Chapter 25

At the Institute...

Remember that part about it should being easy to detect Live Wire?

Well Charles may have to rethink that statement.

Why?

Because he can't find her. She's vanished off Cerebro's scans. His best guess, when he was asked, is that she is somewhere shielded.

Before now he only thought Magneto had that sort of technology...and assuming Magneto is not involved here then the only conclusion possible is that SHIELD now possesses telepathic shielding technology.

Is it a surprise?

It probably shouldn't be.

What else can you expect from a spy agency that it would do all it could to protect its secrets. An organisation whose secrets have secrets.

The problem is that, as of right now, the two young people were missing. One of whom is possibly the key to restoring Clark's memories.

Which has left the alien teen incredibly frustrated. He was already feeling useless due to the fact he couldn't use the power he possesses. Simply he didn't know how and it would take too long to relearn. Now that feeling of uselessness is even worse. It's bringing anger into the equation. Anger at himself...which is incredibly unhealthy and unhelpful.

His family had tried to get him to calm down...but it isn't working. He just doesn't seem to want to listen so Martha turns to the one person her son has seemed to respond to the most since his memories were taken; Jean.

Yes, Martha had noticed. She is his mother after all. What exactly was going on...well she had a supposition or two but there was a time and place for that sort of talk with her son and this wasn't it. Right now, in this situation...when this was settled, one way or the other, she would deal with it. Her and Jonathan she means. Deal with it like they always do; as a family but Clark is simply too agitated which brings her back to asking Jean for help.

Let Jean enlighten you to a fact of life she has learned since Mrs Kent came to the mansion. When the older woman asks you for something you can never say no. It's a long running joke amongst the students that that, and Mrs Kent's cooking, are her secret mutant powers.

Jean is not sure it is a joke because, seriously you cannot say no to that woman...and as for her cooking...heavenly.

Point is when Mrs Kent asked for Jean's help in calming Clark down she readily agreed. It's ridiculous really. Even without his memories he seems to want to carry the burdens of the world on his shoulders. Someone needs to get him to share. To realise it's ok to share those burdens with other people. Not be hostile. Be...a comfort. Be understanding. Be compassionate...but not to let him push you around either. You have to be firm also. It's a balance. One Jean is about to attempt to reach.

"Clark, please calm down," Jean pleads with the pacing teen. She had found him outside, the cold February night not bothering him but it does bother her as she pulls her coat tight around herself.

"I don't want to calm down!" he almost snarls his reply in his frustration. "I told you earlier Jean I just feel...useless."

"You are not useless Clark," Jean argues with him. "You admitted earlier today that you managed to use some of your abilities. It just takes time and you'll relearn how to access all of them."

"We don't have time!" he protests, waving his hands about wildly.

"Clark. The burdens of the world are not yours alone to bear," she airs what she was just thinking before she found him. "That's why the X-Men are a team. We work together. We share the burdens of the path we have chosen to walk. Right now that team is doing everything we can to locate Leslie and Kevin. You have to have faith and trust in your teammates. It's the only way it works."

"But I want to help," he argues.

"I know you do," Jean says in understanding. "So do I," she points out. "But if the Professor can't find them I'm afraid I can't. I just have to trust in my team that another solution will be found."

"But surely I can help. I mean I'm told I have this incredible hearing and I managed to listen to a conversation through several stories earlier. Doesn't that mean I can find them?"

"Assuming they're within range of your hearing and assuming they're making sounds you can hear which assumes that wherever they are isn't sound-proofed in the same way it's shielded against telepathic scan."

"That's an awful pessimistic view there Jean," Clark remarks, having finally stopped his pacing and is just looking at her curiously.

Jean frowns. "I know. I'm pretty certain I use to be the optimistic one as well," she jokes...which draws a smile out of Clark.

"And I wasn't?" Clark asks.

"Well maybe at the start...but a lot of stuff has happened I'm not sure you've been told about yet."

"So I lost my way is what you're saying?" he presses for.

"No. No. That's not what I'm saying," Jean says while trying to figure out how to explain what she is meaning without having to explain Apocalypse and everything else. "What I'm saying is that, perhaps, your optimism has been tempered slightly but despite it all you never stop using your powers to help people. You always keep saying that is because what else is power for if not to help people."

"And you agree?"

"Yes," Jean answers because it's not a belief you can argue with really unless your selfish and greedy and power mad. See her twin sister for evidence of the opposite belief.

