"Ok Clark, I realised that you have your abilities which can be used in most situations but you still need certain tools." Scott stated as he, Clark and Laura stood in the courtyard.
"I also have my hammer." Clark pointed out.
"Yes, but let's take a simple situation… well, complicated situation really. Imagine you find an individual trapped in a building with lots of leaking flammable liquids, much like Harvey Dent was. He is tied in such a way that if you accidentally cut or jar a wire he will explode.
"You can't use heat vision due to the fumes. You can't rip the ropes in case the wires break. So you need a new tool."
Scott held up a combat knife. "This is one of the most useful tools you will ever have."
*Snikt*
"Very useful. Especially on dates." Laura said with a smirk.
"You have never been on a date." Scott countered.
"Harry often takes me out!" Laura objected. "And when we get home these are great for removing those annoying clothes." She smirked.
Both males just sighed. Laura was by far the most mature and the quietest of the castle residents after Clark and Scott themselves. It was often clear where she got her sense of humour from though.
"Knives?" Clark asked Scott, deciding to ignore Laura.
"Knives." Scott repeated in the same tone. "Knives can be used as a precise cutting tool but can also be used as a precision projectile weapon in lieu of a gun. You have your heat vision but if someone manages to shield against it then you might be able to use a physical object instead.
"Our aim here is to teach you to not only fight with a knife but also to throw a knife."
Clark turned in for the night when he had managed to not only hit the bulls-eye every time but also managed to incorporate ricochets and arcs. He could easily bounce the knife off one surface to the bulls-eye at an angle therefore having two knives in the bulls-eye. He could also perform a similar feat by throwing the knife at an angle and allowing gravity to bring it down. It did lose a lot of power this way though.
His aim was good enough that Scott planned on having him work on high arcing trajectory that would enable Clark to throw the knife high enough so that it could reach terminal velocity before hitting the target.
He was very pleased with himself.
He opened the door to his bedroom expecting to see the bed crowded with Kyla and his Sekirei. More often than not Uzume seemed to join them, she just loved all the physical attention and Chiho was used to sleeping alone.
Today was a shock as the only person there was Kyla, dressed in a simple white gown.
"Where are the others?" Clark asked as he closed the door behind him.
"They are having a mass sleep over with the other girls." Kyla grinned.
"Can you really have a sleep over if you are in the same building?"
"It is what it is." She shrugged.
"Ok, so why aren't you with them?"
"You know why Clark." She said firmly as she pushed the nightgown off her shoulders revealing her perfect naked form.
Clark was used to female flesh by now, even Kyla's. None of the girls wanted to wear anything to bed but they had to in case Ku came bursting in. She had been all but adopted by Martha and Jonathan. Ryan loved having a little sister.
The threat of Ku didn't stop them from walking around naked and changing in front of Clark.
"Is this because of Aphrodite?"
"Not just because of that. We all have desires, urges. We know you have them, hard to miss first thing in the morning." She smiled as she walked up to him.
"That doesn't mean that we have to give into them." Clark said seriously.
"You make it sound like this is something bad!" She said, throwing her hands up in exasperation.
It did very interesting things to her breasts and Clark winced as he felt his trousers tighten even more.
"I know you aren't gay. You definitely find us all attractive and that you at least love me… so what is the damned problem Clark?" She demanded.
"Its just-" Clark took a deep breath. "It feels like this is all part of destiny." He said as he moved to sit on the bed. "Aphrodite was hinting at it, so were Harry and the others. I don't like the idea of being controlled."
"Don't you remember anything you've been told?" Kyla asked as she sat on his lap. He put his arms around her to hold her in place. "Destiny and fate are not aspects. At best they are three old crones who wouldn't dare cross Harry and know better than to try and determine the destiny of those who belong to Death.
"When I was going through my Amazon training I learnt a lot about the gods and the fates. The fates don't really see all of the future they merely record the present. Occasionally there is a glimpse and they begin to weave ahead of what has happened to what will happen.
"The major thing to remember is that they cannot follow the fates of everyone. They aren't that powerful. Instead they will follow the fates of key individuals who can change the world."
"Like me."
"No, like I said, you are protected. But they might follow the Luthors." Kyla said dismissively. "Clark, the only people who want you to do this now are the people who love you… and who are really horny." She added as an after thought. "You have an entire harem of women who are literally begging for it, and each one truly loves you. It's not just about the sex Clark. Its about the closeness, the expression of love." She said as she placed one of his hands on her breast and started unbuttoning his shirt.
