The Fight

And here's the climax! ...sorta...enjoy!

"You know, you could always move in with me," Ariel's father said as they sat on a park bench. They had arranged to meet each other and discuss what he had planned.

"I don't know," she said slowly, "I'm so used to my life already."

"Ariel, I know you have misgivings about me." She rolled her eyes. "And you have every right to be angry or afraid." She merely gave him a condescending look. "But I have changed. And I want you back. I regret not taking you in the day I was released."

"And you expect me to believe that?!" she snapped, "I like my life the way it is, Dad. And you had better stay out of it." She stood to leave.

"Wait," her father said, standing up as well and handing her a slip of paper, "In case you change your mind." She glared as she reluctantly dropped the paper into her pocket.

"Don't count on it." She turned and left the park, noting that it was nearing dark. She would have to go on patrol soon.

"Oh, look, if it isn't the freak." She turned to find a smirking teenage boy leaning on the wall of an alley. She recognized him as a popular bully at her high school. He attacked mostly freshmen, but also was known to hit sophomores from time to time.

"Get lost, Josh." The spiky-haired boy merely rolled his eyes before kicking off against the wall to land on his feet.

"Been out practicing your magic again?"

"Been out getting illegal slappers again?" she retorted. He scowled, losing the cool façade.

"It's getting dark, you know." He smirked once again, this time cruelly. "Awful things happen in the dark."

"Like what I'm about to do to you if you don't back off?" she snapped, but then froze when he flicked out a switchblade.

"Like what I'm about to do to you to make sure that your magic won't cause any harm." He pushed her against the wall and she screamed loudly before he placed the blade against her throat. She quickly sent it flying deep into a dumpster nearby. "Huh. So you really do have powers." Then she felt his hand close around her throat instead. "Give me a reason," he hissed, his smirk widening into a creepy smile. She felt his rank breath on her face and recognized the scent.

"You..." She gasped; his hand was crushing her windpipe. "You're drunk," she whispered weakly, feeling faint.

"And if I am?" Josh snarled.

"Is there a problem?" a familiar voice questioned and Ariel would have sighed in relief had she not been afraid to lose the remaining air in her lungs.

"Uh, not at all," Josh said quickly, dropping her and quickly stepping away before breaking into a run.

"Ariel?" Superman questioned from somewhere above her.

"Kal..." Then everything went dark.

Ariel moaned weakly as she awoke. Her head was pounding and everything hurt.

"Kal..." she called softly and felt his hand close around hers, gripping harder than usual, which didn't help the pain.

"I'm right here." The anger in his voice was barely concealed. "And I saw you use your powers." Now she was scared; Kal rarely ever got angry with her.

"He had a knife, what was I supposed to do?" she asked, sitting up.

"Call for help," he snapped.

"He would have killed me the instant I did," she argued, "And I tried to call for help, but no one heard me!"

"I would've heard you!"

"But you didn't!" she pointed out.

"Who was he?" Kal changed the subject.

"Some jerk in my school," she muttered.

"You never told me it was this serious!"

"It wasn't this serious!" she retorted, "Not until tonight! He was drunk!" Then a thought hit her. "Wait...why didn't you hear me?"

"I don't know!" He was obviously still angry with her. She could feel her own temper smolder.

"You've been like this ever since I mentioned my dad! Do you just want me to go with him?! Because I will! I don't know why I picked you over an orphanage!" Before she had realized what happened, she was on the floor, tears burning in the corners of her eyes as she held her cheek in shock. Across the room, Kal stared at his hand, and then slowly lifted his head to gaze at her.

"Ariel..." He took a step forward, but she backed away, eyes wide.

"Stay away from me," she whispered.

"Air, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" he tried again, lifting his hand to place it on her shoulder.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She made a slashing movement with her hand, causing him to fall backwards out the door, which had opened of its own accord. The door slammed in his face and locked itself.

"Ariel, let me in!" he shouted, twisting the doorknob in his hand.

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!" He raised a fist to break the door down. Then her next words made him freeze. "I HATE YOU!" His hand dropped to his side limply as his eyes widened.

"Ariel..."

"Just go away!" she cried, dropping back onto her bed and sobbing. Then her cellphone rang and she quickly wiped her tears away before picking up. "Hello?" Her voice broke slightly and she hoped whoever was calling didn't notice.

"Air? It's Terry. I got worried when you didn't come online today and-wait. Were you crying?" Oh great. The one time she didn't want him to call, he did.

