Samael61
patreon
Chapter 16 - Fury of a Woman Scorned
🕑 Added 2025-06-08 19:53:46 +0000 UTCMetropolis
Miles closed the door behind him, hung his coat and hat, and walked to the living room, where Claire and the teens were watching TV while eating pizza.
“Hey, how did it go with the Feds?” Claire asked after swallowing her bite with some soda.
“Nothing to worry about; it was just the FBI. How about you three?” This wasn't his first tango with the federal authorities, and most likely wouldn't be the last.
“They picked their rooms, and we’re going shopping in an hour.”
“Good. In the meantime, here are your IDs as citizens of the United States of America.” Miles handed the teens two envelopes containing the beginning of their new lives.
As Zalika and Baraka tore the paper apart with grins, Miles took a slice of pepperoni pizza and sat down.
“I have documents to sign for the company while you take Zalika and Baraka to the mall. I don’t believe I need to warn you about keeping a low profile.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be back without a fuss.” Claire waved away his concerns, sure that a shopping trip couldn't end badly unless a villain attacked.
—
Mary-Anne Loraine had already bought a medium-sized building for EnviroCorps, and the paperwork for the company to begin its operations only lacked the signature of the corporation’s owner.
“Mr. Beckett, great to see you again.”
“Just call me Miles, Mary; Mr.Beckett was my father.” He couldn't help but feel as if his father was there whenever someone called him Mr. Beckett.
“As you wish. I have all the relevant documentation here, and then we will have to talk about who you want on the Board of Directors and how to enter the market.” Mary had several documents in her hand, most likely her plans and ideas.
“In order, I don’t have any names for the Board of Directors except myself and you, obviously. If you feel it is necessary to fill any positions, ensure the candidates don’t cross me. As for the market, we are going to break in with advanced fusion reactors, starting with hydrogen, and when we have orbital infrastructure, we will switch to deuterium reactors.”
He was legally obligated to have a board of directors by law, but no pencil pusher would tell Miles how to run his company.
“Research into fusion reactors is new and nowhere near ready to be commercially available.” Mary did not make any plans for that, thinking they would be doing something less complex than fusion reactors.
“You let me worry about the scientific and technological part; I want you to focus on preparing the groundwork and facilities and gathering the closest thing we have to experts on the subject.” Miles sounded so sure that the CEO could only shrug in response.
If he could not deliver, Mary did have several backup plans.
“Yes, sir, now, here are the documents requiring your signature.”
—
Reading and signing the documents took less time than one might expect, as Miles was a fast reader.
He was riding to the Metropolis Mall to meet with Claire and his new charges while planning to talk with Hawkgirl about assisting Thanagar in winning the war against the Gordonians.
For a price, of course.
But it could afford to wait while he perused the mall.
A heatwave hit him as soon as he entered through the door, and coupled with people running in terror, Miles had an idea who the culprit was.
Avoiding the panicking masses, he eventually came across Claire, who was shooting up a pillar of fire to the sky in her fury.
Zalika and Baraka had taken cover in a shop, shouting at her to calm down, which did nothing.
The target of Claire’s flames was none other than the couple standing before her, a brown-haired man dressed in a suit and a woman with hair coloring eerily similar to the pyrokinetic, and seeing as she was totally out of control, his bodyguard had crossed paths with her parents, and she wasn’t happy about it at all.
“Claire, enough.” His voice cut through the screams and the chaos of the situation.
“They abandoned me, and now here they are, strutting around as if nothing happened.” Clare screamed, hoarse and hurt, and she was about to make it someone else's problem.
“You can’t kill them because you will regret it, and you, rightfully so, can’t forgive them. The only choice you have is to get over them, because any other decision you make will only harm you, no one else.”
“He is right; stand down now.” Just as he thought this day couldn’t get any worse, Supergirl had to come floating down, and if he did not manage it well, the two volatile, superpowered individuals could start a fight.
“Supergirl, sorry to ruin your debut, but it would be for the best if you let me handle it.” This couldn't have been a worse time for the young Argoan to make her first appearence as a hero.
“Who are you?” Kara hadn't even introduced herself and wondered how the man even knew her.
“Miles Beckett, perhaps Superman mentioned me?” At least he hoped Clark did, otherwise convincing her could be a hassle.
“You are him?” She said, not expecting to meet the man so soon and like this, “ Alright, I’ll let you handle this.” Kara backed off, thinking about how her first attempt at being a hero went in a completely different direction.
Miles slowly approached Claire through the blistering heat, getting between her and her parents.
“I can’t begin to imagine the pain you are feeling right now, but it is up to you to leave that part of your life behind and move forward.” He finally got through to Claire as the flames slowly died and she began to take deep breaths.
Tears of rage, which were evaporating before, slowly trickled out, and Claire turned back, marching to the car without saying a single word.
Leaving him, Supergirl, the teens, and a lot of terrified civilians that he had to silence.
“My apologies for the damage and scare this family issue caused to everyone. Allow me to make up for it. I’ll pay for everything you fine citizens of Metropolis buy for the next hour as compensation.” His declaration was met with hesitant silence.
Miles motioned the siblings to go out after Claire while he cleaned up this mess.
—
He talked with the manager of the mall, paying for the damages Claire caused while also guaranteeing to pay for all the purchases the visitors did in the next hour, which caused a frenzy as people rushed to buy the most expensive things they could.
