The Road to Happiness, The Long One

A/N: And here we are continuing that cliffhanger in Chapter 3, please leave comments/suggestions

SSF (Summary So Far): Cal saved Kara. Kara has invited Cal and Mason to dinner at her parents after school today. Cal, Mason, Kara, and Barbara all had some interesting events in their first 2 periods. But as the third period started, a gunshot goes off. Boom, all caught up.

Characters: Cal (Your "average" mysterious male), Mason (Cal's best and most trustworthy buddy), Kara Danvers (Kara Zor-El, AKA Supergirl), Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Clark Kent (Superman), Lois Lane (Superman's wife), and more that aren't quite ready to be presented yet. (Lots of characters are Out Of Character (OOC).)

Chapter 3

*GUNSHOT*

Cal closed his eyes and relaxed as he felt the bullet whiz past his head, mere centimeters away. As the bullet hit the wall, everyone except Cal ducked down to the ground and crawled up against the wall. Cal stood up and spun around, seeing the 2 figures in ski masks and Kevlar vests. They held M16s and they were covered from head to toe in clothing: mask, gloves, pants, long sleeved shirts, boots. Cal looked into their eyes and saw 2 professional, experienced killers. As their standoff continued, Cal focused on his surroundings. He noticed the men were confused at his relaxed and calm nature. He noticed the slight click of boots behind the 2 other entrances to the room. He focused harder, and he knew there were 2 men behind each door.

'6 guys total,' Cal thought to himself as he waited for the intruders to make a move at him. 'No suit, too flashy.'

"Well, listen to us and no one will get hurt," one of the masked villains said. "Now you, get on the ground… NOW!" He pointed at Cal.

Cal shook his head. '30 second max before the other 4 get here,' he thought. The gunmen raised their weapons. 'Here we go.'

Cal leapt forward, forcing the men to raise their weapons out of the bystander's way. The gunmen fired, and Cal narrowly avoided the hail of bullets. He landed and rolled forward, kicking one of the men in the shin. The man grunted, but didn't go down. As Cal jumped to his feet, the gunmen put their guns to his chest. Cal tilted his head slightly and looked at them. They fired off the rest of their magazines, but before the triggers could be pulled, Cal thrust the weapons to the ceiling. A light mist of dust fell slowly to the ground, blinding the gunmen. Cal pushed their weapons out of their hands and to the ground. One of the blinded men swung wildly while the other attempted to rub the dust out of his eyes. Cal blocked the wild punch and swung hard and fast, his fist connecting with the attacker's jaw. The man stumbled back, but he didn't quit. Barely being able to see, he rushed forward and grabbed Cal by the waist, picking him up and running him backward. Cal slammed into the wall, painfully. He grunted, and swung his fist into the lower back of the attacker. The attacker let go of Cal, throwing him back over his shoulder. Cal fell to the ground, rolled, and landed on his feet. He turned to face the man, but before the man could fully stand back up, Cal kneed him in the face. The man cried out in pain and fell to the floor, unconscious. Before Cal could turn around to face the unconscious man's partner, Cal yelled in pain as a knife was dug into his lower back. Cal doubled over and the man proceeded to kick him in the ribs. Cal rolled away from the boot and the man walked over, picked him up, and threw him into the wall. Cal grunted in pain, but the man wasn't finished. The man punched Cal in the face, but before he could land another Cal caught his fist. He tilted the fist back until a loud *snap* was heard and the man cried out in pain. Cal grabbed the man by the throat and threw him into the wall on the other end of the room. The man crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Cal winced as he pulled out the knife from his back, but held onto it.

'2 down, 4 to go,' Cal thought. 'And these guys are professional killers.'

Hearing their comrades' cries, the remaining 4 men rushed into the room. Seeing a teen with a bloody knife in his hands, they quickly surrounded him. Cal slowly raised his hands in surrender to the 4 guns facing him.

"Put down the knife, slowly!" One of the men called out. Cal smiled as he slowly started to place the knife on the ground.

