Can haz fourth chapter.
(-)
This was bad. Really bad. A fight with Ebon in a dark alley in the bad part of town in the middle of the night was a crazy proposition to begin with. But add in Ebon bringing something along to generate electromagnetic pulse waves to fry Backpack and all of Gear's gadgets, a bucket of water dropped on Static from above by Shiv, and this was a complete disaster. Now they were trapped in the middle of the alley, a swirling vortex of darkness behind them, a blade-handed maniac blocking their means of escape.
Richie wasn't too much help since feedback from Backpack shorting out had flashed into his thoughts and left him stunned, incoherent, and all but unconscious. "So, Hero, how can you win now?" Ebon taunted.
"Let's see how your buddy looks with a few less limbs." suggested Shiv.
Static moved between Shiv and Richie, powerless but defiant. "You aren't touching Gear."
"More like slicing." Shiv agreed.
Of course, just then a pillar of fire hit Shiv's back and knocked him over the heroes and into Ebon's vortex. Ebon growled angrily, his neck stretching as his head went forward to see the source of the flames. "Hotstreak. Heard you were going vigilante but I didn't believe it."
Static looked up. Francis stood at the mouth of the alley now, body wreathed in flames that's flickering light made Ebon's head shrink back to the vortex. "Hiya, Ebon. Been a while." Hotstreak said casually.
"Leave this alone. I got business with the hero that has nothing to do with you!" Ebon said firmly.
"I don't know." Francis said, mock uncertainty in his tone. "I'm new to this, but I think if I'm a supposed 'good guy' and you're a definite 'bad guy' I believe I'm supposed to step in and save the day here."
"I'm not playing around, Hotstreak. Go before this gets ugly." Ebon's voice was low and dangerous.
"Nah. Sometimes I enjoy having a bit of ugliness in my night." Hotstreak said flippantly. He knew Ebon was fronting. Hotstreak could hit him with fire, which not only burned, but was also a source of light. He knew Ebon didn't like messing with him.
"Explains why you hang with Static, I guess." Ebon practically purred. "You seem to have a soft spot for Hero-boy. Is that why you straightened your laces? So you could have a bit of him in your night?"
Francis didn't reply, just sent a huge beam of fire directly into Ebon, causing the vortex to convulse and shrink away. When the shadow had left, Francis muttered, "Motherfucking prick needs to watch his goddamn mouth."
"So, um thanks for the rescue, but I need to get Gear someplace safe." Static said, getting up slowly as he tried to support Richie's weight as well as his own. He was not going to mention anything Ebon said. If he pretended he hadn't heard, maybe Hotstreak would do the same. Besides, Ebon was known for talking shit and spreading seeds of discord amongst the good guys. Virgil halted at that thought. Was Francis a good guy now?
Francis took Richie's other arm and asked, "Where to?"
Static just stared at him. "No offense, but if I take him home, you'll know who he is. If I take you to HQ, you'll know where we kick it with our disguises off."
Francis frowned at him. "I don't know how far your 'HQ' or his house is from here, but I'm betting you'll have a hard time carrying him that far."
Virgil sighed. "Yeah, but I'm not giving up my identity, or his."
A long-suffering sigh escaped Francis as he reached down and picked up Richie's legs so he was holding him bridal style. "If you don't trust me, I can at least get him to a better neighborhood and you can take him from there."
Static blinked at Francis. He wasn't sure how to take that. It made him feel a little ashamed at his mistrust. "Thank you." he said quietly.
As they walked, there was silence for a long while after that, broken only when Richie started to come to. The fact that he was being carried by Hotstreak when he woke added to his disorientation and panic.
"Hotstreak!" Gear yelped as he met the red-head's eyes. He started to struggle and Francis rolled his eyes and set the boy down on his feet.
"Static, where-?" Richie began before he swung around to see Virgil watching him with a small amused smile.
"Hey, Gear, how are you doing?" Virgil asked as Backpack began making various noises and shifting around on Richie's back.
"Okay. My head is still kinda muddled. Remind me to install surge protectors on all my stuff that syncs with my thoughts." Richie said with a groan.
"Um, sure. If you can do that." Static said with a shrug.
"So...Hotstreak...?" Gear prompted.
"He saved us." Static said. "And he was going to carry you closer to HQ."
