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While not every teacher's dream student, Vanessa was the sort of girl who volunteered to take a classmate their homework after hours. It pleased her, to help. It pleased her, to be made useful.

Plus, it gave her a good excuse to not work on her own assignments.

Smiling softly, cradling the (mostly) illegible notes she'd so thoughtfully made for Ian, Vanessa followed Mrs. Chen from their front door to the room where Ian rested. They were familiar with one another, but not terribly close. From the little time that she'd spent with Ian, Vanessa had learned that he was generally a quiet boy.

And very nice.

"Hello, Ian!" She called from behind Mrs. Chen, before the woman had a chance to announce her, and tried to peer around the door at the same time. "It's Vanessa. I've brought you your homework!"

Nobody had told Vanessa what, exactly, had kept Ian from attending school that day. She'd assumed he'd come down with a nasty case of the sniffles, or that he'd possibly just pretended to be sick because he hadn't finished an English essay on time.

It wasn't unusual.

So when Mrs. Chen let her inside and she saw the bruises on his arms the first time, Vanessa gasped.

"Oh my gosh, Ian!" Her eyes were as wide as saucers. Vanessa took a seat nearby, and was careful not to disturb him as she moved. When she spoke next, it was in a loud whisper. She was trying to be considerate.

"Did you get beat up?"

It was difficult for Vanessa, sometimes, to remember that not everybody needed to know she was a super hero. As Super Van, she had had a difficult time keeping her identity secret. As Vulcan? Nothing had changed.

Well, that wasn't exactly true. Vulcan was stronger than Super Van. Vulcan was faster than Super Van. Vulcan was tough, and didn't need to hide behind Super Van's sunglasses. Except-- the lives and safety of her friends and family depended on Vulcan's anonymity.

Vanessa understood this. Vanessa cared, very much, about this. She just… forgot, occasionally.

"There are superheroes!" She exclaimed, heart twanging painfully for Ian. He was hurt. He was beaten, and bruised, and nobody, it seemed, had been there to save him. She met his ruby gaze with her golden stare. "I'm so sorry that this happened to you."

It was so kind of him to bother with niceties, after everything he'd been through, that Vanessa couldn't help smiling.

"I'm fine," she whispered, loudly again, "thank you for asking. Can you tell me anything more about the girl that beat you up? What did she look like?"

If Vanessa got her way, poor Ian would never have to worry about being hurt again. She smiled warmly at her classmate, eyes shining with no small amount of concern, and vowed to herself that she would protect him. Ian probably had never hurt so much as a fly in his whole life! It wasn't fair, that he would be subjected to such treatment.

There were people who did far worse, in the world, and reaped rewards for it.

"Brown clothes," she repeated Ian's description of his attacker, and stored it in her memory for later. "Short hair. Old and disturbing, but perky too."

Vanessa eyed the way Ian favoured his right arm, thought that he really ought to sit back down, and said, "Is there something I can get for you?"

"Not old, but older." Vanessa clarified with a thoughtful nod, and submitted this mostly vague description to her memory. She suspected that Ian had been the victim of a Negaverse attack, but was not familiar with any agents that matched the picture he'd painted in her head.

"Did she have anything that made her stand out?" Vanessa considered Ian's injuries, recalled that usually Negaverse agents fought with weapons, and suddenly brightened. "What did she hit you with, Ian?"

If he could not give her any distinguishing features, this information would help. Surely.

Vanessa returned his smile good-naturedly, though hers was not at all as sheepish as his, and collected the controller for him. She placed it gingerly in his hand and said, "There you are."

"I've got loads of homework myself," she spoke lightly, shrugging, and turned towards the television. "What game is that?"

It occurred to Vanessa too late that further questions about what had happened to him might only serve to frustrate Ian. He had suffered a great trauma. It was cruel of her to pursue more information, when he was already so injured.

Vanessa absorbed the last of the information with a quiet nod, choosing not to repeat it this time, and settled onto the floor in front of the television. She sat near Ian's feet, and watched as he explained to her the mechanics of his game.

Video games and Playstations had always fascinated Vanessa, who'd never been able to afford anything of the sort. This didn't mean she'd never played-- only that she'd had to abuse every possible opportunity outside of her home.

Needless to say, as a player, she was less than satisfactory. Still she caught on quickly to the things that Ian said, golden eyes flickering across the screen as he switched from view to view to view.

"So you get to shoot things, hey?"

Vanessa smiled.

"That's very cool."

"It's no problem!" Vanessa insisted with a smile, and twisted where she sat on the floor in order to face Ian. She was genuinely disappointed when he discontinued the explanation of his game, but would not deign to complain. Ian was very obviously tired. Vanessa might not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she was more than capable of recognizing exhaustion when she saw it.

Ian had suffered, at the vicious hands of a short-haired and perky villain. Of course he wouldn't be much interested in conversation. Of course he would be weary.

"I'm always here to help," she stood slowly, dusted off the seat of her shorts, and then fixed Ian with her golden stare. "I'm fine. I'm a little thirsty, but I can just have some milk or something when I get home. Do you have my number? I should give it to you, if you don't already, and then you can call me if you're ever in trouble like that again."

Vanessa could not tell Ian how, exactly, she intended to help him. But the faith she demonstrated in herself and her ability to protect him was unshakeable.