"All of us want to be as physically close to you as possible, so much so it can actually hurt." She pushed his shirt off his shoulders and began working his belt from her position on his lap. "There are plenty of men in the world and if it was just about sex we could find one of them. But its not. It's about love, our love for you. This is why Aphrodite is pushing us, she feels our love and her job is to nurture that love."
"What- what if I hurt you?" Clark asked worriedly.
Kyla frowned. "The first time is likely to be a little sore, I'm not sure if Sekirei have hymens but still, you will be putting something fairly large into something quite tight." She smiled with a waggle of her eyebrows.
Clark blushed. "No, I meant… I have super strength and speed… what if… I… break something?"
"Ah." She said in realisation. "First of all, I am an Amazon and the others are Sekirei, we are all more likely to do damage to a normal man. But that doesn't really matter. We are in a building filled with the world's most powerful healers. Not to mention we have all been taught healing magic as standard. If anyone's in danger its you… from a bunch of horny women."
She stood up and flipped him on to his back causing him to squawk as she pulled his jeans and boxers down in one swift move. She deftly removed his boots and socks before pulling his lower clothing off completely.
Before he could sit she leapt on top of him and pinned their naked bodies together.
"Do you love me Clark Kent?" She asked seriously.
"You know I do." Clark said sincerely.
"Then show me."
The following morning Clark walked down with a huge blush on his face whilst Kyla was grinning broadly. Nobody needed to guess why because…
"Clark, no one is happier than I am about what you and Kyla did last night." Harry said seriously. "Unfortunately I need you to not do it again for a few days."
There was the sound of many screeching chairs as several highly irritated Sekirei and one soul mate rose and glared at the Aspect.
"Hey, I'm sorry but you and Kyla literally moved the Earth! Amara and I spent most of the night trying to absorb the shock waves. I just need a few days to put some more charms on the castle."
There was a horrible growling sound that came from Matsu, and Tsukiumi.
"Emma… I'm going to need the day off." Harry said with a fearful gulp.
Harry spent the rest of the day working on the charms under the watchful eye of Clark's Sekirei and Miya's amused smile. She was enjoying watching her husband sweat, Dani returned at lunch to join her for a while with popcorn.
"So Clark, do anything fun last night?" Chloe asked with a disgustingly huge smirk.
Clark glared at her. "Why don't you ask Kyla?"
"She'll tell me what she got up to, I want to know what you got up to." She asked. It was just the two of them in the Torch office at the moment. Kyla, Lana and the Cuckoos were out distributing the paper.
Clark slowly turned and faced Chloe. "You want to know what I got up to? Ok." He said as he began walking slowly towards her, his voice low and steady. "Last night I spent most of my time connected to Kyla, my soul mate, in the most intimate of ways. All night long I heard her calling my name in ecstasy and begging for more. She's an Amazon and she still needed to heal herself from the soreness of the night's pleasures."
Clark was still walking towards her and she unconsciously backed up.
"From what I'm told I made the Earth move, not just for her, but for everyone. That's what I was up to last night, Chloe. You see, when Omoikane gave me the language and culture of the Japanese people, he also gave me lots of other bits of related information… including all the known techniques for pleasing a woman."
"What did you get up to, Chloe?" He asked in a whisper.
Chloe squeaked as she realised she couldn't go back any further and Clark Kent was so far into her personal space they were pressed together.
"M-m-monitoring seismic tremors?"
"So it was good for you too." Clark nodded with a soft smile.
He then took a sharp step back and stood up straight as he took a deep breath and gave a wider smile. "See you in class Chlo."
As he walked out he nearly ignored the assembled group of Lana, Kyla, Chiho the Cuckoos and Dani. Although he did indulge the widely grinning Dani in a high-five… which meant she had to heal her broken hand… but it was worth it.
"You so got played." Dani laughed at the blushing blonde.
There was a snort from Lana's chest where Chiho had her face buried as she tried not to laugh.
"Let it out girl! Clark deserves it." Dani smiled.
Chiho lost it as she had to cling to Lana for support.
Chiho received many wary glances from the rest of the student body that day as she randomly burst out laughing.
Clark spent every night with at least one of the girls separately for a week. Yume and Musubi demanded they go together, Kyla had told him to adapt and sent them off.
