A/N: I am EXTREMELY apologetic about the hiatus I put on this story, but I had my reasons for it. Like I had told one or two people already, I was hoping to focus on MY stories for a while, meaning that there wasn't any room in my schedule for a story created by someone else. I know that it sounds selfish, but it's a little difficult to use my creativity on something that is not my own: simply put, I needed an outlet for a short while. I hope this makes sense and that this chapter was worth the wait.
Family Matters
"Hey, has anyone seen Jude?" Jonesy inquired as the gang sat down for lunch on his first official day off, which ironically, his employers actually had to FORCE him to use. "Not sure, but he's going to be laughing his head off when he sees you here," Catlin remarked. Looking into the distance, Nikki frowned and said, "I don't think so."
Her doubt was confusing, until they saw him walking over with a pained expression and a VERY upset looking blonde man right beside him the whole time. "Is that Jude's dad?" Jen inquired, to which Wyatt sighed and stated, "This can't be good."
"I've seen my son do some pretty stupid things in his time," Mr. Lizowski declared, sitting inside Ron the Rent-a-Cop's private office with 6teen and their partners in crime-fighting, as well as Coach Halder, "but deciding to be a vigilante of all things takes the cake and pretty much destroys it." "But dad, you don't understand," Jude tried to explain, to which he was interrupted with, "I understand just fine: you think that because the accident your delinquent friend over there caused gave you powers or something that you can get away with making a mockery of my line of work."
Looking at the mall cop and store clerk, he stated, "You DO know that as chief of police, I have the right to put ALL of you away for good." "And then what?" Charles declared. "I beg your pardon?" Jude's dad inquired. "I said, 'And then what?' Do you really think some of the criminals you've obviously have seen by now could be handled by the usual standards?" Charles calmly stated.
Mr. Lizowski was silent for a moment, as if he didn't know the answer, which he probably didn't. Finally, he spoke: "What do YOU know about keeping people safe? Your family works with guns on a daily basis." At this, Ron slammed his hand on the table in front of him. "THIS is why I decided to pursue criminals in just one part of the city," he declared, "You're willing to toss everyone who has a single drop of blood on their hands and leave them there. I always thought that police were there to HELP people."
"Don't talk to ME that way," Mr. Lizowski demanded, "YOU don't have your son running around in spandex; YOU don't have any kids at all!" "No I don't," Ron admitted, "My wife has a condition that wouldn't allow for that and I have yet to convince her to consider adopting any, but I DO know that there's more to being a child's guardian then the child living under your roof."
Before Mr. Lizowski could reply however, Ron's radio went off. "Ron, what's your 20?" came a panicked voice. "I'm currently discussing something with the father of Hang 10," he stated into the radio, "Something wrong?" "You bet there is: two people in costume are attacking the Gigantoplex with chemical weapons! Night Terror is back!" the voice declared, "Repeat: Night Terror is…no wait, don't do it! AAH!"
"Samson? Samson, are you there!?" Ron screamed into the radio. "I'm sorry," replied a dark voice, "Samson can't come to the phone right now: may I take a message?" Grabbing radio from Ron's hand, Mr. Lizowski declared, "This is Franklin Lizowski, head of the Whitefork police: hope you've enjoyed the outside world, because you'll soon be occupying a jail cell again." Chuckling, the criminal known as Night Terror declared, "No I won't, because if I'm in jail, who will look after my nephew?"
"What are you talking about?" the mall cop demanded, to which the evil chemist did a mock gasp. "Oh, did you hear that, Fear Monger? They don't seem to recall the unfortunate death of the Clinton's a few years back," he said with a chuckle, to which a younger voice declared, "My name is ROBERT, and I don't think that…" "You will help me, my nephew, if you want to stay out of the foster care system OR if you ever want to see your friends alive again," the criminal was heard saying, before he was heard chuckling.
"Ironic how my idiot brother-in-law and his wife once wanted their son as far away from me as possible but I end up being the only relative available to put a roof over his head," he declared, "Oh, and before you get any ideas, I've hooked up a few canisters of my fear gas to the air conditioning units and I WILL release it if I don't see the bird boy and any of his little costumed helpers here in 10 minutes, starting now: it's time we had a rematch."
"We need to go now," Charles deadpanned, only for Mr. Lizowski to state, "No you don't: Night Terror and this 'Fear Monger' are being taken in by professional law enforcers." Standing up, the teenage vigilante declared, "Professional BULLIES, you mean: ROBERT would never want any part in what his uncle's got planned."
