Chapter Text
The writing was on the wall in the years after Doctor Andross had been exiled to Venom-- a sentence that ought to have been a surefire execution but something that, years later, the Cornerians would realize was the gravest of mistakes.
As any rebellion did, it began in whispers. Dissonant voices clamoring in safe spaces-- pubs with flickering neon lights in the poor districts, alleyways where shadows crawled, and houses where only the trusted were invited. The first hint of rebellion blossomed in Macbeth. The businessmen there had never been keen on Corneria’s legislations, particularly the ones that tried to hamper their business to let Cornerian businesses flourish. It’s no surprise when Andross reached out to the disgruntled Macbethians that he soon found sympathizers. Those sympathizers soon reached out to their contacts on Eladard. And those contacts then passed the word on to their Katinan friends. And then from Katina, the word came to Corneria.
Andross was alive and he wanted his vengeance in the way of a new world order. One that saw the Cornerians toppled off of their lofty throne.
When Andrew heard about it, he didn’t believe it. And why would he? The idea of his uncle actually being alive all of these years later was something that was too big for reality. So he shunned the whispers in the first month out of self-preservation. But all eyes were on him. Even though he didn’t share his uncle’s surname, escaping under the shadow of Andross’s exile had been impossible. Everyone knew his relation to Andross and the harassment began soon after word had slipped to Corneria that Andross was looking to recruit into his budding army.
Andrew had barely been accepted into the Cornerian Flight Academy -- not because of a lack of skill but because of a lack of money. He had been interviewed several times before being admitted fully-- interviewed a few more times than the average person, in fact, which is something that always rested in the back of his mind. He didn’t need to wonder why. The nephew of the madman Andross trying to get his foot in the door at the Flight Academy? Maybe even going on to serve in the CDF? That raised eyebrows but Andrew reassured them that he really just wanted to learn engineering. Particularly engineering things that flew… which, of course, meant he had to learn how to fly himself. Which meant he had been shoved into flight lessons even though he would have rather been at the lab, making drones that could weasel their way into the vending machines to grab him an extra snack.
He had not been able to afford living on the campus so he took the subway back home. It was something Andrew supposed was shameful but he let that roll off of him like all their stares, all their comments about the type of person his uncle had been (no… no, Andrew reminded himself to not use the past tense anymore because somehow his uncle was still alive… somehow…). It had been hard for a while, after the trial. But then Andrew had learned how to cope with it. He learned how to build walls around himself, anger festering silently because to speak out would invite more attention and his mother had told him to never attract attention to himself. She lived fearfully and he lived numbly.
Trapped in a myriad of thoughts, Andrew clung onto one of the handrails as the subway sped down its rooted course. His golden eyes glazed over, staring at where some gum had been shoved on the side of one of the seats. He looked at it but did not really look at it, letting himself work through his confusion and anxiety. An MP3 player hung at his hip, clasped to his belt that kept his pants from slipping past his bony hips. The music was a pleasant instrumental-- synthwave, something that reminded him of his uncle, funnily enough. He had not been able to listen to those old albums in a while. Not until recently. Maybe it was a sign, maybe it wasn’t.
He was so lost in thought that he did not notice her approach. A light punch to his upper left arm jerked him back into reality, his eyes snapping wide. His natural instinct was to cringe and draw away but he dug the soles of his boots into the ground. He was glad he did-- this time it was not some stranger here to heckle him about his uncle’s crimes. It was a familiar face-- a simian, like him, though two heads shorter, black-furred, and carrying a knowing grin across her face.
“Eva,” Andrew said in mild surprise. She was a dropout, just a year or two ahead of him back in public school. Now she haunted Corneria City’s streets doing… whatever it was dropouts did. Andrew was never quite certain.
“Heya Andy,” Eva said, grabbing onto the railing next to him and leaning into it with a cocky sway. “Fancy seein’ you here of all places.”
“I… take this train every day,” Andrew fumbled.
“Ohhh. Headed home for the day?” Eva asked.
“Yep,” Andrew replied stoically.
“I was meaning to drop by and see how you were doing. I guess it’s lucky I saw you here,” Eva said in that tone that made Andrew very aware that she had something on her mind. He wasn’t even sure if this was luck… or if she had spied him at the station and had followed him on board.
“Yeah?” Andrew asked.
Eva tossed a glance around the subway. The car was mostly empty-- just a few passengers scattered about in various places, all giving each other a wide berth. No eye contact at all. Typical for a day at the station. But the way Eva scrutinized each way was anything but typical. Her azure irises bore lethal glints, cutting into each stranger as if to dissect their motives. And then she put an arm gingerly around Andrew’s shoulder-- with some difficulty, too, being so much shorter. She pressed down, drawing Andrew in closer.
“I’m going to cut to the chase, Andy,” Eva began. “I really just wanted to hear your hot take on what’s been going on. Y’know… these rumors.”
“Of course,” Andrew replied with a scowl, shrugging off her arm.
Eva’s smile flickered for a moment. “I guess you’ve been getting a lot of people wanting to know what you think. Or more importantly… what you plan to do.”
“Yeah, you’d be right about that,” Andrew answered brusquely, turning off the steady beat of the synthwave track still drumming in his ears. He sighed, resting his headphones around his slender neck. “And if you want my hot take, I guess you’re gonna have to remain disappointed.”
“Not wanting to share, huh?” Eva quirked a brow.
“More like I’d need one before I gave it out,” Andrew retorted and Eva looked genuinely surprised.
“Yeah? Kinda surprising coming from you. Didn’t you used to adore him?” Eva asked.
“I…” Andrew began in a fluster, feeling his red cheeks redden even further. “It’s not that I used to… I still… Ugh, it’s complicated, okay?”
Eva’s smirk felt like a piece of shrapnel digging into those walls he had learned to build. It severed that numbness he had learned to adopt. He hated it.
“I figured you’d be first aboard. You know there’s a group leaving tonight to go to Venom,” Eva said. “My big brother’s going with ‘em. I tried to get a spot on the ship but he told me and Charlie that we’d have to stick around here. Y’know, just in case things go south. Still got my Ma to care for.”
The sureness of her voice mixed with the information she gave hit him like a gust of winter-cold wind bursting through the door of a warm home. He felt himself lock onto the spot, rooted in shock. There were Cornerians leaving to go join Andross… tonight? There were people actually wanting to go with him? The thought made Andrew’s heart fly with hope. Hope… what a strange thing to have.
“Tonight…?” Andrew questioned her softly.
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Eva asked him. “I thought you would. Oops.”
Her tone dropped slightly. She was doing this on purpose, Andrew realized. She was trying to goad something into happening… but what?
“Yeah, there’s a lot of people looking to go to Venom. Can’t believe that’s a thing, y’know, since Venom’s supposed to be haunted or whatever,” Eva said, her voice still low to not draw attention from the other passengers. “But when your uncle reached out… I guess it’s got people shaken. Making people think that anything is possible. Making people think that if someone can cheat death, then maybe they’re smart enough to shake things up top. Get some sense of balance in the world.”
There was a lot about that message that was appealing. Every day, it seemed the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. But the people up top didn’t do shit about it. Everyone was still expected to toe the line, even when the people who made the rules did not bother to play by the same set of rules. And sure, Andross was a murderer. His experiments had caused a section of Corneria City to get blown sky high but that, at the end of the day, was just rumors too. And conspiracy theorists had taken to pointing the finger at the Cornerian government, claiming the General had ordered those weapons created. Claiming their detonation was just something to pin on Andross. Something to get rid of him.
“The world can’t stay how it is. Y’know that, right?” Eva asked. “It’s like… there’s just a pressure that’s building. One day, the pressure will be too much. Or maybe… that day’s already here, huh? I don’t know. Something to think about.”
Andrew felt his words fall into nothingness. The subway began to slow, brakes screeching slightly as the transport drew to an eventual halt. As the doors opened, Eva began towards them, a hop in her step. She tossed a look over her shoulder back at Andrew, smiling.
“Y’know, Andy, that Academy uniform isn’t really your color,” the sly simian said with a wink as she stepped out the door.
When the subway carried on again a few minutes later, Andrew was left more pensive than before, his fingers clutching onto the railing with vivid emotion that he could not put words to. Instead, he flipped his MP3 player back on and kept listening, trying to find some answer in the wavering beats of synthwave. No matter how hard he tried, all he could think of were jagged, fragmented thoughts. Thoughts that didn’t fit together like puzzle pieces. They scraped against each other, causing friction, sparks. The way they did not seem to resolve in his mind drove him mad by the time his stop arrived.
The walk from the station to his home was painted by a cloudy sunset. A brisk, coldsnap had settled over Corneria City and Andrew nestled further into his uniform jacket, thinking about the much warmer one back in his coat closet. The cold spurred his steps faster, until the doorway of his home came into sight. They had lived in the same home all of his life. It was a ramshackle, old house-- full of needed repairs and leaks, but it was still home. It would always be home.
It became apparent to him at once that something had transpired while he was gone. Where glass ought to have sat on the door was a large tarp, taped over neatly. Fear spiking in his heart, the simian grabbed the door handle and flung it open, stepping inside and expecting to see a mess.
Yet strangely enough, everything seemed to be in order. A waste bin nearby sat filled with glass and Andrew inspected it quickly. At the bottom was a large rock, no doubt the culprit of why the door’s glass had been shattered. He frowned and shook his head. It had been a few years since something like this had happened. Last time, it had been some bullies at his old school. They’d gotten away with a slap on the wrist, of course. Even the authorities could not really “fault” people for throwing things at the home of Andross’s family. Of course they had not said that aloud but Andrew had known it in his heart.
