A story that came to me one day.

I only own my OCs, including Chloe.

A Home Warmly Filled With Love

The home was on fire and she was running from her stepfather, who had a gun. Chloe didn't look back as she tried to avoid the fire and find a place to hide.

"Chloe! Get over here!" said her stepfather angrily.

She finally found a place to hide and stayed there, staying low to the floor as the smoke rose, keeping the man from finding her so fast.

Rachel had been rollerblading down the road, coming back from practicing some tricks with XLR8 at the skate park and he was zipping along not far from her when they saw the fire and heard the screams of the stepfather being a murderer and a kid trapped inside. Rachel looked over at XLR8.

"Get help," she said and skated fast for a short distance and leapt in the air, her skates becoming shoes before she hit the ground running, going in the house through the back door which hadn't caught fire yet. Looking around, she heard a crash over the sound of the fire and quickly followed it, pulling out her Proto-Tool. She had a bad feeling she was going to need it.

Chloe heard him getting closer and it took everything in her not to scream. She huddled in a corner, but he found her.

"There you are," he said, aiming his gun at the thirteen-year-old's head as she closed her eyes. "Time for you to join your mother."

Rachel, who had just come around the corner, saw the gun pointed at the young girl's head and heard the man's statement. Her protective instincts kicked in automatically and she fired at the gun, hitting her target, which had been the gun, and causing the man to drop it and turn to her, reaching for another weapon, giving Rachel no choice.

God, forgive me, she prayed silently as the man charged at her and she swung her Proto-Tool at the same time.

It then seemed like time slowed down as she leapt to where the girl was. "You okay?" she asked and the girl opened her eyes in surprise, but nodded.

"Listen, we need to get out of here!" said Rachel, her voice sounding different as her oxygen mask now came over her nose and mouth. She quickly put one on Chloe too and quickly guided her away from the man who struggled to get up from the floor as the fire raged on.

They had made it to the middle floor when the fire suddenly engulfed the stairs going down. They were trapped. Rachel was thinking about what to do when suddenly static crackled from her Plumber's badge.

"Rachel, are you there?" came a familiar voice.

She grabbed her badge. "Tetrax? I'm here," she said. "I have the girl with me, but the fire blocked off access to downstairs!"

"Hang on. Gluto and I are coming in," said the Petrosapien. Just then, his ship pulled up to the flaming house and the entrance bay opened and Tetrax quickly formed a crystal walkway that Gluto stretched himself over to the girls. Rachel gently pushed the teenage girl to the gelatin-like alien, who took her and then held out a hand to Rachel, who grabbed his hand and they headed up the crystal walkway.

Halfway to the ship, part of the house collapsed and hit the walkway, jarring the two girls and the alien and Chloe fell over the side, grabbing on to prevent herself from plunging to the Earth and she screamed in terror.

Suddenly, something large wrapped around her wrist and she looked up to see a diamond-like face. "Grab on!" he said and she did so as he hauled her up. "Hold onto me!"

She did that as he looked back at Rachel and Gluto. "Gluto, become a slingshot!" he said.

The peace-colored alien did so and Rachel was soon safely at Tetrax's side and she held onto Gluto's hand as he swung up and into the ship as a result of the slingshot maneuver. Tetrax and the girls were right behind him and Gluto quickly engaged the engines to take off.

Just as the house exploded, leveling it to the ground.

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief as Tetrax set a course for the Grant Mansion and she checked on the girl. "Hey, you okay?" she asked.

She nodded. "He's gone, right?" she asked, meaning her stepfather.

Rachel had a pained look on her face and nodded. "I'm sorry, sweetie," she said.

"It's okay," said Chloe, her voice low and filled with fear. "He killed Mom and was going to kill me."

Rachel hugged the teenage girl comfortingly. "He can't hurt you anymore," she said. "You're safe with us."

Tetrax came forward, gently patting the younger girl's head. "I just spoke with Sergeant Williams. He'll be stopping by later," he said.

Rachel nodded and turned to the girl. "What's your name, sweetie?" she asked.

"Chloe," she said. "Where are we going?"

"Someplace where no one will ever hurt you again," said Tetrax. "Our home, to be exact."

"The Grant Mansion," Rachel added in.

"The haunted house?" asked Chloe.

Rachel smiled. "That's just a rumor," she said as the ground beneath them opened up and Gluto guided the ship to land on as the ground moved back into place again. "Man, am I glad Jury Rigg and Eatle had this built to store your ship and other space equipment," she said to Tetrax.

