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marie-allen-on · 7 years ago

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Madame Claw and The Mirror Mask - Part 3

Hillwood's superhero duo are just your average high schoolers. Oneshot. Now told in three multiple parts.

Rated T for language.

Can be found on Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own.

Part 2 >> Part 4

The Rookie

Almost a month had gone by since the moment that Helga and Arnold had come to an understanding in her room. Arnold had stayed a while, well after Miriam had wandered home and Bob blasted the TV for his nightly sports fix. They had just sat and talked on her bed, careful not to draw too much attention to themselves. School, Dark Matter, their speculation on college…

It had been really good for the both of them. For the first time, Helga had been able to talk about her superhero life while in her civilian form, and it had felt so relieving. Ana, her sprite, had come out and made introductions with Arnold, as well as his sprite, Djeh. A part of her had felt giddy over it all and she could tell Arnold had a similar feeling. It had felt like she had been carrying boulders on her back for so long and they had finally been lifted off and it was just so freeing.

The next day was Saturday, exactly one week since The Reveal. They had spent the day training, exercising, and just letting loose, especially after the week they had just gone through. It was so amazing with this newfound information and even if Helga didn't know what she should be feeling, she knew that she felt light and happy after the previous day's exchange.

They spent the day together on Sunday, too. Except this time they hung out on his roof doing homework and chatting. It was surreal, spending this much time with Arnold. It blew her mind that one minute they could be debating their English reading, rather heatedly with their drastic difference in opinions, and the next making plans against Dark Matter and being completely levelheaded about it, as if the passionate exchange before had never happened.

If in public, though, they rarely discussed superhero stuffed louder than a whisper, including whilst on his roof. It was even more vital that they were careful about this stuff and risk targeting each other, their families, and their friends. Although she didn't think anything would never happen to hers, she was really more concerned about Arnold's. They were more of a target than her parents and her sister was who-knows-where. Anyone watching her knew that there was hardly any love between her and her family.

School went by normally. They went back to their normal routines, Helga eating with Phoebe and a couple of others and Arnold back to Gerald and whoever it was they hung out with for the day. Appearances meant everything and it would have been extremely weird for them to start hanging out. Maybe they could work up to that but, for the time being, this was how it needed to be.

Some time had passed since The Reveal. Things had never been better between her and Mask. Sometimes she would come home and he would be in her room, which kind of freaked her out with the whole passing-through-mirrors thing, and other times she would jump out and scare him when he walked into his own room after letting herself in through the skylight. He really should start locking that. Things had been so great that she sometimes started to question it. But one smile from Mask or smirk from Arnold squashed those feelings aside.

It was a relatively quiet Wednesday night. Helga had finished her homework early - one of the huge perks of your best friend being a nerd meant they supported you completely when doing homework during lunch. Whereas anyone else would have questioned her sanity, Phoebe had been delighted to be her study buddy. And so, free of homework for the night, Claw had nothing to rush her home. Which was perfect, because tonight was Claw's night to patrol alone.

In the distance, Big Barney chimed nine, signaling that her time out was coming to an end. Ten was usually her cut off, especially on school nights like tonight. Being Madame Claw typically had a physical toll on her and she liked to get a good night's rest and slept dead to the world when she over did it. And even though she had perfect attendance her entire high school career, she had been known to be late a time…or ten.

Leisurely, Claw made her way to the top of Big Barney to keep watch up high. It wasn't the highest point in the area, but it did have a nice view. Swinging to a stop, she retracted back her tail a bit but left it long enough to play with the end and leaned against the wall of the tower overlooking the town. Her left foot propped up against the wall she leaned against as she took in the evening, the hum of the clock vibrating through the brick.

Claw loved nights like this, where she could freely fly above the city's rooftops without worrying about missing schoolwork. Nights like this she could be lose

herself in thoughts without having to really worry about 'the bad guys.'