When the officers arrived, people were too happy and busy to be making a complaint, and they left after trying and failing to get a statement from anyone.
Claire’s parents, John and Natalie, however, stalked him like bloodhounds, asking questions about their daughter.
“Look, you saw how Claire reacted. Unless she approaches you first, going near her will not end well for you.” Miles warned. He was more worried about Claire going to prison than anything else at this point.
“But…” Natalie Selton started to object, but Miles cut her off.
“No buts, you left her to the mercy of an institute that gave her up to the government.” He didn’t know how much Claire’s parents knew about what happened to her, but unless they didn’t check at all, they should have known about her disappearance.
“We only wanted to help her.” John Selton said, his voice so small and broken at seeing how much his little girl hated him.
“Unfortunately for you, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” They nodded helplessly, leaving without further objection.
“So, who was that, and why was she so angry?” Supergirl asked, dressed in a white blouse with the red S at the center and a red cape, a blue skirt, red shoes, and white gloves.
“My bodyguard, Claire. Her parents sent her to an institute so she could control her powers, only for the government to try to make a weapon out of her.”
Perhaps those Kara and Claire could be friends rather than enemies in this timeline.
“I see.” Kara didn’t know what to say to that and chose to say nothing at all.
“At any rate, while I would love to stay and chat, I have to go and make sure she is fine.”
—
Claire was sitting inside the car, her head leaning on the window, her puffy eyes looking far away with barely dried tears.
Miles drove home without saying anything, stopping to pick up some ice cream on the way.
She did not make a sound the whole way and immediately went to her room, silent as a grave.
“Miles, do you think she is alright?” Zalika was worried, but seeing Miles keep his silence, she and Baraka did the same to give the young woman some time.
“Claire is strong, and I believe she will be fine, eventually. In the meantime, get settled in your rooms while I go see how she is doing.”
He knocked on the door to no answer and went inside anyway.
“I am not in the mood to talk, Miles.” Claire was lying on her back with an arm over her eyes, not even having bothered to change her clothes.
“Then let’s not talk. Here.” He held out the ice cream and a spoon, and after a couple of seconds, Claire slowly moved her arm to look at what Miles was offering.
“Ice cream?” She might have found it irrelevant to the current mood but still took the offered bucket.
“What better way to increase your dopamine levels?” The amount of sugar and chocolate in the bucket certainly would.
“Thanks.”
“You know, I once had the chance to taste Turkish ice cream in a local restaurant. They make it with goat milk, orchid bulb flower, and sugar. It is dense enough you can cut it with a knife and eat it with a fork like a steak. Perhaps it was the best ice cream I have ever eaten.” One side of not having mandatory attendance to college was he could go and travel the world while only coming back for the exams.
“What are you, a connoisseur of ice cream?” She took a spoonful, enjoying the taste.
“I enjoy the finer things in life.”
The ice cream was eaten in silence after that, and while she wasn’t ready to talk yet, Miles could see Claire was feeling a bit better.
“When you are ready to talk, I will be there to listen.”
“What a generous and thoughtful boss I have.” Claire snarked with no bite behind it.
“Don’t think of me as your employer right now, but as someone you can lay down your troubles to.”
Claire nodded, laying back down, and Miles left to give the young woman some time to get her thoughts together.
—
“Do we have to go to school?” Baraka asked out of the blue, since they didn’t want to talk about Claire without her present.
“Do you want to?” With all the teenage drama, hormones, bullying, and the current state of the American public or private schooling, it was an unappealing thought to Miles.
“Not really.” Zalika shook her head. The only education she and Baraka had was what they picked up while trying to survive. Luckily, their parents had taught the two how to read and write before their deaths.
“I can hire you private tutors for any subject you wish to learn, and you can go to college if you wish.” It would be good for the siblings to study subjects they were interested in. All work and no fun made for a terrible habit and lowered productivity.
“We’ll get back to you on that.” Baraka didn’t have any dreams beyond saving Zalika and himself from the gang; now that he was in a whole different country, he had no idea what to do for himself.
“Understandable. Now.” Miles pulled out the laptop he had bought, booting up the high-end device. “It is time to see what you can do with your powers.” He pulled the chair next to him for Zalika. She took a deep breath and sat down, ready to test herself.
“I am going to run you through some exercises so you can get a feel for your powers.”
First, he had her open random tabs and hack the camera and some of the neat little hacking techniques he had learned, all without even pressing a single key.
Interfacing with the computer was like a second nature to the young technopath, as if it was just another part of her, and half an hour later she had already accessed his banking information, highlighting just how dangerous her ability could be.
Of course, since the laptop wasn’t exactly secure, Miles kept Zalika from going into more dangerous places. In this world, you might never know what was lurking on the internet.
With a supercomputer, Zalika could possibly watch every city, every street, every unencrypted phone call, message, and basically every place on this planet that had CCTV or access to the internet.
Surveillance capabilities the technopath could offer would be invaluable.
That wasn’t all, though. She could empty bank accounts, track financial trails, and hide Miles’ activities.
Zalika could be the master of the internet.
Working for him as a loyal friend.
Comments
GameMage
Thanks for the chapter. Awesome as always. You might want to add it to the collections.