But Cal had a different plan. He flicked his wrist and released the knife, sending it flying into one of the men's dominate hand's shoulder. Before the bullets could fly, Cal snapped his fingers. After the snap, all the guns miraculously jammed. While examining their guns in confusion, Cal punched one in the face, kicked the second in the ribs, and turned to face the third man. Cal threw himself at the third man, causing them both to fall to the ground. While on the ground, Cal looked into his eyes and saw a young man's fear.

'He's not a killer,' Cal thought as he mercifully and quickly knocked the man out with a quick punch.

Before he could fully get back up, Cal felt ANOTHER knife dig into his back, near his left shoulder. Cal cried out in pain and fell back onto his hands and knees. Two of the men grabbed his arms and dragged him back and held him. The third man wound up and knocked the air out of Cal's lungs.

"Damn kid, messing with our plan," the man growled in a thick southern accent, "Gonna teach your entire class a lesson they'll never forget son, not that they'll have much time to recall it when I'm done with them."

Meanwhile, the students and teacher hadn't moved an inch since the entire ordeal started. Mason looked on in fear and worry, but saw Cal winked at him and glared at his attacker. Cal closed his eyes and waited for the next blow to hit. As soon as it did, Cal jumped backward and threw his arms together in front of him. The two men holding his arms didn't let go till their heads had collided, sending them to the ground unconscious. Cal noticed that he hadn't touched the ground yet. He was flying. The last remaining man looked at Cal in fear.

"God Almighty, what are you?" the man sputtered out as he backed away.

Cal's eyes narrowed with anger. Cal landed and slowly walked forward, heat and power radiating off him. With each step, Cal's power was more and more visible. When Cal finally reached the man, the man had curled into a ball in the corner. Cal's visible power rolled off him in waves of bright golden light, like rolling waves of a golden sea. Everyone, save Mason, huddled closer to the wall as they looked on in fear of Cal's waves of golden power. Mason quickly stood up and walked over to Cal.

"Don't do it, remember… remember for her…" Mason whispered to Cal. At the mention of 'her', Cal's eyes watered up, so he closed them and looked away from the man. Mason patted Cal's shoulder, lingered for a moment, and left to go back to his seat. Cal slowly relaxed and the visibility of his power faded. When it was finally gone, Cal opened his eyes and looked down at the man, who was on the brink of insanity. Cal crouched next to the man and thought for a second. The man glanced up at Cal with a look of fear. Cal studied him for a second then touched the man's temple. At the touch, the man's eyes glazed over and he relaxed against the wall. He mumbled about "mommy" and fell asleep.

Cal turned around and faced the scared bystanders. He looked at each of their faces, processing the amount of fear in their eyes. His eyes finally came to Kara's face, and what he saw made his heart skip a beat. What he saw wasn't just fear, but also a spark of… comfort. Cal was confused, but he realized he needed to do something before they lost their confusion and started asking questions. Before they lost their confusion, Cal held up his hands towards them and closed his eyes. He focused on clearing his mind so all he envisioned was white, just a simple white in his mind's eye. After clearing his mind of everything except the white, Cal focused on what he wanted. He wanted them all to forget what he had done. He wanted to alter the memory of what happened in the last few minutes. He wanted them to forget. Only Mason and himself would know the truth. With a huge flash of lightning, memories were changed, and the replaced memory was lost from their minds forever.

-Break-

Cal sat in the edge of the back of an ambulance. His shirt was off and the medical responder was just putting the finishing touches of bandages on him. The bandages went around his waist and up over his left shoulder. The medic checked that the bandages were in place and left to check on others.

"What did you have them recall?" Mason asked.

"Long story short? Two of them set the others up and took them all out," Cal answered, stretching his left shoulder. He winced slightly.

"And your wounds?" Mason inquired.

"Ceiling shrapnel?" Cal said hopefully.

"…Oddly enough, everyone would buy that. Which bad guys?" Mason asked.

"The one I knocked out quickly and the one that almost went insane. Again, I didn't mean to do that… I just kinda lost it when he threatened to hurt everyone in there…" Cal explained. He turned to grab and put on his now ruined long sleeve, black shirt.

"I understand, you haven't had your powers for very long, plus you don't know how to control or even USE them officially," Mason said.

"But my powers worked when I needed it today, thank goodness for that," Cal pointed out. He felt the size of the knife holes in his shirt. "Man, I did like this shirt…"

Mason laughed, "I be sure to get you a new one, your birthday's coming up right?"

