A/N: This story was written the sequel to my previous story, however, it is not neccessary to read the first one to understand this. I believe that the only essential fact you would need to know is that I have named Freeze Girl Abby.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High in any part.
They exploded into the Stronghold kitchen with no warning, bursting through the front door and swarming inside. They suddenly filled the room, their voices bouncing off the walls, they seemed to be everywhere. They were looking for something. One threatened murder if it wasn't found soon. Will looked around desperately for something that would appease them.
"Here it is!" Will shouted, pulling a handful of sodas out of the back of the refrigerator and tossing them out to his friends, who were lounging about the kitchen.
"Finally!" Zach said, grabbing his and downing it in practically one gulp.
"Ah." Layla said, taking a sip. "This feels so good. I was practically melting out there."
"Ethan was literally melting." Magenta said with a laugh, and Ethan grinned sheepishly.
"Really?" Abby asked. "I thought the temperature was just fine."
"Yeah." Warren agreed. "It seemed normal to me."
They all turned to glare at the two among them who could control temperature. They grinned back.
Will popped open his own can, sliding on to a chair next to Layla and switching on the T.V., flipping through the channels hoping to find something good. He stared. The picture wasn't changing. He looked down at the remote, tapping it against the table, wondering if it was broken. Whoops. He tapped a little too hard. Carefully setting the now dented remote back on the table, he took another look at the T.V. There were red bars running across the top and bottom, with a few news anchors in the middle, who were talking very quickly, obviously excited. The words 'EMERGENCEY BROADCAST' were printed in large letters in the background. Maybe he should pay attention to this. Will frowned, trying to catch the gist of the story.
". . . reported to be highly dangerous . . . whereabouts unknown . . . missing for ten hours and counting . . ."
The others loosely gathered around Will, their attention also caught by the screen.
"So far, the only thing that has been confirmed is that that yes, the notorious super-villain has escaped from his maximum security prison. Barren Battle is loose."
All eyes turned silently towards Warren. He just stared at the TV, no emotion on his face. The reporters continued talking, but no one was listening anymore.
" . . . Warren?" Abby asked tentatively. He didn't move.
Without any warning, his arms suddenly burst into flames. "Warren!" Layla shrieked. Zach dived for the opposite end of the kitchen as Abby quickly put out the flames. Warren looked down at his hands, as if just now realizing what had happened, but his face didn't change expression.
"Warren?" Will asked, slowly walking up to him. ". . . you okay man?" Warren just stared, then turned around and walked out the door.
After the news, and Warren's dramatic departure, everyone else mumbled excuses and stumbled out the door, dispersing in different directions, leaving Will, sitting somewhat stunned, in the middle of the kitchen.
Barren Battle . . . he had caused enough trouble for him in the form of Warren when he was still in prison. What would happen now that he was out?
Several hours later, Will was sticking his head in the refrigerator, searching for some pizza. He felt that he deserved at least one whole one to himself, after the day he'd been through.
"William Stronghold!" His mother's unmistakable shrill pierced through the house as the door swung open. The next second, Will was pulled away from the refrigerator and engulfed by a pair of arms. Will grunted. His mother may not have super strength, but she still had a tight grip.
"Why on earth." She trilled in his ear, "Were you not answering your phone?"
"Uh," Will stammered, prying his mother away from him. "I don't –"
"We were so worried!" She exclaimed. "I've been trying to get in touch with you for hours! Haven't you heard the news?"
"Uh, that Barren Battle escaped?" Will guessed.
"Precisely." His father boomed, hands on hips. "That good for nothing bastard is trying to cheat on his sentence."
"Yeah, that." Will said.
"Exactly, Will, you know what this means." His mother said, barreling along before Will could take a guess, which was probably a good thing as he didn't, in fact, know. "You have to be extra careful. I don't want you going out without telling us anymore. Who knows what could happen, with that dangerous villain on the loose."
Will sighed. "Yeah, sure mom." Dangerous villains were always going on the loose, and every one of them seemed to have a grudge against his parents. Especially since the Royal Pain incident, he'd been getting the same speech over and over again, now with especial emphasis on the fact that 'anyone could be a villain' and that no one was ever allowed in the secret sanctum. Ever.
