Chapter 25
It's the Friday after New Year that the students start to return. Hank left 1st thing in the x-jet to go retrieve Amara from Nova Roma. Logan didn't go as he wished to stay close to Rogue who, in his view, was still not dealing right with what had happened to her. He was still running her through the Danger Room every day and, this is how he knows she ain't right, she hasn't complained once.
Since their little escapade at the New York Mental Institution Claire and Wanda had bonded and Wanda had managed to find that balance about where she fits into the dynamic now with Clark and Claire. It was almost like being part of a family again...and despite Claire's language and Clark's sheer weirdness it was a hell of a lot better then her own blood family.
Wanda would be leaving for Dr Strange's on Saturday so this was her last full day at the mansion and she was sad about it but knew her place was there where she could continue to learn and explore her magical abilities.
Tomorrow would also be when Alex would be heading home so Scott was determined to enjoy his last full day with his brother. The two had been basically inseparable since Alex got here as they tried to catch up on many a lost year of brotherly time together.
Tomorrow was also the day when all the new arrivals would be here. Give them a day and a bit to settle in before school resumes on Monday.
Storm and Evan had returned during the morning. They were the 1st back. Storm's first instinct had been to go see Logan and try and assist him with Rogue. Evan tried not to think too much of exactly what his aunt and Logan did.
At lunchtime Claire is in the kitchen having her own lunch and feeding Lockheed. "You keep eating this much you're going to get fat, little guy," she gently critiques the dragon as he eats a whole chicken leg in one gulp. "Then again I guess we can't blame you for liking mom's cooking. It is the best," she can excuse him.
"Thank you, honey," Martha says gratefully as she works on her own lunch.
Claire smiles at her mother. "Well it is true."
"Flattery gets you everywhere...except off the hook for sneaking off with Wanda," Martha says calmly. Yes, those 2 girls did get a telling off for that.
Claire's face falls. "I was just trying to help Wanda," she defends herself.
"That's fine sweetie. Sneaking out without telling someone is not," Martha lays down the rules. It is the rules of the Institute. It you're going out, let someone know.
Claire guesses she really needs to start adjusting to being part of a family.
Suddenly Lockheed perks up, flaps his wings and rises off the table. The door flies open.
"Hi little guy! Mommy's back!" Kitty announces her return.
Lockheed flies like a little purple missile into Kitty's arms and starts licking her face making her giggle.
"Cut it out, Lockheed," she says between giggles. "I missed you too."
Kitty lifts Lockheed onto her shoulder.
"Hello Kitty," Martha greets the girl. "Have a nice Christmas?"
"Hi Mrs Kent," Kitty returns the greeting. "Yeah. It was good."
"Your parents fine?"
"As can be expected...although daddy like totally gave me the Spanish inquisition treatment over Peter," she complains.
"Fathers tend to be overprotective when it comes to their daughters."
"Yeah, well I just hope he was joking about wanting to fly to New York and like meet Peter in person."
Claire chuckles. "He probably wasn't."
"Don't you start," Kitty says. "Isn't is enough that no-good brother of yours...no offence Mrs Kent...says stuff like that."
"Hey that's the best entertainment of the day."
Kitty makes her not scary at all scowly face. "Where is Clark?"
"Probably on the phone to his girlfriend again," Claire says with a roll of her eyes.
"Girlfriend?" Kitty queries, her whole face lighting up in interest. She sits herself down and places her chin in her hands. "Please. Continue. What girlfriend would this be?" she wants to know, her inner gossip needing fed.
Claire opens her mouth but never manages to say a word.
"Don't listen to her," Clark says about his sister as he walks in. "I keep telling you, Claire," he continues, slightly annoyed at the way she keeps harping on about his 'girlfriend'. "Andrea is not my girlfriend."
"Andrea?" Kitty repeats the name with interest, over-pronouncing the word. "Sounds exotic."
Clark silently groans. Now Kitty has this idea in her head he'll never hear the end of it. "Don't listen to Claire. Andrea is only a friend."
"Right," Claire snorts. "That's why you talk to her like at least 3 times a day."
