Chapter 11 - One Goal

Claire and I have been outside of time for almost 8 hours now, and you can already see the difference it's making. She fell asleep almost instantly when we came through, but I couldn't rest for long, not when Sara was waiting.

We decided that before we left to find Sara we needed to breakdown the last few days, for our own sanity if nothing else. For now we were being hunted by as it stood two separate parties; The Hunters from the hotel, and Whoever sent The Man on Fire.

"So basically that's about it, we've got a few enemies after us so we need to be careful. But we can't forget our one goal along the way. To find your Mom"

"So how are we getting to Mom? You got a teleporter or something?"

"What? No that defeats the purpose. If these rooms are linked they wouldn't be safe, and if you got in one, you could get in them all. No we'll have to drive there or fly? If you feel like trying it again?"

"What so you can push me to the ground again? No thanks."

Since our bout with The Man on Fire, Claire hasn't used any of her powers other than when we needed to move our car at the hotel, I don't know if it's out of fear or if it's something else, but I do know that I need all the help I can get. If one of these has been turned into a museum, then there's no guarantee that they haven't found Sara already.

"Anyway. I found the locator whilst you were asleep. I know where your Mom is. Or should be...."

"What do you mean by should be?" Claire looks towards me with a sense of anger. "Are you telling me we did all this for a nostalgia trip? If you did then you picked a hell of a time."

"Of course I didn't kid-"

"Do not call me that right now"

"Claire! What is going on with you. We don't have time to argu-"

"What is going on with me? With me? Do you really want to open that door Dad? Or should I say Sheerforce. Where do I even begin. You've lied to me my entire life. I can understand when you were actually Sheerforce, but why not tell me later, when you had retired. Were you both really just not going to tell me you were both superheroes, and that I might have powers? How do you think it felt 2 months ago when I first found out I had powers? Or every day since then? I was so afraid to tell you both. I didn't know how you would react, I've seen how the world feels about people with powers. Hell we even had some men hunting us just because we have powers, and to top it off, one of the worst terrorists in the entire country just appeared on our doorstep and tried to kill us all. And now. Now you're treating this as if it's nothing. Mom is lost somewhere, in one of 27 pocket dimensions you just have stored somewhere in the country, and you just expect me to be fine. You asked the other day how I'm doing right? Well I'm scared. Terrified. Not only that this is my life now, and that there's no going back from that. I'm either on the run or dead. There is no in-between. But I'm terrified of this side of you. It's like you feel nothing. My mother. Your wife is missing. And you want me to use my powers to help find her. The things that for all we know got us all into this mess. So no Dad. I am not fine. MY whole world has been altered and it'll never go back to how it was. I'm in the worst time of my life, and this should be the worst time of your life too, but you just don't seem to give a damn."

I stand there shocked. I don't know what to say. I didn't see it. I didn't see any of it. Or is it better to say that I didn't want to see any of it? My strong daughter Claire. Scared of nothing. How did I not see that she was being torn up inside. This world may be familiar to me, hell it was my life for so long. But it was never hers. It never should have been hers. And we didn't ever prepare her for this.

"Let me out now. I need some air. Some real air."

"Claire don't go. Please."

"Don't worry Dad your little pet "Super" isn't going anywhere. Where would I go? I just can't be here right now. So let me out."

I know there's nothing I can say right now. She's hurting and I haven't even made an effort to support her. Since The Man on Fire attacked it has literally just been one thing after another. We haven't taken a second to breathe.

I pull the lever on the wall closest to me, and it activates the portal, and leads her back out into the main room of my former hideout. I go to follow her. But she stops me in my tracks.

"Not this time Dad. I'm coming back, I just need to be alone right now."

This is for the best right? I know we're wanted but at this time in the morning, I can't imagine anyone will see her. And even if they do, no one will know who she is. She'll be fine.

I go back to the supercomputer, and start my research. Who were these hunters, and why did they have powers? Were they former "Supers"? Who sent them? And the biggest question of all, what did The Man on Fire want?

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Claire walks out of the front of the building, and she mumbles to herself. "Why did I do that? That's not me. I know it's not Dad's fault. No. It needed to be said." That was all the rationalization she needed. Now was the time for a bit of fun to return to her life.

She walked down the street looking for something to calm her, and is out of luck until she arrives at one of Mineral City's most beautiful parks. Or so the sign said. She had to wonder how many other parks tried to boast this claim. Probably all of them. And with good reason, though she hadn't yet seen much of Mineral City, what she had seen was remarkable. It was like something out of a story, a bright shining Metropolis with a skyline that pierces the clouds. It was nothing like the house in the woods she had lived in for the entirety of her more recent years.

She starts walking through the park, until she reaches a wonderful water fountain, each water droplet coming out of the fountain is radiating beauty, it evokes something beautiful when the morning light shines upon it.

She goes to sit down on a bench off to the left of the water fountain, and sees only one spot free, on a bench with a man sitting as far as he possibly can to the other end. She walks over to the man and asks. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all Claire. In fact I insist"