Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney. This story was inspired by an episode of 'Missing' called 'John Doe'.


Chapter 3: Quo Vadimus?

Warren woke sharply with a loud crack of thunder, which was followed by another noise that sounded a lot like the front door. For a few moments he lay in bed wondering if he'd imagined it, and he couldn't help remembering the times when he was a kid trying to get his mom to calm the thunder and lightning because he was scared.

There was another rumble of thunder, and he decided to check out the strange noise anyway. Warren slipped out of bed, wincing as his bare feet hit the cold floor, and walked quietly towards the front door.

At first glance, everything looked normal, then he noticed that the key ring on the key in the door was swaying slightly, as if the door had been recently opened and shut. Trying the handle, he found that the door was unlocked.

Warren frowned and walked quickly to his parents' bedroom, only to find his mother asleep alone.

He shook her shoulder gently. "Mom, wake up. Dad's gone."

She woke groggily and looked over at the other side of the bed. "Gone? Where?"

"No idea but I heard the front door close."

Irene glanced around the room with a frown, her gaze finally resting on her bedside table. Suddenly wide awake, she looked up at Warren in shock.

"He's taken my key for the power-neutraliser."


Once again, he was running, and he wasn't sure where he was going. The rain poured relentlessly as he ran, slipping slightly now and then on the wet pavements.

His first thought had been to turn himself in, and go back to prison where he belonged.

But then he'd still have to live with himself everyday… and he wasn't sure he could do that.

Barron came to a halt when he reached the river, and looked down at the thick power-neutraliser on his wrist, illuminated briefly by the lightning. In his other hand, he had Irene's key which he'd taken from her bedside table before he left. After looking at it for a long moment, he threw it as hard as he could into the water.

Now that his healing power was definitely out of reach, all he needed was to find a tall enough building.


Warren stared at his mother's bedside table while checking that he still had his key.

"What would he take just one key for?" he wondered. "He'd know he couldn't get the power-neutraliser off without my one."

His mother frowned. "Unless he's not planning to get it off," she said quietly and then turned at him. "Warren, it's possible that he remembers. Everything."

"But what's he going to do with your key then?"

Irene glanced away, looking sad. "If you were suddenly confronted with the memory of all the terrible things you'd done, would you want to live with yourself?"

Warren frowned. "You think he wants to…?"

"You saw how upset – guilt-ridden – he was, when he found out that he'd been abusive. Imagine how he would feel if he remembered everything else."

They thought that over for a long moment, and then Warren said, "Look, we don't know for sure what he's thinking until we find him."

Irene reached for the phone. "I'd better let the superhero authorities know."

"Can't you wait until one of us has at least spoken to him?"

"If my theory is right, we're going to need every available hero to help search before he does something terrible to himself."

Warren realised she was quite right. "And if your theory is wrong, we're still going to need every available hero to stop him doing anything else," he said quietly.

"I really want to believe that I'm right," his mother said. "Not that I like the idea of him being suicidal, but…"

He understood exactly where she was going. "Yeah, it's better than the idea of him going dark side again."


Warren stopped his mother's car next to Maxville Bridge and got out. It was difficult to see anything in the rain but he was pretty sure there wasn't anyone about to jump off the well-lit bridge. Pushing his wet hair back from his face, he wondered why his mom hadn't calmed the storm yet. He was pretty sure she would want to help the search, even if she was really hoping that the heroes did not find him before Warren did. Then again, she needed to be reasonably calm herself in order to use her powers, and he imagined she was even more upset than she'd appeared.

After the bridge, the next most likely place for someone considering suicide would have to be a tall building. He scanned the city skyline, wondering where to start. Didn't all those buildings have security and stuff that would make it impossible to get on the roof without permission?

Then a flash of lightning lit up what he was looking for – a new high-rise office building that was still under construction – so he got back in the car and sped towards it.

Just as Warren reached the top of the building in question he saw a figure right at the edge, silhouetted against the city lights. Stepping out onto the scaffolding that surrounded the building was his father.

"Dad!" yelled Warren as he ran up to him. "Wait!"

Barron looked over his shoulder. "Goodbye, Warren," he said sadly.

"No!" Warren made a wild grab as his father leaned forward to jump.

He managed to catch him by the hand but the momentum jerked him off his feet and he only just grabbed one of the scaffolding supports with his other hand in time.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded of his father who was dangling by one hand as the rain poured down on them.

"Let me go!"

"Not until you tell me what you're doing!"

His father looked up at him as he lay sprawled on the scaffolding. "Warren, I can remember everything!" he shouted over the sound of the storm. "I know what I did to you and your mother, and all those people! I deserve to die."

"You're not the same person anymore," Warren insisted.

"Maybe while I couldn't remember. But now I'm that same man again."

"No you're not!" yelled Warren desperately. "That man would never think he deserved to die. He was never sorry for what he did, even though he said he was."

"It doesn't matter!" Barron snarled as he reached up with his other hand and started to pry Warren's fingers off his wrist. "Let me go!

Warren made a wild grab with his other hand, losing his balance in the process, and sending them both over the edge. As they fell, Warren desperately yanked on his father's hand, reversing their positions so that he landed first, thankfully on a pile of building sand rather than the road, and Barron landed on top of him.