"Don't start that birthday stuff, you know my thoughts about that," Cal said quietly, looking around to see if anyone heard that.

"'Youth is a gift of nature, but age is a work of art'," Mason quoted.

"…really? I never looked at birthday quotes!" Cal said, exasperated.

"Stanislaw Jerzy Lec," Mason answered.

"…Well, that's one point for you," Cal sighed. Mason pumped his fist in the air. Cal shook his head.

"Well, due to today's… events, would you mind if we put dinner on hold for another time?" Kara asked as she walked up to Cal. Cal smiled at her. Kara blushed and smiled back.

"That's completely fine, in fact, we need to go home and let our caretaker know that we're okay," Cal answered. "No harm done." Kara looked confused.

"You two are brothers? I didn't know that," Kara said, shocked. Cal looked down and away.

"We wish we were, but we aren't… We're… orphans…" Mason stepped in and answered.

Kara looked down, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know." Kara went in and hugged Cal. Cal tensed at the sudden touch, but he still hugged back.

"It's fine, you had no way of knowing," Cal said soothingly. Kara sniffled and let go of Cal.

"Well, while we're on the subject, I'm an orphan too, but I've been adopted," Kara stated.

Mason shook his head, "Too many orphaned kids these days…"

"…And not enough homes to put them in," Cal finished.

"So about today…" Kara started.

"Yeah?" Cal asked. Kara struggled to find the right way to put the words.

"Well, it's just that after today… I was just thinking of how people die and family and how we're all teenagers and…" Kara said, trying to lead Cal to her point. She tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Huh?" Cal asked, puzzled.

Mason nudged him, "Ehem…" Cal looked confused for a moment more, but his eyes widened as he understood Kara's hidden meaning.

"Well, Kara… Now that we've been through enough life or death experiences together… Maybe I could take you out to dinner… or a movie… or some other fun experience of your choosing?" Cal stammered out, blushing a deep crimson red.

Kara tucked her hair behind her ear again and blushed, "Yeah, that'd be nice." She smiled.

"Well, it's a date!" Cal said, grinnning.

"Sorry for the interruption, but due to today's unfortunate events, school will be a half day today, please call or let your parents know so they may pick you up. Have a good day!" came an announcement over the intercom.

"Well, I'd better get going. My parents are all about safety," Kara said as she waved goodbye and walked away. Barbara walked up to her.

"Did you ask him how… you know… he did what he did today?" Barbara asked, out of earshot of Cal and Mason. "I mean; we know he's like us… so…"

"No, I didn't ask, but I don't think he's quite ready to tell me yet anyway," came the reply. "For now let's just forget about it and go home. We mustn't tell anyone about it either!" Barbara nodded and they pinky promised each other.

Meanwhile, Mason and Cal had started heading home.

"Dude! You did it! You successfully asked a girl out!" Mason exclaimed.

"Yeah, I guess I did…" Cal said quietly. Cal was thinking about Kara's look of fear AND comfort.

"Why so quiet? This is a big moment for you!" Mason said.

"I'm just a little shaken by her look, you know, before I altered their memories…" Cal stated. "Kara had a look of fear… but she also looked… comforted by something… or some part of what happened…"

"Well, you've saved her life twice now, and she only remembers one of them... Maybe she's grateful for you saving her life. Anyway, you two would make a cute couple," Mason said as-a-matter-of-fact. "Do you think the Justice League caught wind of what you did today?"

"Nah, only me and you know about it and it wasn't too much of a big deal," Cal answered. "I doubt they'll look into this and even if they did, they wouldn't find anything pointing to me. I'm still completely off their radar."

"Well, we never did figure out why they decided to move in on our school with only six guys… Or our classroom at least." Mason said.

"Maybe it had something to do with someone in the classroom, but why and who aren't going to be found out any time soon. All we know is that whoever they are, they were professionals and whoever they were going after was, or maybe still is, in danger." Cal lamented.

"And will we be there when we're needed?" Mason asked.

"All the time, every time."

A/N: Name who they were after in the review section ALONG WITH a review of some sort and you'll get a shout out in one of the coming chapters. Have a nice day!