ANOTHER NOTE: This is a story that was written by the creator of Clio Hartley, one Jami Russell. She was inspired to write 99% of this installment of TBH by having read my previous work. As I am currently wrestling with that nasty ol' writer's block, I'm issuing this story as an installment of the story arc. (The appearance of Doctor Doom is quite plausible even if it isn't *exactly* true to his character...so just deal with it, eh? ;D)

TRIAL BY HELLFIRE
[part 8.5]
Donna LaPlante and Jami Russell
(DonnLaP@aol.com)


FROM THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF DAPHNE POPADOPOLOUS:

It's been almost two weeks since I "adopted" Clio...I think she's just *so* cool! Still...it must have been really, really hard to be living on the streets, mutant powers or not. Sometimes I come to the cave and she's asleep and she says stuff in her sleep...I don't know who her parents were, but I know that I don't like them very much.

Oh, the funniest thing happened today...Nina Dubois was being her usual overbearing self when Mrs. Mandrake insisted on talking to her before class. The buzz is that she's being made to rewrite her report because the original one was typed up so that it made dirty pictures with the print. That was good for a few laughs.

I'm going to see if I can't sneak Clio into the library today...she is just *so* hungry for books to read, and the computers in the library would probably be a treat for her to use, too!

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The sores from wearing wet, dirty clothes and shoes that were too tight and broken up were healing. Daphne had given Clio some plant stuff all mushed together that killed the infection in the sores. And wearing Daphne's clothing helped a lot too.

Daphne didn't know that sometimes Clio spied on her. She needed something to do. It was because of her spying that Clio found out about that nasty Nina. Pissed at the Beaner for her meanness, Clio messed with Nina a lot. The girl was now constantly late for class - or sometimes really, really early. Nina had been missing a lot of meals lately. The hot water would stop working in the middle of washing her hair - with soap in her eyes and all. And there was one time she had finished up a book report and started printing it off - she never stopped to check it and when the teacher opened the folder he found the words arranged in such a way some very sexually explicit pictures formed.

Nina was going thru Hell.

When not messing with Nina, Clio fixed machines the kids threw away. The cave was now filled with her inventions. Grinning as Daphne entered she presented her with a pair of earrings and a bracelet - both very stylish.

"They work on the same principle as that thing yer dad makes you wear. Only these are waterproof so you can swim with them on, they're less conspicuous - dressy enough for formal wear - and you can use yer talent and they still protect you!" Grinning, Clio handed them to the petite Greek.

Laughing, Daphne put on her new jewelry. "Thank you, Clio." Smiling, Daphne pulled out one of her extra school uniforms from her bag. "Put this on. Today you're going to school!"

"What are you talkin' about, Demie? I can't go to school...." Clio said as Daphne made her dress in the school uniform and sat her down to braid her long strawberry-blond hair.

"Today I can sneak you in. A bunch of us were invited special to attend a class in the library today. I want you to see all the books - and our new computer system!" Daphne looked Clio over and declared her presentable enough for school. Unlike Daphne who had to wear "armor" to hide her figure - Clio would have one if not for malnutrition and starvation. But now that Daphne fed her regularly, Clio was starting to bloom - and soon she'd be needing bras and such....

It was almost ridiculously easy to sneak Clio in. In a school of 500, a new kid wasn't noticed that much. Even in the middle of the semester. Daphne chattered happily as she snuck Clio into the library - neither noticed when the doors locked behind them.

Dr. Victor Von Doom would smile if he could as he looked down into the library. The last two students had entered. One was Daphne Popadopolous, the other he didn't know. He growled a bit - he didn't like taking a hostage who wasn't meant to be one - but there was nothing he could do about it now.

He watched as the kids chattered happily, wondering about the special class they had been invited to. They didn't know they had been chosen because of their parents. Some had parents who were royalty, others parents were in things like the United Nations. Daphne's father was a famous scientist. All could get him what he wanted.

Well, except for the Greek's friend. She seemed to be a nobody. A nothing. Still - she might have her uses. Doom watched with eyes narrowed behind his iron mask as the strawberry-blond sat at a computer and typed away. Picking up a small pair of binoculars he looked - she was just hitting random keys - but a complex binary code was showing up on the screen. How very odd....

Clio chuckled softly. "Wait till I'm done, Daphne! Then you can see - Hand me that floppy, will ya?" Shoving the disk into the drive, Clio hit save. A couple more key clicks and suddenly Daphne was looking at herself. "It's a game. See, you have to save the rainforest from the evil god here." Clio had programed the entire game with her mind in a matter of seconds. She just hit the keys to make it look like she was typing.

