Chapter Two.

.Kid Flash.

I definitely need to get used to this. I have a family now. I'm not running a solo operation any more. I'm Tyler Langsfield now. Sure, easier said then done, but I'd have to get used to it.

For example, when I got home, my new older brother, Shawn, told me to go walk the dog. And I realized, hey, I actually have to walk. Or when my older sister, Sandra, told me to 'run to the store for a second', I had to remember it was a figure of speech and that I couldn't actually run there in a second anymore. God was it hard to resist doing these every day boring things really slow.

It's only been two days since I last left the HVPA holdings beneath Jump City, and when the Langsfields took me home, it took a good two and a half to three hours to get to our home in... Lanesburg, I believe. So now, instead of my apartment-like headquarters I used to have, I live in your average house. There's the first floor and the second floor, then an attic and a basement. I lived up on a hill a bit so I could see the forest all around and there was a small lake not too far away. Within walking distance. And yes, I mean walking.

The house itself was pretty cool too. From the outside it seemed like any other. It was a pale yellow with dark green shutters and had a lightly sloped front yard. Shawn's soccer equipment was scattered about, accompanied a little bit by Sandra's volleyball and field hockey stuff. Oh, and not to mention the dog's toys.

Once you got over the normal-ness of the house on the outside, prepare yourself for the inside. Julie, my new mother, loves decorating with a passion. Each room is a different color but nothing ever clashes. The kitchen was painted a lively red with cream stripes fading to the bottom. The floor was a matching dark wood and the kitchen table and cabinets matched as well. The living room was a sky blue and had skylights in the top, while the dining room was painted a forest green. When given the tour of the house, I also noted that Sandra's room was themed like a beach, the master bedroom's was a calm peach color, and the room I shared with Shawn was a maroon shade. Despite the clutter left outside, nothing in the house was ever out of place.

"Ty, what are you doing up so early?"

I had been sitting at the desk in the room Shawn and I shared with the laptop on in front of me. Shawn had fallen asleep in front of the TV again last night and never made it back, so I had decided to not wake him up by watching TV and just settled to the computer. "Um, I can't help waking up this early," I said casually, glancing at the clock.

Sandra looked too. "Are you kidding? It's 5:30."

"I know."

She rolled her eyes. "Only you would wake up at 5:30 in the morning on a Sunday," she murmured.

"But you're awake too."

She laughed and took the seat beside me. "How are you going to keep in touch with your friends?" She asked me as she saw me browsing through my Photobucket account full of pictures everyone had uploaded.

I shrugged. "Haven't really thought about it yet."

"Think you'll see any of them in school tomorrow? That'd be pretty lucky for you if you did, on your first day and all."

I smirked, luck huh? "I heard that a group of us were going to be 'relocated' together, so I'm kind of counting on it. But luck might have nothing to do with it," I said with a laugh as I looked at a picture of Raven, Terra, and Jinx.

"Do you have an email address or a screen name? So you can find a way to talk to them?" She asked suddenly as she watched me view the pictures, her figure hovering over my shoulder. I shook my head 'no' and she spent the next ten minutes setting me up with one.

"So, when you find any of your friends, just tell them your AIM name, okay? Mine is Sandynightsx17." Running out of the room, she came back with her laptop and typed something. Suddenly, the computer I was at had a pop up.

Sandynightsx17: See? This is how it works. Just type what you want where I told you then press enter.

TyflashL09: sweet so i just tell my friends 'tyflashl09' & they can do this too?

Sandynightsx17: yup, basically

TyflashL09: thx sandy

Sandynightsx17: haha, no problem

"Well, I have to go now. I have work downtown. Opens at 7 a.m. and I have to be there by 6 a.m." Both of uslooked at the clock again and saw that it was 5:45. "I work at a diner, we serve breakfast for the early birds." I laughed as she gave me a pointed look. "If you want, I can give you a ride downtown and you can wander around for a while. Shawn usually gets up around 9:30 and if you use the cell phone Mom and Dad gave you, you can call him for a ride home."

I nodded, not having any other plans for the day. "I'll meet you in the garage in five," I said as Sandy left the room. Quickly changing my clothes for a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, I ran a hand through my hair and went over to my bedside table. I grabbed the black cell phone I had been given and my wallet with the money I had gotten from the HVPA.

