On the 16th day of the hero's 16th year
For one single precious held most dear
By the shade of evil with time in his hands
Choices will be made to determine who stands
The hidden hero will be proclaimed
After a fall leaves him heavily maimed
The day's weather will be fought
By winter, summer, and storms a lot
The land of choice is the original spot
Where she died and now lives reborn
In the world of the original's form
The Road to Happiness, The Long One
A/N: Please review!
Characters: Cal (Your "average" mysterious male), Mason (Cal's best and most trustworthy buddy), Kara Danvers (Kara Zor-El, AKA Supergirl), Jason (Kara's Ex), Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Clark Kent (Superman), Lois Lane (Superman's wife), Batman, Bartholomew, Karen (Power-Girl) and more that aren't quite ready to be presented yet. (Lots of characters are Out of Character (OOC), but I try my absolute best to make it as close as I can with the story.)
Chapter 32: Day 12/16, Friday
Cal ran across the desert, ducking heat vision and batarangs. He leapt forward and rolled behind a large rock. A bang shook the rock a bit, dusting falling onto Cal's head. Cal peeked over the edge of the rock, but ducked quickly. He looked around, finally seeing a building, but it was quite a distance away. Cal took a quick breath and glanced over the edge again. He took another quick breath and sprinted for the building. Blasts appeared all over, but none hit Cal. Suddenly, a blur tripped him, sending him flying forward, tumbling into the sand. Cal grunted and got up quickly, glancing behind him. As he got up, the blur appeared again, punching him in the face. Cal flew back, crushing one of his ribs as he landed. Ignoring the pain, Cal got back up and continued running, faster than ever. He dodged more blasts and shots, but one Batarang sliced into Cal's left arm. Cal winced, but kept running. Soon, he was only a few strides away from the building's entrance. The building was a bank, and that was just what Cal needed. Suddenly, a sword wielding Amazon landed in front of Cal, between him and the building. Cal stopped in his tracks and stumbled back. The Amazon slowly walked forward, while Cal looked for a place to run. He turned to run, but he found himself surrounded. Cal was surrounded by a blur, a dark figure, an Amazon, a hovering man with red, glowing eyes, a robot, a man covering in a green glow, and a Martian. Cal spun slowly, trying to find a way out.
"It's over, you've lost…" the dark figure said. Cal faced him.
"I'm not done yet," Cal whispered. He swiftly kicked the robot back, and before anyone could move, the Amazon had raised her sword and thrusted at Cal. Expecting this, Cal grabbed her wrist, twisted it, causing her to drop her sword, and threw her towards the blur. Both the Amazon and the blur went down. Cal quickly picked up the sword and kicked the Martian back. After he did this, a large green fist slammed itself into Cal, causing him to fly back into the building's wall. Heat vision burned Cal's arm, causing him to drop the sword, and a ball of energy from the robot hit Cal's leg. Cal grunted in pain and tried to get inside the building, but the dark figure blocked his way. Swiftly, the dark figure slammed a fist into Cal's face, and Cal fell to a knee. The dark figure kicked him swiftly in the side, and Cal flew back. Cal got to his feet and realized he was surrounded again. Sighing, he raised his hands.
"Is this you giving up?" the man with the red eyes asked. Cal shrugged and kicked the Amazon in the side of the knee, causing her to fall. The blur quickly punched Cal, and Cal went with it, landing in front of the building again. Cal quickly grabbed the sword and went inside, pressing the hidden lockdown button just inside on the wall. Almost instantaneously, the building was locked down, sealed off from the outside. Cal quickly ran to find the vault. He knew he didn't have much time, but he went as fast as he can. Finally, he saw the vault, already wide open.
-30 Seconds Later-
The man with red eyes finally broke through the metal sheets covering the front entrance. The dark figure immediately went towards the vault while the others followed close behind. They quickly opened the vault smoothly rather than forcefully. The vault creaked open slowly. Together, they all walked into the vault, but the dark figure waited, just inside the vault. Suddenly, the vault swung shut, and the dark figure barely managed to jump through the entrance before it closed and locked. Cal rested against the vault, relaxing for a moment before he noticed the dark figure. Cal readily prepared for a fight, as did the dark figure. The figure went first, swinging at Cal's head. Cal ducked and jabbed weakly at his ribcage, and the dark figure kneed Cal in the face. Cal stumbled back, falling on his rear. The figure walked forward. Cal scrambled backwards, but the figure grabbed his outstretched heel, pulling him back. Cal slid back, and the figure grabbed Cal by the throat, squeezing the life out of him. Cal gasped and struggled to breathe, failing his right arm to reach for something. The dark figure didn't notice Cal's flailing arm, focused on beating Cal. Finally, Cal barely being able to see, Cal managed to pull the string on the wall, causing the sword to fall directly onto the dark figure, almost impaling Cal himself in the process. The dark figure stared into Cal's eyes, emotionless. The figure started to fall onto Cal, and Cal pushed him off, gasping for air…
"ENOUGH!" Batman said. Suddenly, the simulation stopped and Cal laid on the floor, still gasping for air. Cal shook his head and got up, looking at Batman, who was glaring at him. "You would kill to survive?!" he demanded. Cal coughed once and glared back.
