The return of The Doctor has brought a strange sense of darkness to the home of Aurelia Hall and Clara Jarrett. In the one and a half week since Aurelia Hall received the harsh news of his return, she's barely had a proper conversation with her aunt except for questions at dinner which are left unanswered or are answered half-heartedly. Even on patrol, Lumen covers the less dangerous areas of Ann Arbor while the older, more experienced hero (that is, Lumière) took on the more dangerous parts of the city.

There's other things too. The past week Clara has been getting progressively harsher against the criminals of their city. Beating them up, burning them with the fire of her hands and sending at least three of them to the hospital while she works on tracking the monster that is Anthony Harmon. Her aunt thinks Aurelia doesn't know this, but she does. Aurelia is smart enough to notice the changes in her aunt's behaviour and the distance she is trying to create. Clara Jarrett has almost given into her darkness and the trauma she still carries.

And Aurelia knows and notices. So there's only one thing left to do. It's time to stage an intervention for Clara.

Tonight has been a night of surprisingly no crime in the city, or so she thinks. Clara might have been dealing with the creeps of this city and she will keep whatever she does a secret, but Aurelia will figure it out. She has to. Aurelia has returned back to their apartment, ten minutes before their stipulated reporting time (this may seem a bit too regulated, but they are hero and sidekick and they need some form of regulation to stop them from being reckless).

She sits in the living room on the main couch, with her mask kept on the centre table. Aurelia still wears the rest of the Lumen outfit, especially the dark, hooded cloak that completes her look. She loves the cloak, a lot, and the symbol that is carved on its back (the drawing of a phoenix rising from the ashes). Clara has a similar cloak but it doesn't have anything on its back, except for the letter 'L' in beautiful gold lettering.

Aurelia fiddles with her phone for a couple of seconds as she texts Dick, asking how he is and how patrol is going for him (it's going amazing and he's already taken out a whole group of thugs without Batman's help; she feels proud of him and tells him so). Ten minutes pass like that, with a combination of texting, playing Temple Run and listening to Avril Lavigne's newest songs.

Then she hears a clicking noise and her eyes shot up as Clara appears in front of her, holding her mask in one hand and clutching her nose with the other as blood drips from it. It seeps through her fingers as she stumbles and falls on the opposing couch with a slight groan.

"Clara, what the fuck? What happened to you?!" Aurelia shrieks as she rushes over to her aunt. "Who did this to you?"

As Clara drops her hand from her face, Aurelia sees her nose is completely broken. On top of that, the blood hasn't stopped falling and now covers half of her aunt's lips like some disgusting lipstick, while the rest of it dribbles down her chin.

Clara doesn't answer the question. Instead, she groans in pain as she motions towards the kitchen. "First aid kit...get...get it now."

Without asking a question, Aurelia runs towards the kitchen. She quickly turns on the light switch and opens the small cupboard right next to the fridge. The top shelf has old crockery and glasses while the bottom one contains the first aid box, which she needs at the moment. She grabs the box and rushes out, back into the living room.

Clara is holding her head upwards, trying to stop any further bleeding. Aurelia crouches in front of her aunt and opens the first aid box. She takes out the cotton and starts to wipe the blood on her aunt's lips and chin before she takes another piece of cotton, tears it into two and stuffs them into Clara's nose. Then Aurelia raises her hand in the direction of Clara's nose and mumbles, "Frigus." Cold

Her hand glows a pale blue as Clara shudders in relief. The cold spell undeniably works as the older woman lets out another sigh of relief. Aurelia's work isn't finished though. Her aunt's nose is still broken; so she raises her hand again and mutters another spell. "Restauro." Restoration

She drops her hand to her side as the spell does its work. Once her nose is healed and back to its original state, Aurelia lets out a sigh of relief. Clara has her eyes closed as she leans back into the couch. They stay in silence for a bit as Aurelia sits in front of her aunt on the floor while framing the question (or rather questions) she wants to ask.

"Don't think I am letting you leave this room without answers, Auntie C," is the first thing Aurelia says. "Whatever the hell has happened tonight is a result of whatever has been going this past week. You've been getting increasingly violent like you've been copying Batman. You freaking sent three goons to the hospital! Which is bad because you are not supposed to be like this! You've been keeping things from me and I want to know why."