"I do not!" Clark protests, sounding annoyed. In fact he wouldn't have had the time to speak to Andrea 3 times a day. He had taken advantage of the holidays to spend as much time as he could up at the Fortress learning. It was really, really interesting discovering his people's history and his mind...Clark could feel it slowly healing. Kal and Kal-El's voices were starting to become quieter and less distinct from his own.
"Although I find it interesting you find an interest in a girl with superstrength shortly before your ex-girlfriend ends up with the same powers," Claire comments at the weird coincidence.
"Huh?" Kitty says, utterly lost.
Kitty's lost expression can only mean one thing. "You didn't tell her about Rogue yet?" Clark asks his sister.
"It was on my list, right after tell her about Clark's girlfriend," Claire says, her shit eating grin firmly in place.
"What about Rogue?" Kitty asks, with worry something may have happened to her besty.
Clark draws breath and tries to summarise it as distinctly as possible about how Rogue absorbing him has created these organs that has given her superstrength and durability. He makes sure to mention his concern that she doesn't seem to be handling it as she should.
Kitty's brow furrows deeply as her mind absorbs this. It was so weird. "Where is Rogue?" she asks, now eager to check up on her friend.
"I think she was showering and changing before coming down for lunch," Martha fills in what she knows. "She's probably up in her room."
"I'll go check on her," Kitty decides. She exits the kitchen only for her head to pop back in a moment later. "Oh Claire, we'll talk about this Andrea later, right?"
Claire looks up at her brother and her grin grows as he gives her a glare trying to intimidate her into saying nothing. "Definitely."
"I am so disowning you," Clark mutters before he turns, almost theatrically, and marches out the other door.
Claire has to admit there are some major perks to being a sister.
Clark walks away muttering a few unpleasantries about his sister under his breath. He is not interested...well ok he is interested in Andrea. He admits it but he's convinced himself it was what Chloe was saying. It's a rebound thing. Proof is like this. Before he learned they were the same person he found himself feeling a spark to both sides of Andrea.
He's just trying to get back what he lost with Rogue. He read that somewhere that is what rebounds are about. It's about trying to get back that stability you had when you were in a relationship by jumping straight back into another one.
Anyway the interest will fade. In the meantime he'll be the friend Andrea needs.
"Hey, Clark!" someone calls out to him.
Clark stops, turns and spots Ray's back. "Hey, Ray."
Ray runs up to him. "Can I have a word...in private?" he asks.
Clark wonders what this is about. He and Ray weren't the closest of friends. "Sure," he agrees.
They find an empty sitting room and Clark folds his arms across his chest and waits while Ray does a double check that they're alone.
Clark rolls his eyes. "Ray. I know if we're alone or not," he points out.
"Right," Ray says, feeling kinda stupid. Of course Clark would know. "Ok...it's about the Morlocks."
"Is there a problem I should know about?" Clark asks back.
"You know about them!" Ray cries. "That's the problem."
"Yes," Clark confirms, his voice deathly calm.
"No-one is suppose to know."
"Didn't you ask them?"
"Well, yeah but I wanted your side."
"Ray, you know their habits. They venture up to look for food. I go out and patrol around Bayville. Considering my speed and the area I can cover is it really a surprise I bumped into them?"
"Suppose not," Ray concedes.
"It's like what they probably told you. I heard a commotion and found a gang picking on someone...who turned out to be Lucid."
"They never mentioned the gang bit," Ray says with a frown, a mixture of confused and annoyed.
"You know Callisto," is all Clark has to say to explain that.
"True," Ray concedes. "So what happened?"
"Well after I sent the gang packing I managed to get Lucid to explain where he came from and of the Morlocks. He took me down into the sewer and I got the full warmth of Callisto's greetings."
"How hard did she hit you?"
"Hard enough that she lost all feeling in her hand for an hour. At least she learned never to try that again. Anyway we talked, she mentioned you and the Professor coming for you and I got her reasons why they live down there when, if I understand it, the Professor offered them the choice to come live up here in the mansion and they refused."
"They feel they're outcasts, even amongst mutants."
"They're wrong."
"Yeah but you'll never convince them of that."
"Yes. I am familiar with Callisto's stubborn streak."
The expression on Clark's face tells Ray that's very true. "That's why you just drop the food off," he gets.