There had been a slight increase of minions popping up here and there, not to mention petty crime had also been on the rise, so it had been an easy decision to agree on splitting up nights. Sometimes they would rotate going solo, meeting up when necessary, and others they would go out together. While they historically did not to get involved with non-magic crime, it was hard to ignore the muggings of late. Normally one look at one half of the superhero duo would send the would-be criminals running, but there had always been the odd punk that would put up a fight. Now it seemed everyone wanted to pick a fight.

Tonight she had stopped only three thefts. Last year she would have thought that was ridiculous, "only three", but the last nine months or so had definitely seen a rise in that type of crime. Initially, she and Mask contemplated bored kids causing havoc during summer, but now they were halfway through the school year and it seemed to only be getting worse. It was because of that they decided to help out the local PD and intervene, with a heartfelt blessing from the chief.

She was pulled from her thoughts when her senses tingled, alerting her of a materializing Mask from behind her. She turned to face him, still playing with her tail, and lifted an eyebrow towards him. "What are you doing out?" It wasn't an accusing tone; it wasn't like he wasn't allowed out. But she would have thought that he'd like a break to focus on school stuff with the upcoming tests. He knew that if there had been an emergency, she would have alerted him through the com unit.

"To come see you, of course, Chasca." He oozed with confidence as he sauntered up towards her, his head tucked slightly down, just enough so he could mimic Flynn Rider's smolder that he used from time to time. It had been her fault he started doing it. After one boring night, they had popped in Tangled and it had been her first time seeing it. She almost died laughing after the ridiculousness of Flynn's face and Arnold had latched onto it like a fly to honey.

Claw couldn't help but laugh and dropped her tail in favor of crossing her arms across her chest, not bothering to move away from the wall. "If you keep making that face, it'll be stuck like that forever."

He stopped when he reached her, stopping only when they were within inches apart. His face descended over hers and his arm rested above her head, trapping her between the brick behind her and the wall of his chest in front. "That sounds painful." His voice lowered in exaggeration as he fluttered his eyes at her, daring to move his face closer and allowing his lips to hover just over hers. "Would you kiss it to make it feel better?"

She groaned in mock disgust and pushed him away, slipping underneath his arm as she fought down the heat of her face and the sudden pounding of her heart. "You're in my bubble, Lotte."

"And you're popping mine," he pouted, once again overdoing his disappointment with hunched shoulders.

Claw snickered. "You're ridiculous." She sat on the edge next to his legs and leaned back, her arms supporting her as she once again looked out over the city. Ever since The Reveal, they hadn't brought up their feelings. Although he had toned it down, Mask did flirt with her, and, every once in a while, she would flirt back. She tried to keep things professional, though, still guarded on what would happen should Black Matter find out about them. Besides, it was just better if things stayed the way they were.

But it was hard. It was really, really hard. Especially since he continued to behave like he was. She was pretty sure he wanted her like she wanted him, which was scary and wonderful at the same time. Her childhood was reeling over their friendship and the possibility of any romantic entanglement with Arnold Shortman. Too many nights she stayed awake, playing all the what if scenarios she could imagine. Sometimes they didn't turn out very good, but the vast majority of the times, they were wonderful.

But until things calmed down, this was the way it had to be.

"Thank everything that is good that you don't pull that crap in school. What are you doing out here, anyway? You're supposed to be at home finishing up your report."

He slipped down next to her, his legs dangling over the edge to mirror hers. His arm pressed up against hers, his knee uncomfortably and deliciously close to hers, but she didn't move it. He often did things like this and she often found herself realizing how addicted she was to his touch; no amount of self-correction could convince her otherwise. "Restless, I guess. Grandma isn't doing too well."

