"9/11" Written by: sshilling72@yahoo.com *This story is dedicated to the men and women who lost their lives during the infamous act of terrorism on the United States Of America that occured on September 11, 2001* Wedding anniversarieds are designed to bring joy to those who remembered the day. Usually, it was a day of misty, water-colored memories for those in love. For Andy and Tarl Barlot, ten years of marriage had not dampened the love they felt for each other, and the spark of romance was still very much alive. In honor of their anniversary, they decided to relive the day, and renew their wedding vows. Andy invited her family, and original bride's maids. Her artist cousin, Trisha Shafton, her best, mutant friend, Vampira, and Vampira's human sister, Kathy Lawrence, would be there. So would Tarl's dwarfed, adopted brother, Mip, and his new wife Vella. Their son, Cassius, would be home on leave for the occasion. The date had been set for September 12. Not the original wedding date, but Andy chose it to accommodate work schedules. Free-spirited Trisha was the first to arrive from California. She would stay with the twins, Andrea and Tarl Junior, while Tarl wisked Andy away for a night of romance on the town. The monday prior to the event, Trisha entered the living room to see Tarl on the phone. "I can pick it up tomorrow. No, thank you. I want this to be a surprise. Nine o'clock? I'll be there, thank you." "Who was that?" Trisha asked as Tarl hung up the phone. "I'm buying my beloved a present for our anniversary," Tarl answered, and handed Trisha a Tiffany's catalouge. Circled in red marker was a crystal angel statue. "Oh, Tarl! That's beautiful!" Trisha approved, then noticed the fine print. "Andy'd better like it for THAT price. Where did you get the money?" "I've been saving it for a while now," Tarl admitted. "That promotion at work helped. Knowing my beloved Andy, she'll like it. I've had it engraved. 'To my beloved Andy: You are my angel, all my heart loves you'." Tarl quoted the message. "I'm picking it up tomorrow morning." The next morning, the usual chaos reigned at the Barlots' apartment. Beginning at six, Andy woke her twins, they then washed, and dressed for school. Then came breakfast, followed by packed lunches, and homework check. Tarl, a cop in the Buffalo Police Department, would also wake with them when he worked an early patrol. He was on vacation this week, but got up early, anyway. "I thought you were off today," Andy reminded him when he entered the kitchen. "I'm going to walk our little ones to the bus," Tarl explained. "Then, I'm taking the train into the city. There's something I want to get." "Is it a present for mommy or me?" Andrea wanted to know, giggling. "Annie!" Her brother shot her a look for silence. Their father only smiled. "Yes, my child. It's a present for your dear mother. But, I don't see how I couldn't spare some candy for you and your brother." Tarl grasped Andy's hand, and pulled her close. "I haven't forgotten what tomorrow is." "The big day," Andy answered, gazing at the man she loved. "But, you didn't have to get me anything." "Yes, I did. I wanted to give you my wedding present. You have given me much already." Tarl's lips ventured closer to Andy's. "Hey! Are you two going to kiss?!" Junior demanded. "If you are, Annie and I are going to the bus stop now!" Tarl chuckled and mussed his son's hair. "Prepare for wednesday, my son. You will see much love and kissing." "Yuck!" Andy laughed. "Take notes, little boy. You may need to follow your father's example when you get married." "I'm not kissing some dumb girl!" Junior declared. "They all have cooties!" "What if a girl kisses you?" Trisha seized her cousin's six-year-old son in a headlock, and placed a kiss on his cheek. "EW! YUCK!" Junior wriggled out of her grasp, and began to furiously wipe his face. "It's getting late," Tarl interposed. "Your bus will be here soon." "Ok! Don't forget homework and lunches!" Andy reminded them. She helped the children with their coats. They shouldered their backpacks. She quickly kissed her husband good-bye as he exited the apartment with his children. Andy and Tarl had been married for ten years, but their love began much earlier than that. When Andy was still a teenager, her amatuer inventor father had built a time