Running out of the front door, I hopped into Sandy's car and she backed out of the driveway. Sandy and Shawn looked almost nothing alike because, when I was with Shawn, it was almost understandable that we could pose as brothers, but Sandy was different. Instead of the same reddish hair as Shawn, she had, well, for a lack of better ways to put it, sandy colored hair. It was this light tan color and she had light freckles on her face, brown eyes, and pale skin. Right now, her hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, her bangs coming out from beneath her large black sunglasses. She had a white polo on that had 'Karl's Diner' printed on it, and a black skirt. Basic uniform, I guessed.

"What is it like?" She asked me all of a sudden, snapping me out of my random thoughts while I looked out the window as we passed by the quiet town. I looked up at her with a questioning glance and she clarified her question. "Being a hero? I bet you had all sorts of adventures and friends and girls," she said with a laugh.

I laughed too, not at her question, but with her. "Well, the adventures took me around the world because I always worked with myself, and I wasn't really close with any friends. As for the girls, well, there was only one, and things took a while to kick off," I said with another laugh, thinking of what Jinx might have said if she was here. She'd probably scoff and punch me or something.

"What's her name?" Sandy asked with this 'You better tell me' tone in her voice. I hadn't told anyone else about Jinx, I think anything people know is from their own assumptions, so I didn't really know what I'd say about her and everything.

"Jinx, er, well, Jenn Kyng," I said finally, a very faint blush forming on my cheeks. "But we aren't really together, it's just like 'more then a friendship'." I admitted. "But I don't know where the Kyngs are, all I know is what her little brother, Carson, said-"

When I said this Sandy had this enlightened little smirk on her face and sighed a satisfied smile. But before I could ask her what was up, she announced that we had arrived at Karl's Diner and we got out of the car.

"I have my phone with me," she said, taking her pink razor out from her pocket, "So give a call if you need me. And Shawn will be up and about later, just try not to get into too much trouble," she added with a wink. I nodded and decided to wander around. I never said only in Lanesburg, but hey, a kid has the right to exercise too.

.Terra.

"I love you guys!" I exclaimed as I returned home again to 25 Princeton Drive. Kevin and Laura had just taken me shopping for new clothes and things. They were always saying I was like the daughter they never had.

"We love you too, Tarah," they said with a smile as they closed the door to my room.

I looked around. When I moved in, the room was completely empty, and over the past two days they let me do practically anything I wanted to it. And want to know what I did? I went online to the Photobucket my friends and I shared and opened up the folder of the pictures of our old homes and found the ones of my room. It took me hours and hours to do, but I made the walls look just like my old ones. The furniture followed the desert theme and I knew that this was my new home. I even had tan and gray beanbags that looked like rocks (but were more comfy) and a few skylights in the ceiling that looked pretty cool at night.

My closet had new clothes, most of which I would just mix and match so I wouldn't need to buy too much more, and they even let me keep their laptop in my room! I know it seems spoiled and it probably is, but I could never feel more grateful then I already do. I mean the world to them and there is no way I would let them down.

Taking my cell phone, I decided to call Raven. She had given me her home phone and I really wanted to hear that she was in a town even remotely close to mine.

As the phone rang, I drummed my fingers on my desk, the radio quietly playing. "Hello?" A voice said into the phone. Male, maybe our age, so I identified it as Rae's brother, Nate. He was going to be a sophomore in high school like most of us.

"Hi, um, is Rachel there?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure," came the reply before the phone was handed off. "Rae, it's yours."

"Hello?" When I heard the monotone reply, I felt so relieved.

"Rae!" Unsure if she could recognize my voice through the excited filter it ran through, I stated my name. "It's me! Tarah! Oh my gosh! It's only been like two days since I saw everyone and it's been so weird!"

She gave a small chuckle. "Oh, because you totally miss waking up to the smell of bacon and tofu on the stove," she said sarcastically.

I laughed. "Well? How are you! Tell me about your family and your house!"

Getting up, I heard the garage door open as Laura and Kevin left on some errands. "Life is life. Mom is single handedly juggling around my brother, my two sisters, and myself, and she's doing a good job too. Cassie's going to be a senior and tomorrow, when school starts, she promised to help me around. But her peppy-ness is almost suffocating; she's just like Star. Nate's pretty cool, he's always running around doing sports and what not, so he's not really interactive with me that much. I'd imagine that'll change in school though. And Sadie's so quiet and shy, I don't know much about her yet."

