The Arch-Demon drops in (4)

It was finally the weekend, and Caitlin stood in awe at the sight of the four-story building in awe. The building housed the very pinnacle of science, technology, and advanced research, S.T.A.R. Labs. The car ride here was sheer hell thanks to traffic, but it all felt worth it as she and her aunt finally walked through those glass doors.

The lobby was a spotless white room as rows of chairs stood in the middle of the room with a few leaning chairs back against the walls with the building's titled name was painted on them. Ahead of that was security as a few tough looking men and women looked on at them so vigilantly that it almost gave her pause from how intimidating they were.

But boy was she surprised since passing through them was a bit pleasant than she had thought as she received a courteous welcome from each of the staff. Right, she felt stupid for not considering her obvious perk of being related to an esteemed scientist here. After getting her temporary lab pass and being put through the standard body check, she and her aunt made their way for the elevator.

"This place is huge…" Caitlin was speechless as she looked through the windowed hallway to see a large garden on the outside along with a multitude of ponds. Hey, she even sees that a few of the hedges have been sheered to looked like stars. Clever.

"True but after being here for some years, you'll realize how small things can be after someone decides to unveil some big idea." Now garbed in her lab coat, Katelyn walked a bit further and placed her own official pass against the elevator door's lock twice. Once identified, the two made their way up to Katelyn's inputted destination almost immediately.

Her sight followed her aunt's pointer finger until she was now faced with each button for the building's individual floors. Her aunt soon then went into a deep explanation about each floor and about what each area of study they gravitate towards. Caitlin's eyes soon gravitated a bit lower to the bottom button before her aunt could finish. A sublevel? What could be there? Some secret experiment?

Or they could be hiding some comatose girl down there who's had half of their power stolen! But RWBY jokes aside, it wasn't a strange thing to have such a sublevel floor for any dangerous research that's to harmful to have on the surface.

"-and that is why we'll be going to the top floor." Shoot, she lost her train of thought!

"I-I see…" She forced a smile on her face and only hoped that her aunt could buy it. Please buy it.

"Don't be so nervous, the only people here consist of me, our lab's director and our top geneticist." Katelyn reassured her niece with a pat to the shoulder.

"Okay, when you put it like that…" How the flip would she even be calm after hearing that? Great, now she needs to try to avoid looking stupid in front of these two important people. So, it looks like she'll have to pull out the old smile and nod ploy, ugh, she's not even in her new school yet and she's already stressing out about her public image.

The elevator reached its destination, and the suspension that held it in place would been a great excuse for the unease in Caitlin's stomach as she took her first off of the elevator and into the wide-open space of the lab floor. All of the tech and machinery that fitted the environment was so pleasing to the eye and…were those actual supercomputers?

No, no, she has to stay whelmed.

But to be honest, it was a breath of fresh air to be in an actual real lab that's not at all cluttered and severely lacking in equipment. Yeah, if only there was more funding that could've been given to the lab up in Antartica, then things would've been, no, that wouldn't have changed what happened at all. Great, she just killed her mood, now she'll naturally avoid looking like a dork geeking over this stuff.

"Are you-?" Her long face may have been apparent since her aunt's tone sounded a bit concern. Thankfully for the red head, the heavy sounds of clattering could be heard from the room at very back of the lab. Soon enough there was a loud smack followed by a loud 'oof'.

"Shite!"

"Hahaha, point for me! Take that, Finnie-boy!"

Aunt Katelyn let out a groan and hesitantly lead Caitlin to the source of the childish laughter. Cait was thrown out the loop, she could've sworn that she heard the sounds of a game going off in such a prestigious lab. But not even a moment too soon did she realize to voice of more occupant in there.

"You know the sword accessories are just for show, right?" The voice sounded off, perhaps that person had a cold or some sort of sore throat. Apparently, her aunt noticed the voice as well since she stopped to knock on the door.

"Look who's finally here. Kate, good morni-!" Blinking once, Caitlin saw the head of a woman pop out the door, her face was briefly warm and welcoming before their eyes met. She couldn't quite see her expression because once blinked again, the door slammed.

"W-Was it something I said?" Or fail to say, Caitlin thought.