machine that actually worked! While flying the craft in a thunderstorm, Andy was blown off course, and crashed in Tarl's home dimension, where he was a slave. A fallen warrior, Tarl was considered a disgrace among his people. A disgrace to all but Andy, who fell in love with him. She pitied the poor slave, and tried to be as kind to him as she could, breaking every rule of slave-etiquette. Her kindness and beauty won Tarl's heart. She bought him at the slave auction, then gave him his freedom. Impressed by that, Tarl opted to remain with the woman he loved. He and Mip came to America when Andy returned home. Tarl loved Andy more than anything, and promised her he would willingly give up his own life for her; and Andy assured Tarl that such a sacrifice was not required. Tarl exited the subway at the World Trade Center. After he picked up Andy's present, he would buy his children their promised candy. As he walked, Tarl noticed another young man had emerged from the subway. Trying to make himself invisible, the stranger favored the shadows. But, Tarl recognized him, and approached. "Dr. Banner!" He greeted the friend of his wife's cousin. The former scientist looked surprised. "Do I know you?" "It's me, Tarl." "Tarl! Hi!" Bruce Banner smiled in greeting. "What are you doing here?" "Andy and I are renewing our wedding vows tomorrow," Tarl answered. "I came down to pick up a present for her. Will you come to the wedding, Doctor?" "Please don't call me that," Banner requested. "I'll stop by if I remember." "Trisha wouldn't let me live if she knows I saw you, and didn't invite you," Tarl's eyes twinkled with a solem mischief. "Come with me, we can talk over coffee." Before Banner could answer, there came the loud thunder of an airplane overhead. "He's flying too low," Banner commented, looking up. Both he and Tarl gasped as the plane slammed into the North Tower. The plane exploded in a ball of fire! Back in Buffalo, Andy's pace had slowed to a relative calm. She had changed into her morning clothes, and was making the beds. Her cousin was in the living room, checking the guest list over the early morning talk shows. The news broke in with an urgent bulletin. "ANDY!" Andy heard her cousin's scream in the bedroom, and came running. Trisha met her cousin, "The tower's on fire! Tarl's gone to the city!" "What happened!?!" Andy demanded, pushing past her cousin. "A plane flew into the World Trade Center," Trisha explained. A feeling of sickness curled Andy's stomach, and she sank onto the couch. "Knowing Tarl, he's going to help." Andy's prediction was true. The fire fighters and police were arriving at the World Trade Center in force. "I have to help," Tarl said, briefly. Leaving Banner among the massing throng of spectators, Tarl approached one of New York's finest. "I'm with the Buffalo P.D. What can I do to help?" Back in Buffalo, Andy and Trisha sat transfixed by the images on the television. Just then, Trisha noticed something. "Is that another plane?!" Andy saw it too. "It IS another plane! Don't crash, please don't crash," Andy repeated. She clenched her eyes, not wanting to see the inevitable impact. But the sound was less easy to block out. "Be safe, my Tarl," Andy whispered. On nights when Tarl worked a later patrol, Andy would tuck the twins into bed for the night. She would then pause by a window and gaze at the deepening twilight. "Be safe, my Tarl," she would whisper, wondering what sort of dangers her beloved husband was facing. Today, she knew the danger. So did the nation. Banner and the on-lookers saw the plane crash into the South Tower, and explode in a ball of fire. Tarl was given the job of helping the office workers out of the building. In emergencies, like this one, it was common practice to use the stairs, rather than the faster, but more dangerous, elevators. Once the refugees from the World Trade Center's North Tower emerged, they were often too exhausted to move another step. Tarl had to help them to safety. Papers rained down from the permeated offices. On these papers, stocks and their trading prices had been written. People's investments floated down, like the paper it really was. Something else was falling from the towers, besides papers, and burning chunks of plane and building. People. Some blundered to the broken windows