"You're welcome." Francis said to Gear, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, uh, thanks." Richie said belatedly, turning to give Francis a sheepish grin.
"So, I assume now you'll fly off and make sure I don't follow you to wherever?" Francis wondered.
"I'm still soaking wet." Virgil said.
"I don't think I want to test my flying skills when I'm this dazed." Richie agreed.
Francis couldn't stop a little smile from briefly appearing on his face, though he subdued it quickly enough. "Well, I suppose I'll walk with you till we're closer to whatever destination you have, and we'll part ways."
"Sounds like a plan." Virgil said with a shrug.
"If you keep saying it like that, maybe eventually we'll believe it." Richie said dryly.
Francis raised an eyebrow in question. Richie clarified, "Sometimes Static's plans are a little lacking for my tastes."
"What the hell does that mean?" Francis wondered.
"It means I don't have flow charts and diagrams and written mission statements and stuff." Virgil said with a grin.
"And holograms. Gotta get some holograms." Gear agreed.
Hotstreak frowned at them. He seemed troubled, and Virgil wondered why. "You okay, Hotstreak? Don't tell me a couple of beams of fire wore you out."
Francis rolled his eyes. "You wish. I'm tougher than that."
"Then what?"
"I don't have to tell you anything." Francis said defensively, crossing his arms.
Richie gave Virgil a questioning look. Evidently he had decided that Virgil was Hotstreak's handler. "No, you don't. You just seem kind of bothered."
"And what's it to you?" Francis demanded.
"Well, if we want to work together, shouldn't we at least be on quasi-friendly terms?" Virgil asked.
"Quasi-wha?"
"Has some of the features of friendship." Virgil clarified.
Francis frowned deeply, looking thoughtful. "What features?"
Virgil raised a supremely incredulous eyebrow. "Does it matter? Whatever ones develop, whatever ones fit. Like you just saved Gear and me, if you got into trouble, we'd be like, 'Guess we better save Francis.'"
Francis blinked at him. "You used my name."
Virgil blinked. "Yeah, so?"
"So you haven't used my real name since before I torched the park." Francis said.
"And...?" Virgil prompted.
A frown creased Francis's face at that. "Nevermind."
Virgil thought he saw a bit of embarrassment and resentment in Francis's face. Which made him reconsider his outright dismissal of what Ebon had said. It still wasn't really something Virgil would bet on, but he now had to admit that it might be a possibility. He wanted to tell Richie about it once they were alone, but something, possibly embarrassment, also made him want to keep it to himself.
"So...Hotstreak. What's your favorite food?" Richie asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had gathered.
Both Francis and Virgil looked at Richie, obviously wondering what the hell he was up to. "Why do you want to know?" Francis wondered.
Richie shrugged, trying to seem harmless. "I don't know. Just making conversation."
Francis looked at him for a moment then said, "Chili," before quickly looking away.
"Figures." Static said with a grin.
"What's your favorite food then, Static?" Francis demanded with a sneer.
"Hmmmm...probably the Ultimate Fool."
"You mean the supreme burger at Burger Fool? Doesn't that come with a trip to the hospital after you have a heart attack?" Francis asked, snorting.
"I have arteries of iron." Virgil told him gravely.
"If you don't watch what you eat, they'll be bullet proof." Francis said.
"Even better!" Virgil said with a grin.
Another snort came from Francis as he shook his head, a small smile growing on his face. They walked in a surprisingly comfortable silence for a while after that, until Gear said, "We should probably part ways here."
Francis shrugged and headed back towards the seedier neighborhoods. "Hey, Hot-uh, Francis!" Virgil half-shouted. "Thanks again for the rescue."
An improbably grin spread on Francis's face and he said, "Yeah, yeah..."
He turned and continued walking away, and Gear asked, "What was that about?"
Virgil frowned. "What was what about?"
Richie gave him a calculating look. "You purposefully used his name rather than his Bang-Baby handle, and thanked him again."
"So...?" Virgil asked, trying not to sound defensive or uncertain. He failed pretty miserably at both.
"So what happened to being cautious and suspicious?" Richie demanded.
"Aw, come on! He majorly saved our asses. I think that merits a little trust." He momentarily considered mentioning what Ebon had said, but dismissed it. He would wait until he came to a bit more decisive conclusion.