"Oh, no its nothing…" Katelyn coughed and soon grew into a fit of coughs to probably drown out the yelling heard in the room. It was definitely something, but she'll just have to let it go for now. Making a good enough impression was the priority.

Another fit of coughing and shouting from the room in front of them later and she was invited into the room and introduced to the two top scientists. It looked like the two of them were playing a game on the Wii if the slim rectangular controllers on the couch was any indicator. The woman that she saw was quite pretty after getting quite a good look at her for more than a second, she was Samantha Miller, the top Geneticist.

"Wow, so you're Kate's niece, eh? Its nice to meet you, I hope that you enjoy your stay here in Cali, Caitlin. Strange, I might have some trouble calling out to Kate since your names sound too identical. So how do you feel about Cat?"

"I-I don't mind it at all, I think it sounds rather lovely."

"Great, then Cat it is." The lady joyously gave the girl a hug.

She certainly was kind as she was eccentric, she'll give her that at least.

Now as for the other scientist, ehem, the director, he was strikingly handsome for someone of his age. Probably around his mid-forties to early fifties, his skin was a bit paler than her own, not to mention he had red gingery hair like she was, but with an additional matching beard on his square masculine chin. Also, not to mention that he's effectively the tallest one in the room, she could even say that he was the tallest person that she had ever met.

"Good morning to ya, little one. My name is Finn Murphy, it's a pleasure to meet you." The man stuck out his large hand out to her.

"L-Likewise, sir."

Jesus, she doubts that she could even wrap all of her fingers around it, and that thought was confirmed as she felt her hand get trapped into painfully tight welcoming handshake. She had to keep herself from wincing as she secretly rubbed her hand behind her back, she just shook hands with the lab's director of all things and such disrespect is the last thing that she should do.

Taking this as her chance, she looked around the room and noticed the kitchen, the large flat screen television and many stacks of magazines. So, it was their Break room, the place had the top-grade kind of stuff you'd expect for S.T.A.R. Labs, but it certainly had character if the poorly colored drawings taped to the wall were any indication. Did they let kids up here or what?

"Sweet!" A hushed voice cheered.

"Hm?" She looked across the room to spot a boy glued to his phone, he hadn't even paid her any mind since she entered.

"Oh, I see you've noticed my son, who's not studying." Sam smiled and rapidly snapped her fingers in his direction, "Michael, hey!" The boy looked up from his phone for a second to notice the new arrivals and gave them an such an 'enthused' wave.

"Excuse me for a bit." Samantha shook her head and strides herself to the young man's side. Surprisingly, the boy still didn't notice the presence of the woman before she slammed his phone screen-first onto the table much to his chagrin.

"Hey…" The boy moaned in annoyance.

"You should be doing your homework."

"But I already finished."

"Show me." The young man heaved out a heavy sigh and handed the woman two textbooks with worksheets inside of them. "Good." Samantha flicked her son's ear and pointed to Katelyn and Caitlin.

"Now go introduce yourself to Katelyn's niece."

"Okay." Begrudgingly, Michael stood from his seat and trudged his way over to them. Huh, it was hard to see from earlier, but he's wearing a superman shirt.

"Good morning, Auntie Kate."

"…Good morning, Michael, how have you been?" Katelyn tiredly smiled and sighed.

"Bored, but I'll somehow live…" The young man yawned as he waved to the older woman before stopping at Caitlin, "And good morning to you…you…?"

Words began to come out his mouth, but he fell short after saying 'good morning'. Must have really been glued to his phone if he didn't pick up on her name already being dropped already.

"My name is Caitlin Lincoln, nice to meet you, Michael." She stuck her hand out.

"Likewise, Kit-Kat." He held his hand up.

"What?" She didn't how to feel about the name he called her or that weird gesture of his in response to her own.

"I said likewise…" He still kept his hand up.

"No, you just…" Awkwardly, she forgoes the handshake to point at him, "You just called me Kit-Kat."

"Well, duh, you're Kit-Kat while Aunt Kate is Aunt Kate. Since you're both Katelyn this way will make sure that things aren't confusing while I'm talking to either one of you." Oh, she got it now, yeah, its hard to distinguish the differences between their names without elaboration.