and, blindly, fell to their deaths. Others jumped, knowing they were doomed, either burning to death in the inferno, or the landing on the concrete from ten stories up! Banner watched the bodies falling. There MUST be something he could do to help! Those assembled to watch the catastrophe unfold at the World Trade Center had brought cell phones, and radios were tuning in to the news. But, the bustling rescue workers had no way of knowing what was going on outside the realm of New York City. A third hijacked plane had crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A fourth hijacked plane, Flight 93, was still missing in action. "If Hulk was on that plane, things would be different," Trisha commented. "He'd show those hijackers who's boss!" "Where are the X-Men?" Andy ventured. "I don't think Magneto's behind this one. Or any other mutants. We humans are doing it to each other," Trisha pointed out as the phone rang. Andy's mind was reeling from the news, and her stomach bunched up with sickened worry, and she didn't answer the phone. Trisha answered it to discover Andy's parents were calling to inform Andy their flight from California had been cancelled. Indeed, all the airliners were grounded to prevent any further disasters. PART 2 As Bruce Banner gazed upward. a dark, winged figure approached the people about to jump to their deaths. After a moment, the figure pulled away with several of the desperate people clinging to her. Vampira landed with her cargo, amid a cheer from the spectators. "Vampira!" Dr. Banner exclaimed in greeting. "We mutants have to help, Doc," the mutant vampiress said in brief greeting. "What a human can't do, a mutant can." With that, Vampira flew back up to join Rogue and Storm in rescuing those trapped on the top floors. Banner considered what his guide had said. There was a way he could help! Not Banner himself, but his alter ego, a giant, green skinned mutant, the Incredible Hulk. Trisha believed the brute to be a hero, so now, Banner thought, was his chance to prove himself worthy of the adoration. A new story broke on the news. Flight 93, bound to become another missile, had crashed in a remote area of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The passengers had fought with the hijackers, sending them all plummeting to their deaths, but sparing the lives of the innocent people at the real target. Those who perished while fighting the hijackers were hailed as heros. Banner shrank back into the mob. To his relief, the people were too busy looking upward, at the drama unfolding overhead, to notice him. Slowly Hulk emerged as Vampira landed. Her relieved passengers ran as their feet touched the ground. They barely even noticed Hulk. "They run, but not see Hulk?" The giant looked, confused, at his guide. "There's been a terrorist attack here. They flew two airplanes into the towers. We mutants are helping," Vampira explained. Tarl appeared, an exhausted escapee draped over his shoulder. The young cop's hair was coated with white dust, and ash. The rescued worker was dusted too, but not as bad as he rescuer. "You've done a beautiful thing, man," the man gasped, limping away from Tarl. Hulk barely recognized his friend. "Tarl?" "I'm sorry, I can't talk now, Big Guy. We need your help," Tarl disappeared once more to the towers. Hulk hesitated. He had been chased by the police so often, and now, they were on the scene en mass. "Police," the giant croaked his concern. "Believe me, they have bigger fish to fry than chasing you right now," his guide assured him, before returning to her own work. A thought occurred to Trisha. "How hot does jet fuel get when it burns?" She inquired of her cousin. "As hot as it wants to," Andy answered. "Hot enough to melt steel?" "How would I know?!" The same thought occurred to Andy in that moment. "Oh, God! Do you think . . . ." The phone rang again. This time, Andy answered it. She recognized the voice of Angel, a private investigator from California, Angel was a reformed vampire who had been introduced to Andy by Vampira. Both Andy and Tarl owed him their lives. "Where's Tarl?" The vampiristic, private investigator wanted to know. His psychic secretary, Cordelia Chase, had a vision that Tarl was in danger. "We went downtown to get me a present for our anniversary." "Is he helping at