"Then help me," Clark pleads. "At least let me try to find Leslie and Kevin. If I fail...then we're no worse off are we?"

Rogue would often complain that Clark had a hangdog expression that was impossible to resist...and she was right. "Ok, ok," Jean relents which gets her a heart-melting smile in return. Wow. What does she have to do to get that smile more often...not the time! Definitely not the time...but after this is over...Clark and her are going to need to talk because something has...shifted in their relationship but first things first.

"So what do I do?" Clark seeks her advice.

"Good question," Jean murmurs as she thinks on what advice she can give. Maybe her telepathy can be used as an example. "Ok, my telepathy allows me to hear everyone's thoughts, all at the same time. What I had to learn to do was block them out...or, similar to what you are about to do, pick out one voice amongst the din. You have to filter out the other noises one by one, push them aside until all that remains is the one voice you want and then you focus in on it, until it is all you hear. Then you should be able to follow it to wherever it is."

Clark's brow furrows and Jean can see the uncertainty ghost across his face. She steps forward and places a hand on his shoulder. "Clark. I know you can't remember but trust me. I've seen you do this...and more. You are one of the most amazing people I've ever met."

Clark arches an eyebrow at her.

Jean catches up with what she said, Her cheeks flush with colour and she stammers a little her next sentence. "W-what I mean is that you can do amazing things. Impossible things by most people's standards."

Clark smiles gently. "Ok," he simply says.

Jean mentally curses that slip. Most amazing person? How that must have sounded? But luckily more important issues allow her to move the topic along. "Close your eyes," she instructs him.

"Should I be worried about my virtue here?" Clark jokes.

"Claarrkkk!" Jean drawls, her cheeks almost matching her hair at his implication.

Clark chuckles.

"Don't make me hurt you," Jean warns him.

"Thought I was invulnerable?"

"Only virtually...and I know your weaknesses."

"That I can believe," Clark murmurs, his tone having a certain implication.

"Close your eyes," Jean says sternly.

Clark does as told.

"Now, listen to the world around you. Anyone can do that but for you the range is a little greater."

Clark takes a breath. He thinks back to when he eavesdropped on the Professor's conversation with Kevin. He just wanted to hear it and he did. Now he wants to hear...everything. His brow furrows slightly as at first nothing seems to happen...and then it does. Sounds flood in. Every sound within...who knows what radius. Cars, lorries, people, dogs, cats, birds, wind whistling through, countless hearts beating away.

"Ah!" Clark yelps out in pain, trying to cover his ears.

Jean places her hands on his cheeks and gets him to focus on her, on her voice. "Clark, Clark. Remember what I said. Eliminate the sounds one by one. Come on. Listen to my voice. I know you can do this. One by one," she encourages him

"It...hurts," he says in a half-sob. Is this what he has to deal with normally? How does he do it?

Jean runs her hand through his hair, trying to soothe him. "I know," she says in complete understanding. It hurts her too, to hear all those voices. Has nearly driven her to the point of madness on more than one occasion. "But I also know this; you once explained it was hearing all that you do that drove you to help. That if you could help just one of those people you hear that was something...and you're right. It is. Every life matters. I can't even begin to imagine how many of those voices you have aided. That you continue to aid no matter what you've been through. You're a good person, Clark. One of the best I've ever known. Kind and selfless. And right now two people are in trouble so here's what you're going to do. You're going to find them...or I swear I'll kick your ass."

Clark looks at her oddly as if she has just cut through all that pain in an instant. "That's your motivational speech? You'll kick my ass?" he asks her incredulously. "You sound like Rogue," he remarks...and then blinks in confusion. "I don't know why I just said that," he says, puzzled where that came from.

Because his memories are still clearly there, Jean realises but no time for that. "Concentrate or yes, I will kick your ass," she tells him. "You're a stubborn guy and sometimes, I think, you just need it told straight."

"Like I need a partner?" he asks her, giving her an intense look. One that makes Jean slightly uneasy because it reminds her of the confusing emotions he's been raising within her since his amnesia struck. It's clear he means more than just a platonic sort of partner.

"Sorta," she lamely replies. "But that's...we can talk about that later," she pushes it off. "Leslie. Kevin," she reminds him. "Find them."

Clark nods, pushing aside the feelings the beautiful redhead has been stirring within him since the moment she walked in to the infirmary. He doesn't understand them, really. Just that...there's something there but it can wait. It has to wait. He has to find Kevin and Leslie so he closes his eyes and he listens, eliminating the extraneous noises one by one…

Secret SHIELD Facility...

