In the Room with a Bat and a Speed Demon

Chloe winced when he stopped talking, "Sometimes bad things happen to good people." She said softly and knowingly after all she had seen what fate had dealt her far too often too suggest otherwise.

"I get that, a lot." Pietro nodded sadly. "My dad survived the Holocaust as a kid but the rest of his family was killed in one of the concentration camps. It changed him a lot, and not for the better. He seems to be doing better now but I haven't spoken to him much recently."

Bruce stood up and quickly left the room without a sound. He'd check up on her later.

Chloe watched Bruce leave and bit her lip, "I don't know what that's like but my mother she turned herself into a mental institution, I didn't find out about her reason why until much later when I was in high school. She has the ability to control other meteor infected people and one day she ordered me to wash my hands until the ink came off....she came back later to find me rubbing my hands raw so that they were bleeding. The following week she left because she knew if she stayed she might hurt me, the other thing with her ability is that she's comatose and there's no cure....even with my ability I can't save her." She said.

Pietro watched Bruce leave. He supposed Bruce wanted to be alone. He turned back to Chloe.


"That sucks. My mother died when I was born, but I don't know what she would do if she had ever hurt me or my sister. My father said she was a very loving person. Your mom must have really cared for you."

She smiled sadly, "She did...when I was younger I didn't understand it but she sacrificed everything for me. After that I was raised by my uncle, became a reporter and then a member of the JLA." She said fondly as she remembered her times as a reporter.

Pietro smiled. "I'll bet you had a lot of great experiences before it got too terrifying." Pietro said jokingly.

She laughed, "Well you could say that I'm a danger magnet or at least that's what Clark is always saying. When we were in high school, it seemed every other week something disastrous would happen and I would be caught in the middle. I think that's why he made sure I learned how to protect myself." She said with a little laugh.

Pietro grinned cheekily. "When I was in high school, my crew and I were the ones causing most of the disasters." Pietro laughed lightly.

She laughed, "I wish I could have seen that." She said with a smile, "We might have had interesting encounters." She said as she thought about it.

Pietro smirked. "Yeah we could have had a time. Unfortunately for you I have recently decided to turn over a new leaf. So the time we could have had is very different from the one we will have."

She rolled her eyes, "Too bad, I'm sure our encounters would have been legendary." She said with a giggle.

"You have no idea, but I need to learn how to be in a relationship. I promised a woman named Kara that I was going to learn to grow-up. Now I don't know much about Kara herself, but I do know her husband Wolverine, and Wolverine, who is very bad-ass and dangerous, would not marry someone who wasn't just as bad-ass and dangerous as him. So I am going to respect that promise. No matter how much I would like to." Pietro smirked as he looked her over from across the room.

She blushed as she guessed exactly what he was implying when he said that, "Well, I hope you can find that special someone." She said sincerely.

Pietro smiled and nodded. "Thanks, me too. And I hope I can keep from screwing it up, like I always seem to do."

She smiled, "Just treat her like she is the most precious and always show her you love her, and that doesn't mean having sex. There are other ways of how you can show affection." She said

Pietro nodded. "I know that here." Pietro tapped his head. "But I've always shown affection physically, even with family, when I show my sisters I care I hug and with others it just seems to escalate, that's why I only touched your hand when we meet. I have trouble keeping my hands to myself so in general I'm going to start keeping my hand to myself."

She smiled, "Well at least you know your limits, some men wouldn't know a boundary even if it hit them in the face." She said with a chuckle.

Pietro smiled and bowed his head jokingly. "Thank you. I'm trying to learn. Getting control of my hormones is the first step for me, I think."

"Hats off to you then, its a good first step to tackle." She said and took a gulp of her coffee. After she swallowed she studied him, "So any other goals you're pursuing while you're here?" She asked

Pietro thought for a moment. "I guess... Maybe to stop being so angry and grounded in my past. My father and my past with him have been such a big deal I guess I want to let go some. And survive of course." Pietro grinned.

She smiled, "Yes surviving is a good goal, as for your other goals I wish you luck." She said and drank some more of her coffee.

"Thanks. I'm going to head out, let you rest or wander around, or whatever. Have a good night and welcome." Pietro smiled as he headed to his own room.

"Bye." She said softly and watched him go, already she was starting to miss talking to either Bruce or Pietro. She sighed, well this wouldn't do, she needed a distraction from her thoughts.