the Trade Center?" It was only the wee hours of the morning in California, but, being a vampire, Angel was still awake. Cordelia's vision had woke her. "What did Cordy see?" Andy urged, dryly, turning to the t.v. in time to see the South Tower collapse. Angel had to hold the phone away from his ear as Andy screamed in horror. "TARL!!!" Vampira had collected an armload of the desperate workers when Professor Charles Xavier's voice came over the communicator. "Rogue, Storm, Vampria! Get out of there, now! The buildings are going to collapse!" "Hang on," Vampira assured her cargo, and flew with them to the street, where Hulk was waiting to shield them from the falling debris as they ran. "I'm going to one more try!" Vampira called to the other mutants there. As she was ascending, Vampira's radar-like hearing picked up a low, rumbling noise. The fleeing bats chattered to her, danger! Danger! Fly for your life! Having received her powers from a bat, Vampira could understand their coded language. A huge cloud of smoke gushed out, and the tower began to implode, the gust of smoke propelled the mutant vampiress backward, into Rogue's strong arms. "Hang on, Sugar. I've got you." "TARL'S STILL IN THERE!" Vampira shrieked, and started forward. Rogue stopped her as the North Tower collapsed, the way its twin had. "HULK! TARL'S STILL DOWN THERE!" Hulk heard Vampira's shout. The cloud of dust from the collapsing building blew outward, as the people ran, Hulk stood, shielding his eyes from the dust. Uninhibited, the brute lumbered forward. "TARL!" He called, no response. "TARL!" Still, silence met him. Hulk then raised his voice to the booming roar of which he was capable. "TARL!" Then, in the tiniest of whispers, came a response. "Here! Can anyone hear me!?!" Not Tarl, but a girl. The powerful giant tread through the blinding cloud, pushing away bits of fallen tower. "WHERE ARE YOU!?!" "Here!" Hulk followed the sound through the jumbled wreck. As he emerged from a wall of wreckage, Hulk recoiled in stunned horror. There was Tarl, huddled on the ground, trying to shield a girl from the collapsing tower. The girl was scratched, and bleeding, but Tarl was hurt far worse than her. A good seized chunk from the North Tower had hit him on the head, knocking him to the ground, another chunk had cut a gash into his head. "Tarl, Hulk friend!" The giant approached the two. The girl managed to stagger out from under her fallen hero. "He saved me. You've got to help us!" Hulk lifted Tarl into his arms like a rag doll. "Climb on back," he ordered the girl. "Hulk help." The mob of rescue workers and escaped Trade Center employees had retreated as far as they could from the billowing cloud. As the cloud of dust began to settle, some firefighters began to head back to look for survivors. A giant figure hove toward them through the cloud. Dust coated Hulk, making him look like an abdominal snowman. Seeing the firefighters, the girl, Wendy, let go of Hulk's back. "They can take me from here." She assured Hulk, her statement was also for the unconscious Tarl. "Go, go, go!" The firefighters shouted at Hulk, encouraging him. Vampira gasped in horror when Hulk emerged from the cloud with Tarl. Wendy came behind them, leaning on a fire fighter. "Oh, my God! Tarl!" "We'll contact Andy," Storm promised. "Get him to a hospital as fast as possible!" Back in Buffalo, Andy clung to her cousin, sobbing into her shoulder. "Tarl! Tarl!" She repeated. "I'm sure he'll be all right, Andy." Trisha tried to assure her. The phone lay off the hook, as Andy had dropped it. In helpless agony, Angel had heard it all. A knock sounded at the door. "COME IN!" Trisha called, holding her cousin so she wouldn't faint. The door opened in Storm's hand. "Andy?" "Storm!" Letting go of Trisha, Andy strode to the weather witch. "Where's Tarl?" "Vampira took him to the hospital, he's been hurt. Hulk found him." A look of weary relief came into the human woman's face. "Where did they take him? What hospital?" "Saint Vincent's. I came to fetch you." "I'll see after the twins," Trisha assured Andy. "Mip and Vella will be around later this evening." Andy flew with her mutant friends to Saint Vincent's hospital, already bustling with Trade Center victims. Vampira saw Andy first, and directed her to the emergency bay where Tarl