"Aurelia..." Clara says as she looks at her with slightly regretful eyes. "You can't..."

"I can't, what Clara?" Aurelia asks with a dark look. "I'm not a kid anymore, alright?. I'm going to turn sixteen in two weeks, I'll be going to college in two years and on top of that, I have known you my entire life. You've basically raised me. So yeah, I can see you're hiding something from me just because you think I'm not mature enough. But I am. So you better tell me what's wrong before I use charmspeak on you. Because I will."

"Alright, alright," Clara says defensively. "I know you're not a kid anymore, Lia, I know!" She holds her face in her hands like she suddenly regrets something. "There were so many things I had to keep from you because I thought I was protecting you. But maybe...I was wrong. You're strong, Lia. Much stronger than I ever was," she finishes with a whisper.

She looks at Aurelia, green eyes staring into green. "You deserve someone better than me."

"Uh, that is not what I was going for," Aurelia stares back at Clara, feeling slightly confused (although still a bit angry). "You're totally awesome and cool and I deserve you. I'm just angry at the fact that you think that I am too young or immature to know things. I just want the truth, without any omission."

"And you deserve that," Clara replies as she pushes a strand of her pure white hair to the back. "I'll tell you everything, I swear."

"Okay. Okay." After a beat, Aurelia looks at her aunt again, looking at her now healed face. Small specks of blood still dot her chin but those will be gone as soon as Clara takes a shower. "What exactly happened to you tonight?"

"Oh nothing much," Clara says with an almost nonchalant tone. "Just The Doctor ambushed me and since I wasn't expecting that, I got thrown into a wall."

"Wait what?!" Aurelia exclaims. "Clara, are you being serious? Tell me you aren't."

"If I did, I'd be lying to you, sweetheart. So yeah, I am serious. I'd forgotten how much his attacks hurt."

"Clara..."

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow night..."

"Tomorrow night what?"

"Tomorrow night, we go see his old lab. That's our priority for now. That place should be locked down. I made sure of that."

"We'll do that and you tell me everything about him too, but for now. You need to rest. ASAP. Just because I healed you doesn't mean you get to be reckless, like you always are."

"I am not reckless!" Clara protests. "When have I ever been reckless?"

"I could give you a list if you want," Aurelia replies with a shrug of her shoulders. "I do actually have one. You are one of the most stubborn and reckless people I know. There's literally so many situations where you could have gotten hurt because you decided it would be fun to go into a fight without any plan. And don't forget the times you overuse your magic and-"

"Alright, alright, stop!" Clara ruffles Aurelia's hair as she gets up from the couch. "I get you. I need to think before I do things."

"Yeah exactly." Aurelia places an arm around her aunt's shoulder, supporting her as she helps her walk towards her bedroom. She knows she's healed most of Clara's injuries, but she still needs to be careful with her. Like she said before, Clara Jarett is one of the most reckless people she knows. And Aurelia is willing to bet a hundred dollars that her aunt is going to do something stupid and get herself injured later on. (that was completely rhetorical, by the way. Aurelia doesn't actually have a hundred dollars)

Aurelia helps Clara to her unlit bedroom and helps the older woman in removing the cloak she is wearing. Clara simply tosses it on the bed and sits on it, only to completely collapse. She mumbles a 'good night' before she's out like a rock, leaving Aurelia staring at her sleeping figure. Clara's white hair scatters around her head as she falls into the world of her dreams (a.k.a. sleep). Aurelia lifts her hand and murmurs a quick spell. The blanket immediately covers her aunt's body.

Aurelia smiles faintly as she watches her aunt fall asleep (and potentially dream) before she quietly exits the room. She's going to let her aunt rest today. Her questions can wait, but she will get her answers. She's sure of it.

All afternoon, Aurelia sits and listens as Clara recounts the tale of her encounters with the Doctor. She describes him as manipulative, cruel, unkind and destructive. It's because of him, the security near the university area was increased a bit because he nearly destroyed a few buildings on campus once. Clara had only stumbled onto his lab by pure accident as she tailed him, after another one of their fights.