"Oh." Usually, it was her that went out to blow off steam because of family issues; another reason why she loved being Madame Claw. She could recall Mask seeming a bit out of it some nights in the past but she had never pried. Their personal lives had to be kept as separate as possible. Looking back, she figured it may have had to do with Gertie but never brought it up. Despite the first-hand knowledge of his grandmother's rising dementia, Claw continued to keep her questions to herself. If he wanted to talk about it, he would. And even though they felt relatively safe up here, in their little haven on Big Barney, there was still the risk of unfriendly, wandering ears.

When he didn't elaborate, she took that as a sign to change the subject. When they were alone on his roof, outside of the masks, he would talk about it then.

"So have you heard back from any colleges yet?"

"A few, yeah. But I haven't made any decisions. What about you?"

She hesitated for a moment before nodding. "I only applied to one and got accepted, but I don't know if I should go."

Mask looked at her in surprise. "But haven't you been dreaming of getting out of here for years?"

"Yeah, but...well...I feel like I have a duty here." She raised her hand to indicate the shiny lights of the town below. "Things are getting worse. What would happen if we were to both leave?"

Mask didn't respond; they both knew the answer to that. With the rising crime and Dark Matter without competition, Hillwood would easily fall.

And even if Helga did want to get out of there, away from her family and start a new life, the fact was she had forfeited that when she accepted Ana's offer at being Madame Claw. This was her life now. And she'd just have to make due until Dark Matter was defeated. However long that took.

This Thursday had been just like any other day. School was long and unfulfilling and she had finished her homework early, once again loving Phoebe for not giving her crap about doing it during lunch break.

School had ended not too long before and she was waiting in the hallway for Phoebe to finish up in the office. They were going to grab some ice cream at Slausen's on their way home, a treat for both acing that AP Chem test. She hadn't been really prepared for it but surprised herself by doing so well. That definitely deserved a frozen treat.

A sudden commotion of students running in one particular direction erupted, putting Helga in full-alert mode.

"Where is it?" some kid asked his friend as they ran passed her.

"She's, like, a block away! Hurry and we might be able to make it and see the fight!"

Oh, great. Definitely a minion.

Helga wasted no time racing out of there and found the quickest place to transform. Moments later, she was face-to-face with Stilt Man, a jilted circus performer.

Cute.

Not waiting for Mask to show up, she instantly started to fight the lanky performer and, by the way that she was going, she'd probably have him back to normal before Mask even showed up.

"Madame Claw!"

The unfamiliar voice distracted her long enough for her to glance over her shoulder. She jumped out of the way when a stilt-leg crashed to the ground next to her, but she had to do a double take towards the running figure heading towards her…what appeared to be a guy dressed in a blue and white supersuit not unlike hers and Mask's. She blinked, wondering if she was really seeing this.

"Look out!" The guy pointed next to her and she cursed, remembering that she was in the middle of a fight. A stilt-arm rammed into her stomach, causing her to fly backwards and land against the wall. She coughed, winded by the unexpected assault. Dammit!

Her eyes immediately glued onto Stilt Man and she struggled to stand her ground. She grabbed her tail and started swirling it in preparation to strike.

Suddenly, the blue and white guy stopped in between her and Stilt Man. "Ha!" he yelled towards the minion, gaining his attention. The guy flicked his wrist downwards and she could on stare in shock as something shot out towards their foe. When it actually hit the minion, she gawked before coming to her senses and jumping towards him as Stilt Man prepared another kick.

"Get back!" she shoved the guy to the side and threw her tail, effectively pinning his stilts to the side of his body. Claw rushed over and, a few minutes later, the minion had been defeated and was on his way back to his old life.

Claw spun towards the newcomer, furious. "What the hell was that!"

The guy, whose features were distorted from the lack of Sight, strolled up to her. It was interesting that she could See Arnold and Mask, but instantly recognized that she would not be able to really take in this guy's face from memory, as it had been for so many years with Mask. Without asking, he grabbed her hand. "Well, hello…" He exaggerated the word, elongating the ending and, oh god, was he wagging his eyebrows?

Her own twitched, especially once he started to move her hand to his lips. What the-!