Scoffing, Mr. Lizowski declared, "Please: what would YOU know about that despicable criminal?" "That 'despicable criminal' is the son of some of your idols, DAD!" Jude suddenly exclaimed, "Or did you forget about how devastated you were to hear that 'Judo Joe' and 'Martial Mary' had been killed during a riot control accident four years ago?"
"Wait: you mean the undercover cops Joseph and Maria?" Frank inquired with a look of pure shock on his face. "Not only was there son a close friend of Charlie Dobbs, but they were the ones who introduced you to Mom, if I remember correctly," Jude deadpanned, "In fact, THEY were the ones who inspired me to use my new powers like this, seeing as how I looked up to them. I mean, how could I not? THEY were the reason I was even born!"
"That's enough, dude," Jonesy stated, a hand on his friends shoulder, "We've got bigger problems." "He's right," Nikki declared, looking at her watch, "We just wasted 5 minutes!" "Then we don't have any time to waste," Charles declared, everyone around him nodding. The group chose this time to exit the room to go change, Jude leaving without even looking at his father.
However, before Charles, who was the last person out, closed the door behind him, he turned to look at Jude's father. "My family might work with guns and armor, but they also have made more than their fair contribution to the medical field. After all, there's a person receiving our products, something you seem to have forgotten." Had Charles looked back ten seconds later, he would have noticed the downcast look on the man's face.
"Come out and play, 6teen," Night Terror proclaimed, reveling at the scene before him, unlike his nephew. "Stop it, Uncle Jack!" he pleaded, gesturing to the dozens of mall patrons, who had been exposed to the gas prematurely to try and hurry things along, that were in a panic and some of which that were probably dead or close to it, "This isn't right!" "Yes, it seems that I might have miscalculated on how much gas I needed," his uncle declared, "There should be WAY more casualties by now."
"No, I meant that there's no way on earth that this is legal," Robert Clinton clarified, to which his uncle scoffed. "One day you'll learn that in order to achieve your goals you sometimes have to do things that aren't so nice," he declared. "You mean like this?" quipped someone from behind him. Before he could react however, he found himself being rammed into by none other than Night Owl.
"Ah, my old enemy," the rogue scientist said with a grin, "I don't suppose you brought the monster or the young lady with the wings with you?" "BRUTE is currently undergoing some tests to help him better control his abilities," the bird-themed crime fighter stated, "And GARGOYLE GIRL is currently sick with the flu, so she couldn't make it." Taking a fighting stance, Night Owl declared, "But that doesn't mean I'll go easy on you."
"As much as I would LOVE to have you die by my hand," the chemist said with an evil look in his eyes, "I've got other plans." Tossing a canister at Night Owl's feet, the vigilante in question was doused with a large amount of fear gas. Seeing their chance, the members of 6teen, now wearing gas masks, dived in after the criminal.
During the next five minutes, to say Night Terror was having a bad day would be an understatement, as he was wounded to the point that only his high levels of adrenaline was keeping him awake. "You are worthy opponents," he quipped, "but as long as I have my remote, I can still…" It was at THAT moment that he was suddenly cut off by someone pulling him through a display case window by none other than… "Night Owl!? This isn't possible: how did my gas not affect you?" the criminal demanded. "Who said it didn't?" Night Owl replied with a growl, "It's just that I'm already an expert at facing my fears."
Going to his com-system, he stated, "I'm in position." At this, the air conditioning systems all over the mall kicked on, administering an antidote to the fear gas. "You haven't won yet," Night Terror quipped, reaching for his remote, only to realize that it wasn't there. Hearing a crunch, he looked in shock to see Robert Clinton, no longer in his costume, with his foot on top of some pieces of hardware alongside the city police. "Thanks for the assistance, Chief," he directed at Mr. Lizowski, who simply stated, "Anything for a family friend."
"How could you do this?" Night Terror demanded before being taken away. "Sometimes for the greater good, you have to do things that aren't so nice," was all his nephew replied with as he wore a look of pure hatred. "Will he be okay?" inquired Ron the Rent-a-cop to his old friend, to which Frank Lizowski sighed. "For the first time in a long while, I don't know," he admitted, before smirking in the mall cop's direction and stated, "Which is why I pulled some strings and put you in charge of his care and rehabilitation."
With a knowing look, he nodded and stated, "Listen, about our earlier conversation…" "Stop right there," Mr. Lizowski demanded, "I'll admit that my son's done some things I'm not proud of, but if he's doing something to make up for past mistakes, then who am I to stop him?" With a wink, the police chief left, not failing to notice the smile from seven costumed teens in the background.
A/N: Just for the record, I found that Jude's dad DOES in fact spy on his child; no idea what the next chapter will entail just yet, but I THINK it will have something to do with a crazy clown and/or something spectacular (though this is subject to change). Until next time...
