▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐓𝐰𝐨 ━︎━︎ 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐃𝐨 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑 had noticed the cut that was still bleeding on her mothers cheek, she was quick to drag the woman to her bedroom, cleaning up even though Aphrodite claimed she could do it herself. Artemis continued to gently pat at the cut, glancing at her mother who was staring blankly off into space. While getting the supplies, Artemis was quick to be filled in on what had happened. Artemis knew that her mother was sitting there, blaming herself for not getting to Lorna. She always blamed herself for something she never had any control over.

     "Don't do that." Artemis softly spoke, moving the wet cloth from the cut and looking at her mother. Aphrodite blinked, turning her attention towards her daughter, giving her a small frown.

     "Do what?"

     The seventeen year old gave her mother a knowing look before answering her. "Blame yourself for something you couldn't control." She took Neosporin, placing it on her mother's cheek, already knowing she wasn't going to wear a bandage over the cut because she absolutely despised the things.

     "I'm―︎"

     "You are." Artemis said with a soft sigh, pulling away once she was finished and fully looking at her mother. "You do it every time, mama. You blame yourself for everything that goes wrong. I wouldn't even be surprised if you blame yourself for something you weren't even present for." Her mother bit the inside of her cheek, looking down at her hands. "What happened out there was not your fault, alright? Lorna would have rather you get Marcos to safety than give her the time of day."

     "I know." Aphrodite said with a small sigh. She looked at her daughter, offering her a gentle smile. "I thought the roles were supposed to be switched here. I'm supposed to be the one telling you everything's alright, not the other way around."

     Artemis gave a small laugh. "It is. But, I felt you needed me to be the parent today." Aphrodite chuckled, shaking her head slightly before grabbing her daughter's hand, giving it a small squeeze.

     "I love you, Art."

     She gave her mother a kiss on her cut before saying, "I love you too, mom."

     Aphrodite gave her a small smile before asking, "How'd that Neosporin taste?"

     "Pretty disgusting."

     Aphrodite laughed, Artemis joining her. "Yeah, thought so."

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

━︎━︎━︎━︎"𝐒𝐎, 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐍 attack happened at a high school." John spoke as he walked up to Aphrodite who was sitting on one of the many couches with Zingo's head in her lap. She ran her fingers through the dog's fur, a gentle smile on her lips before watching as John took a seat beside her. "They claimed that they suspected it was two young mutants, and that federal authorities were getting involved."

     "We know who it is yet?" Aphrodite questioned, glancing at the man. He shook his head in response and a soft sigh fell from the woman's.

     "Well, let's hope that we find them before those idiot cops do." Aphrodite answered tucking a strand behind her ear as she glanced back towards the dog. She moved her hand from Zingo's fur, watching as the dog jumped up and ran off to another room. Aphrodite's eyes roamed around the institute, watching as other mutants messed with their powers and talked with others. "Did we ever find the name of the fugitive?"

     "Clarice." He answered her, making the woman nod her head. The two sat there in comfortable silence, John scanning the girl's face. "Aph." He spoke, making the redhead turn towards him, raising an eyebrow.

     "Yes, John?"

     "Are you alright?" He questioned the girl.

     "I always am." She answered.

     "Aph." He tried again.

     "Don't worry about me, Johnny Boy." Aphrodite spoke, giving the male a small smile. "I promise I'm alright." She gave him a pat on the thigh before standing up and running her hands through her hair, "I'm going to go find my sister if you need me." With that the woman walked away, John's eyes following her before he softly sighed to himself, standing up and going to work on things in order to help the institute.

     Sonya glanced up, smiling gently when she saw Aphrodite. "Hey." Aphrodite gave her the smallest of smiles, sitting down beside of her. "Hey, everything alright? I heard what happened."

     "It will be once we get Lorna back." Aphrodite nodded.

     "I know that look." Sonya shook her head. "Aph, don't do anything stupid. Please. We all want Lorna back just as much as you do, but we have to come up with a strategic plan to get her back that won't get one of us killed, alright?" She placed a hand on her sisters shoulder. "Trust me on this." Aphrodite closed her eyes and nodded her head.