"Well, no, actually, my name is Caitlin with a 'C'."

"Really?" He was surprisingly widening his eyes at the revelation.

"Y-Yeah, I can see how it could be a bit strange…" She laughed and rubbed her neck.

"My brother actually wanted to name her Katelyn Jr., but my Sister-in-law decided to do both and give her, her own original name." Katelyn explained with a wistful smile.

The imagined memory of her parents arguing over her name was bittersweet for the girl who unconsciously sighed.

"Okay, okay, I think I got it now… So, from now on, I'll call you Kit-Cat with a 'C', eh? Sounds pretty clever don't you think?" The boy quite literally patted himself on the back.

"Y-Yes?" She didn't know how to react. So, she already has two nicknames in the span of a single day, she could probably say that they've clearly accepted her by now. The crushing hug that the big director is giving her, and the boy was a good sign apart from the fact that she was losing some much needed air.

"Hahaha, you two little ones are going to be good friends, I know it!" Finn laughed as he released Caitlin to give the nonchalant young man a rough pat to the head. Caitlin wondered how Michael was even able to stay so calm while getting his head all roughed up by the huge man's petting.

Walking to her son, Samantha hands him back his textbooks, "Well, sweetie, you really are done. So now you have the rest of the day to yourself."

"So, does that mean-?" Life was suddenly back on Michael's face as soon as he heard those words.

"Yes, you can go back to watching those Superhero videos, but make sure that you don't forget to blink." She then handed him back his phone.

"Cool. Say does that also mean I can go out the lab and buy something from the food trucks?" He asked.

"Don't push it, we have all that we need in the downstairs mess hall." The woman scolded the frowning boy, "And don't give me that look either, you're eleven years too late to think I'd fall for that now." The boy clicked his tongue and plopped back onto the couch behind them.

Turning to Caitlin, Samantha smiled, "But as for you, if you ever feel that your about to digest your own stomach feel free to go to mess hall or the hospital if you're actually digesting yourself."

"O-Okay, thanks, Misses Samantha." Caitlin stuttered.

"No need to be so high strung, just try to make yourself at home, and you can drop the Misses. I never actually married." After giving Caitlin a comforting pat to the shoulder, Samantha took her leave, "Michael, show Caitlin to the lounge if she feels like it, okay?"

"Okay…" The boy lamely responded.

"Now then Finnie, it's about time that we get back to work." Samantha yawned and stretched.

"Are you sure that you don't want to go another round with me?" Finn shook one of the Wii remotes.

"Kicking the same ass over and over gets boring unless I can kick someone else's ass for a change." Samantha knowingly smirked at Katelyn.

"Thanks for the offer, but no. I'm not really in the mood to get my ass kicked and besides shouldn't you be sending that mutagenic gas to the labs in Metropolis to further test it before starting any further experiments?"

"I made it so I believe that its already fine enough to test on. Besides, I don't like to share too much of my work with outsiders even they are from another one of our branches much less any of the others below." Samantha explained albeit with some bitterness as Caitlin noticed the small frown etched on her aunt and Finn's faces.

"Anywho, I'll be at my station if you need me." Samantha waved as she exited the room.

"You little ones take care and don't be afraid to call us if ya need anything." Finn gave Michael one more rough pat to the head before following after his mother leaving only Katelyn.

Pulling a pair of green tinted goggles from her lab coat, Katelyn fastened them to her forehead before giving her niece a comforting hug, "It will take me a while, but I'll be sure to take you out for school shopping, okay?" Caitlin gave her a nod. "Good. Now enjoy yourself with the television, or whatever that's in here. Make sure to ask Michael if you want to get something downstairs at the lounge, and should you find the need to talk with him, well, I advise you contact me or Samantha in the other room should things get too out of hand."

"I heard that…" The teen groaned as he was still glued to his phone.

"Okay, I will, but what do you mean by get too out of hand?" Caitlin raised an eyebrow at that.

"…You'll know when you see it…"

"So, is it a good or a bad thing? At least give me something…"

"…" Katelyn placed a comforting hand on Caitlin's shoulder before walking out in silence leaving the red head in complete and utter confusion.

