Chapter 34

"Mamá! Papá!"

"Hey there!" Andrea greets her daughter happily as the little dark-haired girl runs towards her parents. "You been good?"

Mia nods in the affirmative. Andrea looks sceptical.

"She's been fine," the babysitter for the evening confirms.

"Thank you for looking after her, Dinah," Clark says to his fellow hero as they stood in her lounge.

"No problem. Just remember though. You owe me one," the blond woman says flirtatiously which earns her a scowl from Andrea.

"I'll keep it in mind."

"Seriously though, she's an Angel, Clark. Still hard to believe you're a father," Dinah comments.

"Hard to believe it myself…or it would be if the grown-up version wasn't living with me at the farm."

Dinah laughs. "You live the craziest life I know, Clark and considering the life all of us live that is saying something."

"Just lucky I guess," he says in a slightly over the top theatrical sarcasm.

Dinah shakes her head at his goofiness.

"And at least you didn't say it was hard to believe I was the father," he says in backhanded gratitude.

"Oh no. That's really easy to believe you're the father. If it wasn't for the obvious I'd have thought someone had cloned you," the blond woman jokes.

"I think one of me is more than enough," Clark replies and really, really means after the Earth 2 incident.

"I don't know. I can think of several ways to put two Clark Kents to use."

"I'm sure you can but impressionable minds," he points at his daughter, asking Dinah to tone down her usual flirtations. He's known her long enough by now to let them wash off of him. This is just who Dinah is.

Dinah mimics zipping her lips up.

Andrea scowls more. Is it her imagination or are these two actually...flirting?

"Well we should be go-" he stops when his attention is caught by a breaking news story on Dinah's television.

"Those on the scene say the fight broke out after Queen tackled an innocent man to the ground. According to witnesses Queen was only deterred from further assault when citizens came to the unidentified man's aid."

"He just can't stay out of trouble can he," Dinah mutters.

"Witnesses claim Oliver Queen and other vigilantes led an unprovoked attack against people attempting a citizens' arrest. Queen's disappearance has sparked a citywide manhunt. A spokeswoman for the VRA …"

"Andi," Clark starts apologetically.

"You need to go check up on your friend," she deduces. "Go."

Clark looks at Dinah with a querying look.

"I think it might be better to keep as many of us low profile as possible right now," she decides. "Meanwhile, Andrea and Mia can stay here until you get back," she offers.

Clark gives her a grateful smile. "You're the best, Dinah."

"Oh, if only you would take up the offer to let me show you just how I am the best," she spouts the innuendo with a smirk.

At this point Clark just rolls his eyes. "I need to go," he says and without thinking about it plants a kiss on Andrea's cheek on his way out.

Andrea actually feels heat creep into her cheeks a little bit before spotting Dinah looking at her with her hands on her hips and an amused expression on her face. The woman who was just flirting with Clark seconds ago right in front of her and she is absolutely not feeling even the slightest bit of annoyance at this woman flirting with Clark. No siree. She's not the least bit annoyed.

Also she's totally lying to herself.

Watchtower…

Clark arrives at the secret HQ to find a beaten and blooded Oliver alongside Carter Hall and Courtney Whitmore. "You gonna stitch that up yourself or call Emil?" he asks his archer friend in annoyed tones.

"You should see the other guys," Oliver lamely quips.

"I did. On television. Why didn't you call me?" the Kryptonian asks, showing why he is annoyed.

"It's ... it's my fault," the blond man replies, struggling with his pain. "I-I figured you didn't want to be disturbed on your date."

"Ooh, date?" Courtney asks, intrigued.

"It wasn't a date," Clark says in an almost automatic reply.

"No, it was just dinner with your baby mama," Oliver can't help but tease despite the situation.

"Ooh, really," Courtney coos now in full on gossip mode.

"It's a good thing I'm not a vindictive person, Oliver," Clark vaguely threatens.

Carter not so gently elbows the archer to tell him to quit while he is ahead. "I told the human punching bag here you'd want to know he got his bell rung," he feels the need to point out.

