Chapter 25

At the Institute...

Illyana knows Clark suggested she stay and 'make friends' but honestly she wasn't sure how to start so instead she finds herself outside, watching her brother aid Clark's father on the Institute's farm.

It was Jonathan's way of relaxing away from the election campaign to just spend a few hours doing what he really loves.

With the campaign taking up so much of his time he had to more and more leave Piotr in charge...which to be fair the large Russian seemed happy to do. He got paid for doing it.

Illyana leans on the wooden fence and rests her chin on her hands.

Her brother pauses in his work and looks back at her.

Illyana arches an eyebrow as if asking 'what?'.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help?" Piotr wonders.

"Oh you're doing a super job. I wouldn't want to risk ruining it," Illyana declares, cheekiness in her tone.

"You wouldn't," Piotr insists, seeing if he can persuade her into doing some actual work.

"I always saw my role more as a supervisor," Illyana insists, the petulant cheekiness of the little girl she was shining through for a moment.

"Yes, I recall you bossing me around," Piotr half-complains but with a fond smile. It was after their parents died and they were alone. Illyana had to remain with him so he could keep an eye on her so she sat there and ordered him around. He let it go because he knew she was enjoying herself.

"You're good at taking orders!" Illyana proclaims with that evil little smirk of hers.

Piotr rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "Aren't you cold?" he wonders. It's October and she has no jacket on.

Honestly it never even occurred to Illyana that it might be cold. She has endured extremes of temperature, both heat and cold, in Limbo beyond even what her native Russia can conjure up. Bottom line is that she's not quite human any longer so her tolerances are beyond human. Therefore she doesn't feel cold or realise it is to others. To divert too close a scrutiny she goes with the response of, "We're Russian, brother. This is a heatwave by comparison with home."

"Not quite," Piotr qualifies. Yes, Russia can be very, very cold in the winter but it can also get very hot in the summer.

Illyana shrugs. It's all she has left to say on the issue.

"There you are!" a peppy tone proclaims.

Illyana turns her head to see Kitty striding toward her.

"I was looking for you."

"You were?" Illyana asks, confused as to why anyone would be looking for her. She's not exactly social.

"Yeah," Kitty confirms as she comes to stand next to the blond girl. "Wanted to see if you would like to hang out with us."

"Us?"

"A group of us girls. Can't, like, promise anything too exciting because I don't think we've got anything planned for the day yet."

"Why are you asking me?" Illyana wonders, unable to fathom a reason.

"Because being part of the X-Men means being part of the family and we want to help you settle in."

That sounded...too rehearsed to Illyana's ears. "No, really. Why are you asking me?" she repeats with a piercing gaze.

Kitty's resistance collapses. "Ok, Clark may have, like, asked as a favour before he zipped off," she confesses. He actually sweet talked her into it, calling her one of the best people he knows and so on. Clark can be annoyingly charming when he wants to be when usually Kitty just find him plain annoying.

"I'll kill him. I swear," Illyana states, meaning it quite real.

"Well I don't usually rush to his defence so please don't tell him I did but he does it because he cares."

"I know why he does things. I've seen inside his head."

"That must have been scary," Kitty reflects with a shudder.

Illyana can't help but smile amused. Scary compared to what? Herself? Not really. If anything it only adds to the shame she claims she doesn't feel. To feel his goodness and compare it to her own darkness...it confuses her as to how he can stand being in the same room as her let alone take her as his lover.

"By the way what I said to start off with is also true," Kitty would just like to point out.

"You don't know me and if you did..." Illyana leaves it unsaid.

"That's sorta the point of my asking. So we can get to know each other, be friends," Kitty says in her perpetual cheery tones and attitude that despite all they've been through she manages to maintain.

"You should go, Snowflake," Piotr intervenes at this point. She could do with friends. Hopefully it would help pull her out of her shell and he will be able to see more of his little sister in her again. So far it's been a struggle and she's remained very distant.