"It definitely comes in handy," he agreed as all four of them walked off the ship and Rachel led Chloe inside to Frankenstrike's lab. The teenager was at first scared of the Frankenstein alien, but Rachel calmed her down, explaining that Frankenstrike was the doctor and he needed to make sure they were alright. When the scientist alien placed a hand on her shoulder, she winced and let out a whimper of pain, to which he gently pulled up her shirt sleeve and he and Rachel saw the bruises on the teen's shoulder and looked at each other.

"You check us for smoke inhalation and I'll help her take care for those bruises," she said.

Nodding, Frankenstrike pulled out his stethoscope and had Chloe take some deep breaths as he listened to her lungs and nodded before he checked Rachel's lungs. "You're both clear," he said and gave Rachel a can of salve. "Wildvine's made some stronger doses for deeper bruises and cuts."

She nodded. "That's good," she said and turned to Chloe. "Come on. Let's get you taken care of."

Although the teenager was unsure, she let Rachel help her put the salve on her back which was filled with bruises and on her arms, finding her some other clothes to wear.

"Rachel?" asked Chloe.

"Yes, honey?" asked the owner of the Grant Mansion as she put the salve away.

"Will I be staying here?"

Rachel turned to her. "If you want to," she said. "There's plenty of room."

Chloe looked down. "You promise I'll be safe here?" she asked.

"Absolutely," Rachel answered. "The aliens that live here may look scary, but none of them would ever raise their hand to hurt you."

"It goes against what we believe," said a voice as Rook walked in, hugging Rachel, who hugged him back with a smile. He then turned to Chloe. "Hello," he said gently.

"Hi," she answered, letting him come over and gently squeeze her shoulder reassuringly.

That night, a scream rang through the halls and startled one of the other aliens. NRG woke up and quickly ran to the source of the screams and saw a young girl bolt upright in fear, screaming again before she began breathing hard.

"Are you alright?" he asked, coming in. She looked at him fearfully, but he gently wrapped her in a hug and his warm armor slowly helped her shivering to stop as he wiped away her tears.

"What is your name, little one?" he asked.

She sniffled. "C-Chloe," she said. "You?"

"NRG," he said. "That nightmare really shook you up."

She nodded and looked fearful for a minute, but felt his large hand gently stroke her head and back. "Easy," he said. "Calm down."

She couldn't explain it, but she just felt safe as he held her and she snuggled into his hug, feeling sleepy after a bit longer and he tucked her back in bed, making sure she was peacefully sleeping before heading back to bed himself, thinking about Chloe and feeling protective of her, very similar to how he felt about Anna. Deciding to talk to his fiancée in the morning, he went back to sleep.

Chloe came downstairs the next morning and saw a huge red alien with four arms talking to the same alien she saw last night. They spotted her. "There she is," said NRG.

A young woman stepped up to him and smiled. "She's the one you were talking about, honey?" she asked.

"Yes, Anna, my love. This is Chloe," he said. "Chloe, this is my fiancée, Anna, and Four Arms, a good friend of mine."

Four Arms gave the teenager a friendly smile. "Hi, Chloe," he said, playfully ruffling her light brown hair with one hand, making her giggle a little.

Rachel then came in. "Guys, Judge Forhowser's here," she said as the kind judge came up to them and they greeted him politely. Chloe was curious as she watched NRG and Anna sign the papers and the judge smiled.

"Alright then, Chloe is now your daughter," he said. "I'm glad she now has a good home."

"We are too," said Rachel with a smile.

Chloe looked confused. "What do you mean?" she asked.

NRG lightly cleared his throat. "Well, Chloe. Anna and I have adopted you as our daughter," he explained gently. "We overheard that you wanted to stay here and so now you can."

She looked at him. "Really?" she asked hopefully and then looked down a bit. "Um, you won't be mad if I…uh…don't call you 'Mom' and 'Dad' right away, will you?"

"Of course not," said Anna. "You can call us those titles when you're ready."

Chloe couldn't believe it and went up to NRG, hugging him and he returned her hug as Anna joined in.

Feeling safe again, Chloe enjoyed the hugs, happy to have a better home this time and to have two loving parents who were going to take care of her and even be patient until she was ready to call them her parents. She felt it couldn't be any better than it already now was.

There will be a sequel to this story, so stay tuned!

Please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418