I nodded, now in the kitchen. Washing my hands as I went to grab a ham sandwich from the fridge, I also grabbed bottled water and decided to eat it out front on the porch. "That sounds exciting though. Getting to learn about your siblings. I wish you luck," I said with a smile as I took a sip of my water before fumbling for the door.

"So, where were you relocated?" I asked as I left the front door partly ajar, sitting in a wodden chair on the porch. I stared down the street at the mailboxes. Kyng, Smith, Archambault, Martin. My new neighbors. Turning my view to straight ahead, I looked at the mailbox that had no name on it. The number was 26 and the front yard suggested someone who played sports.

Looking at the windows, I saw each room had the shades open and looked all bright and ordinary, except for one room, which would be directly across the street from mine. The shades were down and I saw the shadow of a figure pacing back and forth. I was probably imagining it though...

It couldn't be... I murmured to myself. Before she could answer, I spoke again. "Rae. Turn on your light."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

On cue, the light across the street turned on and I felt like exploding with joy. "Look out the window."

All of a sudden, the shade pulled away and before I could even see her, I took action. Quickly hanging up the phone, I ran across the street, my bare feet ignoring the rocks on the ground. Ringing the doorbell, Nate opened the door, but I saw Raven coming down the stairs. Without a single word to Nate, I ran by, leaving him confused by the doorway as I hugged Raven.

"What the- Tarah?" She seemed stunned, her reaction delayed before she slightly returned the hug. "How did you know-?"

"I live across the street!" I practically shouted before getting a hold of myself. I looked behind me and saw Nate looking at me as if I was just beamed down from a space ship. Reaching out my hand, I gave him a smile. "Hi, I'm Tarah."

"Nate," he replied, still a bit confused. He shook my hand anyway. He was taller than Rae and I, maybe just a inch shorter than Kid Flash. He had very blonde hair and had blue-gray eyes. He had a Langsfield High School soccer sweatshirt on and khaki shorts. "So, if you live across the street, you must be the Harvey's 'daughter'," he asked, more in the form of a statement.

I nodded. I was proud to be a Harvey.

"I used to do their lawn, they're nice. You'll like it there." He said simply. "Well, the guys and I are playing soccer then heading to the skate park. Rae, tell Mom for me, kay? I have the cell if you need to call. Oh, and Sadie is still at our Gram's, so you don't need to worry about her. Hang out with Tarah for the day, not much else is going on." At that he ran up the stairs, grabbed a skateboard, a backpack, and a helmet, and sped out the door.

Then there was silence.

"So... what do you want to do?" I asked her to break the stillness of the silence.

Rae shrugged and picked up a flyer that was on the bulletin board next to the door. She looked at a map of the town, eyes scanning for whatever might appear appealing. "There's a pizza place here," she said, pointing to a little red dot labeled 'Harry's Pizza'. I nodded, following her plan.

"We can eat something then wander around for a while." I said enthusiastically. "Sounds like a deal! Let me just call home and leave a message on the machine."

As I dialed my home phone, Rae scribbled a note for her family in a notebook and left it on the table. I looked at it curiously and she explained. "When Erin isn't home, she leaves the notebook out so we 'sign out'. Nate's name was already there, 'skate park w/ guys' written next to it and the time from a little while ago. Under it was Raven's cursive writing 'with a friend' and the current time of 12:38 p.m.

"All set?"

"Yup."

Then it dawned on me. "How are we going to get there?"

Just then Nate came running back in the house. "I took the wrong skateboard," he muttered as he zipped by the pair of us who were now in the kitchen. He ran into the garage and Raven and I followed.

As Nate jumped and dodged the random sports gear he had piled in the garage, my eyes fell on two bikes. One was probably his because it looked like a mountain bike, but the other was a dark blue road bike.

"Hey Nate? Can we use those bikes?" I asked from the garage steps as he rummaged around for his skateboard. He looked up at me, his face a little smudged with dirt. I pointed to the ones I was talking about and he shrugged.

