Disclaimer-I don't own Static Shock

The Talk

Today was going to be a long day; I knew that when I woke up this morning. Two days ago, Sharon had learned Virgil and Richie's secret identities as Static and Gear. Since then, Virgil had been avoiding her, not really wanting to discuss what happened the night she found out. He'd come home with light burns on his body and a large amount of bruises. Richie had received the same injuries from what I heard from his parents.

After realizing that Richie's parents didn't know his secret and knowing that Virgil needed to discuss things with his sister and me eventually, I decided to arrange a meeting at the Freeman Community Center after hours. As the manager, I was usually there after closing time anyway. It was perfect. Nobody would overhear, and it hopefully wouldn't raise any suspicions.

As I entered the kitchen, I saw that Sharon was already up. "Morning Daddy." My coffee was ready made. As she turned back to the stove, Virgil entered fully dressed. Noticing Sharon was there, he just reached for a bagel and took off, grabbing his bag as he left for his morning patrol.

As Sharon attempted to follow him, I stopped her. "Daddy, I need to talk to him." She sounded angry.

"I know Sharon, but now's not the time."

"Then when is the time? After he nearly gets killed again?" she seemed perilously close to exploding completely.

"Tonight at eight in my office at the center. That's when we'll discuss everything." She looked uncertain. I sighed. "Believe it or not, even though I learned about Virgil and Richie before you did, I don't know any more than you do. Things have always come up whenever I try to discuss things with them. Usually a bang baby. Anyway, this time we are going to talk. Richie's parents will be there too." At her confused look, I explained "Richie's parents don't know his secret. The night you found out, I got a call from the Foley's saying Richie had injuries that I realized were the same as Virgil's. It didn't seem like they knew. Richie confirmed it when I asked him about it the next day."

"How do you know Virgil and Richie will agree to this?"

"I'm not telling them that you and the Foley's will be there. For all they know, I just need them to help with something at the center." I grimaced at the thought of what could happen. Even in the best case scenario, they wouldn't be happy talking about their hero lives. "I'm not sure how much they're gonna like this."

"They'll just have to live with it. After all, they made the choice to not tell us. Now they gotta deal with us finding out. But they had better have some good reasons. And I wanna know how Virgil fooled me."

"Huh?"

She glared and looked down. "A while back, I suspected Virgil was Static and tried to get him to confess to it. But somehow, Static appeared on his flying disk while Virgil was standing next to me." She bunched her fists. "I felt like an idiot after that. He'd better have a good explanation." She stormed off.

I sighed and called the Foley's. Mr. Foley picked up. "Hello?"

"Mr. Foley, this is Robert Hawkins. I need you and your wife to come to the Freeman Community Center by eight."

"Why? Oh, hold on…Maggie, it's Mr. Hawkins. He says we need to be at the center by eight. One second. Hold on, Mr. Hawkins, I'm putting you on speaker." A few seconds later, I heard a beep. "Okay, we're good. Now why do you need us to come?"

"It's about Virgil and Richie."

It was Mrs. Foley who replied. "Did something happen?" she asked, worry in her voice.

"No, it's about something they've been doing for a while now, and how your son got those injuries the other night."

There was a pause. "Do you know what happened?" asked Mr. Foley, sounding like he was trying to keep calm.

"No, but I have an idea. I found out about their activities by accident a couple weeks ago. I didn't say anything because I felt I didn't have the right to stop them. Also, Richie needs to be the one to tell you. Not me. I understand that you're angry." I could tell from the heavy breathing and gasps on the other side that the Foley's were angry. "I would be too. But right now, we need to set that aside and talk to our sons."

Maggie's voice broke through. "You're right. And I'm sure you had your reasons for not saying anything. We'll be there. See you then."

"Bye." I hung up. Holding my face in my hands, I fought back the headache that was threatening to consume my mind. Truthfully, I was worried about how the Foley's would react to their son being a superhero. Sure, as far as I knew they admired the heroes like many others in Dakota, but I wasn't sure how they would take the fact that their only son and child was running into harm's way every day. I hadn't liked that part myself when I discovered my son's secret.

After checking the news and making sure Virgil wasn't in the middle of a fight, I called him.