"I don't know, V. This whole thing is way too weird." Richie insisted.
"Yeah." Virgil grudgingly agreed. "It is really weird."
(-)
A week later, Virgil was almost getting comfortable with his studying with Francis, and occasional brushes with Hotstreak as Static. It wasn't common, but Hotstreak had come in for an assist on a couple of occasions where it had been very badly needed.
Hotstreak hadn't done anything especially suspect when talking to Static so far. Although he was a bit more unpredictable with Virgil. But then, maybe he just didn't feel like he needed to be so well-behaved in front of Virgil. Because Virgil didn't have super-powers.
Of course, it was only a matter of time before more trouble broke out at school. Virgil was in Chemistry with Richie when the fire alarm went off. They exchanged a glance as they followed their classmates out of the building.
Outside, Virgil didn't see Francis anywhere, and it made him pretty certain that Francis was involved somehow with the surprise fire drill. When the alarm was turned off and everyone filed back inside, Virgil nodded to Richie and slipped away from the rest of their classmates. He headed towards the principal's office, figuring Francis would have been taken there if he had caused a fire.
He heard Francis before he had reached the principal's door. "Look, if I burn shit, I own up to it. So if I tell you that I didn't start that fire, I didn't start that fire. For fuck's sake, I was on the other side of the room from those textbooks! It's not pyrokinesis, I have to throw that shit! Someone would have seen me!"
"Mr. Stone, please sit down." the principal's voice rumbled.
"I'm tired of being treated like the bad kid when I haven't done anything!" Francis protested with a growl.
Virgil took a deep breath. This would be sticking his neck out farther for Francis than he had yet. He knocked on the principal's door. "Come in."
He opened the door and stuck his head in before coming in and closing the door behind him. It was a little smoky in the office, and he assumed Francis had started smoking when he started to lose control of his temper. The principal had looked a little afraid at Francis when Virgil poked his head in, then he looked surprised to see Virgil. Francis saw him and let out a long sigh and shook his head before plopping down into the chair in front of the desk. The principal blinked at that.
"Um, Principal Agular, I was walking by and couldn't help overhearing. I don't think Francis would have started that fire." Virgil said.
Another telling blink from the principal. "And what makes you say that?"
"He's been working hard and going a long way to beat his rep. Why would he blow all that to start a random fire? If you said he had started burning things because he was angry I might find it more plausible, but if he wasn't provoked, I don't think he did this." Virgil said. He tried to sound as confident and reasonable as possible.
"Well, I appreciate your testimony as a character witness, Virgil, but the fact remains that Francis is the only one who could have started that fire."
"Is he? I don't know what class he was in, but I'll give you better than even odds that someone in that class smokes and might have a lighter on them. Francis doesn't have exclusive access to fire; he isn't Prometheus. You should at least check the other kids."
"I suppose you do have a point,Virgil. We'll give this further investigation. You can head back to class."
"Alright. Hey, Francis, are we working on History today?" Virgil said with his hand on the doorknob.
"Yeah, I have a couple of short essays on the Jim Crow laws. All about 'separate but equal' facilities and stuff. From what I can tell, it was a bunch of political bullshit." Francis said easily.
Virgil snorted. "I'm right there with you, man. I'll see you after school."
He left, and hoped that Principal Agular would make more of an effort to find out who really started the fire.
(-)
Virgil was scribbling notes for his own science homework when Francis sat down across from him at their table in the courtyard. Francis just stared at Virgil, not quite neutral, but not really showing what he was thinking either. Virgil thought it was the damnedest expression. "What?" he demanded.
"They found a lighter and a small bottle of some kind of accelerant in Blake Radford's bag. He was sitting right next to the books before they went up in flames." Francis told him.
"I assume they called the police?" Virgil asked casually.
"Yeah. It was weird. Cops showed up to arrest an arsonist, and I got to stand and watch rather than walk off in handcuffs."
Virgil couldn't help but grin at that. "See, there's some perks to walking the straight and narrow."
Francis snorted derisively. "Apparently. How do you do it?"
Virgil frowned. "Do what? Walk the straight and narrow?"
"Talk to adults and make them take you seriously. He wasn't listening to anything I said."