"Sure. The black and gold one is mine," he said, describing the mountain bike, "And the blue one is Cassie's. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't care if you guys used it."

Raven sighed. "I'll take the dark blue one," she murmured as she pressed the garage door opener and walked over to the bike. Taking the matching helmet, she reluctantly put it on over her violet hair.

I smiled and ran over to the other one, putting the black helmet with a visor on that had been hanging off the handlebars. I hopped on right away but Raven wheeled it out of the garage before throwing a leg over.

"Thanks!" I called back to Nate as the two of us began biking down the street.

"No problem!" He called back, emerging out of the driveway as the door began closing. "Um... where are you guys headed?"

Raven stopped and I continued riding at a slow pace. "Harry's Pizza?" she said, unsure.

Nate laughed. "You guys are headed out of town if you follow the road all the way down that way. It's this way, come on, I'll show you."

Laughing, I turned around and Rae and I biked over to where Nate was before the three of us began our trek towards the center of town.

.Kid Flash.

Food would be a good idea right about now... I had just run back to Jump City, out of curiosity. I wasn't a big hero there and I wasn't in costume, so I figured the risks of being identified were smaller.

It was a wreck. Still. It was tiring walking around the city having to hear everything about heroes in the news and in people's daily conversations.

A small bell rang as I opened the door to some pizza place downtown. I practically inhaled the slice of pepperoni I ordered and regretted not asking my new parents for more money for food.

Just then I heard my cell phone ring and vibrate in my pocket. I saw a picture of Shawn on the display screen and picked up, answering with a simple "Hello?"

I heard some mumbling in the background before Shawn's voice came in. "Hey Ty, sorry I haven't picked you up yet. I'm hanging around with the guys at the park, wanna meet me there? We might be a while."

"I don't skate though," I said into the phone. "Not like I can magically make a skateboard appear."

He laughed. "Right now they're trying to hit on some girls. Don't worry about the skating."

Now it was my turn to laugh. "Fine. I'll be there. But just because I have nothing else to do and to make sure you guys aren't tormenting those girls." We said goodbye and hung up.

As I turned to the door, I saw a girl staring at me from her window seat, a half eaten slice of pizza in front of her. She was just staring at me and I wondered why but didn't say anything.

"You're... hey, come here," she murmured. Confused, I obliged.

"You're in the HVPA, right?" she asked in a hushed tone.

I looked at this girl, my eyes wide open. She had a Harry's Pizza uniform on and it seemed like I recognized her from somewhere... She had brown hair pulled into a ponytail and brown eyes... "Depends. Who are you?" I asked hesitantly. I usually see a face and remember the name, but I was drawing a blank.

"Did you know Kid Wykkyd?"

I raised an eyebrow at the mention of Jinx's old teammate. "Maybe. Why?"

She smiled. "Oh. Well, I know him. I think I've met you... Tyler, right?"

I nodded. "I think I've met you too, but your name escapes me," I admitted.

"Lisa. Cray. My dad's in the HVPA and I saw you got reassigned in the same down as Kyle. His birthday is coming up later and I wanted to find out which of his friends live around here."

"Oh," I said, nodding. "Well, I'm open to seeing everyone again. Do you need my number?"

She thought about it and nodded. We swapped phones so we could put the numbers in quickly. "Well, I have to go, catching up with my brother."

She smiled, "Nice meeting you again," she said with a laugh.

"Same here," I replied before the little bell rang as I exited the building.

Walking down the street, a thought suddenly hit me. I ran back (at a slow speed), relieved to see that she was still there. "You said you looked for Kyle's friends, right?" I asked. Lisa nodded. "Did you happen to find anything on a girl named Jenn Kyng?"

Lisa looked up to the ceiling thoughtfully. "Jennifer Kyng... Jinx?" I shook my head up and down. "I think she's in Lanesburg too... not sure though. When I get home I can check and call you."

I beamed and thanked her as I left again. Jinx! She might be here! I repeated these thoughts over and over in my head while I jogged towards the skate park. It was definitely the news of the day for me.

.Raven.

"Tarah, what are we doing? We said we'd follow Nate into town, but not to the skate park too," I murmured as the two of us continued tailing behind my brother.