"Oh I tried arguing with her. Believe me I did try. In the end I decided I would just help them whether they like it or not. Supermarkets in this town throw out more every day than they could ever eat. I just collect it up and drop it off at the door. After that it's up to them."
"I assume Callisto made you promise to keep them a secret."
"We made a deal. I keep their secret. They stay out of trouble. If they break the law or threaten innocents our deal is off and I stop them just like anyone else. Otherwise I leave them be."
Ray supposed that sounded fair.
"Does that answer everything?" Clark asks about Ray's queries.
Ray does a quick mental check. "Just one more. Why? Why do you help even when they refused?"
"Because it is within my power to do so. That's what my power is for, Ray. To help those that need it."
"Alright," Ray accepts that. He can do little else.
"I have a question. Did Torpid like the doll I got her?"
Ray smiles at the image of Torpid he has seen these last few days. The simple thing had made her so happy. "Yes. She liked it."
"I'm glad," Clark says genuinely.
"Knock, knock!"
Every time. Every time Kitty has to do that 'knock, knock' routine. It's lucky Rogue is her friend. "Hey, Kitty," the Goth greets her friend.
Kitty enters Rogue's room. Her friend is just finishing changing...and Kitty can't help but note now she can control her powers Rogue's clothes are starting to show more skin. The fishnet top is gone leaving the green vest-top and the leggings are gone as well leaving Rogue in her skirt and her legs bare. "Hi Rogue. So...I heard...like about your powers. How's it going?"
Rogue makes a face. "Better if everyone would stop askin' meh 'how's it going?'," she complains, fed up of the constant asking of that question or questions like it.
"Rogue, people are only worried about you," Kitty tries to make her friend see that. "It's natural."
"Maybeh it is but ah keep tellin' them ah'm fahne. Maybeh they should listen ta meh."
Ok. It could just be Kitty but for someone who says she is fine Rogue seems grumpy...grumpier than usual Kitty means. "Did you let Kurt know?" Kitty wonders.
"Ah sent him a text."
Kitty arches an eyebrow. "A text?" she queries because that seems a little impersonal to drop such a thing on your brother.
Rogue shrugs. "He doesn't get great phone reception at his parents' house," is her explanation.
"Ok so I won't ask you how you're doing but have you managed to get a handle on your powers?" Kitty tries to rephrase her question.
"Yeah."
"Just, yeah?"
"Yep."
"Yep?"
"Yes."
"Ye...are you, like, messing with me?"
Rogue's lips start to quirk into a grin. "No. Ah would nevah do that," she drawls with all her sarcastic flare.
Kitty's eyes narrow. "Seriously, Rogue?"
"Seriously, ah've been working in tha Danger Room hard, Kitty. Ah've got this," she assures her friend.
Kitty looks at Rogue's bedside table where there are the smashed remnants of an alarm clock. She knows this because she has seen it before in Clark's room. "You've got this, huh?" she queries sceptically.
"What? Clark does that at least once a month. You don't question him," Rogue says, almost taking offence.
"Clark's been controlling his powers since the day he arrived on Earth. You've had yours just over a week," Kitty lays out the difference.
"So?"
Kitty looks back at the door and eyes something she noticed earlier. The knob is misshapen...like it has been slightly crushed by a superstrong hand. It's not really adding to her confidence that Rogue's got this. In fact Peter told her that after he got his superstrength he was crushing and breaking things for weeks until he really got a complete grip on it. Therefore Kitty, she afraid, has to doubt what Rogue is saying...and she doesn't want to doubt her friend but the evidence to the contrary is in front of her eyes.
Speaking of Peter...they agreed, whole day tomorrow just the two of them...short of some world ending disaster. Kitty can't wait to see him.
During the course of the afternoon more of the students start to arrive back in trickles of ones, twos and threes.
Upon her return Amara makes a beeline for finding Clark. According to Mr Kent he is here and not out patrolling...or whatever the term is for what he does as Superman.
Amara tracks him down to his room where he is sitting...hovering in a seated position above his bed, speaking on the phone. "Bad time?" she queries.
Clark raises his index finger to indicate, just a minute. "Andrea," he says. "I'm afraid I'll have to call you back. Someone needs to speak to me, ok?...Ok, bye."