She snatched it from him and took a step towards him. With her other hand, she pushed against his chest. "Ok, look here, pal. I don't know who you think you are-"

"Blue Rose."

Claw gave him a long look. "Excuse me?"

He bowed, his left arm extending far out behind him as his right hugged his middle and he introduced himself again. "I am Blue Rose, Madame. And I am very much at your service."

She groaned and rubbed her forehead. Was this seriously happening right now? Who was this joker?

"Look, kid, I really don't have time for this. Go home."

"Ah, c'mon. I just saved you and this is how you repay me?"

Claw could feel her face flush and she rounded on him again. "Let's get something straight, Puce Carnation."

"Blue Rose."

She ignored him, poking him in the chest instead. "You could have gotten yourself killed out here. You're not one of us. You're a punk in a costume that your parents probably spent too much money on," although she had to admit it did look pretty good, "and you're way out of your league."

"Actually, I am like you, Madame." He grinned at her and it made her blood boil. "This suit is legit. I have a sprite and everything, just like you. She kind of came out of nowhere, but, apparently, that's what they always do, right? At least that's what I was told when she chose me."

She gaped at him, searching his face for any trace of falsity. Only she and Mask knew about the sprites, to her knowledge. At least, they had never made that public. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah! Her name is Kemsit. She told me to come and find you guys, that she's one of six and-"

Claw put her gloved hand over his mouth, scowling deeper at his stupidity. "Shut up, you idiot! Don't you know that enemies can be anywhere?"

She kept her hand there for a moment, listening for any rustling but there was just silence. Quickly, she pulled her hand away, not wanting to touch him any more than necessary.

Great. This was just perfect. Claw had been told by Ana in the beginning that there were five others just like her out there. One day they may show up, but until then, she had to fight out against Dark Matter. Then, almost literally a blink later, she had run into Mask. Two of the six had been found within the same day. She had expected the others to show up but none had. And that had been years ago.

Now it looks like a third had finally popped up.

This was just fantastic.

Mask, where the hell are you?

"Ok, ok. Blue Rose. Look, this is great and all but you can't just waltz in here and start battling. You don't know how to handle yourself and Mask and I are not going to hold your hand. You're untrained, you have no idea what we're up against, and you're-"

"Dashingly handsome, yes, I know. But don't worry, I won't be a distraction for you, I promise. Especially once we get it out of our systems…" he wagged his eyebrows again and reached out for her. She was taken off guard momentarily, which was enough time for him to wrap an arm around her waist.

But once she felt him touch her, she grabbed his arm and flipped him onto his back, landing with an oomph! Claw stood over him, hands fisted on her hips and glared down. "Do not touch me again."

"What's going on?"

Oh thank god. Her head snapped up and she could see Mask walking towards them, a frown on his face and his unmasked forehead deeply creased. Her heart sped up a little bit when she saw him, as it always seemed to do with him, and her scowl lessened.

"It looks like our duo is now a trio."

Mask stopped when he reached her and looked down at her in surprise. "What?"

Blue Rose was up on his feet almost immediately and brushed his backside with a smirk. "I'm Blue Rose." He slid a little too close to Claw and she groaned, taking a step back.

"Right," Mask replied, critically eyeing him.

"Yep. Have my own sprite and everything," Rose repeated.

"Yeah, so you mentioned," Claw rolled her eyes towards Mask, but was startled when she took in his very rigid stance and a face that couldn't possibly be anger. She couldn't think off hand of ever seeing that on him before. She studied him for a moment, wishing she could get a read off of him and was surprised that she couldn't.

"So when do we start?" Blue Rose rubbed his gloved hands together, a large grin taking over his face.

"You're not starting ever if I have anything to say about it," Mask growled, surprising Claw once again. She blinked at him before turning her attention to the newcomer.

"You should go, Rookie. We need to work some things out first."