lay, still unconscious. "Tarl!" Andy darted forward, and seized her husband's hand. "He may not be able to hear you, Miss," a doctor informed her. "He was hit on the head while protecting a girl from the collapsing tower." Andy raised her hero's hand to her lips. "How long before he wakes?" "It's hard to say. We've run some CAT Scans, but there are no overt signs of brain damage. We were going to transfer him up to ICU." "What information do you need?" Andy offered, trying to regain her composure, and think about what pertinent information might be need. "You're Andy Barlot, right?" Andy nodded. The intern smiled, "You friend, here, gave what information she could. Name, birth date." "Vampira, thank you," Andy seized her mutant friend's hand in a thankful grasp. "Hey, Tarl's my friend too. I've known him since I was still human," Vampira smiled, slightly. "Can I go stay with him until he wakes?" Andy inquired of the intern. "It may be days before that happens, and its getting late." "Let Andy stay with him," Vampira suggested. "If anyone can rouse Tarl, she can." As if on cue, Tarl's mouth began to move. He began to try and speak. Vampira noticed it. "Tarl?" Silently, Tarl's mouth formed a word, though he could not yet speak. Instinctively, Vampira knew what he was saying. "Andy's here." Tarl felt Andy's hand touch his. "I'm here, darling." Slowly, he opened his eyes, and turned them to his wife. "Andy, my love," he murmured. "You were hurt, Tarl. They're going to help you here." "I'm in the hospital? Where's the girl?" "Hulk got her out," Vampira assured him. The nurses wheeled Tarl upstairs to his assigned room. Andy and Vampira accompanied them. It was only three in the afternoon, but everyone felt as thought they had been walking all day. "Where are the twins?" "At home. Trisha, Mip, and Vella are watching them," Andy assured him. "What do you remember?" A doctor inquired. "I remember Wendy, I was helping her. Something hit me. Did the tower come down?" Tarl's memory was not completely restored. The doctor informed Andy that Tarl's memory would not be as it was before the catastrophe. "How soon can I go home?" The young cop wanted to know. "Not yet," the doctor answered. The test results had come back, and bleeding was found on Tarl's brain. They would have to operate to repair the damage. Professor Xavier allowed Andy to stay at the X-Mansion until Tarl was well enough to return home. Andy saw Bruce Banner at the mansion. In gratitude, she embraced the former scientist, and thanked him, and Hulk, for their efforts. "Tells you something," Trisha commented, when Andy called and told her of the events that had unfolded. "The men in are lives are all heroes." Within two weeks, Tarl had returned home. Tearfully, he held his children close, then kissed his brother and sister-in-law. Cassius, his nephew, had been there earlier in the week, but returned to base to begin training for the inevitable war that would follow. Flights from California soon resumed. Tarl, a bandage on his head, and walking with a slight limp, insisted on renewing their wedding vows, as planned. Andy, however, decided that, instead of the full scale wedding re-enactment, they would have a j.p. preform the ceremony. Andy's parents arrived, as previously planned. As the couple were completing their vows, the doorbell rang. Trisha answered the door. A short man in a brown jacket, and New York Mets' cap was waiting on the doorstep. "Is this the Barlot residence?" "Yes. Who are you?" "Delivery." The delivery man pushed into the apartment, and removed the package from under his arm. "You didn't show up on Tuesday," he quipped. "There's normally a charge for delivery, but, this one's on the house." "You're from Tiffany's?" Andy had almost forgot about Tarl's present to her. "Sure am, ma'am." Andy took the package and opened it. Carefully, she removed the crystal angel. "Tarl!" She breathed. "Happy anniversary, my beloved." He then turned to the delivery man. "I don't . . . ." "Don't worry about it, brudder. I thought we didn't have any heros in this here world. Turns out, I was talking to one on the phone. Many happy returns." With that, he departed the apartment. Tarl held Andy closed. "My angel." "My hero," Andy smiled, lovingly at her husband. "Thank God you're still alive." THE END.