Matsu nearly scared him back to Japan; she could be really creepy at times.
The weekend brought a new taste of American culture for the Japanese raised. The Lowell County Fair was running and everyone was going, the fair was merely an excuse to capitalise and profit from the meteor storm. Kusano and Jean were ecstatic and overly excited, they were frequently passed between the adults during the day.
There had been a few inappropriate moments from others when the men paid too much attention to one of the girls like Musubi or Kazehana, there were also a few incidents where Xander and Logan disappeared with certain members of the public who had some nasty things to say about foreigners.
Lana, Chloe, Kyla, Chiho and Uzume were spending their time together at the fair. Chiho had become good friends with the three girls and Uzume just loved spending time with Chiho.
Clark was enjoying being led around by Kusano and Jean, he made sure to spend some time with Ryan as well; he enjoyed teaching his adopted brother how to play the games. It was a bit much in the end and Ryan had to leave due to the press of voices in his head. Jonathan had planned an afternoon fishing with Earl so that Ryan could learn something new.
By the time they got home Clark was carrying a sleeping Kusano and seven year old Jean was barely on her own feet. Strangely Kyla, Chloe, and Lana were not back.
"There was a boy at the fair." Uzume explained. "He was clearly flirting with Kyla and Lana, he gave Chiho a prize even though she didn't win, another man didn't like it and attacked the boy, we stopped him but they went to the hospital to check on him."
"What was the prize?" Dani asked.
Chiho pulled out her prize of a snow globe and handed to Dani.
"Dani… Kryptonite!" Clark gasped as the green flakes affected him.
Dani quickly conjured a lead box and sealed it away. "These damned things are like cockroaches! They're everywhere!"
"I wonder how we missed that one though." Loki mused. "We caught most of the crap they were trying to sell, the whole fair was a farce, commercialising a tragic event. You don't see them doing that at the twin towers."
"They would if they could and not get lynched." Martha scoffed.
"Uzume, you will need to go with Amara tomorrow to track down the supplier of the snow globes, you know the stall so you can point them out." Harry instructed.
"Clark, Chiho, prepare an announcement in the paper tomorrow that we can have sent out to the local towns as well recalling the snow globes."
"Could someone get us a picture of it?" Clark asked.
"I'll handle that now." Dani offered as she stood up with the box.
Harry looked to the Cuckoos. "Girls, make sure the others know to keep an eye on Clark in case someone decides to bring them into school for whatever reason."
"It's a snow globe, why would they take it to school?" Lorna asked.
"If a teacher got one they may use it to decorate their desk." Harry pointed out.
"Wow, anyone who has room on their desk clearly isn't doing their job." She snorted.
"No Dear, they just have better organisational skills than you. Do we need to get you another assistant?" Emma asked.
The castle didn't really get much sleep that night. Clark and the Sekirei were up waiting for Kyla to come home. They tried calling but it appeared as though she had sent them to voicemail. Kazehana was fairly pissed at that and was about to stomp off and pound the girl for the insult with Tsukiumi hot on her tail, Yume and Clark managed to hold them back by suggesting that they see if the Cuckoos could contact her first.
Things got worse when the Cuckoos didn't get a response but they also discovered that Lana hadn't come home and Gabe called asking if Chloe was there.
A fairly pissed off Harry returned from checking on them and told everyone they were fine but were staying at the hospital to keep the victim from the fair company. Harry was not happy about being woken up and dragged from his bed and especially with the attitude the girls had given them. If he hadn't been so annoyed and grumpy he might have realised something was wrong.
Clark, Chiho and the Cuckoos were sitting on the wall outside the school the following morning waiting for the bell to ring and school to start. Then a scene occurred that was almost a repeat of what had happened to Clark two years prior.
"Chiho, I need to ask you a serious question."
"Yes Clark?"
"Should I be insanely jealous right now?"
"Yes Clark you should." Mindee growled from where her sisters where trying to keep her from going strangling Kyla, Chloe and Lana who were dressed fairly indecently and draped over Seth Nelson, the boy they were keeping company last night.
"Leave this to me girls."
Clark was instantly on his feet with wide eyes as he watched Aphrodite appear from nowhere and storm towards the girls.
"Oh crap… Cuckoos start redirecting everyone's attention. Chiho, can you contact Emma and ask her to do the same and then get Harry here?" Clark asked before he started jogging after the furious goddess.