"Yeah Pops?" he sounded worried when he picked up.

"Virgil, I need you and Richie at the center at eight tonight, okay?"

"Uh, sure. Okay. Wait. Hold on." He sounded a bit surprised at the last bit. "Bang baby pops. Gotta go."

Once I got to work, I turned the news on. Thankfully, from the news footage I saw the fight seemed to have been an easy one. I didn't recognize the bang baby though.

A few hours later

The clock showed ten minutes to eight. Sharon had been here the whole day and the Foley's had arrived five minutes ago. As the time drew closer to eight, Sharon seemed to be struggling to keep herself under control and Mrs. Foley was glancing around nervously. Mr. Foley just stared out the window.

Just when the clock struck eight, Virgil and Richie raced in, panting hard. "Sorry we're late Pops. We were…" he trailed off at the sight of his sister and best friend's parents sitting with me. Richie also seemed at a loss for words.

I gestured to the remaining chairs. "Sit." At their hesitation, I sighed. "Virgil, you've been putting this off long enough. And Richie, you need to tell them." I motioned towards Mr. and Mrs. Foley.

They seemed to deflate, but they sat. "What is going on?" asked Mr. Foley.

Virgil, realizing he needed to make the first move, placed his hands in front of him, allowed the electricity to extend from his fingertips, after making sure anybody who might happen to be outside the window couldn't see. There were gasps from the Foley's.

"You're Static?" asked Mrs. Foley. At Virgil's nod, she seemed to figure the rest out. "But if you're Static, then…" her head jerked towards her son. "Gear?" For an answer, Richie brought out his helmet and the robot that he usually wore on his back from his bag.

There was a stunned silence. Then the questions began. I could tell the Foley's were trying not yell. "Why didn't you tell us? How did this happen? That's what you've been doing at night? Are you hurt?"

"Hey!" Virgil's yell drowned out the others. As silence fell, he raised his hand to his forehead. "We'll tell you. But one at a time, please." He looked like he had a headache. We might all have those before the night was over.

Mr. Foley went first. "How did this happen?"

Virgil began. "Before the first Big Bang, I stopped F-Stop-Hotstreak now-from harassing Freida and got on his bad side. After that, he was out to beat me to a pulp. Another gang leader, Wade, wanted me to join his crew. I tried to avoid it, but couldn't seem to. So I got pulled into going into the docks that night." At Sharon's look, he hastened to explain "But I wasn't involved in the fighting. Wade gave me a gun, which I threw away. Once the fighting started, I tried to leave, but couldn't. Then the police showed up, and the Big Bang happened."

He paused. "Woke up the next morning with my powers. Met up with Richie at the city junkyards and showed him. We decided I could be a superhero. And I did."

After a few seconds, Mrs. Foley asked "But how did Richie get his powers? You didn't mention him at the docks."

Richie spoke up. "I wasn't there at all, Mom. Remember how I didn't become Gear until about a year after Virgil became Static. We think Virgil still had a small amount of the gas on his clothes when he and I met up, so I inhaled a little bit. Not enough to be noticeable. My powers stayed dormant until Virgil and I realized the stuff I was inventing…Well, I quote Virgil: 'The department of defense couldn't think up most of this stuff.' (A/N this quote comes directly from episode 26) For a while, I thought I couldn't be a hero because my powers weren't like Virgil's. Then I had to save Virgil from the meta-breed. After that, I joined Virgil on the front lines against crime."

"Save Virgil from the meta-breed?" Sharon and I gasped. I hadn't known of this.

Virgil took up the story. "This goes awhile back." Turning to the Foley's "Remember the first time I visited your house. How Richie ran away after that?" At their nods, he continued. "I went looking for him as Static. I found him, told him we would always be friends, and encouraged him to go home. I would've given him a ride, but something came up and I had to leave." He got a frown on his face. "I guess Ebon was listening in."

Richie picked up the story. "Ebon kidnapped me and asked me how to get ahold of Static. I refused to tell him anything, but I managed to use my Shock Vox-a device Virgil and I use to communicate-to let Virgil know what was going on. You guys arrived, there was a fight. Virgil came and finished the meta-breed."

