Light of a Thousand Stars

11- Calliope

Theresa glanced at Mayday, eyes wide. If they were back home, she wouldn't give a second's hesitation on deciding what to do, but now, in the past, she was just a normal school kid. Or at least, a new superhero couldn't appear and disappear like she was planning to do. Mayday was watching the spot that the black wisp had disappeared to, trying to figure out what in the universes was attacking Midtown High. Now that she thought about it, the high school probably got more supervillain attacks than any other, considering that five superheroes studied there, and the principal was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent under-cover.

In her mind, she ran over the list of possibilities- the Dino? Raven-Man? Oh wait, those villains probably weren't even born yet... Anyways, her thoughts were quite rudely interrupted by a shriek from a hallway not too far away. The two girls swallowed hard, tensing up to run after the monster and apprehend it, when the door to their classroom burst open. Mrs. Forrest, her book still hanging from her hand, had thrust the door open, a wild expression on her face.

"Selena! Madeline! What are you two doing out there? It's a safety drill- I need all my students. Get in now!" she practically hissed. Before they could reply, she glanced around, glaring at either end of the hall with a stare that could frighten any baddie out of their suit, and grabbed the girls both their elbows, with a grip that seemed much tighter than it should be for a woman her size. Theresa and Mayday sighed practically in unison, bowing their heads in shame. Their teacher began to frogmarch them to the door, but just behind the three, another blur whizzed by. Or rather, two. And these ones weren't black. Spiderman and Iron Fist were already on the case, which calmed Theresa a bit. As Mayday's eyes followed the superheroes down the hallway, she froze, not moving a muscle from the spot she had been standing until Mrs. Forrest dragged her away with a dagger-sharp glare. Her father had been right in front of her... And he was so young! Practically her age! In case you haven't seen your teenage father decked out in red and blue spandex, let's just say that it's pretty disorienting.

However, her thoughts were scattered again as the door to the class was slammed shut, although it surprisingly didn't smash into a million pieces. What was even more surprising was that as the girls entered the class, they couldn't help but notice that although everybody's supplies were still out and on the table, there were no other students to be seen. However, Mrs. Forrest either didn't seem to notice or care- maybe both, but she dragged them off into the corner of her room where her desk lay. And there, exactly where their teacher had told them to be, where the students, crammed under her desk.

"Lockdown drill. Some super-robber or something in the building," she explained gruffly. "Oh, and thanks, girls, for reminding me of these two trouble-makers," she added, nodding at the girls who had sat in front of us, Lorietta and Eva, who were at the edge of the crowd, right next to where she thrust the superheroes' daughters.

Mayday glanced at the two students briefly, wanting to scold them from keeping them from the fight, but just stopped herself. They couldn't know that they had powers- much less that they were from the future. They were just two girls looking out for their classmates it seemed. Actually, they seemed quite nice.

"Don't get your hopes up," came a whisper, just soft enough for Mayday and Theresa to hear. "We know who you are. And just to keep it from getting awkward if we ever saw you on the battlefield- not that you'll be fighting anyone, we should probably tell you how we happen to know that you are the time-traveling daughters of Peter Parker and Sam Alexander. As Doctor Strange's apprentices, it is our mission to keep you two and your male friend from interfering with this time. You weren't born in this time, and anything you do could have catastrophic consequences. You could even, say, cause the rise of a supervillain that defeats the Avengers once and for all."

The two girls froze, not daring to move. It was Theresa, who out of the corner of her eye, could just barely make out Lorietta's lips moving as she spoke.