Heading inside, Betsy gathers her courage to confront her parents for the truth they’d kept from her for so long. Sensing her younger sister's nerves running amok, Adelaide reaches out and takes Betsy's hand giving it a gentle squeeze. Looking over her shoulder, Betsy gives Addy a quick grin and a nod to let her know she was ready. Together, the sisters enter the light of the brightly lit dining room that was set and ready for their family meal. Their father Joel was already seated at the head of the table which was laden with a variety of delicious dishes. Their mother Elena had gone all out with the family meal in her excitement at having both her daughters home. Even as she tries to steal her will towards them, Betsy’s stomach growls loudly, betraying her hunger and the tempting smells of the slow-cooked roast and fresh biscuits. Freshly picked corn on the cob and snapped green beans with chopped almonds lay in dishes, soaked in melted butter. A bottle of wine had already been brought out in a bucket of ice and another was chilling on the counter, waiting to be consumed. Putting her mission on pause, the sisters exchange an amused glance and take their seats across from one another, just as they had when they were children. Once the obligatory prayer had been sent heavenward, Betsy dug in quickly.

Elena, still adjusting to being home, beamed over at her two daughters. “I have to say, I’m tickled pink to have both, my girls, home for family dinner. It’s far overdue for this family, wouldn’t you say so?”

Choking slightly, Betsy gasps as she attempts to counter verbally, but a sharp kick from Adelaide pauses the words on her tongue. “It sure is, Mama; there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned family dinner around the table to catch up on things.”

A confused smile touches Joel’s face as he glances over at Addy. “Surely you and Betsy have much more to update us on than we do you.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Pops.” Betsy finally finds her voice, even though it comes out much harder than she’d meant for it to. This earns her bewildered looks from both her parents as Adelaide tries to shake her head discreetly. But her temper had finally reached its breaking point; pushing her plate away, Betsy rests her elbows on the table and glares at her father, fire lighting up her emerald eyes. “I think there’s a fuck-ton of catching up you and Mom could do for me. Maybe we could start with the fact that I’m not your child?”

Addy pulls a strained face as Elena’s silverware clatters to her plate, a deep gasp emitting from within. Joel, however, keeps his eyes on Betsy, his face showing that his worst fear had finally come to pass. “How long have you known, Boop?”

His voice cuts through her anger, the lifelong instinct of turning to him comes through. As soon as their eyes lock, however, her anger comes surging back as betrayal turns her blood to ice. “Not very, and I had to find out through some interesting means. I still don’t know everything… Fragments were all I was allowed at the time. But they showed me enough.” Now she lifts an accusatory finger towards both her parents. “Everyone, from Time Lords to my parents, has been lying to me.” Her voice cracks with emotion as she rises from her chair. “That ends tonight; the four of us stay in this room until the entire truth is out there.” She slams her hands down on the table, causing the entire thing to shake. “I don’t care what reasons you had, this is something I should have known about a long time ago. Neither of you had any goddamn right to hide this from me, ever. How could you?”

“Because we didn’t know if you would be a danger to us or yourself, Boop.” Ever patient, Joel’s voice remains calm as he steadily eyes his youngest daughter. “When we found you, it was in the most extraordinary of circumstances and we didn’t have a lot of time to think out a strategy. After some rather heated discussion between your mother and me, we decided-”

“You, Joel. You decided.” All eyes turn to Elena, whose voice is thick with guilt. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this, honey. I didn’t want you. I was scared to death, you were a weeping infant all alone in the middle of a field and the remains of a spaceship. How do we explain this to the local authorities... Not to mention the way you looked when we found you…”

“Enough.” Joel’s firm tone put an end to Elena’s ramble. “Boop.” He turns to Betsy again. “I’m sorry we never told you. You’re right, we should have said something when you were old enough to understand. But by then, you were my little girl and I wanted you to have as normal a life I could give you. I lived every day in fear that you would wake up to discover the truth because that was the day you’d look at me the way you are right now.” Sighing sadly, Joel rises from his chair and approaches Betsy, who is still on her feet. “Your mother and I will tell you everything you should know, which is everything we know. Please understand though, Boop: we don’t know the entire story. We may not even know as much as you’re hoping for, but I’ll give you what little we have.”

He holds out his hand to his agitated daughter, who stares at it as though it were a poisonous snake. Looking back up into his face, the expression of hope through his guilt caused her heart to flutter. No matter how angry she was with everything, she could never stand to see her father hurt. Taking his hand, she allows him to lead her out of the house and towards the barn. In silence, they walk the dirt path, watched only by the horses and cows who were outside having their final graze in the fields before the sun went down entirely. Chickens were gathering by the coop, preparing to settle for the night. A cool breeze in the early night air had temporarily alleviated the thick heat of the day. As they approach the door of the barn, Joel turns back to Betsy, dread written all over his face.

“Before we go into that barn, I want you to know a few things. First of all, I never hid this from you as a form of betrayal. All I ever wanted to do was to protect you; whatever the reason your folks had for sending you here, it couldn’t have been good. Second, it never mattered to me where you came from. In my eyes, you always have and you always will be, my baby girl. My little Betsy Boop.” Despite her resolve, hot tears stung at Betsy’s eyes; she blinked them back furiously. “Third, I hope this will help you to understand your mother’s behavior towards you for so long. She never treated you badly out of actual malice; Elena spent your entire life walking on eggshells because she was scared. She treated you like a ticking time bomb because she didn’t know if you were or not. I’m not saying this to justify or excuse her poor behavior, just to help you get inside her head. But you should know, she’s trying. And she feels genuinely terrible for how she treated you for so long; she wants to make things right.” Now the tears began to spill down her cheeks. Lifelong feelings of wanting to be accepted by her mother came surging back; Betsy pushes them down defiantly, wiping at her eyes. “And lastly, Addy never knew, which I’m assuming you’ve already worked out. We never told her because that girl doesn’t know how to keep a secret worth a damn. When we brought you home, she was young enough for us to tell her that we’d had another baby. It was the easiest way of handling the situation at the time.”

Betsy only nods. With another heavy sigh, Joel pushes open the heavy door and gestures for Betsy to enter in front of him. As she does, something underneath the hay-covered wooden floorboards begins to glow. A moment later, the glow is accompanied by a vibrating hum that Betsy can feel beneath her feet. Joel closes the door quickly without taking his eyes off the scene; he had always wondered what would happen with the ship once Betsy was near it again. He watches Betsy closely as she kneels before the floorboard and gently pulls them out of her way. Her breath whistles out softly from between her lips as she stares down at the structure that had brought her to Earth from wherever she had come from. The pod was just big enough to cradle her infant form as well as one or two personal effects. Dropping herself down carefully into the hole, she runs her fingers over the smooth, alien metals. It seems to shiver under her touch, though Betsy is more taken aback by the silky sensations beneath her fingertips.

“So this is how I got here…” she says wondrously, completing her fourth circuit around the small ship. Standing in front of the doors once more, she spots a red button at the top of the pod’s door. Pressing it, the hatch opens with a hiss of air, revealing a small blanket and an egg-shaped bed. Reaching inside, she picks up the blanket tenderly and observes it. It’s soft and heavier than it appeared at first; strange animals she didn’t recognize were adorned on it. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots the sharp end of an aged envelope wedged in between two panels above where her head would have rested. Deftly, she gently pulls the panels apart enough to pluck the note out intact. The material was cream-colored and felt like thick parchment. She couldn’t make out the words written in alien script on the front, though the symbols seemed vaguely familiar.

Tucking the envelope into her shirt, she nestles into the small pod as best she could and closes her eyes. Taking several breaths the way Ahsoka has taught her, she meditates on her surroundings, allowing her mind to reach out to the ship. Slipping deeper into her mind, she shuts down as her metaphysical form steps outside of her. After assuring that her prone physical body would stay safe, she begins to walk around the ship once more. Only now, images, as well as feelings, were returning to her. Her wailing cries as she was set inside the egg-bed by her mother, a brief glimpse of her father hunched over his desk with a quill in hand. The letter is carefully left inside and the feeling of her mother’s teardrops falling on her face. She could see their lips moving, but the image was already fading as the sensation of being shaken overtook her. With a hiss, she turns to find Joel leaning over his daughter, calling out to her desperately. It was only then that she realized that she had been crying in her unconscious state. Knowing the moment of memory had passed, Betsy steps back inside her physical self.

Emerald eyes pop open as she gasps for air, still being shaken by her panicked father. It takes Joel an extra minute to realize that Betsy was back with him. “Oh, thank goodness,” he mutters, pulling her into a hug that doubles as a chokehold. “You went limp, as though you fainted, and then you started crying. I didn’t know what happened, I’m sorry…” releasing his grip, he pushes her back gently to examine her face. “Are you alright, Boop? What happened?”

Betsy shakes her head as she grips her father’s arms with shaking hands. “I could see them, my birth parents. Only for a moment, but it was tangible like I was there.” She turns her head to look back at the ship over her shoulder. “I need to find a way to get that ship onto Excellence so I can analyze the materials used to build it. Perhaps that would help me to figure out this.” Reaching into her shirt, she produces the red envelope. “I watched my father’s hand write this, but the language is a mystery to me. Familiar, but I’ve never had a chance to dive into it.”