"What does this have to with Virgil getting kidnapped by the meta-breed?" Sharon asked impatiently.

"I'm getting there. One day, the meta-breed busted Ebon out of prison and I ran into him by accident. Literally. Anyway, he recognized me and tried to kidnap me again. Virgil stopped him. I think the meta-breed was watching me after that. They saw me hanging out with Virgil and thought he might be Static and kidnapped him to find out. I was able to track him down and save him. Even used Backpack to fool the security cameras so the Breed would think they were wrong. Luckily, when he was imprisoned, Virgil had the sense to not use his powers."

"No kidding." I trembled at the thought of that.

"How did you fool me though?" Sharon asked. "I suspected you were Static once, remember. I saw Static flying away while you were standing right next to me."

Virgil winced. Somehow, I didn't think Sharon was going to like his answer. "I was fighting two Bang Babies that week, Boom and his little sister Mirage. You saw Boom in action; he can release sonic waves from his chest. After Mirage helped me stop him, I asked her for a favor. She can create very realistic illusions."

Her eyes widened. "Virgil!" As she was about to start yelling, I quieted her down. Now was not the time for that. "You and I are going to have a chat about that sometime soon, little brother." She warned him.

Another thought came to me. "Virgil, remember the first time you met Trina?"

He winced again. "Yeah, about that. She and her partner were looking for a briefcase some kids had stolen. They stopped me and wanted to see what was in my bag. I kind of had my Static outfit in there. I didn't want to run, but I wasn't willing to let them know who I was."

Now it was turn to wince. I had grounded Virgil from running from a police officer after that. Now I realized that he had done it to protect his identity. "I'm-" I was about to apologize, but Virgil cut me off.

"Don't worry about it Pops. That happened a long time ago." I nodded. I realized it would do no good to dwell on it.

There was silence after that, and then a thought seemed to occur to Mrs. Foley as she put her hand on her forehead. "A while ago, Sean and I came home to find the garage blown up. You said it was that way when you got home and we gave you a curfew because we were worried that a maniac was around. Dare I ask what really happened?"

Richie looked scared. "I was experimenting with some chemicals and theories I had in my head about them." At his parents' angry faces, "Hey, those compounds were theoretically stable!" He looked ready to run out of the room.

Mrs. Foley took a deep, calming breath and forced her husband to do the same. "We will be discussing that later."

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Mr. Foley spoke up. "So that's why you're always coming home late and bruised. You've been fighting Bang Babies." He frowned. "But how do you two still have your powers? I saw the news; a cure had been sprayed through the whole city. And why are there still other Bang Babies?"

It was Virgil who answered. "Richie and I wondered how long we had till our powers were gone, so we went to see Dr. Todd. When we got there, the meta-breed was trying to steal a canister of the Bang Baby gas. We tried to stop them." Seeing our expressions, he tried to reassure us. "Don't worry; even though we were losing our powers, so were they. Unfortunately they got away with the gas. Talon though, had changed back to normal and wanted to stay that way. She told us Ebon wanted set off another Big Bang. Even though we were losing our powers, Richie and I went after them; Richie managed to get from Backpack that it would take place at the docks.

"We got there and managed to steal the gas back, but the Breed cornered us in a room. Hotstreak made off with the gas and Ebon locked us in while he and the rest of the Breed searched for Hotstreak. Talon freed us and told us Ebon and Hotstreak had set off the gas. She got out, and searched for Ebon and Hotstreak, there was suddenly gas everywhere. We got our powers back after a few seconds. Powered up, we were ready to stop Ebon and Hotstreak."

Richie interrupted. "I think it would be easier to show you what happened next." He plugged Backpack into my TV and turned it on.

As I watched, my stomach clenched. The monster those two had gone up against-I couldn't even find the words to describe it. As I watched my son and Richie battle it, I couldn't help but admire their bravery. It took guts to fight something like that. Mrs. Foley almost screamed when she saw it nearly eat her son. Silence fell after the footage ended with the explosion and the sinking of the ship; I don't think any of us knew what to say.

"You went up against that thing!" Sharon asked, looking at them like they were crazy.

"We had to Sharon. Who else was going to? And if that thing wasn't stopped, who knows what it could do?" Virgil exclaimed.