Then Courtney spots something on one of the monitors that follows the news. "Wait a minute. I thought you said that Slade died in the explosion."

Clark's head snaps round to spot that yes, indeed there is Slade Wilson alive and well albeit now wearing an eyepatch over his right eye…and almost unseen in the background but spotted by him, Rose Wilson also wearing an eyepatch over her left eye.

Slade speaks. "Like so many of you, I am a victim of a vigilante attack. And while I was lucky enough to survive the explosion caused by Oliver Queen, it came at a cost. Too many civilians have been left feeling unsafe in their own homes. Too many people have suffered while too few vigilantes have been brought to justice. It's time these terrorists paid for their crimes."

"It's time he paid for his," Clark says seriously.

"Yeah, well, there's only one problem. It's not just the government against us now. The people have turned on us, too," Courtney points out, her voice reflecting real fear for their fates right now.

"With Slade alive, we can't exist. He knows too much about us," Oliver argues.

"So until Slade's been dealt with, it's got to be radio silence between us," Carter follows on Oliver's thinking.

Clark hates to admit it but they're right. "We have to go underground. Our lives as we knew them are over. Courtney Whitmore... studying abroad. Carter Hall, on sabbatical," he decides, taking charge naturally.

"And Clark Kent?" Carter wonders

"Gone." Where? He doesn't know yet.

"So now we're all card-carrying members of the fugitive club," Oliver tries to joke but it falls flat

"We have to protect the secrets we still have. So until it's safe... I'm shutting down Watchtower," Clark decides as he does exactly that, shutting it all down. He now looks very weary which is extremely rare for the superpowered hero. He can't believe Slade is back. He guesses Mia was right that he would be.

That's when it suddenly hits him. About what would happen if Mia happened to be watching the news tonight. "Oh no, Mia," he whispers in dread before he's gone in an instant, running all the way back to the farm.

When he arrives he finds his home being raided by VRA soldiers. He quickly disables all of them and enters the house. "Mia!" he shouts but she's nowhere to be seen. He enters the lounge and finds what he feared the most. The tv on the news, showing Slade.

The soldiers didn't get her because they wouldn't still be here if they had. No, she left of her own accord to finish what she started. To hunt down and kill Rose Wilson and no matter what he has got to find her and he has got to stop her.

Metropolis…

The next morning Andrea attends her appointment as scheduled. She hadn't heard directly from Clark but indirectly via Dinah who had gotten the message that they were all to keep a low profile and a specific instruction from Clark to stay away from the farm.

This was so wrong. Andrea knew it in her gut that it was wrong and if she had the power to make a difference she honestly thinks she would try to as crazy as that sounds.

And despite how crazy everything is she needs to attend this appointment. She had Mia to think of and that requires her to try and stay alive and as healthy as possible. Speaking of Mia she had once again left her with the person who generously let her spend the night; Dinah who, under all the flirting, really is a good person. Must be a trait all these heroes share.

"Everything looks good, Ms Rojas," Emil Hamilton informs her as he looks over her test results. "There are a few minor adjustments to your regiment I would suggest but overall it seems you have been following my advice. Now…excuse me!" his voice rises as coming storming into the room comes a posse of VRA officers.

"Emil Hamilton. You will come with us," the leader states as two officers roughly handcuff the good doctor.

"I'm in the middle of a consultation!" the dark-haired doctor protests.

"I'm sure the hospital can find another doctor to treat the lady," the leader says in a not caring in the slightest tone.

Andrea almost makes a move to interfere but is stopped by a vigorous shaking of the head from Emil. However, she is torn. She feels like she should do something. If only she still had her powers…and if it was a more appropriate moment she would laugh her head off at that thought. The powers she hated. That made her feel like a freak. That she wanted nothing more than to be rid of for years and now here she is longing to have them back.

"Sir!" an officer draws the attention of his superior to the computer in the corner.

"What is it?"

"Look," the man points at the screen.

The leader looks at it than back at Andrea with a deep hateful glare. "Take her too!" he orders.

"What?!" Andrea protests as she is roughly grabbed and restrained.

"She has nothing to do with this!" Emil argues strongly.

