Chapter 8
"So really leaving, huh?"
Evan pauses in his packing and gazes at the door to find Clark there, leaning against the frame. "Yep," he says.
Something flickers across Clark's eyes...sadness, guilt.
"Haven't seen much of ya today," Evan remarks and he's been here all day and had various people all come up to him and see him and try and talk him out of what he is doing. He thinks he understands what his friends are trying but his mind is made up. Point is Clark hasn't been one of those people which is weird considering what he was saying to Evan down in the sewer last night.
"Busy. Selling my article on the whole thing. Trying to make sure the truth is told," Clark explains where he has been all day.
"Did you sell it?" Evan asks, curious since it involves him directly.
"I did. To the Bugle actually. Wasn't hard since it involved Mr National Hero Superman. Jameson jumped on it."
"You don't like all this praise stuff do you," Evan can tell from Clark's less than enthusiastic sounding tone.
Clark makes a face of distaste. "Hate it...but it was useful on this occasion...though I could have done without the meeting with Jameson. Now I know why Peter is always grumbling about him. Ray of sunshine he ain't."
"So you going to try and talk me out of this?" Evan asks, wondering if that is why Clark is here now.
"Nope."
That does surprise Evan. "But what you said down in the sewer?" he refers back to.
"Just trying to make you pause and think about what you were doing. When you don't think...people you love get hurt."
"You want to explain that?"
"Not really."
Evan shrugs...which is a little harder to do as the bony plates have spread over his shoulders now. He's not really wishing for Clark to spill his guts or anything. "So what do you think about I'm going to do?"
"You really want my opinion?"
"Why not? Everyone else has given me one," Evan grumbles at having to listen to it all day.
"You shouldn't dismiss out of hand what people say, especially friends and family but in the end you have to make your own choices based on what information you have and what you feel is right. Rash choices, the ones I was trying to make you not do, often lead to doing the wrong thing so if after giving it careful, deep thought your choice is to protect and care for people who need it and as long as you're not turning your back on your family and friends then my opinion is you're doing the right thing...but that's only my opinion which you are free to disagree with."
"You're a very laid back guy, you know that."
"Depends on the time of the month," he quips with his lips quirking up.
Evan chuckles. That's good. He'll miss that.
"You want some help hauling this to the Morlocks?" he asks, offering to carry some of Evan's stuff.
"You're coming with me?"
"I need to speak with Callisto about all of this. Two birds, one stone, you know."
Evan nods. Yeah he knows.
So the time had come for Evan to go and his friends and family had gathered in the lobby to say their farewells to him.
Carl and Vivian hug their son, upset they hadn't be able to persuade him not to leave.
"Now don't be stranger, son," Carl says, very reluctantly having to accept his son's decision.
"That's right," Vivian agrees. "No matter what you look like we love you and are proud of you. Remember that."
"I will," Evan says choking with emotion at seeing the tears in his mother's eyes. This is harder than he'd thought it would be. "And I'll visit. I promise," he says in answer to his father.
"Take care of yourself, Evan," Ororo asks, herself choked with emotion.
"Course, Auntie O," Evan promises. "Thank you for everything...and I mean that to all of you," he addresses the larger crowd.
"Just remember Evan," Kurt begins. "Vonce an X-Man..."
"Always an X-Man," Evan finishes with a smile.
"You better believe it," Scott adds for good measure. "If you ever needs us Evan..."
"We'll be there," Jean finishes.
"Thanks guys. Really," Evan says as they all say their farewells to him one by one.
He then picks up his gear while Clark, in his Superman costume, picks up the rest and the two head outside. Evan takes a moment, a deep breath as well as he tries to gather his emotions.
"You alright?" Clark asks.
"Yeah, yeah. It's just...that was hard."
"It would be. I suppose one thing I could say is that one day we all leave the nest so to speak so this is nothing unusual and I suspect it's always hard."
Evan supposes that was right. He sighs as he raises his left arm and sees the bony plate growing on it. Nothing could seem to stop it. Not even the power inhibitors had any effect and they tried. His powers are so over-juiced they overloaded the collars. And would that be a better way to live his life even if they did work?