      "Listen, you're exhausted, go rest, I'll make sure your daughter gets her training in for today." Aphordite thanked her sister before standing up and entering her room, laying down and almost immediately falling asleep only to be woken up as night fall started to hit.

     "Aph." It was John. Aphrodite didn't open her eyes as she used her powers to pull the door open. She hummed. "I need your help. It's Marcos." And immediately she sat up. John was quick to explain to her what happened, how he had gotten a phone call and went alone to go help some family. And like Aphrodite always did, she complained the entire way, and Clarice found it quite amusing.

     "I like you." Clarice chuckled.

     Aphrodite smile. "I like you too. Your eyes are really cool and so is your hair. John is boring though, I don't like him."

     "Thanks for that." John scoffed. The sound of police sirens grabbed their attention, and immediately they knew that they had found Marco. Aphrodite quickly forced the double doors open to reveal Marcos and the Strucker family standing on the other side with cops blocking their only way out.

     "Come on!" John shouted. And immediately Marcos ordered for the family to go, following after John, Clarice, and Aphrodite who were running through the building. Marcos was quick to follow after them, all of them turning corners until Aphrodite saw John stop to listen. He watched as some kind of weapon crawled out of its home and headed towards them.

     "They're coming!" John yelled. "That way! Go! To the hallway!" The group did as he asked, turning a corner and running down one of the hallways. Andy, the son of the family, tripped, falling to the ground. His mother stopped to grab him, John helping him up as well and quickly pushing them away when one of the weapons clutched onto his angle, causing him to let out a cry of pain. Aphrodite and Marcos were quick to look back before running over to him. Marcos used his powers to fry the creature whilst Aphrodite forced her wisps to wrap around the weapon until they managed to get it off of John. Although it seemed to have been fried to death, they watched as it got back up.

     "Go." Aphrodite said, taking a step back. "Go!" And the three went running. They ran and ran until they were forced to stop, one of the mechanical creatures crawling on top of the ceiling of the pathway that they were about to take, causing the father of the Strucker family to yell at them to go another way. However, the way they went was a dead end. John tried to punch through the wall whilst Aphrodite and Marcos kept a look out, watching as the mechanical weapons appeared.

     "They're on the other side." John suddenly mumbled before saying louder, "They're on the other side!"

     "Here they come!" Marcos warned before using his powers to burn the creatures. Purple surrounded Aphrodite's hands as she shot her wisps at them, sending them flying backwards only for them to get back up and come running again. She clenched her jaw before her eyes glowed and she forced her powers around two of them, watching as her powers started tearing them apart piece by piece until they fell to the ground. Aphrodite glanced over her shoulder when Lauren, the daughter, used her powers as a shield, keeping the creature from coming any closer.

     "Clarice, you gotta get us out of here." John told the woman, causing her to snap her head towards him.

     "What do you mean?"

     "You got yourself out of the prison, you can get us out of here."

     Clarice shook her head. "No, it's different. I can't see where I'm going. It's too dangerous."

     "Alright, well, we will die if we stay here, can you please just do it?" Marcos begged.

     "They're getting through!" Lauren grunted, clenching her jaw as she tried to keep the creatures back.

     "Hold on, I got you." Aphrodite told the girl before forcing her powers to surround Lauren's shield, strengthening it long enough for Clarice to make a portal. John was the first to go in, and then Lauren and her mother, leaving Aphrodite to leave the shield up by herself. And then Marcos grabbed onto Aphrodite, forcing her to drop the shield as he threw both of them through the portal.

But Andy stood there, bringing his hands up into fists and causing the weapons to float in the air before completely obliterating them with a yell. Then Andy was thrown through by his father and before Reed could make it through, he was shot. He fell to the ground, his children and wife screaming out for him. Aphrodite got up to go grab the man but John held onto her, causing her to look at him with wide and confused eyes before Clarice fell through the portal, causing it to close and for her to pass out with Marcos catching her before she hit the ground.