"Aphrodite-"
"Stay out of this Kal, this is between me and that little rat bastard who dares mess with my Aspect and friends."
Clark grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her to face him. "Aphrodite! This is your realm and your responsibility, I won't interfere, all I ask is that you let Harry take you somewhere more private." He said as he indicated the currently oblivious students.
Aphrodite sighed. "Fine, you're right Kal-El."
"Hey now, can't we talk about this?" Seth asked as he held out a hand and grabbed Aphrodite's hand. "Why don't we just go somewhere quiet and talk, the two of us?" He asked as he looked into Aphrodite's eyes.
She just smirked. "Your little trick doesn't work on me, boy. You are lucky my Amazons are still pure or there would be no hope for you. I would see you suffer in the pits of Tartarus begging Lord Death to destroy your soul."
Seth dropped her hand as her hair started to blow in some unseen wind.
Their surroundings suddenly changed and they were standing in the Great Hall of the castle. Clark looked around and saw Harry give him a nod to let him know it was him.
With his immediate concern dealt with, Clark backed away and let Aphrodite handle it.
"Goddess, we love him. Isn't this what you want for us?" Lana pleaded.
"This isn't love, child. This is what Love hates the most. Manipulation, mind-control." Aphrodite explained kindly. "Trust your goddess in this."
The girls looked torn.
"Hey, I don't know who you are or how you got us here but these girls chose to be with me, what gives you the right-"
"THE RIGHT!" Aphrodite bellowed. "I AM THE GODDESS OF LOVE AND THESE ARE MY AMAZONS! YOU DARE QUESTION ME?!"
"And that is why you never mess with love." Harry said quietly so only Clark could hear him.
"Never planned on it really." Clark shrugged.
"There is more than one way to piss someone off, Clark. Not doing something is as bad as doing something at times."
"What do you mean?"
"Aphrodite was prepared to seduce you herself if you kept refusing to sleep with your girls." Harry said seriously. "You need to stop thinking about certain things like a human male and remember that you are a god."
"Lord Death, I request your assistance." Aphrodite requested formerly.
Harry straightened his shoulders and walked up to Aphrodite. "How may I serve you, My Lady?" He asked with a bow.
"My Lord, this one, how evil is he?" She asked carefully.
Harry waved a hand causing an upright table to appear and Seth was suddenly strapped to it and gagged.
The three girls looked very worried for Seth.
"He's a child with a powerful new toy. He's made some poor choices but nothing he can't come back from. He's not evil, he's just not good." Harry shrugged. "I'll see if I can't make a new body for him so he doesn't have those powers anymore."
"He has meddled in the affairs of Love. I won't demand his death, but he does need to learn a lesson."
"Of course." Harry nodded.
"Can you charm him so he remembers what has happened but cannot speak of it?"
"Easily done."
"Good, I will handle the rest of his punishment myself." Aphrodite smiled; it was not a nice smile. "Seth Nelson, you will be denied love for twenty years. Your relationships with people will be of a professional nature only; you will have no friends. If you have learned your lesson in twenty years then you will be allowed to love and find love."
Aphrodite vanished on the breeze.
"You really stepped in it kid." Harry sighed as he stepped up and started work.
"Are we really being controlled?" Kyla asked tearfully.
"Do you honestly love me?" Clark asked her as he stayed where he was, keeping his distance.
"I do… but… it feels like I love Seth too… but different."
"Harry, how long will this last or do you need to fix it?"
"Maybe a day or two." Harry answered without looking up.
"Come on, I'll have one of the magicals put you into a magical sleep so you can wait it off." Clark said.
Martha's birthday was coming up and Clark wanted to get her something nice. He had considered making her some diamond earrings but decided to spend the time to try and buy something. His first stop was a jewellery store in Smallville.
As was usually the case he didn't travel alone. His companions for the day were Kusano and a now ten-year-old Jean. Both were sworn to secrecy on what they were out doing though.
The two girls found the shops to be very exciting and Clark was continuously being dragged from item to item. Kusano pulled them over to a specific piece with a very serious face.
"Look, Clark, bad rocks." She informed him.
"Very bad." Clark said as he backed away, the radiation already affecting him. He pulled out his phone and dialled for Amara.
"These are just green crystals." The shopkeeper frowned.