"Oh. Well, being a well-behaved smart kid goes a long way towards convincing authority figures of something. Staying calm while you present rational arguments helps too."
A scoff came from Francis as he said, "I suppose I wasn't very calm."
"I would have thought someone was puffing a cigar in there if it hadn't smelled like smoke from your fire." Virgil agreed.
Francis blinked at him. "How do you know what my fire and smoke smell like?"
"You've threatened me with them on more than one occasion. Right after the Big Bang, I had a very close encounter with your fireball. Not something I really forget." Virgil said. He hoped Francis would accept that answer and not pry further.
"I guess that's true." Francis conceded, but he didn't look or sound convinced.
"At least things turned out okay. It's good to have friends, right?"
Francis stared at him. "You?"
Virgil fought back a snort at Francis's incredulity. "Well no offense, Francis, but there isn't exactly a huge line in front of or behind me. I'm what you've got. Might as well call me a friend, right?"
Francis continued to stare rather blankly at Virgil. Virgil stopped fighting his laughter. That made Francis growl at him. "Oh, come on! You act like I just told you you have an hour left to live or something! It's a friendship, you know what that is?"
Francis scowled. "I guess. I saw the after-school specials when I was a kid. They always struck me as being bullshit sprinkled with fairy dust to lie to kids about how the world really is. I haven't really had friends."
"What about your big bully buddies you used to hang out with?"
"I don't know. It wasn't liked we talked about anything important, just stupid shit."
That made Virgil feel a little bad. He couldn't imagine growing up without Richie to talk to and share everything with. "That's one good thing about life. There's lots of people you haven't met yet, and sometimes you can still make friends with the ones you have met."
"Like with you." Francis concluded.
"Exactly."
Francis gave him that stare again, and Virgil felt nervous under that unreadable gaze. "What?"
"You're unreal." Francis said, shaking his head with a scoff.
"Unreal? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Too good to be true. You have to be hiding something." Francis said.
Virgil tried to stay calm and not break out in sweat like he felt he should. "Well, everyone hides things."
Francis smiled at that, for some reason. "I guess that's true. But it makes me curious as to what lurks underneath the good-school-boy facade."
"'Facade'? I didn't think you used words like 'facade'." Virgil said accusingly.
The smile widened into a grin as Francis replied, "Yeah, but Ms. Peach gave me a list of vocabulary words and told me to try and use them in my daily conversations. Before you know it, I'll be talking like you; all smart and shit."
Virgil sniggered a little at that. Francis frowned. "Hey, it can happen." he insisted, a bit of outrage in his tone.
"Well of course it can, but your phrasing was amusing. I don't doubt you, Francis."
Francis stared at him. Virgil thought that was getting old. "What now?"
"You said you didn't doubt me."
"Why yes, I did. You've shown me that you have enough potential to make something of yourself, if you want to. It's just up to you how far you'll go from here." Virgil said with a shrug.
Francis kept staring. "The fuck are you saying?"
"The hell is wrong with you?" Virgil demanded, using Francis's speech pattern just to be contrary.
"You just keep saying all this cheesy after-school special shit like you mean it. I don't understand." Francis insisted.
Virgil blinked in surprise. "Is it really so impossible that I might mean what I'm saying?"
"I guess it's possible, but it ain't likely."
"Francis, I'll be honest with you about you. If I think you're stupid, I'll tell you so. I don't think you're stupid." Virgil said.
Francis snorted. "Then what do you think of me?"
"I already told you and you said it was cheesy." Virgil huffed.
"No, not academically. As a person. I want to know what you really think of me as a person."
That seemed like there was more to it than simple survey or curiosity. "I haven't made up my mind yet." Virgil said, hoping it was a sufficient answer to stop that line of questioning.
"Fair enough." Francis said, nodding sagely, which Virgil thought looked wrong. Francis pulled out papers and books from his bag and said, "So, we were going to talk about racist bullshit?"
Virgil laughed. "Yeah, let's discuss racist bigots full of bullshit." He watched as Francis opened his book and thought that maybe Francis might become a better friend than he had originally assumed.
(-)
Another slightly weird end spot, but what did you think? Plausible? Amusing? Ridiculous and absurd? Let me know. I need feedback if I'm going to make this better. ^_^