The vampire leaned back in his crappy little folding chair as The Owlman leaned in to face him, eye to enormous black eye. He wanted to look to the others, the rest of the former underground mutants that were arranged in a circle in this empty gymnasium, but some primal part of his brain was afraid that if he broke eye contact with the beast in front of him he would be coming away from the encounter with one less face.
He was so focused on what was in front of him that he jumped when the other man put a hand on his shoulder. The other guy, the blond with the earrings and the lazy little smile, was at least a less stressful sight. "He wants to know why you're so afraid." Max informed him. The vampire quickly flicked his eyes from Max to the inscrutable Owlman and back, as though asking if this were some sort of trick question.
The Owlman and Max stood back up, in the center of the circle. "Oookay, related question." The Owlman said through Max. "What's your name?"
The young vampire looked uncomfortable for a second, and timidly said, "Noctis."
The pair of them sighed, which from the Owlman came out as a sort of hiss. They had asked that question every day since they'd organized these sessions three days ago and never once had they been given the answer they wanted. Tristipan, Elrona, Alucard, Nightwisp, Kaldorei, these were what they called themselves."That's not your name." They said. "What's your real name?"
But apparently three days of mandatory Owlman time had gotten Noctis in a tiff, and he decided the throw out some defiance. "What's your real name, then?"
Max looked over at Owlman, giving him a look as though asking if her were sure. The Owlman just nods and max just smiles, putting just hands on his hips and puffing out his chest proudly. "First name: 'The.'" The Owlman raised one hand and applies the palm directly to his face as he saw where Max was taking this. "Middle name: 'Owl.' Last name: 'Man'"
"Then how's that any different from us?" Noctis shouted, and received affirmations from the rest of the group.
"Because Owlman isn't a name he should be ashamed of." Max answered quicker than The Owlman could think, visibly surprised. "The Owlman is the name he took when he dedicated himself to being a better human being. It's not some power fantasy bullshit he uses to pretend he's not! What has Noctis got to be proud of? What has he ever done? Get conned by a megalomaniac sociopath? Hang out in parking lots to freak out the 'normals?' Scoop people off the street so that he and his sick friends could hunt them for sport? What, huh, what?!"
The Owlman put one hand on Max's shoulder and they just looked at one another in silence for a few seconds and the assembled mutants simply look away from one another. Max opens his mouth a few times, but no words come out as he's seemingly cut off before he can speak. Then The Owlman narrows his eyes, and Max rolls his eyes and retakes his position behind and to the left of him.
When he speaks to Noctis again, his voice is level. As he speaks, The Owlman bobs his head to the rhythm of his words. "As much as a disagree with my partners tone, he's correct. You can use a transformation like this as an opportunity to transform yourself, but you've each transformed yourselves into monsters. I'm not talking about what you look like. Monster is a state of mind. Monsters have no responsibilities to the human race. Monsters do not have to bear the burden of being human. Becoming a monster is ultimately an act of cowardice, because it is the act of fleeing from humanity. So, we return to the point." He leans back in to Noctis. "Why are you afraid? What is so terrifying about being human that you chose to run away?"
Noctis looks around nervously, trying to get some cue from everyone else, but like before The Owlman's enormous face took up his entire view. The Owlman could hear fear this close, in the beating of his heart, in every breath he took. He'd been afraid the last time The Owlman had leaned in close, but it was nothing on this level. It made sense. Last time he'd just been facing a man, but now here he was staring down a monster. The vampire took a deep breath, then said quickly "College."
There was an immediate steadying of the young mans heartrate. "I flunked out of college, but I couldn't bear to tell my parents so I faked it. I'd just catch the bus, hang out in a library all day, hoping that if I ignored it the grant people would lose my grades and give me another shot or something. But they never replied and my parents kept asking how school was going and I just felt like a leech. I just...I just wanted to be something less pathetic. Oh god, what have I done?"
The young man felt the talons of The Owlman gripping his gently by the shoulders. "You've lost your way. What's your name?"
"Simon." He breaths out, shakily. "My name is Simon."
The Owlman gives him two gentle claps on the shoulder. "Welcome back, Simon." The he stands up, and turns to address the entire group. "You're all trapped in the dark, like Simon was, and there's a monster looking to make sure you never rejoin the human race. Acceptance is the only sword you can use to slay that monster. Acceptance of your mistakes, acceptance of your responsibilities, acceptance of your beautiful, fallible humanity. You've all seen it done now. Sooner or later, I expect to know the name of everyone in this room."
-----
The Owlman felt satisfied as the group filed out. Some talked lowly to one another, some strode forward in contemplative though. Simon was helped out of the room by two elves. Max walked up beside him and waited for the lot of them to be well and truly gone before turning to The Owlman and expressing his disgust. "Man, you've gooot to get someone else for this because I seriously want to strangle every last one of them."
The Owlman shot him a thought about his off-script bad cop routine actually helped in a weird way. "What routine?" he replied. "I hate them. How many lives do you think that Simon kid has ruined because he wanted to feel oh so special?"
The Owlman understood that Simon had made a decision at a low point in his life. That's how cults got their followers, after all, but Max shook his head and gave a derisive laugh. "Come on, those guys weren't indoctrinated. They switched sides because Cedric made them a better offer. They're just selfish."
Most of them were desperate for any sort of help. "And you can get any sort of help from places other than a cult. I've worked at a lot of them. People will give you real help if you just make the effort."
They were just going to have to agree to disagree. "Fine. But I'm going to need a better incentive if you want me to keep being your voice for this."
Lunch? "That would be acceptable. You can treat me after you get done babysitting. There's this place called Lattetude that has this super cute waitress I want to introduce you to."
With that, The Owlman made a crude fist and bumped knuckles with his oldest friend before they parted ways. Max to his desk, The Owlman to watch over Ann.