"Uh...what about you? I was going to help," she easily lies. Trust her she's well versed in lying.

Piotr, though, can see through her on this occasion. "Oh, that's ok. I'll manage. Go on. Off you go and have fun."

Kitty takes Illyana by the arm and manages to pull the reluctant blond along.

"See you later!" Piotr calls after her.

"Traitor," Illyana calls back, making him smile. Yeah, she's so going to make him pay for this.

Metropolis...

With her senses now super-acute Andrea could smell and hear almost her entire environment long before she needed to open her eyes.

She was no longer in her apartment. It was a building long abandoned...except for vermin. Wind whistling through broken windows.

And the most intoxicating smell of all. That of sunshine flowing through veins with a slow steady beat not more than half a dozen paces away.

It was why she tried and lured him to her. She knew his blood would contain the most power of all and with it...well no more listening to the little twit whose only redeeming feature was to be the one to transform her.

"I know you're awake by the way," the deep baritone voice interrupts her thoughts. "Playing dead. Seen it, done it. You can't fool me."

Andrea opens her eyes. Warehouse. Filthy, empty...'lovely,' her inner sarcasm says. Clark sat in front of her, his back to her, unconcerned to feel like he needs to watch her. There's something...different about him. He's relaxed around her. That's...wrong. No-one is ever relaxed around a vampire surely. She's a predator and he's her prey...only he's acting like...she doesn't know. He's not fitting either one of the predator or prey roles right now.

Andrea tries to move...but can't. She looks down. Heavy chains...but still she should easily be able to break them. She tries. She fails.

"Heavy sedative. Enough to put down a whole herd of elephants," Clark answers her unspoken question, still without looking at her. "I don't think you'll find your strength returning any time soon. Plus I do believe it's probably been awhile since you 'fed' so I'm guessing that also saps your strength."

"Where am I?" Andrea asks.

"Somewhere away from other people," Clark answers calmly.

"Come on, Clark. You don't need these chains. I promise I'll be good. This floor is cold and hard. How about you come, keep me warm and we can talk," she says, her voice flirtatious, seductive.

"That's perhaps the worst example of blatant use of seduction technique to trick me into releasing you I've ever heard. And trust me I know. I've tried that trick myself and I sucked at it."

"Release me!" Andrea roars angrily, her eyes turning blood red.

"Temper, temper," Clark mock reprimands her, raising a hand and waggling a finger.

"Release me or else!"

"I've heard scarier threats from scarier things from down in the pits of Hell. Then there was my time as a Horseman of Apocalypse...but I don't need to tell you about that. You knew that had happened to me...or does the transformation addle your brain?"

Andrea snorts. "I'm more alive..."

"Than you've ever been, yes, yes, you said that already. Andrea, don't waste your time. Since we last met I've been in dark places filled with creatures that make you look like a pussy cat in comparison so spare me the threats or the seductions or whatever other ploys you want to try. I can assure you I've seen them all, faced them all, defeated them all and that was without my powers. With them...well you've never seen me unleash my full power so let me repeat don't waste my time. The only information I want from you is how this happened to you. Supply it or be quiet. I'm not in the mood to play games."

"Aw," she playfully pouts. "Playing games is my favourite part."

"Well you're not very good at it are you. Luring me to your apartment was a game in your head I'm certain and you failed miserably. She was right, you are arrogant creatures."

"She?"

"My girlfriend. She knows a lot about vampires."

"How?"

"Ah, so the reporter in you still lives. Asking questions. You really expect me to answer?"

"You expect me to answer yours without nothing in return?"

"Oh there's not nothing, Andrea. Once I understand what has happened I can help you."

"Help me? Help me be what? Human again? Why would I want to go back to being prey?"

"You're the one who made that jump. Not me. Perhaps the fact you said it shows a part of you realises what you have become and wants to reverse it."

"Now who's making jumps?" she retorts. "And will you look at me?!" she demands, infuriated he won't turn round.

"Nope," Clark says, popping the p. "Busy. Reading."

"Reading what?" Andrea feels a need to know.

Clark makes an exaggerated motion with his arm before bringing his finger to his mouth, licking it and turning a page on something. He doesn't answer.

Andrea rolls her eyes.

What is Clark reading? Her journalistic notes. She half does them the old-fashioned way in a journal while the other half she does the modern digital way. Clark prefers the old fashioned way. There's just something about the tactile feel of a book in his hand he prefers.

Point is if he is going to figure out what happened to her he needs to know what she's been up to recently. And from his experiences in Limbo he doubts very much he can trust a word that passes her lips.

Oh here we go. 'Vampires?' with a circle around it. A line linking it to 'Luthorcorp'. Oh there's a name Clark could do without seeing again. But a factor is this. Luthorcorp was the name of Lionel's company. Lex calls his company after himself; 'Lexcorp'. So does this mean it relates back to something Lionel was up to?

Lets see...hnn, seems she was put onto it by a source of hers.

And that's it really. That's all her notes say.

What Clark needs to do now is talk to this source. She must have a way to contact him or her. Let him see here. She keeps her contacts in another small book...that she hides under her mattress. Like that works on the guy with x-ray vision. Clark hums a little tune to himself, knowing Andrea can hear him as he flicks through her contacts book. There we go.

Clark rises to his feet and pulls out a syringe from his pocket.

"What's that?" Andrea eyes it warily.

"More sedative. Can't have you running around now can we?"

"It's daytime. I'm not likely to go anywhere," she retorts.

Clark says nothing to that and jams the needle into her neck.

"OW! Son of a...son of a...a..." her words slur as her eyelids droop as the sedative takes full effect.

"Thank you Star Labs," Clark shows his gratitude for the people who helped him. It's the one thing he's currently thankful to Patricia for, making sure it's there to aid Superman. They supplied him with the sedative. It was designed for those with enhanced metabolisms, who would otherwise be very difficult to sedate...and you may need to for a medical procedure or whatever.

Right that'll keep her. Now let him get on and see if he can meet this contact.

At the Institute...

Illyana can't help but compare. Between her life in Limbo and her life right now, 'hanging out'(a phrase that has a much darker meaning in Limbo let her assure you) with the group of teenage girl mutants.

Compare the idle gossip these girls indulge in to a conversation she would have in Limbo.

There is no comparison to make.

It's like...like...what's the phrase?

Chalk and cheese! Yes, that's it.

Point is it's hard for Illyana to engage in what seems trivial things compared to what she has seen and experienced.

So it means she sits here while not really being part of anything. On the fringes. Unsure, perhaps even unable, to make herself more involved.

"Where's Wanda today by the way?" Kitty suddenly asks at haven't seen much of the chaos witch today. In fact she hasn't seen much of her outside school and training these last several days.

"Hanging out with her new 'mystical friend'," Tabby answers with air-quotes.

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know. She's being all mysterious about it. All she'll say is that she made a new 'mystical friend' who's aiding her with her magic." Tabby then shrugs because she can't explain beyond that.

Rogue mutters something inaudible as she stands, leaning against the wall next to Jean. Her and Wanda...never really made up after Rogue's little trip to the dark side. They were never hugely close and now they're even further apart so she has no clue what Wanda is up to. She sighs and then speaks to Jean in a whisper. "So where's Scott today?" she asks.

"Why are you asking me?" Jean asks with a tiny puzzled frown.

"Because ya seemed pretty pally tha othah day. Are ya and he friends again?"

"I guess we are," Jean supposes. "As I told Betsy I just decided to let my anger at him go. Once that was gone...well Scott and I have known each other a long time," she explains that the basis of their friendship is therefore long and widely based and once her anger was gone the connections of friendship began to re-establish themselves.

"So where's Scott?" Rogue repeats her question.

