Yeah, blah blah, shouldn't be starting another one, blah…

I wanted to. Deal with it. I've almost got the entire thing written out. R&R please.

"It's been three years today since one of Detroit's personal heroes disappeared—"

Victoria turned the television off in a hurry and placed the remote back on the windowsill. She didn't want to hear that story again. The one full of so many holes and lies it was almost literally Swiss cheese.

"Hey! I was watching that," a voice muttered groggily from the bed next to her. The man in the bed ran a hand through his blond hair and rubbed his eyes before sitting up.

"It was nothing important, dad," a boy across from Virginia replied. "Besides, you were out like a light. S'not like you were actually watching it."

"Jason," the man sighed. "Shouldn't you be getting home? It's almost seven."

"Jason's coming home with me tonight, Mr. Foley," Victoria told him.

"Mom's working late," Jason explained, standing up and stretching. "Anyways, get some sleep." He turned to Victoria, who unfolded herself from the chair she was in, and waited for her by the door to his father's room.

"Jay," his father called, "be careful walking home. It's getting dark. Don't forget I'm coming home tomorrow morning."

"Sure. I wouldn't forget." They waved and started home. "You know, it's weird."

"What is?" Victoria asked.

"It's been four years since I last spoke to my dad, and now that he's finally woken up from his coma it's like nothing's changed."

"Well, it's been over four months," she muttered. "I'm just glad he's out of ICU."

Jason held the door to the hospital open for her and glanced at her. She held up a hand allowing yellow and white sparks to fly from her fingers, looking around to make sure Jason was the only one to see the light show.

"This isn't exactly heart-monitor friendly."

"Isn't there a separate heart wing?" Jason mused.

"I don't want to take any chances."

"True."

Victoria shoved her hands in her pockets and slipped into a daze. The words of the news anchor echoed in her head. It's been three years today. It's been three years today. That day wasn't clear. She was only 14 and had been kept away from the news. Everyone around her was instructed to keep quiet. Her mother was supposed to tell her. But she never did. Rather, she never got the chance.

Jason sighed and pulled on Victoria's hood, jerking back to reality, and off the busy road.

"Watch it, will ya?" he scolded.

"Hey, Tori," someone called as they entered her grandfather's house.

"Hey, grandpa. Where's mama?" Victoria asked, leaving Jason by the door, removing his shoes and jacket.

"Your mother's not going to be home until tomorrow night. She has a meeting in the morning a few hours away and figured it was easier to just stay the night," he explained. "So it's just you and me tonight."

She smiled sheepishly. "Uh, yeah, about that." He rolled his eyes and turned back to the stove. "Jason's mom is working late tonight. You know the med bills still need to be…" she whispered quickly and quietly.

"It's fine. It's still good that Richie is okay." Victoria turned to find Jason. "It'll be done in a few minutes so don't go far."

"Kay." She let the door swing shut behind her and sighed, looking up toward a picture of her father. "It's been three years today…" the words echoed.

"Victoria," Jason called.

"Right," she muttered to herself, "let's go upstairs."

Victoria left the door to her room open so she could hear when dinner was ready. She flopped down onto the bed while Jason took his usual seat on the desk chair. Her grandfather's house was her second home. She lived there when her mother was away. At least, that's how the last four years had gone…

She had taken her dad's old room, leaving it the way he had left it when he had moved out.

She looked over at Jason. He resembled his father just as much as she resembled hers. He had his dad's blond hair and pale skin while she got her dad's dark skin and black hair, which she kept smooth, wavy, and long.

"So," Jason started conversationally, holding a picture frame. "Were you and your grandfather supposed to do anything special today?"

"No," she snapped. "Because he's not dead." He picked up a broken electronic dog she had gotten when she was eight and pulled it apart. She watched with curious eyes as he held his handover the pile of broken circuit boards and bolts. Like magic, the pile floated and magnetically pulled together to form a plastic puppet which he paraded around the room with small twitches of his fingers.

Yup, this was her best friend. Jason Foley the technopath; with the powers to turn mechanical toys into puppets…

"V, come on—" he started after a pause.

"Mom's gone on business, Auntie is God-knows-where, and Grandpa is acting like today is any other day."

"Victoria, it was Hot-Streak and Static's fault—"

"No!" She covered her ears in an attempt to block him out. He had no idea what he was talking about.

"A lot of people died that day—"

"Jay," Victoria snapped. "No gravestone means he's not dead."

"Fine, fine," he held his hands up in defeat. "Just…talk to someone, okay? All that anger can lead to bad things."

She laughed. "You think I'll want revenge? On who?"

"Hot-Streak. Static." He shrugged.

"Not likely," she said flatly. "Let's go eat. I'll talk to grandpa later."

Victoria waved to Jason as he walked away from her house.

"Grandpa?" she called. She found him in the living room. "Can we talk?"

"Sure." He switched off the television and propelled them into silence. "What about."

"Today…" she thought it would be easy to talk about it after so long, but it was still hard. The words caught in her throat and she feared she would begin to cry.

"I know," he whispered.

"When Hot-Streak and Static fought…" she took a slow breath and sat on the floor. "Was dad really…"

"I don't know," he whispered regretfully. "I really don't know." He pulled her onto the couch next to him and pulled her into a hug.

"Static and Hot-Streak weren't the only ones to go missing," she reminded him. "Lots of people were never found." She paused, then angrily snarled, "Someone needs to find whoever did this and—"

"Tori, did anyone tell you what they were fighting over?" he cut her off.

"What?" she pulled away to look at her grandfather quizzically. "No…mom just said it was something terribly stupid."

"Stupid," he agreed. "Static was trying to get revenge."

"For what?"

"Hot-Streak was the one who took down Gear…temporarily."

"Wasn't that the same…time…" After four years she was putting two-and-two together. "No way," she said flatly. "No way is Jason's dad…"

Her grandfather said nothing, but glanced at the clock.

"No way," she laughed agitatedly. "Why didn't he tell me?!"

"I think you should go to bed, Tori. You can ask him tomorrow. Though I don't think it was ever his place to tell you." Though they both know it wasn't a suggestion but an order.

But it didn't matter. She was in a daze now, going through the motions without even realizing. Before she knew it, she was waking up to her alarm clock the next morning to get ready for school.