#*mention

Not when she’d been so dead set on hurting, killing, Mary and the people Mary loved.

What he didn’t anticipate was the puzzled look Mary currently wore. He doubted she was even watching the movie at all.

Owen ran his hand through her hair to get her attention and tipped his head when she looked at him.

“What are you thinking about, love?”

Mary eyed him and he could see her considering what she wanted to ask; he waited, glad she was willing to talk about whatever it was. For once he wouldn’t have to convince her.

“My dad said your mom recognized him at dinner,” she said. Owen blinked. “But I don’t think our parents have ever met before.”

“Oh.” He rubbed at his beard as he processed her statement. “Your dad can tell when people recognize him?”

“He’s very attuned to physical reactions. And also, need I remind you, your mom has the worst lying voice of anyone I’ve ever met.”

The comment about lying set off a lightbulb for Owen and he relaxed against the couch cushions.

“Oh.” He said again. “Yeah, she probably did recognize him. Ah, hm. I never told you about my mom, did I?”

Mary shifted where she sat to face him and give him a bland look.

“Not unless this is connected to her killer baking.”

“It’s a bit more extensive than baking.”

He paused as he tried to figure out how to explain.

“You might think I’m lying, but I promise I’m telling the truth.”

That intrigued Mary. She moved her legs to drape over his own and cocked an eyebrow for him to continue.

“So, to start, I guess, I get my powers from her.”

“Your mom can teleport?”

“Technically.” Owen said. “It’s just not an ability she was born with and she doesn’t love to use it. From the stories, she absorbed a lot of energy from an object called the Tesseract when she was younger and it had some lingering side effects.”

Mary looked more thoughtful than amazed, which made sense because Owen hadn’t gotten to the crazy part yet.

“Okay. That’s kind of unusual, but not exactly the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever heard.” Mary said. “And that still doesn’t explain how she recognized my dad.”

“Right. That’s the bigger thing. My mom isn’t…she’s not originally from this universe.”

Mary’s eyes narrowed and she gave him a side eye. “Your mom is an alien?” Owen laughed. “No. She’s human. She was just born on a different earth. Like a parallel dimension.”

This time Mary stared at him with the appropriate level of bafflement and disbelief.

“A parallel dimension,” she repeated.

“The one she came from doesn’t have enhanced individuals or the level of tech we do. She says that, instead, they had stories about us. Well, stories about the superheroes we have here. Most likely they had a movie about your dad and she knew about it before she was transported here.”

Mary sat back against the cushions with a huff and stared at him. And stared. She chewed the inside of her cheek a moment before she spoke.

“If you were Maddie I wouldn’t even bother humoring you right now.”

“That’s smart. Maddie would probably embellish.”

“But I know you don’t lie about things like this.”

Owen shrugged and Mary scoffed.

“That’s it? You’re just going to tell me your mom is from another dimension and act like you didn’t just drop some insane information on me? You didn’t even think to mention it until now? Is it a secret?”

“No, not really. I just forget, sometimes.” Owen countered. “And it never came up. Besides, we don’t talk about it a lot. I mean, there’s only one taboo alien story, but usually it’s just not… relevant; I guess.”

“Now there’s a taboo alien story?”

Owen rolled his eyes.

“She helped stop an alien invasion, that’s all. She doesn’t like talking about it.”

Mary’s brows creased as she thought back and did some math.

“The first one? In New York?”

“No, the second one. In D.C.”

“Oh. I don’t really know much about that one.”

“I guess they were able to wrap it up before things got out of hand. I don’t think it got as much attention as other world events, considering how common enhanced individuals were becoming back then.”

Mary took another few moments to process the new insight. It was probably a lot. Owen forgot how crazy things could sound to people outside his familial bubble sometimes. Even with superheroes and powers, strange and unbelievable still existed.

“So, in another universe my dad is… an actor?”

“He’d have to be for my mom to recognize him.”

“That’s so weird. I think he’d hate that. Wait!”

She sat up and Owen let out an oof as she used his legs to push up from.

“Does being from another universe make your mom an anomaly?”

Owen raised a brow.

“I feel like it inherently makes her one, in a literal sense.”

Mary rolled her eyes.

“I mean; do you remember when Leap Frog shot me?”

Owen’s eyes darkened.

“I do.”

“He was supposed to shoot me twice, but his gun didn’t go off the second time. My visions are never wrong so-” She splayed her hands out in a gesture of expectation. “Does your mom’s energy, I don’t know, mess with stuff?’

Owen’s eyes widened momentarily.

“You were supposed to be shot twice?” He clenched his fists and ran his tongue over his teeth. “If I ever see-”

“Leap Frog is a joke, focus,” Mary interrupted. “The gun jammed inexplicably.”

Owen’s relented and his expression shifted from thoughtful, to unamused, to sheepish.

“Oh, I think I know. That actually might have been her using her other power.”

Mary blinked as she shook her hands in front of her.

“Way-way-wait. Another power?”

“Look, you shouldn’t mention this one in front of my dad. She’s not supposed to use that one.”

Mary grabbed the couch cushion behind her and smacked Owen with it as she let out an insulted scoff.