"I often think how unfairly life's good fortune is sometimes distributed."

-War and Peace

No one would admit to starting the rumors that Warren's dad was in prison. It wasn't true, obviously. A month at their new home and Barron was still at large; possibly responsible for another attack but nothing definite. Then the rumors started. He could only deny the prison part, not the insistent, "Well is he a criminal or not?"

Barron had taught him many things but, funny enough, lying wasn't one of them.

A year a half later and he was no closer to finding friends. There had been a few possibilities at first but Warren wasn't interested in comparing criminal fathers' rap sheets and which one was cooler. So he wasn't good enough for the goody goods and apparently thought he was too good for the delinquents.

Warren was starting to agree with them. He didn't seem to fit anywhere.

He tried to keep the worst of the bullying from his mom and, in turn, his mom tried to keep things from him so he wouldn't worry. She tried, but he had learned to be silent; so he could hear her crying at night. He wasn't the only one who had lost all of their friends. She had also lost her job at the GSB. Apparently, spouses of super villains couldn't be government employees. Their old house sold for way less than it was worth, again, because of Barron. She was still able to buy a small house in an alright neighborhood and keep up with the bills with a job as a secretary. But she didn't have anyone but Warren to lean on, so the least he could do was keep his problems to himself.

That had lasted shorter than he wanted but longer than he had thought honestly.

"Hey, Peace!"

Warren ignored them, he was already having a crappy day.

Jackson cut him off while his friends stayed behind Warren, blocking any retreat.

"Hey, I just wanted to give you this." Jackson said, handing Warren a slip of paper.

There were numbers on it, written like a phone number, but it looked fake.

"What's this supposed to be?"

"It's a phone number for your mom."

Warren froze.

"Yeah, I saw this guy on the street and he looked like he was from prison so I told him all about how your mom was into that, and he gave me his number to give to her."

Warren was still motionless but he was no longer frozen, if anything he could feel his temperature rising.

"But if he doesn't work out I'm sure he's got lots of loser friends she would like. They could just…"

Warren didn't even notice the paper was on fire as it dropped to the ground

"...pass her around."

Despite the sudden fear in Jackson's eyes, Warren didn't actually realize he was on fire until he had thrown Jackson over a lunch table.

Everyone was screaming and running out of the cafeteria, in fear of him, and for a moment it felt good. The fear and sadness disappeared and he was strong and powerful. The fire covered him but instead of burning, it protected him.

Unlike his father.

His father.

Warren stared at his arms in growing horror. No. No, not like him. Any power but his. He shook his arms, trying to turn off the flames but only succeeded in throwing the fire around the room. It was out of control and burning hot.

Alarms were blaring and the sprinkler system turned on, soaking his clothes and creating puddles but only sizzling into steam against heat of the flames engulfing him and now racing over the walls of the school.

Warren could barely wonder why the water wasn't putting out the fire over his own going fear.

The fire department would be there soon.

So would the police.

They were going to arrest him for attacking someone and setting the school on fire.

He was just like his father.

Warren panicked and ran.

He didn't really remember running into his classroom and curling up in a corner but it wasn't too hard to find him, firefighters just followed the fiery path. They couldn't get close to him so they tried soaking him with buckets of water and normal water hoses. Every time they put it out it would start right up again. It was during his seventh drenching that his mom finally ran into the room. He could see the panic on her face, the fear. Later he learned that she thought his father had come to take him and had set the school on fire in the process. It was in the split second that she saw him that he thought he saw her fear shift. That she was afraid of him. The look quickly vanished as she ran toward him.

She was warned to stay back but she ran to Warren and threw her arms around him. The firemen were all startled to see the fire die down the closer she got to him until it was extinguished before their eyes.

Those unaware of his mom's powers thought that it was the sight of his mother that had calmed him down, and they were right, to an extent. Most members of the Peace family could influence peace in some way or another; some helped calm emotions, others used telepathy or empathy as mediators. Constance Peace was able to subdue the power of supers in her immediate vicinity and, if necessary, lock the powers away for a time by touching them. Those kind of powers scared other Supers, though they would never openly admit it. His mom had been an outcast on some level in the Super community since her power placement at Sky High. At least that was what his father had told him.

He ended up causing fire damage to almost half the school. Most powers didn't emerge in such a dramatic and public way but the Bureau tried to be prepared for all situations, so the public story was that he had brought fireworks to school and had accidentally set them all off at once; making him look stupid instead of homicidal. Agents talked to the witnesses and helped them understand that they didn't see a boy burst into flames at will and throw fireballs around the school, but rather a scared boy who couldn't get his backpack off while fireworks shot out of it. Apparently some people would believe anything authority figures told them and those who didn't, mainly the firemen, had to sign confidentiality agreements to protect Warren's identity.

On top of that, now he and his mom had to move again.

But this time it was all Warren's fault.