"Protecting meteor freaks will not aid your cause, Dr Hamilton," the leader sneers.

That's when Emil's eyes widen. The computer. On it was Andrea's medical files. Normally he has them encrypted but of course since he was treating her he had them open and available for all to see which also included her history as a meteor induced metahuman.

The two are then roughly 'escorted' (read dragged) out the hospital to a waiting van.

Watchtower…

"So much for going off the grid," Carter remarks at the sight of Clark hunched over a computer

"Carter. What are you doing here?" Clark asks, surprised.

"Probably the same thing as you ... looking for answers. Besides, I've adopted a rule over the centuries ... don't go underground until you're dead."

"We may not have a choice unless I can fix this," the alien hero says with a whisper of desperation laced into his voice. "And I have to fix this before Mia tries to."

"Wait a second. What does, thankfully has her mother's looks, have to do with this?" Oliver asks as he appears on the scene.

"You're not supposed to be here," Carter says in his gruffest voice.

"Well, you're not supposed to be here, either," the blond man hits back, sounding almost childish which earns him a hard glare. "Alright? So I guess that makes three of us. Anyway, back to what Clark was about to say."

"You may recall last night I left in a hurry," Clark reminds them.

"My hairdo sure remembers it," Oliver laments which gets him a punch in the arm from the resident sorta immortal.

"It's because I saw Rose Wilson in the background on the television."

"Slade's daughter is important to this why?" Carter asks.

Clark looks up at Oliver puzzled.

"He left the meeting before you explain why you grounded Supergirl," the archer explains.

Clark pinches the bridge of his nose. "Supergirl, Mia, is my daughter from the future."

"Is that why you and Lois broke up?" Carter asks.

"Seriously? Is my love life just fodder for the water cooler gossips?" the Smallville native asks in exasperation.

"I was the one who persuaded her to come back from Egypt in the first place," Carter reveals.

"She never mentioned that," Clark says, frowning.

"She's allowed to have private conversations you know."

"I know."

"Besides, I've lived enough lifetimes to know you can't carry the burden of this life alone."

"So you tried to matchmake us?"

"No. She wasn't sure she fitted into your life. She worried that she would be an obstacle, a hindrance to what you were trying to be. I tried to make her see beyond her doubts. That if she let them guide her she could be missing out on the one true special relationship of her lifetime."

Clark just stares at the man.

Carter shrugs. "So sue me. I saw a little of myself and Shayera in the two of you."

"Yeah, thanks for that. I love having my heart broken."

Carter sighs. "That is clearly not what I was intending. My guess is discovering you had a child with someone other than her brought all her doubts crashing in on her again."

"How did you know Mia isn't Lois'?"

"It's rather obvious she's not."

"He's right. It is," Oliver agrees.

"You thought she was Lois' at first," Clark hits back with.

Carter just stares at the blond man incredulously.

"Hey, I just saw her briefly on the news," Oliver defends himself.

"Can we get back to the issue at hand?" Carter asks. "Why is your daughter here?"

"About a year from now Rose Wilson will kill Mia's mother."

"So she came back in time to prevent it," the erstwhile Hawkman deduces.

Clark nods. "Yes…by killing Rose here and now. I can't let her do that."

"She has the right to…"

"What? Gain revenge for a crime that hasn't happened yet," Clark can guess what Carter would think.

"It has from her perspective."

"I know that! Ok. I know but if I let her hate and rage consume her I might as well just hand her over to the Darkness and if it possesses her it will gain Mia's knowledge of the future."

"That would be bad," Oliver agrees.

"So, I need to find Rose first because I can't find Mia. When I got to the farm she was already gone."

"And you think wherever Rose Wilson is Mia will show up," Carter gets the young man's thinking.

"When it comes to this, Mia is…very single minded. Like her mother. Believe me we've had blazing rows about it," Clark says with a sadness about his estrangement with his daughter.

Silence follows for a short while as they all absorb this.

Oliver breaks it. "OK. I need to say something about this whole thing. What are we doing? We're supposed to be heroes. We're supposed to be setting an example for the kids. We can't even follow orders. Even if we gave them. Anyway, listen. I was thinking about Slade and that mega mark darkness thing?"

"Omega," Carter corrects with an annoyed grunt.

"Oh, whatever. Anyway, the darkness has to be driving everything somehow. Right? Because I've seen hatred before. And I've never seen anything like this."

"Well, live long enough, and you will. I've seen this level of hatred before. Humanity's darkest hours. The Spanish Inquisition. The Third Reich," Carter relays his experience.

"You're saying the darkness has been here before," is what Clark believes the older man means

"Several times. Every time it looked like the world would be consumed by hatred and darkness, another force arose, a much brighter one, to send the darkness back," he relays his personal experience.

"And you had something to do with that? Well, this time it's us. And we need to start by stopping Slade," Clark determines.

"Well, that's easier said than done. Justice isn't only blind right now, it's broken. There's no way the authorities will keep that dog in a cage," Carter says being the cynic.

"Maybe they won't but I might have a place to put Slade and his daughter until we can make things right. A place where they can't hurt anybody. And maybe, once they're gone, I can get Mia to listen to me."

"I may not have lived hundreds of lifetimes…" Oliver starts.

"It's not been that many," Carter grumbles.

"…but I've lived long enough to know women can be very stubborn once they set their minds to something."

"Reluctantly I have to say Robin Hood is right."

"She's my daughter. I have to try," Clark says, believing that he can be just as stubborn.

"Then I guess we have to help you," Oliver says, showing loyalty to his friend as he claps him on the shoulder.

Unknown Location…

Andrea found herself strapped down to a chair in an otherwise empty room. Where she was she did not know. She had been brought to wherever this place is with a hood over her head. She looks down at the leather straps holding her in place and thinks how easily she could have snapped them if she still had her powers.

Then again if she still had them they would never have been able to drag her away in the first place.

The door opens and in walks a young woman with silver hair and an eye-patch carrying a chair which she places down opposite Andrea. The woman sits down and looks Andrea in the eye.

Andrea chooses to hold the stare showing utter defiance and attempting to hide any worry or fear she is feeling.

"So, before we begin any questions?" Rose Wilson asks.

"Just one. Where's my lawyer?"

Rose laughs maniacally. "Mutant freaks don't get lawyers because freaks don't have rights."

"Former freak," Andrea corrects. "If you had bothered to read my medical file you would know I'm just as normal as you are." For that she gets a hard slap.

"Do not ever compare myself to you," Rose warns in a dangerous tone. "And for your information I did read your medical file. After all I have to know where you're most vulnerable when I start to torture you," she mentions in a casual tone.

"What do you want?" Another hard slap.

"I ask the questions around here, sweetie-pie." Rose leans in. "You know you look kinda familiar. Like the person who did this to me," she points at her missing eye. "Any relation?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she replies and she doesn't because Clark has never told her what Mia did that night in Alaska.

"We'll see about that. Trust me when I say by the time I'm done you will be singing all your secrets to me like a gassed out canary," Rose promises with deadly intent.

"I have no secrets. I'm just a waitress from California," Andrea says defiantly.

Rose chuckles and claps her hands happily. "Oh good. You're going to resist. I was hoping you would. It's no fun when they just cave in immediately," she says with relish at the prospect of having to break this woman in front of her. "Now, since my father deems this a priority lets us start with what you know on Oliver Queen and his merry band of terrorists."

"I know nothing. I'm just a waitress from California."

"Uh huh," Rose says as she stands up, grabs the pinkie on Andrea's left hand and breaks it.

Andrea cries and curses involuntarily.

Rose leans in and whispers in the brunette's ear. "Wrong answers get punished. Right answers…" she gently brushes her finger down Andrea's neck, "I can be very generous with my rewards," she says in a seductive tone.

"I'm just a waitress from California," Andrea says through gritted teeth in complete defiance.

"Wrong answer," Rose says coldly as she breaks finger number two.

Author's Note: Since Dinah shows up at the end of this episode anyway figured might as well use her a little. And now Andrea is at the mercy of Ravager. Ain't I a stinker? Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews.