Who Needs Powers?

Chapter 7: Leverage

Katie was really worried about her new family.

Her new mom and dad were still gone, and no matter what Miss Jean and Mister Scott and Mister Kurt and anyone else said, she could tell that they were worried. They didn't smile like normal, and they were always checking their comms and spending their time looking over papers and computers and stuff.

But Katie was very sure that Logan and K wouldn't leave their new baby boy for this long, so she knew something was very, very wrong. She just didn't know what it was.

She did know that James was upset, so she was trying to help Kurt take care of him. She liked James a lot, even if he cried a ton lately. But she knew what his favorite toys were, so she tried to make sure that Kurt had those whenever he needed them. Sometimes, that helped.

But Katie had to admit that she was a little scared, too. She was trying not to show it because James was so little and he needed someone to look after him, but... Katie was worried.

She really didn't want to lose her parents all over again now that she had new ones that were super nice and let her stay up and watch movies like her big brothers.

Katie was doing really well at keeping her brave face on, too... all the way up until Susie tattled on her and told Dr. Blue she wasn't doing real well, and then as soon as Dr. Blue scooped Katie up into a hug... that was it. She couldn't hold it in anymore, and she completely buried herself in the hug.

"You know everyone here is doing everything they can to find them," Dr. Blue said gently, rubbing a hand over her head and hair as she sniffled into his shoulder.

Katie nodded and sniffled, but she still buried her face a little deeper into his fur. "I want my dad," she whispered out.

Hank let out a noise that clearly revealed how heartbroken he was. "I know," he said gently, still snuggling her tight to his chest.

"I want my Clint," she whispered, holding on a little tighter.

"I know," Hank said again, pulling her close to kiss her temple before she let out a hitched sort of sound and started to cry into his shoulder all over again.

Things weren't much better on the other side of things, inside the department.

Clint still hadn't seen his parents, and it had been a couple of days. He hadn't been able to do much of anything, really, except to "rest" and "recover" and "not pop his stitches" and insult the guards who brought him food. The cell was pretty small, and there wasn't anything to do, and Clint felt like he was going out of his mind.

At this point, he almost wanted to do something that would pop his stitches, just to screw up whatever their stupid plans were. Just for spite. He was that frustrated.

He didn't know what he'd do. Maybe somersaults. Something he'd learned from Barney at the circus. The contortionist had taught him some pretty cool stuff last time he'd spent a weekend there. That would probably work, right?

He was just thinking about maybe trying to touch his toes to his ears when he heard the door open at the other end of the hallway and got to his feet fast, his hands in fists and his eyes narrowed. He stuck his chin out and looked as defiant as he could. That was, he figured, the best way to tell these guys to screw themselves when he was stuck and couldn't do much else.

But instead of just dropping off something for him to eat like they'd done every time before, the guards actually opened up the door to Clint's cell — and that had him dropping the defiant look in favor of one more like panic. As much as he hated being trapped in that cell, he didn't want to go anywhere these creeps wanted to take him.