Sure enough, right on cue, his mother started. "So now especially you have to be extra careful whenever you go out, even when you're just going to school, no talking to strangers, and make sure . . . "
"Hey Will." Layla said, knocking on the doorframe a few times before coming in. It had been a few days since they had found out about Warren's dad. That had put a bit of a damper on all of their conversations since.
"Hi Layla." Will said, looking up from the table, where he was attempting to program a new remote. "Whatcha doing?"
"Mm, nothing much." Layla answered, walking over and taking a seat across from him. "Have you talked to Warren?" she asked.
Will shook his head, his expression grave. "No. Not since . . . you know. You?"
Layla shook her head as well. "No. I can't seem to get a hold of him. I think he's doing it on purpose." Layla sighed. "I hope he's okay." Will nodded.
"What about Abby?" Will asked. "He's talked to her, hasn't he?"
Layla shrugged, looking off to the side. "She's going to go find him today. Right now, actually. See how he's doing." They sat there, in silence, next to each other.
"It kind of sucks." Will said, with a laugh.
"Yeah." Layla said, attempting a grin. "All this almost makes our families seem normal."
"Yeah, almost." Will said, rolling his eyes.
"Where are your parents, anyway?" Layla asked, craning her neck to peer further into the house.
"Oh, they're off." Will said, waving his hand in the general direction of the door. "They're out a lot now, ever since . . . yeah."
"Oh." Layla said, looking back down at her hands.
"Yeah." Will said, looking back down at the remote. "Since, you know, he was like their arch-rival or something, they're at the head of the team that's . . . tracking him, or whatever."
"That must be tough." Layla said quietly. "That, you know, your parents could . . . kill . . . Warren's dad."
Will nodded slowly. Or the other way around, he added to himself. Truthfully, he hadn't thought of that yet. He'd always thought of his parents as invincible. Sure, he'd seen them screw up before, but it had never been anything too serious, and when it had been, he'd been able to handle it. But, this time things were different. No wonder Warren didn't want to talk to him. What would happen if their parents came face to face in a battle? One of them would have to loose . . . would he and Warren go back to being thte way they were when they first met?
"What is Barren's dad's power?" He asked suddenly, realizing that he didn't know too much about Warren's dad, other than his reputation. What exactly were his parents up against?
"Honestly Will," Layla said, almost smiling. "Don't you ever pay attention in History of Supers?"
"Does he have fire powers too?" Will asked, choosing to ignore her last question.
"No." Layla said, shaking her head. "Their powers are related though. Warren's dad controls electricity. Anything that depends on electric power, he can control it, do anything he wants with it. That includes lightening. He can summon lightening bolts. So really, it's no surprise that Warren can control fire."
"Whoah." Will said softly. That was the man with a vendetta against his family.
"And not only that," Layla continued. Will felt his stomach drop. There was more? "Barren Battle is like a generator. He can generate his own electricity, hence the lightening. But that's not the only thing he can regenerate. He can essentially regenerate his life force. I heard he's already died once, it was before he regenerated that they managed to imprison him. And I'm guessing that's Warren his super durability comes from."
"So he really did get a lot of his powers from his dad." Will mused. "What about his mom? She was a super too, right? Did he get any of his powers from her?"
"Well, she was a super hero, yes. She used to be a telekinetic. So, none of her powers really got passed down to Warren."
"Wait – used to be? What do you mean?"
"Warren's mom gave up her powers to defeat Battle. She realized he was getting out of control, and allied with the Strongholds to stop him. But he was so powerful, they needed an edge. She offered her powers, she thought Battle was her responsibility, I guess because she hadn't been able to stop him earlier. There's a lot of energy from sacrificing someone's powers – non electrical energy, so Battle couldn't control it."
"I never knew that . . ." Will said, slowly turning over this story in his head. "That was definitely not in our History textbook though." He said, turning to look at Layla. "How do you know all that?"
"Warren told me." She said simply, shrugging. "Here." She said, taking the remote from Will. "You need to put the batteries in first."
All Warren could hear was the music blasting, filling his ears to overflowing. He leaned his head back, closing his eyes shut tight, focusing as hard as he could on the music. Only the music. Maybe if he only listened to the music – did nothing else but listen to the music – everything else would go away. Maybe. If he was lucky. But when had luck ever favored him? Oh no. He was thinking again. No Warren, the music, just listen to the music. He squinched his eyes shut tighter, trying against all odds to not even see the blackness of the backs of his eyelids, letting the blaring of the radio overwhelm him.
A sharp noise cut through Warren's homemade therapy. His eyes snapped open as he jerked upright, whirling his head around to locate the offender. Someone was tapping at the car window. It was Abby. Warren closed his eyes briefly again, but then reached over and unlocked the door. She opened the door and settled herself into the passenger's seat, but Warren's attention was back on the radio, fiddling with the knobs, turning it back down to a reasonable volume.
"Hey Warren." She said softly.
"Hey." He replied, glancing over at her. But he quickly looked away again. If he looked at her too much, he'd start thinking again. Thinking about how she deserved better that someone whose father was a villain.
"We haven't talked in a while." She said, slowly filling the gap that had come in the absence of music. "In almost a week." She continued. She was looking right at him, Warren knew it, but he couldn't bear to meet her eyes. "I miss you." That was enough. He looked over at Abby, looked back at her soft blue eyes staring back at him. "We haven't gone that long without talking since, since we started hanging out together." Warren hadn't realized it had been that long, but it explained the ache he felt, now finally seeing her again. "Are you okay?"
Warren leaned back in his seat and stared out the front windshield, just staring, not really seeing anything. Since he wasn't seeing anything anyway, he closed his eyes. 'Are you okay?' The words echoed through his head. No. No, he was far from okay. But where were the words to describe what he was?
He felt something, something light and cool, on his hand, and Warren's eyes flew open. Abby's hand was resting over his. He turned to look at her again. She was looking at their hands.
"I know I can't even imagine how hard this must be for you." She said slowly, carefully. "But I'll be here for you, through it all."
Well, maybe luck did favor him after all. At least in the ways that mattered.
Warren felt himself smiling for the first time in days. He had missed her. God, he had missed her. Why hadn't he gone to her right away?
"It hasn't been so great. But I'm doing better. Now." He said, clutching her hand. She smiled up at him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He shifted position too, putting his arm around her. Just sitting here, with her, in the car, things didn't seem quite so bad anymore.
"Do you want to talk?" She asked. Warren tilted his head to the side. He wasn't even sure. So he just slowly started.
"He's my dad. I mean, I can hardly even remember him, but he's still my dad." Warren said. "But, he's a villain. I don't know, a year or two ago, I thought I'd be just like him. A villain. Everyone did. Well, maybe not my mom . . . but everyone else did. And I believed them. But then, I started hanging out with you guys, and I found out I could be a hero. And, it actually felt pretty good. But now, he's out of prison. People aren't going to see me as a hero anymore. They're going to go back to seeing me as Barren Battle's son."
Abby shook her head slightly against his shoulder. "No." she said. "He's your dad, but you're still two completely different people. And you know your friends won't think of you any differently."
"Well, maybe, but now Will's parents are out there right now, trying to kill my dad. I wouldn't be surprised if he wouldn't even want to talk to me anymore."
"That's between his parents and your dad." Abby said firmly. "That doesn't say anything about you and Will. You guys have known about each others parents from the beginning, and that didn't stop you from being friends before. Nothing's changed. We know that you're not your dad. And since when have you cared what anybody else thought?" she asked, with a soft nudge.
Warren grinned. "Yeah, you're right. But that doesn't mean I like hearing people whispering about my dad behind my back every time I walk down the hallway."
Abby was quiet for a moment. "It's not going to be fun." She said at last. But against all odds, Warren was actually feeling slightly optimistic now.
"I think we'll manage." He replied. He already felt like crap, he didn't want her feeling bad for him too.
Abby nodded, smiling. "We'll be okay."
Thank you for reading! Comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated.