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The video shows the sandy haired man staring into the camera. The room behind him shows a massive bed, tightly made, the floor spotless, various punk and skaa band posters are plastered on one wall.

Twenty three seconds of silence play through the video as the man stares into the camera before he finally speaks.

“Hell, I thought this was going to be easier. Olivia, this is for you…..and I don’t really know where to start…..”

Another ten seconds, pass, “I’m your Dad. Christ, I hope you don’t ever see this, as I sound like an idiot already…..

“Last night, I’m sure you’ll remember though. Your uncle Bryce, my idiot for a little brother, took you out into Crosswook for your….” a deep sigh, “first patrol I guess. I…..I was….still am, super angry.”

“Shit, that’s not what I wanted to say……”

“Tomorrow, we, the Alliance, are going to Argentina. I don’t know if its a big deal or not, it sounds like it could be super dangerous, and frankly…..well, the people we have to deal with have not been……friendly in the past.”

A long pause, then, “I guess I should start over…..When I was younger, it was pretty common practice for soldiers like me to write letters to their families, well….in case, well in case bad things happened and they never got to see each other again. Once, before you were born of course, my letter would have been to your Mum.”

“Anyway, right now you don’t even know that I’m your Dad. I’m hoping that will change soon, and well, if it does, maybe I’ll do a different video.”

He runs his hand through his hair, looking down at the floor.

“I guess though, if you see this video, it means there won’t be time to do another one so. Well, unless I show it to you some other time, but just in case, here goes.”

“When we came to the race track a few weeks ago in Port Hedland, something led me to place a bet on that final race. Amelia, your Mum,” sigh, “knows I don’t really play games or bet on anything other than…well, that’s another topic for a time.”

“I don’t even really know how much I won win you won that race. All I can say is that you are an amazing racer. Better than Bryce was at that age, and you can tell him I said that.” Then the man smiles. “Course I never got to watch him race very often either.”

“I don’t really remember too much after the race. I think I was in shock. I know I was in shock. When you took off your helmet….I knew you were my daughter. You had to be. I’m sure that we could run all kinds of blood or DNA tests or whatever, but I didn’t need to.”

“At the bar, your fiery energy, your excitement in victory, your attitude, it all proved it.”

“When you and your Mum agrees to race here in the US, I was ecstatic.”

“I grabbed this pic before we came back to the US with you a few days later. Actually, I grabbed several.” He holds up an older photo of a girl in shorts and a Metallica tee shirt. “This is your Aunt Bridgette, not too many years difference than you are now.”

“As you can see, there’s a pretty good resemblance. Seeing you…..seeing your Mum at that track. I was definitely in shock and at the same time I think it was the happiest day of my life.”

“I know I haven’t been there for the first thirteen years…..if you see this, well, I guess I screwed up all the years after that too.”

“I’m not very good with dealing with my emotions. Maybe I was when I was with your Mum, I think I was. I’m just rediscovering some of those memories. I have….amnesia of a sorts from my years as a soldier, although I’m slowly recovering.”

“My point is….I’ve never been happier in the last fourteen years than I have these last few weeks, whether it has been the movie nights, or dinner at the arcade….or teaching you what I know.”

“I know that I wasn’t there for your first step, first day of school, first everything for the most part. I know I got to be the first to take you scuba diving, even if it was really short and just the first training session, and the first to take you on that ocean going speed boat.”

“I just didn’t want to leave again without leaving something behind to tell you how much that meant to me. I wanted you to know how much I love you.”

“I know it probably seems strange to hear that. And to be honest, I hope you never see this video because I want to tell you that in person, as soon as your Mum says its ok to talk to you about this.”

“Truth be told, there’s a lot of reasons that I am super angry at Bryce right now, about taking you out as Red Widow. But, if I am really honest, which with these kind of videos, that’s the whole point, I think maybe the biggest one is that, well, the reason I wanted you to train with me on all these different things, was not only to get in shape for your racing. That was part of it. But really, the biggest reason is that you are my daugher, the daughter of Ghost Venom.”

“I wanted to make sure you had the best training ever……to make sure you were as prepared as possible. And then I wanted to be the one to take you out…..if that was what you decided to do. I know that probably is even more strange than anything else you have heard with this video.”

“Let’s face it though….Red Widow is a pretty cool name.

“But…one thing I can recognize is a warrior’s spirit. You have that…in spades.”

“Your Mum was a warrior…once. Really, she still is…..”

“But really, call it my sixth sense. Your racing, your thrill for that action….its not just racing. Its facing the unknown….the dark….the other…..and winning. Being the best. Not the best racer. The best….everything.”

“Knowing your the best…..and hunting dangerous things to prove it.”

“Like Father, Like Daughter.”

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