

Bobby pulled one of the other chairs over so he could face George and sat down. "I'm sorry to barge in on you like this," he said.

George shook his head. "It's all right, now that I know you're not someone from the Heroes League or a reporter. It's just me and my League pension here, anyway. Power Woman and I got divorced a long time ago."

"Yeah, I was sorry to hear that," Bobby said. "To be honest, there's a lot about that night that I'm still kinda confused about. It's why I came."

George shrugged. "What's so complicated about it? I heard you screaming, ran over to your house, saw your father beating the ever-living shit out you, and I got between him and you."

"Yeah, but, you just stood there and let him beat you instead!" Bobby exclaimed. "You could have thrown him across the room!"

George took a breath. "I couldn't do that."

"Why?"

He frowned and sighed again, staring out over the wheat fields next to the house. "I couldn't give up my secret identity," he said.

"But you let my Dad beat you!"

He turned back to Bobby, his eyes fierce. "What else what I supposed to do? He was going to kill you! Better for him to take it out on me than you!"

Bobby didn't know exactly what to say to that, since he knew it was true. His Dad was so angry about him coming out, especially since he was head of the Conservative Caucus at the time. "But why? Why were you there? How did you know to come and save me?"

"I suppose I can tell you now, since it's been over twenty years and my cover was blown anyway." George sighed, looking at something far away. "We were watching your house. Undercover. It's why Power Woman and I were there. We were hired by the UN to spy on him because he was really Cray Olivetti of the Olivetti Organization."

Bobby's jaw dropped. It was as if a veil was lifted, and so many things suddenly made much more sense. All those times his father would be gone for longs periods of time and the Olivetti Organization forced the Heroes League into action. His mother being afraid all the time. Their family always living in gated communities or secure compounds. The security and secret rooms father'd had built into each house that he thought Bobby hadn't known about. But also how he'd never let Bobby have anything about the Heroes League in the house. No comics, movies, even news articles. Bobby shook his head. "I thought he was just a senator and then a member of the President's cabinet, that's why we had all that security and stuff. I never put it together."

George just shook his head again. "We'd tapped into your house's security systems. His guys were good, but ours were better. But when I saw him beating you bloody on the monitors because you refused to wear a dress and told him that you weren't a girl, well... I couldn't just stand by and watch."

Bobby stared at the man. "I--" he began, then was quiet again. George just rocked back and forth on the swing, staring out at the fields but not really looking at them. "Did you retire because of me?" Bobby asked.

"What?" George said, genuinely surprised. "No!"

"But, you were ridiculed in the press! The Conservative Coalition called you--"

"I know what they called me, Bobby, but no, it wasn't about you. Not really. I messed up the mission. As soon as I got you to safety, Olivetti disappeared, since your father found out who I was. Your father sent a double to take up his senate seat for him and I became a liability for the Heroes League, since Olivetti now had a grudge against me. It was just easier for me to retire and get out of the superhero business."

"But you lost everything because of me!" Bobby said.

George turned to him. "I wouldn't have done anything differently, though. And honestly, kid, I'm ok with that. Sometimes you can do the right thing and still lose." He grinned. "Besides, I haven't had to use my superpowers for much more than carrying a cow or rescuing a fellow farmer who tipped over his tractor. It's a quiet life, and I like it that way."

"I don't understand," Bobby said. "You saved people all the time! Like that woman who got jumped by the gang in Central Park!"

"Yeah, but I killed six men to do it. Sure, I saved the woman, but she saw me kill these guys right in front of her. Took her years of therapy to get over being traumatized. I sent her the money for it." George stared at his shoes. "And I killed a bunch of guys, and they all had people who cared about them, even if they were assholes. I'm not proud of that, Bobby." He sighed. "I did a lot of things in the Heroes League I'm not really proud of, even if people consider me a hero for doing it. I did what I had to, but I see those faces every day. I can sleep at night, now, but those first years of retirement... They were rough."

"But you were only twenty-five!"

"I know." George looked at Bobby for a long moment. "Why did you come here, Bobby, truly?"

"I--" It was his turn, now, to stare at his shoes. "I wanted to know why you saved me that day and why you didn't use your powers. I thought it was because of what happened with me. But I also wanted to thank you. They sent me away so fast that I didn't get a chance to talk to you, and, well... No matter what anyone else says, you'll always be my superhero. You were really brave to stand up to him like that. I mean, I didn't find out until recently that it was you. Grandmother told me right before she died that it was you and the Heroes League that got me to her after that night. I had an idea, but didn't know for sure until she confirmed it."

George nodded. "I'm sorry to hear she's gone. I got to talk to her every so often to check up on you."

"You did?"

He nodded. "Nice woman. Really loved you a lot."

"Yeah. Yeah, she did," Bobby said and they went quiet again for a while.

"So, last time I talked to your grandmother, she had said you'd gotten married?" George asked. Bobby smiled and began to tell him about his life: what happened after leaving his father, his transition, then finishing high school and nursing school, then about later meeting Mike and getting married. George listened and asked questions, smiling at how well Bobby had done for himself. After that, they talk about other things until the sun started to dip below the horizon. George stood and held out a hand. "It's been good to see you, Bobby, but you really should go. Probably best not to be seen with a disgraced superhero."

Bobby stood, shook his hand, and said, "I should go, but not because of that. I have to get back to the hospital tomorrow night." Bobby left the porch to walk back to the car. At the bottom of the steps he turned and said, "You really were brave that night, you know."

George shook his head. "I wasn't the brave one. I was just doing what had to be done."

Bobby blinked. "But--"

George smiled. "Goodbye Bobby. Safe trip home."

Bobby nodded and drove back to the hotel.