Evan doesn't have an answer and since it's not an option right now anyway it doesn't matter. He slings his stuff over his shoulder and he and Clark start the walk into town.
Back inside, peeking round a corner, Doug watched the whole show. He watches now as Evan's parents cry and comfort each other.
He had almost forgotten parents could love their son that much considering his own...and they still loved Evan. Even as much as he was physically changing they still did.
Maybe...maybe he isn't always doomed to be hurt. If there are people like Evan's parents then maybe he can allow himself to trust again.
Maybe.
He doesn't know.
Not today any way but perhaps he could at least consider letting himself trust again.
Bayville Sewers...
"Spyke returns, Callisto," Caliban informs her.
Callisto manages a small smile of satisfaction. She was beginning to wonder if he would. Though his conditions for staying...when did she let people dictate to her instead of the other way round again?
She must be getting soft.
Callisto heads for the entrance to their home to greet Evan back. "Evan. Welc..." she is shocked into silence when she finds Spyke is not alone.
"Wow. I've never seen her this speechless before," Superman jokes. "It is a red-letter day!"
Callisto's good eye narrows, her lips curl upward in a snarl. "The only red will be your blood all over the floor if you keep that up," she hits back.
"Huh. And that counts as a warm greeting. Sure you don't want to change your mind about staying here, Evan?"
"Well now you mention it," Evan jests.
Callisto rolls her eye. "Great. Just great. Comedians. That's all I need," she grumbles. She looks at Superman. "I know why you're here. Lets get Evan settled in and then we'll talk, ok?"
"Fine by me," Superman agrees.
"Healer!" Callisto shouts on the elderly man. "Will you show Evan where he'll be staying, please?"
"Certainly," Healer complies. He leads Superman and Evan off while Callisto stalks up to Caliban. She wants a word with him.
"You knew," she hisses. "You knew Superman was coming. You can sense him miles away. Why didn't you tell me?"
"If I told you you would have tried to avoid him," Caliban says knowingly. "Better resolved now than later."
"I'm not forgetting this," Callisto vows threateningly. "You are on my list," she mutters at him as she preps herself for facing down Superman. She goes and drags her 'guest' away from Evan as soon as the strapping young man in red and blue has put Evan's belongings down in the place now set aside where Evan will sleep and leads him into a far corner of the Morlocks home where a vaulted chamber is sealed away from the rest by a makeshift door.
"This is your room," Superman guesses.
"I like my privacy now and again," Callisto explains her need for it.
Clark takes a momentary look around. It's kinda what you'd expect really considering where they are. Though it lacks many personal items. "So just to let you know Detective Sawyer not only helped shut down Spears' factory but she managed to persuade her department not to pursue you any further. That it wouldn't be in the public interest. If you don't cause any more trouble they should just leave you alone," he decides to inform her first off.
Callisto takes a moment to absorb that. It's so rare that any top-worlder does anything for them it's strange to her but it seems like Superman has again proved he is a good judge of character in regards to the blond cop. Callisto supposes one cop on their side is better than none.
"Can we talk about what else you decided to get up to now?" Superman requests.
Callisto gestures for him to go for it.
"You care to explain to me what the hell you were thinking?" he asks her bluntly...because there's no point in being anything but with Callisto.
"I don't have to explain my thinking to you or anyone else."
"Callisto...I admire you. I do. You're a great leader for these people but how can we have any sort of trust between us if you just find ways round any agreement we make. I thought we had at least a modicum of trust by now."
"We do," Callisto argues. "You're still alive aren't you," she gives proof of that.
"Funny," he dead-pans.
Callisto gazes at him. "Wait a second, how did you know I found a way round our agreement? I haven't explained what I did yet."
"Logical assumption. You would never admit to outright breaking it."
"You're...kinda arrogant when you want to be aren't you?"