She just smiled. "Come on, Rae! I wanna see what Nate and his friends can do. I've never seen people do tricks and stuff outside of a TV. It'll be fun! Besides, the pizza place is just down there," she said, throwing a finger over her shoulder where we passed Main Street.

As we neared one of the large ramps, Nate went and climbed up the ramp and greeted everyone up there. I went up second, leaving Tarah last (she was wearing a jean skirt). When we made it up, I saw half a dozen other guys that were fixing up their skateboards, stuffing food in their mouth, or mindlessly leaning on the wooden rail and just talking.

"Hey N," one of them greeted as they high-fived Nate. "Sup? Who are they?"

Nate half smiled and introduced us. "This is my new sister Rae, and this is her friend, Tarah," he said. Tarah smiled at the group and I gave a halfhearted nod.

One of them, with long shaggy blonde hair over his eyes, tilted his head up. "Whoa, dude, you have a sister? I thought she was Cassie. She's pretty hott..."

Another one replied. "No, idiot, he has two, well, three sisters now. Cassie, Sadie, and, Rae, now, I guess," he said. I nodded at the redhead who closely resembled some snowboarder I saw on the news once. "My name's Shawn," he said, holding out his hand for Tarah and I to shake. "Don't mind Shaggy over there, well, his name is James, but he's pretty much harmless."

"N, when did you get another sister?" one of the guys asked and Nate, Tarah, and I exchanged unsure glances.

Trying to think of a believable lie, I knew it wouldn't be hard to fool the group, but Shawn seemed like he might be able to sniff out a lie. "Rae and I came from the same home and when we couldn't live there any more, we got put in a program where families would adopt us." Tarah said quickly, a sigh of relief coming from our mouths.

Shawn looked thoughtful and nodded as the rest of the guys stared at the clouds going by. "Same thing here actually..." Taking a small piece of chalk, he wrote 'HVPA?' on the ramp and poured water on it as soon as the three of us read it. Unsure what to do, we nodded. "Ahh. I got a 'new brother' too. Maybe you know him," he said, addressing Tarah and me. "Red hair, blue eyes, kinda tall-"

"Looks a lot like me?"

Hearing the voice, four pairs of eyes looked to the bottom of the ramp.

"Hey Kid-!" Terra exclaimed before catching herself. "What's up, Ty?"

As he climbed up the ramp, he gave us each a smile. "See you guys met my brother. Hope he didn't scare you," he said with a laugh, punching Shawn in the shoulder. I rolled my eyes. "You guys in Lanesburg too?"

"Princeton Drive," I murmured. "She lives across the street from me."

Kid Flash nodded. "I'm up on Northwest Main Street." We nodded too, trying to etch that into our memory. "Have you seen anyone else? I've caught up with Lisa Cray, I'm not sure if you remember her, but she's practically Kyle's mouth."

"Well, I've only found you and Rae so far," Tarah muttered somewhat bitterly. "We all need to keep in touch."

"Do you have a screen name?" Ty asked. Tarah nodded. "My sister, Sandy, made me one this morning. It's TyflashL09."

Tarah took a pen she found lying around and wrote it on her arm. "Mine is RockinGrlH2." They both looked at me expectantly and I did have to admit that Cassie had set me up with an AIM screen name earlier in the day.

"RaeMwings," I muttered. She had asked me what I wanted the name to be and I didn't come up with anything so she put my nickname, our last initial, and asked me what my favorite bird was. Raven, of course, and she said, 'Oh, a bird? I'll put wings'. "Don't ask. Cassie made it."

Nate laughed and gave his as well. "Mine is xNMxsktrx," he said, spelling it out as Tarah wrote it on her arm under mine.

"Skt1nLyf3," Shawn muttered with a lopsided smile. "Not hard to understand it's mine," he laughed.

Ty then pulled Tarah and I over to the side, his voice hushed. "When I talked to Lisa, she said she knew the other people that were 'relocated' in Lanesburg. I'm not sure if Jinx is one of them... I have her cell phone number and we can drop by later and ask..."

We agreed, but it never happened. As the sun began to set for the day, we all decided to snag a slice of pizza before returning home. Nate and I got home just as their grandmother dropped off Sadie, their mom arriving not too long after. And none of us made it to AIM either because the next day was the first day of school...


Edited chapter re-posted on 5/31/12.