As Clara tells her the story of how she finally beat him (a.k.a. the day Aurelia's parent's died alongside three others), she tenses up and freezes, almost as though she is scared of the man she is facing. But she's probably not. Because it's Clara. She's Lumière. She's a member of the Justice League. She's probably just unnerved and guilty (even if Aurelia tells her that what happened that day wasn't her fault).

"Where's his lab?" That's the first question Aurelia asks as Clara gets over with the story. "We should go there now and find him."

"We can go there, but you have to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"You have to be careful, Lia. I know you're trained well and you're strong, but this guy...he's nothing like the people you've faced till now. One mistake and he could easily kill you."

"Listen, if Dick and Bruce can face off against Joker, Scarecrow or the Riddler without having superpowers, I am sure we can beat this guy with our magic."

"I know we can. But the Doctor...he can get under your skin. He has a way with words that will leave you so angry that you start going completely physical on him, forgetting your power and using your fists." Clara's eyes grow darkly nostalgic, as though remember something really evil. "Trust me on this."

"I trust you. I promise," Aurelia answers. Stories aren't enough to give her experience. She wants to fight him to see why Clara is so...scared (if that's the correct word) of him. Her aunt has always been a bit reckless, so it definitely be easier to get under her skin. But Aurelia's not like that. She's not reckless and she prides herself on being relatively cool headed and whelmed, as Dick would say.

"Let's go," Clara stands up from the couch and with a wave of her hand, she is in her Lumière costume. She pulls up the hood of her cloak as she says, "It's almost sundown already."

Aurelia stands up and stares out the living room window in surprise. "I didn't realise we had been talking for that long..." She also waves her hand and feels her costume take form over her body. The tingling feeling passes through her and then she stands up straight. She taps the side of her face to feel the mask that is stuck to her skin.

Clara (now in Lumière form) holds out her hand. "Let's go, Lia."

Aurelia takes it and without even saying a word, Clara teleports them to the place. (when will she be able to do this?), the orange and golden glow of the spell surrounding them.

The street or the area they arrive in, is almost abandoned. It's akin to the warehouse they visited a while ago as they were tracking down the arms dealers. There's nothing homely about this place, except for the trees that somewhat make up for the mild darkness that this place radiates. It's been abandoned and even walking here during the sunset time, gives Aurelia the creeps. The few homes that dot this place are abandoned and boarded shut and there's remnants of yellow tape surrounding their entrance. That's not even all of it. Almost all the houses have a strange rock structures erupting from the ground around them.

There's something else about this place though, to Aurelia. She stares at one of the houses, trying to figure out why it feels so familiar and why this street almost feels like home. 'Why do I get a feeling this place is something important? Should I ask Clara?' "Lumière, listen-"

But Clara was already many feet ahead of her, almost speed-walking to the end of the street, past the shutterd houses and the weird rock structures. "Lumière, wait!" She called out as she ran to catch up with her. When she fell into pace with Clara, she slowed down her steps and walked at the same speed as her. "This place feels kinda weird, you know? Like something really bad happened here and those rock formations in the front yards? They unnerve me a lot,"

"Me too, Lumen. Me too," Clara mumbles in reply. The sun has almost descended from the sky as they arrive at the end of the street. Beyond the clump of trees that are located near the end, Aurelia can see a bunch of...

"Warehouses? Why are there warehouses this close to a residential area?"

"There were more of storage houses per se," Clara tells her. "For the iron and steel works of the city, but seeing as they were located on the opposite end of the city, it was becoming unprofitable to have these here. So they were abandoned and new ones were constructed near the iron works themselves."

"Don't tell me the Doctor built his lab here," Aurelia stated bluntly. "A villain with an abandoned warehouse as the base? That would be cliched as heck."

"Well, he did build his lab in one of these so," Clara answers with a shrug. Aurelia groans and almost facepalms. What's with villains and abandoned warehouses? Do all villains coordinate when it comes to building their bases?

"Come on," Clara holds out her hand. "We should hurry up."