Superman frowns unhappily at that accusation. "No. That's my father. Trust me," he says in relation to Jor-El. His Kryptonian father is the arrogant one. Clark's the not arrogant one. "So why don't you explain it to me?" he asks her for whatever reasoning she came up with.
"It was simple. You told me to stay out of trouble so I decided to put an end to the trouble by dealing with Spears, who was the cause of all the real trouble and when that failed to put his factory out of commission permanently."
"And Evan?"
"I tried to warn him about the Pow-R8 but when he drank it anyway I went to his aid. Is that wrong?"
"No. It's not wrong, Callisto but we both know his friends were there. You saw him as a means to help you take Spears down...and you really think your clever words get around the fact you broke the spirit of our agreement?"
"That's your opinion. Not mine."
"You are unbelievable!" Superman protests. "You know the truth."
"Truth?" Callisto snorts. She stalks forward and jabs her finger into his chest repeatedly. "Let me tell you about truth. The truth is we are the shunned, the hated, the outcast, even amongst mutants we can't find acceptance."
"I accept you. Professor Xavier would accept you. The X-Men would too. They're much more open minded and tolerant than you give them credit for," he argues..and for proof see him. An alien. They took him in and befriended him.
"Even if I bought that for a moment, humans will never accept us. I've seen their true face. They did this to me!" she points at her missing eye, her voice quivering with fury.
"And I'm sorry about that," Superman says genuinely. "If I could have prevented that I would have," he promises.
"It would have only delayed the inevitable of humanity showing me its true face. All of us down here have seen the true face of humanity that would see us exterminated. Down here is our last refuge and I will defend it. No matter what I have to do. Agreements or no," she tells him bluntly.
"You are more stubborn than my ex...and that is really saying something," Superman has to say because it's like no matter what he says it doesn't make a darn bit of difference on her attitude and approach...and believe him they've debated this sort of thing plenty of times before.
"Oh there's the way to charm a lady. Comparing her to your ex," Callisto says sarcastically. "And by the way you're not exactly easy to get along with either with your arrogant holier than thou attitude."
"I don't have any sort of attitude like that! And as for charming the ladies, point one out to me in this room and I'll show you how it's done!" he shouts. Normally he tries to avoid arguing with her but he's had a long, tough couple of days and she's just pushing his buttons right now with her simple refusal to see she's in the freaking wrong!
Callisto's jaw drops momentarily before it tenses up in anger. "Jerk."
"Prideful pain in the ass," Superman retorts.
Callisto gets right into his face. "Pompous, overbearing, thinks he can dictate..."
Clark meets her stare back. "Intransigent, wilful, thinks she knows best..."
It's actually very sudden what happens next. One moment they're trading insults. The next their lips are locked together in a struggle of dominance in another sense. Clark's hands reach down to her waist and lift Callisto up, her legs wrap around his waist as he pushes her back up against the wall. His lips move down to her neck, making her gasp at a pleasure she hasn't allowed herself to experience in oh so very long. Her hands feel under his jacket at the hardened steel muscles beneath. She grids her hips into his and can feel the rapidly hardening bulge in his pants, matched with her own rapidly increasing arousal and her actions illicit a deep low growl/groan from him.
He pauses and stares into her good eye and she can see his own eyes are rimmed with literal fire deep within.
99.9% of the time Clark's common sense kicks in right about here.
Tonight is one of those 0.1% times when it doesn't as he passionately reclaims Callisto's lips.
The Residence of Guy Spears...
A long few days doesn't even cover it as Guy shuffles his way wearily into his home. He's going to grab a drink and then he'll head to bed for some rest for tomorrow when he tries to salvage something from this massive disaster.
Ugh. It's going to cost him tens of, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.
Guy enters his study and pours himself a drink.
"Tough day?"
Guy spins round in shock at the unfamiliar voice. There, behind his desk, are 3 figure. Two he can make out standing either side of someone sitting in his chair, that person's features hidden in darkness.
The two men he can see are wearing those Friends of Humanity armbands.
"Who the hell are you?! How did you get in here?! Get out before I call the police!" Guy shouts angrily.