"Those are Kryptonite. We're not allowed to have those. The government said so." Jean informed him.
"I can assure you that they are not Kryptonite. I wouldn't want to risk my licence and freedom over that." He said; he was insulted at the suggestion.
"Clark is allergic to them, he can tell." Jean retorted in that way only little children can. The Shopkeeper was hard pressed to respond to the argument made by the little redhead and her golden haired friend.
There was a sudden high-pitched sound that filled the room causing glass to break and everyone to buckle to their knees.
Being highly trained and experienced in pain, Clark was able to seek out the source of the noise, from his position crouched over Ku and Jean his hand moved in a single motion past his boot, snagging the knife he now kept there, it moved on swiftly in an upswing eventually releasing the knife as it went flying towards the teenage boy and his accomplice.
The scream suddenly became more human as the knife literally sliced through the boys shoulder and into the wall behind.
There was a moment's silence as everyone tried to figure out what had just happened.
*BANG*
Clark looked to the source and saw the owner holding a smoking shotgun and the accomplice on the ground bleeding and unconscious.
"Everybody take a seat on the floor and don't try to move. The ambulances will be here in a moment and they will make sure we are all fine." Clark stated as he took charge. "Sir, just leave the weapon on the counter, I'll unload it and make sure it's safe." Clark assured the now shaking shopkeeper.
There was a soft clatter as the gun rocked on the glass cabinet.
Clark checked to make sure Ku and Jean were ok before he moved over to the gun. He struggled through the pain of the kryptonite.
"G-g-good god! Y-y-y-you really are aff-f-f-fected." The shopkeeper stuttered nervously as he saw the veins in Clark's hand become more prominent and green. "Let me m-m-move them."
"Thanks." Clark gasped. He was soon able to take the gun and dismantle it. He kicked himself when he realised he should have dealt with the attacker's gun first, but it was soon in a similar state of disassembly on the counter.
Clark felt a little sick when he examined the two robbers; he assumed they were there to rob the place. The wounds on the man were wide spread but shallow, the distance between himself and the shotgun probably saved his life.
The boy's right arm was barely attached; Clark's knife had sliced neatly through the bone.
He surreptitiously broke the face of his watch.
"Clark, I'm right next to you, keep your head down so people can't see your lips moving, no one can hear us." He heard Harry's voice next to him.
"You can see the mess. This kid is going to lose his arm and I don't know how to explain how I managed to nearly amputate it with just a knife." Clark reported.
"I'll have to modify some memories. I'll make it so the knife is in his shoulder instead of the wall." Harry said.
Less than sixty seconds later the EMT's arrived with the sheriff and no one was aware that the knife now buried in the boys arm had been in the wall seconds earlier.
"Mr. Kent, why am I not surprised to find you in the middle of all this?" Sheriff Adams sighed.
"Perils of a small town?" Clark responded with a bit of a cheeky smile.
"Give me the short story, Mr. Kent." She said with a roll of her eyes.
"Myself, the other customers and the shopkeeper were going about our business when a high-pitched noise began to cripple us. I located the noise and managed to throw my knife at the boy who seemed to be emitting it. In the confusion afterwards the shopkeeper managed to get a shot off with the shotgun taking out the armed man.
"I then helped secure the weapons and checked on the two attackers."
"What do you mean the boy was emitting the noise?" She asked carefully.
"The gunman had his fingers in his ears but the boy was just standing there and his Adam's apple was clearly vibrating abnormally."
"I will see if we can't scramble up some noise cancellation devices for your office, Sheriff." Amara said as she walked up.
"Miss Aquilla, I didn't know Mr. Kent was in trouble already." The Sheriff commented with a raised eyebrow at the castle's resident lawyer.
"He's not… well, no more than what you see. He called because he found some jewellery in the store made with Kryptonite. He asked me to come and deal with the situation officially."
The Sheriff expelled an unhappy breath. "Mr. Kent, I'd appreciate if you would call me as well when you find these blasted rocks. If nothing else it will let me get a head start into finding the suppliers.
"Now if you will excuse me I have to go and have some strong words with Mr. Larson about the trustworthiness of his suppliers." She said as she marched off to the talk to the shopkeeper.
"Nice work Clark." Amara said approvingly. "You applied force and violence where needed. We've always been a little worried you wouldn't be able to handle something like this."
"I still called for Harry to heal them." Clark pointed out as he picked up Ku.