Aurelia takes it and feels the familiar tingle of the teleportation spell. She closes her eyes and when she opens them again, she finds herself in the middle of a wide, and even more abandoned looking road. She stands in front of one of the many warehouses that dot this place with Clara, who's already walking forward and opening the massive metallic doors with a mere wave of her hand. Stepping into the place was like stepping into a hidden, secret world.

It was empty, save for a few obsolete pieces of rusted factory equipment, (hopefully) empty storage containers. The warehouse basically looked like a place from a dystopian movie, the dark grey and iron walls rusted and useless as the equipment they housed. Beams stretched high over their heads.

Even as they walk further inside, with Aurelia almost clutching onto Clara, they see newer equipment near the back, easily distinguishable due to the lack of rust.

Aurelia sees it first. It's strange and out of place, especially in an old storage area. A strangely smooth piece of rock lies in the middle of their path. Clara seems to not notice it as she continues to walk (almost in a daze) towards the newer equipment.

Aurelia crouches next to it and presses her hand, feeling the strangely smooth surface of the rock. She hears the sound next. It's the sound of quick movement of human feet running and feels a slight rumble erupting from the ground. She yells for Clara to duck as she rolls out of the way, summoning a quick yellow shield. A multitude of rocks, akin to a small hill emerge through the ground in front of her and clash against the shield she has made. She can hear Clara's yell but barely pays attention to it, as she keeps her concentration to maintain the shield.

Then suddenly the rocks disappear and a man walks out from behind. "Well, well, well, looks like you found yourself a sidekick, eh Lumière?"

"Harmon," Aurelia hears Clara's growl and freezes. 'This is him?' She thinks as she drops her shield and summons her swords.

"Long time no see, Lumes," The man steps forward and Aurelia just stares at him, trying to analyse what he is going to do next. As she does this, she slowly inches towards Clara, letting her swords hang by her sides.

"How have you been?" The Doctor asks calmly, his hands stuffed down the pocket of his trousers. "Good?"

"How the fuck did you escape, Harmon?" Clara growls out as she steps forward, facing the man with an angry scowl (although it's hidden because of the hood she is wearing). "Who did you manipulate this time, you sick bastard?"

The Doctor laughed, quite eerily. "As it turns out, it's easy to twist and turn the minds of prison guards. Pretty disgruntled lot, they are. Especially when it came to me. It was easy. It was easy and the guard got the keys to those power-blocking cuffs and unlocked me. Pity he had to die. May his soul rest in peace."

"You killed him for helping you?" Aurelia states in surprise and in anger as she raises one of her swords closer to her chest. "What kind of a fucked up little mess are you?"

"I just gave him a quick death, Lumière junior. That's all that matters doesn't it? People like us, that's what we do. We, the enhanced...we are better. We deserve to be at the top, above those fools, these powerless humans."

"It's Lumen, you psychopath," Aurelia snaps back. "And we are nothing like you. Lumière and Lumen...we are heroes, asshole. And you are a walking freakshow, who deserves nothing but jail for a lifetime."

The Doctor ignores her and whistles, looking at Clara. "You taught this one really well, didn't you? I have to commend you, Lumière. I have to commend you. Where'd you find her? The streets?"

"Shut up!" Clara yells, sounding angrier than ever before. Flames erupt on her hands as she points them towards Harmon. "You surrender, right here! Right now! And I will be merciful! Otherwise, what's gonna come to you, it won't be pretty!"

"Yeah," Aurelia adds as she raises her swords and stands in a battle position. "And she has me too. So surrender already because we are giving you this chance only once."

"Where's the fun in that, Miss Junior?" The Doctor raises his hands again and this time, two rectangular, really sharp pieces of rock erupt out of the ground. "Now, are we gonna fight now or are you two gonna keep up the chit-chat?"

"We fight, you fucking bastard," Clara growled. "We fight."

sorry (not sorry) for the cliffhanger! 😉😉 

i would have shown them fighting, and clara and aurelia kicking butt, but then i suck at writing fight scenes so i try and keep them to a minimum in any story. don't worry though, there will be an epic fight between this trio. 

also the doctor really sucks and you're gonna find out just how cruel and vile he is, in the next few chapters. just brace yourselves, because it's going to be fun (especially the next chapter) 😉

i hope you liked this chapter! let me know what you thought of it in the comments! 💖💖