Okay, she really needs an answer to that. Thankfully, she'll have all of the time that she needed to get such answers from the boy. Yep, she'll get the truth one way or the other, and finally make good conversation with him.

Now how does she actually go about talking with him?

Another hurdle that she'll have to overcome.

"So bored…" Michael tiredly moaned as he laid phone down on the table.

It's been hours since he arrived at the labs, and now he has his butt glued to his seat again, but instead of homework, he's glued to his phone which is a massive improvement, don't get him wrong. But being cooped up in the highly air-conditioned room all day was absolute hell for someone like him. He was gonna crazy at this rate, and he has to deal with this crud for the next five weeks? How does his mad woman of a mother expect him to deal with this torture?

"…So…" Hesitantly raising her eyes to meet with his, Caitlin paused upon getting Michael's attention.

"Hm?"

"I was just…never mind…" Her attention soon went back to being glued to her own phone.

"…"

Well, he wouldn't know whether to call it good or bad but meeting up with Kit-Cat was a new change of pace from his regular visits to the lab. She seemed to be close to his age, which is a godsend since he's been tired of having Uncle Finn trying to relate to him. Who knows, she might even be easier to get along with than She Who Shall Not Be Named. No, she can be even better, which gives him an idea.

"So…" He started, wishing to cease the awkward silence.

"Yes…?" The girl hopefully looked up at him.

"You wanna check out the Lounge?" He stood up and pocketed his phone while awkwardly giving her smile.

"Sure, I-I mean, should I? I am currently engrossed in this compelling game of sudoku and I have to say it's quite engaging…"

"…Really?" He didn't know whether she was being serious or not because to him that sounds like a dreadful way of entertaining yourself.

"No, its really not. I'm so bored out of my mind that I'm already replaying the whole app for the fourth time…" She frowned at the boy and pleaded to him, "Please show me the way."

Oh, he will show you the way, he will show you the way to…FREEDOM!

Excitedly taking her by the wrist, he pulled her out of her seat and out into the main lab where their older adult guardians were too engrossed with their own projects to notice them. Perfect!

"Hey, mom, Aunt Kate! I'm going to show Kit-Cat to the lounge!" He shouted over the loud whirring and banging of Katelyn's tools.

"Mmm-hmm…"

"That's nice, sweetie…"

Both Katelyn and Samantha responded in kind rather unfocused. Perfect!

"Hm?" Michael noticed the Kit-Cat's confused expression, he must be smiling like an idiot.

"It's nothing, now shall we?" But as they made their way to the elevator, the mechanical whirring and digital hooting of a familiar pal of his scurries right past them carrying a box of parts.

Looking back, he gives the robotic monkey a quick wave hello, "What's up, Nikko." And in turn, the robotic monkey looked back to give the pair a glowing green-eyed wink.

"Oh my god, was that a-?"

"Robot monkey? Yes, yes it is." Pulling out his own official lab pass, Michael slid it across the elevator door lock once. Just as they entered, Kit-Cat's wide eyes were still locked onto the digital simian assisting Katelyn with a complete look of awe in her eyes. Looks like Aunt Kate's technophile tendencies runs in her family.

On their way down to the first floor, he realized Kit-Cat looking down at her feet and shuffling a bit beside him. Must be nervous, but he mentally promises her that the pay off will definitely be worth it after they get to spread their legs.

But for now, he has the chance to finally make some small talk, "So…you're Aunt Kate's niece, so did she ever mention me?" First, let's test the waters with a more personal question.

"Oh, well, yes, but not much besides the occasional mention here or two from the letters that she sent."

"Really? C'mon, spill it already! What did she say about me?" Without thinking, he excitedly pushed her to the wall of the elevator. Whoops, he went overboard again, and was he accidentally getting too worked up because her was getting a bit red despite the elevator temperature being irritatingly cool.

"W-Well, she did tell me some stuff about how smart you were for a kid your age." Uh-huh. "And how you're a bit special without exactly specifying what." Of course, Aunt Kate knew about his powers, so that's a given. "And in one of the most early letters about how she spent most of time literally babysitting a devil-child."

