A/N: I'm sorry this update took so long. I graduated high school and all my frandzz are leaving me for out of state colleges, so I've been spending as much time out of the house as possible. But a special thanks to AkiraKnyt1632, for threatening/bribing me, it gave me incentive :)
So without further audeiu, on to chapter two! (yeah, it rhymed)
"I can disappear, anytime I want to, time I feel you. Shovel through my skin, I am with you till the end. And I can decompose, when it suits me I accelerate it. Wicked on all fours, I surrender to the storm." –Disappear by Motion City Soundtrack
Things were gravely quiet at the Hawkin's residence. Robert and Sharon had taken refuge in the kitchen and were spending their time on the phone with loved ones to make sure they were okay. A loud crash outside made both of them jump. Sharon solemnly pulled the curtain closed.
Virgil and Richie were stowed away in Virgil's room. The dark skinned teen was staring out the window trying to fight back the wave of melancholy nostalgia that dominated all of his feelings. The last time a riot like this had happened, his brave mother, who had helped save so many people in that chaos, was taken from him. It was the most unjust to ever happen to him and he often made that connection to the reason why he had become Static. To save somebody else from that pain. He turned his head to look at Richie, who was nervously pacing the floor.
"Should I call her again?" Richie asked while wringing his hands. The question was more to himself. He always broke off into random segments where he'd talk to himself when he was anxious.
"She's busy, just give her some time, she'll find her father faster if she's not being interrupted." Virgil said. He had no idea how much that would sting to say. Ellie had jumped out of a car to go look for her father. What had he been doing the day his mother was shot? He always felt if he had been a little older and braver he would have been able to save her.
Richie looked over to see his good friend catching up with all his memories. "Oh V, I'm sorry. I've been so worried about Ellie that I didn't even think to ask if you were okay with all of this…"
Virgil waved off the apology, "Nah bro, it's fine. I'm worried about her too. And I mean let's face it, we both know I'm not okay." He said. Richie put a hand on his friends shoulder.
"Hey man, if it makes you feel any better, you're one of the strongest people I know." Richie said.
"Thanks." Virgil said without looking up from the floor.
"I second that notion, V-Man." Ellie said from the window making both boys jump out of their skins. She was wearing her Velocity costume but her mask was in her hands. She stepped down and they didn't even bother asking how she managed to climb up to Virgil's window.
"Did you find him?" Virgil asked.
"Yes, he's fine. Major panic attack for nothing. His shift had ended before the riots started. Anyways Pete and him have all the doors locked, so they're safe." Ellie said as she collapsed on the bed, "You're lucky your family is out of town for the week, sugar bear."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Richie said. He was still waiting for his panicked phone call the moment his mother saw the news.
"Oh yeah, by the way, um, what the hell?" Ellie exploded, "We were gone three days! Three days. Does Dakota really depend on us that much? Do they sit around at town hall and say, 'Oh geez, I haven't seen Static or Velocity, I think that means we can push the 'Self Destruct' button now.' 'Oh goody! Can I push it?' 'No Ed, you pushed it last time. It's Kendall's turn.' 'No way! Kendall always pushes it, like that time we were at the circus!' 'That wasn't his fault Ed, you said you were all finished with-"
"Yes Ellie, that's exactly what happens." Richie interrupted and spared himself from having to listen to the fate of imaginary people.
"Ah right then. Listen V, if you're not up to helping clean this up, that is completely fine I can get this on my own." Ellie offered. Virgil gave a weak smile and shook his head, in all honesty he wanted to be out there saving people.
"No, I want to help. I'm just going to have to wait until later tonight, because I doubt my pops is gonna let me out of his sight as long as the city is like this." Virgil said.
"Don't worry about your dad, I can get him handled." Ellie said. Virgil and Richie looked up in disbelief as the atmosphere changed and they felt like they were talking to the head of the mob.
"What do you mean 'handled'?" Virgil asked.
"Not like that silly! I was just going to tell him that my dad offered to take the three of us to my Uncle Sebastian's chinchilla ranch until everything is settled here. In the meantime, we can crash at my place." Ellie explained. Virgil and Richie nodded, that made much more sense to them.
"Yeah that sounds like a plan." Virgil nodded.
"Okey dokey, let me just change and I'll go get the brochures out of my dad's car." Ellie said.
"Hey V." Static called as he used his electromagnetic powers to trap a few gang members inside a dumpster. He had to admit he did not like using his nickname to address Velocity. But her name was like four syllables and there was no way to abbreviate it.