Leslie had woken up to find herself strapped down in a restraint, beneath some huge machine. Her mind flashes back to lying here before, green energy burrowing into her brain, herself screaming in pain.

Leslie looks down past her feet at the controls where Dr Grady is. Kevin is at the back of the room, under guard.

"It was you!" she hisses. "I was here before!" she half -remembers.

"Technically it was me," a new voice states.

Leslie looks up as Commander Hill almost saunters to stand over the white-skinned mutant. "What?"

"I was the one who ordered your memories altered. After we caught you, of course."

"How did you catch me?" Leslie asks, unable to remember.

Hill smiles enigmatically. "Oh we have our ways, Ms Willis," she answers vaguely.

"Why?" Leslie demands to know.

"Two reasons. One; I wished to see how this machine functioned. Collecting data on new discoveries is very important to me."

"And Two?"

"Two; Data was required on the Kryptonian survivor's abilities. From previous encounters between the two of you it was noted that you have a talent in...attracting his attention."

"Not that sort of attracting I desire," Leslie mutters.

Hill arches an eyebrow at hearing those muttered remarks. "You are not the same species. While the similarities in physical appearance would not preclude his ability to feel an emotional, biological attraction to a human being, his natural biological urges, like with any species, would be far stronger to those of his own kind. Though Kryptonians had strived to control those urges the effect of living on this planet will have affected his psychology. Nature or Nurture? It is a fascinating question. Which is stronger? Which has the most influence on behaviour? A Kryptonian alone, amongst humans. There has never been such a study before."

Leslie stares intensely at the woman. "You seem to...know quite a bit about his species," she notes. Yes, she's not completely oblivious or that self-obsessed. The question is how does the short-haired brunette know so much?

"I know more than you can begin to imagine, Ms Willis," Hill states coldly. "But not enough which brings us back to why I used you...and why I will continue to use you...with the appropriate modifications to your memories, of course. Your erratic nature is unacceptable. Your impulsive tendencies need to be controlled."

"I'll show you erratic, bitch. When I get loose..."

Hill smiles in amusement. "You will not be getting loose. Those bracelets on your wrists are not mere decoration. They're power dampeners. A useful invention to help control and contain your kind when the time comes."

"When the time comes for what?"

Hill puts her finger to her lips. "Shh. It's a surprise. Everyone will be so surprised."

Leslie's brow furrows. Why does she get the feeling that there is something...bigger happening here. Perhaps something much bigger.

Hill walks over to the controls and stands next to Dr Grady. "Proceed," she commands.

Grady begins to fire up the machine.

"How could you!" Kevin spits out in disgust at his father, the guards having to hold him back.

"I did what was best for you Kevin," his father argues.

"No. You did what was best for yourself!" Kevin snaps back. "And after you're finished with her, no doubt I'll be stuck back in there so you can continue to insult Dillon's memory!"

Dr Grady spins round at that, stung by that accusation. "That's never what I did! I loved your brother. Just like I love you!" he tries to defend himself.

"You shot him!" Kevin yells in fury. "And then covered it up by making me think I did it! Is it any wonder I ran away!"

"Without this job how do you think I could look after you. Money doesn't grow on trees."

"And what about my powers, huh? Turning me into a mutant, was that part of the plan?"

"I...um..." Dr Grady stumbles over himself because clearly not. "That...that was an unforeseen side-effect I admit."

"Mutant is not the correct term," Hill cuts in here.

"What?" Grady wonders about what she means.

"Mutant refers specifically to the new branch of the human family, Homo Mutatis that is emerging. A more accurate term than that arrogant sounding Homo Superior that Magneto prefers. No, someone born base line Homo Sapien and then altered, such as yourself Kevin, is more accurately classified as a Metahuman. An enhanced human essentially." Hill then looks at Live Wire. "Of course an enhanced mutant such as Ms Willis here will need a classification term too. In time. However, as for right now, it would be very rude to keep her waiting so if you will please proceed post haste Dr Grady," she orders.

"Of course," he says, uncomfortable at the woman's intense stare. It's so cold and...inhuman. Almost...mechanical is a stray description that flutters into his head. He starts to fire up the machine.

Live Wire struggles against her bonds, trying to access her powers. She won't let them to this to her again. She won't! "I'll make you pay for this I swear!" she shouts at them. "You will pay!" she screams at the top of her lungs.