"And they'll do what exactly?" the unseen man sitting down asks, his voice eerily calm. "Not arrest those mutants that ruined your business that's for certain. They're turning the other cheek, looking the other way aren't they Mr Spears? It's sickening isn't it? How in bed they are with Xavier. Traitors to humanity. Are you?"
Guy is caught out by that question. No-one has ever accused him of being a traitor before. "N-no," he stutters out a reply, feeling a need to.
"Didn't think you were. Indulge me for one minute Mr Spears and if you still want me to leave I will without another word," he requests of Guy.
"Who are you?"
"An excellent question. Who are any of us? Are we the we the defenders and salvation of humanity? Or are we the ones who will lead it to its corruption and spoliation at the hands of mutants? Or just as bad stand aside and do nothing because we just don't care enough? Which are you Mr Spears? You can be the salvation. I can see it. Can you? Or are you as enamoured as the police with those mutants?"
"I have no real care for politics. What I am is a businessman. Those mutants ruined my business...and yes I'm angry if that's what you want to hear but like you said the police won't do anything about it," he says, actually upset by that. In other words he wasn't bothered one way or the other until they crossed him. Now they've shown him what they are, his opinion just might be up for revision.
"I can help you and your business Mr Spears but first a question if I may. That formula in your drink. Can it be purified, made more potent?"
"Made more deadly to mutants you mean," Guy figures out quickly.
"That's a possible outcome, yes," the unseen man chooses to be vague in his response.
"It can be toxic to humans as well if you're not careful," Guy warns.
"Oh but we can be very careful, Mr Spears...and sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good."
Guy takes a swig of his drink. "I'm listening," he says as a sign he's prepared to consider whatever it is this man is offering.
The man leans forward into the light to reveal a tall well built man with brown hair. A smile comes to his face. "Hello. My name is Graydon Creed, founder and leader of the Friends of Humanity and I can promise you Mr Spears that that formula of yours is about to become a very valuable commodity to an organisation such as ours."
Guy sits down in the chair opposite. "Please call me Guy," he offers with a smile in return that tells Creed everything he needs to know. He has a new partner in the cause.
Bayville Sewers...
Evan wakes up to his first day in his new home. He's not sure when all of this will sink in what he has chosen to do, what he has truly gotten himself into.
But he's here and he's going to make it work. He swears. He feels around his face and body. The bony plates have spread more while he was sleeping. Like Beast said it's forming an armour over his torso and head it feels like. He must get a chance to see his reflection at some point. He knows he probably won't like what he sees but he has to know what he looks like.
Evan looks around as he sees everyone start their morning routine. Another thing he needs to learn. What that routine is and how does he fit in and help.
Evan blinks as he spots someone he thought would have been long gone. Clark...and he looks...uh...rough? Well his hair is mussed, his jacket open, his t-shirt not tucked in properly, he looked kinda baffled or confused. "Supes! Man what happened to you?"
"Uh...Callisto...can be a very passionate, um,...debater," Clark answers, his mind not really catching up on what he allowed to happen last night.
"You spent all night arguing with her?!" Evan exclaims, his eyebrows rising in surprise.
"Yeah. Lets go with that," Clark mutters, as he runs his hand through his hair. Last night replays in his head. What was he thinking? He never does stuff like this. Ok, so he won't say he regrets it. That's an insulting thing to say. He's smart enough to know that...and it was good. Really, really good. Callisto's a woman with a lot of repressed passions...like him. Maybe that is what it was. A release of pent up frustrations...and oh God was it spectacularly good. Did he mention that? She had a really beautiful, athletic and toned body that seemed to be in perfect proportions for her...and a surprising amount of energy on top of it. This night and its several moments are going to last long in the memory. The feel of her, the taste of her, her hands, her lips on him, her inner heat...
"Supes?" Evan queries as he waves his hand in front of Clark's zoned out expression.
"Uh, yeah, I'm here," Clark says, mentally slapping himself back to the present. "Oh before I forget I have something for you," he changes subjects abruptly as he reaches into his jacket and pulls something out from his inside pocket. It's an envelope which he hands over.
Evan takes it, puzzled. "What is it?"
"The truth," Clark answer mysteriously. "It's the truth about things these last few days. Do me a favour. Don't read it until after I'm gone and afterwards if you don't feel like talking to me for awhile I'll understand."
"I don't."
"It's the coward's way out. I admit. Just remember that I am genuinely sorry I screwed up this much," he says apologetically. It's a letter detailing his role in how Evan came to be how he is now. Clark needed to explain it and apologise.
Evan still doesn't understand but he guesses he will when he reads whatever is inside.
"In the meantime if you or the Morlocks need anything just call. I'll hear you."
"Yeah. I know you will," Evan accepts. He offers out his hand.
Clark takes it and gives it a firm shake. "It's been a pleasure to be your friend Evan," he says and means with heartfelt truth.
"For me too...but you'll still see me."
"Not every day any more," Clark modifies.
"Yeah," Evan concedes, a little sad at the fact he won't see his friends as often any more.
"Goodbye Evan."
"See ya around!"
Clark gives him a small smile and vanishes with a gust of wind. He has a shower with his name on it...probably a cold one but in any case, unlike Kitty, he doesn't plan to leave a trace on him Logan can smell. He has no wish to try and explain this to other people when he can't even explain it to himself.
Evan looks down at the envelope in his hands pondering what it is, what Clark's words meant and if he should open it now or leave it till later.
Evan's gaze rises as he catches glimpse of Callisto...and he has to look twice at her. Her hair, like Clark's, is mussed up but she is smiling...widely. In fact Evan would say she is positively glowing, radiant and relaxed looking, as if some weight has suddenly been lifted off her shoulders. She is stretching her arms above her head...and if Evan didn't know better he would say she's doing it in an extremely sensual manner.
"Evan!" she greets him merrily. "Sleep well?" She grins a sexy little grin of a very happy, satisfied woman. "I know I slept well," she quips, her voice not really trying to hide the innuendo..although it may be missed by Evan.
Evan is lost. He hasn't known her very long but he always saw her as rather downbeat and serious but this was very different. "Morning Callisto," he manages a reply.
Callisto takes a moment to stretch out some muscles that haven't been that well used in literally years. She lets out a blissful sounding sigh. The other day Healer was saying about nothing wrong in snatching a moment of happiness. Well when the opportunity came last night she snatched it...and several more on top. A pleasant shiver goes through her as the memories of last night replay in her mind. Good god what a man. He looked like someone sculpted him. The muscles, the warm golden skin, the feel of such raw power against her. Hell he even tasted good...and such boundless energy...another pleasant shiver goes through her. She'll be cherishing these memories for quite awhile. His hands, his lips, she can still feel the echo of the blazing trail he left all over...and in her. A Super man indeed. Her mind returns to the here and now. "So we should get you started on how things work around here," she realises.
"Yeah," Evan says, stuffing the letter in his pants pocket for later. "So...did you and Supes resolve everything? He said you were up all night arguing."
Callisto arches an eyebrow making Evan jerk a little from the intensity of such a small movement of a single facial feature. "Did he?"
Evan nods.
Callisto smiles, as if at some private joke only she knows. "Well what I can say is that he was definitely up all night...and we resolved a lot of...backed up issues." She claps her hands. "Well then the devil makes work of idle hands. Lets get going," she orders him and she walks off, Evan following on behind, unable not to notice the sexy, confident, deeply satisfied looking swagger in Callisto's movements.
Ok Evan may not be an expert in this area but he gets Callisto was implying...Nah.
Couldn't be, right?
Clark wouldn't...
He wouldn't, right?
Right?!
Author's Note: I tossed around whether to have Clark sleeping with Callisto or not several times. In the end what clinched it was if I'm pressing this idea that Clark's acting out of character as time passes then he has to do something he normally wouldn't so as I said this is that 0.1% time he does something stupid...though no doubt very satisfying. Evo really did make Callisto kinda pretty. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; X-23!