"Yes, love?" Velocity responded before turning into a whirlwind of yellow. Only a millisecond later she screeched to a stop and had a gaggle of thugs tied together by rope, hanging upside down like one of those old cartoons. She stopped for a moment to admire her work.
"You don't really have an Uncle Sebastian who owns a chinchilla ranch, do you?" he asked.
"Of course. He's actually a surgeon, the ranch is more of a hobby." Velocity said.
"Huh…" Static paused a moment, "You know, nothing you say really surprises me anymore." A huge thug tried to hit him over the head with an aluminum baseball bat but an electric purple ray wrapped around it and it flew right out of his hands.
"Aw, I like being a lady of mystery." Velocity flipped her hair dramatically, "Oh hey, my dad texted me." She grabbed a thug and held him in a headlock as she used her free hand to pull out her cellphone, "Dinner's in ten. Which is good, cause I'm starving for food and my man meat."
"Oh god, do you think you could sensor yourself once in a while? You're talking about Richie, we used to share lunchables." Static shook his head, "And what's for dinner?"
"Hold up, let me check." Velocity flipped the thug over on to his stomach and she stepped on his back with her left foot to keep him pinned. Her hands expertly glided over her blackberry and then she put it back in her utility belt. She then picked up the degenerate she had been tormenting and carelessly tossed him into an open dumpster. "I hope it's dino chicken nuggets. My dad's not much good for anything else culinary wise."
"Alright, is this alley pretty much clear?" Static looked around. The common criminals that were hiding or still conscious made like a bat outta hell, they left Static and Velocity standing alone in a deserted alley. "Not bad." Static said and cracked his knuckles satisfactorily.
"I'm kinda glad we stopped the competition to see how could knock out more baddies. It's kind of difficult to count and fight at the same time." Velocity nodded.
"Agreed, but imagine if we had continued it? I must be up to 60 right now." Static said.
"Most definitely. Why don't you get a head start home? I'll catch up in a few minutes." Velocity suggested.
"Alright, see you there." Static gripped his disc but was interrupted by a loud female voice.
"Static, Velocity, wait!" a police officer was in the process of trotting over to them. Static winced when he realized it was Trina Jessup. The young officer was currently in a relationship with his father. He liked her and all, but sometimes he had the creepiest feeling she could see through his mask.
"Yes officer?" Velocity said all too politely. Static was slightly worried, he knew Ellie had a distaste for cops.
"I just got a call that some local bang babies are trashing Alva Industries, I think they're going to-" Officer Jessup was cut off by the sound of a duck quacking. Static and Jessup both looked at Velocity who sheepishly pulled out her phone.
"It is dino nuggets." She informed Static and then put the phone back in her belt and cleared her throat, "You were saying?"
"I think they're going to try and get their hands on the bang baby gas and possibly set off another bang." Trina said.
"Oooh rad, dino nuggets can wait, we have an actual fight on our hands." Velocity clicked her tongue and bumped her hip obnoxiously into Static, "Meet ya there Sparky." While ignoring Trina's existence, she took off down the street at hyper speed.
Static groaned, "I hate it when she doesn't give me a head start. I miss all the action." He mumbled to himself, "Thank you for the tip officer." Static said and took off into the sky on his disc.
It was getting late. Static was flying as low as he could so he could see properly. He wanted to avoid flying too low, it was still dangerous out. Most of the pathetic punks had evacuated the streets once they heard Static and Velocity were home, but some of the older, tougher guys were still prowling. He entered the perimeter of Alva Industries and anticipated a brutal scene of protestors and bang babies, but it was as silent as a graveyard. There was trash all around from before, but not a soul was in sight. The front lawn and the parking lot were empty. Had Velocity settled down the riot all by herself? No, Velocity was good, but she wasn't that good. Something wasn't right and Static kept his guard up. He flew around the right side of the area until he found a large gaping hole that was still warm from where Hotstreak had melted it. That was certainly conspicuous.
He lowered his disc closer only to have a blur of yellow crash into him and nearly knock him off his disc. Luckily Velocity didn't weigh much and he was able to keep them both balanced on the disc.
"I have three older brothers that beat me up worse than that Hot Head." Velocity called out furiously, she then turned her attention to Static, "Merci darling." With that she hopped off the disc and ran full speed at Hotstreak. Static flew into the lab to see it was pretty much dismantled. Wires and balance beams stuck out awkwardly at every angle. Static stopped for a moment as Velocity kicked Hotstreak in the back of his knee and disappeared before he could hit back. Watching Velocity and Hotstreak fight was like watching a mouse take down a bear. A big fiery bear. Hotstreak probably outweighed her by like 60 pounds, but Velocity's tiny frame made it easier for her to move around quickly and avoid being caught.
