"Elizabeth Archer! Get down here right now and get your brother out of this... this thing!" I shouted up the stairs.

I was looking at my son who was imprisoned by his own shadow. His mouth was covered by a lightless hand, a perfect copy of his own minus the color.

Clark had been arguing with her all morning about who would get to wear what color armor. Elizabeth took it a little extreme and took control of the shadow Clark's tiny body cast on the wall.

"You can't steal the pattern I made!" was the last thing Clark shouted before the shade forced his mouth closed.

I managed to pry the thing away from his mouth, but only long enough for it to chase him around the house until it caught him again.

It is surprisingly difficult to run away from your own shadow.

"The ground hog makes it look easy," Elizabeth said as she walked back down the stairs, her eyes still wet with tears.

"You know I don't like it when you read someone's mind. It's a violation of their privacy."

"I'm sorry. I don't know how to turn it off," she sobbed.

The shadow began to squeeze on Clark's head harder. They were responding to Elizabeth's mood.

"Elizabeth, you're hurting Clark. I need you to free him," I asked calmly. I was trying my best to not to make her mood any worse.

"I don't know how! I just wanted him to be quiet! And... I'm sorry."

Clark tried to run towards us. The pain must have been too much to handle. The shadow moved from the wall to the floor, it's arms still firmly grasped around his head.

His eyes rolled into the back of his head and began to glow green. I grabbed onto Elizabeth and braced for the impact.

The force threw us through the stairs and into a tree in the backyard.

"Elizabeth! Are you hurt?" I asked the child that was cradled in my arms.

She stood up and brushed the wood off of her black leather jacket.

"Clark's free," she grumbled.

She glared at the four sentinels her brother had morphed into.

Half of the house was a crater after the blast. Clark's power was growing at an alarming rate. Both of their abilities seemed to compete. One's abilities supercharged the others and that made their arguments turn into literal explosions.

I wasn't prepared to be a mom. I had no idea what I was doing and I couldn't figure out how to prepare them for a world that will never accept them.

Never accept us.

"I'll go get Archy," Elizabeth said and walked through the gate.

"Elizabeth, it's late. You should wait for me and your brother, then we can all go together."

"I'll be fine, Mom. This is the safest place in the world, remember? It's going to take you like an hour to get those four idiots back in one body anyways," she pointed out.

"You called me mom!" I smiled back at her.

"Don't get used to it! Still gotta pay for those four years you missed!" she shouted and disappeared over the hill. 

She was a little less understanding than Clark about my mysterious arrival as her mother. Somehow she didn't believe that our matching red hair was enough proof that I was her mother. I half didn't believe I was their mother.

"How do you forget having twins?" was one question that I knew everyone would ask.

Being brainwashed to do the bidding of an evil billionaire tends to make you forget the important stuff. If it wasn't for those images, the ghosts of the past, then I would have never known about them.

Recently, I had gone to visit the hospital to see if there was any records of me giving birth. When I walked into one of the hospital rooms, I saw myself being laid down on a hospital bed. My stomach was round and ready to burst.

I watched as I gave birth to two beautiful babies while Scavenger was my subjected to my death grip. I named Elizabeth after the mother I never met, only to be the mother she thought she'd never have. Scavenger named Clark after the hero he wished he had been.

"Clark, can you come here please?" I said after I shook my memories off.

The fire version of Clark walked forward while the three others stayed back.

"All of you please," I clarified.

They all joined me outside as the back half of the house fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry, mommy. They come out when I get scared," the voice echoed across the four of them in unison.

Their expressions were always difficult to read. They normally held the same blank expression on the barely visible face hidden behind layers of rock, air, fire, or water. 

"It's okay, Clark. I'm not mad. I'm just surprised at how powerful you two are getting. It's why I asked Archy to build us a place out here where we could be alone and you and Elizabeth can be free to express yourselves.

Now can you try to morph back into one? It gets difficult talking to four of you at once," I smiled and hoped he was calm enough to suppress his abilities.

They all nodded their heads, then looked at each other. They made a circle connecting hands with each other. I looked away as the flash lit up the area and when I looked back, Clark was covered in soot and wood.

"Are you going to change your mind about letting us tell people about our powers? And that Scavenger's our dad?" he asked.

Tears were slowly filling his eyes.

"I don't think you two are ready. Just a little longer okay? I just don't want anyone getting hurt and the less they know the more protected you two are."

He calmly nodded his head with his lips pressed tight in a frown.

"Hey, chin up. Look how far you've come since that cave. You got them to go away on command. That's the first time that's worked!" I tried to cheer him up.

He smiled faintly before more parts of the ceiling fell to the ground behind him.

"Wow! I've never seen it this bad. I don't think I'm going to be able to fix this all tonight," Archy whistled.

He walked in through the gate with Elizabeth on his shoulders.

"Archy!" Clark screamed and ran up to hug him.

"You got here fast. Elizabeth just left to get you," I asked with a questioning look in my eyes.

Archy pulled Clark into his arms and both kids giggled in excitement. I saw that Archy's eyes lit up after hearing Clark's and Elizabeth's laugh.

I only see him laugh around the kids since Elly's capture, I thought with sadness.

"I was actually on my over here when I saw the light show coming from over the hill. Elizabeth ran into me on the path."

"He means I scared the poo out of him," she laughed.

She laughed so hard that she nearly fell off of his shoulders.

"Was she hiding in the dark again?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I wasn't expecting her to be so much like her dad and be able to hide inside my shadow," he smiled and scratched his head nervously.

He set Elizabeth on the ground and walked over to what remained of the house.  He closed his eyes and held out his arms with his palms down.

The shattered wood began to melt into the little glowing snowflakes that powered Archy's abilities. A sea of the stuff flowed from wall to wall, leaving the Light behind to regrow into the things they once were.

What was left of the sea was a little less than a puddle, which Archy absorbed into his body.

"Thank you again, Archy. Wait, you said you were on your way here. Did you need something?" I asked as we walked into the house.

He nodded uncomfortably and I knew it was going to be about Elly. He sat down on a sofa that was still reforming.

"Kids, time to get ready for bed," I shouted over the sound of wood creaking and regrowing.

"But, mom! Archy just got here," they complained.

"You're going to need a good night's sleep if you want to be awake for school tomorrow," I laughed as they exchanged an excited glance with each other.

"You mean it? I thought you said we weren't ready," Clark asked.

He suddenly was unable to sit down.

"I think it's time for the training wheels to come off."

They both jumped off the couch and sprinted up the stairs to get ready for bed.

"Thank you. Thank you. Goodnight, mom," Clark squealed and ran past Elizabeth who had stopped half way up and was looking down at us.

"I love you, mom. See you tomorrow," she said, then followed Clark up the stairs.

My heart warmed and my cheeks burned from being stretched for so long. It broke when I saw the grim look on Archy's face.

"You only have that look when you're about to give me bad news."

He began to speak but retreated to regather his thoughts.

He finally began with, "Mother thinks that a rescue mission to save Elly and Scavenger isn't worth the risk of losing any more Alpha team members."

"The nerve of that woman sometimes!" I screamed in a whisper.

"I know. Both of them traded their lives so that others could live a free life and she won't let us repay them," he slammed his fist on the edge of the couch.

"So what does she want us to do? Sit and wait until Atom lets them leave?" I asked.

He nodded slowly. He was doing his best to hold back his emotions.

"Sometimes the rules are just recommendations," I said as an idea sprouted in my mind.

"You have a plan, don't you?" the smile returned to his face and he shot out of his seat almost as fast as my children did.

"I'll get the minivan," he said with excitement.

"I'll call the sitter," I replied.