At the Institute...

Clark was just filtering through the noises when he heard Live Wire's far less than dulcet tones. "I've got her!" he announces excitedly.

Jean grins. "That's great, Clark," she praises him, pride in her tone at his accomplishment. "You keep focussed on her and I'll tell the Professor to get the team ready," she proposes.

Clark's expression pinches. "I'm sorry, Jean."

"Sorry?" she asks, not understanding why he is apologising.

Clark looks at her apologetically and longingly...and remember what he said about only having his feelings to act on. Right now he acts on one. He leans in towards the beautiful telekinetic.

"Clar...hmpf!" her query is cut off by the pressing of his lips to hers. Any thoughts of objecting fly out of her mind when their tongues meet and mingle. Jean's whole world becomes the feeling of Clark kissing her. Is that her toes curling? Boy, for a cold winter's day it sure is warm...no hot...no boiling. Then as suddenly as it begins it stops as Clark vanishes in a gust of wind, leaving a rather breathless Jean behind in a daze, lips swollen, cheeks flushed as red as her hair. She brings her fingers to her lips, her heart is pounding in her chest, her mind still numb with shock at the way Clark just...just…

He kissed her!

Really kissed her. Tongue and everything.

And passion and power...and oh shit! He's gone. He's...gone after Leslie and Kevin. Of course he has. Dammit!

Jean turns and sprints for the mansion. She's got to find the Professor and tell him.

And when this over her and Clark have to…

...she doesn't have a clue. All she does know is that that kiss...it's changed everything.

Secret SHIELD Facility...

Leslie continues to struggle against her bonds as she can hear the machine powering up. She can see the green glow of energy from the emitter part, gathering and growing in intensity.

'No, this can't be happening to her again!' she mentally screams in denial. Not again. Never again will she be someone's manipulated puppet. Not Magneto's. Not SHIELD's. Not anyone's. NO! "No!" she yells it.

"Fighting it only makes it hurt more," Dr Grady tells her.

"You're dead! I'll kill you!" Live Wire makes what could well be her last defiant remark as the machine fires, the green beam of energy descending downward...as time seems to slow down, the beam's progress incremental.

To the right the wall explodes, bits of concrete and steel twisting through the air in slow motion as a casually dressed figure in a red jacket and jeans moves across the room and in the nick of time intersects the beam before it hits the prone mutant.

The second the beam hits Clark's head his memories erupt back inside his head, the block that had been holding them back disintegrated away. His interference instantly begins to overload the machine. The device not remotely calibrated to deal with a Kryptonian mind. Huge metal coils on either side, used to generate the electromagnetic energy which the machine works on, the overloads explode their bases and they begins to topple. Clark raises his arms and catches them easily.

Time resumes flowing at normal pace...well it always was really.

Leslie gasps and finds herself looking into those two blue eyes she dreams about.

"You just can't stay out of trouble can you," Clark critiques, with a lopsided smirk.

"Hey, that's my most adorable quality," Leslie insists.

"Uh huh," Clark says sceptically as he shoves the coils away and they fall harmlessly in the other direction, leaning against the walls. He snaps Live Wire's restraints and frees her before turning his focus on the main problem here. "Commander Hill," he names the problem.

"Superman," Hill names him back. "Interesting outfit," she comments.

"You caught me on a casual Sunday," he quips. "Now are we really going to do this the hard way or are you going to release Kevin there?" he wonders.

"Screw the niceties!" Live Wire growls in pure rage...and in response everything electrical starts to surge. She throws her arms out and electricity flows from numerous directions into her...charging her up...which is never a good thing.

As Clark had worked out from their numerous encounters the more 'juiced up' she is, the more unstable, mentally, she becomes...and considering she's clearly already nearly apoplectic with rage...he's not certain she won't kill someone here.

In a flash of blinding light she transforms into her electrical form and begins bouncing around the room, shifting angles and directions randomly, pieces of equipment explode, scorch marks burn into the ceiling, walls and floor, the guards are stunned and fall to the ground. Finally arcs of electrical energy surround Commander Hill, bolts hit her, not enough to knock her out but enough to hurt and knock her weapon from her hand.

Live Wire reappears in another flash and drive a punch into the SHIELD Assistant Director's face, electricity covering her hand, giving her punch a literal additional force and shock. Her face is full of murderous rage. She grabs the brown haired woman round the throat, squeezing. "You're dead. You and that bastard," she promises.