…Wait, what?

"…Devil-child?" His smile soon fell as he froze in place.

"Hm, oh, no, don't worry I think she was exaggerating a bit with that last one." Noticing his blank expression, Kit-Cat quickly uses her free hand to wave it off.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean, kids are a pain to watch, so it's not hard to see why she would exaggerate your child-like mischief." Caitlin laughed it off.

"Oh! I mean, yeah, I sure was a little hellraiser, weren't I? Hahahaha…erh…" He soon joined her in laughter before peering out in relief. Whew, that was close. He honestly believed that she knew about his secret. Wait, why would that be a bad thing? She's Aunt Kate's niece, so she can be trusted with his secret like how he trusts Jeff. But the thing about that was his mom doesn't know that Jeff knows.

It's not like he doesn't like her, but she's still technically a stranger to have around the lab so he won't have the freedom to walk around in his other form. So, showing her would benefit him, but wouldn't his mom and Aunt Kate be mad about that? Worst of all, would his mom begin to question how lax he was with sharing his secret and be so pissed to ask if he revealed himself to anyone like Jeff?

Welp, he'll have to worry about all that stuff should it happen anyways. Whatever happens, happens as they say.

As they reached the first floor, they walked through the long hallways to finally reach the large mess hall of the lab. Like always it was clean as a whistle especially with those Contaminant Obliterator cleaning units zipping about. Man, Aunt Kate's technophilic desires sometimes scares him since these small blocky cleaner robots were inspired from watching a junk piling bot's love story in space when he was a kid.

"Smells good in the-"

Taking a whiff of the delicious aroma, Kit-Cat immediately took a step toward the entrance but found it's door slammed in her face no thanks to Michael.

"There, I showed you the Mess Hall." He wore a sly grin.

"What?" Kit-Cat asked, inquisitively.

"Now let's go get ourselves some real food." He chuckled as he led her by the wrist down another hallway.

"But the real food was back there…" She sounded like she was still out of the loop, but she won't have to worry for much longer because after savoring some delicious truck food, she'll thank him. The walk to the lab's expansive outdoor garden was too far as the pair walked down the pathway towards Michael's intended destination.

But while the young man was engrossed in locating a certain spot in the lush hedges, Caitlin was too busy taking in the sight of the various exotic plants. Though she didn't take a gulp out of fear after the pair walked past a huge Venus Fly Trap sitting in its own corner of the garden with a red 'BEWARE' sign.

"Don't worry, as long as you keep your distance, then it can't bite you."

"Gee, that's not at all frightening…" Kit-Cat sighed.

"Well, yeah, but thanks to one of the Scientists creating a new experimental mulch, it caused it to mutate with some very bad results." Michael explained.

"How bad?"

"The very same scientist lost his arm trying to feed it." He chuckled a bit as he saw Kit-Cat's face pale, "Don't worry, your Aunt was able to craft him a new replacement. Plus, we've made peace with it, we feed it dead rats and other failed test subjects while it leaves us alone."

"They haven't tried to-?" Kit-Cat imitated a pair of scissors with her free hand.

"Oh, we tried…" From trying to uproot, burn it and even using so many enhanced weed killers still couldn't kill the monstrosity. It was as if the thing was getting to adapt to each extermination attempt. His own mom was insistent that he tried, but he opted against the idea. He knew his powers were weird, but he didn't want to make the plant so stronger than him that it would potentially cause more trouble than it's already making.

"J-Just stay fifteen feet away, no, twenty tops just in case…" He warned.

"Noted, and…I've been meaning to ask, but you're still holding my wrist." She nudged her head to his warm grip.

"Shoot!" He must have been hurting her this whole time without realizing it, "I am so sorry, I completely forgot."

"No, it's fine, really. I mean it was weird at first, but I didn't really mind it as much." Kit-Cat smiled and shrugged.

"Well, if your fine then I guess I shouldn't stress over it then, now onto you..."

Taking a knee at a portion of the hedges near a brick walled fence, Michael effortlessly began pushing through the thick grassy bushes all while Caitlin explored the part of the garden that they were in.