Velocity grabbed a metal pipe and used all of her strength to swing it at Hotstreak's chest. But his pale hand caught it before it hit him and he used the pipe against Velocity and pushed her back against a wall. She grunted in effort to keep him from using the pipe to crush her.
"Static! He's the guard dog, the parties through that door. Quick, go!" Velocity struggled to call out.
"I'm not gonna leave you here." Static argued.
"Go now! I'll hold him off as long as I can." Velocity yelled. Hotstreak shifted and she took the opportunity to get off the wall. Hotstreak swung the pipe but Velocity ducked out of the way.
Static sighed and looked away from the two and darted passed another doorway into an immaculate hallway. Fluorescent lights illuminated every particle floating through the air, there were several observation rooms that looked like medical laboratories. He noted the elevator at the end of the hallway and entered it as quickly as possible.
Now, if you were a secret lab with experimental gas inside it, what floor would you be located on? Looking at the numbers he noticed there were 6 floors. 4 upper floors, the ground floor, and then a negative 1 on the keypad. He pressed the negative 1 while wondering what kind of degree you had to have to work here.
The elevator ride was cozy and warm and some light Billy Joel was playing. Static was pretty content his foot even tapped with the beat a little. The doors made a ding and slid opened to reveal another creepily immaculate hallway. Static cautiously walked up it and he could hear the distinct sound of meta humans arguing.
"I don't like this Ebon."
"Shut up!"
"We're not even sure if this is the right container or not."
"God Shiv, stop your bitching and go watch the door like you're supposed to."
"Yes, goodness knows you wouldn't want any uninvited guests." Static nodded as he entered the lab. It was high tech-y looking and big. Quite a BIG room. Two large metal containers occupied most of it, followed by complex looking formulas written on large white boards and tables with various beakers and vials scattered about them.
The dark shadow known as Ebon growled at the sight of him, "Back from vacation hero?"
"Yeah, you enjoy your vacation from prison? Because I'd say it's about time to head back." Static asked.
"Thanks Sparky, but we don't have any intention of going back to prison." said Ebon, "Talon, Shiv; take care of him." The feathered girl and the purple haired meta got into a defensive position and Static prepared himself for a fight when a large crash made everyone turn their heads to the door where Static had just entered from. More loud crashes and Static ducked as a fireball whizzed past his ear.
"Come on Hot Lips, my grandmother could have made that shot and she's got dirt in her eyes!" a loud feminine voice called out. Another fireball soared into the room. "Jeez, do I have to hold still for you?" Velocity raced into the room and took the spot next to Static. She was shortly followed by an infuriated Hotstreak.
"Why do you have to name call? You just make him more mad, you know?" Static asked.
"Dude, I could paint my toenails blue and it would make him mad." Velocity said.
Static blinked, "…wha- what does that even have to do with-? Gah never mind. Take a break, and go after Shiv and Talon. I'll handle Ebon and Hotstreak."
"Yeah, yeah, whatev's." Velocity said, she appeared a bit tired and unable to argue with his orders like she usually did.
Ebon, Shiv, Talon and Hotstreak all clenched their fists preparing to fight the two heroes. Static moved his hands into an offensive position and Velocity's legs locked as she was ready to run. But they all froze and all the attention was bought to Talon. Feathers had begun to molt off her and fall to the ground.
"Talon… what the-?" Ebon started before noticing that he could see the skin of his arm. The shadow that was consuming him was slowly wasting away.
"Ebon!" Talon gasped.
"What's going on?" Static mumbled to Velocity.
"I don't know, but let's cease the opportunity to strike." Velocity ran forward. She started off fast but then the wind around her died down and she took a few normal steps. She looked down at her feet in absolute shock, "I'm… slow."
Static lifted his hands to try and fire off some electricity but his fingers crackled purple and he realized that his powers had disappeared as well. A giant screen lowered itself from the ceiling.
"What now?" Static wondered out loud.
The television screen clicked on and a large looking muscular man was wearing what appeared to be grey stone armor and a matching stone mask. Dark eyes blinked in absolute delight to see the six meta-humans. "Good evening all of you. Allow me to introduce myself. I call myself Iron Fist. I am no different than you, I too have breathed in the "Bang Baby Gas" and have found myself with certain abilities. When I awoke after breathing it, I found my physical strength has been altered to near inhuman levels and my skin had become impenetrable. I then began to study the different strands of the gas."
