Super Volume 2

Trust Me

Heather's POV
Lizz and Kat managed to put out the fires between Santana and Kara, but the tension was still very thick. "I miss when they were children." Aura admitted. "Yeah, this isn't the best way to end the summer." I agreed. "We need to talk to them." She sighed. "What difference would it make? For all we know, we could make it worse. They need to resolve this themselves." I said. "And how long is that gonna take? We have more important things to deal with then their pointless banter!" Aura exclaimed. "We do?" I asked. She groaned and pulled out her phone. "You didn't read Gabe's email, did you?" She asked, and I shook my head. Aura handed me her phone so I could see it. "Strange energy signals are coming from this abandoned mall." She pointed to the map attached to the email. "That's not far from us." I said, shocked. "All the more reason to be suspicious. Gabe asked us to check it out tonight, but we can't leave them alone here. Lizz is with Zed today, and Kat is with her wife." She explained. "Then let's bring them with us. We could all go. Like a family trip." I suggested. "Are you crazy? We'd die." She huffed. "Yeah well, you'll be lucky if I come back alive after today at work. It's the first day I've been scheduled in a month, and I'm pretty sure I know why." I groaned. Aura sighed. "Good luck, babe. I love you." She kissed my cheek. "I love you too." I replied.

The class was already there when I arrived, and Khloe smirked as I walked in. I gulped nervously as I closed the door. "She's finally here, class! Which means our presentation can begin!" Khloe announced. I looked back at her confused and ran over to her. "What presentation?" I whispered. "Wait and find out." She replied. Khloe opened her hand, and her stick flew across the room, into her gloved hand. My eyes widened in terror as the class was in awe. "Today, professor Lascano and I will give a demonstration on how to defend yourself against a Tublo attack on the moon. Since Mrs. Lascano here foolishly drank Cytozine as a child, breaking the number one rule of SENA, she has the powers of a Tublo now! So! She will transform into a ferret, and play the Tublo, while I demonstrate the correct fighting techniques." Khloe explained. My jaw dropped as the class applauded. "Khloe, can we talk about this? This is insane!" I whispered. Khloe ignored me and walked away without a word. "Go on, professor. Shapeshift." She ordered. I sighed and transformed into a ferret. Then I ran at her, and she slammed her stick into the ground. A wave of electricity shot out at me, and I quickly flew up over it. Khloe then extended the blade on the other side of the staff, and launched it at me like a spear. I squealed in fear, and just barely dodged it. The students laughed as I fell to the ground, and Khloe summoned the staff back to her. She turned on the taser end again, and ran at me. She was fully prepared to jab it into me, and I hated having to do it, but she gave me no choice. I blasted her back away from me, and the class fell silent as Khloe crashed into the wall. I took back to the air and darted after her, but as I was flying, I saw the faces of our concerned students. Then I looked back at Khloe and saw the anger in her face. My eyes softened, and I slowed down as I got closer to her. Khloe picked up her stick again and didn't hesitate to stab the taser into my chest. I screamed out in pain, and smoke came from my mouth as I hit the ground. Khloe took a deep breath and stepped over me. "That is how you defend yourself from a Tublo." She smiled, and everyone applauded. I transformed back, and tripped as I tried to stand.

Khloe dismissed the class, and then locked the door. Then she marched back over to me and kicked me up against the wall. She planted her foot against my chest to hold me there, and I groaned in pain. "I should kill you for what you've done. You lied to me. Your oldest friend! And you deliberately put my youngest daughter in danger!" She pushed her foot harder. "I did what was best for you, Khloe. You've been through so much, and I didn't want you to be upset. That's why I didn't tell you!" I explained. "Of course I'm upset! I already lost my husband! You think I want to imagine losing my daughter too!?" She shouted. "I never told her to be a hero. It was my daughter and her friends. I know that's not any better, but Cleo chose this. She chose to help people, and she's damn good at it. You can't keep her from that." I said. Khloe stepped off of me, and I stood up. "Where is she? I know you know." She spat. "I don't. Santana does, but I didn't ask. She's safe though." I assured her. "How can I believe that, coming from you?" She spat. "Because you said it yourself. I'm your oldest friend. I know this is scary, but I promise you that Cleo is safe. There are tons of people ready to risk their lives for her, me included, but she doesn't need it. She is one hell of a hero, Khloe. She's the first mutant to join our team, but she's even better than some of our human heroes, and she loves it! You have to trust her. You have to trust me." I explained. Khloe hesitated, then sighed, and walked away. She put her staff down and walked to her desk. I followed her. "Will you tell her I'm sorry?" She asked. "Sure." I nodded.

"Mom. Why are we here? I canceled my date with Connor for this." Santana groaned. "Oh you poor thing." Kara rolled her eyes, and Santana glared at her. "I think it's great that you and Connor are going steady. I'm really proud of you." Aura told her. "We're here because we don't ever spend time together anymore. Might as well do it in costume." I shrugged. We landed outside the mall and walked inside, together. "I still think there are better people you could have brought with you." Santana huffed. "Shush. We need to find the energy source." I whispered. It was really dark, so the kids and I started glowing. Aura huffed in annoyance and created a flashlight. She and I went one way, and the girls went another. "This isn't working. They only hate each other more." Aura whispered. "I noticed, but regardless of that, we need their help. This place is huge." I replied. Aura sighed and looked around with her flashlight. Then she suddenly stopped, and I turned to look at her. "Do you see that?" She asked. I squinted in the direction she was looking. There was some sort of figure, laying back against the wall. My eyes started glowing as I used my super-sight to zoom in on it. "It's too dark to be sure, but I think that's a person." I said. "Then let's go, but tone down the light." Aura patted my shoulder, and I nodded.

We slowly approached the open store door, and peeked our heads around the corner. A teenage girl was asleep against the window, and she was loosely holding a drill. Aura and I raised an eyebrow at each other. Before we could do something, we heard Santana and Kara from across the mall. "I know what a permit is, asshole!" Santana shouted. "Yeah? Well I'd like to know who permitted you to be a bitch!" Kara snapped back. Aura glared over at me and I frowned. Santana and Kara, stomped their way over to us, with a teenage boy following behind them. "Talon, Rover, who'd you find?" Aura asked. "This is Sawyer. He has a permit for this place." Santana explained. "Yeah, he owns the mall." Kara added. "I just fucking said that!" Santana spat. "And I was just agreeing with you! Can I not agree with you?!" Kara snapped back. Sawyer very hesitantly stepped past them, and showed me the permit. "My dad actually owns the place. We're refurbishing it into a house. Oh hey! Pepper, wake up! I was looking for you!" He bent down to the girl and shook her awake. She groaned as she wiped the sleep from her face. Then she shrieked when she saw us. "Don't worry, babe. They're just superheroes." He smiled. "About that. We received a strange energy signal from here. What's that all about?" Aura asked. "That would be the spells we use to keep this place standing. It's all legal, see?" He pointed back to the paper in my hands, and I handed it to Aura. "Oh...ok. You should work on getting some security, or a trespassing sign. Sorry to break in on you." Aura handed him back the paper. "No worries. Have a nice night, heroes." He smiled again, and we left.

"That was weird, right?" I asked. "Very weird. You girls didn't see his dad at all, did you?" Aura asked. "No. We didn't even see him. He just popped up behind us." Kara answered. "Why was he up so late at night? It's not like he just woke up. He was dressed like he was working on something." I noted. "Maybe they do construction at night." Santana suggested. "No, they can't start until six." Kara replied, and Santana shot her a glare. "Unfortunately, that document was real, and we can't investigate someone who, for one, isn't a super villain, and two, has seemingly nothing wrong with them." Aura explained. "So we just... believe him?" I asked. "I don't trust him for a second, but all we can do is question from a distance until something real happens." Aura shrugged. I sighed. "Ok. Let's go home then." I replied.