Looking down at one of the many ponds that she first saw upon entering the labs, she spots many blue koi swimming about in the somewhat murky waters of the pond. Kneeling down, she curiously reached her hand out to feel one of their glistening strikingly blue scales.

Taking his attention away from the cleared hedge to look at her, in a panic, Michael rushed to her side and pulled her hand away, "Easy…"

"What?"

"You don't want to touch those trust me." He breathed out with a 'phew'.

Shuffling back with her in tow, he picks up a nearby rock and casually tosses it into the pond. The koi were swimming about in a panic then immediately a violent stream of crackling electricity. Even from a considerable distance, he can lightly feel some of the residual electricity prickle against his skin.

"W-What just happened?" The look on Kit-Cat's face was priceless.

"That my dear Kit-Cat is the lab's backup energy source, the Volt Koi." He dramatically presented the fish but quickly jumped back after seeing the pond start to flicker again, "By splicing the DNA of electrical eels with koi fish, a scientist was able to create such cool pets that provide bio-energy to power up the whole place in case of blackouts."

"T-That's amazing. I've read of the new practices of splicing animal DNA together, but I've never seen it put to action." Kit-Cat wondered aloud, "I mean, scientifically, I have heard of some rumors about some new hero who could merge animals together. So, who was the scientist, who did this?"

"Some weirdo name Milo, but we don't really talk about him after Uncle Finn fired him." Michael said.

"Seriously? And here I was hoping that I can see his work in action." Kit-Cat continued to marvel at the glowing pond of electrical koi.

"Don't feel too bad, the guy was always a bit trigger happy with his DNA splicing. Heck, he didn't even come up with the Volt Koi, my mom basically gave him the idea after his last failed experiment to splice an electrical eel and an attack dog failed." He walked over to opened hedges and began peeling off a medium sized metal plate attached to the brick wall.

"Makes sense since your mom is the labs top geneticist, a pointer from her must have been a good show of faith in his work." Kit-Cat said.

"When it came to my mother's good faith, he would bend over backwards to get it…" Michael shuddered as he bitterly repressed the thought. Some things that he found out were best left unsaid.

"What happened to the dog?" Kit-Cat asked, curiously looking at him get to work on whatever he was doing.

"The dog was supposed to channel its electricity to its teeth so it can stun criminals, but instead the electrical current accidentally stopped its heart." Michael shrugged.

"Aw, poor dog."

"Yeah, we tried burying it in the garden, but while some of the groundskeepers were digging, they accidentally left the dog near the…you know…" He jabbed his thumb back to the green monstrosity just sitting there, bidding its time for its next prey.

"Awww!" Kit-Cat moaned, sorrowfully.

"Yep, just don't mess with it, and you'll live longer. Now…shall we?" After finally prying the metal panel open, he gestured for her to go first.

"Shall we what?" Kit-Cat awkwardly looked around.

"Go get some food, c'mon." He grinned, "This leads to the outside of the facility, so we won't get caught by the guards up front." He's actually pretty proud of the opening, he made it a few years ago out of boredom and since then he's been able to get some fun out of his visits to L.A.

"Wait, so you want us to sneak behind your mom and my aunt's back just to buy some outside food?" Kit-Cat asked.

"Not just any outside food, Food Truck meals… There's this awesome Chicken and Waffles truck that just to die for!" He excitedly bounced over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "You'll love it…"

"But won't we get in trouble if they find out?"

"Only if we don't make it back quick enough and trust me, when they get knee deep into work, they don't suspect a thing." He laughed as he started crawling through the opening, "Now come on."

"I don't know…" She reluctantly looked to upper floors of the lab, worried that somehow her aunt is monitoring them.

"Hey," He stopped crawling to give her a big smile, hopefully it was confident enough to sway her, "We'll get back safely, and to make it official. I promise to protect you from any absolute harm with my life until we get back, okay?"

"…Pfft…" She laughed, why was she laughing? She patted his shoulder and urged him to crawl through first, "Alright, you don't have to act so serious, I'll trust you just don't play around like that, okay? You sounded serious there for a second."