“Mom?” he called.
“In the kitchen, sweetie!” his mother hollered back.
He peeked down the hall towards the sound of her voice. The scent of casserole hit his nose and the radio sounded out an old timey tune from the kitchen. He sat his belongings onto the bed in his room, peeling off his uniform at once. Andrew threw on some casual clothes-- jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and some socks. He stumbled out of his room, sliding somewhat on the vinyl tile floor. A few framed photos passed him by on his way to the kitchen, not even sparing them a look. They had his uncle in them and Andrew was convinced that glancing once at them would have made him run out the door to track down Eva again. He silently thanked himself for not asking her where the would-be rebels were meeting tonight. That was inviting too much temptation… and Andrew still was trying to untangle his emotions.
He sauntered into the kitchen as his mother, Marlene, pulled the casserole out of the oven, setting it down next to some cornbread she had made. She turned to look at her son, a warm smile on her face.
“Right in time for dinner. How was school today?” Marlene said cheerily, wiping her hands eagerly upon the apron tied over her floral dress.
Andrew stifled a groan. The way she asked it made him feel like he was still a kid, not a graduated young man enrolled at the prestigious Flight Academy. But the way she smiled made him smile. He grabbed some oven mitts and helped her move the warm dishes over to their meager dining table.
“It was fine. Same old, same old,” Andrew replied. “How was your day?”
“Oh, it was nice enough,” Marlene said pleasantly.
“What happened to the door?” Andrew asked.
“Oh, you know, neighbor’s kids,” Marlene smiled. Andrew had severe doubts that was the case but he opted to not voice those thoughts.
They began dinner shortly after. Andrew found his appetite withering as he looked at the plate full of bread and casserole sitting in front of him. His mother’s cooking was always incredible, he knew, but a certain sense of guilt plagued him as he tried to eat. He cast a wary look out the window, where a deep darkness had fallen over the city. It was impossible to determine much about outside, even with the occasional street lamp. But as he looked out, he thought about Eva’s brother again. He thought about how they would even make it to Venom. He thought about the warmth in the household and how Venom probably didn’t have foods like hot casseroles… The more he thought about that, the more Andrew began to realize he was trying to talk himself into something. Or… maybe? He was trying to talk himself out of something.
“You’re quieter than normal,” Marlene observed after blowing gently on a forkful of casserole.
“I ran into Eva Galaxicos on the train,” Andrew began, words falling out before he could bar them back up. Marlene’s demeanor shifted, freezing like a headlight had fallen on her but she had forgotten her line. Andrew looked up, taking note of the fear in her ale brown eyes. She could not bear to look at him and when she looked away, he could see a sadness about her. One that was all too telling.
“You knew,” Andrew stated as the realization came over him. “There’s people going to Venom.”
Marlene prodded at her casserole again.
“I did,” his mother said emotionlessly.
“You didn’t say anything to me?” Andrew’s posture straightened, rising tall. His palms rested on the tabletop.
“What is there to say?” Marlene asked. “There are people who have made your uncle into a symbol. They are fanatics and no good will come from this.”
“Did you know he was alive all this time?” Andrew asked and Marlene’s brow furrowed.
“I did not,” she replied. “I’m not even sure if the person that claims to be him is actually him. Not that it matters. They’ve decided it is him and they have decided he will lead them to a new world… whatever that means.”
“It has to be him, Mom,” Andrew said. “There’s no way anyone else could survive Venom. He’s the only one smart enough to figure out how.”
“Even if that is the case, that changes nothing,” Marlene replied with a huff. “He was put on that hell planet for a reason, Andrew.”
“According to some people!” Andrew snapped back.
“He killed a woman,” Marlene said angrily. “His own friend, Andrew. And he tried to cover it up. He tried to get away with it. And you know what that led to? An entire district going up in flames.”
“It was an accident, Mom… He’d never do something like that,” Andrew began. “He’s your own brother, how could you think that of him?!”
“Sometimes, we’re faced with harsh realities, Andrew,” Marlene answered firmly. “And the reality we have to face is that your uncle lost his mind years ago. He’s a murderer-- cold-blooded and evil. And anyone who goes to follow him is just as bad.”
Andrew sighed, shaking his head. When he thought of his uncle, he could never think of him in that cold light. When he thought of his uncle, he thought of the way he used to blare music and move with a slight sway as he worked on his projects, moving to the beat. Humming along. His hands were covered in scars from work but they had always been gentle when they had rested atop Andrew’s head. His smile was always genuine, brimming with life. How could that possibly have been the smile of a murderer?