Mrs. Foley spoke up. "Well, that thing's gone right? So we don't have to worry about it."

Richie shook his head. "You'd think so. But mine and Virgil's guts are telling us that thing is still lurking around somewhere. Whether or not that's true or if it'll appear again…Who knows? But I've been spending a lot of my free time studying the footage and developing weapons to use. Hopefully, I won't ever need them, but…" He shrugged.

Mr. Foley sighed and put his hands on his face. "From what I've seen, you two love being superheroes. Mr. Hawkins told us he didn't feel he had a right to stop you and I can see what he means. But why didn't you ever tell us. Mr. Hawkins said he only found out a little while ago. Sharon didn't learn until later than that, and we're just learning now."

Richie sighed. "It's not that we don't trust you guys. It's just that, well, secrets are easier to keep when only a couple people know them. There's less chance of them getting leaked to others. And we wanted to keep you guys safe. It could be a disaster if too many people find out who we are?

"Who all knows?" asked Sharon.

"Alva Jr. aka Omnifarious, Shaq, Madelyn Spaulding who doesn't remember, Anansi, She-Bang, The Justice League…" he trailed off, looked to Virgil, and whispered something to him. Virgil paled and shook his head. Richie continued "Soul Power, the Hoop Squad, Eddie Felson aka Speedwarp, Omnara, and now you guys." Richie answered.

I wanted to ask about what Virgil and Richie had quietly discussed, but Richie stopped me. "He'll tell you and Sharon about it at home. It's really personal for him. Looking at Virgil's downcast expression, we decided to go with it.

"But why didn't you tell us?" asked Mrs. Foley.

"It was for your safety." Virgil answered. "I know you guys wouldn't tell, but sometimes secrets get slipped by accident. The reason I stole from ALVA Industries was because Pops had been kidnapped by Omnara when she figured out my identity. If I hadn't, she would've killed him. That's the last thing I wanted. And Omnara isn't even my biggest concern."

"What is?"

"The meta-breed." Richie answered. "If Hotstreak knew who we were and we busted him, once he got out, he'd probably attack you guys in revenge. Same thing with the other members. Shiv, Kangor, or Talon we could probably handle, but Ebon…" he shuddered.

"I don't even want to think what would happen if Ebon knew." Virgil finished. "We told you, he kidnapped Richie to get to me. Richie later told me that he wanted to force me to free Talon, who I'd caught earlier. And that was only after I stopped him a few times. Now Richie and I have stopped him a lot more. I think I can say he hates us with a passion. If he got ahold of any of you, Richie and I would be completely at his mercy, and he'd know it. There's no telling what would happen, what he'd make us do. And what he might do to you just to hurt us." Virgil looked down. We were stunned into silence.

After a long while, Mr. Foley spoke up. "We don't completely understand everything. But I think I speak for all of us when I say that we're proud of you." He was right. "Don't worry; we'll keep your secrets. Just try to let us know what's happening with you."

Virgil and Richie smiled tiredly and they nodded. Richie promised to build his parents a Shock Vox so they could keep in contact.

We decided to head for home, as we'd been there for a couple hours. Once home, Virgil collapsed. Sharon decided to let him sleep and did the dishes. While I wasn't sure if she would admit it, I could tell she was proud of him and felt sorry for yelling. I think we all did after Virgil and Richie expressed how worried they were about what would happen if their identities were revealed. I understood that, and if I was in their place, I probably would've done the same.

After tonight, I'd felt that nothing could surprise me. Yet, when I sat Virgil down to discuss someone who knew his identity which he refused to talk about earlier, Sharon and I could barely talk when Virgil told us of his experience of traveling back into the past and seeing Jean.

Richie had also discussed more with his parents about his superhero career. They allowed him continue and supported him, though they forbade him from messing with chemicals at their house.

Eventually that two-headed monster did return. Nothing relived me more when Virgil and Richie arrived at the center a few hours after it had appeared. Sharon treated some of their burns. Luckily, Richie's newer weapons did work and Virgil attacks were a lot more effective than they were last time.

We never stopped worrying about our sons, but we knew what they were doing was important and that they loved it. We were proud of them, and supported them as much as we could.

The End