"As you should. We are warriors and soldiers Clark, not monsters."
Clark's usual routine for the evenings was to put Ku to bed early evening; occasionally Ryan would help. After that was done and his homework was finished he would head over to Metropolis to patrol the city for a bit. His Sekirei didn't usually get home from Japan until after midnight, and then the other teams would patrol at night.
If there was a specific problem in Tokyo that required his attention then he would forego patrolling Metropolis in favour of sorting the problem out.
Tonight was a prime example.
He arrived in Tokyo to find the Sekirei in their break room. Takami was standing there, scowling away. As soon as the Sekirei noticed him they all stood to attention, proudly lifting their heads high. This was unusual as normally the second he entered the room Matsu and Musubi were all over him as Tsukiumi tried to fight them off.
What really worried Clark was that Miya was standing with them. She was the leader, she conversed with himself and Takami as equals; but now she was standing as though she was awaiting inspection.
"Clark, good. We had an… incident today." Takami said, still unhappy.
"Did we declare war on someone?" Clark asked, he then winced as he realised he was channelling Harry's sense of humour again.
"Team One here, came across an Ashikabi and his Sekirei, they were tasked with finding certain numbers who have not reported in for a check up. This particular Sekirei seems to have been abused, Team One was… far from gentle."
Clark raised an eyebrow at the terse manner in which Takami spoke and the Sekirei stood.
"Miya, can you give me details?" Clark asked. He decided to maintain some formality here.
"We tracked the Sekirei and approached them. Number Two had managed to use CCTV cameras to follow them. They were trying to stay off the grid but were actively challenging other Sekirei and fighting them even though they declined. They terminated at least one Sekirei in the past week.
"When we approached the Sekirei and Ashikabi, the Ashikabi ordered his Sekirei to fight us. She refused but the Ashikabi began beating her, molesting her and eventually kissed her, all in the space of seconds.
"Number Nine took offence to these actions and severely beat the Ashikabi and held him under her water to the point of him passing out.
"We then called in for transport and brought them back here."
"Were there witnesses?" Clark asked with a frown.
"No, Number Two had hacked the traffic lights and caused diversions whilst Numbers Five, Six, Eight and Eighty-Eight provided a cordon."
Clark walked down the line of Sekirei, they were they had arranged themselves in order of their number. He stopped in front of Tsukiumi.
"Good job Tsukiumi." He said sincerely.
"You can't be serious!" Takami said in disbelief. "They nearly killed the man."
"Miya, at any point did Tsukiumi lose control of herself where she nearly killed the man?"
Miya hesitated. "I believe she came close to losing control."
Clark just nodded and smiled. "Excellent. You've come a long way Tsukiumi."
Tsukiumi blushed at the praise, but a small smile curled the edges of her mouth.
"Clark, they can't go about killing- attacking people like that!"
"This is why the Disciplinary Squad was set up Takami. To protect the Sekirei and the city. You should be glad Harry wasn't here, he would have outright gutted the man… it was a man right?" He asked Tsukiumi.
She nodded tightly.
"What will the Prime Minister say when he finds out?" Takami challenged.
"'Would you like us to kill him or imprison him?' I imagine." Clark smirked.
"This is a serious matter Clark."
"Yes, and serious actions were taken and will be taken still." Clark assured her. "None of us will tolerate abuse in any manner, this is pretty mild considering what Minaka is going through." He said, reminding her of the fate of the previous President of MBI.
"Look, send a report up the line. File the papers and have some one heal him if you think it's necessary. First and foremost you need to make sure the Sekirei is fine."
"I don't like this Clark." Takami scowled. "I don't like the Sekirei abusing people like this."
"Neither do I." There was a shift of every eye to Clark in surprise. "Do you know what I did today Takami? I threw a knife at a teenage boy and practically amputated his arm at the shoulder. I didn't like it but I had to do something.
"Tsukiumi, did you enjoy hurting the Ashikabi?"
Tsukiumi jolted slightly in surprise at being addressed and the question itself. "No! I- I was angry… I-"
"It's ok Tsukiumi, thank you." Clark said softly. "If it was Karasuba, Haihane or Benitsubasa I'd be all over them. But we know these Sekirei won't cross the line without reason or a really big push. Let them do their job Takami, better them than Harry, Xander or Logan."