Clark ends the call. "Hi, Amara. Welcome back."
"Hi Clark. Um, Clark, you're floating," she points out, using her finger to point at the gap beneath him.
"It happens," Clark has just come to accept it.
"Still not learned to control it?"
Clark shrugs. "Keep a secret?"
Amara nods to indicate, yes.
"I've given up trying."
Amara is befuddled by that. "What? Why?"
"Physically we both know I can fly. It's a psychological block, therefore. I am simply, on some subconscious level, not ready to. When I am ready, the power is there, waiting."
"Patience," Amara murmurs what she heard when she was praying.
"What about it?" Clark asks.
Amara mentally curses herself for forgetting Clark's hearing. "Um...I was saying, patience. That's what I've decided to be with my powers. You know, like you were saying, when I'm ready, whatever power I actually have is there, waiting."
Clark nods, agreeing with her position. "Jor-El basically said the same thing to me."
"Really?" Amara queries with interest since she believes it was Jor-El that talked to her on Nova Roma.
"Yeah. I asked him about it...about my flying problems and he said it was an issue I had to find my own solution to. I think it's another trial or something," Clark thinks, making a small face. Jor-El's trials usually aren't fun for him. He changes track. "So what was it you wanted to see me about?" he asks about why she is here.
"Oh, yes," Amara says with a sly smile. "I just wanted to tell you all about the temple my people are building for you."
"Temple?!" Clark chokes. "Tell me you're joking," he begs her.
Amara smiles sweetly. "Well it's more an annex onto the side of your father's temple."
Clark drops his head into his hands. "This is not happening," he mumbles.
Amara is barely holding back her laughter at his reaction. "Sorry, Clark."
He looks at her. "You don't sound sorry," he points out at her amused tones.
"What did you expect? For my people, that day you were there, it was literally as if a God chose to walk amongst them. That's a very profound experience," Amara summarises what she had felt being amongst her people these last almost 2 weeks.
"Oh Blessed Rao," Clark utters his own prayer for this not to be happening. He wanted some way to make them see what he truly was. Not entrench their belief further in him being a Deity.
Amara knows she shouldn't find Clark's mortified expression funny. After all she will admit to herself he is a God...albeit one she considers her friend...but the bottom line Amara should not be laughing at her God...but she is anyway. Impulsively she hops on the bed next to him and kisses his cheek. "Sorry," she apologises again. "You're just going to have to live with it."
Clark gives her a forlorn look. One day he'll have to get the Nova Romans to see him as he is. In a way that doesn't destroy their faith.
"So," Amara says as she slides back off the bed. "Who was that you were talking to just then? Who is this Andrea?" she asks, her curiosity peaked.
"Just a friend," Clark snaps, a little too sharply, a response to all of Claire's teasing.
Amara arches an eyebrow. His reaction seems to indicate something else. Now what has been going on around here since she left?
By night-time most of the students are back. Kurt had been, like everyone else, a little off-put by Rogue's reaction to her power gain.
Paige had been gushing all about her new little sister and even though Sam wasn't gushing he was clearly happy to have this new addition to his family.
Clark is just getting ready to go out for the evening...as in putting on his Superman costume and going out and making some criminals' lives miserable.
He is interrupted by a knock on his door. "Come in, Claire," he permits her.
Claire opens the door, a slightly perturbed expression on her face at how he knew it was her.
Clark raises an eyebrow at her appearance. She is in that costume of hers. The red vest-top, pants, orange boots and red and orange coat. "Going somewhere?"
Claire looks unusually unsure of herself. "Well, actually, I was hoping with you."
Clark just turns to face her full on, confused. "Why?"
"Clark...do you remember the day I came here?"
"You blew up Avalanche's Jeep on top of me."
"And having come to know you I'm not the least bit sorry about that," she jokes. "No, my point is I only stayed to hide from Lionel. No offence to the Professor but it wasn't because I believed in fighting for human/mutant equality."
Clark cocks his head slightly but saves comment for now.
"Look, it's all noble and right and all that crap but it still isn't why I'm here. I came back for mom."
Which is a perfectly justifiable reason as well.