"I couldn't control where you would end up and in that moment it was my life or yours!" Cal yelled. "Besides, if it's me versus you, either I'm the bad guy and don't care about who I kill, or if it's you, you'd want me to kill you to save the world… I had the choice to either die or kill…" They held a glaring contest in silence for a moment.
"He has a point…" Wonder Woman mentioned. Superman nodded in agreement, with everyone else in the room nodding soon after.
"That's not the point…" Batman said. "He needs to do his ABSOLUTE best to avoid killing whenever possible…" Cal scoffed.
"I'm sorry, but did you see ANY of those nifty fancy handcuffs laying around?!" Cal asked. Batman looked at him suspiciously.
"How did you know about those?" Batman asked. Cal frowned.
"I showed them to him!" Kara said before Cal could speak. Batman glanced at Kara, but quickly turned and glared at Cal. Superman raised an eyebrow at Kara and glared at Cal. Cal's face became red. He put his hands up.
"Whoa! Not like that!" Cal protested. After some time of silence, Flash laughed in the corner.
"Would you two cut the crap?" Flash asked. Everyone looked at him, and he shrugged. "I mean Bats and Supes. You two," he gestured at them. "Need to lay off the lovebirds."
"It's true," J'onn said. "They haven't done anything yet…" Everyone looked at him.
"You read our minds?!" Kara asked, outraged. J'onn shook his head.
"No, I just have been around people enough to notice when things like that have happened," J'onn explained. He motioned towards Kara. "She's too scared to hurt him, and he's too afraid of making things weird…" Everyone looked at Cal and Kara, whose eyes were wide and uncomfortable.
"Let's get back on track here," Cyborg said. "No killing, but all in all that was a very good simulation run…" Everyone nodded.
"Could have done without the killing, but trapping everyone in a bank's vault was a really good move," GL said. "That would give him enough time to get away and recooperate. But I also understand that the killing was both unintentional and unavoidable…" Everyone nodded, even Batman after a moment.
"So it's settled, he's good enough to put on a Robin cowl…" Superman joked. Everyone, except Batman and Cal, laughed. Batman glared at him while Cal just looked confused.
"That's not funny," Batman growled. Cal looked at Kara.
"What did I miss?" Cal mouthed to Kara.
"Batman's had a LOT of Robins," Kara mouthed back. Cal smiled and nodded.
"That's enough for today," Batman growled. "I have stuff to do." Batman stormed out. Slowly, everyone else followed Batman's suit and left, leaving Cal and Kara. Kara took Cal's hand.
"Have you seen Mason recently?" Cal asked. Kara shook her head.
"No, I think Batman took him for some special training. Have you seen or heard from Barbara?" Kara answered. Cal shook his head.
"No, is that weird for you two?" Cal asked.
"Is it weird for you and Mason to go this long without communication?" Kara answered with a question. Cal smiled weakly and nodded.
"Touche," Cal said. Kara began toying with her locket.
"Cal," Kara started. "I never showed you those handcuffs… How did you know?" Cal shrugged. Before he could speak, however, Kara continued. "And Cal, would you ever lie to me?"
"No, of course not!" Cal said. He rubbed his arm nervously. "Mason and I may have… built the prototypes that they based theirs off of…" Kara punched him playfully in the arm.
"You built those?" Kara asked, shocked. Cal nodded. "I didn't know you where such a man of many talents…" She kissed him. "Think you could make another pair?" she whispered in his ear. Cal immediately became red. Kara laughed and blushed. Cal kissed her.
"I think I already have a spare laying around somewhere…" Cal whispered back. Kara's eyes widened in shock, and she blushed deeper. Cal blushed and looked down. He kissed her again. "So you're afraid to hurt me? You know I'm too stubborn to get hurt…" Kara laughed.