"Caitlin," Michael looked back at her, no smile attached this time, "I am serious." He knew that he was basically getting Caitlin into one of his ploys, so its his responsibility to ensure her safety. Especially on the streets of L.A. Looks like his words did get to her this time because her reaction was that of stunned silence.

"I-I see, sorry…" She averted her gaze to the ground.

"Don't be, just wanted to be clear was all." He chuckled as he resumed his crawling with Caitlin following shortly behind him. Thankfully, the crawl through the wide opening was brief as pebbly dirt grated on their clothes as they found themselves crawling into a nearby alley to the side of the facility's main grounds.

Emerging from it, they were met with the zooming cars going down the Central L.A. streets while incredibly high skyscrapers stood high above almost touching the clouds. It was a usual sight for Michael, but when he looked at Kit-Cat's overwhelmed expression, he couldn't help but laugh at her.

It takes a poke to the cheek to break her out of her stupor, "A penny for your thought?" Which should be about a hundred pennies since she must have had so many things on her mind from the sight alone.

"Y-Yeah, sorry about that. I was this way during the car ride here and just wow!" She breathlessly looked at the busy streets filled with so many diverse people, "Its certainly not Antarctica, I'll give you that."

"Wait, you came from Antartica?" Michael gasped.

"Yup."

"How are you still alive?" Just the thought of such a place had him shivering at the thought, he'd be dead if he ever went there unprepared.

"Plenty and plenty of layers, and my mom's chicken soup." He nodded at that, but still, anyone who could live in such a hellish place was Superman in his book. Well, he wouldn't go that far, they couldn't possibly hope to match the awesomeness of Mr. Big Blue himself. Starting their walk, they made conversation as Kit-Cat mostly followed Michael down the sidewalk.

The food trucks were always a few blocks away from the lab at the same lot. Hopefully, they weren't too late to get there before a line starts. It would usually be way faster for him to just use his super speed to get there in secret, but with Kit-Cat at his side, he couldn't risk getting her into any trouble, well, more trouble than he's already putting her through.

"So, what made you come to this place besides the many amusement parks and celebrities?" He asked.

"Well, the amusement parks are a bonus, but I'd rather not meet my favorite movie actors. Afraid that meeting my heroes won't be as glamorous as I fantasized as a kid." Kit-Cat air quoted.

"Hah, you wish, if I had the chance to meet my hero, I bet he'll be cooler than I even imagined." The chances of that are low because what are the chances that the Justice League will actually come to Los Angeles much less go to a peaceful city like Rialto.

At best, the most common crime around the two cities was the standard street level stuff. Batman would be cool to meet too, but quite honestly, he doesn't quite see the vigilante ever moving his main station of crimefighting away from Gotham. And to be frank that's probably a good thing because that crazy city needs all the help it could get when it comes to crime. There's also the fact that he's a bit intimidated by the masked hero, and who wouldn't be. Just hearing rumors of the guy and seeing any short vids of him doing his brand of 'work' on the web just proves how much of a presence he has.

"I came here because I've always been closer to Aunt Katelyn than my other relatives. Plus, she sometimes reminds me of my mom." Kit-Cat scratched her neck and wistfully sighed.

"Makes sense." If Aunt Kate reminded her of her mother, then its logical to conclude that she was no longer with us. Michael frowned, so she must've moved here because of that, eh? Well, he won't pry her for more on that. Besides it would probably be a good idea to shift the topic towards something else, "So what's your dad like?" He didn't get a response right away, but still kept the question rolling.

"I've heard that from Aunt Kate that she has a brother, so what's he like?"

"He's…" The tone of Kit-Cat's voice sounded bitter as he looked her way to notice her narrowed eyes lost in thought, "…Fine…I guess…" Daddy issues then? Man, she must REALLY be going through a lot. Explains why she's doesn't share the same Ivo surname as Aunt Kate. He should probably steer clear of that topic too, geez, its like he's navigating across a verbal minefield at this point.

"Neat, hey, look here!" He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pressed his cheek to hers.

"What the hell?" Kit-Cat jumped a bit out of surprise, then rubbed her eyes after experiencing a sharp flash of light.

