The Road to Happiness, The Long One
A/N: I am going to try to update this story weekly (Saturdays if possible). You might think that Cal is over powered, but remember, he doesn't even really know how to use them. Also, please review for my sake and for the sake of the story!
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. Cal fights off the 6 armed gunmen and uses his powers to make everyone forget what he did. But Kara and Barbara still remember. 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 4
Cal and Mason walked home. They walked up the steps of their orphanage. The orphanage had a modest sign out front saying, 'Miss Charlemagne's Orphanage for Orphans'. The orphanage had plenty of space, with tall, red brick walls surrounding the property. The front gate had motion sensors that even picked up those that walked to school. The gates were black with large, smooth metal bars. Nothing intricate, but beautiful. Inside the gates, a Victorian house stood with the green lawn proudly. The lawn was nicely mowed and glistened with the recent sprinkler water. The short pathway to the steps was cobblestone. The light brown steps led to a dark brown door with a gold colored doorknob. The door had a slightly transparent window, oval shaped and beautifully decorated. Inside was even more beautiful. The front door led straight to both a stairway and a hallway with a great deal of doors, each uniquely eloquent in its own way, decorated in response to whatever was through the door. In the front hallway, the doors led to the kitchen, the dining area, a play room for the younger ones, an arcade room for the older ones, a home theater, and a closet for jackets, hats, and shoes. The stairs' carpet was gold bordered with a dark red color. The stairs went up to a second floor and continued to a 3rd. On each floor was 3 separate bathrooms along with up to twenty rooms. Cal and Mason were the only ones one the 3rd floor because they were the only teenagers left in the orphanage. The second floor had 15 out of the 20 rooms occupied. Since the rooms all had bunk beds, 2 children would be in every room. There was a total of 30 children.
"Welcome back boys! How was school? Did you have a half day?" Miss Charlemagne asked as Mason and Cal came through the door of the orphanage.
"Kind of, we're back early cause someone decided to go to school with a gun then wave it around," Cal answered quickly, glancing at Mason.
"Yeah, no one got hurt, but the school wanted to be safe than sorry," Mason said.
"Well, I'm glad you two are okay, but I have a surprise for you two, guess what the date is!" Miss Charlemagne squeal excitedly. Cal and Mason looked at each other confused. "It's December 2nd!" She looked at the boys excitedly.
"Oh yeah! December 2nd! We were talking about it a little on the way here. Totally slipped my mind!" Mason said happily, clapping his hands. December 2nd was the anniversary of the date Cal was dropped off.
"Oh boy… Not again," Cal said, shaking his head.
"Come sit everybody! In the theater room right now!" Miss Charlemagne called out to the few children home already. The children rushed in and filed through the door.
"Now, story time:
On Dec. 2, 2001, Cal was dropped off at this orphanage with a note attached to his lime green car seat. This is what the note said, 'This is my son. His name is Callum Orson. His birthday is today one year ago and he is the calmest child you would never expect. As long as I am living, I will provide a blank check once a year on this date. The blank check is to be used for several reasons. One, you will put down at least $50,000 immediately for extra use. Second, all the current bills or expenses will be added to the amount. Don't try to save me money and lie, I'll make sure it gets paid for because I can't be there for Cal. Third, every person living in this orphanage is to be able to buy something of their choosing, no matter the cost. Add up all the totals and write it on the check. Then cash it in. And I thank you again, for taking care of my son.'," Miss Charlemagne wiped a tear from her eye. "And here is the check for this year. Cal, you get to write down what you would like first. And after everyone gets home, we'll get the cake out. Then, I'll grab the presents from the secret hiding place." She smiled caringly at Cal who was smiling and looking down with a sad look in his eyes. Miss Charlemagne noticed this and looked around. Cal quickly got up and wrote down what he wanted, and like he did every year, he put 'My Father'. Mason followed behind him and wrote down 'Cal will take a couple of boxes of Andes Mints. I'll take a flat screen TV for our room.'
"Well, that's enough celebrating for now, let's go make a cake. Huh Britney? Would you like to help me bake a cake for Callum?" she said. "Be back down here at 5:30, ok?" Cal nodded and left the room with Mason following close behind. They left the room and Cal ran upstairs.
"Well, whenever she tells our stories I feel like we bond more. Hey Cal, you okay?" Mason asked as he entered their shared room. Cal had already run into their walk in closet. Mason followed him and looked at the wall. All the papers pinned to the wall seemed unorganized, but the red string connected the few scarce dots. Cal studied the wall for a few moments before resting his hand and head on the wall.
"Where is he? Where and who the hell is my father?!" Cal shouted as he ripped the papers off the wall and onto the floor. Mason patted Cal on the back.
"You know we'll find him, we'll find him and when you're ready, you'll confront him," Mason said. He started pinning the fallen papers back onto the wall. Cal silently walked through the false wall in the closet. He went into the back room Mason and he had built themselves. It was specially designed for their nightly escapades. A police scanner in the corner, a mini fridge in another. Computers were set up next to the police scanner with multiple screens for each one. Cal walked over to the fridge. He grabbed a nice, cold Dr. Pepper (his favorite) and sat down at one of the computers. Mason finished pinning the papers back to the wall and walked in. Mason also grabbed a soda and sat next to Cal. Cal was furiously researching (as he did whenever he was stressed about something) and after Mason read the title he looked at Cal.
"Cal… You shouldn't…" Mason started, "I know you go after someone big every year on this very day since you got your powers… but this is too big!"
"No, I'm going to do it. Tonight, they both go down! 'As soon as you see a mistake and don't fix it, it becomes your mistake'," Cal quoted determinedly. Mason looked at him confused. "Author unknown." Mason nodded. Cal stared at the screen and left the room. Mason stared at the photos for a second, then followed Cal out. Morph Duchess and The Unnamed both were shown on the screens. Morph Duchess wore an unflattering dark green latex suit that stuck to her tightly. Next to her, her pet Diamond, a black Caucasian Shepherd with a purple rhinestone studded collar. Her pet, Diamond, was able to grow and shrink in size and was immune to anything sharp. Duchess had the ability to change her shape at will, except for a tattoo of her dog, which was always present on whatever person she transformed into. She also had the ability to change her density. This allowed her to become bulletproof or even pass through walls. And Cal was determined to catch her. On the screen next to her, The Unnamed's profile was showing. The Unnamed was a dangerous ninja that had been trained as one of the most dangerous assassins. He had signed up for an experimental program somewhere in the Appellation Mountains that was trying to clone him. The scientists were successful and began to make countless clones of The Unnamed. All that was known for sure about the Unnamed was that if you wanted him, he would come to you. Cal knew this and had put a message out into the internet on where to meet. Now to wait.
Cal paced the room as he decided what to do. He would need a decent amount of planning to take both of his enemies out at the same time. All he needed was to figure out a way to suppress their powers and abilities. Then he would drop them off at a convenient Justice League location with their powers and abilities suppressed long enough for them to be jailed in a secure location. But how to suppress them… Cal and Mason set to work. Cal grabbed his tool and scrap basket and began to build a special set of handcuffs. He and Mason worked till 5:45, not noticing the time.
*Knock Knock*
"Crap! We forgot the time!" Cal said, standing up and rushing around, trying to cover up the prototype of their handcuffs. Mason rushed around too, trying to cover up their plans and messes. Cal opened the door and they both rushed out.
"I'm so sorry Miss Charlemagne! We lost track of time!" Cal said hurriedly. He and Mason rushed down to the dining room. Miss Charlemagne smiled.
"Every year, late every time," Miss Charlemagne said shaking her head slightly and smiling. She went downstairs. They all celebrated Cal's birthday and wrote down what they wanted. Cal and Mason were older brothers to all of them, giving advice, helping with homework, kicking their bully's asses. Most of the time, they grew up and before 13 they were adopted by some family. Cal and Mason were never even considered for adoption; they were too old for most families.
"Cal… now that you're 16, I want to give you something…" Miss Charlemagne said. She pulled out a small brown package from behind her back. "This was left with you the day you arrived. There was a note on top that said to give this to you on your 16th birthday and not to open it till then. Don't worry, I didn't open it." She handed the package to Cal, who slowly unwrapped it to find a pocket watch. It was a faded golden color and the chain was silver. Inside was a small inscription that read, 'Never give up Cal, no matter what happens. I love you! -Your Father.'
Cal's eyes watered and he whispered, "Thank you," to Miss Charlemagne. She nodded and went off to check on the other children.
"You ok buddy?" Mason asked concerned. Cal wiped his eyes and nodded.
"He leaves me a pocket watch for when I'm 16 only to tell me I shouldn't ever give up and that he loves me?!" Cal said angrily. "He could just tell me that himself." Cal shoved the pocket watch in his pocket. "Let's just enjoy what we actually have huh?" Mason smiled politely and nodded.
Cal and Mason enjoyed the party till about 7:30. Then they excused themselves for homework and left the celebration. They rushed up to the room to finish building the handcuffs, a working type this time. Mason chowed on cake while Cal finished the prototype.
"Now, how do we test them out?" Cal asked.
"Try them on, then try to do something super," Mason suggested.
"That should work, but I still need to build a key," Cal stated. He looked at the design. "This is gonna suck." Cal set to work. He spent the 2 hours or so building the key and another set of handcuffs. When they were over, Cal admired his handiwork. The handcuffs were attached at the wrist with a blue energy glow around the rim of the handcuffs. The handcuffs were black with blue lines decorating the middle. The key was black with blue lines connecting at the end. The insertion part of the key's blue was glowing with energy. Mason nodded in approval. Cal looked at the time, 9:25, time to head out.
"Well, no time to test them out cause I gotta go, but if you don't mind, Bluetooth and scanner?" Cal asked.
"It's my job isn't it?" Mason answered.
Cal nodded and smiled, "Time to suit up!"
A/N: Please review! Have a nice day!