"That may have been true before I found out you're also a superhero," Kara admitted. Cal laughed.
"Keep your voice down, otherwise I'll be swarmed with more people who want me to use those handcuffs," Cal joked. Kara laughed and playfully punched his arm again.
"Not funny," Kara said. She kissed him.
"I don't suppose you are hungry…" Cal said. Kara looked at him.
"Do you know me?" Kara answered. Cal laughed.
"Ice cream?"
"You're the angel after my own heart," Kara answered. Cal smiled.
"Nah, just a man," Cal replied.
"Well, you're more than just a man in my book," Kara said.
"Oh, so you have a book now?" Cal asked jokingly. Kara glared at him.
"I'll hit you again, this time harder," Kara threatened playfully.
"I love you too," Cal answered, kissing her on the cheek. Kara pouted playfully.
"You're going to need more than that to make it up to me," Kara said.
"Like ice cream?" Cal asked.
"Again, angel after my heart," Kara said. Cal kissed her again and picked her up.
"My lady, I'm no angel," Cal said softly.
"'My lady'?" Kara asked. She thought about it for a moment. "I believe I like it… What shall I call you?" Cal smiled.
"That, I believe, is up to you, my lady," Cal said. Kara thought for a moment.
"I can't decide between 'my angel' or 'my hero'," Kara said. Cal smiled.
"Who might you be calling these flattering names, my lady?" Cal asked, the twinkle in his eyes brightening. Kara smiled.
"I believe you know full well I am talking about you, my hero," Kara said, kissing him. Cal smiled.
"You flatter me beyond reason, my lady," Cal said.
"And now that I have named you; I believe you owe me ice cream, my hero," Kara said.
"Of course, my lady," Cal said. Suddenly, they were in front of an old fashioned ice cream parlor. Cal set Kara down.
"Oo, fancy," Kara said. Cal smiled and held the door open for her. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and did a small curtsy, entering. Cal followed closely behind. Kara looked at all the options and choices of flavors.
"Before you ask, you can get whatever you'd like and however much of it," Cal said, as if he read her mind.
"It's almost as if you read my mind," Kara said, slightly suspiciously. "Did you?" Cal smiled.
"I don't need to read your mind, Kara. I know you well enough to not have to read your mind, besides, I don't even know if I could," Cal answered. Kara bit her lip and smiled.
"Do you know what I'm thinking now?" Kara asked quietly. Cal narrowed his eyes.
"Am I allowed to try?" Cal asked. Kara nodded. Cal sighed and focused.
'Gosh he looks hot right now,' Kara thought to herself. Cal snickered.
"I still bet you're at least a hundred times prettier than I might be right now," Cal said aloud. Kara opened her mouth in surprise.
'Lucky guess,' Kara thought. Cal shook his head.
"You can say it's a lucky guess, but you know it's not," Cal said. Kara somehow looked even more shocked.
"Well, you proved your point," Kara said aloud. "Now, I'd like mint chocolate chip ice cream, bowl, not cone." Cal bowed.
"As you wish, my lady," Cal said. He went up to the register, where a middle aged man was waiting patiently. The man had black hair that went into almost horns along the side of the head and sideburns that went down to his jaw. His shirt strained against his muscles.
"Evenin'," the man said in an obviously fake country accent, his name tag reading 'Logan'. "What'll you and the missus be havin'?" Cal sighed.
"Can we get just a full tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream please? I know it's unusual, but please?" Cal asked. Logan nodded.
"I'll grab a fresh tub from the back, see if I can find ya'll an extra-large tub while I'm at it," Logan said, winking. Cal thanked him and Logan went to the back. Cal turned back to Kara.
"Where did you want to eat your ice cream?" Cal asked, ignoring the surprised look on Kara's face.
"A whole tub?" Kara asked. "You spoil me," she said smiling. Cal smiled back.
"Where did you want to eat it?" Cal asked again. Kara shook her head, still smiling.
"A park would be nice," Kara said. Cal nodded. Suddenly, a burly man in the corner of the store stood up and walked over to them. Neither Cal nor Kara had noticed him. The man was dressed in a leather jacket, with tattoos all over his visible arms. He had a long beard, like a biker's, and his muscles bulged under his tight jacket. Cal instinctively got in front of Kara.
"You're one pretty little lady," the man said in a gruff, distinctly Texan accent. "This boy here," he gestured to Cal. "This boy here obviously is a rich daddy's boy and doesn't know how to treat a lady…" He pushed Cal out of the way and began stroking Kara's hair. "Me and my boys know how to treat a little lady like you…" He looked her up and down. The door's bell rang as 3 more bikers walked into the shop, positioning themselves behind Kara and grinning evilly. Cal growled under his breath.