“Look at us. We have made a nice life after everything that’s happened,” Marlene continued, voice quivering slightly as she drew her gaze back up to her son. “You’re at the Academy now. I have a nice job at the dentist office. We’ve both done well for ourselves. We don’t need any of that back in our lives.”
The way she said it made him feel uneasy. It made him reflect back on those last few years and ask himself if they were really that well off. Their home was still a mess. The neighborhood was not much better. People still whispered terrible things about them. They would never be able to live down what had happened before. Society would not allow that. He thought back to all of those interviews with the admissions office at the Flight Academy. He thought back to the way he had wanted to run when Eva had playfully socked him. He thought about the way he caught looks from people who knew who he was. Looks that tore into him, judging him without uttering a word.
Eva’s words echoed in his mind.
The world can’t stay how it is. Y’know that, right? It’s like… there’s just a pressure that’s building. One day, the pressure will be too much. Or maybe… that day’s already here, huh? I don’t know. Something to think about.”
“Have we really?” Andrew asked Marlene quietly.
Marlene folded her arms. “Andrew… tell me this isn’t going where I fear it is.”
“I don’t…” Andrew felt himself fumble his sentence.
“Tell me you aren’t going to Venom,” Marlene said sharply.
“I don’t know,” Andrew admitted. “When I think about it, I…”
The next words were hard to confess but he forced them out anyways.
“I want to.”
His chest felt lighter at once. Some of that weight from before dissipated… and when he realized that, a strange, liberated sensation swelled in his heart. There was something that felt right about it. Something that had felt hidden away for all of these years. He had tried to ignore it, play the part, fulfill his role… but it had never felt right, like shoes that were just too big. But when Andrew permitted himself a fleeting dream of going to Venom, of rebelling against Corneria… being a part of something that could change the world…
It felt like a no-brainer.
Marlene sucked in a breath. “I won’t even have such thoughts entertained in this household, young man.”
“Why not?” Andrew asked, looking at her. “You think if we keep acting like good little Cornerian citizens, something will change? Maybe they’ll forget all about Uncle Andross and they’ll stop throwing rocks into our windows?”
“We don’t know--” Marlene stammared.
“Don’t,” Andrew snapped at her. “Don’t even try to make excuses for them. They don’t… they don’t deserve it.”
“We don’t get to decide who deserves what,” Marlene began.
“We do get to decide if we tolerate how people treat us,” Andrew said firmly.
“This isn’t about that, Andrew. This is about doing what’s right and what’s right is to have nothing to do with him,” Marlene protested. “I understand—what we experience sometimes… it’s bad. But it’s not something we can’t endure.”
“We shouldn’t have to,” Andrew bristled. “And he… he should be here with us. None of that should have happened.”
“You’re talking madness,” Marlene shook her head.
“The Cornerian leadership is corrupt, Mom, you know that. What’s so crazy about wanting things to be better?” Andrew asked.
“There’s nothing crazy about that, it’s just…” Marlene looked away from him, tears brimming in her eyes. “You might think you understand the world but you’re still young. It’s not that simple. Those people going to Venom are no better than the people they’re trying to fight. It’s all just different shades of the same color.”
“You don’t know that,” Andrew disagreed, anger boiling in his chest.
“You seem to think I don’t know anything,” Marlene seethed at him. “Look, I know my brother is a murderer. He will murder millions more to see his revenge through. Because that is all this is, Andrew. Revenge. Don’t let him fool you.”
“I don’t care if he wants revenge!” Andrew yelled, rising from the table. “I just… I just care about making things better, Mom… and bringing him home. We could be a family again.”
“That can never happen,” Marlene said. “You know that.”
It was the tipping point for him then. That reassurance of “never”. It stung and it burned and it ate away at his last little bits of civility. Casserole still mostly untouched, Andrew rose from his chair. Marlene watched with twin tear trail wetting her face. He walked to the doorway, heaviness in the air and rage in his breath.
“I’ll make it happen.”
He swore it to her, a promise uttered in a dark voice that felt unfamiliar in some ways and familiar in others. Marlene covered her mouth to stifle a sob, rushing up to stop him.
“Andrew… please…” she pleaded. “Don’t do this. Don’t go.”
She grabbed his arm and when he looked back at her, he felt that anger in his chest falter. The way she cried into his chest made his feelings war with each other. Conviction met loyalty in combat. Guilt thrashed against his wants. He paused long enough to hold her for a moment in a hug. Her tears soaked through his shirt and Andrew truly did feel bad. How could he stand to leave her like this? Alone in Corneria City, having lost nearly everything…
And yet how could he stand to stay here, knowing he had a chance to make everything better? A chance to change their sad status quo…?
“Tell me you won’t… promise me…” Marlene sobbed.
“I…” Andrew felt his pulse loudly beating in his ears. “I won’t.”
It was said hollowly, a promise already broken in his heart.