Superman zips across the space and grabs Live Wire around the wrist. "Leslie, stop," he commands.

"No!" she screams, on the edge of losing it completely. "It was her! It was all her! She used me to get to you!"

Clark sighs. He's not remotely surprised really. "That's her sin. Not yours. Leslie...you are many things, most of them irritating and while you enjoy petty criminality as a past time, you are not a murderer."

"First time for everything," she sneers, sending a non-lethal but painful shock into Hill.

"Once you cross that line, Leslie, there is no coming back."

"You waste your time, Superman," Hill says, showing no fear nor pain...which is not really surprising when you remember she's just a robotic duplicate. "Ms Willis has all the tell-tale mental deficiencies of a sociopath. She narcissistic, deceitful, lacks any sense of remorse or shame and has no ability to learn from her previous experiences. She laughably still believes you might show her romantic interest...which I highly doubt you do considering."

"Considering what?" Superman asks, his gaze intense. Who the hell is she to know how he thinks, regardless of the fact she's accurate in her assumption. It isn't the point.

"Nature or nurture."

"What?" he asks, baffled by her answer.

"It's a question. Think on it," she advises because when her Creator arrives it will be a very important one.

"Oh you so have to die!" Live Wire proclaims.

"No," is Superman's instant, instinctual response to that. "Leslie, I know you're angry but I know where that anger leads, what it will turn you into you," he says, recalling his experience as War. Anger was one of the many dark emotions Apocalypse had yanked out of him to create the Horseman. It's, of course, the experience that still haunts him to this day. "Ask yourself this; is she really worth blackening your soul over?"

Live Wire stares at him, her face pinched tight with emotion before her gaze turns to her tormentor, the SHIELD Commander who used her. The memories of before, of being strapped down and her brain being drilled into flood back...and her anger surges and with a scream of rage comes a surge of power as electricity surges from her hands and pours into the older woman. It lasts several seconds before Live Wire stops and Hill drops to the ground. There is utter silence for several seconds before Live Wire breaks it. "She's not dead," the white-haired mutant mutters. "Though part of me wishes she was," she tags on.

Superman places his hand on her shoulder. He's never been that fond of her but the fact she stopped herself is something to be proud of. "You did the right thing," he assures her.

"Did I?" she asks, looking at him. "Your memory is back, isn't it," she states it as a fact.

Superman nods. "Girlfriend?" he queries, bemused.

Live Wire's lips curl upward. "Well, you can't blame a girl for trying," she shrugs.

"Sure I can," the alien teen contradicts her. "But that is a discussion for somewhere else," he points out as he turns his focus to the last 2 people standing in the room; Kevin and his father. Dr Grady look like he is about to crap his pants...and if the smell tickling Clark's nostrils is any indication he may have already. "Kevin?" Superman inquires. "You done here?"

Kevin takes one moment to think on it. "Yeah. I'm done," he states with finality.

"Kevin," Dr Grady begins.

"Don't Kevin me!" the young man roars. "I said it. I'm done. We're done. There is no excuse for what you did to me, what you did to her," he points at Live Wire. "What you were about to do all over again!" he rages. "I want nothing to do with you any more. I don't want your excuses, your lies. No father would do what you did to me. No father! Therefore you aren't my father," he spits out furiously.

Dr Grady looks like he's been physically slapped at that.

"What does SHIELD have on you?" Superman asks the pertinent question of the older Grady.

"Enough," comes the whispered reply.

"Reinforcements will be here soon. We need to leave," Superman tells them, not having the time to deal with this family drama. He's got enough dramas of his own to deal with.

"Yeah," Live Wire agrees. "But before we do I gotta do just one thing," she says as she strides up to what's left of the memory altering device. She summons up her power and strikes at it, the electrical energy overloading it. A ripple of small explosions erupt until it is a blown out wreck.

"Feeling better?" Superman asks her.

She smiles. "Yep. Though you know the one thing even better would be you and me..."

"Ok, we're done," Superman cuts her off, having a horrible feeling he knew where that sentence was heading and in a blur he picks up her and Kevin and they vanish, leaving behind Dr Grady standing amongst the wreckage of his work...and his family.

Author's Note: Yay, Superman to the rescue! Clark's memories are back, he saved the day so alls good. Now comes the fallout, especially him and Jean...and Live Wire too to some extent which is all coming up. And remember that question; nature or nurture. It's gonna be important. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; Blank part 7