"Now. I trust you are all very curious to your present condition. Well let me start by assuring you all that you are perfectly healthy. You will realize however that the "Bang Baby" gene has been removed from your system. There is an antigen in the air, you've been breathing it since you entered. It is a new strand of the gas that I borrowed from Alva Industries, it works against the "Bang Baby" gene and you will find yourself without power."
"This guy sounds like the killer from Saw." Velocity mumbled to Static.
"Wait a second, you set us up." Static said, "There is no Bang Baby gas here, you just knew we'd all end up here so you could remove our powers."
"Yes and no." Iron Fist waved his hands in an unbalanced manner, "Yes, there's Bang Baby gas in Dakota. No it's not here. Rumors that it was at Alva's spread like wildfire and you certainly took the bait. That just made it easier on me."
"Where is the Bang Baby gas?" Ebon probed.
"All in good time, Ivan. I need all of you out of the way for the time being. I cannot have the four villains in this room creating mayhem and putting the city into a state where I cannot perform my plan. And I also cannot have the two vigilantes interfering with my plans. So I will leave you all powerless… for now. So sorry, I wish I could stay longer but I have no time to spare. But don't vex yourself, I'll be seeing you all soon." The monitor clicked off without any further information.
"You two!" Ebon growled pointing to Velocity and Static, "This is your fault!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey now. The sketchy character on the television screen is clearly to blame here." Velocity said.
"It may be his fault but you two are going to be the ones to pay for it." Ebon snarled.
"I don't know about you guys, but I have definitely been waiting to run into these skinny little geeks without their powers." Hotstreak said cracking his knuckle and flexing his rather huge biceps. Velocity looked down at her significantly smaller biceps and gulped.
"Yeah um… 4 on 2 defiantly doesn't seem as good as it did two minutes ago." Velocity nudged Static nervously.
"I absolutely agree, I think we should run for our lives now." Static replied.
"Spectacular idea, let's go!" Velocity grabbed Static's hand and the two of the sprinted for the exit. The steel door slammed shut right in front of them before they could reach it. They both whipped around to see the four powerless villains approaching them menacingly.
"Not good…" Static gulped, "What do we do now?"
Velocity looked around the lab for anything that might be of use. To the left of them there was a glass case with something that looked like a fire alarm underneath it. "I've got an idea!" she announced. She elbowed the glass case, shattering it instantly, and then she pulled the alarm. A siren went off and started blinking illuminating the entire lab with a fluorescent red light.
"Detox activated." An automated voice sounded over the intercom.
"Detox? What does that mean? We're in a lab, how are they gonna detox-" Static was cut off by a loud clinking sound that sounded like it was right above them. Every person in the lab was deathly silent and they looked up at the ceiling. There was the sound of whirring and then a large panel opened and gallons of water came rushing out.
"WHOA!" both Static and Velocity exclaimed before the water swept them right off their feet. A trap door was opened and the water forced them out of it. They then experienced what was essentially a slip and slide. The water forced them down a long tunnel until they both went jetting out of Alva Industries and into a lake located right next to it. Velocity hit the water backwards and sunk at least 10 feet before swimming back up to the top. She spit out a mouthful of lake water and went into a fit of coughing. Static came up gasping a few seconds later.
"Of all the buttons in the lab you could have pressed, you just HAD to press the detox button!" Static choked out.
"I thought it was the fire alarm!" Velocity said defensively.
"On what planet would the fire alarm have been of any use anyway?"
"It could have gotten us back up. Big red trucks that go 'Wee-Woo'." Velocity replied.
"Alright but you didn't press the fire alarm! You pressed the DETOX button!" Static yelled.
"How the hell was I supposed to know? Oh and on that note, it's nice to know the detoox button consists of dumpin toxic chemicals into a freaking lake! How legal does that sound?" Velocity shouted while treading the ice cold lake water. It was so frigid it felt more like December than June. There was a loud splash as Hotstreak fell face first into the lake.
"We'll worry about that later, we have to swim to shore and get out of here before they all get together again." Static said. Velocity nodded in agreement and they swam to shore as fast as they could.
Well I had wanted to take things slower, but I ended up going through a LOT in this chapter. Important plot points and what not. I hope I'm not rushing this story too much :\
Anyway, I'm sick of staring at this chapter, so there it is.
And I pinky promise to be better about updates.