"No," she sniffled and there was a small snort of disbelief on Terry's part. "Ter, I think I'm going to go with my dad."

"WHAT?! YOU CAN'T!" She pulled the phone from her ear before slowly bringing it back.

"You're the one who told me not to worry about everyone else. That they would deal."

"But I'm not everyone, Air!" he argued and her heart stopped. She hadn't thought about his reaction. Finally, she found her voice again and, when she spoke, it was trembling.

"I'm sorry, Terry. That's my decision. Bye."

"Wait, Ariel, please-" She hung up before he could retort and then pulled the slip of paper out of her pocket, dialing the number.

"Derrick Swan," her father answered.

"Dad, it's Ariel...you were right. I did change my mind. Can you pick me up?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sure, Air. Where should I meet you?"

"The park," she stated firmly. No need to reveal any identities. "At the entrance. I'll see you soon." She hung up and then grabbed a few clothes, shoving them in her backpack before opening the window, jumping out and then floating down safely after making sure no one was around. She would come back for the rest of her things after Kal had found out she had left.

"Sorry it took a while," she apologized when she met her father at the gate of the park, "I had to take the long route to avoid some pedestrians."

"Ten minutes, no big deal," her father waved it off with a smile, "Is this it?"

"Yeah. I'll get my other stuff later." He opened the door of the car for her and then closed it when she got in, locking it as he went. Suddenly, he grabbed her arm and clicked a black bracelet on her wrist. "What are you doing?!" she asked, now angry.

"You didn't actually expect me to have changed, did you?" he sneered and then she paled. "Obviously, you did. Those years hanging around Superman must have rubbed off on your naivety."

"Superman?" she asked, choosing to play dumb.

"Don't be an idiot, brat," he spat, "My source saw Superman taking you home this evening!"

"What do you want with me?" she demanded.

"It's not what I want, naturally." He stopped outside of LexCorp and her eyes widened. Kal had told her all about Lex Luthor.

"No! Let me go!" He yanked her out of the car and pulled her towards the building. "KAL!" she screamed before he placed a hand over her mouth. She tried to push him off using her telekinesis, but all that got her was a rather painful jolt of electricity. She screamed once more, the noise muffled by his hand.

"I wouldn't use your powers if I were you, Miss Swan," a businessman-like voice came from the shadows.

"Luthor," she snarled once her father had let her go. When Lex retired, his son, Alexander, took over LexCorp and was currently standing merely feet from Ariel.

"It's a special device my company designed, in fact," he continued, lifting her wrist to examine the black bracelet. "Gives a bit of a shock to the person wearing it every time they focus a certain part of their mind on something. The certain part that allows you to activate your meta-gene. Now this one, on the other hand..." he gestured to the gun-like machine in his hand, "...causes a shock whenever I wish. Care for a demonstration?"

"No, I do not care for a fucking dem-" She screamed as he activated the machine and immense pain flooded through her entire body. At long last, the machine was pulled away, leaving her gasping for breath.

"Language, language, Miss Swan," Luthor chided as she shakily pulled herself up while using the desk for support. "Now of course, we don't want anything from you. You're merely our bait for a certain Boy Scout we all know and hate."

"H-How did you know...about me and...Superman...?" she demanded, voice trembling.

"Our inside source, of course." A teenage boy stepped from the shadows and Ariel immediately recognized his spiky hair.

"Josh...you bastard..." she snarled weakly as he smirked down at her.

"Hey, I just want a good seat so I can watch the freak learn her place," he sneered, leaning against the wall smugly.

"Why me? Why not pick someone else?" she asked.

"According to Joshua here, Superman seemed to be very worried about you in particular when you had been attacked. In other words, you are Superman's other Kryptonite," Luthor explained.

"I am not," she hissed, "Not anymore." Luthor pondered this, then shrugged.

"Oh well. At least the Justice League will have one less member. Isn't that right, Raven?" Her eyes widened just as he pulled the trigger again. Her screams echoed through the empty office. She tried to push the shock gun away, but then remembered her bracelet and was electrocuted by that as well.

"Please..." she whispered as the gun was pulled away at last.

"What was that?" her father smirked.

"I said...please...go to hell." She smiled smugly as Luthor swore under his breath.

"I swear your kid's a piece of work," he snapped at Derrick.

"She's no kid of mine," the other man growled. Unknown to them, Ariel had closed her eyes.

"Kal...please help me..." she murmured, "I'm sorry." Then for the second time that night, she passed out.

Aww, poor Ariel...well not really. She kinda walked right into that one, didn't she? XD R&R!