"But...when I stopped Andrea I felt something...I can't describe it. It just felt...right."
Clark smiles. "I know that feeling."
"Since then I've really thought about what that meant."
"And?" Clark queries for her conclusion.
"I don't know...but I want to try and find out and to do that I believe I have to do what you do," Claire gives him the conclusion she has reached about what she thinks she needs to do. "You did say I should try and turn my pain into a positive," she reminds him.
"That, I did," Clark confirms he remembers it. "Claire, I won't try and dissuade you from this if it is what you really want."
"It is."
"However, this life is no picnic. You are also not bulletproof like I am," he expresses a couple of his concerns.
Claire places her finger down the top of her vest and pulls it out a little. "Same fabric as the uniforms...or didn't you notice how it didn't burn when I was using my powers."
"I noticed." The uniforms are also...not quite bulletproof. The made of a material with an unstable molecular structure. They absorb energy...like the kinetic energy of a bullet but a straight shot at close enough range will get through.
"And Clark I grew up in Suicide Slums. You really don't think I don't know what I'll see?" she asks him rhetorically. Her bet is she has seen worse than he has.
"Try going a few rounds with the Prankster then get back to me on that one," he says with an expression that shows how much he loathed that guy...and how disturbing a week that was.
"The who?" Claire asks. She had been at Frost's when Clark met the Prankster.
"Just this supervillain I came across. Brilliant man but a total loon."
"Uh huh, ok," Claire says at a loss what else to say.
"I suppose I could mention secret identity but that's a mute point for you," he means in relation to the fact she doesn't hide her mutant status.
"Actually not really," Claire argues with him. "Think about it. How many people actually know who I really am? Until Christmas I didn't legally exist."
"Shaw, Emma, the Hellions," Clark lists a few.
"Ok they're an issue I admit but generally most people have only seen Volcana. Claire Selton, daughter of Martha Kent, is going to be different."
"I'm lost," Clark just admits it. He has no idea what she is on about.
"Look since we discovered who I am there really hasn't been anyone who has seen me and we've told them who I am...beyond people we trust," she modifies that before Clark contradicts her.
Clark pauses a minute. Beyond the aforementioned Hellfire Club that's true. He mention Claire to Lois but it was only in passing. He never gave Lois much detail on who it was.
Claire pulls her coat sleeve up on her left arm and hits a switch on her watch. Her image flickers and changes. A holowatch.
Clark looks at her. Her hair...its shade. It's gone from fiery orange to the more auburn red of their mother. Her eyes have shifted from orange to green...and her face. It's very subtle but there are just a few minor alterations to her features.
Claire digs out the last bit of this from her pocket. A pair of glasses she slips on her face. "This is the Claire Selton everyone will meet when I go to school on Monday. Volcana will be the mutant who goes out at night and is in no way the same person."
Clark could see what she meant now. Still he has to wonder how Shaw and Emma will react. They could expose her...but why would they? In the end, since Claire is Shaw's daughter, that would only bring attention upon him he wouldn't want...since he is, you know, a member of some super secret organisation. "When did you come up with all this?" he asks because to get the holowatch meant she had to have talked to the Professor about this which Clark never noticed.
"Since Christmas. I guess you were too busy chatting up your girlfriend to notice."
"I keep telling you, Andrea is not my girlfriend," Clark insists, once again.
And yet Claire doesn't quite believe him. However that's a debate for later. "I realised that if I do this it could make trouble for mom and Jonathan. I do get the whole idea behind a secret identity."
"So it will just be Claire Selton, long lost human daughter of Martha Kent come Monday?"
"Yep."
"Does Marie know you're doing this?"
"I'll tell her tomorrow," Claire decides...because that is when Marie gets back. "It'll be a surprise!"
"Except for the part where she is a clairvoyant I'm sure it will be," Clark puts a downer on his sister's enthusiasm since it is quite likely Marie saw this in her cards.
"Screw you!"
"As enticing an offer as that may be I'll pass thanks," Clark says dryly. "So you really want to do this? Come out with me?" he asks her one last time just to be certain it is what she desires to do.
"Yes," Claire asserts confidently.
"You won't be saying that in 5 minutes, trust me."
"Why not?"