She started to show Daphne how to play when the other kids spotted the game. Clio became an instant celebrity - and suddenly kids were demanding - and offering money - for games with their faces in them. Seeing how the special class hadn't started, Clio collected floppies from them all and began to program. Even Nina got a disk. Kids were avoiding her though because her hair smelled from all the shampoo build up...

"Wait until she gets to level 11," Clio whispered to Daphne - "she's turned into a wildebeest!"

The girls were still laughing when they heard what could only be the footsteps of the special guest teacher. Clio wanted to go hide, but Daphne kept a tight hold on her arm - and it only grew tighter as she saw the man's face -

Well, where his face should be - though instead there was an iron mask.

"Good afternoon, children," Dr. Doom said in his most congenital manner. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Dr. Victor Von Doom - your host."

"Ya mean our captor." Clio piped up. Well, she had nothing to lose. Might as well confront the bad guy.

Daphne just stared--Doctor Doom was actually rather notorious in the Greek press, which didn't suffer as much from the need to print only that which could be proven in a court...she'd read about his numerous attempts to get the world to declare him its ruler. His appearance here boded no good--and his reaction to Clio's accusation only confirmed it:

"Captor is such a - declasse - word. I much prefer host, my dear young lady."

"Bite me, metal head," Clio said with a growl. "Ya and I know yer here ta take these kids hostage." Moving away from Daphne, Clio tried to determined what sort of machinery there was around. But she couldn't risk the lives of these other kids - especially Daphne. Nah - just do something to Doom to incapacitate him.....

Laughing at the puny girl's attempts to rile him, Doom pushed his way thru the kids - who fell away from him, parting like the Red Sea before Moses. Clio stood her ground. A strong willed child. Playing on a hunch, Doom leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Unless you want people to find out you're not a student, I'd suggest you stop bringing so much attention to yourself."

Clio pulled her lips back in a snarl. Street tricks coming to mind. Suddenly the young teen was on the floor, doing a quick sweep that brought Doom to the floor. Then she pounced on him despite Daphne's screams of protest.

Doom did not want to hurt the child. But he activated a ring that was suppose to release a robot spider -

Suppose to - but it didn't work....

Growling, unable to understand why it malfunctioned, Doom lashed out with a spell instead. Clio had never encountered magic before and was hurled back. Knocked out cold. Daphne rushed to her side. Clio was breathing, but not moving. Still, nothing seemed broken.

"Ah, how touching, such good friends." Doom stood and brushed himself off. Standing, he easily scooped up Clio. Her form was thin - extremely so, he realized - too light. Like that of someone who had known nothing but hunger. He remembered the snarl on her face - and her eyes suggested someone who had grown up too fast. An adult's soul coupled with a child's mind and body. A dangerous combination. "I see I'm going to have to separate you two from the rest. Come."

"Put her down!" Daphne said, stomping her foot. It was all she could do to keep from using her talent to shake Doom to pieces. But not now, not while others could see. Doom gave her no choice but to follow and both girls were locked in the librarian's upstairs office - with Doom. Clio was laid on the floor and Doom made Daphne stand next to him as he made a phone call.

"I have your children," Doom said after getting the president to agree to broadcast the call to the children's parents. "Twenty in all -" he didn't count Clio who he now knew was a nobody. "I want the components and if I don't get them, you will never see your children again."

Daphne paled. The young Greek didn't know what to do. There were no plants nearby to talk to except some dead roses in a vase. And if she used her powers now she'd risk the chance of revealing herself and Clio as mutants.

Right now, however, she needed to get some help...so Daphne drew on her years of meditation and started tapping into her earthlink--literally getting the lay of the land and the locations of possible allies for this subtle but desperate game of strategy against one of the greatest foes of the Fantastic Four (and the rest of the world)...

At roughly the same time, however, two other things happened. The school security forces had discovered a car with Latverian Embassy plates parked in the private lot. The chauffer, when questioned, only babbled about diplomatic immunity and then that he knew nothing. Emma's mindscan revealed that he was extremely frightened of his master...the visiting Victor Von Doom.

The White Queen frowned, knowing full well that Doctor Doom did not have children, nor did any of his more important flunkeys have any children enrolled in her school. Just then, her private line rang.

"Frost." she answered. Tess, the ever-clever Black Bishop of the Hellfire Club, was the caller.

"We have a problem, Ms. Frost." she informed the telepath. "It seems that Doctor Doom is in your school's library right now, holding twenty of your students hostage in exchange for the components of a highly-sophisticated device."

"How the hell do you know THAT?" Emma demanded, completely rattled for the first time in a long, long time.

"Our contact in the Oval Office just told me that he's called the President and even forced him to broadcast the call to all the parents involved."

The White Queen spouted language that was quite blue...

Doom, in the meantime, was gloating. Soon he'd have everything he needed to build a weapon that would help him take over the world. Finally people would be under his rule - for their betterment of course. He'd put an end to things like The Friends Of Humanity.... It was as he thought of this that it hit him. The reason why the blond was so familiar -

She was wanted by the FOH - dead or alive.... Now what was a wanted mutant doing here? Looking to Daphne he thought about asking her. These two seemed - connected, friends. A normal human and a mutant? Possible - but.... likely?

Mentally, he ran thru what he had heard. He barely paid attention. Wanted mutants didn't concern him unless he could use them somehow for his own benefit. Clio had something to do with the Sentinels though - machines.... The computers! She had not been typing because she was programing them with her mind! A triumphant laugh shout forth - startling Daphne.

"Your friend's a fool. If she hadn't gotten near those computers I'd have never realized...." Chuckling still, he stood and left Daphne and Clio behind to talk to the children.

As Doom gloated over his soon to be triumph, Daphne sat on the floor. "Clio, come on, Clio, wake up."

"Did someone get the plates on that sycamore?" Clio moaned out.

"Shh," Daphne said. "Just lie still." Daphne stroked Clio's hair. "He knows who - and what - you are."

"Yeah, I know him too," Clio said, her green eyes remaining closed. "Dr. Victor Von Doom - megalomaniac. Thinks the world would be better under his control. Blames Dr. Reed Richards for his problems...."

"I've read about some of his plots while I lived in Greece, but I never heard about his beef with Mr. Fantastic...How do you know so much?"

"Ya don't spend time on the streets without pickin' things up thru the grapevine." Clio muttered. "We need to figure out how to get you and the others out of here."

"What about you?"

"He won't hurt me. I'm useless to him." Clio said, rolling over and looking at Daphne. "You can use your talent without setting off alarms now. Oh - give me your watch."

Daphne didn't ask why, she just handed Clio her watch. Then the young mutant grabbed the telephone and the computer - there was some jeweler's tools in the desk and Clio set to work on a plan.

"Whatever you have in mind, hurry!" the petite Greek urged her friend. "Doom's notified all our parents and demanded parts for some weapon he wants--and since he sounded like he knew you can gimmick machines, he might want to force you to help him."

Doom in the meantime was happy. The children cowered before him. He knew the world leaders would give into his demands. And he had Clio to help him put the weapon together. Maybe even improve it with her talents. Though actually harming Daphne would not be his style - she'd be good insurance that Clio Hartley would do as he commanded.

So it came as quite a surprise when the ground beneath him - and just beneath him, not the other kids - began to shake. He was thrown off his feet - and just as he fell to the floor, Clio came running by, dropping a box on him - shouting out of the other kids to duck - which they did.

Suddenly the box blew up - if not for Doom's metal suit he would've lost his hands - maybe even died. But as it was he was just temporarily blinded. Long enough for - roots of all things - to shoot thru the floor and wrap Doom up in a cocoon.

Daphne had found that a large oak tree had it's roots grow deep under the library where there was a broken water pipe. The oak had gladly let it's roots dig and break thru the foundation which had been weakened by both the water and Daphne's talent. Then trapping the villain.

Clio slipped out a window and ran for the cave. Later the children all claimed to have not seen where she went - lucky for her Nina actually hadn't seen.

Thanks to Clio's inventions no one realized that Daphne was a mutant - yet. They simply thought the wanted mutant had developed a new power. After all, you couldn't tell about those shifty things.... And the kids all hid their games so the authorities couldn't take them.

A search for Clio had turned up nothing and it was assumed she moved on. Questioning the students turned up nothing. No one knew how the wanted mutant got into the school. So the investigation was closed. Daphne had made a secret place in the cave for Clio to hide until the search was over - not even her machines were found - and the cave itself was also "sealed" up - no one realized...

Well, except for maybe Emma Frost who had her suspicions...

And, ultimately, the root-bound Victor Von Doom was released and free to return to Latveria...he did, after all, have diplomatic immunity, and so no charges were brought against him.

But Clio and her possibilities remained fixed in his mind for exploitation at a future date...

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