Chapter Text
“I heard all the stories about you long ago.”
Even as Terrence Wynn looked over the familiar that was supposed to represent the Thorn symbol, he doubted that he had ever truly seen anything more beautiful, more perfect. He had heard the stories before. When his mother had apparently birthed him during one of the worst cases of the London Blitz, she had said that Thorn had shielded her. Kept her safe.
It was a black cat that symbolized Thorn. Of course it was. Black cats and goblins, as the old rhyme went.
”All good things?” the cat representing Thorn deadpanned.
A nod from Wynn. "I did wonder when I would become the Stranger as opposed to taking orders from one.” They called the entity the Man in Black, though Johnny Cash would want nothing to do with the dirty business in question, not really. He wasn’t a flawless man, but Thorn had done way worse than him. Dirtier work.
”Thank goodness that you actually called the position by its correct title,” the cat said. “Hardly something anyone just gets right. ‘The Man in Black’. If it was the case, one of us would have a music career."
A faint smile from Wynn. It seemed that the cat and he were going to get along quite well together.
***
It was in 1963 that Michael Audrey Myers, at the age of six, was made the black cat’s latest owner. Mrs. Blankenship was the one to give him the gift. “I thought that you could use a companion to help with the voices you’ve been hearing, sweet boy,” she said.
Michael was a stoic young boy. Not cruel, or at least not outwardly so, but still a solemn boy nonetheless. It was him opening the box that he tilted his head looking at the cat — or at least what he thought was a cat. “I always related to cats more than dogs,” he said. “Nothing against dogs. Until they bite you. Can I pet the cat?”
Mrs. Blankenship almost wanted to start laughing, really, at how Michael scratched behind the ears of Thorn the cat, with the cat seeming to be resigned to the bizarre situation.
“That isn’t all that he can do,” she said. “Just keep him close to you.”
”I always wondered what it was like to have a pet.”
Again, Mrs. Blankenship looked like she was trying not to laugh.
***
Judith Myers went to bed that night, oblivious to Michael’s conversation with Thorn, happy that her date with Daniel Hodges went well. Michael, meanwhile, doubted that he could be more excited in that moment, knowing that he had a new friend. A black cat. And a cute cat too. Michael found that petting him was actually bizarrely enjoyable, especially with Thorn seeming to purr as Michael scratched him behind the ears.
“So you think I’m a superhero?” Michael said. “The Batman kind?”
”Yes, sweet boy, kind of like that."
"Cool,” Michael said. “But why me? I mean, I’m just weird. I hear voices that tell me I should hate people.”
”Tell them to go away; nobody likes them either."
”Well, I don’t.” Then, “You think it’s that simple?”
”Anyone can be a hero if they so want to be. Nothing’s saying they can’t. And if anyone does, well…they don’t know anything. They really don’t.”
Michael didn’t smile, but for a moment, he came close. He liked Thorn, he decided. A good cat, and a pretty cat. Taking care of the cat would definitely be fun. Something that he could get used to.
Maybe he could get used to the voices in his head and fighting them as long as Thorn was with him.