"But, I'm one-"

"Yeah, I know!" she snapped. "If you want to join us, you're going to need to change your tone and we're going to have to set some ground rules. But Mask and I need to talk about this first. Even if you are legit, we've been doing this longer than you. We'll meet you on the roof of the Fairmont on Saturday at noon. If you're a minute late, we'll already be gone. Got it?"

"But-"

"This is your only chance, kid. Take it or leave."

She could tell the guy was upset by the way he kept looking back and forth between her and Mask, and by the tension in his shoulders, but he merely nodded and bowed again. "Until Saturday, Madame." He didn't acknowledge Mask as he left and she bristled at the blatant disrespect. That was something she was going to beat out of him first.

They watched him go together and only once he had vanished from view did they set off towards the boarding house in an unspoken agreement to talk there.

And sure enough, once they landed on his roof, he was in front of her, red-faced and arms waving in the air.

"You've got to be kidding me, Claw! You can't possibly be serious in letting this guy join us!"

"It's not like we have a choice. He is one of us." She tried to keep her voice low as she walked towards his room, not wanting to draw attention from anyone.

"So what? Is he even experienced? He's going to get someone killed. Maybe even us!"

Claw rolled her eyes as she dropped down through his skylight, instantly de-transforming. "Ana, this is the right thing to do, right? Even if it's stupid?"

Ana hovered around Helga, flitting about. As a sprite, she looked very much like what Helga would think of as a fairy, but with a tail and covered in black fur. "Blue Rose is a guardian, like you. And it's not a coincidence that he's shown up now. Kemsit has awoken for a reason. Maybe things are worse with Black Matter than we thought."

Helga gave crossed her arms in triumph and gave Mask a pointed look when he dropped down behind her, reverting back to his civilian clothes as he did so.

Djeh was silver and completely hairless, opposite of his female counterpart, and wasted no time zipping away from this commotion and retreating to his nest in Arnold's closest to recharge from the transformation. He was pretty quiet, especially compared to the talkative and informative Ana. He preferred quiet and solitude over confrontation, like this.

"However," Ana continued, "you and Mask have a lot more experience than he does. And he does seem to be a little rash, kind of like how you were when you first discovered your own powers. That was when you didn't have the type of foes you do now."

"Ha!" Arnold pointed a finger at her. "I'm right. He's going to mess something up and we're going to have to focus on him instead of the minions."

She hmphed in response. "Like you were any different when you first started, Football Head. In fact, I was constantly having to save your butt instead of fighting."

"Technicalities. And completely irrelevant," Arnold waved his hand in the air. "The point is, this guy is untrained and is a liability."

"So, then, by what you're saying, we need to help train him."

Arnold frowned, not liking that he had fallen into that trap. "He's too headstrong."

"Maybe we could use that on our team."

"No we can't! You're headstrong enough for us if we had ten on the team!"

Helga rolled her eyes, kicked off her shoes, and flopped onto her back on his bed as Ana also made herself scarce, knowing that they were going to need to talk this through. "Neither of us are happy about this, Arnold, but it's not like we really have any say. This is bigger than the both of us and what we feel. He was chosen for a reason and even if he shouldn't be fighting right now, it's our duty-"

Arnold snorted.

"It's our duty," she emphasized, glaring at him for his interruption, "to make sure that he is ready by the time he does fight."

"I don't like him." Was he pouting?

"You don't have to. You just have to train him." Almost instantly his eyes widened and his smile slowly grew, reminding her way too much of the Grinch. She didn't need a second guess to know what he was thinking. He would train him alright, and he wasn't going to go easy.

Helga laughed and threw his pillow at him, which he easily caught, thankful for the break in tension. "Just don't hurt him on purpose. Or maim him. We still need him, don't forget."

"Of course not, Chasca." He sprawled down next to her on his stomach, the pillow he had just caught under this chest, forcing her to shift over towards his bookcase to give him some room. "I could never forget anything you tell me."