Takami shuddered at that thought. Logan was a vicious bastard, she was aware that he had trained the First Generation Discipline Squad and she knew his techniques, Logan always laughed when she shouted at him and said that compared to Takehito, he was a pussycat.
"Fine, but if I get called before the Prime Minister or the Emperor… you're coming with me." She warned.
Clark just smiled and nodded.
"Miya, do you have a moment?" He asked the purple haired leader of the Sekirei.
"Of course Clark."
Clark led her silently to the balcony under the former clock tower. It was a lovely view and a great place for the squads to unwind, it was also useful as most of the squad members could actually make the jump from that height, their capes had been replaced with a similar model as to what Bruce used as Batman, they could expand outwards to act as gliders but also shortened so that they were not in the way.
"Miya, what was with you being… subservient in there?" Clark asked when they were finally alone.
"I stand with my Sekirei." She explained proudly.
"You can't." Clark said firmly. She went to argue but Clark stopped her. "You are beyond the Sekirei, you are a goddess. There are very few people in this company you don't outrank. Myself and Harry are two of them and even then we would expect you to stand up for your people."
"I know how to lead, Clark." Miya said tersely, she wasn't happy that someone at least a decade younger than her body was lecturing her.
"It's not about your leading Miya. It's about you being a goddess. You are a mortal bound goddess that means that you are bound to this world in this time and place, unlike Odin who exists out of our realm and can move through time and space.
"But you are still a goddess, you need to be aware that if you let mortals walk over you like Takami was about to do then the other deities will begin to get… agitated. They don't like it when mortals become disrespectful. Things could escalate to the point where Harry would have to step in."
"I refuse to treat others as inferior." She argued.
"You don't have to. Just don't let yourself be told off by someone who you out rank. They can bring concerns to Harry, myself or another god or goddess and if we agree with them then we can argue with you, but mortals… they don't have that right."
"I do not understand Clark, I thought you hated things like this." She frowned. "Being placed above others and being in charge."
"Oh, I do." He nodded vehemently. "The thing is… after what happened between Takehito and Minaka, I learnt just how… fragile, the balance is between the mortals and the gods. Many of them would like nothing more than to take a firmer hand with mortals, to step in and be more pro-active. But that would take a lot of freedom away from mortals.
"You, the Guardians of Oa and myself have to make sure that when the circumstances call for it, we act like gods. If we don't then the gods of the other realms will get… antsy." Clark shrugged as he tried to find the right words.
"How do you know this if you are a mortal bound god?" Miya asked curiously.
"Because though he was born mortal, he was gifted with the divinity of an other world god." They turned to see Aphrodite walking towards them.
"I was?"
Aphrodite just laughed. "It is not as unusual as you might think Kal-El. My brother Hercules was born a mortal demi-god but ascended to full godhood. Not that it did him any good." She finished with a sneer.
"Am I considered a… 'lower' god?" Miya asked carefully.
Aphrodite frowned as she considered he words carefully. "In terms of power and ability you normally would be. There is a distinct difference between the two types of deities. However, you have, in your own way achieved those abilities and become an equal to those like Kal-El and myself.
"Allow me to explain." She said as she waved a hand and a couple of comfortable chairs appeared. "The true difference between the two types of gods is their immortality. The mortal bound gods can be killed and then they move on to the other side.
"The other types are immortal gods. We can be killed but we will be reborn again, eventually, with time we can become the same people we were before we were killed."
"So the Guardians will eventually die?" Clark asked.
"Only if someone kills them." Aphrodite said. "If they are left to live then they will never die, at least, not until this universe dies out in due course.
"The important thing to remember is that only the Aspects are truly immortal. Everything that lives within them can die, even gods and phoenixes, but not the Aspects themselves."
"Maybe I should take philosophy in college." Clark sighed as he rubbed his temple.
Miya smiled as she stood. "I believe Aphrodite has just pointed out that you have plenty of time to study any field you wish. Thank you both for your guidance."
She bowed low and both Aphrodite and Clark returned it before she smiled and walked back inside.
Clark turned to the pleased looking Aphrodite. "Would you like to go out for dinner with me?"
Just as the door closed to the balcony a bright smile lit up Miya's face, the other Sekirei and Takami looked at her curiously.
"Clark has finally asked Aphrodite out."
"I WON!"
Everyone jumped and looked at the now blushing Takami.
"I did." She said meekly.
