Title: "Hangar 72"

Rating: T

Genre: adventure, friendship

Character(s): Leo, a host of OCs, the Davenports, the Mighty Med trio

Pairing(s): Dasha, Skoliver, OC/OC, Leo/Skylar

Summary: How was he supposed to know that the girl who's befriended him and the acquaintances he's made are all villains in the superhero world's Most Wanted list? (Second in the 10th Year Anniversary series.)

Notes: On December 31st, 2017, I reached my 10th year as a writer here on FF. This is just part of a series of stories that serve as gifts to myself. :) Just a head's up: this story will be a little unpleasant but honest in tone in some spots. You'll see in the opening paragraphs what I mean. If it's not something you think you'd enjoy, I will not be hurt if you click back into the archives.

Thanks in advance for reading.

Disclaimer: Lab Rats, Mighty Med characters, and everything else recognizable are owned by their creators. The OCs and their consequences in this story, though, are all mine.

Chapter One

Dragons, Dragons, Dragons

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At nearly a month short of 20, Leo is absolutely sure of one thing: he's sick and tired of this. It's not even the kind of sick and tired where it's like having peanut butter sandwich every day, the kind where you grow weary of a favorite but you know you'll eventually come back to it days or weeks down the line.

No. It's the kind where you realize that throughout the years you've been making the same kind of sandwich with the same bread, same peanut butter, same knife, same cut, same way, same bite. Where just the thought of it immediately instigates this sweet and bitter-stale taste on your tongue.

The one that makes you scrunch your face in displeasure and want to have a ham and cheese sandwich instead. That kind of sick and tired.

Of course, in this analogy, there is no way his family is the peanut butter sandwich. Obviously, he cares about them still. But he guesses the usual consequences within their unusual family are what had become distasteful and unpleasant.

Here's the context to this conclusion: two days ago, a time traveler from the future (as always) popped up in Centium City in a sleek black suit and a manic state of mind. The tall, handsome man (as always) tells them that he comes from the future where everything has gone awry (as always).

When asked what happened, he said someone in this point in time will be taken to the wrong path, someone who has the power to tip the balance between the superheroes and the villains, and his mission is to stop it from happening (as always).

When asked who it was, the time traveler said he doesn't know, which is a bit surprising. The only clues he was able to gather before fleeing his present is that the subject is male, intelligent, and once had a good heart.

He also said that the subject is of the Davenport family.

Ever since then, the family's been on high alert. It's a universally accepted fact now that the potential abductee is either Chase or Daniel, though they really lean towards Chase. The Centium City five plus the time traveler have agreed to stay in Mission Creek for the meantime until the 'Danger Period' passes, until the time traveler sees in his indicator that the future had changed.

That's what got to him, the realization that another great adventure has begun and he's once again expected to sit in the back and be a comic relief or be the wildcard that someone only pulls out just to move the game forward.

He's getting way too old for this. He loves Adam, Bree, and Chase, but he doesn't quite like the fact that the spotlight is always on them. He sees that in the way people's eyes twinkle when they look at them and the way their parents brim with pride whenever they're identified with the legendary trio. Fun things always happen to just them, too. One or all of them are always the chosen ones.

The dragons are always theirs to slay, the victory always theirs to claim. And in their world, there are always going to be cantankerous bad guys to put in jail or to stop from 'ruling the world.' There will always be dragons, dragons, dragons.

It's almost like his whole life has become this one big Disney show where he's been unfortunately assigned to be the obnoxious but generally unimportant character.

Is it because I'm black? Leo wonders, his eyes narrowed as he takes a sip of his steaming peppermint mocha cappuccino.

Either way, he's just gotten sick and tired of it. So rather than stew at home in this state of indifference, he decides to just get out of the house and let the superheroes deal with this problem.

Leo plugs his ear buds in after putting down his cup on the table then presses play on his phone. As a motivating video game music streams into his eardrums, he picks up his mechanical pencil and props up one of his graph notebooks to finish his homework.

Lately, he's just been enjoying this somewhat hectic but overall rudimentary routine. When he graduated high school, he told his stepfather that he doesn't want to be a hero anymore, which, in retrospect, is probably where it all started. He realized then that he wants something else for himself, something that would actually make him happy. He likes helping people, but he can sense that he was just doing it out of desperation to be seen.

He didn't like that feeling of being desperate, of being willing to do almost anything just to be seen.

So he told his stepfather that he was done, and he asked Douglas to turn off his abilities.

It's a little depressing to remember how his stepfather didn't protest much to that idea. One 'Are you sure?' sufficed for him. Douglas was a bit more persistent. He was more bothered about it because, he said, 'This doesn't sound like you.' His uncle really cared, but in the end he went ahead with the plan.

Leo still lives with his parents (he just doesn't have the money to move out like that) and is taking classes at a respectable community college. The flair of universities and big colleges lost their appeal, too. He realized that he doesn't have the patience anymore to sit in classes that he doesn't even care about or the audacity to pay hundreds of dollars every month for it.

He wants to build as soon as he can. He wants to learn the guidelines of how to do it because there are many projects and ideas in his mind that are itching to coalesce into something material, into something he can touch.

He doesn't want to spend the next years behind a book, hidden again from sight and from living life.

Schoolwork has been kicking his butt, of course, especially as the school year begins to wind down. He's almost sure that the curriculum is bent on burning him out as much as possible. Nonetheless, it's still tolerable all in all. His purpose of doing all of it is close to being met, and he actually likes the benefit of being able to sit in his favorite coffee shop downtown, in his little corner away from everyone, and to be able to act like a college kid.

Leo wrinkles then scratches his nose when a pungent scent hits his nostrils. Ahmed, the nice barista who lets him have free refills, sometimes have the habit of burning a customer's order, so he thinks nothing of it. He continues on his work, completing the formula on the blue square-riddled page, then moves on to the next one. He even hums along a familiar beat a few minutes later, increasing the volume and never bothering to look back.

He nearly jumps out of his seat when a girl walks up to his table from behind. She doesn't look too intimidating, although from her black leather jacket, black leather boots, and black everything else he gets the impression that she wants to come across as such. The light hanging over his table only sheds lights on half of her face so he has to lean forward and squint to see if she's rudely glaring at him or just staring.

Upon closer look, the answer is C: looking at him as if he's a new but misplaced art in a museum.

"Can I help you?" Leo asks after pulling off his right ear bud.

She looks at him longer as if not sure what to make of him. Suddenly, she smirks. She glances down at his nearly empty cup, looks him in the eye, and demands, "That looks good."

Demands, because there's a look in her smoky eyes that tells him she wants him to hand it to her.

Another unpleasant smells hits his nose, but it's milder this time. There's even a hint of sweetness, something floral. "It's peppermint mocha cappuccino, 5.25 for the big cup," he tells her, because there's no way he's gonna share it with her.

She draws back a little, her face cleared in shock as if he's insulted her. But eventually, the smirk comes back, clearer and a bit more sinister than ever. "You're interesting," she says. Then, she leaves.

He narrows his eyes. What was that about? He eventually just rolls his eyes and shakes his head. People are so weird nowadays, he dismisses as he plugs his earphone back in and continues on his homework.

And for another hour and a half he sits there, humming and mumbling to himself, not even realizing that the customers and employees in the coffee shop are all sprawled out on the ground, gassed into a helpless sleep.