"There now we can commemorate our first act of teenage rebellion as friend together." He laughed, now that was a way to lighten the mood.

"A little warning would have sufficed." Kit-Cat rubbed her eyes, but lightly laughed herself as well upon seeing the photo on Michael's phone.

See? Now wasn't the time to be hung up on some angst, it was a time of joy where they should try to uplift each other as frie-holy crap, he should definitely send a pic of that to Jeff! He's going to be SO jealous!

"Sorry got a little excited. Now lets talk about something fun like heroes. Who's your favorite?" He giddily smiled as he intently watched her. She must be wracking for an answer because she was getting wound up in thought.

"Lets just say I don't have a favorite, but what's yours." She nervously laughed.

"Easy, Superman." Unzipping his black hoodie, he proudly puffed out his chest to reveal the Man of Steel's logo on his blue shirt, "He's honestly the best one."

"Yep, he's beats basically any other hero in terms of his powers, so I guess he's the best when you look at him that way." Kit-Cat explained so matter of fact, "I mean, the news have told us that he's some alien from outer space, so he has that going for him."

"Yeah, but isn't he cool despite all of that stuff?" Michael's smile slowly fell, she must see why Superman's such a great hero like he does, right?

"I guess, but isn't he sort of old fashioned for today's standards?"

"Yep, and that's why he's so cool." Michael laughed, she must be getting the gist of what he means now.

"Y-Yeah, I guess I sort of see that." Or not, based on her irked expression.

So, she was in the same boat as Jeff when it came to how they view the big guy. Welp, he can't sway just anyone that quickly. He'll just have to keep believing and trying to finally get them to see what he means eventually. After all, he's also free to do what he wants despite what others may think.

Their walk across central Los Angeles was pleasant enough even while passing a few oddballs here and there. He doesn't know why, but for some strange reason, he freaked after walking past a bald man with a skull tattooed to his face and not to even mention his ghastly choice in black contact lenses that made him look like a poor knock of Jack Skellington. Besides from that the overall experience of just getting to know each other was nice.

It wasn't until, Michael noticed the bulge in his pocket, and no not that kind of bulge, you naughty, naughty boys and girls. The pocket holding that weird weapon that the punk, who kidnapped Rose was using. He now had the chance to figure things out, and just in time too as the food trucks finally came into view with a long line. It was actually the first time he's happy that he was late to order some Chicken and Waffles.

Crossing another street to finally reach the lot, the pair looked around all of the many options that each truck had to offer. But while Kit-Cat was too engrossed about which one to start with, Michael was more concerned about how to give her the slip without looking like an asshole and breaking his promise to her in the process.

But low and behold, a symphony of sirens could be heard coming their way along with some violent banging. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, he could tell that they would be coming to their vicinity at any moment. Must have been a few ambulances or police cars, he didn't really pay the situation much mind because now he had a perfect excuse.

When they get close enough, he'll tell Kit-Cat that he'll see what's happening while she waits in line. Its short and simple, and to make it quick, he'll duck into an alley and his zoom through the many alleys around them for some answers. Five minutes should be enough and believable before returning to her.

Great, now he actually has a plan. Now its time to execute it.

"Wow, they even make falafel here…" Kit-Cat murmured to herself and turned to him, "So what are you going to get?"

"Pfft, Chicken and waffles, but you know…" He trailed off in faux reluctance, and cue the sirens. The loud disturbance garnered everyone's attention. Perfect.

"What's that all about?" Kit-Cat asked.

"Good question, say why don't you stay in line while I go and che-!" Wait a minute, the sounds of sirens were getting drowned out by some rumbling and the banging only grew worse. What exactly was going on?

"Michael?" Kit-Cat called him, but he was too busy focusing on the growing rumbling as the very earth beneath began to shake rather violently. What's with the sudden earthquake and since when did the sky get so dark, it's the middle of the afternoon!

"Michael!?" Kit-Cat screamed, stunned after getting a glimpse of the sight above.

Wait a minute…

"MOVE!" As he reached to push Kit-Cat away, Michael's cry was soon drowned out by the thunderous sounds of metal crashing and glass breaking against the lot's asphalt.