"Meeting Emma I think."

Rogue rolls her eyes at that. "What is it with tha Hellions these days any how?" she wonders. "They don't do that playing hero fraud they were pulling much any more. Hell, at school we seem ta have a live and let live policy or something," she adds how the X-Men and the Hellions just sort of avoid each other at school, staying in their separate groups.

"Not sure. All I could pry out of Scott was that something in the Hellfire Club has them distracted."

"Why don't ah think that's gonna beh good for us," Rogue voices her immediate thought.

"Because you have a wise head on young shoulders."

"Well thank ya darlin," Rogue says with a huge amount of sass. "Never thought ya noticed," she jokes.

Jean chuckles lightly. Though she has noticed Rogue's been much more overt lately in allowing her southern sass to come out. It's a good change if Jean is being honest.

Rogue smirks. "So what do we think of Ms Blond and Broody over there?" she asks Jean about Illyana.

"I met her this morning," Jean replies, indicating that she can hardly have an opinion on the girl yet. Too soon.

"Yeah. Something about her bothers meh too," Rogue says.

It's in one ear and out the other. Rogue heard what she wanted to hear. Jean sighs. "Like what exactly?" she finds herself asking.

Rogue shrugs. "Ah don't know. It's just...don't ya feel it when she's around. Put-off...unsettled lahke there's something...else about her that just screams...dangah almost."

"You sure this is not just because she's dating Clark," Jean puts forward another theory. Being an ex herself she knows that it's strange and awkward seeing your former partner with someone else.

"No," Rogue denies that. "Clark and ah settled everything between us. Ah'm perfectly fahne with him finding someone else...as long as she's good for him," she qualifies.

"Which brings us back to your unsettled feeling I'm guessing. You're not sure Illyana is good for him."

"We don't know anything about her. Beyond vague mentions of her growing up in some bad dimension."

"Well how can you know her unless you talk to her, Rogue. Get to know her."

"Well ah suppose..." Rogue demurs. "Or..." she starts to say with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

Jean rolls hers. She knows that look. Plus she's psychic don't ya know. This could very well possibly not end well.

Metropolis...

Clark had managed to arrange a meeting with Andrea's contact and so he sits in one of the booths in a classic style diner and waits. He had ordered a little something to eat to blend in and not look suspicious in anyway.

So he waits.

Checks his watch.

Takes a bite to eat, chews. Ah, the little things that he missed when he was in Limbo. A week on and he's found he is still learning to enjoy them.

Clark hears the door to the diner open and footsteps draw near before someone drops into the booth opposite him.

"Well, well, Mr Kent. Don't you show up in the strangest places?"

Clark's eyes go wide as he stares at the man opposite him and utters in exclaimed disbelief, "Principal Fine?!"

"Son of a bitch," Andrea groggily murmurs as awareness returns, finishing her final thought before the darkness had taken hold.

She's still heavily sedated but she can tell Clark is no longer here. Seems he misjudged her dose. Question is can she regain her strength enough to break these chains before he gets back.

Assuming she does then she'll prepare for round 2 with him and this time he won't get away from her.

Thinking this out helps her fight off the urge to fall back asleep.

She won't repeat her previous error. Oh no. She...it's hard to admit this...she made a mistake. She thought she could just jump him and he wouldn't be fast nor strong enough to stop her.

Next time she'll lay out her trap better. Get her 'sisters' to help her. Next time she'll use what she knows is his weakness.

And then that what she can imagine must be delectable blood of his will be hers. The strength and power...she's salivating just thinking on it.

She will be free and he will be hers.

He will not get away from her this time.

This she promises.

Author's Note: I liked the calm, relaxed, annoying Clark in that scene a lot...and there is purpose to his seeming madness. Brainiac as Andrea's contact...well I did mention he had side-projects on the go a couple of chapters back. You'll see what this is about as the arc unfolds. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; Thirst part 3.