"Don't touch her," Cal said, beginning to get angry. The man looked at him.
"What you gonna do about it boy?" the man asked, spitting out the word boy. Cal breathed deeply. Cal glanced at the door to the back room and looked to see if Logan was even visible. Not seeing him, he turned back to the man.
"I'll kick your ass," Cal swore. "Or, you know, she can…" The man pulled a gun and walked over to Cal, pushing him against the wall and pointed the gun at him.
"We have guns," one of the men said. "Good luck kiddo."
"Quiet!" barked the man to his buddy. He turned to Cal. "You feelin' brave now punk?" Cal glared at him.
"Shoot me or put the gun away," Cal said slowly. The man laughed and turned to his boys.
"You hear that Freddy?" the man laughed. "He wants me to shoot him!" They all laughed and Kara shot Cal a warning look. Cal winked back. The man turned back to Cal. "I'm going to take your girl over here, and you know what me and my boys are going to do to her?" He leaned in and whispered to Cal. "We're going to use her to fulfill our wildest desires… I'm going to blow myself inside her while she screams for me not to…" Cal's eye's flashed gold, and he growled.
Now angry, Cal head-butted the man and kicked his chest, sending him flying back. Kara got the message and swiftly turned and punched the nearest man through the glass door. Cal swiftly got to the next nearest man and grabbed his gun arm, twisting the wrist, and the man let go of the gun. Cal threw him into the wall, denting it, and punched him in the face. The third man launched himself onto Kara, who fell to the ground. Cal rapidly kicked the man off Kara, and he pulled his gun. He aimed at Cal and fired before anyone could react, hitting Cal's heart dead center. Cal ignored the pain and shock and punched the man through the window. Cal turned to Kara, who threw herself into his arms.
"You're bleeding," Kara noted, hugging him close. She didn't care about the blood pouring out of him getting on her. "Don't die on me," she whispered, putting her face on the clean side of Cal's chest.
"I won't," Cal promised. "I do think I might need a doctor after we get you your ice cream though…" Kara sighed.
"Cal, this isn't a joke if you die on me again…" Kara said. Cal laughed lightly, his laugh turning into a cough of blood. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Suddenly, Logan appeared, growling like an animal. His fists grew 3 metal claws between each knuckle, and he launched himself behind Cal, stabbing the leader of the group. The man had gotten behind Cal and had raised his gun, ready to shoot. Logan got off the man and turned to Cal and Kara.
"Shooting kids is pretty much my pet peeve, bub," Logan said without his accent, glancing over his shoulder at the dying man behind him. He looked at the two in front of him. "Rape's also off the table…"
"How did you…?" Kara started. "How did you hear that? I barely heard it…" Logan smiled and gestured to his claws.
"Got more than a set of scratching claws from nature," Logan said. "Besides, you two are like me too aren't you? You didn't seem too fazed when the man shot you directly in the heart… And people don't normally have the capacity, especially women, to punch a full grown man through a door…" He pulled a cigar out from his pocket. "Got your tub in the back, I might've forgotten to grab it with all the… commotion." He lit his cigar and sat down. Cal started to sweat lightly, feeling light headed and started to fall, but Kara caught him. Kara lowered him into a chair. Logan sighed and took a deep breath of his cigar. Cal's chest began bleeding profusely. Kara took Cal's hand.
"You want to give us a hand?!" Kara almost yelled. Logan frowned.
"He's not going to heal himself?" Logan asked. Cal frowned for a second, trying to stay conscious.
"He can't!" Kara protested. "He can do a lot of things, but if he could heal himself he would have done it by now!" Logan sighed.
"Kid's got more power than a nuclear bomb," Logan said. "I can sense it. He can heal himself. Just a matter of determination. He'll come through." Kara shook her head.
"I don't think you understand!" Kara said. "He's DYING! AGAIN!" Logan frowned.
"Again?" he asked. "Oh! You mean he's that kid who miraculously was brought back to life? I read about that in the paper. He's going to be fine, animal instinct will keep him alive…" He took another breath of cigar.
"Cal! Stay with me Cal!" Kara demanded, tears forming in her eyes. "You've gotten through worse… You can do this…" Cal murmured something. "What?"
"I'll always come back…" Cal whispered. "Always…" He closed his eyes. Kara slapped his face gently.
"No! Cal! No! Come back!" Kara demanded, tears starting to flow. "Cal!" Logan sighed and got up, walking over to them.
"Alright bub, wake the hell up!" Logan said, slapping Cal's face, hard. Cal woke up, trembling and breathing heavily. "You got to pull yourself together kid! Focus! Heal your own self." Logan went back to his seat, sitting back down.
"Cal! Come on, you can do anything!" Kara said, coming close to tears. "I love you!" Kara said. "Your mother loves you! I bet your father loves you too! Come on Cal! Pull through!" Cal looked up, listening, just like his mother had. Kara squeezed Cal's hand reassuringly. Cal looked back down at her. Without a word, Cal's entire body began to glow gold, radiating heat and power. Kara felt the same overwhelming feeling of joy and happiness, like she did days ago. Logan's eyes widened in both surprise and, for reasons unknown to him, fear. Starting slow and beginning to speed up, all the blood Cal had lost returned into his body. The bullet inside the heart pushed itself out, falling to the floor. The hole in Cal's chest healed itself, but his clothes didn't. Kara breathed a sigh of relief, wiping her eyes and burying her face in Cal's neck after Cal stopped glowing. Cal blinked a few times and came to.
"I told he could heal himself," Logan said, getting up. "And from what I can tell he can help clean up this mess… Good job living bub, even if it did take some encouragement…" He went to the back.
"I told you I'd come back," Cal said. Kara laughed weakly.
"You need to stop dying," Kara said. Cal laughed.
"That only happened once," Cal said smiling.
"Fine, stop ALMOST dying," Kara said, trying to hold back a grin.
"Will do, my lady," Cal promised. Kara laughed softly. She took Cal's face in her hands.
"You die and I will bring you back to life just to kill you again, got it!" Kara said. Cal nodded. "Good," Kara said, kissing him. "Nearly scared me half to death…" Logan walked back into the room with a large tub of ice cream.
"I'll give this to you when you clean up the mess you two made," Logan promised. Cal nodded, getting up.
"Got a broom?" Kara asked. Logan shook his head.
"Not like that," Logan said. "Like fix it because I know you can. If you can do what I just saw and make me feel fear for once in my life, then you can fix the window and door."
"And the bodies?" Cal asked. Logan shrugged.
"I'm just waiting to get back to my home dimension. Just leave 'em," Logan said, shrugging.
"Um, ok…" Cal said. He turned to the broken window and door. He focused, trying to fix them both. His eyes flashed gold and the glass seemed to reverse itself, flying from the ground back into place. Kara and Logan stood transfixed as the window came back together. The shards of glass floated back into place, like a large jig-saw puzzle coming together a few pieces at a time. Each shard came together to a larger piece, and the larger pieces came together and the process repeated until the entire window pane was in place. Finally, after the door fixed itself, Cal turned to them.
"So you want to go to your dimension?" Cal asked. Logan nodded.
"I don't suppose you can do that…" Logan said, handing Kara the ice cream. Cal nodded.
"I want you two to know something. First, if you're ever in my dimension, stop by the School for Gifted Youngsters. Ask for me personally. I'm sure my world could use a couple of heroes like you two… Second, they call me Wolverine, so if my name doesn't get you in, tell them to get me if they don't believe you. That'll get them to let you in without bothering me. Third, stop feeding your wolf dog food, that's ridiculous. Let it hunt like an actual animal," Logan said. Cal smiled and nodded while Kara laughed lightly.
"I can't tell if that's one hell of a party trick or you just have REALLY good senses," Kara said. Logan chuckled.
"Well, anyway, I'd better get home. Hopefully nothing too drastic has happened since I got here…" Logan said. Cal nodded and focused on a portal. His eyes flashed their rich golden color once again, and a portal appeared. Logan walked up to the portal and looked back.
"Bub, you've got some hell of a power…" Logan said. "Make sure you hone it down before shit hits the fan…" With that, Wolverine stepped through the portal and was home. The portal closed behind him, and Kara slapped Cal.
"I probably deserved that," Cal said. Without another word, Kara kissed him.
"Stop freaking me out like that!" Kara said. "You need to stop nearly dying! It's killing me more that you!" Cal smiled and kissed her back.
"I know, my lady, and I promise to do my best," Cal said. Cal leaned over the counter and pulled two spoons from the container. He handed one to Kara, who took it and pulled Cal in for another kiss.
"Wow I love you," Kara said. Cal beamed.
"What an honor, my lady!" Cal said. He kissed her back. "Your hero loves you too, probably more…"