"False. You forget things all the time."

"Oh?"

She cleared her throat for dramatic effect, "'Mask, we're meeting tomorrow at two,' or 'Mask, what did I tell you about jumping into things head first?' or 'Dammit, Mask, stop with puns!'"

His grin never faltered. "Who said those were because I'm forgetful?"

She gave him a look. "You forget to do your homework all the time."

"Only recently," he countered. "You do better work than me, so it's easier to copy yours and change things just enough to make it look like my own."

His serious expression made her almost believe him, but his eyes were twinkling and she knew he was lying. She rolled her eyes. "Right."

"Are you saying you don't believe me? I'm wounded."

"Oh please, get over it. Anyway, we're off topic. What do we do with Rose?"

He mentally groaned when he was brought up again. He didn't want to think about that wannabe for the rest of the night. Or ever, really. "I'll train him once every two weeks."

She lifted a brow at him. He sighed, correcting his proposal. "Fine. Once a week but not anymore."

Helga couldn't help the small laugh at that slipped from her lips. "So that means you're going to leave me alone to train him the remainder of the days? Harsh."

He scowled in response, instantly tensing. "Ok, switch it. I'll do most of the training. You can pop in once a month."

"Great, then I'll have two chuckleheads to look after. This is definitely karma catching up with me for being a bully. I knew I was playing with fire all those years and I'm getting burned for it now."

He smiled and leaned his cheek on his hand, still looking at her, casually changing the topic. "This is nice."

"Confessions to a football head?"

"Us. Hanging out. It's really nice."

She smiled and nodded as her only response and looked to her left towards his bookshelf. She really did enjoy these times with him, especially since they couldn't really talk to each other in school. Sure, there were classes that they interacted in, but with the exception of that one time when they argued about their alter-personas, it was typically all about schoolwork and always with their classmates. She couldn't complain, though. It was nice that they could at least get this much time together. Anything more and Gerald and Phoebe would start to feel left out, no doubt.

"Oh shit!" She sat up so fast, her elbow accidentally struck his cheek with an echoing thud. He yelped and leaned back, holding the spot that would definitely bruise. "Oh shit!" she repeated, instantly reaching towards him. "I'm sorry!"

He groaned and dramatically fell forward onto his pillow, still holding his cheek. "I'm dying."

She scoffed and crawled over him, not quite as concerned anymore since he was cracking jokes. "You're fine. I gotta go. Phoebe's going to kill me for ditching her!" And, crap, she left her bag in the hallway! It had her phone in it. She wasn't just going to get killed by Phoebe, she was going to get mutilated, sewn back together, and mutilated again.

"Good," he mumbled. "That's what you get for beating me up. Am I bleeding?" He sat up then, only after she struggled to climb over him, and dropped his hand for her to inspect his cheek.

She frowned at him. "Stop being a baby. I hardly touched you. It won't even bruise." It totally would, but she was downplaying it.

He sulked. "It hurts."

She rolled her eyes and called for Ana, who wasted no time buzzing back out, hiding in an inner pocket of Helga's jacket. "I'll text you later, ok?"

"If I'm not in the hospital, sure."

She snickered and, before she could stop herself, leaned down to gently kiss the already swollen area. "Ciao!" It was barely a graze and she turned around so quickly, leaping towards the ladder that she almost, just almost missed the shocked and then goofy expressions her partner made, causing butterflies to flutter around in her stomach at the lingering feel of his skin on her lips.

She walked right into that and willingly pulled down a wall that she should have instead been reinforcing. She was never going to hear the end of it now, but whether it would be from Arnold or her own subconscious, she wasn't exactly sure. What she did know was that his skin was softer than she thought it would be and, like always, he smelled really, really good.

It was going to be another long, sleepless, what if kind of night.

Part 2 >> Part 4

#Shortaki #hey arnold #ArnoldxHelga #fanfic #fan fic

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