Even though he’d tried to hide it from her, each time Betsy noticed the changes in his face as she spoke. Each time she’d referred to the mystery man in her faded memories as ‘father’, Joel’s politely curious expression would slip into pain and regret. Every ounce of her being wanted to wrap the former Navy SEAL into a tight hug, but the anger was still boiling strongly within her. Choosing instead to ignore what she’d seen, she turns away from him entirely and walks towards the door.

“Betsy…” Joel’s voice is strained as he calls out to her. Betsy turns back for a moment, watching as he holds his hand out to her. “Please don’t grow to hate me for this, honey. I did what I thought was best for you; for all of us. I know you’re angry with me, but I hope you forgive me soon.”

She can feel the lump in her throat form, but she swallows it back, allowing her face to remain unreadable. “I don’t hate you, Papa… I just…” she falters, knowing full well she didn’t need to finish.

Indeed. Joel nods in resignation as she turns and sweeps out of the doors of the barn into the cool night air to collect her racing thoughts…

****

“What up, NKWC?”

The camera opens on Betsy Granger, who is sitting in the Garden Lounge of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

“It’s time to come out and play, comrade. It’s time to be made an example of. For weeks, I have allowed myself to trust in others for protection and have, in turn, had my ass handed to me. I grew content in my championship status, thinking no one could touch me. How quickly I made my rise through the ranks; faster still did I crash back down to the bottom. Instead of facing Universal Champions in the main event, I’m stuck crawling my way back up the card to where I was two months ago. Instead of moving forward and draping myself in gold, as Atara has done, I focused on what I thought were bigger issues within the company. I still have my eyes on those, as there is a lot of fishy business going on around here lately. People are acting out of sorts and things are coming to light that allows a person's faith to be shaken. I was being viewed as one of the fastest rising stars of 2021 and I rode that wave until Dock brought it crashing down at March Madness. One match away from making history, one match away from ultimate glory. All because I lost sight of what was important.

I became complacent with my place in the XWF.

I had become the very thing I had shamed others for being before: entitled.

I stand here, humbly admitting that in my mind, I felt that I deserved anything I’d put my attention on. I allowed a few high-profile wins to distort the reality of my situation and my head grew with the delusions of grandeur. I’m not a perfect person, nor have I ever claimed to be, but I was casting stones at others when I had no right to do so. My ego whispered in my ear of lies of being better than those around me who didn’t meet my high moral standards. A laughable prospect now, as the mirror has been forcefully put in front of me and I’ve been made to take a long, hard look at myself.

I hate what I have become.

NKWC, if you’re listening to this… You should know that I’m coming after you with everything I’ve got. I’ve spent the last two months being properly humbled and put back in my place. But I refuse to slide to the bottom, for my sins were no more severe than those around me. But it’s time to get me back on the right track if I’ve got a prayer of finishing this year strong. Consider this a warning to the entire XWF. You may think I’m down-trodden and on the brink of total collapse; but it’s when the beast is at its weakest that it attacks the fiercest. I’m as down as I’m allowing myself to get; the time to rise has come at last. Losing the Shooting Star Championship felt like shedding a new skin; gone with the old, in with the new. It's a relief, to have that target off my back, at the very least; though aligning with APEX-Legacy has only slapped another one on.

I have no idea what might happen during this match. This museum is huge and has a lot of places for my enemies to hide. BoB is determined to crush us before we have a chance to get a hold of the situation. I can not allow that to happen; I can’t let that amount of corruption sink into this company I love so much. And now, much like the Left Hand, BoB is starting to Hydra out of the XWF and invade other spaces… Yeah, the two aren’t similar at all. The only real difference between them, come to think of it, is that instead of Hot Topic Goths, you’ve got a rag-tag crew of colorful personalities. A clever marketing ploy, if I’m being honest; it makes the actual conformity to the hive mind that is Miss Fury less obvious. I wonder, NKWC if you’re the type who would fall in with the likes of BoB?

Ah, well. I’m afraid I’ve wandered off-topic, but I don’t know what much else I can say. The state of the XWF is in shambles, and I suddenly find myself in an awkward position. Not so long ago, people would have found the prospect of facing me intimidating; you’re so unconcerned, you haven’t mentioned me once. Have I truly fallen from grace so quickly? I suppose there is only one thing left to prove that I still belong with the big dogs. It starts with you, comrade.”

Betsy looks into the camera and runs her forefinger over her neck. A moment later, the screen flickers and fades out.

FORMER