"Oh you'll see," Clark says coyly.
New York...
"Please tell me you didn't teach her the secret handshake," a figure in a red and blue webbed pattern costume, sticking to a wall, pleads.
"I didn't teach her the secret handshake. She hasn't earned that privilege yet," Clark assures his crime-fighting partner as he stands on the ledge next to Peter's gargoyle statue friend Bruce.
Claire, her hair transformed, hovers there in the air, her arms folded across her chest looking with incredulity at the 2 heroes. Apparently tonight was the night Clark hangs out with Spider-Man and he has just finished explaining what she is doing here.
"However," Clark continues, "if she is going to be a hero I thought why not bring her along, meet the world famous Spider-Man and learn from the best."
"Aw shucks. I'm blushing," Spider-Man fawns modesty at the praise. "Ok then...uh..." he fishes for a name.
"Volcana," Claire snaps. Clark mentioned that already.
"Volcana. Volcy...Ana...firebug..."
"What are you babbling about?" Claire asks him.
"I'm trying to come up with a nickname. Everyone good hero needs a nickname. I'm Spidey. He's Supes. Daredevil's DD."
"Logan calls her Firefly," Clark not so helpfully, from Claire's POV, suggests.
"Hmm I hate to use other people's names."
"Volcana. It's Volcana," Claire insists on what she wants to be called.
"That's not what Marie calls you when she is whispering in your ear," Clark points out with an easy, teasing grin.
Claire blushes bright red. She hadn't been aware Clark had ever heard Marie's nickname for her.
"What is it Marie calls her?" Spider-Man asks.
"I..." Clark starts and then stops at the look his sister is giving him.
Claire glares at him and the fire that is currently her hair grows brighter.
"Ok, shutting up now," Clark decides.
"Good idea," Claire tells him in frosty tones. "Or I could tell him what you and your girlfriend call each other."
"What girlfriend? I thought you and Rogue broke up?" Spider-Man thought.
"I don't have a girlfriend," Clark insists...again. "Will you stop saying that," he growls at his sister.
"I will...as soon as it's true," she says with that annoying smirk of hers...or to Clark it just seems particularly annoying at the minute.
Under his mask Peter is grinning but not laughing, although only just. He does make a mental note to get more details on why Volcana is saying Clark has a girlfriend and why Clark's reaction is so strong. That's for later. Right now he has to deal with his surprise partner for the evening. When Clark showed up with Volcana Peter was surprised but if she genuinely wants to do this he won't dissuade her. However, Peter would never try and persuade anyone into doing this hero shtick either. It's not a career choice that comes with any(read next to none) benefits and lots and lots of hassle, grief and soul destroying heartache but as his Uncle always said...ooh that's a good start-up line for advice. "Ok so firehead girl, first piece of advice if we're going to do this. Always keep in mind the following; with great power comes great responsibility."
"Firehead girl?" Volcana queries, with narrowed, literally blazing eyes.
"Firehair girl?"
"It's Volcana! V-O-L-C-A-N-A. Volcana! How hard is that to remember?"
"I'm sure it'll sink in," Spider-Man says lightly. "Now lets just go out there and I'll give you the rest of the rules along the way. Follow me!" he says as he leaps off the wall, fires a webline and swings off through the city.
"Ok my advice," Clark says. "Apart from that great power line just do the opposite of whatever he says. Well then lets get your 1st night on the road. Lets go...," Clark's lips curl up into a huge smirk, "Firehead Girl!" he proclaims as he leaps off the ledge he was standing on and glides over to the next roof.
Claire flies after him, yelling angrily. "It's Volcana! Volcana! What is the matter with you two that you can't call me that?!"
"We need a team name!" Spider-Man decides when they catch up with him. "Ooh I've got it you two can be the Spider-Friends!"
"NO!" Superman and Volcana reject.
"Spider-Pals!"
"NO!"
"Spider-Chums!"
"HELL NO!"
Author's Note: It's Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends! No, really it is. Claire is Firestar and since Clark can freeze things with his breath he can take Iceman's place. That line about Jor-El telling Clark he has to figure out how to fly on his own is because I want to save Clark's first flight for a really pivotal moment. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; the new students arrive.