Warren just lay there painfully for a few minutes while his healing powers went to work, wondering whether this had been such a good idea. When he felt like he could move again, he carefully pulled himself out from under his father who groaned in pain and half-opened his eyes. Warren could see that he hadn't managed to completely break his dad's fall, and for the second time that night he was going to need his healing ability.

"Where's Mom's key?" he asked as he took out his key and opened the first lock.

"I threw it in the river," Barron replied weakly.

Warren eyed the second lock and pulled out his cell phone. In the absence of the key, his only hope was to try brute strength. It was after midnight, but he was pretty sure that Will would be out on patrol with his parents and all the other heroes.

"Stronghold, I need your help," he said as soon as Will answered.

"Have you found him?"

"You know that new high-rise on Carter and 42nd?"

"The one with all the scaffolding?"

"Yeah. And Will?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't bring your parents."

"Huh?"

"Just… come alone, okay?"

"Okay," replied Will, sounding confused as he hung up.

"You shouldn't have done that," said Barron. "I'm not worth saving."

Warren looked at him. "You feel you can't live with yourself now that you know what you did, yeah I get it."

"No, you don't get it," responded his father in a harsh tone. "My father treated me the way that … I treated you. In some… warped way, I believed that was some kind of excuse, payback or something. Like my father's abuse justified me taking my temper out on you, on your mother, on anyone else who got it my way." He closed his eyes, looking anguished. "I don't know where I got that idea from. I can't believe how sick I was."

" 'Was', Dad. That's my whole point. That's how you were, not how you are."

Barron sighed. "How do you know I won't do it again?"

Warren chose his words carefully. "I guess I don't. But I'm prepared to take the chance."

"Why?"

Good question, thought Warren. He wasn't sure why, any more than he was really sure why Layla invited him to sit down with her at the Paper Lantern that night. He could only guess she'd seen something in him that was worth befriending.

He was about to try and explain this when he looked up and saw someone flying towards them.

Will landed on the sand pile, feeling a bit uncertain. When Warren had told him to not bring his folks he'd assumed that his friend didn't want a nasty scene between the Commander and his old foe. Now he wasn't sure what was going on. Warren's father looked really beaten up and he was only just conscious.

"Stronghold, can you open this lock?" asked his friend.

Will looked down and saw that the lock in question was on the power-neutraliser around Barron Battle's wrist. "But, that's uh, that's…"

"Just answer the question, please," growled Warren.

"Uh, possibly. But I'm not sure that's a good idea." He could just imagine what kind of trouble he would get into for busting open a power-neutraliser. And although he'd got to know and like Warren's dad the past few months (despite his own parents' reservations), he was still potentially a dangerous man.

"Will, please! My father will die without his healing powers."

"Yes, but –"

"Aren't heroes supposed to save people's lives?" Warren challenged. "All people?"

"No, Will," rasped Barron. "It would be better to let me die."

Will looked from one to the other. He really didn't know what he should do, but if he hesitated much longer it would be too late and the decision would be taken away from him.

"Please, Will?" begged Warren softly. Was it just the rain or did he have tears in his eyes?

In the end it was something of a no-brainer. Will really had no choice. He just couldn't let Warren's father die, even if that seemed to be what the man wanted.

He knelt down, took hold of the power-neutraliser and started to pull the second lock open. It was tougher than he'd expected and for a horrible moment he thought he might not be able to do it, that the neutralising bracelet was stronger than he was. But after a few very long seconds of straining, the lock began to give way. He paused for a short break to catch his breath before taking hold of it again. The hardest part was over, and he managed to break the power-neutraliser open.

"Thank you," whispered Warren, and the two of them sat silently in the rain, watching as Barron Battle began to heal.

He opened his eyes and looked at Will. "You'd better call your old man to come and arrest me again," he said, but there was no malice in his tone. Just sadness.


Epilogue

It was the strangest parole hearing in the history of the Federal Superhero Agency. The prisoner was arguing that he was guilty and should go back to jail while his son, who could be considered one of the victims, was arguing for his freedom. In the end, Barron Battle was granted parole, but he would have to wear a power-neutraliser for the rest of his life, and this time it was made from an even stronger alloy and neither Irene nor Warren had keys. He was, however, allowed access to his frozen bank accounts, which relieved a lot of financial issues for the three of them.

His personality became something of a blend between what he'd been before and after the amnesia. He still had a temper, but like Warren he worked hard to channel his aggression into something constructive rather than lashing out at the closest target the way he once did. The cynicism and sarcastic sense of humour was now directed more towards himself, and the compassion he'd shown during his amnesia became a driving force in his life.

Barron wanted desperately to contact the families of his victims, to offer an apology and try to make some sort of restitution, but the superhero authorities wouldn't allow him to. The last thing they wanted was for the story to get out that the infamous Barron Battle was out on parole.

But they couldn't stop him from secretly tracing the families and keeping an eye out for them, particularly the ones in the Maxville area. When a couple needed a plumber the account was mysteriously paid for them, and when a daughter was walking home late at night there was someone lurking in the shadows, making sure she got there safely. Warren was the only one who knew about it, and even he only found out by accident when he overheard his father arranging for one widow's car to be serviced at no cost to her.

He couldn't help feeling proud of the way his dad was trying so hard to make amends, but at the same time it was almost heart-breaking. He just hoped that one day his father would start to forgive himself.

The End