Chapter 38
Coast City…
Grown-up Mia crashes down on her mother's couch and lets out a frustrated sigh.
"Still no trace of them then," Andrea assumes from her daughter's demeanour.
Mia shakes her head before leaning back and closing her eyes.
The 'them' in question is Clark and the rest of the team. They never returned from Hawkman's funeral and it has now been over two weeks, nearing three. Mia had started by going to Hawkman's tomb in Egypt but had found no trace. Absolutely nothing. You could not tell anyone had ever been there which was suspicious to the max. Since then she had been trying to find any hints or clues or leads of any sort that might tell her where to look but all to no avail. It was hard not to be very worried.
Andrea had had to tell 4-year old Mia a soft lie that her Papá was abroad for work while the adult version had been searching for them so she at least didn't worry but she was upset at not getting to see her father. Andrea didn't know how long she could keep the lie up. If Clark didn't show up soon…she tries not to let her thoughts go there.
"Where's Mini-Me?" Mia wonders.
"You sound just like your father," Andrea has to gripe.
"Which is a bit weird you must admit since he didn't raise me. I thought I would sound more like Aunt Penny," the time traveller remarks.
Andrea goes to sit down next to her daughter. "I still can't believe Penny raised you," she says in disbelief. One of the strange side-effects of Clark's disappearance is that she had had the opportunity to spend time with and really talk to her grown-up daughter about everything and discover a lot of revelations. "That's where you are by the way," she tags on about child Mia.
"Penny was a great Mamá…but no matter how much I loved her she wasn't you," Mia says, showing that Andrea's death is still pretty much an open wound for her daughter.
Andrea sighs.
"She felt guilty," Mia starts to say.
"Who? Penny?" the older woman seeks to clarify.
Mia nods. "She was looking after me the night Ravager abducted me to use me as bait," she says, her bitterness and anger still clear. "I told her I didn't blame her…and I didn't. I never blamed Aunt Penny for what happened. It's all that murderous bitch's doing," she says with spite.
"Mia. You have to let that anger go," Andrea tries to advise her daughter.
"Have you let it go?"
Andrea struggles with that one. "Perhaps not but I also know where it leads. Like I told you I don't want you carrying that burden. Do as I say, not as I do."
Mia gives her mother a peculiar look.
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just…Papá said that exact phrase to me once. I guess you are made for each other," she teases in a sudden mood shift.
Andrea rolls her eyes before she gets serious. "Mia, your father and I...it would be difficult at the best of times. Right now, with all that is going on, it's not the best time."
Mia slumps down looking grumpy. "This time is when it started," she murmurs.
"When what started?"
"You, becoming the Angel of Vengeance again."
Her daughter has Andrea's full attention now because she has not spoken of this before.
"You saw the injustice of the way the VRA was being implemented. The way they were persecuting innocent people and decided you couldn't standby and do nothing. At least that's the version Aunt Penny told me. You want my opinion I think you were always a hero. You just needed a kick up the ass to remember it."
"Ok, you need to clarify something for me," the older brunette requests.
"Sure," Mia agrees with a shrug.
"I told Penny about my powers?"
"You needed a babysitter while you were out at night. How else could you explain it but with the truth."
"But Penny? Seriously?!"
Mia starts to grin at her mother's incredulous tone. "Yes. Seriously."
"I mean I like Penny just fine but she's not the most serious person in the world," Andrea argues.
"All I can say Mamá is that as far as I know she never revealed your secret nor mine. Even when I was struggling to control my powers at first she found ways to cover up my accidents."
"Huh," Andrea remarks, starting to get a different view on her neighbour. Perhaps she has misjudged…no, underestimated the blond woman. She'll have to remember not to do that from now on.
"I think she became too serious. Aunt Penny."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that she never married. Her relationships never lasted. I think she sacrificed her chances at happiness to take care of me."
"Oh."
Mia chuckles. "You know I think the closest she ever got was with Leonard."
"Wait. Leonard who lives across from Penny, Leonard? That Leonard?"
"Yep."
"But he's so short."
Mia guffaws. "I know! I was taller than him when I was like 10!" she clearly exaggerates.
Andrea has to say it's nice to hear her daughter laugh considering everything this last few weeks or so.
Mia gets a wistful smile. "Though to be fair, after you…uh, died, I remember him being really nice to me."
"I'm glad for that," Andrea says as she puts an arm around her daughter and hugs her close.
"Yeah but like I said it didn't last. Aunt Penny wouldn't commit. No-one is gonna wait around forever, right?"
"Right."
"I guess Leonard got fed up waiting eventually. He stuck around longer than most. I'll give him that."
"Did Penny know about you choosing to travel back?"
Mia squirms a little. "No. I told no-one. I assumed they would try and stop me."
"Pretty good assumption I'm betting."
Mia looks rather guilty. "I did write her a letter before I left saying how much I loved her. Appreciated everything she had done for me. I wanted her to understand this was no slight on her. I wasn't looking to undo her raising me. I just couldn't deal with things the way they were."
"What do you mean?"
"Papá knows this already but I was kinda failing at being the hero. I wasn't living up to him and people were judging me a failure. That part of my story was true. I never lied about it."
"You just left out the part about wanting revenge on my killer."
"Yeah," Mia squirms a little more which Andrea sees as a good sign if her daughter is now, at least, a little uncomfortable in regards to her actions.
Andrea kisses her daughter's brow.
"Is this me?"
"What is?" the older woman asks, confused by the out of the blue question.
"Papá's disappearance. Did I change something? Have I screwed up history?" she asks, worried that this is her fault. God, what if she has done something and denied the world Superman? How would the planet even survive without him?
"Well, you said you're not…what phrase did you use?"
"An Encyclopaedia of future events," the younger woman fills in.
"So it's possible this did happen before and therefore he'll show up eventually," Andrea says, a line to make not only Mia feel better but herself as well. It's only because she is so used to burying her emotions and looking strong for Mia she is not buckling under her own worries. After all she has a lot of unresolved emotions when it comes to Clark.
"I suppose you could be right," Mia half-accepts.
"Of course I am. I'm your mother. Mothers are always right," the older brunette jokes, trying to lighten the mood.
"And here I thought Papá was the one with the lame sense of humour," the younger brunette grumbles moodily as she folds her arms across her chest in a cross manner.
"You have the same sense of humour as him," Andrea feels the need to point out.
"Ouch. Why don't you just disown me and get it over with?"
"I would never do that, honey. Never. I will always love you, no matter what," she promises her daughter.
"Lame sense of humour and all?" Mia queries snarkily.
"Lame sense of humour and all," Andrea confirms.
The two women release a laugh and some of the tension lifts.
"Assuming we don't sit just sit around, hoping that this is how history played out before is there anything we can do? Anyone you can ask for help?"
Mia stares off into space as she thinks. "No…well, maybe yes," she contradicts herself.
"Care to clear that up?"
"There is someone but he's not meant to get involved yet…I think…if I'm remembering it correctly. Also he's an ass."
"Mia Isabella Rojas!" she gets told off.
"But he is!" the younger Rojas insists.
"Who are you talking about?"
Mia makes a face. "Batman."
"Batman? That rumour about a giant bat running around Gotham you mean?"
"He's not a bat. He's an ass."
"So you've said already but ignoring that how could he help?"
"Don't ever tell him I said this but he's probably the greatest detective in the world. If anyone can find Papá and the team it's him. Though if I had any choice in the matter I'd choose Wonder Woman over him any day."
"Wonder Woman?"
"Give it 6 months or so. The world's…well changes are coming is all I will say."
"In 6 months you'll be 5. Do you remember all this 'change'?"
"Some of it but like you said I was 5. I wasn't exactly an avid follower of the news. I was more into the colourful costumes."
"You wear black."
"Blame Abuelo. He came up with my costume."
"Did you ever object?"
"Of course not. It totally rips!"
Andrea shakes her head at her daughter's silliness. What was she trying to get at was for someone who liked colourful costumes she herself tends to prefer dark colours…like Andrea herself to be frank. "Back to our dilemma," she returns to.
"Don't make me go to Gotham," Mia pleads. "I hate it there. It makes Suicide Slums seem pleasant by comparison," she explains why.
"It can't be that bad," Andrea believes.
"It is," Mia insists. "Also he's an ass," she adds in again for good measure.
"So you keep saying. I'm starting to get a hint you may not like him."
"Nooooo! Whatever gave you that impression?" the younger brunette drawls sarcastically.
"Mother's intuition."
"You're making that up," Mia accuses.
"Don't sass your Mamá."
Mia actually scowls.
Andrea checks her watch. "Look, I need to go pick up you from Penny before she comes down here so make a decision. Go find this Batman and ask for his help or not."
"And if going screws up history more?" Mia asks.
"Perhaps you should have thought about that a little more before you travelled back in the first place," her mother advises sagely as she rises to her feet and heads for the door.
Mia folds her arms across her chest in a frustrated gesture and stews in the couch. She is still there when her mother and her younger self returns.
"Hello Carol," child Mia says, using the name they came up with for adult Mia.
"Hello Mia," adult Mia says before noticing her mother on a cell phone. When did her mother get a cell phone? Also there is a very intense look on her mother's face.
"I'm glad he's going to be fine, Mrs Rossi…I don't know what the world is coming to either…Are the police saying anything?...Uh huh…Yeah, so basically they're going to do nothing as per usual. So glad to see nothing has changed since I left…Mamá was far more sarcastic than I am…Of course you can't argue that…Well, I'm back in Coast City at the moment but I'll check in with him as soon as it's possible…Ok, Mrs Rossi, I wish we were speaking under better circumstances too. Goodbye."
"So when did you get a new cell phone?" Adult Mia asks as soon as the call ends.
"You still here?" Andrea asks back, slightly annoyed sounding if anything.
Adult Mia arches an eyebrow. "I was thinking over what you said."
"And?"
"Haven't made my mind up."
Andrea just stares at her grown-up daughter.
"You haven't answered my question," Adult Mia returns to, trying to get her mother to stop staring at her.
"Uh, your…um, Clark got it for me as a gift."
"Oh, really?" Adult Mia says, smirking, taking way more out of what a simple gift means for her parents relationship than she probably should.
"Yes," Andrea replies plainly.
"That was nice of him."
"Yes. It was."
"So who was it you were speaking to?" the younger brunette asks.
"Oh Mrs Rossi. She was a friend of your…uh, my mother," she needs to correct herself before she said 'your grandmother'.
"Rossi. Rossi," the time traveller repeats the name as it sounds familiar. "Hey, didn't we meet her at Christmas?" it occurs to her.
"Yes. She's on the board of trustees for Acrata," Andrea replies in reference to her mother's charity. "I kept in touch."
"Really?" Mia queries, genuinely interested in this turn of events.
"Yes."
"So, what's happening? You looked intense."
Andrea sighs and you can hear the annoyance coming through. "Someone broke into the church, ransacked it and put Father Mulcahy in the hospital," she replies and this time annoyance has become underlying anger.
"Schrap!"
"Schrap! Schrap!" child Mia repeats gleefully.
"See what you've done now?" Andrea complains, shaking her head at the prospect of having to try and get child Mia to stop saying the word.
Adult Mia thinks she just taught herself the word years too early. Double schrap! "I want to say I'm surprised but ever since…um…the Blur vanished, Metropolis' crime rate has been skyrocketing. Don't underestimate what a symbol of hope can do."
Andrea doesn't. Especially for her bruised and battered heart.
"Do they know who did it?" Adult Mia asks about the church attack.
"No and I have no faith in the police to find out. They've never cared about Suicide Slums."
"You do though don't you," Adult Mia thinks from something in her mother's voice.
"It was where I grew up," is Andrea's roundabout way of saying, yes, she does still care about her home.
"Then I'll get to the bottom of it for you," Adult Mia determines, wanting to prove something to her mother as she gets to her feet in preparation to leave.
"And what about the other…uh, thing?" Andrea asks, in reference to the missing heroes.
"I…don't know what is the right course of action. To intervene or let events play out as they may have done before but I do know that this is important to you. This, at least, is something right I can do."
Andrea gets it now. Mia really has this chip on her shoulder about being a failure or at least failing to live up to whoever it is Clark becomes in the future. Mia's been vague on some of the details but Andrea can pick up enough to guess that Clark becomes someone important. Point being a lot of what drives her grown-up daughter seems to be to try and be as good as her father. "Carol. Let me give you some advice your…um, Clark gave me. It's not about living up to our parents. It's about living up to the potential they saw in us."
Adult Mia blinks as she seems to try and absorb the words.
"We can only ever do our best. As long as we know we're doing that measurements of success or failure are irrelevant. That one comes from my Mamá," the older Rojas tags on.
"I'll…keep it in mind."
"See that you do."
"I'll let you know how I get on," Adult Mia says as she starts to head to the door. She's just in the processing of opening it when…
"Wait."
The half-Kryptonian pauses and looks at her mother quizzically.
"I'll come too."
Now the time-travelling brunette is really confused.
"You don't know Suicide Slums half as well as I do. I know where to look and who to ask. Besides Father Mulcahy was a friend of my mother. I need to help," Andrea tries to explain her feelings but can't quite formulate the words to properly articulate her motivations. She just knows she needs to do something.
"What about…?" Adult Mia nods in the direction of her Mini-Me.
Andrea looks at her precious little angel before groaning. "I guess I'm going to be owing Penny big," she mutters at the favour she is about to ask.
Adult Mia makes a face. "Oof! Rather you than me," she quips, knowing what her Aunt Penny is like when she is owed a favour.
Author's Note: Decided to have a little Mother/Daughter mini adventure while Clark and the gang are missing which I'm certain was mentioned at being 3 weeks in total on the show. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews.